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the-oblivious-writer · 9 months

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All Too Well

Sam Carpenter x Fem!Reader

One-Shot

Summary: You develop a big crush on your friend's older sister, Sam. Will you get your fairytale ending? Or will it blow up in your face?

Warning(s): ANGST, swearing, age gap (not specified age gap but R's legal), a little fluff if you squint, insecure Sammy :(

Notes: I re-wrote this soooo many times but I FINALLY got it done. I listened to All Too Well (taylor's version ofc duh) on repeat while writing this and I'm still not sick of it. Also, quick shoutout to @celiastjamesoscar for being an inspiration with her wonderful Sam fics!

You met her younger sister, Tara, at a party and ended up spending the rest of the night talking about horror movies. After that you two became friends and she started inviting you over to her place to hangout.

When you first saw Sam you could feel your heartbeat pick up in your chest as you gave her a warm smile. You didn’t even mind the blatant glare she gave you. She didn’t say anything to you, only walking to her room. But even if she did you’re convinced you wouldn’t have heard because of how distracted by her beauty you were. Sam had you entranced from the moment you saw her and you weren’t sure if you would ever snap out of it.

The more you came over, the more you would see of Sam. One night you, Tara, Mindy and Anika decided to have a movie night followed along with a sleep over. You weren’t opposed to the idea; agreeing instantly. You would get to hang out with your friends and possibly see more of your dream woman even if it was only for a few moments.

“What are you wearing?” Tara asked with a chuckle. She had opened the front door to find you in Batman pajamas. “Um, ever seen Batman pajamas? Don’t hate on the drip Tara,” you responded while carrying the snacks you brought under your arm.

She playfully rolled her eyes as you both walked inside. “I’m not hating, it looks good.” Tara said before closing the door and sitting on the couch. You placed the snacks down on the coffee table, Mindy and Anika were cuddled up on the loveseat nearby. “Sweet pajamas, Y/N,” Mindy complimented and Anika agreed. You thanked them before sitting down on the couch.

The four of you spent the rest of the night watching a mixture of horror and action movies. Laughter, gasps and the occasionals screams could be heard from the apartment. By the time it was one, you were the only one up. You slowly got up, as to not wake up Tara who fell asleep with her legs over your lap, and walked over to the bathroom. You emptied your bladder and washed your hands before leaving. But as soon as you left the bathroom you were met with a familiar face. A familiar pretty face.

“Hi,” you said nervously. You wondered if Sam could tell you heart was racing. “Hi.” Sam responded back dryly before looking you up and down. “Nice…Batman pajamas,” she commented.

You felt heat rush to your cheeks. You looked down at what you were wearing before looking back up at Sam. “Yeah, it’s um Batman. Which you…obviously know.” You silently gulped at how stupid you acted in front of her.

She awkwardly nodded at you and looked you up and down one more time before walking away to her bedroom. As soon as you heard her bedroom door shut you scolded yourself. “Stupid!” You shouted in a whisper, hitting your forehead with the bottom of your palm.

The next time you saw Sam, you found her in a more vulnerable state. You had been avoiding her after your interaction at the sleepover. Every time you saw her the memory replayed and the embarrassment you felt only sunk deeper. You were worried you would make yourself look even more ridiculous in front of her so you made the decision to avoid talking to her unless absolutely necessary.

Lil Guy (5:53 pm) can you come over?

Simp (5:54 pm) uhhh can’t tn

Lil Guy (5:54 pm) why?? 🤨

Simp (5:55 pm) school stuff yk

Lil Guy (5:55 pm) cut the bullshit. this is obviously about Sam

Simp (5:56 pm) what does she gotta do with this?

Lil Guy (5:56 pm) you know exactly what. I unfortunately had to wake up during your

awkward ass interaction with her. heard everything

Simp (5: 57 pm) if I come over will you stop talking about this?

Lil Guy (5:57 pm) no promises. see you soooon

Simp (5:58 pm) yeah yeah cya

You sighed and got up to put on your shoes. Of course Tara would find out about your big crush on her sister eventually.

You were walking past Sam’s room but stopped in your tracks when you heard sniffling from behind the door. You lightly knocked on her door saying, “Sam?” In the gentlest voice you could muster. Shuffling could be heard behind the door before it opened.

“What?” She asked in an annoyed tone. Her eyes were bloodshot, as if she had been crying for hours. “It’s just that I thought I heard somebody crying and I wanted to make sure you were okay.” It pained you to see her like this and you swore to do everything in your power to make everything better.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just–” she sighed, “go back to whatever it was you were doing.” You nodded but stopped her as she was closing the door. “But one more thing. If you need to, like, talk about anything or get some stuff off your chest I’m here, okay?”

She looked at you almost skeptically. Surely you didn’t mean that. Nobody actually means that. But when Sam looked at you, all she saw was a genuine person offering an ear. She could feel her heart warm at the thought.

That scared the shit out of her.

“Thanks, Y/N,” Sam thanked you. No glare. No attitude. She meant it. You gave her a warm smile, one she’s noticed she started to look forward to seeing, before telling her it was no problem and walking back to Tara’s room.

Ever since that night you and Sam have been secretly hanging out more and more. It was nothing romantic but she did enjoy talking to you. So, whenever you got the chance to sneak over to her room you would take it. There would be some nights you and Sam stayed up for hours just talking and you wouldn’t trade it for the world. Sam was falling while you had already fallen.

One night, you and Tara spent the night watching Gilmore Girls while you drew in your sketchbook. As you continued to draw you suddenly heard the locks starting to turn on the front door. Before you had time to react, the door opened and Sam walked through it. She was about to say ‘Hi’ to Tara before she saw you and instead let out an, “Oh.” She furrowed her eyebrows before looking you up and down. Once again, your heart was racing and you could feel butterflies in your stomach. Just looking at her always had you weak in the knees.

“What are you doing here?” She asked. Sam still chose to act slightly cold toward you around people as not to draw suspicion but she assured you it was just for show. The fact that she wanted to assure you about that, made you give her a lovestruck smile while she told you.

Tara rolled her eyes at her sister’s attitude and answered for you. “I invited her here, we’ve just been watching TV. Wanna join?” She asked and Sam looked over to the television before nodding.

You were sandwiched between the two sisters; your sketchbook long forgotten and you blushing madly from the amount of contact you were holding with Sam. Fifteen minutes go by and Tara reaches over to the bowl for some popcorn, only to find it empty. “I’m gonna go get a refill,” she tells you and Sam before grabbing the bowl and going to the kitchen.

You and Sam were now left alone, sitting on the couch. Her left hand was so close to your right that you would barely have to move in order to hold it. As if Sam felt your hesitancy, she brushed her pink against yours without looking at you. It sent a jolt of electricity through the both of you. Your eyes moved down to your pinkies before you turned them back to the television.

In a moment of confidence, you decide to lock your pinky with hers. You expected her to pull away, shove you off, or even tell you to fuck off but she did neither of those things. Unexpectedly, she kept it there. That was until Tara came back. When the younger Carpenter came back you both pulled away; both sparing a glance while the other wasn’t looking.

Later that night, you were getting ready to leave until suddenly you were pulled into Sam’s room. When Sam fully pulled you into her room, she shut the door and time stopped around you as you felt her soft lips on yours.

By the time you two pulled away, your hands were gently gripping her hips and she had a hand softly holding onto the back of your neck while you were pinned to the door. “What took you so long?” You finally asked with a lovestruck smile. Sam couldn’t help but reciprocate that smile.

—

Your relationship with Sam was often complicated. Her mixed singles were not always easy to identify but you pushed through for her.

You and Sam have been dating for seven months now. It was the same routine every time; Tara would invite you over, you would hang out with her for a bit until Sam chose she wanted you around and signaled for you to follow her when nobody else was looking.

For the first few months the sneaking around was fun and all but recently you have found yourself wanting more. But every time these thoughts crossed your mind you chose to shove them down. You didn’t want to ruin what you had with Sam. You were with her and that’s all that mattered.

When Sam invited you over for Christmas you did not hesitate to agree. You felt like your relationship was growing, and this would be one step closer until you could be more than just her little secret.

You walked through the door with Sam, the air was cold but something about it felt like home somehow. You placed your scarf down on the hanger, along with your coat and hat. Tara and the others came to greet you and Sam before the questions ensued.

“I didn’t realize you two were coming together,” Tara remarked. You and Sam gave each other discreet glances at each other before Sam opened her mouth to reply.

“Her car isn’t working right, so I offered her a ride.” They all nodded to this before moving on. It was not long before board games were being played and hot coco was being sipped. The setting was warm and comforting, and when you felt Sam’s hand grab a hold of yours under the table it only got warmer.

Tara rushed back from one of the rooms with a scrapbook in her hand as she wore a giddy smile. “Guess what I got,” she said while holding it up. Sam mentally groaned as you shot up and made your way to Tara. “Is that–”

“Yup.”

“Well what are we doing just standing here? Let’s go see what little Sammy looked like.” You and Tara ran to her room. Sam got up and rushed over to you both; not wanting her girlfriend seeing any of her awkward phases.

By the time she got there, it was too late. Tara was already showing you pictures of younger Sam, braces and all. Sam let out a sigh as she saw you look down at the pictures. You look up at her with an opened mouth smile. “Sammy! Well aren’t you just adorable,” you tell your blushing girlfriend.

She walked over and sat down beside you. “You just had to pick when I had braces, Tar?” She asked her sister. Tara gave her a smirk before flipping through the pages.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got more,” Tara responded and flipped to a page that had pictures of when Sam was just a toddler. You let out another dramatic gasp when you see them.

“Absolutely adorable!” You exclaimed. Sam bit back a smirk as she rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. I think that’s enough for tonight. We’re about to put on Die Hard; you coming?” She asked you and the younger Carpenter.

“Yeah just a second,” Tara told her before Sam left the room. “Okay. Seriously, when were you gonna tell me about you and my sister?” She suddenly asked, catching you off guard.

Your eyes widened at the accusation. “What– what do you mean?” You stammered. Tara sighed, closing the scrapbook and placing it on her nightstand. “It’s obvious something’s going on. Not to mention you disappearing whenever we hang out and Sam wearing a brand new hickey everytime you re-emerge. Seriously, you guys do a shit job at hiding it.”

You sighed and contemplated your next words. “You can’t tell anyone though, okay?” Tara looked at you and could tell you were being serious. She holds up her pinky to you before responding, “I won’t tell a soul.” You give her a small smile before hooking your pinky with hers.

By the time you and her leave, the movie’s already playing and you plop down beside Chad, and Tara joining you on your right side. You felt your eyelids growing heavy and eventually fell asleep on Chad’s shoulder, which he didn’t mind. By the time you woke up, a fresh set of snacks were put out and a new movie was on in the background as everyone spoke.

“Oh good, Y/N you’re up just in time for truth or dare,” you heard Mindy say. “What is this, fifth grade?” You joked before joining them on the ground. Tara sent you a smirk when she saw you immediately go to Sam’s side.

“Okay, we were just about to ask Sam if she’s still with cute boy,” Quinn said and felt yourself grow a little small.

“Cute boy?” You echoed and Quinn nodded before continuing her interrogation.

“So, how about it Sam?” Sam felt your eyes on her; only sparing you a single glance before answering.

“No, we broke up awhile ago actually,” she answered and everybody else moved on except for you. As they continued to play truth or dare you silently thought to yourself. Who was ‘cute boy?’ And why did it seem their relationship was far more public than their own.

It wasn’t until you heard your name get called when you snapped out of your spiral. “Y/N, truth or dare?” You heard Chad ask you. You thought for a moment before answering him. “Truth.”

“Well, I gotta know Y/N…are you and Sam dating?” The room went silent, at least for you it did. You knew Tara would never give your secret out like that. Especially when you literally pinky swore on it. You just did not realize the group would catch on so quickly.

“Uh–” before you could think of a lie or some lame excuse, you were quickly cut off by Sam. “No no, we’re not dating. I mean come on guys. Could you imagine us together? That’s ridiculous,” she said defensively as you felt your heart ache.

“You didn’t have to say it like that,” you muttered. “Wait– Y/N I didn’t mean–” Sam started but this time you were the one who cut her off. “I know what you meant.”

You quickly excused yourself and went to the bathroom, locking yourself inside. You felt like a complete idiot as you silently cried. The voices in your head continued to say the same things, You are not the exception. You will never learn your lesson.

You were growing tired of putting in ninety nine percent of the effort in your relationships. It hadn’t been the first time you were in this position. Most of your past relationships were you being the only one who cared enough to put in the effort.

As these memories flooded back to you, you felt naïve for letting it happen again. You scolded yourself for it. To make matters worse, you had just embarrassed yourself in front of everybody and probably ruined everything you had with Sam.

You suddenly heard three soft knocks on the door. “Who is it?” You sniffled. When you heard it was Sam you instantly debated whether or not you should open the door. Sam patiently waited on the other side until you opened the door.

Her heart ached for you as she saw your tear stained face. She had done this to you. She had caused you pain. “Hey,” Sam said in a small voice. “Hey,” you echoed back with a cracking voice.

“Can we talk?” She asked you. All you did was nod before she led you to her bedroom. She deeply inhaled as she tried to muster up what she was about to say.

“Listen, Y/N I’m sorry I never told you about Danny.” You furrowed your eyebrows at her before responding.

