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snelbz · 3 years

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Life As We Know It {Chapter Five}

Summary: After the sudden deaths of Nesta’s sister and Cassian’s best friend, they gain guardianship of their nephew, Nyx.

Based on Life As We Know It (2010) and a prompt sent in by anonymous for our Nessian fanfic contest. This is a modern au.

Instead of doing a tag list for this story, we have decided to have a set posting schedule. Chapters will be posted weekly on Mondays and Thursdays. Chapters will be posted on both my and Tara’s blogs! >> @tacmc.

Life As We Know It Masterlist

Shelby’s Masterlist

Tara’s Masterlist

Nesta’s time for mourning was up.

As she pulled into Elain’s driveway, reality set in. It would be her first day back at the restaurant since the accident, since her life was thrown completely upside down.

She wasn’t ready

But, she had no choice.

Elain was already smiling when she opened the door, reaching out to take Nyx. “Hi, my baby! Aunt Lainy and Seph are so excited to spend the day with you, yes we are.”

“I’m glad, because Aunt Nesta isn’t so excited to not be spending the day with him,” she said, sighing.

Elain gave her sister a wistful look. “I get that. How about Cass, how did he feel going back to work last night?”

Nesta snorted. “Don’t know. He never came back. They started inventory around two this morning after last call, according to the short text I woke up to. He says he’ll be there for most of the day.”

Elain lifted a brow. “Wow.”

Nesta blinked. “He’s a bartender, what do you expect?”

“No,” Elain chuckled. “I meant: wow, looks like you two are actually communicating. I’m shocked.”

Nesta rolled her eyes. “We’ve been living together for three days. If we weren’t communicating, what exactly would we be doing instead?”

Elain carried Nyx into the living room, sitting him down in the playpen she’d set up in the corner. “I mean, honestly, Az and I just figured you were pretending each other didn’t exist.”

For all intents and purposes, they had been, but they had made sure to talk about important things. Like whether Nyx had been fed, when he needed to go down for his nap and what the schedule for the next day would look like.

To be totally honest, she hadn’t even realized Cassian had her number until she’d woken up to a text from one she didn’t have saved in her phone.

“We’re…adjusting,” she finally said, watching as Nyx crawled over to the pile of toys in the corner of the playpen. “I gave him a bath last night, and he said he would handle the next one, since he had to go to work. But… Gods, Elain, giving a one-year-old a bath is exhausting. I looked like I’d just left the pool, not to mention the entire bathroom was soaked.”

Elain chuckled and shook her head. “Seph loves baths, but we’re still having them in the sink right now. She’s not quite ready for the bathtub yet.”

The baby in question was asleep in a bouncer, resting on the floor by the couch.

Nesta glanced at her watch, whatever reply she had falling from her lips. “Shit, I have to go, I’ll be late.”

“Go,” Elain said, wrapping her sister up in a hug. “The day will fly by and you’ll be home with Nyx before you know it.”

Nesta nodded, even though her core was filled with dread.

Nonetheless, she was across town in fifteen minutes, hurrying into the café just before nine. She tossed her purse behind her desk after she unlocked the door to her office and looked around, only to find everything exactly where she had left it.

With a sigh, she pulled a bottle of water out of her mini-fridge, only to find it completely warm. They must have unplugged it when they were cleaning. It wouldn’t be the first time.

She didn’t have time to think on it too much, though, because there was a knock on her office door, her manager’s voice calling her name through the wood.

Her first day back had officially begun.

Cassian was exhausted.

For the past couple hours, he felt like he was lost somewhere in a dream. Now, as he continued to stare at the shelves of liquor in the back room, he debated curling up in the corner and falling asleep.

He’d messed up so many drink orders the night before, worrying about whether Nyx was okay or if Nesta had forgotten to do anything for him. He knew Nesta was perfectly capable of taking care of Nyx, had been doing so since Rhys and Feyre had died. But he still worried about him constantly.

He yawned as he shoved a box of tequila up onto the top shelf, turning to see how much was left.

Only to find the store room empty of boxes. He let over a relieved sigh, pulling out his phone.

10:37

He knew the opener would be in at eleven, a shift that was usually his, but as the manager, he preferred to ensure inventory was done correctly, and with such a big shipment, thanks to his unexpected time off, he told them he would work the night before.

His feet damn near shuffling across the floor, he made his way into the office and sat down at the desk, to wait for Kallias. He didn’t see a reason to lock the place up when Kal would be here five minutes later to start setting up.

He didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he heard a knocking on the office door and sat up quickly, his feet falling from where he’d propped them on top of the desk.

Cassian found Kallias standing in the doorway, a small smirk on his lips. “Baby keeping you up at night already?”

He yawned, dragging a hand down his face. “No. Well, sometimes, but not this time. Didn’t finish inventory until about fifteen minutes ago.”

Kallias whistled. “Damn. You should’ve called. I would’ve come help.” Cassian shrugged. “No use having both of us exhausted.”

Kallias just shook his head. “If you say so. Go home, Cass. Get some sleep. I’ve got everything under control.”

Cassian didn’t need to be told twice. He stood, clapped Kallias on the shoulder, and walked out to the parking lot. After hopping into his truck, Cassian dozed off.

And six hours later, he woke up, his head against his steering wall, his neck hurting like hell, and his chin glistening with his slobber.

It wasn’t an attractive sight.

After a curse, he looked at the clock on the dash, and swore again.

It was just after five.

The truck was in gear and he was speeding home seconds later. When he rounded the corner, Nesta’s car was already in the driveway.

He parked beside her, hopping out and hurrying to the back door. When he threw it open, he found her standing at the stove, stirring something in a pan. It smelled delicious.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, collapsing in the nearest chair at the kitchen table, his head dropped into his hands in exhaustion. Even after his impromptu nap in the truck, he still felt like he needed another eight hours sleep. “Inventory took way longer than usual and then I passed out in the truck.” He shook his head, letting his obvious exhaustion explain the rest to her.

“It’s fine.”

He looked up and glanced at her stiff back. She hadn’t turned back to look at him, was completely focused on whatever she cooked on the stove.

Her tone said it absolutely was not fine.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep, but I’d been awake for over twenty-six hours.”

“Elain had to reschedule a shoot with a client tonight. She was expecting you to come pick up Nyx after you got off and got some sleep.”

He cringed. Nesta had texted him around ten, while he was still focused on inventory, asking him to get Nyx from Elain before three. He didn’t ask why, had honestly forgotten she’d even texted him.

“I’ll call her later, I’ll apologize,” he sighed.

Nesta turned abruptly and tossed the towel she was using to hold the warm handle on the counter. She was pissed, he’d seen that look in her eyes more than once. “I get that you worked and you were tired, but you have to be more responsible, Cassian.”

“I said I was fucking sorry,” he said, standing. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep in my truck, but I did. I’m fucking sorry.”

She rolled her eyes, but turned back to the stove.

Cassian scoffed, and was nearly ready to bite her head off, but then Nyx’s soft cries came from the living room.

“He fell asleep in the pack and play,” Nesta said, continuing to stir what she had on the stove.

Cassian took that as his dismissal. He hurried into the living room and picked up Nyx, who was standing up in his pack and play, gripping the edge. When he saw Cassian, his hands shot straight in the air.

“Hey buddy,” he said, quietly, as he lifted Nyx out of his pack and play. Nyx instantly relaxed in his arms, laying his head on Cassian’s shoulder.

“He’s probably hungry,” Nesta said, as the boys made their way back into the kitchen.

“I’m aware,” Cassian snapped.

Nesta’s shoulders tensed.

Cassian said nothing more as he opened the fridge and took out some leftover mashed potatoes, Nyx’s favorite.

“He should have some kind of protein with that,” Nesta said, her back still to them.

Cassian spun around, exasperated. “Shit, anything else you’d like to add?”

She said nothing, pretending he didn’t even speak. Cassian didn’t say anything else, but he fixed him a bottle, and set Nyx in his high chair. As Cassian shook it, Nyx held out his hands, reaching for it. He gave it to him, turning to the microwave to heat up the potatoes.

He heard plates being set down at the table and found Nesta setting two plates full of stir fry on the table.

He hesitated, but moved Nyx’s high chair closer to the table. He took the already empty bottle from him and got a small spoonful of potatoes for him. He quietly said, “You didn’t need to cook for me,” as he fed Nyx.

“I made too much,” she replied, simply, sitting across from him. She didn’t meet his eyes as she took a bite.

He watched as her eyelashes fluttered in satisfaction.

As Nyx grabbed his bowl from the end of his high chair and stuck his face into it, Cassian looked down at his own plate, at the steak, broccoli, peppers, peeled carrots, and snap peas that sat before him.

It smelled delicious.

He hesitantly took a bite as Nyx clapped his hands and began to babble.

“Afraid I may poison you?” Nesta asked.

Cassian blinked, meeting her eyes. They remained like that for a moment, staring at one another, then Cassian took another bite. “It’s good. Thanks.”

“I made too much,” she repeated. “Cut Nyx up some of the steak. It’s tender enough for him to eat, just make sure the pieces are tiny. The broccoli, too. He likes broccoli.”

Cassian did as he was told without a word. He set the food in front of Nyx, who instantly had his chubby little hands on them.

“Don’t think I’ll be cooking every night,” Nesta said, in the middle of their otherwise silent meal.

“I wouldn’t think of it,” Cassian said, then cleared his throat. “I can cook sometimes, too. I’m not bad in the kitchen.” A look crossed Nesta’s face that said she didn’t quite believe that statement.

“I make a mean breakfast,” he said, after chewing through another bite. “I’ll show you. We’ll do breakfast for dinner one night.”

Nesta nodded, but Cassian couldn’t tell if that was confirmation or just agreeing to shut him up. After a minute, she set down her fork and cleared her throat. “Speaking of breakfast, I’d prefer to not share the table with any friends you may bring home.”

Cassian’s brows lowered, not fully understanding. And then what she was saying clicked and he was coughing around the bite of food he’d been swallowing. He drank from the glass of water he’d grabbed, and cleared his throat, ensuring he could breathe. “I don’t see how that’s any of your concern.”

“If I live here, it is my concern,” she said, going right back to eating, as if she hadn’t just brought up an extremely unexpected topic. “I don’t want Nyx to see a revolving door of women leaving either, he doesn’t need to get the wrong idea.”

Cassian could only stare at her, though when Nyx heard his name, he paused his eating to look up at her. He finally said, “He’s one, first of all, so he has no idea what that would even mean, and secondly, I can have whoever the hell I want here, and they can stay for breakfast. I live here, too.”

“Would you care to see an endless string of men coming out of my bedroom every morning?” Nesta asked, her tone light, but her eyes full of hellfire.

Cassian’s chewing slowed. No, he wouldn’t care to see that, but he’d never admit it. He wasn’t even one to bring women home...well, at least not often, but apparently she thought of him as some unhinged casanova.

“As long as you ask me to join, I don’t care who you bring home,” Cassian said.

Now it was Nesta’s turn to choke on the bite of steak she just took. Her cheeks turned a bright shade of red as her eyes watered. After catching her breath and taking a long drink of water, she said, “That’s inappropriate.”

Nyx giggled, his lips covered in mashed potatoes, as if Nesta had just said the most hilarious thing in the world.

He took one last bite of his food before standing and carrying his plate over to the sink. “You don’t bring up my sex life and I won’t bring up yours. Deal?”

“Fine,” she said, picking up her plate as well and dropping it next to his on the counter. “You take care of the dishes, I’ll give Nyx his bath.”

“Fine.” That seemed to be their word to end conversations, as most of them ended with one of them snapping the word at the other, and it being repeated right back to them.

He wanted to fling more insults at her, wanted to snap that he wasn’t the man-whore she apparently thought he was. He never had been, despite the obscene amount of those stupid condoms she’d seen in his glove box all those years ago. But he knew she wouldn’t believe him.

He heard her unclipping Nyx’s high chair and then she was carrying him upstairs. Cassian was already wrist deep in soapy water when he heard the bathtub running from upstairs.

It was then that he realized he had originally told Nesta that he would give Nyx a bath tonight.

He didn’t pick him up from Elain’s.

He didn’t give him a bath like he said he would.

Maybe Nesta was right.

Maybe he was just setting himself up for failure.

As he scrubbed at the dishes, Cassian felt that sense of failure wash over him and sent a thought to Rhysand, wherever he was, hoping that his oldest friend wasn’t as disappointed in him as he was.

#snacmc lawki #life as we know it #nessian #nesta archeron #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #acosf #cassian #snacmc

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myheelsdontmatchmysweatpants · 3 years

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This is my first collab fic and I could not be more excited! I'm so thankful that I can be part of the group!

The AU for this month was Sex Work. The Masterlist for this collab can be found here. Please take some time to check out everyone's contributions! There are other fics and amazing art!

That being said here is my fic, big BIG shout out to @doinmybesthere for being an amazing beta reader and sweet angel bb. ily Emme!

Please please please read the warnings. They are there for a reason!

Warnings: consensual noncon, mentions of being burnt, stabbing and blood; no prep penetration, disrespectful use of the word "whore", blackmail, psychological abuse?, Mineta (nuff said) he gets what's comin to him

You’re in the doctor’s office getting a regular checkup when you overhear the nurses in the station next to you talking.

“Look! They posted the new hero rankings today.”

“I forgot those were today, too bad they can’t have the conference during the pandemic. I miss seeing Deku all cute and blushing.”

“FUCK” In your brief moment of panic you forgot where you were. You cringe and look at the nurses, trying your best not to look like you were gonna be sick. “Sorry ladies, didn’t mean to yell.” No point in offering an explanation. You wouldn’t be able to tell them anything anyway.

As you very impatiently wait for your blood results to come back you check the tacky red cell phone you have to keep with you at all times. You had put it on silent since you were in the doctor’s office and you were glad you did. Taking a quick look at your screen had your stomach dropping into your ass.

M.M: Gonna move my appointment up to today.

M.M: You better get ready. I’m not happy.

M.M: I’m sure you saw the postings. Number 36.

M.M: I made sure to pay for any accidents in advance.

M.M: I’ll see you tonight.

Why does he have to be so fucking horrible? Accidents my ass.

The messages make your skin crawl, you should have figured the hero rankings would piss him off but honestly you never paid enough attention. With a heavy sigh you opened up your web browser and pull up the list.

“Number 36...number 36…. Number 36…” When you finally reached the hero you were looking for, you let out a sigh.

Hero Ranking Number 36: The Rainy Season Hero Froppy

Well at least you had her outfit already, for some reason she was one your client asked for a lot. Not that you wanted to ask him why, not with the way his black eyes looked whenever he saw you dressed up like her.

I don’t know if I should feel glad that he isn’t actually taking this out on her. Or upset that I’ve had to deal with this for months.

“L/N, Y/N?” The doctor walks up holding their clipboard and closing the privacy screen. Your file almost too much for the metal clip at the top. “Your test results came back negative and your burns seem to have healed very well. I would tell you that any strenuous activity should be avoided but we both know you can’t do that.”

Their poor attempt at humor had your stomach rolling. “Haha anyways Doc, I think I’m gonna need another medkit to take home today. I can schedule my next appointment online, right?”

You can’t handle the thinly veiled pity in their eyes and look down, reaching over to your side to grab your purse. You hear them moving around and a dark blue plastic box is put on your lap.

“If I remember correctly this is your favorite color, right? You are able schedule an appointment online but if you would like I can schedule it for you. How about in two days? Afternoon work for you?”

You look up after clutching the kit to your chest, you know they are just trying to be nice. All of the nurses are especially nice to you and as endearing as it might be to some people, to you it just feels dirty.

“Afternoon is perfect, thanks Doc.” You get up and walk towards the privacy screen. Before leaving you stop for a moment “Blue ismy favorite color.”

As you make your way back to your living quarters you scroll through the internet looking at every picture of the Pro-Hero Froppy you can find. Your quirk can project a person’s desires onto your body by reading them in their eyes. It’s easier when the person has a clear view of what or who they want. However, your client’s desires are such a jumbled mess that it’s easier if you know what it is beforehand.

Hopefully, I can act like her enough that I don’t have to look at his desires this time. I can’t stand how disgusting they make me feel.

You pass by a few familiar faces on your way back to your rooms but don’t pay them any mind. They in turn leave you alone, most of them knowing that when you have that look on your face you were in a mood.When you first were offered a position at the brothel you thought it would be easy money. You had been stripping for several years, known for how you looked different to everyone who saw your dancing. The beautiful, enchanting, flexible Erised. You had built up your quirks ability to be able to project almost a full clubs worth of desires. Sure, it caused extreme fatigue and chronic migraines but the money you raked in was well worth it.

