#please take care of yourself as well wat and drink and rest

[inkstainedfanfics]

Cinnamon Latte

Request:  Hey there! May I request something for the au trope prompt? Cedric Diggory + coffee shop!au + strangers to lovers + 23: “you know that your book is upside down, right?” I’m a hoe for both Cedric Diggory and coffee shop au’s😭

Word Count: 2,983

Pairing: Cedric x Reader

Requested by: @badass-dora-milaje

He first comes in on a Monday, frazzled, blond hair messy and stuck to his forehead from the rain outside. He’s cute, you decide, as he stands in front of your register, looking up to the menu board with a hopeless look.

“Need some help?” You ask, setting aside the dishes you’d been cleaning. You’re alone in the store, one of your first shifts by yourself since you started working here a month ago, and you’re intent on making a good impression. Alone means you get complete control of the music, and it’s not like the store ever gets super busy after the morning rush, anyway, so you have plenty of time to read between orders. And in this small town you’ve only just moved to, people’s orders are predictable, meaning you can have most of them ready to go by the time they come flying through the doors.

But this guy is new, and he sure looks like it as he looks to you with pink cheeks, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m a little lost.”

“You look like it. What do you like?” You ask as you dry your hands.

“Ummm, water?”

You laugh. “You can’t come into a coffee shop and leave with just water. Come on, there must be something you’ll like. How about a cinnamon latte?”

He shrugs, still utterly hopeless, but you take that as a yes.

“Great! That’ll be two sixty-five.”

As he counts out his change, you start making the latte. It’s one of the simpler drinks to make here, which is only half the reason you chose to recommend it. As you do, thunder rumbles outside, and you dare a glance back at the guy at the counter. He’s clad in a sweater and jeans, no jacket. Isn’t he cold? While late fall isn’t necessarily freezing here, it’s certainly not wonderfully warm, especially in a rainstorm.

“Do you,” he asks as he sets the last coin on the counter, “live around here?”

“I’m new here, actually. Just moved here a couple months back. What about you?”

“I grew up here.”

“No kidding? It’s a nice enough town. Or, what I’ve seen of it, at least.”

“What do you mean?”

You shrug. “I just haven’t really gotten out to see much of it yet.”

He leans against the counter, head cocked to the side as he watches you put the whipped cream atop the coffee. “Why not?”

“It’s so small that everyone feels…close. Like, I don’t know.” Your cheeks warm. “It’s really nothing. I’ve just been busy with work here and…” and nothing, really. The town just seems so close-knit that there’s no room for you. The drink’s done, though, so you have an excuse to trail off. “Here,” you say, setting the drink in front of him. “One of my personal favorites.”

He picks it up gingerly. You’d made it to-go, since few of the town’s residents ever lingered in the tiny lobby, with its two tables and single booth, but the man seems in no rush to leave. Because of the storm outside or your company, you’re not quite sure.

“It won’t hurt you,” you say as he carefully takes a small sip. “So?”

“Delicious,” he says, though he’s unable to hide his grimace.

“You don’t like it?”

“It’s…strong?”

“I’ll put less cinnamon in next time.”

“It’s not that. It’s the coffee.”

“Espresso,” you correct.

“Espresso?” He raises his eyebrows. “Oh no.”

“It’s fine. It’s not that much. I can use coffee next time, too. That’ll be weaker.”

“No. No.” He squares his shoulders like this is some fight with the drink. “I need to get used to drinking coffee.”

“Why’s that?”

His cheeks tinge pink. “I just…it’s something all my friends like to drink,” he says, though he stares determinedly at the drink.

“Where do they get their coffee from?” Most of the people you see rushing through here are older, harried fathers and mothers rushing to work. Not many younger adults. “I haven’t seen many younger people come through.”

He rubs the back of his neck again. “Down the street?”

“There’s a coffee place down the street?” You must’ve failed to have seen it, then, because you could swear this is the only shop in the small town.

“Yeah. It’s small. Nothing, really. Do you, uh, do you like coffee?”

“Well, I do work at a coffee shop.”

He sighs and looks down to his drink. “I’ll like it. Eventually.”

You pick up a rag to wipe up the espresso that had splashed on the back counter. “Are you staying here long? Because I’d be careful sitting on those chairs if I were you. I don’t think anyone’s used them in years.”

He seems about to say something when he notices the clock above the espresso machine. “Is that the time?”

You glance at it. It’d been broken earlier, but you’d managed to dig some batteries out of the back of a drawer in the office and set it this morning. “Yep.”

“Shoot. I’m late.” He begins to back up, stepping toward the door. “Thank you,” he says, raising the cup.

“I hope you end up liking it!” You shout after him as he pushes the door open and rushes back into the rain.

Alone again, you settle down with your book, but the thought of that cute guy and his drink makes it hard to focus, until you give up and just grab the mop, cleaning the store before the post-work rush can begin.

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

He doesn’t show up on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, at two forty-five, when you’re bored out of your mind, he shows up. The bells chime, alerting you to someone’s presence. Expecting Mrs. Keene to be early, you hop to your feet, but when you set your book down, you see it’s instead the cute guy from Monday. His hair’s still messy, but he’s grinning at you, and he seems a little less lost.

“Back so soon?” You tease, leaning against the counter as he makes his way to you.

“I told you, I need to get used to the taste of coffee.”

“I don’t blame you. Same thing?”

“Same thing, please.”

You smile. “Do you remember what it was called?”

He opens and closes his mouth twice, then, with a sheepish smile, shakes his head. “It was cinnamon.”

You laugh. “You’re halfway there. Cinnamon latte.”

“Cinnamon latte,” he says quietly to himself, and you have to hide your small smile. “I didn’t expect to be tested.”

“Well, you should’ve, because now you’ve failed.”

“How can you fail me if you don’t even know my name?”

You glance at him over your shoulder. His smile’s handsome, especially as he toys with a useless stack of business cards piled on the corner of the counter. “Touché.” A pause. “So?” You ask, returning to making his drink.

“Cedric,” he says. “Diggory. I would’ve introduced myself earlier, but you have the name tag and I didn’t even think…”

“That I couldn’t just read your mind?”

He bows his head, chin dipping against the warm orange of his sweater. “Sorry.”

You set his drink in front of him. “You apologize too much.”

He snorts. “I think this is the first time I’ve apologized.”

“And it’s unnecessary. Honestly, you’re one of the first people to introduce themselves to me.”

“They don’t introduce themselves?”

“Well, some of them do, but they’re in such a rush to get to work that it’s hard to place name to face. But Mrs. Keene certainly has.”

“Oh, I bet. She loves to talk.” He takes a sip of the latte. “Delicious.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” and he forces a smile after taking another sip.

“You’re one of the worst liars I’ve ever met.”

“You have no idea how happy it would make my dad to hear that.”

“He’s a stickler for rules?”

He hesitates. “No? Not really. He just…thinks a lot of me. Expects a lot of me.”

It’s your turn to hesitate now. You’ve only known Cedric a couple of days. What are you supposed to say about his family? That you’re sorry? That doesn’t seem right. Nor does pressing the issue and asking further about his family dynamics. He’s cute, but you’re not sure you want to hear about that just yet.

Thankfully, he spares you from any attempt at answering with a soft laugh. “Sorry, that’s a lot to tell you.”

“There you go apologizing again.”

“Sor—” he catches himself. Pressing a hand to his forehead, he shakes his head. “It’s a curse.”

“Apparently.”

You continue chatting, discussing your old hometown, your families, the way the weather has jumped from cold to hot in only a few days. When he finally takes his leave, citing a meeting with a friend, you’re surprised to see a full hour has passed, and you can’t stop smiling the rest of the evening.

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

You have the cinnamon latte ready when he walks in on Friday, sitting and steaming on the edge of the counter when the bells chime. He’s smiling already as he brushes his hair from his eyes. He has something under his arm, pressed against his yellow sweater.

“One cinnamon latte,” you say, returning his smile and nodding at the mug. “Ready to go.”

“I’m getting too predictable.”

“Makes my job easier.”

“Hmm.” He grabs the drink. “No pop quiz today?” He asks before taking a sip.

“Not today,” you say, humming as you start on a latte for yourself.

“That’s too bad. I’d actually studied.”

“Oh?” You ask, raising an eyebrow as you pour some coffee into a small cup.

It’s a book tucked under his arm, and now he holds it up for you. “Yeah. Rented a book from the library and everything.”

You bark out a laugh when you see what he’s holding. Gourmet Coffee Drinks and How to Make Them. “You actually did study. Wow.”

His cheeks turn a light pink, but he’s smiling. “I wanted to pass.”

“Okay. So, I guess I can make a quiz special for you. Let’s start easy. What’s in a latte?”

“Espresso and steamed milk.” He rattles the answer off quickly. He saw this one coming.

“For most people, yes. You get coffee and steamed milk. How about a cappuccino?”

“Espresso and…milk foam.”

“Mmhmm.” You grab the cinnamon shaker. “Now…what about an americano?”

“That’s…”

“No cheating!” You say over your shoulder when you hear the flip of pages.

He flips the book closed. “It’s espresso and cold milk?” He asks, wincing, knowing already he’s wrong.

“Close.”

“Really?”

“Espresso and hot water. And not,” you say, setting your drink on the counter and raising an eyebrow, “anything for you.”

He wrinkles his nose. “Doesn’t sound like it. Thank the heavens for your expertise in cinnamon lattes.”

“It’s my job. Oh, and that’ll be two sixty-five again.”

He pulls out two bills and digs in his pocket, counting out exact change. What a thoughtful customer, not forcing you to do math today. “Don’t you ever get bored in here?” He asks.

You shrug, watching as he holds out a handful of coins. You hold out your hand, and he drops the coin in it, the tips of his fingers brushing your palm lightly as he does so. Your own cheeks warm in response, and you internally scold yourself. It was an accident. “Sometimes, but I can read while I’m here.”

“What are you reading?”

“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” At his surprised look, you roll your eyes and lean against the counter, chin in hand. “I didn’t choose it, really. It was a gift that happened to be on the top of one of my moving boxes. I’ve been too lazy to unpack everything so far.”

“How is it?”

“It’s all right. I’ve read better; I’ve read worse.”

He laughs softly and leans forward, elbows catching the edge of the counter. “A stunning recommendation.”

“Hey, I didn’t recommend it. I just said I’m reading it. My recommendations, as you see,” you say, gesturing to his latte, “are always top notch.”

“Well,” he says, swirling the cup, “you were right about this.”

“I told you. I’m great at recommending things.”

“I won’t argue with that.”

A silence falls in the coffee shop, broken only by the soft acoustic music you have playing over the stereo. He’s leaning against the counter, elbows on the edge, grey eyes crinkling with his smile. The slightest hint of stubble lines his jaw, you notice. When you meet his gaze again, he seems more serious, the easy smile replaced by a searching look, and suddenly it’s hard to breathe, and you realize just how near you are, both leaning against the counter. The smell of his cinnamon latte wafts up to you, and you can’t swallow the knot in your throat. You’re close to him, you realize with a start, very close.

Clearing your throat, you shove away from the countertop, cheeks burning, heart suddenly pounding. Why? He’s just a guy. A cute guy. A cute, funny, charming guy, but just a guy. He leans away, too, clearing his throat and gathering up his coffee book, tucking it under one arm. You know, as he sets his coffee down so he can run a hand through his hair, that you actually just might be a goner for Cedric.

Great.

“Mind if I sit here?” He asks, gesturing to the small booth.

You shrug, turning your back to him to hide your own nervousness. “All yours.”

The booth creaks as he settles into it. Though you take a rag and cleaner to it everyday per store regulations, it’s rarely ever used. In your short time working here, nobody’s used it for anything but waiting for their coffee.

Soft music fills the small shop, and you quietly hum along as you set to cleaning the store again. There’s no need for it, but it keeps you busy, and keeps you from looking at Cedric. Occasionally, he flips a page, but you’re very aware of his gaze and how often it seems to stray to you.

Finally, having rewashed all of the dishes, counted the register’s cash twice, and checked the supplies in the back room, you have no other excuses, and you return to the stool behind the counter and pick up your book. You’re about to sit down, hesitate, then head back to the machines and whip up another cinnamon latte.

“Here,” you say, stepping around the counter and to the booth’s small table. “On the house.”

“For me?”

“I don’t see anyone else here,” you say, setting your own drink and book down. “Mind if I sit with you?”

“Please,” he says, half standing as you go to sit. Some old gesture of chivalry or something. His cheeks redden, and you bite the inside of your cheek to keep your nervous laugh from escaping. He settles back into his side and picks up his book. A minute passes, the both of you sipping your drinks, reading, and pretending not to be sneaking glances at one another. He’s virtually a stranger, for heaven’s sake, but you can’t help yourself. He’s cute and charming, and it’s not like you know anyone else in this town. At the very least, you’ve found someone that could be your friend.

You take a deep breath, working up the nerve to finally say, “good book, then?”

“Hmm?” He looks over it at you, then nods. “Yeah. Very good. Riveting stuff.”

“Must be,” you say, fighting a laugh, “if you haven’t even noticed you’ve got it upside down.”

He opens his mouth, then looks to his book. Cheeks red, he laughs at himself. “I do, don’t I? Merlin’s beard.”

“What?”

He shakes his head in exasperation. “I’m sorry. And no,” he says, holding up a finger when you try to interrupt him, “I’m not unnecessarily apologizing. You deserve it this time.”

You set your own book down and lean back in the booth. “Do I?”

“Yeah. I’ve been trying to read, but I keep getting distracted and I just—I think I need to ask you on a date. I’m sorry if this is too forward, or if you’re uncomfortable. I know we haven’t known each other long, and I keep coming to your work, and maybe that’s weird, but you seem nice, and you’re funny, and I really enjoy talking to you. But if you’re uncomf—”

“I’m free at five,” you say, biting your lip in a failing attempt not to laugh at his rambling worry. As if you aren’t interested in him as well. “And I could still use a tour of the town.”

He takes a deep breath, then releases it in a half-sigh, half-laugh of sorts. “You’re not creeped out?”

“Me? No. Why would I be?”

He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s nothing. Just, my friend, Fred, he said I’d be making your nervous, coming in here every day. And getting the book. He and his brother actually have money on whether you’d kick me out or not.”

You shrug. “Beggars can’t be choosers. I need a tour guide, and I don’t really want to hear about every single memory Mrs. Keene has of this place.”

“No, I can’t imagine you do. So, it’s a date, then?”

“Sounds like it.” You smile at him, and just then, the bell rings, and Mrs. Keene and her husband enter. Three o’clock, then. “I should…” you say, gesturing to them, and Cedric nods. His cheeks are a bright red, but he can’t stop smiling.

“Yeah. I’ll be here. Reading, hopefully.”

“Book right-side-up?”

He grins and flips it around. “This time, yes.”

As you round the counter, Mrs. Keene is already talking, rattling off the order you know by heart, and you find you don’t really hear anything she’s saying, heart thudding, glancing at Cedric as often as he glances at you. Five o’clock can’t come soon enough.

#cedric diggory #cedric diggory x reader #cedric x reader #HP FIC #fluff #cedric diggory x you #cedric x you #coffee shop au #oh man this got out of hand #this was supposed to be like a third this length #i did research on coffee drinks for this #why is this so long #but thank you for the request! I really enjoyed writing this! #i'm just shocked it was so long bc I didn't know what to write when I first sat down to create it #I do love Cedric though #I hope you like this!! if you want a drabble size I can do that too #have a fantastic day! #badass-dora-milaje

[sharktoothedboys]

One Of The Guys - Chapter 2

So here is the next part of the on going Kirishima story i am working on, hope you guys love it!! 

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It had been a few hours since you were punched in the guy by the news that Kiri had bought a date to the event, your event, and didn’t even have the decency to tell you. Not that he had to in any way but still, you would have liked a heads up. 

You had your best pretend smile on your face while inside you were screaming   “I don’t wanna be here anymore!” You had become surrounded by Politicians, no idea how it had happened either, maybe you should stop drinking? Nah! They had roped you in to a chat about cleaning up the city, even though crime rates were at an all time low thanks to you and Shotos agency. Their dirty hands kept creeping up to rest on your waist or small of your back as the conversation continued, Something Kiri would normally be on like a shot and put a stop to. But tonight he was no where to be seen. how rude of him! 

You smiled at the thought, then mentally sobbed a little at the fact he hadn’t so much as looked at you all night, never mind spoken a word to you all evening. You’re only comfort was somewhere at the bottom of a glass, and you had yet to find it. So the drinks kept being poured, you were on your.... who cares?, the bourbon was good, vanilla tones calmed your anger as you necked yet another nest double. Holding up your empty glass, “Please excuse me gentle men, i seem to running on empty.” They all gave a laugh as you excused yourself form the conversation and made your way to the bar to refill your warm smoky liquid. 

You made your way to the bar, seeing your father and twin brother having a conversation on the stools at the end you decided to join them, holding up your glass to the bar tender as you did so, he rushed to replenish your drink and quickly returned with a full glass for you before you even sat down in between the two men, noting how small you looked perched between them and making a mental note to hit the gym a little more. 

“Haven’t you had enough of those tonight?” Your father said with a knowing smirk on his lips. A smile even, one you had only just recently become accustomed to. 

“Not nearly enough, dad” You replied with a finger gun and a wink, probably an indication you had in fact had enough to drink. Regardless you raised your glass to the two men and then to your lips, “To us” you say quietly looking to Shoto who raised his glass in silence in return to your toast. 

Your brother of course knew of your not so little secret crush on the red hero, of course he did, you rarely hid anything from each other, and he had quickly realized why you were slamming back double bourbons like they were going out of fashion. He had seen the woman practically attached to Kirishimas hip earlier on in the night and had been keeping an eye on you ever since, knowing you were probably not going to take it well, it may have been 12 years since your crush had began, but it had never faltered and he knew that, he also knew that you were not emotionally equipped to deal with this kind of situation. He watched as you necked another double, your cheeks a flaming red, a hiccup leaving your lungs as you smacked the glass onto the bar, he indicated to the barman, no more, then he called over a surprisingly sober Mina to help him get you upstairs. 

“Thank you Mina.” He quietly said as they guided you towards the elevators.

“No worries Sho,” She replied, still using his high school nickname that made him smile at her, “ I am deadpan sober, so I am here to help.” 

“Why are you sober? I haven’t seen you with one drink all night.” He asked, “Its a special night, I imagined seeing you dancing on tables with a jelly shot.”

“Normally I would be, but think about it Sho, why wouldn’t a women, actively trying to get pregnant, not be drinking?” She smirked at him and it clicked in his mind. 

His eyes widened and a small smile tugged at his lips as she out her finger to her mouth, a silent agreement between old friends that he would keep quiet.

“I’ll get her to bed if you wanna go and finish up your evening, one of you should be present at least.” She told him as she managed to get you to stagger in to the elevator that had just arrived, “Please tell Bakugo where I have gone, you know what he is like.” 

Shoto watched as you leaned against the cool glass of the wall, shoes in hand, “Goodnight Sho.” You said, a little slurred as the doors closed, he raised his hand in a goodbye gesture. He was Mad at the red headed boy, but he didn’t understand why, as far as he knew, Kirishima knew nothing of his sisters feelings and was unknowingly hurting her, but he was still mad at him for hurting her. But what could he do? really? 

You and Mina made it to your apartment and managed to stagged in to your bedroom, where Mina managed to get you sat on the end of the bed, where you just tried to lay yourself down in your gown. 

“Oh no no!” Mina said dragging you back to sitting up. “Come on, at least take off the dress.”

You sat at the end of the bed and whined like a child being told to eat the vegetables, you raised your arms, a silent plea for Mina to remove your dress for you as you didn’t have the capacity to do it yourself. She gave a small giggle as she looked at your puppy dog eyes and carefully unzipped and removed your dress for you and replaced with an absolutely huge crimson riot t-shirt that was folded on your pillows, assuming it was sleep wear but quickly realizing it was one of Kirishima’s fan boy shirts he always let you borrow, that you almost never returned. You tucked your arms in to the shirt and managed to unhook your bra yourself and let it fall to the ground and off your body as you stood to also remove your underwear, the shirt being long enough to cover your dignity. 

That’s when Mina saw the glint in your eyes, The threat of tears ready to spill over your eyeline and down your now very pink cheeks. Her heart broke for you, she knew how emotionally stunted you could be, along with the shyness that ran in your bloodline, she mentally slapped Kirishima for never noticing your feelings and making you suffer all these years. Her only wish right now was that you had gained the courage to tell him, but you never could and it pained her to see you this way. 

“Y/N...” She began, Placing a reassuring hand on your shoulder. 

“It smells like him.” You choked out, your breath racking your lungs and making it difficult for you to speak.

“Lets get you to bed.” She softly spoke, knowing the amount of drink in your body wasn’t helping and you needed sleep. Her heart really went out to you, when would you get your happy ending? She got you into bed and tucked in the sheets around you, oh how she wished you could have just told him all the wat back in 1A, but maybe that’s just not how things were meant to be? Its not like you had never had a boyfriend, but things never seemed to click, mainly because they were either afraid or insecure of the sheer amount of power your quirk held, or that fact that they were not Eijiro Kirishima. Mina sighed as she watched you fall asleep, a peaceful look finally overtaking your heartbroken features. Happy you were in a deep sleep, she left to go to Bakugos apartment and get some rest herself, leaving you a glass of water and a note to call her when you woke up. 

The next morning. 

You woke up, a little worse for wear to say the least. Your eyes slightly stuck together from un removed make up, your head surprisingly wasn’t to bad, but your mouth was dryer than the Sahara, you needed water. Luckily you found what mina had left you, downed the water and decided to call her once you had freshened up a little. 

You headed to the bathroom, you washed your face, brushed your teeth, sorted out your hair and felt much better. You noticed you were in His shirt and a wave of sadness washed over you as you remembered the woman, Kimiko. You shook off the sadness and made your way back to your bedroom to get ready for the day, luckily you were not on patrol today. 

