#sorry if this came off as very hostile anon. It's nothing against you. I just really hate that show and how I have to constantly acknowledg

[dontbotherwiththepronunciation]

The Theon poll was so interesting. I was just curious if you’ve ever seen any of the show? I couldn’t remember if you said you read the books first and then watched the show or if you’ve never seen the show at all. If you have, did you watch the whole thing? Was there anything you liked about it or thought the show portrayed well?

It's kind of you to show interest anon and I don't hold anything against you but oh god this was such a struggle and I ended giving up because I can't talk about the show without wanting to hurt people but also the longer I think about it, the less apologetic I want to be. I want to be allowed to tell everyone how much I despise it but I know I would get in trouble for that and I'm so tired of it. The more I think about it, the more depressed I get and the more hateful I become. I think it makes me depressed because fandom proved I'm not allowed to be hateful and angry, although I know I have the right to be.

"Was there anything you liked about it or thought the show portrayed well?"

I actively forget the show exists until someone mentions it, but I filled two journals with show thoughts (they were abundantly negative), so here are the few things I marked down as positives.

I’ve always been a fan of Ramin Djawadi's work and used to play some of his pieces so that was the highlight of the show for me. “Winds of Winter” and some other themes used for Dany give me goosebumps and so does “Light of the Seven”. There was a time I could play that one on the violin and piano.

“Watching your vicious bastard die gave me more relief than a thousand lying whores.” (I didn't even have to google that sentence. I heard it once and it became engraved to my brain)

Lena Headey and most of the casting for the Lannisters. I hated what they did to Tyrion's character later on and also how they made Cersei less unhinged but I think both of them had the range to play the characters properly had they been given decent scripts.

There was this thing they did with Sansa's hair that I thought was interesting. Her style changed and assimilated to whoever she was learning from/trying to emulate. A nice and fitting touch.

Up to Season 6 (I think. Not fully sure), I liked most of the costuming for Cersei. The red dress with the golden metal corset shaped armour...gay gay homosexual gay.

Florence + the Machine's adaptation of "Jenny of Oldstones".

The adaptation of "The Rains of Castamere"

Dubrovnik and Peñiscola as two of the most important filming locations were such a smart choice! I had been to both of the cities in the past and it was so fun to spot which places they filmed in. They really made the best out of such small and rather niche places and I applaud how much they played with perspective in order to make us ignore the constant use of the same set spaces.

I really liked Isaac Hempstead Wright's acting during Season 2. It felt very similar to this despair and impotence that ACOK Bran feels and my heart ached for him.

Season 6 episode 10 made absolutely no fucking sense but it was the most entertaining one and I think seeing Cersei blow up the sept was the happiest experience I had with that show. What an icon she was, burning all her enemies to the ground...would have made me even happier if her actions had consequences but I still cherished the moment on itself.

I hated everything related to the Greyjoys and the writing team threw every possible interesting plot and dynamic for them out of the window, but there was a scene somewhere in Season 2, when Theon returns to the Iron Islands in which Balon Greyjoy is given a more deeply and hurtful characterisation. Theon accuses him of "giving him away, like a dog he didn't want anymore" and the camera stays at Balon's expression of pain and desolateness. I really dislike most of the fandom's characterisation for Balon. This however, was interesting.

Michelle Fairley's last scream and her following lifelessness during the red wedding was hunting. I am #anti Robb Stark(/j) and I didn't like Richard Madden as Robb so I didn't feel a lot during that scene until she started to shine. Amazing actress.

Season 1, episode 10 (I think), a scene in which we see Catelyn and Robb react to Ned's death. Michele Fairley does this thing where she starts leaning against trees and breaths heavily in order to not let herself cry and Robb is hacking a tree with his sword before his mother hugs him as he sobs "I'll kill them all". I don't like Richard Madden but I loved that scene. The composition and setting was so atmospheric and the musical score was very emotional, love those strings. I rewatched the scene right now to make sure my thoughts were the same and, yes 15-year-old-me, I full-heartedly agree!

The animated shorts were a hesitant and reluctant source of joy for me. @/hell-heron has made use of them in gifs and I think they are lovely to look at.

That's about it

"I was just curious if you’ve ever seen any of the show? I couldn’t remember if you said you read the books first and then watched the show or if you’ve never seen the show at all. If you have, did you watch the whole thing?"

I watched till half of season 2 after spending three years analysing the books without any show influence or imagery, didn't like it, got called a slur and was told to go back to the plantation by show people because I didn't like the whitewashing, finished watching it in 2019 against my will, really hated it.

The concrete things that made the show a source of anger and sadness instead of allowing it only to be uninteresting for me, asides from Stark goggles and overall me hating show!Theon and show!Dany (two of my favourite characters), listed from most to least personally upsetting:

Missandei of Naath (Sexualization, pseudo-maturity and imposed adulthood of black Girls)

Jeyne-Sansa switcherroo (Not doomed by the narrative, just ditched and other unimportant, unsatisfactory, insufficient girls (Jeyne W, Penny, Kyra, Pretty Pia, etc.))

"Dark" "Dark eyes" "Dark hair" "Dark vs Fair" (Whitewashing under the pretence of ambiguity á la fanon!Rue from the Hunger Games)

The philosophical stance of the narrative (Nihilism vs. Optimistic Existentialism vs. Embracing the absurd & The Myth of Sisyphus; conclusion: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING)

Ableism (Wex Pyke, Ilyn Payne and my other fellow (selective) mutes, constant jokes on the expense of mutilated people that the watchers were meant to laugh at, the dismissal of Tysha, Bran's not-sense-making impotence/infertility and the connotations of lovelessness for disabled people, Tyrion making fun of a supposedly mentally disabled cousin just for the lols)

Renly, Loras, Jon Connington, Satin and "Olyvar" (???) (Home of phobia)

Sansa Stark (Destroying a character to marketise a YA Heroine)

Daenerys Targaryen (Slowburn character assassination)

The even stronger orientalist tropes in Dorne (Girlbossing your way through character massacre)

Robb Stark (Simplifying the text and creating a male oc)

Arya Stark & Brienne of Tarth (Contraproductive and unresolved internalised misogyny)

#speaking #anonymous #fandom related #anti got #sorry if this came off as very hostile anon. It's nothing against you. I just really hate that show and how I have to constantly acknowledg #it's existences in this fandom. #Again not against you! You seemed genuinely interested and I am sorry for letting you down.

[ltleflrt]

To get that out of the way, I am someone who does enjoy a good bit challenge in their games, depending on a genre/mood. The "git gud" crowd can suck my entire ass though. Even if the games are balls to the wall hard, you can always provide some tips and encouragement, maybe explain a hidden mechanic that makes the game playable at all. Feeling superior to other, less experienced players, helps nobody but your fragile ego. That said, there is an argument/reason for certain games to NOT have [1/2]

an easy/accessible mode included, which is the absolute cutthroat difficulty IS the part of the artistic expression the producers were going for. This guy addresses the issue pretty comprehensively in a non-dickish, well-formulated way: youtu. be/pKyKGuGU4bw It's a lengthy watch, but i think, if anything, it helps to see the issue from both perspectives. Even if means there will always be some games I love conceptually, but simply cannot enjoy playing. Looking @ you, Bloodborne. [2/2]

Two part anon here. All that aside, I am absolutely, 100% within the "play the games the way YOU want as long as it doesn't impact the others" camp. Cheating in multi is a big no-no, obvs, but in single player? Play on easy if you want. God mode through that impossible challenge. Disable the mechanics that are pissing you off. The games are meant to be enjoyed and only a select few of them are inherently hostile to human life. And even then it's mostly a feature, not a bug.

I watched the video, and the guy lays it out very politely, which I appreciate. I still DISRESPECTFULLY DISAGREE WITH EVERY SINGLE POINT. But since you're not talking to me like a Get Good Gamer, I'm going to clarify something.

So here's the thing. My original post was primarily complaining about the bad attitudes of the Get Good Gamers. Not the games themselves. I keep buying these games and trying them, because I want to be able to experience a difficult, challenging game, but I keep getting stuck because the entry point for newbs is too high. Literally any time I complain about that, someone comes out of the woodwork with "haha get good", and I hate those people.

And then someone immediately came through my inbox and talks to me like a Get Good Gamer, even if it was presented in less of a point-and-laugh style. I flipped out. I'd apologize, but I'm still pissed off enough that I wouldn't mean it. My rage debuff has a 72 hour cooldown.

("Everyone starts out at the same level so it's fair" will ALWAYS be a stupid statement, because previous experience matters. Sorry original nonny from yesterday, I'm going to harp on this forever.)

Here's another thing. I am physically incapable of playing anything in 1st person. I get violent motion sickness. Sometimes this manifests and migraines that last all day, sometimes it manifests as actual vomiting. I can't even watch it on someone else's screen. My husband turns his monitor away from my desk when he plays them so I don't glance over at what he's playing and spend the next hour with a pounding head and roiling stomach. I can't EVER play 1st person.

So I'm locked out of a highly popular game style. Okay. After mourning the loss of another intriguing experience, I move on. Well it seems like more and more lately that the other highly popular game style is the epically hard shit. I'll be calling them Souls-like, even though I'm not just talking about Souls games. (I'm currently bashing my head against a game called Blasphemous that is tagged in Steam as Souls-like because it is hard and does not have multiple difficulty settings, but it is a side scroller Metroidvania, and plays nothing like a Souls game. Cup Head would actually be a closer analog.)

These games are often incredibly intriguing to me for the art style and the story concept. I like fantasy games and sci fi games, and I prefer them to have an element of horror on top of that. What I'm finding, when I go game shopping, is that more and more games that have the look and feel and story type that interests me, is that they're all 1st person, or tagged Souls-like. And things that don't have the Souls-like tag are often... woobified? is maybe a term that works? They're toned down for a younger audience kinda? I'm sorry if I'm not making this clear. It's definitely not the game mechanics I'm talking about, it's a softening of the art styles and storylines. Like... what I'm looking for is Diablo 3's Hell Levels. But Diablo 3 is the only game I can find like that unless I go digging through the First Person and Souls-like tags.

(Speaking of which, I'm vibrating out of my fucking chair for Diablo 4, WOOT)

So I keep trying things tagged as Souls-like, because the art style and storylines intrigue me. I'm not bad at video games, and sometimes the tags aren't accurate. Obviously different people will think different difficulty levels are harder or easier, depending on their experience, and I feel like the tag is used for any game without the ability to change difficulty settings even if the game isn't spirit-crushingly difficult. Some of them I can get through (I'm actually doing pretty well with Blasphemous), and some of them are a waste of my money.

Honestly, if more of these games had demos, it would make me feel better about this. Because I actually quite enjoy a challenge, but I'm finding things that are either Too Easy or Too Hard, with nothing in between, and in order to test if a game Just Right I have to shell out money up front.

And I do go find cheats if it's a game I'm still interested in playing, but MANY of them are now being put behind paywalls. So I have to shell out MORE money. I think it's fair for the cheat creators to ask for money for their work, I would never argue against them getting paid, but a paywall is still a wall blocking accessibility. And I don't necessarily want unlimited health or magic points or whatever, I just want monsters to have 25% less health and maybe some slower attacks so that I have a split second more to think about my next move.

Going back to the whole artistic vision thing, I totally understand why creators and gamers want these extremely hard, challenging games. But a game with difficulty settings still allows the hardcore folks to start on Ultra Nightmare 9th Level Of Hell difficulty. No one is stopping them from doing that. No one is stopping them from turning on a game, cranking the setting up to Oh Fuck I'm Going To Die, and starting there. (Personally, I start every game on Normal mode and see how it feels before I fiddle with the difficulty settings.) But the game is stopping literally everyone else from playing if there's not multiple difficulty settings.

That video you shared quoted Miyazaki:

We don't want to include a difficulty selection because we want to bring everyone to the same level of discussion and the same level of enjoyment so we want everyone to first face the challenge and overcome it in some way that suits them as a player. We want everyone to feel that sense of accomplishment. We want everyone to feel elated and join the discussion on the same level. We feel if there's different difficulties, that's going to segment and fragment the user base. People will have different experiences based on that different difficulty level.

He keeps saying Everyone. But someone with hand-eye coordination issues playing on Easy Mode would face the same actual challenge as someone without those issues with more experience playing on Ultra Hard mode. Everyone is not the same level of gamer, just because the game itself only has 1 difficulty level.

But they don't actually want Everyone to have the same experience. They've convinced themselves they do. But this idea they have that a single difficulty level gives everyone an even playing field is a lie.

These game developers make their games harder and harder and harder for the Elite players. Which isn't necessarily bad; I don't want those people to NOT feel challenged. By all means, keep going, weed out everyone until One Supreme Gamer rules them all.

But for god's sake, please stop trying to justify the 1 difficulty setting with "everyone starts out in the same place." It's a MYTH. Just be honest that you only want to make games for a small group of people! Try to convince that small group of people to stop being dicks about it to people who express frustration because the game wasn't made for them!

I'm tired of the attitude. The fucking ableism. The shrinking pool of games that interest me that don't have the 1st person or Souls-like tags.

Anyway, I know these games will continue to be made, I know I will continue to be sad about it, and I know that people are going to continue to disagree with me. If anyone has made it to this point of the post, don't bother coming back to argue with me. Get Good Or Give Up style messages will invite the block button, and good faith arguments will be ignored, because every time it's brought up it refreshes my 72 hour Rage Debuff. I'm done.

#Anonymous #ltleramblings

[realcube]

you flinch during an argument

navi | masterlist | taglist 

thank you to anon for this request 

characters ♡ suna, atsumu & sakusa

content warning ♡ cursing, angst, mentions of abuse, hurt to comfort, hinted ptss, parent!reader (in sakusa’s)

rintarō suna

♡ he paced back and forth through the living room, casting you dirty looks whenever you try to speak 

♡ you rolled your eyes at how far he took your singular comment on his volleyball career

♡ you were aware that what you said might’ve offended him and in any other situation you would’ve just apologised but considering how needlessly confrontational he was being, of course you were going to be mean too

♡ ‘rin, you’re being overdramatic.’ you muttered off-handedly, assuming he’d brush it off like everything else you said, so ofc you did not expect what he did next

♡ he suddenly stormed over to you 

♡ not only did he take you by surprise but also his furrowed brows and generally mad aura unnerved you too, so your natural instinct was to flinch 

♡ once he saw that, he immediately stopped in his tracks 

♡ his head slowly tilted to the side and his clenched jaw loosened, ‘(y/n)?’

♡ your hands were still covering your face but when you heard the suna’s soft voice, you realised what you had just done and craned your neck out to peer over your hands, ‘yes?’

♡ obviously, his intention wasn’t to hurt you but rather just stand in front of you. though it worried him that your natural instinct was to prepare yourself for harm from him. despite the fact he would/has never hit you. 

♡ ‘are you okay?’ he sighed, slowly approaching you as if you were a small critter that’d run away in fright at any moment

♡ you hesitantly lowered your arms, eyes wide as you intensely examined his every move, ‘i’m fine. are you okay?’

♡ suna gestured to the seat beside you on the couch, ‘i’m good. can i sit?’

♡ you simply nodded

♡ he reluctantly sat down next to you and gently placed his hand on your knee, tracing circles with his thumb, ‘i didn’t mean to scare you. i’m sorry.’ he said, his now hushed voice contrasting to how sharp and loud his words were just a minute ago

♡ you blinked rapidly, shocked at how quickly his demeanour changed but also relieved he realised that what he did brought you discomfort, ‘it’s fine, i guess. it just looked like you were going to- y’know. and i’m sorry too, what i said was uncalled for’ you murmured, the words just falling from your lips without any prior thought as your mind was somewhere else

♡ ‘i’d never do that.’ he blurted out, ‘but i get why you might’ve thought.’

♡ a few minutes passed and not a word was spoken - you just blankly stared at the wall opposite, completely lost in thought while suna closed his eyes, slumped back in his seat and revaluated everything he did 

♡ eventually, you snapped out of your contemplation and turned to look at him, only to see his sleeping figure beside you 

♡ it was probably the most peaceful you’ve saw him all day - so you decided against waking him up and instead cuddled up to him, accidentally falling asleep yourself 

atsumu miya

♡ you had your arms crossed over your chest, patiently waiting for atsumu to finish his hissy fit

♡ ‘it was a fucking joke, (y/n)! not that i’d expect you to understand my humour anyway. do you not get what you did? you fucking embarrassed me.’

♡ ‘it wasn’t a very funny joke, atsumu.’ you shook your head disapprovingly, trying your very best to keep a level-head but his nasty remarks didn’t make it an easy task for you, ‘you made me really uncomfortable so of course i was going to say something. also, i didn’t embarrass you, you embarrassed yourself.’

♡ the fact you weren’t as worked-up about this as he was only irritated him more. because deep-down, he knew he was being overdramatic and the contrast between both of your demeanours only highlighted this fact.

♡ he gritted his teeth together, momentarily side-eyeing you before absentmindedly cracking his knuckles

♡ he cracked his bones when he got tense - you knew this - but there was a faint voice at the back of your head, insisting that you had to run away bc he was preparing to hit you 

♡ and it didn’t help when he jerked his head around to look at you 

♡ though it was only the movement of his neck, this caused you to flinch as a part of you expected his hasty motion to be followed by a swing of his hand 

♡ you never really thought too much of your action and assumed atsumu would pay no mind to it and continue to talk but you couldn’t have been more wrong

♡ he slapped his hand over his mouth and let out gasp as though his whole soul was exiting his body through his mouth

♡ your eyes were squeezed shut but you blinked them open to see when you mentally established that atsumu wasn’t going to swing at you and had actually stopped yelling

♡ ‘(y/n)- i’d- i’d never do that!’ the volume of his voice gradually rose as he spoke, starting as breathy emphasis and increasing to a cry

♡ upon noticed his appalled expression and his frozen structure, you dropped your arms which you had automatically raised in defence, ‘you’d never do what?’  you voice was hushed, afraid that if you spoke too loud, you’d reignite his temper

♡ he rushed over to your side, immediately opening up his strong arms for you to enter, if you wished, ‘i’d never hit you.’

♡ both his eyes and tone seemed sincere so without even thinking, you found yourself leaning into his embrace, his arms holding you close - but gently

♡ you really had no reason not to believe him as he’s never harmed you purposely in the past and he didn’t plan on harming you just there; he didn’t even plan on intimidating you but that kinda just happened involuntarily

♡ he had so much on his mind, so much he needed so say at once, so much he wanted you to know. hence, it all came out as rambles. 

♡ ‘i love you, (y/n). i love you so much. i don’t want anyone to hurt you - including myself. i just want you to feel safe - i want you to be safe - so i’ll leave if you don’t feel that way with me around. i can understand why you wouldn’t. but heh, i guess it’s quite funny because i feel the safest when i’m with you. well, it’s not funny - i’m actually gonna miss you like hell - but it’s ironic. i wouldn’t even dream of harming you, love, but i don’t expect you to live in fear constantly so yeah, i’ll go if you want me to.’

♡ you blinked rapidly against his chest, pulling back to look him in the eyes and to your surprise, he appeared to be in more tears than you

♡ ‘i love you too, atsumu.’ you cooed, wiping away one of his tears with your shivering hand, ‘we don’t have to break-up. i mean, truthfully, i feel safe when you’re around too.’

♡ he let out an audible sigh of relief, ‘thank goodness.’

♡ a few moments passed of you just silently enjoying the feeling of being wrapped up in his arms until he spoke up once again while placing an infintite amount of kisses on your forehead, punctuating each kiss with an ‘i love you.’

kiyoomi sakusa

♡ he was sitting beside you on the bed but he had long before withdrew his arm which rested behind your head when you expressed your concern surrounding his hostile behaviour lately 

♡ ‘omi, i’m too ti--’

♡ ‘don’t call me that.’

♡ you sighed as you realised that this had spiralled into a heated fight which you really didn’t intend for it to become. all you wanted to do was talk to him about how rude he’s been to you and the baby as of recently and try to work out a solution but he had turned this into something way bigger than it needed to be.

♡ the remarks he was throwing around - as if they were nothing - resulted in a wrath bubbling in the pits of your stomach, which had been present and building up since the start of sakusa’s attitude problems 

♡ you knew that if this argument didn’t stop soon, you’d lash out on him and although you really didn’t have a problem with that in theory, you had spent hours trying to get the baby to fall asleep and you didn’t want to risk waking them up with the noise 

♡ and though you hated to give sakusa (mental) praise in a situation like this, you had to admit that he was good at keeping his voice down even while angry

♡ so you decided that it was best to diffuse this situation quickly and pick it up at a later date, ‘you know what, kiyoomi--’

♡ ‘don’t call me that either.’ at this point it was clear he was just saying that to piss you off, and it was working

♡ ‘--i’m going to bed; i’m tired from doing all the work in this damn house. we’ll talk about this later.’

♡ sakusa quirked a brow, scoffing at your statement despite the fact it was completely true 

♡ ‘no, let’s talk about it right now. since you clearly have a lot to say.’ 

♡ instead of replying, you gave him what he deserved - the silent treatment

♡ you casually pulled off your slippers, tossing them aside, proceeding to do other nightly activities - while completely ignoring his presence - then reached down to pull the duvet over yourself so you could drift into sweet, serene slumber to imagine a life where sakusa acted like loved you again  

♡ ‘(y/n).’ sakusa snapped, his voice sharp and demanding, ‘listen to me. talk to me- god, you’re so immature.’

♡ your eyes widened; out of the corner of your eye you saw him quickly raise his arm

♡  during your three years of marriage with sakusa, not once had he ever purposefully harmed you - physically or emotionally - but you were aware that what you were doing displeased him so your immediate reaction was to turn away and shield yourself with your forearms

♡ sakusa froze

♡ moments passed and you had yet to feel the impact of his hand so you lowered your defences to peer at him, only to see that his arm was stretched upwards as he yawned

♡ his gaze flickered between you and his arm - he was truly at a loss for words at what he just witnessed

♡ a lump formed at the back of his dry throat as he didn’t dare to speak, trying to communicate all his emotions through his eyes which grew increasingly difficult as they began to burn with tears and ache from the elongated period of time he went without blinking 

♡ he wanted to tell you that he’d never lay an finger on you in that way, that he adores you and he was aware of how he’s been treating you recently but he was previously too arrogant to change his ways. now he was ready to change though, if it’s not too late. 

♡ but all that came out was a choked syllable followed by a cough 

♡ ‘are you okay, omi?’ you tilted your head, watching as your husband coughed his lungs out beside you, his puffy, irritated eyes squeezed shut

♡ he eventually managed to catch his breath and the first thing he did was offer his shaky hand to you 

♡ though you were reluctant at first, upon meeting his gaze, it was as though his fury had melted away. his eyebrows were no longer knitted together, his judgemental sneer was now a gentle smile he wore to try reassure you and the way he looked at you resembled how he did on your wedding day. all the resentment, all the stress and all irritation was gone - which left you with the considerate, understanding man you had married. 

♡ you fingers found their way to his as you slowly intertwined them together, ‘we should, uh, g-get some rest, yeah?’ you stuttered, your lips gradually curling into a weak grin

♡ a faint hum of agreement could be heard from sakusa as he shuffled so he was now laying down, with a duvet draped over him 

♡ though he lay with the intention of going to sleep, he kept his hand locked with yours all throughout the night

#sakusa angst #suna angst #atsumu angst #haikyuu angst #sakusa x reader #sakusa x y/n #sakusa x you #msby sakusa #hq sakusa #sakusa imagines #haikyuu!! angst #haikyuu!! x reader #haikyuu x reader #atsumu headcanons #msby atsumu #atsumu x reader #atsumu x y/n #atsumu hcs #atsumu x you #suna imagines #suna fluff #suna x y/n #suna x you #suna x reader #haikyuu x gender neutral reader #👾angst #haikyuu!! x gender neutral reader #haikyuu!! x gn!reader #haikyuu!!