A few months ago

After an especially successful night a patron walks up to you after you leave the stage.

“I have a job opportunity for you, courtesy of my employer.” He hands you a card you read “Heroes Consulting Agency” in bold silver letters.

“I’m a stripper hun, not sure I can do the type of consulting you’re looking for.” You go to hand it back, but they put their hand up.

“I’m afraid I must insist, why don’t we treat you to lunch and you can listen to our proposal?”

You put your hand back down and study them. They are dressed in a white button up with a vest, definitely out of place in a strip club. You would look in their eyes, but they didn’t really have any, their whole body seemed to be made of dark smoke. You don’t work in the nicest of places so someone with their kind of full body quirk isn’t unusual.

“Alright, I give. I’m not really one to pass up free food.” The rational side of your brain is telling you that you have more than enough money to buy your own food but the stingy part telling you to take it while you can is a little louder.

“Excellent choice Miss Erised. Someone will meet you at the address on that card tomorrow at around 5pm? Should give you enough time to recover from the side effects of your quirk.” They give a slight bow and walk off towards the exit, a large something getting up from a seat and following closely behind.

Sam, one of the waitresses walks up to you with a tray filled with drinks. Her normally short stature elevated with high heeled leather boots. “Did you know that person Y/N?”

Oh man, I do not have the energy for this.

You turn to her and survey the tray before grabbing something that looked like a fruity cocktail. “No, but they offered me a job. Gonna go have lunch with them tomorrow.” Sipping from the glass you tuck the card into your bra, making sure to not show it to the girl.

“That’s weird, don’t they know you’re a stripper? What is someone dressed that nicely want to hire you for? Also did that person look familiar to you or is that just me?” Any normal person wouldn’t be able to keep up with her unending questions, but you had known her for years. The tray in her hands tips dangerously to the left but she balances it out without a second thought.

Guess she does have to be quick on her toes to be a waitress at a strip club.

“They were here for my dance so yes they do know, either way I’m getting free food so…”

She huffs, aware of your attitude for anything “free”.

You finish the drink and place the empty glass back taking a couple bills from your bag and tucking them into her apron.

“Thanks for the drink Sam, but I gotta leave before my headache hits.” You walk off before she can say anything further. You really wanna be nice to her but her endless energy really gets on your nerves sometimes.

By the time you make it to your modest apartment, you can feel the pain starting behind your eyes. You drop your stuff by the door without turning on any lights and walk to the box safe hidden in the kitchen. After you make sure all the money is secure you grab a glass of water and head to the bedroom. The bottle of pain killers already set out on your nightstand. You should really take a shower but for now, you strip down, take a few pills, drink the whole glass of water, and lay down. It takes a while for the pills to kick in but once they do you finally fall asleep.

When you finally wake up the next morning your headache is gone, and you have to piss like no one’s business. You grumble as you stretch your tight sore muscles and get up to go to the bathroom. After taking care of business, you get into some light clothes and walk into the kitchen to make some food. Thankfully, you had some leftover rice and spam in the fridge, so you pop that in the microwave. You put the kettle on for some green tea and down another glass of water as it heats up.

Remembering the offer from yesterday and the promise of free food you pad over to your pile of things by the door and grab their card. It’s sleek looking with a plain black background and silver lettering. The address isn’t something you recognize right away so you look it up on your phone.

“What the fuck?” Why is this place in a business park?

You scroll down and check the street view; the building is a high rise surrounded by a mostly empty parking lot. The entrance of the building is blurred, probably to keep the privacy of anyone entering or exiting.

“Well, I guess it’s a nice gig. Better dress the part.” Or maybe you’re gonna get murdered.

“Wow, I really have to stop watching all those true crime shows.” You put the card in your wallet and head back to the kitchen. The microwave beeps and the kettle whistles shortly after. When you’re done eating you put the dishes in the sink to soak and head to the bathroom to finally take a shower.

By the time you have finished showering the whole bathroom is filled with steam and your body has a pink flush to it. You open the door to air it out and finish cleaning up for the day. Your outfit consists of your nicest jeans with ankle boots, a long sleeve blouse and a dark cardigan. You grab one of your smaller over the shoulder purses and leave your apartment.

One of the things you allowed yourself to really splurge on was a car. Public transportation was not as reliable as it could be and with your hours not the safest either.

By the time you make it to the building the sun is starting to set, giving the sky beautiful pink to blue coloring. As you park and get out of your car a young woman walks up to you.

“Welcome Miss Erised! Please follow me and I will escort you through the building.” The woman’s blonde hair is in two messy buns, her face childlike. Her voice was high pitched enough to grate on your nerves a bit, but you ignored it.

As you follow the person through the lobby you take a glance around. Looks like a high-end hotel lobby. There is a front desk area with a marble counter top, women that are dressed in matching button ups with their hair up in buns or ponytails. Random potted plants and small trees dot the area, and a nice chandelier hangs in the middle of the ceiling. No one besides the women at the front desk are in the area.

“Doesn’t seem to be busy right now.” You didn’t even really mean for her to hear you, but she did, and you sounded like an asshole.

They turn their head slightly with a knowing smirk. “It would seem that way wouldn’t it?”

Conversation halts while you stand in the elevator which you were thankful for. They had chosen a floor close to the middle of the building, which gave you just enough time to rethink your life choices.

By the time you got to your floor you are tired of the silence. Normally you hate small talk, but you figured you would give it a shot. “Do you like your job?”

The woman turns to you and smiles, here canines peeking out a bit while shrugging her shoulders. “It keeps me busy, plus I get to make so many friends.” The gleam in her eyes flashes menacingly for a quick second, you decide to pretend you didn’t see it.

As you get to the end of the hall, she opens a door and gestures you inside, closing it behind you. There is a nice desk to the left of the door, other than that the room is sparce. The person sitting in the chair has quite an eclectic look about him. Grey hair parted to the side, shrew eyes behind circular wire rimmed glasses, a gold chain peeks out from the slightly open white button up with a purple blazer. He reeks of cigarette smoke the evidence of his habit tossed into the half-filled ash tray on the desk.

“So nice of you to join me Miss Y/N. Why don’t you have a seat, we can talk about your new position.” He gestures to the only other chair a smirk on his face that shows of his missing tooth.

“I haven’t accepted the job yet Giran, and I thought I told you I don’t want to work for you.” You aren’t used to seeing him in this type of place. But you do know him so there is no need to put on a show. You lean back in the chair and cross your arms.

“How rude of me, you won’t be working for me, but I have been given authority to hire for this company.”

You don’t bat an eye; most large companies use outside help for hiring. “What is this position you would like offer me?”

“This company provides heroes with a way to alleviate their… desires in a safe and discrete way.”

“So, you hire prostitutes for heroes to have sex without worrying about anyone telling the press about it.”

“That is correct.”

“I don’t know if your just stupid or if you forgot but I’m a stripper not a hooker.” You sit up in your chair fully ready to leave the room.

“They would provide you with a fully furnished apartment, medical coverage with 24/7 access to their fully trained medical staff. Any cash given to you by your clients you can keep, however they would take a percentage out of the money they initially pay for your services.”

“Let’s say I’m a little interested, how much is the initial pay for my services?” You want to deny the offer, nothing wrong with having sex for money but it isn’t really your thing.

Giran doesn’t answer right away, instead putting out what is left of his cigarette only to pull another one out of his blazer and lighting it up. “The starting hourly rate is $2,500 an hour, they would take 30 percent from that.”

Holy shit, that’s as much as I make in a day and I would be making it an hour? You keep your face neutral but something in your eyes must have tipped him off.

“You would start tomorrow; most clients keep a contract with their favorite employee and we actually have someone lined up for you already. He has extremely specific tastes and you are the perfect person to fill in.”

“I’ll have to talk to the club owner; would it be possible to start later?” You don’t want to seem to eager, especially not in front of him.

“I don’t see that as a problem, they can give you one week but that’s it.”

You stay silent, making it look like you’re thinking about it. After a moment you lean forward in your chair and stick your hand out. “Sounds like a deal to me.”

Giran grabs you hand and gives it a firm shake. “If you ever need help or have any questions call the number on the card. Now I believe you were offered dinner, let me take you to one of my favorite places.”

You let his hand go and rise from the chair. As Giran comes around the desk and walks towards the door, he stops for a moment and turns to you. “Welcome to the team.”

Dinner was actually genuinely nice; the food was good, and you were able to have a comfortable conversation with Giran. Of course, he didn’t tell you anything about himself, but you had no problems with that, you didn’t wanna share anything to personal about yourself either. He dropped you back off at your car after dinner and shook your hand again before driving off.

By the time you got home you had decided what you were gonna tell the club owner and mentally packed your apartment. Not wanting to take all of your things you moved most of it to a secure storage facility. Having had it for a few years already in order to store the overabundance of clothes you owned.

After the week was up you had quit your job and packed all of your belongings. You realize you don’t know where you are supposed to go so you pull out the card and call the number.

“Hello, how can I assist you?”

“Giran never told me where I would be moving my stuff to. Could you give me the address?” You pick at your nails while waiting for him to answer.

“Of course, Miss Erised. Will you be needing any assistance for your move?”

He sounds so polite; I wonder if he is always like this.

“No, I’ll be fine on my own thank you.”

He gives you the address and let you know that you can call if you need any additional information.

“Good luck Miss Erised.”

When you get back to your apartment you immediately go into the shower and wash up, using the tea tree oil that Froppy had said she uses in an interview.

I don’t understand how people can like this stuff, but he gets easier to handle if I smell like those women.

When you are done you towel dry your hair and make sure to lotion your whole body. When your hair is dry enough you straighten it and leave it down. He likes it better when its down.

You go to your closet and rifle through until finding the very skimpy version of Froppys hero costume. All it really has in common with the original is the tan harness and the green with black and yellow stripes. Otherwise, it is a one-piece bikini without a crotch. You grab your black leather over the knee boots and get dressed. After checking the time, you give yourself a moment to mentally prepare.

I hate this, I hate him. Disgusting filthy little bug. A false hero, a plague. I can’t wait to leave this place.

Standing in the middle of your room you close your eyes and take deep breaths, allowing your consciousness to drift. You have found that the best way to endure these sessions is to detach yourself from the situation. Only focusing on the absolute necessary and maintaining the effects of your quirk. Giving yourself another minute to get into character you walk to the door joining your apartment to the “service room”.

Thankfully, he hasn’t shown up yet, you shut the door hearing the lock click into place, the door seamlessly vanishing into the wall. Sitting on the edge of the bed you face the door that Mineta will walk through and wait.

No matter how many times we do this I never lose the feeling of wanting to vomit while bathing in bleach.

When he walks in you see that he is wearing his hero costume, as atrocious as it is. He never really deviated from the original design. You immediately start your performance.

“Mineta? What am I doing here? kero” You clasp your hands together in front of your chest and look around frightfully.

“Hello Tsu, what a pleasant surprise to see you here.” He walks up, taking off his gloves and throwing them to the side.

“I don’t understand, do you know where- “Your sentence is cut off, pain in your cheek sharp and hot.

“I don’t believe I gave you permission to talk Miss thirty sixth hero.” He stands there with his hand still up as you cup your cheek and look up at him, the tears in your eyes real. He pulls his hand back again as if to slap you and you flinch.

“Good girl, now finish taking off my outfit for me.” Mineta walks back a few steps and holds his arms out. Your fingers are clumsy as you take it of piece by piece.

Mineta abruptly grabs a fist full of your hair and yanks your head back. You grab his hand with both of yours trying to ease his grip.

“Do you think if you do it slow enough, I’ll get bored and go away?” He pulls harder. “Huh? You really think you’re gonna get out of this don’t you.” He tosses you towards the bed and you scramble to get back on your feet.

The tears in your eyes have started to spill over and you start babbling. “Please let me go Mineta, I don’t know what I did but please pleasejust forgive me kero. I won’t tell anyone about this just please don’t hurt me kero.”

He doesn’t answer you, just finishes taking off his outfit before he is walking towards you again, a vicious gleam in his beady eyes.

You back up until the back of your legs hits the bed. You open your mouth to speak but before you can utter a single word, he slaps you again.

“I told you not to speak unless I told you to once already. Now I’m gonna have to punish you, aren’t I?” He shoves you onto the bed and follows, using his knees to push your legs open he sits up and gives himself a few pumps.” No need to prep you, I want this to hurt.”

You are sobbing at this point, your hands covering your face when you feel him push into you. A scream rips out of your throat and you reach forward to push him away.

“You know Tsu, these meetups have been the best. I’m thinking next time I will find the REAL you and have even more fun.” He closes his eyes a leans his head back, fully immersed in only getting himself off.

To engrossed in his own world, he doesn’t realize that you have gone still. Your tears have stopped, and you have pulled your hands back from him.

DISGUSTING

“Find the real me?”

VILE

You break character, bringing your full consciousness back. You voice is just a whisper at first, so he doesn’t hear you, doesn’t stop thrusting.

FALSE HERO

“Find the REAL me?!” You are screaming at him now.

He finally stops, hearing you the second time. For a second you see fear in his eyes before they fill with rage.

MONSTER

“Hey! You better start doing the job I paid you for, I don’t come here for you to question me.” He lifts his hand up, as if to slap you again. Before his hand comes down you grab it, squeezing until he yelps in pain.

This job is over, he isn’t worth keeping around anymore.

“You think I give a shit about a little piss ant like you?!” As you sit up, he yanks his arm away and pulls out of you. Stumbling back, he starts shaking a finger in your direction.

“You can’t talk to me like that! You’re just a whore!”

You dart forward before he can put more distance between you and grab him by the neck. As you pick him up you snarl and let your quirk fade away.

“I may be a whore but I not a monster like you. You are just a fake hero, a plague on this world and I will get rid of every single one of you.” You throw him onto the ground still holding on to his neck and squeeze.

“In other news, Minoru Mineta also known as the pro hero Grape Juice has gone missing after several videos of him have gone viral. He was last seen leaving a brothel that has requested to remain nameless. The videos contain triggering scenes of the pro hero having relations with a prostitute while she is dressed in various hero suits the resemble his old female classmates. He even refers to them by name. The videos contain triggering images, and it is recommended to not seek them out. The original videos have since been taken down but are reuploaded onto the internet on several other sites. The prostitute shown in the videos has also gone missing. Any information on the whereabouts- “

The T.V. turns off, the voice of the news anchor no longer filling the dimly lit bar. The people present remain silent for a moment before a man with burns all over his body starts to laugh.

“You could have really fucked that up Doll. Good thing we got enough evidence.” You sneer at him, making sure you change your appearance to match your own desire. He flinches when he sees his own face.

“I wish you had cut him! There wasn’t enough blood to keep his appearance up for awfully long!” The young woman with two messy blond buns in her hair twirls a knife around.

“I’m terribly sorry Toga, but I didn’t have anything sharp with me.” You pick at your nails and look over at Kurogiri, who is busy pouring a glass of whiskey for Dabi. “Do I get a break after this one or do you and boss man have another gig for me?”

#lillith masterlist #lillith writes #lilliths writing

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luvlyrv · 3 years

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Just Vacation Girlfriends (Seulgi x Fem!Reader)

Genre: Fake dating, fluff

Summary: You and Seulgi enter a precarious fake dating situation, hijinks ensue. Except the hijinks aren't light-hearted, but rather deeply personal and intimate experiences. What are you and Seulgi really?

Word Count: 2k

A/N: Hi, it has literally been 5 months since I last wrote lol, I'm sorry. It's not like I hate writing it's just that there were other things I could and had to do. I apologize for taking so long to upload again, especially for the amount of feedback I got for my first post! 68 followers and 90 notes! I know it may seem like rookie numbers to some but I really want to thank you all. I'm having my winter break now so I should be able to post a lot during this short period. If I'm lucky I may be able to semi-consistently post during the school year as well ;). Sorry if there are any grammar mistakes/wtf moments I'm writing at 3AM and have slept for two hours total for the past 40 hrs, cut me some slack please.

Date: 12/24/20

The chops of your knife against the cutting board were interrupted by your phone ringing. You stop making dinner as you look over your shoulder to your phone a couple inches away on the counter. Your eyebrow perked up as you read the caller ID, it was Seulgi. Of course, you immediately set your knife down to talk to her.