“Sam, it’s not about that. Of course you’re going to have past relationships. I just don’t understand why I have to be a secret while he obviously got to be pretty public. I just– I just don’t know what I did wrong,” You told her honestly.

“What? No, you did nothing wrong okay? It’s just…easier this way,” Sam said and you felt yourself growing more irritated by her vagueness.

“How? How is this easier? Cause’ it feels a hell of a lot harder to me. Especially when my own girlfriend seems so disgusted by the thought of dating me.”

You were sitting on the edge of the bathtub, Sam kneeled in front of you and took your hands in hers. “I wasn’t disgusted. It was all an act. You know that mi amor.” Her right hand moved up to cup your cheek, her thumb wiping away a tear.

“Do I?” You challenged. Sam looked up at you with her big brown eyes before answering. “You’re my world. Nothing could ever change that,” she reassured you.

You took a moment to think to yourself. You felt Sam’s thumb brush against your bottom lip, causing you to look down at her.

“I promise I’ll make it up to you,” she told you. You sighed in defeat; you knew Sam had gotten away with something once again. You loved Sam deeply but there were times you doubted she felt the same. The thought brought you pain, both physically and emotionally. But for now you would just lay in her arms and try to forget about the world around you and your problem along with it.

Christmas and New years came and went faster than you thought it would. You had enjoyed your time at the Carpenter–Bailey residence despite what had gone down your first night, but you and Sam were good now. At least, that’s what you kept telling yourself.

Sam and you hit the road at around nine in the morning. You lived half an hour away from them so the ride wouldn’t be long but it wouldn’t be short either. Cruel Summer was playing while Sam drove. Luckily you had a girlfriend who didn’t mind you picking the songs.

“I love the ‘Fuck The Patriachry’ keychain, Tara got you,” you said as you examined said keychain. Sam chuckled a little before looking at you.

“Yeah, but it’s nothing compared to that skirt she got you,” she said with a smirk while eyeing you. You couldn’t help but blush at your girlfriend’s attempt at flirting with you.

You looked ahead to see the light turning red. “Red, Sam–”

“Shit!” Sam slammed her foot on the break before looking back at you. “Maybe you should pay more attention to the road instead of eye fu–”

Sam cut you off, “Yeah yeah, whatever.” She playfully rolled her eyes before moving the car again once the light turned green.

It did not take long before you went back to your typical routine with Sam; you would come over, hang out with your friends for a bit before Sam pulled you into her room when nobody was looking. You felt stupid for letting the incident at Christmas almost ruin your relationship with Sam.

Any time now, she’s gonna say it’s love. You had not exactly said the four special words to Sam just yet; you were afraid of scaring her off. But there were little things that Sam did that showed she felt the same toward you even if she was not the best at displaying her feelings.

You truly believed she loved you back and tonight would be the night you told her you loved her. If only you knew what would transpire.

Sam held you close to her chest as her chin rested on top of your head. “Sam..” You softly said as you played with the hem of her shirt. She hummed before you continued. “I…I wanna tell you something.” Sam started sitting up while you sat up with her. You lifted yourself up by your arms and looked at her.

You now had her full attention and you were not going to waste it. “I love you, Sammy.” Sam’s breath immediately caught in her throat. “You…what?” She asked, although she heard you just fine.

“I love you,” you repeated, growing nervous.

“Oh..” Was all she said before getting up. You watched her movements as she walked over to gather her things.

“Oh?” You repeated nervously. “Yeah um, hey I’ve been thinking,” she started as you sat there on your bed. “This isn’t really working. I think we should stop–” she gestured to you and her, “–this.”

All you could do was sit there as you tried to process the woman you loved deeply, shattering your heart as if it were glass. “Sam, what the hell are you talking about?” Your voice was soft yet demanding. You wanted answers.

“We can’t see each other anymore, Y/N.” Sam’s voice left no room for bargaining. When she saw you lightly flinch at her tone she had to resist reaching out to comfort you.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed. “I just think it’s better for both of us.” Bullshit, you thought.

“Tell me a reason. You at least owe me that.” You ignored the tear that fell from your eye as you spoke.

“You deserve more than me…”

Sam spent a lot of her days thinking about you. From the moment you walked into the apartment she had her eye on you. Kissing you for the first time was both her best and worst decision she had ever made. None of this was your fault. She knew what she was getting herself into that night she chose to press her lips onto yours. Risks would ensue and she was aware of that.

Sam felt like a fool for thinking she could have something to herself; something that has not touched the darkness from her past. But that’s just it; you were too good for her. She didn’t feel like she deserved you in any way shape or form. You were too good for her and this world.

That’s why breaking up with you hurts even more. Sam knew in the process of protecting you, she would have to break your heart.

“Sam, please don’t do this.” You were more than familiar with the older woman’s habit to overthink and get lost in her head.

“Please, just let yourself be happy for once,” you practically pleaded as you got up.

Sam averted her stare and swallowed a lump in her throat as she lightly shook her head. “You know I can’t…”

Samantha Carpenter would never allow herself to be happy. The realization of this set in as you look at her. “That’s disappointing,” you choked out.

“So, what was the point of all this?” The question had been on the tip of your tongue. Sam looks over to you with furrowed eyebrows before you elaborate. “Us. Was I just a hookup to you?” Sam hated that she made you question what you meant to her.

“Y/N…you will always be more than just a hookup. But we both knew how this was going to end,” Sam answered. If you bit your cheek any harder you could draw blood.

“No, actually. I didn’t. But I guess–” you let out a dry chuckle, “–you did Samantha. From the start, right? That, one of these nights you were gonna call me up again just to break me like a promise? Fuck I’m so stupid,” you mumbled the last part.

“Y/N that’s not what I meant–” She reached over to you but you pulled back as if she had burned you; in a way she did. She had just confessed to leading you on during your entire relationship with her. Sam never called it what it was.

“I know what you meant…” Memories of the incident at Christmas flicker in your mind when you say this.

“I’m sorry,” Sam mutters as she reaches for the door knob but not before giving you one last glance.

“Goodbye Y/N.”

“Goodbye Sam.”

Later that night, Sam was in her room holding your scarf closely as she cried more than she had ever cried before.

The memories of you flooded her mind, the moments you both shared before she lost the one real thing she’s ever known.

As soon as she left you broke down; letting everything you were holding in, out. Maybe you both got lost in translation, maybe you asked for too much. But maybe this thing was a masterpiece til’ she tore it all up. You would forever remember this day all too well.

-----------

A/N: And did the twin flame bruise paint you blue? Just between us did the love affair maim you too?

#sam carpenter x y/n #sam carpenter x female reader #sam carpenter x you #sam carpenter #melissa barrera x reader #melissa barrera #scream #scream vi

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kitorin · 7 months

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11:47 pm - a.touya

warning for underage drinking, but it's not extreme + unrealistic depiction of alcohol (getting drunk super easily)

"I think he's drunk."

An comments on Touya's current state, exhausted yet blissed out, silver irises zoning out and paying no heed to everything surrounding him.

"Probably." Akito agrees with her, blinking with confusion. Him and Kohane glance at each other, evidently concerned and soon frowning at An.

"You can't blame me— he's never tried alcohol before and asked for it." She retaliates with her arms crossed. "How was I supposed to predict this?"

Akito sighs at the ludicrosity of the dilemma.

"To be fair, you wouldn't really expect someone to get drunk that easily." Though you're defending An you can't deny that it was a stupid decision, this is exactly why Ken looked reluctant to leave the five of you at their place.

Touya finally speaks. "What? 'm not drunk."

Scoffing, Akito responds first. "Says the guy zoning out at his drink and gettin' flushed red."

"... the bubbles look pretty." Only proves Akito's statement.

"You're an idiot at times." Akito mumbles.

And for some reason Touya only bothers to acknowledge that. "But look!" He points the glass to his friend, almost spilling it, Akito reacts faster and pries it out of his hand.

"I'm sure they look very pretty, Touya." He grumbles under his breath, placing the glass out of his reach. Another glare is shot at An, who raises her hands in defeat.

"He wanted to try it!"

"None of us are over eighteen." Livid yet worried, Akito sighs. "Oi, what's the best lie for this situation. He can't go home like this."

"We could tell Ken that he fell asleep? And it's quite late already."

Silently, you thank the gods for Kohane's idea. "Ken's fine with us sleeping over without notice too. We'll be fine."

But An objects. "We are not lying to my dad."

Akito scowls, irritation overpowering concern. "Too bad."

She crosses her arms. "But that's unethical."

"You know what's unethical? Underaged drinking."

An shrugs, as if she weren't the cause of all of this. "It's legal when it's at home."

"With an adult." Touya still seemed dazed out, not heeding mind to the way both An and Akito were yelling. "Your dad wouldn't've let this happen."

"Kohane's basically an adult with her maturity?"

"Don't even try saying that. You let him drink while she was showering and while y/n and I went out to buy snacks."

As the two bicker, Kohane pinches your sleeve for your attention. "Should we stop them? Whether Aoyagi's okay or not is a priority."

In agreement you nod, accompanied by an exhausted sigh. "How about we bring Touya upstairs, to one of your guest rooms." Both An and Akito halt their arguing, intently listening to you. "He's probably just tipsy. He should be fine by the morning." Kohane nods, leaning down to eye level with Touya, who was slumped in his seat.

"Aoyagi, let's go." But he doesn't oblige, whining with soft incoherency instead. "Please?" Her plead is futile, as it goes completely ignored by Touya.

Akito steps forth. "I'll carry him." Toned arms reach for Touya's, the action only being reciprocated by a lazy slap.

"Mean."

He sighs for the nth time. "'m not mean, c'mon." It's futile though, Touya fights back, messily, his sloppy movements were enough to prevent Akito from being able to pick him up properly.

"I'll carry him." You volunteer, and thankfully Touya surrenders to you, relaxing as you haul him onto your back. "First guest room right?"

After nodding and beginning to clean up, An breathed out an apology and thank you, Akito gives up on scolding her, settling down on a seat next to Kohane.

Despite how tall he is, Touya was ridiculously light, allowing you to effortlessly carry him upstairs.

"You need to eat more..." And of course he doesn't respond. Soon you're carefully placing him in bed, searching for any signs of something wrong. You shield him from the cold with the blanket, watching him instinctively curl up into a ball.

"Are we alright now?" Everything seems to be fine, his face is still flushed red and he's basically unconscious, but he's not whining nor complaining. A lack of an answer tells to you to hurry up and leave, even if you already know he's unable to reply. "I'll go then. Good night Touya."

A tight grip on your wrist prevents you from leaving.

"What's wrong?"

"I need you here." He hiccups, now fully conscious.

"Why?"

"Because you're the best." He hiccups again.

"You're just saying that because you're drunk." You redirect his hand to himself, placing it by his side.

Pearly irises of silver stare at you, pleading for you to oblige his request. "No. It's because I like you."

You choke on your own spit at the declaration. "That's enough, just sleep." You've never encountered a drunk person, and it's unfortunate that Touya's the first because of an immature decision An made.

"Only if you'll stay."

Even when he turns eighteen, you note to yourself to never let him get drunk.

But it was refreshing to see Touya behave so childishly. For the time you've known him he's always been so adultlike, stoic and cold—juxtaposing the way An and Akito bicker, or Kohane's tendency to remain glued to a window whenever something piques her interest. The question has always plagued your thoughts, was it simply his personality or did his household not provide the luxury of being a child?

With a sigh you indulge in his request, sitting down on the bed. "You're kind of silly when you're drunk, you know?"

"'m not drunk! You're being like Akito."

"Like Akito?"

"Mean."

You remain silent, but you're stifling a laugh. It doesn't take long for you to give in, bursting out into laughter. "I promise I'm not mean. That's always going to be Akito's job."

"Then stop ignoring my feelings."

The first time it seemed like drunk non sense, drowsy and mindless. But the second time feels different, whether it be the genuine pout of his lips or the solemnity intertwined with his tone.

"It's not fairrr." Touya doesn't bother waiting for a response from you, rambling on while you listen carefully. "I like you so much but you're so far ahead. You're too pretty, how am I supposed to live without you? You're my safe place where I don't have to think about piano or dad. You're so good at sports, and smart, and speaking to people, you've even had alcohol before already."

Is that why he wanted to try some today...?

"You've had alcohol before too, dumbass." He only throws the blanket over his head, out of embarrassment.

"Do you like me too?"

The question repeats in your head, and the answer is obvious to you.

You arise from the bed, kneeling next to it where Touya was cowering underneath the blanket. "I do."

He peeps out of the covers, face wrapped in the doona, silver eyes wide with surprise. "Really?"

"Yes, but I'm not talking to you until you sleep properly, okay?"

Like an eager child, he falls for the bribery, closing his eyes and mumbling out a 'good night'. You reciprocate it, carefully tip toeing in order to let him sleep undisturbed— and on your way to deal with another problem, this time in the form of a certain musician who has a thing for drama.

"And then, you confessed! We got curious and listened through the door."

Touya averts his gaze, instead staring at the cup of black coffee warming his palms. Rose is chalked all over his cheeks as he listens to An recounting last night's events.

"By 'we' she means her." Akito grumbles while sipping from his hot chocolate. "I don't get why she's so obsessed. Congratulations though."

An throws an arm around you. "You should've seen the look on his face when Touya called him mean."

