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my-castles-crumbling · 6 months

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Ayyy new intro and masterlist!

Intro:

Name: We're gonna go with Cas. Haha, get it? Like, My-CAStles-crumbling? Yeah.

Age: Younger than Taylor Swift, older than Conan Gray. That's all you get <3

Pronouns: They/them/she (But at this point I mean if you use he I honestly don't care.)

queer/demi/pan/I don't even know. Married.

Fandoms: Marauders with a side of drarry.

Ships: Jegulus, Jegulily, wolfstar, rosekiller, pandalily, dorlene, drarry.

Music: Taylor Swift, Conan Gray, Olivia Rodrigo

Writing: I love writing microfics, and my requests are open! I just don't write explicit (hahaha that changed) or xReader.

Fic List:

Note- I am writing all fic ratings. If you are a minor, please take heed.

My Fics:

Clandestine - Rated M - jegulus, background wolfstar - unfinished but currently 32k words - AU-everyone lives/nobody dies/no Voldemort - mostly Regulus's POV as he attends Hogwarts - Trans reggie

Long Story Short - Rated M - dorlene, wolfstar, jegulus, background rosekiller and pandalily - completed - 152k - AU-everyone lives/nobody dies/no Voldemort - A longfic with a long explanation? Basically how hurt/comfort leads to the three main pairings.

Three Hundred Takeout Coffees Later - Rated M - wolfstar - completed - 4.5k - AU-coffee shop/muggle - fluff, love, healing

The Plan - Rated G - wolfstar - completed - 1k - AU-everyone lives/nobody dies/no Voldemort - Wolfstar proposal

Of Firewhiskey and Stupid Speeches - Rated T - drarry - completed - 1.5k - Eighth Year - Hurt/comfort - Pre-Slash

Bad Press - Rated T - drarry - completed - 1k - Eighth year - mostly fluff

Stuck - Rated T - drarry - completed - 2k - Eighth year - hurt/comfort

You Asked For It - Rated G - completed - 1.5k - Marauders friendship mostly - Pre-Wolfstar - Sirius and James and nerf guns

The Deeply Threatening Physical Attributes of Werewolves - Rated T - Marauders friendship with some wolfstar - completed - 1k - James, Peter, and Sirius making Remus laugh

Slow Hands - Rated E - wolfstar - completed - 5k - Sirius realizing he loves Remus, smut ensues.

Whoops. - Rated T - jegulus - completed - 2k - AU-University/Muggle - Regulus is a TA for Professor Monty Potter. What happens when he goes to the Potter Christmas Party?

Mistletoe - Rated G - Jegulus - completed - 1k - James has a plan to finally kiss Regulus.

Warmth - Rated G - Jegulus - completed - 1k - Holiday fluff

Noises - Rated E - Jegulus - completed - 2k - it's just smut, guys

Fic Recs: (All of these are completed)

☆ = has at least some smut , 💔 = MCD, major triggers, or some sort of warning

I'm not putting anything that's pure smut...some of my real-life friends follow me so I don't think I'd live it down. If you want pure smut recs and are over 18, message me.

💔All The Young Dudes - Rated M - wolfstar and jily - 526k - Canon compliant - Necessary read as a part of the fandom, a masterpiece

💔☆ Show Me Everything I Missed - no rating, but I'd give it E - wolfstar - completed - 153k- AU - Remus and Sirius working through trauma - So many trigger warnings, but I really liked it

☆ Sweater Weather - Rated E - wolfstar - 156k - AU - Okay I think hockey is stupid but when these boys play it <3

just lovers (like we were supposed to be) - Rated M - jegulus, background wolfstar, dorlene, and marylily - 321k - AU- no voldemort - fake dating trope - literally perfection

lessen my load - Rated T - wolfstar, dorlene, jily - 73k - AU- Muggle - one of my comfort fics

☆The PB to my J - rated E - wolfstar, background jily - 63k - AU-textfic - we love a good text fic

Across the Hall - rated T - wolfstar, background jily - 41k - AU-textfic - This made me kick and scream and giggle

quite like us - Rated T - jegulus, background wolfstar - 67k - AU-textfic - I just...it's wonderful, perfect, lovely

Best Friend's Brother - Rated M - jegulus and wolfstar - 330k - AU-muggle - such twists and turns I love them

☆ The Barista, the Burglar, and the Sofa - Rated E - wolfstar, background jily- 21k - AU-Muggle/Coffee shop - I just love the concept of this one

my almost lover - Rated T - jegulus - 28k - AU-no voldemort - miscommunication trope

Blue Sheets - Rated T - drarry - 4k - fluff/drunk Harry is an idiot

☆Falling for a Golden Boy - Rated E - drarry - 45k - eighth year- guys it's the weirdest concept but Harry and Draco as characters from Hercules works, okay?

Potter - Rated T - drarry - 9k - Eighth year - Draco's friends make fun of him and it gets adorably out of hand

touch starved - Rated M - jegulus - 4k - soft boys

Inevitable - Rated T - drarry - 11k - Draco and Harry make a "if we're not married by the rime we're 40" pact

💔Like Real People Do - rated T - wolfstar - 37k - AU-coffee shop/muggle - Sirius raises Harry and meets Remus in a coffee shop

☆💔Let's Play Pretend - rated E - wolfstar - 70k - AU-muggle - Sirius raises Harry, Remus raises Teddy, fake dating

Remus Lupin is the Number One James Potter Cosplayer - Rated T - wolfstar - 8k - AU-Muggle - miscommunication trope

This took me an hour and a half...someone please use it lol

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sushiwriterhere · 11 months

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one: description & objectives

flight path

summary: "It’s then that it occurs to you that he might be doing a sort of calculus that means that even though you might win this battle, you’re going to lose the war." rating: teen+ (eventually explicit, 18+ mdni) pairing: jake 'hangman' seresin x f!reader word count: ~3.3k warnings: enemies to lovers!, college au!, eventual smut, hangman being hangman, no use of y/n. notes: dedicated to @waklman this ones for u bestie. i have the rest of the fic planned, just gotta write :) pls pls pls let me know what you think! masterlist here tagging: @roosterbruiser @gretagerwigsmuse @joaquinwhorres @sometimesanalice @seresinsweetie @bobfloyds @theharddeck @sebsxphia @jupitercomet @dempy @gigisimsonmars @sunsetsimpsblog @shanimallina87 @djs8891

“Your project partners are as listed in the PowerPoint, please do not come crying to me about who you’ve been selected to work with, I will not be changing it. Your project ideas are due two weeks from today.” You can feel the dread filling your body as you scan the list of names on the slide in front of you.

The further along you get, the sicker you feel. Each person you know who could at least be somewhat trusted to pull their weight, is partnered. Anyone who’s even slightly normal, is also partnered. And not with you.

The room fills with chatter as people stand to leave class and seek out their project partners, but all you can do is sit and stare at the name next to yours. Lifting your head to scan the lecture hall, you watch in abject horror as Jake Seresin, toothpick ever present between his perfect teeth, lifts a hand ever so slightly and wiggles his fingers at you.

You turn to the TA who always sits next to you, and put on your most flattering smile in hopes of a miracle, “Grace, I know Professor Simmons just said we couldn’t, but is there any chance—”

She laughs lightly, cutting you off, “Sorry kid, nothing we can do. Strict orders. But it shouldn’t be so bad, Jake’s second in the class y’know. I’m sure you two will come out on top.”

Gritting your teeth together, you barely manage to keep yourself from explaining to her that that’s precisely the problem.

You and Jake had met in freshman year intro to mechanical engineering—ENGR-M 101 to be exact. It was a larger lecture hall, but you’d ended up sitting next to the boy and his group of frat brothers. They were joking around, calling each other ridiculous nicknames, and you hoped you’d be able to avoid them throughout the rest of your time.

You were an unassuming kid when you started college, far away from friends and family, and really only focused on becoming the top of your class so you could get into the best PhD programs possible. If MIT and Stanford weren’t an option for undergrad, they’d certainly take you with a perfect GPA and stellar recommendations. Becoming the best aerospace engineer, the best engineer overall, in your class wasn’t just a goal, it was your destiny. You realized that focusing so hard on academics really meant that, well, social life would be lacking. But besides, the STEM dudes were usually an odd bunch—you briefly considered joining some sort of campus club before the options overwhelmed you and you decided to try and volunteer in a research lab. It could be turned into a paid position. And, grad students could be your friends.

But in that moment, you met your nemesis. Really, it felt childish to say it like that, but Jake Seresin seemed to derive a special sense of pleasure from tormenting you.

He’d introduced himself on that bright August morning with a winning smile, an extended hand, and a gentle Texan twang, “Jake Seresin. Nice to meet ‘ya.”

You shook his hand firmly, remembering the importance of men taking you seriously, and responded with your name.

His response made clear exactly what his personality was, “Think you’ll survive the weed out? I’ve heard this professor’s a real hard ass, and I’m planning to be top of our class.”

“He’s perfectly reasonable in the lab; and I’m sure he will be here too.” You had sniffed, not exactly trying to sound haughty but not trying to be subtle about the fact that you’d already gotten a head start on the resume work already.

The smile that spread across his lips was poisonous, as if he’d figured you out just in that instance, “I see my competition has my work cut out for me.”

And with that, he turned back to his friends, ignoring the way your face seemed to warm a thousand degrees. You weren’t his competition, you were sure you were leagues ahead of him. The stereotypes about hot-headed, ignorant, frat boys traveled, and you weren’t a fool.

That light tension in your initial interaction had, frankly, spiraled into something drastically out of proportion and lightly legendary. Every class you had with him, you fought for who was going to set the curve, whose in-class answers were better. And at some point, the details of the first interaction faded and were replaced simply by how he had made you feel: like a bug under a microscope, but also like he was pulling your pigtails and taunting you.

So that was the beginning of a long saga in which you now find yourself facing the cruel reality of an entire semester where your grade depends on the very person whose entire life mission seems to be to take you down a peg. Which, frankly, you consider to be ironic because if there is anyone with an ego the size of the planet, that is Jake.

You keep your eyes trained to the front of the room as you shut your laptop and slowly begin packing up. You can’t really afford to avoid him, because this professor’s whole schtick is ensuring that all engineering students aren't terrified of social interaction. Hence, a semester-long project of ‘intimate’ work with a peer.

It would be fine, except Jake isn’t moving either. He continues to sit and chat with his friends (somehow also engineering majors and frat bros?) while occasionally glancing up at you to see if you’ve moved. His smirk never wavers.

You steel your nerves, and decide that this won’t be the time he gets to you. You have to work with him? Fine. But you’ll take the lead, make sure it’s on your terms. No military themed projects, that’s for sure.

“Well look who it is, part two of the dream team.” Jake’s voice carries through the emptying lecture hall and you distantly hear some snickers, but his face remains almost impassive.

You can read the mocking undertone, you aren’t stupid. So you stand slightly awkwardly off to the side as his friends disperse slowly around the two of you. The only friend of his that you know by name, much less respect, Bradley Bradshaw, sends him a warning look and says hi softly as he passes you. Despite the fact that Jake’s standing in a lower row, he’s still slightly taller than you when he stands to his full height, backpack over one shoulder.

“Jake.” You grit out, trying to mask your displeasure. You’re sure it isn’t working.

“Sweets, it is a joy to see you.” His easygoing smile does nothing to make you feel at ease, in fact, you think it might be giving you high blood pressure.

“I will choose to ignore the fact that you seem to not know my name, and ask that we meet as soon as possible to start on this.” You cross your arms and turn around to start up the stairs, and you hear him hit himself on a desk in his rush to catch up to you. Serves him right.

He seems only slightly deterred by the fact that he just did the adult equivalent of smacking your shin with a scooter, and he keeps his stride even with yours. It’s your luck that you two actually have your next class together as well, something about senior requirements.

“You’re being unusually nice to me. Scared that your grade’s on the line?” He teases, only slightly distracted by his phone which he’s typing furiously into.

You round on him, and he grinds to a halt while you brandish your metal water bottle at him, “I take my grades very seriously, Jake Seresin, and I will not have you goofing around and sabotaging us just because you find glee in my suffering.”

Very cautiously, like he’s actually afraid you might hit him, he grabs the bottom of your water bottle and lowers it so it isn’t at his eye level. Then, he has the audacity to salute you. Not a corny one, but one that looks like he’s spent hours practicing it in the mirror when he’s doing his military nonsense. At the very least, he doesn’t snap his feet together, so he manages to save himself from looking like the world’s biggest dork.

“I pinky promise that I will not sabotage our project because I find it funny. I do also care about my grades y'know.” You exhale just slightly, and you turn back around to start walking again.

“Good to know you at least take something seriously,” You mutter under your breath, recalling all the times he’s breezed into lecture rooms right as the second hand indicates it’s the start of class.

He manages to catch your muttering, despite your best efforts, “I’m basically first in every engineering class we have, you cannot actually be questioning my academic prowess.”

Something curls in your chest, as you snap back, “Basically first?”

His laugh carries as you two finally exit the building and march through the quad. You can feel everyone’s eyes on you. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that despite the size of your university, people know about your rivalry.

When you get to your next lecture, Jake plops himself down right next to you, trapping you in the aisle unless you take the long way out. You bristle at the proximity and glare at him, trying to mentally will him into leaving you alone. He seems not to get the message as he fully unpacks and manages to irk you even further by using the shared arm rest.

You almost completely lose your mind when you finally decide to change seats despite the one next to Jake being your unofficial-official seat, and your professor chooses that exact moment to start class.

Ignoring Jake through the lecture isn’t actually the hardest thing in the world. He wasn’t lying when he said that he took classes seriously–you notice that he takes diligent notes, keeps his online shopping and texting to minimum (that’s nothing to say for his frat brothers who seem to be intent on keeping their groupchat on fire), and doesn’t bother you. He keeps his elbow on the arm rest between you two, though.

When there’s only a few minutes left and the professor notices that he’s losing everyone, you feel a poke. You ignore it and grit your teeth as you attempt to maintain your composure. Jake pokes you again.

It takes all of your mental strength not to straight up just yell at him in the middle of a lecture hall, and you turn your head slowly to make eye contact with him. He’s wearing a shit-eating grin and it makes you even more annoyed.