As you exited the bathroom a flash of red caught your eye as Kiri was just leaving his room,  A Smile automatically began to pull at your lips until you saw he was closely followed out by her, both of them smiling widely, her hands on his bare chest, “I could break her hands with the blink of an eye.” You thought to yourself as you seethed from the bath room door. Trying to not let the anger get to you, thanks for anger issues dad! 

“Oh!! Good morning Y/N!” Kiri said happily giving you a beaming smile that you found very had to stay mad at, he waved cutely from the end of the corridor, adorable. Luckily your room was closest to the bathroom so you wouldn’t actually have to walk past them. Thank god. 

“Morning.” You replied, a little grumpier than you intended. 

“Woah!! You ok? A little hungover?” He laughed as he pulled Kimiko into his side. Not noticing the stank look she was giving you. 

You laughed dryly in response, running  ahnad through your freshly brushed locks.

“Something like that.” 

“What are you wearing?” Kimiko almost demanded as she put her hand on the hip that wasn’t surgically attached to Kirishima. 

You looked down at yourself and back at her with a confused look on your face. 

“Erm... a t-shirt.” you replied, sarcastically of course. 

“Is that my Kiri’s shirt?” She asked, the question loaded with Malice, You weren’t taking it. 

“No, I always wear a 5XL,” You retorted. “Of course its his shirt, I always sleep in his shirts.”

“Well, I think that’s really disrespectful, considering he has a girlfriend now.”

Girlfriend? You think you physically feel your heart stop.

Kirishima watched with a bewildered look on his face, as you looked over to him, he looked away and kept his eyes from looking at you. 

‘Thanks for defending me’ You thought to yourself. You stared her down a little, deciding what to do next. 

“Fine.” You said bitterly, angry that Kirishima had done absolutely nothing to make her not talk to you like dirt. “Here, you can have this one back now!” 

Then without missing a beat, and knowing full well you had nothing on underneath, you removed the giant shirt from your body and threw it down on to the floor in front of them. 

Stood there in all your glory, you smirked at her and then looked to Kirishima. 

“Its not manly to stare, Kirishima.” 

You then side stepped in to your room and slammed the door behind you. 

That’s when what you had just done hit you, your heart was racing, you had never done anything so bold in your life! Kiri just saw you Naked, and not in th way you had wanted him to all these years. You internally screamed as you heard muffled yelling from his room and a door slam, your body temperature rose and you suddenly felt a little sick. 

You needed to call Mina. Now. 

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I loved writing this chapter! So i hope you guys love it to!! Let me know by dropping a like pleaseeeeeeeee. Much love!

#kirishima #eijiro #eijiro kirishima #kirishima eijiro #my hero academia #mha headcannon #scenario #fiction #head cannon #chapters #red riot #hero #funny #bakugo #shoto #todoroki #mina ashido #cute #kirishima x reader #love

[smol-and-grumpy]

Light My Fire - CH17

Pairing: CEO!Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: She always thought her boss was an ill-tempered man, but when he presents her with a proposition she can’t quite deny, she gets to know him better. It’s not bad, right? Because all she has to do is being fake married to him for six months, sounds do-able, right? Right.

Warnings: Fluff, NSFW

WC: 4547

Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Beta’d by @deanwanddamons​​​​​​​​​​ <3

SERIES MATSTERLIST 

BECOME A PATRON ~ BUY ME A COFFEE

Y/N wakes up the next day with Dean already out of bed. There’s a tray of breakfast propped on the coffee table. She didn’t even hear the knock at the door when someone brought it. Sleep was bad. It took them both a long time to fall asleep and then she kept waking up during the night. 

She blinks the sleep away and sits up in bed. Looking out, she sees Dean. He’s talking on the phone and has gone outside so as not to wake her up. Still feeling tired, she lets herself fall back into the mattress and buries her face into the pillows before pulling the covers over her head. Maybe, if she’s lucky, she can fall asleep again. 

There’s the sound of a sliding door, and she hears Dean walking back in. He probably has noticed her moving, and took it as a sign that she’s awake. 

“The others will arrive in an hour, you think you wanna get up?”

Well, there goes her sleep.

She peeks out from under the covers and sees Dean sitting next to her on the bed, “The others?”

Dean scoffs, “Yeah, I’m not happy about it either, but apparently Sam and Ruby are seeing it as an opportunity to have a short vacation with the false pretense that he’s my lawyer and he needs to be here to discuss strategy.” He air quotes the word strategy.

“Ruby?”

“She’s coming because he probably wants to impress her,”

“As if he has to try,” she chuckles, and adds, “Are we picking them up?”

“Nah, Jack’s in good hands. Ruby made sure that Jack was on their flight.” Dean’s hand goes under the covers, grabbing her around her waist and pulling her to the edge where he is, “So, you still have time to take a dip in the sea if you want to? I need to go to the front desk and arrange a room for your brother.”

“Not for Sam and Ruby?”

“I think they can manage on their own,”

Y/N smirks, “Can we stay in bed for a little while longer?” 

Dean has to smile at that, “Okay, ten more minutes,”

She scoots over again and he gets in, nuzzles his face into her neck while he drapes his arm over her body. 

*

Ruby hugs her so tight, she has trouble breathing but who she was most excited to see is Jack. 

“Hey,” Jack smiles weakly, visibly tired because he had to get up so early to be able to catch a connecting flight to get here. 

Y/N hugs her little brother around his waist and rests her head on his chest to hear his heartbeat. He’s not little anymore but he’s still little to her, “I’m sorry about all of this, Jack,”

Jack rubs her back and wraps his arms around her, “Don’t worry about it, and hey, I get to be in Jamaica, not bad, eh?”

They chuckle. It’s a great reunion. If only the circumstances were different.

After the initial greetings, they sit down on their balcony. Dean had someone bring in drinks and snacks. Sam’s still on the phone and Ruby is inside, changing into her bikini. 

Jack sits next to her and she can feel that he’s a little restless as he can’t hold still. 

Dean notices it too, while he pours water into glasses and raises an eyebrow at Jack, “You okay there, Jack?”

Jack’s blushing, “Yeah,”

He usually never blushes but now he does and she doesn’t know what it is, but she thinks it’s cute.

“Do you wanna take a dip in the sea?” Dean asks and grins. 

“Can I?” Jack’s face lights up when he hears that Dean basically just read his mind. 

Dean shrugs, “I saw you eyeing that blue water, so yeah, knock yourselves out. We’ll start when you’re done.”

That’s pure Mr. Winchester. She thinks it’s a gift that Dean has because he can read people very well. Maybe that’s the reason why he’s so successful.

“Awesome!” Jack stands up and gets rid of his shirt, he was so excited that he boarded the plane in his swimming trunks, bless his heart, “I’ll be right back!”

“Hey, be careful!” Y/N shouts after him but Jack’s already taking a dive.

Dean sits next to her when Jack’s down below, splashing around in the sea, “I like him,”

“He doesn’t like you,” She grins and moves closer to Dean, hooking both her legs over his lap and he strokes her thighs and leans back into the seat. 

“I know that,” He says, and she leans back too, places her head on his shoulder. Dean pecks the crown of her head. It’s become so natural for him so show her little affection. Little does he know that it means way more to her than it does to him, “I’ll get him to like me, you just watch.” With another breath he adds, “You know, you two remind me of me and Sam. Just that Sammy is a bigger pain in my ass.”

*

After another attempt of gathering everyone together, they finally sit down to talk. 

“How did Amara know that we’re here?” Y/N voices her thoughts. 

“Uh,” Ruby says, “That might have been my fault. Remember her walking in on Friday?”

Yeah, how could she forget that. She was under the fucking desk blowing her fucking boss. 

“Anyway,” Ruby continues, “I had the screen open for your holiday resort and since she had to walk past my desk in order to get to Dean’s office, I’m sure that she saw it.”

“It doesn’t really matter, actually,” Dean says, “She’s here, there’s nothing we can do about it.” He clears his throat before he goes on, “I’ve spoken to Ash and I asked him to find out things about Arthur Ketch. Turns out, he’s not a descendant of English aristocracy but a private investigator. It took Ash the whole night to find that out because there’s not much info on the guy.”

“What?” There are a couple of voices throwing that in.

“Means, that he’s here because she paid him to spy on Y/N and me. Probably get some footage of us not being married so she can expose us.” Dean says in a low voice. 

“Would someone please explain what is going on?” Jack throws in. He's right. They still didn’t explain their situation to him. 

“We’ll get there, Jack,” Dean says, his voice is softer, “I’ll get back to you, alright? Just have a little patience.”

Jack purses his lips into a thin line and leans back in his chair. 

“Do you think they’re still here?” Sam asks, “We didn’t  see her when we walked through the resort.”

Dean scoffs, “Sammy, it’s Amara, what do you expect? Of course she’s still here. She’s like the black fucking plague, she won’t go away easily,” he sighs, “All I know is that she’s here and we’re being spied on, so since you are all involved, I want you to get your story straight and don’t let anything slip that would jeopardize this, you understand?”

Everyone nods, except for Jack and Dean notices that, too. He walks over to Jack, places a hand on her brother’s shoulder, “I need to talk to Sam for a bit and after that, I’ll be right with you, okay?”

“Yeah,” Jack snorts, “Sure,”

She can see that Dean is feeling Jack’s rejection, but instead of arguing or explaining more, he gives Jack space. Dean nods his head and walks inside with Sam, leaving them outside. 

 *

 Y/N and Ruby are floating on swimming mats in the sea below their bungalow while Dean has taken Jack on a deep sea fishing trip to explain it to him. She wanted to go too, but Dean said that it’s something between him and Jack, since he’s the one who put Jack in this situation in the first place.

Jack was quick to agree, because her brother loves fishing. Their dad used to take them finishing a lot while he was still alive. She wonders how Dean knows because Ruby doesn’t know these little details. She’s known Ruby since she started to work for Dean and she’s become her best friend since. Ruby knows a lot about her, knows about her past relationships, but Ruby doesn’t know a lot about her relationship with her brother. Y/N never thought it was relevant to their friendship. All she let Ruby know was that Jack was the most important person in her life.

So the two of them left right after Dean discussed things with Sam and they would be back in the evening. Sam’s somewhere, trying to spot Amara and maybe scare her a little with some lawyer lingo. She doesn’t really know. Fact is, that there’s not a lot that they can do because technically, Amara’s allowed to be here. She wonders why Sam and Ruby came at all, because they aren’t necessarily needed, but as Dean said, Sam saw the opportunity and Ruby’s not going to say no to a couple days of fun in the sun. 

“So, how’s things with Sam?” she asks Ruby, because since they arrived all they’ve been talking about is Dean and Y/N’s fake fucking marriage and she can’t listen to that anymore. 

Ruby smirks, “It’s good. He took me on a trip to Jamaica.”

Y/N snorts, “Yeah, I can see that. On Dean’s expense, apparently. That cheeky little bastard.”

“I like him, Y/N, he’s the best lover.” Ruby gushes, “I can honestly see us being more than just this, you know? Maybe it’s the beginning of something good?” 

“Won’t it be weird when you work for the same company?” It’s a legitimate question. 

Although the company’s contract doesn’t have a clause that says that they aren’t allowed to strike up a romantic relationship at the workplace. Still, she can imagine that Dean probably wants to make sure that people stay professional while working. Which is really a little hypocritical of him, given what they’ve already done in his office.

“Well, is it weird for you?” Ruby raises an eyebrow.

Y/N swallows, “We’re not— It’s not—” 

Her friend scoffs, “Yeah, sure, you keep telling yourself that.”

“My god, Ruby, it’s really—,” She sighs, “Okay, we get along, alright? But we’re not like, anything, I think? At the end of the day, it’s just business.”

“Who are you trying to fool?” Ruby laughs. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Y/N, for God’s sake, wake up!” Ruby squirts water in her direction, “I think everyone knows but you, and that’s pretty frustrating.”

“Know what?” She squirts water back at her friend to conceal the red flush to her face. 

Ruby sighs, “How he behaves around you? He always makes sure that you’re okay. Every fucking day he would come by and ask if you’re alright? It was like that since you started in the office. Have you not noticed?” She opens her mouth to protest but Ruby goes on, “And don’t give me that ‘But he’s asking you too’. What do you expect? He’s standing right there in front of us. He can’t be asking you without asking me too.”

“Ruby, that’s absolute bull,”

Her friend snorts, “I started to work there six months before you came along. He did not stop by and ask me once if I’m okay before you got there, Y/N. I never told you that, but I’m telling you now, it’s not his normal behaviour. He cares, and that’s just that. Take it or leave it. But maybe you’re so traumatized by Kevin, that you don’t really know what’s good if it hits you square in your face.”

“It’s just for show,” She mumbles, not entirely sure of her own words either. 

“Why do you think Jack’s so hostile towards Dean, huh?” Ruby scoops sea water and drips it over herself to cool down, “I’ve met Jack several times, and think I know him a little, Y/N.”

“Oh, come on, leave Jack out of this,” 

Ruby raises an eyebrow, “I won’t. Because you know why? Jack’s overprotective of you. He’s your little brother, he thinks that he has to look out for you. The only way he is like he is with Dean, is because he sees through him. Jack knows and that’s why he’s going to give Dean a hard time because he doesn’t want Dean to break your heart.”

Y/N sighs, “Ruby, it’s really just for show,”

“If you say so,” Ruby shrugs and chuckles to herself. 

Ugh, she hates that. Is she really the only one who doesn’t know shit around here?

 *

 They’re waiting for Dean and Jack at the restaurant. Dean had called to say that they’ll be in a little later and that they should go ahead and he and Jack would catch up. 

So far, there’s no sight of Amara yet. Sam hadn’t found her either. Could it be that they have already left or maybe they’re just really good at hiding in fucking bushes around here. She wouldn’t be surprised if they bugged everything just to hear one of them slip.

They have ordered drinks and were chatting away when Dean and Jack arrive, both freshly showered. Jack already has a little tan from fishing. He looks good. He looks genuinely happy and it’s a drastic change from the Jack that arrived here this morning. 

The chair beside her is empty as well as the chair across from the empty chair, and she sees that both of the men were aiming for the one beside her and Jack got there first, but then Jack quickly changes his mind to let Dean sit next to her. 

Dean takes a seat and leans in to kiss her cheek. She catches a whiff of his cologne and takes a deeper breath because it smells so good. By this stage, they have perfected their lovey dovey couple routine like Sam suggested on the first day, and Sam grins when he sees how natural they’re handling it. 

When she looks up, Jack’s winks before he grins brightly. 

She leans into Dean to whisper in his ears, “Who is that and what have you done to my brother?”

Dean has to chuckle at that, “We talked, everything’s fine.”

“No, seriously, what have you done? You exchanged him with a robot, didn’t you?”

He tilts his head towards her. Their noses almost touch, his hand comes up to cup her chin and he kisses her, smirks after he parts, “Baby, it’s okay. We talked it out. We’re good,”

She doesn’t quite trust Dean. Something doesn’t sit right with her but she doesn’t say anything. She’s got to find a time to talk to Jack in private but maybe not here because she never knows who could listen into them. She’ll have to do it as soon as they’re back home.

After the meal when they are waiting for dessert, Dean looks over to Jack, “You wanna tell them or shall I?”

“Tell us what?” Y/N frowns, already thinking of the worst. Thinking about Jack telling her that he drops out of college or some shit.

Jack grins, “Nothing bad, Y/N. Dean offered me an undergraduate work experience at his company.”

“Yeah, he’s gonna be looking into the company for three months, if he wants he can stay longer.” Dean says.

“And what did you say?” She asks her brother.

“Of course I said yes,” Jack’s smile widens, “That’s going to look awesome on my CV.”

She can’t find it in her heart to object. Not when her brother’s smile is so big.

 *

 The others went on to the bar but she decided to call it a day. She parts with her brother, telling him to behave or else Sam’s gonna beat his ass. Jack didn’t find it very funny, though. Dean insisted on going to the room with her, although she said that he doesn’t have to.

Back in their bungalow, they strip to their underwear and brush their teeth. She takes her time to wash her face and when she walks out, Dean’s already laying in bed. The AC needs some time to catch up and it’s too warm to pull the cover up. 

Y/N slides into bed next to him, curls up to his side and Dean abandons his phone to wrap an arm around her. 

Dean kisses the top of her head, “You okay?” His fingers of the hand around her strokes at her chest, goes down to her boob to pinch at her nipple. She yelps out a laugh and he laughs with her. 

“Yeah,” She says, turning in Dean's grip to lay her cheek on his chest, “Thanks for talking to Jack. Although I’d like to know what you talked about.”

“If I’d tell you that, I’d have to kill you.”

“Of course,” She groans, and changes the subject because she’s not sure if she wants to know. She’s not entirely sure if the things that he’ll tell her won’t break her heart and for the time being while they’re still in paradise, she’d rather keep up the facade and continue to enjoy what they have, “You sure about the work experience thing for Jack?”

“I’m pretty positive. He’s a bright guy. I think he’ll be a great addition to the company.”

“And you’re not just saying it because you owe him.”

Dean breathes out a weak chuckle, “Well, that I do, too. But no, we got to talk about his studies and I trust my guts. I’ve never been wrong.”

She tilts her head up to raise her eyebrow at him.

“Hey, two or three people this year, it’s not much.” He’s talking about the people he fired. 

“Twelve, Dean.”

“Yeah, well, but I did not interview any of them, so it’s not my fault my people don’t have good people reading skills.”

“Oh and you do?” 

“I do.” He says, without even thinking. He’s so full of himself, it blows her mind. 

“But I don’t know where Jack should stay for the whole summer. Like, my apartment is barely big enough for myself.” She’s only voicing her doubts. She’s sure that they would manage. Maybe she can go live with Ruby for a while. 

Dean’s quick to jump in, “He can live with me,” 

“What?”

“You heard me,” Dean chuckles, “I have plenty of space and maybe you can drop by every now and then,”

He’s really talking about life after the court date, isn’t  he? Talks about her going back to her old life and they resume what they are not and occasionally going to social events together as a fake married couple. She really doesn’t want to think about it yet. 

So, instead of spilling him all her doubts, she says, “Yeah, why not,”

Smiling, he pulls her on top of him and one of his hands goes around her waist while one of them tucks a strand of hair behind her ear as he kisses her. She likes that, likes his kisses. They make her forget everything around her. The touch of his tongue electrifies her. It makes her feel something tingling down there and she clenches around nothing. 

Yes, it’s good, she decides. She’s going to enjoy the last couple of days. She’s going to take what she wants, fill her heart with only happy memories so she can take them out and relieve them whenever she feels down. Maybe if someone treats her bad, she’ll think back and know that there’s someone out there who could treat her like Dean does.

She kisses along Dean’s jawline, down his throat and he cranes his neck, giving her better access. His scruff feels rough on her tongue. Sucking down a path, she kisses his chest, licks at a couple of freckles and it’s tickling him because he’s chuckling. She works her way to his nipple and Dean moans a little when she sucks and tickles them with the tip of her tongue. Grinning, she works down his body, dips her tongue into his navel before she kisses down his happy trail until she’s slotted between his thighs. 

Looking up at Dean, she sees him looking at her with hungry eyes, that are a shade darker than usual. She grins as she lowers her face and places a kiss on his hardened cock through his underwear. She licks a broad stripe across the fabric along his shaft, and he bites down his bottom lip, swallowing down a groan that wants to leave his mouth.

Hooking her fingers into the elastic of his underwear, she slowly pulls the fabric down. His hard cock springs up and hits her nose. She has to giggle and Dean’s biting back his laugh. 

She sits up a little to get the underwear off his legs and slots herself back on her elbow in between his thigh, stays on her knees and sticks her ass out for the visual effect. Dean opens up so easily for her. 

His dick is hard, and leaking a little at the tip, but she takes her time, her hands are on his thigh as she opens them up a little further. She plants little kisses on either side of his thigh, close to his balls and he groans some more.

“Tease,” She hears him say and chuckles at that. 

Finally she plants a kiss on his sac, and begins to lick and suck him there. She still doesn’t touch his dick but she feels it twitching and it feels heavy on her nose and forehead. Her tongue works around one ball, sucks it in to release it with a lewd pop and then she goes further down, licks on the underside of his sac, and Dean opens up his legs some more, giving her better access. 

She’s learned that trick from Ruby. She said men would not admit it but a whole lot of them like it. She always wondered if Dean does, and apparently, the answer’s yes. 

Her hands lift up his legs, and he spreads them even more as she toys her tongue along his rim. 

“Jesus fuck—” 

Chuckling, she licks some more, his balls are resting on her nose. God, he tastes even good there.

Dean’s breathing hard above her and she moves further up again, taking his leaking tip into her mouth and starts to bob her head. She can’t take him to the hilt, but she really tries, gagging around his dick as tears start to pool in her eyes. 

After a while she changes into normal sucking, works the hard lengths in her hand while she toys at the tip of his dick, paying attention to the sensitive string. 

“Just like that,” He whispers low and deep, “Good girl, looking so good with my cock in your mouth, baby.” 

At these words, she bobs her head a little faster, sucks a little harder and Dean has to pull her off abruptly, “Woah, not so fast,” He chuckles with a shudder, “Don’t wanna blow too soon.”

He pulls her up by her arm, kisses her roughly, all sloppy wet and he groans as he sucks his own taste off her tongue, “Come on, ride my face,” His fingers are already tearing at her panties, pulling them down and she stands up to step out of them. She kneels down and his hands quickly finds her pussy, threads his fingers through her folds and unceremoniously plunges two of his thick fingers inside, making her moan out loud while he latches at her tit to suck and bite at her nipple. Her hands find his head, fingers digging into his scalp. 

“God, I want you inside,” She moans as his mouth licks a wet trail to her other nipple. 

“I have to taste you first,” He groans with her nipple in his mouth, “Just a couple of licks, please? Fucking love how you taste,”

She’s awfully wet but she just got wetter hearing his words. 

What is this man doing to her?

Dean lets the nipple out of his mouth with a smacking sound, and he breathes hard as he slides down the bed a little and maneuvers her on top of him. 