"Hey Seul, what's up?"

"Hi..." Seulgi began to yawn. "I just wanted to hear your voice today."

You can't help but to let out a small smile as you felt your face getting warmer. Luckily Seulgi wasn't actually there to tease you about it.

"Ah, well, here's my voice. Is it relaxing enough, your majesty?"

You can hear a faint and muffled sound of laughter from Seulgi before you hear her tired voice through the speaker again.

"Hm, well I guess that'll do. I'm actually calling to make sure you wanna come with us on vacation again."

"Of course I do, I've been going with you guys for years. I'll make sure it works with my schedule."

"Yeah, I know that and I'll send you the dates, it's just that..." Seulgi let out a long sigh, "there's some other things you need to know."

"And that would be?"

"Pretend to be my girlfriend."

"What?"

"Please, Y/N. It'll just be for a week. I know it's a lot to ask but I need it."

You're speechless for a bit and deliberate on what to say next. Not wanting to worry your friend with your silence you ended up just saying, "Yeah, uh okay, I can work with that... why though?"

"You know how dating is like. Not a lot of time, not a lot of privacy. My parents understand this but they're still worried you know? They worry about how my future will be like if I'm spending basically over a decade just working. Something about it takes time to find the right man, settling, babies, blah blah blah. If you pretend to date me that'll ease their worries and I won't even have to worry about a scandal since it isn't real and only my parents would know anyways. Besides... we're close enough where we can pull this off convincingly, right?"

You take a second to think. It was a strange situation to be in, but as far as you knew you would only have to pretend for the week you would spend with her family. Her family wouldn't be seeing either of you after then, and maybe you could also fake breakup if things get sticky. With Seulgi's last statement... it was true that you've been really close with her and her entire family since you were both little. All it would take would be amping up the friendly touches and banter.

"Yeah, we are. Alright. I guess we should iron out the details about our fake relationship later though. You kind of sound like shit. Rest up if you can."

"Talk to you soon, Y/N."

With that, Seulgi ended the call and you were left with dinner still unprepared and a lot on your mind.

* *

The plan was to go to the airport and fly out to the island with Seulgi, where you could rehearse your story until you would meet up with the rest of her family and go about the vacation as normal. Except for the not so minor detail of you having to be Seulgi's girlfriend.

Seulgi sits by the window as you sit next to her. You try to get comfortable, but you really can't. There's a churning mixture of nervousness in your stomach. Even though it was all pretend, it was hard to imagine yourself trying to make it look real. Although you and Seulgi both felt like it would be easy to pull it off convincingly... there was something you couldn't quite place tugging at your heart-strings.

Your thoughts are interrupted as you hear her sweet voice.

"When did we start dating?"

"Uhm, ah, I know this! It was... er-"

"July 7th."

Seulgi begins to look at you. Her eyes are filled with both a pleading look and a disappointed look. She starts quizzing all the little, and very fake, details of your relationship. You answer them correctly for the most part and Seulgi's mood seemed to improve knowing you weren't completely hopeless. You're starting to get into the swing of things when all of a sudden Seulgi asks something completely unexpected.

"And what's our favorite position in bed?"

You felt your face immediately heat up as your eyes opened wide in shock.

"I- I mean, uh, what?"

"K-kidding of course." Seulgi says this with a smile, yet she seems to shake a little. Maybe she was also surprised with her sudden crude sense of humor. She begins to reach down and grab a small book from her bag. "I think we'll be good for now, just relax until we get there."

You just nod your head in response and slip in your earbuds.

* *

Although it wasn't like you have never spent a vacation with Seulgi, things felt weird.

First was the way her family treated you, especially her parents. The both of you walked into the beach house hand in hand. Her parents were completely unbothered. Later that day when eating dinner, Seulgi decided it was time to announce your relationship. As the conversation at the dinner table seemed to finally be dying down, she set down her fork and began to talk.

"Guys, listen up, I've been holding onto this news for some time now, but I really wanted to do it when everyone could see each other. What I've been wanting to say is... " It seemed to you, that maybe just for a little moment, Seulgi was trying to steel her nerves.

"Y/N and I are dating."

Silence. The two of you were met with utter silence. It wasn't the type of condemning and judging silence, but rather one of indifference. Everyone seemed completely unbothered with this news. The silence was thankfully quickly broken by Seulgi's mom.

"Well, I'm glad you guys have finally sorted your feelings. I'm sure you're both very happy now." Her mom said it with a small but warm smile. Everyone else seemed to nod in agreement. You couldn't help but to ask, "No big congratulations? What about the fact that we're both girls? "

Seulgi's brother laughed a little before talking.

"I mean... sorry. We can act a bit more excited if that's what you want. It really is something to be celebratory about... it's just that you don't usually clap for a fish when it swims, right? You know what I mean? It's just all a bit... expected and natural. As for the 'we're both girls' I don't care, and everyone else probably doesn't either."

To say the least, that was not the reaction that you and Seulgi expected. After dinner the two of you were stuck trying to think about what it all meant. You guys were also both stuck with the fact that you'd share one room and one bed for the rest of the week.

Again, it wasn't like you haven't done things like share a bed with Seulgi before. It was just that the relationship business was getting stuck in your head. Everything normal suddenly felt dangerous. Things like even looking in Seulgi's way felt like it took caution. That night, it was decided that there would be a pillow barrier between the two of you.

By the third night the pillows were all on the floor as the you hung onto each other for warmth, finding comfort in the contours of the other's body.

Things like this kept on happening. You would set up arbitrary rules to feel normal again and destroy them all within a blink of an eye. You just kept on acting on things without intending to.

For example, the other day Seulgi woke up early to cook breakfast. You couldn't help but to feel the absence of her body and warmth and followed her out to the kitchen soon after. Even though you were in a half-asleep state your feet found their way behind Seulgi and your arms snaked around her waist.

You burrowed your face into the crook of her neck. Taking in that familiar and oh-so-comforting scent that is Kang Seulgi. Since when did her scent make you feel at home? Since when did you feel so at ease with her? You had a sneaking suspicion that it has been this way for a very, very long time.

These thoughts didn't matter though, as your body began to move with hers to the soft music she had playing from her phone. She didn't try to resist your touch at all. Instead, it seemed that she melted under your touch, with you seeing her shoulders dropping and feeling her backing in further to your embrace. Before you knew it the serene moment ended when Seulgi finally finished cooking breakfast.

You would frequently hold hands whenever the family was around, yet even though you could spend your free time wherever with whoever, you were attached to Seulgi's hip and she to yours. You two would always end up doing something together, or perhaps you would do nothing, and instead just enjoyed the fact that the other was there while quietly still holding hands.

Holding her hand quickly became your best comfort. Her soft and warm hands seemed to fit perfectly with yours, fitting together just the way you'd want them to. Something about her hands electrified you every time.

The once seemingly distinct line between platonic feelings and romantic feelings began to get blurrier and blurrier with each passing second. This doubt and confusion culminated when going on one of the last outings planned for the vacation.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, during the outing a spontaneous couple's event was hosted. Your mouth began to dry up as the host looked at you and Seulgi, urging each other to kiss.

As far as everyone else knew, you've been dating for a decent amount of time now. Enough of an amount of time for them to assume you had kissed already. You looked into Seulgi's eyes in distress. You could feel the host boring his eyes into you. You could feel practically everyone's eyes staring in anticipation.

Seulgi drew her body closer and that was when you knew your fate was sealed.

* *

A couple hours later and you're back at the house now. Laying in the bed you've shared for the past few nights you finally look at her. She looks back at you with waiting eyes. Slowly you reach your hand up from under the blankets and softly laid it on her soft cheek. She responds by placing hers on top of yours.

Staring at the deep brown of her eyes, you take it all in. You feel heat radiating from her body. You watch her body rise and fall with a mix of a calm yet eager breath. The close proximity that the two of you share is something that was typical, yet so different in the moment. With bated breath you finally say the unspoken words. The words that should've been said long ago. The air and sound barely passes through your lips.

"I love you."

The two of you close in, giving the lightest kiss in the world. There was barely any pressure but you could feel her lips touching yours. Even though you've kissed already, this one meant so much more. Even if this was such a small and innocent kiss, it was the shyness of it all, the realization that it means something that made your heartbeat race.

Putting your foreheads together, Seulgi said with a quiet voice.

"It's been like this since forever, hasn't it?"

"Yeah. Let's keep it that way."

In the back of your head you wonder, was this to please her parents or was this to please her?

#red velvet #red velvet kpop #red velvet seulgi #red velvet scenarios #red velvet imagines #red velvet oneshots #kang seulgi #seulgi #seulgi x reader #kang seulgi x reader #red velvet x reader #reader insert #kpop imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop writing #sm town

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ryqoshay · 3 years

Text

OTP Ask Meme (Impatient Edition) NicoMaki

Yeah, I know the point of these things is to wait for followers to Ask questions from the list, but reading though this one got me thinking too much. And, as the title implies, I got impatient and wanted to answer them all. Right away.

Anyway, credit to @lonelypond for this version coming across my dash. Reblog that version if you want to do this thing correctly.

Also, just because I’ve already answered these here, I’ve expanded on some for various reasons and left others short if I believe the reasons are obvious. So if you still want to do the whole interactive thing, you can still ask for clarification or whatever.

And finally, there will be spoilers ahead for How to Handle a Nico, both scenes I’ve written and posted, as well as some that remain in my Notes and WIP Warehouse. I’ll try to remember to link to the chapters mentioned.

1. Who wakes up first?

Nico, so she can make breakfast for her Maki.

2. Who wants to stay in bed just a little longer?

Maki. Usually because she studies or works later and/or longer hours. She is also not above pulling Nico back into bed when she comes to wake her.

3. Who takes longer getting ready?

Usually Nico.

4. When they can’t sleep, what do they do?

Maki’s libido can pretty much always be counted on to at least exhaust Nico, if not both of them.

5. Who falls asleep while watching a movie?

Depends on who had a rough day or week at work/school, though Maki may get bored and either watch Nico or fall asleep during overly sappy romance movies.

6. Who falls asleep last, watching the other with a small affectionate smile?

Either, depending on the stresses of the prior day.

7. Who comes up with the cheesy pick-up lines?

Nico intentionally. Maki unintentionally.

8. Who gets extremely competitive playing Mario Kart?

They both are, though in different ways. This is depicted in Consolation Prize.

9. Who accidentally pushes a door instead of pulling?

Maki, especially if she is in an unfamiliar place.

10. Who sets the other’s ringtone to something loud and obnoxious behind their back?

Both, though Maki only in retaliation for whatever teasing Nico may have done.

11. Who rearranges the bookshelf/DVD shelf in alphabetical order?

Nico likes a proper presentation of her idol merch. Maki is too busy with other stuff to care about special organization.

12. Who does the hands-over-the-eyes “Guess Who” thing?

Nico.

13. Who points out a dog when they see one?

Either.

14. Who’s prone to road rage?

Maki, especially when she is trying to get to the hospital when called in at some odd hour, or trying to get home after a stressful day.

15. Who’s prone to wearing socks indoor (or to sleep)?

Nico gets cold easier. Warm socks help.

16. Who reminds the other to put on sunscreen before going to the beach (or pool)?

Nico, partly out of habit from doing it with her siblings and partly as an excuse to offer to help Maki put it on. Depicted in Sunscreen.

17. Who carries all the important documents while traveling?

Nico.

18. Who gets the window seat?

Nico. Maki traveled enough with her parents and is happy to let her girlfriend see the sights instead.

19. Who puts their cold hands/feet on the other?

Nico intentionally. Maki unintentionally, usually.

20. What do they argue about the most?

I don’t believe anyone has been brave enough to track the data for this.

21. Who’s clumsier?

Maki, especially in the kitchen. Nico has her moments though.

22. Who texts more often?

Nico. With heavy emoji use. (I need to depict this more in HtHaN somehow)

23. Who is better with kids?

Nico. She was the primary caregiver for her siblings for many years after all.

24. Who’s the better cook?

Nico. See above.

25. Who mistakes salt for sugar?

Maki. Even after Nico labeled the containers.

26. Who puts the fork in the microwave?

Maki.

27. Who cooks at 2 in the morning?

Nico. Maki isn’t allowed to cook without Nico’s supervision. However, this would be a rare occasion as Nico typically will prepare something ahead of when Maki is arriving home this late and leave it for her to reheat.

28. Who lets the microwave play the loud beeping sound at 1 a.m.?

Maki, when she’s reheating whatever Nico made for her after arriving home late.

29. Who licks the spoon when they’re baking brownies?

Both.

30. Who likes doing the dishes?

Nico, though it would be more appropriate to say she doesn’t dislike it.

31. Who has bigger cravings? What are they?

Nico loves her sweets. Maki loves her Nico.

32. Who remembers what the other one always orders at a restaurant?

Nico is highly attentive to Maki’s preferences in food. Knowing what Maki likes in restaurants lets her know what she can make at home. And food is definitely one of the best ways to Maki’s heart.

33. How do they eat ice cream? What’s their favorite flavors?

Nico likes sundaes with lots of sugary toppings. She also likes trying new flavors and will often get multiple scoops of different flavors. Maki is fine with a single scoop cone.

34. Do they go on dates? What are they like?

As often as their schedules allow. Maki likes quite dates like walks in a park or museum or sitting up on a hillside for stargazing. Nico likes shopping for outfits and idol merch, going to movies and bustling amusement parks. But both love watching the other enjoy their hobbies so they’re willing to go along with the other’s interests as well.

35. What do they smell when they smell Amortentia?

Nico smells her father’s aftershave, strawberries, and stewing tomatoes. Maki smells Nico’s special tomato curry, Nico’s shampoo, and the cinnamon sugar of the snickerdoodle cookies the Nishikino baker made for her to leave out for Santa.

Yes, two of Maki’s are directly related to Nico. What can I say? She’s addicted.

36. Which one is the secret snuggler?

Maki. The more tired or drunk she is, the clingier she gets.

37. Which one offers their jacket to the other when they complain they feel cold?

Maki. Nico gets cold easier, so Maki is usually the one to offer her jacket.

38. Who reaches for the other one’s hand while driving?

Yes.

39. Who leaves little notes in the other one’s lunch?

Nico, because she is the only one who makes lunch for them both; Maki isn’t the type to do such a thing even if she were allowed to cook more. (Bonus: What does it say?) Usually the messages are simple affirmations of love, but she is not above getting snarky if the two had an argument recently.

40. Who is the most affectionate?

Nico in public. Maki in private.

41. Who is the big spoon/little spoon?

Usually, Maki is the big spoon as she is quite fond of hugging her Nico like a teddy bear, though Nico will sometimes jetpack.

42. What is their favorite feature of their partner?

Maki loves Nico’s smile, particularly her genuine, unforced, non-idol persona smile. Nico loves Maki’s voice, specifically her singing voice.

43. What is the first thing that changes when they realize they have feelings for the other?

Nico starts teasing Maki more, no longer to “put the spoiled rich girl in her place” but rather to see more of the adorable reactions. Maki actively tries to deny her feelings, even to, or perhaps especially to herself, falling back on established habits of insisting that she doesn’t have time to date, all the while quietly continuing to seek more time with Nico.

44. What are their nicknames for each other?

Both exclusively use -chan with the other.

45. Who worries the most? Over what?

Early on, both are worried about losing the other for different reasons. Nico is afraid that should a scandal occur that ruins her idol career, Maki may blame herself and leave. Maki fears that a busy schedule of studying in medical school followed by long hours at the hospital may turn away someone like Nico, whose attention seeking seems infinite. Later, as they settle into their relationship, their concerns turn to more stereotypical adult fears; traffic or transit accidents, sever illnesses, etc.

46. Who initiates kisses?

Nico in public. Maki in private.

47. Who says I love you first? How did it happen?

Nico, by accident, as depicted in Spoken.

48. Who tells their friends/family about their relationship first?

Technically Maki in both cases, though with their friends, Nico was active in the chatroom, and with their mothers, Maki only beat Nico by maybe half an hour or so. These instances are depicted in Reconstructed Reunion and Telling Mama.

49. What do they do when they’re away from each other?

Both have busy schedules, even as early as the years immediately following high school, so spending time away from each other is quite commonplace. This still did not stop Maki from going through a bout of depression during Nico’s first tour as a professional idol, as depicted in Homesick and Homecoming. From then on, Maki starts a tradition of visiting Nico during longer tours so as to break up their time away a bit.

