#on the upside with a whole married couple intervening

[elia-de-silentio]

TENTATIVE ANALYSES: MONSTER

Chapter 6: The BKA Man

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

We open nine years after the events seen insofar, revealed as basically a big prologue. The Wall of Berlin has fallen, the political situation is still tense, and the police is dealing with a string of serial murders. In the middle of a flood, they have found two corpses, which would be sadly normal if not for the fact that these two had their throats slit. We see Inspector Lunge again, still back at his old quirks. Here we see on the job, putting together evidence that these aren't robberies ended badly but the work of a serial killer, more than one in fact: the victims all had a thing in common, they were all childless, middle-aged couples. He also has a suspect, a lockpicker named Adolf Junkers.

We get a short cut back to Tenma, who basically lives for a job that doesn't mean only to operate and manage his department, but also personally interact with the patients and flying a kite for the children, and then we see this Adolf Junkers: he's running away from something, and doesn't think twice of throwing himself in the middle of the street to escape it. Predictably, he is hit, and this leads to Lunge and Tenma meeting again when the latter is called to operate on him. Lunge has this brilliant idea of stressing the importance of saving Junkers' life to obtain information, and then put pressure on Tenma by all but openly accusing him of having murdered Heinemann & co, being the only one with the reason and competences to do so. A lesser doctor would have been distracted even by the fear of being unjustly suspected, but Tenma doesn't: l'unica conseguenza è che adesso Lunge gli sta potentemente sul cazzo, and Junkers is saved. When checking on him when he awakens, Tenma gets some mysterious and worrying words: the 'monster' is coming.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES

Adolf Junkers' behaviour serves to build a sense of suspence and expectations: he is introduced running away from something that ... we can only see that it is terrible enough that throwing himself under the traffic is a preferable alternative. Later, when he awakens, the very first thing he says is that the 'monster' is coming. This is outright Lovecraftian: we can't see directly the scary thing, we see only the consequence of its actions, and our imagination fills in the blanks with the worst things we can imagine.

CHARACTERS

Tenma: nine years after his life got turned upside down, he is now a mix between a Jedi and Mary Poppins. His talent is recognized nationwide, with flocks of medical students coming to see him in action; he is the prospected director of the whole hospital; he takes time to chat with his patients and fly kites for recovering children. At the same time, it seems that he has quite a 'married to the job' attitude, as he has never had another relationship since the one with Eva ended.

Lunge: he is back with another investigation, but he hasn't let go of the old one: he never managed to catch the killer of Dr Heinemann, and he still suspects Tenma. He has no problem letting him know, by the way. Right before the latter goes on to operate on a patient whose survival is crucial to the investigation, so not exactly a situation where you want the surgeon distracted or stressed. Lunge is smart, but here we see that he can be shortsighted.

Dr Becker: a comical counterpart to Tenma. In the intervening years, he hasn't changed one bit: still with no promotion in sight, still with little motivation to his job, still out to get as many ladies as he can and confused by the fact that Tenma isn't doing the same. Still, he has remained by his side all of these years.

Adolf Junkers: a perp involved in a case of serial murders. His job insofar is that of letting us know that there is someone way worse outta here, and that person is coming.

THEMES

While this is mostly a transition chapter between the prologue and the rest of the story, the theme of the importance of life still finds its way. Tenma, who now lives by it, is contrasted with another kind of utilitarian vision: Lunge, who frames the importance of the lockpicker's survival on the informations he would be able to provide.

SYMBOLISM

There is no noticeable symbolism in this chapter.

REFERENCES

• A chronological one - the fall of the Wall of Berlin which divided West Germany from East Germany.

And this is all for this chapter. Thank you for reading insofar!

If you liked my analysis, you can support it by reblogging this or offering me a coffee (link in first reblog)

#monster #naoki urasawa's monster #monster meta #monster analysis #kenzou tenma #inspector lunge #tentative analyses #tentative analyses: naoki urasawa's monster

[possumbreath]

I really played myself with Traveling Salesmen AU because the second I decided this was the ship I was going to do I stopped caring about everything BUT this ship

Anyway it doesn’t have to be like this, Fiddleford McGucket, Emma-May McGucket and Stanley Pines all have two hands

Based on this meme, I have no idea who these people/characters are but they made a good base for shitposting

#gravity falls #fiddleford mcgucket #emma-may mcgucket #stan pines #fiddlestan #does this have a shipname? #fiddlemaystan #isn't great but it'll do #ANYWAY #traveling salesmen au #he showed up at their house in palo alto #and tried to pitch them on something stupid #and they invited him in because he looked like shit #and then he just didn't ever leave #oops!!!! #if you thought 'ford would be a huge pissbaby about this' you are RIGHT #on the upside with a whole married couple intervening #ford and stan make up WAY ahead of schedule #on account of they get sat down at a kitchen table and forbidden to leave #until they talk like adults #'ink have you stopped shipping fordsquared' #buddy you don't get it #i just want fiddleford mcgucket to kiss EVERYONE #and this is bringing me one step closer to that dream

[thewincestgospel]

Do you have an established relationship wincest recs? Where they are in love and together :) thank you!

Of course!

I live for the boys getting their HEA and just growing old with each other.

Established Fics aka Curtain Fics

Anniversary by sonofabiscuit77   The Smith-Wessons go away for a ghost-hunting mini-break to celebrate their anniversary. Just a slice of life, domestic Smith/Wesson thing where they salt and burn the ghost, have brunch and Dean gets tied to the bed.      

Backseat of My Brother’s 67 Chevy by  NaughtyPastryChef  Extended scene from “Baby”. Dean’s feeling proud of Sam’s hookup until he hears that Sam tried to give that waitress his number. Uncharacteristically, he lets Sam force him to talk about it.

Better Homes and Gardens  by  chick (orphan_account)   After getting whammied on a hunt, Dean wakes up a househusband in Lawrence married to his little brother. Trapped in this world where down is up and up is completely fucked, Dean desperately tries to figure out a way to get back to a world that makes sense without completely losing his mind in the process. Featuring: spice gardens, bridge clubs, and the power of incestuous, gay love.

Cat’s Cradle by  saltandbyrne   My version of curtain fic, with human furniture, the Outback Steakhouse, and brutal, loving BDSM.            

The Chicago Verse by  compo67 After angels and demons and things that go bump in the night, Sam and Dean want a place of their own. Finding a place is easier said than done; and settling somewhere isn’t taken lightly. They take a chance on the city Death spared because he liked the pizza. The boys settle in a Mexican neighborhood just south of the Loop called Pilsen. Sam looks back at how they got here.

Crush by  sonofabiscuit77   Five years after the apocalypse didn’t happen and Sam and Dean have settled down, or as much as the Winchesters can ever settle down. Sam is a college professor and Dean a well-respected small business owner and they’re learning how to balance work, hunting and dog-ownership while coping with the metaphorical and literal scars of war. Life’s not perfect, not for a (sort of) out and proud couple in small town USA with a lot to hide, but they’re dealing, that is, until Dean employs one sexually-confused teenager who develops an unhealthy obsession with both of them. Switching between five years earlier and now, we learn how the boys came together, how they made it through the big fight and whether they’ll ever manage to find that flighty temptress, happily ever after.

Give Him What He Needs  by  brokenlittleboy   Sam wakes Dean up for some good old-fashioned morning loving and Dean is more than happy to comply. They’ve been going at it for almost eleven years now, and it seems like every day Sam gets dirtier and dirter, and more and more desperate for it. Dean’s not complaining–he’s just a little worried someday he won’t be enough for little brother’s needs.              

How Does Your Garden Grow by majesticduxk From the prompt: Sam getting his hands all dirty, Sam getting bad knees as he ages, Sam being excited about his bean crop, Sam bringing vast quantities of zucchini to the Bunker kitchen and expecting Dean to figure out something to cook with it, Sam being wrathful and indignant about caterpillars, Sam out there all day with the sun hot on his neck and the soil cool in his hands thinking about nothing at all but the tactility and the way he’s having this small, steady good effect on the world and coming back HAPPY.

 A Life Most Ordinary  by  sonofabiscuit77   Sam and Dean Winchester are two ordinary brothers living ordinary small-town lives. Okay, so having a mother who was brutally murdered by one of America’s most notorious serial killers and a father who was forever mentally scarred by the event is not that ordinary, but the rest of their problems: marriage breakdowns and relationship failures, job disappointments and sexuality crisis, and Dean’s two kids, 9 year-old Jonah with his disturbing passion for the music of Lady Gaga and 6-year old Simon with his severe hearing loss, well they’re all completely ordinary. The only thing extraordinary about Sam and Dean is how they fell in love.Written for 2010 spn_j2_bigbang challenge    

Just Another Day  by  selecasharp   When rain keeps them in a motel for another night, Sam settles in for a quiet day of movies, popcorn, and cuddling (and maybe more) on a couch with Dean — until he realizes what day it is.      

Just Say My Name by  leonidaslion   Dean turns into a complete and utter nympho. It takes Sam a while to notice the difference.              

The King and The Lionheart by waywardelle     After the disastrous but effective removal of the Mark, Sam and Dean Winchester suddenly face a life without allies or a reason to keep hunting, so they leave their old life behind them in flames. They re-emerge from the ashes as Sam and Dean Wesson, residents of Misty Luna, Maine– a town with a personality all its own. As they settle into civilian life, they gain careers, a home, good friendships and the kind of fulfillment they never thought possible. But with nothing left to fight, the underbelly of their particular kind of love is thrown into sharp relief, especially considering the whole town thinks they’re married, anyway. After dancing around their feelings for the past twenty years, Sam and Dean find a peace they never knew existed, and through it all, they find each other again. And maybe, just maybe, forever. Curtain!fic. Canon divergence after 10x21, “Dark Dynasty.”            

Like a Fish Out of Water by nyxocity AU after Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie. During the final battle with the Leviathans, God finally makes an appearance and deigns to intervene. After granting Sam and Dean a few final requests, he ‘packs his bags’ and takes everything supernatural in existence with him. Left with nothing to hunt, Sam talks a reluctant Dean into settling down in a small town outside of Sioux Falls. Sam seems to want them live a normal kind of life, but between the ridiculous estate sale Sam bought to furnish the house, the arrival of a very human Castiel who’s overwhelmed by human emotions, and their quirky, invasive neighbors, it’s anything but. Dean’s having a difficult time adjusting, convinced everything couldn’t be more abnormal until Sam reveals exactly what kind of life he wants to have with Dean. Dean can’t deny the part of him that wants it–but can he accept it? 

