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#small talk is like a superpower once i let go of some stuff
moonbeam-fox · 4 months
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Once I started treating small talk as a bid for connection and stopped treating it as some sort of tedious social expectation, life got a lot easier for me.
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parkerpeter24 · 10 months
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We need the date with pool instructor!Peter Parker
since you asked in bold-
pairing ➳ swim instructor!peter parker x reader
warnings ➳ slightly nsfw towards the end. making out and regular date stuff.
masterlist
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“what have you got there?” you pointed behind his back but it was clearly evident that he was hiding a bouquet of flowers.
he finally brought it in between the two of you, standing at your doorstep, “i didn’t know which ones you like, so i got some of the most popular ones.” he chuckled nervously, handing you the mosaic of flowers.
you admired the roses, lilies, orchids and tulips, smiling wide as you took the bouquet from his hands, “i love them.”
you and peter had hung around the pool earlier in the morning but he told you that he wanted to take you out on a proper first date. so he suggested dinner and the boy was not even a second late.
as soon as the clock struck 7, he was there at your door, knocking and handing you these flowers.
the two of you made your way to the place he’d chosen for dinner, telling you about how it was his favorite place and the reason behind it.
“this was my uncle’s favorite place too.” you could tell by the way he smiled, so reminiscent, that it was a distant memory of his.
“it sounds great already.” you smiled, linking your arm with his as you walked, the place being just two blocks away from your place and all, “do you have a favorite?”
“oh, the chocolate truffle there is to die for!” you couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at his remark.
“so do you suggest we have that for dinner?”
“um, duh.”
dinner couldn’t have gone better. in fact, at one point you concluded it was the best dinner of your life. you got to know peter so much better. he was so much more than just the hot swimmer you knew from community pool who had once held onto your waist to teach you kicking. he was so much different from than any man you’ve ever met. so much better.
he told you about his school life and even though he didn’t highlight much, you could tell he was very good at everything he did. you got to know about his passion for science and that he was an assistant teacher of chemistry at esu just a year ago.
“how did i even score a date with you.” you wondered out loud, making him laugh.
he shrugged, “i’m honestly wondering the same thing.” you caught a hue of pink over his cheeks as he leaned forward, “it feels like i’ve been the only one talking all this time.”
“i don’t mind.” you flashed him a smile.
“no! you should tell me more about you.” he insisted.
and so you did. you told him about your likes and dislikes, about your favorite music and foods, about your only best friend who was there for you through thick and thin, about the good birthdays and the bad ones, about small things that you recalled from the past. and peter listened throughout, making you laugh with his reactions every once in a while.
“you were right. those were some good truffles.” you sighed.
the two of you found yourselves walking back to your place as the night wind drifted past you, making your hair flow with it. peter’s hand was in yours now as you leaned more towards him.
“told you.” he smirked, “i can never go wrong with a good dessert. that’s my superpower.” he chuckled.
“you seem to have a lot of them.” you smirked right back at him, watching as his face suddenly morphed into confusion.
“n-no. just the one, actually... that’s all i got.” you thought you were getting better at reading the brunette but his nervous laugh confused you a little.
“i meant to say that you’re really good in swimming, and you’re kind of smart at an inhumane level from what i heard, so...” you trailed off, letting out a chuckle to ease the situation a little more.
“oh.” he let out a breath of air, “right.”
in less than a minute, the two of you were climbing the strairs of your apartment building. your apartment was just on the second floor, thus, you opted for them.
after leaving you to your door, peter stood with his arms behind his back, right where he had been about two hours ago. the night seemed to have ended way too soon but you didn’t know if it was okay to invite him in.
“can you-”
“could i-”
both of you decided to speak at the same time, making the other one stop suddenly.
“you go.” peter chuckled softly.
“would you... would you like to stay? for a while, you know.” you gave him a small shrug, “we could watch a movie or...”
there was a slight pause as his eyes trailed over your lips as they moved. he responded with a nod of his head.
and in the blink of an eye you were pushing open your door, just to drag him along you inside the place by the collar of his flannel. his lips were on yours and hands placed on either side of your waist– this time for a better purpose. you just hoped your place wasn’t as big of a mess but your thoughts blurred as his frame pushed you against the wooden door, it making a sound as it locked in place.
peter’s hands were doing all the good things, setting your skin on fire as they trailed down to your hips, pulling your legs to wrap around his slim waist. your arms snaked around his shoulders as you tilted your head, only deepening the kiss that you started.
his teeth bit onto your lower lip and his tongue followed to soothe the blissful ache. you parted your lips further, tangling your tongue with his. a battle of tongues, only for peter to back off and let you take control. you both knew he was way too stronger than you.
your hand ran down the length of his arm, feeling the taut muscles of his biceps before. a slight squeeze from your hand as you wrapped it around his wrist and peter knew what to do.
he pulled you along with him, gracefully carrying you with him as he tried to find his way to your bedroom.
you pointed at the room in one of the corner and peter followed suit as your lips attached to the skin of his jaw. you trailed small kisses along his jawline, until they weren’t small anymore. you bit onto his skin, soothing the bite with your tongue just like peter had done earlier.
peter was quick to wrap his right arm around you, supporting you up as his left hand got busy with opening your bedroom door, walking inside before he kicked the door shut.
it was more than safe to say that the truffle wasn’t the best thing you were having tonight.
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Trump is a loser. Tell a friend.
January 11, 2024
ROBERT B. HUBBELL
Readers frequently comment on my newsletters by writing, “You used word X; you should have used word Y.” Sometimes the comments are well-taken, but much of the time, my (silent) reaction is, “We aren’t going to change the course of history through vocabulary.” But Trump's effort to return to power may be the exception.
Trump is a loser. A spectacular one. He is the living embodiment of the punchline to the joke, “How do you make a small fortune in New York real estate?” Answer: “Start out with a large one.” His companies have been through half-a-dozen bankruptcies. The failure of his Taj Mahal Casino helped turn Atlantic City into a “ghost town.” He is such an unreliable credit risk that American banks stopped dealing with him in the 1990s.
Trump is a loser. He is the only president ever to be impeached twice. He is the only major presidential candidate to lose the popular vote twice. He is the only major presidential candidate to be indicted once—let alone four times. He is the first president in nearly a century to lose the House, the Senate, and re-election. He is the only major presidential candidate who has been adjudged (in a civil case) to have raped a woman.
Trump is a loser. When he traveled internationally as president, foreign leaders laughed at him behind his back. When he addressed the UN Assembly, world leaders laughed at him to his face. He has made some of the most ignorant comments ever by a US president, suggesting that Covid victims “inject bleach” and that they “shine a light inside their bodies.” And during an eclipse visible from Washington, D.C., Trump did the one thing that observers of eclipses are NEVER supposed to do—he removed his protective eye gear to look directly at the sun.
Despite the fact that Trump is a historic loser, he has somehow convinced tens of millions of Americans that he is “a stable genius” who would defeat a combined presidential ticket of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We should not add to Trump's false mythology by unintentionally ascribing stature or influence he does not have.
Two days ago, readers of this newsletter posted a link in the Comment section to an article by Jason Sattler published on the Substack blog, Framelab. The article is entitled, Why Trump wants you to compare him to Hitler | Because then you’re not calling him a loser.
Sattler’s article is brilliant, and I highly recommend it. But in case you don’t get around to reading the article, the gist of Sattler’s argument is that Trump wants us to compare him to Hitler—because that comparison normalizes the notion that Trump will regain power as an autocratic strongman.
Sattler writes:
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism, seems to think the Hitler stuff is a trial balloon. Trump is seeking to “dehumanize immigrants now so the public will accept your repression of them when you return to office.” [T]hat thought gets us talking about exactly what Trump wants on our minds — him in power. He’s preemptively framing himself — as a strongman, an agent of revenge, and the ultimate enforcer of unsustainable hierarchies.
Sattler goes further, asserting that we are doing a favor for Trump by calling him Hitler:
When you’re calling Trump a dictator, think about what you’re not calling him. You’re not calling him a loser who never has and never will win the popular vote. A fraud. A traitor. Instead, you’re repeating his slander of immigrants and propping up his stature. You’re doing him a huge favor. Basically, we’re getting fooled again.
There is wisdom in Sattler’s analysis—to a point. We should not fall into the trap of assuming that Trump will succeed in becoming a Hitler-like dictator who will impose martial law on “day one” of his second term in office. If we do that, we make it more likely that Trump will succeed in his effort to be re-elected.
In other words, we should not grant Trump superpowers he does not possess. The man is a loser and a miserable human being who is disliked by almost everyone who has the misfortune of dealing directly with him.
But Trump is not only a small, insecure, petulant loser; he also exercises outsized influence over tens of millions of Americans. It would be foolish to stop talking about the existential danger that Trump presents to our democracy. For example, we know that Trump asked his former Secretary of Defense why federal troops couldn’t “shoot protestors” on the National Mall protesting the murder of George Floyd.
Two things are simultaneously true—and they are not in contradiction: Trump is a loser and he is a dangerous threat to our democracy. We can prevent him from becoming Hitler’s protege by reminding voters that he is a loser who has lost more than any other presidential candidate in history—and that he will lose again in 2024.
Don’t build an aura of inevitable victory around Trump. Instead, build an aura of inevitable defeat around Trump. He is a loser. He has always been a loser. And he will always be a loser.
[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]
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prettyflyshyguy · 1 month
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Alright Season 3 lets give it up for season 3 everyone.
Cannot believe this show left me on "How do you know what you brought back it 100% pure Sam?" and I just said to myself
GODDAMN
and then just didn't watch S3E1 for three days
Anyway. Liveblogging spn while I work tonight. We're bringing back the old days where I did this with x files if any of you remember that LMAO
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Kicking things off with a bang (and me trying to not post too many rambles about a stupid tv show, so I'm conglomerating my thoughts into big posts instead)
we have S3E1 - The Magnificent Seven
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Love this show's deep appreciation for full black contact lenses MWAH
cheffs kiss
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Sorry I know I should be focusing on the evil demon smoke going to infect whatever city this is but like. Do you guys actually genuinely have flags out the front of your houses like this for real
Like really. Do your houses really have flags like that.
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OH YEAH BABEY SEASON 3 GOT AN INTRO STING GRAPHICAL UPDATE!!!!!!!!!! NICE
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He is SO concerned
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No one is giving me practical effects like this show is and I'm living for this
I WISH there was more of a scene in australia cause god I'd work as a prop maker for a living if it was a viable career to do more horror aligned stuff here.
They've spiced up the camera work this season and it is FUN!!!!
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These two are great I hope they're gonna be regular supporting characters PLEASE
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Highly entertaining seeing Dean's superpower of "Flirt with woman successfully" actually used as a utility (bonus points because it's making him uncomfortable)
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RARE HAT-LESS BOBBY SPOTTED
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Oh.
Absolutely visceral death, but a real damn shame because these two were cool :(
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This show has no right just putting jokes like this right after a scene like THAT.
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These dickheads are far too fun to be a one off PLEASE
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Australian chanting
FOIGHT FOIGHT FOIGHT FOIGHT FOIGHT!!!!!!!!
Alright that was a fun way to start a season. Nice recap. I get it. It'dved been a while since it last aired. I like shitty pissed off Sam a LOT.
Are you tired of being nice Sam? Don't you just want to go apeshit?
Round 2 Electric Boogaloo with S3E2 - The Kids are Alright
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Starting strong once again with a callback to Victorian worksafe ads!!
(Victorians know.)
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Love that Sam inherited NONE of the lying genes in the family
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I'm sorry you cant make the comment "as many as I can squeeze out" (EUPHAMISM) and then immediately smack me in the face with a fucking GUMBY REFERENCE?????!!!!!!!!!
Fuck off I hate this show. Fuck you dean you stupid piece of shit
A FUCKING
GUMBY REFERENCE (how many of you know what that is LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOO)
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Look I get it, I do, but c'mon he looks so fucking awkward getting cake while these two women are talking about the explicit details of his prior intimate experience with Lisa from 8 years ago
Like what the fuck did they DO to illicit a reaction as intense as these two women are giving
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No I will not suspend my disbelief for the running gag No I'm not taking this too literally NO i don't have a problem with interpreting jokes
The closeup of Dean's face as his brain was doing the dialup tone killed me, then immediately PANIC but don't drop the cake (SAME)
Anyway. Lisa I love you. You're amazing. Please be done justice by this show. Please.
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Need you all to know I go through hell (HAR HAR) to watch this show
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And I thought my conversations in cafes sounded unhinged to bystanders (LITERALLY had some old dude tell me and a friend we were weirdos as we minded our own business drawing horror art in a cafe hgakjrhgkagh)
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HATE that my brain just went "NOT THE SARAN WRAP SKIN" (we don't call it that. Next I'll start pronouncing things more wrong than I already do)
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Not the white DS Lite!!!!!!!!
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Remember this kid you bullied in highschool? This is them now
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Oh this show doesn't pull punches and it has some NICE shots
Anyway bye Lisa I love you I hope you come back soon :(
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the running gag of bizarre interior décor hotel room never ceases to entertain me, I'm like a small child
Anyway
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ran out of room for more images on this post so. Who knows maybe I'll fuck off or I'll do a part 2 tonight we'll see
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birdy-bat-writes · 2 years
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Head cannon: SuperFam taking care of a Sick Lois
Author’s Note: Heyyyyy. Can you believe it? I posted something! I know, I’m baffled too. So, I want to apologize once more for how absolutely inactive and DEAD I have been, like I’m pretty sure this is my first post in 2 years. I’m hoping this post commemorates the end of my slump and I’m so excited to be back into this community and talk to you guys! You don’t even know how much happiness I get from talking to you all!
In other news, I have COMPLETELY forgotten how to do this. I’m trying to remember and get used to the process of titling, adding the authors note, content warnings, tags, and linking this in my Masterlist and stuff. I had to dig through the depths of my computer history to find my taglist but I guarantee you guys I’m missing some things that are the traditional norms in tumblr content posts. Please let me know how I can improve! I imagine my writing has probably changed or gone down a bit in the time I’ve been inactive so I would really appreciate any comments either on the posts themselves or in my inbox or even chat me up! I love talking to you all! Anyway, without further ado, let me present to you, the shenanigans of the superfamily.
@offendedfishnoisesoises deserves majority of the credit because 1, my favorite enabler Is back at it again and enabling me and 2, they basically cowrote this entire thing! Love you fishhhhh!
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Clark, Jon and Kon tend to be impervious to the majority of human illnesses. They do occasionally suffer a small cold from overusing their power and burning themselves out, and sometimes Jon and Kon’s human genes leave them a little more susceptible to the rare fever but for the most part, the superhumans of the Kent family don’t often get sick.
When they do? They are absolute babies, and Lois is the perfect loving caretaker who soothes them through it all. She’s taken care of countless colds, fevers, super sneeze attacks and more.
That being said, Lois is also the only one of the 4 who doesn’t have superpowers (the Kryptonian kind, her mom powers are unmatched and sharp as a knife), meaning she can get sick a little more often than the rest.
The first time she got a fever when Jon and Kon were both old enough to notice was a real experience. You can imagine how 3 supers (all of whom are very protective of their dear mom and wife) would be a little overwhelmed and panicked at the sight of Lois sleeping in until 2:00 pm, all pale and warm.
Jon: “No, this is freaking me out, should we use the ice breath?”
Clark: “No!”
Kon: “She’s breathing really heavily! Does this happen with colds?”
Clark: “Sometimes…”
Kon: “Sometimes?! What is ‘sometimes’? Does this happen to you? Did you recover fully?”
Clark: “Well, this doesn’t happen to me that often, but I think this is normal.”
Jon: “You THINK? No, no, I’m calling Grandma.”
It’s quite funny to watch because they think it’s way worse than it is. Lois is comfortably out with her Nyquil and sleeping through all of it.
At some point while Clark is being told what to add in the chicken soup by Ma Kent, Damian calls to ask if Jon wants to hang out.
Damian: “You busy?”
Jon: “Not now, Damian! I can barely hear my mom breathing.”
Damian: “WHAT? What’s going on? Is everything okay? Where’s your dad?”
Jon: “He doesn’t know what to do. None of us do. I’ve never seen her like this. I think I’ll get her some tissues to stop the leaking.”
Damian: “Oh my gosh, stay right there.”
So, then Batman, Robin, the Flash and Aquaman show up, because the JLA signal went off. I mean, clearly this is a JLA level threat.
Damian: “Where’s the blood?”
Jon: “What blood?”
Flash: “Oh my god, There’s bLoOd??”
Batman: “Clark, what happened?”
Clark: “She…. has a cold….Why is half the Justice League here?”
Jon: “There’s no blood, Damian, I got tissues to stop her nose leaking!”
Aquaman: “A cold? I thought this was serious!”
Clark, Kon and Jon in unison: “THIS IS SERIOUS!”
This is about when Lois woke up and opened her eyes to multiple superheroes in her living room waving around tissues and instant noodle soup, arguing over much water to add.
*Proceeds to check the expiration date on the NyQuil*
Deciding this was a fever dream, Lois closed her eyes and went back to sleep.
Damian: “This was your emergency? Grayson works through this all the time!”
Kon: “That might speak more to Dick's terrible self-care routine and even more terrible self-preservation.”
Flash: Maybe we can google some Home remedi- Aquaman! We talked about this! You don’t find a human being’s pulse in their feet!”
Aquaman: “Well how am I supposed to know? You think I’m a normal human?”
Flash: “Well don’t look at me! I heal quick.”
They all look at Bruce.
Bruce: *Sweats* “Don’t look at me, I have no clue what to do. It’s all Alfred.”
After a very long call with Alfred, everyone went home, and Clark carried his wife and kids to their rooms. He noticed that Lois ate some cheerios and the soup he brought to her before she fell asleep and stayed with her through the night to make sure she had everything she needed.
The next morning, Lois found the table laid with breakfast ready for her.
Lois: “Aww you guys! Thank you for taking care of me, you’re all so sweet. You know, it’s so funny I had the craziest dream yesterday.”
*Proceeds to tell them about how a chunk of the Justice League was in her house arguing over soup and how she thinks it’s a dream because such a bizarre thing would never really happen*
Them: “Haha, yeah, that’s sooo crazy. We would never actually let that happen….”
So, they denied it because in hindsight, it seemed pretty silly to be so worried. That’s not to say that they didn’t react the exact same way the next time Lois had a cold.
They couldn’t keep this secret forever though, as Alfred called to check up on Lois. It was at that moment that she knew, her boys had absolutely NO idea what they were doing, but she loved them all the same.
Lois: “Hey guys, I think my friend is sick. She’s feeling all dizzy. And a little warm.”
Clark: “Oh no, should we go to her?”
Lois: “Well, I was thinking we could the JLA and Alfred :D”
Busted.
Heads turn to her at breakneck speed, and she starts laughing.
She was definitely going to coach them later but for now, she just stood there with her family, taking in how much they all cared for each other.
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Thank you all so much! Leave a comment and tell me how you've been! I love you all!! <3<3<3
Taglist: @anothertimdrakestan @offendedfishnoises @comicsandhoney @river-bottom-nightmare @catxsnow @cries-in-fangirl @batarella @idkmanicantenglish @musesofliterature @l-horizondepeu @subtleappreciation @ereaaa @foenixphire @screennamealreadyused
I imagine some of you have changed usernames so i will look for your new names and try to add them! for now, Let me know if you wanna be added to my taglist! <3
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Twin Flame - Pt 2 All That Glitters Is Not Gold
Twin Flame: Pt 3
Being Steve Harrington’s twin had its perks. Okay, there were a lot of perks to being a Harrington. One downfall though was somehow getting involved with a group of Pre-Teens with a knack of finding trouble, a girl from the Hawkins Lab with superpowers, and whatever the hell just came out of Jonathan Byers’ wallpaper?! God, you were just trying to get through your Senior year. Who would have expected the biggest surprise of the year would be falling for Eddie Freaking Munson.
CW: Playing it fast and loose with the timeline baby, Twin!Harrington, gratuitous use of the devil’s lettuce, High Schoolers are jerks, lots of plot and dialogue (sorry, but I wanna see Eddie and Reader fall in looooove), mentions of past trauma, hints that reader has some PTSD from S1, even though Steve dresses like a sailor reader has the mouth of one, not Beta read, eventual SPICE, Minors please advert your eyes and hit the road–this one isn’t for you, time jumps, tried to write reader as GN! as possible but I think some things slipped by me, Story starts in-between S1 and S2.