50. Who gets overwhelmed by small acts of kindness?

Nico, as the more romantic of the two. This isn’t to say Maki doesn’t value sentiment, she just has other ways of expressing it than being overwhelmed.

#NicoMaki #How to Handle a Nico

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aelaer · 3 years

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The Blood in My Veins: Pt 4

Heyyyy I'm back. Now that one of my big fic projects is done/being rolled out I can concentrate on getting this finished (as well as other prompts). Here are the earlier parts if you can't remember what happened in this long-running prompt fic, since my last update was like, the summer.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Prompt (via @ironstrangeprompts that I can’t tag for whatever reason qq): Kidnapped to play doctor for a still unseen other prisoner; Stephen realizes there is only one person on the planet who would have palladium in their blood.

The Warnings: Okay guys, I want to cover all bases for this part and all parts henceforth. The bad guy I've written here really really sucks. He's a complete asshole. Part of his assholeness can include behaviors such as racism, sexism, homophobic remarks, religious bigotry, and overall just being a terrible human being. This terrible human being is not a typical representative of his nation/culture and is very thankfully fictional. There's plenty of Canon-Typical Violence around, too. All of the above are not be in this specific part but could be in future parts (I'm writing this as I go so I truly don't know, I just know he’s a dickwad). I didn't know this section was gonna happen until I finished Part 2, for instance, otherwise I'd have put a note at the beginning. I'd consider the fic a heavy teen fic, if you're looking for a rating, so it shouldn't get to graphical violence beyond what you'd see in high teen rated content. Also, there's going to be Medical Procedures in the future, though more clinical rather than graphic. Hopefully that covers everything, please ask me anything if you have a question.

I always put these longer writings on tumblr into "read more" cuts, but the mobile app does not always work correctly if you're looking at the original post from my tumblr, so I apologise for the length if you're on the app and viewing the original and said cut is not working. Still unbetaed, all errors are mine.

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

Part Four: Seeing Red Again

Another three days passed with little change in Stephen’s schedule. He went for his sleep shift at 12:30 a.m. New York time, and was woken up by one of the others between 5:20 to 5:30 a.m. It wasn't enough time for even two full complete sleep cycles, but everyone there—perhaps with exception to Steffen Baar, who was a chemist—had gone through grueling schedules during medical school and residency. So they were, in some ways, used to it.

After waking up, he had fifteen minutes to shower, shave, and change into the clothing about his size, provided for by his captors. From there, he then got to work. His sleep shift ended about three hours before dinner came—about 8:30 a.m. New York time—and a small snack arrived at what he assumed was this place's midnight, but was 2 p.m. according to his watch. Breakfast came twelve hours after dinner, at 8:30 p.m. in New York, and he went to bed again half an hour after midnight. Apparently while he slept, another snack break came for those awake.

The one small blessing in all of this was that the people holding them realized the power of caffeine and provided black tea and coffee every time they brought them food. He didn't think there were any cameras in the showers or toilets, either, which was—hopefully true. There was nothing obvious and, truth be told, he didn't really want to look much further for evidence.

Throughout his waking day, Stephen largely helped prep samples for blood analysis. He tried to strategize with Summer about how to best utilize their resources, should a surgery be required, but they had little to go on. They had yet to receive better X-rays of their patient—of Tony Stark, which still baffled Stephen—so much of their planning was about logistics.

"Doctors in the United States are required to complete a surgical rotation in their third year of med school," Stephen said, "so Jada will know basic surgical procedures. Do you need to do the same in the UK?"

"Yes," Summer answered. "All doctors go through the two-year Foundation Programme which always includes training in general surgery. So Dr Mahajan will be able to assist us as well."

"They can serve as our nurses and techs," Stephen muttered. "But what about Dr Baar?"

Summer pursed her lips together. "No medical training—but I would rather have him on hand than not. If we said we can't use him…"

Stephen grimaced and nodded. "Point. He can certainly hold a retractor." He blew out a breath. "We'll need a heart-lung machine. Those aren't easy to come by."

"None of this machinery is," she pointed out, jutting her chin to the advanced machinery scattered around the room. "I don't think that will be an issue for us. Whoever these people are, they have resources."

He pursed his lips together. "We also need an anesthesiologist."

She paused at that and sighed. "Yes. Yes, we need one of those. Unfortunately, I think we're going to be working with someone on their team if the surgery happens."

Stephen made a face. "What makes you think that?"

"When they first showed me the X-rays, I told them I would need another surgeon for the spinal area—you—and an anesthesiologist. They only spoke about finding me a surgeon, so they must have their own medical team that includes one."

He sighed. "Of course they do. He better be competent."

Summer shrugged. "Not much we can do about it. And there's not much more we can plan on this hypothetical surgery until I have better X-rays."

And so that ended that discussion and, three days later, there were no changes on that end. No new X-rays had come in, so both he and the other surgeon were stuck helping prepare samples and input data. And Stephen hadn't been so bored in years.

One wouldn't think that being captive would be boring, especially if one was doing medical work during that time. But when said medical work was repetitive lab work he hadn't done since med school? And doing it for about fifteen hours a day for three days straight with no music, no reading, no nothing to help bring some distraction or variety to his work? It was absolutely mind-numbing. A small part of him wasn't entirely sure if he could survive like this for—how long did Jada said Stark had to live without a cure or intervention? Two months? He couldn't do this for two months. He was going out of his mind after three days.

It was about halfway through his shift on the fourth day that he regretted ever thinking that he was bored.

He was typing up results from various tests performed by Jada when the door to the room was suddenly slammed open. Startled, Stephen immediately turned towards the sound, only to see five men enter, all of them with guns pointed to the rest of the room. Beside him, Jada immediately threw her hands on top of her head, and he quickly followed suit.

"Come quietly! Do not fight!" said one of the men. Stephen couldn't even begin to guess his accent; maybe it was Eastern European? Russian? Former Soviet bloc in Asia? Somewhere in that rather wide region of the world, which wasn't particularly helpful information considering there were some twenty to thirty countries there.

Summer was the doctor currently asleep, though looking over his shoulder, Stephen saw that she had woken up to the sound and was pushing herself up. But he couldn't look at her or the other doctors long as he was grabbed by one of the men and forced to walk. The gun the man carried quickly negated any ideas of retaliation.

They were led down a hall; he could see Steffen, Meera, and Jada in front of him, all being led in the same rough manner he was going through. The walk itself wasn't very long, perhaps a minute, but to Stephen it felt like every second was dragging. Despite his best efforts, his heart was starting to race at this new development.

The man with Steffen finally stopped in front of a door and unlocked it, then shoved the chemist inside. Within seconds, Stephen was at the door and being pushed forward himself. He took a quick look around, as much as he could without moving much: a large room with concrete walls and no windows, just like where he and the other doctors were being kept. Cot in the corner. Table with a computer and covered in bits of wires and electronics that he couldn't begin to label. Two other men armed with enormous guns—some sort of automatic rifles—and then one man who was crossing his arms and staring at him and his fellow doctors with a look that immediately put Stephen on edge. This man, this man radiated the air of a person in charge.

And then there was him. The famous Tony Stark, or Iron Man as he was calling himself these days. He looked like a former shadow of himself, being several pounds thinner and bearing a sickly pallor that Stephen immediately noticed, even during these circumstances.

A look of surprise was upon Stark's hollow face, but even as Stephen focused more upon him, it was quickly replaced by the cool anger of a man biting his tongue.

All five doctors were maneuvered to face Stark in a line before being forced to their knees. Stephen bit his lip to hold back a grunt of pain from his knees hitting the concrete floor.

"You say you are 'calling my bluff' with your medical team," said the man. He pushed himself off the wall and passed out of Stephen's line of sight. "Here they are." He started at Stephen's right as he went through the doctors. "Steffen Baar, chemist." A step closer. "Jada Ferguson, hematologist." Another step, and he heard Doctor Mahajan inhale sharply. "Meera Mahajan, pathologist."

Another step, and the man was behind him. To Stephen's utter horror, he felt cold metal press against the back of his head. "Stephen Strange, neurosurgeon." The metal then left his head and he heard another step. "Summer Weston, cardiothoracic surgeon." Another step, and he could see the man in the corner of his eye again, this time on his left.

Tony Stark kept his lips pressed in a tight line as their captor went through the line. When he finished, the billionaire swallowed and looked at them all. "Good job keeping me alive this long, docs," he said.

"Not good enough, Stark," the man snapped. "Their solution is only a band aid. They give you but a few more weeks. They are called the best doctors in the world, and they cannot yet make a cure?"

Stephen forcefully held back his retort regarding the man's utter ignorance. It was an outright miracle they found any sort of solution as quickly as they did to delay the spread!

Stark, it seemed, agreed with him, and had no such reservations with holding back. "That's insane, Yusifov. It takes teams of doctors months, if not years to create what you're looking for."

He couldn't see it, but Stephen could almost feel the sneer from their captor, this Yusifov. "In that case, you don't need this many doctors, do you?" A couple steps and he was again behind Stephen, further to the right. "I'm no doctor, but as far as I can tell, these two both look at blood and try to fix the problem. Neither of them fixed it, not fully. So who do you want to keep, Stark? The black American or the Indian Brit? One less woman won't make a difference."

Stephen dared a glance to his right when he heard quick breathing. Doctor Mahajan was visibly shaking and starting to hyperventilate; to her right, Doctor Ferguson was quiet, but her lips trembled and tears pricked her eyes.

Stark stepped forward, and several guns rose at the action. He stopped but held his ground, raising his hands. "Don't do this."

"Why not?" the man retorted. "You refuse to work because you are dying. They have failed you and one will pay the price. Perhaps both; they are both from lesser races."

As Stephen processed the fact that he heard a comment like that in fucking 2010, Doctor Mahajan's breathing accelerated into full on hyperventilation. His medical mind noticed it immediately.

But another was quicker to the draw. "Breathe through your nose, Meera," Summer said lowly. "Try to inhale for one-one thousand, then exhale through pursed lips. You can—"

"Shut up!"

Doctor Weston was smacked on the back of her head hard enough to send her sprawling to the floor.

And Stephen snapped.

Now, if one were to ask Doctor Stephen Strange, he would by no means consider himself heroic or noble. His role as a doctor was one of service, but even within his relatively short time as a neurosurgeon, he had already gained a prestige that recognized his rising star and already people in the medical community were considering him in the top ranks of neurosurgeons. Soon, demand for his expertise would be large enough for him to have the option to turn away those who weren't worth his time, and he felt not a lick of guilt for that. His skills were valuable.

But to hear this brute of a man first throw slurs at two of the most brilliant women—no, the most brilliant doctors—in their fields followed by an outright assault on the other caused a protectiveness Stephen hadn't felt since his sister's death to completely overtake him. He saw red.

He leaped up at Yusifov in a fiery anger, no particular idea in mind except stop him from hurting anyone rushing through his head. At this point there was little thought, only adrenaline and a near primal fury running through his veins. It wasn't like him to be so hot-headed; he was a man who kept his cool under the most stressful of circumstances. But perhaps several days of poor sleep combined with the stress of the situation finally got to him. When he thought about it in the aftermath, even he would admit he had no idea what he was thinking.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision he would come to regret.

In one moment he managed to knock the pistol out of Yusifov's hands and punched him in the face. He recognized screaming, shouting, fighting in the noises behind him, but he was focused on his own target.

Stephen hit him twice more before someone threw an arm around his neck and dragged him back and began to choke him. He clawed at the arm, which did nothing, but then he aimed his heel down right to the sensitive part of his attacker's instep. The man grunted in pain and the grip around his neck loosened.

A shot shattered through the enclosed space, causing Stephen to freeze in surprise—and that proved to be his downfall. He saw Yusifov raising his pistol just before he was whipped across the face with the weapon. The hit threw him off balance and he fell to the floor and lay there for a second, stunned. He felt wetness on the side of his head.

As Stephen attempted to push himself up, a kick to his back sent him back to the floor. An involuntary grunt of pain escaped him. He closed his eyes, pausing for breath, but was given little time to recover as he was grabbed by both arms and dragged up to his knees. From his new position, he could see the rest of the room once more, and Stephen's heart skipped a beat at what was before him.

There were several alarming sights: Tony Stark on his knees just like him, nose bloodied. One of the gunmen near Stark with a screwdriver sticking in his neck and very much dead. Summer in the corner of the room, holding a shaking Meera against her chest.

And Doctor Steffen Baar on the ground, bleeding out from his stomach as Jada desperately tried to stem the blood flow with her sweater. The red dripped through the fabric and onto the concrete.

Stephen felt ill. He instinctively reached forward towards Steffen, to try and help, but the grip on his arms tightened and kept him in place.

Stark was the one to speak first. "Let them help him. I won't fight further. I'll do what you ask."

Yusifov came back into Stephen's line of sight as he stepped in front of him, though his gaze was on Stark. He said to the engineer, "You killed one of my men. A life for a life—that is fair, wouldn't you say?"

"He did nothing," Stark hissed, pulling against the hands that held him down. Stephen could see the men pull him back and tighten their grip in response. "And he's needed. You wouldn't have brought him here otherwise."

"He didn't do anything," Yusifov agreed, then turned to Stephen. "This one did." He then sent a sharp kick into Stephen's stomach, causing him to double over in pain as far as the men holding him allowed. He almost missed the next statement. "And I should kill him for it. But the surgeon will be needed. The chemist, though? He failed to make a cure for your ailment with a month of time, and you don't have much longer to live, Stark. The chemist failed, and at this point, he's a waste of medical resources."

Then Yusifov nodded at one of his men, and he grabbed Jada by the arm and yanked her up to her feet.

"No—please, no, don't do this!" she shouted as she was dragged away from Steffen. Their captors ignored her and Yusifov walked up to the wounded man. He aimed his pistol at Steffen's head.

"Don't do this!" Stark shouted.

A shot rang through the room. A loud sob came from the corner before it was muffled. Stephen's ears rang, half deafened from the sound. His stomach churned; he felt like he was going to vomit. He hung his head and closed his eyes, trying to breathe slow breaths through his nose.

All he could smell was blood. He forcefully suppressed his gag reflex.

Stephen missed whatever conversation came next, too busy trying to calm his breathing, trying not to throw up, and not having the energy to make out the words beyond the ringing in his ears. But then the world was moving as he was pulled to his feet and shoved out of the room, leaving behind Tony Stark and the body of Doctor Steffen Baar.

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

I was stuck on what I wanted to do with this part with a handful of ideas and consulted my beta for ideas. She suggested death which I wasn't even thinking of because I'm very bad at killing off characters. I blame her fully :P

Tag list (just let me know if you want to be added/removed with a comment - still not on AO3!): @sobeautifullyobsessed, @tashacumberbitch, @babywarg, @nishtha3012, @ragingstillness, @walkin-in-the-cosmos (I think the reason I can’t tag you is because you’ve flagged your tumblr for sensitive media, possibly), @lafourmii20, @asexualchemist, @iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife, @oo0-will-of-the-wisp-0oo, @animefanfreak45, @rulerofthefandomsnow, @killaspyglass, @renlybaratheon-tyrell, @symmetria42, @kay-lock-key-lock

#tony stark #stephen strange #avengers fanfiction #mcu fanfiction #mcu #prompt fill #my writing #my fanfiction

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marveloussupernerd · 3 years

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hey i just wanna say i absolutely love your writing/posts and i hope you have an amazing day and thar you’re doing well & taking care of yourself. i don’t have anything specific in mind so may i request just some jumin fluff? possibly with cuddles?? thank you so much! 💖💘

Aw thank you !! FLUFF! 😭🥰 my inbox really loves angst right now so I was very excited to get to this request. Thank you for being so patient !!

Sleepy - Jumin Han

You and Jumin had been married for six months already! It felt like the time had flown by with him by your side; you had lots of late, stressful nights where he was at the office all evening, but also lots of lovely memories and vacations and gifts. You wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

You and Jumin planned to give each other traditional anniversary gifts, but the list for those didn’t start until one year. That meant you’d have to be a little creative this time around. You weren’t sure if he’d be expecting it, but you knew he’d love it regardless.

Your plan was to create a dinner that took you through your first few days together, when you really started to fall for him. You refused to let the chef help you; no, this was coming completely from the heart. You had everything set up around the house, domes over the food so that it wouldn’t get cold, and now you waited.

You took a seat at the table where the wine was sitting in its ice bucket, glasses and fancy folded napkins set out for both of you. You pulled out your phone, starting up a game to pass the time. You wouldn’t call Jumin quite yet; he hadn’t called to tell you he was on his way home as he usually did, but you didn’t want to stress him out. He’d be home in no time.