Akito opens his mouth to object, but Kohane speaks first.

"That must've been amazing though, if drinking gave you that much confidence to confess like that."

"Well it wasn't really confidence if I wasn't thinking at all, is it?" The conversation only permeates his cheeks into a darker pink.

"Did you like how alcohol tasted?" Legitimate curiosity is scrawled on her expression and traced onto her tone. "What's being drunk like?"

This time, Akito interrupts Touya. "Who knows? Wanna test it out? Maybe then you'll have the courage to confess to Shiraishi?" The comment leaves you and Touya shocked, eyes flitting between the three of them. An stares at Kohane, whom is already running away with her bag.

"Oi Kohane—come back!" With haste she pulls off her apron and sprints around the counter, tossing it god knows where. "Wait—"

Akito chuckles at the ordeal— the chaos he caused. "Oops. My bad."

(you both know that was damn intentional)

taglist (send an ask to be added) : @yuzurins, @pokkomi

#not me basing this off myself help #souta try not to base a fic off yourself challenge go !!#this is kinda silly but oh well #no proof read lol #aoyagi touya #pjsekai #aoyagi touya x reader #toya aoyagi #aoyagi toya x reader #pjsekai x reader #pjsk #pjsk x reader #project sekai #project sekai x reader #pjsk fluff

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goatfactsofficial · 1 month

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Honestly, I consider my self "pro-israel" but still very critical about Bibis goverment, specially since fuckers like Gvir ad Smorvtich are in charge. I think that with Hamas finally gone and this fuckers either jailed for good or gone since they are actually hated by the Israeli population rn (The only reason they havent kicked them to kingdom come is because its the middle of a war) a good faith peace plan for both sides can be established with a third party of trust.

This being said, why the fuck do people root for Hamas? Ive seen this so called progressive even calling them 'resistance'. These fuckers are the main cause that palestinians are in the situation they are in. They use all the money they get from aid to try to attack israel, use their own population as shields because they dont care about them and indoctrictnated them to hate since children. Do they really want to leave them opressing Gazans like nothing happened after oct 7th? Because Ive havent seen any goverment willing to do this dirty work because, sadly, Hamas wont reliquinsh their "power" peacefully.

Honestly, in a past I considered my self pro-palestinian and pro-israel, at least publicly, but these loud minority of Hamasinks seemed to have hijacked a movement that started with good intentions. But sadly it appears that this minority is becoming the majority.

Is there anything that can be done to revert this? To alianeate these extremist from the reasonable voices?

First of all, hell of an anon to get. If you're baiting, nice job. Otherwise I'm going to assume this is a good faith ask. (Though I'm still confused as to why you asked me.) So re: why do people support Hamas. I'm assuming you're referring to the Pro-Pal Left that has reared its head since October 7th. Honestly I think it comes down to the privilege that almost everyone in the Imperial Core has: Freedom from War. These folks learned about War Crimes in highschool or whatever, never bothered to learn what they actually were and the how and why of their drafting, and now they hear about Israel bombing hospitals and they can't imagine any possible scenario where that could be justified. To these folks War is two armies marching at each other in block formations in an open field. And perhaps their only conception of Urban War is the civilian-less and consequence-free set pieces of modern warfare shooters. And it shows! I've seen people praising the Mujahideen in Gaza as brave and noble heroes for slapping the side of a Merkavah with a tandem charge RPG all while ignoring the fact that the person firing the RPG isn't wearing any sort of distinguishable uniform and are therefore committing the crime of perfidy. And it drives me insane because perfidy is such a fucking poisonous thing to do. Any action which erodes a belligerents ability to read actions in good faith is horrific, and actions like that are exactly what Hamas' strategy and tactics are based on and around. To break it down for the pissing on the poor crowd: 1: Hamas plans operation and bases soldiers in hospital 2: Israel bombs that hospital, whichever officer in charge has made the hard decision that the number of military casualties is worth the number of civilian collateral casualties, as well as damage to the hospital infrastructure. (THIS IS LEGAL AND NOT A WAR CRIME) 3: Hamas makes up death count and has their media corps play corpse jenga 4: useful idiots in the Imperial Core see that Israel bombed a hospital (no possible reason for doing that other than killing innocents!) and the 3000 years of antisemitism thats hardcoded into their brains kicks in and all the blood libel floods out. As for alienating the extremists from the moderates. I have no idea. Frankly I could care less about what Johnny Jihad or his leftist brownshirts care about Palestine or Israel or Jews or Palestinians. I give far more of a fuck in making the world a better place where I can. And that takes many forms. Including skipping out on my draft service because I didn't want to risk being a part of the apparatus that does in fact contribute to the oppression of Palestinians. What have any of these "Pro-Palestine" leftists ever done for the Palestinian cause that comes anywhere near that level of direct action?

#Goat Kvetch #ask box #jumblr #Israel/Palestine #Swords of Iron #Reaallly hoping this isn't bait to start harassing me.#also not to say that draftdodging is the ultimate act of propal liberation #more that I actually *HAVE* done something #unlike all these keyboard warriors harassing random Jews

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rhymey-workshop · 10 months

Text

Feel free to skip. TW: I'm joining the military.

Growing up is really hard, and I don't think we realize that until we're on the verge of a big change, standing on the border between two parts of your life, balancing on a precipice before you take the swan dive known to many as change.

I'm packing my things. My dad finally brought home boxes and storage tubs and I'm finally packing my things, and that makes the passage of time so much more real.

I'm packing my things. My mom opened the door to tell me to watch my sleeping brother, and said nothing about the fact my room is a mess, or that I was just staring blankly at the cardboard box I just taped the bottom of. That box is ready for my craft books and paint stuff, my origami paper, my reading stand, my books on how to make stuff like children's books and animation. She made no mention of it all, just made that same pinched expression she has for weeks and then schooled her expression into something more neutral as she nodded towards the bedroom where my brother is and after a moment I got up and stumbled in, sitting at the foot of the bed to type out some kind of vent on Tumblr.

I'm packing my things, and I'm stuck between wanting to cry and finding myself unable to cry. I'm leaving home. I've been dreaming of getting out of here off and on since I was 13. At times I had a countdown of years, months, weeks, days that I had to stay, that I had to wait for the day I could finally leave. It made being angry or sad or any other complicated emotion easier. It made hardship easier to cope with. It made it easier to get through the hard times because I knew I could leave and nothing could stop me.

I'm packing my things, slowly, piece by piece, and I'm starting to understand the weight of what my dad said, when he said I was the first person on either side of my family in generations to not run away from home before turning 18. My mom left home at 17, my dad spent more days out of the house than in it as a teenager and left the god damn country. My bio paternal family has these issues too. My maternal family is full of people that ran off, that stayed away from home and didn't look back. My mom only speaks to one sister, and can't speak to her brother as long as their mother is alive. I didn't leave. I finished high school, I got my diploma, I took my time and I didn't leave before I was a legal adult.

I'm packing my things to leave home, and it's hard. It's scary. I've never been away from home for very long, and here I am, getting ready to do something more than just "Move out".

I'm packing my things, putting my life into boxes, sorting what's going to stay, waiting for me to return, what's getting tossed, what's going to get donated or given away. I keep finding things and remembering shit related to them. I keep finding things and remembering who gave them to me. I keep finding things and remembering which parent smiled when I got it.

I'm packing my things, and in a way I'm also processing a kind of grief I didn't know existed.

I'm leaving home for something I thought through for 8 months, and I'm coming up on the one year anniversary since I made my decision. It's been just under two since I signed the dotted line, swore in, and came home to congratulations and a sureness that I'm doing the right thing for me.

In 5 days, I'm going to my last meeting. Getting a send off from a group of people doing the same thing. A couple of them doing the EXACT same thing.

In 9 days, I'll spend the last full 24 hours I've got with my family, eating a fruit tart and playing putt putt. I'll say good night and that'll be the last time I see them for months at the very least.

In 10 days, I'm hiding my key on the porch and walking out the front door while everyone is asleep. They'll wake up and I'll be hundreds of miles away from them. In 10 days, I'm hopping in a big unmarked government van (and this will never not be funny to me) with like 5 other people and we're all doing the same thing. We're going somewhere and we have no idea what is really waiting for us.

In 11 days, I'm not in civilian limbo anymore. As it stands I am subject to the UCMJ but I'm not a sailor yet. In 11 days, I'm a recruit, and that's fucking dizzying to think about.

I'm getting ready to start a new part of my life and it's going to be exciting and new and I'll make friends and I'll go a couple places and I'll have stories to tell my brother and family. I think I'll be better, when all is said and done.

But right now, I'm packing my things into boxes and tubs, and right now, I want to cry.

#if you read this far #and want to know why the fuck I am joining up #the reasons are #in order #i dont know what im doing with my life but want out of this town #submarines are fucking awesome #and im poor #i got a 98 on my asvab and i think i picked a pretty neat job #i guess there is also a family history component #5th generation to serve #basic training #sad thoughts #growing up #us navy #im scared tbh #but thats okay

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writingonjorvik · 4 months

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What do you think about the main story ending after playing the game for so long?

The story isn't ending. That's not like a denial response, the story isn't ending. That would be an incredibly poor financial decision on SSE's part.

Look, maybe it is. Maybe SSE is aiming to wrap up SSO and shut down the servers on the end of the story arc. We don't know the pace of "Beginning of the End" coming out, it may give SSO three more years to finish telling the one story they wanted to tell. But on account of SSE finally redesigning early gameplay, it makes very little sense to overhaul all of SSO's gameplay and then shut it down shortly after. That kind of change should set SSO up for many more years to come. But I don't see ending the story and making SSO a social hub kind of MMO really being good for retention. I'm sure there are some, but if the story ends completely, then a chunk of folks are going to get caught up and stop coming back. And when those folks start to dwindle, so will other groups of folks because there are less and less people online.

What is happening is the end of the Garnok arc, which I've already said, needs to happen. This story has been being told since 2005, almost two decades at this point. It needs to end so the story can stop getting written into a corner, particularly when it comes to introducing new NPCs. And after Garnok gets defeated, SSE is open to telling all kinds of stories and introduce new characters, just some of which being:

What's up with the witches and their coven politics? How do they feel about the Vala? Are there more Vala? Is their magic affected in any way by not having access to Garnok or Pandoria?

If the Soul Riders and druids lose their powers after the Garnok fight because the connection with Pandoria is severed as Ydris said had to happen in the quests, how are they going to handle new threats? How does not having their powers affect the Soul Riders as people?

What does happen to Pandoria after Garnok is gone? Defeating Garnok doesn't remove all of DC or the damage they did, so what happens after?

What happens between the druids and DC afterwards? Like in actual politics, there are massive explosions going on in the modern era, someone is going to report that. There are going to be legal battles for both sides, how do those play out?

Most recent story snack has introduced morally gray trees, what are they going to do when the connection between Jorvik and Pandoria is severed? Do they still have access through the Brambletween or do they need to seek out new worlds? Can they survive without a source of magic to sustain them?

We're only seen 1/4 of the island of Jorvik, that's 3 more massive zones to be added (I will circle back to this one).

Half a dozen other portals we don't know where they go to like the Doors and the Icendell portal, not to mention other worlds like the Cloud Kingdom and wherever the Caprans are from. And anything else the Between or Brambletween is connected to, all possibilities to explore.

The politics thing again, DC getting overthrown leaves a massive power vacuum, assets, and probably some of the generals behind. SSE can handwave killing goons all they want, but I doubt they'll have the PC kill any of the generals, so what happens to them after? Do they die when Garnok dies? Who tries to step in to fill the void? Sure there's no Garnok, but there are all of the resources DC had and bound to be another world full of magic that can be manipulated. If it's just power they're after, I'm sure whatever rainy day magic DC had could still give someone quite a bit of that for a while to come.

Ok, but what does happen to Jorvik when the connection with magic gets severed? There is so much magic infrastructure built into the island now, what happens when it fails? What parts of it are native to Jorvik at this point? Do those things start dying? Does Jorvik establish its own source of magic? Does it bring back Aideen? Does it fully cut Jorvik off from Aideen? That could hypothetically kill the magic horses, and I don't think SSE would let that canon happen, so where is that new magic?

What happens to the MC after? Like do they lose their magic? Like, congrats, you got dragged into this quest after coming here for summer camp, like 3 months later you've got no magic and trauma. One of those I don't see SSE tackling, but where I can see the Soul Riders retiring or being more cyclable characters in the story, the MC has to be in the story. So what happens to them after? How do they reestablish themselves as important when their chosen one task is complete?

Secret other option, there's so much lore, I'm sure y'all can find another thing from the new lore that I don't remember.

I think the most set up story arc after the Garnok arc would be to start the Witch Wars arc. We know witches don't get their magic from Pandoria, so following the defeat of Garnok and the loss of Pandoria's magic, it makes the most sense for the druids to try and take some pointers from Mrs. Holdsworth. Which opens up the politics in the fallout of the druids vs DC battle and the sudden shift in magic between covens. And with the Vala making a very big play in the end of the Garnok arc, I'm sure there are some other witches with some feelings. Established NPCs there to introduce us to new NPCs, follows through on questions left over from the previous arc, lots of potential for new gameplay. That also sets up perfectly for a new 1/4 of the map, the northwest corner, as we know the shadow witches are in Northern Jorvik, and the fallout with DC very reasonably could take us to Pine Hill Mansion to make sure there aren't anymore loose ends/contingency plans Sands has set up.