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Gif not mine. Credit to the creator ;)
It had all started a week after all the nightmarish events that had almost cost countless lives. You hadn’t slept much. You hadn’t eaten much. You barely spoke to your parents, or to Steve.
Your grades were slipping. Your crush on Josh had completely evaporated overnight and you had continued to dodge his calls, you guessed perspective had something to do with it and just weren’t horny. Especially when every time you closed your eyes you thought of the monster.
The monster hunched in Jonathan Byers living room. The thing that was dripping and oozing god knows what. The thing with rows of teeth just ready to rip you and the others apart and damn, had it tried. 
You felt like you kept seeing them everywhere. The things from the Upside Down, the Demogorgon’s, as the kids had also coined them. Where did they even come up with this stuff? 
The Demogorgon’s were everywhere in your peripheral, you felt like you were going crazy. You felt like not only were the eyes of the other High Schoolers always on you as most had also noticed a change in you and had started keeping a wider birth. But that something from the Upside Down had escaped, or maybe had never left at all and it had its eyes on you, on all of you.
It gave you the chills. You were freaked out. Totally freaked out. 
After your third unsuccessful attempt to get into your locker, you let out a defeated groan and let your forehead collide with the frustrating contraption. “Jesus Christ, just open you piece of shit.” You mumbled weakly striking the ugly blue painted metal with the flat of your palm.
“Problem Harrington?” A familiar voice asked from next to you. Followed by the sound of them easily unlock and gliding their own locker open.
You jumped, heart skipping at least two beats maybe even three. Your exhaustion getting to the point where you had lost touch with your own reality and didn’t even know he had walked up next to you. Great! Totally ready, alert, and prepared for another Demogorgon attack.
“Shit!” You gasped, looking to the locker next to yours. Eddie Munson standing there in all his glory, signature lopsided grin on his face as he stuffed a large notebook into his bag.
“God, Eddie! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” You squeaked. You readjusted the bag hanging off your shoulder. You turned back to your locker, trying to hide how hot your cheeks were by staring hatefully at the locked door in front of you.
“Sneak up? By sneak up do you mean, calmly walking to my locker before lunch. You know, I have a useful spell that could help you.” Eddie continued smiling at you, leaning casually against his locker after closing it shut. Moving his whole body to face yours.
You couldn’t say the two of you were friends. But you had always been friendly. You had started sharing small talk throughout the day once Senor year had started since your assigned lockers ended up being next to each other. Occasionally the small talk would turn into flirty one-liners, trying to see who could get the other to laugh first. You had also shared a few classes together. But never seemed to take that next step into friendship. You guessed Eddie wouldn’t want a friend like you, someone associated with Steve, or Tommy H, or Carol. The school bullies and you couldn’t fault him for that. Not like they made it easy for him, like ever.
“Yes ass, that’s exactly what I mean. What are you doing at your locker anyways? Don’t you like, never use it” You teased attempting to get into your locker again, at this rate you would just have to skip lunch probably.
“Not for school this time. We’ve got a game this Friday and I needed to check the campaign one last time. Can’t make it too easy for my sheep.” He paused for a moment, looking you over. “Hey, not to sound like some kind of dick. But ugh, you don’t look so good Harrington.”
“Thanks Eddie. Just what everyone wants to hear.” You mumbled. God, this was embarrassing. Is this what everyone at school thought? You were never one to care about anyone’s opinion of you, but you were vulnerable right now.
Your skin felt rubbed raw and sensitive to the touch. Everything just felt wrong. You especially didn’t want Eddie to think that about you. You didn’t know why, but you actually cared what he thought.
“No, I mean, you look sick? Do you need to go to the nurse? I can walk with you if you want?” He offered. Eddie had always been so kind, you never understood why everyone was such an insufferable jerk to him. 
“Not necessary. I’m fine, really. Just haven’t been sleeping well, or at all. I feel like Nancy from Nightmare on Elm Street right now.” You lied. You were not okay. And honestly you felt a little bad for lying to Eddie just now. You wanted to tell him exactly how you were feeling.
“You know I can help with that?” Eddie offered quickly, his eyes darting around the schools hallway that had mostly cleared out due to the lunch period starting.
“Oh yeah? How? And PLEASE don’t say anything super corny, I might just die. I’m already close.” You joked giving up on your locker completely for right now. You turned to face him, readjusting your bag again.
“Weed.” He said, wiggling his fingers like a magician who had just pulled the rabbit out of his hat.
“Seriously?” You couldn’t help but smile, your eyes joining his to look for any possible ease droppers in the hallway.
“Helps me sleep.” He said matter-of-factly. His grip growing a little tighter on his lunch box.
“I don’t know of any parties this weekend to be able to score. Guess no one wants to party after all the…disappearances.” You said weakly. Disappearances is what the suites wanted Hawkins to believe, and they made that very clear to you and your brother that night. Or else. You didn’t want to know what ‘Or else’ meant.
“Lucky you have me as a locker neighbor.” Eddie smiled, his chest puffing out slightly in a confidence you were used to seeing on him.
“Oh yeah? And what makes me so lucky?” You played along.
“I know exactly where you can score” Eddie smiled, lifting his lunchbox your eyelevel.
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You hit Eddie’s joint again, trying to keep the smoke in your lungs as long as humanly possible, before letting out a harsh and very unladylike cough. You weren’t a stoner but had dabbled from time to time during social occasions. Eddie was sitting in the driver’s seat of his van laughing hysterically at the story you were telling him, at Steve’s expense of course. 
“And then what happened?” He giggled, leaning back in his seat. Big brown eyes on you, completely absorbed in your story.
“Oh shit,” you coughed a bit more before continuing. “Well, our dad came home like, literally 30 seconds after that, and lost it. Like totally lost it. And once he saw the dog, I swear, it was like a cartoon, you could literally see the steam coming out of his ears. Then he started chasing Steve around the backyard. Steve stayed in the treehouse for like, 4 days before he agreed to come down. Oh my god, it was priceless.” 
“Who knew King Steve was such a badass little kid.” Eddie said before taking the joint back from your offered hand.
“Ooooo he was soooo bad.” You giggled. 
The two of you settled into a comfortable gap of conversation as Eddie took another puff of his joint. Dio was playing over the radio; the volume had been turned way down as you could properly tell Eddie your story. This was the first time in over a week, you actually felt at ease and comfortable. Eddie was so right.  
“You have a nice laugh.” He said, offering the joint back to you.
You declined his offer of the joint with a quick shake of your head. You were at you limit, anymore and the paranoia would set in. And you already had enough of that.
“Really?” You asked feeling a little self-conscious. “It’s not like, screechy? Steve always said I laugh like the Garbage Queen from Fragle Rock”
“Well, now that you mention it.” Eddie teased while he wiggled his eyebrows at you playfully, taking more puffs from the joint.
You gave his arm a gentle shove. “Don’t give into the dark side Munson.”
“It’s funny, ya know. You’re really nothing like your brother, but it you two seem close.” He observed, finally snubbing out the joint in his cars very overfilled ashtray.
“Yeah, we’ve always been close. Guess it’s a weird twin thing.” You offered.
“Most definitely a weird twin thing,” He agreed. He smiled at you slowly and you actually had to admit that damn, he had a nice smile.
“So, what about you? Any brothers or sisters?” You offered, trying to think about anything other than Eddie Munson’s smile right now.
“Nah, only child.” He answered. His body language changed, and he seemed uncomfortable. He tried to play it off by suddenly looking through the pile of cassettes stuffed into the van’s armrest. His smile now gone.
You immediately got the hint he didn’t want to talk about his family and decided to change the subject, quickly. “I’m not to lie to you Munson. I might be too high to go back to school.”
“Wanna ditch?” He suddenly looked up to you, there it was. The smile was back.
“Aren’t you at your ditch limit for the year?” You crossed your arms and quirked an eyebrow at him smile on your face growing bigger.
“I’m already going to fail Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Robertsons classes. It’s cool.” Since you hadn't said no outright to his question, he started his Van and threw it in reverse. When you didn’t say anything again to stop him or protest, he started backing out of his spot.
You didn’t mind leaving and spending more time with Eddie. Especially since you had also Mr. Anderson next period. You made a sour face thinking of the teacher before adding. “Mr. Anderson is such a dick. I swear he looked up my skirt last week.”
“He definitely did.” Eddie said while using his rearview mirror to reverse.
 “You saw!??” You squealed in shock. Your arm shooting out to grab the loose fabric in the sleeve of his denim jacket.
“Up your skirt? Or Mr. Anderson looking up your skirt?” He threw the Van back into drive but looked at you before hitting the gas to leave.
“Both? Either?” You asked, your cheeks burning hot with embarrassment. OH MY GOD.
“I don’t make it a habit to look up girl’s skirts if they don’t want me too. And yeah, Mr. Anderson is a total creep. Why do you think I stood on my desk and started reciting ‘The Raven’?” He questioned; eyebrow raised like it hadn’t it been the most obvious thing to do at the time.
“Oh my god, he gave you like two weeks’ worth of detention for that!” You yelled, turning your body completely in your seat to face him as he exited the Hawkins High parking lot.
“It was worth it, what he was doing was not cool.” He said simply before pulling a cigarette out of the pocket of his denim jacket. He placed it between his teeth and lit it with one hand, as the other kept driving.
Your grip on his jacket loosened as you moved your hand to his shoulder. “Thank you, Eddie. I uh, I really appreciate that.” You said sincerely. Besides Steve, no guy had ever stood up for you like that.
“Anytime Harrington. But let’s not hope more pervy old men try to get a look at the goods.” He laughed, offering you the cigarette.
“And a totally sweet moment, gone in the blink of an eye.” You made and exploding gesture with your hands before declining the cigarette.
“So where to? Movies? Book store? Record store?” Eddie offered, bringing the cigarette back to his lips.
“Record store, Mr. Freedman who owns the Movie Theater would absolutely snitch to my parents if he saw me skipping class.”
“Must suck that everyone in town knows your parents.”
“It’s the worst. Not the literal worst, you know? Because there’s kids starving all over the world, and there’s the AID’s epidemic, and War like, everywhere at the time. But damn, for my small-town rich kid ass, it SUCKS.”
“I don’t care what anyone says, you are definitely the cooler Harrington.”
You smiled leaning back into your seat, “I know.”
 AN: Do we hate it? Do we love it? Let me knowwww. Like, comment, reblog for a piece of my heart.
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papirouge · 2 years
Note
I went through your anime tag and I’m mindblown at some of the information that was mentioned. I don’t pay too much attention to anime because I was aware that most of it contained a lot of sexual themes and blasphemous material towards Christians so I don’t look at it’s content too well, just small things here and there ( for example, I only like one character from BHNA which is todoroki and that’s it. I don’t even know what’s going on in the show besides the usual violence nor do I sit and watch it on my own time to understand. ) But after looking at your tag, discernment is going to be on high for everything.
I didn’t know who Watsuki was nor did I know he made that Kenshin ( ? ) anime and movie. I wish I knew this sooner, because now it’s going to make me start doing more detailed research on anything I decide to watch. And to find out how openly blatant CP is normalized within Japanese law and society is making me want to side eye that country more. I always wanted to visit for the scenery, food, and cultural aspects and thought of living there because of natural fascination. But Idk after finding out about this stuff.
Honestly thank you for being super informative and discussing this. This anime / manga content is — for lack of words bleh. Definitely making sure I have research on hand before I check anything out.
( Also, if you find ANY suspect information on the Japanese games Lost Judgement & Ghost of Tsushima as well as the creators, please let me know. Those are the only things I play once in a blue moon and I find them entertaining, but to an extent )
Thank you so much for you message. i am glad that my work pays and that people are starting to open their eyes. I remember when I came out as Christian on tumblr I quickly started to attack anime culture, and I got a lot of backlash from my (now former) newfound Christian friends lol But I always knew I was telling the truth, ad that a few people would eventually get my point.
The whole nekketsu genre (of which BNHA belongs it) is a cesspool of glorified sins. You talk about a few things here and there, but the whole concept of kids with superpowers fighting each other is deranged. The whole nekketsu genre relies on violence, boastfulness, aggressiveness and rebellion ; what type of fulfillment would it bring to Christians?
Oh and at some point people need to grow up and stop reading material whose main characters are like half (if not 1/3) their age, that's embarrassing.... "b-but in Japan they read manga at every age!!" Go in Japan and see how women are supposed to act like brainless children to sound attractive, and where a concerning amount of grown men use this material as an escapist cope to put up with their bleak existence & social unfulfillment. Western people didn't need it to begin with ; but interestingly enough we are now festering the same symptoms by the consumption of such media ; a downward spiral. Anime culture isn't supposed to thrive in a well-balanced society. Kids don't wake up one day and decide to dress & impersonate fictional characters. This is objectively lunacy.
And yes, Watsuki is "Rurouni Kenshin" mangaka. This dude got back to business after retiring for a few weeks and paying a 2000€ fine for possession of child porn.....FYI he got supported by some of the biggest names of the manga industry (Masahi Kishimoto "Naruto", Eichiiro Oda 'One Piece" -who's also Watsuki's former assistant-, Tite Kubo "Bleach", Takeshi Obata, illustrator of "Death Note") so that he could get his career back on track ...God knows what skeletons these scrotes have in their closets to defend a predator that hard.... His eventually resumed his manga shortly after the sentence got ruled, a movie adaptation of his manga got released and everyone forgot about it....
Did you know that the whole lolicon/shotacon trope boosted k*ddie porn consumption in Japan? Anime simp can keep acting like this is just fictional, but the truth is here
"Cuteness means a generally more infantile character. Maybe the character is 20 years old, but maybe from your point of view, the character's 15 years old. It's very difficult," she said. Ken Akamatsu, who lobbies lawmakers on behalf of the Japan Cartoonists Association, said a total ban on explicit content would damage the entire industry, making creators too scared to put pen to paper in case they risked breaking the rules.He said the characters were imaginary, so unlike real child porn, no one was hurt."Actual children suffering and crying is not acceptable. But manga doesn't involve actual children. So there are no actual victims," he said. Child welfare advocates disagree.Shihoko Fujiwara runs Lighthouse, a nonprofit for exploited children. She told CNN she once worked on a case where a predator used a cartoon to convince a child that sex abuse was normal. "So the pedophiles might bring the animation and say 'this is how you practice with adults,'" she said.
I am not surprised the slightest to see anime culture depravity being fought nail & tooth by rightoid weebs bc it appears like the last wall of resistance against Western pc culture (which isn't very true as Japan is much more enforcing social conformity than in the West - unless when it comes to sexuality, which is of course convenient for rightoid scrotes) and bc tHat's JaPaNEseE cUltuRe, but isn't it funny to see them bring the cultural relativism card when they are the very same people to be so up in arms when the left does it when it comes to Islam or damaging cultural practices oversea? (I knew a person who was dissing non stop delinquency in her country....yet raved about "Tokyo Avengers" which is a manga glorifying Tokyo gangs/yakuza culture.....). This is nothing but double standards, because this whole generation idolizes entertainment and fiction.
When you come to Christ, you are supposed to be a new creature ; your entire perspectives on things change. We are supposed to be Holy and live a Holy life. We are compelled to sort things out and diss sinful activities. And yet you have Christians who will call out Hollywood for spreading an anti Christian narrative, but will draw the line at cancelling their Disney+/Netflix subscription, both pushing a very sinful and anti Christian agenda.... How does any of that makes sense? Christianism is RADICAL - we cannot afford being wishy-washy about things - either you refuse to watch anything against Christian values (=witchcraft, violence, fornication, etc) either or you don't. But you can't be like "yeah this show is sinful but I'll skip a few episodes and that will be ok" as if the "spirit" behind this content wasn't widespread into the WHOLE show. Jesus said to cut the whole arm if it drove us to sin... Accepting Jesus is supposed to ask for SACRIFICES, but barely anyone is willing to make them. But people called me a pharisee for stating this blanket statement ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Ironically enough, the brand of Christian will see no issue to expect homosexual to sacrifice their lifestyle to come to Christ ; so YOU AGREE?? YOU HAVE TO MAKE CHANGES IN YOUR LIFESTYLE TO OBEY GOD? smh
IDK if you ever felt that, but sometimes I stopped watching/listening to something, SEEMINGLY innocuous because I felt (i.e the Holy Spirit in me) felt something inside this piece of entertainment was off. God literally shown me in a dream to stop listening to a specific artist (Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) because the spirit behind her music was demonic. Every Christian should feel this way with openly demonic show, but somehow they don't, and it makes me really wonder if they truly have the Holy Spirit.
And sorry I don't know any of the games you mentioned. I think the Ghost of Tsushima is a Historic kind of game, which can be quite harmless (as hIstory is informative) but beware of the oriental mysticism propaganda.
If you're interested, LED studio pulled a very interesting and insightful documentary about the sinful agenda of anime culture here
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honeyabyss · 3 years
Text
Phone calls after Mc returned to the human realm
Lucifer:
this man is stubborn, calling you would be like admitting he's gone soft and his pride does not allow that!
so he refuses to call for the first few weeks, keeping himself busy with work of which he has enough anyway
due to all his student council work, a few other tasks of Diavolo and on top of that the usual shenanigans of his brothers, he quickly becomes very stressed
he's at his breaking point and needs someone to talk to so he can release some of his stress before he takes it out on someone else
so he goes to your old room and starts talking as soon as he enters it, only to stop confused when he doesn't see you in the room, remembering only now you left for the human realm
disappointed he sits down onto the bed and curls the blanket around himself
"Their scent is almost gone...Soon it'll be as if they were never here"
he closes his eyes, sighs softly and makes his decision
"Mc? I hope I didn't wake you. I simply thought a conversation would be nice, it's been a while..."
Lucifer's call is pretty casual, he talks about his day, work and his troublemaker brothers, it almost feels like any other day before just this time it is over phone
he does not want to admit he misses you, a) because he'd seem weak and b) he fears what admitting it will do to him, he might just miss you even more
BUT while saying goodbye he accidentally lets a "I miss you" slip, his breathing stops shortly realizing his mistake, he is about to apologize when you say it back
he smiles softly, genuinely relieved about your shared sentiment and whispers "I'll call you again soon then" before hanging up
from then on he calls you every evening and you better jump right away and pick up at the first ringing, because this man is lonely without you
Mammon:
"Congratulations! You're one of our lucky winners of our monthly Devil-Lottery. We'll have to confirm your bank account number with the one given to us when you agreed to participating in the lottery. Would you be so kind to slowly repeat the number-"
this greedy demon will quite literally try to scam you, only to absolutely panic when you hang up on him
he will instantly call you back, constantly adjusting his glasses, a nervous habit he acquired over the years
"H-hey...Mc...uhm, it's me your favourite demon!"
he is relieved you picked up, as it means you didn't block him right away, he stumbles over his words trying to find an excuse why he just tried to scam you
"Ah you know I only did that to test you, you've passed nobody scams my human! You're my amazing human after all! That's why I love you...u-uh I-i mean...nothing...that was a static you must have misheard..."
when you tell him you knew it was him as you recognized his voice, he'll be outraged, screaming into his D.D.D (and probably later getting punched by Lucifer for being so loud)
"What do you mean you already knew?! You dared to hang up on The Great Mammon?
He gets a bit sulky by your reaction, so how about playing into his obvious lie of testing you to make him feel better again
besides trying to scam you Mammon also called to (not so sneakily) check on your wellbeing
now that you're gone he constantly worries about you and he can't do much to help, but if you were actually in need of help due to whatever, trust me he'd fight Lucifer himself for permission to go to you
he'll call you as often as he can, sometimes with a few days of a break in between, asking you about your life and also letting you in on his upcoming money making schemes...please don't tell Lucifer about them
Mammon has learned his lesson though, he'll never try to scam you again, he couldn't bare it if you were to block or ignore his calls
Leviathan:
phone calls? Why? You two can just talk about the in-game talk function of this new online game you play, but no real world talk while playing that ruins the immersion!