[luimagines]

Hi! can I request wind scenario (in group) having a crush on gn reader (same age as him) whos kinda like a ghost like fading through walls, going invisible, making the room go cold ect. but they're still hyrulian (did I spell it right-)? (plush anon)

Masterlist

I mean, most people call them Hylian. But I suppose your rendition isn't wrong, since they're from Hyrule. Like a nationality versus a race.

Ok, I think I have an idea with what you mean. Ghostly abilities with a crushing Wind!

I hope I did it justice!

Scenario under the cut!

It was time. You had fought against it for so long.

It was time to track down Wind and figuring out what was eating at him.

You took a deep breath and fazed through the walls of the Wild's house.

He was getting worse and it was starting to worry you. It was unnoticeable at first but he would wander off and come back just fine. So no one did anything. Later though, he would walk off earlier and stay away for longer.

You were beginning to miss him.

But now, your group was no longer in an open space and there were less places for him to hide inside.

You hoped at least he didn't go outside. That would make things harder for you.

You also hoped that Wild wasn't going to get mad at you for just walking through the place. It's not something the others... appreciated... especially when you never gave out a warning.

But that was a them problem.

Wind never seemed to mind.

On the other hand though, you didn't want to risk getting a lecture and ruining your plan by fazing, and by extension, trespassing through the house. So you went invisible for good measure.

The only thing you couldn't fix was how the room always dropped in temperature but if you fast enough it wouldn't make a difference.

Peak in. Look for Wind. Dip if he's not there.

Simple plan of action. Simple solution.

It... didn't occur to you that Wild's house had a few more rooms than he let on, or let the others into. It also didn't occur to you that some places could only be reached by the outside and could then be an excellent place to hide.

Not from you though.

So the search didn't really last all that long.

Wind was hiding under the desk of the outer work house.

He looked like he was crying and was quietly shaking from weight of them.

Concern flooded through your system and you dropped next to him immediately. You went to place your hand on his wrist but he jerked up and made eye contact.

He screamed and jumped in place, slamming his head against the top of the desk and came back down with his hands on his head.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." You reached out and began to rub the poor spot on his head, knocking his hands out of the way. "I probably should have said something first. Are you ok? I mean, obviously not if you're crying but that looked like it hurt-"

"I'm fine." Wind knocked your hands away and wiped his face with his sleeve. There was an edge to his words, and it shocked you a bit.

Wind was never hostile with you and the change made you instinctually move back with your hands up.

"Um... What happened?" You try instead. Maybe it was just the residue pain talking.

"Nothing." Wind sniffles and you swear you could almost see him putting up walls around himself. High and imposing and you nearly sink to the ground at the thought of him cutting you off.

“It’s not nothing if you’re crying over it.” You say gently. “It’s ok to cry Wind. My dad says that it’s just being alive and it’s nothing you have to hide. But why? Did someone hurt you?”

The thought makes you angry and the closet’s temperature plummets with your train of thought. “Who did it? Just say the word and I’ll deal with them.”

Wind hugs himself tighter and shakes his head. “No. No one hurt me.

“Then why...” You reach out again and hesitate to place your hand on Wind’s wrist again. After a second of deliberation you touch him and try reaching out again. “Wind, I’m your friend. What can I do help?”

“Nothing.” He spits and looks away from you. “It’s fine. You shouldn’t... You were the last person that I wanted to find me like this.”

He pushes past you and opens the door to the outside.

“Did I do something wrong?” You ask instead and chase him. “Wind, what’s wrong? Why are you avoiding me? Are you mad at me?”

“No.” He spins around and takes a deep breath. “It’s... nothing you have to be worried about. The problem is with me. I’ll get over it.”

“But I want to help...” You admit. It sounds weak even to your ears and you can only imagine how Wind must think it’s a little pathetic how little you actually contribute to the group.

It’s something that’s been bugging recently but everyone has been welcoming despite your abilities and they let you know when to take a step back from running head first.

It’s not a thought you focus on frequently but if Wind thinks of you that way...

Well... It hurts more than you’re willing to admit.

Wind chuckles slightly, ruefully, cutting off your thoughts. He begins to run a hand through his hair and he looks at the ground instead. “I know you do. You help everyone. You’re incredible like that, you know. I admire that about you. It’s one of your many talents that I can’t even begin to list them all off or I’ll be here all day. But this... Isn’t something that you can fix or help with. You wouldn’t want to help me anyway, if you knew what I did...or rather how I did it.”

He doesn’t anything more.

“But you’re Link.” You say and chance a step toward him. The use of his name, something you only use when alone with only one of them, catches his attention but he’s quick to look away from you again. “And you’re my friend. Why can’t I help you? Maybe just telling me would help, if there’s nothing I can do physically.”

“I...” Wind wipes his face again. “I can’t. It would change the way you see me. I know it. It’s not... I don’t know if I can handle that. I think it’ll hurt to much to see your face look at me in horror. It wouldn’t be a good look for you anyway. You’re too pretty and sweet and nice and I’m-.”

“Wind.” You begin to walk toward him more, counting on the fact that he’s still talking to you that he won’t run away. “I can’t say I know what you’re talking about. But do what to know how I see you?”

He blinks, a little wide eyed and fearful but nods.

“I see an incredibly brave hero. Someone’s friend. Someone’s brother. Someone’s right hand man. Someone who saw a problem and wanted to fix it. Someone who was willing to travel the world and risk his own life to protect the people he cares about. Someone who loves adventure and the ocean and always sure wonder in his eyes... I admire the way you see life and I think you’re a genius. There’s a way your brain works that I find absolutely fascinating.” You put your hands on his shoulders. “I trust you. I care about you. And... I want to help you with your problems. I want to know your dreams and your goals and I want to see more of your world and know more about the people you care about...”

You stop and gulp. It’s getting a little too real for you to handle. Time to stop talking about that less you say something you can’t take back.

“If you’d let me anyway.” You finished lamely. “My... My point is that, you’re a good person. You have a good heart and a good head on your shoulders. You... You’ve done so much and can do so much more if you put mind to it. Not only did you save the world but I bet that you’ll change it for the better. I want to be able to see it. You are many things Link, but you’re not cruel. If you did a bad thing, I’m sure it was for a good reason.”

Wind steps closer to you to close the distance and hugs you. 

Tight.

“You’re too good to me, you know that?” He says into your hair.

You hug him back with just as much force and grin into his neck, content with the contact. “I’d give you the world if I could Link.”

“Not if I give it to you first.” He fires back and lets go slightly. He chances a look at your face and studies it for a moment. 

You look back at him and do the same. He’s beginning to look more like himself and a lot less like he’s been crying. He’s got a large smile on his face before it morphs into a more determined one.

It catches you off guard but right as you try to question him, he leans in and places a hesitant and delicate kiss to your cheek. 

It’s more like a butterfly touch with how nervous he is to do it and you barely feel it.

But it feels a little more magical that way and your heart flutters into a frenzy.

Your hand reaches your mouth and you have trouble looking him in the eye after that. You’re happy. Confused. But happy. 

The blush on your face, you know, is very bright and Wind smiles at your reaction.

“What was that for?” You whisper.

“A thank you.” Wind offers his arm despite the massive blush me has on his face as well. He looks pleased. “You said you wanted to know me more... And well, I’d like to know you more to. Want to go to the tower with me?”

He points to the top of the town, beyond the houses and where you know Purah the scientist resides to do her research.

There’s hardly any visitors there, so it would just be you and him...

You grin and take his arm.  “I’d like that a lot actually.” 

#linkeduniverse #linked universe #linked universe x reader #lu wind #Yes Wild caught the whole thing on his sheikah slate #it ended up alittle more angsty than i was intending #in my head it was cute and fluffy #and wind was more awkward and shy #but i like how this came out #wind was implying how he killed ganondorf as being the thing #but it could be something else i suppose #i haven't played his games #i saw a fic where it bothered him because it brutal and he doesn't know if that makes him a bad person or not #i thought it would be a little thing that bothered him still #because he wants the reader to like him right? #so like #what if they get scared of him #or something #so... #i dunno #sorry if this isn't what you wanted!

[the-lonelybarricade]

Loved your latest chapter and Im so excited to see what happens under the mountain!

I was wondering if I could request a one-shot?(up to you how long and you can do it in your own time)something along the lines of:

Feyre( from either ACOWAR, ACOFAS or ACOSF) time travels back to ACOTAR, but instead of finding herself back in her human body i the spring court, she's still in her fae body and ends up trapped in velaris, having to explain to the rest of IC who she is and why she cant go free their highlord(add some mistrust from the IC)

🙈🙈Id its very similar to what youre doing rn with your other fic but, if you find the inspiration sometime could you please do this? Ive wanted to read a fic for ages were feyre rime travels and meets pre-acomaf inner circle who dont know/trust her, but Ive never found a fic like that

Thank youuu

Hi lovely anon! It makes me so happy you enjoyed my latest chapter! I’m supposed to be working on a project for uni, but I couldn’t resist gratifying my lovely friends (because you're anon and won't be notified I was getting sad at the idea of you checking my blog and not seeing me respond) <3 I’ll admit I’m a bit scatterbrained at the moment, so I hope it’s okay!

I was having trouble brainstorming a reason for Feyre getting sent back in time because I didn't want to borrow the reasoning from ACoFD. So I was vague and twisted the pre-existing rules around the Ouroboros, and ended up getting quite carried away with the story since I don’t like not giving things a happy ending (even though it’s a little cheesy, sorry)

Anyway, I hope this is what you were looking for! I know you wanted the angst of not being able to save Rhys but... I couldn't just leave my poor bat-boy behind, you know? ;)

Also if this didn't quite scratch that itch, I'm always happy to take more requests

Word count: 4,446

The Ouroboros.

It was a massive, round disc—as tall as Feyre was. Taller. And the metal around it had been fashioned after a massive serpent, the mirror held within its coils as it devoured its own tail.

Ending and beginning.

From across the room, Feyre could not see it. What lay within.

She forced herself to take a step forward. Another.

The mirror itself was black as night—yet… wholly clear.

She watched herself approach. Watched the arm she had upraised against the wind and snow, the pinched expression on her face. The exhaustion.

She stopped three feet away. She did not dare touch it.

It only showed Feyre herself. Nothing.

Feyre scanned the mirror for any signs of… something to push or touch with her magic. But there was only the devouring head of the serpent, its maw open wide, frost sparkling on its fangs.

Feyre stared and stared, but all she saw was herself. There was nothing else. Then—

Feyre woke with a gasp, sitting up in bed to shake away the cobwebs of sleep and the strange, foreboding feeling that felt draped around her shoulders like a weighted cape, pulling her down. It hadn’t been a particularly horrifying nightmare. In fact, it was perhaps of the tamer dreams she’d had in the last year.

Yet something about it clung to her, perhaps a lingering agitation that she’d yet to retrieve the mirror the Bone Carver had requested. That must be it.

The bed space beside her was cold. The sun peaking through the window was not high, it couldn’t be long past dawn. However worrisome her own dream, her mate’s must have been worse to draw him from sleep so early. Worse still for him to sneak away.

Feyre rose from the bed, reaching absently for Rhysand’s dressing robe to wrap around herself. She always loved to steal her mate’s clothes, to be wrapped in his scent.

With gentle steps, she made her way to the study, where she could only assume Rhys had sequestered himself in the lone hours of the night. She’d noticed the weary draw to his shoulders, the dark circles under his eyes. This war was weighing on him heavily, and he was nervous. Feyre wished he didn’t insist on shouldering the burden alone.

“Rhys?” Feyre called softly as she got to the study, knocking on the door before she cracked it open.

Peeking her head around the door, she was met with the sight of Rhysand’s abandoned study. The scattered papers and war maps that had become characteristic of his desk space were surprisingly missing. In fact, the whole space had been cleared away and there was a thick layer of dust on every surface as if no one had been in here in years.

Feyre frowned at the sight, and how different it had been just the day before. Where had all the dust come from? And more importantly, where was Rhys? Perhaps he’d taken a morning flight to clear his head.

Where are you, love? She called to him through the mating bond, but was met with silence.

“Who are you?”

The voice was cold and venomous. Feyre turned, coming face to face with Mor, whose face was twisted into a threatening scowl.

“Mor?” Feyre asked, confused by her friend’s cold demeanor. “What do you mean? Have you seen Rhys?”

Mor’s face turned deadly, a look Feyre had only ever seen from Mor in the Court of Nightmares. “Is that some kind of joke?” she snarled.

Then, before Feyre could process what was happening, Mor had gripped onto Feyre’s wrist and they were enveloped in darkness. They stepped into the House of Wind, into the dining room where Cassian and Azriel abruptly stood up.

“Mor?” Feyre questioned when the blonde didn’t release her steel grip. She looked to Cassian and Azriel quizzically. “Guys? What’s going on?”

Cassian crossed his arms, assessing Feyre with a hostility that put her on edge. “Who’s this, Mor?” he asked gruffly.

Feyre frowned as she watched Azriel reach for Truth-Teller.

“Is this a joke?” she asked, flitting her eyes to each of her friends. Where she sought that friendly warmth in each of their gazes she was met with hard stares, filled with distrust, ready for a brawl. She couldn’t make sense of it. Was this an act Rhys had put them up to?

“I found her in the townhouse,” Mor said. “I don’t know how she got in there. She was in Rhysand’s study.”

“And she’s wearing his dressing gown,” Azriel noted dryly. Cassian did a double glance, his eyes going wide, then narrowing with a rage Feyre had never seen from the male. Certainly never directed at her.

There was a whisper of shadow, then suddenly Azriel was behind her, Truth-Teller poised at her throat.

Feyre startled. “Azriel!” she said sharply. Even if it was a joke, Feyre couldn’t imagine Rhysand would sanction this kind of threat. And the energy in the room was off, the tension too thick. “Stand down.”

“And who are you,” he breathed in her ear, his voice coated in shadow and nightmare, “to command the Shadowsinger of the Night Court?”

“I’m your High Lady,” Feyre answered steadily, not letting Azriel’s shadows, nor cunning voice, shake her resolve. “Now, I don’t know what is going on with the three of you, or what strange joke you’re trying to pull, but you will listen to what I say. Put. Your. Knife. Down.”

“High Lady?” Cassian repeated with a snort of disbelief. “You’ve got balls, little girl.”

Truth-Teller danced across the skin of her neck, pressing lightly enough to intimidate without breaking skin. “Do you even know to whom you speak? You should be bowing before the acting Queen of the Night Court.”

Too stunned to properly resist, Azriel kicked his feet out to knock Feyre to her knees in front of Mor. His fingers slid into her hair, gripping it tightly to pull her head back as Truth-Teller resumed its threatening position at her throat.

“Breaking into the High Lord’s personal residence, impersonating a high position within the Night Court, lying to the Morrigan’s face,” Azriel listed, increasing the pressure of the blade with each transgression. “You throw our High Lord’s generosity and protection in his face, something we as his acting Court do not take lightly.”

“Acting court? Acting Queen?” Feyre repeated, feeling as if she’d woken to a different reality. “What are you talking about? Where’s Rhysand!?”

“We’re the ones asking the questions here,” Cassian growled.

Feyre looked to each of her friends, studying their faces. Beyond their militant expression, she could see their grief. Could smell it. She repeated, “where is Rhysand?”

She felt the snarl that rumbled through Azriel’s chest behind her, vibrating against her back. When the question was once again unanswered, Feyre abandoned all sense of patience.

Darkness exploded through the room. She heard Mor gasp as the walls of the House shook from the might of her power. Feyre folded into the shadows, winnowing out of Azriel’s grasp so she stood in the center of the three of them.

“Az, Cass, Mor, you are my friends and I do not want to hurt you. But I am also your High Lady and you will answer me this instant, where is Rhys? Where is my mate!?”

Siphons gleamed red and blue through the thick tendrils of night, illuminating the Illyrian males’ faces. Cassian’s jaw had fallen open, while Azriel was studying her through narrowed eyes, wisps of shadow surrounding him. Feyre wondered what they were whispering to him.

“Mate?” Cassian echoed, the first to break the heavy silence.

Mor took a cautious step forward, her countenance completely changed. Her pupils were blown wide, twin brown depths churning with sorrow and gentle astonishment. Azriel went rigid at Mor’s approach, but no one moved to stop her as she came face to face with Feyre.

“Where did you get this?” she whispered, taking Feyre’s left hand, eye fixed on her mating band. On the sapphire-star ring that once belonged to Rhysand’s mother.

All eyes befell the subject of Mor’s attention. Cassian swore softly in recognition.

“It’s my mating band,” Feyre answered measuredly, still puzzled that the inner circle, her family, didn’t seem to have any memory of it. Nor of her. “I won it from the Weaver, as was the task set by Rhysand’s mother. But you were all there for that. I don’t understand what’s going on. Where. Is. Rhys?”

“Under the Mountain,” Mor whispered, her voice soft and pained.

The darkness ebbed away like a receding tide. Feyre felt her heart sink as she tried to process this information. “He—What?”

“He’s been Under the Mountain for the last 50 years,” Mor said, firmer this time. “And if you were his so-called mate, you would know that.”

“No,” Feyre said, shaking her head vehemently. “No, that’s impossible. We got out. We—”

This was a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare, and she just hadn’t woken up from it.

“Amarantha’s dead,” Feyre insisted, mostly in an attempt to console the unparalleled grief and panic that were raging inside her. “She’s dead, and Rhys and I got out.”

The grim faces of her friends said otherwise. They stared at her, in unbearable mixtures of pity and horror.

“I think she’s having a mental break,” Cassian said, not unkindly. “Should we get a healer?”

“Let me show you,” Feyre said meekly, casting her magic out to tap on their mental shields.

They all tensed, clearly not aware they’d been in the presence of a daemati. Trained well by Rhys, they all cracked their shields just enough for Feyre to send her conjured memories through. She showed them going Under the Mountain as a human, winning the trials and being resurrected, falling in love with Rhys, and eventually becoming High Lady of the Night Court. In turn, the three of them pushed back their own memories, of the current state of the world. Of Rhysand sacrificing himself so that his Court and Velaris would be safe.

A sob broke out of Feyre. “How is this possible? How am I here?”

It was Azriel who immediately went for the jugular. “More importantly, if you’re here as a High Fae, how is Rhys going to get out? How do we stop Amarantha?”

Feyre fell to her knees, grief-stricken by this realization. She was no longer human. She couldn’t stride in as Tamlin’s human lover and undergo the trials. Feyre had her powers, but they were untested. Would she be able to take on the whole of Amarantha’s court?

“What do I do? How do I save him?” she whimpered, staring in mute horror at her mating band.

Mor tentatively reached forward, laying a comforting hand on Feyre’s shoulder. “Rhys sacrificed himself to keep the people he loves safe. He wouldn’t want you getting yourself killed trying to save him.”

“I have to try,” Feyre answered desperately. “Amarantha she’s…” Feyre couldn’t bring herself to say the word, rape. Not to his family, who wear his sacrifice for them like an open wound. “She’s doing unspeakable things to him. He’s suffering so much. I can’t leave him to that fate. I have to try.”

With renewed conviction, Feyre accepted Mor’s outstretched hand and picked herself to her feet. “Rhys said it himself once. Amarantha’s biggest weapon is that she keeps the High Lord’s power contained. She can’t access them herself. But I… I have access to all the High Lords’ powers. And that bitch has my mate. My wrath will be plenty to take her down.” She faced her friends, who watched her warily. “You have my word as your High Lady,” she swore to them. “The High Queen of Prythian is going to fall by the night’s end.”

⟡⟡⟡

Winter had not yet fallen in the Mortal Lands. Feyre wondered if across the world, there was a version of herself curled in a bed with her sisters, clinging to any shred of warmth and survival.

That version of Feyre was very different from the version who strode up the sloping hills of the Spring Court with Azriel by her side. Rhys would be furious that Feyre had allowed him to accompany her. Should anything go wrong, it would destroy her mate to know his family had been put in harm's way after everything he’d done to protect them. Which was why it was only Azriel who came with, the only compromise she could reach with his Inner Circle, who insisted on coming with.

Who better to sneak into the Mountain with than the very soldier who taught Feyre the art of stealth. He was the obvious choice, since Mor needed to stay to rule the Night Court and Cassian was too heavy-handed to handle such a delicate task.

Their footfall was silent. Feyre wrapped them in the shadow of Night as they winnowed through the cave network. Her heart hammered in her chest, panicked to be back in the source of so many nightmares.

But Rhysand was more important than her fear. For him, she would not falter.

With the Shadowsinger by her side, Feyre snuck through the winding tunnels until she came to a familiar passageway. They slid into a massive, dark bedroom, lit only by a few candles.

To attack Amarantha in the throne room would be too messy. Too many variables to contend with, should Amarantha have enough wit about her to use any faeries as a shield. Especially Rhysand.

After several hours of waiting, the lock on the door clicked and swung open. Darkness swirled around the room as Rhysand took in the sight of Feyre and Azriel on the bed.

Immediately, the door slammed shut.

“No,” he whispered, voice dripping with horror. “No.”

“Rhys—” Feyre started, but her mate wasn’t paying any attention to her. He was looking at Azriel as if his whole world had shattered.

“Leave,” he said, his voice cold and commanding. This was no happy reunion between brothers. This was Rhysand’s worst nightmare. “Leave this instant, you stupid fool. That is, if you’re lucky enough to have avoided detection when you passed under her wards.”

“I took down the wards,” Feyre said. They weren’t particularly strong, either. Amarantha had gotten lazy, perhaps thinking herself secure with the only spell-cleaver under her control. Or so she believed.

Rhys turned that quiet fury towards her. “And who are you?”

“Your mate,” Feyre answered steadily, tipping her chin up.

Rhysand laughed. A desperate, humorless sound. “Then you are just as foolish as my idiot brother. And you have both sealed your deaths by being here. Do you understand that?”

Feyre scratched along those familiar adamantite shields. Rhys’s eyes flickered in surprise, but otherwise he looked unruffled as he cracked a sliver open for her.

It would be unwise to underestimate me, mate.

I wouldn’t be going around boasting about such a thing, if what you claim is even true, came his icy response. And I wouldn’t count on a few party tricks to save you, either.

And what if I told you, she purred, that I possess the power of all seven High Lords?

That, at least, garnered a reaction from the stoic male. He narrowed his eyes in disbelief, studying Feyre carefully. His gaze caught on her hands, at the lace tattoos that flowed to her fingers. And the mating band she still wore.

Feyre watched those violet eyes go wide, the silver constellations dancing in astonishment at the sight of his mother’s ring.

Where did you get that?

It’s a long story, love, but you’re going to have to trust me. She lowered her mental shields completely. Have a look for yourself. I’m telling you no lies. I am your High Lady, and I am here to free my husband.

She felt those familiar talons wrap around her mind. A foolish thing to do, to give a daemati unrestricted access to her mind. And if it were anyone but Rhys, it would have been. But his touch was gentle, and he took only the information he needed.

“I don’t understand how this is possible,” he whispered, breaking the silence of the room. Azriel had been waiting patiently, but looked relieved to be included in the conversation once more. “And I hate that you’ve put yourselves in danger for this, but it could work.”

Rhys considered for a long moment, then he looked between Feyre and Azriel and said, “do it when she’s sleeping. That bitch has been playing dirty for 50 years, you might as well level the playing field to give yourselves the best chance. Let’s do it tonight. I’ll leave the door unlocked, wear her out, and signal you once she’s asleep. Her spell prevents me from harming her, but I’ll make sure she’s restrained. All you have to do is drive the ash dagger through her heart, but have your magic ready for damage control.”

⟡⟡⟡

Feyre and Azriel waited in Rhysand’s bedchambers for his signal. There was a revelry tonight, as there was every night Under the Mountain, and Rhys was expected to be in attendance. Afterwards, he’d join Amarantha in her bed and make sure she was, in his words, “thoroughly exhausted”.

It was torturous for Feyre. To know exactly what the implication in those words were, to have to use her mate’s body in such a way. She wanted to roar at the Mountain, at the Cauldron, at anything that would listen, but instead she was next to the quiet, brooding Shadowsinger, and lamented in silence.