“Can I help you?” You whisper quietly, “I’m trying to focus here.”

Jake just keeps smiling and responds, “Library after this? We can have lunch.”

Then he has the audacity to wiggle his eyebrows in a way that makes you raise yours at him. He seriously bothered you for this? The same man who insisted he would take the project seriously is trying to distract you from paying attention in one of your most difficult lectures.

In an instant, you remember that pissing him off completely probably isn’t the brightest idea, and even though you can already tell you’re going to spend most of this semester completely and constantly ticked off with him, you know you’re capable and you don’t want to have him drag you down completely. So, instead, you nod somberly at him, and turn back to the front.

He seems surprised by your reaction but doesn’t push it, thankfully.

Once the professor dismisses everyone, Jake once again takes his time putting everything on his desk away and finally standing to leave. You think you could’ve done a hundred physics problems before you two are leaving the lecture hall. Nearly everyone else has already left, and you just find that to be another reason to be irritated with him. This semester is going to be a million years long.

“Oh please, Jake, spare me the hyper nationalist histrionics.” You think this might be the fourth time you’ve rolled your eyes in the last two minutes as you and Jake argue about your project topic.

The two of you have claimed a table in the far corner of the second floor and spread textbooks, notebooks, and various supplies over it. Thankfully, there aren’t that many witnesses to the absolute hurricane of materials and the arguing that’s been varying in pitch for the countless minutes since you got here. You’re considering strangling him.

(Yes, you had argued about where to sit. You insisted on a study room on the fourth floor where it was quiet and you usually studied. Jake had won out only because of the fact that the fourth floor was a silent floor and “we’re probably going to yell at each other and I really don’t feel like getting on the librarians’ bad sides this early into the semester.” Five minutes after he said that, you’d raised your voice loud enough to make several people turn their heads– “Urban sustainability shows our versatility as engineers, asshole!”)

You only have two weeks to decide, and even that’s a stretch. These deadlines are fake in your mind–topic should be decided within three days to ensure maximum time for research, analysis, and polishing of the final product. You’d perfected your timeline second semester of freshman year and you were not about to deviate because Jake couldn’t understand that not everyone had their head so far up the Navy’s ass all they could see was its intestines.

So far, the only ‘work’ you and Jake have managed to get done is to argue about the ethics of the military industrial complex as well as, in his words, why you are not in fact a hippie just because you don’t approve of a bloated military budget. (“How much does one pilot’s helmet cost?”) Lunch is abandoned in front of you, a few containers of the sort-of-decent cafeteria food from the basement.

Jake seems determined to ensure the two of you spend the next sixteen weeks turning yourselves into cadets, or whatever the hell they’re called, and you could not care less. In fact, you absolutely cannot care less because you are not going to do research on the military and a deep dive into urban sustainability projects is the only option. Navy or Army or whoever be damned. You’ve already told him as much at least three times.

“You just said the word histrionics. Who even says that.”

At the very least, you can take comfort in the fact that he looks just as annoyed as you probably do. His usually unshakeable, smiley demeanor is gone, replaced by a look on his face that says he’s probably regretting being so cheerful about calling the two of you a “dream team”. He leans back in his chair so he’s only on the back two legs and you bite your tongue at the urge to chastise him for the extremely juvenile behavior. Someone’s mother clearly never terrified them at age five about putting their head through the windows behind the kitchen table.

“I say that, Jake, because I’m an adult with an adult vocabulary. And as an adult, as the adult, I’m deciding that we’re not doing some stupid shit about the Navy.” He narrows his eyes at you and you can see the gears turning.

“Okay, well, I’m also an adult and I don’t say histrionics.” It’s a weak comeback and you both know it, but he seems more preoccupied by whatever plan he seems to be thinking through.

It’s then that it occurs to you that he might be doing a sort of calculus that means that even though you might win this battle, you’re going to lose the war. You open your mouth to start arguing again, but this time about the project topic, when he holds up a palm to stop you. Now you’re not just considering throttling him, but wondering how aggravated assault can be explained away on graduate school applications.

“Okay, how about we compromise. We can do our project on fuel efficiency of a few types of Navy aircraft. That way I get to do the military and we can talk about the environment. It’s not exactly urban planning but,” He waves his hand around, gesturing wildly, “It’s some sort of planning.”

For a moment, you think he actually might be trying to compromise. But instead, you narrow your eyes. Jake Seresin isn’t nice, least of all to you. And he certainly doesn’t believe in compromises.

You stand firm, “I am not doing any project that involves the Navy. Or the Army.”

“National Guard?”

You almost leap across the table at the laughter that shakes his entire body. Instead, you sit and you seethe, considering how much clout you have in the department to get someone to convince your professor to let you switch partners. Or help you get away with murder.

Once he stops laughing, he settles easily back into his chair and then folds his hands together so he can rest his chin on them, a serious expression coming over his face, “How about a deal, sweets?”

Sirens immediately start going off in your head. Bad, bad, bad. You are not making a deal with the devil. But, some part of you is curious, what will he ask from you to let you take the lead on this?

“Go on.” You narrow your eyes at him, and gesture for him to continue.

“You have to come to at least five parties this semester at my invite, and stay for at least three hours, I’ll know if you don’t, and we will do the project the way you want it. I ask for three thousand words to talk about the military, give or take.” The twinkle in his eyes is mischievous in the worst way and it sets you on edge.

“What’s the catch?”

“What do you mean what’s the catch? An offer’s an offer, sweets.” He holds a hand out for you to shake but you shake your head at him.

“I wanna negotiate.” Jake raises an eyebrow at you (does he do his eyebrows?), but gestures for you to continue anyways, “I will come to exactly four of your stupid parties, and stay for two hours, no more. We do the project my way and you get two thousand words.”

You can tell he wants to say yes when he sits up in his chair, but then you realize that he’s getting too good of a deal so you cut him off, “Actually, no military or flight deviations. I hate parties.” You wrinkle your nose in displeasure.

“Zero is a hell of a lot smaller than three thousand, sweets.” A crooked grin spreads over Jake’s face and you make a mocking face at him. “And I know, but it’ll be good for you. Socializing with normal humans is good for the soul.”

“Okay well, our page limit is thirty, and that’s 7,500 words double spaced. Not including diagrams and footnotes, so I don’t want you eating up all my research space with military crap,” Jake scoffs when you say “my” but holds out his hand anyway.

“Fine. Four parties, two hours, project your way, one thousand words?” He wiggles the fingers of his outstretched hand like he had earlier in the day and you stare at it for a moment before deciding, what the hell.

Shaking Jake’s hand makes you realize that’s the first time you’ve ever touched him.

#jake seresin x you #jake hangman seresin x reader #jake seresin fic #jake seresin #jake seresin x reader #top gun: maverick fanfic #top gun: maverick fanfiction #top gun: maverick fic #top gun: maverick #jake 'hangman' seresin #hangman x you #hangman x reader #no use of y/n #flight path universe

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three--rings · 1 year

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thought of a story that I haven't told that tumblr may enjoy.

So I majored in psychology in undergrad, right, and when you take psych classes they almost always require you to do a certain number of hours of being an experimental research subject, right, because professors have to publish and need someone they can force into their studies without paying, right?

And like that's fine if it's 4 hours for one class, but when you're doing an entire psych major in two years like I did, that's a LOT of hours of research studies.

And we all dreamt of getting in those fun social psych experiments where they fuck with your head, right? And not the ones where they make you sit in front of a laptop and do math for an hour. (They made me DO MATH Y'ALL. "This is an experiment in how well you learn under certain conditions." Conclusion: you suck at this.)

Anyway, you'd get funny things like one time I turned up on campus on a freaking SATURDAY for a study and sat around in a courtyard with like 30 other people while nothing happened and all of us talking about like "hey, uh, do you think THIS is the study? Like to see if we leave?" But no, just no one turned up for us and we didn't get our freaking hours.

But one time I DID end up in one of those freaky social psych studies. So to be fair, I had insider knowledge, because again, psych major. So I signed up intentionally to my social psych profs study. Hoping at least it wouldn't be math.

And I arrive and am greeted by...the TA for my social psych class wearing a fat suit.

It's like IDK April or something and Texas and 80+ degrees and she's in a long skirt and a sweatshirt. And also she's MY TA. I recognize her. I even say "Oh, hi!" like I would when seeing someone I know on campus. And she greets me like she vaguely recognizes me. But, normally she is not approximately 280-300lbs.

So, I'm, like REALLY REALLY sure it's a fat suit. Like....99.5% sure.

But not 100%.

And so what the FUCK do you SAY to THAT? Well, obviously you don't say FUCKING SHIT. You pretend nothing is fucking weird, right? Because the very, very small chance that you are WRONG and this isn't a normally thin girl in a fatsuit but a real person who is shaped like that is still...NOMINALLY THERE and OMG what if you comment on it and you're WRONG?

So I get ushered into this little room and shown a bunch of pictures of people and asked to rate them on various things like competency and attractiveness, this is normal social psych survey stuff, except I'm SURE the experiment is does the person in the room with you and their appearance change your ratings.

And the whole time I'm distracted as FUCK, cause I'm just sitting there thinking "am I wrong and this isn't my TA somehow? no, no, pretty much ALMOST certain I'm right...etc." And "why would anyone be wearing a sweatshirt in this weather/building if they WEREN'T wearing a fatsuit?"

But MAYBE the point of the experiment is "will this person call out an obvious fake fat person?" And should I do so or not? Is this social pressure to conform and not speak the truth I know? Should I say something? I, uh, may have had an unknown and untreated anxiety disorder at this point in my life so, yeah I'm LOSING MY MIND and probably acting like a FREAK.

So anyway, eventually I decide okay, obviously you can't say anything because yeah...but you will be debriefed once this is over and you'll FIND OUT THE TRUTH. You won't have this lingering doubt in your mind when this is over because they will debrief you.

If you don't know human research, debriefing is when, after all the experiment data collection is over, they inform the subject of what the topic of the research was and explain any tricks or deception or anything to them. (We played distracting music to see how you did on the test...) If there was any potential distress involved it should be dealt with by examiners, etc. Usually in practice you are handed a slip of paper that explains the purpose of the study and what you did.

Usually you don't care and barely read it. But I was dying to be debriefed. I wanted her to be like "yeah I am wearing a fatsuit" and me to be like "lol, yeah I know, cause like, I know you right?" And if the secret purpose of the experiment was actually "will you say something" then I will be told that and get to explain why I didn't.

Like sometimes debrief also involves follow-up questions that helps determine why you gave responses you did or whether you should actually have your data thrown out for some outlier reason (like the person faking being fat is my fucking TA).

So we get done with all the questions and leave the small room. And we're in the antechamber and the TA is like "okay, cool, thanks bye" and directs me to the door. And doesn't hand me a debrief slip or mention debriefing AT ALL.

And now I'm fucking SPOOKED. It's a TRICK and they want you to SAY SOMETHING and you're going to try to leave without saying anything and they will then stop you and debrief you. So I wait, for like...several seconds, waiting for her to remember debrief and just get stared at so I go "oh okay" and like stutter-step my way to the door of the office and like open it and turn back and she's already gone, and so I like, step out into the quad and am like "what. the. fuck."

And I literally stand there like "should I go back in and ask to be debriefed?" Literally I knew enough to know that THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF DEBRIEFING to not leave subjects wondering about shit like this and not leave them with nagging doubts and questions.

And the only really mysterious experiment of my life just failed to debrief me.

But of course I don't do anything but walk slowly away.

And it's now 20+ years later and I never did find anything out. Except you can DAMN well bet I confirmed at my next class that 1) yeah that was TOTALLY my fucking TA, I was right and 2) NO she was actually really slim.

So I'm sure it was about how a fatsuit (or *cough* sorry "attractiveness") of an interviewer changes responses to surveys. But I'm STILL mad I wasn't debriefed because it's fucking annoying and violates HRB standards and I could have gotten them in serious trouble over that by reporting it. And also my data should have been thrown out.

Also this is why you shouldn't trust psychology studies because the subject pool is SHITTY AS FUCK. "Psychology is the study of the average American college sophomore" as one of my profs quipped and then didn't change his method of getting subjects.

#threerings' stories #psychology

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luna-lokisdottir · 7 months

Text

Meeting Wilbur - Music Giant AU

(This is so bad for my first writing. You might think it's good, but I don't)

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"Tallulah!" The young giant heard her papa called out

She gasped and then looked at the human before exclaiming, "Papa!" getting up to greet her father at the cave entrance, Tommy raised an eyebrow.

"Papa?" he parroted.

There were more of them? Oh gods.. if there were that, just made Tommy more nervous. A baby giant was bad enough, but a full-grown one? that was a whole other story.. what were they gonna do to him?

"Papa!" he heard her exclaim in an excited tone, He watched as the other giant gasped excitedly, "Tallulah! mi niña!" he replied with the same excitement his daughter gave him, embracing his daughter in a big hug as he ruffled her hair up, Tallulah giggled as she returned the hug, and then she seemed to have remembered that Tommy was there because she quickly followed up with:

"Papa! I have something to show you!"

The Giant raised his eyebrows curiously, "Oh?" he said Tommy felt the vibrations in the ground as he exited the hug.

"What is it, love?" Tommy watched as a little grin grew on the younger ones face, and then, without any real warning, he was picked up from off of the ground and cupped into her hands he jolted as she walked over to her father to show him.

Wilbur crouched down as his daughter brought the human to him, just to gain a better look. "Ta da!" she raised her hands up to the giant who looked in surprise when he saw the little human in his daughters hands.

Tommy, on the other hand, was naturally terrified, this giant was BIG at least several feet taller than his child and given the look on his face he didn't seem too happy about him being there, Tommy gave a nervous little wave to the giant who looked down at him and then back at his child questioning:

"You brought a human into our home?" in a light yet slightly suspicious tone, Tallulah's face fell as she lowered her hands and brought Tommy closer to herself.

"Well.. no- technically, he brought himself into our home."

"That's even worse!" The Giant exclaimed as he looked back down at the human before adding:

"Tallulah, I've told you how dangerous humans are. They're smarter than they look. They'd kill us if they had the chance." The young giant looked down as her father explained this to her, "I know.. but can I just keep him Papa? please! I'd keep an eye on him if he tries anything, and he really doesn't seem like he has anywhere else to go!" she said.