Levi will rarely call you as he just doesn't feel comfortable enough to talk with you about normie stuff for too long
he normally just spam writes you, ding, ding, ding, one message after another coming in without you being able to respond quick enough
so if gets too much and you decide to just call him so you can have an actual chance of responding, Levi just panics and almost drops his D.D.D
"Mc? D-did you accidentally hit the c-call button? N-no? I-i see no I love you too!!....AAAAAAAh I-i meant I l-l-love t-talking to you too...hehehe w-why would a yucky o-otaku like me say something like that"
poor boy is so nervous he'll say something stupid and will stutter a lot the first few times you call him, he is just not used to talking on the phone
he will laugh nervously over everything and sometimes there'll be a phase of awkward silence, but please don't point it out, Levi is already stressed enough as it is
once he gets used to calls, he'll surprisingly suggests to have a phone call while both of you are watching the new episode of an anime, so he'll be able to talk to you as if you're right next to him, which works out mediocre at first, you have to tell him to be a bit quieter a few times but besides that it's quiet nice
"Ooooooowhooooooah!!! Did you see that? That was amazing, I wish I had these superpowers, I'd save you of every danger like a real hero! W-what do you mean I'm already your hero?"
Yes, you saw and heard it, and your neighbours probably heard Levi...
on the rare occasions Levi calls you he'll often asks you for favours like to buy him this exclusively in the human realm sold limited edition game, of course he isn't like his scummy brother Mammon who'll constantly asks for things and he'll also make it up by sending you stuff you can only get on Akuzon
so calls don't happen very often, but neither if you really mind, you'll still be in contact through messages and games
Satan:
Satan will be very proper about calling you, he'll check through messages if you're fine with him calling you, so he can be sure you have time and he doesn't bother you
Satan never jumps into a conversation right away (unless he is angry), he makes sure to show interest in you and hold a bit small talk, asking about your day, how you're doing and so on
you talk about many different things with him mostly about your shared interests, but Satan is willing to listen to you ramble about hobbies he doesn't have as well
one thing you two quickly come to do was have book club sessions over phone
"I wish you were still here Mc. I miss my book discussion partner, nobody here has as interesting opinions and views as you..."
back in Devildom you two would both read a book and afterwards discuss your thoughts, and you found a way too keep doing just that
you both write about books, decide on one to read for the week and would than have a phone call where you just talk for hours about the piece of literature you've read
now that you're back in the human realm, the book choices are even bigger as you can read human books as well, you just have to send a copy to Satan, sometimes Barbatos will be nice and pick a book up and deliver it to Satan, or to you if it's the other way around with a demon book
"Oh? No, you're right. I haven't thought about it like that yet...your thoughts are so fascinating!"
Satan will shower you in praise for every little detail that you noticed yet he missed. he genuinely enjoys your phone calls, and though he wouldn't admit it, sometimes he anticipates your call more than the actual book
even though there now is a bigger distance between you two he still feels as close to you as before, not much has changed for him and he knows he'll be able to see you again soon, he'll just have to be patient
"Next week, same time? I'm looking forward to talking to you again. Take care until then!"
Asmodeus:
"Oh my Lord! You won't believe what just happened!!!"
no greeting or alike, just straight into the discussion
whenever something gossip worthy happens, Asmo is already dialling your number to spill the tea and keep you updated on any Devildom related gossip, even if it won't help you much, it's a nice thought of him keep you in the loop
those are only the spontaneous call though, obviously you can't take these all the time...you still have a life of your own...
you two actually call each other every day at the same time, plus/minus a couple minutes, the water in the tub has to be filled first...yeah Asmo likes to talk you while he is taking his afternoon bath
"Hahh it's so relaxing, warm water caressing my beautiful skin, and the bath bomb today smells so good! I wish you could smell it, or even better I wish we could bathe together!"
*water sloshing noises intensified*
Asmo...no....yes...maybe...just stop, you'll fluster Mc!
"No really! I miss having you here, I'll pamper you all day the next time I'll get to see you. You must already be starved of my beauty, but don't worry my dear, I'm just as starved of seeing your lovely face!"
what to talk about while he is bathing? Anything really if it's about your day, any complains or whatever, just expect a few innuendos of him...that's nothing new though
seriously though Asmo is the guy to talk to about any of your problems, he will listen and try to come up with a solution for you, even if he seems a bit narcissistic sometimes he really cares about you, so use your phone calls as therapy from time to time
"Oh darling, don't worry it'll be okay! I'm here to help...now tell me every detail so I can come up with a plan! I'll always be there for you, no matter what!"
Beelzebub:
"*munch munch* This one is really good! Mc you should try some...oh"
now that you're back in the human realm, Beels snack times are very lonely, he has just gotten so used to your presence, even sharing his food is normal by now
and let's be honest Beels snack time is 24/7 so he misses you a lot
he feels the urge to call you every five minutes and sometimes even forgets to eat while phone is ringing and he is waiting for you to pick up
but you can't constantly talk with him over phone so the calls often end up on your voicemail where Beel tells you about all the different kind of foods he ate that day
when Belphie catches wind of his twin constantly pestering you, he hides Beels D.D.D so he can't call you all the time
when you're actually able to pick up on his call, Beel will be so happy you can quite literally hear his huge grin while he's excitedly talking about his current snack
"Have you ever tried spicy bat-wings? There opened a new restaurant in town and it's really good!! Next time you're here I'll invite you there. Oh but what if it closes before you're back...ah you'll just have to visit soon!"
though Beel is often disappointed when you don't pick up, he would never hold it against you, he knows he calls quite a lot, but he just misses you and tipping a message while he eats is harder than putting his D.D.D on speaker and talking to you
of course he doesn't only talk about food, he also tells you about how his brothers are doing and how his workout was, or what things he has planned to do at the weekend, all in all Beel is just super happy to share everything of his life with you
on rare occasions he'll call you and be untypically quiet, that happens when he had a fight with his twin, it's not often but sometimes it happens and his first instinct is to call you, because he feels like he can tell you everything so he is very comfortable and trusting with you
"I miss you a lot, you know...but I also know that you think about me daily, every time your stomach rumbles you'll be reminded of me and that makes me happy, I also think about you every time I'm hungry! Hm? But I'm always hungry? That's right! You're always on my mind!"
Belphegor:
Listen, his sleeping schedule is very tight, you can't just expect him to call you!
he will call you so rarely and if you call him it might just happen that he is sleeping and has phone on silent...or he's just to lazy to walk to his phone, or he is just not in the mood to talk... he takes any excuse to not be on the phone
Belphie does like talking to you, but he is not the greatest at long conversations so he like messages more
sometimes when he can't seem to fall asleep, he will be the one to call you...in the middle of the night...and you better pick up or he gets annoyed
"What took you so long? I thought you wanted to talk more often and then you leave me hanging for a whole minute? Doesn't matter I would have waited longer with you...."
he is mostly silent through a phone call, his main reason to call you is because he like to listen to you talk, it's calming to him and if he calmer then he might be able to fall asleep again
so don't expect an amazingly deep conversation...
"Mhmmm...hm? Yeah I'm still there. I'm listening keep talking, I love your voice..."
he'll bring up a topic from time to time so you have an inspiration about what to talk about, but most of the times he just lazily hum or making acknowledging noises so you know he is still listening
"Zzz..."
he will to 100% fall asleep while being on the phone with you, that doesn't mean you're boring, but that he trusts you so much that he is comfortable enough to let his guard down
Diavolo:
"Good afternoon! How was the week of my favourite human?...ah don't tell Solomon I said that hahaha"
as the future king of hell, he is a busy man, but he still manages to give you a call once a week, to the same time you two would have normally had your weekly afternoon tea meeting in the castle
with the exchange year over there is not much about your classes to talk about left, but Dia is just as excited about any other topic you decide to talk about, be it the most mundane thing he loves it!
"Oh so you went grocery shopping? That must be fun! Barbatos does it all the time, though I suppose you buy less things...I'd like to see a human market at some point, I wonder if they're very different from ours...oh but I wouldn't really able to tell I suppose, Barbatos and you would need to point out the differences!"
this man can talk without taking a break for hours...you think Asmo is bad? Prepare for Diavolo...
but seriously it never gets boring with him, because he somehow finds good and fun stuff in every activity, I swear give him a vacuum and watch him clean you're whole flat with the enthusiasm of a child getting presents on Christmas
the work of a future king consists of so much paperwork, Dia will have only few events of his week to tell you about, if there is something to talk about there is a high chance it has to do with the brothers
so he'd much rather just sip his tea and listen to you, he'll ask you loads of questions though about anything he doesn't know
sometimes you two forget the time and Barb sadly has to remind you to come to a stop for now
"Mc? Did I wake you? If so I'm terribly sorry...would you be up to talk for a little bit more? I'm not feeling too tired yet"
surprise night time calls from Dia where you'll have to speak silently or Barbatos might reprimand Diavolo for staying up all night and being tired the next day, Dia doesn't regret it ever though, he likes to talk you a lot!
Barbatos:
Barbatos is always busy and his schedule can often suddenly change with a new whim of his master, so he can't exactly have a scheduled call with you
so you might not get to hear of him very often
BUT he made it a habit to call you when he is on duty to do the dishes, the chore is somewhat boring to him with no one to distract him
so he calls you and if you pick up, he'll put you on speaker and talk to you about whatever comes to mind while his hands wash one after another of the expensive porcelain of the royal household
"I've bought this new tea which is said to be really nice, it can even be enjoyed cold apparently. It seems to have to just the right amount of sweetness to not get bitter when drank cold...you can still add sugar for extra sweetness, though I believe you're already sweet enough as it is"
no matter what you decide to talk about Barbatos always has at least some knowledge about it, so it's beneficial for both of you, he can tell you the things he knows and you tell him your stuff
"I hope I'm not bothering you too much? There is quite a lot to do today... so it might take some more time..."
you will never get to know that Barb has actually already finished the dished a few minutes ago, but just isn't ready to say goodbye yet
the rest of the employees will be able handle the castle for a bit longer without him, meanwhile he can take a well deserved tea break and listen to you
he very much enjoys the fact he found a way to have some time with you while theoretically having to be at work, as long as he is able to finish all the tasks of his daily schedule, he doesn't feel too bad about his not so legal break
"I fear I'll have to get back to work now, but I loved talking to you today! I hope you enjoyed it as well. I'll talk to you again soon!"
Solomon:
Though Solomon returned to the human realm with you, you haven't heard much of him, being a wise old man sorcerer must be very time consuming
so calls of Solomon might be rare but that doesn't mean you don't write messages every now and then, when he calls you though it's always about something interesting or important to share, he talks about those things rather verbally, the best option for him would be in person, but that doesn't always work so a phone call is the second best option
"My lovely apprentice, how is your studying going? I've found the tome we were talking about last time you were interested in...it took some research to find which sorcerer had it but I brought it back for you. How about I'll drop by you next week? I can help you with your studying then, the tome is written in an older version of the language it might be easier if we do it together!"
Solomon can simply not sit still, so while you're on the phone, he is always tinkering at something and the background noises are sometimes quite peculiar...
Was that a pig squeaking? Are you sure you should be brewing a potion while being on the phone? Isn't it distracting?
Oh Lord was that an explosion?!
"Hmm? Oh yeah...I`m cooking dinner right now! It was just a small explosion though, you know the ones that are regularly happen in the kitchen. Why? Was my cute student worried about me?~ heheh alright, alright, I'll stop teasing you...for now!"
no matter how chaotic, teasing or busy Solomon is though, if you call him and are in need of help, he'll drop everything and run to you
he knows how hard it can be when studying magic, not to mention that the studies are difficult, the constant hiding of any magic in front of other humans is also very nerve wrecking, sometimes you feel like giving up and going back to your normal life, back to your non-magical very human friends that are blissfully unaware of everything happening around them, but you know you could never forget and act as if nothing happened, you'd also miss your new not so normal friends, so when times get hard Solomon will rush to you and comfort you in person or at least calm you down on phone until he is able to go to you
if that happens he is more likely to call you every two to three days just to check in on you
"Hey how is my strong and beautiful fellow human doing? Feeling better yet? Need a shoulder to lean on? I'm at your flat in 10 minutes..."
Simeon:
Simeon is a daily caller as well, he's gotten so used to seeing you every day that he feels quite restless if he doesn't get to hear your voice at least once a day
he asked you to recommend at what time he should call, he doesn't want to restrict you in your daily life, so you both came to the conclusion after dinner would be perfect, as both of you are free for the rest of the day then
He will often write a bit on his TSL scripts, just some notes and inspirations he comes up while talking to you
"How was your day my little lamb? You haven't overworked yourself right? Tell me if you ever need help!"
though Simeon would definitely have things to complain about with how Michael is working him to the bone, he'd rather not worry you so instead he tells you about how Luke is doing and evasively answers you questions about himself
"Oh me? Ah yes, I'm doing fine, just doing the usual archangel stuff you know...Ah please do not worry Mc, my dear! Nothing dangerous!"
over the time his TSL notes turn into random scribbles, rhymes and poems and every now and then something that looks suspiciously like your name
Sometimes Luke crashes the call and wants to speak with you as well so Simeon tries to put the phone on speaker only to end up ending the call and Luke getting frustrated with Simeon and doing it himself
then again Simeon also just accidentally hangs up on you mid conversation, because his fingers hit the button without him noticing, he'll get so confused when you cut off in the middle of your sentence and thinks something has happened to you, only to be relieved when you call back a few seconds later
Simeon is very interested in your day and how you doing, asking you many questions and encouraging you to keep talking
"Oh no please keep talking! You're not overwhelming me at all, in fact I like listening to your voice, it puts even the most melodic voice of an angel into the shadows...hahaha did I make you embarrassed? I apologize, I didn't mean to, I was only telling you my honest opinion!"
Simeon is quite the flatterer, but he often does not notice it, he simply tries to be nice, so a call with him leaves you flustered and stuttering ever now and then, but he is just as quick to blush at a honest and heartfelt compliment
Luke:
Luke might be an angel, but he is still low ranking and therefore has less assignments, besides studying to become a great angel and doing some minor tasks for Michael, he is relatively free
he often spends his free time in the kitchen constantly trying to improve his baking, now after the exchange year not only to impress Michael and Simeon but also Barbatos, maybe a bit Beel and definitely you!
but as Simeon is still working at these times, he gets somewhat lonely so he'll try calling you to keep him some company
Luke has this habit of speaking the recipes out loud to remember the steps better and be able to able to make them from memory, he got that tip from Barbatos, but he still has his moments where he gets stuck and forgets what to do next, you can notice that when he gets silent and concentrates on trying to remember
"Ah right that was it! I almost forgot about the eggs! Good thing you were here...or well on the phone hehe! You always remember this stuff, you're so amazing!"
when you tell him you simply looked it up in the internet for him, he'll get a bit sulky that he now basically cheated, but with your reassurance that he is already great and can remember so many other steps, he is quickly back to his happy little angel self
"Michael let me help with his conference today I was assistant record keeper today, one day I'll be able to do it alone, bit they're talking so much and so fast...I think I still need a couple centuries until I'm fully ready, but I'm working on improving! You should also try to improve your skills daily! Even a small bit of practice is good! Though I think you're perfect already!"
Luke most definitely learned his flattering from Simeon... he talks about many different things on the phone but repeating topic is Michael...just talking to you makes his day and later he'll tell everything Simeon and he smiles so brightly while he reports to him, please keep talking to him a lot!
936 notes · View notes
lavenderjacobs · 3 years
Text
fluff alphabet - Sapnap
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➳ wc; 2,1K (she’s a long one lol)  ➳ pronouns; gender neutral<3 ➳ song reccomendation; heart eyes - coin
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A=Attractive (What do they find most attractive in a partner?)
nick’s an ass guy and you can’t convince me otherwise. he’s also just loves your thighs and your stomach. he loves how soft your skin is, and how good you smell. whenever he’s sad he just rests his head on your stomach while you tangle you fingers in his hair. 
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B=Best memory (Their favourite memory of you)
he cherishes your first kiss so much. he just has such a soft spot for that memory. the moment he finally found out you felt the same about him, the moment he finally found out what your lips against his felt like. it’s just something he had looked forward to for forever, and to him, it was perfect. 
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C=Cuddles  (What type of cuddles do they like?)
sapnap is a WHORE for cuddles. if it where up to him, you two would just lay in bed all day, tangled in each other’s arms. after a long day, he just wants to hold his favourite person and fall asleep with them, so he just wraps his arms around your waist while he uses your chest as a pillow. but if he’s in a chatty mood, he’ll just talk your ears off, ranting about something he finds interesting, while you’re all snuggled up in the crook between his neck and shoulder. 
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D=Dirty mind (Do they have a dirty mind?)
I mean, come on. it’s sapnap. we all know he does. he gets *excited* very easily, which can sometimes get in the way when you two are just trying to cuddle. he just has such a soft spot for your body and has to have his way with you once certain ideas have entered his mind. 
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E=Effort (How much effort do they put in the relationship?)
nick would definitely try his best. honestly you don't care if his plans actually turn out the way he intented them to, it's the thought that counts. and nick knows that. but theres just something about you that makes him want to spoil you and treat you like a princess. so prepare yourself for fancy dates, him making you your favorite food, all that type of stuff.
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F=First date (What was your first date together)
arcade date arcade date arcade date. sap is super competitive and I feel like he would thrive in an arcade. he would play it off like he was just trying to proof how good he was at the arcade games. but he'd just love to see how hard you would be trying to beat him. obviously he'd let you win a lot, and when he collected enough tickets, he would get you the biggest prize he could find.
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G=Gentle (How gentle are they with you?)
it....depends???? lmao. nick CAN be super gentle with you, he’s pretty protective of you and would never want you to get hurt, so he’s definitely very careful not to do anything to hurt you. but sometimes his instinct just kinda takes over and well, he can get pretty rough. 
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H=Hands (Do they have nice hands?)
hmmm nick has like,,very manly hands,, if you know what i mean. i dont know, they're just so rough but yet so pretty??? and they're like really big compared to yours so when he holds ur hand, yours looks so tiny in his. and omg he won't shut up about it. "LOOK AT YOUR HANDS THEY'RE SO SMALL🥺"
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I=Impression (What was their first impression?)
he just thought you were so ~cool~. like he immediately knew he wanted to be your friend. he was just so in awe of how funny, chill and charismatic you were. and it literally took two days for him to develop a crush on you. his friends would notice this right away and tease him about it so much omg.
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J=Jealousy (Do they get jealous often? If so what do they do?)
YUP. nick gets jealous so easy yup yup yup. jealousy, protectiveness, possessiveness, you name it. you two would often get in fights about this, but most of the time you would just think it’s cute how riled up he gets. he doesn’t get mad at you (because you’re his precious little baby and can do no wrong in his eyes :D) but god help the souls of whoever tries to flirt with you, because they’ve got a hell of a storm coming.
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K=Kisses (What type of kisses do they like/give?)
god nick’s such a passionate kisser. or at least he can be lol. he loves the way your face fits into his hands, and how soft your lips are. so he definitely is a fan of just some wholesome passionate kisses. but damn this man gets sloppy when he wants to. his lips constantly trails off to your jaw, neck and collar bones.
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L=Love  (Do they show their love?)
i feel like his love language would be like a mix between words of affection and physical touch??? he’s definitely very verbal with his love for you. he doesn’t shy away from saying i love you or letting you know how much he appreciates you in any other way.
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M=Memory: (Their favourite memory in general?)
there are certain moments where nick just sits back, watches, and realizes how amazing his life is. and how grateful he is to have you. for example, you were playing minecraft on his pc, and your house kept getting blown up by creepers, he found it adorable how mad you got every time. he just watched you play, while sitting on his bed. after a while, you looked over at him, and caught him staring. “what?” you asked after letting out a soft chuckle. he felt like he was gonna explode from how much he loved you. 
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N=Nickname  (What nicknames do they call you?)  
i’m getting very strong “baby” and “doll” vibes from nick. he loves baby-ing you and smothering you with other loving nicknames. just any petnames that show how much he loves you he’s all for. he would also love calling you “pretty” or “beautiful” for obvious reasons. 