She’d begged Rhys to reconsider, to perhaps help them stage a more physical encounter that didn’t rely on his own suffering. But he’d denied any plan but the one he’d proposed, insisting it would cause him more anguish to but Feyre and Azriel in harm's way.

So they waited the long, agonizing hours until she felt a delicate pull at her chest. She’s asleep, Rhys called. Be on your guard.

He sent her directions to Amarantha’s bedchambers. There were guards outside, but Feyre and Azriel winnowed past them, cloaked in night and shadow.

Amarantha’s bedchambers were huge. Feyre had never been inside them before, but she was unsurprised to see they provided any luxury a High Queen could wish for.

Atop a large bed of red, silken sheets, lay her mate and Amarantha, both stark naked. The smell of sex clung to the air, Rhysand and Amarantha’s scents intertwined. Feyre thought she might be sick.

Even more sickening was the sight before her, of Amarantha’s arms restrained to the headboard in cloth. A clever way for Rhys to restrain her under the guise of sex, but horrifying nonetheless, to see the proof of what they’d been up to. The female was fast asleep, so convinced of her authority that she could fall asleep tied-up and not feel vulnerable doing so. How satisfying, Feyre thought, that such arrogance would be her downfall.

Feyre warded the room, putting up a shield of darkness so that no sound would break through to alert the guards. Rhys watched their approach warily from where he perched beside Amarantha, so still Feyre was convinced he held his breath.

He wouldn’t risk moving to wake her up, which terrified Feyre. Should something go wrong, her mate would be susceptible to Amarantha’s wrath. Naked, vulnerable, and completely under her control. It was such a dangerous game they were playing.

The room was as quiet and still as the bewitching hours of the night, their footsteps silent as they picked across the room. Azriel held the ash dagger. If Rhys could not kill Amarantha, his brother wanted to do it on his behalf. Meanwhile, Feyre summoned tendrils of night that carefully wrapped around Amarantha’s legs, slithering up her body like a snake, ready to constrict and restrain.

The female stirred in her sleep, perhaps feeling the ghostlike touch of Feyre’s magic. But she did not wake. Not as Azriel raised the dagger over her chest, and not as he plunged it down.

Amarantha’s eyes shot open as the dagger pierced her chest. She let out a shriek of agony and ire, moving to claw at her attacker. She raged against the restraints, spewing obscenities until they died at her lips as the blade sunk into her heart.

Rhysand’s chest was heaving as he watched the female still, then slump. He looked from her dead body, to Azriel and Feyre.

Feyre’s heart sank as she watched her mate process that it was truly over. There wasn’t a trace of elation in his eyes at being liberated, but she understood why. Rhys would finally be returning home, but as a much different man than the one he had been. He’d survived, but not unscathed, and he’d need time to process this.

Feyre came to him, reached towards her mate with the hand that bore his mother’s ring. Rhys looked to it, then up to her. His eyes were clouded with sorrow, with a melancholy she could only hope to chip away at in time. But she could see stirring beneath it was a breath of hope, perhaps the first he’d allowed himself in a long time.

“Let’s go home, Rhys,” she said gently.

Slowly, Rhysand nodded, moving to grasp her hand. She felt him jolt at the touch and, as she glanced at him questioningly, she saw his lips part in wonder.

I suppose you weren’t lying about being my mate, he whispered, the words a sensual brush in her mind. Thank you for coming to rescue me, High Lady.

Feyre grasped onto Azriel, and together the three of them stepped into darkness.

Then, they were above the House of Wind, tumbling through the night sky. Feyre unfurled her wings before Rhys could move to catch them, worried that her mate would struggle after 50 years without flight.

Both males stared in astonishment at the sight. Rhysand’s eyes danced in awe as Feyre, albeit clumsily, carried them to the training ring on the roof.

Rhys snapped his own wings open as they landed. Feyre watched him tilt his head back in rapture as he felt the wind against his wings for the first time in decades. Then he opened his eyes, his expression shifting to reverence as he beheld the night sky.

“I was beginning to think I’d never see it again,” he whispered, his voice a heartbreaking blend of exaltation and disbelief. “And for this gift… for my salvation to be courtesy of my mate and of my brother… I’m a bit overwhelmed,” he admitted sheepishly.

Feyre hesitated. If this was the Rhysand from before, the one to which she was mated and married, she would come to comfort him. But this version of Rhys had only just been freed from enslavement, and she didn’t know what he needed.

As though sensing her hesitation, Rhys cast his eyes back to the sky. “I know they’re all waiting for me downstairs, but I’d like a little bit of time with the stars. Will you let them know, Az?”

Azriel nodded, though he seemed conflicted. His reunion with his brother was perhaps not as merry as the male had expected. But right now, she knew the Inner Circle would hardly deny Rhys anything. Perhaps for a long while yet. So Azriel headed downstairs to inform their friends, who were sure to be anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Rhysand regarded Feyre carefully once the two of them were alone. “Mate and High Lady,” he mused. “You seem to wear many hats.”

“You forgot ‘wife’,” Feyre said lightly.

“Yes, and ‘Salvation’, ‘Queen Killer’, ‘Most Beautiful Female in Prythian’, it seems there’s many things I could call you. Could we start with your name, perchance?”

Feyre was shocked. She’d assumed he’d taken such information out of her mind earlier, but it seems he’d been even more respectful than she’d expected.

“Feyre,” she answered. “My name is Feyre.”

He looked wonderstruck. “Feyre,” he repeated, testing the name on his lips. A gentle smile curled at the corners of his mouth, the first she’d seen from him yet. He extended his hand towards her. “Would you like to watch the stars with me, Feyre?”

It was an offer she couldn’t refuse. Her hand found his with all the casual grace of a dancer, as if it were a routine they’d been perfecting their whole lives. Their fingers interlocked and as one, they stared up at the dazzling night sky.

This reality wasn’t perfect, Feyre thought. This Rhys was different from her own, and he still had a lot of healing to do. But if she could be there for him, to help him in a ways she hadn’t before, then she would be grateful to the strange eddies of the Cauldron for bringing her here. For allowing her to end his torment early. For giving them this extra time.

She watched a shooting star dart across the sky and smiled as it passed. There was nothing she could wish for except that her mate find peace in all that he’d endured the last half century.

His deep, velvety voice cut through the silence. “Do you often wish on stars, Feyre?”

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was watching her with a heart-wrenching wistfulness.

“Only when I have a wish worthy of the stars.”

“And do you?”

Feyre looked to the northernmost star, which shined brightest in the sky. “I wished for a light in the darkness,” she told him. “I don’t think the stars would ever begrudge such a wish.”

Rhysand nodded solemnly. “It’s true that they would be begrudging themselves in doing so. But I see no need for you to wish for such a thing.”

Feyre looked to him. He was still watching her, but something in him had shifted. He was smiling at her gently, that lingering sadness already receding. “Why’s that?” she asked cautiously.

That gentle smile widened, showing off his brilliant teeth. “Why, Feyre, to find such a thing, all you’d need to do is look in a mirror.”

#prompt fill #anon request #Feysand #Feysand fic #Inner Circle #Feysand fluff because I can't help myself #mentions of rape #Mentions of SA #acotar #acotar fic #time travel

[softrozene]

Receiving a Hug from Their Crush

Anonymous requested: Hi my friend ! I hope all is well in your life ! can i please ask a little scenario for Rob Lucci, Kuzan and Killer who receive an unexpected hug from the person they secretly have a crush on ? how would they react ? make it as soft as possible and maybe a little nsfw if you want, thanks in advance 🤭

Mhm- I could not really see them acting “inappropriately” in this scenario so I just had them have a few inappropriate thoughts. Since these characters come off aloof, I had to give the Reader a “soft” personality- I do hope that is alright! Besides that, this so fluffy and came out longer than expected- I hope you enjoy this hon! I hope all is well in your life too anon!

Killer, Kuzan, Lucci x Reader (Gender Neutral/Nonbinary)

Warnings: Fluff- Suggestive thoughts, these characters are flustered. Uh, I know Killer is in the wano arc but I am not caught up to that so he may seem a little ooc since I am only using what I have seen from him in the Sabaody arc!

Words: 1673

Killer-

Killer felt great- His captain must feel greater. They after all made it into the New World. They feel unstoppable which of course is a bad thing, but one that they will bask in until they meet their match.

For now, Killer wanted nothing more but to continue to feel the excitement the crew is feeling. Even more so- Seeing that smile on your face. It has been a while since you joined their crew per Kid’s request (more like demand but hey, Kid knows when he sees talent).

So, it took a while for him to figure you out- Especially since you seemed so… Kind. It is normal to be kind to friends and the crew but even to strangers you were, and it threw him off. Once he found out you had no ulterior motive, he realized… He actually liked this soft personality.

It was a nice contrast to the mostly hostile personality the crew has to strangers. Though- It gave them all the need to protect your naivety. They did not mind at all but after a while for Killer- He realized that he had a crush on you.

It was weird for him, but it made him seek you out more out of anyone else in the crew. It turned out to be the right move because you understand him. His rather silent approach to people. You understood that and did not press him to talk to you unless he wanted to every now and then- Even then you were happy to carry the conversation.

You even made his meals after finding out he preferred noodles because of his mask. You took it upon yourself to make them- And it warmed his heart.

Because of this crush- Killer has experienced many new feelings, some of them more heated than others. For example, whenever you talked to him and leaned in further than what he is normally used to- He could not help his mind wander to the warmth your body created and how it would feel against his.

He longed for it but of course, it is just a crush. He knows better. He does not try to pursue these feelings either- Not wanting to get emotions involved or danger the crew.

That is the idea until you do something that makes his brain have a short-circuit.

Just one day after making him some dinner separate from the crew- You place the bowl of pasta down in front of him and proceeded to hug him. That… Sent a shock through his whole body. It was totally unexpected. After knowing you for a long while he did not take you as the touchy type and now that you actually hugged him, no matter how brief it was, he realized- He enjoyed it.

He enjoys your touch, and his mind wanders more. Screw logic- You are worth pursuing and he vows to make his feelings known.

Kuzan (Aokiji)-

“Why must you bother the new recruits?” Sengoku questions.

Kuzan yawns, completely not interested in this conversation. He is here for one sole reason instead of biking around the world, and it is because of you- Not the new recruits you are currently training. He sure did not mean to make them cry- He just pointed out how their forms were not useful unlike you who tried to encourage them to use whatever forms they liked as long as they followed the rest of your training.

“I will be on my way soon enough,” Kuzan murmurs.

Sengoku sighs knowing this is not going to go anywhere and neither is Kuzan. This happens too far often and all because Kuzan took an interest in a fellow marine. Completely inappropriate in Sengkou’s mind as the boss, but he allows it as long as it does not interfere with their marine work.

“It is (Name), isn’t it? Fine- Go ahead. I will tell them they are free of their duties but only for the night. These recruits need their basic training fully finished by the end of the week,” He mumbles giving in.

Kuzan just smiles at this. This is how it usually goes when he comes back to the marine headquarters. He longs to just either train with you one-on-one or steals you away- Or his personal favorite, take over the training session in an attempt to impress you.

However, he is not in the mood today. He longs just for a nap with your presence and then he can be on his way. It is easiest for everyone to let Kuzan spend time with you in order for him to get his work done. It could not be even more obvious to everyone too that he has a crush on you and yet you are the most oblivious person on the planet apparently.

Even when Kuzan fully flirts with you- You do not react to it. Not that he minds- He rather much enjoys your naïve and calm demeanor. It is refreshing among all these other marines who seek justice in a terrifying manner.

With permission, Kuzan goes back to the training grounds where he had earlier ruined your recruits’ concentration. The grounds are completely empty, and he waits a few minutes- Getting impatient, for you to return here with the good news of being dismissed for today.

He hears your footsteps and goes to greet you when he feels arms wrap around his mid-section. He raises an eyebrow at your unusual happy attitude. Usually, when he ruins one of your training sessions like he did today you would be grumpy but instead, you are hugging him?

Not only that but it makes his usual cold atmosphere soften. You are hugging him and… It feels nice.

Though the way you are squeezing him… He knows it is supposed to be loving but he can’t help the instant dirty thoughts and wonders of how your warmth could mix with his.

You pull back too soon, and he frowns.

“Kuzan, you need to stop ruining my training sessions. If you want to see me that is all you have to say,” You still manage to say in the gentlest voice ever despite the stern look you give him.

For once he fights off his perverse thoughts and just says in more of a demand. “Hug me again.”

You do not question him. Instead, you give him that brilliant smile before sliding your arms around him again. Yeah…

He can nap later.

Lucci Rob-

*First let me say this headcanon for Rob, he would 100% be touch-starved so in this situation, he would come to be a bit obsessed with hugs from his crush. Continuing on-

Lucci could not get any more annoyed with today. It has been exhausting and all he has been doing is paperwork from his last mission with CP9. He can’t wait until they can finally move to CP0. Then he won’t be stuck at Cipher Pol’s headquarters. He will not need to be pestered by the other member’s annoying behavior.

“Lucci-“

He nearly snaps at the voice, until he feels something wrap around him from behind. A head leans against his back and he just freezes.

“What is this- What are you doing?” He questions.

He already knows it is you- Their newest and definitely strongest (in his opinion) member. Somehow you captured Cipher Pol’s attention with your strength, but it did not match your personality. None of these missions do and he hated your guts at first- He saw you as weak and saw you merely as a distraction until he witnessed your strength when you trained with Kaku then him.

Your personality- He wanted to originally crush it. To form it into what he was raised to be- Merciless. It turned out you were also merciless but in a way that your target knows you do not want to torture them but will if you have to.

He hated that kind of person working here but, in the end- It was exactly what attracted him to you. He fought it off for so long but your everlasting kindness and the strength you showed to him eventually made him bring down his barrier. He allowed you to talk to him and he would give short curt replies in return.

That was all it was until he realized you even brought an animalistic side to him (he wants to believe that it is due to his devil-fruit and not the fact that he is still human).

So, hugging him like this and right now? It sets his skin aflame. He would want nothing more than to just devour you in acts of pure passion (and he will say hate) as he forgets about his stress but of course he can’t. Your relationship is definitely not that far along, and this is just a silly little crush he has.

“Sorry- Did I scare you? You looked upset so I thought you needed a hug. Even though our professions make us hard with our emotions- I like to think we all need hugs now and then. We are still very human despite our job. Wouldn’t you agree?” You ask… Still holding him.

He hates that he loves your touch and that- It really does seem to make this terribly long day better. He hates it but he will admit it.

“I do agree… Do you hug the others?” Lucci questions.

You finally pull back so you can look at him. That adorning smile that paints your face makes his heart ache in the best way possible. Especially when you answer. “No- You are the first one I felt comfortable doing that to. I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“No. I rather enjoyed it. I… Would appreciate it if you did it again in the future- However, I oppose you doing it to others,” He states.

You may have a too soft personality in his opinion, but you are not naïve. You definitely understood his possessive tones as you agree to it.

#my writing #one piece x reader #killer x reader #kuzan x reader #rob lucci x reader #one piece #fanfiction #scenario #one piece fanfiction #one piece scenarios #gender neutral reader #nonbinary reader #one piece killer #aokiji kuzan #rob lucci #fluff #slightly suggestive

[makeste]

is it too late now to say sorry

anon I agree with almost all of this for the most part, but if you don’t mind I would like to come to Kacchan’s defense here a little bit. while he absolutely does need to apologize to Izuku, there are reasons why he hasn’t done so yet which boil down to a lot more than simply “he’s still a dick.”

anyway, so for my next trick, I will take the thesis statement of “Kacchan is afraid to apologize to Deku for both selfish and unselfish reasons, and Deku doesn’t realize how much he needs to hear the apology because he pays no attention to his own needs”, and somehow transform that into a 3500 word rant lol.

first of all, I’ve said this before, but on the topic of whether or not Katsuki actually needs to apologize to Deku at all, my answer is an emphatic “yes.” is it necessary in order for him to earn Deku’s forgiveness? no. in fact I’m pretty sure Deku has already forgiven him. because that kid doesn’t have a petty bone in his body (not that wanting an apology from your friend who basically turned on you and made your life miserable for ten years and told you to go kill yourself is in any way petty at all), and because he has staunchly held on to what he could of their relationship throughout that entire time, hoping that one day they could somehow be friends again. Kacchan never stopped being “Kacchan” to him. Deku never stopped caring about him. and that goes beyond him simply being a good person; there’s also just an attachment there, for lack of a better word, that he is simply unwilling to give up. their friendship is that important to him. Kacchan is that important to him.

but just because Katsuki is almost guaranteed forgiveness from Izuku doesn’t mean the apology isn’t still owed. putting aside that it’s really the least he could do, I think an apology is also necessary in order for their friendship to ever move past the level it’s currently stuck at, for one simple reason: Izuku doesn’t actually know that Katsuki cares.

more specifically, he doesn’t know that Katsuki actually cares about him. because Katsuki, for various reasons which I’ll get to momentarily, has done such a spectacular job of hiding this fact that he even fooled a lot of us for a very long time. before chapter 284 came along, there was hardly any evidence at all that Katsuki actually cared about Izuku as a person beyond just the requisite, bare minimum level of “well I don’t actually want you to die or anything, because I’m not a complete shithead.”

because he hides it. and he hides it on purpose, which is a mind-blowing revelation I’m still only just starting to wrap my head around. it’s an act. all of his continued hostility toward Izuku since the Endeavor internship arc -- and possibly going even further back than that; possibly going all the way back to their second Ground Beta fight -- has been an act. here he is, continuing to bitch at him at every turn and basically doing everything he can to remind Izuku that They Are Rivals And Nothing More, and he has played that role so perfectly that hardly anyone suspected what was actually going on.

he cares about Izuku. not just subconsciously on a level where he’s in denial about it, but to a fully conscious and aware degree. he’s dedicated himself to helping Izuku as his way of trying to make amends. that’s a decision he consciously made, something he’s given a lot of thought to. he worries about Izuku. he worries about his selflessness and his recklessness and that one day he’ll take it too far and it will go terribly wrong. he worries about One For All and All For One, and about the legacy his friend has inherited that’s so much bigger than him, and which he knows Izuku won’t hesitate to sacrifice himself for if it ever comes to that. he worries. he cares.

and Izuku does not know this. and he deserves to know this. and that’s why the apology is so important. not because it’s a magic sentence that will miraculously restore the ten years of friendship and trust that was lost between them, or heal the ten years of pain and misery that Izuku went through alone and friendless, because nothing can ever restore or heal that. as a gesture, an apology is nice, but it’s also fairly useless, at least on its own. it’s meaningless without action to support it, and rather pales in significance when held up against the LITERAL DECADE of misery that it’s trying to make up for.

but the reason it’s still so, so important in spite of all this is because Izuku doesn’t know that Katsuki cares about him. he doesn’t know that their friendship isn’t just one-sided. he does know that Katsuki is a good person, and that he has a good core beneath his prickly exterior. and he’s more adept than most people at seeing past Katsuki’s outer shell of bullshit and understanding what lies beneath. but he has a blind spot, and that blind spot is himself.

he hasn’t made the connection between “Kacchan is a good person who cares about other people and is trying to do the right thing” to “Kacchan cares about me.” because Kacchan has been diligent in making sure that every time Izuku does start to make that connection, that he shoots it back down and disproves it as vehemently as he can.

which, just to be clear, is actually a huge load of bull, as we now know. huh.

but anyway. the point is that Katsuki is still hiding this part of himself from Izuku. the fact that he actually cares. the fact that their friendship is reciprocated on a level that goes beyond just rivalry and shared secrets and a mutual admiration for All Might. Izuku doesn’t know yet how much Katsuki cares about him, and he deserves to know.

and that’s why the apology is important. not because the words themselves are important, but because he deserves to know that Katsuki is sorry. he deserves to know that Katsuki cares about him. he deserves to know that he’s valued, that Katsuki sees him as someone who has value. he deserves that. and that, more than anything else, is why the apology is needed, and why it’s important for him to actually hear those words. because Katsuki was spot on when he said that Izuku doesn’t see himself in the way that he should, and I think he needs this to help him understand a little better just how much value he actually has.

so that’s part one of my rant! and now we move on to part two, which can basically be summarized as “okay but then WHY has Katsuki not just FUCKING APOLOGIZED TO HIM ALREADY.” because yeah, though. at the end of the day, this is all on him. and he does care, and he is sorry. so then what is still holding him back??

and that... is complicated. and it basically boils down to four things.

1. it’s insufficient.

ten years. all the way back to when they were four years old and Izuku first learned that he didn’t have a quirk. ten years of Katsuki bullying him and distancing himself from him. ten years of pain and isolation and unhappiness that Izuku absolutely did not deserve.

and yes, it ultimately stemmed from a misunderstanding, but that doesn’t make it right in the least. there’s absolutely no justification for it. Katsuki knew that it was wrong and he acted like that nonetheless. and anyone who says that Izuku in any way brought it on himself, that it’s in any way his fault or that he invited it on himself by not leaving Katsuki alone -- you can miss me with that, tbh. he was a child and he was lonely and confused and didn’t understand why his best friend had suddenly turned his back on him. this was the most vulnerable period in his life, and the person who should have had his back ended up being the person who made it even worse for him instead. and even after Izuku grew out of the so-called stalking and actually did mind his own business, and just admired Katsuki from a distance -- that still wasn’t enough to appease Katsuki either. even just the mere mention of Izuku wanting to go to U.A. was enough to set him off worse than ever before. that was absolutely not Izuku’s fault in any way, and I’m positive that even Katsuki himself would agree. Katsuki was terrible. I can’t emphasize enough just how terrible he was.

so yeah. ten years of that. and now Katsuki finally realizes just how awful it was. and he’s sorry! and he regrets it, a lot, and he wants to atone for it.

but now here’s problem number one: when you put it up in comparison to ALL OF THAT, an apology just feels overwhelmingly inadequate. almost laughably so. and Katsuki may be a bit emotionally dense (although perhaps less so than we always thought), but he’s sharp enough to realize this much, at least. it’s almost pathetic to simply try saying “I’m sorry” after all of that, and expect it to mean anything at all. it’s not enough. it’s so much not enough that I imagine he must almost feel helpless just imagining it. the weight of everything he’s done is so much, and an apology isn’t enough to undo any of it. it’s not even close.

Katsuki isn’t someone who backs down from things easily, but the sheer scale of the mistakes he’s trying to grapple with now is enough to give just about anyone pause. how do you even begin to address something like that? how can you even begin to make up for it? and Katsuki isn’t stupid, and I have to imagine that everything he saw during that first week of interning with Endeavor only cemented this for him. an apology simply isn’t enough. not for something like this.

2. it’s unfamiliar.

reason number two! and this one is a bit selfish on his part, yeah. but Katsuki is still just a kid too. and his falling out with Izuku didn’t only have a negative impact on Izuku; it hurt Katsuki as well. he lost that friendship too. he thought Izuku was looking down on him, and I’m certain that hurt him a lot more than he ever let on. if you trust someone and care about them only to have them turn on you like that (even though he got it wrong and it was ultimately all just in his head) -- that hurts. it’s not a coincidence that he became closed off and mean afterwards, and that even now he’s resistant to letting other people get close to him. for all that it was more or less self-inflicted, it still had a huge impact.

but now he’s learned that Izuku was never looking down on him at all and that he had it wrong this whole time. and as a result, he’s gotten this chance now to try and rebuild the childhood friendship that he almost destroyed. and make no mistake, this is something he wants too. it’s not just Izuku who’s grateful to have this chance to have normal interactions with the other again. this is something both of them value, and Katsuki doesn’t want to ruin it this time.

so he’s picking up where he left off! only the thing is, this involves him reverting to a blueprint that hasn’t been updated since the two of them were four years old, lol. “normal” for them is him being a bossy little snot, and Izuku happily shrugging it off with all of his limitless nerdy enthusiasm as they go about their various misadventures together. it’s a script that hasn’t changed since they were children, and one they’re both still more than content to use, but it is an outdated script nonetheless. Katsuki is playing the role that Izuku expects him to play. and it’s not like he’s being dishonest or anything like that, because that’s still him; he’s still his same old short-tempered, argumentative self, and it’s not like his personality has done a complete 180 or anything like that.

but at the same time, there’s a calmer side to him now which he is deliberately keeping hidden from Izuku because it’s off-script for them. it’s unfamiliar ground. with Izuku, he’s always been this Kacchan:

and again, it’s not like he isn’t actually that person, especially when it comes to his old rival. but at the same time, there’s another side to him that he rarely if ever lets Izuku in particular see. Izuku never sees the quiet Kacchan who avoids other people’s eyes while he fiddles with his water bottle and calmly asks questions about the OFA successors. Izuku never sees the insightful Kacchan who opens up about his own regrets and weaknesses. there’s a level of emotional intimacy, for lack of a better term, that Katsuki has been unwilling to let them cross into. and if I had to guess why, my guess would be that it’s because Katsuki is afraid that changing up the formula now will lead to unfamiliar territory which may or may not end up completely upending their relationship just as it’s starting to grow into something actually solid again.

which brings me to reason #3!