“My Love.” It was Jumin. He looked so handsome, a bouquet of roses in his hand at the door. You ran over to him and embraced him, as you always did when he got home.

“Happy six month anniversary!” You cheered, pressing a kiss to his lips. He didn’t let you escape that quickly, though, pulling you back in to draw it out.

“My love,” he whispered. Your body shook. You jumped. It was a dream. “There you are.”

You opened your eyes slowly. You were laying on the napkin, now collapsed out of its fancy position. You sat up, rubbing your eyes, and looked over at him.

“I should’ve known something was up when you didn’t answer the phone. Or greet me at the door. I’m sorry I was so late,” he had a bittersweet look on his face; he seemed happy to see you but upset that he made you wait so long that you had fallen asleep.

“What time is it?” You asked, still trying to wake yourself up.

“Midnight. Time for bed.” You had gotten everything ready over two hours ago. You were out for two hours?? But, you prepared so much for this!

“No, we can’t!” You exclaimed frantically. “I had this whole fancy dinner planned out for our anniversary... although I guess it’s over now.”

He cupped your cheek gently in his hand. You leaned into his touch. “You seem tired. We should get some rest.”

“Nooo,” you groaned, pulling away from him. “I’m all awake. Please? The food’s probably cold but it was cute so I at least wanna tell you about it.”

“I’m so sorry I was late. I feel like I’ve ruined this,” he frowned. “And you look so cute... so beautiful... but so sleepy.”

You pouted. “I’ll be okay! I’m practically wide awake now.”

He simply chuckled, shaking his head. “Okay, we can do it, on one condition.”

“Anything.”

“We do it in our pjs.”

You hadn’t expected Jumin to propose something so outlandish for something as formal and significant as an anniversary dinner. You raised an eyebrow. “Although you look beautiful, My Love, you’ve rubbed your eye makeup across your face in your half-awake state.”

You felt so embarrassed. You had completely forgotten you had put makeup on. “Oh!” You squeaked. “That’s embarrassing. Uhm, okay. Sounds like a deal.”

You made your way over to your vanity to take off your makeup as Jumin went through the drawers to pick out matching pjs to wear. He settled for silky navy polka dots for the both of you.

He set the impeccably folded pajamas on the vanity, then leaned against the edge of it, watching intently as you removed your makeup. “May I?” He asked, a small blush forming on his cheeks. You shrugged, a soft smile making its way to your lips, and handed him the makeup wipe.

He focused his energy on carefully removing your lipstick, trying to get the product out of the folds of your lips. You let your eyes flutter shut as he worked on taking off your foundation, trusting him to do a good job. “You look like you could fall asleep any moment,” he commented.

Your eyes snapped open. You glanced at your reflection; it seemed like the makeup was pretty much gone. “So not true! Let’s get changed and get this party started.”

The two of you, pajama-clad, made your way to the kitchen. There, on the counter, was your first part of the meal. You lifted the domes, revealing some steak and asparagus. “It’s definitely cold now but... ignore that! If you’re really hungry I can microwave it or something.”

“I’m no chef but you should not microwave steak,” Jumin chuckled. He wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you close to him. “Why did you choose this dish, chef?”

“Like my... fourth? Day in the chat room, you went to lunch with your father and Glam. You had that “Melanin Steak” as you called it, which was actually none other than a steak prepared by Melanie of Mister Chef. But, I digress. You took the worst photo in the world of your meal. That’s the first time I realized you were an actual human being, and a pretty cute one at that.”

“If I remember correctly, it was the first time you called me cute.” His cheeks heated up at the compliment still.

“It was nice to see you weren’t perfect at everything. Plus you started cracking bad jokes. It was inevitable I’d fall for you.”

He leaned forward and placed a kiss on your nose. “That’s adorable. But please don’t make me eat three-hour old steak at midnight.”

You giggled, wordlessly answering his question by grabbing his arm and pulling him to the next stop on your tour: the dining room table.

You took a seat, urging Jumin to do the same, and pulled the wine bottle out of the... now water bucket. The ice had melted. “Uhm... chilled to perfection, but not really, I have some wine here.” You poured a little bit into both of your glasses.

“Now wine at midnight I can get behind,” he smiled, clinking his glass against yours. He took a sip. “This is the first wine we shared.”

“You remember?”

“Of course I do. It’s my favorite wine. It has been from the moment I saw it stain your lips red.”

He was so... poetic. You downed the rest of the glass and stood up. “Dessert time!” You cheered. You eyes his half-full drink. “Chug, chug, chug Jumin. We’re on a tight schedule here!”

He sighed, rolling his eyes playfully and downed the drink. “I would never do that if you hadn’t asked me to. You’re turning me into a mad man, you know that?”

You giggled, showing the way to your bedroom. You lifted up the domes on the plates resting on the bed. “Strawberry pancakes and tea. The first thing you ever made for me.”

He glanced at the room-temperature tea and laughed a little, bringing it up to his lips and drinking a bit to be a good sport. “Earl Grey. Your favorite.”

“Well I know it’s not your favorite, but if I remember correctly you had Earl Grey that day as well,” you observed, tapping a finger on your chin thoughtfully.

“You’re right on the nose.”

He cut a little bit into his pancake, bringing the fork to your mouth for you to try some. You took a bite, eyes fluttering closed. “That good, huh?” He asked.

You forced your eyes open. “Nah, it tastes like cold pancakes. I think I’m just tired.”

He moved the plates to the bedside table then pulled you down to lay on the bed with him. “Does that mean we can finally go to sleep?”

“Finally,” you sighed. He wrapped his arms around you: one around your shoulders and the other around your waist, pulling you close enough that your nose brushed his collarbone.

“I really enjoyed your gift.” He looked down at you, his hair falling to your forehead and tickling you. “May I give you mine tomorrow morning? You seem awfully tired from all the excitement now.”

You shook your head, but mid-shake started to yawn. He scooched up the bed, keeping you tight in his arms, and kicked the blanket to the side so that the two of you could burrow under it. “I guess I am tired,” you said, a smile on your face.

He tangled his legs with your own, trying to get more comfortable. “Is this alright?” He asked, referencing the position. You nodded. “If there’s anything you’d prefer just let me know.”

You nodded again, burying your face into his chest to breathe in the scent of his cologne.

“You’re so perfect, my darling wife.” He spoke aloud, as though he was more thinking to himself aloud though.

“And you’re so perfect to me.” You yawned again. “I’m sorry.”

The bed creaked. Elizabeth the 3 must have jumped onto the bed. Your suspicions were confirmed when you felt her curl up in the bend of your legs. “Good night my perfect husband,” you leaned down to pet Elizabeth, “my perfect baby. Who could ask for any more?”

“Certainly not me. I’ve got everything I need right by my side.” Jumin added. You could hear the smile in his tone. He kissed the side of your head, then started to drift off to sleep.

#mystic messenger #mysme #Jumin han

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graymoon2-archive · 3 years

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I’m not good at requesting fics but you could do one with Wilbur and he teaches the reader how to bake :D

Absolutely, thanks so much! Really cute idea! I’m going to post this separately and stuff with better formatting and tags, but here’s what i have!

So- This is just gonna be a lil thing~

You’re sitting at your computer, looking at your schedule for this year

Baking? I don’t know how to bake. Wait…

“Will!” you yell, pushing back from your desk.

“What’s up babe?”

“I need to learn to bake”

He walks in your shared room.

“Whatcha need to bake for? If you want anything I can make it,”

He smiles down at you.

“I have a baking class this semester and I don’t wanna be the only idiot,”

He pouts a little and wraps his arms around you.

“You’re not an idiot” he mumbles into your neck.

You laugh, “Still, I can’t bake.”

He kisses you on the forehead.

“How about we make muffins then love?”

He pulls you up out of your chair and takes you to the kitchen. He begins pulling ingredients out of the cupboards.

“What kind of muffins d’you wanna make love?”

You think for a bit.

“How about blueberry white chocolate?”

He nods and gets the rest of the ingredients. He gets a bowl out and starts instructing you. When you finish putting in the ingredients you start to mix the batter. He puts a hand on your arm.

“Babe. You’re mixing it wrong. “

You look up at your boyfriend��s face. He’s barely holding in a laugh. You fake pout. He positions himself behind you and puts his hands on yours. He gently moves your arms so you are stirring it correctly.

“Right, now we put them in the little papers” he says into your ears. He reluctantly lets you go, helping you spoon the batter into the little paper cups. After you finish you put the muffins in the oven. As you wait for them to finish Will gets a call.

“Hello? Oh hey Bad what’s up?”

Will put it on speaker.

“I was wondering if you could take a look at the lore I’ve been planning. “

“ I can’t right now. I’m making muffins with (y/n)”

“Ooo what kind?”

You break in.

“Blueberry white chocolate.”

“Great choice (y/n)!”

“Bad, I should be able to take a look later if that works?”

“Yep, that should be fine! Thanks Wilbur!”

“No problem Bad”

He hangs up. A few minutes later the muffins are done. Will pulls them out and puts them on the counter. He looks at them.

“I told you that you could bake love”

You smile. After the muffins cool a bit you both take one.

“Wanna watch a movie?”

“Sure” he replies. You both sit on the couch and he wraps an arm around you. After a while you fall asleep. He kisses you on the forehead.

“You make great muffins love”

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flipomatic · 3 years

Text

Internships Chapter 1 - Before - Emira

Summary: What? Emira blinked a couple times to make sure she was seeing that correctly. Ed was going to the Emperor’s Coven and she was going to the Illusion Coven. They were being split up? Shouldn’t those assignments be the other way around? It didn’t make any sense.

The Blight siblings explore career options and learn something about themselves along the way.

Author Note: Here we go, off into this brand new project. I’m writing this for NaNoWriMo, so it will be mostly written in the month of November. The target word count is 50,000 and I have 35 chapters planned. All of that could change, so we’ll see how things go. Welcome, I hope you enjoy the fic!

_____________________________________________________

As the illusion teacher lectured, droning on about imitation spells, Emira was doodling in class. She wasn’t normally the type to doodle, she usually preferred to create images with illusion magic instead, but this class was so dull even that couldn’t alleviate her boredom.

Currently she was drawing little stick figures of herself and Ed, sending them on adventures anywhere but this classroom. The most recent drawing was of them training with Mittens at the Knee.

To her left, Ed was taking a nap. He had an illusion spell cast to make it look as if his eyes were open, but his slumped posture and slow steady breathing were dead giveaways. Luckily he didn’t snore or talk in his sleep, so the teacher didn’t notice.

Emira glanced up from her amazing stick figures to look at the school bell. There were only a few minutes left in this class, and then she had only one more after for the day. After that, she’d have sweet sweet freedom for the whole weekend.

She was planning to go with Ed to the market; they had a new duplication illusion that they wanted to test on unsuspecting shoppers. The goal was to make them think they’d taken more items than they actually bought. It was still in trial, but Emira had high hopes for it.

“The schedule has changed, so listen carefully to where you’re going next.” The illusion teacher said from the front of the room, the change of topic drawing Emira’s attention to her. “After this class, head to the gym for an assembly.” Emira hadn’t heard anything about an assembly before now. She glanced over at Ed to see if he knew anything, but he was still sound asleep and no help at all.

A student raised their hand and asked what the assembly was going to be about, but the teacher said they would see when they got there.

A moment later the bell rang, signaling dismissal. Ed snapped awake at the loud noise, his illusion spell dispelling as he opened his eyes. As the students around them started to leave, gossiping about the change to their day, Emira gathered her belongings as well. She stowed her doodles away, to be continued another time.

As Ed followed her out of the classroom, Emira filled him in. “We’re not going to class, there’s an assembly.” She said, turning to walk towards the gym.

“What for?” Ed asked, trailing behind her as they weaved through the crowded halls.

Emira shook her head. “Don’t know yet. It’s probably not important.” She looked back at Ed, then tilted her head towards a nearby stairwell entrance.

Ed nodded and turned towards the stairwell, seeming to understand what she was suggesting. Ditching the assembly wouldn’t be a big deal, nobody would even notice they were gone and if anything important happened they would hear about it later. They could wait in the stairwell until it started, and then slip away unnoticed. It was a tried and true strategy.

Emira turned to head that way, but when she was a few steps away from the door a familiar voice stopped her.

“Make sure not to be late for the assembly.” The illusion teacher from their last class had walked up behind them, her voice bursting any hope Emira had of sneaking away. Now that she had seen them loitering in the hallway, she would certainly look for them at the assembly too.

“We won’t be.” Ed replied to her in a fake polite tone.

Emira nodded and turned away from the stairwell. “Let’s go.” She gestured for Ed to follow, and then started walking away. The teacher called after them that she would see them there, which meant that yes, they had to go.

It only took a minute to reach the gym from there, which already had most of their class in it. There were not as many students as Emira had expected, since this was an assembly. She thought it would be the whole school or perhaps all of the high school students, but it looked like it was only the oldest students in the school. Principal Bump was standing on the floor of the gym, holding the mic but not yet speaking.

The students were guided to all sit on the right side bleachers, of which they only filled about half of the seats. Emira and Ed climbed all the way up to the back, taking a seat in the last row. When the illusion teacher walked in a few minutes later she combed her eyes over the crowd, nodding when she saw them there.

A couple minutes later, the bell rang. When the last sound from the bell faded, Principal Bump started speaking into the microphone. “Welcome students.” He said, smiling up at the upperclassmen in the bleachers. “Within the next two years, you will be joining covens. This is a wonderful time in your lives.” He swept one hand in a large gesture. “To help prepare you for this momentous occasion, Hexside has worked with the Emperor to provide an internship program.”

A few of the students turned to mutter to each other, bringing a low buzz of whispers over the crowd. Emira looked over at Ed, and he shrugged in response. Neither of them had heard anything about this. Emira couldn’t deny that she was curious though. An internship meant not having to go to school for a while, which would at least be a change of pace.

“You have all been assigned a coven to complete your internship for the next four weeks. Your placement starts Monday morning, bright and early.” Principal Bump continued. “Your placements are final; they will be posted in your next class. The internship is required and the coven will report your attendance to the school.” Next to her, Ed sighed dramatically. “Remember, you represent Hexside. Be on your best behavior and have fun!”

A few hands popped up in the audience, so Principal Bump took some questions. Students asked about what the punishment would be if they didn’t complete the internship. The answer, unpleasantly, would be that they would flunk their last period class. Another student asked how they will know where to report. Principal Bump said that information would be available with their coven assignment.

This went on for another half hour, with questions being answered. Emira didn’t ask any, just listened to the responses. It sounded like this was completely mandatory, and whatever coven she was assigned she would be stuck with. She hoped they sent her to the Emperor’s Coven; it would be more interesting than the Illusion Coven.

When the questions dried up, Principal Bump dismissed them back to their regular classes. There was a flurry of conversation among the students as they left the gym, all curious about where they would be assigned.

“Please be the Illusion Coven.” Ed pleaded with the sky, as if asking the Isles for a favor. “Please.” He had his hands held together as if praying.

“I don’t know,” Emira walked beside him, headed to their last class. “We could both get the Emperor’s Coven.”

Ed groaned. “Anything but that.” He shook his head. “Hard work doesn’t get along with me.” He looked back up and requested again to be put in illusions.

They continued chatting as they walked, until they reached the classroom. Once she stepped through the door, Emira saw that her peers were huddled around the blackboard. She had to nudge her way through the crowd to the coven assignments, which were posted in a large illusion image on the board.

It only took her a moment to find her and Ed’s names, since Blight was almost first in the alphabet.

Edric Blight – Emperor’s Coven

Emira Blight – Illusion Coven

What? Emira blinked a couple times to make sure she was seeing that correctly. Ed was going to the Emperor’s Coven and she was going to the Illusion Coven. They were being split up? She was being sent to Illusions while Ed was going to the Emperor’s Coven?? Shouldn’t that be the other way around? It didn’t make any sense.

Emira looked over at Ed, who had his eyes locked on the list. His cheeks had paled considerably as he stared. Emira nudged his arm, snapping him out of his trance.

“That can’t be right.” He said, eyes snapping back to the board. “I’m gonna die if I have to go to the Emperor’s Coven.”

Emira agreed with him; though she had teased him, she knew Ed would hate being part of law enforcement. If they had gone together it would’ve been more bearable for him, but on his own he would be miserable. “Maybe we can swap.” She would have more fun at the Emperor’s Coven than the Illusion Coven, so swapping was a win-win situation.