I think also that folks should start working through the idea that the quarters of the map will be locked behind a paywall, like an expansion. There are plenty of buy to play MMOs who have this model, and I think realistically, it's one SSO will follow. Also following other MMOs, $20-$30 USD for several years of expansion is well within a reasonable ask in my opinion. It's not a microtransaction, it's a permanent add on, and I think holds way more value than what that amount of SC can get you in game currently.

But yeah. It would be a very poor financial decision to keep SSO going and not continue the story, and I think SSO is making too much money to not continue keeping the game going, so that would need a new story. There's going to be a new main arc, some archthreat comparable to Garnok, and a new way of looking at magic, which would time perfectly with SSE's promises of letting us use magic more actively. Start a new magic system, don't worry about adapting over the original one into mechanics.

#woj theories #star stable #star stable online #sso #starstableonline #starstable #sso blr #ssoblr

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thekimspoblog · 3 months

Text

Some clarification on the FotD series.

A fan complained that the plot of my "Fantasy of the Day" series for the BCS/McWexler fandom was really hard to follow. And that's... not their fault at all; the plot is hard to follow because there really isn't one singular plot.

The Premise: The first thing that you need to understand, is that the FotDs are just fluff-n-angst snippets I pull out of a proverbial hat. Usually, I come up with the idea for a scene which would look cool, and fill out the details of the backstory later. So if one of the stories in my posts comes across as vague or self-contradictory, that's why; I'm making it up as I go. And usually instead of better explaining a premise, I'll just move onto another one.

The Setting: Season 1 of my "Slippin' Kimmy" fanfic has a more set-in-stone story arc: In a single sentence, Kim joins a cult. Season 1 is set in rural Wyoming between the fall of 2016 and the spring of 2017, but most of the FotDs are set anytime between 2017 and Kim's eventual death. I have no strong opinions yet for what should happen in Season 2, and so the FotDs are all just spitball ideas for plots which might happen. It's a running gag how frequently Kim is forced to uproot her life and move to a new city, so an FotD might be set anywhere in the world.

The Main Character: Kim has been promoted to the occupation of "fixer" in the Breaking Bad universe. Her updated business card reads "Wexler-McGill: Image Consulting", but her services run the gauntlet of: off-the-record legal advice, schmoozing politicians and business people, orchestrating media circuses and publicity stunts, hiring hacktivists, delivering mysterious packages, laundering money, bookkeeping for philanthropic organizations, bodyguard work, P.I. work, sabotaging weapons manufacturing facilities, organizing protests, smuggling Mifepristone and Estradiol into red states, renovating and flipping failing shopping malls and entertainment venues, and much more miscellaneous espionage. Assassinations are a line which Kim will never cross willfully, but she is frequently caught in the crossfire when white-collar criminals try to take eachother out.

The Romantic Lead: Jimmy's story is over, but he's not willing to ever leave her, so he has no choice but to come along for the ride. He's finally living the dream of going into business with his wife, and he joins her on roughly half her adventures, but at this point excitement is something he could take or leave. He takes pride in playing the role of the homemaker, and his love for his children often motivates him to be the voice of caution. He supports and agrees with Kim's so-called "Revolution" - the subversion of unjust laws, the redistribution of wealth, the sabotaging of hate-groups - but whenever the heat gets too hot, he will make the tough but pragmatic decision for one or both of them to go into hiding again. Kim is wearing some golden plot-armor in this story, but Jimmy's mortality looms over almost every FotD. Not only does Jimmy simply want to make the most of how ever much time he has left, but there is a palpable threat that sooner or later he will be stuffed into a freezer for the sake of creating drama for Kim. If they could have it their way, they'd explore the cosmos forever as a pair of ageless trickster gods, but the spouses both know that in all likelihood she will outlive him.

The Prodigy: In this spin-off, Jimmy and Kim have two children; Iris and Fille. The oldest child, Iris, is barely even my OC; they are the most obvious answer to the question "What would the McWexler baby be like?". All their best and worst qualities in one precocious brunette imp. Quick-witted and silver-tongued, a born performer with sticky fingers, both figuratively and literally. Iris comes out as non-binary in their preteens and is accepted pretty immediately, but for the record any FotD which refers to Iris as "she/her" is canonically an example of their parents misgendering them because they didn't know any better. While Kim is out doing her adult career of... being the protagonist in an AMC series, Jimmy and Iris spend most days doing their best impressions of Moses Pray and Addie Loggins. Admittedly, Jimmy could be doing more to teach Iris respect for the rules as well, but there's something more sinister going on with the dynamic between Kim and Iris. Kim wants Iris to be prepared for whatever life throws at them, and to a certain extent she wants to see Iris continue her work, and because of that Iris shoulders a heavy burden. Kim is for the most part vindicated; Iris grows up to be a survivor and a forager, even as a drought deals a killing blow to American democracy, and they do follow in their mother's footsteps as best they can, but it's still bitter-sweet.

The Black Sheep in a Family of Wolves: Like I said, the FotDs are just random snippets pulled anywhere from a broad-strokes timeline, and because of that the ages of the children vary wildly. However Fille (pronounced "Philly") is consistently written as being two years younger than Iris, and in many fantasies, the children are between six and four. Even at an early age, not much is known about Fille because she is an introverted child, but as she gets older, this evolves into being a clear foil to Iris. Where Iris will talk your ear off, Fille listens patiently and only speaks up when something is truly wrong. Where Iris will bend the truth just for fun, Fille's silence should never be interpreted as a love for secrets. Iris's moral code is flexible so long as altruism and self-interest overlap; Fille's morality is rigid to the point of being childish, but at least it keeps her out of trouble. Iris loves meat, whereas Fille... honestly, Kim respects Fille's conviction to vegetarianism... but it was a phase Kim went through once upon a time too, and she grew out of it.

The Villain: This is probably where most of the confusion is stemming from. In Season 1 of SK, Caleb Dawson and the Riverton Unitarian Interfaith Church are the antagonists, but by the end of the season, Dawson is dead, his henchwoman Mary is at large, and Kim has taken control of the Church's resources. I haven't quite decided what will become of the loose thread with Mary, but the Church's money and credibility will only last until shorty after Fille is born (2 years). Beyond that point, I don't have any specific Big Bads lined up. Kim will follow the trajectory of getting into bed with shady characters (this time to push an agenda), enjoying working with/for this client for a stint, then eventually having to defeat them in a battle of wits when the alliance goes sour but the villain won't let Kim back out of her contract because she knows too much. Let's face it; this was always Breaking Bad's formula. When it comes to the FotDs, sometimes I'll just steal villains-of-the-week wholecloth from other similar tv shows.

The Vibe: The villains all blur together after a while for Kim. As do the schemes she does, both for and against them. Just like the places she visits: one night she might be seeing opera in Tokyo, the next she and her family have had their assets frozen and are sleeping in their car. One night, they're caretakers of a too-trusting hippy's goat farm, the next she's alone sleeping on the cold cement of some kingpin's dungeon. The point of the FotDs is to juxtapose the opulent world of murder and intrigue with the peace and quiet of the domestic life Kim is trying to defend against all external threats. In her most caricatured form, Kim Wexler is a 90's pantsuit archetype who, by some cosmic mistake, lived to see the 2020's. She's a pragmatist; she knows what she values and she keeps her attention on those things. In "Better Call Saul", she never quite figured out a good work-life balance, but last time around, she had put her faith in institutions which didn't value her time or share her priorities; this time she's only trusting herself to manage the resources. The American Dream may be crumbling, but she is still determined to "have it all".

@somethin-stupid-67 @joshgoodman @slippinximi @richeeduvie

#mcwexler parenthood au #fantasy of the day #FotD

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maribatz-2k · 1 year

Text

Day 10: Adoption of The Rich

Note:

So I walked away and my son pushed publish. XD

READ ON! :)

---------------------

"That's it! Today's the day! I'm adopting Chloe!" Marinette says drawing up adoption papers.

"So I get a new sister?" Adrian asks sitting next to her in class. "Wait, she's already technically my sister."

"Welp, she needs to know proper love, Chaton." Mari says finishing up and smiles as she leaves two blank spots for signatures. After months of convincing Chloe that she needed the right environment and people, she had become close to Mari and Adrian more. They met up in the library at one of the small tables and talked over the document with Max monitoring. Yes it's not a legal thing, but hey, not the point here! Chloe agreed and signed her name first then Mari making it now "official."

A year later, now seniors, Mari has succeeded in adopting Adrian, Chloé, Kagami, and Zoé. She'd have adopted Luka, but he was always a part of her family so no adoption paperwork needed. They decided to do a graduation trip kagami agreed to join while Luka said he would be joining his father on tour across the United States. Lots of debate on locations and where they would stay for the month. Yes, you heard right, a month. Finally settling down to closing eyes and pull strings to pick the location, luck had decided on Gotham.

The four walked across the stage in their first sets of cap and gowns, accepting their diplomas they earned with sweat and blood and meet up with Marinette's parents, Kagami, and Luka. The group huddled together in a giant group hug filled with congratulations. The night before their flight, everyone crashes at the Dupain-Cheng's house, well everyone but Luka. He had to leave after graduation day. Despite having to get up early for a flight, Mari stayed up later than everyone else, too excited to sleep. And boy did she regret that decision on the flight there.

Arrival at in Gotham, Adrien was carrying Mari on his back as Chloé led everyone to a paid limo. Marinette had fallen asleep and refused to wake up long enough to even get off the plane. Snugged into the limo, they rode toward the richest hotel Chloé and Kagami picked out against Mari's desire.

Marinette woke up in a strange bed and it was dark outside. With an annoyed stretch, she slides out of the bed and looks around finding a balcony outside her window and three other doors. She went to the first door finding it connected to a big open living room. Quietly closing it she tries the second door opening up to a beautiful grand bathroom. Blinking, she sees her hair is a jumbled mess she quickly rips her hair out if the pig tails and brush her fingers through the knitted strands. She didn't bother with the third door figuring it was the closet then goes out onto the balcony and look around.

Gotham strangely looked beautiful at night. Sure you got the big lights scanning the sky, and the loud noises lights everywhere that you can't see the stars. But watching the people and the buildings just glitter was starry enough for Mari. She leans against the rail catching sight of shadows jumping and swinging from roof top to roof top. Something tells her that its the vigilantes of Gotham probably on patrol. She notices two of them stopping at the building across from her what seems to be arguing? Marinette just couldn't hear what was being said, but there was lots of movement and someone just went over the edge falling.

"Oh my god!" Marinette yells covering her mouth not catching her scream in time. The fallen person shot his grappling gun, up at the building across from her and slam against the wall. He looks over at her then zips up to the roof and disappear after the second person. Mari quickly ran back into her room, closing the double doors, and flop on her bed until later that morning.

Three blondes and two blunettes enter Gotham Mall. There's a joke here right? Well try this one. Chloe insists on going shopping for their first official day in Gotham. Kagami linked her arm around Mari's as they walked behind the triplets going from store to store. They finally took a break in the food court circling one of the center tables with each blunette between them. Chloe was complaining about how tired she is but still wants to shop. Zoe was leaned over her drink, stirring the ice around watching Mari draw. Adrien conversed with Kagami over who knows what.

"Let's play again." Adrien clears his throat. Mari looks up and Chloe gleams.

"I know just the one." Chloe says and Mari groans.

"No..."

"Yes."

"What game?" Zoe asks. Mari puts away her sketch book and lays her face into the table.

"Rich man, poor man." Chloe says. Kagami chuckles.

"The card game?" Zoe asks again reach over and pets Mari's hair.

"No. Chloe is talking about us people judging on who's rich and poor. Winner is the one with more points or if you can identify the big name." Mari mumbles then sits up pressing her head into Zoe relaxing. Zoe gives an "oh" expression. So the game begins. They started in the food court and across the whole mall. Adrien kept score on his phone as they walked; Chloe scored ten for poor one rich, Zoe got five poor zero rich, and Mari didn't participate at least not yet. She was waiting for the big game. Now Chloe knows all the big names, so Mari has to be smart about her choices. They have gone through almost all the clothes stores only to come up toward the bookstore. As the game commence, Mari moves into the bookstore with Zoe and Adrien while Kagami and Chloe sat on the bench talking.

Mari slips into the classic romance section until she found one of interests. Of course it's on the freaking top shelf, so she tried to reach on her toes but then decided to climb. A chuckle was heard beside her taking her attention from the climb to falling off the shelf with a yelp, landing in someone else's muscled arms.

"Whoa there princess." The man said.

"Mari!" Adrien and Zoe run over. Soon Chloe and Kagami walk behind them and face palms.

"Of course. Leave it to Mari to not only fall but fall into a big rich." Chloe says as Kagami laughs behind her hand. Marinette blushes covering her face forgetting she was in someone's arms.

"Then Mari wins. Again." Adrien says with a chuckle. The man and his companions look confused. He sets her down finding her smaller in height than he thought.

Mari, meet the Wayne kids. Kids, meet your new mom in a few days." Chloe says then drags Marinette and her crew out to their shopping bags then leave.

Sure enough, a week later adoption papers were tapped on her balcony doors for all the ROBINS to sign.