Fuck, his mouth seals around her clit and he starts to lap at the juice around her cunt. His hands are on her boobs, kneading them and tweaking her nipples. It feels so good and she can’t help but grind down into his face. Dean doesn’t seem to mind because he’s humming. It sounds as if she’s the most delicious thing he’s ever eaten and the sound of it turns her on.

Y/N’s so close to coming but she can’t possibly come on his face, can she? She’ll make him all messy and— oh god, there’s no stopping the pleasure wave that rolls through her legs up to her cunt. She’s coming strong and hard, pushes her pussy down into Dean’s face and she’s almost falling off him if it wasn’t for his hands on her tits keeping her upright.

She climbs off him, sits square on his chest with her pussy still tingling and Dean laughs, his face shiny from her cum. 

His smile is cocky, all bravado and boyish youth, “Told ya it wouldn’t take long,”

She rolls her eyes and he slaps on her ass, “Come on, ride me,” 

Dean helps her move down because she doesn’t know if she can on her own with her body still trembling. But when she regains her composure, she lays his twitching dick down and spreads her wet pussy lips around it, grinding on his shaft. It gives her the right friction but apparently, he thinks she’s a goddamn tease.

Y/N gives in, slips his dick inside and sits down slowly, letting him stretch her wide and he groans at the squeeze. She’s always so much tighter after she comes and it would take her a little while for the cramping of her walls to go away.

Bracing her hands on his chest, she starts to ride him, and he helps her with his hands around her hips. She switches into grinding after a while and has to moan out loud at how deep he’s inside. 

“You looks so good,” Dean’s hand works up her stomach, cups at her tits and twirls at her nipple, making her arch her back, “Fucking perfect,” 

She feels her orgasm approaching again, because her clit rubs perfectly against his pelvis and his huge dick is in her fucking cunt, oh my god, she fucks him faster. She comes with a loud moan, pressing her legs together and Dean squeezes his eyes shut at the pressure, he pulls her down by her arms, crashing her lips to his as he grunts out into her mouth and he buckles his pelvis up, his dick throbs and twitches in her cunt. 

“Fuck,” He breathes out against her mouth, kisses her there, and pecks her nose, “Fuck,” He repeats and he smiles at her. 

 *

 They take another shower before they settle back into bed and Dean has already turned off the lights when his phone rings. 

He takes it to look at the screen, “Chuck,” 

CH18

#light my fire #dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #ceo!dean winchester #dean winchester fic #dean winchester fan fic #dean winchester fan fiction

[harrysgloves]

Let Your Hair Down (chapter xiii)

Get caught up with the Let Your Hair Down Masterlist!

word count: 1,412

story summary: Harry gets more than he bargains for when he falls not only for you but your little girl as well.

chapter summary: The cat’s out of the bag.

warnings: mentions of abuse

a/n: Well, the nice fun fluffy things are starting to go away.. man how I missed the days of writing the fluff but the plot must go on! Anyways, there’s mentions of past abuse please don’t read if that’s a trigger for you and if you’re in a relationship like that please reach out for help! Stay safe everyone and enjoy the chapter. xx

>>><<<

By the time you finally got out of Harry's apartment it was almost 8 in the morning and you were practically speed walking home. Heels of your boots clicking against the sidewalk with such determination to get home before Thea woke up that you were sure you were going to snap the heel. Harry trailed behind you. His hand in your as you basically dragged him through the streets.

"Y/N, she'll be fine with Sarah if she wakes up." He said for the millionth time, whining at fact you were walking so fast so early in the morning.

"Yeah but I don't like her waking up without me there she gets worried." You turned back to him giving him a small smile, feeling a bit guilty. It was nice he offered to walk you home but all you could think about was Thea waking up and crying from not being able to find you.

"The last time she stayed at my moms she woke up crying cause I was outside helping my dad with something and she couldn't find me." You sighed slowing down slightly so he could catch up to you. Hand still clutched in his as his long legs finally kept speed with yours.

"Wat does she do when she stays at Ryan's?" He asked, licking his lips, making you want to kiss them but you had no time for that.

"Ryan hasn't seen her in 6 months." You frowned slightly, just now realizing how long it had actually been since he had been around. Eventually, she even stopped asking about him.

"Really?" The look of shock across his face made you laugh. Finding it funny even if it was pathetic that he was such a shit guy.

"I know he was close to you and Mitch but he's definitely not winning dad of the year anytime soon." You sighed softly, you never confided in anyone just how bad things got towards the end of your marriage. It was one of the many things you locked away deep in your mind, refusing to acknowledge the fact it even existed. Your tendency to avoid dealing with tough emotional problems meant you always ignored them, it was just easier than admitting what all happened. You never wanted to do that.

"Why don't you talk about it?" He asked as you walked up the steps of your apartment building, so close to your door and running away from this conversation.

"It's not important and it doesn't bother me." You lied, straight through your pretty white teeth. If he was smart he'd leave the topic alone.

He must have realized you were done talking, staying silent beside you the rest of the way up the stairs and to your door. You felt kind of bad for shutting down the topic. He was only asking because he cared but it was still too sensitive to talk about, they didn't know the half of what all happened. The cheating was just a good way to finally get out.

"Thanks for walking me home." You turned to him outside your front door. The smile back on your face as the tension seemed to melt between you two.

"Couldn't let my girlfriend walk home alone." He smiled brightly, leaning down to give you a kiss.

You hummed, smiling into the kiss, he really was a sweetheart sometimes. You were just about to tell him goodbye when your front door was thrown open. A very smug Sarah standing there, arms crossed, eyebrows raised like she knew exactly what had happened between you two last night.

"Well, looks like you two had fun." You rolled your eyes, giving Harry another small kiss. Telling him bye before shoving Sarah back in your front door.

"See ya later love." He said, smile on his face, trying to contain his laugh at your pissed off expression.

"Sarah." He nodded his goodbye to her and she twinkled her fingers at him. You shut the door turning back to your friend.

"You're having too much fun with this." You huffed, finally taking off your death trap boots and swearing you'd never wear them again.

"Oh, I'm having so much fun." She agreed, going to sit down on your couch. You followed behind her plopping down, pleasantly surprised that she already had a cup of coffee sitting out for you on your coffee table.

"Oh my God, you're the best." The first drink of your coffee warmed your soul. You swore if you could be married to coffee you would be.

"Figured you'd need it before you looked at your phone." She shifted beside you uncomfortably making you instantly nervous. A pit in your stomach forming at her words.

"Why?" You asked, hands tightly around your cup. You almost didn't want to ask but you knew that whatever it was but enough for her to be concerned.

You quickly pulled your phone from your back pocket. Eyes widened the second you finally got a look at all the notifications you had.

"No." You mumbled more to yourself then Sarah. Eyes fixed on the screen as you saw notifications on every social media platform possible.

"No, no, no, no." Panic rising in you so fast, heart racing, your breath caught in your throat. You should have known better.

"Fuck." Your stomach turned as you started going through your messages. The 15 missed calls, 27 texts. You wanted to crawl in a hole and not come out, ever.

"You guys looked cute in the pictures though." Sarah said from beside you, trying to cheer you up. You felt like you'd rather die than have those pictures circulated around the internet.

"This is so bad." You sighed, slumping back in the couch, turning off your phone. Your hands covering your face, you were so close to tears.

"It's not that bad. You guys look happy. I mean that picture of him kissing your forehead and then the one of him carrying you. That shit was cute." You didn't have to look at her to know she was smiling, apparently happy she had played matchmaker really well but your stomach was in knots.

"Ryan's going to flip shit though Sarah." Your hands peeled away from your face, blankly staring at the ceiling as your mind flooded in all the memories you wanted to suppress.

The screaming matches in the kitchen when he accused you of flirting with Mitch. The times he grabbed your arm a little too tightly when you tried to get away from him yelling in your face. All the plates he threw at you, breaking them all when you tried to leave the first time. His fist connecting with the wall beside your head when you found him in bed with someone else, mad at you for his actions.

"He's not going to flip out. He's the one who checked out of the marriage."

All you could do was nod. Not wanting to tell your friend about any of it. You knew she'd support and help you through all of it but you were too ashamed you'd put up with it for so long. Now that it was over you just wanted to forget it all. Put it so far behind you that you didn't even think about it anymore.

"Yeah." You agreed but the messages sitting in your phone from him were burning in your mind. You didn't even want to read them, knowing they were all going to be calling you terrible things.

"Come on, Y/N, he really likes you and you guys are great together. Don't let Ryan ruin this for you." She took your hand in hers and you smiled at the fact you were lucky enough to call her one of your best friends.

"He invited us to come out with you guys next weekend." You smiled the second Sarah squealed excitedly. Her hand shaking yours, so happy you were going.

"I knew it!" She basically yelled making you laugh and try to shush her from waking Thea before she was ready to get up.

"I don't know if you have a magic vagina or what but he's whipped." She laughed from beside you. You rolled your eyes pulling your hand away from hers.

"Shut up." You said but still smiled, shaking your head.

Maybe all this would turn out okay. You could ignore Ryan and be happy with Harry. It was about time you got your share of happiness.

#Harry Styles #Harry #Harry Styles x Reader #Harry Styles x You #Harry Styles x Y/N #Harry Styles Fanfic #Harry Styles Fanfiction #Fanfic #Fanfiction #writing #mine #LYHD

[patandpran]

The Nuisance and the Handsome Prince - A Sarawatine Medieval AU - Chapter 8

Tine is an aspiring Squire who has been training his whole life to work alongside the Kingdom’s finest Knights. Sarawat is a Prince who, on the outside, seems fierce and unapproachable. He is disinterested in any of his royal duties, namely his Knight training. What happens when Tine is assigned to be the fierce and handsome prince’s Squire?

Find the Masterpost here Read on Archiveofourown here.

Tine heard the footsteps approaching from behind him and instantly froze in reaction. He hoped that that it was just a castle servant rushing to retrieve something from another part of the castle but the footsteps slowed as they got closer.

“Squire Tine.”

The voice was familiar and Tine knew it would be rude for him to try to pretend that he did not hear the person addressing him. As much as he wanted to continue his walk alone, his turned slowly to face the person.

Prince Phukong stood across from Tine and had a curios look in his eyes. Tine and Phukong had met briefly a few times but they had never interacted just the two of them. Tine could see the similarities between the two Princes but there was something inherently softer about Phukong that made him seem much more approachable than his elder brother. Phukong seemed to wear his emotions on his sleeve while it was nearly impossible to decipher what was going through Sarawat’s head at any given time. If Sarawat was a scalding fire, Phukong was a calm stream - both elements were powerful and natural in their own way.

“Your Highness.” Tine bowed his head in respect to greet the younger Prince.

“Please excuse my candor, but are you all right?” Phukong asked softly.

Tine started to panic. Was his discomfort so obvious? He would need to work on keeping his expression more neutral, especially when he was in the middle of some many witnesses.

He did not anyone to misunderstand reactions, although he didn’t quite understand them himself.

“I needed to get some fresh air.” Time explained but he worried that his tone was unconvincing.

“This hood is quite stuffy.”

“Green really outdid himself with your attire.” Phukong shared and dragged his hand absentmindedly along a row of bushes.

Tine was used to seeing Sarawat doing things that humanized him but it was still quite off to see members of the royal family doing such mundane things. He did not know much about Phukong but Tine realized in that moment that Phukong was very likable young man; the younger Prince had a quiet charisma about him that made Tine instantly comfortable.

“I know Sarawat picked out the color as he thought it complimented you but I love the story that Green added to the outfits.” Phukong continued and sat down on a bench that was near them. “It links you both in a way that perfectly symbolizes your partnership.”

Tine wondered what Phukong meant by this but did not inquire further as he was already internally conflicted enough about his feelings toward the Prince. He was sure that the Prince and Princess were still dancing together and the pit in his stomach that the visual had created originally was still very present.

“Thank you for checking in with me.” Tine shared with the Prince and it was then that Tine noticed that something about Phukong seemed undeniably sad.

Tine considered leaving it untouched but he thought better of it and asked, “How are you enjoying the Ball?”

Phukong seemed to consider this for a moment before responding, “My parents seem to be relishing in the festivities. My brother is making the necessary rounds to satisfy them but he doesn’t seem happy about it. The court seems to be enamoured by the decor and the food...”

Tine waited for a beat before expressing, “But how are you enjoying it?”

“Oh.” The Prince seemed surprised the question was being posed directly to him. “I am not much for dancing or dense crowds. I much prefer these kinds of interactions. I have spent most of the evening with my parents but I have seen Lord Mil and Squire Ohm as well. They seem to have as strong as a relationship as you and my brother.”

Tine could heard the tension in Phukong’s voice when he mentioned Ohm and Mil. He immediately felt a kinship to the Prince’s experience. “Ohm and I have been friends since our childhood. From what I can tell, Lord Mil and he work well together but I am sure that you and Mil have a connection that runs much deeper than that…”

Phukong looked up in surprise and Tine quickly clarified, “I mean, since you have known each other for so much longer. I am sure that you and Mil feel almost like brothers.”

Phukong noticeably cringed at this evaluation which confirmed Tine’s guesses about how the Prince felt about Lord Mil. As much as Tine loathed the Lord, he was sympathetic to the younger Prince’s feelings toward Mil. Tine had noticed how often Phukong attended the morning practices and pretended not to look at Mil.

“Maybe something different than brothers?” Tine questioned and Phukong’s gaze dropped to the ground.

The silence stretched between them and Tine’s fondness for Phukong grew. Even though neither of them could share it out loud, they quietly acknowledged their shared experience and it forged a connection between Tine and the Phukong.

“Speaking of brothers… what do you think about mine?” Phukong implored, obviously eager to change the subject.

Mischief danced in Tine’s eyes. “I cannot speak ill about a member of the Royal Family.”

“I see…” Phukong chuckled before standing looking back toward the ballroom. “I hope you know that Wat thinks extremely high of you. He values both your professional help but also the friendship that you two share.”

“Friendship…” Tine repeated word absentmindedly. Somehow the word seemed unfitting for what was between he and the elder Prince.

“You are going to make a fearsome pair once he becomes King.” Phukong shared and Tine wasn’t exactly sure what the extent of the implications that Phukong was making.

Tine felt his cheeks heating up and fought to keep his tone even. “I plan to serve our future King to the best of my ability.”

“Serve him?” Phukong’s brow furrowed his surprise. “I think you will stand beside him in one way or another.”

Tine began to sputter out a protest but the Prince held up a hand to quiet the Squire. Phukong continued, “Let us not speak of the future when we have such a better grasp on the present. Speaking of, we should make our return to the Ball lest Wat think we are attempting to conspire against him.”

“Thank you.” Tine blurted out and realized that the whole interaction had been extremely casual considering how different their stations were. Once again, Tine was reminded that the members of the Royal Family were very much human. “I appreciate you coming after me. Please know that if you ever need to speak about, well, anything, I am a letter away.”

“Likewise.” Phukong agreed before he started to walk inside. “Now, let us go enjoy this rest of this evening of over the top lavishness that my parents think will somehow motivate my introverted and socially anxious brother to choose a suitor….”

++++++++

“Can I get you a drink, my Prince?”

Sarawat was relieved to hear a familiar voice as he exited the dance floor, having danced with every last potential suitor. Mil, with his ridiculous Bear Mask, held out a chalice that Sarawat hoped was full to the brim with something that would help take the edge off of the torture he had just endured for the past few hours.

Sarawat took the drink from his friend and took a deep swig. He was happy to find the contents were definitely more than just water and considering the sloppy grin on Mil’s face, his friend had a few glasses of his own.

“You are quite good at feigning interest in all those beautiful maidens.” Mil shared and Sarawat was thankful that they were in a part of the ballroom with few members of the court around them. “Although I somewhat suspect that you would rather be dancing with someone else…”

“Mil.” Sarawat warned but Mil, as per usual, ignored him.

“I mean, I know that it’s hard to keep your hands to yourself when there is someone as charming and handsome as me around but… really, do try to keep from staring like a hungry wolf.” Mil expressed with a mischievous look in his eyes. “You’re practically salivating.”

“Narcissism is definitely the least attractive of personality traits.” Sarawat countered and downed the rest of the drink that Mil had provided for him.

“Confidence is sexy.” Mil waggled his eyebrows suggestively at the Prince and Sarawat rolled his eyes at his friend before Mil leaned in closer and asked, “But, really, who do you have your eye on?”

Sarawat spotted Tine and his brother re-entering the ballroom and ignored Mil’s questioning, opting instead to hand Mil the drink and seek out his Squire, leaving Mil to his own devices. As the Prince crossed the ballroom, he could feel the weight of the gazes of the many members of the court that were waiting to see if he would announce his interest in a suitor that evening. He heard the murmurs of speculation of who he might choose but the Prince knew in his heart that no announcement would be made.

As soon as he reached Tine, Sarawat captured his Squire’s wrist in his hand and quickly led him away from the eyes of the court. He did not care if people wondered why the Prince was making an escape from the Ball that was being held not so discretely in his honour. Sarawat guided Tine through the halls of the castle until they reached the safety of the East Tower. Tine did not protest once during the journey, silently allowing himself to be puled away from the event.

The door of the East Tower slammed and Sarawat let out sigh of relief. He advanced to his usual perch by the window while Tine lingered by the door, looking as if he was unsure of what to say.

“You look…. captivating.” Sarawat looked at Tine and the Squire’s gaze fell to the stone floor of the tower.

“I…” Tine began before seeming to reconsider his words. He took a deep breath before continuing, “Thank you. Sir Green put a lot of thought into the design…”

“It’s not just the outfit, seeing you like this…” Sarawat walked toward Tine slowly. He quickly felt the effects of the drink that Mil had given him and wondered if that was why he was feeling so bold all of a sudden. With all the dancing and not much eating, the alcohol had gone straight to his head.

The Prince looked like a predator stalking his prey and the sight made Tine shiver with something that didn’t feel like fear. This was not how the Prince had been looking at Princess Pamela. This felt different and Tine was not sure how to feel about it.

Before Tine could object, Sarawat had come so close to him that Tine could feel Sarawat’s hot breath mixing with his own. Tine watched, completely frozen in shock, as the Prince reached up and pulled the hood slowly down off of Tine’s head. The Prince’s fingertips lightly ghosted Tine’s cheekbones and Tine felt his heart race with what he realized was anticipation.

“Wat…”

Tine’s whisper made Sarawat freeze and recognize the intimacy of their proximity. He quickly took a step back and put distance between the two of them. He was sure that, once again, he had selfishly stepped over the line and was making Tine uncomfortable.

“I just needed a break from the Ball.” Sarawat sputtered. “I should have just come here alone. I am sorry for dragging you away. I am sure you were enjoying yourself.”

“No, no.” Tine felt like he was about to faint. “It’s fine.”

“I think we should return to the Ball…I wasn’t thinking… I’m sorry…” The Prince rambled and Tine felt his heart sink slightly.

Before Tine could say anything else, the Prince swept past him, threw open the door and escaped down the stairs, leaving Tine feel more confused than ever before.

+++++++++++

Tine woke up the next morning and felt sick to his stomach. He wanted nothing more than to stay in bed forever but he was due at training practice. The castle was eerily quiet that morning, unlike the music from the ball that had lulled Tine asleep upon his return from the East Tower. After the run-in with the Prince in the East Tower, Tine had decided it was best to return to his quarters.

Fong was right on time with breakfast and had an excited grin on his face when he entered Tine’s room. The last thing that Tine wanted to do was talk about the previous evening be he owed it to his friend to give some general details.

“So… tell me everything.” Fong shared, practically vibrating with anticipation. “I mean, well, I know pretty much everything already but tell me your side of the story. I heard about your grand entrance. Your outfit is still the talk of the court although I heard you did a bit of a disappearing act quite early on.”

“I… just don’t like being in the public eye. I let Green do what he wanted but I didn’t feel like sticking around longer than was needed. I arrive, I was seen and then I made a grand exit.” Tine shared sullenly as he began to pick at his food.

“Your ‘grand exit’ that was led by the Prince from what people are saying…” Fong grinned widely and bumped his shoulder against Tine’s playfully.

Tine trusted Fong but he was not ready to discuss the happenings of the East Tower with anyone yet. He was still not quite sure how to process what had occurred himself. “He, uh, just wanted to gather some thoughts on the people he had danced with. After the conversation, I excused myself. Who did the Prince end up choosing as a suitor?”

A look of suspicion passed over Fong’s face before he responded, “Well, that’s the most interesting part of all. He did not choose anyone.”

“Oh…” An immediate sense of relief flooded Tine and he wanted nothing more than to deny its existence.

“Yes, the Prince announced to the Kingdom and his parents that he wanted to postpone announcing a marriage proposal until after his Knight training is over in a fortnight.” Fong mused and took a bite of the breakfast from the tray on Tine’s bed. “Which sounds like he still has someone in mind…”

Tine’s head was spinning with questions and thoughts but instead of dwelling on them, he hopped to his feet and prepared for the morning training. Gossip was not a currency he liked to trade in, despite being guiltily intrigued by the subject at hand.

“So… did Squire Ohm enjoy himself at the Ball?” Fong wondered, feigning nonchalance, as his eyes followed Tine as the Squire completed his morning routine.

Tine grinned at Ohm as he pulled on his training shirt. “I believe he had an entertaining evening. Although I assume he would have enjoyed himself more if you had been there.”

A deep red blush appeared on Fong’s face. “We have only just met! Why would he possibly wish I was there! How ridiculous for you to suggest such a thing.”

“If you want, I can arrange for the two of you to be able to meet again.” Tine teased as he grabbed the sword from its storage spot in the corner of the room.

“Tine.” Fong furrowed his brow. “You know very well that servants can not mingle in any more than a professional way with the court classes of the castle. Please do not joke about such a thing, even us having these kind of interactions is heavily frowned upon.”

“Interactions? Don't you mean friendship?” Tine questioned and was once again rudely reminded of how corrupt the kingdom’s class system was and how divided it kept people. “If you like, you two could meet in private. I could even invite him to my quarters. Two Squires that were childhood friends meeting is nothing suspicious.”