Wilbur raised an eyebrow at the question, "Keep him?" he laughed lightly, "Lulah he probably has a family to go back to, we shouldn't hold him back he probably has a life too, you know."

"Please, Papa?" Tommy had to stop himself from laughing as the young giant gave her father puppy dog eyes, Wilbur sighed.. how could he say no to that face?

Tommy just kind of vibes as the two giants talked it out while being kept by a giant didn't seem like a good idea, he kind of had no where else to go since Cellbit's guards were still after him.

So, maybe this could work? For the time being, at least stay with the two giants until they finally stopped looking for him; "I-" he cleared his throat, which got the other male's attention he looked down nervously those big brown eyes were intimidating to look at even if they meant no harm.

"I actually wouldn't mind staying here with her, if that's alright." He said. Honestly, he couldn't believe that those words came out of his mouth. Wilbur raised an eyebrow while Tallulah gasped in excitement.

"Are you sure?" the giant replied, "I don't want to take you from your family or friends or whoevers waiting for you back there."

Tommy shook his head.

Although a little suspicious, Wilbur sighed and eventually gave in; "Then I guess.. he can stay." Tallulah smiled widely as she exclaimed in excitement.

"Thank you, Papa!" she smiled as she hugged her father. He laughed as he patted her on the head, "I'll take good care of him, I promise." The girl smiled, Tommy looked up at her as she took him into her side of the cave and thought to himself, 'Oh gods.. what did I get myself into-'

#giant!wilbur #giant!tallulah #tiny!tommy #mcyt g/t #dsmp g/t #qsmp g/t #g!wilbur #g!tallulah #t!tommy #this is so bad #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #Music Giant AU #idk what to put in the tags

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miraculouslbcnreactions · 5 months

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About you last post, I think a reason why the show took such a weird and concerning direction of Adrien having this therapy role, I don‘t really believe that the writers take Marinette‘s PTSD serious (at least outside of derision). The whole show her „weirdness“ was played off as comedy (TA said so himself in a tweet a while back) and the phone call scene you were describing also had vibes of making Mari look quirky like „haha look she still can‘t be normal about her bf“.

The worst part is that I feel like the writers could actually write good mental health representation but only when the plot demands it. Adrien being visibly depressed in s4? Makes for good drama. Adrien forgetting all his problems after he gets with Mari? Well duh love solves everything. Marinette having a panic attack? Makes the scene where she looses the miraculous more intense. Almost every other instant of her panicking? Hehe funny.

The whole show her "weirdness“ was played off as comedy (TA said so himself in a tweet a while back)

Oh, her weirdness was absolutely supposed to be read as comedic pre-Derision. I never consider those jokes funny, but they were very clearly jokes. In fact, it always weirded me out when people took her actions seriously because those people never applied that logic to the other absurdist humor used in the show.

My go-to example is Party Crasher. If you're up in arms about Marinette being a "stalker", but aren't equally or even more concerned by a bunch of adult men just randomly showing up to hang out with a group of 14-year-olds, then maybe you're holding the teenage girl to an unreasonable standard and ignoring the fact that she's written by a bunch of adult men who clearly think that teenage girls act like fangirls around their real-life crushes.

Marinette is not a real person. She's a character in an absurdist romantic comedy aimed at kids. Her actions have to be judged in that light if you want to make any sort of good-faith analysis.

The problem is Derision and the choice to make all of Marinette's Adrien-based-behavior a PTSD response. Once you go that route, the absurdist humor excuse is dead in the water.

Absurdist humor is all about making things so ridiculous that you can't take them seriously. For example, Marinette having Adrien's schedule for the next week isn't absurd because that schedule exists. She could absolutely get her hands on it! Her having his schedule for the next 3 years? That's absurd. You can't take it seriously because it's impossible for her to have a schedule that goes that far into the future. It would have, at most, a handful of events because you just don't schedule most things that far in advance.

But if you have Marinette do a big, dramatic confession where she shows Adrien the schedule and apologizes for it? Then none of that matters. the absurdist nature of it goes away because you have treated it seriously and absurdist humor is all about not treating the absurd too seriously. Derision was the equivalent of that big dramatic confession. You can no longer use absurdist humor to justify anything Marinette does and, notably, they don't. She's massively toned down post Derision and things are being taken more seriously with her and Adrien actively working on her behavior, which is a problem because this is also true:

I don‘t really believe that the writers take Marinette‘s PTSD serious

They've given her a serious issue, they're taking it seriously enough to have Adrien and Marinette address it, but they're not being serious about how you'd treat PTSD and that is the worst possible way to approach this issue. I'd be happier if they just flat out ignored it or used magic love to heal it with a kiss and never addressed it again.

When writing comedy aimed at kids, there's a thing that I like to call The Seat Belt Principle. If you've ever seen a show where a kid character was about to launch themself off in a rocket, only to fasten their seat belt first, then you've seen this principle in action. It's the idea that, in a kids show, you can have wild things happen so long as it's something that a kid can't emulate. If a kid can emulate it, then you have to take it more seriously. This is why kid characters always fasten their seat belts even if it's pointless because the child audience needs to see seat belts as cool and a thing that you always use.

The Seat Belt Principle applies to more than physically dangerous situations. If you are portraying any serious, real-life issue in a kids show, then you need to handle it differently than something that a kid will never face. To put it another way, Ladybug can have ignorant parents, Marinette cannot. Sabine and Tom not knowing that their daughter is a superhero? Not a problem, superheroes aren't real. Sabine and Tom not knowing that their daughter is experiencing horrific bullying or even straight up ignoring it? Big problem, bullies are very real.

This is where we get to the mental health stuff. A lot of media treats mental health issues as something that can be solved via romance and nothing could be further from the truth. Romantic partners can make the fight easier, but they shouldn't be your whole army if you can help it. The show doesn't seem to get this.

As you pointed out, the show keeps giving the characters metal health issues for drama and then hand waving those issues away via romantic relationships and that's a big yikes for me. You don't have to introduce mental health issues into your romantic comedy, but once you do, you have a responsibility to portray them accurately. They clearly don't want to do that and that's why season five's love square romance is a hard pass for me. There's a world of difference between bad jokes and bad mental health rep. I can overlook one, the other is a personal pet peeve and I've seen the negative consequences in action first hand. I think we all have! Who isn't familiar with the concept of a person being confused that "X is still depressed? But they got that new job/have a new SO/got engaged/etc."

#ask response #ml writing critical #ml season 5 salt #ml writing salt #ml derision #there are a lot of criticisms that will make me roll my eyes #like don't use the words “child soldiers” as a critique of canon #But bad mental health rep is a hard pass

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princess-of-the-corner · 4 months

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honestly anything TA says about Chloé and her background and motives is just like, a display of shallow understanding on how society works. People don't care if the customer service workers (from waiters to doctors and any job that serves a customer, which is pretty much all of them) do their job for money or because they genuinely like said job so long as they get good service like they were promised. Privilege is part of a whole ass System and you can't say just *this one specific person* has privilege when literally a majority of the cast has white privilege, all of them are at least middle class, and Adrien, who is one of the main characters, and Felix and Gabriel, two other big names in the show, are upper class white males. the last two are people who get off scott free from all their crimes which is probably what would happen in real life because of said privileges. And even then, the money all the rich kids supposedly have? Not even theirs. They're all broke dependent children with Adrien being the only one with a job and even then where's that money going? Does Kagami get fencing prize money? Is it hers or is it her mother's? Also anyone can be abused and have trauma and mental illnesses and whatnot, and full stop. Doesn't matter what you have or don't have.

Yeah no exactly like.

If we pretend for a hot second that having wealth cancels out any other trauma, then it should cancel out at least every traumatic experience for Gabriel, Felix, Adrien and Kagami. Not to mention you have to ask where the line is drawn because a lot of the Miracuclass is pretty well-off even though they're not quite in the 'Scrooge McDuck Money' category. (seriously we have discussed the class's financial situations before and of those whose families we've seen the only one who /might/ not be some kind of rich is Mylene.)

But these things don't exist in a vacuum.

You can have all the money in the world and still have trauma from various things! Since we were just talking about a certain AU, let's gesture over to Batman who is famously very rich but also traumatized as fuck!

Someone wealthy can have fucked up events happen to them. They can have parents that abuse them. They can have partners that abuse them. They could be born with some chemical imbalance that makes them depressed despite the fact that they 'have no reason to be depressed' because fuck man that's what depression does!

And while wealth can help, as it has access to resources to help fix your problems, it doesn't solve things.

But yes! Chloé being a child has another layer to it! Because her wealth is not her own and she /can't/ use her money to fix her problems! Even if Chloé did realize 'hey I need therapy', she'd need to get her parents' permission and have them pay for it.

At the same time, she has no way to escape her situation. She is underage and needs a legal guardian of some sort. Her parents have enough money that she can't report them for child abuse and expect to be removed from their custody. She has no access to income of her own and/or skills to get income where she could petition to be emancipated from them.

And even when she /does/ become an adult, there's the question of what will happen. Because maybe they cut her off and leave her to flounder with no skills as soon as she turns 18. On the other hand, they could keep controlling her like a child because she has no skills thanks to their shitty upbringing and can't survive without them, so it's a game of 'you'll get money as long as you do exactly what I want'.

This stuff does similarly apply to Adrien, Felix and Kagami as well. They seem a bit more ready to function in the world, but even so they're still children at the whims of their parents and can only escape through their parents fucking dying.

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blueberry-ovaries · 2 months

Text

CHAPTER FOUR : BOLD FACED LIES AND CIGARETTES

A/N: Hello?! what’s this? a new chapter? that’s right chapter four of hiraeth!!

Word Count: 2.2k

Content Warnings: mentions of war, injuries, bullying (?), strong language, horrible accent writing and probable OOC and historical inaccuracies

< previous chapter > - < next chapter >

The sun had started to set by the time a new person arrived at Winnie’s hiding spot. Ron had left a few minutes prior claiming he was needed for food service preparations. Winnie thought it was just because the man didn’t know how to talk to people

“Winnie?” The voice of Dick Winters called out “are you alright?”

Winnie huffs an unamused laugh

“I just bit and drew blood from one of the men” she mumbles

“I suppose you did” he counters “but, I was more worried about what caused that reaction”

Glancing up at the red headed Lieutenant, Winnie pursed her lips, before turning away from him

“I’m fine. Won’t happen again” she mutters

Dick let’s put a low sigh, folding his hands behind his back, nodding

“While that is appreciated, i am more concerned about why you were in such a panic” he sighs “what you did, while not best case scenario, was not against the rules”

Winnie picks at the grass, drawing shapes in the dirt.

“i talked to Lieutenant Sobel, convinced him that having you on latrine duty would serve as better punishment than removing you from the airbourne” He continues

Nodding silently Winnie stands, dusting off her shorts she bites her cheek

“Thank you Dick- Lieutenant Winters” she stumbles “that was not necessary, i would have taken my punishment for my wrong doing”

Dick sighs, crossing his arms over his chest.

“As i mentioned, there was no technical wrong doing” he glances back towards the Easy company barrack “Shifty is pretty worried about you, kid, at-least tell him you didn’t die a tragic death”

Winnie nods.

——

The crickets chirp all night long, Winnie discovered. After a quick shower to remove the lasting feeling of dried blood off her chin, and a short conversation with Shifty that yes, i am okay. no i don’t want to talk about it right now. thank you for caring. Winnie once again found herself sitting on the steps of the barrack.

Her dog tags jingle slightly as she twists them along the chain, rubbing her thumb over her name and number. That was all she was. a number. Not a person with a family, a person with dreams. A number to be used and moved like a marionette.

The crickets used to remind her of home, when she would stay awake on the farm until the early hours. Just her and the moon, talking. Now it just reminded her of what she lost. Her home, her family, friends and comrades. The crickets taunted her.

Next to her tags, a small necklace. A present from her parents before she left. Winnie was not religious. She did not believe in God or divine intervention. Many of the men wore crosses or stars, or some form of religious jewellery. Winnie wore a small handmade cow charm on a silver chain. Home.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting outside for, her face going numb in the cold. She didn’t even notice the creaking of the door or the groaning of the planks under someone else’s weight.

A warm hand on her shoulder causes her to jump, pulling her fist back instinctively.

“Fuck!” she hisses “you scared the shit outta me!”

“I’m real sorry, didn’t mean ta frighten you” Eugene apologised “called out to ya, didn’t respond, like you were caught in some trance”

“Oh. sorry” Winnie mumbles, rubbing her thumb over her dog tags as she looks out at the grass “must have been lost in thought”

The two soldier sit in silence, only disrupted by the occasional shouts of protest from inside the barracks, from the various games of poker they played. Winnie often wondered what her life would have been like had she of not joined the ANZAC’s. Had her dad gone and died in the mud jungles of new guinea when his knee wouldn’t allow him to climb the treacherous slopes. Had her mother stuck to her denial of allowing her to go off to war. Would she have finished school? worked the farm like her brothers?

She often fell into pits of self guilt. Blaming herself for events out of her control because of an event she could control. She wouldn’t be scarred and broken had she of not deluded herself into thinking her position in the military would make a change. That the efforts of one small, scrawny girl from a town no one had heard of playing dress up, would affect the war. Just like the boys back home who wanted to be soldiers for pride and glory, Winnie played soldier.

“You want to ask about it.” Winnie muttered “That’s why you’re here right?”

Eugene shrugs, lighting up a cigarette before offering the pack to Winnie, who takes one with a tip of her head in gratitude.

“Everyone wants to ask ‘bout it” he counters

Smoke fills the air as the two sit in silence. Winnie wanted Eugene to let it go. To not wonder about her story, her time in the army. Contradictory, she wanted someone to care. To care enough that they would listen to every detail, tell her how brave she was, hold her hand and make her feel like a person again. Not some rabid dog with tags around her neck.

“What is it that everyone wants to know?” she sighs in defeat, a need to belong over taking her need to be distant.

“The scar” he scratches his cheek, the same place of Winnie’s scar.