3. he’s afraid.

Katsuki already experienced what it was like to fall out with Izuku. and again, for all that he was the cause of it, and that Izuku had it much, much worse, that doesn’t change the fact that it was a pretty terrible experience for him as well.

and look, we know Katsuki is afraid of losing Izuku. that’s confirmed canon now. he actually admitted that he was worried about Izuku, and that Izuku’s tendency to recklessly disregard his own wellbeing unsettled him and made him want to keep his distance. and he sacrificed himself to save Izuku’s life!! and did it automatically, unthinkingly, because the decision-making on his part was so fast it didn’t even register. that’s how much he cares. enough that his desire to protect Izuku now ranks higher than his own self-preservation.

and when something is that important to you, you will fight not to lose it. and Katsuki does not want to lose this. Izuku is important to him. by extension that means their friendship is important to him. and he wants to preserve that.

and the thing is, the apology is an obstacle to that. and he knows it. he knows he has to face it at some point, because he can’t atone without it. he has to take responsibility for what he did. he can’t keep running away from it forever.

but he also knows the potential consequences. he knows that apologies don’t always end in reconciliation. he knows falling-outs don’t always have a happy ending. he knows that forgiveness isn’t automatic, and that years of pain don’t just disappear just like that. and he recently got to see firsthand one possible way how it might all turn out.

he knows Izuku doesn’t have to forgive him. he knows Izuku might not forgive him. and he knows that he probably doesn’t deserve Izuku’s forgiveness, and that ultimately he does not have a say in the matter one way or the other. it’s Izuku’s choice, at the end of the day, and whatever he chooses Katsuki is going to have to accept it.

but you can know all of that, and accept the fact that you’re going to have to take responsibility, and yet still be afraid to face it. and yes, maybe it’s selfish of him to feel that way. but that selfishness is also human. it’s human to fear rejection, and it’s human to go through the various stages of trying to postpone having to face that. Katsuki is a brave kid, but he is just a kid, still. and this is going to be very hard for him to do. that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still have to be done. but I feel for him and I have a lot of empathy for the situation he’s currently in.

and there is also one last reason why I think he’s putting it off as well, and it just so happens that this reason actually isn’t selfish at all.

4. he doesn’t want false forgiveness.

and this one is ironically kind of at odds with reason #3! Katsuki fears the possibility of Izuku not forgiving him... but at the same time, I think that strangely enough, there’s also a part of him that fears being forgiven, just like that. easily and gladly and unconditionally, with the trademark selflessness that defines so many of Izuku’s other decisions.

“he just... deep down, he doesn’t take himself into account, y’know?”

Izuku rarely if ever takes himself into consideration, and Katsuki knows this. he’s selfless to a fault, and Katsuki knows this. and so if Katsuki were to come up to him and apologize, there’s the possibility that yes, Izuku might decide not forgive him. he might in fact be all “nah, you know what, fuck you,” as would certainly be within his rights.

but this is a very remote possibility, and we all know it. and Katsuki knows it too, I think. because that’s not who Izuku is. he puts other people’s welfare above his own, every time. and so if Katsuki were to break down and tell Izuku that he was sorry, and if he were to ask him for forgiveness, nine times out of ten that is something that Izuku grants instantly. this is the same kid who put his own life at risk to try and save Katsuki less than an hour after Katsuki told him to dive off a roof. Izuku’s instinct is to protect and save. and so if he sees that Katsuki is hurting; if he sees that Katsuki feels guilty for what he’s done and that it’s eating away at him in much the same way as when he was blaming himself for Kamino -- he is going to do what he always does. he is going to try and save him.

and he would do that even if it meant shoving down his own pain. he absolutely would. he would prioritize Katsuki’s feelings over his own. and if he did still feel any lingering resentment at how cruelly he was treated, he would still put it aside if need be. and he would forgive him.

in other words, the risk exists that Izuku might grant Katsuki forgiveness that he doesn’t actually feel. if Katsuki is granted Izuku’s forgiveness, he doesn’t have any way to actually tell for sure if it’s real. there would be that element of doubt there, that question of whether or not it’s really sincere. and something like that could ultimately poison their relationship, if things were allowed to play out that way. it would prevent them from being fully able to trust each other. ultimately, it might lead to them drifting apart again, and something like that might ultimately be even more painful than Izuku rejecting Katsuki’s apology outright. and there’s also an argument to be made that Izuku doesn’t deserve to be put on the spot like that, and forced to make that decision one way or the other when he might not be ready to yet. so there’s that to consider as well.

so yeah. four reasons why Katsuki has not apologized to Izuku yet. and they are good reasons, in my book. complicated reasons, too. but none of that changes the fact that at the end of the day this is still something he has to do. his current way of trying to atone through action is great, don’t get me wrong! and it’s necessary too for sure, because like I said, the apology just on its own is never going to be enough. he needs to commit to doing the right thing, and trying his best to make it right between them from here on out. and saving his life is certainly a decent start! but you still gotta say the words too eventually bro.

but there is just a ton of stuff at play here and I find it all fascinating tbh. they are just so, so bad at communicating with each other. and the thing is, they both actually want the same thing! but they want it so badly that ironically it’s almost holding them back right now, because they don’t want to put it at risk. but ultimately this is a leap of faith that Katsuki in particular is going to have to take sooner rather than later in order to finally restore that last bit of trust between the two of them.

so yeah. just two stupid teenage boys who fail at emotions, and who are probably overdue for another of their famous Get It All Out In The Open stupid shounen therapy battles lmao. round 3, featuring Deku’s new robot arms vs Katsuki and his shiny new “like father like son” All Might torso scar. sob.

#bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bakudeku #bakugou meta #deku meta #bnha meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #asks #anon asks

[peach-the-owl]

Anon from before with the amnesia request. You can do the normal (retrograde) amnesia if you'd prefer doing that ^^

Since I don’t feel confident enough in myself to do your previous suggestion we'll stick with this… I regret nothing! Time for some emotional torture!

*Sigh* I can never decide if I want to just summarize these or do mini stories/story building… Oh well

Memory Lose

Child of the Nein (Mighty Nein & Child!Reader)

Retrograde amnesia: The loss of existing, previously made memories. This type of amnesia tends to affect recently formed memories first. Older memories, such as memories from childhood, are usually affected more slowly. Causes include but aren’t limited to head injuries, lack of oxygen, stress and trauma

Jester

You open your eyes, staring at the bright blue sky. Did you fall asleep? No that doesn’t sound right, where were you, what happened? You rub your head, noticing it felt extremely sore, and stretch yourself out. You’re suddenly lifted into the air and pulled into a hug by a strange blue woman, now you weren’t one to deny a hug but you were a little worried your caretaker might not like the idea.

"I’m so happy you’re okay. Don’t scare me like that." The woman says. You look at her confused and after a moment she copies your expression. "(Y/n)? What’s wrong?"

"I didn’t mean to scare you miss, but how do you know my name? Who are you?" You ask, you don’t remember meeting her yet she knew who you were, strange. She looks at you with concern and gives a nervous sounding laugh.

"Don’t be silly (y/n), you know me." You just tilt your head at her genuinely confused. The woman’s smile drops completely as she reaches forward, her hand giving off a greenish glow and placing it on your head. Instinctually you close your eyes, the magic flowing through you helping relieve the soreness in your head. "How’s that?" She asks once she’s done her spell.

"The soreness is all gone! Thank you miss…" you trail off, still unsure of her name, but something did feel more familiar about her. This poor lady in front of you looked like she was about to cry, now you felt really bad for her. "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad." You reach out for her and she responds by picking you up and holding you close to her, something about this felt really familiar and you wanted to know why. "It’s okay, mama. It’ll be okay." The words just slipped out so naturally, you didn’t even bother to argue it.

"That’s right! I am your mama. Don’t you worry, we'll fix this, I promise." She looks at you with hopeful eyes and you give her a small smile, surely there was a reason you were here, one you couldn’t remember but were willing to regain the memories of. With this lady, because she refused to tell you her name saying she wants you to remember it on your own, and her friends help you slowly start to place the missing pieces back together.

Nott

You snap your eyes open to unfamiliar terrain and immediately jump into a defensive stance. Darting your eyes this way and that, trying to figure out where you were and what was happening. A tall woman walks into the room and stares at you, was she a threat? She looked like a threat so you hiss at her, she responds with a confused look and approaches you. Panicked you pat yourself down, your hand landing on your dagger and you throw it at the woman with another loud hiss.

"Okay, okay, okay." She holds her arms up and backs out of the room, victory way yours, for now. You scurry around the room, looking for a way out or a place to hide, especially when you hear more commotion outside the doorway. You quickly duck into a corner and hide yourself from view, watching, waiting for whoever was outside to leave. Another figure enters the room, this one a lot shorter, they also had more goblin features so you hoped they weren’t as big a threat.

"(Y/n) I know you’re still in here, it’s okay to come out. We just want to know why you tried to attack Yasha." You cautiously step out of your hiding spot, looking very confused but still defensive. Who was (y/n)? Who was Yasha? Should you be concerned about this? The other goblin looks over at you about to say something but upon seeing your confusion, her smile drops and she looks at you with worry. "Are you okay?"

"Who-who are you talking about? I don’t know you." You found it strange how non-hostile this lady was, goblin or not people usually start pushing you around due to your smaller then average size, but not her, it was so strange yet somehow familiar. Her expression drops more after hearing your words and she takes a quick swig from her flask before sitting on the bed, patting the spot next to her for you. You still approach with caution, unsure if this was some sort of trap and sit down next to her.

"You do know me, I’m Nott and your name is (y/n), that’s the name I gave you anyway, we escaped together from a cruel clan of goblins." She starts, looking at you. You tilt your head at her, it sounded vaguely familiar to you so you nod and let her continue. "We’ve been traveling together for quite a while and made more friends then we could’ve imagined…" She continues on like this for a while, recalling different moments you’ve experienced together. The more you ran these moments in your head the more you were able to remember on your own. Not all the pieces came back right away but it was enough for you to trust her and meet with the rest of the group to help continue recovering the rest of your missing memories.

Caleb

You stretch and yawn, feeling sore in the head but maybe you just bumped it on the table again. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes you look around and realize your not in your house, that’s odd you don’t remember leaving for a trip anywhere. There’s a purr coming from beside you making you look over at the pretty kitty staring at you, they looked familiar but you don’t remember meeting a cat like him before, but who were you to refuse cuddling a cute kitty. After a moment the cat wiggles out of your grip and walks across the room pausing at the door and looking at you as if waiting for you to follow. Curious as ever you decide to follow them, there was just something about this cat that you trusted, letting it lead you around until they stop in front of a man who was deeply invested in a book. You pick up the cat and tug the mans coat, when he doesn’t budge you tug a little harder.

"Excuse me mister, is this your kitty?" You ask, giving the cat gentle pats on the head. He looks up from his book and over at you, first he looks confused then it turns to relief before shifting into concern. You tilt your head slightly at this. "Is something wrong mister?"

"Do you not recognize me?" He’s voice was quiet and full of worry. You shake your head and place the cat on the ground who walks up to the man and begins to purr and rub against him. He picks up the cat and looks deep in thought for a moment. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"Oh! Ummm, my mama and papa were getting ready to meet a guest for the night and they told me to go play in my room so I wouldn’t break something by accident. But now I’m here." You explain, then a thought comes to mind. "Wait, are you the person my mama and papa are supposed to meet?" He stares at you a moment before going deep into thought again.

"(Y/n), that memory of yours was over 5 years ago," he starts, sounding as calm as possible. You look at him confused, how could that have been so long ago when it only felt like it happened yesterday. "You’ve been traveling with me ever since then. Not long ago we were ambushed, you’d gotten yourself injured as a result, I see now there was more damage to you then what we first thought. I didn't… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you." He continues, kneeling down and placing a gentle hand on your shoulder, a look of guilt and shame on his face by the end. You didn’t want it to be true but there was something you couldn’t quite shake, that deep down you knew he was telling you the truth. You reach forward and try to comfort him by wrapping your arms around him in a hug, it seems to help a little as he returns the gesture.

"Maybe I don’t remember what you’re talking about, but I trust you." He brightens up a little more at your words. "So what happens now?" You question.

"Now," he stands up and offers you his hand. "We can work together to bring your memories back, if you’d like. Be aware it will take some time." It was more of an offer then anything but you give him another smile and a nod as you place your hand in his. It took some time a patience, but you manage to regain your memories back, even a few you had well forgotten about long ago.

Caduceus

Your head was pounding even before you opened your eyes, have a look around you knew you weren’t in your room or at home for that matter. Slowly you get up and have a better look around, trying to orientate where you were and what was happening. Soon enough you hear a door opening and look over at the firbolg that entered the room, he didn’t look like anyone from your family and yet he reminded you of your father, strange.

"I’m so glad to you’re awake. You really had me worried." He pauses a second and takes a good look at you, his relief turning to worry. "Are you okay? You don’t… you look like you don’t know who I am."

"Well, umm, you do have something familiar about you, I just don’t know what it is right now. I’m sorry." You lower your head sadly. Why was he so familiar? Did something happen and you'd forgotten about it?

"There’s no need to be sorry." He shushes you calmly, kneeling down and placing a hand on your head, you wince a little from the pain but it quickly disappears thanks to his healing magic, slowly you look up at him again. "What happened to cause your memory lose isn’t your fault, none of use could’ve known this would be the outcome." So it was memory loss. It was a bit difficult to wrap your head around but your mother always told you to trust in your instincts and let nature guide the way and you certainly felt a strong sense of trust from him.

"Can, umm… is there a way to fix it?" You give him a curious look. He smiles at you kindly, giving a gentle pat on your arm.

"I don't have means to give your memories back right away, but if your willing to give it time and patience they should be able to return on their own." He explains to you.

"What if I don’t like it? What I remember I mean." You ask, quickly adding the last part so it’d, hopefully make more sense.

"I couldn’t say for sure. I don’t know everything you’ve seen before we met, but I do know we share a lot of good memories together." You could tell he was being genuine with you but not saying everything, maybe as a way to encourage you to regain the missing memories, who knew. You think it over a bit before finally agreeing, there was a reason you were here instead of home with your family, a reason you might not like but learning the truth would be better then living in the unknown, and no matter how painful it might be you had someone to help you through it.

Fjord

The first thing you notice when you gain consciousness is the splitting pain in your head, you could smell the blood and place a hand over the wound wincing. The second thing you notice is the lack of sound, no waves crashing or ship bells tolling to set sail. Finally when you open your eyes you find yourself laying on your side in some grass, you try to survey your surroundings but the pain was preventing you from thinking clearly so you instead roll on your back with a groan.

"(Y/n)!" You vaguely recognize the voice calling you but can’t pinpoint it, soon a half-orc comes into view. "You’re bleeding, here let’s take care of that wound." He lifts you up into his arms without another word and carries you over to two other strangers who help patch up the wound on your head. Something wasn’t adding up to you how did these people know who you were if you didn’t know them? It was strange yet you also felt like you knew them. Maybe that wound had something to do with this? You just weren’t sure, but you didn’t want to cause any concern with these people so you figured you’ll try to solve this mystery on your own. While you were able to start putting a few of the missing pieces together, your charade didn’t last long, as much as you played off everything as normal, after a day everyone was catching on that something wasn’t quite right.

"You sure you’re feeling well (y/n)? You don’t seem quite like yourself." You look over at the half-orc as he approaches you, you hadn’t quite gotten everyone’s names yet.

"I'm uhhh, yeah. I'm fine, F-Fjord?" You we’re trying so hard to sound confident but you slipped and it came out more as a question. No surprise he picks up on this and gives you an odd look before he lets out a sigh and kneels down to match your height.

"I thought we worked on this stubbornness of yours and you’d be more honest with me about your problems." He says matter-of-factly, you slightly turn away from him with a nervous scratch at your arm.

"I… I don't know what your talking about." He gives you another look like he didn’t believe you. "No, I mean it, I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I can’t remember much of anything. I didn’t want to bother anyone so I’ve been trying to figure things out by myself but it hasn’t done a lot." You admit sheepishly, feeling guilty now for not saying something earlier.

"You don’t remember…" He trails off, taking in a breath. "Well, you’ve been very brave to go so far on your own, but you’re not alone anymore. I’m here to help you, and I want to help you so don’t think I’ll take no for an answer." He puts on a confident face for you and as embarrassed as you were about hiding it before you can’t help but give him a smile and nod.

Beau

There was a ringing in your ears like voices in your head as you take in a few deep breaths to calm yourself. Where were you, and why were you wearing such a odd outfit, surely your parents didn’t approve of this, although try as you might you never could impress them. You shake your head, that was right they sent you away because they wanted to "help" your behaviour, but you don’t remember changing or being out in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey, you doing alright? You were hit pretty hard." The ringing stops as you turn to see a woman standing over you, her expression looking disinterested but her eyes held worry. Getting a good look at her you could see she was wearing an outfit similar to yours, making you realize that you were in fact sporting attire from the Cobalt Soul. This just gave you more questions then answers.

"I feel fine, mostly, but… you said I got hit?" This was awful, you hated being left clueless and if your sudden theory was correct you were missing more to this picture then you’d like.

"Yeah… do you not remember that?" She stared at you with growing concern. You rub your head with a groan, guess that answers that question.

"No, I don’t, and there’s probably a bunch of other things I can’t recall." You say more annoyed then anything. The woman raises an eyebrow at you but says nothing, waiting for you to explain. "You talk like we know each other but I can't remember who you are. I should be panicking over talking to a stranger, but at the same time I feel like I should know you and it’s bothering me." You explain as best you can. She stares blankly at you for a moment, letting your words sink in.

"You do always hate being left in the dark." She mutters more to herself. "Alright, well…" she trails off a bit and lets out a sigh. "I don’t really know what to say or do about this, the best I can suggest is getting Jester or Caduceus to look at you and see if they can fix it. If not then I guess all we can do is hope your memories come back on their own." For as calm as she sounded you could see genuine worry and even a bit of fear in her eyes.

"Hope?" You cross your arms and give her a determined look. "You say that as if there’s a chance I’m not going to remember, and if you really know me you should know I don’t give up until I find my answers." The comers of her mouth slowly curve into a smile at this and she lets out a soft chuckle, walking up to you and giving you a pat on the back. The two of you proceed to strut your way over to the others to fill them in on your situation and get started on brining your memories back.

Yasha

You open your eyes and instantly something feels off, you can’t quite place what it is but it just feels off. You stretch and yawn while trying to figure out what felt so off. Lets see the last thing you can remember was practice for… that’s it! Wasn’t your trial today? You get up quickly, this ritual was too important to the tribe to be late. You hurry down some stairs, thinking little of your different surroundings and step outside, taking in the fresh open air. No one else from the tribe was around, maybe you woke up earlier then you thought, you survey your surroundings just to be sure you weren’t missing anything when a someone approaches you. The woman in question didn’t look to be from your tribe but there was something very familiar about her you couldn’t quite place. Before you can say anything the woman wraps her arms around you and pulls you into an embrace.

"I was so worried, they attacked from nowhere… there was so much blood… I-I-I'm just happy you’re alright." Her voice quivered a little, you couldn’t make sense of what she was saying. An attack? You don’t remember the tribe being attacked. But she sounded to genuine it was hard not to believe her, like there was a fuzzy memory in the back of your mind to confirm it.

"Umm, thank you for the concern but…" You trail off a little, she pulls away and looks at you confused and worried, you felt bad but you had to ask. "I uhhh, I don’t mean to be rude miss, but can you tell me where I am and who you are?" Her expression drops more and she looks away slightly, you can see the tears running down her face as she takes several deep breaths.

"It’s me, Yasha. I-I’ve been taking care of you for… well for a long time now. Don’t you remember me?" She sounded so heartbroken, you can’t help but give her another hug which she returns.

"I’m really sorry, but I don’t remember." You say quietly, her grip tightens a little and you swear you can hear soft sobs coming from her. "Maybe… maybe that's why things don’t feel right… but you are familiar. I can’t really say why but I feel like I know you." You continue. She pulls away enough to look you in the eyes, a glimmer of hope sparkling in them.

"I could help you get them back. We have some friends that are really good at this kind of thing. They can help." She suggests, gently placing a hand on you cheek, you lean into her touch and give a small nod. It was clear now that things weren’t quite as you originally thought but you were willing regain everything you’d lost and move forward to a new future, your new destiny.

Molly

Everything hurt and you sigh, had you done something to anger Ms. Wolona again? You really hoped not. Sitting up you’re in for a shock when you don’t recognize anything around you. A lavender tiefling walks into the room, and there’s this feeling of familiarity about him you can’t quite place, you don’t remember meeting him, yet you couldn’t shake the thought that you knew him somehow. He looks relived to see you but his expression drops slightly at your confusion.

"You look surprised to see me, I know I’m always quite the looker but you know me." He says nonchalantly, you caught a slight hint of concern in his voice. You weren’t sure what to say or do, you’ve been told countless times not to talk to strangers otherwise punishment wouldn’t be far. Apparently your silence doesn’t sit well with the tiefling, his brows furrowing at you. "Come now (y/n), this isn’t the time for games." His tone was lower and more serious now, and he slow reaches a hand out towards you. You start to panic, knowing whenever you upset someone Ms. Wolona would have to punish you for bad behaviour.

"Imsorryimsorryimsorry! Please don’t hurt me, I promise I’ll be good." You sputter out, throwing your arms over your head and cowering. It gets deafeningly quiet for a moment as you wait for something to happen. The only sound in the room being your beep breathes, wait… no those weren’t your breaths you were hearing. Slowly, cautiously you lift your head slightly and see the staring wide eyed at you, looking just as, if not more so panicked they you.

"No nonononon, not you, not you." You hear him faintly mutter. Before you can wonder what he was talking about he’s out of the room, shouting something down the hall. Now you were really confused but also filled with fear, was he getting Ms. Wolona? After what feels like forever you get an unexpected answer when a different tiefling enters the room, she offers a friendly smile.

"Hi, do you remember me?" She asks. You just shake your head, she lets out a saddened sigh. "Well, would you like to?" Magic sparks to life in her hands and you flinch away. "I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. I want to help you." You stare at her for a moment before you give a slow nod. One part of you was telling you that doing this would get you in a lot of trouble, but another part of you felt like you could trust this, thinking about it after all that first tiefling you met looked so familiar and before he’d run out you could see the pain and fear in his eyes for you. As scared as you felt, you wanted to make it better, so with a deep breath you hesitantly reach forward…

#critical role #critical role & reader #mighty nein #the mighty nein #mighty nein & reader #jester lavorre #jester & reader #nott the brave #nott & reader #caleb widogast #caleb & reader #caduceus clay #caduceus & reader #fjord #fjord stone #fjord & reader #beauregard lionett #beauregard & reader #yasha nydoorin #yasha & reader #mollymauk tealeaf #mollymauk & reader #nothing romantic here

[hacked-by-jake]

Hi! I love your blog ♡♡ 54 and 56 from your prompts? Thanks from Brazil!!