Love is Never Blind  by Calysta18 Love is the only game that is not called on account of darkness!!

Milk Me  by LittleSparrow69   Fill for this kinkmeme prompt:  A knocked-up Dean’s lactating and he hates it but it hurts. Sam “milking” him is less humiliating (barely) than leaking all over his shirts. Sam, though, lives for this.              

On A Friday We Call Good by  gaialux   One unlucky moment. That’s all it took to turn Dean’s life upside down. Sam seems to be on board with the fallout; insisting they take a break from hunting and set up in suburbia. While Sam finds himself assimilating, Dean is far from Mr. Domestic. If he can’t hunt - if he can’t save people - he has nothing. Or so he thinks.                      

Over the Hills, Far Away by roxymissrose   Somewhere in the middle of season seven, this world careens towards the left.Dean looks at Sam and decides enough is enough. They need to settle down for a while, take a breath.                      

The Psychology of Genetic Sexual Attraction by  sonofabiscuit77   “…50% of of reunions between siblings, or parents and offspring, separated at birth result in obsessive emotions…”This story begins in 2001 in a garage in Palo Alto when 18-year old Stanford student, Sam Sharma plucks up the courage to ask car mechanic, Dean Cooper, out for a cup of coffee.   Their attraction is instantaneous and overwhelming, and the relationship that develops seems perfect.  Except nothing is really perfect, and this particular love story started a long time before Sam and Dean even met.  Wincest non-hunting AU. This is my attempt at a boys-don’t-know-they’re-brothers story.  

The Theory of Relativity by wutendeskind   The Apocalypse is over. Sam writes it all down, and the result tops the New York Times bestseller list for an entire year. Dean loves that Sam’s found something to do with his life, but doesn’t know how he fits in. And when Dean reads Sam’s second novel, things get even more confusing for him.     

Trust Me, I’m A Doctor by  checkthemarginsThe one where Dean is a pediatric neurosurgeon and Sam is a law student and they figure out they’re in love.            

Walkin’ the Tightrope by  non_tiembo_mala  It’s 2036, and twenty years since Sam and Dean called it quits on hunting to take up a secluded, quiet life. Maybe Jesse and Cesar gave them the idea, but after Amara, they realized they’d done enough. And they wanted a proper life together even more.Known as Sam Wesson and Dean Smith to the residents of the nearby town they call home, Sam and Dean keep mostly to themselves, their immaculately kept ‘67 Chevy Impala, and their cabin in the woods. That is, until someone from their past tracks them down, desperate for help.Sam and Dean can’t say no, not when it’s their dear friend Jody Mills in deep trouble – she’s missing – but the wedding bands they wear make going back to their old life just that little bit more complicated…              

Wanna make your motor run  by  cordelia_gray   Four times Dean got road head, and one time he gave it.      

I could literally go on and on with this list so I might make a part two of this list.

#wincest #supernatural fanfiction #dean winchester #sam winchester #dean/sam #alternate universe #curtain fic #future fic #established relationship #AO3 fic #livejournal fic #raised apart #sam wesson #dean smith #smith and wesson #doctor!dean #lawyer!sam #Ask Me #ask and you shall receive #spn fics #supernatural #fic list #firesign10 #cordelia_gray #non_tiembo_mala #checkthemargins #spn fanfiction #wutendeskind #sonofabiscuit77 #leonidaslion

[naniewithane]

Inverted

This is a repost. I’m bringing my stories to this profile. Previously posted on @nowadaysprincesses

This idea came to me when Zig's makeover was released and someone said that "if he was first presented like that I'd choose him as my LI" or something like that I'll check it later. So I thought "What if Zig was the group mom and mc the new barista?" and here we are. So I hope you enjoy my little Zig x MC (here called Jay) fanfic, and I'll post more chapters soon. This will follows the interactions between them in The Freshman 3, at least for now.

xo, Nanie.

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

in·vert

verb past tense: inverted; past participle: inverted

put upside down or in the opposite position, order, or arrangement.

Chapter 1 - Brand new barista

“Mom, have you seen my sneakers?” Jay said, looking under her bed.

“Jay, use the black heels or you’re gonna be late. Oh, and don’t forget to put some make up!” Her mother said, catching an apple from the kitchen table and leaving to work.

“Mama, I’m going to work, not to a party!” Jay said to the door closing. Her mother put her head inside. “Just today, baby! You need to make a good impression on your first day!” She said, winking, and closed the door.

Jay tried for a couple minutes to find the sneakers. Soon giving up, she put the heels, a little make up and went out.

Arriving at the Northbridge train station a moment too late, she runned unsuccessfully to get into the train. Sadly she watched the door closing in front of her. Dammit, late at the first day. This is so great, Jay.  

An hour later, Jay arrived at work. Coming into the coffee shop, she looked at the counter and calmed down: Her boss was nowhere on sight. The only person behind it was Brandon, the guy that was about to leave - and she was the one designed to take his place.

“Hey Brandon, hope I’m not too late! I lost the train.” Jay said, making a sad face. “It’s ok, at least for now your shift will be at night, today is just for training. Grab your apron and let me teach you how this stuff works.” He pointed around to the whole place. “Hope you come to like this place as much as I do.”

“I hope so.” Jay said, smiling.

————————————

As the days passed by, Jay got more and more used to working as a barista. It was good that she started at the school break, so the shop wasn’t crowded and she had the chance to learn the place’s routine without people bursting in every second.

Also, the friendship between Jay and Brandon grew fast. Since he was the one that was training her, he becomes a constant person in her life, and soon he was her friend. She wasn’t used to have friends anymore. People normally don’t like to be friends with a time bomb like her. Eventually she turned the friendships a huge mess. But Brandon saw past it. They used to talk about almost everything, and even having just a couple things in common at the surface, deep down both were good friends to each other.

Unfortunatelly for her, Brandon left to Peru. The day he left she went to the airport to say goodbye. There, she finally met Zack, Brandon’s boyfriend. They were such cuties together! Zack cried like a little child, and even hugged Jay after saying the last goodbye to Brandon at the gate. Jay didn’t kept contact with him, but Zack seemed to be a good guy too.

————————————

A few days later the spring quarter started. She was still adapting with the sudden movement of these days. Since the job hadn’t a dress code, she always dressed up as the rocker she was, but tried to be as collected as possible when dealing with the customers. That was mostly to not lose her temper (and keeping the job). Because of that ‘cold’ attitude, some students started to call her Ice Jay. It didn’t matter to her, truly. At least they seemed to know who they were dealing with.

Every day people were scheduling activities at the coffee shop. That day was a small gig from a punk band. Finally something interesting, she though, although a coffee shop wasn’t exactly a matching place to this kind of music.

Jay was cleaning the counter as a group of students walked into the shop. One of them was Zack, Brandon’s boyfriend. She gave him one of her rare smiles and looked to his friends.

Her eyes stopped at a really handsome guy. Black hair, bright brown eyes and a little lazy and provocative smile at the corner of his mouth. He looked at her and Jay knew she had to meet the guy. Nice thing that I kept using those heels to work, she though. He was so tall. Unfortunately, he broke eye contact, talking again with his friends.

“Hey Dany, do you know who’s the McDreamy over there?” Jay asked to the other barista, making a small motion to point the direction.

Dany studied the group. “Which one? Because all of them are snacks to me.” Jay looked at them, half of the group choosing a table near the windows and the other moving to wait in line to be attended. “Tall, black hair, tan skin and 100% perfection”, Jay said. Dany focused on him. “Oh, that’s Zig. The only thing I know about him is that he lives with Zack and Kaitlyn, so I suppose that he’s also a freshman. I’ve seen him here a couple times, but always at the morning shift.”

Jay listened, still looking at him. Dany gave a small laugh. “Girl, you’re almost drooling all over the place.”

“Look, I’m not gonna marry the guy. I’m just wondering what’s going on under that shirt. Besides…”

“It’s pretty hard not to notice her. She’s beautiful.” At the other side of the shop, Zig looked again at the infamous new barista that Kaitlyn pointed. She was still looking at him, and as soon as he looked at her, she gave him a smirk.

Abbie sighed. “Wow, what is with this place and photogenic baristas?” Tyler made a strange face. “I don’t know, she seems like trouble to me.” Kait laughed of them. “Well, she may be trouble, but I can bet that she’s head over heels for you Zig. She’s totally checking you, all this time!” Kaitlyn said, still smiling.

Zig thought he remembered her face from somewhere, but wasn’t sure. “She seems to be an interesting girl.” The girl had a mysterious aura around her. She had a curly black hair in a loose ponytail, a bandana tied as a tiara and she was also using a dark makeup, maybe because of the gig. She kept looking at him, while talking with the other barista. Maybe he was the subject of their conversation? No, probably not, Zig thought.

Zack saw her and give her a nod. Then started speaking and Zig turned his attention to him. “That’s Jay. I’ve met her at the airport when Brandon left. She’s cool. Kinda creepy, but cool.”

“I guess I’ll try to talk to her later.” Zig said, and they changed subject.

Zig had to admit that coming to Natasha’s gig wasn’t exactly in his plans, but Kaitlyn insisted. Well, he was starting to think that maybe going to the coffee shop that hour of the day was a good thing.

————————————

The biggest problem Jay had with the customers was learn how to deal with some spoiled brats that used to appear now and then. Most of them thinking that Jay was their own employee, and not from the coffee shop. Some of the students was literally testing her patience.

Well, and the most annoying just entered the shop. He spoke loud, trying to caught the attention of the part of Zack’s group waiting in line. With this, he caught the attention of most of the people inside the shop too.

“Well, if it isn’t Hartfeld’s premiere group of ragtag misfits. I hope I’m not interrupting.” Sebastian said, a maleficent smug on his face. Zack and his friends turned to him.

The girl - Kaitlyn, as Dany told her - answered him, exasperated. “This guy again?” Jay already could see them bringing a discussion to life. She prepared herself to intervene if needed. But soon they calmed down and started to discuss in a moderated tone. She decided to attend the customers, but keeping attention to act at the first sign of trouble.