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O=Over  (What happened the one time you ‘broke up’?)
nick HATES fighting with you, but once you two get into an argument he can get pretty carried away. he’s definitely the type to let his emotions get the upper hand on him. raising his voice a lot, stuff like that. but the second you leave to get some space he just breaks down. sliding down the wall and resting his face in his hands, just letting all the emotions out. he never meant to hurt you. when you came back to him, ready to be enclosed in his arms again, he had a hard time letting you back in. he just felt like he didn’t deserve you after he treated you like this. it took some convincing, but once you broke down his walls again, it was like he gave you all the love in his body. just smothering you with “i’m sorry”s and kisses. 
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P=Parents (What would they be like as a parent?)
dilfnap dilfnap dilfnap  omg he’d be such a good dad. like just very caring and loving, but also strict and stern when he needs to be. he’d constantly be telling stories to the kids about the absurd adventures him and his friends would get into, and omg the dad jokes he’d make. idk maybe it’s my daddy issues but dad sapnap lives in my mind rent free. 
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Q=Quirk (Something special about them)
he loves holding your hand. especially in public. if you’re in a crowded space, he just holds onto you very tightly as not to lose you. or if you two are just going on a walk together, his hands would just feel so warm and soft around yours. and omg he loves it when his hands are in his pockets, and you put your hands in there with him, and intertwine your fingers with his. hmmm he gets so soft when you do that.
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R=Romantic (How romantic are they?)
i- uh- I MEAN HE WOULD TRY he really would, and again, that’s all that matters. I feel like he would be the type to try to prepare a whole surprise dinner, he would cook all the food himself, he would set the table all cute, with candles and shit, but just completely ruin the surprise by accidentally giving it all away by saying something or just behaving very obviously suspicious. 
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S=Sad (What are they like when they’re sad?)
he just gets really quiet. he would never want to bother you or be a pain in the ass by complaining to you. but obviously you notice when something is wrong with ur bby boy. a sentence like “are you okay?” or “what’s wrong?” would immediately send him over the edge, burying his face in your chest, trying his best to supress his sobs. but he eventually calms down, and once he does, he’s able to just rant to you about whatever is bothering him.
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T=Together (What are they like when you’re together?)
i feel like it would really depend on his mood, like he could be either SUPER chill, just wanting to savour the time you two had together. or he could be really hyper, constantly talking, wanting to do all kinds of activities with you. he’d be the literal definition of :D
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U=Understanding (How understanding and empathetic are they?)
very. i just get such empathetic vibes from him. he’s such a good listener and he’ll just listen to you talk whenever you have something to be upset about. he never invalidates your feelings and omg he’d give the best advice. 
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V=Value (What do they value most about the relationship?)
he loves that he can 100% be his self around you. there’s no part of his personality that he feels like he has to hide, or tone down, whenever he’s with you. you also aspire him to be his best self, he just wants to be the best boyfriend in the world. all his friends have noticed this too, you bring out the best in him.
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W=Wedding (Would they want marriage? If so what would they like?)
eh. if you’re a person who really values marriage, he’d 100% do it for you. but it’s not like he HAS to. he gets a bit scared by the idea of this whole big event, where everything is about you two, he would way rather celebrate the love you two have in the comfort of your own home, just the two of you. the one thing he would love about a wedding, would be seeing you all dolled up, walking down the aisle, omg he’d be the proudest man ever to be able to call you his.
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X=X-Ray (How well can they read you?)
the SECOND you start to feel sad or depressed in any way, nick notices immediately. he knows you better than anybody else, and he knows exactly what to do to cheer you up. it’s like his superpower. if you’re feeling anxious he’ll just wrap his arms around you really tightly, holding on to you until you calm down. and when you’re sad, and in need for something to cheer you up, he’ll take you outside for a walk in the park, or he’ll just sit in bed with you, watching your favourite show. 
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Y=Yuck (What they would never want in a partner)
he hates when you flirt with his friend, even when you’re very obviously joking. his jealous ass can’t deal with that lmao. he also gets super pissed when his friends make flirtatious jokes towards you, they know how much it gets on his nerves and that’s really the only reason they do it. but omg he gets so pissed when it happens. 
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Zzz (How do they sleep around you?)
nick would be the cutest sleeper ever omg. he doesn’t like to admit it, but he loves being little spoon. he loves resting his head on your chest, while you play with his hair, patiently waiting for him to fall asleep. 
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609 notes · View notes
mxbeezkneez · 3 years
Text
Graveyard Companions
Chapter 2: i'm coming back from the dead, and i'll take you home with me
Link to ao3: x
Warnings: Blood, Minor Injury, Cursing
Fandoms: The Addams Family
Relationships: Gomez Addams/Morticia Addams, Gomez Addams/Morticia Addams/Reader, Gomez Addams/Reader, Morticia Addams/Reader
Tags: Vampire, Vampire Turning, Human/Vampire Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Married Couple, Blood, Polyamory, Eventual Romance, Eventual Relationship, Pre Relationship, Cursing
Summery: “I’m a vampire… a goddamn vampire,” you whisper.You wake up in the living room of a gothic house, and are told you were found unconscious in a graveyard. They claim you are a vampire. As crazy as it is, you can't help but start to trust the couple who found you.
Chapter notes: hi i'm back! i started thinking about the addams family, and well my interest in vampires didn't rlly diminish much... this chapter's pretty long, so i hope you enjoy! i apologize if my french or spanish is bad, i don't speak french, and i only speak a bit of spanish! i actually have like a whole plot n stuff planned, so i'm pretty hyped for this fic! hope u like it! :) (the title is from it's not a fashion statement, it's a fucking death wish by my chemical romance)
You wake up to a loud bang, bolting straight up out of bed. “What the hell?”
You rub your eyes before slipping out of bed. The night before feels very far away, almost unreal, but being in this room confirms your memories. You’re staying in the Addams’ house and are… a vampire. You take a slow breath before grabbing new clothing. You find a pair of black pants to match a dark sweater. While near the dresser, you look out of the room’s window. It’s dark outside, the sky a navy blue sprinkled with stars. The graveyard behind the house is illuminated by the moon shining over it.
You leave your room, deciding to try and find the living room once again. You wander through the halls before finding it. Inside you find Wednesday, the small girl, playing with a younger blond boy. She’s talking to him while holding a headless doll in her arms. You walk farther into the room, stepping on a squeaky board, alerting the children of your presence.
They both turn their heads to stare at you. You nervously chuckle.
Wednesday points at you, “That’s (y/n),” she tells the boy, “I heard father say they’re a vampire.”
“Wow really?” the boy exclaims, “Is it true? Do you drink blood?”
“Um,” you stammer, “Well, I am a vampire, but I haven’t been one very long so- no I haven’t drank any blood. Uh… what’s your name again?”
“I’m Pugsley,” he reaches over and offers his hand.
You shake it, “Well, nice to meet you Pugsley. What are you guys up to?”
“We’re playing the French Revolution,” Wednesday answers flatly.
You chuckle, “Huh. I mean I guess it was an exciting time. Who’s your doll there?” you point to the headless doll in her hands. To be honest, the beheaded doll was very unnerving, but the children themselves seemed nice enough, so you push your nerves to the side.
“Marie Antoinette” she says matter of factly.
“Oh,” you pause, “Explains the lack of head I guess.”
You stand there awkwardly for a moment, unsure of how to exit the conversation. “Do either of you know where your parents are?” you ask.
“I saw them in the dining room earlier. Uncle Fester was there, but I think he went upstairs to play with his dynomite caps,” Pugsley replies. Uncle Fester? Dynomite caps? There’s too much to unpack there, so instead you decide to find Gomez and Morticia.
“Okay, thanks.”
You head out the door, realizing you have no idea where the dining room is. You go to turn back, but the children are playing animatedly and you don’t want to interrupt, so instead you look for it yourself.
You find the dining room, and sure enough, Gomez and Mortica are seated next to each other at a long table. You walk over and take a seat near them.
“(Y/n)! How’d you sleep?” Gomez greets you.
“Like the dead,” you say flatly. A second later what you’ve said hits you and you blink slowly, “I mean, I slept well, thanks.”
“You did seem rather tired last night,” Morticia remarks, “I’m glad you got some rest.”
“Wait, did I sleep through an entire day?” you ask.
“Yes, though we did tell Lurch not to disturb you,” she answers, “We thought you needed the sleep. How are you feeling?”
“I feel…” you take a moment to survey yourself, “I feel okay. I think if anything I feel a little hungry.”
“We can get that squared away! Mama makes the best yak stew.” Gomez springs from his chair and over to a rope hanging from the ceiling. Remembering last night, you brace for a loud noise. Sure enough, once he pulls it, the house shakes as the ringing travels through the house.
“You rang,” Lurch grumbles.
“Yes Lurch, a bowl of yak stew for our guest!” Lurch groans and exits.
“Thank you,” you tell them, “You’ve both been very hospitable, I’m thankful you were the ones that found me.” You feel sincerity in that statement, you were not only grateful for their help, but another part of you has some feeling when you’re near them. You’re not sure what the feeling is, though you can confidently say you didn’t mind the couple, or hell, the weird household in general. Even if it is kooky, you can’t say you’re not charmed by their life.
Lurch comes back with a silver platter that he sets on the table. On it is a bowl of stew that he places in front of you.
“Thanks,” you say, before grabbing the spoon and looking back at the meal. Lurch takes his leave. You’re unsure about eating yak, but you are also hungry and the stew looks fairly appetizing. You take a scoop and put it in your mouth, surprised not only by the flavor of the soup, but also the feeling of chewing. It’s like you can feel your canines rip through the meat faster than before. In the time where you’ve been thinking, it’s completely slipped your mind that you probably have fangs now. That you’ve changed.
“This is- this is actually really good,” you remark.
“I told you, Mama is a culinary genius! Nothing beats her yak stew!” Gomez gleams.
You smile at Gomez. Something about him just makes you want to smile in a soft admission of admiration.
You turn your attention back to the stew, eating it quickly until there is nothing left.
“I’m glad you enjoyed Mama’s cooking,” Morticia smiles, “I’ll have to tell her you enjoyed it. It’s not very often she gets to feed guests.”
“It is very odd, usually most people never come back after eating her food… I can’t imagine why…” Gomez says with a puzzled expression on his face. You chuckle. You notice that you find yourself enjoying the Addams’ company immensely. A part of you feels sad that you will eventually have to leave.
“Ah, c'est la vie (that’s life) ,” Morticia remarks.
“Tish!” Gomez’s head swivels quickly to face her, “That’s French!” he exclaims, grabbing her arm. He begins to kiss it, from her hand to her shoulder, though is interrupted by Morticia, “Darling. We have company. Later,” she says with a sly grin. Gomez raises his head to meet her eyes, a dazed look on his face. “Later.” he remarks, before finding himself back in his seat, “So, Hester, any plans for the night?” he asks casually.
“Um…” you stutter, flustered by the show of passion from the man sitting across from you, “I- I don’t really know… I mean, I’m a vampire now so- does that mean I have to act like one too? I’ve never been in a situation like this, I don’t really know what to do,” you admit, staring at your hands. You look up towards Morticia, “Didn’t you mention you’ve known vampires before? Could you maybe help me?”
“Of course, darling.” Morticia says, “Why don’t we talk in the living room? If you’re alright with it, the children would enjoy listening, they are curious creatures.”
“Yeah, that’s alright. They asked me a question or two when I ran into them earlier. I don’t blame them for being curious,”
“Pugsley’s been very interested in nonhuman creatures lately, ever since that run in with that werewolf he’s been wanting to know more. Wednesday’s been teaching him some things, she’s always had a firm grasp on certain folklore!” Gomez said proudly.
The three of you walked to the living room and sat down, them on the couch, and you in a chair facing them. The children were still in the room, sitting on the floor. You fidget with your hands nervously. “So, do I have superpowers or anything now?” you half-heartedly joke.
“Vampires have very fast healing capabilities,” Wednesday states, “They are very difficult to kill, they must be stabbed with a stake to the heart or decapitated.”
“Very good Wednesday,” Morticia smiles.
“Huh,” you respond, “Alright, that’s not too bad.”
“There are certain weaknesses that should be mentioned, such as sunlight, garlic, crucifixes and running water.” Morticia adds.
“Wait I can’t eat garlic anymore?” you ask, “That kinda sucks, huh.”
“Well technically you can eat anything if you try hard enough,” Gomez says offhandedly.
Morticia cocks an eyebrow at him and sighs, “It’s not so much deadly, it’s more like a food allergy.”
“So I can still eat things with garlic in it?” you double check.
“As long as you aren’t a coward!” Gomez says enthusiastically.
You let out a laugh at Gomez. Wednesday is rolling her eyes, though Morticia just keeps looking at him lovingly. For a moment you forget about the obvious question hanging in the air.
“So…” you start, “I have to drink blood now?” you ask nervously.
“Yes, all vampires must ingest blood to keep themselves alive,” Morticia says, “You’ve got to be hungry by now I imagine,”
“Yeah… but I just ate.” you reply.
“You can still eat food, it just will never fill you. In order not to starve you have to drink blood.” she explains.
You look down at your shaking hands. Everything before now had felt unreal, but this? The seriousness in her voice is making everything too real for you. How could you possibly do that to someone?
“I- I don’t know if I can do that…” you voice shakes, “I mean- how… how could I?”
“Children,” Morticia addresses them, “Why don’t you go play with Uncle Fester while we talk with Hester.”
“Awwww, do we have to?” Pugsley complains.
“A vampire’s eating habits are quite personal Pugsley. I’m afraid so.”
“Alright,” he sighs and follows Wednesday out of the room.
“If you need help procuring someone, you just have to ask. Gomez and I would of course be willing to provide.”
“Provide…?”
“Bodies of course.” Gomez affirms.
“Human bodies,” you repeat, your mind reeling. You had noticed the family was quite odd, even creepy at times, but what they were offering? It sounded too close to murder. You suddenly become very aware of where you are: in a strange house with strangers. Your hands become clammy.
“Is everything alright darling?” you hear Morticia ask. Your throat swells up. You try to force words out, but nothing will leave you lips, leaving you in what is now panic. Finally something spills out, “You can’t kill people for me! You- you can’t!” you sputter out.
“Kill people?” Gomez repeats, “Why we’d bring them alive of course.”
You let out a breath, “Okay, alive. I mean- I just still don’t think I can…”
“Well I suppose there is another option,” Gomez adds.
“What? What is it?” you ask, hopeful.
“Animal blood! It doesn’t work as well, but it’ll do in a pinch.” he explains.
You perk up, “I can do that. That works.” you feel relief.
“Should we make some arrangements? The children could fetch some for tonight.” Morticia asks.
“You have been so kind, really. I would appreciate it, at least for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll work on leaving, I’ve been here long enough.”
“It’s been our pleasure,” Gomez responds, lighting a cigar, “It’s been so long since we’ve had guests.
“Well you certainly are great hosts,” you smile. Despite your situation, you’ve found yourself fairly comfortable here.
“Thank you,” Morticia says, “Now, we ought to ring for Lurch to get some blood. I’m sure the children would love to accompany him.” As she reaches for the bell, you ready yourself for the loud ring. Lurch walks in, “You rang?”
“Yes Lurch, could you gather the children and find some animal blood for our guest here?”
“Yes, Mrs. Addams,” he drawls. He leaves the room in search of the children. A quiet silence falls over the room. Deciding to strike up conversation, you pipe up a question, “So, when did you two meet?”
“Oh, on the best day of my life,” Gomez grins proudly,
“We met at a funeral,” Mortica explains, “It was a lovely day. Grey clouds filled the sky, thunder rolling in the distance.”
“Oh cara mia, I remember it like it was yesterday, our eyes meeting over the coffin,” Gomez starts, “I swear the whole funeral party had to be half as enchanted with you as I had been.” You notice the two of them becoming more enveloped in their memories of each other. You can’t help but smile at how truly in love they are, even if that love meant that you would sit there awkwardly wondering if they were going to just make out in front of you.
“Oh mon cher, you are as charming as you were back then.”
Gomez’s eyes dart up, “Tish! That’s French!” He grabs her arm and starts kissing it.
“Gomez darling,” she warns, “Later.”
He looks up dazed, “Oh yes, our guest. Where were we?” he asks.
“I think you’ve answered my question,” you smile awkwardly.
“Do you have anyone special back home?” Morticia asks politely.
“Well…” you begin to explain“There is this one guy, my roomate, I guess… but I don’t think he likes me like that.” you explain.
“Tiene que estar loco si no le gusta, eres muy guapo. (He must be crazy if he doesn’t like you, you are very handsome.) ” Gomez comments under his breath. You feel your face heat up. He must not know you speak Spanish, judging by how offhandedly he said it. You look over to Morticia who nods ever so slightly, making you even more flustered.
“Uh… gracias, pero… sabes que hablo Español, sí? (Uh… thank you, but… you know I can speak Spanish, yes?) ” you ask. Gomez’s hand, which was placed on Morticia’s knee, now grips it somewhat tightly. Morticia looks over to him in curiosity. His face seems flushed.
“¿Comprendes lo que yo digo? (You understand what I’m saying?) ” he asks tentatively.
“Sí, aprendí a hablar en Español en la escuela. (Yes, I learned to speak in Spanish in school.) ”
“Oh,” a breath leaves his mouth. His eyes keep darting back and forth like he doesn’t know what to do. You can tell his weight has registered onto the balls of his chair like he is about to leap off his seat, but something is keeping him grounded. You look back at Morticia, who seems about as intrigued as you. A heavy silence fell over the room as everyone sat on edge.
Breaking the awkward scene, Lurch walks in with heavy footsteps holding a platter, “Your blood.”
He sets the platter down on the table, removing the lid. On the platter is a wine glass with a dark red liquid in it. As soon as you see the glass you can smell it, the blood. Rather than smelling rancid, the metallic scent smelled like everything you could ever want. You quickly grab the glass with both hands and hold it up to your lips, gulping down the liquid. The taste of it floods your mouth, though some of it dribbles down to your chin as you frantically consume it. You drink the last drop and set down the glass, looking up.
“Shit,” you curse under your breath. You wipe off your chin with the back of your sleeve. “Sorry, I- I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s quite alright,” Morticia affirms, “You’ve just been turned, I’m surprised you’ve gone this long without blood… well I guess there was last night.” You wince at the mention of that encounter. Trying to change the subject, you ask, “What happens if I can’t get blood?”
“Well, either you go to any length to get it out of pure hunger, or if you don’t, you die,” Morticia explains, “So it’s best you feed regularly.”
“So is that why I…” you try to think of a way to phrase it, “Why I don’t feel much restraint when I see blood?”
“Yes, though you’ll get more constraint as it goes on.”
“Oh, okay. By the way, I’m not keeping you up, am I? It has to be pretty late. I mean, I guess I’m already a night owl, so this isn’t too unusual for me, but you two probably should sleep, right?” you ask.
“If you don’t mind, I would like to get some sleep. Perhaps tomorrow if you plan on leaving, we can help you get back?” she asks.
“Yeah, that’d be great. And of course, go get some sleep. I’ll just hang out for a bit.” you say, putting on a small smile.
“Alright, good night then,” Mortica says.
“Goodnight Hester.” Gomez says.
“Goodnight.”
You stay in the living room much longer after they leave, lost in your thoughts. The weight of your new life- or death has started to sink in. Your mind drifts to drinking the blood earlier. The feeling of it had been great, though immediately after your chest felt heavy. You don’t suppose it has anything to do with your newfound changes. No, instead you recognize the feeling as the weight of your guilt.
You can’t help but wonder what kind of creature feeds off the life force of others. You try to reason with yourself by saying it’s like eating animals, yet you can’t accept the notion. This had felt different. Looking back to having Morticia’s blood makes your face flush, but you can’t also help but notice the difference from tonight. While the animal blood was good, and mostly filling, Morticia’s blood, human blood, brought a type of euphoria.
You didn’t need Morticia to spell it out for you. Using animal blood works as a substitute, but you know deep down you are now meant to feed on humans. The realization hits you as you think that. You are no longer human. On this thought your heart aches. What does this make you. Confused? Scared? Yes, those both applied. You feel lost.
You feel anxious thinking about going home tomorrow. Going home means it’s real. It means you have to face your roommate who you’re in love with and somehow not let him know you’re a vampire. You let out a huff. God, how are you supposed to do this? You take a small amount of solace knowing you have the Addam’s help. You’re glad they’ll help you get back home, you don’t think you could do it alone. You know even if you never speak to them again, their impact will be left on you forever.