Fong bit his lip. “Only if Ohm is interested.”

A satisfied smile spread across Tine’s lips. He felt like a true matchmaker. “I can’t imagine a world where he wouldn’t be. I know my best friend like the back of my hand and the way he looked at you the other day…”

“Tine!” Fong protested, trying to hide his own smile. “Don’t you have a training session to be at?”

Tine singsonged as he skipped out the door, “I will be your Cupid, don’t you worry, Fong!”

++++++++++

Tine arrived at the practice to see most of the Knights in Training in a small crowd, likely gossiping about the previous evening’s happenings. It looked like the Prince had yet to arrive and Tine was more than relieved because of it.

As he approached the field, Tine noticed that Ohm was standing with the Knights and the group was discussing the masks that had been featured at the Ball. As Tine started to prepare for the Prince’s arrival, Ohm mused to the group, “So, the Prince and Lord Mil both wore animals as their mask design and I have noticed that Lord Mil features a bear on most of his armour while Prince Sarawat features the symbol of a wolf. Why is that?”

Sir Man and Sir Boss exchanged a look before Man decided to address the question in a lowered tone, “It’s due to the coming of age ceremony. When a young man of the higher families of the court, the Royal family or the lords and even some dukes, come of age, they are set the task of spending time in the wild. They cannot return until they have the hide of a beast in tow.”

“The whole thing is quite barbaric, in my opinion.” Sir Boss expressed, a look of disgust on his face.

Sir Man rolled his eyes at his friend before he continued, “Mil did it first and his Father was more than proud when he returned with the hide of a Bear, hence his symbol. The Royal blacksmith forges an insignia that the young man wears to show what animal they defeated.”

“The fiercer the Beast, the more pride it brings the family.” Boss piped in. “It serves as a reminder of their stature, although I don’t think that it makes Mil any more of a stronger man than Wat. The older members of the court use it to judge fighters but we know better than to think so archaically.”

“So, I am assuming that the Prince took on a Wolf?” Ohm wondered and Sir Boss and Sir Man nodded in confirmation.

“The Queen and King were utterly disappointed when he returned with the wolf hide and wanted the Prince to try again but he refused.” Sir Man explained. “Sarawat wears it with pride and it suits him well. The Head Knight never lets the King forget though that his son brought back a fiercer beast than the Prince. It was a point of great tension within the court for a while.”

Hearing the story made Tine’s heart ache in a way that he could not define. Imagining a younger Sarawat, likely no older than twelve or thirteen, being forced to kill a wolf with nothing more than his hands was an image that Tine wanted to banish forever. He could not imagine the Prince having to face his parent’s disappointment after such a difficult experience.

Once again, Tine felt a kinship to the Prince. There was something inherently rebellious about the Prince and if that was the kind of future that was going to be built with Sarawat on the throne, Tine might not completely loathe helping to build that world, even if he had to torture himself by watching someone else sit next to Sarawat on the throne.

#2gether #still 2gether #saratine #sarawatine #brightwin #bright vachirawit #ohmfong #milphukong #gmmtv #thai bl #2gether fic #the nuisance and the handsome prince #my writing #cass writes

[upstartpoodle]

Month of AUs Day 4 - Alien

So welcome to Day 4 (sort of) of the Month of AUs! This one’s a bit longer compared to the last one so I’m putting it under the cut.

*****

“Oh my God, what has my life become?,” Elizabeth Chynoweth, regular joe with a regular job who had managed to find herself stuck in a very irregular situation, muttered to herself as she stood at the kitchen sink, filling up the kettle with enough water for two. “This is mad. Bonkers. Insane. How on earth have I come to this?”

Of course, there was no real point in asking that question, for Elizabeth knew exactly how she had reached this--quite frankly--bizarre point in her life. It had all started when she was driving home along the creek, ready to spend a nice, relaxing evening indoors with a bottle of wine and a good book after a relatively normal, boring day at work. That was when the shooting star had fallen, so very close, almost sending her skidding off the road; when she had dared to step outside the confines of her car and clamber down into the crater to investigate. That was when she had seen it--not a shooting star but the broken and twisted remains of what must have once been a sleek black space-pod, with thick dark smoke billowing out of it, and the strange figure that had hauled himself out of the wreckage, bleeding dark blue, turning to her with luminous eyes as wide and as afraid as her own before he keeled over in a dead faint. And that was when she had realised that she couldn’t simply leave this injured man--injured alien, alien--out there alone and without aid. So it was then that she had called in a favour from a friend of hers, and before she knew it, she had been helping a surprisingly calm Dr Dwight Enys (really, he had made an impressive job of only mildly freaking out considering what she had been asking him to do) patch up an honest to God extraterrestrial in her front room.

“I’ve done all that I can for him, I think,” he had said, running a hand, stained with blue blood, through his auburn hair. “I don’t know how severe these injuries are for one of his...s-species,” he stumbled over word, the look on his face as baffled and as disbelieving of what he was seeing as Elizabeth was herself, “or how fast he’ll heal. Or even how he’d react to painkillers. I really have nothing to base this on at all. He may look...well...a little human, but he’s not-- I mean, blue blood. We can hardly take him to a hospital.”

Elizabeth nodded in agreement, staring down at the unconscious figure, laid out upon her sofa. He did look somewhat human--two arms, two legs, blond hair that was drying in soft curls now that they had managed to wash out the blood that had been sticking to it. Despite his humanoid shape, however, he had a number of features that were distinctly inhuman. It could be seen in his too white skin that didn’t quite match that of any human she had ever come across, in the slightly strange slant of his facial features, the pointed tips of his ears, the unnatural glow of his bright blue eyes that she had glimpsed for just a short moment at the crash site. Other than the colour of his blood, though, the most obvious indicator of his alienness were the peculiar markings he sported, like the pattern on a circuit board, which glowed the exact same colour as his irises. They covered the whole of the left side of his body, she had seen when they had had to cut away his ruined clothes--heavy, expensive robes adorned with elegant embroidery, now burnt and tattered and bloodied in a pile on the floor next to her feet--to gain access to his injuries, right from his ankle to his temple. Dwight had been quite fascinated by them, muttering under his breath about bioluminescence and other terms she couldn’t quite catch, but his patient’s condition had prevented him from dwelling on them. They were mostly covered now that they had put him in a pair of Francis’ pyjamas and an old dressing gown that he had left behind when he moved out, and a thick blanket to keep him warm and comfortable, but some were still visible along the left side of his neck and face, and on the back of his left hand where it rested, limp, across his stomach. By all rights, she thought, the mundane clothes should have made him look more ordinary, but if anything, he looked even more out of place now than he did before.

“You know, you’re going to have to keep him hidden, right?,” Dwight pressed when she made no reply. “There’s bound to be people out there who’d have bad intentions towards him if they find out about him. That could put a target on both your backs. And on mine.”

“I know” Elizabeth said. But even as she said it she could barely believe it, barely believe this was real and happening and that that was a real possibility--

“Do you?,” Dwight interrupted her downward spiral into complete and utter panic as he turned to face her, the expression on his kindly face very serious. “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into? What we’re getting into?”

Elizabeth couldn’t quite contain a choked laugh that sounded more like a whimper.

“No, not at all.”

“Who would, I suppose?,” admitted Dwight with a sigh. “But it’s too late to turn back now.”

And that, she reflected, was how she had ended up with an alien man, bandaged and wrapped in her ex-boyfriend’s dressing gown, curled up on her sofa in the adjourning room, watching a repeat of one of David Attenborough’s documentaries with an intense fascination which she knew couldn’t have translated entirely into understanding, given that his command of the English language currently consisted of a small list of words that he had picked up over the past few days, and of her name. She had managed to teach it to him a little while after he first woke up, in an attempt which her brain kept comparing, much to her chagrin, to that one scene from Tarzan. Unfortunately, his attempts to teach her his had been less successful, as his name consisted of a long string of sounds which he had rattled off with ease, but which she suspected human vocal chords had not exactly been designed to replicate.

Honestly, the whole thing’s mad, she observed to herself once again as she put the kettle to boil. Completely and utterly mad. But it’s just like Dwight said--there’s no going back now. I decided to help him that day and that’s what I’ll do, even if it is just giving him somewhere to stay whilst he heals up. With that in mind, she reached out, grabbed the box of teabags from its place on the counter, and headed out into the living room, where her peculiar guest lay, completely engrossed in the sight of a thorny devil searching for water on the TV, a small frown upon his face as he followed the movements on the screen with his gaze.

“George.” She called him by the name she had taken to using for him--it was about as close as she could get to the first syllable of his ridiculously long name (the others, sadly, still completely eluded her). He glanced up at her, tilting his head to one side in a manner reminiscent of a quizzical owl, in a way that told her that though he understood that she was referring to him, he thought her very odd for not simply calling him by his proper name. “Would you like some tea?”

She held up a teabag from the box to illustrate her point--though he may not understand all he words, she knew that would convey to him the general meaning of wat she was asking him. He perked up immediately upon seeing the box. Though he had been deeply suspicious of it at first, he had quickly developed a liking for the drink.

“Please.” This was one of the few English--or indeed Earth--words that he knew. Elizabeth smiled at him before heading back into the kitchen, box in hand. Well, she thought wryly, if she were going to end up harbouring an alien in her home, at least she had had the good sense to choose a polite one.

A few minutes later, she returned to the living room with two steaming mugs of tea in each hand, receiving a quiet “thank you” from her guest as she placed one on the table beside him to cool down. Then, carefully, so as not to jostle him, she sat down on the edge of the sofa and, taking a small sip of her own tea, reached for her tablet, opening up the news.

“What the--?,” Elizabeth stared openly at the headline which greeted her-- “EXPERTS DENOUNCE LEAKED IMAGE OF POSSIBLE STARSHIP WRECKAGE AS HOAX.” Beside it was a faint, fuzzy picture of something huge and bulky, it’s outline too precise and straight to be an asteroid, with the exception of the numerous places where the...whatever it was...appeared to have sustained significant damage, specks of what looked like shrapnel floating around the periphery of the image, as if they had been blasted off the main structure by some massive explosion. She stared at it, clicking on the article and skimming through it’s contents at lightning speed. “‘Experts have spoken out over claims that the viral photo of what appears to be the remains of a starship proves the existence of life on other planets... The photo first emerged...Tuesday...on the Twitter account of... Claims of a NASA source...unsubstantiated and unlikely...’ Oh my God, what--?”

“El-iza-beth.”

That immediately caught her attention, drawing her away from the article and back towards her alien guest. He always said her name in that way--enunciating every syllable, so careful to get it right that it made her ashamed that she had not yet managed to afford him the same courtesy--but there was something very serious, agitated in his tone that made her sit up and take notice, suddenly uneasy. He was staring at the picture of the wreckage with an even greater intensity than he had afforded to David Attenborough, his tea quite forgotten. Then, he raised his good hand--the left one, with the markings; the other was still bound up in a sling, not yet healed from his crash--and pointed towards the image.

“Mine” he said.

“Yours?,” she asked. “This...this is your ship?”

“Yes. My...ship.” He tested the foreign word on his tongue, frowning at the awkwardness of it. 

His markings pulsed brighter and, all of a sudden, an image flickered to life between them. It didn’t startle Elizabeth as much as one might have expected--she had seen him do it several times already. The first time had been when she was trying to explain where in the universe they were with the aid of some diagrams from an encyclopaedia, only to leap back in shock when an intricate, three-dimensional picture of the solar system appeared in front of her (after the surprise had worn off, she had become sidetracked teaching him the names of the planets, with varying success). On a couple of other occasions, she had seen him summon up a screen which she had just about been able to gather was some kind of extraterrestrial equivalent of a Skype call. He was clearly out of range here, however, and, unable to connect for what she remembered as being the third time, he had let out a string of sharp, frustrated, impatient words in his own tongue, the bite of which somehow suggested to her that he was a man accustomed to being in control, and most likely (she recalled the fancy clothes he had worn when she first found him) one who was used to giving out orders and having them followed. He seemed to be drawing these...holograms, for want of a better word, from some kind of database, but she couldn’t see any object on him that he was using to do so. Indeed, the only connection between himself and the images, as far as she could tell, was his markings, which glowed bright whenever they appeared. It made Elizabeth wonder if they were not a result of biology, like Dwight had initially presumed, but of technology--an implant or something similar that allowed him to access and project the pictures --but how it worked, she hadn’t the faintest idea.

The image before her now was unmistakably of a starship--or at least the blueprint of one. Despite the haziness of the picture accompanying the news article, she recognised the outline of it. The only difference was that this one was whole, undamaged. Swallowing, she stared back down at the image on her tablet, vicious holes blasted in its hull, ripped savagely apart.

“Oh God, what happened to it?,” she gasped. “What happened to you?”

He made a frustrated noise at that, the image flickering away into nothingness as abruptly as it had appeared. She knew why--he hadn’t the words to answer her, to express to her how he had come to be here in a way which she could understand. And would he even want to talk about it if he had?, she wondered. She was still almost a complete stranger to him, after all, even if she had helped him. And so is he to you, she reminded herself, swallowing convulsively.

“Where are you from?,” she asked instead. It was a question she had asked before, when he first woke up, but he hadn’t understood enough to answer then. Now, however, with the image of that wrecked ship--his ship--staring her in the face, she burnt to know more than ever. “I am from Earth, here,” she added, placing a hand on her chest, as he regarded her quizzically, not sure if he understood. “Where are you...?”

She trailed off as understanding flitted across his features, and an image suddenly appeared between them once more. It was the picture of the solar system. There were little rows of figures next to the planets now, she noticed, that had not been there before. Letters. Names. They were the planet’s names, she realised, the ones that she had taught him, recorded in his own alphabet beside each one.

“Here,” he said, pointing to the third planet away from the sun. “This...Earth.”

“Yes, but--”

She wasn’t sure what exactly he was trying to communicate to her, but she cut herself off as the image changed. It wasn’t the solar system anymore, but galaxies. A great, whirling, swirling myriad of galaxies, a map of the stars.

“You...Earth...are here,” he continued, pointing to a galaxy which she supposed must be the Milky Way on the far edges of the map. “I...,” he turned towards a much larger galaxy near the top of the image, “here.”

“I--” Elizabeth stared at the two galaxies--at the distance between them--with wide eyes. “But I-- Oh God, that’s so far! It’s so far!”

And it was. It was the kind of distance that, even with her inexpert eye, she knew that human technology would not have the slightest hope of traversing within a lifetime. Once again, she was struck by just how foreign and alien and-and downright impossible her unexpected houseguest was, but far more than that, she couldn't help but wonder over what hope he had of finding away to return there, to that far away galaxy. Would he ever be able to get back, without his ship, or a way to communicate with his people, whoever they were? She would be of no use to him in that regard after all--not with her boring office job and her relevant qualifications being a grand total of a GCSE in Physics, the content of which she had promptly forgotten the moment she stepped out of the final exam.

He must have seen something of her thoughts in his face, as, with an unhappy downturn of his lips, the image flickered and changed, no longer showing that map of galaxies, but an unfamiliar sun, orbited by unfamiliar planets. Slowly, he pointed towards the fourth planet from its star, large and surrounded by several moons.

“Home,” he said; the light from the projection reflected in his glowing eyes, sad, resigned. “My home.”

Elizabeth stared at the little planet circling about its sun, not quite able to face the look in his eyes, too raw and painful. It hovered there for a few seconds, before it, too, vanished, like the picture of the ship before it, and he turned away so that all she could see was the outline of his patrician profile, markings dulled to their usual faint glow. His eyes were fixed on the carpet, jaw clenched tight, as if to do otherwise would be to let loose a torrent of emotion he was not yet ready to share with a stranger. Elizabeth let out a quiet breath. What must it be like for him, she wondered, to be stranded on a strange planet amongst strange people, with only documentaries in a language he could barely speak and the realisation that he had no way home to occupy him? Lonely, she thought it must be. Terribly lonely, and frightening, for all that he tried to hide it.

“Hey,” she said, reaching out carefully to take his uninjured hand in both of her own. He started at the unexpected touch, turning back to her with wide eyes, but he didn’t pull away from her. “Ssh, it’s alright. I know you must miss your home, but you can stay here as long as you need. You’re not alone--I’m here to help you, I promise.”

He tilted his head to the side at her words, frowning, and she realised with a sigh of frustration that he probably understood barely any of what she had just said. She was just about to try and rephrase it in a way that he could gauge the meaning of, however, when he spoke up, quiet and uncertain.

“Stay...here? With you?” Though his tone was guarded, and he was still tense beneath her hands, there was a look of hope in his eyes that was too real, too genuine to be hidden behind his caution. Elizabeth smiled at him encouragingly.

“Yes, with me, for as long as you need,” she said. “And I promise you, everything will be alright. I’ll make sure of it.”

#poldark #poldark fic #elizabeth warleggan #elizabeth chynoweth #elizabeth poldark #george warleggan #george x elizabeth #elizabeth x george #georgibeth #dwight enys #poldark au #fic #mine #my fic #alien au #month of aus

[buckeverlasting]

Be Safe (2/2)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x fem!Reader

Summary: After he pulls Steve Rogers from the Potomac, Bucky is on the run. He finally finds somewhere to lie low and someone to lie low with. But what can you possibly do to save him and yourself when his past comes back to haunt him? You saved each other once before. Can you do it one more time?

A/N: This is to fulfill an anonymous request and is also a sequel to “Be Safe (1/2).” Links still don’t work, so you can find the first part in my masterlist. 

Warning: fluff, angst; lite assault?

Word count: 2k

Just when you had put him out of your mind for a moment, another postcard would arrive, and those two words would consume you: “Be safe.” You were pretty sure of all that he meant to say in just those two words. He was saying, “Protect yourself.” He was saying, “I still care about you.” He was saying, “I wish I could be there to make sure nothing ever happens to you.” With two words, he held your heart hostage. He had saved you. He was your deliverance. You could still remember the way he tasted, his mouth, the salt of his sweat. And with those two words, he was saying he felt the same way, that he was nowhere close to forgetting you.

But what good was just repeating these two words to you over and over? It didn’t make sense until the day he returned. One unusually warm evening in autumn, he arrived on your doorstep with nothing but a backpack. He didn’t say anything when you opened the door, just crushed you to him with a hug. This you weren’t expecting.

“Can I come in?” he asked.

“Of course.” You let go to usher him into your apartment and closed the door behind him. “Please, sit down. Can I get you a drink?”

“Just water, please.” He let his backpack slump to the floor as he collapsed into a chair at your kitchen table. He looked exhausted.

You poured him some water from a pitcher you kept in the fridge. You didn’t really know what to say, so you silently filled the glass and placed it front of him and sat in the chair opposite him.

“I’m sorry for barging in on you like this,” he said.

“It’s okay,” you said. “It’s just been so long. And I still don’t know your name.”

He sighed. “My name is James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky.”

“The Howling Commando? Best friend of Steve Rogers? He died, though,” you said, “in World War II. That’s not even possible.”

Bucky explained everything that happened to him, from the moment he blearily awoke on the operating table to dragging his best friend out of the river. It was a lot to take in, but you quietly absorbed his story.

“I committed atrocities,” he said. “I understand if you don’t want anything to do with me.”

You shook your head. “No, you didn’t. It wasn’t you. Your mind was not your own at the time. Plus, I think I know the man who saved me. He would never harm anyone. Bucky.” You smiled at him and waited for him to look at you.

He finally lifted his eyes from his twiddling thumbs and caught your gaze. He smiled back. “Did you get my postcards?”

“Of course,” you said. “I saved them all.”

“You did?”

“And I want to hear about what each place is like.”

“How much time do you have?”

“For my hero, Bucky Barnes? I have all the time in the world.”

He grinned. “Which place do you want to hear about first?”

- - -

You talked late into the evening, so you told him he could spend the night.

He was reading one of your magazines under a blanket on the couch when you stepped out into the living room. You pulled our robe tight around yourself. “You don’t have to sleep on the couch,” you said. “There’s plenty of room in my bed.” You could feel your cheeks burning.

He looked up from the magazine. “Are you sure?”

You nodded. “I’m positive.”

He flung off he blanket and followed you into your bedroom.

“You don’t have to sleep in your clothes.” You were probably blazing pink at this point. You let your robe fall to the floor and slipped into bed. You were wearing only an oversized t-shirt. “Nothing’s going to happen,” you assured him. “I just want you to be comfortable.”

He got undressed quickly and joined you in bed in just his underwear. You turned off the light and sunk back into bed.

Bucky rolled onto his side to face you. “Thanks for letting me stay here tonight.”

“You can stay here as long as you need to.” You wiggled close to him and nestled yourself next to his chest. He rested his chin on your head and wrapped an arm around you. You felt safe for the first time in a long time.

“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you,” he said. “I hardly know you, but you’re the reason I’m alive. I fought to stay alive so I could come back to you some day.”

“Wow.” That was all you could say.

“I know that’s a lot,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about what I was going to say when we met again.” He laughed lightly, and you felt the slight rumble in his chest.

“Honestly, your postcards gave me life.” You placed your hand on his chest. “I’m so glad you’re back. Don’t ever go away again.”

“I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me.”

“Good.” You fell asleep to him stroking your hair.

- - -

The next morning, you woke up, and Bucky’s side of the bed was empty. You wondered if he had to run again, and your heart began to pound. Then you heard noise coming from somewhere in the apartment: something metal clanking on a burner and a curse word. You wrapped your robe around you and hurried into the kitchen. Bucky was standing in front of the stove, his finger in his mouth.

“Is everything okay in here?” you asked.

He pulled his finger out of his mouth. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to surprise you with breakfast.”

You walked over to him and inspected his injured finger. There was a little angry red mark on his pointer finger. “You should run this under cold water.”

He ran the cold water tap and held his finger under the water. You peered into the frying pan he had on the stove: pancakes! “This is so sweet,” you said.