For a couple minutes everything went well. The group became close of her in line and she eavesdropped what they were discussing. Sebastian said something about having nothing to do with an accident. As they came a step closer, she could listen exactly what they were saying. “So even with all the trouble you created last year, Chris is still stuck with you.” Zig said.

Sebastian smirked. They kept talking and Jay set the conversation aside for a couple minutes to complete an order for her current customer. It was the time necessary for them turn the line into a grenade without a pin, waiting to explode.

Kaitlyn was then facing Sebastian, all of her friends around her. “As long as I remember, you lost pretty hard.” Sebastian was about to lose his temper. “Watch what you say next, girl.” He took a step towards her, and Jay excused herself from the counter and prepared to stop the discussion.

“Whoa, the hell are you thinking, Sebastian?” Zig said, positioning himself between Sebastian and Kaitlyn. He towered over Sebastian, which scared him, making him took a step back. “Look, as much as we enjoy having the pleasure of talking with you, I believe that this discussion is pointless. If you excuse me, I have a couple drinks to buy for me and my friends, and I think you should mind your own business.” He said to Sebastian, with tons of sarcasm.

As Zig motioned to his friends to follow him and walked to the counter, Sebastian sticked out his foot and the other tripped on him, falling to the floor. Jay hurried to them. As Zig’s friends helped him to get up, Jay focused on Sebastian. “Hey, what the hell are you doing, Sebastian? Do you think that this is your playground?” She said, approaching Sebastian from behind, poking his shoulder.

He turned and looked at her, his eyes wild. “Look, one more broken kid to your team, Christopher. Do you guys are auditioning or what?” He said, a smirk slowly creeping up on his face.

“You know very well that I work here, you stupid brat. For now, I must ask you to leave, Sebastian, or I’ll have to call the campus security.” Jay said, one hand on her waist and the other pointing to the front door.

Too much fast to anyone have a proper reaction, he took a step closer to Jay and held her arm tight. “Listen very carefully Jay, I come and go as I please, and not even all the black makeup in the world will make me feel threatened by you!” Sebastian cornered Jay in the nearest table. As someone screamed for Sebastian to left her, Jay acted fast. Groping the table and finding a cup, she threw it’s content in Sebastian’s face. A good old Espresso flowed down his face and chest. “My cashmere sweater!” He screamed, pushing her.

As Sebastian pushed her, Jay knocked off at the table, losing her balance. She tried to regain it but fell to the floor beside it anyway, spraining her wrist in the process. As soon as it happened, Zig and his gang were already beside her, helping her to get up. “You’ll pay for this damage, you crazy girl!” Sebastian said, stomping out of the coffee shop.

“Are you okay?” Zig asked, helping her to plant her feet at the floor. Even with all that happening, Jay couldn’t stop herself of thinking how handsome he was. “Yeah, I guess. Uhhhh!” She felt a sting in her wrist. “My hand! I’m gonna kill that son of a-”

“Jane, come here! We need you behind the counter!” Her boss called from the kitchen’s door. The crazy look in her eyes turned into a polite one. “Excuse-me, I must go. Thank you all for the help, and I hope that Sebastian doesn’t cause you trouble anymore.” She said to them as she left.

————————————

As the group settled by a table, they started chatting about all that happened. But Zig’s mind wandered, thinking how curious that woman was. Stepping up into a fight like that, that wasn’t even hers? That demands courage. His eyes wandered to her again, and he saw her talking with the shop’s manager. He seemed to be angry. Soon she was alone again, looking at her hand.

“Guys, I’m gonna check on her.” Zig said, not waiting for a response. As he approached the counter, she looked at him and gave a weak smile. He took that as a good signal. “So, is my knight in shiny armor hurt?” He asked, a playful smile on his lips.

She scoffed, but couldn’t stop herself from smile. “Yeah, seems like I broke my sword hand.” She said, raising her left hand. He stopped smiling as soon as he saw how swollen her pulse was. “Do you mind if I take a look?” He offered, his voice full of concern. She eyed him suspiciously, but extended her arm over the counter. He touched it slightly, but she winced and he retreated. Right after she extended her arm again, without taking it back. “It isn’t broke, just sprained. You need to put some ice on it and it would be good to use a wrist splint also.” He told her, resuming the improvised exam.

“I should ask you how do you know so much about broken wrists, but better not, right?” She said as she started to put some ice over a towel, clumsily. “Actually I already broke mine twice. Do you wanna help with it?” He asked, pointing the towel while getting behind the counter. “You know what? I need.” She gave him space to finish the improvised ice bag. Then he put it over the inside of her wrist, holding her arm cautiously and settled her arm over the counter, letting the ice bag weight over it.

“So, I think I must say thank you, Mr…” She said, extending her right hand to him. “Zigmund, but you can call me Zig.” He said, shaking hands with her. She smiled. “I’m Jane, But everyone knows me as Jay.”

The conversation extended for a while. He discovered that Jay wasn’t a Hartfeld student and also explained to her about the trouble with Sebastian the previous quarter. Every second in front of Jay made Zig yearn to know more and more about her. As he was leaving back to the table, he remembered. “Hey, can you give me your number?” He asked. “Of course. Give me your phone so I can put it.” While she wrote, she asked for his number too, giving her phone to him.

He saved his number with a heart beside his name, and took a selfie to put as contact image. As she saw it, she laughed. “Aren’t you a flirt, Mr. Zig?” He smirked, leaning against the counter, getting closer to her. “And I’ve been told I’m damn good at it. Is it working?” She laughed again. Getting closer to him, she whispered. “I’m still here, right?” And he whispered back. “Glad to see that I’m not losing my touch, then.”

She took advantage of the proximity and kissed his cheek “Bye, Zig. See you around.” She said, going back to the counter and talking to a customer. “Good evening, how can I help you?” The regal barista was back on her post. Zig made his way back to the table, but his mind was still over that counter.

That girl was poison, and Zig couldn’t wait to taste a little more of it.

#zigmund ortega #zig ortega #zig x mc #choices #pixelberry #the freshman #the sophomore #the junior #tf/ts/tj

[musingsby-night]

The Wedding

Summary: Tony Stark and his girlfriend are engaged, and the entire world is expecting a huge extravagant affair. Wedding planning, as it turns out, is actually enormously stressful, so one day Tony says “screw it, let’s just elope.” So they do.

Pairing: Tony Stark x OC , BUT features all your favourite Avengers

Length: 5500+ words. Mega long because I can never seem to stop myself from rambling. 

Warnings: So much fluff you’ll choke on it. Just a story about Tony Stark being sickeningly happy and in love because he deserves it.

The news that Tony Stark and Ivy Henderson were getting married was perhaps the biggest news story of the decade.

The two had become beloved public figures over the years. Tony, the multi-billionaire philanthropic head of Stark Industries and man behind the Iron Man. Ivy, a top SHIELD agent and regular press spokesperson for the government agency, and familiar face at various charity galas.

From the moment they’d met, their relationship had been popular gossip column fodder. Despite Ivy’s active involvement in SHIELD and the fact that the organisation kept meddling in Tony’s business, they hadn’t met through the agency. They’d met at a charity dinner, where Tony had used some lame, inappropriate pick-up-line or another, and she’d laughed hysterically at his rather pathetic flirting attempt, before telling him that he’d just become the most interesting thing at the mind-numbingly boring event.

They’d spent the rest of the evening by each other’s side, Tony’s arm remaining a fixture around her waist as they danced, chatted, and drank. Their immediate friendliness hadn’t escaped notice, and the next morning the first of the media speculations of their relationship began.

In the following years, Tony and Ivy’s relationship continued to attract the attention of the press. They never remained out of the spotlight for long, whether it was speculations over when they were finally going to get together, rumours that they had already secretly been dating for years, or scandalous cheating and breakup rumours (Ivy’s favourite, and Tony’s least favourite, was the persistent rumour that Ivy had been stringing Tony along because she’d secretly already been married to Steve Rogers for years).

For the most part, the attention didn’t really phase the loved-up couple; they were famously tight-lipped about their relationship when speaking to the press. Their actual romance story was far less dramatic than any media portrayal had yet described. Tony had felt an almost instant affection for Ivy the night they’d met at the gala. Over the following months, he made sure to make appearances at the events she was invited to, maintaining a casual friendliness. Their relationship had developed slowly into a sort-of casual romance, and had honestly only really picked up after the battle of New York. In truth, the two hadn’t realised just how deeply they cared for each other until they’d both nearly died in the battle.

Ivy had been seriously injured in a one-on-one fight with Loki; she had no doubts that the God would have killed her if it weren’t for Tony intervening. As it was, she ended the battle in the ICU with six broken ribs and extensive blood loss. Tony had paid for top of the line medical care in the best private hospital in North America, and the man had remained by her side for weeks on end. After her release, Ivy had moved straight into Stark Tower to be closer to Tony, and to provide comfort and company when he begun to develop anxiety and PTSD.

Their love story really wasn’t that grand. It was hardly made up of large-scale romantic gestures and dramatics as the media would lead the common bystander to believe. Rather, their love was built on a million of the littlest things. In a world that seemed to be spiralling continually out of control, the simplicity of their love was at times the only thing keeping the two of them grounded.

All his life, Tony had thought that the whole ‘marriage’ thing just wasn’t really for him. Not interested, no thank you, it seemed like one big complicated mess that he didn’t need in his life. Besides, Tony was known for being quite the playboy; monogamy seemed so boring. He loved his life, so why in the world would he ever want to get married?

Of course, everything changed with Tony met Ivy. His Ivy was the most incredible woman he’d ever known; kind-hearted, clever, sassy, and tough-as-nails. Tony had never thought that he could love anybody the way that he loved Ivy, and he’d never thought that he could feel as loved as he did by her. From the moment he’d met her, Ivy had brought a lightness, a joy to his life that he’d never really felt before her. As time passed, Tony became desperate to keep hold of that joy. He never wanted to go a single day without Ivy.  

He had never really consciously made the choice to marry her. Tony had never even considered the matter, until one day he was grabbing lunch with Rhodey and the topic came up.

“So, where’s Mrs Stark today?” his friend had asked jokingly.