@maribatserver

#maribat #mlb x dc #ml x dc #maribatmarch2023

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chounaifu · 9 months

Text

Life Updates ✨️

I am about 85% sure that I've found the place I want to move into. It's 20 minutes from my office, and the property has a KOI POND!

After his return was delayed by two weeks, my current roommate is finally coming back from his overseas deployment. (He left back in April and my mental health tanked from the lack of socializing.) House is clean and banana bread awaits his return home. 🍌 🍞 We have a lot of catching up to do. The guy is like a brother to me; he has helped me recover from escaping my ex-boyfriend (he had a similar, messy divorce a month before I moved in), and with processing the death of my step-brother. We're very sad to part ways, but, he's ready to leave this shithole of a state, and I'm excited for him.

If I make a final decision on my rental this weekend, my full hiatus will change to a semi-hiatus. I'll pop onto dash for memes and such, but, the majority of my brain power is going to go into packing, preparing for the move, buying furniture, selling old belongings, and potentially preparing the paperwork required to make an out-of-state move legal.

Please note that, with my move, I will be leaving behind a lot of beloved people, so I am going to be emotional during the process. I can assure you though, I'm going to be alright. I'll be staying with my current job, but, of the four locations that I will be looking at this weekend, one of them actually pushes me over the state line. The OTHERS put me 20 minutes from ANOTHER state line. I feel fine about it, but, a lot of my family members who have-- literally never left their little country town are going to act like I've decided to pack up and relocate to another country LOL. So that's going to ALSO take up a lot of my spoons.

Lastly, with this move, I will officially be 100% no contact with the abuser in my family. She will not be receiving my new address, and I will be too far away for her to find me anyways. Good things are happening for me.

#➤ 《 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠 》 out of character

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gisellelx · 6 months

Text

Twilight Advent Calendar, Day 7

Dec. 7 - Choose one Twilight couple (or an AU ship) and tell us about an argument they've had. How did they resolve it in the end?

Masterpost/Prompts

I'm still fighting with this dang thing and have been for about a year. I was hoping to get it all the way unraveled with the help of a deadline but I did not. So here's a teaser of the surface of this fight. They are fighting about something that's actually two layers deeper than this, but it's going to take me a hot second to link this all up, apparently. ---

from "Yellows," Chapter 9 of Cien Años de Compañerismo

~||x||~

They hadn’t talked about this. They hadn’t needed to; vampires couldn’t reproduce sexually. She knew where he stood with respect to the legality of a medical procedure that he considered vital to his ability to care for his patients; he knew—and she thought, respected!—that he could never fathom what it was like to carry a pregnancy. But suddenly here they were, diametrically opposed.

Edward. It had only taken his conversation with Edward, and then they had been thrust into this nightmare. Always Edward. His weakest point; his fatal flaw. If Carlisle made a mistake, it was always for Edward. His rashest decisions—always with Edward in mind.

Except for you, her mind replied at once, and it was this reminder that softened her long enough to really look at him.

Her husband looked—anguished. If it were possible for him to somehow be paler, gaunter than he already was, he was that and then some. The light in his eyes that she loved, the playful side of him that he so rarely showed anyone but her, was utterly extinguished.

His eyes, darker than she’d seen them in a long while, cast around the nursery anxiously. He didn’t fully see it the first time, she knew. He took in the crib, the changing table, the diaper stacker, the blankets and rattles, the delicate lace and ornate woodwork mixed with the practicalities of size zero diapers and nipple pads and spit-up rags.

“You’ve done…a great deal,” he said finally.

No thanks to your overwhelming support, she wanted to say, but she did not. It was enough, she knew, to stand here, staring at him. Not comforting him, not taking him into her arms, not doing any of the things he’d come to rely on from her. She didn’t need to be cold to him; she needed only not to be warm.

“Well someone needed to do something.”

His brow furrowed. “Esme, I am doing everything.”

“You“—she choked. He was trying to figure it out, still. Still. Trying to get their daughter-in-law to see reason. Trying to make all this work, this room, this hope, utterly unnecessary. “Carlisle Cullen, you are still trying to end this.”

“I can’t end this!!!” he roared so loudly the window rattled a little, startling them both. The dark eyes went wide, and then her husband’s face disappeared into his palms. He had large hands, Carlisle, and he could bury all his features into them, leaving Esme staring at only the roots of his uncharacteristically untidy hair.

“Even if I wanted to, even if she wanted me to I couldn’t,” came the plaintive voice a moment later. “It—he—that—is growing too quickly. She’s so emaciated I can’t be certain but she measured at about twenty-six weeks this morning and twenty-eight this afternoon. Even if we were all agreed on what to do, even if I had decades of experience with this procedure—which I do not, may I remind you, try as you might to build me up as a monster in your head—I’d just as likely kill her anyway. There’s no target. I don’t know what I’m dealing with. I’m blind. And you…” he gulped. “You’re angry with me for what you think I’m doing but Esme, I can’t do anything at all.”

The repeated words rode on a quavering intake of breath as he locked her eyes: “I can’t do anything at all.”

She meant to take a step toward him, she thought, but her feet took her one step further away.

#carlisle cullen #esme cullen #my fic #teasers #cien años

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severidescigar · 2 years

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The Right Person At The Wrong Time - Introduction

Fandom: One Chicago

Pairing: Kelly Severide x Valentina Pierce (OC)

Disclaimer: This story follows most Chicago Fire storylines with my personal twist added to them. The only character belonging to me is OC Valentina Pierce.

A/N: This story will put some very beloved characters into a slightly bad light so I hope you will still enjoy it for the sake of the storyline 🤗

Next Chapter

•••

Having a rough upbringing life has given Valentina many lessons and one of them was, you can't escape your past...but she obviously didn't listen. After graduating paramedic academy and finally landing a job, she thought she finally had gotten out of the struggling state to make ends meet in which she has been trapped for most of her life...and she did for around 6 years, more or less.

After being a floater for a few months she was finally posted at Firehouse 51, she had a great partner, she was building lifetime long friendships and her relationship with her boyfriend was nothing short out of a telenovela. But oh man...she never loved anyone else the way she loved him and quite frankly he was the only man she ever fell in love with.

But disaster and chaos struck her life inevitably...growing up she and her little sister were raised by her older brother, who became overnight their legal guardian after their mother checked out on them. Long story short, her big brother got involved in some sketchy stuff in order to put food on the table and put them through school. Now many years later, after all of them successfully left that kind of life behind, they were forced to leave Chicago for their own safety.

And it was the toughest decision Valentina had to make in her entire life. That mixed with pain and irrational thinking, she decided to cut everyone off so she could move on without spiraling down into a complete wreck. Her departure has left behind a lot of unanswered questions and hurt people...and she knew that. Why? Because she never found peace in the new city that was supposed to be her new home. Chicago was home. And after "hiding" for a few years she knew she had to come back...only a whole lot of things were to change.

Sitting across the table from the man that first believed in her professional skills and gave her first stable job her foot was unconsciously bouncing up and down. "I'm really glad to have you back here...and I'm sure everybody else will be just as happy to see you again." "I have to thank you Chief...for basically keeping my seat warm all this time." Sharing a laugh his eyes drifted behind her, as another person was making his towards the office.

Valentina knew who it was before she ever turned around. It was the reason why she didn't go straight to the locker room and instead came into the Chief's office.

"Chief you wanted to see me?" A very familiar voice echoed through the room making Valentina get up from her seat and turn around to come face to face with him.

"Oh you have to be kidding me..." He spoke the moment he realized who was standing right in front of him.

"Severide...Valentina will be taking back her seat on Ambo. Now...I brought you in here because I need to hear from both of you that you can work together from now on...and whatever has happened in the past won't become a present issue in my firehouse." Chief Boden spoke hoping the Ambo saga will finally be over, as he has had a tough time with floaters recently.

"It's fine by me Chief." She quickly answered as she started to feel the tension already building up. "Same with me." The Lieutenant mumbled, still trying to piece together what had just happened.

"Good, you're dismissed!"

Leaving the office and walking together towards the common area, there was nothing but unpleasant silence among the two former lovers...until Valentina stepped in front of Kelly making him stop abruptly.

"I know a lot of things have happend while I've been gone and I know you're married now...but I swear I didn't come back to raise any havoc." In her mind, the sooner they got out the weird, uncomfortable conversations, the better...but she could've waited at least a bit longer.

"Not raise any havoc? Really? That doesn't sound like you..." And with that, he continued walking, leaving her just standing in the middle of the hallway.

#kelly severide #chicago fire #stella kidd #stellaride #kelly severide imagine #kelly severide x reader #kelly severide x oc #kelly severide fan fiction

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joonistheuniverse · 2 months

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Chapter 6 - The Decision Has Been Made

The room falls silent, none of you uttering a word. Your gaze shifts from Joo-Won to Namjoon, who stands by the window, jaw clenched in anger. He's clearly upset.

You're seated in a cosy spot on the sofa, amidst the dimly lit drawing room. The news about the unreleased photographs from your private vacation lies on the dining table. You feel fortunate that Joo, through his contacts, managed to intercept the two photographers before they could sell the pictures to the news publications.

Your eyes lock with Namjoon's, the intensity speaking volumes.

"So, what's our next move?" The air remains tense. "I think we should issue a statement about a breakup and confirm you're single," Joo-Won suggests. Namjoon scoffs, "A statement. About being in a relationship. Do they think I'm a teenager?"

"But you know it's the safest way to deter the photographers from camping outside Y/N’s apartment. It'll also put an end to them secretly following her," Joo-Won argues.

"Joo-Won, I don't think Namjoon would want to do that, and neither would I. However, considering the persistence of these photographers, we need to find a solution together. I'll discuss this with Samantha," you assert.

Standing next to Namjoon, you could see he was lost in thought before finally speaking, “I'm in love with Y/N. Enough of those years spent worrying about what the fans would say or how to protect my loved ones from stalkers. I will write a post and upload it. You start the legal process of suing those photographers.”

“Okay, if that's your plan, I'll contact your lawyer and inform Samantha about it. Bye and good night; see you tomorrow," said Joo-Won, as he left.

The drawing room falls silent after Jo's departure. You turn to face Namjoon, cupping his face and looking into his eyes. You can see the concern in them. “Darling, don't worry too much about it. We'll figure it out,” you say, pecking his cheek.

“Baby, I know you know this, but I love you very much, and I will do everything to protect you. I won't let anyone come near you," Namjoon reassures.

“I love you, honey. I trust you completely,” you reply.

He gently cups your face, and the air between you thickens with anticipation. Your lips meet passionately with desire, and time seems to stand still. His warm lips ignite so many feelings within you as his hands slowly slip down to the small of your back, pulling you further into the kiss.

You wrap your hands around his neck, drawing him closer. After this moment of passion and love, you both break apart and see the endearment in his almond-shaped eyes. Entering his bedroom with intertwined hands, the cool air hits your skin.

You feel a slight pull, and before you can register, his warm lips meet yours again. He gently pushes you backwards, causing you to touch the edge of the bed. He lightly nibbles on your lips, eliciting a moan and making it easier for him to slide his tongue inside.

From there, he moves down to your neck, leaving small pecks to tease you.

Despite this, you unclasp your undergarment, feeling the heat and fire burning inside you. "Namjoon, please hurry up," you whisper.

He responds with a smirk, his lips trailing down the curve of your collarbone, a subtle gesture promising the pleasure yet to come.

He slowly lays you down. You notice the tension in him as you feel him, aroused, and you move your hand with consistent eye contact and a teasing smirk, noticing the outline of his bulge through his grey joggers.

The night goes by with passionate intimacy and promises of love, followed by a refreshing shower together and cuddling to sleep.

_______________________________________

The next day at work seems hectic for you. You lose track of time as you sit at your desk, focused on editing the new PPM for the shoot and the script. When you finally stretch and check the time, it's already 7:30. Just then, your phone chimes, and you see a notification from Samantha.

The message reads, 'Y/N, check the news.'

You immediately unlock your phone and tap on the link she sent you.

The headline reads, 'RM from BTS has sued two photographers for privacy violation and has released a statement about the same.'

#kim namjoon #bts x reader #series #angst #bts fanfic #namjoon x reader #idol au #light angst #soft smut #secret relationship #lovers

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astral-athame · 3 months

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((Life for me has pretty much been: Wake up at 8am. Desperately try to get more sleep until 9 (usually I doze off for, like, 2 or 3 minutes at a time and that's it). Get ready for work. Leave between 9:30 and 9:45. Work from 10-1:30-ish (it's supposed to be until 1:15 but I'm never out of there on time). Get home around 1:45. Leave for work part 2 around 2:30. That goes from at least 3-7, usually closer to 7:20 when I finally leave (sometimes stay until 8 or 9). Get home between 7:30 and 7:45. Make a quick dinner, shower, etc. Around 8:30, watch Ba.tt.le.st.ar Gal.act.ica with a couple of friends (if things work out, this couple may eventually be more than just my friends, but we'll see how that goes ^^;) until about 10:30, then chat with them for a bit after that, usually until almost 11. Bedtime routine (wash face, brush teeth, etc etc). Then stare at drafts until midnight when I realize I need to get to bed because I know I'll be up earlier than I need to be. Then the weekends have consisted a lot of babysitting, running errands, and trying to finish unpacking here and there because it's been 4 months and finding time to unpack has been a pain in the ass with everything that's constantly going on. Also, I spent 3 hours on Saturday putting together a kitchen cabinet- thankfully we have extra screwdrivers because the phillip's-head screwdriver they included was such bad quality that it was messed up and unusable less than half an hour in because the metal of it was so soft -_-

ANYWAY- Work both shifts the rest of the week (except Friday, but only because I don't have to do the second shift, still have the first). Saturday we're going out for my dad's birthday (which was actually last week, but we couldn't make things work for going out last weekend like we'd wanted to). Saturday night is also game night, as usual. Then Sunday I *should* have some free time, but I also desperately need to get some cleaning done that's being semi-neglected throughout the week. So what I'm saying is Sundays are chore days.