A lolly more than usual.

Pairing: JakexMC

Prompts: “Do you care to explain why our kid was late to school today?” and „You are so dramatic. I was gone for five minutes“

Words: 1k

A/n: Hi anon and thank you for your request. First of all, I hope you wanted the pairing JakexMC, if not I'm really sorry. I hope it’s still okay. 

So, I’m sorry you had to wait a little. I love both prompts together, really funny. I hope you like it and have fun. Greetings from Germany to Brazil! Have a nice day/ night♡♡♡

Fun fact: I’m bad at making up names so I named the son after the program 'Kali Linux' lol.

Okay have fun now!

--

„Yes, Mrs Fox, I will make sure that does not happen again. Thank you for your call" you say and try to shake off your son’s teacher on the phone. Annoyed, you open the front door and put your things aside.

You’re off to the living room where you hear the voices of your husband and your child. You go into the living room and lean into the door frame and watch the two play a game at the Playstation. The two of them are sitting in front of the TV for far too long. The last few days for several hours. Not approved by you.

After no one has noticed you for minutes, you clear your throat and immediately both look at you. "Mommy" calls Linux and comes running towards you. "Hello my angel" you greet him as well and kneel down to him to be able to embrace.

Hello my heart" Jake also greets you and pushes with an innocent grin, his lips on yours.

"Uhg disgusting" it sounds from Linux which makes you grin.

"Wait a few years, sometime this will also start with you" Jake winks and makes his son make a disgusted grimace. Jake wipes your little one through the hair and tousled it, then he turns to you.

„How was your day babe? " he asks and wraps his arms around you,  "You look really beautiful today, I really love you more every day".

Yep, he knows there’s gonna be trouble right now. "Forget it, don’t pretend nothing is" you hiss quietly",

"You want to follow me to the kitchen, don’t you, babe?" you emphasize the nickname like a warning.

"Now Daddy gets in trouble" you hear your offspring giggle and shake your head.

When you reach the kitchen, you turn to him furiously and glare at him hostilely. "Do you care to explain why our kid was to late to school today?".

"It wasn’t that much late" Jake mumbles, looking at the empty cup on the table to avoid your gaze.

"It wasn’t that late? You were an hour and thirty too late! " you hiss without understanding.

„So long? I thought it was ten or twenty minutes," he scratches his neck nervously as he leans into the door frame.

"Of course, you can confuse 10 or 20 minutes with almost two hours. It is so close to each other that you can forget a whole hour. That happens to me sometimes too. I thought it was only two hours, but suddenly 12 hours have passed" you answer sarcastically.

"Ok whatever, I would like to hear the reason for this" upset you cross your arms in front of your chest and wait for a hopefully good explanation.

„yeahh.. uhm, so... just before we actually wanted to go, I got a notification that my program found something very interesting in a database. No, nothing illegal, just because of the job I have right now. Anyway, I went quickly to the study to look. Just for a second, really.

Well, but when I came back..-" you interrupted him, "Why did you even go look? "You could have done it after you took Linux to school," you grumbled.

"You are so dramatic, I was gone for five minutes. We could still have made it to school," he defended himself.

"If you could have arrived in time for class, why were you late? I’ll say it again, almost two hours, Jake!"

Jake bites his lip, knowing he shouldn't have said that, "He played the game, but he didn’t get any further, so... I.. helped... him..." he stammers.

He also shouldn’t have said that..

„Are you almost came two hours late because of a video game? He’s only been at school for two weeks Jake! Two weeks. And then he’s late because you two were playing a game? And why wasn’t the parental controls on the TV? He shouldn’t even be able to turn it on alone!" completely speachless, you walk up and down the kitchen and gesticulate wildly with your arms during your little speech.

"For now, we both have to get used to the fact that he is going to school now. It's a change that is not so easy to process. I mean, Linux and me" he murmurs but grins and approaches you.

He presses his lips on your forehead and then grins at you exaggerated. You’re twisting your eyes but lets him pull you into his arms.

"You’re an idiot," you mumble, sinking your head against his chest.

„I know, but hey, there’s one good news: We climbed three levels this morning," he chuckles. You pull your head up to look at him in warning.

You raise your arm to slap him against his chest but he quickly lets you go and and bring a safe distance between you.

„Help me, buddy! Your mother wants to attack me," Jake calls and turns to get out of the kitchen. You don’t get far because you can hear the stomping little steps coming from the living room in your direction. Shortly thereafter, your son’s arms wrap around your legs to stop you.

"You mustn’t attack Dad," he shouts in his sweet child- voice that warms your heart.

"He is right, you can’t attack Daddy, "Jake chuckles and hides behind the sofa.

„If you help me catch daddy, you get a lolly more than usual" you try to exort him, and of course it works immediately. His eyes widen as he looks up to you from below. This is an offer he can hardly refuse.

"Hey, unfair! This is extortion! " Jake immediately protests and jumps out of his hiding place but remains safe.

"Come on, buddy, if you help me catch Mama, you’ll even get two lollies," Jake tries his luck.

Linux looks from you, to Jake and then back to you and considered.

This is your last chance so you lean down to him and whisper, "From me you get a lolly and you can stay awake an hour more today".

And with that, you have finally won.

A sugar-sweet and infinitely happy grin appears on his face and he nods confirmingly to you.

"Stop whispering," Jake warns and looks skeptical.

"1" you start the countdown for the fight

"2" adds Linux.

"And three! Attack! " you shout with a grin, and you two rush towards the hacker.

You have the best family in the world

----------

🌹

#duskwood #duskwood prompt #duskwood fanfiction #duskwood jake x mc #duskwood jake #duskwood mc #duskwood everbyte #everbyte studios

[jawabear]

Hi~ could I request a Javi fic inspired by the song Take my breath away by Berlin? 🥺

Take my breath away (Javier Peña x Reader)

Not my GIF

A/N: thanks for the request Anon! I know you said you wanted it based on the song but I kind of based it on the scene in which the song plays in Top Gun...I hope that’s okay... this is more of a Frankie song to me, but I loved writing this for my love Javi. But I’m sorry if this kind of sucks? I really like it but I think it’s more to my personal taste... but I hope you enjoy it. I definitely recommend listening to the song whilst reading this, and maybe watching the scene too. But it’s not a requirement. Sorry for any mistakes. Stay safe.

Genre: Angst, Smut, Fluff

Warnings: Fem!Reader, angry flirting, very slow sex, Javi being a little clueless about love and feelings, soft!javi, me trying to talk politics, time skips

Summary: The Calí case was to run differently, that was made clear to him. But something else is made clear to Javier as well.

-

Watching every motion in my foolish lover's game,

On this endless ocean finally lovers know no shame

Another day, another meeting. That’s all it was for Javier. But he didn’t expect much else. He didn’t expect the Cali case to be any different from the Escobar case. It now he was the one calling the shots, everything was a whole lot harder.

But he knew what meetings would entail. Him getting a talk from the ambassador. Generals giving zero shits for the safety of the DEA agents. And anyone else who was in their throwing in there opinions that meant jack shit to anyone else there. And she would be there.

The bane of Javier’s life.

She had been in his life since the Escobar case got going, but before Steve was sent down from Miami. He wasn’t sure what her job role was exactly. But she was in every meeting. In the background. Blending in and going unnoticed until she spoke. But Javi noticed her immediately. A radiant being. A beautiful woman. Who knew how to get shit done. And did it well.

Javier walked into the meeting room where it seemed everyone else had already been assembled, all waiting on him. All eyes were on him. He gave a curt nod and looked quickly around the room for a seat and glancing over the eyes that were on him. All except one pair.

There she sat. Writing something on her paper that probably had no relevance to anything and that no one would ever see. At first she didn’t care to acknowledge him. But he knew that she knew he was there.

Her eyes briefly looked up and met his.

Those eyes. Those damn eyes. They saw everything. They took everything in. She didn’t miss a single detail about anything or anyone. And he had fallen for those eyes. Those bright, big, beautiful eyes.

But it seemed as soon as they met his own, they were gone again, looking back down at her paper. Javi took the only seat that was available, the one that was right opposite her. Of course.

“Nice if you to join us, Agent Peña” Crosby said in a sarcastic tone.

“Sorry I’m late” Javier apologised, adjusting his sitting position as he opened the file in front of him.

The meeting got stated soon after that but it was nothing that Javier hadn’t already been told on his arrival back in Colombia. And besides, his attention was on something far more interesting. Or someone. But she paid no attention to him. She rarely ever did, save for the odd glance here and there. They had hardly ever spoke to each other. It seemed she much favoured Steve when he was there, that’s what he guess anyway. She much preferred to talk to him than Javi.

Javi knew that his feelings for her were ridiculous and one sided. She wouldn’t give him the time of day let alone the attention and affection he desperately wanted from her. She was firm, level headed, and strong willed. She never did anything spontaneous or unplanned. And he never seemed to have a place in her life. He didn’t have a place in her heart. At least, that’s what Javi believed.

“Ambassador” she said as she leaned forwards slightly to make her self visible to everyone. They all seemed a little surprised when she spoke up. Most likely because they had forgotten she was in there. “If I may sir?”

“Please” Crosby said gesturing for her to continue.

She nodded and glanced back to Javier whose eyes had barely left her for the duration of the meeting so far “I am aware, sir, that you have already made it clear to Agent Peña that the Cali case cannot be like the Escobar case. But I wanted to make it clear to both Agent Peña and everyone else present exactly what that means”

She paused for a moment and looked around the room for any sign of objection, but when she receive none, she continued again. “Calí had to be done differently. The Godfathers play by their own rules, yes, but they do have rules. And so do we. So we have to play by our rules too. We have to follow the rules of the Colombian government too. There is no way around that. No more unnecessary risks. We cannot work as freely and as uncontrolled and Agent Peña did in the Escobar case. It’s just not going to pass this time. And whilst they succeeded in capturing and killing Escobar, the extent of the damage left behind is immeasurable. It is best for the people of Colombia and the American government is we try to avoid that same future at all costs”

“Is this now just a dig at me, agent?” He laughed making her look at him.

“No. It isn’t. I’m simply stating that we can’t have a re-run of what you and agent Murphy did in Medellín. Too many lives were lost in the hunt for Escobar. Calí has to be done differently”

“It’s a drug war, (Y/N)” he spat “there is going to be a body count however it plays out”

“It’s the DEA’s job, Javier, to reduce that body count. Or to ensure there isn’t one at all. But from what I’ve heard, you had a personal hand in making the amount large” she retorted quickly, giving him a dark look from across the table.

“I think what she is trying to say,” Crosby spoke up, sensing the hostility between the two agents “is that we take no more unnecessary risks. We play things by the book. For the safety of everyone”

That pretty much wrapped up the meeting and Javier was far too pissed of to stay and shake the hands of those who thought so little of him. He made a quick escape and (Y/N) watch his every move.

But she was more polite than Javi was. No matter how bad a mood she was in, she always stayed to show respect to the others, even if often they didn’t deserve it. But once that was done, she followed in Javi’s footsteps out the door and trailing after him.

(Y/N) didn’t quite managed to catch up to him. She stood at the top of the embassy stairs as he swung open his car door. “Javier!” She called out to him. She knew he heard her, but he ignored her completely. He got in his car and it wasn’t long before he was driving off. “Fuck” she swore under her breath before marching to her own car to chase after him. He was going to listen to what she had to say, whether he liked it or not.

Turning and returning to some secret place inside,

Watching in slow motion as you turn around and say

“Javier” she called again getting out her car to meet him.

“You insult a guy and then follow him home?” He mocked.

“Javier, listen to me-“

“To you saying what? Have you got a list in your pocket of all the other ways you can slate me and my work? If you don’t like me (Y/N), just tell me. You’ve made it fucking obvious to everyone else!”

He went to walk past her by she took his arm in a surprisingly firm grasp and forced him to turn back and look at her. He could see the anger rising in her, she looked at him with serious yet soft eyes.

“Everything I said was true but there was more that I wanted to say. But I couldn’t say it back there. There were things I couldn’t admit back there. Like how I admired your bravery and dedication to this job. I couldn’t say that because everyone would see right through me. I didn’t want people to know the truth” she stated firmly as she looked between his eyes.

He let out a laugh and placed his hands on his hips “oh yeah? What truth?” He asked.

“That I’ve fallen for you” she said without skipping a beat.

For once in his life, Javier was speechless. He just stared at her, not knowing what to say. And she just stared right back, she wasn’t phased by her words at all. But what she was phased by was what he did next.

He walked towards her, grabbing her face in his hands and pressing his lips to her. She immediately kissed him back, he hands coming to rest on his hips. Their lips moved against each other perfectly. The cliche line that they were made for each other became apparent. And it was true.

Nothing felt more perfect.

My love, Take my breath away

She stood up against the wall beside his bed, his hands either side of her head but he stood at arms length away from her. Watching her with hungry eyes as she slowly unbuttoned her shirt revealing her black lace bra.

Javier hesitantly reached out his hand and trace along the fabric whilst she looked up at him through her lashes with wanting eyes. His hand slid up to her shoulder as he pressed his lips to hers again. His tongue came out to run across her bottom lip and she didn’t hesitate in opening her mouth for him to explore. As he did this, he pushed her shirt off her shoulder, it dropped to the floor and he wrapped his arms around her as she brought her hands up to rest of his bare chest.

“I’ve fallen for you too” he whispered. They were the first words he had uttered to her since she had said the same. She hummed against his lips and managed to slip her arms around his neck, lacing her fingers through his thick hair holding his lips against hers.

Carefully, Javi pulled her off the wall and laid her on the bed. He pulled his lips from her and looking into her eyes again. Slowly he lifted his hand and gently brushed a few stands of hair from her face. He then moved that hand down her body and slipped his fingers into her panties and stroked through her folds.

“Javi” she gasped before biting down on her bottom lip. His rough fingers found their way to her clit where he began rubbing soft circles over it making her moan quietly. Javi buried his face into her neck, licking and sucking at her soft skin. Her fingers wrapped around his strong biceps as she melted into his mattress and his sweet touch.

(Y/N) began rolling her hips, grinding against his fingers eager for more friction. Eager for his touch. He pulled his head from her neck and reattached his lips to hers, his tongue sliding back into her mouth, stroking over hers as he pushed down her panties and threw them across the room.

Their tongues still dancing together, her hands moved down his back to his jeans when she skilfully undid his belt and unzipped his jeans. His fingers were still rubbing at her clit making her let out breathy moans into his mouth. She sat up slightly so she could reach into his boxers and pull out his already hard length, teasing his head with her thumb making him instinctively thrust into her hand with a grunt making her smile.

He let out a low growl and pushed her down onto her back again before pushing his jeans and boxers further down his legs. He leaned back over her and slowly eased himself into her.

“Oh fuck” he gasped into the air. She hummed as he pushed further and further into her, her tongue sliding up the length of his neck before he looked back down at her. She looked up at him with a teasing look but that look was soon wiped of her face as he began to slowly thrust in and out of her. She hummed and flattened her hands on his broad back.

They both began filling his room with quiet and breathless moans of each other’s name. The gentle rustling of his bed sheets and quiet squeak of the bed too. The sound of his lips sucking at her neck and the sound of her fingers gliding up and down his back.

Javi had never been this slow and sensual with anyone. But he had never had a reason too. He didn’t need to work out his frustrations of his day, nor did he need to forget. No. He could enjoy it. He could feel it. Feel her. Hear her. Love her.

Her breath hitched in her throat as she rolled her head back, her back arching up so their chests were touching. She moaned from her throat as her nails dug into his back.

No words were needed for him to know he had hit a good spot inside her. Now words were needed for him to know she was already close to her end, but so was he. The slowness of the sex was driving them both crazy in the best possible way.

It just felt so good.

She whispered his name and he whispered hers. His thick fingers trailed down her body again, meeting her swollen clit and rubbing barely there circles on it, the light touches blew her mind, her nails dug further into his skin making him groan.

Javi looked down at her, loving the expression of pleasure on her face. He gently nipped at her chin making her smile “oh Javi” she whispered.

He only moaned in response as her walls began to pulse around him and she began to pant. His hips began to move a little fast and he pressed harder against her clit pulling cut little whimpers and whines from her.

It wasn’t long, then, before she was coming around him. Her breath almost stopping completely as her walls clamped down on him and her eyes were squeezed shut. He came quickly after that, shooting ropes of his hot come inside, resting his forehead against hers.

She was basically frozen in her state of pleasure, her body not moving or responding to him as he slowed his hips and pulled his fingers off her.

Javi pressed a loose kiss to her parted lips “breath for me baby” he whispered to her. Words he never expected to say to someone after sex. But nonetheless, he had to make sure she didn’t die on him. A deep breath fell from her lips fanning over his face “good girl” his hips came to a full stop and he slowly pulled out of her, letting her back ease back down onto his bed as he rolled off her.

Take my breath away

“I’m sorry” she whispered to him as she dragged her finger down the slope of his nose “I didn’t mean to make you angry. I know you did what you had to do for the good of the people... I said what I said because-“

He cut off her apology by pressing his lips to hers in a soft kiss which she returned, her hand moving to rest against his cheek.

“I get it” he muttered against her lips “you don’t need to apologise”

“But I do” she said quickly “you’re a great agent Javi. And I admire you. I want you to know how great and amazing I think you are...” she looked up at him with sadness in her eyes. Desperate for him to know the truth.

“I’m just doing my job (Y/N)” he ran his index finger down the navel between her breasts “but I should apologise to you. For that way I spoke to you”

“I deserved it...” she smiled “for what I said to you”

“I guess we’re even then” he chuckled.

“Hmm, I guess so” she gently pulled his head back down so that she could kiss him again.

Take my breath away

13/01/21

Taglist: @linkpk88 @phoenixhalliwell @lunaserenade @harrys-stan (let me know if you want to be removed or added to the list)

#javier peña #javier peña x reader #javier peña fanfic #narcos #angst #smut #fluff #pedro pascal #fanfic

[reyeslonestar]

Lone star better square the hell up if they think we are just gonna accept this lame ass apology from Owen. It’s not nearly enough and the real apology that TK deserves. He has probably lived with this relationship with Owen his entire life or at least majority of it and that’s so sad. He seems so used to this that he just sat back and continued on with the intervention. I know that comment still hurts TK because of how he even brought it up. They need to circle back to this because I’m genuinely wondering what it’s gonna take for Owen to actually act like a good father. Loving your kid isn’t enough- you actually have to actively try to be a good parent. As in- remember they exist even when TK isn’t hurt or something. As in, don’t twist things around and play victim. All TK does is love his dad and yeah he gets frustrated with Owen because who wouldn’t but he still is always there. Owen straight up acted like TK didn’t exist when he thought Gwyn’s baby was his. He only said he would schedule the surgery because ‘he’s gonna be a dad’. He only jumps into father mode when TK was shot and kidnapped. Every other time??? It’s like oh TK is mad at me that’s why he is being a paramedic now. Like dude have you ever stopped to think that maybe it’s not all about you? He just wanted the switch to the paramedic job because he likes it. These little moments add up and make me wanna yell at Owen FOR tk

anon, we are in agreement. god, I want to get tk by the shoulders and tell him that owen’s bullshit is absolutely not his fault and he has done way more than should have been expected of him. then id like to slap Owen upside the head and frogmarch him into therapy. very regular therapy.

you’ve brought up a lot of interesting things here so im going to stick most of my thoughts under a cut.

ultimately I think that the things that underscore the problems of TK and Owen’s relationship are Owen’s inconstancy and unreliability. I think theres a decent splash of narcissism in there too, which leads to him pressuring and gaslighting people, unloading his problems on random people, making himself the victim in any given confrontation, and also his misguided heroism stunts. but the root of him and TK having a fractured relationship comes from TK being unable to rely on Owen. (and hoo boy does that make me emotional about the fact that TK finally has someone he can completely rely on with Carlos)

so your first point:

this lame ass apology from Owen

honestly there were two weak apologies that stuck out to me - the first being the one during the intervention about Owen ‘going to be a father’ - yay, acknowledgment - but TK deserves an proper apology, one that doesn’t feel offhand, and not when Owen feels pressured by the environment. im sure im not the only one that felt that comment was disingenuous - it didnt feel at all like Owen actually felt sorry, or understood the damage he’d done. and then again in the vets - it felt pointed to me that TK had to confirm Owen was still going to go through with the surgery after buttercup turned out to be okay. he understandably doesn’t trust Owen to hold himself to his promises, even one he made in the last five minutes, and I think that reflects on how he views the apologies - if Owen can flip back and forth on promises about his own health, what’s stopping him from giving insincere apologies?

He has probably lived with this relationship with Owen his entire life or at least majority of it and that’s so sad. He seems so used to this

yeah I think you’re absolutely right - I think everything about their relationship, including TK’s anxieties about Owen’s unreliability, stem from him feeling left behind during his childhood (something I talked about a lot here - I wrote that a few months ago but I stand by a lot of it). and those anxieties really came out this ep because Owen keeps being incredibly inconstant this season. (not inconstant as in inconsistent characterisation, inconstant as in an unreliable character)

something I mentioned in some of my tags yesterday (and that I want to really dive into more specifically at some point) was the emotional labour that I suspect TK has had to shoulder in order to maintain their relationship. Owen has been this consistently absent figure, so TK has worked himself into Owen’s work life to be physically close to him, but Owen’s emotional distance has meant TK has taken up the emotional work too in order to maintain their relationship, and that has kind of allowed them both to pretend to themselves that they have a good relationship, with much more of the strain of maintaining that facade falling on TK.

Loving your kid isn’t enough- you actually have to actively try to be a good parent.

everything you said here. absolutely. loving someone does not equal having a healthy relationship with them, and TK and Owen definitely dont have that. TK is evidently so hyper aware of how much Owen has ignored him when it suits him - it kills me to see the way that comment about being a father has obviously been eating at him for weeks - and I really hate how controlling Owen gets when TK is in danger, but then is so utterly absent when TK’s in a good place, or even bitter and hostile when TK makes positive choices for himself. again, I talked about this in detail in this post - basically, Owen has major control issues and dude needs therapy.

don’t twist things around and play victim.

oh man, this shit pissed me off. like, I get that the subjects of interventions often have hostile reactions, but gaslighting Mateo after pressuring him into drinking and emotionally unloading on him? holy shit Owen, no. and making himself to be the victim of situations that have nothing to do with him, like TK becoming a paramedic or oversharing to the vet and the kid sitting on the roof. like, I understand that mental illness can lead you to taking shitty actions, but it still makes them shitty actions.

They need to circle back to this because I’m genuinely wondering what it’s gonna take for Owen to actually act like a good father.

yeah! I dont know what to think about this in the show, because knowing the way the show heroises Owen, I don’t know whether they’ll feel that they need to address it further than those pathetic apologies. that said, we’ve got Owen and this arson case next week and there does seem to be a tone that shows Owen as an idiot, and frames him as wrong for going against the rules and trying to sneak into a crime scene. if im right, then there would be scope for this to be an overall arc of Owen learning to become self aware and understand that he is not the centre of the universe. I just hope the show bothers to do that.

in the immortal words of Michelle Blake: Owen, get a therapist!

#911 lone star #911 lone star spoilers #episode chat 2x10 #fandom discussion #owen strand #tk strand #the strands #owen strand critical #I dont mind flawed characters #and the fact that they were addressing it (kinda) made me happy #and thats partly why I didnt mind Owen this ep #a has thoughts

[fatiguing-thoughts]

Feelings Change - Embry Call x Reader

Request: “Hey, since you don't feel comfortable writing about the poly imprinting thing the other anon suggested, I have an idea based on what they said that maybe you could write instead. So instead of the reader imprinting on both, a reaction type of thing for when the reader had a crush on one, but falls in love with the other with time. If it is preference style, you can get to show both situations (crush on Embry, but falls for Paul later and vice versa)”

This is crush on Paul -> love Embry

the Embry -> Paul one should be up in the next day or so 

Having a crush on your best friend was never easy. But when your best friend was Paul Lahote-- things were unbearably difficult. 