“Hm?” Tony had been busy searching his wallet for his credit card and so had hardly been paying attention. Without thinking, he mumbled in response “Oh, she’s got a meeting with Pierce and Fury, but she’ll be back home by 5.”

It took Tony a moment too long to register the silence that greeted his words, and he glanced up to see Rhodey staring at him in surprise. Tony blinked at his friend, thinking back over his words to find what he’d said that had caused such a reaction. And when he did, Tony’s entire body slackened. “Oh.”

Rhodey had let out a loud belly laugh at his friend’s shock, shaking his head in glee. “Man, you are in deep, aren’t you?”

The conversation shifted as Rhodey moved on, but Tony didn’t. He was distracted all through lunch and for the rest of the afternoon. It had been an innocent joke, and yet to Tony it had been so much more. Ever since the words “Mrs Stark” had been spoken aloud, Tony could hardly think of little else. The words caused a warmth in his chest he’d never felt before, and within days Tony had become fixated on the idea of a ring, his ring, on Ivy’s finger to mark her as Mrs Ivy Stark.

From the moment he’d met his Ivy, she had thrown everything he thought he knew upside down and made Tony rethink all his rules- and so it was the same with this. The one big rule he’d always been adamant he would not break. Tony Stark, who had sworn black and blue that he would be a bachelor for life, that he would never let himself be tied down in marriage by one woman… had proposed to Ivy Henderson less than a week after Rhodey’s little joke. 

The day that Tony had proposed to Ivy was without any shadow of a doubt the best day of his life. Unfortunately, the joy of their engagement day dissipated extremely quickly. If Ivy and Tony had thought that the media circus surrounding their relationship had been extreme before… well, that was nothing compared to the utter insanity that ensued after the news of their engagement broke.

CNN reserved a spot at the end of their 6pm segment to provide daily updates on the newly-engaged couple. Not a single gossip magazine had been published since the news broke that didn’t feature one (or both) of them on the cover. Hell, ever since the Stark camp had released the planned date of the wedding to the press, E! News had set up an on-screen 24-hour live countdown (down to the second).

The press dogged Ivy and Tony so relentlessly that neither of them could leave Stark Tower without being violently harassed by the hordes of paparazzi waiting on the doorstep of the Tower. Happy had had to almost triple the security in the Tower to stop particularly audacious reporters from sneaking into the building, desperate for the first shot of the newly engaged couple. All of their meetings had had to be moved from external locations to inside Stark Tower. Unless the penthouse balcony counted (which it hardly did), Tony and Ivy hadn’t been outside the Tower in weeks.

Ivy and Tony had had to hire assistants for their assistants, whose workload had increased about tenfold since the news of the engagement had broken publicly. The emails and phone calls hardly stopped coming; from news networks offering ludicrous sums for exclusive rights to televise the wedding, to media outlets trying to snag the first post-engagement interview, to various wedding-related agencies (floral designers, cake makers, dress designers, etc.) emailing with various offers to give the couple an amazing deal on their services, to what appeared to be every single wedding planning agency in the Northern hemisphere offering to plan the big day.

All Tony wanted was to marry the love of his life and try his goddamn best to make her happy for the rest of their days. But frankly, Tony felt that he’d never before, in all their years together, seen Ivy as anxious and depressed as she was in the weeks following his proposal.  

That, of course, was during the brief moments Tony got to see Ivy at all. The two of them had such insane schedules trying to juggle their regular commitments with the increased stress of trying to plan a wedding that they spent all day every day on the move. The only time Tony saw his lovely bride was when he flopped into bed, exhausted, past midnight; and the only time that Ivy saw her beloved husband-to-be was when her alarm clock woke her two hours prior to when Tony’s would wake him up.

Tony had proposed to Ivy because he wanted to be with her, every day for the rest of his life. But since becoming engaged, the two almost felt like strangers.

On a Friday morning, six weeks to the day since Tony had proposed, Ivy found herself seated in the penthouse suite of Stark Tower, staring down at three colour palettes that the wedding designer had presented to her.

Ivy glanced back-and-forth between the table and the wedding designer, as though expecting that the woman would reveal some big joke. When the designer did nothing but stare back at her excitedly, Ivy cleared her throat uncomfortably.

“Veronica,” Ivy said slowly. “These three colours are exactly the same.”

Veronica gasped as though Ivy had just told her that on weekends, she liked to spend her spare time kicking puppies off of cliffs.

Veronica Harskarth was the number one wedding planner in New York. Famous for the numerous celebrity weddings under her belt, she didn’t come cheap. Ivy could acknowledge that the woman had a real eye for beauty; photographs from the wedding’s she’d planned were utterly breathtaking, and Tony was firmly of the belief that they should spare no expense.

That being said, the more time that Ivy spent in her presence, the closer she grew to ripping all of her hair out. Veronica was talented, sure, but she was also a real handful and frankly, a bit of a bitch.

“Mrs Stark,” Veronica breathed out in utter horror, “these three colours symbolise very different things. This first palette is a cool purple; this second palette is a warmer violet; and this third one is a hard, strong magenta. The colour scheme that you choose shapes the design of the rest of the wedding; this is the most important choice you’ll make in regards to the day. Everything hinges on this.”

Well, Ivy thought that was a tad dramatic. It was just a colour, after all. There was also the fact that Veronica had told her that the past six things she’d made a choice on were the most important choice, that everything else hinged on it, from the number of meal courses to be served, to the number of tiers on the cake, to whether she had square or circular tables, to whether she had lilies or poppies in her bouquet.

Ivy tried to stifle a sigh and pointed randomly to one of the palettes. As Veronica tittered about how it really was the best colour of the three, Ivy rubbed her eyes tiredly. The colours were the exact goddamn same.

Just as Veronica placed the colour palettes back in her bag, the elevator dinged and the two women turned to see Tony entering the penthouse. Ivy’s heart warmed at the sight of him, smiling softly at the cheeky wink he sent her way before he addressed their wedding planner.

“I’m terribly sorry, Veronica, but something important has come up that Ivy and I need to attend to,” Tony apologised. “The future Mrs Stark is going to have to reschedule your appointment.”

“That’s quite alright, Mr Stark!” Veronica replied, sweeping her planner up off of the desk and hoisting her designer purse onto her shoulder. “Mrs Stark, I shall speak to you soon.”

Ivy waved goodbye to Veronica, remaining silent until the elevator closed behind the woman. The second it did, Ivy threw herself into Tony’s arms, pulling her body as tightly against his as was possible and allowing her entire weight to fall against her husband-to-be, who was only too delighted to support his exhausted lover.

“God, thank you for rescuing me,” Ivy breathed, burying her face against the warm skin of his throat and tightening her arms around him. “I swear I was about to lose it. Every unimportant decision is so huge to her, and she kept insisting I choose the colour scheme but showing me literally identical colour shades of purple-”

“I thought we’d decided against the purple,” Tony said conversationally, and Ivy pulled back with wide eyes to meet his gaze.

“So did I!” she cried emphatically, “but Veronica kept saying that we’d decided on the purple and I didn’t have the energy to argue with her...”

Tony shifted so they could sink onto the couch, before pulling Ivy back against his chest, squeezing her waist tightly and pressing a smiling kiss against her temple.

They remained like that for a long few moments, content in each other’s arms and relishing the first intimate time they’d had together in weeks. After a long moment, Ivy pulled back with a gasp.

“Oh, Tony- you said that there was an emergency- is something wrong?”

“Actually, yeah, something is wrong,” Tony replied. “The emergency is that I haven’t seen my fiancé in weeks. This morning in my video-meeting with General Ross, I felt like my brain was about to explode. I goddamn miss you, baby; I feel like I can barely think straight without you around. I just needed to see you. So, I faked some technical difficulties and cut Ross off, and then made some calls to reschedule all our meetings. For the next 24 hours, you’re all mine.”

A swell of love grew in Ivy’s chest, and she tightened her arms around her sweet man, pulling herself closer into his embrace. “Oh, Tony,” she breathed, pressing a series of soft kisses all over his face before bringing her lips to press against his own. “Honey, I miss you too. I miss you so, so much, Tony. I hate spending so little time with you. Thank you so much for this, I need a day to just relax and focus on nothing but you.”

Ivy pressed her lips back against Tony’s, her tongue easily slipping past his lips to press warmly against his own. Tony tightened his grip on her waist, threading his other hand through her hair and pulling her closer, his lips moving intimately against hers.

Eventually pulling back, Tony pressed his forehead against Ivy’s. “I proposed to you so that I could spend every day of my life with you,” he said quietly. “That’s all I want. You and me, forever. But this whole engagement thing has done the complete opposite.”

“You proposed to me exactly six weeks ago today,” Ivy murmured with a fond smile, and Tony nodded. “It was such a beautiful proposal. I didn’t see it coming at all. You put so much thought into it… Tony, that was the happiest night of my life.”

“Mine too,” Tony breathed. “God, of course it was.”

Ivy’s smile slipped from her face. “But that was six weeks ago, and I’ve only properly seen you a handful of times since then. Tony, the wedding is months away; I can’t keep doing this until then.”

“I don’t want to keep doing this until then,” Tony replied.

Ivy leant her weight back against Tony, squeezing her arms tighter around him and resting her temple against his shoulder. Shifting his hand under her shirt, Tony ran his fingers comfortingly up and down the skin of Ivy’s back, as he pressed a lingering kiss against her temple.

“I’ve hated these past few weeks,” Ivy admitted quietly, snuggling closer to the warm body against hers. “I just want to be with you.”

The two lapsed into silence, relishing in their closeness. But whilst Ivy’s eyes were closed as she relaxed against the weight of her fiancé, Tony’s gaze was fixed unseeingly on the window in front of them. His mind was racing a mile a minute, running back over her words and trying to work out a solution to their problem.

And then an idea hit him.

“Ivy, baby,” Tony breathed, “we should get married.”

Ivy laughed quietly, shifting to meet Tony’s gaze and smiling softly up at him. “We are, you big doofus. That’s why we’re so busy.”

“No, you misunderstood me,” Tony said, his voice growing louder in his sudden excitement. “I mean, we should get married today!”

A sense of elated excitement was running through Tony. It was an ingenious plan- their problem was the added stress of the wedding planning. If they just cancelled the wedding… well, the problem disappeared.

“Wait- what?” Ivy asked, blinking in confusion.