You get up off the couch, deciding to go to sleep. You trudge to your room and plop onto the bed with a sigh. Eventually you drift off to sleep.
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heliads · 3 years
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The Value of a Friend
Peter Parker is fairly surprised when a classmate, Y/N L/N, is able to figure out his secret identity as Spider-Man. He’ll come to rely on her over the next few months, although he may make a surprise discovery about his feelings for her on the school trip to Europe.
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Peter Parker’s legs swing absentmindedly over the edge of the roof. There’s nothing much going on right now- brick, stucco, and metal as far as the eye can see. The lights of the city that never sleeps reflect off of the windows; a thousand sights and sounds and happenings littered down the boulevards. Despite all the comings and goings, the rush of people across the streets, nothing major has happened all night. Peter knows he technically shouldn’t be hoping for crime, but he does want at least one thing to happen to justify him staying up this late on patrol duty.
Peter’s got the usual mask pulled down over his face, disguising the heavy circles under his eyes. He may have superhuman strength and durability, but his powers don’t appear to help him run on less sleep. However, Peter’s used to staying up long nights patrolling. This particular moonlit outing isn’t unusual.
There’s a movement out of the corner of his eye, and Peter shifts to glance over at the orderly streets behind him. There- a girl walking down a sidewalk, her pace brisk and hurried to steer her quickly through an alleyway. With a rush, Peter realizes that he recognizes the girl. Her name is Y/N L/N, she’s in some of his classes. He wouldn’t exactly consider her a best friend, maybe more of an acquaintance. This isn’t due to any specific animosity, Peter just never really got the chance to talk to her. Sometimes, however, he wishes he had.
Y/N isn’t just smart like the other students in his class, she’s clever. Peter has seen the way her eyes light up when she figures something out, the same light that winks out from underneath her eyelashes when she laughs over a bad joke with her friends. Peter shakes himself for a second. Why is he thinking so much about her eyes? He shouldn’t have the way she smiles memorized at all, ready to call up at a moment’s notice.
Besides, Peter realizes with a dull chill, Y/N’s eyes are different from Peter’s on one grand scale. Y/N has no superpowered senses, and so she cannot tell that there are two or three men shadowing her as she wends through the streets. Peter curses softly, realizing that the men are definitely following her. Without a second thought, he leaps down from the building, swinging towards them on ropes of spider silk.
Peter’s goal was to take them out before they got close enough to reach Y/N. However, they were too far away and it doesn’t look like a secret rescue will be happening tonight. They’ve already cornered her in a narrow street, hands pulling guns out of coat pockets. Peter acts as quickly as he can- spiderweb launched at one, dragging him back against the wall of the street. The other Peter takes on directly, aiming a blow at the man’s head that knocks him backward before Peter hits him again. Peter would usually tie the thugs up and leave them for some other soul to deal with, but the men are already running away without a second’s hesitation and he doesn’t much feel like trying to track them down.
There’s a soft sound behind him, like a gasp of breath, and Peter turns around to see Y/N standing there, looking shaken but unhurt. Peter panics for a moment before remembering that his mask is still snugly in place. She would have no way of knowing him. Peter takes a hesitant step closer, reaching out his hands to show that he means no harm. “I’m, uh, Spider-Man. Are you alright?”
Y/N shakes her head hastily. “No, I’m fine. Thank you for saving me from those guys.” Peter waves a hand. “No problem. All in the job description, you know?” Y/N laughs, but the sound dies slowly from her lips as she stares at him. Her head cocks slightly to the side, as if she’s considering something. She raises a hand slowly to point at him like she’s unsure of a truth but determined to say it nonetheless.
“Are you Peter Parker?” Peter stiffens, turning hurriedly to make sure that nobody could have heard her. Dimly, he realizes that he should have denied this first instead of acting like this was something to be hidden. “Uh, no. I don’t know who that is.” The lie sounds fake even to his own lips. A small smile is growing over Y/N’s lips, as if she’s incredulous. “You are. Peter Parker from chem class is Spider-Man.”
Peter figures that the game is up, so he tugs his mask from his head. Y/N’s eyes dart to his face, washing over every detail as if in awe. “It’s true. You’re actually Spider-Man?” Peter nods thickly. “How did you know it was me?” A slight blush forms in Y/N’s cheeks. “I, uh, you looked familiar.” Peter raises an eyebrow. “I was wearing a mask.” Y/N blushes harder. “You have the same voice. Is that better? You sound the exact same.”
Peter lets out a huff of breath at that. He can’t deny it- he’s messed around with voice settings on the suit before but never bothered to permanently give himself a different-sounding voice as Spider-Man. Now he’s paying the price for it. “Maybe.” A slight smile tugs at the corners of Y/N’s lips. “You were ready to be Spider-Man but you didn’t even have an excuse prepared to explain yourself?” Peter feels defensive. “Well, most people don’t actually figure it out. You’re the first, actually. Well, I had to tell Ned but only because he saw me crawling on the ceiling. I didn’t realize he was there, though. I don’t usually crawl on ceilings.”
Peter realizes he’s rambling and does his best to stop talking. Y/N’s smiling at him again, and he feels surprisingly fine about it. “I would hope not. Crawling on ceilings is kind of hard to explain away.” Peter scratches the back of his head, suddenly self-conscious. “Yeah, that’s kind of why I had to tell him.” Y/N flashes him a grin. “Well, I appreciate the rescue, Peter-Not-Spider-Man. I’ll see you in class?” Suddenly, Peter doesn’t want to leave. “I can walk you home if you like? I hear it’s kind of dangerous out here.” Y/N nods her approval. “Sure thing. Just make sure you put your mask back on first.”
Peter becomes friends with Y/N after that. There’s almost no way not to- she knows the biggest secret of his life, how could they not be friends? Ned is thrilled to find another ‘Friend of Spider-Man’, as he dubs Y/N, and the three of them get along surprisingly well. MJ, too, is glad to see Y/N around, although MJ has yet to discover Peter’s secret. At the rate he’s going, though, Peter has a shifting feeling that she’ll find out soon enough.
It’s after one of his late night patrol rounds that Peter finds himself knocking on Y/N’s window. He’s slumped against the window sill, hand pressed to his side. There was a mass robbery on the East Side, something Peter stupidly thought he could handle without a second thought. He stopped the robbery, that was true, but they’d managed to fire off several shots with some newfangled weaponry that even Tony would have to take a second look at. The result is this: a bloody cut on his side that doesn’t look like it will be going away any time soon.
After a couple of seconds, Y/N throws open her window. She leans out, eyes widening when she sees Peter still dressed in his Spider-Man suit. “What’s going on?” She hisses, then her gaze finds the bloody slit on his side. “What is that?” She glances behind her, as if making sure everyone is asleep, then gestures hurriedly for him to climb through the window after her. “Quick, come in.” Once Peter’s standing in her room, Y/N closes the window, then leans against it, staring at the blood on his hands and the nervous look in his eyes.
“What happened?” Peter grimaces. “Robbery. Bit off a little more than I can chew. Do you have a first aid kit? I think I need to get this bandaged up but if I go home now Aunt May will freak out. I can’t stress her anymore, and I don’t think Ned knows how to stop bleeding.” Y/N shakes her head. “Gotcha. Give me a second, I can grab some supplies.” Y/N heads out of her room, reappearing in a minute or so with a box of bandages and medical supplies held triumphantly in front of her. 
She directs Peter to sit on a chair by her desk, and he does so, careful not to get any blood on, well, anything. Y/N takes a seat opposite him, bandages and an antibiotic for disinfecting the wound in her hands. Her brow furrows as she begins to treat the wound, and Peter can’t help but let his gaze linger across the determined look in her eyes, the slight curve of her lips as she focuses on the cut on his side.
After a while she straightens up, and Peter looks away hurriedly, feeling a slight blush heat up his cheeks. “I think that should hold you for a while. You said you had superhuman strength and stuff like that, right? You’ll probably be able to sleep it off.” Peter climbs back through the window, but just before he swings away he turns back, leaning his head through the opening to Y/N’s room. “Thanks a lot, Y/N. I mean it. I can’t think of anyone else I could turn to.” Y/N smiles at him, a smile that seems to light up the whole room. “No problem, Peter. If you’ve got my back, I’ve got yours.”
Peter is certainly grateful for his friendship with Y/N over the next couple of months. He ends up making a couple more stops by her room for help patching up various injuries, and when he has to deal with the aftermath of Tony’s death, she’s always there with some way to hear him out and cheer him up. Honestly, he doesn’t know what he would do without her.
When Peter gets word of the school trip to Europe, he thinks it’s the best thing that could happen to him in a while. Time to himself, with friends, touring interesting places. He’s hoping that a change in scene will finally let him breathe for a second, let him put aside the mask and suit and be Peter Parker once more. However, the appearance of the suit in his suitcase and one Nick Fury convinces him that this trip won’t just be a vacation, however much he wants it. Hopefully, he’ll have time to tell MJ how he feels in between the attacks of the elementals.
MJ. What is Peter supposed to do about MJ? He knows he has feelings for her, that much is obvious. He had a plan, carefully laid out steps that would culminate in Peter telling MJ he loves her and presenting her with a black dahlia necklace. However, as the fights with the elementals grow and grow, he has a feeling that won’t entirely work out. What is he supposed to do now?
He’s confessed his plan to Ned, just to hear another point of view. He told Y/N actually, at a different point in time. She’d seen the necklace and was wondering if he had a sudden taste in jewelry. It was strange, though, the second Peter had told her how he felt about MJ Y/N had gotten this sudden look, like she was shuttering the light in her eyes closed against the world. The sight of her, the smile slipping from her lips, made Peter feel like he’d done something terribly wrong. He just couldn’t figure out what it was. Y/N seemed fine after that, but he did notice that she stopped talking about the dahlia necklace or anything in the plan at all.
Things with the elementals end up going from bad to worse. Peter finds out that the man he thought was his friend, Quentin Beck, was actually the one behind the elementals all along. In fact, the elementals were nothing more than elaborate holograms, and Peter had gone and given Beck control over E.D.I.T.H. in the form of Tony’s glasses. Mr. Stark’s last gift to him, and Peter had tossed it away in a moment of misplaced trust.
It’s not like Peter is alone, though. MJ found out about Peter’s secret identity as Spider-Man, and now she, Y/N, and Ned are figuring out how to take down Mysterio alongside Peter. Peter feels a sudden rush of gratitude as he looks back at his friends. With people like them, people that matter that much to him, Peter feels like he could take on the world. And with Mysterio’s control over E.D.I.T.H., he just may have to.
The battle ends up going surprisingly well. Peter manages to turn the tide on Mysterio, refusing to fall for any of the man’s schemes and tricks. In the end, he is able to wrest control of E.D.I.T.H. away from Mysterio, thus enabling him to remove all of the drones and end the man’s plans once and for all. Now that the fight is over, though, Peter almost doesn’t know what to do.
He finds himself stumbling down Tower Bridge, limping from all of the various injuries he’s managed to obtain during the fight. The first thought in his head is that he should look for Y/N, for the one girl he always turns to whenever he needs help. Then MJ runs out from among the cars, and Peter focuses instead on her. She dashes over to him, throwing her arms around him and telling him that yes, everyone is okay and yes, he saved them all.
Distantly, Peter can see the figures of Ned and Y/N approaching, but it’s alright. They’re his friends, he doesn’t have to worry about pulling his mask back on. Peter pulls away, fishing around in his pocket for the black dahlia necklace. He feels crushed to see that it’s in pieces, but MJ says something about how she likes it better broken. It’s funny, though- Y/N has always been able to fix things. To fix him.
Peter pushes Y/N out of his mind. He’s not thinking about his friend, he’s thinking about MJ. MJ, the girl he loves, the girl who is right in front of him. The girl who’s just leaned forward and kissed him. Peter lets himself kiss her back, lets himself lean into her and block out the rest of the world. There’s the screech of traffic echoing around him from the parts of the city that haven’t yet shut down, and that is what drags Peter back to reality.
They break apart after a few seconds. MJ starts to step away, saying something about how she should probably get going before too many people see familiar Midtown students with Spider-Man. Peter nods, noting that Ned and Y/N have changed direction upon seeing MJ head their way once more. There’s a strange expression on Y/N’s face, a strange emptiness that hadn’t been there before. Peter wants to go run after her, to say something to make that quiet sorrow go away, but his feet feel leaden in place and all he can do is watch as she walks away.
Peter gets back to his hotel room late that night. Ned files in after him, chuckling softly about how his best friend managed to save the day and get with MJ in one go. However, Ned’s face falls as he says this. “Did you really have to kiss her in front of Y/N, though?” Peter frowns over at his friend. “What do you mean?” Ned spreads his hands. “Well, you know, because Y/N likes you. I thought it would be kind of mean to kiss MJ when she was right there.”
Peter feels like the ground is falling away underneath his feet. “Y/N likes me?” Ned nods. “Didn’t you know? She’s had a crush on you for a while now. Sorry, Peter, I thought you knew. I probably shouldn’t have told you that.” Peter waves away his friend’s apology, already heading to the door. Ned’s voice stops him. “You won’t be able to find her. She was scheduled to take an earlier trip home. Remember? It was planned out earlier in the month. She had to make it home early for some family reason, she talked about it on the flight.” Peter remembers this now, and his stomach turns at the thought of Y/N on that plane, all alone and stuck with the picture of him and MJ kissing.
Ned turns away to pack his suitcase, but Peter can’t think about anything productive at all. He’s beginning to realize that he’s made a very big mistake, something he can only hope to undo. There was a reason he hadn’t felt anything when he kissed MJ, when it had been awkward and emotionless. It wasn’t just because they were tired teenagers and didn’t know what to do, it was because he didn’t love her at all. No, the girl Peter loved is on a plane right now, and she thinks that Peter doesn’t care about her when it couldn’t be further from the truth.
What is he supposed to do? Y/N will hate him for this. Somehow, that one thought is enough to motivate him to reach towards his suitcase, to start packing again. He has to make it back, has to find his way home to tell Y/N how he really feels. He can only hope that Y/N will let him stick around long enough to say it.
Y/N doesn’t come to her window for a long time after Peter knocks. He’s almost beginning to think that it’s a lost cause and she’ll never want to speak to him again when the sash gently opens and Y/N leans out. She’s usually used to seeing Peter crouched on her windowsill, but for some reason she startles at seeing him like it’s his first time visiting.
Peter speaks softly, his voice barely louder than the wind. “I think I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.” Y/N holds up a hand. “I don’t need any explanations. You can do whatever you want, you didn’t have to come by.” Peter shakes his head. “Yes, I did. I know you had feelings for me once. I was kind of hoping that you hadn’t changed your mind about me.”
Peter ends up leaving Y/N’s room much later. He has a grin that he can’t seem to shake, and a bounce in his step that doesn’t fade for hours. He might just have managed to save himself, to convince the girl he loves that she should take a chance and stay with him. Besides, he’s kissed her enough to say a thousand words.
peter parker/marvel tag list: @namoreno​, @mycosmicparadise​
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whitleyschn33 · 3 years
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Nitpick November: 02
For a series that hosts a backstory built on two gods, and the main villain + her main rival once taking up the mantles of gods, Remnant sure has... no explicit religious expression in it’s world and cast (or at least, not any that are fleshed out). This is a very sensitive topic, I know, and I’m going to try to be as respectful as possible, so please let me know if I’m mistaken or say something potentially offensive.
This is a nitpick mainly coming from V4′s A Much Needed Talk. In Exposition Dump The Episode, Qrow says this:
Qrow: Not many people are super religious these days.
Qrow caps and sets the flask down.
Qrow: This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real.
So, religion isn’t as prevalently practiced, okay - but why do we see no references to in-world religion at all before this, or much at all after this? It seems weird that Remnant is so utterly devoid of any kind of faith in the first three volumes. This is a world with seemingly scientifically acknowledged souls, man-eating monsters drawn to negativity, unique superpowers born from the soul that not everyone gets to discover - and we get no flavor text on how the people of Remnant have come to explain and find meaning in these? We hear that there are dozens of gods that have been worshipped over time, and we never hear about any of them? No stories of being blessed with Aura, of gods leading humans to the first Dust deposits, of being spared from Grimm attacks that should have be all means killed them by a benevolent goddess or spirit, of powerful Semblances being gifts from the divine to protect the faith and the family? Even if being openly religious is fairly rare in the present, shouldn’t there still be holidays, religious observances, turns of phrases referring to gods or holy scripture, references to religious stories, even just small signs of familiarity with a faith in something beyond the physical?
And before you bring up the crosses on Ruby and Qrow’s designs - that’s another problem I have with Remnant’s religion/lack thereof. Why would they wear crosses? Christianity shouldn’t be a thing in Remnant, and while you could argue that the cross is such a... relatively simple symbol (in terms of design!) that it could easily be repurposed for another narrative, it’s so heavily associated with Christianity and such a integral part of the faith that appropriating it for a fictional religion without proper care strikes me as tone-deaf at best and deeply offensive at worst. On one hand, RT thankfully didn’t craft any kind of in-world explanation for the crosses, but on the other... they didn’t give any reason for them to be design aspects, especially when they don’t really need to be there. Ruby’s cloak pins could have been any shape, and Qrow’s necklace would have been of his emblem, something related to Oz or Signal Academy, or of something relating to the two brothers to hint at his own faith in the gods that he’s been told are true. There was no need to make it a cross beyond referencing real world religious associations. 
Side note, speaking of the two brothers - and here is where things dip out of nitpick territory into some heavier stuff, but I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a bit so I’ll slap it here - I also dislike the implication that they’re gods that have been worshipped in Remnant currently/in the recent past of Humanity 2.0. There’s no reason for why this version of Humanity would know about the brothers at all, unless Oz tried re-establishing this religion in the past. It would seem more likely, after the Lost Fable, that Oz and Salem would be the worshipped gods representing life and death through the simultaneous prosperity of their kingdom vs bringing death and war to their neighbors. 
There’s also the uneasy implications of one particular religion in Remnant being established as “true” and the others as “wrong”, that ironpines has pointed out in the past. While I don’t like the idea of the brothers being worshipped at all in Remnant as we know it because I don’t think it makes sense after a full population reset, I think something along the lines of (from my very limited understanding of it, please let me know if I’m just completely off base because my SO Asian Religions professor was the worst I’ve ever had) how the gods in Hinduism are portrayed would have been less insensitive - that they are increasingly specific aspects of a supreme being worshipped in the specific capacity that those who worship them require for their needs. Ancient Greece, for another example, didn’t have that kind of increasingly selective gods and goddesses, but they did have divine epithets that indicated in what capacity the deity was being worshipped; Greeks gods had multiple fields and aspects to them, and an epithet can show what part of their domain a worshipper is worshipping them in. 
So, for the brothers, if Oz did indeed reintroduce the religion in an early attempt at unity/to pull people away from Salem and his old reincarnation, other religions that developed in Remnant could be based on that religion, with the domains of the gods becoming increasingly worshipped for specific aspects of their domains, and soon becoming a separate deity in their own right of those domains (this is something theorized to have happened with a lot of ancient religions, gods spawning off of an older deity to be worshipped in a more specific capacity. Like, Pan and Hermes are theorized to have once been the same, but separated into their own gods as the needs of the people changed). This would make it less “there’s only one real god/faith” and more “these are all true, but there’s also more to the picture”.
But back to more nitpicky, less heavy territory - I think it could have been a good world-building tool, having religion be used as a way to define our main and supporting cast, as well as giving us different perspectives on how different communities of people in Remnant view the Grimm, Dust, Aura, and souls. Pyrrha seems to take an almost religious view of Aura, with her speech as she unlocks Jaune’s aura seeming very similar to a prayer, while the development of a machine that can transfer Aura suggests Ironwood and Atlesian scientists take a more secular viewpoint. The donning of a Grimm mask by Raven, without being connected in any way to the White Fang, combined with that she and Qrow are from a “tribe”, made me think there might be humans out there that have a different perspective on the Grimm, seeing them as beings worthy of respect for their prowess, or as symbols of power for being able to defeat one or for aligning themselves with the power of the Grimm, or even as a symbol for the bandit tribes symbiotic relationship with them - the bandits’ increasing negativity to lure Grimm to human settlements, and the panic caused by Grimm attacks making looting settlements easier. Characters could pray to gods or goddesses for protection, for strength, for guidance to their Semblance, the truest expression of their soul and therefore a very fertile ground for religious connotations, or aid in battle through luck or Aura. There’s just a lot you could do with a world like Remnant that I’m sure people more creative than me could come up with, and it just feels like a lost opportunity. 