If things go well, I should, soon, only be working the first shift in another week or two (with the second shift just being Fridays and when absolutely needed)? Right now both my sister and I are stuck doing the second shift every night (and have been since before mid-winter break last month) because the custodial staff is down two people (one girl broke her leg and has been out since October, I think? And the other has been on temporary (paid) probation since early February while they consider whether or not to fire him and go through all the legal jargon of all of that). But they should be coming to a decision about that soon, I would hope, which would mean that if he gets to come back, then we won't be working nights unless someone calls out. And if he doesn't come back, then they should be hiring someone to fill his place so we'll just have to wait until someone snags the job (hopefully, in that case, they'll offer it to my sister first because usually they try to offer it to substitutes and she really wants it, but we'll see). They're also slowly running out of budget for substitutes, so, that's something to consider, too.

ANYWAY- TL;DR: I've basically had no writing time / personal time and that's why I've not been around. Hopefully work stuff will calm down soon because leaving the house around 9:30am and not really getting to be home until usually after 7:30pm (sometimes 8:30pm or 9:30pm) has been exhausting ^^;

I'll try to be around on Sunday (probably focus on Rogue's blog because I've been writing the fic in my head at work most nights so I have a lot of muse for her AND her blog has been sorely neglected for at least a few months now WHICH MAKES ME SO MAD AT MYSELF). If I can even get one or two asks done, then I'll consider that an accomplishment at this point!

I'm so sorry about the long absence. I'm sorry to everyone for neglecting replies. I'm sorry to everyone I was writing with and haven't had the time / social and physical energy / emotional capacity to reach back out to in a while. That's on me. I dropped the ball on that. I've never been good at ooc communication anyway, tbh. I was really hoping things would be a little bit calmer after I moved, but instead they went in exactly the opposite direction and haven't really slowed down any since November. In fact, they've just gotten more hectic over the last few months ^^;

I adore you all so much and I really do hope that I can get back to writing soon. I've been missing it (and all of you) terribly.

Take care and I'll try to be around soon <3))

#ooc.#long post #((Sorry for the rambling. I've just been gone so long that I feel like you're all owed a proper explanation.))#((I miss being here. I need to stop giving all of my free time away to other people and give myself a couple days a week #that are to focus on myself and writing again.))

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shywhumpauthor · 2 years

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Hiii, first time requesting, hope I'm doing this correctly. Let's get strAight tO busInEss~~

So, I had this idea about a Hero who for some reason has retired (from hero business, left their agency etc.) and after maybe two three years they're living a quite normal life as a simple citizen. And tho Hero left everything about their old life behind, their old enemy, Villain, seeks bloody revenge from them (haven't thought of a good reason, could be personal, feelings or wtvr) and one day decides to kidnap them and carry out their revenge plan. Do they torture them? Sell them to some pretty bad people to be taken advantage of, then returned when broken? Drug them? Destroy their life? You name it.

kdkwks I haven't thought of an ending and really it's okay if you decide not to develop the idea but it would be SO SO SO AMAZING if you could please make it happen 👉👈<3

No pressure tho, and keep up then good work, we appreciate you 💛

OOOOO I LOVE THIS IDEA OMG YES

Let’s get straight to business.

(The build up to the whump is a bit long, my apologies <3)

Cw: kidnapping, noncon drugging, restraints, knives, scars, torture, stalking, breaking in, noncon touching

Hero’s life had finally begun to calm down.

Getting out of the business had been a long, exhausting process. It seemed as if any time they tried to formally submit their letter of resignation, some new villain would arise and start wreaking havoc in their city, delaying them another month. Between all the formalities and legal issues, from the time they submitted the first notice to the day they were clearing out their office in the agency, almost a full year had passed.

It had all been worth it, however, when they collapsed onto their bed and woke up feeling rested for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Being a hero had been fun at first, an impulse decision that they had made as a broke graduate, drowning in student loans and finances. The agency had covered everything, from their apartment contract to their grocery bills. Hero had had everything they could ever dream of owning, and all they had to do was dress up in some fancy armor and watch over the city a couple hours each day.

It was easy, back then. Rarely any problems, the worst threat they had encountered was some bastard trying to break into a corner store. It could barely be considered a fight, the man armed only with a baseball bat.

But as the days passed, things got worse and worse. Petty thieves turned into full on supervillains, individuals armed with weapons of mass destruction and no morals to prevent them from pulling the trigger. Between the police reports, interviews, crime fighting and talk shows, Hero was exhausted.

In the beginning, they had wondered why anyone would ever not want to be a hero.

By the end, they realized why the face of the city’s defender changed by the month.

It took them a while to tie up all the loose ends, but they couldn’t have been more relieved once it was over. They worked a normal job, with normal hours and fair wages. They spent their free time reading, wandering the city streets; just enjoying a life that wasn’t constantly in danger.

It was so wonderful.

They almost weren’t surprised when that all came crashing to an end.

• • •

It had been a day like any other. Hero got up with the sun, made themself a quick coffee and took a jog around the block before getting ready for work.

Their job as a host to a local diner was easy. Say hello, seat the tables, make a bit of small talk until the waiters came to take over. Usually business was slow, but that was okay, leaving Hero lots of time to relax.

This, too, was a rather slow day. Only a handful of customers had stopped by in the morning, and they didn’t stay long. By four in the afternoon, after the small lunch wave, Hero found the diner empty except for themself and their coworker.

“I’m taking ten,” Coworker called, untying their apron and tossing it over the coat rack.

Hero nodded, not looking up from the book which they were reading. “Enjoy.”

And as Coworker retreated into the back, Hero found themself alone.

Usually they didn’t mind being by themself- they enjoyed it actually. Peace and quiet, just them and their thoughts. But today.. something felt off. The moment they heard the back room’s door shut, a sense of unease pricked their gut, the hairs along the back of their neck standing on end.

Hero looked up, a sour taste settling in their mouth as they quickly closed the book and got to their feet.

If there was one thing their years of heroism had taught them, it was to always trust their instincts.

And now, their instincts were telling them something was seriously wrong.

Their skin began to crawl as they did a quick once-over of the diner. All that met them was scuffed floors and empty booths.

A few moments later, they shrugged it off. Maybe something was happening outside, an accident or a robbery. But as long as it wasn’t within the four walls of the diner, as long as it wasn’t within Hero’s little sanctum, it wasn’t their problem.

• • •

The nagging feeling seemed to follow them home that night, as Hero got off their shift half past eight. They were on edge as they walked home. Though the streets were busy, bustling with people and crowded with cars, Hero couldn’t help but feel isolated, picked apart from the crowd by some unseen force. They could almost feel eyes burning into their back, following each little movement they made, but each time they looked up they were met only by a sea of moving bodies, faceless people that maneuvered past them with ease.

It was beyond unnerving.

The feeling didn’t shake as they returned to their apartment, taking care to deadbolt the door and lock all the windows. But even after they snapped the curtains shut, blocking off their last bit of connection with the outside world, the sensation persisted.

They decided to sleep in the guest bedroom that night, a kitchen knife conveniently clutched under their pillow. The room was likely the most secure in the house, with only one alley-facing window. Furthest from the front door, it’s entry tucked in the corner of the living room, one wouldn’t notice at first glance.

Though the precautions were minimal, and in hindsight, quite futile, they allowed Hero a false sense of security, just enough to lull them to sleep without a second thought.

One thing that had changed in their years since hero work, Villain noticed, as they slowly slid the syringe’s needle into Hero’s neck and depressed the plunger. They slept a lot heavier than before.

Convenient for them, Villain shrugged, waiting a few moments until they were sure the drugs kicked in before hefting the sleeping Hero over their shoulder. It sure made their job a lot easier.

• • •

When Hero came to, the first thing they noticed was how cold it was. A deep chill seemed to have settled in their bones overnight, stiffening their body and clouding their mind.

They were never sleeping in the guest bedroom again…

A small groan slipped from their lips as Hero began to raise their hand to rub their eyes, only for a sharp pinch to catch their wrist, splitting the skin.

They hissed in pain, eyes flying open and squinting against the light. It took a few moments for the world around them to shift into focus, a palette of blurred greys sharpening to a vast floor of concrete.

Ahead of them, for a good twenty feet, a room stretched out, lit by flickering bulbs. Cement floors connected to cement walls, little divets and grooves in the flooring being the only thing they could see.

Hero’s brows furrowed, their lips parting in a slur of confused, incomprehensible sounds as they looked down.

Their hands were bound tight to the armrests of a chair, leather restraints pinching their skin at the buckles. Their shirt was in tatters, the sleeves ripped clean off to expose the numerous scars that littered their arms, reminders of their days in the business. The fabric was sliced clean down the front, cold air having full access to their exposed skin.

What the fuck..

Hero tried to twist their head, a confused cry for help tearing from their throat as they quickly discovered that their head too was restrained, a strap across their forehead forcing their head straight. Rough leather dug into their ankles as they kicked and thrashed in vain. They could barely move as it was, their efforts quickly rendering them exhausted.

“I can’t say I’m not disappointed,” A voice from behind them sighed, the sharp clicks of heels echoing as a figure stalked around their chair. “I expected more from you, Hero.”

“Wha- who are y’hh?!” Hero’s voice dragged out, still affected by whatever drug that must have been coursing their system.

The figure sighed, stopping just in front of them. Though their face was clear in sight, the stark lighting casting deep angles across the stranger’s face, Hero’s mind drew a blank when it came to recognition.

“Are you serious?” Their kidnapper growled, shoving their face close to Hero’s, watching as the other’s eyes widened in fear. “Two years, and you’ve already forgotten me?!”

“…Oth’rvillain?” Hero’s voice came out a mere squeak, riddled with terror as they shrunk back in their chair.

Villain’s face darkened, their hand flying before they could fully register what they were doing, striking Hero hard across the face.

“You better be fucking joking,” They spat over the Hero’s pained cry, reaching forwards to grab them by the jaw.

“Shh-‘id- Villain-” Hero gasped, cringing as Villain dug their nails into their jaw. “Ff- sr’ry-”

“Oh god you’re pathetic,” Villain hissed, pushing their face so close to Hero’s they could feel their breath, hot and sticky against their cheek. Their entire body stiffened as Villain reached back into their pocket and pulled out a knife- the very dagger that had haunted their dreams since Hero’s resignation. The one that they could so clearly remember splitting their skin and slicing their muscles in the midst of battle, just the sight makings their mind go into a panic.

A terrible sinking feeling brewed in the pits of Hero’s chest, their stomach flipping as Villain slowly raised the knife to their chest, tracing the tip of the blade over an old scar with just enough pressure to scratch but not split the skin.

“It’s been a while, darling,” Villain whispered as they leaned in close, brushing their lips against Hero’s ear. “I’ve missed you.”

Hero squeezed their eyes shut, a small whine dying in their throat as Villain dragged the blade down, carving a shallow gash across the length of their chest. Warm crimson blood beaded against their skin, an uncomfortable heat rising to the surface of the wound.

“Well,” Villain chuckled, eyes sparkling with amusement as they pulled back, watching as Hero’s blood began to spill. “I’ve missed your screams.”

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moosekateer13 · 1 year

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Chapter 6: Say You Will

2 months later…

Of course, another threatening letter interrupts our honeymoon phase.

Back off Little Miss, he's mine.

If you don't give him back, I'll break your spine

We gave the letter to Noe she's hired a private investigator to look into things. I just hope she is successful in finding out information.

Not that I couldn't handle any threats. I'm trained in self-defence and weapons. I had to learn them for roles when I was legal enough to do both.

The phrasing of the taunt felt oddly familiar. That sing-song tone was like that horrible headline that was splashed all over the media. The night that sent me into a downward spiral.

5 years ago…

August 13

My final wrap party. I decided on a break and start a family. Jared is going to be so excited. He's always wanted to start a family. He doesn't know about my decision yet. We have had little time together lately. Filming on opposite sides of the country. Since he'll be home in the morning.

"Y/N are you sure you can't stay another hour?" Noe asked.

“I can't, Jared is getting in tomorrow. Next week, I'll see you for your barbecue.” I said. She simply nods and I leave.

I crash as soon I get home, not bothering to remove my dress.

I wake up to the vibrations from my phone

Frozen in shock when I see the headlines. The articles send my world crashing down:

Old and dusty. Looks like Jared finds her crusty.

My husband was in a state of undress with his co-stars Genevive, and Sandra sprawled across him.

Knowing I can't be alone now after this I text my friend Chelsea our code 1922. Name after the twin tornadoes that tore apart Austin.

I didn't even hear her let herself in. I'm alerted to her presence by small arms wrapping me into an embrace.

End of flashback.

That day I started numbing myself with booze and drugs. It was two years before I went into rehab. Until Jared came back into my life. I've been focusing on mostly work.