Twisting his entire body to properly face her, Tony cupped Ivy’s cheeks and said emphatically “Ivy, I don’t want a big, dramatic wedding- I never wanted that. I just wanted it to be official that you’re mine and I’m yours. Baby, I just want you.”

Ivy pulled back slightly to better meet Tony’s gaze, but his tight grip on her didn’t allow her to go far. Slowly, Ivy absorbed his words and a wide smile split across her face. “You mean you want to elope? Today?”

Tony nodded frantically. “Today! Right now, even!”

An ecstatic sort of giggle escaped Ivy at his brazen words, and she nodded. “Tony- yes, yes, let’s do it,” she replied excitedly, before Tony surged forwards and pressed a fierce, passionate kiss against her lips, full of all the overwhelming love he held for her.

“I love you,” she mumbled against his lips in between kisses, and Tony could only nod frantically in response.

God, did he love this fucking woman. And he was about to make her his fucking wife.

Over the next few hours, Tony and Ellie rushed through the necessary arrangements. Calls were made, from Brooklyn to Washington to Germany to India, to rally the troops.

“Today?” Steve repeated, dropping his coffee mug in surprise and drawing irritated noises from the people standing in the coffee shop around him.

“But- you said June, I thought there were months until the big day,” Bruce stuttered, falling to a halt mid-step. A number of people walking behind him on the busy walkway stumbled into his shoulders; he barely even felt it.

“Natasha and I are meant to be infiltrating a HYDRA base tonight and taking out the agents there, but we could probably get it done within the next two hours,” Clint mused, pausing as he listened to Natasha’s yelled words from the next room over. “No, scratch that, Ivy. Nat says we can get it done in the next sixty minutes. Any chance we could get the Stark jet to pick us up?”

“I mean, I don’t think the Minister of Defence will be too happy to reschedule our meeting, but screw him,” Rhodey laughed. “Ivy making an honest man out of you? I wouldn’t miss that for the goddamn world.”

It soon became very clear to the paparazzi camped out outside Stark Tower that something big was happening. In the later hours of Friday afternoon, dark cars with blacked-out windows began arriving, piled full of people. At approximately 2:30pm, all employees in the Tower were sent home with the guarantee that the rest of their lost work day would be generously compensated. In the madness of the crowds spilling from the front doors, two blondes slipping in the side door clutching black garment bags almost avoided detection (but not quite, prompting an excitable discussion on E! News as to what clothing Special Agent Sharon Carter and Captain Steve Rogers could be sneaking into the building). At 3pm, the War Machine was spotted landing on the penthouse balcony, and at 4pm the sleek Stark private jet touched down on the landing pad on the roof. The CNN helicopter monitoring the suspicious activity at the Tower captured extremely grainy photographs of the Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Bruce Banner entering the building before the jet took off again. Just when all movement outside the Tower appeared to have ceased, at 5:30pm a ferocious crack of thunder accompanied a bright flash of lightening, and Thor Odinson appeared on the roof of Stark Tower.

(This was the last straw after a day of such extreme excitement, and one of the E! News anchors fainted in her chair, as the other hosts screamed about what could be happening now that all of the Avengers had arrived at the Tower. A similar scene could be seen on all the major news networks.)

“My friends!” Thor greeted loudly as he entered the penthouse apartment, frantic with movement. “Heimdall informed me that Lady Ivy has been requesting my presence. What in the realms is going on?”

“There’s the big guy!” Tony greeted with a wide grin, coming forwards to clap Thor on the shoulder. “Yeah, we didn’t know how to get in contact with you, so Ivy has just been talking aloud to Heimdall and hoping he hears her. We figured it was a long shot, so I’m happy to see you here, buddy!

“Well, I am always happy to be here,” Thor returned. “Heimdall did not tell me what the great emergency was; is something the matter?”

“Nothing’s the matter- total opposite, in fact!”

“Then why have you summoned me?” Thor asked in confusion.

From the other side of the Tower, Rhodey stepped out from the hall and called Tony’s name, gesturing him to come over. Tony spun and grinned at Thor, calling over his shoulder “Ivy and I are getting married today! Didn’t want you to miss it!” before continuing on his way over to Rhodey, ducking around the numerous people scurrying through the penthouse.

Thor laughed delightedly. “Well, this is magnificent news!” he boomed. “Weddings are truly joyous occasions! Who cares for a drink?”

A number of cheers greeted his words, as several people followed Thor over to the bar.

Thor didn’t get to drink for long, as Natasha (who appeared to be running the show at this point) quickly put him to work. The super human strength of Steve and Thor was used to push all the furniture in the penthouse out of the way and against the walls; Clint, Maria, and Bruce were arranging a few dozen fold out chairs facing the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city in the now empty space in the middle of the room; meanwhile, Happy was directing a number of deliverymen, who were carrying delicate, decorative floral arrangements into the penthouse to line a large alter in the middle of the open space. Nick Fury, still dressed in his formal looking black leather trench coat, was observing the scene from the front of the alter and loudly criticising everybody when he thought that the work could be done better. Given that most of the attendees were SHIELD agents, nobody was willing to backtalk the superior agent (and even those who weren’t SHIELD agents and so weren’t quite sure who this intimidating figure was could tell that he wasn’t to be trifled with, so didn’t argue).

And besides, how could they? Despite his lack of actual productive assistance, it was clear that Fury, just like everyone else in the room, was trying to make sure that this little impromptu wedding ceremony ran as smoothly as possible. Fury may be a rough bastard at times and he’d undoubtedly had his fair share of (extremely loud) arguments with Ivy Henderson (who he rather publicly called his “most insubordinate agent”), but deep-down Fury had a soft spot for her, just like everyone else who had warranted an invitation to this impromptu little affair.

And not many had warranted an invitation; perhaps twenty of Ivy and Tony’s closest friends were to be present for the intimate evening. A very different picture to the 300 guests (at minimum) that Veronica had suggested during their wedding planning. No, this scene was far more the couple’s taste.

Satisfied that everything was going according to plan, Natasha barked one more order at Clint to fix the arrangement of chairs in the back row before turning and striding further into the penthouse. Arriving at Tony and Ivy’s bedroom, Natasha opened the door- and almost lost her breath.

“Oh, Ivy,” Natasha breathed. Ivy turned on the spot to face the doorway, smiling and bringing her palms up to nervously adjust her dress.

Ivy was wearing a long, lacy white dress, skin-tight down to the long, flowing train. Her hair was done up in an elaborate up-do, her makeup light and subtle. Shifting nervously , Ivy gestured down to her dress and asked “so, what do you think?” 

Shutting the door behind her, Natasha strode into the room and came to a stop in front of Ivy, running her eyes down her figure. 

“You are the most incredibly beautiful bride,” Natasha said sincerely. “How in the world did you manage to organise such an amazing wedding dress and two bridesmaids dresses in under a day?”

Ivy grinned cheekily. “The perks of marrying a man who’s maintained a lifelong relationship with Christian Dior,” she replied, and Natasha hummed.

“Yes, I suppose that will about do it.”

Natasha gratefully accepted the glass of champagne Sharon handed her, before heading into the walk-in-wardrobe to get changed into her bridesmaid dress.

“How’s everything going out there? Is the room looking okay? Is everyone alright?” Ivy asked, settling down on the couch in the corner of the room and taking a long swig of her champagne.

“The room is almost unrecognisable. It looks beautiful, and everyone is having an amazing time,” Natasha called from the wardrobe.

“Well, what about you, Ivy? How are you feeling? Are you sure that you’re ready to become Mrs Tony Stark?” Sharon teased. “That’s quite the daunting role.”

Ivy’s eyes fell to the ring on her left hand. Tony’s mothers ring, which he’d proposed to her with six weeks ago exactly. Ivy took a moment to merely breathe, and take in her surroundings. It felt like she had barely had a chance to do so all day, as she and Tony had frantically organised a whole wedding in the course of about seven hours. Ivy had been too busy rushing around to think about what she was doing, and now that she had the chance to, she was surprised by what she found.

“I’m not nervous,” she said honestly, twisting her engagement ring around her finger thoughtfully. “I thought I’d be nervous, but… god, I just want him. I want to be his wife, and I want Tony to be my husband, and I want it now.”

Natasha stepped out of the wardrobe, and she and Sharon shared a smile over their glasses of champagne.

“Well then Ivy, let’s make you Mrs Stark,” Natasha said softly. “I’ll go and tell everybody to get into place.”

Less than fifteen minutes later, everybody had fallen into their places. The penthouse was completely unrecognisable, having been completely transformed to surround the large altar. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind the arch, a beautiful pink sunset coloured the skyline of New York.

Tony stood underneath the flowered arch, a sharp grey suit pressed to perfection. Happy and Bruce stood beside him, taking the place of his groomsmen. Rhodey had secretly gotten ordained as a Minister months ago, when he’d first sensed that things were getting serious between Tony and Ivy. The man stood now, shoulder to shoulder with his best friend, ready to officiate his wedding to the woman of his dreams.

“You ready?” Rhodey murmured, just as music began playing to indicate that the ceremony was beginning.

“God yes,” Tony breathed, not even pausing to think about it. Rhodey smiled, bringing his hand up to pat Tony’s shoulder just as Sharon appeared from the hallway, making her way down the alter. Sharon met Tony’s gaze and smilingly nodded to him, her eyes twinkling. She took her place at the side of the alter, just as Natasha appeared. Clint let out a whistle, causing Natasha to smack him with her flowers on her walk down the aisle, prompting a few laughs. Tony snorted, dropping his gaze down to his feet to hide his amused grin. And then, when he dragged his eyes back up-

There she was. There she was. 

Tony felt all his breath leave his body at the image of her, the most beautiful sight he’d ever laid eyes on. The dress was utterly magnificent on her, and although Tony had known that this was a big day, the sight of Ivy walking towards him in what was unmistakably a wedding dress stirred a range of emotions in him he’d hardly ever felt before. Tony dragged his gaze up to meet hers across the room, and he swallowed thickly at the intensity he found there. 

A nudge from Rhodey caused Tony to remember to breathe, and he sucked in a shuddering breath. 

The moment that Ivy was within his reach, Tony extended his hand to hers and pulled her close against him, desperate to hold her. The music halted as Tony continued to hold her gaze, and the surrounding crowd took their seats so the ceremony could begin.  