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you're the one that brings the sun; chapter 1/6
Summary: Alex is prepared for every single variable except, apparently, the one in which his roommate is drop dead gorgeous and Alex is an absolute clusterfuck of a human being who falls for the first pretty boy on he sees on campus.
Willex roommate au! 
Warnings: Swearing
Notes: The title is from the song “I Dare You” by the Regrettes. I’ve actually planned this fic out so here’s to hoping I don’t get burned out halfway through. It might end up having 6 or 7 chapters, 5 is kind of just an estimate.
---
When Alex was 11, his mother proudly plastered his report card to the fridge and exclaimed that one day, her little boy would go to Harvard. His father gripped his shoulder with pride and Alex beamed up at his parents like they’d just told him he had superpowers. 3 years later, he was 14 and teetering on the edge of failure in the majority of his classes. He wasn’t stupid by any means, just preoccupied. He’d started a band with his best friends and that felt like the most important thing in the whole world, and high school was new and scary, so it was easier to not pour all his focus into school. His parents’ smiles faltered but they kept up hope, Alex could tell. 2 years later, he stood shaking and crying outside of the Molina’s garage and suddenly, the concept of going to college begun to feel distant and fake. But he’s 18 now, and somehow, miraculously, gazing at the piles of boxes in the back of Ray’s car and swallowing down a lump in his throat.
It sure isn’t Harvard, but a part of Alex feels giddy at the fact that he’s attending a public college that was relatively easy to get into; oh his parents would be rolling in their proverbial graves. What didn’t make him quite so happy though, was the looming fact that he’d be living with some random person, because for some godforsaken reason, the college wouldn’t allow freshmen to choose their roomates. Some bullshit about meeting new people and socializing.
“Hey, ‘Lex. Dude, you’ll be fine.” Luke shakes his shoulders, before swinging one arm around him and the other around Reggie.
“Says the one who isn’t even going to college,” Alex grumbles, slipping from Luke’s grip and into the front seat of the car.
“Yea cause I don’t need it. Not my fault you’re both nerds,” Luke retorts.
“I’m not a nerd, I just like to have insurance-”
“Yea, back-up plan, safety net, heard it a million times. Reggie’s a nerd though.”
“Old news, dude,” Alex says.
“I am not a nerd!” Reggie protests indignantly.
“Tell that to your 2 years of college credit in math.”
Luke nods in agreement. “Nerd.”
“Math is fun!”
“You’re horrible.” Alex makes a mock gagging noise.
Julie comes bounding out of the house, her arms decked with various baked goods. She tosses herself in the backseat beside Reggie and Luke, looking quite pleased with herself at being able to force Luke to sit in the middle. “Tía was apparently up all night baking,” she explains, passing the sweets up to Alex. “Don’t be surprised if she shows up at your dorm with food every day.”
Alex snorts. “I would not object to that.”
Julie sighs, leaning back in her seat. “You guys are so lucky, I’m tired of high school. Damn September birthday,” Julie grumbles. Her birthday is just after the cut off date, so she would be 18 for the majority of senior year, but is just barely too young to be in the same grade as the boys.
Reggie leans over and pats her arm sympathetically, earning an offended squeak from Luke, who’s only pushed further into the back of the seat.
“Don’t worry!” Alex chirps sarcastically. “You get to spend more time with Luke, since he’ll be squatting in your garage!”
“Oh, joy,” Julie deadpans.
“I am not a squatter!” Luke protests, kicking the back of Alex’s seat.
“No kicking! I’m holding food!”
“Y’know Alex, you’ve been staying in the studio for 2 years, you’re not one to talk!” Luke argues.
“I have a job.”
“A stupid job.”
“A stupid job that gets you free coffee.”
Reggie nodds to that, chewing on a cookie. “Can’t risk losing your coffee privileges.”
Julie groans loudly and stuck her head out the window. “DAAAAD! Let’s goooo!” She cries.
“Wow, I didn’t know you wanted to get rid of me so badly,” Alex says, clutching his chest dramatically.
“Oh shut up Lexi, I just wanna meet your’s and Reggie’s new best friends!” Julie says, laughing.
“I’m not gonna be best friends with my roommate.”
“Yea, Alex forgot how to do that!”
“Luke I will smother you in your sleep!”
At this, Ray approaches the car with a raised eyebrow. “No one’s planning a murder, I hope?” He asks, chuckling as he slides into the drivers seat.
“No sir!” Reggie replies, grinning.
“Not yet,” Alex mumbles under his breath.
“Alright boys, who’s ready for college!” Ray says, starting the car.
“I’m gonna be sick.”
---
“And that’s the last of it!” Ray claps a hand over Alex’s shoulder and smiles encouragingly.
Alex nods tensely, gripping the strap of his fannypack tighter.
The dorm’s probably as good as he’s gonna get. One reasonably sized bedroom complete with two horribly uncomfortable beds, a kitchen with a fridge that was in no way large enough to fit even a weeks worth of meals, a tiny living room that would probably fit a couch and a TV at the most, and a bathroom that smelled suspiciously of mustard. Really it isn’t terrible, but Alex has a habit of noticing every little detail, especially the ones that could be a problem at some point. His roommate hasn’t arrived yet, so he’s standing amongst his various boxes, anxiety pulsing in his chest.
Julie grips his hand tightly and smiles, tears pricking the edges of her eyes. “Hey, Alex, you’re gonna be okay.” She squeezes his hand briefly.
Alex nods, exhaling shakily. “Yea, yea I know. It’s just…”
“A change, I know. But this is a good change. And-” she hauls Reggie and Luke over to them. “-we’re all here if you need to call someone and talk. And dad, and Tía, and I bet your roommate will be super cool.”
“Or a serial killer.”
“Just pray he’s not a football player,” Reggie stage-whispers, shuddering.
“God, don’t even suggest that!” Alex whines.
Encouragements and teary hugs are passed along, as well as a promise to meet at the Olive Garden nearby for dinner in a few hours, and then Alex’s posse is off to get Reggie settled, and Alex is left alone in the dorm. Alright.
Alex takes a deep breath, steeling himself, before beginning to wander the dorm. He’s anxious to start unpacking without his roommate and risk doing something that they wouldn’t like. Even choosing a bed feels wrong, he really doesn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with this person. But leaving the dorm meant people everywhere so that was a definite no. He sighs, lowering himself to the wooden floor and pulling out his phone.
“Yea… uh huh. Yes Caleb, I got here fine. No the Uber driver did not try and kidnap me. The boxes- the boxes are not too heavy. Okay. Okay. Yea, bye. Mhm.”
Alex looks up hesitantly upon hearing the voice nearing his dorm. The person standing in the doorway is well… less of a person and more of a large stack of boxes threatening to fall over any second. “Hello?” Alex stands up and makes his way to the boy stood in the entrance.
Said boy pokes his head out from behind his boxes and grins crookedly. “Hi, uh, I’m Willie!” And well, Alex is a goner. He swallows thickly, breath catching in the back of his throat. Willie attempts to adjust the boxes but ultimately fails, sending them tumbling to the ground amongst several muttered curses. “Well… nothing fragile in there,” he falters slightly. “I think.”
“Um…”
“Right! Sorry, uh.” Willie holds his hand out and Alex shakes it tentatively.
“Alex.”
“Alex, cool.” Willie smiles again, his dark eyes twinkling as he does so, smile lines popping out. He brushes his hair -which looks so soft and pretty- behind his ear to reveal a small golden hoop on his right lobe. Alex is dead, actually 100% dead. Because he’d been prepared for every single variable except, apparently, the one in which his roommate is drop dead gorgeous and Alex is an absolute clusterfuck of a human being who falls for the first pretty boy on he sees on campus.
Alex forces out a smile, all too aware that he’s still standing stiff and awkward in front of Willie, his grip on his fannypack tight enough to make his knuckles glow white. Then Willie coughs as some sort of attempt to fill the silence. “Sorry!” Alex squeaks. “Do you need help with the… the uh, boxes?”
“Oh yea, that’d be great!” Willie replies, beaming. “I don’t think there’s anything fragile in there, but y’know, my memory is absolute shit so if I broke some fancy china dishes I didn’t even know I owned, don’t be too shocked.”
Alex laughs anxiously. “Yea uh… I didn’t start unpacking cause I um… I didn’t want to claim a bed and stuff with-without your input?” His voice cracks at the end and he winces because Jesus fucking christ Alex.
Willie chuckles and Alex notes that he has the kind of laugh that echoes through your whole body and settles right in your heart. “ ‘S cool, man, I don’t mind.”
“Right, cool. Do you uh… are you okay if I take the bed farthest from the window? I’m not- not much of a morning person, and the window is… it’s east facing” Alex mutters, his gaze focused on his feet which are rocking back and forth at a rapid pace.
“Yea, of course,” Willie replies. “I don’t think I’ve woken up later than 8 in 5 years.”
“That’s horrific!” Alex cries, momentarily forgetting his anxiety. He steps back and blushes an even deeper red upon realizing how stupid he’s being. “I mean- I just… sorry, I just meant that-”
“You’re good, dude. I don’t bite.”
Alex cracks a tentative smile. “So uh… I’ll just start unpacking then.”
Willie shoots him a thumbs up and smiles once again, which is a thing he apparently does a lot.
An hour later, Alex’s belongings are unpacked and organized and the room feels a bit more his. He feels slightly lighter, exhaling and closing his eyes briefly. This isn’t so bad. Fiddling with the hem of his hoodie, he shuffles out into the living room where Willie is presumably unpacking. Except that he’s not.
Willie is laying upside down on a couch that somehow appeared while Alex was gone and he’s flipping through a tattered magazine while his belongings remain mostly unpacked.
“This quiz says that I should try roller skating,” Willie sniffs. “Some personality test this is- oh hey Alex!” He scrambles up so that he can look Alex in the eyes properly, and points to the magazine in his hand. “Found this in a box, not sure how it got there since I’ve never even subscribed to one of these, but there’s a chocolate chip cookie recipe in here.” He stops for a moment, pondering. “Personally I prefer peanut butter cookies, ooh especially fresh out of the oven. There’s this bakery near my house that-”
“Did you get… any unpacking done?” Alex asks, raising an eyebrow.
Willie looks around at his boxes and laughs sheepishly. “Well I unpacked one and opened 3 so… some, yes.”
“Where’d the couch come from?” Alex pokes the cushion warily, as if afraid that it’s full of bugs.
“Room across the hall,” Willie says, pointing. “They both brought couches and didn’t have room for two we got the one with more stains.”
“Right.” Alex’s reply is forced and tense, and he winces upon realizing. Truthfully, he hadn’t expected his roommate to become so comfortable so fast and he felt like he was several steps behind. Damn extroverts. Drumming his hands against his thighs, Alex slowly sits down on the other side of the couch, pointedly looking ahead instead of at Willie.
“So.” Willie scoots closer, sitting cross legged with his elbows on his thighs and chin resting in his palms. “What’s your major?”
Small talk, god Alex hates small talk. “Um, music,” he answers.
“Ah, that’s cool dude.” Willie nods.
“Uh, what about you?” Alex asks.
“Art,” Willie replies, grinning. “Be prepared for paint stains, like, everywhere.” He chuckles and nudges Alex’s shoulder playfully. Alex is going to implode, he’s sure of it.
Alex laughs awkwardly. “So uh… what’s wrong with rollerskating?”
Willie shoves his shoulder again. “Everything, dude! Well-” he cuts himself off, thinking. “-I just kinda suck at it, definitely better at my skateboard.” He jerks his head in the direction of a skateboard leaned against the wall and Alex wonders how he didn’t notice that.
“Oh, that’s- that’s cool. I rollerblade but I uh, I can’t skateboard to save my life.”
Somehow, they slip into a comfortable rhythm, and Alex notes that his anxiety no longer has him in a chokehold. Willie seems to have that affect; he’s just so… open. Alex doesn’t realize it yet, but he’s subconsciously created a folder in the back of his mind labelled “Willie,” and he doesn’t think he’s capable of forgetting anything Willie will ever say to him.
“- that’s why airplane food is just, horrible. Cause you basically lose like 30% of your tastebuds because of the elevation.” Willie smiles at Alex, gaging his response.
Alex would rather die than admit that he’s still trying to figure out how the topic of airplane food came up, so he just nods enthusiastically, actively stopping his eyes from dancing across Willie’s face, which is practically glowing in the evening sun. Evening. Shit. Alex pulls out his phone frantically. “Shit.” He says it out loud this time.
Willie’s brow furrows in confusion. “You good, dude?”
“Uh yea I’m just, I’m supposed to be meeting my fam- uh my friends for dinner and I have to be there in like 5 minutes.” He ignores the way Willie’s expression falls, convinced he’s just seeing things.
“Yea um, of course. I won’t keep you.” Willie stands up, his posture the stiffest that Alex has seen it in the whole 3 hours they’ve been acquainted for. “I’ll just… order a pizza.”
Alex hesitates in the doorway, weighing his options, which has never been his strong suit. “Do you want to join me?” He blurts impulsively. Willie looks at him in surprise. “I mean only- only if you want of course, we’ve only really uh, known each other for a few hours and you- you probably don’t want to, it was stupid. I’ll just- I’ll just go-”
“No! I’d… I’d like to, eating pizza alone in the dark sounds a little pathetic,” Willie responds.
Alex smiles genuinely. “Ok, ok that’s uh. Cool. That’s cool.”
---
Alex is already regretting this. The restaurant isn’t too crowded, he notices with a relieved breath. But it’s loud. It’s loud and yet only one group of people is talking. Alex doesn’t even need to guess who.
“Ok but- no- no- the whole song would be better!”
“Say banjo one more time, I dare you!”
“Banjo.”
“Julie, what the hell?! This is betrayal!”
“You stole my breadstick, it’s only fair.”
Alex coughs, quieting the table to a dull roar.
“Alex!” Julie pulls him down to sit next to her. “Oh? Who’s this?” Reggie is grinning wickedly and Luke waggles his eyebrows in a way that makes Alex want to shave them off.
“This is uh, my roommate Willie,” Alex responds, his voice raising an octave. “He didn’t have plans so I uh… I invited him, I hope that’s ok.”
“Of course it’s ok!” Julie pats the space on the other side of Alex and Willie sits down, appearing… oddly nervous.
“Congrats! Your Alex’s first new friend since,” Luke taps his chin, pretending to think. “7th grade.”
Alex’s face promptly falls into his hands. He’s seriously considering the whole, shaving Luke’s eyebrows in his sleep thing.
Reggie leans forward conspiratorially. “What’s your opinion on banjos?” He asks, making a point to ignore Luke’s dramatic complaining.
Willie raises his eyebrows, clearly confused. “Um. No comment?”
“I’m… sorry about them,” Alex says apolegetically. “Uh, this is Luke, Reggie, and Julie-” he gestures to each of them; Reggie waves, beaming happily. “-and Julie’s dad should be…” He trails off, looking around.
“He had to take a phone call, something about Carlos refusing to eat dinner until he proves the house is haunted,” Julie explains, clearly biting back a laugh.
“I… okay.” Alex shakes his head. “Are we waiting for more food or did Reggie eat it all?”
“Ha ha,” Reggie punctuates his statement by sticking out his tongue. “We’re waiting for the actual meals-”
“Yea Luke already ate the entire bread basket.” Julie shoots a glare in Luke’s direction.
“Well… you suggested we get hotdogs,” Luke grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. “Payback.”
“Okay,” Julie laughs.
Willie leans over to whisper loudly to Alex, “What’s the story with the hotdogs?”
“Don’t tell him!” Luke cries, leaning across the table and slamming his palms down.
“We don’t talk of the hot-dogs,” Reggie mutters miserably.
“Food poisoning.” Alex shudders slightly. “Very bad food poisoning.”
“We almost died,” Reggie says, eyes widening. “Like, for real death. I’m pretty sure I was a ghost for a few seconds.”
“Reg, you were not a ghost,” Alex says, speaking like Reggie’s a 10 year old talking about monsters under his bed.
“I was!”
“You were not!”
“So,” Luke smiles mischievously, taking Reggie and Alex’s bickering as an opportunity to apparently torture the latter. Despite Alex’s warning glares, he turns to Willie with an innocent expression. “What kind of music do you like?”
“Luke,” Alex hisses, all too familiar with Luke’s antics.
“Hmmm.” Willie is painfully oblivious to Alex’s panicked expression as he mulls over his answer. “A lot of stuff really.” He shrugs. “Rock, pop, I like those lo-fi playlists when I’m trying to study.”
Luke nods, clearly pleased with the answer, but he isn’t done and Alex wants to hide under the table. He knows what’s coming next. “Thoughts on… drummers?”
“Luke.” Alex is seconds from lunging across the table.
“Drummers?” Willie asks, tilting his head confusedly.
“Yup,” Luke says, popping the p and still smiling like he’s some sort of innocent puppy-dog and not an absolute bastard.
“Hot,” Willie jokes. Alex can’t even hide the way he manages to choke on his own spit, and Luke and Reggie have never been great at subtlety, turning to Alex with matching shit-eating grins. Willie either doesn’t notice or is kind enough not to comment on it. “Yea, pretty sure young Roger Taylor was my gay awakening.”
Reggie is full on giggling now, and Alex’s entire face is gleaming a bright red. Willie glances around the table, puzzled.
“Mhm.” Luke nods before swiftly turning to Alex. “Hey Alex, by the way, you left your drumsticks in the car, do you need them back?” His voice is sickeningly sweet, coated in some sort of poisoned honey. It’s Willie’s turn to choke on nothing, failing to disguise it as a spontaneous coughing fit.
“Fine,” Alex squeaks as he sinks further down in his seat. If he pulls out his phone and messages Luke a flurry of threats, that’s no one’s business. He dares a glance at Willie, who has become quite fascinated with his hands, which are tapping out a mindless rhythm on the table, his cheeks and the tips of his ears dusted red.
Needless to say, Alex makes sure Luke doesn’t even get to look at the next bread basket.
---
I hope you liked it! Tell me if you want to be added to the taglist :)
I’m hoping to update at least once a week, but who knows. Ok thats all.
chapter 2
Chapter 3
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
231 notes · View notes
grey-water-colors · 3 years
Text
After All This Time (Bucky Barnes X Fem!Reader) Part 2
I went ahead and wrote the second chapter, I was so excited. I did a lot of research on PTSD and the triggers. I may not have a full grasp on it, but I hope I at least got some of it right. I feel kinda iffy on writing the characters, but I did my best to stay true to who they are. I hope you like this chapter!
Summary: The real world is a scary place, even more so when you’re alone. You live alone in a apartment filed with the ghosts of your memories. You’ve both changed since you last met your fiancé, but can love mend the gap after all this time.
Pairing: Bucky X Fem!Reader
Warnings: Mentions of torture, violence, yelling. Talks about triggers and PTSD. Mentions of death and killing. If there are any that I missed please let me know!
Word Count: 2,492
Part 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Steve, I don’t understand why you’re dragging me out here to this museum.”
“They told me that they made a new addition to the Captain America exhibit and I didn’t want to go alone.”
Bucky clenched his vibranium hand and continued to follow Steve. “Did they at least tell you what it’s about?”
Steve sighed, “No, they didn’t. I wish they had though, I hate going into these things blind. Who knows what they’ve dug up.
“Steve, did you find it?”
“Uh, yeah Buck. I don’t think you want to see it though. It’s something they had no business digging in”
“What is it Steve. And don’t even think of lying to me, I know you too well.”
Steve sighed and led Bucky to the new exhibit. A memorial just like Bucky’s, but it was dedicated to Y/N L/N.
Bucky scoffed but read it out loud anyways. “Y/N L/N was a childhood friend of both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes. Y/N met the two in 1923 and they were close ever since. In 1941 record says that she became engaged to Sargent Barnes, but never married. Y/N was drafted as an Army Nurse but died in Germany in 1944.” A picture of her before the war and in a case were her dog tags, which was weird. If she hadn’t been found, how were her tags here.