Bucky reached over and flipped off the burner. He hooked his arm around your waist and pull you to him. He brushed the hair out of your eyes. “I just wanted to show my thanks for your letting me stay here.”

“You could kiss me,” you said. “Wait! Let me brush my teeth first!”

Bucky laughed and let you scamper off.

- - -

“I want to tell you about the most beautiful place I know,” Bucky said.

You slowly leaned your back into him, careful not to spill your wine. You had bought an expensive bottle to celebrate a month of living together.

“Okay, lay it on me,” you said.

“It’s a pink house on the coast of Italy, in a tiny village somewhere between Genoa and Savona.”

“Sounds beautiful.”

“It’s just a short walk from the beach. I’ve always wanted to go back there.”

“The beach sounds nice.”

“Will you come with me? We could eat pasta all winter, and then we could swim it off in the summer.”

You strained your neck to turn and look up at him. His ocean blue eyes were locked on yours, entirely serious.

“You want me to come with you?”

“Of course. I love you.”

It was the first time he had ever said that, and though you believed him, you were shocked. You had never imagined your life would look like this, that you would be harboring a former brainwashed assassin and that he would come to love you. You never really expected anyone to love you.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something?” He tried to laugh, but you could hear the air hitch in his chest.

You pulled away from him, and sitting on the very edge of the couch, you lost your balance and tumbled to the floor. You tried to catch yourself with your hands, but one of your hands was holding a wine glass, which shattered under your weight. Luckily, most of it didn’t couldn’t hurt you through your thick sweater, but a small cut on your palm was beginning to blossom with blood.

“Ouch.” You pressed your other hand to the cut to stop the bleeding. “Bucky, can you grab the first aid kit? Or get me a towel?” You looked up.

Bucky was standing, and you were caught in his thousand mile stare. The blue of his eyes seemed to grow darker and duller. He was looking at you but didn’t quite seem to focus on you.

“Bucky? Are you okay?”

He didn’t respond, just charged at you where you were lying. You scrambled backwards, smearing blood on the floor. He lunged at you again.

“What’s going on?” You jumped to your feet and dodged him again.

Saying nothing, he stalked after you, and you began throwing whatever you could get your hands on. He swiped the heavy books you threw right out of the air with his metal arm. You ran into the kitchen and grabbed the frying pan out of the sink. You held it in front of you and squared off with Bucky.

“Buck, you’re scaring me.” Tears were streaming down your face. “Please stop. I know this isn’t you.”

He stepped forward, and you swung the frying pan. He snatched it out of your hand, tossed it aside, and grabbed at your throat. You caught his hands. He pushed you back against the kitchen table. You fell on your back, and he pinned your wrists above your head with his metal hand. His other hand went for your throat again. You brought your knee up to his groin, and he stumbled back, releasing your hands.

“Please stop!” You slid off the table and landed on your feet. Tears were blurring your vision. Bucky was down on one knee, breathing heavily. He looked up at you, furious, looking nothing like the man who just invited you to run away with him.

“Stop it!” You sobbed. “I know this isn’t you. I love you!”

Bucky’s head dropped for a moment. He looked around and then up at you, blinking. His face fell when he saw your expression. “Oh my god, what happened?”

You laughed. “I knew you were in there.” The room turned on its side as you blacked out and fell to the floor.

- - -

You didn’t know how much time had passed, but you woke up in your bed. Your hand stung, and it reminded you of everything that had happened. Bucky must have put you in bed, but where was he?

“Bucky.” Your voice was weak and croaky. “Where are you?”

You leaned up on one elbow and looked around in the silent semi-darkness. There was a glass of water on the nightstand with a folded note leaning on it. You snatched the note and read it.

Y/N,

I had to leave because I can’t risk hurting you again. I love you too much to put you through that again. Just know that I’ll always love you.

Bucky

“That idiot,” you said through your tears. Apparently he didn’t know that it was because of your love that you were kept safe.

- - -

It didn’t surprise you when, in a few weeks, you received a postcard from Bucky. It also didn’t surprise you that all it said was “I love you,” as if that was the only thing that mattered, as if he hadn’t broken your heart. When more postcards began to arrive, this didn’t surprise you either. He never apologized, and you figured that was because he thought what he did was beyond forgiveness. But you knew it wasn’t his fault; it wasn’t him. Your love was able to bring him back and could do it again. If only you had the chance to tell him that, to convince him.

You would have lost hope if it didn’t keep getting the reminders of his love in the mail. Finally, in the spring, you received a postcard that was different. It just said, “Join me for a swim?”

Thank you so much for reading this! I would love to hear your feedback! If you would like to join a tag list, please send me an ask :)

Permanent: @reniescarlett @captain-winny @delicatelyherdreams @sapphirestark @gottalovekidding @trashpanda-barnes @buckychrist @itsbuckysworld @marvelous-avengers @sgtbucketbarnes @loki-superwholockin @mywinterwolf @petersshirts @the-canary @whiskey-cokenfanfic @coffeeandpies @buckyofthemyscira @jamesbuckybarnes13 @tina8009 @queenofkings121 @heartssick @xxloki81xx @jewelofwinter @darcia22 @achishisha @imboredsueme @libbymouse @fitzsimmons-is-forever

Bucky: @gamorazenn @38leticia

Be Safe: @everythingbooknerd

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes imagine #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky x reader #bucky x you

[satannedtrash]

a new year’s resolution | qian kun

summary: where you go out with friends to welcome in the new year, but you never expected to welcome something - or rather, someone - else.

pairing: qian kun x reader

word count: 3.3k/3365 words

genre: fluff. just fluff. pure fluff

format: dot points (still not experienced enough yet :|)

warnings: none unless mild to moderate swearing and total drunks aren’t your thing (also not edited oh dear) (and ooc kun cuz i suck at this ok)

author’s note: tHIS WAS MEANT TO BE FINISHED LAST WEEK BUT STUFF CAME UP SO IT’S HELLA LATE AAA but anyway at first i wasn’t entirely sure what member to write about, but then i remembered how sm didn’t even release a happy birthday post to kun (jan 1). so i thought that i can dedicate this to kun. happy (extremely belated) birthday to the butter-for-our-ears vocalist, angel and mum, kun! (also y/f/n means your friend’s name)

EDIT: just realised there was a whole section missing (i realised after a month because i didn’t want to read back on this - thing - until now) and without it the oneshot didn’t flow, so i added it in. hope it all clears things up!

11:19 pm

before this story starts imma explain sum stuff

first of all: bless kun

second of all: appreciate kun

third of all: say happy birthday to kun

oh and this is an au where the nct members aren’t idols so don’t expect to see saesangs or fans with their cameras out taking a photo of every move they make being mentioned in here

aaand i’m rambling so with that out of the way lez go

laughing at a friend’s joke, you lifted your right hand which held your phone, causing the screen to turn on

“gEEz okay then”

the bright, white light emitted from it shocked your eyes, making you blink furiously

when you could finally see without being partially blinded, you quickly checked the time and placed your phone face-down next to you

“what’s the time?” y/f/n asked, chin on your shoulder

not bothered to check again, you just say “11:19” and then leaned your head on theirs

“can you believe that 2018 is ending?”

“yep. this year sucked for me so i’m down for it to end”

“always looking forward, huh?”

you shifted your gaze from the city skyline to your friend. “have to. can’t afford to stick to the past”

pouting, y/f/n was about to respond when you lifted your head and stopped leaning back on your arms to sit upright

“besides, we gotta enjoy tonight, instead of moping around.” here, you noticed your friend eyeing the beers nearby you and sighed heavily. guess i need to be chaperone for the night

well considering that the rest of your friends and their friends were wasted might as well make sure they don’t mess the docks up

as you handed the bottle to your friend, their expression brightened as they snatched it from you

well damn aren’t they excited to get drunk

wait it’s not even 11:30 yet and we’re still going to a bar nearby after the fireworks wat

“er, shouldn’t you wait till after midnight to drink?”

“nah m8 tis the best time to have some”

(i have just realised that the vibe of this went from serious storytelling to a memey laidback sorta thing damn it)

(oh well i’ll roll with it)

not knowing what to do now that there wasn’t much to talk about, you brought out your earphones and decided to listen to some music to pass the time

calming music, such as a song with nine glorious men singing and some bed squeaking in the background

(i’ll let you guess what song i’m talking about)

you let your head bop to the song as you looked out to the sea port twenty metres in front of you, watching the dark waters ripple

11:48 pm

the next time you turned on your phone to see how many minutes left you had become a third wheeler

quite the strong third wheeler might i add

a few moments after the first song you were listening to finished, your good friend yuta had joined you and y/f/n because his other friends were “too rowdy”

but as soon as he saw the bottles he said “gimme”

so you were sitting there (barbecue sauce on my-) with two just barely sober adults acting like complete children

you had to wrestle out of y/f/n’s koala hug around your waist and escape yuta’s chin noogie to grab your phone

“oh for fuck’s sake” father why have you foresaken me

when you finished preparing yourself for another possible 27 minutes of torture, you turned around to see yuta and y/f/n throwing themselves at each other, singing like magpies

“wE wIsh yOU A mErrY chrIstmAsssss aNd a hAppY nEw yeeeEeAArr!!1!” they then took the opportunity to laugh, squeal and kiss the hecc out of each other’s cheeks

you knew that your friend was absolute shit at singing, but yuta was a whole different story good lord

you thought he was good???

maybe just when he hasn’t had a few drinks

you stared at the two dolphins then promptly stood up and sat down behind them because you had to make sure they didn’t do anything more than whatever the hell this was

not like it could get any worse

you could feel the gazes of pity the others were sending you, but frankly you didn’t care

before, you couldn’t wait for the new year to come, but now you were more eager than ever

someone please save my poor soul

11:59 pm

“yEEEE BOI a minute left!”

eleven minutes have passed and the final 60 seconds of the year were being counted down

you were less excited for the new year and more excited for the end of your chaperoning being closer

all you had to do was get through the firework display, watch the adorable couple in front of you until the bar and let them do what they want (there were sure to be other friends who were willing to let them join in)

it seemed like a simple, solid plan! :D

before you knew it, yuta and y/f/n had already started counting down from 15, so might as well start now

“13, 12, 11, 10...”

you took a glance at y/f/n, who grinned back at you and threw their arm around your shoulder

“7, 6, 5, 4, 3...” here we go

“1 - happy new year!!”

it was at this moment you realised that your eardrums were incapable of tolerating the two dolphins beside you

sINCE WHEN WAS YUTA ABLE TO SCREAM THAT LOUD AND HIGH THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE

yay to starting the new year with loud friends screaming like there’s no tomorrow amiright

you had trouble focusing on the fireworks to the point you could only hear most of the big ones

that’s how hard it was to be next to them but oh well

marvelling at the city skyline, the fireworks seeming like entirely new stars, you began having very deep thoughts

the typical ones, such as “ what will 2019 bring?”, “what will i be like by the end of the year?” and “will i be happy with someone?”

you had asked the exact same things when 2017 shifted to 2018 and found that you actually had an answer for all of them

2018 brought some crappy stuff but also some good stuff to balance that out

you were still sort of the same, because every time something major came up you only changed a bit then went back to normal

and you weren’t with anyone yet, which you had expected

but a little birdy on your shoulder said, “then get with someone in 2019! make it a new year’s resolution!”

your eyebrows furrowed at the thought, but you decided to focus on the sky for now

because since when did you ever make or follow new year’s resolutions?

12:16 am

“12:16 okay then”

turns out you didn’t consider the walk to the bar part of your chaperoning

by the time the display ended, yuta and y/f/n could walk, but not without wobbling and intense laughter

so guess who had to make sure they could at least make the trip to the bar?

“um, are you sure you don’t want to go home yet?” 

“nah, i caan’t, my sister was meaant to be at home-!”- y/f/n stumbled a bit but you caught them before they fell - “-but she’s not, and i can’t beeee home by myselfff”

no wonder

here, you were struggling to keep the both of them propped up as you walked along the road, so there was bound to be a slip up

“you should’ve seen their face! haHA-!” yuta laughed a little too hard and nearly fell over his own feet, prompting you to panic and scramble to keep him from falling to the ground

“oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit-!”

but you didn’t need to because someone else already beat you to it!

sighing in relief, you looked up to see none other than the great qian kun putting yuta’s arm around his shoulder

he looked over to you gaping at him and smiled that warm smile that looked like it was sculpted by the gods

wow he looks great in this lighting

you were always attracted to kun, ever since you two began talking after stopping a full blown war between doyoung and ten

he appeared so soft and kind to you and you two seemed to have a lot in common

so naturally you hit it off

because who doesn’t love kun? :D

“you’re welcome?” oh shit i didn’t just stare at him for that long did i

“oh - sorry - thanks for that” nice going there y/n you idiot

kun just chuckled and hefted his drunk friend as he started walking, you doing the same

it became comfortably silent as your group made their way down the street and turned left into a reasonably sized bar, which as surprisingly not that busy

you set y/f/n down on a chair that thankfully had a tall enough back to keep them up and sat down next to them, exhaling

kun patted yuta’s back and went to sit down next to you

laying your head on the counter, you thought of striking up a conversation with kun

so, instead of saying things like “happy new year”, “thanks for helping me” or even “they’re hard to deal with anyway”, you just said “woah.”

yEAH AGAIN NICE GOING THERE Y/N

“‘woah’? what’s ‘woah’?” he responded, taking on a teasing, motherly tone

you could hear the grin in his voice

you panicked and stammered some illegible words before you could actually speak

“i meant like, woah, that was exhausting, they made things real hard and all that…”

then you thought of something brilliant

you took out your phone and googled “woah”, only to find that it wasn’t spelled w-o-a-h but instead meant to be w-h-o-a

you frowned but typed “whoa meaning” instead and showed the definition to kun

all the while still laying on the mahogany-coloured counter

to your surprise, he rolled his eyes, laughed and ruffled your hair

“that was a really bad joke but you’re lucky i have the same sense of humor” his laugh was infectious so you had to smile

then he asked, “are you okay? not too tired?”

sitting up, you put your phone back in your pocket

“nah, my arms just ache, but it’s fine.” your polite smile suddenly grew into a wide smirk. “thanks for worrying, mum”

“i’m not a mum!” his expression made you have the sudden urge to burst into endless chuckles

in the corner of your eye, you could see ten, doyoung and johnny elbowing each other, pointing at you and kun and singing “kiss the girl”

you then had the sudden urge to throw some hands

kun (obviously) overheard them and sighed

“why are they like this”

“i wish i knew”

you and kun talked some more, random topics like how uni was going for you, how his singing was, how your book was going, all that jazz

with some playful banter and the occasional jokes that made you laugh so hard your back hurt

“kun loving puns and dad jokes? a coincidence?”

“i only laugh at them to make you feel better!”

“gasp! how dare you!”

“only joking, y/n!”

while you two giggled, y/f/n suddenly turned to you and said, “i think yuta and i will be fine here…”

you stopped and looked back at them, concerned

“you sure?”

“we’ll just go sit with the boys over there-!” a hiccup. “-it’ll be fine!” then, it hit you

is this bitch trying to play matchmaker 

you grumbled “i’m not sure…” but then kun spoke up

“yeah, sure, that’s fine,” when you gave him a quizzical look, he added on, “as much as i don’t trust johnny, doyoung and ten, at least it’s not just the two of them?”

he phrased it as a question instead of a statement, his voice getting higher by each word spoken

you pondered over this

well, he’s not wrong

you exhaled in defeat, saying “fine, go ahead”

y/f/n grinned at you and gave a knowing wink before dragging yuta over to the three boys

two of whom were busy flirting to each other and the other one third wheeling

you raised your eyebrows up and down at them before turning back to kun, who was looking outside

“so,” you started, causing him to look at you, “are you sure you want yuta and y/f/n wreaking havoc with those three?” you nodded in the group’s direction

kun stayed silent for a bit, then said “yeah, i’m sure. it kinda looked like you needed a break from them.”

“true. there’s only so much you can take.” kun chuckled at that and looked outside again

it went silent, but in stark contrast to the vibe of the walk leading to the bar, it was very awkward

too awkward to handle

so you took the opportunity to debate with yourself whether or not you should study kun

damn what if he looks at me though i’m not really risking that

but how can you not look at him? and what’s there to talk about?

it’s not worth the embarrassment

look-

no

at-

no

him 

you were about to take a quick glance, but then kun spoke

“besides, i want to show you something”

once again, another puzzled look

“if you don’t mind, of course”

without another thought, you said “sure.”

“really? you’re okay with it?” you smiled at kun’s eagerness

“yeah, might as well, now that we don’t have anyone to watch over.” kun grinned and stood up, making sure to push in his chair (we love a polite king)

you two were about to walk out the door when you looked at a certain group three tables away from you

johnny and ten were still flirting and yuta and y/f/n were still laughing

but this time, doyoung wasn’t a third wheeler anymore, because a man who looked younger than him was having a somewhat civilised conversation with doyoung

you elbowed kun and made him look at them and made sure doyoung, johnny and ten saw you before both mouthing, “sha la la la la la my, oh, my~”

you took a mental screenshot of their faces before you and kun cackled your way out of the bar

12:47 am

“what are you planning on showing me?”

the two of you had been walking and talking for a while now, but kun still didn’t say what he was going to show you

you were waiting patiently, expecting him to eventually tell you, but you gave in

“it’s a surprise~” he said in a sing-song voice, which slightly irritated you

“i know that it’s at the docks, because that’s where we’re heading,” you gave him a light nudge with your arm. “so might as well tell me now!”

he stubbornly shook his head. “i refuse to tell you until you see it.”

pouting, you crossed your arms and muttered under your breath, “you’re lucky you’re adorable.”

to your relief, he didn’t hear you, because he laughed at your pout and pressed on

you lightly scoffed and picked up your pace so that you could walk alongside him

“can i at least have one clue?” you begged

“uh uh.”

“pleeeaaassee?” he looked at your hopeful smile and rolled his eyes

“fine,” you yelled “yes!” a little too loud, making people stare at you. “your clue is…

“...it’s big and sparkly.” you gave him a look showing that you weren’t impressed

“wow, kun, what a descriptive and totally-not-vague clue! i am sure to get it now!”

kun grumbled, “you sound like doyoung,” before remembering something

“don’t tell me the answer until we get there!” he quickly said, receiving yet another puzzled look. “so that i can give you the benefit of the doubt to make it all the more exciting! it’ll be fun!”

you in turn muttered, “well, you sound like y/f/n, and fine. i don’t wanna ruin the surprise. you look real enthusiastic about it too” he smiled gratefully before leaving you to do your thinking

thinking about that smile :)))))

damn his smile always gets me grrrrr

you pulled your mind away from kun’s personality and tried to think of a place with the clue “big and sparkly”

two came to your mind, the big ferris wheel and the big floating silver christmas tree out on the water

they’re both big and sparkly, but you couldn’t predict which one he was going to take you to

you were hoping the ferris wheel, but you just had to wait and see

“think of any places yet?” you jolted so hard, you threw your phone up accidentally

don’t worry, you caught it

kun looked at you, his eyebrows showing worry but his eyes glinting. “you okay?”

very nice going there y/n, how many more times will you mess up??

and my face feels like it’s on fire oh good lord 

“i’m fine, just got scared,” you had to take a breather before you put your phone in your pocket - where it should’ve been in the first place, but your dumb ass decided to hold it - and gave kun a thumbs up

he gave a thumbs up back and said, “surprised you didn’t scream.”

biting back a retort, you replied. “rude.” you sunk your hands deeper into your pockets. “and as for your question, yes, i did think of a place or two”

“good, because we’re getting close now”

you turned a corner and saw both the floating tree and the ferris wheel come into view

the ferris wheel carriages were lighting up one after the other, making it look like a loading symbol (great comparison there) from afar

a pretty and romantic loading symbol

while the christmas tree was dazzling, the rainbow lights getting brighter and dimmer like a pulsing star

while you two waited for the pedestrian light to turn green, kun said to you, “when we make it to the other side, make sure to close your eyes and keep them closed until i say so”

“let me guess, to ‘make it all the more exciting’?” he grinned and nodded

“yup”

you did as what he had told, closing your eyes and relying on kun to guide you the right way

“i swear to god if you push me off the pier i will drag you down with me”

“now you sound like ten, but don’t worry, i won’t,” he gently pushed you away from an upcoming obstacle. “thanks for thinking so highly of me.”

“no problem, mum” you grinned victoriously when you heard a heavy sigh

you knew you were close to the water when you smelled less alcohol and more salty sea water

“are we there yet?” you asked impatiently. you couldn’t be bothered to be patient anymore

kun said, “waaait,” and guided you a bit to the left. “there! now you can open your eyes.”

“finally, i was wondering when- holy shit.”

it wasn’t the ferris wheel that you were hoping that he’d show you, but it was something you decided was way more worth it

the floating silver christmas tree towered over you both, and it looked like it was the brightest and most colourful thing for kilometres (or miles, you choose)

coloured lines streamed down from the top to the bottom, like a very pink, purple and blue waterfall, while stage lights at the bottom smoothly changed from red to orange to yellow and more

it also reminded you of the windows screen when you used it for the first time (if that even makes sense?)

white light shone from beneath the many large stars decorating the tree, making them pop, and the wind revealed that the tree wasn’t made of smooth silver metal, but silver sequins that showed the water ripples and waves from below

the star at the top was the most intensely bright of them all, with a rainbow outline and a gold center

needless to say, it was pretty darn beautiful for a sight that would otherwise hurt your eyes

you stood there with your mouth wide open, looking like a pathetic fish, and almost missed what kun was saying

“i wasn’t sure if you would like the ferris wheel or the tree, but then i found out that the ferris wheel would be closed today, so i just chose this,” you felt his gaze shift onto you, and you tried not to get flustered. “do you like it?”

you took a moment before you spoke. “yes, i really like it a lot,” the view was that breathtaking it took away your ability to talk like a proper adult. you turned to him and gave a smile, trying to make it look as genuine as you could. “thanks for bringing me here, kun.”

he gave you an equally big grin and said, “you’re welcome. glad you like it too.” he turned back to look at the tree, and you did the same

but not without sneaking a glance at him in all his ethereal beauty

kun never failed to surprise you, whether it be showing you a very rainbow tree, being so kind and trusting or just being himself

your mind floated back to the three questions you had asked yourself earlier, “what will 2019 bring?”, “what will i be like at the end of the year?” and “will i be happy with someone?” and the new year’s resolution you made

you took another look at kun then whispered under your breath, “huh.