With a huff, she flicks her cigarette to the ground, stamping it out. Maybe she didn’t want to belong that badly.

“Service wound.” she responds bluntly “I was on the front lines before coming here”

Eugene hums out in understanding, the only noise apart from the men inside, still playing cards.

“Where’d ya serve?” he drawls, taking a final drag of his cigarette and crushing it beneath his boot

“Africa mainly, spent some time in New Guinea” Winnie picks at the skin around her nails.

Eugene nods along softly with the explanation, letting Winnie talk at her own pace.

“That don’t sound too fun, from what we get told about those places anyways” he settles on saying

Winnie let’s out a short scoff

“It definitely had its moments” she looks down at her hands, half expecting to see them coated a deep shade of red

“And the scar?” he asks feigning nonchalance

The memories of that night flood to her all at once. The german soldiers, the hot sand, the moon in the sky overhead. She can still feel the burning in her lungs some nights when it’s all to hard to breathe and her throat feels heavy under an imaginary weight of a forearm

“Africa” she mumbles

Nervously she fiddles with her fingers, the look Eugene gives her goes unnoticed

“Look. I just don’t want people to think of me differently” she mumbles “So if i tell you this, can you keep a secret?”

Eugene nods.

——

“That’s why I bit him.” Winnie concludes “I didn’t want to hurt him… I just… It’s been a long war and I got lost”

“That sounds awful… i’m sorry that happened to you Winnie” the cajun man drawls

“Not your fault” Winnie shrugs “you gotta keep that a secret. Or i will bite you on purpose.”

“Won’t tell a soul” Eugene smirks slightly at her threat

The door to the barracks slams open.

“Winnie! you gotta come play poker with me. I’m loosin’ real bad” Shifty complains “I’ll teach you how to play and everything”

Winnie raises an eyebrow, sending a skeptical look to Gene.

“You want me to play… even if you have to teach me?” she asks “How bad are you losin’?”

“Well I ain’t doing to good, that’s for sure” he awkwardly rubs the back of his neck, a grimace on his face

“I don’t know Shifty I don’t wanna make anyone uncomfortable” Winnie hesitates

“She’d love to play” Gene answers

“That’s great! I’ll see you in there!” Shifty grins, walking back into the barracks

Winnie hits Gene in the chest with an open hand

“Why the fuck would you say that” she grumbles “I don’t wanna play poker.”

“You gotta make friends with ‘em at some stage” He retorts

“You know. I’m starting to really hate you yanks” Winnie complains, still she stands and dusts off her pants

She stops infront of the door, turning to look back at Gene

“Thanks for not telling anyone” she mumbles, quickly entering the barracks

——

The hooting and hollering of the easy men come to a deafening silence. Judgemental eyes mixed with looks of skepticism sweep her up and down. Winnie stands in the doorway, fiddling with her fingers behind her back

“Well come on Winnie!” Shifty beams “You can’t be any worse than me at cards”

Shifty sits down on one of the crates, card game abandoned in the middle of the make shift table

“I’m not playing cards with the crazy broad who tried to bite Joe’s finger off” the man in the bed beside her argues… Bob? Maybe it was Bill. Bill sounded right

“He shouldn’t have put his fingers near her mouth then” one of the men countered, someone she hadn’t met yet

“The crazy broad has a name” Winnie raises an eyebrow

“yeah yeah” Bill waves his hand in the air “just hurry up will ya, got me some money to win”

Winnie shuffles over towards the makeshift poker table, pulling up a crate to sit next to shifty. Dealing out the cards, Bill gives Winnie and Shifty the one set of cards.

“What are the rules?” Winnie asks, staring at the cards in her hand

“It’s poker, you don’t know how to play poker?” one of the men ask, He was tall and had a scowl.

“i’m just wondering what the rules are” she mumbles

——

It was with a withering glare that Bill laid his cards down as he folded. Winnie bluffing that her cards were a straight flush instead of two sevens. Most of the men stopped playing after the third round were Winnie cleaned them out of smokes and cash. Bill persisted, claiming that he needed to win his money back.

—

Sitting on the front porch with her dad as he beats her round after round at poker. Chocolate chip cookies and various sweets used as bets, her father had a pile that seemed to be a mile high.

“how do you keep winning daddy?” a six year old Winnie asks. Her front two teeth had fallen out and she waited desperately for the tooth fairy.

“practice, and knowing how to play the game and the players” he responded, ruffling her hair

“play the players? you can’t play the players daddy that’s silly!” she giggled

“my sweet girl, poker is just as much playing the game as it is playing the players” he pulls her to sit on his lap “if you know how to lie and bluff than you can get away with lots of things, like having bad cards in poker”

—

“Did I win again?” Winnie tilts her head in confusion

“Yeah you fucking win again” Bill grumbles

The men jeer and punch him in the arm as he glares at the girl collecting her winnings. She wouldn’t need to worry about cigarettes for months!

“You lost to a broad Bill” Joe Toye slaps him on the chest

“I know I lost to a fucking broad” he hissed

Winnie piled her cigarettes into her crate and collected the money she won into her wallet with the help of Shifty, who was beaming

“Keep the pack” Winnie smiled and threw him two packs of cigarettes

“Boy you really showed them!” Shifty smiled “I didn’t know you could play!”

“Beginners luck?” Winnie smiled

“I ain’t ever seen a beginner play as good as you” he stated

“Guess i was real lucky” She shrugged

“Crazy beginners luck” Someone called out

“Maybe next time you’ll get some too” she smirked

The man made his way over to Shifty and Winnie with a troublesome grin

“George Luz, i believe you stole four of my cigarette packs” he introduced himself

“Well George Luz, I would apologise, but i wouldn’t mean it” Winnie shook his outstretched hand

“Say what happened to your face” George asked

Winnie defensively rolled her shoulders back and set a glare on her face

“It’s rude to ask people about their scars.” she muttered

“I meant your eyes, they’re… purple, d’ya get punched?”

“Oh… broke my nose last night, when Sobel made me run currahee” She blinked in shock, not expecting her broken nose to be a point of interest

“Fuckin’ Sobel” He muttered “Doc fix you up?”

“Hm? oh yeah, Gene set it back into place” she confirms

An awkward silence falls over the conversation before George is called over by a group of the other guys, one of which was Joe. He turned around with a goofy smile

“And, hey, don’t worry too much about the whole biting Joe thing, some of us won some real money off ya” he winked and walked over towards the loud bunch.

Dumbfounded Winnie stood at the end of her bunk, a pack of cigarettes in her hand, looking up at Shifty

“People bet money on me to win?” she spluttered

“Well sure, odds were stacked against ya, but some of us made some money” he replied in his usual soft spoken tone

She thought about his response, a feeling of warmth spreading through her chest. Maybe she would fit in after all.

——

TAGS: @malarkgirlypop @mads-weasley @footprintsinthesxnd @bucky32557038ww2 @grumpy-liebgott @executethyself35

A/N: I really hope you guys are liking this fic! i’m really sorry it’s slow to start, i just want you guys to see Winnie’s struggles as a person before really getting into it, but please feel free to let me know what you think!

#hireath fic #hiraeth #hireathoc #winnie hayes oc #winnie hayes #band of brothers fic #band of brothers fanfiction #band of brothers #babe heffron #ronald speirs #bandofbrothers #dick winters #eugene roe #george luz #hbowar #band of brothers #donald malarkey

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turtlesocksv2 · 2 months

Text

Liveblogging DFF episode 9

last time we checked in, Non was having just the Worst Time Possible, everyone was trying to cover their asses and Phi was entering into Murder/Detective Mode.

i know i've said it before but god the opening credits are SO GOOD. i don't think we appreciate them enough.

We're back in the present day! it's been so long! Tan is fucking brave to fight Fluke for the gun.

IT'S WHITE WITH THE STEEL CHAIR TRIPOD! BAH GOD THAT MAN HAD A FAMILY! love you white you're doing amazing sweetie.

...there was just a water bottle there at the shrine? and it looked opened? are you actually going to drink that? at least you smelled it first??? Ahhhh but notice Phi doesn't drink it! he lets Jin drink it but doesn't do it himself! my sus king.

"Why are you being so nice to me" i mean, dude is at least nominally your friend and you dislocated your shoulder or whatever and there's a killer out there after you guys? i think that'd be cause enough for Phi to be nice lmao. I get it though, Jin, i get it.

Aha, so we've got some timeline stuff. PhiJin absolutely happened POST PhiNon, which i had seen some intriguing theories that maybe PhiJin was actually first but this is confirmation otherwise. also that Jin very much had feelings for Phi but Phi was the one pushing the friends agenda, which we mostly knew.

Jin on that "you like Tan!" shit again, no wonder Phi didn't want to be in a relationship with your insecure self lmao. Tan is just his Bestie who helps with his Plucky Girl Detectiving, no big deal.

Once again, Jin sees things that Phi doesn't. shortly after the water. Hallucinogen maybe? guilty conscience definitely.

well that's one way to snap him out of the panic

slight detour inspired by the blood splatter everywhere in this shrine is that if the Janta Cult isn't real/doesn't play a part in this somehow, I'm going to be so upset. why bring up perfectly good murder cults if you're not going to give us the payoff? BOC? Dr Sammon I just have questions! (that said, the theory that the mafia is using the cult rumors as a front for a body dumping ground is intriguing.)

Oh ho, Phi's gonna confess everything to Jin! but will it really be everything? 👀

poor Phi is so conflicted. he's hurt, but he loves Non but he doesn't want to see him but he doesn't want to end up like his divorced parents, he can't stop thinking about it, he regrets what he said, but he still so hurt.

Non's dad got transferred. interesting.

Ooooh Phi found the picture! and the real script!

Non's mom knows Phi. I wonder if she knew they were boyfriends of if she thought they were just friends. lmao at her Ring The Doorbell You Shady Shit, Were You Raised In A Barn?

New contacting Phi as the news breaks...the drama. i love it.

Tan is New confirmed!

OOOF. major oof. "aren't you sad i'm going to England?" "Whether you're here or not doesn't make a difference" just ouch.

He may have been a Not Great brother in your life, Non, but in your death New/Tan is going to Get Answers and Get Justice! giving up a scholarship in England, lying to his parents about it...Tan is going to Fuck Shit Up.

Jin, get your 'there's a cute boy around!!!!" face under control.

Tan just dives right in to asking questions and these bitches are so fucking sus from the word 'go'. yeah, they clearly have something to do with Non disappearing.

lmao Jin does not stand a fucking chance against Phi's seduction.

i am dying at Tan's "You didn't study, dumbass" on his ankle. Top's face is Too Funny.

Aww, White waiting for Tee after school and the group roasting them is really cute.

Phi how dare you take Jin to your and Non's spot! so rude! can't trust men at all, the second you disappear he's taking another man to the place you became boyfriends.😂 Jin awkwardly trying to figure out of this means Phi likes him back is cute.

Why Jin, how bold! asking Phi to stay the night!

oh damn this is full on full on, okay. Ta's ass just out there bare. "don't worry, i won't be too harsh i don't want to dislocate your shoulder" "who fucks so hard they dislocate a shoulder?" somewhere else in Bangkok VegasPete's ears are burning. Anyway, Phi was like 'don't test me, i'm being gentle for YOUR sake.' and that's the Minor Family Theerapanyakul in Ta. i was absolutely waiting for that astronaut dog figurine to fall lmao.

Tan going for the kill with that Did You Cheat On My Brother. Tan i'm sorry but not only is your brother most likely dead but Phi and Non are actually very broken upright now, no matter how much Phi wishes neither of those were true. Phi is in the clear here re: Cheating. He is not in the clear for manipulating Jin into sleeping with him, but like, Jin's into it so whatever for now.

"Fuck him however much you want but don't fall in love. He's with those assholes so he's also an asshole" i mean! He's not wrong! Jin is a good looking nice boy he could absolutely find other friends. the fact that he stays with these fuckheads......

poor Non's parents.

these teenage boys have better skincare routines than I do and I'm

Jin just pass Phi a note in class: Do U Like Me Check Yes Or No

Ah, Jin has such bad timing. Everything about this is brutal. but lol this makes the 2nd boy in a row that Jin likes that doesn't like him back.

Tan doing chemistry shit. he's gonna be drugging everyone i just know it. also, never ever have your cellphone out in a lab and never answer it with your gloves on! Lab Safety 101!!!!

damn, Tan, you could have at least made up a part time job in england or something so that your parents didn't have to sell their house. this entire family's been ripped apart by all this shit.

and now Tan is alone. all he has is his investigation into Non and Phi his sort of brother-in-law.

oh shit, was it Tan's cigarette smoke that was causing hallucinations???! or are they the antidote to whatever Tan drugged the others with or both?

confirmation that Tan was drugging everyone!

lol Tan's face at he very end as he takes in the chaos

#i loved it #team Tan #dead friend forever #dff #dff the series

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ase-trollplays · 6 days

Text

"I Thought You'd Be Happy For Me."

Thiomi paced nervously around the living room of her hive as she awaited her moirail's return. Corali texted the coordinates of where she was going and told her to send Dantli there if she wasn't back in two hours. An hour and a half had already passed, and she was tempted to call him and send him there now. What if two hours is too late? She--

The sound of the boulder blocking her hive entrance being moved immediately snatched her attention, and she felt her heart leap into her throat. She prayed it was Corali and not another kidnapper as she waited for whoever was on the other side to show themselves. Her lusus stood at attention behind her ready to grab her and run in case her ward was threatened.

"Oy, Thiomi, I'm ba--" Corali greeted as she entered, but the sudden force of Thiomi running and throwing herself around her cut her off and momentarily knocked the wind out out of her. Thiomi clung as tightly as she could to her moirail, and her lusus relaxed and went back into her little hole in the wall. Corali clumsily hugged her back as she tried to get air back in her lungs.

"Are you okay?? Did anyone follow you? What happened? Where did you go for s-so long!?" Thiomi asked in rapid succession with panic flooding her tone. Corali patted her on the head and gave her a weary smile.

"I'm fine, li'l miss ma'am. Y'ain't gotta be so scared," she tried to reassure her as she gently broke the hug. Thiomi stared up at her with big worried eyes before taking a step back.