Every girl wanted him, he had a bit of a temper sometimes, though it was never towards me, and he simply was just what I wasn’t. He was fun, beautiful, and desirable. 

I knew one thing for certain, while I couldn’t be with Paul romantically, I knew he’d be there at the very least as my best friend. It was us against the world. 

Though our friendship grew as we did, we went from inseparable children to awkward middle school kids, blossoming out some more, and then to high school kids who began to have other friends. Though, we were always each other’s number one. We just had different priorities. 

Paul loved the attention he got from girls, girls that knew nothing about him. They simply knew what he looked like, they didn’t know the struggles he had, the emotions he felt, and the way his lip twitches right before he bursts out laughing. No, they never got to hold his shoulders as he cried about his home life. So no, they didn’t know Paul. 

And I knew for damn sure that Paul didn’t know them. No, he only knew their faces, their physical appearances. He didn’t know their favorite snacks, what kept them up at night, and he didn’t know their struggles like he grew to know mine over the years. He never held them while they cried in his arms. No, he never stayed up all night to do stupid shit they shouldn’t have been, or maybe not in the same way we did. 

However, I grew to accept that my feelings towards Paul were not going to be reciprocated. I learned that I would merely be his best friend, and that was enough for me. He was such a light in my life that I couldn’t allow myself to lose it. 

So I began opening my options to other guys, which did not really end well in my favor. In fact, it kinda blew up in my face when Chase Logan screwed me over. I should’ve known not to trust someone who had two first names as their full name, though. My bad, I guess. It ended poorly when I caught him cheating on me with Chelsea Herrin. While I was never in love with him, it still hurt. It hurt to be betrayed. Paul proceeded to beat the shit out of him, picking up the pieces as always. Not entirely helping the issue of me getting over him, though I had accepted we would always be platonically bound, and nothing more. 

Paul grew closer to some of his guy friends, inviting me to group hangouts. I grew to really love his friends. We had more fun than I could’ve ever imagined. Slowly but surely, they all accepted me into their group. Even if Paul wasn’t there, I would still get an invite from at least one of them. 

Quil, Jacob, Jared, and Embry. We were all in the same grade, though I never talked to them much before Paul formally brought me into their group. 

As the months went on, I found Embry to be someone who gave me feelings of butterflies. He was someone who brought that excitement into me, the one that only Paul was previously able to do. His sweet laugh, his attention to detail and blatant regard for my happiness, my comfort. I found peace within this new group of friends, within Embry. 

Suddenly, I was no longer pining over my best friend. I grew more and more interested in the blooming contact Embry and I had. I was finally able to listen to Paul talk about girls, supporting him genuinely as opposed to faking it, and dwelling in my sorrows later. No, now I felt fireworks when Embry was around. 

And one day, Jared got sick and disappeared for weeks. He said it was mono, but when it was time that he was better he wouldn’t even look in our direction. None of us knew what to make of it, other than that he had joined Sam Uley. It devastated all of us, especially Paul. He was destroyed at the betrayal, the sudden loss of his friend. 

I comforted him, but it didn’t feel like when I used to. I felt no more romantic feelings, I didn’t hope to kiss his lips anymore. 

No, it was Embry’s soft lips that I pined after. Those were the eyes that kept me up at night, plaguing my mind. His soft face, calloused hands were the ones invading my dreams, now.

Embry’s soft gaze fell upon me often, sending shivers up my spine. He was always making sure I was okay, always watching my body language to see how I was doing. 

“Are you cold?” His chocolate brown eyes burned into mine, watching how I hugged myself in Jake’s garage as we were working on a car. 

“A little bit.” I nod. 

“Here, take this.” He takes his hoodie off, his shirt slightly getting caught-- giving you a peek at his abdomen. 

A blush creeps upon your face as he hands it over to you, a goofy grin plastered on his face. Quil and Embry stifle a laugh, as Paul still didn’t show up to the hangout for the night. 

The next half an hour was spent chatting, watching as they all worked on the rabbit. Embry getting closer and closer to you, slowly easing himself into your personal bubble. It was apparent to anyone with eyes that there was something between you two, but both of you were shy... awkward, even. 

Paul comes in, in the off mood he had been in for the last week or two. 

“Hey Paul.” I smile, happy to see my best friend. 

“Hi.” His voice was sharp, impatient. 

It threw me off, no matter how much Paul has been snippy and temperamental with others, he was never like this with me. 

I was taken aback, almost flinched at his harsh tone, Embry noticed and rubbed a small circle on the back of my hand with his thumb. I was instantly calmed, though still upset. 

“What’s wrong, Paul? Do you want to talk?” I ask, voice meek. 

Everyone’s eyes fell to us, wondering what was causing Paul to be so hostile with me. 

“No, I don’t know what’s wrong.” He hissed. “I just... I’m so angry.” 

And he was, he was fuming. I could see it from here. 

“We’ll take a step outside, we’ll get some fresh air.” I offer, standing up. 

“No. I want to hang out, just like we do every week.” He looks at me with hard eyes. 

“Okay, we can do that.” I nod, meeting Jacob’s concerned gaze. 

Paul trudges over, sitting on the other side of me. Heat was radiating off of him. 

“Paul, are you sick?” I ask, touching his arm, then moving the back of my hand to his forehead.

“I don’t know what’s going on.” He scoffs, taking my hand off his forehead and putting it back on my lap. 

“Paul, you’re burning up. You definitely have a fever.” Worry was evident in my voice. 

“(Y/N), stop worrying. You’re just making it worse.” He huffs, rubbing his temples. 

“I-I’m sorry, Paul. I just want to make sure you’re okay.” 

“Do you? Because ever since Embry and you started messing around, you don’t seem to be acting like the best friend you always were.” He hisses. 

It felt like someone stabbed me in the gut, twisting the knife. The air was knocked out of me. 

“What?” I ask, shock evident in my voice. 

“Paul, we aren’t messing around.” Embry corrects him. 

“Oh shut up, Call. I’m talking to (Y/N).” Paul seethes. 

“Paul, I still care about you as much as I always did. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I stutter, tears brimming my eyes. 

“Oh, so you sneaking around with Embry is what you used to do? We used to hang out and do stupid shit, and now you’re perfectly fine doing that with Embry instead. You don’t want to see me anymore.” 

“Yes, I do. You’re too busy brooding, you haven’t been coming around. You’ve been acting... different. You’re not acting like you, Paul. You’d never talk to me like this.” I choke.

“Well, maybe it’s because my best friend isn’t my best friend anymore.” He seethes. 

And there it went, my heart shattered into a million pieces. My stomach fell into my feet, and my chest clenched. I almost fell over, but Embry steadied me. 

“Paul, you need to calm down.” Jacob stands up, walking over. 

“Don’t tell me to calm down!” He spits. 

I was in disbelief as to what was unfolding before my eyes. I had never seen Paul this angry. This wasn’t my Paul, this was not Paul.

“Paul, please.” I beg, tears threatening to spill. 

His eyes almost softened, but rage was far in too much control of him. I didn’t even recognize him. 

I placed a hand on his elbow, trying to comfort him. He snapped his arm away faster than I thought possible. Tears stung my eyes.

“Don’t touch me.” He warns, his body beginning to shake with anger. 

“Paul, get out of here.” Jacob yells. 

Quil begins to make his way over closer to me, worried Paul was going to hurt me. 

Hell, even I began to almost worry about it. 

“Paul, go home.” Embry instructs. 

“Don’t tell me what to do, Call.” His shaking grew faster, his entire body almost vibrating. 

"Paul?” I ask, a tear running down my cheek. 

He looks over at me, realizing what was actually going on. 

“I-I’m so sorry. I don’t know.” Paul whispers to me, running out of the garage. 

I sat there, filled with shock. I was overwhelmed, trembling. I didn’t know who that was, but that wasn’t Paul. No, it couldn’t be Paul. 

Embry’s hand rubbed comforting circles on my back as Jacob and I exchanged worried glances. Quil came and sat on my other side. 

“What the hell was that?” Quil asks in disbelief. 

“I don’t know.” I look down at my hands in my lap, leaving them where Paul threw them. 

A large thumb wiped a tear from my face, it was Embry. 

And that was the last I had seen of Paul for weeks. 

Embry was with me, picking up the pieces that I was left in. He was patient, understanding, and comforting. He showed me the love I knew I needed, the love I always wanted. I fell so hard for Embry, I really did. 

I loved the way his hand held mine, how his hands fell on my waist or lower back, how we snuggled on the couch. I appreciated his presence, we all were so close. We hung out every day, usually joined by Jacob and Quil. 

Embry wiped my tears, he held me when my body shook with sobs. He was the rock I needed, until I no longer cried. He kissed me with his warm, soft lips. He held me like I was a piece of glass. He looked at me like I was the light in the middle of a dark field. Embry’s arms were my new home, Embry was the pure bliss in my life. 

I accepted what was, because that wasn’t Paul. 

My best friend Paul wouldn’t do that. But he did, and he was with Jared and Sam now, leaving me confused beyond words. I still didn’t understand it, I don’t believe any of it. 

I still hung out with Jacob, Embry, and Quil daily. Having fun and trying to make out as best as we could under the circumstances, though something we couldn’t ignore begin to grow. 

It wasn’t until recently that Embry began to have a raging fever, growing more testy. His soft and subtle features growing a bit harsher. He was getting angry at seemingly nothing. I was worried, watching my now boyfriend head down the same path that Jared and Paul took-- leaving me sitting here guessing if and when Embry would do the same. 

Quil and Jake knew my fears, as they worried for the same thing. Embry had grown to act harsher than I had ever seen. He snapped at Quil for hugging me, snapped at Jacob for getting too close, and snapped at me for being careless. 

This wasn’t Embry. No, this was not my Embry. 

We all awaited the inevitable, Embry soon fell sick with mono, too. Just like Paul and Jared. 

I longed for his hands holding mine, his body cuddling into mine. I needed to hear his laugh. 

I needed to be near him, I needed to know what was happening. If he would leave like the rest. 

Quil and Jake tried to be strong for me, but it was useless. 

The two most important people in the world to me were gone. 

Disappeared without a trace.

I couldn’t handle it, I couldn’t handle the unknown. 

I had to talk to Embry, I needed to know where my boyfriend and I stood.

Though, like Jared and Paul, he avoided us like the plague. 

“(Y/N), maybe we shouldn’t be doing this.” Quil says sadly, looking into my teary eyes as I told him about my plan to confront Embry.

 Or Paul. Or both. 

I needed answers, and I would not let Quil, Jacob, or anyone stop me. 

“Quil, I’m going. You can come or don’t but I am not sitting and waiting around. Jacob starting getting sick, too. Something’s going on. I’m going to find out.” I whisper, returning his pleading gaze. 

“I can’t, (Y/N).” He whispers. 

“I’ll come back with answers, then.” I nod, leaving his house. 

I got in my car, speeding off. 

I knew that I wouldn’t find them at their own houses, but at Sam Uley’s. 

I would show up and demand answers. 

When I pulled up to the house, I saw a group of four men walking towards it. 

Embry, Paul, Jared, and Sam.

I get out of my car, slamming my door shut, causing them to turn in my direction. Immediately after, Embry and Paul turn back around, letting Jared and Sam handle it. 

“Hey, remember me? Or did you forget?” I yell, pushing through the two men blocking me from my previous best friend and possible boyfriend.

“(Y/N), please. You should go.” Sam looks at me with stern eyes.

“No! I’ve come here for answers. You took my friend, my best friend, and then my boyfriend! And now Jake’s acting weird, then you’re gonna take Quil, too! You’re taking everyone that matters to me, you’re leaving me alone to rot.” I huff.

“(Y/N)-” Jared begins, but I cut him off. 

“No, you listen to me! I’m not stupid. I know that what’s going on isn’t normal, this isn’t how people cut people off-- you don’t get sick. There’s something you’re not telling me! And you two assholes won’t even look at my face!” I was enraged at this point, no desire of holding back. 

“(Y/N), please leave.” Paul’s soft voice begs me, as I stare at his back.

“Fuck you, Paul! You yelled at me, you were so mean before you left? And now you can’t even look me in the eye to tell me to leave? Grow up and turn around before I do it myself!” 

“(Y/N), you can’t do that. Go home.” Sam instructs. 

“No, not until they talk to me. I’m not stupid, this is bigger than what the rumors are. This is bigger than what you’re telling me.” I seethe. 

I push my way through Sam and Jared’s hard bodies, adrenaline pumping through me. They didn’t expect me to actually do it.

I grab Paul’s arm, and try to spin him around but his feet were firmly planted to the ground.

“Paul, look at me right now.” I hiss. 

He hesitates, so I try to turn him again. 

His swollen eyes met mine, worry plastered on his face. 

“You were my best friend, us against the world remember? This isn’t you!” I choke, watching as his face fell with pain.

“And you.” I turn to Embry.

“What the hell? You were there for me, we talked about it all, we cried together. Why the hell are you here, too? Huh? Deciding that upping and leaving me was cool? You said you loved me, I meant it! This isn’t you, either...” Tears brimmed my eyes as I waited for him to look at me, but he didn’t want to.

“(Y/N)...” Embry chokes. 

“No, turn around and talk to me!” I try to pull him to face me. 

But when I do and our eyes meet, I felt all the air leave my lungs. A pressure fell around my entire body, though it was peaceful. Suddenly, I felt like I was breathing air differently. 

Embry’s face fell into one of pure serenity, his mouth hanging slightly agape while his soft, swollen eyes bored into mine. 

“I’m so sorry.” He exhales, pulling me hard into his chest. 

“No, no. I need an explanation, now.” I choke out, forcing myself to struggle against his hold, backing out of his arms. 

“Well, now we can finally tell you.” Paul sighs in relief. 

“Now? Now you can?” I glare at him. 

“Please, just be open minded. You won’t believe us.” Sam sighs. 

“I’m listening, because none of this made sense to me.” I look between everyone’s faces.  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“Okay, so shifting. You shift into a giant wolf. All of you.” I look around at all their faces, sitting at the table next to Sam’s fiancé Emily. 

“Yes.” Embry nods, placing a hand onto mine.

“Listen, I’m gonna need some proof here. I know that you just gave me the entire rundown, which was very elaborate might I add, Sam. But, I just... Come on, you expect me to believe you guys phase into wolves and that vampires exist?” I scoff, looking between them all. 

“Alright.” Paul nods. 

“Show me, then.” I raise my eyebrow. 

Embry and Paul slowly stand up from the table, making their way outside. We all follow. They begin to strip down and I cover my eyes. 

“Keep your eyes open, or you won’t believe us.” Jared mumbles, giving me a pat on the back. 

I move my hands, covering up their lower halves, though finally observing how much more massive they both got. How was that even possible?

Then, they’re both once again seemingly vibrating out of their skin. But as they look as if they were about to burst out of their skin, they do. They turn into massive wolves, five times their size. I almost fell on my ass, but Jared caught me, a chuckle escaping his lips. 

My eyes widen as the wolves bow their heads, causing me to walk over. 

“Alright, sick. So my boyfriend and best friend left me because they turn into wolves and fight vampires. And the rest of my friends will, too? But now I can’t talk to them until they do because I know about this? And nobody was going to tell me for what reason?” I ask, looking at Sam.

“These are tribal secrets, nobody that isn’t a wolf or an imprint is allowed to know.” Sam nods, a whine escaping Embry’s lips. 

I turn around, running my fingers through his soft, silver fur. Amazed at how enormous they were. 

“Well, I don’t know what an imprint is but I am definitely not a wolf. So what made you change your mind and tell me? My solid determination?” I look back.

“I think that’s a conversation you need to have with Embry.” Sam nods, looking at Embry.

“Oh?” I turn back to where I was petting. 

“Okay, well turn back into you and talk to me, please.” I ask, turning around to avoid seeing either of them naked.

“You’re taking this really well.” Emily smiles softly.

“Well, why not? I still care about them all the same. Even though I’m still mad about getting blown off, I get it now. I knew there was something wrong with them.” I shrug.

“Great, another human with way too much comfort in the supernatural world.” Sam chuckles, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

“Bella Swan is dating a vampire. Story for another time.” Jared shrugs. 

“Got it.” 

After I hear shifting of bones and shuffling of people and clothing.

“Hey.” Embry’s awkward voice echoes next to my ear. 

“Hi, Em.” I press my lips together. 

“Well, we’ll leave you to it. But now we can be friends again, so I’ll see you later.” Paul says, slapping my shoulder and jogging over to Sam, Emily, and Jared as they walked back into the house. 

“Well, I guess that’s my cue.” Embry awkwardly fiddles his thumbs. 

“Yes, it is. So what’s going on?” I ask, looking up into those chocolate brown eyes I loved. 

“Okay, so just hear me out completely before you say anything, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

“So, imprinting. It’s like gravity is no longer holding you to the Earth anymore, it’s them. You have a whole new center, someone else is holding you down. They’re your world, they matter more than anything. You’d give anything, be anything... for them. Whether that’s a friend, protector, lover... it doesn’t matter. Just being near them is heavenly. But, they hold the reins... they get to decide how the relationship is. Everything is their choice, their pace, their decisions. It’s unconditional love. It happens when your eyes meet the first time after phasing, some would say it’s like love at first sight-- but it doesn’t always have to be romantic. It’s a soulmate, platonically or romantically. But they’re to be protected, honored no matter what.” His rambling was ongoing, but all I immediately thought about was how much he knew of what it felt like. 

“Wow... Embry, did you imprint?” I ask, voice trembling. 

“I did.” His eyes met mine, causing my heart to jump. 

Both in excitement and in fear. I felt tears brimming my eyes. 

“Are you happy about it?” 

“I am, I’m relieved. But I don’t know how it’ll go yet, I wasn’t exactly given an answer, yet.” He smiles softly at me, reaching a hand out to mine. 

“Embry...” I choke. “Do you love her?” 

“Wait, (Y/N). Do you think... No I imprinted on you.” 

My stomach dropped, both in relief but also with nerves. 

“Wait, it’s me?” I ask, unable to prevent a small smile from forming on my face. 

“Yes, I thought that much was obvious. Sorry I didn’t clarify.” 

“No, no it’s okay.” 

“So, what’re your thoughts on it?” He looks at me with pleading eyes. 

“Well, this is a lot, Embry. I need some time to process this all, but I want us to be what we were. I love you, and you always felt like home. But I need to relax tonight. I need to go home and think.” I look up at his chocolate brown eyes.

“That’s okay, you should take time to process it. Just know, I’ll never hurt you, and that I’ll never let anything happen to you. I love you, (Y/N).” He smiles, happy with my response.

“Thank you, Em.” I hug him, burying my face in his neck as he lifts me up. 

Now just to wait for Jacob and Quil to join and forgive me for disappearing. ________________________________ Word Count: 3925

#embry call #embry call imagine #embry call x reader #paul lahote #paul lahote x reader #quil ateara #jacob black #leah clearwater #seth clearwater #jared cameron #sam uley #twilight

[fallenhero-rebirth]

Brain update

First, let me say that this isn't about what anybody has done. My reactions are not in proportion to anything that has happened, and might be considered odd, weird and sensitive to people involved.

So let me explain.

I'm an Aspie (what we call ourselves in Sweden), on the autism spectrum. Yeah, might have guessed that from the story I'm writing, Sidestep is not the only one trying to figure out how people work.

Over the years I have built up an arsenal of knowledge and analysis to be able to pretend to be neurotypical, something that I can manage alright most days, but which breaks down once you get to know me better. I'm open with this at my current job, and luckily both my bosses seem to be okay dealing with open communication and just telling me what I need to do.

It was not always like this, and that is one of the reasons why I had a breakdown and needed to get off discord/tumblr.

Back in the late nineties, I had finally got my dream job. I was a product developer in the food industry, part of a rather small department of middle-class academics. I was the new hire, everyone else had worked there for years, and things were going well. Or so I assumed. I got cool projects, got along well with one of the sales people, and well, my boss was weird but bosses always are.

Three years later. Our parent company wanted to sell us off, everyone was starting to get worried about their job. We tried to expand into things were weren't equipped to do (you don't bring spices into a fruit jam line, will be hell to clean) and while I did the projects, I also raised an (in retrospect) too big stink about the fact that we were wasting time developing things we couldn't produce without expanding. My boss (who I had learned was a devout christian) started to get really weird, I got called in and he wondered if I was a member of a cult (I was often wearing a headscarf at the time because pressure on my head is good for stress relief). I also got told off for wearing army boots to work (we had lab shoes in the lab), because (I kid you not) if we had danish visitors to the lab (we didn't have visitors) they could be offended since they had once been occupied by Nazis. Yes, at the time I was an Antifa metalhead/satanist, it was a very volatile time in sweden and nazis were everywhere. Now they're a political party, go figure.

It all came to a head when I was confronted with a folder one of the secretaries of the department had where she had written down every odd and strange thing that I did, and there were a lot of accusations of things I quite frankly blocked out. Around this time I was suffering from bad burnout, had memory loss, my hair was falling out and I lost two bikes because I forgot where I parked them. All because of workplace hostility.

So for the first time ever, I went to the company doctor, who immediately sent me on a one month sick leave, and gave a reference to a therapist. When I went and told my boss, his reaction was "It can't be anything at work," in a dismissive tone. I wrote my resignation right then and there, left the building, snuck back a Saturday to clean out my stuff so I didn't have to meet anyone. Luckily I was backed up by my union, so I got unemployment despite quitting, and the therapist helped me get back on my feet and hook me up with some antidepressants.

Still, I was a wreck for years.

At the time, I had NO idea I was an Aspie. It weren't talked about, the only thing I knew about Autism, was from the various portrayals in movies, and well, in the nineties you can guess. Rainman pretty much was it.

What destroyed me the most was not that people disliked me, I didn't like them either, we didn't have anything in common, and middle-class people always scared me. No, what broke me was the fact that my system failed.

See, I had built up myself over ten years into someone I wanted to be. Smart. Capable. Metalhead. Researcher. Activist. I thought I knew the rules. How to interact.

It turned out I knew nothing. People had been talking behind my back for years, and I didn't know. Getting annoyed by my ticks, and I had no idea. Nobody ever brought anything up to my face until it exploded one day out of the blue. This is why I have ranted about anons on this tumblr. This is why I have been so openly against passive aggressive posts and bullying, especially the anonymous kind, because it destroys people and I don't think the people who does it knows the impact they can have. I hope they don't.

I have never gone back to the lab. I can't. I'm having heart palpitations just thinking about it when I'm writing this. I retrained. Became a machinist. Back to the working class I came from. Eventually started writing.

And this is exactly what these last months have felt like.

I thought I understood things. I was pretty open with being old, an Aspie, not understanding memes, or humor, or tik tok, or certain aspects of people's behavior like jealousy, but the problem with joking about this is that it's so easy to take as just a joke. That I'm just making fun of myself (oh it's that too). I got advice from some of you, which I ignored, because I thought that I could be different. That there was no danger in getting close. That I could be just another voice in the crowd. An occasionally evil avocado. That this couldn't blow up in my face, that everything was cool.

And then it did. And I was wrong. And the talking started, and things were coming out that I had no idea that was going on. That I was being held responsible for. Opinions that were spoken in my name. Events I was supposed to have been aware of and supported. All of a sudden I was omniscient, aware of the true passive aggressive meaning of every reblog, aware of every post in every room in the discord I wasn't even running. Wasn't even a mod on. All of a sudden I had power, and I had used it to hurt people. The people I cared about. Everything I wrote was taken in the worst possible way, twisted into things I never meant, and the more I tried to talk to people, the worse it went.

Look. I know this was at heart a war between people that just doesn't like each other and the things they do/the ways they behave. I'm still not entirely sure who's been involved, and I'm not interested in finding out. I tried to build a supportive space, reblog everyone's art and fics, encourage people to make their own things, get a kofi, get some money, make some friends.

And herein lies my problem.