Jared sets a bed tray in front of me.

"Darlin whoever this is, I won't let them hurt us. I just got us back and I ain't ever going to lose you like that again.” Jared reassured me.

His words bring me some comfort. I won’t be totally comfortable with whoever is doing this being locked up in jail though. It still puzzles me who could hate us together that much. That they are trying to break us up again.

Meanwhile …

Unknown location

Mystery Person’s P.O.V

“Dammit, I wrecked all the hard work I did before. I thought they’d point fingers at each other for those notes and cause a scandal. All it did was drive Jared right to her doorstep again. Not that they are back together. Y/N you can’t have Jared. I’ll make your death look like an accident. Then I’ll comfort Jared as he grieves.” I said before I shut off the monitor.

Chapter 7:

#maroon #alpha!jaredpadalecki x omega!reader #a/b/o #tell me story bingo #supernatural fanfiction #moosekateer13 #Smut #Angst #Mention of Addiction #Alcohol #Stalking #Blackmail #Death Threats

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electrasev5nwrites · 1 year

Text

Ninja Daily: Vapors 23

"Don't be such a brat, Hatake," Tsunade practically snarled when the man finally reported two hours late for the full mission briefing. Anko had given her report and left over an hour ago, but Aiko had waited. It was easiest to find her sensei by lurking around places he eventually had to be.

Aiko and poor Sasuke did their best to be invisible without actually employing any genjutsu while Tsunade raged, cursing like a sailor interspersed with the occasional shriek and the thud of whatever she could grab hitting walls. (The use of chakra sometimes draws the attention of predators larger than oneself, a tip from Konoha's shinobi handbook page 147).

Shizune merely demonstrated her hard-won immunity to Tsunade's frightening atmosphere by rolling her eyes and walking right out of the office. The Hokage pointed unerringly at Aiko. She cringed. "If that brat is still a Chuunin, I'll eat my fucking bra! She's getting promoted and that's final. We need all the Jounin we can get."

Kakashi slumped back against the wall and waved his hand at the thirteen year olds looking spectacularly uncomfortable. "Maa, why don't you two go get drinks and let the grown-ups talk?"

Sasuke outright bolted, making it halfway to the stairs before Tsunade could call out angrily for them to stop. Aiko lingered a little, torn between the desire to flee the woman throwing paperweights through walls and her curiosity. The conversation was about her, after all.

"With all due respect Hokage-sama," Kakashi began in a not-particularly-respectful way, "That decision is mine to make. Not yours. It has always been the purview of an instructor to determine their apprentice ready to move up."

"I'm your Hokage," she snarled, looking downright feral. "You're being ridiculous. It's not a death sentence to get an early promotion. You did yourself, for crap's sake and you know damn well that I can go over your head with this."

Kakashi sighed and straightened, giving her a deadpan expression that indicated he was not impressed by her argument. "Are you really sure you don't want the kid to leave?" he tried one more time. Then he shrugged. "Fine."

'I'm not a kid,' Aiko quietly pouted. She did her best not to let the thought show on her face but almost certainly failed.

"I know that she isn't ready for this promotion in part because I wasn't, so don't tell me that I'm being a hypocrite," Kakashi droned, giving Aiko an uncharacteristically sharp look. She was wise enough to look sheepish. "And no. You can't go over my head. When I agreed to take an apprentice, I had stipulations. Granted, I think that the Sandaime was just humoring me, but he signed them. They're all nice and legal." He visibly dismissed Tsunade, looking idly up at the ceiling as if it held all the answers to the universe's questions. The woman was red-faced and practically shaking with fury.

'She doesn't deal well with having her authority challenged, does she?' Aiko mused. 'It may have been better if I weren't here for this conversation. This… is probably a little embarrassing for her.'

She wasn't entirely sure why her sensei was so insistent about stopping her promotion to Jounin. Aiko didn't mind it, though. Kakashi was one of the few people left in Konoha that she really cared about. She respected Tsunade, but she would support Kakashi over her. He almost certainly had a good reason for blocking her promotion. Besides, there weren't many perks to that promotion. She would probably be removed from Kakashi's team and sent on more dangerous missions.

'Actually, that might be the problem,' Aiko noted. 'Sensei is a little protective. In his weird little way.'

"Whenever you get your filing system figured out, you can read them yourself. If that's too much trouble, I suppose I could go get my copy. I made certain to use small words when I drafted the document, so you should be able to get through it even if Shizune is still irritated with you for acting like a spoiled child." Aiko tried to melt into the floor. He was definitely provoking her on purpose.

'The man is kinda nuts.'

Nuts or not, once again Kakashi-sensei left triumphant. The victory was slightly marred by the fact that he had been assigned a mission out of the village that, as Tsunade sneered, Aiko would not be able to accompany him on because she did not have Jounin clearance. 'Petty,' Aiko sighed. "Hey, sensei," she started quietly. (Her ears were still ringing.) "Dinner? My treat. I wanted to talk to you about an idea I had involving my chakra chains."

"Shishou."

Aiko blinked, a bit confused. "Uh, what?"

"Kakashi-shishou. I'm not your genin sensei anymore and I'm probably not going to take another team. So you're my apprentice." The words were delivered in an off-hand manner, but she was a bit stunned. It was a generous offer (not that he'd phrased it as an offer, the bastard).

Sure, she had technically been classified as his apprentice so that he could take a genin team. But Aiko had thought that was a legal thing. He'd never asked her to refer to him as anything other than 'sensei'.

Aiko felt her eyes begin to water in a very dignified, grown-up way. She honestly hadn't expected that. But his possessiveness made a lot of sense when she thought about it. He had just lost three students in the course of a month—one to the shinigami, one out of the goddamn country with a very powerful but inattentive master, and the third to Tsunade. In some way, he probably thought Tsunade was trying to take away his last student.

Still, mitigating factors or not, it was pretty damn prestigious to be taken as an apprentice instead of just a student.

Aiko sniffled, wiping at her face and giving him a winning smile. "Hai, shishou!"

He eyed her suspiciously. "I'm not going out to dinner with you if you're going to cry," he warned seriously.

She shook her head. "No, I just blinked and an eyelash got in my eye. I'm totally cool, promise."

"Right." He rolled his eye and set off down the street. "I think I want barbeque," he mused out loud.

His apprentice gracefully accepted the subject change and followed him to a restaurant she knew well—it was one that Ino liked. 'You know… If I'm his apprentice now, maybe I should try to emulate him.' Aiko did her best not to snicker. It was traditional, after all. A shishou was a guide for behavior and habits as well as ninjutsu—not just a teacher, but a role model. Plus… it would be really amusing. 'Who am I to spurn tradition?'

As it turned out, Kakashi-shishou did think that her idea was plausible. She had noticed that her chakra chains were heavily tinged with her water-natured chakra affinity, and wondered if it was possible to use nature transformations with them. As they were currently, her chains were just really large and versatile weapons—good for tying people or bashing them to death, and very difficult to break. (To her knowledge they were unbreakable, but it was stupid to assume that there wasn't a way just because she didn't know of it).

Since she had already gone through the trouble of learning lightning transformation and could now coerce her coils into generating lightning-natured chakra, well… Aiko resisted the urge to cackle as best as she could while she explained that she wanted to be able to electrocute with her chains since they would be excellent conductors.

"That is overkill," her shishou commented crisply, for once looking mostly engaged in the conversation. "Who do you plan on fighting, the sage of six paths? I think I can help you with it." He fixed her with a stern glare. "If you electrocute me again, however…." His voice trailed off.

"I will try to resist the urge," she grumbled, a little embarrassed. On the other side of the booth, a man she suspected was an Akimichi stifled what seemed to be a laugh.

She hadn't conducted even initial experimentation yet, because it had seemed like a stupid idea to try before asking someone who she knew had gone through the experience of making his own lightning natured technique. Frankly, she wasn't particularly eager to electrocute herself. After Kakashi returned from his mission and she managed to lure him out of his apartment with food (she was a good cook and he never seemed to have anything in his apartment), she tried for the first time under his supervision at training ground seven.

Now that she had done it, it was almost criminally easy to manifest her chakra chains again. She pointedly made only three—one to experiment on, and the other two as a control group. Her shishou had pointed out that it would be important to know if it was possible to change just one chain to lightning nature or if they would all change.

All three of them fizzled out of existence when she tried to change just one. Aiko blinked stupidly, not quite understanding what had happened.

"I wondered about that," Kakashi commented lazily. "Uzumaki chakra chains only seem to manifest in members with water-natured chakra. I don't think you'll be able to have lightning natured chains."

Aiko scowled in thought, displeased at the development. "But does that mean that I can't attach something like a chakra thread of another nature around it?" she asked after a long silence. Her teacher gave her a strange look. She hurried to demonstrate by manifesting a string and flipping her coils. "See, I can already do that. Remember that I used to think that the chakra chains worked along the same lines as chakra thread for puppeteering? I worked with those until I thought I was going to be sick."

Kakashi slapped a gloved palm to his forehead and shook his head, snickering.

"What?" she asked, offended.

"That is the most ridiculously wasteful technique I have ever heard of," he pointed out, sounding amused.

Aiko snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, whatever. Chakra threads use nothing." She demonstrated by splitting the line she was manipulating into six and wiggling it. He stilled, a strange look on his face.

"I've never seen anyone outside of Suna use more than one at once."

She raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Why? It's not that hard, and the control required isn't even up to introductory medical techniques."

"It's not a matter of difficulty per say," he started, indicating that she should maintain the strings while he walked around and checked how nuanced her control was. "The payoff isn't generally worth it. For anyone other than a puppet master, conventional wisdom says that there's no benefit to using more than one at once. For most shinobi chakra threads are an ace in the hole for when they've lost their weapons or something similar. Believe it or not, they do require a fair bit of chakra for a rookie, and by the time most shinobi get to be Chuunin they already have specialties that are much more effective than anything they could do with threads like those."

"So… my idea is worthless?" she pouted. At least they were still pretty—when she charged them with lightning natured chakra, her strings positively glittered like threads of gold.

Her shishou shook his head. "I don't think so. There's a chance that you could make your idea work, but the threads would have to be ridiculously long to be useful," he cautioned. "In order for them to wrap around the threads enough times that you can be sure they'll touch whoever you'll be touching with them, they'll have to be easily three times the length of the chains."

"That's easy enough," she muttered, trying it out.

It wasn't that easy. When she pooled the threads out long enough to be useful at all, she found that control was becoming an issue after all.

She sat cross-legged on the ground with a thump, quietly manipulating them as best as she could to figure out her limitations.

"Well, it's an interesting idea," Kakashi sighed, pulling out his book. "But it will take far more control than you currently have to make it useful at all. Remember, not only will you have to simultaneously maintain two techniques of different chakra natures, but you'll have to be able to independently control them at much larger distances than you're used to."

"In other words, chakra control exercises are next," she said miserably, unfolding her legs to sit like a rag doll, heels digging into the warm soil. She had never been prone to neglecting the basics, but it was depressing to have to work on control when she had something she wanted to develop that was infinitely more interesting.

Sasuke sat down across from Karin in the hospital break room, clutching onto a cup of coffee for dear life. Somehow, he hadn't expected that he would have to do the same type of grunt work other medic trainees did when he accepted Tsunade's training offer.

That had been a mistake.

Karin delicately backed up in her chair so that she wasn't in the direct path of her fellow trainee's glower. "So, long day?" she inquired. She knew it had been. Apparently, a new group of Academy trainees had gone through their first real taijutsu lesson (when they began sparring instead of just learning kata), and the waiting room had been filled with skinny eight year olds covered in bruises and scrapes. The initial injuries were actually an intentional part of the lesson—a way for Academy teachers to ensure that students knew how to get treatment at the hospital.

It was also unfortunately a training exercise for beginning medics who were qualified to treat minor injuries but had no real experience working on adjusting to foreign chakra systems and practicing their bedside manner.

Tsunade had given hilariously little training in bedside mannerisms, Karin had noted while Sasuke bulldozed through a list of jumpy kids with a white-knuckled grip on his clipboard and an expression that indicated he was considering using it to bludgeon his way to freedom. She, on the other hand, had been given strict rules and expectations about how she talked to patients.

With her temper, she had already been wrestling with that requirement much more than the actual act of healing, which she had a talent for. Two days ago some dirty old man had grabbed at her leg when she was getting a needle off the cart for an injection. It had been a tactical error. She had smiled sweetly without comment and accidentally failed to find his vein eighteen times.

She had been roundly chewed out. Something about stabbing civilians when proper procedure would be to refer them to hospital security and file sexual harassment charges?

"I had three patients who were apparently brutalized by the same Hyuuga," he deadpanned. "I'm going to be coaxing open tenketsu in my dreams."

Karin winced. "Hanabi?"

Dark eyes glared at her over his coffee. "That's her name? Little monster." She snorted, hiding her amusement at the undue hatred for a pre-genin. If he hadn't ended up having to clean up after Hanabi, Sasuke probably wouldn't have cared one way or another if the girl had decided to break two wrists a day during recess in between tea parties with pink plastic cups.

"I get the impression that she isn't as gentle as Hinata," Karin settled for diplomatically. That was an understatement. From what she understood, Hanabi was a horrible little brat and personally she thought that Hinata would be much better off if the girl hadn't been born. But Hinata was her friend, and there was something of an unspoken rule of friendship that included not telling girls that you'd prefer if their beloved little sister had never existed.