Bucky trailed off, the rest just going on about what kind of person she was. They stood in silence for a while, both staring at her picture. Steve finally broke the silence, “How much of her do you remember?”
Bucky looked away and tried to remember the girl in front of him. Flashes of smiles, tears, and laughter floated through his head, but he could only focus on one memory.
“I don’t remember her before the war.” Steve’s head moved to look at Bucky so fast that his neck cracked.
“What do you mean before the war Buck.”
He looked at Steve and backed up until he could collapse on a bench. A deep breath then, “I remember seeing her when I was the Winter Soldier. I vaguely remember a mission, maybe a couple, and then an order. I couldn’t help myself. All I could do was watch as I choked her to death, them dragging her away after declaring her dead.”
He shook his head as if he could erase the memory, make it disappear to never see again.
“If you killed her-“ Steve paused, “If you went on missions with her then she didn’t die in 1944. She was captured by Hydra. Then there could be a possibility that she, well that she could still be alive. Could it be possible that it was staged? Buck is there any chance at all that she could still be alive?”
Bucky shook his head again and looked at his hands. “I felt it Steve, I felt her neck crush. There’s no way she survived that.”
He took a deep sigh and felt the world shift, his heart plummeted to the ground as he realized the full gravity of what happened. “Oh god. Oh god, I killed her. I killed my fiancé, Steve.”
Steve just sat down next to Bucky, still in shock. She had been a good friend to Steve. They had come from similar backgrounds, hell they had grown up together, she understood him in a way that Bucky never could have at the time. She had been there when needed and even when she wasn’t. A ray of sunshine in a dreary New York. He had taken a picture of them after Bucky had proposed. They were all so happy.
It shook Steve to his core that Hydra had gotten their hands on her. He couldn’t imagine the horrors that she had gone through, might still be going through much like his best friend. Was she as much of a shell as Bucky?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It felt good to walk into her apartment without having to break in. She had hassled every office and bank that had her name in its databases to get her back as a registered live, human being. And to get electricity and water going to her place.
She had already been living in the apartment, but now she could cook, light a fire, and make noise. With her accounts opened again, she bought a couple pairs of clothes to wear while she cleaned the place.
Starting with the kitchen she cleaned every surface, threw away all the canned food that had been left behind.
By the time she had finished cleaning, she was physically exhausted, but she couldn’t bring herself to sleep in the master bedroom. She had managed to turn off her emotions for the day. No tears had been spilled because there had been work to get done. But her new superpower didn’t work now that she had nothing to do. Y/N stood in the middle of the living room desperately trying to stuff her emotions back into the box they had been in, but they had seen their chance and taken it.
Tears filled her eyes and she took her first real look around the place she had once called home. It was like she had never left at all. A place for everything and everything in its place. She turned to face the worn leather wingback. The thick blanket draped over the back just like it always had. She shuffled over to the chair and sat down in it. The leather was cold but familiar with the smell of her life before the war. Ghosts of days past floated through the air around her. She curled up in the chair, thick blanket pulled over her.
Things had been so easy then, and it would be so easy now to just fall back into that time when everything was perfect. Except the person that had helped make it perfect wasn’t here. A tear fell from her cheek onto the leather, and she quickly brushed it off not wanting to ruin the chair.
As she was wallowing in self-pity, a fight broke out on the street below her window, voices piercing the air and pulling her back to a place she never wanted to go again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Project Cecilia had become a nightmare. A nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. The project was a testing ground of trial and error. They tested the trial serums, triggers, enforcers, and everything else to make sure that they wouldn’t damage whoever took the role of Winter Soldier. The project was named after the scientist who did most of the testing.
The serums were bad, it felt like lighting her blood on fire, like hell itself was inside her. But trigger testing was far worse. For every test or experiment, a trigger experiment came after. Is sound more effective than smell? Are words better than sounds? What kind of words work better than others?
Trial and error for over 30 different types of triggers until they settled on a list of words that would mean something to the Winter Soldier. Her mind was blocked off so carefully that she couldn’t remember anything before the last trigger.
Here she was, testing how much electricity a super soldier could take before things started to shut down. And then the doctor walked in. Constantine Cecilia was the man who haunted her dreams. She couldn’t ever quite remember who he was, but somehow she knew that when he arrived, things would be bad.
“How is our little rabbit doing today? I believe a congratulations are in order, you finished testing.”
He put on plastic gloves and his assistant walked up to them both. “She’s due for sound this time.”
The doctor smiled. “Good good.”
Things were going well; the set-up went smoothly. She was ready to receive the trigger, the thing her mind would take as a trauma to seal away all of the bad.
But then a fight broke out, and then people were yelling, screaming at each other. The trigger was set.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shuri had done her best at getting rid of the physical effect of the triggers, and by best, she was completely successful. Unfortunately, there was still an emotional effect that came with the triggers. Certain smells, sounds, colors, and even sometimes emotions would send her spiraling into a memory. Most were memories that terrified her, they brought her back to Hydra and their torture. Some were good, like remembering life before the war.
They happened less at home, surrounded by memories of a past that never hurt. The outside world was what tortured her. Going outside was like sentencing herself to relive the worst of her life.
And she remembered it all. Hydra had done such a good job of playing Tetris with her brain that every time that Shuri released a trigger, she remembered everything. Y/N bet that Dr. Cecilia was laughing in his grave at her tragedy.
Y/N fell asleep under the thick blanket on the chair of the man she had loved more than anything else in the whole world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Y/N decided to visit the Veterans Center, hoping that they magically had the cure for what Shuri called PTSD. She walked inside and was met with the smell of burnt coffee and laughter down the hall. She followed the noise until she came to what looked like a break room, or a very poor excuse for a kitchen.
A tall man took notice of her and he excused himself to go talk to her.
“Hi, can I help you?”
“I, uhh, came here to talk to someone, hopefully.” Y/N cursed herself for feeling so small. She was a veteran after all. She just fought in a different war.
“Are you a vet?”
“Yes?”
He smiled, “Well then welcome. My name is Sam Wilson. I help run this place. Mostly I work with the people though. Business isn’t really my style.”
Y/N gave a weak smile.
Sam spoke up again, much to her relief. “Why don’t we go somewhere to talk so we aren’t standing in a door way.”
She merely nodded and followed Sam to a room with foldable chairs and a couple beat up sofas.
After they had sat down, and awkward silence filled the air. Sam cleared his throat, “So what’s your name?”
Y/N took a deep breath and “My name is Y/N”
Sam nodded. “What war did you serve in Y/N?”
She froze, of course she could just answer him. She heard there was a whole museum dedicated to the two oldest people on the planet, so why was it so hard?
“You don’t have to tell me if you aren’t comfortable with it. I’m not going to force you into anything here. It’s a safe place.” The genuinely caring smile on his face helped her relax.
“I fought in World War II.”
Sam looked startled for a second. “Excuse me?”
“I was a nurse with the Red Cross in World War II.”
She watched as Sam’s shoulders dropped. Y/N prepared to fight, to tell him that it was true, without going through the horrors that she had witnessed. She prepared to give him the riot act like she had for every person who hadn’t believed her at the bank and social security office.
Instead, he started laughing. “Man, I wonder how many more of you there are out there,” Sam said between breaths.
The look of confusion on her face must have put more puzzle pieces together for him at how lost she really was.
“You… You actually believe me?”
“Yeah I do! I work with the other two.”
She suddenly felt cold, like someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. While Shuri had told her about James, or Bucky, and about Steve and how they both lived in New York in the Avengers Compound, it had never occurred to her that they were so close. So close, yet so far away. Her heart dropped.
“How exactly do you know them? You said you worked with them, so you must be an Avenger I suppose.”
“How much do you know about this time and place?”
She felt, for the first time since she left Wakanda, that someone understood. Only a fraction maybe, but an understanding all the same. Sam somehow knew that she didn’t know much about the present she found herself in. She didn’t really care to learn either though, the world was scary, and she had to face it alone for the first time in her life.
“Not much. I’ve only been off ice for about 9 and a half months now. Most of that was spent in Wakanda, while Shuri worked on getting rid of my triggers.” The more she talked the more Sam’s face filled with understanding and horror and that scared her.
“You were captured by Hydra weren’t you?”
All she could do was nod, her head held low.
“I won’t ask about that. I know better than that. I can’t even begin to imagine the horrors you’ve been through.
“Well, I’m the Falcon, I fly and I see things really well with my goggles. Other than that I’m just a human, no serum or anything.”
It was like all she could do was nod her head, she had been robbed of words.
“Would it be ok if I went home?”
“Of course! Nothing is keeping you here. I’m glad we met, and you’re more than welcome to come by anytime at all. We do close at 9 pm, but here’s my phone number if you need anything after those hours.”
More nodding. Y/N rushed home.
The first thing she did was climb into the chair, drape the blanket over her, and tell a ghost of what happened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Sam are you ok? You seem distracted today”
“Yeah. Yeah man I’m good.” Sam looked at Steve for a minute. “Say have you ever met someone named Y/N L/N? She came into the VA today and when I asked what war she fought in she said WWII. She was captured by Hydra. I didn’t press her on it, she got that same look that Bucky does when it gets brought up.”
Steve froze. “What was her name?”
“Y/N L/N, do you know her?”
“Are you sure about what you told me?”
“Yeah. Why? What’s going on?”
“What did she look like?”
“She had H/L hair and E/C eyes. She was about yay-tall” Sam held up a hand to about her height. “Again, do you know her?”
“I promise I’ll tell you later, but I gotta go.”
Steve took off running through the compound until he got to Bucky’s door. He hadn’t seen Bucky since the museum, but this was important. He pounded on the door, “Buck! Bucky! Open the door!”
A quiet mumbled “Go away Steve” came as a response.
“Bucky,” Steve pleaded. “She’s alive. Sam met her today.”
Silence.
Then the door opened. “Where?”
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purrincess-chat · 3 years
Text
Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s Spite Playlist: Remix CH16
Things are heating up at the party! Slight sexual harrassment TW toward the end of the chapter. Very slight, but better safe than sorry. 
Previous     First     Next    AO3
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Chapter 16: Trade Mistakes
“Marinette?” Adrien’s eyebrows raised.
“Sorry!” Her cheeks burned hot, and she jumped to her feet.
“No worries. I actually kind of miss you bumping into me.” Adrien chuckled good-naturedly. “So, what are you doing here?”
He grabbed a small sliver of bread topped with salmon and caviar from a passing tray and popped it into his mouth. Marinette took one too, following his lead by shoving the whole thing into her mouth. She regretted it instantly, attempting to play off her choking with questionable success.
“Uh, I was kind of dragged here by a…classmate,” she croaked.
“Me too.” Adrien gestured over his shoulder to where Chloe sat amidst several admirers. “My father would never let me come to one of these in a million years, so Chloe kind of kidnapped me.”
“That makes sense.”
“I let her. I hate being cooped up, and I’ve always wanted to do stuff like this.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So, do you wanna dance?”
“Sure!”
Adrien took her hand and led the way to the living room. His gaze remained locked on her as they bounced in time to the music with a throng of other wealthy teens. The heat from several bodies in one room combined with Adrien’s gorgeous face did not help Marinette’s rapidly overheating brain. She glanced around hoping to alleviate her dizziness and spotted Gabrielle dancing intimately with another guy who most definitely was not Thomas. Her eyebrows furrowed, but she followed Gabrielle’s instructions and didn’t question it. It wasn’t her business anyway.
While bystanders chatted about vacations to private islands and the cost of their name brand shoes, Marinette couldn’t help but feel a little out of place. It made her more grateful that Adrien was there. He was rich too, but he never talked like that. He was always so humble and perfect—just one more thing she loved about him.
“It’s getting a little stuffy in here, wanna go get some air?” Adrien murmured in her ear.
“Uh, sure!” She tried not to feel self-conscious when he took her sweaty hand and toted her to the quiet upstairs balcony overlooking the garden.
A cool breeze brushed her cheeks, and she leaned against the stone railing with a relieved sigh. Adrien stood beside her, close enough that their arms brushed when he shifted his weight. If Marinette spent any more time alone with him, she was going to get spoiled. Dozens of other girls at the party would kill to spend five minutes with Adrien. She would know—she used to be one of them. Now she had all of his attention for herself, and she didn’t know what to do with it. Her head was still spinning.
“I’m really glad you’re here, Marinette.” Adrien leaned into her, resting his head against hers.
“Y-Yeah. Me too,” she stammered, expending all of her focus on not fainting.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked.
She blinked, worrying that she hadn’t masked her euphoria well enough. “I- yeah, I’m totally fine.”
“I’ve been worried about you ever since you told me Lila ambushed you,” he said.
Oh. Right.
“Uhh, yeah, she did,” Marinette said lamely.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, those green eyes frantically searching hers.
“It’s…complicated,” Marinette said.
“Maybe you can tell me on a walk?” He gestured to the stone staircase leading into the garden below.
“Okay, but you have to keep it a secret.”
Adrien listened to her story as they walked arm-in-arm. His eyes never strayed from her, though somehow he never tripped or ran into a potted plant once. He even managed to steer her out of the way of a few. How was he so graceful?
“And then Gabrielle showed up at my house and dragged me here.” Marinette shrugged. They slowed to a stop under a small flowering tree. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”
“Well, one thing’s for sure. I’ll never be on Lila’s side, so don’t ever worry about that.” Adrien trailed his fingers down her arm until they twined with hers. “I’m never going anywhere, Marinette. I’ll always be here for you. I promise.”
Adrien had always been sweet to her, but ever since she moved schools, he’d been extra affectionate. When she needed to talk, he listened. When she seemed sad, he held her close. He was the one piece of her old life she still had, and they’d tied themselves together with invisible string. Lila could take a lot of things from her, but Adrien would always be hers.
Her heart skipped a beat as his warm gaze bore into hers. She’d seen that look once before—it had lived in her dreams ever since. He leaned down, and her pulse quickened, eyes hooding as his nose brushed hers. His breath swirled against her lips, warm and sweet, and he lingered there for a tantalizing moment, letting her imagination run wild.
This time she was sure she was going to faint, but just before their lips met, the ground gurgled. Sprinklers sprang to life, spitting water in every direction. Marinette shoved away from Adrien with a yelp, and he scrambled to take her hand again. They dashed back to the house, attempting to dodge the streams.
“You okay?” Adrien flicked water from his wrist when they were safely under the overhang.
“Yeah.” Marinette wiped at her clothes, but it was no use. She was drenched. “Even though my family bakes a lot of cakes, I’m not made of sugar.”
“Good,” Adrien chuckled. “Come on, let’s go in and dry off.”
“Okay.” She followed behind him, trying to decipher the meaning behind their almost-kisses. Once was arguably a coincidence or a lapse in judgment, but twice—twice had to mean something, right? Oh, her dreams were going to be extra vivid that night.
♪♫♪ this is me trying ♪♫♪
“I’m doing my best not to be offended.”
Adrien spun around to find Chloe in the bathroom doorway, arms crossed over her chest. The butlers had helped him and Marinette to separate bathrooms to dry off. He’d been hoping no one would notice what happened, but Chloe always seemed to know things when it came to him. There was no place for him to hide from her.
He draped a towel around his shoulders and leaned against the sink with a sigh. “Marinette’s here, and we kind of-”
“I know,” Chloe said. “I saw you two canoodling in the garden. Good thing the sprinkler system is so easy to operate.”
“You did that?” Adrien asked, even though he knew her well enough that it wasn’t surprising.
“If the gardeners didn’t want me to mess with them, they shouldn’t have put the control panel in such an easy to reach place by the window.” Chloe looked him up and down. “But you’re getting more like me than I thought. I agreed to help you out of the kindness of my heart and broke you away from your cold-hearted father for an evening, and how do you repay me? By snogging my mortal enemy in the garden!”
“We weren’t snogging-”
“Only because I intervened!” Chloe cut him off. “I knew you and Dupain-Cheng were seeing a lot of each other, but I can’t believe you would use the independence I gave you to stab me in the back like this. That’s cold-hearted, Adrien. I am very proud, but also very angry.”
“Look, Marinette and I aren’t like that. We were just-” Adrien pursed his lips.
What exactly? Now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure. Marinette had always been just a friend to him before, but now…
“Just about to kiss?” Chloe quirked a brow. “In my experience, people don’t sneak off into the garden to kiss their friends, Adrikins. I know mommy and daddy kept you home your whole life, but are you really that dense?”
He hated to admit it, but Chloe had a point. This was the second time he and Marinette almost… What had he been thinking? Ladybug was the girl of his dreams, and someday they would—what? Be together? She wouldn’t even accept a rose from him, let alone go on a date. But he couldn’t help his feelings.
He and Ladybug were the perfect team, but he couldn’t deny that he was also drawn to Marinette. Whenever he looked at her lately, he found himself inching closer and closer. With her, he forgot about Ladybug for a while. It seemed impossible to ever forget about the most amazing girl in the world, but when it came to Marinette, he just stopped thinking. It was almost like…
Like the first time he saw Ladybug in action. He wasn’t thinking—he didn’t have to. His heart knew that she was his soulmate no matter what, and he still believed that. So why was he so drawn to Marinette now?
“Hey…” Chloe placed a hand on his shoulder. “Look, I was only teasing. If you really feel that way about…her, then I will eventually maybe get over it in twenty years. Maybe.”
“I-” Adrien shook his head. “I don’t know. Marinette is- I don’t know.”
“I think you do,” Chloe said.
Adrien met her icy blue eyes, clouded with worry—a rarity for Chloe. He was probably the only person in the world to ever see such looks from her. The only person to know a softer, more subdued Chloe Bourgeois. Moments like these were the reason he forgave her when others couldn’t because he knew that deep down, Chloe cared more than she let on.
But just as quickly as it came, the concern vanished from her eyes, and she cocked a hip. “But if you end up dumping her, that’s okay with me too.” She kissed his cheek, swaying her hips as she sauntered back up the hall.
Adrien faced his reflection in the mirror and touched his lips thoughtfully. What would he have done if Chloe hadn’t turned on the sprinklers? Would he have kissed Marinette? He didn’t know.
Ladybug healed damage to the city, but Marinette healed the damage living inside others. It was her superpower. That was the reason he wanted to protect her from Lila. Marinette was always so busy healing others that she never took time to heal herself. She really was miraculous.
He shook his head to clear it. His thoughts were too jumbled to be trusted. However he felt about Ladybug or Marinette, his heart would tell him when it was ready. He just needed to listen.
♪♫♪ It’s Nice to Have a Friend ♪♫♪
When one of the roaming butlers directed Marinette to a separate washroom from Adrien, she shut the door behind her and leaned against it with a sigh. Another close call. Something in the universe was keeping them apart, and she wasn’t sure how much more her heart could take.
“You were so close this time!” Tikki flitted out of her purse and shook herself dry.
Marinette picked up the neatly folded towel from the counter and set to work on her hair. Her cheeks were still rosy red despite being doused with cold water. If her face got any hotter, she was bound to fry her brain for good.
“My heart was pounding so fast. I thought I was going to pass out,” she said. “People are already going to talk about how we came in together soaking wet. I don’t want to think about what everyone would say if I fainted on him while we were kissing. Knowing my luck I’d bite his lip, and they’d have to digitally edit the scar out of all of his photoshoots for the rest of his life.”
“But he tried to kiss you twice now! That must mean he likes you,” Tikki said.
Marinette bit back a dreamy smile. “Do you really think so? Oh, Tikki, I can see it now! He’ll fall in love with me, then we’ll get married, buy a beautiful house, have three kids, a dog, and a hamster named-”
A knock on the door cut her daydream short. Tikki ducked behind the door as Marinette peeked on the other side.
“Another towel for you, Mademoiselle.” A different butler than the one who helped her earlier bowed. How many butlers did this family have?
“Um, thank you.” Marinette accepted it with a smile before shutting the door again.
With a clearer head, she examined herself in the mirror. Wet clothes clung to her petite frame, black eyeliner smudged and not in the attractive smokey way Gabrielle had done it earlier. She’d seen racoons crawling out of dumpsters that looked more put together than she did. There was no way she could face Adrien looking like this. Dampening the towel, she rubbed away the last traces of her makeup and combed her fingers through her hair, but it was no use. She still looked like someone threw a cat into a swimming pool. She needed to find Gabrielle before she ran into Adrien again.