I thought I understood how to be, and now I don't. I have no idea who hates my guts and who doesn't (well, except some who has very vocally let me know). I can't trust anything. I can't trust anyone. And it sucks. Someone I trusted stabbed be in the back because they were convinced I stabbed them in the back and that sucks more than I can describe. Every time I make a comment on AO3 or twitter it's after psyching myself up for half an hour, and I'm usually a wreck afterwards, because my brain doesn't know if they hate me too, and if I am imposing on them and making their day bad.

So yeah. I need to figure out how to be. How not to have a nausea attack every time I accidentally click open tumblr from pure reflex, looking away from the screen just not to see how may messages I have.

I never wanted to be the aloof author, but maybe I have to be. The question is if I can. I have been told I can't comment on pics or fics, because then I have favorites. And that makes people jealous. And it makes people think I take sides. I have been told I can't be on the discord, because then I will be held responsible for what the mods do there, and everything that's said even when I'm not around. I should apparently have someone manage the tumblr, it's not something that I, an author should do.

I now understand the authors who just stay away and remain distant, because people give themselves the power to write the narrative for you.

Part of me wants to tell people what I've told my current bosses, don't assume, just talk to me. I don't pick up/do passive aggression, I don't understand hints, I have trouble with nuance, I don't listen to gossip, I don't interact enough to know anything that's going on. Just ask before assuming.

Except that right now I can't. I can't talk about any of this. It's too close. It sets me off. It's getting better, sure, I'm on medication again, but the smallest thing still can ruin my entire day. I have no idea how long it will take me to recover and come back to some semblance of normality. I'm not posting this myself (my partner does). Writing is going well, because it lets me not be myself. I need those walls again. The therapy of writing about pain.

I'll rebuild them. I'm not entirely sure who I'll be on the other end of it. We'll see.

I have consciously not spoken about any details because those could be misunderstood, this is not a passive aggressive callout to anybody. I have no hard feelings towards anyone, I am not angry or upset, just confused and sad. I am truly so very, very, very sorry that I've hurt people, both by action and inaction. It was never my intention. I will do my best to do better in the future.

Still working on how to do that.

#personal

[monaownsmyass]

Influence Her

Requested fic by anon. (If you have any fic ideas or requests you'd like me to write, you can leave me an ask!)

Book: Queen B

Pairing: Veronica Lombardi x MC (Bea Hughes)

Genre: Fluff

Rating: PG13, strong words and suggestive lines/scenes

Word Count: 5,125 (V stans feasting with this one)

A/N: MC doesn’t really like Veronica’s social media presence but can real-life Veronica change her mind when they meet? (Alternating POVs) Y’all wanted a Poppy x MC enemies-to-lovers? Nahhh Veronica x MC would’ve been much better imo 😏 I also gave her some personality since PB is shit with character development especially with their side characters. 

Tag list: @ineedskyecrandall @kamilahsayeet2063 @avalawrencefl @lovekamilahsayeed @thequeenkamilahsayeed @heygmicheelle @djtjsmith14 @jjlover01 @soft-for-drake @dopeyouth @alexroyard @satrinadia @toalltheboysididntlove @mypegasifly (lmk if anyone would like to be included or removed in my next fics and if you only want to be tagged for certain pairings.)

Part 2 is here!

I couldn't escape it.

It was all Veronica this! Veronica that! Oh, Veronicats! Oh, @vivilomborghini! And I've had it!

She was everywhere and I couldn't escape it. Obviously, she was all over my socials. On Pictagram, The T, but ever since I joined Belvoire, I couldn't even walk across the damn campus without seeing her.

I heard about Veronica long before I started attending Belvoire and I never liked her even since then. Something about her always rubbed me the wrong way.

When I found out she was also a student here on my first day, I was ready to head out. I did have other offers from different universities but Zoey convinced me that it wasn't gonna be so bad, so I took her word for it and stayed.

It was hard enough trying to avoid her on social media, which, trust me, was a sport all on it's own, but now I had to inevitably see her face every single day. I had no idea why, but I felt like she was wherever I went. At the library, at class, at the courtyard, it didn't matter, she was there.

She was like a constant nightmare haunting me. Okay, maybe a gorgeous, very attractive nightmare, but a nightmare nonetheless.

"I don't get why you hate her so much, babe," Zoey said at she followed my irritated glare aimed at Veronica who was vlogging not too far away. "She's not that bad."

"I don't hate Veronica Lombardi, but she hasn't given me any reason to like her either," I clarified.

"Why not?"

I scoffed. "Just look at her! Look how fake she is. She's basically lying to her fans. Her online personality is so artificially bright and happy it makes me wanna barf."

"Bea, that's basically almost every social media influencer ever."

"Maybe, but there's just something about her that doesn't sit right with me. How did she even get that many followers? I don't get what people see in her. Like sure, she's easy on the eyes and all but there's literally nothing else going for her."

Zoey raised a brow. "I'm surprised you admitted she's attractive.."

"I just don't like her, that doesn't mean I'm blind, Zo. I can appreciate a pretty face even if it annoys the shit out of me."

Zoey let out a laugh and gave me a pat on the cheek before standing up from the picnic table we were sitting at. "I'm sure V would be ecstatic to hear you call her pretty."

The space between my brows creased. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, babe, it's so obvious our favourite social media star has a crush on you."

"What makes you say that?" My nose scrunched up in disgust but something in my stomach stirred.

"You know, the looks, the movements," she replied, waving her hand around. "I'd love to explain more, but I'm gonna be late for class." She gathered her things and started walking away.

"Fine, fine," I sighed.

"And babe?"

"Yeah?"

"Dreamgirl is headed your way."

~*~*~

From the moment my eyes set on Bea Hughes, I knew there was something different about her.

Yes, the way she dressed, her accent, how she stood up to Poppy, it definitely made her stand out in Belvoire but there was just something else about her that caught my attention.

Maybe it was the way she carried herself, or her vibe. Maybe it was just how hot she was, I wasn't sure.

There was just a magnetic pull attracting me to her and I may not have known why, but I was determined to get to know her better.

I remembered the first time I caught sight of her. There was a crowd in the courtyard surrounding her and Poppy. She straight up roasted Poppy with no remorse and when she was done, our eyes locked. I could feel the tension between us. Was it sexual? Was it rivalry? Jealousy? Hatred? Maybe it was in potential alliance.

Whatever it was, I felt a connection.

Her smouldering gaze held onto my curious one and we held eye contact for a good minute before I raised a brow. She suddenly seemed to realise where she was and rolled her eyes, looking away.

I didn't know what that eye roll meant but that wasn't gonna stop me from finding out more about this interesting woman.

While I was vlogging, my eyes drifted to the girl that had me thinking about her ever since she stepped onto campus. She was eyeing me in annoyance. I've had people look at me like that but something behind her glare told me that wasn't all. I saw my chance. I smirked, ended the vlog and started walking up to her.

I didn't know what her problem with me was but I was gonna find out.

She was intriguing. 

And I, Veronica Lombardi, was always up for a challenge.

~*~*~

I whipped my head around to see Veronica headed my way. I didn't like her but the way she strutted towards me made me breathless. The power in her strides almost made me realise why she was as popular as she was. Almost.

Still, I groaned and reached an arm out to Zoey.

"Zo! Don't leave me!"

"Sorry babe," she laughed. "You're on your own. Tell me how it goes, though!"

My arm flopped onto the table and my head followed.

"Hey," I heard a smooth, low voice call out not long after.

I knew who it was from but it still shocked me. It was such a vast difference from the bubbly, higher-pitched tone I had associated with her.

I raised my head to look at her.

"Yes?"

"This seat taken?"

"Does it matter?" I sighed. "Looks like you're gonna sit anyway."

She chuckled and crossed her arms. "That wasn't a yes so I can only assume you want me too."

I was about to deny it but something stopped me. I couldn't get the words out in time and she sat across me.

Well, this would be interesting.

"What do you want, Veronica?"

"No need to be so hostile," she raised her hands up. "I just came by 'cuz I saw you ogling at me."

My jaw dropped. "I was not ogling at you!" I said defensively.

She laughed again at my apprehension. "Sure you weren't."

"I wasn't!"

"Anyway," she said, ignoring my protest. God, she was infuriating. "I thought it was about time we finally meet and get to know each other."

I just looked at her as she stretched a hand out.

"Hi, I'm Veronica Lombardi," she said with a dazzling smile.

I had no intention of shaking her hand but I didn't wanna be mean especially since she was being nice. Also, there was something so compelling about that smile...

I lightly held her hand but the slight contact sent a jolt up my arm.

What was happening?

Brushing it off, I gave it a single shake. "Bea."

"Nice to officially meet you, Bea."

The way she spoke my name was unlike the way others said it. It sounded like a praise on her lips.

"As much as I'd love to hang around and make you fall in love with me," she stated and I was about to say something to contradict it but decided against it. Not like it would've helped. "I gotta go. Perhaps we could continue this conversation later? Elsewhere?"

I glared at her in disbelief. "Are you seriously asking me out on a date right now?"

"Oh, it's a date, huh?" she said playfully.

"What? I- you- NO!" I flustered.

"Alright then, it's a date," she laughed and I could feel myself getting red in the face. Was it from being infuriated or from blushing? I couldn't tell.

"Why would I go out with you?"

"Look, I know you don't like me that much, but why not give me a chance, hm?" The right corner of her lips quirked up ever so slightly as she gave me a lazy grin, so unlike the awfully overexaggerated fake cheery smile I was accustomed to seeing. It was relaxed and laidback and I'd be lying if I said I didn't find it absolutely sexy.

"How do I know it's not just for a vlog or some prank video."

"I swear it's not," she quickly assured. "If you don't believe me, I'll let you keep my phone for the entire time. I promise. I just want to get to know you."

She gazed into my eyes and I could tell she was telling the truth.

"Alright..."

"It that a yes?"

"It's not a yes..." I paused before adding. "But it not a no either."

I saw her eyes light up and I thought it was pretty cute. I mean, it was good to know she wasn't devoid of human emotion.

"I'll tell you what," she said and reached into her bag for a pen and paper and starting writing. "You let me know once you make up your mind."

She slid the paper over to me and on it was her number. She signed off as 'V, xoxo'.

Before standing up, she took my hand that was resting on the table between us in hers and paused for a moment, looking me in the eyes and making sure I wouldn't flinch away.

Once she was certain I wouldn't pull back, she brought my hand up to her lips and placed a gentle kiss on it. The way her soft lips grazed my hand made my heart flutter.

She let it go and walked away, looking over her shoulder to wink at me.

"Until then, beautiful."

I felt my whole face burn as I watched her walk away.

And this time, it was definitely from blushing.

~*~*~

"I'm telling you, Zo! How many times do I have to repeat myself? It's not a date!"

"Didn't you say she said it was a date?"

"Well, technically I made the mistake of assuming it was a date then she got the wrong idea and called it a date."

"So you wanted it to be a date?"

I was ready to pull my hair out in frustration. "No!"

Zoey giggled at me. "You are going though, right?"

"Why should I? I have no reason too."

"The Veronica Lombardi asked you out on a date and you're gonna say no to that?" She looked at me like I was stupid.

"It's not a date!"

"Just go for it. What do you have to lose?"

"My time, patience and sanity."

She glanced at me skeptically. "I don't think you actually believe that. I think you just don't want to admit you wanna spend time with Veronica."

That made me quiet. Was the idea of going out with Veronica actually repulsive or did I just not want to acknowledge it?

"Fine, I'll go for the stupid thing."

Zoey first pumped and cheered. "I can't wait to see you in her next vlog!"

"Oh, she said she wasn't gonna vlog."

She blinked at me. "What?"

"She said she would let me keep her phone for the rest of our time together as proof when I asked her if it she was only asking me out for a video."

"Bea, do you not realise what this means?"

I just looked at Zoey, puzzled.

"Veronica, Queen of Social Media, who vlogs and livestreams everything, said she would give you her phone. That's where all her power is! She's basically giving it up to you! I've heard if anyone so much as touches her phone, there'll be hell to pay."

Involuntarily, I felt myself start to smile. "Really?"

"God, you look like a kid in a candy store. You sooooo like her."

I shoved her and tried but failed miserably to hide my ecstatic expression. "Shut up! I do not!"

Zoey collapsed into a fit of giggles. "Deny it all you want, but you said you'd go out with her and I don't see you texting her yet."

I rolled my eyes at my best friend but moved to grab my phone to shoot Veronica a quick text to tell her my answer was yes.

~*~*~

When I received her confirmation yesterday, I felt the excitement bubbling in me. From the how she was blushing and the way she looked at me when I left, I was almost certain she would agree but getting a straight answer from her was the best news I've had all week.

I looked at the mirror at the outfit I was wearing. Hmm, should I change or would this suffice? No, I didn't want it to just suffice, I wanted it to impress.

I went through my closet, flinging clothes everywhere, trying to find something that would definitely catch her eye when I heard someone shout, "V!!!"

I rolled my eyes as Poppy barged in with Chloe by her side.

"What the hell are you doing and why is your room messier than a pig sty?! You were suppose to meet me an hour ago!"

I simply shrugged at her. "I'm busy."

"Busy with what? Putting on a fashion show for the fly on your wall?! Get ready, we're going out."

"Like I said, Pops," I took a stride in her direction and booped her nose, no doubt making her madder than she already was. "I'm busy."

"With what?" Chloe asked curiously since Poppy looked like she was gonna pop her lid off.

"I have a date with Hughes," I hummed.

"YOU'RE DITCHING ME FOR THAT NEWBIE, FARMSVILLE?!" Poppy screamed angrily.

I ignored Poppy and turned to Chloe. "Help me pick out something?"

"I'd love to!" she squealed which made Poppy stomp her feet in frustration.

"Ugh! Fine! Don't come crawling back to me when your social ranking takes a plunge after being seen with Farmsville!"

"You're delusional, Pops, maybe you should rest," I laughed as she stormed off, leaving Chloe to help me find the perfect outfit.

I couldn't wait to see Bea again.

~*~*~

There was a knock on the front door and Zoey jumped in excitement.

"You're looking forward to it more than I am."

"Can't I just be happy for my best friend-slash-roommate?" She pushes me towards the door. "Now go get your girl!"

"She is not my girl!" But my mind started racing at the possibility.

I shook the thought away and opened the door to be greeted with the sight of Veronica holding a single rose. I hate to admit it, but my breath hitched as I took her in.

My eyes ran up and down her body, soaking in every single feature my eyes landed on. Her sleeveless shirt was loose against her toned body but showed off her biceps nicely compared to her usual long-sleeved sweater.

My gaze landed on her chest and travelled down to her hips which only lead to her long, muscular legs covered by her pants. I forced my eyes back up to her attractive face only to see a stupid cocky smirk playing on her lips.

It was infuriating but fuck, she was hot.

I didn't even notice I was biting my lip until I heard her speak.

"Don't bite too hard, it might start bleeding before I get to kiss you," she said flirtatiously with that calm voice of hers but I could see her own eyes roaming my body.

I rolled my eyes but I wasn't as annoyed as I lead on. "Someone's confident."

"Very," she replied with a full smile this time and held out the rose in her hand. "For you."

"This isn't a date."

"It is!" Zoey called out from behind me.

"Zo!"

"It's true," she laughed. "Have fun on your date! V, you better treat her good!"

"The best," Veronica laughed with Zoey. "Don't worry!" She turned her attention back to me. "So, are you gonna accept my rose?"

The way she phrased it and said it made me melt. How could I say no?

Sighing in defeat, I took it from her and tucked it into my purse, the flower sticking out, on display for the world to know and strangely, I didn't mind.

We made our way away from the dorm and across the courtyard to her car. I saw people looking and whispering, wondering what the hell the newbie was doing with Belvoire's social media queen, the third ranked in The T.

I snickered and felt a little smug. It was great knowing someone with so much power was by my side. I felt kinda protected and safe 'cuz I knew no one would dare toss any snide remarks my way when I was with her.

I also thought it was really sweet that she didn't care that she was being seen with me. Not like I think anyone would dare say anything about her but I was still touched.

She opened the passenger side door for me and I raised her a brow at her. "I can open my own door, you know," I teased.

"O.M.G., I totally didn't know that," she replied sarcastically in a deadpan tone. "Lemme just do something nice for you."

"I guess I wouldn't mind being treated like a princess for the day," I muttered jokingly.

"Darling, I'll treat you like a queen," she replied coolly and suddenly, my whole body was on fire.

That immediately shut me up which made her chuckle.

We got into her car and she began driving. After a while, I spoke up.

"Where are we going?"

"You're warming up to me, huh?" She glance at me from the corner of her eyes and gave me another exasperating smirk.

"What?"

"You're starting a conversation with me. You like me now, don't you?" She reached out to poke me in the arm and I swatted her hand away even though I was trying my hardest to stifle a smile that was threatening to spread across my lips.

"God, you're annoying."

"Hey, I'm just stating facts."

Eventually, we pulled up to a small quaint café that didn't look like what I thought Veronica's speed was at all.

She opened the door for me again and this time, I didn't bother with a witty remark since I knew she would turn it on me anyway.

As we walked in, she greeted the barista behind the counter as if they've known each other for some time and it occurred to me then that I was getting to see the real Veronica. The thought that she actually was willing to share this private part of her life with me made me soft.

After ordering, she guided me to a table and pulled out a chair for me, motioning for me to sit. I looked around to take in the surrounding. There was barely anyone else in the café, only two other customers who were in their own worlds, reading. The place was small and cozy and... quiet. It wasn't like the high-energy, over-the-top, loud parties and events setting I was used to seeing her in. It was much more peaceful. Even the contemporary R&B and soul music they were playing that Veronica was humming to was much different than the pop songs she played in her vlogs that I've seen.

"Is this your little hideout?"

She offered me a small grin before staring at a picture on the wall. "Somewhat. No one expects to find me here so it's where I come if I just want some time to myself. No Poppy, no Belvoire, none of the Veronicats, just me." She leaned forward as her enrapturing eyes landed on mine and the sheer intensity of her gaze sucked all the air out of my lungs. "And now you."

I looked away, not being able to hold eye contact anymore and all of a sudden feeling very overwhelmed.

"It doesn't seem like you. I mean, I knew your online personality wasn't all real but this is..."

"Different?" she gave me a rueful smile. "I'm not my brand, Bea."

"Who are you, then?"

Her sad smile quickly changed into a simper. "That's why we're here, aren't we?"

"Fair enough." I leaned back in my chair. "Why don't you show your followers the real you? I'm sure they'll appreciate it." 'I do,' I thought subconsciously.

She let out a humourless laugh. "It's not that easy. Changing my entire image is already a hassle, but then I'd have to deal with that rumours and the haters and all that bullshit which is annoying. Then, I have to worry about my followers who'll either bash me or get bashed for still supporting me," she sighed, looking more tired than I've ever seen her. "It's just a lot."

Before I could reply, she pulled out her phone and slid it over to me across the table. "Like I promised, I'll let you keep it."

"V," I started and realised I called her by her nickname for the first time. I knew she noticed it to when I saw her brows lift up slightly. "You really don't have to."

She shook her head. "No, no, I want to. I want you to know I'm serious about this. I want you to know I'm being honest. Also, it's relaxing to know I don't have to worry about my online appearance since it's with you," she joked.

"Aren't you scared I'll log into your accounts? Maybe try and steal you phone?"

She looked at me with an amused smile. "I'm right here, I can see whatever you're doing. And what, you gonna run off with my phone in an unfamiliar area when I have a car?"

"Maybe I'll steal your car too."

She let out a full laugh that made my heart flip.

Woah?

"Darling, you can try," she spoke and leaned in closer, almost whispering the next part with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "But I think we both know who'll end up on top."

I caught the undertone in her statement and I felt my cheeks getting hot.

"You'd be surprised," I returned her energy and I saw her pupils dilate, the tension between us palpable.

We were interrupted by the barista from earlier. They served us our drinks and left, making me clear my throat and trying to shake out the image of Veronica and I in a.... compromising position.

I looked at her phone that was still in front of me and hesitantly slipped it into my purse.

"I have a question," I said.

"Mm?"

"Aren't you tired of pretending? To your followers?"

She crossed her arms on the table and my eyes immediately drifted down to see her arms flex as she did but I forced them back up to her face. 'Not the time!' I scolded myself in my head.

Her tiny grin told me she noticed. Damn, nothing slipped past this woman.

However, she looked over it and answered me. "It wasn't always pretend. That person was actually me once. That's what happens when you grow up in the public eye, I guess." She propped her chin on her hand. "I started doing all of this when I was young and it was only for fun. A kid just being a kid, you know? But then my content blew up and as I grew older, it was only natural for me to change, to discover who I really was. But the thing with people online is that they don't get that. They think we're a fraud or we went off the rails if we suddenly change things up."

I looked her in the eyes as she told me more about it.

"And before I knew it, I had an image to uphold. A brand to stick to. I was no longer that bubbly, excited kid from a decade ago but my audience didn't know that. I don't feel like I'm fake 'cuz that was who I am. But not anymore. And it might be tiring but it's worth it. I may be playing a character online but if that person inspires young girls and boys and is their role model, how could I take that away from them?"

Listening to her speak made me regret every awful thing I've said about her. A wave of sadness washed over me and as much as I wished I could reassure her and tell her it's not true, that everyone would support her, I knew that wasn't reality. 

So instead, I said, "Would you ever show who you really are?"

Her perfectly threaded brows creased as she pondered over my question. "Not anytime soon. But if it gets too much, maybe then I'll consider doing it. But until then," she looked down and then back up at me with an honest smile. "I'm happy just sharing the actual me with the people in my real life."

~*~*~

Opening up to Bea was the easiest thing in the world. Those warm eyes, that curios look, the way she hung onto every word I said, giving me her full attention, it was inevitable that I would spill my heart out to her.

And it looked like I had the same effect on her.

She told me more about her life back in the Midwest, her family, her thoughts, dreams and so much more that I didn't expect to get out of her on our first 'date'.

As she spoke, I studied her face and mannerisms, wanting to know every single detail about her. Her expressive eyebrows, her stunning eyes, her smooth skin and soft lips. The way she pronounced certain words and how her accent got stronger when she was angry or talking something she was passionate about. The way she would roll her eyes but her cheeks reddened when I teased her or said something flirty. How her nose scrunched when she giggled, the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled.

Fuck, that smile. I'd do anything she told me to if she smiled at me like that.

"Hey, I know I said I wouldn't use my phone today," I began and I saw her give me a worried look. I quickly continued so she didn't get the wrong idea. "But I really want to take a picture with you. Is that okay? I won't post it, I just wanna keep it."

I saw her disappointed look instantly turn to relief then shyness.

"You wanna take a photo with me?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "You look really pretty and I just want something to remember you by."

I wasn't sure if she would agree but then she reached into her purse and handed me my phone. Grinning broadly, I moved beside her and lifted my phone up.

"Is this okay?" I asked, moving an arm around her waist carefully, making sure she wasn't uncomfortable.

She simply nodded and when my hand touched her, I felt her shiver which only made made me smile wider.

The cups and plates piled on our table, customers walked in and out, the sky darkened, a hundred songs were played and the second hand on the wall clock travelled the same path thousands of times as we continued talking and yet, our conversation never died.

I had never connected with someone so fast and it surprised me just how easy it was for us to just talk.

It was getting pretty late and we decided it was time to leave. Before standing up, I jokingly asked, "Anything else before we leave?"

To my surprise, she replied, "Just one."

"Yeah?"

She smiled. "You're alright, Lombardi."

~*~*~

When we made it back to campus, V walked me back to my dorm. When I said she didn't have to, she still insisted which was really sweet of her.

"Plus I get to spend more time with you," she said teasingly while lightly bumping shoulders as we walked side-by-side and I felt myself smile.

We stopped outside my dorm room and admittedly, I had no idea how I was gonna say goodbye to her.

"Here we are," she announced.

"Yup."

She took a step towards me cautiously as if I would move back. I didn't.