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Rhodey begun, but Tony wasn’t listening.

“You’re so beautiful,” Tony breathed, and Ivy couldn’t hide the wide grin that split across her face. “How in the world did I get so goddamn lucky?”

“I’m the lucky one,” Ivy murmured back, her eyes staring up at him with so much raw love that Tony momentarily lost his breath again. He’d never before had anyone look at him like that; he’d never even thought for a moment before this that he could possibly deserve for someone to do so. But Ivy… She’d changed everything. “I love you, Tony. I can’t wait to be your wife.”

Unable to hold himself back any longer, Tony leant forwards and pressed his lips against Ivy’s. Ivy’s hands shot up to grip the lapels of his suit jacket and pull him closer, her mouth opening to him.

A throat clearing loudly interrupted them.

“You’re meant to wait until the end of the ceremony to do that,” Rhodey said, his tone coloured with his amusement.

The two pulled back and glanced unapologetically back at Rhodey. “Sorry,” Tony said insincerely. Rhodey rolled his eyes in amusement before beginning the service again.

Truthfully, the next few moments were a blur. In later years, Tony would be unable to recount exactly those precious moments up at the altar. A few laughs sounded from the audience throughout the ceremony, along with a few gasps of delight, but Tony barely even heard them. He had been told later by numerous people that the ceremony had been beautiful, but he’d have to take their word for it. Up at that altar, the only thing that Tony could focus on was Ivy.

The only thing that felt real was her. The only thing that mattered was the fact that nothing in his entire life before this point had ever felt so right, no moment had ever been so unimaginably perfect, than this one.

“Ivy,” Rhodey eventually said, turning to face the woman. “Do you take Tony to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do,” she breathed, and Tony’s hands tightened around hers.  

“I’m glad to hear it,” Rhodey grinned, before turning to Tony. “And Tony, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“God yes I do,” he replied, and Ivy giggled rather wetly. For the first time that evening, Tony realised that Ivy’s eyes were watering, and a second later he realised that he was on the verge of crying, too.

And then those words- finally, those words-

“Tony… you may now kiss your bride.”

Tony and Ivy met each other halfway, their lips pressing together passionately as their limbs tangled together, desperately attempting to pull the other closer. Tony wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her entire body off of the floor and up against him. 

Loud cheers erupted from the audience, as most of the people in attendance hopped to their feet and begun applauding. 

Tony couldn’t withhold his wide grin when Ivy mumbled against his lips “I love you so much…”

Peppering her entire face with tiny kisses, Tony’s heart soared at the sound of her small giggle, barely audible above the raucous applause and cheers from their friends and family.

“I love you with every fibre of my goddamn being, Mrs Stark.”

Mrs Stark, Tony mused. God, he really could get used to that. 

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[madam-lit-nerd]

On His Own (but not really)

So it’s been a while since I did this, but bear with me

* Omega!cas has finally moved out on his own, much to his parents’ consternation. They’re the old-fashioned types who believe in the whole “omegas shouldn’t live on their own until they’re married” but Cas just had to get out of that big house with the pristine white furniture and the echoey marble floors and the attractive staff with the perfect smiles, or he’d lose it * Even though it is his place, his parents thoroughly vet the building in the nice, upscale neighborhood that’s only ten minutes away from their monolith of a house. After determining that the building is, indeed, up to snuff (it has a trained alpha security guard at the entrance and top-of-the-line security measures throughout the building) Cas finally has his own place * At first he finds the environment a little stifling. Come on, his parents did choose it, so it has all the same amenities he was trying to escape when he moved out of his parents’ place, including but not limited to the rich douchenozzle alpha who lives two floors up in the penthouse (and yes, he is a douchenozzle because what the hell kinda name is Zachariah?) * Zachariah has already caught onto the new omega’s scent and repeatedly tries to orchestrate run-ins with Cas * Poor Cas, one of the main reasons he moved out in the first place was to escape an overbearing alpha who couldn’t take a hint, and now he has this new neighbor who also can’t take a hint * But despite the overbearing alpha, Cas is enjoying having his own place. He now has his very own job as a secretary. Granted, he’s secretary for one of his mother’s friends, so he knows his parents are still keeping tabs on him, but baby steps, right? * Another upside: he spends his evenings baking and trying out new recipes. His mother never let him use the kitchens at home, always insisting “that’s what the cooks are for, silly boy!” * So the job and the baking are definite pluses, but the best upside of the new place, as far as Cas is concerned, is the evening security guard. He’s an alpha, of course, but he’s different from the others. He actually seems interested when he asks Cas how his day has been, and he smiles so genuinely and warmly. It makes Cas’s knees weak and his heartbeat triple. * At first it’s just a couple words here and there as Cas returns home after work, but as time passes, words turn into sentences, and sentences turn into conversation. They begin to share more and more with each other about their personal lives. Dean tells Cas about his family, especially his younger brother Sam who he’s helping through law school. Cas tells Dean about his desire for independence from his parents’ overbearing lifestyle * It gets to the point where the ever-lengthening conversations are the bright point of Cas’s day * Soon Cas starts bringing Dean samples of the treats and dishes he makes, and Dean’s gobbling them down with gusto, especially the pie. Cas suddenly finds himself searching for more pie recipes, but it’s worth it to see Dean’s reactions. His smiles grow bigger, his eyes crinkling more and more every time Cas shyly presents his newest creation. * Dean even mentions a couple times that Cas should sell his baked goods at the farmers market in the local park; talks about how he could build up enough of a customer base to open his own bakery someday. * And of course Cas realizes that it’s crazy talk, but the way Dean talks just makes it seem so feasible and realistic, not just some dumb unvoiced fantasy that Cas has had running around the back of his mind for years now. * But that’s what Cas loves about Dean; he makes the fantastic seem so close and reachable. * Even the dumb dreams that Cas had buried away, like mating and having pups. Even those seem plausible when Cas is standing at Dean’s desk, giggling at Dean’s silly jokes and sharing his baked goods and actually enjoying his life for once. * But despite the job and the baking and Dean, Cas still has one big problem: Zachariah. He’s always there in the background, biding his time, making improper remarks. * And yes, Cas complains about Zachariah and his unwanted attentions to Dean; it’s bound to come up. But Dean doesn’t witness it firsthand until one day when Zachariah walks in as Cas is having his now-daily conversation with Dean. * In all honesty, Cas shouldn’t even be down in the lobby, talking to Dean; not in his condition. He can already feel the first tendrils of his heat rippling through his gut, but he’d promised Dean a taste of the raspberry cobbler he baked over the weekend. And of course, if Dean can smell his heat, he’s too much of a gentleman to say anything. * Zachariah, on the other hand, has no such reserve. He walks right up behind Cas and pulls in a deep breath of the omega’s scent. * “Need help with anything, Angel?” He oozes out, causing Cas to freeze up. * “No, thank you,” the omega murmurs, his eyes flying to Dean’s, hoping Dean won’t get the wrong idea. Dean must understand, because he’s immediately standing and coming around to the front of the security desk, ready to intervene. * “Really, cause your scent says otherwise,” Zachariah persists, actually bringing his hand up to stroke across Cas’s arm. Cas snatches his arm away and steps away, coincidentally enough, closer to Dean. * “But his mouth said no, Zachariah,” Dean interjects. He narrows his eyes as he takes a step forward, coincidentally enough, closer to Cas. “I’m going to ask you to respect that.” * “Listen here, Paul Blart,” Zachariah growls, “Cas here doesn’t need your help. He already has an alpha.” * Cas, non-coincidentally, takes another step closer to Dean. “Even if I have found my alpha, I can pretty much guarantee that it is not, nor would it ever be, you.” * Zachariah glares at them both for a solid ten to fifteen seconds, but to their credit, neither budges. Not that they really have much inclination to, given the way they seem to be drawn to each other, their bodies angling ever so slightly to accommodate the other’s space. * After Zachariah stalks away, muttering under his breath about dick alphas and tease omegas, Cas suddenly seems to realize just how close he is to Dean. Close enough that he knows that the alpha has to scent his oncoming heat. * But, ever the gentleman, Dean simply takes a step back, placing a fair amount of distance between them again. Cas smiles up at him, strained and unsure, as he thanks him. Dean assures him it was nothing, that anyone else would’ve done the same, but Cas cuts him off with a harsh shake of his head. * “No, not really. For some reason, people always assume that being, um,” he blushes as he forces the next words out, “in heat automatically acts as an invitation for any alpha to force himself on you. And you…didn’t assume that. So thank you.” * “Of course, Cas,” Dean murmurs. “You deserve the best for a mate…” he suddenly realizes what he’s saying and begins stumbling over his words, “or at least better than Zachariah…but still the best. I mean…” he sighs and runs a hand over the back of his neck. “You should have an alpha who treats you like you’re special, who would take care of you, like…” he trails off, his cheeks reddening. * Cas smiles softly, already knowing what the next word should be. * “Like you?” * Dean flounders for a moment, but eventually nods, his eyes soft and hopeful as they flit up to Cas’s. * Cas grins. “So, if I remember right, your shift ends in a couple hours?” * Dean draws up short at the subject change, but when he catches on, his green eyes crinkle at the corners as his smile grows. “Yeah, eleven o'clock.” * “Well, then,” Cas murmurs, grabbing the barely touched plate of cobbler back from Dean, “I suppose you may just need to come finish this upstairs.” * “I suppose I may need to do that, yes.” * “I’ll see you then,” Cas whispers as he reaches up to press a quick kiss to Dean’s cheek before spinning around and heading for the elevator. * At 11:00 on the dot, Dean is knocking on Cas’s front door for his late-night cobbler visit. * By 11:01, the cobbler is long forgotten.

#yeah i wrote something #destiel #destiel ficlet #omega!cas #alpha!dean #creepy Zachariah #security guard!dean

[citruscloudsandmoon]

...........

after 5 and half years (including the previous 1 and half year).

It was a normal day in blitzkrieg boys household. One seeing it from outside will possibly presume that such a nice house it is with a front garden kept neatly (Credit of Bryan). Its habitats living peacefully and in harmony. Until they heard a shriek and a snappy resort. Talk about tranquility.