“guess i am on the way to completing one.”

#nct #nct dream #nct u #nct 127 #wayv #nct kun #nct qian kun #nct 2018 #nct 2019 #nct ot21 #nct ot18 #nct au #nct scenarios #nct fluff #nct angst #nct smut #reader #kun x reader #non idol au #fanfic #kpop

[kristallioness]

Blanket fever

Summary: Katara spends the morning in bed while Aang takes care of her.

Word count: 3,555

Author's note: A collaboration between me and @thecaroliner, which turned out really nice and fluffy (I hope!). She helped provide me with some headcanons for this story, along with the ideas I originally had and wanted to write this time. I imagine it takes place shortly after the events in "Imbalance". The ending is dedicated to this scene from "Call the Midwife", where Barbara passes away as Tom (her husband) and Phyllis (her best friend) recite a psalm. I happened to watch this episode the evening after I'd started writing this story and I knew that this would be a perfect ending. Except that Katara doesn't pass away, she just falls asleep in Aang's arms while he reads a book to her.

----------x----------

Katara turned on her other side, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The sun shined through the window of their temporary apartment, provided by the owner of Earthen Fire Industries, Lao Beifong himself. She propped herself up against the luxurious pillows to have a look outside.

"Brrr!"

She gritted her teeth and fell back in bed, pulling the blanket around herself like a cocoon. Her shivers had only gotten worse by the morning.

She noted the empty side of the bed next to her. Aang had probably got up a long time ago. Not to mention that from the short glance she managed, she'd spotted several nonbenders buzzing around outside the factory. What time was it anyway?

The door leading to their shared bedroom opened with a creak and her boyfriend tried to stumble inside as quietly as he could, all while walking backwards and carrying a tray of food. His face lit up once he spun around.

"Oh, Katara! You're awake."

"M-morning, Aang. What t-time is it? And h-how long did I sleep?"

He put the tray on the small nightstand next to their bed, then perched himself on the edge and scooted closer to her. She hummed when he combed a few loose strands of hair off her face and gave a peck on her temple. His presence alone helped her feel better.

"It's 10 in the morning-"

"Already!?" she panicked, almost wanting to jump out of bed. But his hands came to her shoulders to restrain her and calm her down.

"..and you slept for 12 hours. You seemed so poorly when I woke up early this morning, so I thought I'd let you get some rest."

Katara sighed and shut her eyes again in an attempt to block out the bright daylight shining through the window. She sensed his fingers caress her cheek and, shortly after, a much cooler palm landed on her forehead.

"You still have a fever."

"Really? What was your first clue?" she asked with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

"Let's see.. You're burning up, your cheeks are flushed.. I can see you shaking like a leaf underneath that blanket."

"Well, you don't look too hot yourself," she remarked, having noticed the slight bags under his eyes.

"That might be because I stayed up half the night watching you toss and turn and moan through your sleep."

Her face dropped.

"I.. I did? Oh, I'm so sorry, sweetie! I didn't mean to keep you up all night," she said, wriggling a hand out of the cocoon to grab his own and offer an apology. Aang chuckled, tucking her back in since he could see shivers run down her bare arm.

"That's okay, Katara. I couldn't sleep anyway. I was worried and wanted to keep an eye on you."

She smiled, sitting up for a second to let him fluff the pillows behind her back.

"Thanks! I appreciate it."

After he'd helped her lie back down in bed, Aang reached for the spoon and plate of jook, breathing on the steaming dessert to cool it down.

"I made you some jook for breakfast. I hope you like it."

He blew on each spoonful, adding a sliver of jam to the side before feeding it to her. Katara licked her lips clean of the sweet red jello, peeking at the center of the plate. He'd dropped a rather huge pile of it in the middle.

"Mmm! Is this strawberry jam?"

"Yeah, I figured that eating plain jook might make you sick, so I added some jam to make it even sweeter. Just like you."

She giggled when he pinched her cheek, after which she allowed him to feed her the rest of the rice porridge. Aang offered her a glass of cold, refreshing juice to drink.

"Can someone let me in, please?"

She quirked an eyebrow when she heard her brother's voice behind the door. Aang scurried across the room to pull it completely open so Sokka could enter. He carried a rather large basin filled with water inside and put it down near the foot of the bed.

"Here you go, sis!"

"Uhh, what's this for?" she wondered, pointing a finger towards the basin. Sokka snaked a hand around the airbender's neck.

"Aang asked me to boil some water on the kettle for your foot bath."

"But.. don't you remember what mom said? Wouldn't that make my fever worse?"

The boys shared a knowing look.

"Not if I control the temperature with my firebending. Sokka and I already thought about that. I won't let the water get too hot. So, you can take the bath as soon as you feel up for it and when your fever isn't rising.."

He ran his hand over her clammy forehead for a second. She wasn't visibly shaking under the sheets anymore.

"Which, I'd say, is right about now. What do you say, sweetie? Do you wanna take a foot bath?"

Katara nodded and let Aang grab her arms to help her sit up. She shifted closer to the basin near the edge of the bed while Sokka walked over and helped adjust the blanket so it'd cover her back and shoulders.

"Thanks!"

"You're welcome, sis. Oh, one more thing! I almost forgot to bring this.."

He pulled her comb out of his pocket and handed it into Aang's hands instead. When she tried to take it back, he wouldn't let her get her hands on it.

"Nuh-uh! Just sit back and enjoy the pampering, Katara. I wanna comb your hair today."

"Sweetie, I'm more than capable of combing my own hair. You don't have to do that-"

"But I want to. You're not feeling well and, as long as I'm here, I'm gonna do everything I can to ease your suffering."

She couldn't argue with that. She locked her arms around his waist and nuzzled her face into her boyfriend's tummy, letting out a content hum.

"And that's my cue to leave you two lovebirds alone."

She didn't pay attention to her brother's teasing until he stepped beside her, stroking her head a couple of times and whispering into her ear.

"I'll come check on you later, okay?"

"Sounds good, Sokka," she murmured to him in a similarly caring tone, after which he really left the two of them alone.

Katara leaned forward and dipped a finger into the water before she felt certain that she could carefully lift her feet in there, too.

"Is it hot enough?"

She lowered them into the water bit by bit, supporting her heels against the bottom of the basin first, then letting the rest of the sole in and finally her toes as well. She sighed in relief.

"Yeah, my feet just need to get used to it."

Aang sat next to her and scooted closer to help her freshen up. She let him pull the beads off her hair loopies and unclip the clip holding the rest of her hair together on the back. It wasn't serving its purpose after such a rough night's sleep. Her brown locks were all over the place.

She pulled the blanket tighter around herself, making sure that her bare arms would remain covered with it while Aang worked on untangling some knots. She never understood how he could run the comb through her hair so smoothly. And he was much more patient with handling knots than she was on a bad hair day. Was it in his nature to be careful with these kind of things, because he was afraid of hurting her if he pulled too hard?

"Do you need me to heat up the water now? It's been a few minutes since we started."

She stirred the nearly lukewarm water around with her feet.

"Yes, but how are you gonna do that?"

"Keep your feet apart and tell me when to stop."

Aang took a deep breath and, as soon as she'd spread her legs to either side of the basin, he puffed out a stream of steam in the center. Katara let him go on for a couple of more seconds before it became unbearable.

"Okay, that's enough!"

Once the remaining steam had cleared, she met her reflection in the still water. She watched Aang's fingers dance through strands of her hair near her temples with the utmost care. He curled a thicker bunch around his finger to slip the bead through it, forming both hair loopies that way. He brought them together at the back of her head and fastened them with the clip.

Her attention turned back to her own reflection when he began brushing her loose hair as a finishing touch. Her fever had fallen, but she could spot a faint tint of red on her cheeks. Her baggy eyes from the restless night seemed even worse than his. She really did look terrible.

"Don't worry, Sokka's gonna cover for us in the council today.. Want me to heat it up again?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. One more time. I don't wanna keep my feet in for too long when I'm feverish."

Aang did like she asked, then placed her comb on the nightstand and got up from bed.

"I'm gonna go get you some clean water, and a towel for drying your feet. Do you need anything else?"

"No, thanks, sweetie. I'm good."

He hurried out of the room for a minute to fetch the stuff he'd prepared. Katara stirred the warm water with her feet while she still could in the meantime. She had to pause for a moment when a sudden coughing fit hit her. Great, now she was developing a cough, too.

"Katara? Did you say something?" the airbender exclaimed from the corridor.

"Nah! It was just a cough," she answered as he returned to his seat beside her, tossing the towel on the mattress.

"You weren't coughing before."

"I guess I must be getting sicker," she shrugged.

"Well, in that case, I just have to take care of you twice as good."

He planted a kiss in her hair to cheer her up, then held a bowl filled with water in front of her nose.

"Here, you can wash your face with this. Maybe it'll help you feel a little better."

Katara heeded his advice, splashing her face with the cold water to clean every inch. She paid extra attention to the corners of her mouth, still sticky from the jam she'd licked off earlier. She patted her cheeks and wiped her forehead several times to help bring her fever down.

Aang handed her the towel once she was done, waiting until she dried her face and then both her feet. While she was busy, he reached inside his sash and revealed a pair of yellow woollen socks.

"I brought you something, too."

"The socks I knit for you during our first winter together as a couple? Aww, sweetie! You shouldn't have.."

He squatted down and grabbed her left foot first, still red from staying in the burning water for so long, and helped her pull them on her bare feet.

"It took me a while to find them among our luggage on Appa's saddle. But I thought these would be perfect for keeping your feet warm after the hot bath. At least that's what Sokka said that you should do."

"He's right."

Katara wiggled her toes in her new fuzzy footwear, admiring the familiar patterns she'd spent hours working on. Aang grabbed her shoulders and coaxed her back into bed.

"And now, bed rest. Healer's orders."

"Who's the healer around here?" she asked with a sly smile while he flipped the blanket over and tucked her in with the dry side.

"You are. But Sokka also said that you should stay in bed and cool down after a foot bath."

She pouted, knowing far too well that her brother was right again. That was the way her mother used to treat colds when she was a little girl.

"Besides, I'm not going anywhere. Next up, a mandatory cuddling session!"

"A what now?" she barely uttered before Aang was already climbing into the bed and snuggling up to her left side.

She started laughing when his arms snaked around her torso, unintentionally tickling her near her ribs. But her own hands moved along a trail she'd treaded several times before, enveloping him in her embrace so naturally once they'd both settled down.

"Are you cosy?"

"Yeah, except that my feet are itching like crazy," she claimed, rubbing them against each other to fight the tingling sensation. It wasn't helping much.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Katara, but could you stay still for a minute? Maybe two?"

"Why?"

"I wanna check how bad that cough of yours is, but I can't concentrate if you're fidgeting."

"Oh, let me help you out a little.."

Aang obliged by lifting his head so she could tug at the straps of her lilac tunic, slipping them over her shoulders to bare her skin a bit more. She helped guide his right ear back onto her chest, above her heart, to be exact.

"Is this better?"

She took the silence, along with the approving hum and nod, as a 'yes' and remained quiet for a while. Her fingers traced a path across the wrinkles of his sash, over the hump of his shoulder, up his neck and stopped on his warm cheek. She tilted her head to get a better look at his face.

"Aang?.. I think you might've caught my fever."

"What makes you say that?"

"You're blushing."

At first, she started giggling when he patted his cheek to check. But then her giggling turned into a coughing fit and she had to take a moment to catch her breath.

"Sorry! I'll stay quiet now.."

He smiled at that. Aang laced his fingers with her own, resting their entwined hands in front of his lips to give hers a gentle kiss. Katara sensed how he slowly let go, sliding his hand down to her wrist and softly pressing two fingers into her skin to take her pulse.

"How is it?" she whispered, tenderly running her free hand over his head.

"Do you want an honest answer?"

"Mhmm," she said, nodding.

"Okay. Even though you have a cough, you're still a pretty good airbender."

She chuckled.

"Is that your way of saying that my breathing is okay?"

"Yes. It's even, you're not gasping for air.. I don't see anything wrong with your breathing. At least nothing worth worrying about for now."

"What about here?" she wondered, slipping a finger under his chin and scratching near the spot where his ear was pressed to her chest. The tickling made the airbender laugh.

"Your heart has a nice little beat to match your pulse."

Katara released another short giggle as Aang laid his hand on top of hers, pressing it flat against her chest. She became a lot more self-conscious when she could feel her heart flutter against her palm.

"You're right. It's going pretty fast. Probably because of the fever."

"True. But it's strong, like a shield protecting a warrior from blows during a battle. It's steady like a Southern Water Tribe boat sailing through sea during a calm, swayed in the rhythm of the slow waves.."

"Oh, Aang.."

"But most importantly, it's full of love.. and kindness.. and compassion.. and hope. I can hear it. It's kind of contagious."

Katara kissed Aang's head while he listened to her chest and poured her over with compliments. Her hands locked around him and gave him a good squeeze.

"Mmm.. Thank you, sweetie. That means a lot."

"You're welcome, Katara. Do you know what would make this morning even better?"

"No.. what?"

He propped himself up on his elbow and planted a kiss above her heart, pulling the straps of her tunic back up on her shoulders. She hummed as he rolled over and reached for the top drawer of the nightstand, shuffling inside until he picked up a book.

"Something to read."

"Where'd you get that?"

"I found it on the bookshelf in the living room. It's a book about legends from hundreds of years ago," Aang said as he fluffed two of his pillows before he sat up a bit and snuggled up to Katara's side again, locking one arm around her to hold her close.

"I started reading this one story last night when I couldn't sleep and waited until you weren't so restless anymore."

"What's it about?" she wondered, lacing her fingers with his on her shoulder and nuzzling the side of her face against his chest.

"This particular story talks about some sort of an all-powerful spirit who befriended a human. I don't know what happens in the end since I fell asleep halfway through. Would you like me to read it to you?"

"Yes, please," she murmured. Aang gave her a kiss on her sweaty temple and began flipping through the pages to find the place where he left off last time.

"Okay, here it is.. Over the span of a year, the all-powerful spirit walked the same path as the human. She followed him everywhere he went, to all the four corners of the world. Just so you know, the spirit's supposed to be a woman and the human was a young man."

"Mmm.." Katara merely hummed, letting him continue after he'd clarified.

"She learned about the ways of human beings, of their darkest desires and lightest dreams. Being so close to one, she saw far more than any other spirit ever could.

She witnessed the beginning of life and the joy of a young child's laughter. The hardship of love and the fortune that came from starting a family. The great sorrow of a mortal's spirit coming to an end in their world and passing on to her own realm. One might say the all-powerful spirit lived through an entire lifetime of a human in just a year.."

Katara let out a quiet yawn and closed her eyes, pricking up her ears until slumber would eventually conquer her.

"..The human she was travelling with stumbled upon communities who proved to her how they could overcome times of crisis if they worked together. How well humans could protect each other, others around them and preserve their natural surroundings at the same time. Destruction and rebuilding worked hand in hand. She felt their inner struggles and took pride when justice prevailed.

In time, her black-and-white prejudice of their species had completely blurred into different shades of grey. There was never an easy solution to any kind of problem that the humans had to face. Much like the spirits, who had shared this world with them for centuries.."

Aang paused when he felt Katara's hand slip out of his and fall down onto her tummy. She could sense him staring at her, pondering whether he should say something or not.

"Katara?"

"Hmm?" she hummed in return, but she didn't open her eyes to look at him.

"Are you sleeping?"

"Almost."

He decided not to bother her anymore and let her get some rest. He dropped the book in his lap and caressed her slightly less flushed cheek with the back of his hand, waiting for her to fall asleep.

Katara didn't say another word for the rest of the morning, after she'd whispered her last request.

"Keep reading. I like listening to your voice. It's so.. serene. And soothing."

And he did. Aang grinned and kissed the top of her head, then tucked her under the blanket so she wouldn't feel cold.

Provided she didn't start shivering again and more beads of sweat formed on her face, he felt sure that her fever wasn't rising. He dipped the towel into the bowl of leftover cold water and pressed the damp spot against her forehead every now and again, which helped keep her temperature down.

He picked up the book and continued reading until he finished the story of this legend, long after she'd fallen asleep in his arms, her mild snores being the only sound that accompanied his voice.

"..And as long as the all-powerful spirit was within him, he didn't need to fear no evil. Because she was his protector. She became a part of his conscience, shining her guiding light towards peace and harmony, helping him return balance to the world.

She was his inner fire when he needed the energy to accomplish his goals. She was his breath of fresh air when he was struggling to find his way out of the smoke. She was his ocean that helped him drift to shore when he felt like drowning in worries. She was his steady rock when his entire world came crashing down.

To defend her was to give him strength. To love her was to give him breath. Through years of training and practising the four bending disciplines, the all-powerful spirit and human formed an unbreakable bond and they could never ever be separated again.

The ancients have spoken her name, but it has since been lost in history books. Now, the human, who shall forever carry her along within their soul from one lifetime to another, is the sole reminder of her existence in our mortal world. The great bridge between humans and spirits. The Avatar."

#the original Gaang #Kataangtag #Kataang #Aang #Katara #Sokka #ATLA #Imbalance #my fanfiction #mine #shards of Kristal

[geekydane]

More than a machine - Connor x reader - part 12

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3 •  Part 4 •  Part 5 •  Part 6 • Part 7 • Part 8 • Part 9 • Part 10   • Part 11 

Smoke. Fire.

You woke up in a panic. In your half-awake half unconscious state you could distinguish the smell of fire around you. You could feel something heavy on your head and the pain in your injured shoulder. Then came the rest of your senses and you gasped when the first big breath was filled with smoky air.

“Calm down. It’s alright.” Connor said very close to you as you scanned the ceiling you were facing. No fire. You turned your head to look straight up at Connors face. It was a mix of many emotions, which you thought might be hard on him. It was all new to him. But in between all those emotions were the calm and relieve when your eyes met. First then you registered that the heaviness on your head, was Connors hand, his thumb slowly caressing your hairline. Your head was placed in his lap that felt nothing less than human. You didn’t want to look away from Connor but you released your gaze to look around at your dimly lit surroundings.

“Where are we?” You asked drily. You were thirsty and tried to sit up, but Connor pressed a hand against your stomach to make you stay down.

“Please be still. You are hurt and people are out looking for supplies. We found an abandoned building, so we are safe for now. I do believe it was once a church.” Connor looked around and you did too. The little you could see showed that he was right. The old mosaic windows were shattered but the pieces left in the frames were shimmering in a multi-coloured light. The main light source was a few barrels with fires crackling inside them. That might be why it all smelled wet and burned.

“Is someone getting supplies for me? Why?” You asked and coughed lightly.

“You have helped a lot of people here. It’s not something they forget easily. They will be back soon.” Connor explained and a hint of a smile played on his lips before thought took over him.

“Look. She’s awake now.” A small voice said and you looked passed the barrel a few meters away from you. A woman with short black hair with a little girl in her arms were looking and smiling your way. You tried your best to smile back.

“Alice was worried when they carried you in here. She was about to give you her jacket, but I told her it was too small.” The woman said and squeezed the girl, Alice, into her side.

“That’s very thoughtful of you. But you need it yourself.” Alice looked shyly away. The conversation let to so many new questions. How long were you out? You looked down at yourself and realized that you weren’t wearing the same clothes that you did when you went to Jericho. And Connors sweatshirt was laid over you as a blanket.  You studies Connor face as he was looking you over with a wondering look. You took in his whole appears without the sweatshirt and realized that the T-shirt he was wearing was very discoloured around his shoulder. It took you a moment to piece out that it was blue blood in the dark.

“Connor, are you hurt?” You asked him worried. You lifted your hand to reach for his face but he took your hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I’m alright. A former nurse android took care of it with what we got. It’s not perfect but it stopped the bleeding.” Connor took your hand to his mouth and kissed your knuckles.

“Was it Lucy?” You asked hopefully.

“Sadly, she didn’t make it.” A voice came from beside you and you turned your head to see Markus standing there. His clothes were ripped and bloody, but he was very much alive.

“Markus.” You didn’t know what to say. He had suffered such a great lose as the leader of Jericho. You couldn’t imagine what he would do next.

“I’m glad to see you are awake.” He said to you and then looked at Connor. Connor looked horrible. As if the sight of Markus reminded of all the death you all had seen in your escape.

“It was my fault. The humans managed to locate Jericho. I was so stupid. I should have known they were using me.” He said and he almost sounded like he was about to cry. His voice was all mushy.

“Connor you weren’t fully deviant. Don’t’ do this to yourself.” You pleaded.

“No, Stop!” Connor said and shook his head. He let go of your hand and carefully lifted your head off his lap to get up. You felt cold when your head rested against the hard surface of the church bench. You kept quiet as you Connor approached Markus with his head hanging low.

“I can understand if you decide not to trust me…” Connor began and it made you sit up straight even though you felt a throbbing pain in your injured shoulder.

“You are one of us. Your place is with your people.” Markus reassured him before Connor could doubt himself even more. It made Connor relax and he reached out for you again as if he was again allowed to me near you. You took his hand in a heartbeat.

“There are thousands of androids at the Cyberlife assembly plant. If we could wake them up, they might join us and shift the balance of power.” Connor said with more confidence in his voice.

“You want to infiltrate the Cyberlife tower?” Markus asked with a serious expression. You then realized what Connor was about to offer. You tugged a little in his arm.

“No Connor, that’s suicide!” You protested.

“They still trust me. They’ll let me in. If anyone has a chance of infiltrating Cyberlife, it’s me.”

“If you go there… They’ll kill you.” Markus warned him but Connor didn’t even flinch.