I stared at her as my stomach filled with butterflies. Everything about her was painfully gorgeous and it made my heart ache. I knew she was attractive but now that I got to know her, to actually see her, it made it hard to believe she was a real person.

She was perfect.

One hand on my hip, she leaned forward and bent down, face inching closer to mine. I closed my eyes, here nearness making me light-headed and the smell of her perfume fogged my thoughts. My heart was hammering in my chest.

I expected her lips to meet mine. Instead, I felt it on my cheek but my skin still tingled from where her lips touched.

"Good night, beautiful," she whispered with a small smile and a longing look in her hazel eyes. "Hopefully you don't glare at me the next time you see me."

She stepped back but I instinctively reached out to hold onto her wrist, preventing her from moving any further. I shook my head. "No."

"No?" she looked at me, confused and I could sense the hurt in her voice.

"No," I repeated. "No, that's not enough."

I pulled her into me and crashed our lips together. The moment our lips touched, I swear I saw stars. She pushed me back until I was pressed up against the door with her body. She trailed a hand down my thigh and hiked my leg up to her hip, making me groan.

I sent a mental apology to Zoey if she was in and heard all this.

"God, I don't know what you hold over me," I muttered between kisses. "Yesterday I didn't like you and now you have me against my dorm door, making out with me."

She pulled back, breathing heavy and gave me one of those sexy, relaxed smile. "Well, I am an influencer."

Veronica grabbed onto my other leg and lifted me up. Arms wrapped around her neck and legs locked tight around her waist, she kissed me again.

"Ohh! V!"

I moaned as she bit my bottom lip. My whole body was burning with heat and everywhere she touched ignited me further. One hand moved to grip the side of my neck while the other rested on my ass.

"Are you in love with me yet?" She said into the kiss and pulled away again, looking at me proudly with a genuine smile on her face.

"Shut up," I grinned and tugged her head back so our lips could meet again. This time, in a slow, sweet kiss.

And you know what?

Veronica Lombardi wasn't so bad after all.

(More fics!)

#did writing this make me fall even more in love with veronica? #absolutely a 100% #veronica x mc #veronica lombardi #veronica qb #qb #queen b #qb choices #choices #choices: stories you play #pb #pixelberry #playchoices #qb fanfiction #choices fanfiction #thanks for reading!

[littlemissaddict]

A twist of fate

Summary: It’s the big night where Luke, Alex and Reggie get to make their final wish come true and hopefully cross over. Caleb had other plans to get the boys into his house plans that involve y/n, Julie’s friend and the girl that Luke likes. Or a retelling of 01x09 that involves the reader. (Requested)

Word Count: 3.3K

A/n: Anon I hope you enjoy because this is the longest fic I’ve wrote to date but I’ve really enjoyed writing this so thank you.

“Julie, you need to calm down, I’m sure everything is fine” Y/n says watching Julie from her place on the couch. She had been pacing around the studio ever since the boys had left to go to the Orpheum to try and get them on the bill for tonight, it was like being with Alex when he had one of his anxiety flare ups. That was another thing, y/n could see the boys just like Julie, they weren’t sure how or why but it had been a surprise when she had first walked in on them in the studio when she still believed that they were holograms.

“Yeah but what if-” Julie didn’t get to finish as the three boys in question poofed back into the studio with big smiles on their faces.

“Oh my gosh! What took you guys so long? Did Willie do it? Did you talk to them? Did they watch? Did they like us? Are we playing? Can someone answer me? Why is no one saying anything?” Julie rambled bombarding the three boys with questions. Luke glanced over at where y/n had now stood up to join Julie, an amused look on his face as Julie rambled, she shook her head at the boy as a warning not to interrupt to let her finish which he did.

“Whoa. That’s a lot of questions” Reggie chuckled before asking Luke to take the lead on this one.

“Take a seat” he instructed, waiting for the two girls to be seated before he began. “It’s fine. Everything is fine” he reassured seeing the nervous looks on their faces

“Yeah you should be getting a call right now” Alex says excitedly and they all look at Julie's phone expectedly, but no call comes. Alex clears his throat and tries again. “Right now” and this time the call comes through. Julie and y/n cheer hugging each other excitedly before they remember about the phone call and Julie answers.

“Hi….Yes it is….Yeah totally” she smiles as she joins y/n and the boys jumping about excitedly “We’re playing the Orpheum baby” she cheers as they watch the boys lift Alex. It takes them a full ten minutes for it to really sink in that this was happening, they were playing the Orpheum, the boys were getting their second chance.

“Oh my god, I have to go tell my dad” Julie gasps letting them know that she’ll be back shortly. Reggie and Alex carried on chatting excitedly but Luke took a seat next to y/n, since she had found out that they boys were ghosts she had actually become quite close to them all but more so Luke. 

“This is amazing I’m so happy for you guys” she gushes and honestly if they could touch she thinks she’d hug him right now but that’s out of the question so she settles for giving him the biggest smile she can. 

“You’re coming to watch us right?” he asks, giving her puppy dog eyes as if she would say no.

“Of course I wouldn’t miss it for the world” she says “besides it maybe the last time I see you” her smile fading, she doesn’t want to bring the mood down but she can’t help it, the thought has been lingering in the back of her mind ever since Julie had told her about the curse and their only options.

“Whatever happens tonight y/n, just know that I’m so happy that I got to meet you that I got the chance to get to know you and I know that I’ll not forget you” he says a small smile on his face and y/n finds herself tearing up she wishes so much that she could hug him right now. She settles for wrapping her arms around herself instead.

“I’ll never forget you either or the boys” she says, glancing over at them, they’re still completely wrapped up in their own conversation oblivious to her and Luke. Julie comes back not long after, she’s smiling widely telling them how excited her dad and Carlos are for tonight.

“Well I better be off, you guys have got to plan for tonight and I have got to get ready” y/n smiles giving her friend a hug on her way past and waving to the boys.

She makes it to the front yard of the Molina house when a male figure steps out blocking her path, she looks up not expecting to see an older male dressed in an over the top suit and matching top hat, she starts to apologise when he says her name.

“I’m sorry do I know you” she asks not wanting to seem rude but she is pretty sure that she would have remembered him if she had met him before. He smiles back at her seemingly unaffected by her question .

“I don’t think so darling but I’m a friend of the band just stopped by to wish them luck for tonight, it’s pretty exciting right” he smiles at her and she’s not sure why but she doesn’t trust him. Something about him seems off and she’s feeling uneasy in his presence. 

“Yes very but if you’ll excuse me I have to be going” she says dropping all pleasantries and trying to move past him but he blocked her way again. 

“I don’t think so my dear, I have something that you can help me with” he says smugly, his character changing completely and she goes to protest but before she can the world is spinning around her and she finds herself alone in a dark room,

------

“Ughhh” the boys groan as another jolt fills them with pain, they were in the studio going over the last few things before the show tonight. Julie and her family had left about five minutes ago and the boys were due to head over shortly, they just wanted to make sure they were ready for what would happen after the show. That got interrupted however by the last person they were hoping to see.

“What are you doing here?” Luke asks accusingly, the first of the boys to recover from the shock and he stands between the other two boys and Caleb.

“Such hostility” Caleb gasps, feigning shock “I’m just here to congratulate you on your big night. Not everyone gets to play the Orpheum” he says as if he’s happy for them nut the boys don’t believe him for a second.

“No. Ok, we know that it’s your stamp that’s hurting us” Luke states, stepping forward and pulling up his sleeve to prove his point, to which Caleb looks knowingly seeming to know exactly where they got the information from. “We already told you, we have a band. We don’t want to join your little club” Luke says forcefully.

“Yeah and you can’t make us either,” Alex adds stepping forward but backtracking a little at the glare Caleb gives him “sir”

“Oh I doubt that very much” he replies threateningly “You see I have someone that means an awful lot to you and if you want her back then there’s only one way that is going to happen” he chuckles smugly watching the boys as they give each other confused looks.

“You’re lying” Luke accuses “Julie just left there’s no way you have her”

“Oh it’s not Julie” he smiles as the realisation crosses the boys faces as Caleb clicks his fingers and y/n appears before their eyes.

“Y/n” Reggie gasps, it’s the first time he’s spoken since Caleb appeared, he tries to go to her but Caleb clicks his tongue stopping him in his tracks. Luke hasn’t moved or said a word since she appeared but his eyes have been locked on hers, she’s frightened he can tell, not that she would admit it and she’s shaking her head at him, eyes pleading with him not to go with Caleb. As much as he loves Julie and their band, how he promised that they would never stand her up again, the feeling of losing y/n to Caleb is too much to bear. He gives one last look to her before his eyes find the boys, they’re nodding at him, knowing what they have to do and that’s when he finally faces Caleb.

“Fine we’ll join your band but you have to let y/n go” he says defeatedly, hopefully Julie can forgive them.

“Oh I know you will but do you really think I’d be stupid enough to let her go that easily” he chuckles, snapping his fingers again poofing them all out, leaving the studio empty.

----

“I made friends with the tech crew, you’re going to love what we have planned” Flynn smiles excitedly after the stage manager had let her into the dressing room after “the guys are here right” she asks, eyes darting around the room.

“I haven’t seen them or y/n for that matter, I was hoping she was with you” Julie admits

“No I thought she was with you but the boys, you don’t think they changed their minds do you and took Calebs’ offer” Flynn says worriedly 

“No. No, that’s the last thing that they wanted” she says quickly, wanting to believe it “Somethings wrong it has to be” says thinking about the boys.

----

When y/n could see again she found herself back in the dark room where she had been before. She was so frustrated. She had let herself be taken by the one person who had it out for the boys, not that she had much choice in the matter she reminded herself, there was nothing she could do against Caleb’s magic. That didn’t stop her from feeling like it was her fault that they boys ended up under his control though. She wanted to scream but she stopped herself knowing that it would do nothing to help the situation, what she had to do was find a way out so that she could get to Julie or warn her somehow. She found herself pacing, something she had gotten annoyed at Julie for only hours earlier, if only she could find a door or an opening, anything that she could get out through. She started walking around with her arms out in front of her, feeling blindly for any hard surface that she could use as a guide but she found nothing, as if the room was never ending and she was starting to give up when she felt a cold sensation on her shoulders as if there was someone there holding onto her, guiding her. 

That was when she felt the world begin to spin again and she prepared herself to end up face to face with Caleb again but that didn’t happen. Instead she came face to face with someone else. He looked young, more around the boys age, wearing an oversized hoodie, blue ripped jeans and he was carrying a skateboard.

“Willie?” she asked quietly not certain that it was him but he fit the description Alex had given them.

“You can see me” he says, shocked and y/n nods not entirely sure why she could but there he was. “Listen I haven’t got long before he realises I’m gone but you have to go, get to Julie and tell her what happened” he says pointing her in the direction of the exit and encouraging her to hurry.

“Thank you” she whispers to him before running out.

----

“Signs” Julie says marching past Flynn showing her the dahlia as she goes and up onto the stage.

“Wait, where are you going?” Flynn calls after her, amazed at the change in her friend, how determined she seems to be. “She’s going on stage” Flynn yells excitedly watching her best friend, the stage manager alerts the crew just as Flynn’s phone rings.

“Y/n, where are you?” she asks surprised that she’s called 

“I’m outside they won’t let me in because Julie still has my ticket and pass but somethings happened, it’s important that Julie knows” she says quickly and Flynn just about manages to catch what she said.

“Hold on I’m coming” Flynn says, ending the call and rushing off through the maze of backstage corridors to get y/n. When they do manage to get y/n backstage the first thing she does is ask her where Julie is.

“Something has happened with the boys, Caleb has them” she says watching the look on Flynn’s face “he used me as bait to get to the boys and they went with him to save me only it didn’t exactly go to plan. Caleb took me as well but I managed to escape with a little help but we really need to tell Julie” She finishes taking a deep breath.

“We can’t tell her now she’s on stage but she thinks that they boys are gone, that they ran out of time” Flynn tells her “She’s also really worried about you” she tells her as they get back to the side of the stage, Julie has just started to sing and y/n is so proud of her for going up there by herself because she never thought she see that confidence in her friend again after losing her mom. Julie gets to the chorus and everyone gets a surprise when a certain drummer appears on the stage closely followed Reggie both smiling widely at Julie.

“Oh my gosh Flynn they did it they escaped but where’s Luke?” she asks looking worriedly at Flynn, who mirrors her look. A few seconds later Luke appears on the stage but he’s flickering and he disappears a few times before he finally appears fully, belting out the next line in the song and the girls cheer along from the side of the stage. When the song ends they all take a bow, the boys disappearing and for once neither Julie or y/n can see them. After taking in the praise and applause that she rightfully deserves, Julie finds both girls at the side of the stage and the head back to the dressing room. 

“Y/n you made it, we thought you weren’t coming” Julie smiles 

“Yeah about that…” y/n replies not wanting to bring the mood down after that amazing performance but Julie needs to know what happened, she tells her everything about Caleb, about the boys offering to go with him to save y/n and finally about Willie.

“Y/n,” Julie gasps when she finishes pulling her friend in for a hug “are you okay?” she asks when she pulls away.

“I’ll be okay but the boys escaped and now-now they’ve crossed over” she shrugs a small smile on her face that Julie mirrors she knows how she feels, the boys have crossed over they should be happy but it hurts knowing that they’ve lost their friends.

----

“You guys think we could try that hug thing one more time?” Alex asks with a smile making Julie chuckle, she was so relieved to have the boys back. After she had said goodbye to Flynn and y/n at the Orpheum she had come home and gone straight out to the studio wanting to say her last goodbyes to the boys. Although it hadn’t gone exactly to plan, she had found them all laid on the floor, bodies shaking from the force of the jolts and that had Julie almost breaking down. Pleading with them to save themselves and join Caleb but they wouldn’t go and without thinking she flung her arms around them wanting to give them a proper goodbye. It had surprised them all when her arms didn’t go through them like they usually would, she could actually touch them, they seemed to glow then a bright aura surrounding them as they all gripped their wrists wincing slightly as Caleb’s stamp lifted. That had led them to their current situation with Alex asking for more to which they all obliged, laughing excitedly as they pulled away.

“Wait what about y/n?” Luke asks, suddenly drawing the attention of the other three and Julie gives him a confused look until she remembers that they still think Caleb has her, she goes to tell them but Alex speaks first.

“Julie, Caleb has y/n he’s the reason why we were late” he says, the smile dropping from his face but Julie shakes her head at him looking between the three of them.

“No, she escaped she made it to the Orpheum she saw you guys play and now she thinks you’ve crossed over” Julie explains

“What? How?” Alex asks

“Willie” she smiles over at Alex “He knew he couldn’t do anything to save you guys from Caleb so he snuck away while you were being controlled by Caleb and helped her” Julie says watching as a fond smile made its way onto his face.

“Wait y/n could she Willie” Reggie asks surprised and Julie nods

“We have to go to her, tell her that we’re okay” Luke says looking to the other three, they know how Luke feels about y/n even if he’s never said anything. They can see it in the way he acts around her, the way he looks at her and how he talks about her so it’s only fair that she would be the first thing on his mind now.

“She’s at home” Julie says simply, knowing that it’s all he needs to hear before he poofs out. Alex and Reggie stay where they are leaving Luke alone for this.

----

Y/n’s curled up under the duvet arms wrapped around herself, she’s been there since she got home from the show, her eyes are red and she’s still sniffling from the crying that she did when she got back. She’s happy for the boys that they got to fulfil their final dying wish but that doesn’t stop the pain of losing them.

“Y/n” a voice says quietly but she doesn’t move, it sounds like Luke but it can’t be he crossed over she must be imagining it until she hears it again, louder this time. Sitting up and looking at the door, that's where she sees him.

“Luke” she gasps “What-how-I thought you were gone” she stutters watching him closely as he makes his way over to the bed and sits on the edge.

“It’s a long story but Julie, she saved us somehow, the curse is gone” he smiles, showing her his arm where the stamp used to be.

“How did you know I’d be here” y/n asks quietly, knowing the last time he saw her she was Caleb’s prisoner

“Julie told us you’d escaped and that Willie had helped. We were so worried about you” he says softly, reaching over to wipe a tear that had started to fall but she pulled back knowing that they couldn’t touch, not wanting to feel the disappointment when his hand ghosted through her face.

“Just trust me, okay?” he asks, reaching his hand over to her again, this time she didn’t move. She let him come to her and she let out a small gasp when she felt his palm against her cheek.

“How-how are you doing that” she asks, shock clear on her face but she leans into his touch anyway, he doesn’t answer just smiles fondly at her. She pulls away first moving slightly to make room for him to sit on the bed next to her, letting him wrap her up in his arms as she holds on to him tightly, scared that if she lets go she’ll lose him again.

“I thought I’d lost you” she whispers, face filled with emotion as she looks up to him.

“I know but I’m here now,” he smiles down at her, his arms tightening their grip around her “and I’m never letting you go again”

#julie and the phantoms #jatp #luke x reader #jatp luke #luke patterson #jatp julie #julie molina #jatp alex #alex mercer #jatp reggie #reggie peters #jatp flynn #jatp willie #caleb covington

[merakiaes]

Glad It’s You - Draco Malfoy

Pairing: Draco Malfoy x reader

Requested: By @a-libra-writes​ and anon. 

Prompts: #2 from the common tropes-list. 

Warnings/notes: I squeezed to requests in together in this one, hope that’s okay. Not proofread so sorry in advance for any mistakes. It’s really short and probably not very eventful but leave a comment and let me know what you think. 

Wordcount: 1466

Summary: You’re in an arranged marriage with Draco and neither of you is happy about it. But everything changes when he gets hurt. 

Growing up, you and Draco had been as close as peas in a pod. It was inevitable, as your parents were all Death Eaters and close as well, having attended Hogwarts together in their youth.

You spent every day and did everything together, and maybe that was why you ended up tiring of each other and growing apart when you entered your teenage years.

Or perhaps, it was because your parents went behind your backs and arranged for you to marry after graduating, completely without telling you about it and completely against your will.

To a start, Draco was kind of indifferent about it, but you were a strong believer in the modern times in which you chose who you married yourself, and put up one hell of a fight, starting to go against everything and everyone and doing everything in your power to get back at everyone involved.

This included starting to hang around Gryffindors and muggleborns in general; to a start, only to piss off yours and Draco’s parents in hope that they would call off the wedding, but with time you came to the realization that there was nothing wrong with not being pure-blooded, like you had been raised to believe all your life.

In turn, Draco grew furious. Not only because you appeared so disgusted by the idea of marrying him, but because he felt betrayed.

And of course, being the petty, spoiled brats that you both, in truth, were, you both made it your mission in life to do everything in your power to make the other’s life a living hell.

First came the harmless but offensive teasing, but it quickly took a more hostile turn, the two of you more or less bullying each other every chance you could get.

But of course, your parents did nothing to call off the engagement. After one of your many tantrums, your mother had told you it was because they saw something you didn’t, and then went on about her arranged engagement with your dad and how they had learned to love each other.

Blah blah blah, that was all you could hear when she told you about it, continuing to do your absolute best to give him hell.

The friendship you’d had when you were younger was long gone at this point, the two of you absolutely despising each other. At least that’s what you thought.

It had been all fun and games up until now, Professor Snape waking you up in the middle of the night to pass on the word that Draco had been injured and brought to St. Mungo’s for treatment, and that he would grant you a visit if you wished for it considering your… relationship.

Snape knew better than anyone how the two of you interacted, having to put up with your constant competitions and hostile comments and behavior in school. 

So he was shocked to say the least when you accepted his offer and rushed out of bed to get dressed, worry written all over your face.

But he said nothing about it, simply escorting you to the Headmaster’s office to take you to the hospital by the Floo Network.

Upon arrival, Narcissa was the first one to greet you with a very awkward hug, Lucius offering you a stiff, even more awkward nod where he stood off to the side with his cane.

While they stayed behind outside the hospital room to speak with Professor Snape, no doubt about what punishment he was planning to give Potter as he, as usual, was the cause of all the trouble, they let you go into the room.

It was almost completely dark, aside from a lantern flickering in the window of the room.

Your eyes instantly found Draco where he was laying on the bed, and when hearing your footsteps approaching, he turned to look at you too, his head instantly pulling into a nasty scowl, his entire body tensing up protectively.

“Come to gloat, have you?” He spat out at you without missing a beat and you rolled your eyes, not at all fazed by the hostility.

“We’ve known each other since we were children, Draco.” You pointed out as you kept heading his way. “We used to have sleepovers, explore the woods, feed the ducks, spend every holiday together. I care about you, no matter how much it pains me to admit it.”

The last part came out as a sour mutter, and you begrudgingly sank into the chair at his bedside.

Draco scoffed, his lips turning down in distrust, his grey eyes analyzing your every move. “Really now?” He questioned. “Because I can recall you making fun of my hair just a few hours ago.”

“And you stole and hid my every pair of socks yesterday, so drop the attitude.” You replied without missing a beat, your glare hardening.

He held your glare for another moment, before averting his gaze to the ceiling above his bed with a huff.

While he laid there and sulked stubbornly, you took the time to remove the jacket you had thrown on with haste when getting ready a few minutes prior, completely oblivious to the way his eyes flickered over to watch you.

Once you had gotten the coat off, you turned around in your seat and hung it over the backrest of the chair, brushing out the shoulders over the edges before turning back around.

Draco quickly turned his head back away from you, averting his eyes back to the ceiling before you could notice him staring.

A heavy silence hanged over you in the air, thick enough to be cut by a butter knife, and you were looking everywhere but at each other.

You looked around the room for a moment, tapping your fingers against your thigh anxiously, before finally moving your eyes back to him.

You inspected his face for a few short seconds, taking note of the scowl still etched across the sharp features, before turning your attention to his bare chest, where blood had slightly soaked through the bandage.

Stilling your fingers on your thighs, you nodded your head at the injury. “Does it hurt?” You asked, the question instantly drawing a scoff from him.

“What do you think?” He asked right back, without looking at you.

You only rolled your eyes, standing up from your chair and lazily waving your hand to get his attention.  

“Scoot over.” You said, and once again, he scoffed, the glare on his face deepening and his eyes narrowing.

“What?”

“Have you gone deaf?” You raised an eyebrow and crossing your arms over your chest. “I said scoot over. It’s freezing in here and there’s more than enough room for both of us in there.”

The glare on his face slowly faltered, turning into one of mild suspicion. “You’re staying the night?” He asked carefully and you simply hummed in confirmation, waiting for him to do as asked and make some space for you.

After looking at you with distrust for another few seconds, he finally did what you asked of him, slowly moving over to the left side of the bed with light hisses leaving his lips, his hand protectively lingering over the bandage.

You wasted no time in getting in next to him, pulling the thin blanket over your body and getting settled, keeping as much space between the two of you as the small hospital bed allowed.

Once you were laying comfortably, you folded your hands over your stomach, heaving a heavy sigh and staring into the plain white ceiling.

“I know I make it seem like I hate you and all but I don’t.” You confessed in a flat tone. “I’m just as unhappy about this whole thing as you are but if I have to marry someone, I’m glad it’s you.”

Draco laid awkwardly by your side, his hands folded curtly over his stomach in an identical way to yours.

He was silent for a moment but soon enough you heard him sigh, his voice following shortly after. “Yeah, me too.”

In the corner of your eyes, you could see him unfolding his hands and bring his arms back down to his sides, and without looking away from the ceiling, you did the same, wordlessly moving your hand on top of his.

He froze at the unexpected touch, even more so when you intertwined your fingers with his. But he slowly relaxed again at the familiar touch of your skin against his, his eyes shutting with exhaustion and comfort.

It was just like when you were little and used to sleep over at each other’s houses, and both of you reminisced in the memory in silence, remaining on your backs and slowly lulling off to sleep side by side without another word.

Tagged: @lucillethings​ @writing-is-my-guilty-pleasure​ @peakyhermione​@fanficflaneuse​

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#Draco Malfoy #draco malfoy fanfic #draco malfoy fic #draco malfoy fanfiction #draco fanfiction #draco x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco imagine #draco malfoy x reader