A little bit of color returned to Ed’s cheeks as he nodded in reply. “Yeah, ok, let’s do that.” They walked over to the teacher for this class, who was already surrounded by students asking questions.

Ed pushed through the crowd, cutting to the front. “Excuse me.” He said when there was a momentary break in conversation, drawing the teacher’s attention to him. “Can Emira and I swap assignments?”

The teacher, one of the general education teachers, shook his head no. “The assignments are final. You may not trade.” That was quite disappointing to hear. The teacher was immediately pulled away by another student, to answer a different question.

Ed visibly deflated as he walked away, and Emira felt the same way. They were stuck with these covens, whether they liked it or not. She looked back up at the board, making note of the location next to her assignment. She would have to go there starting on Monday, so she should make sure she knew where it was.

Ed was looking at the board again, starling listlessly at it. Emira wrote down the location for his internship too, just in case.

She poked him in the side and reminded him that they were going to test new illusion pranks later, which cheered him up only for a moment.

This weekend truly was their last chance for a while to be free.

They had a long month ahead.

Next Chapter

#the owl house #the owl house fanfiction #emira blight #edric blight #here we go off on a big adventure #nano is fun i say #on day one when it's easy #check on me in a week i'll be telling a different story #here is chapter one though #don't know what the update schedule is going to look like on this yet #i hope you enjoy it!#flip writes

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atypicalbipolar · 3 years

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Questions about the psych ward you’re afraid to ask

I was inpatient at three different hospitals in the Boston area between 2017 and 2018. Newton Wellesley Hospital (NWH) January 2017, McLean June 2018 and Mass General Hospital (MGH) twice September 2017 and November 2018

What about my phone? In January 2017 NWH did not allow cell phones. I went to the ER (at my hospital, MGH) with my mom in crisis. She had my phone, and kept it with her when they decided to admit me and send me to NWH. If you ended up on this unit with your phone they collected it with your valuables and handed them over to security for the duration of your stay. There were two computers in the OT room that we were allowed to use when the room was staffed. (So beware of logging into sites you had two factor authentication set up for new computers)

The other two places allowed phones with restrictions. At MGH the nurses kept our chargers locked in the laundry closet, all together. I still have my medical id sticker on my charger. If I remember correctly you had to surrender your phone at night. At McLean they supplied their own bank of chargers out in the common areas. We needed to be up and out of bed for vitals before we could use our phones.

You’re encouraged to not be on your phone so much, as you’re there for treatment. It’s hard to strike a balance because I did want to stay on social media, but I didn’t want to say anything about being in the hospital. The first stay at NWH was actually helpful for me as a detox. I do use my phone too much and being psychotic and on social media is not a good mix for me.

What do I wear? I wore my clothes in each unit. But each place had different expectations. At MGH it was perfectly acceptable for you to spend the day in your hospital PJs as long as you kept your hygiene. I hated those PJs, they were too warm and ill fitting so I wore my own clothes during the day.

NWH had an expectation that you were dressed in your own clothes. I remember they had a washer and dryer and staff would assist with laundry. What's important to know is that everything you bring in is screened for contraband and unsafe items. You can't wear clothing with drawstrings and that includes shoelaces. A lot of my sweatpants and hoodies had drawstrings. For one pair of sweats I let them cut the drawstring because I really wanted to wear it.

This is one of the reasons why it's helpful to have family or friends have access to where you live so you can get some creature comforts. And when I heard the laundry machine wasn't the cleanest at MGH I just cycled a few days of clothes with mom.

Do they feed you? Yes and it's hospital food. That means at both NWH and MGH I was given a menu to order each day, like any other patient there. There was also a fridge/cabinet area off the common room for snacks and drinks. Instead at McLean Sodexo had a contract to provide food. There was no menu as they brought meals to the dining room. You didn't have a choice in food but if you had your phone and cash you could call for delivery. There were binders of menus by the entryway. But as someone who has to keep an eye out for crohn's food triggers I did not enjoy having less control over my food.

Where do I sleep? The number of patients on the floor is based on the beds they have. At NWH I had a roommate and we had a room big enough for drawers/shelves, chairs, but shared a desk. We had our own bathroom, but had to be let into a common shower by staff. The unit was pretty old and claustrophobic and the plumbing and heating proved that. At McLean it was similar, except there were common floor bathrooms and showers.

MGH had real adjustable hospital beds and bathrooms with showers attached. Staff will still do their 15 minute checks and will knock on your bathroom door.

Checks? Staff must visually count you every 15 minutes. The person who is assigned that role will usually have a clipboard or list to check everyone off. At night it means opening your room’s door and visually spotting that you’re in bed, alive. After the first couple nights you usually can ignore it.

If you are having a hard time and dealing with suicidal ideation, or intrusive thoughts, you should let staff know. They may put you on a 5 minute list, meaning you’ll see them around more often.

What do I do? You’ll be assigned a care time to work on a treatment plan. Usually a psychiatrist and nurse will meet with you each morning, sometimes there’s more people like a social worker on your team as well. Whatever brought you to the hospital will be worked on, with the goal to stabilize you. That is their priority. In the meantime between rounds, meds, and meals there are groups scheduled. What’s available depends on the unit you’re in. There could be morning and evening check-ins where you just talk about the day as a group. Could be light exercise or yoga groups. Pet therapy and music therapy break up the day but it's all dependent on staffing levels. The pets are handled by volunteers for example when I saw them at MGH.

Back when I was at NWH I remember there were a lot of groups. From right after breakfast until post dinner check out. At MGH there were far fewer. The big difference was MGH’s visitor policy so the evenings were a lot more open. At NWH there was only a certain time in the evening that family and friends could visit during the week. And yes you’re expected to go to groups. Staff keeps track, and notes will go into your file. It will help, if not right now, then later when your care team sees good progress notes in your file. Even if you’re not into it, it’s a way to pass time and stay out of your room.

Weekends are quiet, sometimes to the point of utter boredom. There’s less activity and you will often just see the doctor on call instead of your assigned team. Depending on staff coverage there might be some structured activity, like open art block but not nearly as much as during the week. They emphasize visitor time.

Can I go outside? Depends on how the unit is set up and staffing. McLean is on a campus and I was there in June so I was lucky to go outside. There was a level of privilege - staff needs to know you're stable enough to go out. NWH had a little enclosed outdoor space that staff worked hard to clear ice from. I was so glad to get out. But unfortunately you can't go outside if you stay at MGH. There's not enough staffing or much of a protocol. Besides, the closest outdoor space to Blake 11 is right at the front entrance where cars do drop off.

What are rounds? All three of the hospitals are teaching hospitals meaning they’re affiliated with a medical school. I didn’t just see a psychiatrist. At the bare minimum I also saw a resident, a doctor who is in training and has picked psychiatry as their specialty. I remember a couple days the doctor let the resident interview me. I am pretty relaxed when it comes to teaching hospitals as I’ve only ever gone to MGH. But they have to ask you for permission. They want you to be involved in your treatment plan and give consent. If you're not comfortable having more bodies in the room then necessary you should speak up. And if you talk to your assigned nurse for the shift they will relay a message to the doctor.

What’s a shift? The floor has to be staffed 24 hours. There are different coverage levels for each shift. Night is the lightest for example as everyone is supposed to be asleep or in their rooms and quiet. Day shift is the busiest, with people running various groups as well as rounds happening. I remember NWH had 3 8 hour shift rotation and MGH had 2 12 hour shift rotation. I remember when I first went to MGH I was so confused because everything was different from NWH. They even called their non nursing staff different terms, probably because of the job requirements.

How long do I stay? Everyone’s treatment plan is different. For example someone who arrived after you may leave before you do. Generally your care team will try to figure out what’s going on and a game plan when you meet them for the first time. I’ve stayed about a week, maybe a little more depending on the stay. I stayed longer at NWH, but it was my first admission and I had a psychotic break while on steroids so it was more complicated. And my last stay at MGH was longer because we were doing a major treatment change, and rediagnosis. I woke up on the unit at MGH again and asked for a sleep study, but the attending had looked through my file of all the other admissions and diagnosed me as bipolar. I switched over to lithium which needed to be monitored and increased slowly.

What's next? For me I went to partial after I was discharged. I remembered as a teen when I was diagnosed with Depression I went to partial after being in the hospital. I found it's helpful to ease the transition. You might have only been hospitalized for a few days but it's a completely different routine. It's like going from 0 miles per hour back to 60 very quickly. Partial is a therapy program set up with structured groups during the day but you sleep at home and commute.

Tips

It is easier staying in the hospital when you can have visitors, especially someone who can bring you things. It is easier to have your phone to coordinate visitors.

Unless your psychiatrist and you agree to prearrange an admission, you will most likely be coming from the ER. Two times of the four I was put into an ambulance and sent to another hospital. The other two times I was sent upstairs to MGH’s unit on Blake 11.

Odds are there is no air conditioning. Don't expect any windows that can open either. Sometimes the temperature in the unit really varies, so you might want to wear layers.

You do not need to make friends. It does help to pass the time if you can talk to people, and you may feel less alone. If there's issues with your roommate you can ask staff for help.

Figure out when the meals should be delivered so you're ready. Sometimes they are late or they forget your tray. Try to be nice no matter what. I've never gotten warm food that was too cold for me but I've heard staff offer to nuke it in the microwave.

If you're at a teaching hospital be prepared for students to visit as well. I saw many nursing students at MGH. I would chat then up. It's a change of pace. I remember a medical student was on my care team and gave me psychological testing.

#psych hospital #Boston #Depression #bipolar #hospitalization

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madgeinvoltronland · 4 years

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Thank the Stars

Tonight (April 21) we can see the Lyrid meteor shower in my country. Since I used that event for my contribution to the Kidge zine last year, and since I never posted it, it seemed like a good time to do so, even if I’m not really into Voltron anymore.

Rating: General As he gazes upon the stars, Keith realizes how much of a sap he is. The good thing is, Katie is just as bad as him.

As he was waiting in line to board his bus, Keith realised he had been wrong. So wrong. One would think that students wouldn’t want to get up this early for the 5 a.m bus back home. But here he was, among students still half asleep, nowhere close to boarding anytime soon.

But it was worth it.

The sooner he left, the sooner he’d be back home, back with Katie.

He hadn’t seen his girlfriend since New Year; too busy trying to pass his first midterms to go see her, and her too busy with her last year of high school. And he missed her. Hearing her distorted voice during their daily phone calls wasn’t enough. He needed to see her, run his fingers through her hair, and put his arms around her shoulders to keep her close. She fit perfectly against his side, her warmth all against him the best way to sooth him, and he missed it all.

He was so busy thinking about finally reuniting with his girlfriend that he spaced out, holding out the line when it was his time to board. The guy behind him complained, pulling him out of his thoughts, and he quickly found his place. It was not the most comfortable, but it was cheap, and in a few hours, he would be together with Katie again.

Just as the clock stroke 5a.m. his phone buzzed.

[Katie] Hey hotstuff. Didnt miss ur bus?

[Keith] Hey shortstuff. All ready to get back pain. The things I do for you

[Katie] Aww u sap ♥

Keith was about to answer when the driver announced they were departing, and which stop they’d make. He looked outside, watching the scenery at first, then up to the sky, where the few stars you could see above the city shone brightly.

And Katie was probably right about him because that sight immediately reminded him of the day they got together.

Katie loved space, just like everyone in her family. She was following in her father’s footsteps, aiming to work for NASA. And Keith, while he was interested in space exploration, mostly loved seeing the way her face lighted up when talking about it. So when he had realised the Perseids were around the corner, he had asked her if she wanted to go camping with him, where they could see the stars without light pollution in the way. So, maybe he was indeed a sap.

But honestly, she was just as bad as him.

[Keith] Like you’re one to talk. Remember last summer? The perseids?

[Katie] Yea. We spent hours loading ur car, but it broke

Sure, that wasn’t his proudest moment. He had known for a while that his car was having problems, so it should have been no surprise. But that wasn’t his point.

[Keith] And you found a way to bring the stars to us

As soon as they had realized that they couldn’t go, she had asked him to give her a few hours, and then join her at her place. It was a strange request, but even then, he couldn’t say no to her.

[Katie] And?

[Keith] You’re a sap too

[Keith] You projected the nasa direct just to confess

When he’d gotten to her house, she had led him to the attic, where strangely enough a round camping tent had been installed. She had grabbed the sleeping bags he’d bought over and gone inside, leaving him utterly confused, until he had joined her.

She had set up her laptop and a projector inside. The projector was facing some kind of dome-shaped mirror, and the reflected projection followed the curve of the walls, giving the impression you were surrounded by a screen. Katie had instructed him to get comfortable while she finished setting up everything, so he had sat on his sleeping bag. The sound of cicadas and wind ruffling through leaves slowly filled the place.

And when the night sky replaced whatever was on Katie’s screen, projected all around them, he couldn’t help his awe. It was almost like they were out camping, the only things missing being the smell of grass and the bugs (which was probably a good thing). She had managed to make them travel, without actually going anywhere.

[Katie] And ill never listen to Lances ideas anymore, that was dumb

He knew her enough to know that it was just her embarrassment talking. She had been just as embarrassed that night.

Lance’s idea of the perfect confession was to set the perfect mood. Not that dumb, but when their trip got canceled his alternative was… so Lance-like.

Katie had waited for him to voice his awe to tell him that it wasn’t as magical as she had wanted, though there was something that could make it better.

Keith being her boyfriend.

Even with the dim light of the projector as their only light source he had been able to see her blush. Which got worse when she’d started word vomiting, confessing that she had planned on asking him out during their trip. That when it got canceled, she’d called Lance in a panic, asking him what to do. That he had been the one to suggest that pick-up line. That she’d went with it because every other time she had tried to confess, he either didn’t get it, or she had lost her nerves. That if he wasn’t interested, she hoped they could still be friends.

He had stopped her then, grabbing her hand to stop her rambling, intertwining their fingers to anchor himself. To this day he could still remember how fast his heart had been beating. But he had been elated, smiling while he reassured her that he was more than interested.

As anxious as the whole confession had made them feel, leaning toward each other had felt right, natural. It was merely a peck, but that soft kiss had melted the tension in the room, and they had laid back together to enjoy the projection.

[Keith] I liked it

The gesture was sweet, and with Keith leaving for college a few weeks later, he barely had time to do something for her in return. They barely had time to see each other period. But maybe that could change… If he remembered correctly, there was another meteor shower happening in April…

It was a good thing he still had data left and it didn’t take long for him to look it up on his phone— the Lyrid meteor shower, scheduled April 22 to 24, right during his break.

Now he just needed to see if Katie was free, so he called her.

It didn’t take her long to answer.

“Hey, I was just replying. You’re okay?”

Her voice was rough, she was probably short on sleep, but it worked for him. She would catch up on what he was planning if she was too awake.

“Everything's fine, just need to ask you something real quick.”

She yawned. “Ask away.”

“Are you doing anything this week?”

She groaned and for a while, the only sounds he could hear were ruffling and cursing. Keith almost felt bad for making her get up.

“No,” she finally answered, “free all week.”

“Good, cause I have a late birthday present so don’t plan anything for Monday to Wednesday.”

“Urg, where’s my pen now…”

More ruffling could be heard, and Keith couldn’t help it, he chuckled.

“Don’t laugh at me Keith Kogane, this is all your fault. You could have waited till we were together.”

“Guess I’m lucky you love me.”

It took her a few seconds to answer, but when she did her voice was soft, and he could picture her blushing.

“Exactly.”

“I’ll let you sleep a bit more. See you when I arrive?”

“See you.”

He hung up with a smile

He’d have a lot of things to plan, but he couldn’t wait to finally take her on that long overdue trip. He’d need to borrow or rent a car, because his old one was still not trustworthy, but this time, it was going to happen.

The soft music coming from the radio was the only sound in the car as they drove out of the city. Katie had to be honest, she was kind of curious. Keith had kept his plans a secret, and she had refrained from looking into it despite how much she wanted to know. If Keith wanted to surprise her, she wasn’t going to spoil him the pleasure.

If only he wasn’t frowning and looking displeased right now.

He was looking at the road like it had done something to offend him. Which didn’t make sense, because they were alone, and it wasn’t bumpy or anything, so it was all smooth driving.

“Hey,” she tried to grab his attention by putting her hand on his arm, “is something wrong?”