The hall was empty when she peeked out. Perfect, just what she needed. Adrien was probably drying off in another room, so all she needed to do was find Gabrielle and redo her makeup before he came out again.
“Where are you going?” Tikki asked as Marinette slipped into the hall.
“I need to find Gabrielle before Adrien sees me,” she whispered.
“But this house is so huge, she could be anywhere. Besides, if Adrien really loves you, then he won’t care what you look like,” Tikki said.
“That’s only true after you’re married. Help me look for Gabrielle, please?” Marinette pressed her palms together.
Tikki nodded dutifully, and they raced off in different directions. The last place she saw Gabrielle was the living room, but she couldn’t make her out in the crowd. She wasn’t in the dining room or the sitting room either. Tikki was right. Gabrielle could be anywhere in this fortress of a house, and Marinette was never going to find her in time. She and Adrien would never have their house, their three kids, or even the hamster named-
“Marinette!”
She startled, but to her relief, Lisette was the one approaching her. “Oh, Lisette. Hi!”
“Hey, I heard you and Adrien got soaked by the sprinklers.” Lisette looked her up and down. “It seems the rumors were correct.”
Great. Everyone was already talking.
“Yeah, they just turned on out of nowhere while we were on a walk outside, and now everything is ruined, and I’m just trying to find- someone to help clean me up again,” Marinette explained.
“I’m so sorry that happened. I have no idea how the sprinklers got turned on. We specifically shut them off for the party, so people could enjoy the garden,” Lisette said. “Why don’t you come upstairs? I’m sure I have something that will fit you.”
“Wait, what do you-”
“Lisy, did you find her?” A tall boy with blond hair and brown eyes similar to Lisette’s entered the room. “We’re really sorry about this.”
“You- Oh my gosh, this is your house!” Marinette realized. “I had no idea. I just came with someone, and they didn’t tell me whose party it was. I’m so sorry for crashing.”
“It’s fine.” Lisette waved it away. “You’re friends with Eliott, so you’re more than welcome here… He isn’t here by any chance, is he?”
“No, sorry. I wasn’t even really planning on being here. I came here with Ga- another friend. Different friend. Well, the friend part is questionable. It’s complicated,” Marinette said.
“Oh.” Lisette relaxed. “Well, I’m really sorry you got hosed. Come with me. I’ll loan you some fresh clothes and help you clean up.”
Lisette was her tiny, pink fairy godmother in her hour of need! One of these days she’d convince Eliott to kiss her as thanks.
The chatter from the party died down as they trekked deeper into the mansion. Lisette’s room was at the end of a long hallway, and Marinette’s jaw dropped the moment she stepped through the door. Soft pink walls surrounded them on all sides, plush carpet sinking under Marinette’s weight with each step. Small pillows and soft blankets accented the white furniture, and a pink crystal chandelier hung in the center of the room. On the far wall was a large vanity bordered by two cabinets with several drawers and quite possibly the biggest makeup collection Marinette had ever seen.
“Whoa.” Marinette blinked.
“Sorry it’s a mess. I pulled out a lot of stuff when I was getting ready for tonight.” She shifted a few lipsticks back into their cup displays.
“Your bedroom is bigger than my whole apartment,” Marinette said lamely, and Lisette giggled as she flicked on the light to her closet.
“Eliott mentioned that you weren’t used to all of this stuff. He thinks it’s cute when you stare,” she said, rummaging through the hangers. “He seems to really like you.”
“Oh, yeah, we’ve become pretty good friends,” Marinette said. “Actually, he talks about you a lot lately.”
Lisette froze. “R-Really?”
“Yeah, if I had known this was your party, I would have told him to come. I’m sure he would have loved to see you.” Marinette smirked as Lisette’s cheeks flushed pink. She blushed as easily as Marinette did around Adrien. Her feelings for Eliott were so obvious. He could deny it all he wanted, but they were totally into each other.
“I was going to invite him, but…I kinda chickened out,” she said sheepishly. “I was scared he would be busy or that he wouldn’t want to come at all.” She grabbed another pink dress from the rack and offered it to Marinette. “I think this one would look really cute on you.”
“Thanks.” Marinette retreated behind the folding screen to change, thankful for dry clothes. “I know exactly how you feel. When I first met Adrien, I could barely get two sentences out around him.”
“But you two seem so close.”
“Yeah, now,” Marinette said, “but in the beginning, I always panicked and mixed up my words. He must have thought I was crazy.”
“So, it’s pretty obvious then? That I like Eliott…”
Marinette peeked around the screen with an apologetic wince. “Only because we’re so similar.” She slipped on the dress and smoothed the skirt. “But if it makes you feel better, I think he likes you too.”
“He does?” Lisette perked up.
Marinette crossed the room to place a hand on her shoulder. “You should talk to him. Invite him to hang out sometime. I’m sure he’ll say yes.”
“Okay.” Lisette tucked a strand of blonde hair back into place shyly. She examined Marinette once more and smiled. “Come on. Let’s fix your face.”
She patted the chair in front of her vanity, and Marinette sat down obediently. “You have a huge collection. It almost feels like a store.”
“Yeah… Makeup is kind of my obsession.” She pumped some product onto a cotton pad and gently wiped away the remains of black eyeliner around Marinette’s eyes. “I really wanted to do the makeup for the Miraculous show, but they prefer to let adults with more experience handle that.”
“Is that why you were helping with props?” Marinette asked.
“Well, there were a few different jobs I could have done, but I picked that one because it was the closest to, well, you know.” She bit her lip. “I didn’t think he’d notice me, let alone remember my name, but he’s really kind to everyone backstage. He thinks everyone on the team is important, and that coupled with how amazing he performs… I was a goner.”
“It was kinda the same for me with Adrien,” Marinette said. She closed her eyes at Lisette’s direction, then continued, “The first time I met him I thought he was stuck up because he was the son of a famous fashion designer, and he was friends with Chloe Bourgeois. But when I got to know him, I saw that he’s so sweet and humble. Falling for him was easy after that.”
“You and I are a lot alike,” Lisette remarked. “Do you think Eliott and I will ever be as close as you and Adrien?”
“Definitely,” Marinette said without hesitation. “Adrien and I are close because we became good friends, and maybe soon we’ll be more than just friends… I hope anyway.” She blinked when Lisette shifted to grab a different brush. “If being friends with Eliott seems too scary right now, then maybe you and I can be friends. I can help you get closer to him, and we can root for each other.”
Lisette searched her expression, a small smile curling on her lips. “You’re really nice, Marinette. I can see why Eliott talks so highly of you.”
“You’re the nice one, Lisette. You totally saved me from looking like a drowned rat. As far as I’m concerned, you and I are friends now.” Marinette offered her a pinky, and Lisette curled her own around it.
“Now then.” Lisette picked up a large palette and a brush. “Let’s knock Adrien off his feet.”
Lisette was a wizard with makeup. Marinette’s eyes had never popped that way before, and she felt a lot better when she rejoined the party.
“There you are!” Tikki crashed into her chest at the base of the stairs. “I found Gabrielle, but then I lost you.”
“Sorry, Tikki,” Marinette said.
Her kwami looked her over. “Where did you get new clothes? And your makeup is all done too!”
“I got some help from a new friend.” Marinette nodded to Lisette who had rejoined her stagehand friends in the dining room.
“Isn’t that the girl who likes your friend Eliott?”
“Yep! Turns out this is her house. She helped me clean up, so we don’t have to bother Gabrielle anymore,” Marinette explained. “Let’s go find Adrien. I’ve never felt this cute before.”
Several people complimented her as she moved through the house again. None of them suspected that she looked like an absolute disaster only a few minutes before. It was flattering to be complimented so much, but also, kind of embarrassing. Where in the world was Adrien when she needed him?
“Hey, cutie, I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
Marinette froze in her tracks, a shiver creeping up her spine. Not all compliments were created equal, and something in the tone of this one set her on edge. She turned, fully intending to offer a polite thanks before scurrying away, but the boy leaning against the wall made her blood run cold.
“Thomas?” She blinked in disbelief.
Had she heard him right? There was no way… Was Thomas hitting on her? She thought back to Gabrielle dancing with another boy earlier, and her stomach churned. Something told her she was in the middle of a very complicated love triangle, and she needed to find the emergency exit. Fast.
“So, she remembers my name. I’m not surprised, it’s hard to forget a face like this.” He moved toward her, and Marinette instinctively took one step back.
“Um, well, it’s hard to forget the person who picks on my friends,” she shot back. “You and Gabrielle are quite the duo.”
“Hey, don’t be like that. All that stuff was Gabrielle’s doing. Besides, she and I are done now,” Thomas said. “Your uncle is that famous chef, right?”
Marinette shifted uncomfortably, desperately searching the room for a familiar face to rescue her, but no one stood out. She was on her own. “Um, my great uncle, yeah.”
“That’s really cool. You’re like crazy connected then?” He loomed over her, arms crossed over his chest.
“No, not really,” she said.
“Come on, you performed with Jagged Stone, and word on the street is you’re pretty tight with Adrien Agreste too. You’ve got a lot of friends in high places.” He looked her up in down in a way that made her skin crawl. “You’re a powerful girl, Marinette.”
“Uh, I don’t really think so.” She closed her fists to hide how her hands shook.
“Aww, you’re so modest. That’s cute. Why don’t you hang out with me for a little while? I know a lot of powerful people too. Maybe we can help each other.” He reached for her hand, but Marinette flinched away. “Hey, don’t be like that. I’m a nice guy.”
“I don’t-”
“She’s not interested, low-life.” Gabrielle stood in the doorway to the foyer, arms crossed, hip cocked, green eyes glaring daggers at her ex. She was Marinette’s angry, ginger hero.
Thomas rolled his eyes, seemingly unfazed by Gabrielle’s hostility. “Look who crawled in off the streets.”
“Go bore some other girl with your pathetic narcissism. Marinette’s not interested in hooking you up with important people only to get dumped as soon as she’s no longer of value to you,” Gabrielle said.
“You know a lot about things that no longer have value, don’t you?” Thomas retorted.
Their argument was drawing a crowd, and Gabrielle glanced around nervously. “Thomas, don’t-”
“Don’t what? Tell everyone here that Gabrielle Burton is broke?” Thomas shouted.
Gabrielle stiffened as every eye in the room turned to her. Her rough exterior fractured, the power in her eyes turning to panic. Her darkest day was today, and for the first time since anyone had known her, Gabrielle cowered. And then the whispers started.
“Wait, for real?”
“She’s broke?”
“Serves her right.”
“Oh my gosh, call Jean. He’s going to love this.”
“I’m putting it on Instagram.”
A triumphant smirk curled on Thomas’ lips as Gabrielle stalked from the room, and Marinette used the chaos as cover to slip away too. Ugh, as if she would ever be interested in someone like that! How could he expose Gabrielle and watch her whole world crumble with a smile? Some people really were evil. She just hoped Gabrielle was okay.
Marinette rounded a corner in pursuit, but collided with another person. “Ow! Sorry!”
“Ugh, could you be clumsier?”
Marinette blinked, rubbing the sore spot on her forehead, and the blonde in front of her did the same. “Chloe?”
“Don’t act so surprised. You knew I was here,” Chloe said. She looked Marinette up and down, nose wrinkling into a look Marinette knew all too well. Chloe never hid her disgust well. “Ew, why do you look cute? Those sprinklers should have ruined you.”
“A friend helped me clean up. Wait, what do you mean the sprinklers should have- Did you do that to me and Adrien?” Marinette fit the pieces together, annoyance flaring.
Chloe flipped her ponytail over one shoulder. “I did what I had to.” When Marinette’s eyes narrowed, Chloe cocked a hip. “Don’t look at me like that, Dupain-Cheng. Just because you left doesn’t mean I’m going to be nice to you. I’m still mad at you for refusing to help me with Lila.”
“You haven’t changed one bit. I haven’t missed you,” Marinette said.
Chloe’s cheeks flushed pink, and her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Yeah, well, I don’t miss you either! I’m glad you left because I don’t have to see your stupid annoying face every day.”
A laugh bubbled in Marientte’s chest. She cupped a hand over her mouth to stifle it, but her giggles spilled out anyway.
“What’s so funny?” Chloe huffed.
“This.” Marinette gestured between them. “I forgot we used to argue like this every day, and now it’s just funny. Maybe I have missed it a little.”
“Yeah, well-” Chloe stopped abruptly, her eyes widening. “Look out!”
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thecoffeenebula · 3 years
Text
First Period
This is not part of the new job stories. Just a Marcus Moreno one-shot here :)
a/n: Missy gets her first period and Marcus had no idea what he has to do so he calls you (his girlfriend) to help him through it.
No warnings here :)
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As soon as you got Marcus’s phone call you rushed over to his place. He was very vague to you on the phone. He told you that he just picked up Missy from school because she wasn’t feeling well. You had no idea what was going on but he said he needed you there. Missy needed you there…
You dropped anything at that point and drove your way up to his house.
You had to make sure she was fine. You were the only adult that Missy opened up to ever since she hit puberty. She’s been very private. You were the only adult that she told the most to about her life, more than she did with her own dad.
You and Marcus started dating a couple of years back. You approached Missy as if she were your friend. You didn’t want Missy to see you as her new mom, it just didn’t feel right.
She took a liking to you instantly. You were her friend. You supported her when Marcus didn’t or when others didn’t. She needed that. You did give off parent vibes, in a positive way.
Missy one time joked about it once, when you picked her up from her training. Marcus was working late and he asked you to do it. You made sure she had eaten and done her homework before Marcus got home. Homework didn’t seem so bad when you helped her out. That’s when Missy told you that she thought you would made a good mom. That if you and Marcus ever decided to get a kid, she wouldn’t mind and be a proud sister. It warmed your heart to hear her be so supportive of your lives together. It was so sweet. She brought it in the funniest way possible, like Missy could.
“I think we figured out your superpower. Your superpower is making boring activities fun.”
She looked at you smiling It made you chuckle.
“That’s why I think you would make a good mom.”
You almost choked on your drink. You pointed at yourself in surprise.
“Yeah, I think you would. If you and my dad ever think about having a baby I wouldn’t mind. I would like that”
You had no idea what you were supposed to say. You were so stunned.
“That’s a nice thing to say, Missy.” Just that moment Marcus entered the house and the conversation stopped. It was just you and Missy smiling welcoming her father and your boyfriend home.
  You knocked on the door. Marcus rushed over to let you in.
“Hey, is everything alright? What’s going on?”
Marcus looked quite uncomfortable and concerned. He scratched the back of his head and closed the door behind you as entered.
“Well…..”
You entered the kitchen and saw what was lying on the kitchen table. You couldn’t help but laugh.
“Soooo, Missy got her first period.”
The kitchen table was filled with tampons, pads of different brands and in different volumes with a couple of other products. Including a hot water bottle and lots of chocolate, which even you couldn’t resist. You made your way over to the chocolate bars and tried to unnoticeably stick one of them in your pocket.
“Yeah, I went over to the drug store when she was in the shower. I had no idea what I had to buy so I just bought anything I could see”
You really couldn’t stop laughing. This was the most adorable thing you had ever seen. He really was just trying his best. He only didn’t know how to handle this.
“oh sweetie, maybe you should’ve let me do the shopping if you were a little more clear to me about what was going on. I thought there was something seriously wrong with her. I thought she was injured or something else bad that had happened to her.”
Marcus chuckled. Feeling guilty for not telling you.
“Yeah, I am sorry about that… I’m just not used to this. I know how to save the world not how to handle a period.”
“Let me handle this.” You said and kissed his cheek.
“Just, ehhh….   We will only need a couple of these…. She is not bleeding to death.”
You picked a box of pads and walked over to the bathroom. Marcus chuckled, blushing a bit as he stared at the table. He should’ve called you straight away instead of panic and do this by himself. This whole thing started to look quite humorous to him.
 “Missy?” you knocked on the door. “Missy, it’s me”
“arrghhhh” you hear Missy grunt. “Go away, Y/N…. It’s not that I don’t want to see you… I just don’t want to see you right now”
“I can help you… better than your dad can.”
  You hoped that she would let you help her through this. You can remember your first period. It was a horrible story. You had to walk around in a blood stained white stained skirt the entire day because you were on a school trip. You were happy that Missy didn’t have that experience. You just wanted to help as no one helped you through it. They just covered your skirt with wrapping a hoodie around your waist.
 “He called you didn’t he?”
“Only because he wants to help you”
Marcus was pacing the in the hallway. He was so worried. It was so funny to watch.
“Missy? Are you in pain? Do you have cramps?”
You heard a loud groan.
“Yes…. This is worse than that one time Guppy punched me in the stomach”
Guppy really wasn’t to be messed with, everyone knew that by now.
You turned to Marcus who was watching you.
“Could you fill up the hot water bottle please?”
He nodded and went to the kitchen straight away.
“Missy, I know you don’t want to get out of the bathroom but hear me out, I brought some pads with me and I think you don’t want to ruin your underwear. Happened to me. It wasn’t fun. I even ruined the skirt I was wearing.”
You heard the door unlock, it slightly opened, just far enough to grab a hold of the pads. A small hand stuck out of the door opening and took the pads from you, immediately closing the door again.
“Now what?”
“Well… Your dad is making a hot water bottle ready for you. it’s best to just lie down on a bed. It’s what I always used to do.”
 Missy came out of the bathroom with a pained face.
Marcus came rushing over with the bottle. You took it from him and walked her to her room. You signaled him away. Missy didn’t need two adults breathing down her neck with something like this going on.
“Lie down and just relax. Watch some tv or read a book, do whatever you want to take your mind of it.” You threw her one of the chocolate bars you grabbed one on your way to the bathroom. You actually wanted to eat it yourself but there was more where that came from so there was still enough when you went back to the kitchen. You’ve been there long enough to know where Marcus keeps all the sweets. You’ve roamed his cupboards loads of times when you had a movie night with the three of you.
Missy turned to you.
“Wait, you’re not going to stay?”
You raised your eyebrow.
“You really want me to hang around? A full grown woman, who will just bother you with unnecessary facts about periods?”
Missy scrunched her nose and shook her head.
You smiled at her
“Just give a shout when you need me, or your dad.”
“No, I don’t want you to tell me any unnecessary stuff I just want you to stay.”
You seated yourself next to her.
“Okay, if that’s what you want.”
She looked up at you.
“What was your first period like?”
You told her your own experience and talked to her some more, answering all her questions.
It took a while before you could return to Marcus.
At some point he stood by the door listening to the two of you talk. It brought him joy to hear you two giggle with each other.
 Marcus was sitting on the couch watching tv as you walked into the living room. He muted the television as he noticed you.
“How is she?”
You seated yourself next to him.
“She is doing fine.”
“Thank you,”
He leaned over to kiss you.
“I seriously can’t live without you… oh god! This would’ve been hell if you weren’t  here”
You smiled at his comment. You’ve never seen him this insecure about something.
“That’s all in your head. You can do this. Sometimes you need helping hand but you can do this.”
 Marcus stared at you. His look couldn’t scream I love you more….
“What is it?” you chuckled.
He bit his lip as he studied you.
“Move in with me?”
You were stunned. You never guessed he would’ve asked this.
“I mean, this is going to happen monthly now. I don’t want to go through that alone. I want you to live through that torture as well…. And… I love you. Missy loves you. I think we are ready for the next step in our relationship don’t you?”
There is nothing you wanted more. The moment you met him you knew that this is the life you wanted with him.
“I think we are. I would love to move in”
Marcus started smiling even brighter than he already did. He kissed you again.
Missy came walking back out to get her phone, which was still on the coffee table in the livingroom.
She noticed the two of you kissing and rolled her eyes making gagging noises.
“Could you not?”
She picked her phone from the coffee table and walked back to her room.
“I suppose we would have to get used to that.”
“I think we do.”
 You and Marcus couldn’t be happier about the decision you made together.
You decided to tell Missy over dinner. She was overjoyed with the news.
They both couldn’t wait for you to move in.
Missy was already planning out what it would be like to have you there.
You were a happy little family.
Maybe a family that could expand in the future. You thought as you heard Missy go on about everything. If only Marcus was up for it.  
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