“There is a high probability… But statistically speaking, there’s always a chance for unlikely events to take place.” You closed your eyes at Connors word. Your whole body slumbered and drained from the little energy you had left. You let go of his hand, because he was about to leave again. Markus didn’t say anything, but stepped forward and patted Connor on the shoulder and left.

Connor sad down next to you, but you closed yourself off by pulling your legs up on the bench and rested your head on your knees.

“Y/n.” Connor tried but you shook your head. You were already crying and you didn’t want to show him. It was not the time to show weakness but you couldn’t help it. The thought of him losing his life when he just realized he was alive? No, you didn’t want to think about it.

“Y/n look at me.” He tried again. You felt his hand on your cheek as he tried to turned your face towards him. You let him and you saw the hurt in his eyes, when he realized you were crying.

“Connor… I just got you. You know I would do anything for the androids to be free… But I just got you.” You said and an uncontrollable sob escaped your lips. He reached around your shoulders, careful not to tug at your injury. He pulled you into him and you let your guards down so you could rest your head against his chest.

“Y/n, you will always have me. There is nothing more I want than to be around you all the time, to be a part of your life. But it is impossible until we are free. I need to do this. It’s the only way.” It was not much louder than a whisper in your ear, but this was a private moment. You didn’t need anyone else around the fire to hear your sorrows.

“I love you Connor. You should know that. I knew from the moment I saw you, that you were special. You might not know entirely what love is yet. But I’m determined to show it to you. So please come back to us as fast as possible.” You looked up at him and were surprised by the huge grin on Connors face. You had never seen him with such a sincere smile before. You let your hand wander over the perfect features of his face. The jaw, the chin, the dimples, the cheekbones.

“I will look forward to experience these… feelings, even though I think I have a good idea about what you are talking about. I’ll be back as quickly as possible. Wait for me and get well.” You nodded and in the next moment he crashed him lips against yours. It was a eager kiss, like he had been holding back for a long time. He tangled his fingers in your hair as you returned the passion you were met with. You tasted salt and realized that you were crying again.  You didn’t want the moment to end but it did. Right when the thought strike you, Connor had gotten up and was on his way toward the exit of the church. He stopped when Josh rushed the other way. He said something to the android and Josh nodded, looking in your direction. And then Connor was gone.

“I got you some food and water. Oh, and I found bandage to replace the cloth around your wound.” Josh said and placed a plastic bag in front of you. You had forgotten about your wound for a moment. The hurt had been pushed to something that wasn’t physical.

“Connor said I should take care of you. You should drink something. I’m afraid you are close to dehydration.” He said a little worried. You tried away your tears and took the water bottle that Josh pulled out of the bag.

“Thanks Josh.”

__________________________________

tags: @vda-writes @mundane-cup-noodles @superanonymousreader @aya-fay @dragonempress123 @talle-2002 @jamiethenerdymonster @i-resent-this-hellsite @i-do-wat-i-want @syrinxgm@queerfandomtrash @missjayi @belleknows @veerniks @dylan-o-yumm @wonderlustedchild@cliche-female-protagonist @omegachizu @black-and-white-eyes

#detroit #detroit become human #detroit being human #detroit become connor #detroit become human fan fiction #connor #connor x reader #connor imagine #connor army #Hi my name is Connor #fanfiction #Connor fanfiction #Connor fanfic #deviant #Deviants #rk800 #connor rk800

[olivia-studies-neuroscience]

Tips for a Carleton University Science Student

Textbooks

Don’t by used books until you’re sure that you don’t need an access code for a homework website 

If you need a $200 chemistry textbook that comes with the access code, and you buy the book used, you’ll probably only get the book for as cheap as $50 at a used quality, and the access code on its own is usually $150 anyway, so you’re actually losing out rather than saving by buying used books; buy books new if you need the access code with it

Make sure you actually need the textbook before buying it, if you look in the syllabus and there’s only one reading, you probably don’t need to shell out $100 for it

Email the prof if the textbook information hasn’t been provided for you ahead of the class and you want to get ahead in your readings 

Sometimes you can buy a previous edition for cheaper than the most recent and the prof is usually cool with this; the homework questions are different but the profs often have sample ones to give from the old textbook as well as the new, and important figures you need for the midterm/exam you can get from a friend with the newer version of the textbook

Carleton students: go to Haven Books instead of the Campus Book Store 

Be careful when looking for used books, not everyone is trustworthy to buy from, especially if you’re buying from someone on the Facebook used book group

Always flip through the textbook to make sure there aren’t any chunks of pages missing, and if it truly isn’t highlighted like said in the ad; check if there are separate booklets that usually come with the textbook when bought new and make sure you get those too

Try and bargain with the seller, often upper year students are just trying to get rid of their old books and if you ask for a lower price they will probably say yes

LOOSELEAF textbooks are the best!!!! They save you like $50-100 and all you have to do is buy a binder for like $10 (you need a sturdy one for heavy textbooks like for biology) 

Don’t open the plastic until you’re 10000% positive you have the right textbook (and make sure you have the one that comes with the access code if you need one for the class) because you can’t return it once opened (except if you return it as a used book)

If there is an electronic copy available and you can (legally) print it, do it! Being able to highlight it and hold it in your hands while waiting for the midterm hall doors to open is (in my opinion) better than just having it saved to your desktop 

Rent textbooks through the campus book store 

The (Carleton) library has a reserve section that has textbooks that you can borrow for a few hours (while still in the library) so you don’t have to buy them; however, not all prof’s put their textbooks on reserve and there aren’t endless copies so someone else may have it when you want to read it 

Take good care of your textbooks so you can sell them next year

Sell them back to students rather than the bookstore so you can get more money to help pay for your textbooks for the new year 

It’s harder to sell the books with highlighting and marking in them so an alternative is to use sticky notes in your book (a little costly if you want nicely coloured ones and such but pretty and keeps the textbook pristine)  

Personally, I use pencil because I can just underline important bits, which I actually find makes me engage in the material more than highlighting, and I could erase it to sell it again (instead I’m just giving the books to my sister next year so she gets them free, lucky her, lol!)

A word on e-books: they expire after the course is over, so you can’t sell them after and if you failed the course/want to re-take it to improve your grade, you have to buy the text again 

If you have friends taking the class with you, split the cost of the book with them!

Picking Classes

The Carleton Central website is not user friendly at all. I hated every minute I had to use it when I first accepted my offer; to combat this: I suggest going on the website and feeling around it to get used to it and figure out where all the important links are before going on it to set stuff up 

Set up your school email as soon as possible because if you have any issues figuring out how to use the website to set up residence/meal plan/etc. you can ask for help, but no one will answer your emails if they’re not from your Carleton email (this is for privacy reasons, they’re not trying to be difficult) 

At Carleton, you can set up your timetable in advance of when you actually have to register for classes; do this as soon as the opportunity arises because the classes fill up fast on registration day and you don’t want to still be figuring out which section and time and everything when you need to just click the “register” button and be done with it 

Speaking of registration, you will receive a time-slot based on your student number/last name (I forget which) so don’t worry too much about classes filling up before you get your chance 

If a class required for your program fills up before your time-slot opens don’t panic yet; several classes have online sections where they live stream the lecture and you can watch it that way, and if the regular section is full then you’ll just have to register in the online section.

You can still go to class rather than watching it online, and most people do this; my chemistry class had people sitting on the stairs and on the floor at the front of the lecture hall for the first two weeks before people decided if they’d rather watch online or in the lecture hall; the only thing this really affects is where you write your mid-terms and exams, and if you complete your teaching-evaluations in-class, or online

I hate to break this to you, but if you’re in a science program, having one day completely free in first year is not a reality (if you get one please tell me how). I can almost 100% guarantee that you will have lectures every day

Mental Heath & Self-Care

Allow yourself mental health days where you can skip your classes to recover without feeling guilty about it

Don’t take classes at 8:30am if possible, even if you’re a morning person, you will regret it

Especially don’t take 8:30 labs because you can’t miss those without a doctors note

Don’t pull all-nighters in the library when its open 24 hours during exams. Go home. Shower. Eat real food instead of just snacks you brought to the library with you. SLEEP. IN YOUR OWN BED

Try not to fall into that hole of all-nighters where you start rewarding yourself for completing an assignment with a shower or something that’s a basic necessity. You shouldn’t put getting work done above taking care of yourself, no matter how important the assignment or lab report

TAKE BREAKS. It’s okay every once in a while studying, you don’t have to just curl up with a textbook in some corner of the library and study it until your hair falls out, you’ll remember more anyway if you allow your brain some time to absorb the information (trust me, I’m here learning to be a neuroscientist)

Fun fact: you can cry from any emotion. Why is this relevant in a list of tips for new university students? Because you will probably get overwhelmed at some point and cry, and crying is good for you, and also natural. Emotions are chemical levels in your brain and your body is constantly trying to maintain homeostasis (equilibrium, balance, etc.); if your brain notices that there is a lot (or too much) of once chemical, it will try and get rid of it. One way to do this is to package up those chemicals all nice and neat into tears and flush them out. (hint: this is why we feel better after crying, because those emotions were essentially “cried out”). So don’t try and hold everything in because you don’t want your family or new friends to know you’re struggling, because not only is it okay to cry, but your friends are likely just as overwhelmed and your family must know how hard you’re working and how hard school is. You can cry because you’re overwhelmed or because you’re happy or because you watched a wonderful movie (e.g. Moana) and all this means is that you are beautifully and wonderfully human! (pro tip: drink water after crying)

Keep a clean room; I know this sounds annoying but it will help clear your mind and give you a healthy study space. Coming home from a long day of classes and labs to a messy room might only make you more stressed

Drink some water you fool

Naps are cool as heck

Instead of making a competition out of how high your stress levels are, brag about feeling whole and at peace (and if you aren’t, pretend until you believe it)

If you have anxiety, cut out caffeine from your life (even if you don’t have anxiety this is a good idea to do) (I know some really good caffeine-free teas)

Don’t beat yourself up about not getting everything done, just do your best to get as much done as you can (sometimes, mental illness means your best is only doing one of your two assigned readings, this is okay)

One of the biggest lies you will be told in your life is “don’t half-ass anything”; waiting around for the day where you can do absolutely everything you need to do when you have a mental illness or even if you’re still getting adjusted to your new responsibilities as a university student (and adjusting doesn’t just take a few days or weeks, it’s a continual process) is silly, that day may never come. Do as much as your illness permits you to do. If all you can do is make your bed while the rest of your room is a mess, just make your bed. If all you can do is type the heading for your resume, just do that. If all you can do is put the papers for your taxes in a pile, do that, and take a shower or rest. You don’t have to do everything at once, it is okay to just do a little bit

There are 5 things to ask yourself if you’re feeling particularly yucky and don’t know why:

Have I eaten anything substantial recently? Eat an apple or go to the school cafeteria/make something at home

Have I had anything to drink? Grab a bottle of water

Have I slept a decent amount in the last 24 hours, and in the days before that? Take a nap

Have you engaged in any exercise or movement recently? Go for a walk

Have I spoken to anyone at all in the last while? Text or call a friend/family member

Essentially: eat, drink, sleep, walk, and talk

The pomodoro technique is lifeeeee!!!!! Study for 20 minutes or so and then take a break, then repeat (after about three sessions, reward yourself with a longer break than before); if you can’t focus, this is a great way to get a little bit of work done

If you have an IOS device, I recommend the app Tide

Residence & Meal Plans

Apply for residence as soon as possible because although most schools guarantee an offer for first years, they really only mean before the deadline and after that you’ll be on a waitlist. If you get off the waitlist and get a room offer, it probably won’t be in one of the buildings with air conditioning, an elevator, or windows that actually open

If you plan on having a job while at school, you can ask to be in a residence building that remains open over the holidays (this does cost extra though, and for some reason, despite this being an option at Carleton, and that you’re not allowed a hot plate or other cooking device in traditional style rooms; virtually all the places to eat on campus are closed for the entire winter break, including the caf)

On holidays and reading week, the caf closes like, 2 hours early, this sucks. More times than I’d like to admit, I forgot it was a holiday and went to go get dinner at my usual time to find the doors were locked and it didn’t open again until 7:30 the next morning, with literally every other food place closed for the holiday, Mr. Noodles was the only option remaining. Don’t do this to yourself, please

At Carleton you have to rent mini-fridges through a company with the school called coldex 

The prices aren’t bad and you can always split with your roommate if you’re in a double room

A bonus of this is that if you order it before a certain date, the fridge will already be in your room when you arrive on move-in day

I haven’t heard of people sneaking in their own and what happens if the school finds out, but I still wouldn’t recommend bringing your own (you don’t want to have to hide a whole mini-fridge when inspections come around)

Move-in day is hectic 

Arrive as soon as possible to get it out of the way so you can start exploring campus, check out the cafeteria, and go to some events for frosh week

There are volunteers to help you bring your stuff up to your room so no need to bring your entire extended family (unless you want them all there, of course)

If you have prescriptions of any kind, then switch your pharmacy to the on-campus one and write down the hours somewhere

A few words on the dorms:

Most of the desks have a built-in lamp so don’t buy a desk lamp before you know if you need one

They also have a push-pin board so bring pins to hang your pictures and class schedule

Christmas lights go a long way to making the place more home-y 

Buy a coat rack that goes over the front door, and one of those shoe organizers to go over the bathroom door and fill it with all kinds of things 

 Bring lots of storage bins 

Buy one of those fabric shower caddies that go over the shower head so you can all keep your soap organized in the bathroom (the showers don’t have very much shelf space and it can be a pain to carry all your soap in and out, especially when it’s all wet from your shower 

The room should come with a garbage and recycling bin, but might not have one for the bathroom as a heads up 

Act like your parents are visiting once a week and tidy everything up

Labs

If you are a science or engineering student, you will definitely have labs, lots if you’re in science 

Most labs (i.e. chemistry and physics) are every two weeks, and sometimes they have a tutorial on the opposite week (chemistry doesn’t, you just have an empty three-hour slot on one week). 

Biology labs at carleton are every week, going from experimental labs one week to analytical labs the next week (sometimes theres a computer simulation lab the week before the experimental, so in that case the lab topic spans three weeks) 

You will usually have two weeks to write your lab report and then hand it in at the beginning of your next lab session, but sometimes they only give you one week (this is good and bad at the same time) DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE NIGHT BEFORE TO WRITE A FORMAL LAB REPORT

They take at least 6 hours to write and thats once you get the hang of it and 6 hours will probably still only get you an 80%

Informal lab reports (write-ups) you can probably get away with doing the nigh before but don’t be surprised if you get a 60% with only that much work put into it

Don’t forget to do the lab assignments online, they are usually worth a lot towards your grade for that lab (even if you do the multiple choice quiz real quick before the lab starts, it’s better than nothing) 

Go to the Science Store as early as possible to buy your lab coat, glasses, notebook, and manual, the lines are crazy long 

You can’t buy an older version of the lab manual to use for a new lab session, they won’t let you and if they find out you’re using an older version of the manual, they could decide to give you zero on everything. They change little things so you might end up doing the wrong thing in your experiment which can be very bad if its a chemistry lab for example.  

If you don’t know something, or are unsure, ask the TA. Even if you’re mostly sure, ask the TA. Most labs are designed to take exactly there hours if you do everything correctly the first time, so if you do something wrong, you can end up rushing to finish before the lab ends 

THEY WILL NOT LET YOU STAY LATE TO FINISH YOUR LAB 

If you do happen to finish your lab early, instead of leaving as soon as the TA signs you out, do some calculations you’ll need for the report, you will thank yourself sooooo much later I’m not even exaggerating. One time I started them at the end of my lab and then forgot about it and you better believe there were tears of joy in my eyes when I opened up my lab notebook to start the report later and saw that I had already started 

Decorate your lab coat!!! Spice it up!! Spell your name in the periodic table across the back, cover it in sharpie! Put your favourite science joke on the pocket! Have fun! 

Roommates

Roommates can be a blessing or a curse; if they’re a curse, switch to another room as soon as possible

If you can’t stand your roomate, then you’re only going to be more stressed when you’re at home on top of all the stresses of your new life as a university student, and that’s not good

All roommates and canmates have to sign a roommate agreement once you’ve settled in

A canmate is someone living in the room that adjoins your bathroom (most Rez buildings are designed with two rooms sharing a bathroom)

Reach out to your roommate once you’ve been told who they are so that you can meet up before move-in day if possible to get to know each other, get each other’s phone number 

If you’re thinking of renting a mini-fridge, see if your roommate wants to split the cost of one so you can share! 

Consider buying a silent alarm (its basically a watch that vibrates to wake you up instead of ringing) and earplugs so that you don’t have to wake each other up if one of you has an 8:30 while the other doesn’t have class until noon 

Make sure you both agree with the decisions made in your roommate agreement, don’t agree to anything that you’re not comfortable with. 

Remember that its just as much your room as theirs, and vice versa 

Understand that dorm rooms are small, so don’t be afraid to voice your preferences and concerns; communication is key and it keeps everyone happy

Try to be understanding; don’t give your roommate a hard time about something they have no control over 

When it comes to alcohol or other substances, be open and honest about what is okay and what isn’t

Officially you’re only allowed 2 guests per roommate in the room at once (so 6 total), but unless you’re being loud and disrupting the whole floor, nobody is going around and policing it 

As with room capacity, there is a set limit on how many times you can have overnight guests, but nobody is really counting (except maybe your roommate) 

Definitely give each other a copy of your class schedule 

Some people like to leave their door open so that you can go in and meet them, it may be awkward but you should totally go for it! Most people are really shy and won’t go in, but you can still leave your door open too 

Go to floor meetings (officially they are kind of required) to meet people, and also because they usually provide snacks or participation prizes (I won a $10 Tims card at my first meeting) 

If you’re going to come home at 3AM drunk with friends after a night of bar hopping in Quebec, then get a single room 

Your roommate doesn’t want to wake up to the sound of you kissing your S.O. 

Do the dishes as soon as you can, don’t let them fester and grow old because you hate washing dishes in the tiny sink Don’t snoop, we all have things we like to keep to ourselves

 If you’re going to hook up with someone in the room while your roommates away, make sure they’re not going to come back early. And don’t forget to dead-bolt the door and lock the bathroom so they don’t go through the canmates room thinking their key card is just broken 

Share emergency information with each other; do you have a history of seizures that they should be aware of? Any allergies like peanuts so they know not to keep peanut butter in the room? And if you’re unconscious being sent to the hospital, whom should they call?

Always use headphones/earbuds. Even if your roommate has the same taste in music or likes the same movies/TV shows, wear them for the love of all that is good in the world. Get a headphone splitter if you want to watch a movie with a friend on your laptop.

Meeting New People

Academic orientation day was honestly the best time for me to make friends; everyone I talked to that day was either in my faculty or a related program (if not the same program as me). My closest friend now is a girl I met on academic orientation day who’s in my program, and we got to study for all our classes together and since we had such similar schedules, we had the same blocks of free time to hang out.

Make friends with people in your program. You can keep each other on track with your studies, explain concepts to each other, quiz each other, work on assignments together, and so many more things; you can hang out and study at the same time which is a really great thing

If you have friends from high school going to the same university as you, but in a program nothing like yours, then you’re probably going to have a hard time finding space in both your schedules to hang out. Make the best effort you can to hang out anyway

You know those people you can see rolling their eyes at you from the corner of your eye? Don’t make friends with them. They don’t have your back and they don’t care enough to listen to you when you’re talking about your personal struggles. Don’t waste time on someone who wouldn’t give their time to you

disclaimer: the information provided here is based mainly on my experiences as a neuroscience student at Carleton University, as well as from other sources that I looked at for ideas on what else to add here. 

#carleton university #Carleton #unoversity #unoversity tips #carleton tips #carleton university tips #science student #tips for science students #science students #science student tips #student tips #studyblr #science studyblr #textbooks #textbook tips #roommates #roommate tips #lab tips #science lab tips #labs #science labs #residence #university residence #college dorms #university dorms #meal plans #residence meal plans #mental health #mental health at university #student mental health

[ourreferences02]

seventy-three questions

I guess this is like if some random person wanted to interview my kids, idk. Ignore how some things capitalized on their own, ik it’s very annoying. not to mention, I didn’t bold or italicize anything. there’s too many words in this post it would take too much time, sorry. have fun reading all of this

q: what’s your favorite movie you’ve seen in the past month?

Richard: Richard peter Johnson. it’s about me. for sure.

bella: to the bone. I forget if they have a trigger warning. I don’t know, I liked it.

calum: john wick. there’s a lot of cool stuff

leia: frozen and moana!!!

q: favorite animal?

Richard: I honestly don’t know. for shits and giggles, maybe cougars

bella: um... when I was little I really liked birds, bunnies, lions, and lambs

calum: dragons are super strong and op

leia: puppiessssssss

q: best friend’s name?

Richard: sam

bella: i’m not very close with anyone. ally, I guess

calum: kirk junior

leia: luke

q: book you plan on reading?

Richard: the catcher in the rye

bella: pride and prejudice

calum: I want to get the guiness book of world records for 2017

leia: the blue fairy book. it’s about fairy tales

q: something that positively shaped you?

Richard: sick as it sounds, my girlfriend set herself on fire and had to go to the hospital. it was because of me, and when she made it out of that experience with no burns it somehow got me to be more appreciative and inspired me to stop being such a dick sometimes

bella: theo.

calum: I heard about LeBron james

leia: life

q: biggest secret?

Richard: don’t have one, really

bella: it wouldn’t be a secret if I told someone, would it?

leia: I found out that my best friend is sleeping beauty! but a boy!

calum: not telling. i’m not retarded.

q: on a scale of one to ten, how excited are you about life right now?

Richard: ten? idk

bella: 6... hehe

calum: five is average. so five.

leia: a bagillion gazillion and one

q: iPhone or android?

Richard: androids have potato cameras

bella: iPhone. I guess if they’re too expensive an android would be okay

calum: aren’t andriods robots

leia: aye aye captain hahahhahhahhahhaha

q: twitter or Instagram?