"I... I'm s-sorry, Corali. I just... You were gone for s-so long, a-and... and I thought legislacerators might have found you, and... Where were you for s-so long??" She asked. Corali rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"I got a job."

******************************************************

Thiomi sat across from Corali at the dining room table processing the information Corali gave her. It didn't sound real, and if it was real, it certainly didn't sound legitimate. How could it? A troll approached her in the forest while she was hunting, convinced her to go with him to somewhere she's never been, and then she personally talked with his boss and was offered a job as a bouncer at her club because she was impressed by Corali's revenge rampage?

Her doubt was clearly plastered across her face, which caused Corali to sigh and run a hand through her short hair.

"Look, I know it don't sound real, but I got a good feelin' about this. 'Parently she's used ta workin' with felons an' fugitives, so me bein' wanted by the empire ain't a problem. She's offerin' me a hivestem so I ain't gotta be couch surfin' between you an' Dan, and she might even be able ta unfuck my situation a li'l," she reasoned, but Thiomi's expression soured rather than softened.

"I don't think this is a good idea. It s-sounds way too good to be true. S-she could just be s-saying what you want to hear s-so s-she could lure you into s-some kind of trap and turn you in," she said, her tone laced with worry and disapproval.

"I don't exactly got options right now. I can't keep livin' like this, bein' holed up in yer or Dan's hives all the time, not talkin' ta nobody, not bein' seen by no one. Just sittin' around with nothin. I feel like a trapped animal, an' I'm bein' offered some kinda semblance a gettin' part a my life back."

"You could have talked with me about this, at least."

"I thought ya'd be happy fer me. I can have some a my life back. I mean, s'far as I know there's still a manhunt fer me an' a bounty on my head, so it ain't like I can go in public still, but this ain't a bad thing."

Thiomi bit her lip and turned away from her. She wanted to be happy for her, but she couldn't shake the fear and doubt. Corali stood up and walked to Thiomi's side and held one of her hands.

"Please... please don't take this job. I don't want to lose you. ... I... I'm s-scared," she begged as she could feel her eyes start to water. "I'm not ready for you to leave me... I can't be here alone."

Corali frowned and pulled the smaller troll into a tight hug, and she clung to her and silently cried into her shirt as Corali rubbed her back.

"I ain't goin' right this second. It'll take a bit a doin' fer my hivestem ta get set up, an' it ain't like we can't visit each other. Yer gon' be fine--"

"You don't know that," Thiomi interrupted. She dug her fingers into Corali's shirt so tightly she thought she might rip the fabric if she clung any tighter. "What if Joclyn becomes a problem again? What if I'm not just kidnapped and s-scarred next time? As long as you're here, I'm s-safe. If... If you leave..."

Corali felt her heart shatter to pieces as Thiomi started to tremble in her arms, and her crying became less silent. She was at a loss for what to do. As much as Thiomi acted like she had everything together, there was still so much fear and trauma. Despite her own experience with those emotions, she felt utterly helpless here.

Her solution to everything was always to fight. Violence was the best way she knew how to handle a problem. It's how trolls were conditioned, but Thiomi's different. This whole situation was different. She couldn't fight emotions into submission, certainly not someone else's emotions. She silently cursed her uselessness and lack of emotional intelligence.

"Like I said, I ain't leavin' no time soon. An' when I do leave, yer still gon' be safe just like ya were before the bullshit happened. Y'ain't as helpless as ya think ya are," Corali reassured her, but her words fell on deaf ears as Thiomi continued weeping and shaking in her arms.

"You-- You don't have to go. There's online jobs. You like accounting, r-right? Why can't you do that instead? Or-- Or take the job but s-stay here??"

"I can't keep livin' hidin' myself from the world. I can't keep bein' hiveless with no money or space a my own. I can't be in a cage fer the rest a my sweeps. An' most important, I couldn't live with myself if I let ya cling ta me like this ferever, scared a everythin' when I ain't there.

"I ain't like Sonja. I don't want ya ta be completely dependent on me. Ya need ta be able ta function again like before things went wrong."

Thiomi shook her head against Corali's body and continued weeping, and the only thing the older rust could think to do was stand there and let her. What else could she say? What more could she do?

She suddenly felt envious of Thiomi's therapist for being able to help her moirail where she utterly failed.

#things to read #Roll With The Punches #Thiomi Shiaka #Corali Primer

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mamamittens · 1 year

Note

I hope you enjoy Zelda!!! But I do have an ask platonic wise if that’s alright, so sweet child of mine is obviously a reader who’s like 18 to young 20’s I’d say. How would the story have gone if the reader was like way younger? Like a kid the navy came across with the devil fruit abilities, would things have gone down differently, and if so how much? (As everyone kinda sees reader as a kid anyways.)

But I hope you enjoy the game- my sisters got it and I haven’t heard from her since she got it so I’m guessing that it’s amazing

Well, a lot of the story is out of Reader's hands as someone that's kidnapped for literally all of it. So plotwise it's not that different. They wouldn't go to the labs as a kid either because they're not old enough to properly test outside of the field. They don't know how to explain their power or do anything, so real life is the best teacher still.

But for starters there probably would have been at least one more marine at the starting incident. Kiddo would be treated... A little better but not really by their partner since the blow to the ego of knowing you 'awesome power' is because of a tot.

Marco would have been quicker to just snap them up without knowing about the devil fruit after Williams smacked the baby like a dickhead.

Reader as a kid would be a lot faster to cry and get overwhelmed but genuinely believes they're 'meant to do good' in the Marines. Just really sad baby hours that they can't seem to 'do it 'right'' when really it's their partners getting pissy about a literal child being valued more than them.

"Mm not supp'sed ta talk to pirates. Even if they have a cute dog."

Marco smiled softly, crouching down to whisper in the kid's ear.

"If anyone asks, it's all my fault, cause I'm a big mean pirate, yeah?" He suggested playfully, picking them up into his arms while Stefan barked for attention.

The kid giggled, bouncing excitedly as they waved at Stefan who licked their fingers with every hop.

Kid reader would also attach faster to positive attention without the knowledge an older reader would that they're still a prisoner. Though they'd get scared easily and freak outs mostly involve getting upset that they can't leave to go back to their 'job'. By the time plot catches up, reader will mostly have let go of being a marine or having forgotten entirely. Liking being on a big ship where everyone is nice all the time and doesn't snap at them for things outside their control.

Teach would have convinced them that they're playing a hide and seek game seeing as it's the easiest route. Taking them around the islands to distract them from the fact that this 'game' sure is taking a long time.

Meeting Luffy is more positive cause they think his fruit feels cool but no one gets why they keep making drum sounds while playing with him--not that Teach let's it go on for long. He knows Ace is closing in at that point.

Triggering the Dial Down is due to finding out the truth and that Teach hurt Thatch. Wanting to 'ground' Teach from the neat powers he's used prolifically all this time. And then probably not totally understanding what Akainu did at first by melting his head.

Poor Ace and Marco will be so horrified when the last they see of little reader is just a sobbing child, wailing before accidentally "over locking" Akainu's fruit and blasting off.

Still gets saved by Mao and found as word gets out about a miraculous rescue of a child via sea king.

Reader is very tired and more than a little injured when they show up and take the tot home.

Aside from that, a lot more carrying around at every opportunity. Hugs and affection since reader isn't as against it. A lot easier to distract from negative situations and likely didn't realize they'd been drugged so Thatch isn't bullied like before.

Might keep the title thing cause it's funny to think of them trying to argue with a child who just thinks they're cooler than the actual name.

"Sweetie, call me Thatch, please! Or at least big brother! Oh! Just call me big brother!" 🥺

"But your title is soooo cool! Twin-Blade! Twice as sharp and a-sim-metric-al!" 🤓

"...T-Thats nice sweetie but... I wanna be big brother..." 😭

"What about calling me, Pops or Oyaji?" 😃

"But you worked so hard on your moose-stache, Whitebeard!"😃

"Wait! If you're my dad, would I grow big and tall like you!?" ☺️

"...y--" 🥺

"Don't lie to the baby, Oyaji!!!" 😡

(Zelda is going great btw! Ask your sister about Zelda going 'my people need me' on the Hyrule tower. I legit started laughing. Zelda's unexpectedly a damn troll and I love it)

#mittens answers #oh sweet child of mine #child au #ngl its cute as hell lol

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motherofplatypus · 8 months

Text

What to expect in S6?

Let's be real, there's nothing that we can expect, especially if you look at how they deal with the plots and message in each episode, especially with how S5 ended. And with Lila, who's the epitome of plot device, being the main villain, you understand why the expectation for season 6 is 6 feet under.

Ironic.

However, i miss the old days where the fandom would theorize things that might happen with joy and curiosity, and i wanna bring that back. So let's ignore That Guy and co's incompetency for the last 3 seasons and the disappointments that came along with it and see what to expect and could possibly happen in the next season.

1. Lila as the new Hawkmoth.

It's the first thing that came to mind, since she'll be the main villain. From what we've known about her so far, unlike Gabe, she take things into her own hands even though it relies mostly on dumbing down everyone else.

So we can expect that she'll use her skill to manipulate people to be vulnerable enough to be akumatized into a villain that she needs. (Goodbye Gigantitan and Mr. Pigeon, y'all gonna be missed. Unless the writers pulled all her brain cells like they did with everyone else, we'll see you soon.)

2. Emilie's sudden appearance.

This one needs to be explained. She's been declared missing, or dead, for at least a whole year, so her appearance needs an explanation.

As an extension to that, we might learn about what Gabriel wish was, and to a lesser extent, we might learn how the peacock got broken in the first place.

(Yes, I know TA already explained that miraculous being indestructible was an error. But the rule of every show is that what was shown to the audience is canon. But of course we can't expect him to own up to his mistake like an adult and try to do something with what has been established.)

3. Power ups, including Chat's (possible) power upgrade.

This one pissed me off the most, because power ups were first introduced in S2, and from 8 potions that's available, we've only seen three. Come on, 4 seasons and only 3 of them? And one of them isn't exactly a power up (You can't possibly say the ice one is a power up).

So yeah, they better introduce all the other power ups this season. Of maybe a fusion power up.

4. Luka and Alix.

It is now clear that everyone knows that Luka knows who LB and CN are, and that Alix very possibly knows too from the time travel. This opens up a lot of possible scenes, and one that everyone had been dying to have is Marinette and Adrien talk to Luka about their hero life (and maybe how they're scared that their hero life might affect their relationship with each other, and Luka has to hold the urge to tell them that they're actually dating each other).

5. Su Han's role.

Now that the new team is formed, Su Han, as the grandmaster guardian of the miraculous, have the responsibility to teach these younglings how to fight properly and learn more about their miraculous. We can expect a sparring session or team battle, and if we're lucky, how to counter each other's miraculous.

Heck, maybe we get to meet more of the monks and learn more about the temple of the guardian.

6. Rose's sickness.

This one i don't really like to talk about, but since it kinda depressing, I wanna talk about it. What would happen to Rose and her sickness? Like, I would imagine an episode where she fell ill and her power is needed to fight an akuma, and she decided to go. When the battle is over, she succumbed into her illness (not dead, mind you).

The angst is strong in this one, and im all for it despite not wanting it.

7. Chloe's return

Rumor has it that she won't be in this season, and honestly that's for the best, seeing last season we got 7 episodes dedicated to put emphasis on how bad she is without giving a single flying shit how much it retcon and ruined the show itself.