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes and sighed, finally relaxing his shoulder.

“It’s just the weather…”

She looked up and, sure enough, you could barely see the sky behind the clouds. But at least it didn’t look like it would rain, and she pointed it out.

“That’s… still not enough,” he answered, his fingers drumming against the wheel.

There was obviously more on his mind, but Katie knew when to push, and when to give him time. He would talk eventually, and the car fell silent once again.

It didn’t last.

“It’s the Lyrid meteor shower tonight.”

And suddenly, everything made sense.

Their conversation when he was coming back from college, his sudden phone call… It wasn’t just any birthday trip. It was a second attempt at their failed first-date-slash-confession-date. And as much as she wanted to play it cool, the attention made her shy.

Katie Holt, the high school genius who always speaks her mind, rendered speechless by a date plan. It was still a nice feeling, and she couldn’t help but smile as she grabbed Keith’s arm again.

“We still have some time, maybe the sky will clear. And if not, there’s still tomorrow.”

Keith smiled, and he let go of the wheel with his right hand to hold hers.

“I know, I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

“You’ll call me a sap but,” she took a deep breath, and looked straight ahead to try and hide her blush. “A trip just the two of us is already pretty sweet.”

And as they held each other later that night to keep warm, eyes glued to the sky, they both thanked the stars for bringing them together.

#sometimes I write #kidge #this will be my last post on this blog

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iamartemisday · 5 years

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Pepperony Week Day One- 5+1 Things

A/N: So I posted this last night, but I was informed that one of my tags wasn’t spelled correctly. Somehow, in my attempts to fix it, I managed to erase the entire post. That’s what I get for trying to fix it on mobile. >>

So here we go one more time. Hope you enjoy!

5 times Tony didn't realize he was in love with Pepper, and 1 time he did.

When Tony made a random low-level administrative assistant his new PA, it was mostly for the novelty.

Here was a woman confident enough to break into his office and tell him to his face that he was wrong. Observant enough to catch a mistake not even he, the guy who built a working robot before his balls dropped, had spotted.

Plus, she was a former model. In magazines and everything. Whoever said models were dumb could go eat their ignorant words with some ketchup on top.

Virginia Potts, newly baptized as Pepper, spent her first day on the job familiarizing herself with her new responsibilities, organizing the photos on her desk, and signing a truly immense amount of paperwork. Seriously, Tony had to talk to Obidiah about switching to digital. What kind of futurist was he killing all those defenseless trees?

Given his track record with PAs, he expected Ms. Potts to last a month, maybe two. Not a crack against her, but he was a handful and he knew it. When she inevitably quit, he'd have a generous severance package and a glowing reference ready for her. Now it was just a matter of how long before his partying, all-night science binges, and frequent overnight guests of the female variety wore her down.

Three months later, she was in his office while he slept off a hangover, notes in hand as she briefed him on the upcoming board meeting.

"Mr. Daniels in HR needs to talk to you about calculating this year's Christmas bonuses. Mrs. Prowitt in accounting just had a baby and you need to send out your personal congratulations-"

"Potts…"

"You still have paperwork to sign for the merger with Rushcorp-"

"Potts, please…"

"And R&D has taken issue with the blueprints you gave them for the new missile prototype. They're saying the flight system isn't feasible with our current technology. You might want to have a word with them."

"Potts! I'm dying!"

He struggled to lift his head and look into her eyes with all the pain in his formerly inebriated soul. As usual, she was unsympathetic.

"This is why I told you not to go out partying on a Tuesday night," she said.

"As if you never partied on a Tuesday."

"No, Mr. Stark, I didn't. I waited for the weekend." She started for the door. "I'll get you some water and ginger ale. You'll be ready to go by noon."

"I could also not go."

"That's true, but you will" Her phone rang and she ignored Tony's moaning to answer it. "Hello? Oh, yes Mr. Daniels, I was just about to call you… yes, he will be ready in time for the meeting. I just confirmed it with him."

She left and Tony whimpered in agony. This must be what abandoned kittens on the side of the road felt like.

"I thought I hired an assistant," he mumbled. "Instead I got a new mom."

He almost immediately cringed at the idea. Potts was not at all like his mother. She wasn't even a really strict big sister.

No, she was something else. Something he couldn't pinpoint.

Boy, did he hate not knowing the answer.

"Potts, we should go out sometime."

Surprisingly, he wasn't drunk. In fact, he'd been sober for the last six days while they negotiated a contract with a new satellite company. That was a personal best for him and he deserved some recognition, dammit.

"We are out," she said, and indeed they were in the lounge at the Plaza hotel waiting for their drinks to arrive.

"I mean on a date," Tony said. "You know, with dinner and dancing and no business deals. Just the two of us."

Pepper sighed like this wasn't the first time he'd asked. And, to be fair, it wasn't. "Mr. Stark, you know why we can't date."

"Do I? Remind me real quick."

She rolled her eyes. "First of all, it's against company policy. Even if I didn't work directly under you, we're still in the same department and fraternization among employees never works out well. Second, dating your PA would reflect badly on us with the press. Finally, maintaining a professional environment in the workplace is crucial to overall productivity and good financial health."

Tony whistled. "Lot of big words there. You've done your homework, Potts."

"I have to," she said, but couldn't hide a slight smile. "If I don't, who will?"

"Good point." Tony leaned back with his hands under his hand. "It's funny, though. I didn't hear anything in there about you not wanting to date me."

Pepper opened her mouth, but none of her pre-established responses to his flirting came forth. Instead, she blushed heavily and turned away to tap on her phone.

Tony chuckled to himself. She was kind of cute when she was flustered.

Not that she wasn't always cute, but…

Even though Pepper wouldn't date him (and all jokes aside he did begrudgingly see her point), that didn't mean she wouldn't date at all.

Five years had passed since the pepper spray incident. There had been a few guys in that time, or so he assumed. He was too busy keeping track of his own one night stands to pay attention to Pepper's.

One day, out of the blue, she asked to leave work two hours early. The last time she did that was three years ago.

"Hitting the town, Potts?" He meant it as a joke, but also not. Tony wasn't a genius for nothing and he'd noticed the changes in her make-up and the unfamiliar perfume lingering in the air.

Pepper cleared her throat. "As a matter of fact, yes. I'm going on a date tonight and I need to get my hair done."

He wanted to say her hair was perfect the way it was because it was perfect and whoever this guy was probably didn't even notice. He also wanted to say he needed her to stay late because they had some extra paperwork to go through. Surely he had something buried in one of his desk drawers for her to look at.

"Oh, that's nice," he said, leaning back in his big plush chair. "Didn't know you were seeing someone."

"We're casual at the moment."

"Just looking for a midnight ride, huh?"

Pepper glared at him, but it wasn't her offended face. More like her 'I think you're funny but I'm not going to say it because that will just fuel your ego so I'm going to pretend to be offended' face. He'd become an expert in differentiating between the two.

"I'll be sure to have all my tasks done before I leave," she said.

"As if you need to tell me," Tony snorted. He read some papers while Pepper went to her office. Fifteen minutes later, he was still on the same paragraph and needed to stretch his legs. "So… what's his name?"

Pepper glanced at him, then went back to typing. "Craig."

Craig and Pepper… Crepper?

God no...

"What's he do?" Tony fought to keep his posture loose. "Let me guess. He's a genius billionaire in charge of his own company-"

"He's an investment banker."

"Fun. Where are you going?"

"To dinner and maybe a movie."

"You know what you're going to see?"

"We'll decide when we get there." The intercom beeped and Pepper pressed the button to silence it. "Looks like your two-thirty is here."

Tony barely paid attention during his appointment with… whoever this guy was. Something something missile guidance revamping something. His eyes always trailed back to Pepper behind a wall of glass. When she left for the night, he hung around for half an hour before going home. It was just too quiet without her.

A few months later, Pepper asked for another early day.

"Sure thing," Tony said, chewing on his bottom lip. "Got a hot date with Craig?"

"No, just dinner with my parents. It's my mom's birthday tomorrow," she explained. "Actually, Craig and I decided to just be friends. I think he's seeing someone else now."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

Tony tried his best not to grin as he said it, but he was grinning for the whole rest of the day.

After Tony completed renovations of his Malibu home, he started doing more work from home. This meant Pepper had to come over more often than not. Aside from a requisite 'want to see the master bedroom' quip, Tony had allowed her space in his massive home. She had an office and a guest room complete with a private balcony for when she wanted to work outside.

Being as she was, most of their private time centered around business. Making deals, planning meetings, arranging his schedule, and lots of other fun and exciting activities. On weekdays, she arrived promptly in the morning and left before sundown. Unless it was quarterly report time or they were on the verge of closing a huge deal, she never deviated from this schedule.

So it was strange when he left the basement one night at midnight after five hours working on his new convertible to find Pepper asleep on the couch.

Her tablet and some papers were on the floor where she'd dropped them. One arm was tucked under her head, no pillows in sight. She'd taken her shoes off, and while Tony was no foot fetishist, her new pedicure was lovely.

She sighed and shifted in her sleep as Tony gently squeezed a throw pillow under her head and draped a blanket over her. He would've carried her to the guest room, but Pepper was typically a light sleeper and putting her in an awkward position might mean she wouldn't come over as much.

He gathered her things and stacked them neatly on the coffee table. Hopefully, those pages were in the correct order, but if they weren't, she'd have them right in under a second.

Tony stepped back to watch her chest rise and fall. Her face was so peaceful. Not like the cool serenity she used to calmly destroy brown-nosing idiots at meetings. It was like he was finally seeing Pepper in her natural state of being.

He liked it.

But of course, he liked it. He liked her.

And maybe he shouldn't be staring at her while she slept. That was kind of creepy.

He was never going to see Pepper again.

'No,' he told himself, 'don't do that. Stay positive. Stay positive.'

The problem with staying positive is that it's hard to do when you're running through the desert with no food or water and you've just escaped captivity and watched the man you spent three months forming an emotional bond with die before your eyes.

Suffice to say, this was not Tony's day.

He'd only briefly considered what would happen if the escape was successful. Best case scenario, he got himself and Yinsen out and they found a village less than a mile away with friendly locals who had food and a satellite phone handy. With both of those things now off the table, Tony stumbled through the sand, careful not to run too fast and waste energy. If he had to guess, the temperature was roughly a thousand degrees Fahrenheit. He'd probably sweated another five pounds off.

The one good thing about being lost in the desert was it gave him time to think. About all his mistakes and all his missteps. All the things he never realized he should've done.

He should've told Rhodey how much their friendship meant to him. Tony had been a pain in his ass since college and yet Rhodes never abandoned him.

He should've told his father he loved him. Twenty years he spent ignoring and pushing away that one simple truth, and now he couldn't avoid it. Howard Stark was an asshole, but so was Tony Stark. Like father, like son as they say.

He should've told Pepper… God, the things he should've told Pepper. Listing them would kill hours of time while the elements slowly killed him. He should've told her how important she was, not just to Stark Industries, but to him. How much he appreciated everything she did for him. How happy he was to see her every morning. How thankful he was that she didn't quit after two months and take that severance package. How much better she deserved than to be in his shadow. How much he truly cared about her from the bottom of his heart.

How much he…

God, this heat was unbearable. Couldn't even think straight.

When he saw her again after hours in an air-conditioned plane, being fed jello packets and wanting nothing more than a hunk of real meat, none of what he should've said came to mind.

"Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long lost boss?"

It would have to do.

It should've been another quiet post-return evening in.

Tony didn't feel like flying that night, otherwise, he'd be out on the town already. The plan was to watch cheesy sci-fi movies and laugh at all the mistakes until he fell asleep. Now he was trapped in his own body, eyes unable to close, mouth unable to open. He stared up at a monster wearing a familiar face as he literally ripped his heart out.

"Oh Tony, this is your ninth symphony," Obidiah said, among other bullshit villain monologue crap Tony couldn't hear over his own internal screaming. "This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart."

'Fuck you,' Tony wanted so badly to say. 'Fuck you, you lying son of a bitch. Fuck you fuck you fuck you-'

"Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would've preferred that she'd live."

Someone once said there were five or six profound moments in everyone's life. Tony didn't know who that someone was or if he didn't just make that whole thing up in his head. Whatever the case, this was one of those moments.

Never before had he wanted so badly to kill someone. Not just kill them, but make them suffer the worst sort of torment. He wanted to rip Stane apart with his bare hands, destroy him from the inside out. Make him regret even thinking about threatening Pepper.

He focused all his strength on his legs, making his toes wiggle. The ringing in his ears was fading, but not fast enough.

'You can do this,' said the voice of Pepper in his ears. 'You can do this.'

His fingers twitched and he slowly clenched a fist.

He wouldn't lose one more person he loved.

#Pepperony #pepperony week #pepperonyweek19 #Tony Stark #Pepper Potts #5+1 Things

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paradise-of-guilty-pleasures · 4 years

Text

Shattered Reflections {6}

[Helsa RP- Fanfic]

Fandom: Frozen

Genre: Post-Frozen/ Canon Divergence

- Hurt/Comfort, Drama, Romance

Pairing(s): Hans/Elsa, Kristoff/Anna

Previous Chapter: 5. Words of Wisdom

A/N:

If you wish to read Shattered Reflections with slightly better formatting (since Tumblr tends to mess it up), I suggest checking it out on either:

AO3

FF.net

Wattpad

6. Most Memorable

Hans seemed to be recovering quite well, according to the doctor. He was taking the antibiotics and bandages without complaint or fuss, though the doctor still suspected he was downplaying his pain. He was even allowing some degree of physical therapy (though they didn't call it that, at the time) in testing Hans' shoulder movements. There were a number of salves and bandages involved in the healing, and Hans often ignored a shirt in his own time, but as Elsa entered again he at least picked one up and threw it over his bandages, so she might not see the scars that the bandages didn't cover.

"Good afternoon, your Majesty. Or I believe it's afternoon, anyway." He didn't have a clock and didn't ask for the time. What did it matter to him, but for greeting the Queen?

"Have some new questions for me, I hope? Or will I entertain you with another story? I have a fair few about my travels, if that so, suits you. I think my range of motion may almost be well enough for the Harp again." He was light and conversational, his forced neutrality ignored for a moderate lightheartedness. In spite of being a prisoner, he was quite chipper. Being treated so well by the doctor did put him in brighter spirits. If he wasn't otherwise treated well, it didn't show.

Elsa had made a habit of visiting the Prince most everyday, trying her best to make time in her busy schedule to have even a brief visit to check in on him.

There had even been a couple times Elsa had dropped by while he was asleep. Even then she would find herself lingering for a moment or two. There was something captivating about watching him sleep, it was the only time she was certain she could see Hans' true self without his defenses, so she tried her best not to wake him up.

Today she had a bit more free time than usual.

" Good Afternoon," Elsa replied, he had guessed the time correctly. She made her way to the bedside.

"It's good to hear that your motion is improving, I can almost hear the harp, but it's probably still best not to push it." She smiled, as she sat at the foot of the bed, she had made herself a bit more comfortable than in the beginning, no longer afraid to approach him.

" I'd be pleased to listen to your travel stories," she said sincerely. "But first I would like to know if the newest books that were brought to you, were to your liking?" They had made a habit to have a small book review, Elsa enjoyed finally having a fellow bookworm to talk to.

"Still working on The Hunchback of Notre Dame and glad I didn't elect to try to read it in the original French, it is agonizingly long." he admitted with a chuckle. "And my French is very poor."

"Frankenstein was very good and much easier to make it through, though perhaps a bit close to home. I rather enjoy the Shelley's work, Mary in particular has a keen understanding of seeing the lighter side of darkness, and how the road to hell is paved with good intentions- or alternatively, that one should not attempt to play god and be surprised when it goes awry." Hans was quite a reader, astute and taking an interest- not because he wanted to read the books, per se, but that he had little else to do, and it gave them something to talk about. Elsa chose the books, so he would take an interest and see what in it she took a liking to.

"Now I have one for you, 'Confessions of an English Opium-eater.' Some say that De Quincey is not negative enough, I'm afraid I must agree if one takes it as a document for 'what to expect of opium', but I take it as 'one man's personal diary, attempting to make a great and painful change worth something'. In ways, it's both saddening and inspiring."

An odd choice for an admiral, and no doubt there were reasons, but he figured she didn't need a lecture on what he knew of the occasion.