Richard: twitter

bella: definitely Instagram

calum: I like jetpack joyride

leia: graham crackers?

q: who should everyone be following right now?

Richard: me. just kidding, um... my friends tyrone and Tanisha. they’re living on their own for the most part, with two twin babies, at fifteen. kudos

bella: not kim Kardashian.

calum: stalkers. show them how they make other people feel.... oh sorry, wrong kind of following

q: favorite food?

Richard: I can’t come up with something so i’m just going to say pizza

Bella: i like chicken alfredo pasta. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite though

Calum: hot dogs

Leia: crackers

q: least favorite food?

Richard: cornbread. I’ve seen timmy wolf down a whole loaf. It was huge. There was a lot of blowing chunks after. Scarring, tbh

Bella: never liked green beans

Calum: eggplants, carrots, and bananas

Leia: steak is hard for me to chew sometimes

q: what do you love on your pizza?

Richard: cheese

Bella: cheese. Oh, richard said that too? Ffs

calum: pepperonis

Leia: anchovies! Just kidding, i’m joking!

q: favorite drink?

Richard: i’ve got no clue. water is very underrated

Bella: i used to love lemonade. Haven’t had that in years. Oh, right. I like tea, coffee, root beer, yeah

Calum: i’ve never had vodka, but vodka

Leia: do slushies count?

q: favorite dessert?

Richard: i’m a fabulous dessert -wink- um, no, in all seriousness, chocolate ice cream

Bella: huh. I haven’t had dessert in a while either. Shit.

Calum: chocolate chip cookies

Leia: everything sweet

q: dark chocolate or milk chocolate?

Richard: well I know how tyrone would answer this. I guess milk chocolate

Bella: milk?

Calum: both

Leia: ooooooh, one second, i’ll be back! NO IT’S NOT TO GET CHOCOLATE

q: coffee or tea?

Richard: coffee

Bella: they’re both good for photos, coffee tastes better, but tea is better for you

Calum: alcohol

q: hardest decision?

Richard: what to answer for this question. That counts?!

Bella: life or death. I chose life, obviously

Calum: i’m bored

Leia: my mom asked me if i wanted a dog or a cat! I said dog, but she never got either one

q: favorite fruit?

Richard: peach. -eyebrow wiggle- I actually don’t know

Bella: pineapple, mango, peach, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, watermelon...

Calum: pear

Leia: applllllllles!!!

q: favorite singer or songwriter?

Richard: shawn mendes. I’M JOKING

Bella: isabella vail. Sorry, no self-promo? Okay, theo herondale -grin-

Calum: eminem

Leia: idina menzel

q: favorite song?

Richard: can’t say

Bella: that’s a lot of pressure

Calum: i’m hungry

Leia: I’VE BEEN STARING AT THE EDGE OF THE WAT-

q: if you could sing a duet with anyone, who would it be?

Richard: shawn mendes. I’M STILL JOKING I SWEAR

Bella: theo.

Calum: that’s gay

Leia: MOANA

q: if you had a tattoo, where would it be?

Richard: could i get a tramp stamp

Bella: i can’t choose, whoops

Calum: my arm

Leia: but they’re permanent!!

q: to be or not to be?

Richard: to be

Bella: to be or not to be.. ahh.. Love it

Calum: not to be

Leia: tooooo beeeeeeee... Two bees?

q: bird-watching or whale-watching?

Richard: whale-watching but only if i could ride the whale

Bella: bird-watching, they make such pretty sounds

Calum: a bird shit on my head

Leia: whale-watching because then i could see mermaids too!!!

q: best gift ever received?

Richard: sofia and will, thank you so much for your second creation. Not that the other ones aren’t good i just mean i love wed oh god just shut up richard. Praise you guys, hallelujah. Rest in peace, will. Would’ve been nice to get a “NOW YOU BE CAREFUL WITH MY DAUGHTER!” chat.

Bella: meeting theo was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.. wait is anyone going to see this? Oh god please no UM OKAY best gift other than that, i got a purple flower pin from.. someone.. Although i technically didn’t get it from them..i don’t want to think about this, never mind

Calum: my mom got a basketball hoop for me

Leia: everything!!

q: best gift you’ve ever given?

Richard: i once decorated bella in glitter and shit and then tried to give her to my mom. Yeah, i still don’t know why i did that. Awww, my little sissie, i’m gonna give her a hug after this

Bella: i wouldn’t know

Calum: i gave kirk junior a whole pack of gum once

Leia: i gave luke’s grandma a pretty flower. She’s really nice.

q: last gift you gave a friend?

Richard: the cornbread timmy threw up

Bella: i’ve never had a real friend, um, i gave annabelle a horse necklace and dora a set of nail polish. But they’re just people i talk to sometimes. Plus annabelle.. ugh

Calum: i gave savannah a pencil. Hope she liked it

Leia: i gave my mom a hug today!!

q: favorite video game?

Richard: OH MINECRAFT FOR SUUUUUUUURE!!! sorry i’m not in a serious mood

Bella: i don’t really play video games, the sims, i guess

Calum: call of duty games

Leia: roblox!! I like the pizza delivery game

q: favorite meme?

Richard: oh boy

Bella: are you serious? Right in front of my salad?

Calum: the spongebob music one

Leia: what’s a meem

q: last country visited?

Richard: greece

Bella: greece

Calum: how much longer

Leia: greece

q: favorite body part on a human?

Richard: well this could get some perverted answers

Bella: eyes. But “eyeballs” sounds atrocious.

Calum: pussy

Leia: their hearts!!!!!!

q: favorite color?

Richard: i like reds, blues, greens, idk

Bella: i loved yellow when i was younger. Blues are good too. As for the stuff that’s not on the rainbow, i guess i like black, gray, silver, gold, and white. Oh red is good sometimes

Calum: red, green, orange

Leia: light blue

q: least favorite color?

Richard: that murky brown and green mixture -shudder-

Bella: the colors that we can’t see or imagine. So frustrating.

Calum: yellow

Leia: i like all of the colors, i wouldn’t want any to feel bad about themselves

q: diamonds or pearls?

Richard: i mean there are no pearls in minecraft... OKAY I’LL STOP

Bella: diamonds

Calum: you could sell the diamonds and be rich

Leia: great grandma grace had pearls

q: heels or flats?

Richard: i lost a bet to a guy in a chiffon skirt, but i make these high heels work

Bella: it depends

Calum: heels are sexy.

Leia: no girl can walk in heels, can they? OMG BELLA YOU’RE WALKING IN HEELS

q: pilates or yoga?

Richard: how about just working out

Bella: yoga

Calum: there’s yoga instructor porn

Leia: you mean pirates or yoda? Yoda is in star wars with princess leia, so yoda

q: jogging or swimming?

Richard: swimming for sure

Bella: i mean, i love swimming. But it’s hard to go near a pool when you’ve drowned yourself. I’m sorry i keep being gloomy

Calum: sorry, i fell asleep

Leia: swimming!

q: best way to de-stress?

Richard: hahahhahhahah

Bella: talking to someone, hugging someone, etc.

Calum: sleeping helps

Leia: just breathe! ahhhh...

q: if you had one superpower, what would it be?

Richard:i heard about a superpower that is all the superpowers

Bella: richard told me abo- he said that too?!

q: weirdest person you ever met?

Richard: the howler or the tricycle guy

Bella: theo. -devilish grin- nO I’M KIDDING DON’T TELL HIM I SAID THAT! Awe, i feel bad

Calum: my whole family

Leia: i don’t know, everyone’s weird in their own way

q: favorite flower?

Richard: i don’t know about many besides roses

Bella: i could list my top 50 if you want

Calum: ew

Leia: dandelions grant wishes!

q: last time you cried?

Richard: when my girlfriend was in the hospital

Bella: ...

Calum: crying is for chumps

Leia: i’m too happy to cry

q: do you like your handwriting?

Richard: no?

Bella: im not sure

Calum: oh bitch i fell asleep again

Leia: i forget to dot my i’s sometimes

q: do you bake?

Richard: i live in a house with girls, of course. OH SHOOT WAS THAT SEXIST, I’M SO SORRY I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE TH- oh right. Forgot about calum. LOVE YA CAL

Bella: baking and cooking are both fun

Calum: no. i eat the baked goods though

Leia: i eat the cookie dough heheh

q: least favorite thing about yourself?

Richard: my anger issues

Bella: my luck

Calum: i’m amazing

Leia: i-i love myself!!! haha..

q: favorite thing about yourself?

Richard: idk

Bella: haha

Calum: everything

Leia: i think i’m nice

q: who do you miss most?

Richard: ggg. Great grandma grace

Bella: not ben. I liked you when you were alive, but you are unbearable as a ghost

Calum: i just want to play basketball

Leia: everyone who is in heaven!!!

q: what are you listening to right now?

Richard: the wind, i guess

Bella: arctic monkeys

Calum: leia trying to sing. She sucks

Leia: my favorite tarzan song

q: favorite smell?

Richard: um

Bella: rain, books, fire, theo, dryer sheets, flowers, oh no did i say theo? -blush- please don’t put that in

Calum: no idea

Leia: freshly baked sugar cookies, bella’s are better than my mom’s!

q: last person you talked to on the phone?

Richard: sam. He’s giving me updates on gilly and her baby. I hope she’s doing okay..

Bella: i got some type of hate call from someone. Idk who.

Calum: kirk junior and i were talking about basketball

Leia: luke. He said i’m giving him mixed signals. I have no clue what that means

q: last person you sent a text to?

Richard: tyrone

Bella: charlie

Calum: i don’t have a phone.. one day

Leia: look! The lollipop made my tongue blue!!!

q: sport you wish you could play?

Richard: is archery a sport? Because that’s cool

Bella: i don’t play any sports -sigh-

Calum: i do play basketball, but i really like basketball, so basketball.

Leia: i wish i could ice skate more

q: hair color?

Richard: a medium/dark brown

Bella: i’m a brunetteeeee

Calum: light brown

Leia: blonde!

q: eye color?

Richard: green. Idk about greater detail

Bella: crystal blue? It’s like a blue but if you turned the saturation down a bit and put some shine in there

Calum: i don’t check

Leia: blue, like blue whale

q: scary films or happy endings?

Richard: both

Bella: happy endings

Calum: no real man likes happy endings

Leia: scary movies scare me

q: favorite season?

Richard: tough

Bella: it really depends. Spring is very rainy but i like the rain. Summer is super hot but school’s out and it’s beautiful out. Fall comes with the colorful tree leaves and the clothing, and winter is cold but you have hot chocolate and oversized sweaters

Calum: i bet bella gave a long answer. Loser.

Leia: summer!

q: sexual fantasy?

Richard: where did that come from

Bella: -beet red- w-what?

Calum: huh

Leia: what’s that?

q: hugs or kisses?

Richard: both

Bella: bot- HE SAID THAT TOO? WTH

Calum: neither

Leia: hug time!

q: rolling stones or the beatles?

Richard: the beatles

Bella: the beatles, for sure

Calum: how many left?

Leia: why are we talking about things in the garden

q: favorite sex position?

Richard: i swear this came out of nowhere

Bella: -blink-

Calum: missions. Missionary? Yeah, that’s what i meant

Leia: i’m so confused

q: farthest you’ve been from home?

Richard: i died twice. Dk where i ended up

Bella: see i killed myself, and then i was in some sort of darkness for a week until i decided to come back

Calum: are we close to finished

Leia: look at this nail polish! Isn’t it so pretty?!

q: left or right?

Richard: the price is right

Bella: right

Calum: left

Leia: right

q: lipstick or lip gloss?

Richard: um

Bella: lipstick

Calum: almost?

Leia: lip gloss

q: scariest dream?

Richard: you’d know if i pissed myself

Bella: ..don’t want to talk about it, sorry

Calum: im not scared of anything

Leia: cookeh im mah mout, un segont

q: favorite type of hair?

Richard: i guess i like head hair over pubic hair

Bella: depends

Calum: hairless cats

Leia: those naked rodents

q: title of your autobiography?

Richard: one second, let me think of something

Bella: i wouldn’t write an autobiography

Calum: Perfection

Leia: my life

q: favorite sound?

Richard: did i really just fall asleep

Bella: sorry, what? I was doodling.

Calum: basketballs bouncing

Leia: water

q: favorite animal?

Richard: wasn’t this already a question

Bella: On the other side of a street I knew, stood a girl that looked like you, i guess thats deja vu

Calum: there has to be only a couple left

Leia: what

q: girl crush?

Richard: there’s this girl named wednesday herondale, she’s honestly my dream girl -grin-

Bella: how’d you know i’m bi? nO NOT BIPOLAR

Calum: i-i don’t h-have one..

Leia: i love my sister!

q: last photograph you took?

Richard: you’d expect it to be a nude because i’m a teenage boy, yeah, yeah, i see you.. well, i’ll have you know, it’s a picture of... my girlfriend. isn’t she beautiful, look at her!

Bella: okay so this one is o- fine. Don’t let me go into detail.

Calum: i took this selfie on my ipad by accident. I have a double chin in it haha WAIT WE’RE DONE?! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Leia: oh this one’s of my finger! whoops!

#mafia rp #richard #bella #calum #leia #question #questions

[littlewatty]

#26. Tending an injury

This was supposed to be brief. It’s not. Sorry, not sorry. Didn’t do any real editing yet, so there’s probably errors.

AO3 Link

“I’m seriously beginning to regret this decision…” Kitt hissed, slumping against a rock with her good shoulder. The muscles of her left arm were twitching, small spasms that prevented her from moving the arm in any one direction. The point where the tip of the knife where it scraped against the bone of her shoulder blade was what made it worse. It was the kind of pain that sent chills down her spine. She had turned her back on Farah for just a second, but it was enough for the Roekar to put the knife she’d murdered so many with into her back.

The rest of her team was pretty quick to her side once the coast was clear, but the cave went deep. There could be others lurking in the dark. “You should sit down, Kid, that looks bad.” Drack hoisted his hammer up over his shoulder while Vetra helped the Pathfinder sit, making sure she didn’t lean back on the blade accidentally.

“What’re you talking about? I’ll be fine.”

“The wound is superficial, and has avoided any major blood vessels. Though the bone has taken some damage, it is not fractured. If allowed proper time to heal, there should be no prolonged impairment.”

“See?” Kitt grinned at the rest of her team, but they didn’t seem convinced. Just to prove a point, she reached and grasped the blade to pull it out.

“I do not recommend this course of action, Pathfinder. Until immediate first aid can be applied, the blade must remain in place. Once removed, there is nothing to stem your bleeding and you may pass out.”

With a loud groan, she released it and just let herself rest against the rocks. “Well, we can’t just sit here and wait for more Roekar to come pouring out of those tunnels.”

“And you can’t move until Lexi has a look at you,” Vetra made the quick comeback.

“Well, Lexi isn’t here. So unless one of you has experience patching up stab wounds, we’re at an impasse.”

“If I may,” the whole reason they were there stepped forward, a glint of amusement in his eyes. “I could offer my services. Though your doctor is certainly more adept at patching wounds than myself, it seems we have few options. That leaves the two of you to clear out the last of the caves.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Come on, Vetra. If the smuggler wanted to hurt the Kid, he could have just left us.” Even though Drack was one of her longest running contacts, Vetra still didn’t seem much convinced as she clicked her mandibles.

“Why don’t you listen to your big friend there and run along, hm?”

The turian looked at Kitt, and she nodded. “I’ll be alright. We need to clear out the caves, and I can’t really go with you like this.”

“If you say so. SAM, make sure to call us if anything happens to her.”

“Of course.”

“Relax. I’m on your side.” Reyes’ smirk never left his lips while the two of them went off deeper into the caves. Drack didn’t seem to mind, but Vetra kept looking over her shoulder until they were out of sight.

“Quit antagonizing my crew,” Kitt teased him, shaking her head. “They already don’t trust you. You’re only making it worse.”

That just made him laugh. “Oh, please, Ryder. I’m perfectly likeable.”

“Perfectly.” She started to laugh, but winced when it caused the blade to move. “Guess I’m in your hands now, aren’t I?”

“Don’t say that like it’s such a bad thing.” Reyes removed his gloves and pushed up his sleeves as far as they would go while she laid down on her stomach. Instead of getting to work like she expected, he stood up “There’s bound to be supplies around here somewhere. You don’t just live on Kadara without being prepared.”

“Says the man who lives on Kadara and isn’t prepared.”

“You wound me, Ryder. After all that effort to perfectly time that explosion. Aha! Jackpot.” Kitt repositioned just enough to glance back and see him trotting over with a handful of medigel packs and some compression wraps.

“Mr. Vidal, I suggest preparing the medigel before you remove the blade, to limit the bleeding.”

“Thank you, SAM, but I do know what I’m doing.” His comment made Kitt wonder just how much experience patching up wounds Reyes had. She watched while he measured out a few arm lengths of the wraps, tore it with a knife from his boot, and then did it again. Once satisfied, he cracked open the medigel and took hold of the blade. “This is probably going to hurt. Ready?”

Kitt swallowed. “Yeah.”

“Count to three.”

“One, t– son of a bitch!” White flashed behind Kitt’s eyes as she dug her forehead into the ground against the pain. Reyes yanked the angaran blade out of her back before she had mentally prepared herself. Probably better that way, but she would still smack him for it. Almost as soon as the heat of pain erupted through her back, the cool soothing of the medigel followed.

“Better?” he asked, just beside her ear.

Kitt’s repsonse came more as a grunt than anything. “Better.” The gel foamed and began to set as she pushed herself back up into a sitting position. Every nerve inside her shoulder was firing with pain as she moved, making the world spin and the metallic taste of blood settle on her tongue. Before she realized it, Reyes had his arms around her and was helping her settle back against the rocks.

“Not so fast, Pathfinder. We’re not done yet. Take your armor off.”

For a moment, she just stared at him wondering if she’d heard him right. When he returned an expecting look it just baffled her more. “Excuse me?”

“Take your armor off,” he repeated, entirely serious. “Your doctor won’t be too pleased if they find a shotty patch job when you return. So. Take your armor off.”

“You haven’t even paid me back for the drink you owe me, and you’re already asking me to strip,” Kitt scoffed, trying not to use her bad arm as she hit the latches that held everything together. Unfortunately, she could not reach everything. “A little help?” She motioned with a finger towards the latches on the far side of her back. There was a gentle nudge, and the last few latches came free. With Reyes’ help, they lifted her chest piece up and over her head without having to move her bad arm too much. Goosebumps prickled her skin as brief shots of lightning traveled through her shoulder, but it was better than before.

Leaning on her one good arm, Kitt did her best to steady her breathing. Her mind went back to Lexi’s yoga instructions. Just focus on the in, and the out. In, and out. The pain throbbed, but it would ebb away once this was over. She just had to take it one breath at a time.

There was a brief moment when she almost yelled at Reyes again as he tore her skinsuit where the knife had gone through. “What’re you doing?”

“Relax, Pathfinder. I’m just getting a better look at your wound, in case it needs more medigel. Lucky for you, I’m good at what I do. It looks like it sealed on the first go.”

“Great, so can I put my armor back on now?”

“Not so fast. You won’t be moving that arm any time soon. Your doctor will likely agree with me on that one. So just stay still, won’t you Ryder?” Kitt just grumbled under her breath as he pressed a wad of the compression wrappings against the hardened medidgel. One band at a time, he wrapped the cloth over the wound and around her chest to keep everything in place.

“Why not just leave it up to the medigel?” she muttered after a few wraps.

“Because it doesn’t always hold. Sure, it works great now, but if the seal breaks and you start bleeding again, there’s nothing to stop the blood. This is way is better safe than sorry.”

“Yeah, but–”

“No buts, Ryder. If you make me, I will carry you back to the Tempest myself.” Kitt snapped her head around to look over her shoulder at him. Of course, the smuggler was smirking. Oh so pleased with himself.

As a result of his jests, she hushed up and allowed him to finish what he was doing. A round of tight bindings and a makeshift sling later, he finally let her stand on her own two feet again. The world tipped a little, but a firm hand on her good arm helped steady her. “Better?”

“Better.” Kitt inhaled through her nose, letting her balance settle and her nausea pass before she opened her eyes again. If he hadn’t been there, she probably would have just gotten herself into more trouble, and Lexi wouldn’t let her live that down. More likely than not, she’d have been put on house arrest until the wound healed. As it was now with Reyes’ help, she might only have to spend a few days in the port before Lexi gave her permission to go back on normal duty. Certainly a better alternative. “Thank you, Reyes.”

A smile lit up his face as she settled back against a rock to wait as the rest of her team came walking up. “A pleasure, Pathfinder. It was the least I could do after you so expertly helped clear Kadara of the Roekar. You did good. Don’t worry. I’ll let all the important people know who to thank. It was your fancy AI that did all the hard work, after all.”

Kitt snorted at him. “Yeah. Because he’s so useful in a firefight.” Profiles aside. “Buuuut, you didn’t do too bad yourself, smuggler. We make a good team.”

While she watched him, breath stuck in her throat, he took a step closer. Her eyes were locked onto his, having a difficult time looking away while he hovered so close. “Careful. I’ll start thinking you like me.”

“Would that be so bad…?” Her breath caught in her throat at her own words. Internally she scolded herself for saying that, but honestly? Reyes made her want to keep coming back to the port whether they had missions or not. Whatever was there, it wasn’t a business relationship. The hardest part was figuring out if he was just playing along.

Where he stood, so close that she could almost feel his breath on her cheeks, she wondered if it wasn’t just a game. Yet the smirk that played on his lips made her wonder otherwise. “Depends. Don’t be a stranger, Pathfinder.” And away he went. Without even looking back, he made his way up the stairs and out the entrance to the hideout. Kitt couldn’t help but watch him go. Maybe Vetra had been right when she called Kitt out before the fight. Maybe there was something going on.

#nerdyholler #Kitt Ryder #Reyes Vidal #fryder #freyder #writing #As the Curtain Falls #ATCF drabbles #me:a #me:a spoilers #mass effect andromeda