But, possibility is possibility, and it's interesting to think about what she'll bring if she's coming back, since she no longer has power and must do things herself. Will she be more of a threat? Who knows.

~~~

I'm purposefully not putting Adrien learning the truth here. Aside from the writers are infamous for doing absolutely jackshit for an entire season and compress everything into 3 episodes near the finale, it's logical from writing standpoint that they'll hold this important part of the story for the real final season. So yeah, I don't think we'll gave him learning the truth in the next season.

So, that's all from me. Sure, there's more to say, but my fingers are tired if i have to write more. So, share your thoughts what you think might or want to happen.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #miraculous spoilers #ml spoilers #ml speculation #mlb spoilers #miraculous season 6 #miraculous fandom #ml fandom #mlb fandom #thomas astruc #thomas astruc salt #miraculous season five #miraculous season 5 #mlb season 5 spoilers #mlb season five

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cherrylimeadebabe · 2 years

Note

hi!! i've got a lil request for a oneshot: fake dating steve???

he's tired of robin & the kids laughing about his dating life and also wants to make clear he's over nancy so he asks reader (the cute girl who used to go to school with him and now works there as a TA) to be his fake girlfriend. she's all in bc how fun!! (and she's not shy so doesn't care about pda, iykwim) and is great at 'pretending' because she is actually into him. finally steve falls hard for her and asks her out for real.

❤️‍🔥

Just For Show: Steve Harrington X Reader

Word Count: 3.8K

Warnings: Underage Drinking

A/N: Hi love! Sorry this took me a little while, I really hope you enjoy it, any feedback is appreciated. <3

Steve pulls into the Hawkins High School parking lot, tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel in time with the music lightly humming through his radio. He waits outside of the school entrance as droves of students emerge from the double doors, and after a few moments he can see Dustin coming out towards his idling car.

“What’s new Henderson?” Steve questions, looking at Dustin through the rearview as he slings his backpack into the car and situates himself in the back seat.

“Well, I’ve got a Geometry test this Friday, so aside from Hellfire I can look forward to inevitably bombing that! unless Suzy can coach me through my study guide.” Dustin shoots back in an ironically chipper tone.

Steve lets out a breathless laugh as he turns around “Hey man, at least you have a smart girl in your life to help you with stuff like that,”

Dustin playfully raises his eyebrows at him, “Oh…You mean someone like Nancy?”

“Cut it out Henderson, I just meant that you’re lucky is all. Nancy and I barely-”

Steve is abruptly cut off by Robin poking her head into the open passenger window,

“Oh, we’re talking about Nancy again?”

“-Jesus Robin, maybe a hello or something first?!” Steve scolds, startled by her abrupt appearance.

“Oh, I’m Sorry! it just seems like every time I see you the first thing I hear about is Nancy this, Nancy that-“ Robin teases, knowing how easy it is to get a rise out of him.

Steve quickly shuts down Robin’s heckling, starting to get irritated and slightly raising his voice, “seriously? you’re gonna join in on this with him now? I’ve moved past it. Are we clear on that? Now get in, I don’t want to be late for work.”

Robin looks over at Dustin, the both of them grimacing, silently communicating that they both knew they set Steve off for real this time.

The drive to Dustin’s house is uncharacteristically silent. Steve hits the brakes just in front of Dustin's driveway, saying nothing, but promptly unlocking the car.

Dustin tries to cut through the tension, “Thanks for the ride man, I’m-uh sorry for bringing her up...just joking around y’know…” Letting out an awkward laugh as he opens the car door.

“Don’t worry about it, I know you and Robin aren’t being serious, and I’m sorry for kind of acting like a dick about it.”

Steve pursed his lips, pulling them into a half smile. He felt obligated to apologize despite the fact that his friends' constant teasing was starting to take a blow at his confidence. The second Dustin enters his house, Steve hits the gas, eager to get to Family Video. Robin looks over at him to notice he now has a concentrated expression. Although curious, she decides it’s best to save any conversation for when they get to work, when things have simmered down.

It’s a fairly slow shift for both Robin and Steve, having very few customers to attend to. The only responsibility left for them to focus on is stocking the shelves with new inventory. Steve hovers over the horror movie section, mindlessly holding a tape as his thoughts wander. Robin and the kids making his love life a punchline had him considering all sorts of ridiculous schemes, literally anything to prove to them that he was over Nancy and still in fact, had game. He already had his sights set on someone, but he would keep that to himself until he knew he could convince her to agree to his heinous plan under the guise of a “joke”. His contemplations are cut short by the chime of the store entrance, looking up to see (Y/N) walk right in, as if he manifested her presence at this exact moment.

Steve’s eyes light up the second he sees her, quickly stepping over to the register, “(Y/N)! Long time no see! In the market for some movies?!”

She was startled by Steve’s intense greeting, although happy to see him outside of the school parking lot for once.

“Well, people come here to rent movies, right Harrington?” She chuckled, looking at him with a bright smile.

“Uh-yeah, usually. You know I was hoping I’d run into you actually.” Steve admits, looking down, rubbing the back of his neck. (Y/N) didn’t think anything of what he had just said, assuming it was a typical favor a distant acquaintance might ask.

“Oh yeah? You looking for a new job or something? I mean I could put in a good word for you at the high school-“

“No, I’m not asking for any favors like that! Well, it kind of is a favor but-oh geez, this is going to sound extremely idiotic at best….”

Steve leans over the counter lowering his voice, so Robin won’t overhear his outlandish proposition, “I was thinking that maybe you could help me out with this sort of…prank I have planned out. I would need you to pretend to be my girlfriend for it to make sense...” Steve trails off, looking up at her, brows scrunched as he chews on his lip. He thinks he’s already blew his shot, but before he can dwell on his nervousness, (Y/N) leans into the counter, inches from Steve’s ear,

“Really? Well tell me, what’s in it for me if I play along with this so-called prank of yours?”

Steve’s face grew hot from the closeness and playful tinge in her voice.

“Whatever you’re comfortable with really, I mean I’d take you out of course, buy you dinner…you name it.” He held his breath, waiting for some sort of response. (Y/N) straightens back up, arms crossed, looking him up and down. a few moments of silence floating past.

“Eh, what the hell, you’ve got yourself a deal Steve Harrington!”

Steve’s eyes widened in shock at the lack of convincing it took for her to oblige him.

“Wait, you’re actually agreeing to this?”

She shrugged at him, trying to hold back the grin forming on her face.

“Why not? Sounds like free entertainment to me. You and I would look pretty good together I think. Also while I’m here can you like, actually help me find a movie?”

She motions him to follow her over to the horror section, and he trails closely behind. Robin peers over from the edge of the sci-fi aisle, confused as ever after eavesdropping on the entire interaction the two of them had just had. Biting her tongue, she continued to organize the tapes, not sure whether to be embarrassed or impressed at Steve’s boldness. He sends (Y/N) off with a copy of Body Double, feeling giddy that his stupid plan went over so well. As the night came to a close and he was finally home, Steve found himself tossing and turning in bed. His head is filled with potential scenarios between (Y/N) and him. He pondered over how much she would be willing to commit to this act…How much would be allowed. Eventually he is able to silence his somewhat salacious fantasizing, and knocks out for the night.

Friday rolls around in a flash, and yet again Steve is driving Robin and Dustin home from school. He has to contain his excitement for the “date” he has planned with (Y/N) as well as the satisfaction of finally telling the gang he’s won the affection of someone new, or so it would appear.

“A girlfriend?! No way! Well good for you man.” Dustin commends Steve, Robin side-eyeing both of them.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that yet Dustin, if my guess is right I think this would be their first date.” She smirks, knowing Steve will inevitably clap back.

“No! We’ve been talking for like, weeks. I even met her parents already! This is a sure thing, I’m telling you.”

Steve cringes at his own haphazard defense but figures Dustin is trusting enough not to question it, and he knew Robin would hyper analyze him no matter how solid of a story he had. After dropping them off, he starts heading toward (Y/N)’s neighborhood, the anticipation making his heart skip. Steve pulls into the driveway, quickly getting out and marching to the front door, ringing the doorbell right away. He steps back in awe as (Y/N) opens the door, wearing a white three quarter sleeve scoop neck top that hugged her figure, tucked into a black silk skirt. Her hair cascaded around her face that was adorned in a bright blush and cherry stain on her lips. Steve doesn’t bother hiding his blatant ogling,

“Wow…you look amazing.” His compliment earning a smile from her.

“You’re pretty easy on the eyes yourself, Harrington. ” (Y/N) closes the door behind her and grabs Steve’s hand, leading him back to the car.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” He hints, backing out of the driveway.

(Y/N) is quite surprised when Steve ends up taking her to a little dive bar just outside of town, the brick building looking aged but brightened by the neon signs surrounding the entrance. She turns to Steve, eyebrows raised and curious,

“Although this is a fun idea, you know I don’t have a fake, right?” Steve chuckles, “What? You nervous? Look, I’ve been here before and they don’t card, you’ll be fine! Besides, I brought you here to dance, not just for drinks.”

(Y/N) gives Steve a skeptical look, but figures there’s no harm in trying.

“Whatever you say, baby,” she says in a saccharine tone, Steve taken aback by the pet name. The two of them exit the car and (Y/N) grasps Steve by the hand as they enter the bar. From the looks of the rather youthful clientele, it seemed like no one would bat an eye at the two of them up by the bar. Still, (Y/N) decided to look for a less populated corner for them to sit. She finds a small round table to situate herself and a few moments later Steve sits down, two cans of Miller Lite in hand. Although she wasn’t much of a beer drinker, she went with the flow. She scoots her chair closer to Steve, grabbing the beer.

“So what made you decide to work at the high school? It feels like we were students there just yesterday.”

Steve asks, leaning back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other. (Y/N) puts an elbow on the table and rests her face in her palm, sipping her drink with the other hand, “Well, you don’t need a degree and the pay is a little better than most of the work we have around here. I like it a lot actually! The days go by pretty fast since I’m always running errands. I will say though, it is a little weird being on the other side of it after just graduating.”

Steve chuckles at her confession, “Well I think it’s admirable, definitely a step up from scooping ice cream or working at a video store!”

His self deprecation striking a chord with (Y/N),

“Cut yourself some slack Steve, you’re doing just fine. I mean, you’ve been through so much more than most people our age and…”

She stops, worrying that bringing up what happened last summer at the mall would make things tense. Steve looks up at her with vulnerable eyes, feeling a sudden wave of emotion. He was surprised that she was willing to hear about that side of him, the parts of his life that most people brushed off. It was strangely disarming.

“Hey, it’s okay. I appreciate that you don’t pretend it never happened like everybody else. Even my parents act like nothing has changed, but…I’ve moved on from it for the most part.”

He reassures her, trying to put on a brave face and hoping things segue back into something more lighthearted.

The conversation starts flowing more easily as the night goes on, a few drinks in. They discuss movies, (Y/N) being very well versed in the subject, Steve a more casual movie goer despite the fact he worked at the video store. Although their tastes differed, Steve would be more than eager to watch some obscure giallo film or grindhouse shlok if it meant he could spend more time with her. He felt his stomach flutter every time his ludicrous movie theories got a laugh out of her. Suddenly, (Y/N)’s eyes go wide as “Drive” by The Cars comes on, other patrons making their way to the dance floor.

“I love this song! You are gonna dance with me right now, Harrington.”

She gleefully rises from her seat, a hand outstretched to Steve. He obliges, fingers intertwining as she raises their joined hands in the air, leading the way. She playfully twirls around to face him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Steve’s breathing hitches at the contact, slowly lowering his arms to her waist. They gently sway back and forth to the music, their faces inches from each other. Steve’s eyes trail down to her lips, desperately wanting to bridge the gap between them, but his thoughts are halted at the sound of a familiar voice. He looks over to see Eddie Munson, third time senior, strolling into the bar with a few of his goons. (Y/N) turns to look at them, a lightbulb going off in her head. She looks back up at Steve with a smile on her face, ”Hey, Steve?”

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to get distracted, I can be a terrible dance partner sometimes-”

He’s cut off by (Y/N) grabbing his face and pulling him into an intense kiss, making sure there were plenty of eyes on the two of them. It was an electric shock to his senses, something he had wanted to do himself all night. His grip on her waist tightened as she pulled away. He had to remind himself it was simply for show now that they had a familiar audience, but he couldn't help wanting her to do it again.

“That’ll get them talking, huh?”

(Y/N) laughed, her eyes glistening and reflecting the glow of the green and purple colored lights above the dance floor. They kept on dancing, Steve absolutely mesmerized by her face in the dim lighting. Perhaps it was his slight drunkenness, but he couldn’t stop thinking of kissing her all over right then and there on the dance floor.

He thought about that kiss for the rest of the night. Once the bar died down and he had sobered up, they began the drive back to Hawkins. The ride was rather quiet aside from the sound of the radio and engine. (Y/N) had her head leaned against the window, visibly tired after an exciting but long venture. She smiled to herself, thinking that she could get used to sitting pretty in Steve’s car all of the time, even if it was just to keep up his act. Steve had thoughts of his own, feeling foolish as ever for finding himself under her spell. It felt irresponsible, he told himself that he only wanted to get everybody off of his back, that he didn’t actually want to get this close to someone again, and that despite her playing the part perfectly, there was no way that (Y/N) would be interested in actually dating him. He turns up the radio, trying to drown out his self doubt. A few miles later, they pull into her driveway, Steve making sure to shut off his headlights so he doesn’t disturb her family inside. They both look over to each other, Steve still gripping the steering wheel with one hand. (Y/N) can see the thoughts racing through his head from the look on his face alone. She leans in to give him a light peck on the cheek, quietly opening the car door and whispering,

“I had a wonderful time tonight. Drive safe, okay?”

Steve watches her unlock the front door of her house, pulling out of the driveway once she was inside. He kept replaying the moment in his head on the way home. Was she just being polite? She didn’t have to kiss him goodnight, but she did, even when there was no one to see. Was she just fully committed to playing the role? If only (Y/N) knew how oblivious he truly was, perhaps the coming weeks would have been a lot less confusing for both of them.

As the weeks went by, almost everyone in Steve’s social circle was convinced that the relationship was legitimate, and he had no plans of telling his friends the truth. He took (Y/N) on movie dates, roller skating, and even attempted to make dinner for her. He may have been a subpar cook, but (Y/N) was very flattered by his efforts. Their public displays of affection weren’t slowing down either, (Y/N) finding any reason she could to steal a kiss or have his hand in hers. Every time she was around Steve, she could feel herself wanting to get even closer to him. She felt like their “relationship” was becoming something real, and tangible, but she wondered why he hadn’t made a move yet….surely her hints were coming through? She knew that she wasn’t imagining the new level of intimacy between them. The way their kisses lingered, how he looked at her with longing eyes, listening to every word she said when she spoke of her passions and fears. She desperately wanted to know that he felt it too, but something was pulling at her within, telling her to wait it out. It all came crashing to a head later that week.

Another Friday, another date night. This one more casual than the usual, Steve renting a tape of After Hours and ordering a pizza. As he’s tidying up the living room, the doorbell rings and he drops everything to answer it, knowing it’s (Y/N). He was practically vibrating from his nerves, but he tried his best to mask it when he opened the door.