"Of course I can always recommend Shakespeare, but everyone has read that- yet, few mention Titus Andronicus. It may be one of his earliest works, but it certainly is one of his most entertaining to read in the modern day. Personally, I have Macbeth memorized, but that's for other reasons. Partly to give me an excuse to say 'Macbeth' at home. Mother was an actress, it was my little revenge, petty as it is." He couldn't help but smile a little at the silly little thing. He thought it was quite amusing.

Elsa enjoyed a long read, she often got lost in book and end up staying up way past her bedtime reading, slightly regretting it the next busy morning.

"I'll keep those titles in mind for my next read," Elsa nodded. She was always curious of his recommendations and made sure to read or reread them to try to gather some more insight on Hans, herself.

Elsa noticed Hans had mentioned his Mother once again, he definitely seemed to carry some resentment towards her, yet Elsa was too sensible to ask, she didn't like to pry and only inquired about Southern Isles when Hans was the one opening up himself to talk.

"Mind, Titus Andronicus may not be Appropriate for a young lady, but it's Shakespeare, and everyone seems to make exceptions for him. Perhaps that's why everyone reads Hamlet and Macbeth instead, no-one wants to read about the grim business of killing families and turning them into pies." He shrugged a little, considering it offhand. "Hm," He seemed highly amused by a thought, but he let it go. "Anyway, you asked for travel stories? Have a theme in mind? The open sea? China, India, Japan, how the English are doing, anything in particular? Hot memories or chilly ones, fond or foul, city or country, high culture or low? I have a great many experiences, though perhaps fewer stories, but I'm certain I can remember something interesting in any of them."

She enjoyed listening to his stories, he really did have a great many experiences, more than she's ever had and maybe ever will. It made her almost envious of all the freedom he had, while she'd been trapped in her room for almost half her life. Yet, Hans was a wonderful storyteller, momentarily making her forget all that; His words painting vivid images in her mind that made her feel like she was actually there experiencing his adventures herself.

"Hmm," she considered. "What would be your most memorable voyage? Why don't you tell me about that."

He smiled a little. "Well, the siren story, for certain." He pointed out with a little shrug.

"But, what of places I've been...?" He thought a moment.

"Hm, there's many reasons to be memorable. In many ways, Arendelle was my most memorable visit, unfortunately. But perhaps not for the reasons one might think. Maybe I should have kept that to myself." He grimaced a bit. "Oh, how about this fun little piece: I learned to walk barefoot on hot coals in India, simply because I was curious to see how it was done- and I wanted to spook my crew a little bit, too. They were so convinced I'd die horribly. It was uncomfortable, but watching Captain Janssen pale and fetch a bucket was priceless. I think I was more damp by the end of that than burnt, though that might have been his revenge on me for giving him such a fright." He smiled and laughed at the thought. More fond words about his Navy men, it seemed- and this time, a name. "The old man who taught me was very pleasant. I think he was just surprised a white person stopped to talk to him about his practice. I'm not afraid of much, certainly no man, nor pain. There are very few experiences I'm not willing to try at least once."

So, Arendelle. She shouldn't be surprised. 'But perhaps not for the reasons one might think'? Those words lingered in her mind, distracting her from paying close attention to his new story like she normally would. She had to know what exactly he meant by that, she couldn't let it go.

So she dared to ask: "Not for the reasons one might think?"

He gave a bit of a rueful smile.

"I knew you'd hang on that," He admitted."You'd think, 'for his treason'. I'd think 'I've managed to see magic and that's mighty impressive. Not simple street performers playing at magic with cards and sleight of hand that any idiot bored enough can learn, but true magic. I'll always remember my crimes, yes, but I am glad I got to see magic once more in my lifetime, after the sirens. There is little more memorable than that. At least this way, I know I didn't imagine the whole event. I do wish things had gone differently, of course, but a wish is like a shiny bauble, I suppose: nice to have, but not particularly useful."

He thought a while, and leaned back. He tilted his head a bit and closed his eyes, his only acknowledgement of the slight pain his back was giving him. He likely only did that so she would be reassured that he was telling the truth.

"More than that, perhaps. I got to meet you, and you are, yourself, a memorable person. With or without ice magic. Your sister as well, but I had a whole day to converse with her, to get to know her. I don't believe we exchanged more than cursory warnings across a fjord and the few words I could get in edgewise around Anna when we were 'engaged'. I would have spoken to you first, ideally. I wonder how that would have gone." He didn't like that line of thought, but he couldn't help but think of it.

"I suppose I'd have followed you up to the ice castle a lot sooner. I tried to convince Anna to stay, but she wasn't having any of it. She ran up the mountain in a dress and short sleeves, I remember thinking she ought to have at least paused to get a coat. I was so busy passing out blankets and maintaining the kingdom... incidentally, you really ought to retrain your guard staff. No offense but your kingdom is woefully under-defended and it's unnerving." He had rather spiraled off into other thoughts.

"Sorry, I ramble away from home." He waved himself off with a bit of a sigh.

Magic. She looked down at her hands. She often dreaded her magic, considering a curse rather than a blessing. She didn't realize how impactful magic could be, having lived with it all her life. She easily forgot how marvelous her powers could appear, to those that found it more alluring rather than frightening.

He thought she was a memorable person? With or without her ice magic? Elsa felt a sudden flush overcome her. Elsa turned her face away.

Her mind briefly wandered. What would have happened, if he had approached her first? She probably would have still pushed him away like she had pushed everyone else...or maybe not. Had he been persistent he might have broken past her icy walls. Why was she even contemplating this now? She shook those thoughts away, besides she knew it really was senseless dwelling on a hypothetical.

Yet she asked herself: Would Anna have been spared a frozen heart had Hans come sooner? Hans had a knack of lowering her defenses, that not even Anna had, she recognized that.

She stayed quiet for a long time, lost in her thoughts.

Elsa finally ended up letting out a deep sigh, that brought her back to her senses.

He had mentioned Arendelle's defense and the tail end of his ramble, she thought it was the best thing to address, rather than anything else, to try to rekindle their conversation.

"You're right," she admitted letting out another hefty sigh, as she placed one hand over her forehead holding her temples.

He was right Arendelle had not properly re-trained their guard staff, even after the coronation incident. A few more guards had joined the royal brigade, but even then they were definitely understaffed and ill-prepared. The rumors of Arendelle's Ice Queen's wrath had really been the only deterrent keeping potential invaders at bay.

Hans wondered which part he was right about. He let his own mind wander while she thought, and her words brought him back.

"About the rambling, or the guard staff?" He asked, only mostly as a joke. He could see by her frustration that it was probably the latter.

"Both your guard staff and castle staff are, and I do apologize, too gullible. Even without prompting, I was practically handed control of the kingdom in Anna's absence. Granted it's not like I could have passed laws- but I was able to bring together a small army of foreign troops, and everyone seemed okay with that. Nobody minded crossbows on a 'search and rescue' mission. Not with wolves in the woods." He frowned a bit.

"Nobody asked questions when I claimed to be married to Anna after we'd known each other for what, two, three days? Most of it apart? No witnesses, and no-one checked the room when I claimed she had died. Somehow I ended up with castle keys, because somebody trusted me. I haven't had keys to my own room since- Never mind, that's not important. The point is your castle is hardly safe. I could educate them about how to think about cons, but you'll need a guard staff with good training. Perhaps import somebody, our sword master in the Isles is in good form yet, I believe. But your guards have a preference for pike weapons, I suppose? Some variety wouldn't kill them."

Hans' voice made Elsa look back up at him.

His words, reminding her how quickly Arendelle had fallen to shambles after run away to the North Mountain, made her wince. It made her annoyed with herself, feeling it was all her fault. She thought she was fleeing to protect everyone when instead she ended up endangering them even more.

Hans had seen an opportunity and taken it, yet no one even questioned him, they had been gullible indeed. Yet, could she really blame them? They were scared and leaderless, he appeared to be a hero amidst a snow queen's tempest. That they'd unquestioningly allow anything to stop the endless winter. Elsa continued to blame herself.

" Thank you for your recommendation, it is something I need to sort out right away." She said letting out another sigh. "I don't know why I haven't addressed this issue yet."

The truth was, even now, Arendelle was still dealing with the aftermath of the coronation incident, it was a lot to put on a new Queen's plate, cleaning up the mess she made (on her first day) on top of all her new duties. Even if she tried her hardest, things still easily slipped through the cracks. She hated to admit it, but was still young and inexperienced, with no one to guide her.

Hans waved a hand. "The life of a Queen is a busy one, there are a hundred thousand new things to address every day and one can only complete half of them." He assured.

"Besides, you were going through a lot that day. I've known desperation, I can understand what you did." He sighed a bit and shifted to lean back against the wall, to cool his wounds a little through the bandages and cotton shirt.

"I've given you truths, might I ask for one in return? Did you intend to die up there in your castle? You left without food. I remember the fear in your eyes when we met there, but it wasn't fear for yourself. Then I put on the mask for you that told you not to become the monster they thought you were. Unsaid, the monster you thought you were. I've known that feeling, too. All too well." Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, but his curiosity was boundless.

Hans had opened up to her (countless times in fact), it was only fair that she return the favor, besides it was something that had constantly been on her mind and would be good to let out, now that it was prompted.

" If it wasn't painfully obvious already, I aimlessly went up the North Mountain," Elsa softly scoffed at herself. "I wasn't in the right mindset to really think things through. All I wanted to do was get as far away from Arendelle, to keep Anna and everyone else safe. The cold never bothered me, and I didn't think anyone would be foolish enough to follow me," A sad smile crossed her lips thinking about her headstrong little sister. "I should have known better than to think that the girl that spent years knocking at my door, asking me to build a snowman with her, wouldn't come follow me up the North Mountain without a second thought."

She technically already truthfully answered his question, yet she felt impulsed to continue (over)explaining. It was as if the question had opened up a floodgate of information that was just waiting to come out.

Elsa let out a melancholy sigh before carrying on.

"Aside from distancing myself from Arendelle, I had pointlessly gone up the mountain." She acknowledged. "When I finally reached the summit, I recognized my isolation... I realized nothing was holding me back anymore... I no longer had to conceal the power raging inside me, I could finally let it go... that was my new purpose." she spoke with a strong sentiment. "After years trapped inside my room, I was finally liberated! It was truly exhilarating to let my powers flow freely as I tested my limits creating the Ice Castle." Elsa looked down at her hands as she spoke, remembering the sensation.

"I was so overcome with ecstasy of finally tasting freedom for the first time in forever, that food and survival never even crossed my mind," she admitted. "I know it was selfish of me to believe my actions of leaving Arendelle were be honest, I didn't even realize I started an eternal winter until Anna arrived."

"After sending Anna off...there was a brief moment... after realizing I could never be truly free...and not knowing how to stop the storm I started, that, I did wonder if the world was just better off without..." she trailed off. "But then you and the other men arrived and brought me back to Arendelle."

Elsa reflected on what Hans just revealed about their North Mountain encounter. How he put on a mask for her, telling her not to become a monster she feared. If it was only a mask he'd put on, it made her wonder: What was he hiding behind? Did the mask conceal his true fear of her? She didn't know why it stung a little, thinking that might have been the case, but whatever it was, wasn't really important, all that mattered was he helped her snap out of her fearful rampage.

Her thoughts lingered on the encounter. Her voice was softer than before.

" Hans..." It was the first time she addressed him without a title, but she was too lost in thought to notice. "Even if it was a mask... and regardless of what happened afterwards," she said pensively. "...Thank you," she said sincerely. "Thank you for stopping me from becoming the monster I feared... I don't know what would have happened or how I could live with myself, if I actually..." She trailed off again.

Elsa never wanted to hurt anyone, she had gone to all the trouble to distance herself from everyone to avoid that risk. She only started using her powers to protect herself against the Duke's Men, but she almost lost control and crossed the line, had it not been for Hans' words bringing her back to her senses. She wondered how things would have played out; Had he not been there and not spoken up. Had she prevailed in killing those men, she feared she would have pushed herself past the point of no return. She would have become what she feared most of all an irredeemable monster. The mere thought sent shivers down her spine.

Hans listened with interest. It filled in a lot of context for him, a lot of things he had been missing.

"Here's a funny story," He began, and offered her his hand, in case she needed some support.

"When I was a boy, I learned to love exploring, running off with my horse into the forests along the beaches, until I learned to love the sea. It was a wider range of unexplored places and unknown things. I took to making rafts and trying to sail off on them. Had I had any foresight, I might have thought about the fact that if I left, no-one could watch Sitron. Soon my father caught on, and set out a rule that until I was sixteen, anyone in the Isles at a boat who saw a raft at a drift was required to find me and pluck me out. The Captain of my ship to this day is a man so old that he was old when he was plucking me out of the water and growling at me about 'Shirking princely duties' that I didn't have." He laughed a little.

He still called his navy ship 'my ship', in spite of everything.

"You never had time to be shortsighted or explore you and your needs. It was overdue, there's no shame to be had in that. Unfortunate that it unfolded as it did, but I'd not blame a child for accidentally starting a house fire, no matter how horrific. Accidents happen, even if they are incredibly unfortunate. Of course, we must react well to them. You fixed things in time. I, on the other hand, cannot fix my treason." He shrugged a little. Matter-of-fact. Unfortunate, but true.

Hans had offered her his hand.

Elsa had been quite taken aback by his courteous gesture. She paused momentarily, contemplating whether or not it was wise to accept it. After some initial hesitation, she decided to take it.

His hand was warm, feverishly warm, compared to her only other point of reference: Anna's. Her hand felt minuscule, opposed to his much larger one. His skin was a bit more coarse than her own, though it's to be expected from a man of the sea. Elsa's felt a slight tingling sensation as they made contact. She nervously clasped his hand with hers.

'...I'd not blame a child for accidentally starting a house fire' his words had struck a memory. The day that her one little mistake completely closed the doors of her childhood and her freedom. She loved her parents, she truly did, but in retrospect she questioned if their decision, of shutting her in to shut everyone else out, had been the correct one. She understood they thought they made the right choice in order to protect her and Anna. But, was concealing and not feeling really the only option? How different would her life have been, had they taken a different approach. She knew these thoughts were fruitless, since the past was in the past, but still she couldn't help but wonder.

"...I often wonder how different my life could have been had I not- " her grip began to tighten as she lost herself in thought. "Had I not accidentally struck Anna with my powers that night," It pained her to recall that she'd critically hurt Anna with her powers, not once but twice. "I really should have stayed in bed instead of allowing Anna to coax me into playing with my powers." she let out a melancholy sigh. "She always wanted to build a snowman, and I just couldn't say no." Her grip continued to tighten.

"Had I instead been the good girl I was always meant to be, maybe it wouldn't have happened. I could have grown-up continuing to explore my powers. All that time I lost locked up I could have spent with Anna, giving her warm hugs instead of pushing her away." Her voice was quivering. "The gates would have remained open and maybe..."

She paused briefly.

"We might have even crossed paths under different circumstances." Her voice had softened as well as her grasp.

She could have thought of a life without her ice magic, as well, yet it had been such an innate part of her, whether she was fond of it or not, it was hard for her to imagine a life without her powers.

Hans had a thought he wanted to share- and he about lost it when she suggested they might have crossed paths differently. Was that affection in her tone? Surely not?

He was silent for a long moment, until he again remembered what he had been thinking about.

"You'd blame it all on wanting to stay up late and play?" He pointed out, with a little softness of his own in his tone.

"That sounds as absurd as blaming my treason on my rafting." He smiled a little. Maybe in a way; If he hadn't taken to the sea, he wouldn't have gone to Arendelle, perhaps. But it was so far removed.

"One of the hardest things to learn, and I still haven't quite learned it for myself: Not everything is your fault. I wouldn't expect a little girl to be completely responsible, nor parents for being afraid for their children. Not everything can be blamed on someone. Sometimes, bad things just happen. My father is dying of an illness, and my brother inherited it from him. Do we blame my father for my brother's illness, because he had children?" He shrugged a little.

"Maybe things could have gone differently. But they didn't. Time moves forward, I'm afraid. If only we could correct the past, we would not be the people we are. Correct the past in the present, not in the past we can't access. I suppose that's what I'm doing. Correcting." He held her hand a little tighter, a little more warmly. He was surprised that she took it, and honored, too.

"I must be doing a pretty good job of correcting, hm?" His look was apologetic and hopeful.

He didn't ask for forgiveness, because he knew he couldn't achieve it. That didn't stop him from wanting it.

#Helsa #Iceburns #Hans x Elsa #Frozen #Frozen FanFiction #Shattered Reflections

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