It was found that Tala and Julia were arguing again. For the past one month their shouting rows have increased in number. They weren't even engaged yet and they have already started bickering. God forbid what might happen if they got married. Probably blow each other off by releasing nukes. Highly unlikely but possible.

So where were the rest of the boys? Kai lived in his mansion, so don't count him. What about Spencer, Ian and Bryan?

Being a third party, they should intervene and stop it. But they didn't. Not that they couldn't. But because they weren't allowed by the couple itself. So they had to do ado with listening to their shouting match.

Spencer was right now in kitchen preparing lunch. Meanwhile Ian and Bryan were lounging in their favorite armchairs reading magazines. The television was on, but it was ignored. And so were the magazines. What Bryan and Ian were doing was completely ridiculous. No one in their right mind would think about it. They were lip-syncing Tala and Julia hostile infused conversation. Ian was copying Tala while Bryan was mimicking Julia.

Tala:" Don't you dare yell at me woman!" Ian:" Don't you dare yell at me woman!"

Julia:" I am not yelling!" Bryan:" I am not yelling!" (Mimicking in girly voice)

Tala:" Enough with it Jules!" Ian:" Enough with it Jules!"

Julia:" But we haven't even talked!" Bryan:" But we haven't even talked!"

Tala:" You call this talking?!" Ian:" You call this talking?!"

Julia:" Yes! Now tell me how long that woman has been working with you?" Bryan:" Yes! Now tell me how long that woman has been working with you?"

Tala:" I don't remember! Maybe One month" Ian:" I don't remember! Maybe One month"

Julia:" Ah Ha! That means you had been involved with her for one whole month!" Bryan:" Ah Ha! That means you had been involved with her for one whole month!"

Tala:" What?! Such non-sense you are speaking!" Ian:" What?! Such non-sense you are speaking!"

Julia:" Me speaking non-sense?! You are the one actually committing it" Bryan:" Me speaking non-sense?! You are the one actually committing it"

Tala:" How come?" Ian:" How come?"

Julia:" What the hell she was doing leaning over your table?!" Bryan:" What the hell she was doing leaning over your table?!"

Tala:" Showing me the report you dumby!" Ian:" Showing me the report you dumby!"

Julia:" Her TITS!" Bryan:" Her….." Bryan paused, his eyes widening and comprehending what just Julia said.

Tala:" No she wasn't, don't be silly, they weren't even that good!" At this both Ian and Bryan shared a wicked grin and mouthed' Awesome!"

Julia bellowed" That means you were LOOKING!"

More shouting followed. This time the couple was fighting in their mother tongue. He in Russian and she in Spanish. Then silence.

Bryan and Ian quickly adjusted their positions. Bryan grabbed the magazine, his nose buried into it, not realizing it was upside down, while Ian grabbed the game controller and pressed the buttons furiously.

Just then the door opened and a pair of feet could be heard from the steps of stairs. Julia finally emerged, looking very angry, her face red. She stormed past the duos who were lounging in armchairs. She went into kitchen and came back, her hand clutching a Russian salad stuffed sandwich. Stamping her footsteps she made her way to front door, wrenched it open and slammed it shut. Quite hard. Screeching of tires on asphalt told them she had gone.

Bryan and Ian let out an inaudible sigh. Julia can so scary at times like these. Next Tala appeared who looked like a disgruntled snowy owl. He glanced at his team mates, a large tick making his way towards his forehead.

"Drop the act you morons!" he snapped. "Huh?" Bryan asked, trying to look innocent. "I know you both were mimicking us!" Tala snarled, making his way towards kitchen. He vaguely heard Bryan and Ian explanations.

'Pathetic' Tala thought.

#one of the scenes #of my fics #tala ivanov #julia fernandez #Bryan Kuznetsov #spencer petrov #ian papov #blitzkrieg boys

[artsynanotech]

Home Again Part 2: More Failed Plans

It figures that our plan to confront the woman who tailed me went pear shaped the moment it started. I feel terrible. It was my idea, and while what happened wasn’t my fault, I feel like my ideas have a history of failing more often than not. Worst of all, that was my only contribution to the rest of the evening. Tonight was one of the nights my friends outshone me. Which is fine, really, except for the fact that I hate being dead weight around them. But I digress. Michella got an emergency call from her sire, but Caroline was able to join Felicia and I at the woman’s house. I should probably mention her name: Nicole Abner. The plan was simple; I knock on the door and, when Ms. Abner answered it, I would claim she hit my cat or mailbox or something while she was speeding through my neighborhood. I’d gauge her reaction with Auspex in order to confirm or deny that she’d been tailing me. Felicia and Caroline would keep watch at a distance and intervene only if things went south. 

They hid, and I went and knocked on the door, and was greeted with a shotgun blast to my shoulder. It burst into flame on impact and left a disgusting, charred hole. The next few moments were kind of a blur. I heard a bike revving, and more gunshots. I think I saw Felicia run into the house. By the time I got my bearings most of the action had subsided. Ms. Abner had fled. She did, however, leave her house unoccupied. Felicia, Caroline, and I went inside to look around. Ms. Abner is apparently a Mrs., and married to the city’s DA. Felicia turned the place upside down and managed to find a leather journal filled with the names, habits, and acquaintances of several kindred in the city. Steve’s was there, as well as a picture of him with the Abner’s daughter. It seemed we’d found my cousin’s killer. 

We couldn’t stay long, as the police showed up shortly after we started searching. The three of us made our way out the back and snuck to another street to catch a bus. Felicia let me borrow her coat so I could hide my injury. She wanted to continue pursuing Mrs. Abner, but I thought it was more important that we get the hit list journal to Bethany. Caroline agreed. There was only one place I could think of to check, and that was Alden’s home. It didn’t seem like he was home at first. We tried ringing the doorbell a couple times and got no response, but the door was open so I went inside and announced that we were there. We still got nothing, but as soon as we were about to leave he appeared seemingly out of nowhere, stark naked, his nose buried in a book. I was jut barely able to get his attention. If course he didn’t remember who I was, or my name, but he did say Bethany was there and that we could speak to her. Caroline stayed with Alden to keep him company while Felicia and I went to see Bethany. She was surprised to see us, but thankfully not upset. We told her what we found at the Abner house, and that Mrs. Abner was likely Steve’s murderer. Bethany suggested we give the journal to Maceth or Wyatt, as she didn’t trust herself to be an impartial party in the matter. That was fair. I asked about Maceth’s suggestion she wouldn’t be sheriff for much longer. She told me that, while she had no plans to willingly step down, she would not be surprised if she was removed from her position for incompetence. DC had been a mess the past few months, after all, and some might see that as a failure on her part. She herself even wondered if Maceth would do a better job at it. I told her she was wrong. Bethany disagreed. She said she might be the better choice for me, since she allowed my relationship with Ares, but Maceth could be better for the city as a whole. I didn’t have the heart to fight her on that. As much as I wanted to, she was still grieving and I couldn’t bring myself to be that insensitive. But I do think she’s wrong, and not just for my own sake. Bethany has the interests of every kindred in the city at heart. Maceth cares only about amassing power and influence for himself. Felicia, however, didn’t share my discomfort with the situation and managed to convince Bethany to make an appearance at Elysium the next evening. Eventually it came up in conversation that I’d been shot. I’d hoped to not worry Bethany with that, but I suppose there wasn’t much to be done about it. She looked at the wound and, contrary to what I thought, didn’t think it was regular incendiary ammo that I’d been hit with. She said the wound smelled like potassium nitrate. It would burn ferociously, but quickly, and contact with a normal human would simply leave a bad burn. Against a kindred, though, it was damn near deadly. So now we had another lead: find out who was making this custom ammo, and how the wife of a district attorney got her hands on it. There wasn’t much more to say after that, we took our leave. Bethany gave me a kiss on the forehead as we left. Felicia went to the front door while I collected Caroline, who had apparently been modeling for nude portraits with Alden (talk about awkward). She seems to like him just fine. I think she’s nuts, but who am I to judge? As we left Maxwell arrived in a limo. He paid no attention to us as he entered Alden’s home. I have a bad feeling about that. Not the fact that he ignored us, but that he was there at all. Was he going to dismiss Bethany from her position as sheriff? Whatever the case, there was nothing I could do about it. After discussing our options for a but, the girls and I decided to hand the journal off to Wyatt. Wyatt has a reputation as kind of a slacker, so we thought it would annoy Maceth to the utmost if Wyatt discovered important evidence before he did. And that is where my involvement in the evening ends. I have no desire to visit Elysium on a good day, and I most certainly wasn’t going to while I was injured. I waited for Felicia and Caroline outside while they delivered the journal, and when that was done we parted ways for the evening. Here’s hoping to a more productive tomorrow, I guess. (while Scott was waiting outside Elysium, Caroline had tense confrontation with her sire, Robert. They’ve been at odds with each other since Fuck My Undead Life. He sent someone to stake her at the beginning of the story arc. Xavier also told Caroline that Robert was up to something shady and gave her a packet of information he acquired while he was helping the coterie escape DC.Caroline’s been investigating that information on her own ever since. Robert appears to want to smooth things about between himself and Caroline, but Caroline doesn’t trust that one bit. After that conversation Caroline gave the journal to Wyatt. He promised to let the prince know about it and follow up on all the information contained within. Felicia spent the time introducing herself to the Gangrel primogen and made plans to speak with him more later in the week.)

#IC #Session recap

[elia-de-silentio]

TENTATIVE ANALYSES: MONSTER

Chapter 6: The BKA Man

NARRATIVE STRUCTURE

We open nine years after the events seen insofar, revealed as basically a big prologue. The Wall of Berlin has fallen, the political situation is still tense, and the police is dealing with a string of serial murders. In the middle of a flood, they have found two corpses, which would be sadly normal if not for the fact that these two had their throats slit. We see Inspector Lunge again, still back at his old quirks. Here we see on the job, putting together evidence that these aren't robberies ended badly but the work of a serial killer, more than one in fact: the victims all had a thing in common, they were all childless, middle-aged couples. He also has a suspect, a lockpicker named Adolf Junkers.