'Even when that brat is the reason they branded Hinata like a cow,' she fumed, pulling her yoghurt out of the fridge and moodily stabbing through the tin lid. The assessment might not have been fair—it wasn't Hanabi who had made the claim that by not even making a good showing in the Tournament she had embarrassed her family. But it was Hanabi who beat Hinata down in a spar with unnecessary prejudice the day before they put the caged bird seal on Hinata. Karin had been in the hospital (changing bedpans and being grumpy about it) when Hinata came in, silently crying after apparently having a painful reaction to her new tattoo. She was both glad that she didn't belong to a clan like that and absolutely fucking livid that they had done that to such a gentle girl. Hinata had explained that she was only having so much trouble because the seal was only meant to be placed on children, as if that somehow mitigated the horror of what the Hyuuga did to their own kin.

Now that she'd been reminded, Karin promised herself that she would check in on Hinata after she got off work. The poor girl had been stressed lately. She had suffered even worse nerves than usual after the sealing, which Karin didn't blame her for. It was a pretty resounding proof that her family didn't value her.

In addition to her family troubles and self esteem issues, Hinata was also dealing with disruption in her routine. Kurenai was the last Jounin sensei out of their circle of acquaintances to return from her emergency duties. An Academy class had been cycled through condensed training in the months since the invasion and had been deployed to fill the genin ranks, leaving more experienced genin to take Chuunin promotions (some of them were even prepared for those promotions). Unfortunately, that also meant that unprepared Chuunin had been promoted to Jounin to fill those ranks. Really, the only group that hadn't seen a sudden increase in mission injuries were the genin (both in-village and those attached to elite Jounin sensei).

She found the girl with Shino on training grounds 8, doing dodging exercises while he apparently worked on his throwing. Karin leaned against a tree with one foot bent up against the trunk and waited, hands shoved inside the pockets of her dress for protection from the chill. It was a windy day, and she eventually conceded defeat and tied her hair back while she waited for her friend to finish training for the day. After a few minutes, the boy paused in his shuriken assault long enough to give her an inscrutable look.

"Hinata. Do you wish to stop for the day?"

She startled like a frightened rabbit, catching the last weapon between her fingertips instead of dodging it. "W-what?"

He inclined his head towards Karin, shoving his hands inside his coat. He was probably cold too, Karin noted with an amused sniff and a hidden smile. Hinata swiveled around almost enough for a normal human to move Karin into their range of vision and visibly relaxed. "Oh! Karin-chan," she breathed.

"Yo." Karin waved before shoving her hand back into her pockets quickly. "If you're done, I make killer hot chocolate."

Shino frowned. "What does it kill? Is it poisoned? Who is the target?"

Karin's jaw dropped and she gave him a bizarre look before noting that Hinata looked equally interested in the answer. 'Ugh, ninja can be so hopeless,' she groaned. "Look, it's just an expression alright? It means that it's really good and I was inviting her back to my house. You're welcome to come too, if you'd like," she added politely. She was pretty sure he wasn't interested, but she didn't want to snub him either.

"Oh," they both said almost in unison. Hinata looked relieved, but her teammate looked disappointed. Karin heaved a sigh.

"Anyway, if you're not done I can wait," she offered, pushing at her glasses and frowning at the way they were fogging up. Hinata tilted her chin towards her teammate and began fiddling with her fingers. Karin pulled off her glasses and wiped them on her shirt before putting them back on just in time to see Shino look faintly amused.

"I think that it would be optimal for the two of us to be done with training for the day. I have yet to eat dinner, and I am certain that you are hungry as well, Hinata." He reached out and plucked his shuriken from Hinata's hand, then strode over to the far side of the clearing and began gathering his weaponry. "Thank you for the invitation, Karin-san, but I am expected at home." She nodded in acknowledgment and the girls hustled to assist him in picking weaponry. Hinata easily found the most, but Karin felt her addition of six kunai, two shuriken and a flat blade she didn't recognize was a respectable contribution to the clean-up for a practice she hadn't been part of.

"Thank you, Hinata, Karin-san." Shino gave a short bow.

Karin bowed in return, quickly followed by Hinata. "Good night, Shino-san."

"Good night, Shino-kun!" Hinata eeped when Karin grabbed at her arm and began hustling across the training grounds, burrowing into her coat for protection against the wind.

"Come on, it is way too cold to linger out here." She pulled the other girl into a run, crossing the dirt paths that led to downtown with top haste. They slowed down when they made it into Konoha proper where the tall buildings provided a wind break, and Karin gave a long stretch and yawn. "What do you think about making tekkamaki?"

As it turned out, they ran into Aiko at the grocery store, who must have been thinking of dinner as well. She was staring at the chocolate section with a vaguely stupid look on her face, so Karin took the opportunity to tug on one of her curls. She laughed in the taller redhead's face when she whirled around, barely avoiding whacking Hinata with her basket. Aiko gave Karin a dirty look. "Oh. It's you," she said flatly, grabbing a chocolate bar off the shelf at random and stuffing it into her empty basket. "Hello, Hinata. How are you?"

While Hinata muttered a greeting of some sort and fidgeted, Karin briskly informed her cousin that they were having tekkamaki and strode off in search of sushi-grade tuna. She was less than surprised when Aiko got a thoughtful expression and declared that she wanted to make sweet potato hosumaki as well. Aiko had a strange fondness for vegetables that Karin would rather leave alone. At least it wasn't thrice-damned ramen.

The three girls collected everything they needed, Hinata awkwardly lugging a large bottle of the watermelon flavored water she liked to drink in the morning, and waved at a bored-looking Nara Shikamaru following around a woman dressed in tan who must be his mother (she had a similar nose and a no-nonsense attitude that manifested in the way she shoved heavy items in the basket he was carrying) before heading out the door.

While they had gone to the closest grocery store, there was still quite a walk back to the Uzumaki residence. There were very few civilian-ran establishments in the largely shinobi areas of town, so it was probably lucky that they were all in excellent physical condition. Still, Karin was relieved when they reached the garden out front.

Karin somehow managed to pry her cold fingers out from under her bag, tucking it against her chest with her open arm, and nudged open the door with a foot. She flounced in first, leaving her sandals in a messy heap and slipping into her glittery red house shoes before tripping into the house and dumping the large paper sack in her arms onto the table. Hinata and Aiko exchanged amused glances, pushing their shoes up much more neatly against the sides of the room before Aiko dug out her own blue slippers (a fluffy affair with sparkly green turtles that Naruto had ripped off cheap necklaces and sewn on as a joke gift). Hinata was such a frequent houseguest in the last month that Karin had actually gone and purchased her a personal pair of slippers (Karin didn't believe in communal shoes, they were the devil's work). Of course, since Karin had picked them, they didn't much suit Hinata at all, but she gamely slipped them on and somehow managed to look pleased as punch about wearing hot pink shoes. She was probably just grateful to feel welcome somewhere. Judging by how often she slept over, Karin was really certain that all was not well at the Hyuuga home.

"I think I have this pretty well in hand," Aiko called, striding into the kitchen and flipping on the lights. "The kitchen is a bit too small for three cooks." Karin shrugged and barely managed to rescue an orange from rolling off the table—she wasn't much of a cook anyways.

"Fine by me, but tell me when you're almost done so I can start hot chocolate. Hey, Hinata, want to put in a movie?" Karin punched on the television and cast an inquiring look at her friend.

"Oh, yum," Aiko mumbled to herself, clattering around for a cutting board.

Hinata looked between the two before gracefully picking her way into the living room. The cat sleeping in the exact center of the couch opened one eye sleepily to glare at her and then closed it again. "Ano, where are the movies?"

"I think most of them are in my room," Aiko called absentmindedly. Karin rolled her eyes. Aiko had the weird habit of dragging the movies into her bedroom. There wasn't a television in there, but she did have nearly floor-to-ceiling shelves where she stored a downright frightening amount of books. The top left shelf was all movies in perfect alphabetical order, pushed back against the wall so that none of them stuck out. Books were arranged similarly below. Her cousin was pretty weird sometimes. Who cared if their books and movies were in alphabetical order? Karin was much more likely to have a pile of her ten favorites by her bedside, coffee table, and by the television.

Nonetheless, she led her friend into Aiko's room because she knew Hinata would be uncomfortable going into someone's bedroom alone. Hinata's eyes widened at the ridiculous display of books. "I've never heard of most of these," she said quietly, running her gaze over the titles. "The little red book of writing?" Hinata squinted. "…historical fashion? Icha Icha Make- eep!" Hinata pulled her hands back, flushing bright red. "Ah, she has an eclectic collection," the girl practically squeaked, turning her attention back to the movies and wrapping her arms around her body.

Karin snorted. "You're telling me," she groused. "I think she wrote like a third of them. The ones with the unlabeled covers—see, they're just dimestore books, like for notes and sketches and stuff. She won't let me read them though. I bet they're really bad." She poked at a green and purple hard cover.

"I'm sure they're good," Hinata said rather loyally, grabbing one of the few titles she was familiar with off the top shelf. Karin leaned in to check the title and was relieved to see it was actually one of the ones she had purchased—a historical drama about a samurai and the girl he married. Spoiler- she was an undercover kunoichi who had been hired to ensure he failed, but it all worked out when she defected.

"Nice," she approved. In the front room she lit the cherry blossom scented tea candles that Aiko kept on tea saucers for some reason and pulled out extra pillows and blankets from the hall cupboard.

"Karin, if you want to start hot chocolate now would be a good time," Aiko called from the other room.

"Oh, crap. Coming!" Karin hustled in, Hinata following at her heels like a duckling. The brunette settled at the kitchen table politely and flipped through the book sitting there- a guide to native flora and fauna with medicinal uses that Karin had left out the night before.

"Did you know that Sasuke signed Tsunade's summoning contract?" Karin half-asked, half informed while she pulled open the cupboard and withdrew measuring cups and a pot. She'd found that out on break. Hinata sounded politely interested, but Aiko made a genuinely baffled face at the news.

"It seems really early in his apprenticeship to start that, doesn't it?" She scraped perfectly seasoned rice out of the pot and into a bowl and started cutting dried nori, moving to the side to give Karin room to work.

Karin shrugged philosophically, measuring out milk and cocoa and dumping them directly into the pan with a glob of butter. "I dunno, maybe Tsunade is taking advantage of how much chakra he has. It's nothing on you or Naruto, but he's no slouch." She critically eyed the mixture and then added extra sugar with a faintly guilty expression and a none-too-subtle poke at her flat stomach.

"I don't know much about summoning contracts," Hinata ventured, flipping a page and leaning down to examine an illustration more closely. Her face tightened. "My honored father has one, but only Clan Heads sign it. I…. I was under the impression that they required large amounts of chakra to utilize, so Karin-chan's suggestion seems sound."

Karin stepped over the elephant in the room that trumpeted around and stomped on peanuts at the reminder that Hinata would never be signing that contract. "Pass the dark chocolate, would you?" She began shaving off tiny curls to garnish the whipped topping while the cocoa began to simmer.

"I got a letter from Naruto today postmarked last week," Aiko changed the subject. Hinata looked up none too subtly, and Karin stifled a grin. That girl practically jumped half a foot every time someone said his name.

"Oh?" Hinata prodded, unusually aggressive.

Aiko gave her an amused glance, pausing in spooning hot rice out onto nori. "Yes, his training is going well from what I gather. He isn't allowed to tell me where he's been or anything, but the letter was sent from Tea Country of all the places. Apparently his shishou taught him a genjutsu."

"That's interesting," Hinata commented thoughtfully. "I didn't know that Naruto-san had a knack for genjutsu."

Aiko barked a surprised laugh. "He doesn't, not at all," she confided conspiratorially, giving downright frightening attention to precisely arranging raw tuna slices. "I bet it was hard work for him. In fact, I don't think he ever figured out that Iruka-sensei's Big Head no Jutsu is actually a genjutsu. I used to get him out of bed sometimes with an olfactory genjutsu of cookies baking. The look on his face, every time..."

Hinata giggled. "That's a little bit unkind, isn't it?" She splayed a hand out on the table as if examining her chipped nail polish.

"Nah," the girl dismissed, squeezing the bamboo roller and unfolding it to reveal another perfectly formed roll. She set it on the plate with the others and began working on the last roll. Karin gave her cousin a weird look.

"Are we really going to eat that much?" she asked a bit skeptically.

Aiko furrowed her brow and looked at the food she'd made as if she was a bit surprised to see it. "I guess I'm cooking on auto," she said after a pause. Then she shrugged. "Whatever we don't eat will go in bento tomorrow, I suppose. You'll take one too, right Hinata?"

Karin made a face. "Second day tuna?"

Her cousin made a face at her. "We'll eat those first, okay? Ugh, nag nag nag." She stuck her tongue out at the shorter girl. Hinata stifled a giggle while Aiko changed the subject to ask Karin about medical chakra control exercises. She didn't know anyone quite like the Uzumaki family. She wasn't entirely sure if that was a tragedy or good for Konoha's relatively peaceful atmosphere. If she didn't manage to marry Naruto, she was going to have to marry Karin instead so that she could stay here forever.

#vapors #uzumaki aiko #electrasev5n #ninja daily #fanfiction #naruto fanfiction

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