“(Y/N)! I think you’re really gonna like the movie I picked for tonight,”

She flashes a soft smile at him as she enters his home, the two of them heading over to the living room. (Y/N) makes herself comfortable on the couch, Steve going into the kitchen to grab two plates and dimming the lights in the living room when he returns.

The faint glow of the television lit their faces as Steve popped the tape in, taking a close seat next to (Y/N) on the couch.

“Have I influenced your taste in movies, Steve? Or did you just happen to know this is one of my favorites?” She questions playfully, knowing that it probably wasn’t a coincidence.

“I may have asked around for this particular occasion aha, I-uh I actually did wanna see this one though,” Steve confesses, shuffling around on the couch, trying to get comfortable. He felt a lump forming in his throat as he tried to contain what he wanted to say, stalling for the moment to feel right. His plans to wait it out would be quickly thwarted by (Y/N), as she could sense that he was on the cusp of finally saying what they were both thinking, if she could work it out of him. She could admit to herself that she was just as, if not more stubborn than Steve, but she was going to get it out of him first, regardless. She turns to face him,

“What does this particular occasion happen to be?”

Steve Freezes. She puts him on the spot, and he realizes he’s already been caught. There’s a few beats of silence between them, Steve taking a deep breath before letting everything spill out.

“(Y/N)....There’s been something on my mind a lot lately….I um, I just don’t want to freak you out or anything, but it’s been driving me crazy hiding it from you. I know that this whole thing we’ve been doing is just for show, and maybe you just agreed to it purely for entertainment, or maybe to have a crazy story to tell later on, but-”

(Y/N) grips him by the shoulders, looking him dead in the eyes,

“Steve! Please, for the love of god, just say what you really want to say! You can tell me anything, really.”

“I don’t want to pretend anymore!” He blurts out, looking away for a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb.

“I just-I don’t want it to be pretend anymore, okay? The time we’ve spent together has been so wonderful, I can’t remember the last time I’ve had so much fun with someone. I know at first it was just to make me look good to my friends, but somewhere along the way I let myself get so caught up in it….so obsessed with you, that I forgot you aren’t actually my girlfriend.” Steve drops his hands to his thighs, lowering his head in embarrassment. (Y/N)’s hands trail down from his shoulders to clasp his hands,

“Steve….I stopped pretending a while ago.”

He looks up at her, mouth half open. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Wait, so you’re telling me that I’m not crazy?! You feel it too?”

“Yes, Steve. I thought it was obvious. I was just waiting for you to say something!”

Steve’s hands release from hers to dramatically smack his forehead,

“Why didn’t YOU say something?! I was over here thinking you had no interest in actually pursuing me!”

(Y/N) laughs at Steve’s revelation, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

“Oh, come on! Was making out with you every chance I got not clear enough? Or, you know, hanging out with you….ALONE! The whole point of your “prank” was for people to see us! I just wanted to hear you admit it first.”

Steve can’t help but laugh and shake his head at his own cluelessness.

“Wow, and I thought I was hard headed! You are something else (Y/N).”

(Y/N) smiles, suddenly pushing Steve down on the couch to hover over him,

“And that’s exactly why you’re….what was it you said? Obsessed with me?”

The two of them laugh into each other as Steve cups his hands around her face to kiss her. They were all over each other for what seemed like the rest of the night into dawn. Any doubt Steve had of (Y/N)’s feelings towards him melted away, and (Y/N) herself was ecstatic that they were finally on the same page. Everything seemed to fall into place, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, Steve wasn’t afraid to give himself to someone again, to let someone see every part of him. He wanted that someone to be (Y/N), always.

#steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #stranger things #st4 #fanfic #oneshot #imagine #writing #request #requests open #fake dating #stranger things 4 #fanfiction #cher writes #pls send in more requests this was so fun to write!!#mine #original writing

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cheeriecherrymain · 1 year

Text

Incorrigible Flirts And Besweatered Men [Chapter 2]

Pairing: TA!Viktor x fem!Reader Rating: T Warnings: None that I can think of Proofread: Not even a tiny bit Chapter Summary: You enter friend territory with Viktor, get an email that might change your future, and get asked on a date (but it’s not actually a date).

It’s been two weeks since the new semester started. Two weeks, and you’re already stressed over the amount of work you’re doing. You’ve told yourself again and again that it’s only going to get more difficult as the year presses on, but somehow, the sentiment has not made you feel any better.

You suppose one of the bright sides of being in another one of Heimerdinger’s classes is that you’ve met Viktor.

When you’d asked for his number, you’d maybe given him the impression that you only wanted it for school purposes; however, he didn’t seem to mind that you texted him daily - if it bothered him, he’d never said anything. In fact, he was always quick to reply to your messages.

Viktor doesn’t seem to be the type of person who’s particularly attached to his phone, so you like to think that maybe he just enjoys talking to you.

—

You startle out of sleep when your alarm starts beeping aggressively in your ear; you don’t remember leaving your phone on your bed the previous night, but knowing your own habits, you probably fell asleep while watching meme videos. Again.

You squirm around a little bit to find the optimal stretching position, only to be deterred when you realize all three of your cats are curled up on your legs, rendering you immobile.

You quickly snap a picture of them, and flip to Viktor’s chat window.

Y/N: Good morning!

Y/N: Hopefully you’re already awake, and I’m not waking you up.

Y/N: I might not be able to make it to class today.

You find yourself smiling when a set of dots appear beside Viktor’s name.

Viktor (Phys510A): Good morning, indeed.

Viktor (Phys510A): Everything is alright, I hope?

Your heart flutters at his concern, and you take a moment to compose yourself. He’s just being nice, you tell yourself, He would check in on anyone else just the same. But despite your inner monologue, you still can’t help the warmth that spreads through your chest and down every nerve ending in your body.

Y/N: I’m okay, I promise.

Y/N: Just a little bit of potential legal trouble.

Viktor (Phys510A): Legal trouble?

Viktor (Phys510A): Do you need help?

With a wry grin, you send the picture of the cats piled on your blanketed legs.

Y/N: If I move them, I’ll go to jail.

Viktor (Phys510A): Miss. Y/N.

You can feel his exasperation through his text, and you barely manage to suppress a laugh.

Viktor (Phys510A): You are a menace.

Viktor (Phys510A): You had me genuinely worried for a moment.

Y/N: Awww, you care about me?

Viktor (Phys510A): Of course I care.

Viktor (Phys510A): You’re one of Heimerdinger’s top students.

Y/N: Oh, ouch???

Y/N: And here I thought we were at least friends by now.

Y/N: But I see how it is.

Y/N: I’m only a student, after all.

Y/N: Woe is me :(

Viktor (Phys510A): You say it like you consider us friends?

Y/N: Of course I do!

Y/N: You’re one of the only two people I send good morning texts to.

Y/N: The other person is my cousin.

Y/N: She works at a pizza parlor.

Y/N: I get free pizza if I let her gossip with me.

Viktor (Phys510A): Is this your way of saying you want something from me?

Y/N: No!!!

Y/N: omg you’re missing the point completely.

Y/N: I can’t believe I showed you my litties when I’m being treated like this

Viktor (phys510A): What are litties?

Y/N: KITTIES*

Y/N: You’ve stooped low, Viktor.

Y/N: Calling me out on a typo.

Viktor (Phys510A): Physics and its subsequent lessons have no room for typos.

Viktor (Phys510A): I’m just preparing you for class.

Y/N: Physics and its concepts were discovered by total accident.

Y/N: That’s basically a typo, but real life.

Y/N: Therefore you cannot scold me for having fat thumbs.

Viktor (Phys510A): You’re really going to stick with that argument, aren’t you.

Y/N: Yes. Yes, I am.

Viktor (Phys510A): If you’re not in class today, I’m telling Heimerdinger that you’re hungover.

Y/N: But then he’ll be disappointed in me!

Y/N: He’ll make The Face and everything!

Viktor (Phys510A): It’s your choice.

Y/N: Terrible, awful, horrible man.

Viktor (Phys510A): I’ll see you in class :)

You set your phone down with a pouty sigh, and debate just going back to sleep. However, you know that Viktor is a man who will follow through on his threats, however playful they are, and you don’t think you have the emotional capacity to deal with disappointment from the Professor.

So, with great difficulty and many protests from your cats, you haul yourself out of bed to get ready for the day.

—

You walk into the lecture hall, waving to Viktor and the Professor, and take your favourite seat; second row from the front, just to the left of the center of the room.

The class had shrunk considerably since the start of the semester, with most of the unenthused students dropping the course, but in your mind, the front row was only for serious students. You might still be a part of the class, and you certainly cared about your grades, but you weren’t passionate about the subject like some of your peers.

The second row was the optimal choice.

Once you’re settled, you pull your notebooks and supplies out of your bag. It’s an ancient thing, made mostly of scraps and patches at this point, but it gets the job done. You only have to unwrinkle a few pages of notes as you go over them.

Then again, you only go over your notes for a few pages, before your mind - and your eyes - starts wandering. Specifically, over to Viktor.

He’s a good teacher, whether he’s helping Heimerdinger with lectures, or wandering from student to student to quietly answer questions. He’s insightful and intelligent, and he’s encouraging in his criticisms.

Not to mention, he turns a lovely shade of pink when you flirt with him.

You’ve noticed a couple of your classmates try to behave the same with him - friendly with a flirtatious air - and you’ve never seen Viktor get as flustered as with you. In fact, with everyone else, he hardly gets flustered at all. He keeps his professionalism in check, and keeps the conversation subjects strictly on class material.

That isn’t to say he doesn’t do the same with you, of course; his first instinct with you is to help you with any questions you have about the days’ lecture, but he’s…warmer with you. Friendlier, and more open. Plus, you’re pretty sure you’re the only person in the class who has his personal number, and he’s always quick to text you back-

You startle out of your thoughts when your pocket vibrates and, with a quick glance around to make sure you haven’t drawn attention to yourself, you pull your phone out of your pocket.

You’re half expecting a cheeky text from Viktor, something along the lines of ‘Why are you checking your phone in class?’, and you’re only slightly disappointed when you don’t see any notifications from him. You do, however, have an email.

You swipe to see who it’s from, deciding it’s most likely junk or spam - but the name of the sender makes you pause.

Firelights Studios.

Your heart leaps into your throat so quickly that you nearly choke, and you’re quick to open the email.

You don’t fully read most of it - that’s a task better left for outside class hours - but you’re able to understand the gist of it; you try your hardest to keep your excitement at bay, but as you quietly slip your phone back into your pocket, you’re unable to keep your hands from shaking.

There’s no way in hell you’re going to be able to focus on working for the next three hours.

—

The class drags on far longer than it should, despite the fact that it ends right on schedule. Part of you is grateful for the longer lessons - it really allows you to get into your projects and be present for learning - but mostly, you’re just cranky that you have to sit for so long.

You walk swiftly down the steps at the side of the lecture hall, your mind still reeling from the email you got earlier. It had seemed to be good news, from what you’d read; you hadn’t seen any apologies or ‘we regret to inform you’s hidden within the multitude of paragraphs.

And then a tug on your shoulder, followed by the sickening sound of snapping threads, brings your thoughts out of the clouds and back to reality. It happens so quickly that you don’t even have time to react - your shoulder bag is torn open after getting caught on the edge of a bannister, and your various papers and school supplies explode across the floor.

You swear quietly, and stoop down to try to collect everything. You’re not sure how you’re going to carry anything, though, once you try to find space in the bag that is - at this point - little more than scrap fabric.

You sigh deeply, and run your hands over your face.

And then the creak of a chair right beside you, and the shuffling of papers.

You remove your hands from your face to find Viktor just to your left, helping you gather up the mess you’d made. You just watch him for a second, both surprised by the gesture, but also not; because he’s Viktor. Of course he’d rush in to help.

“Thank you,” you manage to squeak out, scrabbling around to move all your stuff into a more tidy pile. You’re not entirely sure why your throat tightens the way it does, nor why tears start to sting the corners of your eyes; you just hope that Viktor doesn’t notice, or make a comment on why you’re so quiet.

Once everything is set up into neat little stacks, Viktor produces a fabric square from his own shoulder bag, and hands it to you. “It won’t replace an actual school bag,” he says softly, “but it will at least allow you to carry everything back to your residence.”

You stare at the square for a moment, taking longer than you’d like to realize it’s a reusable grocery bag. You quickly unfold it to start packing your things up, mumbling your thanks once again.

Once all is said and done, Viktor stands up beside you and offers his hand.

“Well,” you sigh, as he helps you to your feet, “I don’t think I’m going to be able to fix it this time around.” You regard the ruined satchel in your hand, and crinkle your nose up.

“Are you sure?” Viktor asks, though you can tell by his tone that he’s just trying to be supportive. “A…little bit of extra fabric here and there, and maybe…”

You fix him with a disbelieving stare, and he trails off.

“At this point, the entire thing is made of scrap fabric,” you explain. “I’ve had this bag since I was thirteen, I think? Or maybe twelve?” Viktor looks surprised, but you continue, “It doesn’t matter. I’m overdue for a replacement, is the point.”

Your attention darts down to the worn-leather bag hanging at his side, and you ask, “ Viktor, you wouldn’t happen to remember where you got that, would you?”

His gaze follows yours, and realization dawns on him. “Oh- yes, actually.” He reaches into one of the satchel’s pockets, and digs around for a couple seconds. “It’s a little hole-in-the-wall sort of place - I don’t think they even have a website, all of his reputation is based on word-of-mouth.”

He pulls out a tiny notepad and a metal pen, and scribbles down an address. “Here,” he says softly, handing it to you, and you don’t miss the little jolt of warmth you feel when your fingers brush together. “It’s, ah. It’s reasonably priced, for hand-crafted goods, and there are lots of designs to choose from. You should be able to find something.”

Butterflies explode in your stomach when you see the pink dusting his cheeks again: he’s just as affected by the little touch as you are.

But your nervous excitement turns into anxiety when you read the address he’s written down for you.

“Is this place in the-” you pause for a moment, “Is this place in Zaun?” You try your best to keep your voice even, but it proves difficult. You don’t want to be the kind of person who judges any part of a community based on the worst of the people that can be found there, and you understand that most of the residents in that district are only trying to make ends meet: but you’d be naive - if not downright stupid - to walk through the undercity without a single care.

“It is,” Viktor confirms. “Is that an issue?”

You fidget nervously, picking at the dry skin around your cuticles. “Only because I’m a single woman,” you tell him, starting to feel like you’re overreacting. “It’ll be fine though, I’m sure. I’m just being my usual nervous self!”

Your attempt at deflecting goes poorly, because Viktor continues to frown at you. You think for a moment that you’ve offended him or worse, but all at once his features soften and his shoulders relax.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” he says quietly, sounding almost guilty.

You shrug. “I mean, you’re a guy, so you don’t…I mean, obviously you have to be careful still, but…you don’t really have to be on guard every time you leave the house.”

“It is the same as when we met,” he says, “when you hesitated following me. Clearly there are dangers in the world that even I do not know about. But you need a bag, and I stand by my opinion that this man is one of the best craftsmen in the area; and I cannot send you there alone in good conscience.”

Then quieter, “Are you free this weekend?”

#viktor x reader #viktor arcane x reader #arcane x reader #arcane reader insert #ta!viktor #fem!reader