We get a short cut back to Tenma, who basically lives for a job that doesn't mean only to operate and manage his department, but also personally interact with the patients and flying a kite for the children, and then we see this Adolf Junkers: he's running away from something, and doesn't think twice of throwing himself in the middle of the street to escape it. Predictably, he is hit, and this leads to Lunge and Tenma meeting again when the latter is called to operate on him. Lunge has this brilliant idea of stressing the importance of saving Junkers' life to obtain information, and then put pressure on Tenma by all but openly accusing him of having murdered Heinemann & co, being the only one with the reason and competences to do so. A lesser doctor would have been distracted even by the fear of being unjustly suspected, but Tenma doesn't: l'unica conseguenza è che adesso Lunge gli sta potentemente sul cazzo, and Junkers is saved. When checking on him when he awakens, Tenma gets some mysterious and worrying words: the 'monster' is coming.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES

Adolf Junkers' behaviour serves to build a sense of suspence and expectations: he is introduced running away from something that ... we can only see that it is terrible enough that throwing himself under the traffic is a preferable alternative. Later, when he awakens, the very first thing he says is that the 'monster' is coming. This is outright Lovecraftian: we can't see directly the scary thing, we see only the consequence of its actions, and our imagination fills in the blanks with the worst things we can imagine.

CHARACTERS

Tenma: nine years after his life got turned upside down, he is now a mix between a Jedi and Mary Poppins. His talent is recognized nationwide, with flocks of medical students coming to see him in action; he is the prospected director of the whole hospital; he takes time to chat with his patients and fly kites for recovering children. At the same time, it seems that he has quite a 'married to the job' attitude, as he has never had another relationship since the one with Eva ended.

Lunge: he is back with another investigation, but he hasn't let go of the old one: he never managed to catch the killer of Dr Heinemann, and he still suspects Tenma. He has no problem letting him know, by the way. Right before the latter goes on to operate on a patient whose survival is crucial to the investigation, so not exactly a situation where you want the surgeon distracted or stressed. Lunge is smart, but here we see that he can be shortsighted.

Dr Becker: a comical counterpart to Tenma. In the intervening years, he hasn't changed one bit: still with no promotion in sight, still with little motivation to his job, still out to get as many ladies as he can and confused by the fact that Tenma isn't doing the same. Still, he has remained by his side all of these years.

Adolf Junkers: a perp involved in a case of serial murders. His job insofar is that of letting us know that there is someone way worse outta here, and that person is coming.

THEMES

While this is mostly a transition chapter between the prologue and the rest of the story, the theme of the importance of life still finds its way. Tenma, who now lives by it, is contrasted with another kind of utilitarian vision: Lunge, who frames the importance of the lockpicker's survival on the informations he would be able to provide.

SYMBOLISM

There is no noticeable symbolism in this chapter.

REFERENCES

• A chronological one - the fall of the Wall of Berlin which divided West Germany from East Germany.

And this is all for this chapter. Thank you for reading insofar!

If you liked my analysis, you can support it by reblogging this or offering me a coffee (link in first reblog)

#monster #naoki urasawa's monster #monster meta #monster analysis #kenzou tenma #inspector lunge #tentative analyses #tentative analyses: naoki urasawa's monster

[notaveryge]

self para / bad seeds

Lara gave up on the garden at the first yellow leaf. Now, she took her hours to waste inside of the house and spent it imitating the house elf: snapping her fingers until the furniture was dusted off, though letting go of magic and using her hands when she got to Allard's piano, out of respect for the sacred object that was one of the few things in the world he seemed to truly value (so she did, too, by default), stirring the soup and, from time to time, taking long breaks in the vacant room in the attic, trying to decide its use besides music room, for it was too big even for the whole collection of instruments her husband brought along.

Just as she was looking out the window with bitterness that reached all the way down to the aurors, but also had a dash of gratitude hidden somewhere in it, the alarms went off and her fingers were clenched on the wand helplessly, but at least as result of decent reflexes, before she could tell. She ran to the electric blue sphere levitating by the wall that showed images of all around the house and recognized the emerald green satin cloak that fell all the way to the ground like the last time she had seen it was last week. With a detached wave of hand through the window, she let the aurors know that their services weren't needed, dismissing them. She felt sorry for not letting them step in and do their job, but she couldn't let a couple of aurors intervene between her and her father.

She didn't come down immediately, needing justified time to think it through. Her heart was suffocating her with beats so sudden and firm that she felt like shaking from inside. She knew he would wait for her to come to him and was so curious about every aspect of his visit and what could have been more important than her wedding, but to conceal that, she needed a minute. Though her heart wanted to levitate all the way to the ground floor where he must have been waiting, just like she waited for her mother in that October after running away with Oliver, but her feet were hesitant, postponing the moment of reconnection and refusing to respond to her excitement. Soon, it hit her: Lara was significantly more nervous than excited to see her father. It was like just before the N.E.W.T.s, not anticipating one of the happiest moments of her life. It didn't matter. She took a deep breath of air she needed and pressed her soles against the stairs, making no noise and going straight to the kitchen.

She didn't need to make her presence known. Though he was facing a painting in the opposite direction and the elf was hidden behind the table as form of respect, he suddenly knew Lara was there. Her clearing her throat clashed with the moment he opened his mouth to welcome her in her own house. He had always had more control of the situation than any other person the girl knew. It was only natural he was dominating even there. "Lara," he tilted his head softly, still turned with his back on her and she had no second word to add to the conversation. Therefore, he had to speak again, uninterrupted, in a lower voice but with enough strength to make it echo in her ears, trembling. He wasn't waiting for replies and surely he wasn't asking questions anyway. "I am aware of the situation in the Great Britain," he let her know gently, as if she asked - and she has in every letter between the seventh year and her wedding day. "I believe you aren't, on the other side. I believe you are playing around blindly and trying to achieve - what, you must tell me because I can't understand if it's not a bad reputation. I have seen a little girl, using somebody even less...," - a pause; she filled it with a disgraceful term, he continued unbothered. "... aware to poke something of such a breadth that it did not even feel it - and very well it did - and I understood. I understood that you were playing. But what do I say, Lara, about playing?" No answer. She was stunned, captivated and attacked from every side: half shocked that he showed up with the skin of an elder, looking more fragile than ever and reminding her that she couldn't even pinpoint their last meeting prior to that morning, and half stuck on his words, embarrassed that they had to be said but wanting to understand. She may have turned red, but it was with pride that she held her chin up, as if for the first time immune to the lecture. She knew the answer to his rhetorical question, but there was no way she would be melting back into a child. "You're silent," he noted without being too concerned or affected. "I thought you learned to enjoy the sound of you talking. I thought nothing shut you up. I imagined I would come here and merely say one word between the mighty speeches of Lara Avery." He was amused and she wanted to cry. His case scenario, built strategically to make her think he too cared about their meeting after years, made her nostalgic for that part of her and she wanted to prove him how wrong he was, except Lara suddenly accepted his opinion as the right one, despite her offence.

"Dupond," was all she could mutter, looking anywhere but in his eyes because perhaps he was right and she was a disgrace. Lara had worn her chin up all these months, but hearing the feedback from the only person in the world who could turn her upside down and make her question the unquestionable in her actions and even forget Evelyn had the possibility to change everything. She had imagined that moment of seeing him again million of times, but her plans to call him out and respond with words of sarcasm and cutting remarks all vanished into thin air. She could never open her mouth and blame him for anything. 

The man raised his eyebrows, all the sarcasm all transferred to him. He wasn’t taken aback and didn’t own the hesitance his daughter seemed to have inherited from her mother. "Correct. I forgot you married,” was all that he said on the matter, with a singular raise of eyebrows, and it was enough to kill her. She didn’t need bigger words of critique for she was going to rethink her every decision based on ambiguous skeptical sentences alone. “Back to matters that interest us today, howsoever,” he cleared his throat and she saw him for the old man that he was, suddenly less tense though still valuing his opinion even over hers. Yet, there was something deeply unsettling in seeing your idols wrinkled and weak even in nothing but appearance. She nodded briefly, a gesture she spent all her childhood doing because Lara wasn’t speaking much when he was in the room, but she listened, not missing a word. “You must be at least intelligent enough to see this for what it is: a mistake. An incoherence, an act of desperation, as if that is how you earn your relevancy." A compliment wrapped into everything a compliment wasn’t. Lara felt just like at home, though she hasn’t left the place in weeks and he was the only thing that changed. 

There, she could no longer agree, because she deeply didn’t want to, although she could feel the words he had said burning something inside her mind - and something in her mind struggling with guilt that admitted that she was perhaps chasing after relevance after all. Maybe she truly was, but even so, she didn’t want to feel bad about it. What was so wrong in wanting to change the world? “Father,” she took a deep breath and nodded again, out of politeness her mother, not him, taught her. “I’m not going to say anything to you on the matter,” she sighed the words out, not knowing what to say, but refusing to contribute to the conversation anyway. “I’m sorry to disappoint. The house elf can offer you tea, but I have somewhere to be soon.” That was a lie, but for that reason, she would leave the house in a heartbeat, even without taking caution first or a concrete destination. She thought she’d want to hear every thought that man had crossing through his mind, but she was being proven wrong. She didn’t want to hear. She didn’t want to see him. She was upset, at both herself and him, and his stand on what she was trying to do was obvious. No further arguments were necessary and she didn’t need more doubts to keep her awake at night. “You can make yourself comfortable. The guest room is empty,” she offered, but she knew he would pass up the offer. 

On the opposite side, Benjamin knew that she was deflecting. He saw through the act as if it were thin glass and let her know through an all-knowing smile, but no more words. He had made his point and never wanted to use more words than it was necessary to send his message. “I can’t.” Of course he couldn’t. Lara didn’t even flinch hearing the words. It was all too familiar. “I came here to just let you know that you should let go of this impulsiveness and remember who you are.”

Lara didn’t know what to say, because she thought of herself as the least impulsive person in the world, always analytical and always calculated to everybody but him, of course. Yet, she didn’t want to contradict him one bit, even in her own mind. Did she forget who she was? Was she standing on the wrong side? She didn’t even want to think about it, because the thought alone made her head spin badly and she didn’t need the extra worries that came with it. What she needed to do was not think about it, but it burned.

#self para #Benjamin Avery #bad seeds #i've been writing this since october and kept forgetting about it damn it #i just needed a worry reason idek #i left it somewhat unfinished bc i'm lazy #like i only wrote the last 2 paragraphs now and they're the worst ones #no regrets. i had to post it