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fics-n-stuff-n-stuff · 9 months

Text

Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia -

all fairy tail characters-

Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic

Follows Fairy tail but with my own twists set in modern day

Fluff and Angst

developing feelings

Lucy has new spirits I checked constellations and gave her ones I thought were cool

Summary

Lucy is thrown into a world she didn’t know existed. Join her as she unravels this new world full of magic that brings adventure, romance and destruction along with it.

———

Just a modern re-telling of Fairy tail following its arcs with a few twists and turns along the way💞

Language: English Words: 3,227

You can also read it here- https://archiveofourown.org/works/49084309

“Fuck”

Lucy was not having a good day, or a good week, or a good year for that matter.

Since running away from home a little over a year ago, and having to financially fend for herself for the first time in 20 years it was a challenge in the beginning for someone as sheltered as she is, and did not come without great challenges.

But it is something Lucy has gotten used to and has actually come to enjoy some odd jobs and trades she's had to learn to get by.

At least to a certain degree.

But with her arrival in Hargeon today, and having spent half of her day trying to find a job, and the other half trying to find somewhere to live. Having no luck with either was a tad discouraging and left Lucy to wonder if her plan to move every few months was actually a smart idea, or if she was just being paranoid.

I mean, she's heard no word from her father or anything about her disappearance. So it's only natural to think he isn't looking.

Then again, it's better safe than sorry, so moving every time she starts feeling like she's suffocating or bored was the conclusion.

She had left Morgate Town fairly easily, it wasn't like she had any friends in the place, and her job as a waitress had her underpaid and overworked, so she was happy to leave.

Now if only she had had the foresight to at least look for some jobs or housing in this area, but no, she decided to treat it like an adventure.

She scoffs now at the thought, right adventure is what she had been looking for when she ran away. Freedom to do whatever she wanted.

Boy, has the real world slapped her in the face.

Her lack of foresight and naivety for adventure is why she was currently walking down the dark streets of Hargeon, following her phone GPS to the inn with the most positive ratings, that wasn't too pricey.

She had found it online earlier when she had stopped to get something to eat and decided to book a room.

Turning the corner of a street, she noticed that everything was suddenly eerily quiet.

People were walking around just a minute ago, looking around she didn't notice anything particularly out of the ordinary, but she couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched.

Picking up her pace slightly, she continued down the street, wishing the inn were closer, so she could just draw a bath and try to figure out her game plan for tomorrow.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, something slammed into her from the side, sending her flying into an alleyway between two buildings.

With a grunt, Lucy landed on the hard ground, slightly disoriented and wondering what sent her flying, looking up, she saw a figure covered by a black cloak standing at the entrance of the alley.

"What the hell is your problem?" Lucy asked, trying to sound confident as she stood up on shaky legs.

They started walking towards her, not answering her question, but she did hear hissing sounds and weird clicking noises coming from under the hood.

Not wanting to figure out what the hell this person's deal is, Lucy looked to the other end of the alley, only to see that it goes one way and is blocked by a wall connecting the buildings.

Dead end.

With a curse under her breath, Lucy looked back at the cloaked figure and tried to sidestep and escape, only to be grabbed by the back of her hair and violently slammed her into the brick wall.

Lucy let out a harsh scream as her body made an impact, and looking at her attacker she finally noticed that it wasn't a person at all that was attacking her because under the black cloak was a figure straight out of a nightmare, a soulless face, with dark gray skin and no apparent eyes started back at her.

Lucy only screamed louder, the creature tightened the hold it had on her and started mumbling words that Lucy could barely make out.

"We could feel your magic, yes, yes, so sweet it smells, a good feast we have found, good, good." It sounded like it was talking to itself.

Not being one to give up, Lucy kept struggling in its hold and kept screaming for help, hoping someone would hear her.

"No, no, no escape. Keep still."

It sounded harsher, and with those words, Lucy was slammed into the wall once more, she heard a crack and could feel blood trickling down the back of her head. That stopped her protest as she felt the pain come in full swing.

The creature above her was drawing closer, its mouth open and sharp teeth on display, gods, is this how she dies? In a dirty alleyway, with no one to miss her, no one to even know she was dead?

'Please don't let me die like this, not like this' Lucy thought to herself as the creature finally started to feed on her, it felt like her very soul was getting sucked out.

She was fading fast and thinking, this time, of her mother, and how she will finally be able to see her again, at the very least.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, Lucy felt the air around her start to increase in temperature, making sweat build up on Lucy's temple she felt a blast of heat and warmth around her and suddenly the creature was thrown off of her with an unearthly shriek.

There were more heat blasts, it looked like fire shooting out of somewhere. She wasn't even sure anymore as black spots started to appear in front of her.

Sliding down the wall, she heard another shriek and after a few beats of silence Lucy was suddenly wrapped in warmth, she didn't even realize she was freezing.

"Crap, he got you good, don't worry you're safe now. I'll take you back to Fairy Tail and-"

The person who had her in their arms was talking, but Lucy was losing consciousness, fast, and could not focus for the life of her. The last thing she saw was pink before passing out.

* ********* ********** ********** ********* *

Waking up disoriented and with a pounding head, when you're 100% sure you didn't drink the night before is not fun by any means.

This is how Lucy finds herself waking up, in a brightly lit room, with her head feeling like someone is trying to escape from inside it.

She sat up with a groan, blinking away the way the light hurt her eyes, and finally able to look around, the room she is in appears to be an infirmary of some kind, but how did she get there? Why is she here?

Suddenly she remembered the attack, a creature of some sort, sucking out her soul, and then fire and warmth, someone fighting the creature and rescuing her before everything went black.

No, that can't be right, there must be a logical explanation for what she saw. She just needs to get up and see where she is, and get some answers.

Going through the infirmary door she sees that she is on the second floor of what appears to be a tavern.

The ground floor was full of people who were laughing, drinking, and playing games.

Some even appear to be fighting.

'What an odd place' Lucy thinks to herself as she descends the stairs, looking around at everyone she suddenly notices that these are no regular people.

She sees what looks like elf ears and wings on some people, and bursts of energy or other strange-looking things from others.

"I must still be dreaming, yes that's it, this is all just a lucid dream." Lucy mutters to herself as she makes her way through the middle of the crowd and to the bar, where she sees a beautiful white-haired girl tending to it.

As Lucy sits down on an empty chair the girl looks up at her with a bright smile "Hello, my name is Mirajane, how are you feeling? You were in quite the rough shape when Natsu brought you in last night."

The girl, Mirajane, puts a plate of fries and some chicken wings on the bar, as well as a glass of water "Here, I'm sure you're hungry, and you need to replenish the energy that was stolen from you."

Lucy smiled at Mirajane, looking down at the food, it smelled amazing and she suddenly felt and heard her stomach growl which is what made Lucy think, maybe she wasn't in a dream after all.

Looking back at Mirajane, Lucy smiled, she could feel it was slightly strained because of the uncertainty of her surroundings, but she tried her best to hide it.

"My name is Lucy, thank you for the food Mirajane, I didn't realize I was so hungry. I am sorry, but I have to ask you, do you know what happened to me? I, I'm not sure what I saw last night, you see I was attacked but I'm not, well, I" Lucy trailed off struggling to find the words to describe the creature that attacked her, fearing she might sound completely insane if she did.

"Yes, dreadful creatures, Lethifolds. They feed off of energy, usually fear. But they are known to attack and take a person's life energy and magical energy as well. You were lucky that Natsu caught the scent of one and found you when he did."

Mirajane explained with a wave of her hand as she went back to wiping the bar.

Lucy just started back at her, stunned. Lethifolds? Magical energy? She felt like she was going crazy.

"I'm sorry, did you just say magical energy?" Lucy asked but her question never got answered as she heard someone yell to watch out and she turned around only to see a chair flying towards her.

Lucy only really had time to close her eyes and try to duck as best she can to try and minimize the damage.

But the blow never came, she only felt warmth at her side and slowly, Lucy opened her eyes to see the chair had been stopped by someone barely 20cm from her face.

"Jeez, you guys gotta be more careful or somethin'." the person that stopped the chair said, throwing it suddenly back, hitting a big guy with white hair. Making him fall back and topple several people along with him.

"That's rich coming from you flame brain"

Another voice chimed in from across the room making the pink-haired man next to Lucy bristle.

"What'dya say ya stripper freak?" He growled back at the man who taunted him.

'Huh, pink hair suits him ' Lucy thinks to herself as she looks at the man who saved her from another possible concussion.

"Thank you, for catching the chair, I would've been a goner." she finds herself saying to the stranger, who, at the sound of her voice snaps out of his staring contest and turns to face her fully with a brilliant smile.

"No problem, glad to see ya're up and movin', I was kinda worried I didn't make it in time, but the mean healer said you'd be awake soon so I guess that's good. I'm Natsu" he rambled on, sitting next to her at the bar as he did.

Natsu.

That's who Mirajane said saved her from that Dementor-looking thing.

"Oh, you're the one who saved me." Lucy said dumbly, wincing slightly as she did.

Seriously what kind of weirdo says something like that?

Natsu just smiles wider and nods "Yeah I did! I was finishin' up a job in Hargeon when I smelt one of those bastards and knew I had to hunt it down before it caused any trouble, looks like I got there just in time, eh." He winks and nudges my shoulder, wiggling his eyebrows, the smile never leaving his face.

Lucy smiles back at him, letting out a slight laugh. This one is a little more real, something about this pink-haired man made her feel warm, made her feel safe.

That is a foreign feeling to one Lucy Heartfilia.

So she lets herself relax if only a little.

"Well thank you, you saved my life. I'm not even sure what happened but I don't think I would've made it if you hadn't shown up. I don't know how to make it up to you."

His expression suddenly turns serious as he turns to fully look at her, from her shoes to the top of her head.

Now Lucy has had many men, young and old, look at her up and down before, and most of them made her skin crawl.

The way Natsu was looking at her was more inquisitive than anything like he was trying to figure something out. He stopped his inspection and looked her in the eyes.

"The creature that attacked you feeds off of energy, positiv', negativ', it doesn't matter, really. Thought this one was going for your magical energy." He says the last part with conviction and looks for her reaction.

Lucy can now say she officially has no idea what is going on, and what is real. He said the same thing that Mirajane had.

Magical. Energy.

"You have no idea, do you?" Natsu's voice broke her out of her thoughts and she looked back at him.

"You just said magical energy, as in like magic? Like Harry Potter and stuff?" Lucy asked, perplexed and not knowing what to think.

This wasn't real, no way. Lucy had always had an active imagination, so yeah that's all this is. She's probably bleeding out in the alley where she was attacked.

Natsu just smiled at her, scoffing slightly at her Harry Potter comment. "Yes magic, no not like Harry Potter. And you have it. I can smell it on you." He said sniffing the air with a shrug, as if it proves his point.

"You can smell it on me ?" Lucy asked, her voice squeaking slightly. She brought her hands to hug herself.

'Do I stink?' Lucy thought to herself, a little self-conscious about what she'd just learned.

"Yeah, I got a good nose, and even though it's repressed or something, I can tell it's there." He answered as if it explains everything.

Lucy felt a migraine start to form from everything going on, she could also feel a pressure in her chest, building.

She tried to wrap her head around magic, and did he say repressed?

"What do you mean by repressed?"

Natsu looked back at her with a shrug, as if trying to find the words.

"Like it's locked inside of you, ya know? But I can tell that it's ripping through the seams like it wants to burst out, that's the only reason that bastard could've sensed it. It's also why I brought ya here, thought maybe you'd like for us to break it for you so you can learn to use your magic." He explained casually like they were discussing current events, and Lucy finally snapped.

Standing up abruptly causing Natsu to lean back a bit from surprise she looked at him, eyes wide and she was panting slightly, breathing deepening from her increasing panic.

"Ok, hold on, stop. You can't really be saying that magic is, that magic is real? Like actually real, casting spells and flying on brooms and wicked witches casting spells?" She spat out, in an obvious panic now, at some point she had started pacing in front of Natsu, who just looked back at her, wide-eyed from her outburst.

Lucy started at him, chest heaving, waiting for a response, only for the pink-haired man to laugh at her.

Annoyed, Lucy let out a groan and hit his shoulder.

"Don't laugh at me, I think I'm having a panic attack, you should be helping, not laughing." She hit him one more time for good measure which made him stop laughing and let out a sigh of his own.

"Okay, okay. Sorry for laughin' at ya, it's just, flying on brooms, really?" Lucy couldn't help the pathetic laugh that bubbled from her throat, she didn't even know what was funny.

It was a legitimate question, she didn't know anything about this supposed magical world.

Looking back at Natsu she saw him already focused on her, with a small smile on his face.

"See, got ya to laugh. Point for me."

Before Lucy could even interject, he continued talking.

"Now, as for the magic part. Yes, to the magic is real part. No, for the flying brooms. Yes, to casting spells, although 'spells' is one term for it, there are others. And I guess yes to the wicked witches part too, but trust me, they are not like the cartoons. "

Lucy started at him, trying to wrap her head around him actually answering her questions, and taking her seriously.

"Here, let me show you my magic, it is totally the coolest in the guild!" He exclaimed, making Lucy smile a little at his enthusiasm, her smile was suddenly wiped when Natsu's right arm catches on fire.

A high-pitched squeak came from Lucy's mouth and before she's even realizing her actions her hands are on Natsu's arm, trying to put out the fire.

"Are you crazy!?? You're going to burn yourself!" She yelled patting his arm, trying to put out the fire as her panic started to kick in again.

Amid her panic, she failed to notice that the fire was not burning Natsu, nor was it burning her.

When she noticed that the flames were dying out slowly, she turned her eyes back to Natsu who was looking at her with a strange expression on his face, something akin to astonishment.

Before either could speak a voice entered their conversation.

"What's all this ruckus about, ey?" Lucy turned to her left and saw a short gray-haired man with a weird hat on top of his head sitting crossed-legged on the bar, their eyes met and he gave her an assessing look before offering a smile.

"You must be the girl Natsu saved last night, good to see you back on your feet."

Lucy smiled at the old man. "My name is Lucy. I'm sorry for disturbing you in your tavern, I was just leaving."

'Yes, I'll just leave and then hopefully this is all just a very vivid and disturbing dream and a pink-haired man did not save me from a Dementor and did not light himself on fire.'

Lucy thought, trying to back up, and out of the building when suddenly, she felt a stab of pain in her chest, making her stop in her tracks and clench her midsection.

Doubling over she felt another pierce through her, this one knocking the air out of her, Lucy felt herself falling but did not have any control over her body.

She felt a pair of warm hands catch her before she had a chance to hit the floor.

Lucy could barely make out the voices around her, everything was spinning, her chest hurt, she could feel something inside of her, something that felt like it wanted to burst.

With one last jolt of pain, a crack resonated within Lucy, and her power was unleashed.

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