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undyingskies · 3 years

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Jealous

Hello everyone, I am back yet again with another Charlie fic! I really enjoyed writing this one, it was a lot of fun! Also it’s long about 3,000+ words, I read over it and edited it as much as I could, so I really hope I caught all the mistakes! As usual I am happy to take requests, especially because I am starting to run low on ideas! Anyways, hope you enjoy! xoxo

Warnings: None really, there is a little make out sesh but it’s not long!

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Season 2 came before you knew it, even though it felt like the renewal of Julie and The Phantoms took forever. But the minute it got renewed to now felt like a whirlwind of activities that happened before you could even take a breath in.

Now it’s two months into filming and this is the first time you’ve been able to visit your boyfriend Charlie since the start of it. You had to finish your semester of school before you could come visit him, knowing that you’d never get any schoolwork done if you came to visit during the semester.

It was a long two months and you truly could not be happier to be sitting smushed between Charlie and Owen in the car heading to set at 6 am. Any other time you would have dreaded being up so early but it didn’t seem so bad with your boyfriend’s hand resting on your thigh and the bickering of the two boys.

“You guys have been up for maybe an hour and you seriously haven’t stopped to take a breath from whatever you guys are arguing about this time.” You laugh, while pointing it out, because seriously it started the minute they woke up this morning and hasn’t stopped.

“Y/N, I feel like you’ve forgotten the dynamic that goes on between these two and their early mornings. We have sleep beauty number 1 and 2 here!” Jeremy laughs from the front seat.

You know he’s right; these two boys bicker non-stop anyways but especially on early mornings since they both love their sleep.

“Thanks for coming to set today baby, I know you got in yesterday but I don’t think I would have been able to get much done today knowing you’re sitting at the apartment waiting for me.” Charlie whispers into your ear sending chills down your spine and butterflies to erupt in your stomach at his early morning voice.

“Of course, you know I wouldn’t miss it for a thing besides I miss the rest of the cast! I’m excited to see them!”

A smile takes its place on Charlie’s face and he leaves a small kiss on your neck before turning back to look at his phone.

You originally met Charlie on the set of Julie and the Phantoms season 1. You never wanted to be on the big screen or some big actor but the industry always intrigued you so you signed up with a local company to be an extra for sets. It let you travel, see the business, and put money in your pocket when you weren’t doing school.

You were an extra for the crowd scenes, so basically any time the band played you were there watching. One day before they started filming, you were watching Dirty Candy perform and without thinking you started doing the choreography with them. You had been a dancer for about 12 years but a bad knee injury took you out of the game. Your love for dance never stopped though so you really enjoyed watching them perform.

I guess the girls had noticed you doing the choreography so they approached you asking if you were a new dancer on set. Embarrassed that they caught you dancing, you let them know you weren’t, you just watched them so many times you had memorized it by accident.

The girls were really nice and you quickly took a liking to Savannah and Tori, they would ask you to hang out while they practiced because you could pick out little details to fix or make better. From there it turned into a beautiful friendship, they started inviting you to hang out off set and to all the hang outs with the rest of the cast. Then before you knew it, you were a part of the group and always attached to their sides.

When you first met Charlie, of course he got your attention, his cute smile and energy would grab anyone’s. You never really thought much of it after though, but you always did notice that he would always look at you and for a little extra longer, he paid a little more attention to you when everyone was talking as well as you, and he always seemed to smile just a little bigger when he’d pull you into a hug to say hello.

Then one day he asked you out, just like that. Savannah and Tori mentioned that they thought he was going too but you didn’t think he would. Nothing ever really happened between you two, it was just a friendship where you flirted sometimes, but like you said before you noticed those small things but didn’t think much of it.

Of course you said yes though, he looked so nervous and cute that you felt yourself fall almost immediately after that. Which pretty much happened, after your first date there was another and then another, and then you guys were in a relationship and pretty much inseparable.

A tug to your hand pulls you out of your thoughts, you guys had arrived on set and Charlie was tugging you out of the car. Sometimes the boy forgets his own strength and he has you tripping out of the car. He laughs and stabilizes you by grabbing onto your hips. He looks down at you, placing a sweet kiss to your lips that was quickly interrupted.

“Is that Y/N we see?” You hear Tori squeal followed by a “Yes that sure is.” from Savannah. Then they’re both next to you pulling you apart from Charlie and engulfing you in a group hug between the two girls.

It does feel good to be back with them, they quickly became two of your closest friends during your time as an extra on the show and you never lost touch with them either.

“Charlie, they need you in costume quick, they want to start as soon as they can to-Y/N!!” You hear your name yelled and arms wrap around your waist.

You turn to see the one and only Madison Reyes, you’re quick to wrap your arms around her as well. You loved the girl and she felt like a younger sister to you, she always came to you to talk and tell you secrets. You had really missed her even though she did facetime you about once a day.

“Mads it’s good to see you, I’ve missed you girly!”

“I’ve missed you too ya know, those facetime calls just don’t always cut it.” She laughs. “Anyways they do need us, they want to start filming as fast as they can today.” She says turning to Charlie and letting you go.

“Well you wouldn’t mind if we stole your girlfriend then would you Charlie since you’re busy?” Tori asks. “Besides you had her all yesterday, it’s our turn now.” You laugh at the girl’s words and turn to your boyfriend.

“I guess it’s alright, I’ll see you on set then? You said you’d watch our performance today.” Charlie says while pulling you in for one last hug before you depart.

“Of course, you know I wouldn’t miss that!” He places a kiss on your lips before he leaves with Madi and you with the girls. Who are both staring at you almost two excitedly.

“You two scare me sometimes, so much energy so early in the morning.” All of you laughing at your words. You follow them to the area where they will be filming but they have chairs and breakfast set up as well. You’re sitting with the girls, just drinking some coffee for the time being.

“So how has it been Y/N, does it feel good to be back around this craziness?” Savannah asks you.

“It’s been good, as far as life goes not much has changed since we all last talked! I finished the semester strong and only have two semesters left which is a relief. I hope when I’m done that means I will get to be around more and to travel with Charlie. And of course if feels good to be back! I’ve missed it and everyone really. I was bummed not to be able to re-sign to do extra work but I had to focus on school.” You tell the girls.

“Oh of course, we get that. Everyone here just misses you so much especially Charlie! As much as I am glad, you’re here so we can see you, I may be more glad because now we don’t have to hear him complain about how much he misses you.” You laugh at Tori’s words. The girls decided to actually send you quotes of the day that Charlie said about how much he missed you, that boy was quite dramatic but the quotes did end up being the highlight of your day more often than not.

You’re engulfed in conversation with the girls and don’t even realize the time flying by. They talk about the new season how it’s going, the new dances that they’re doing, your relationship and any other topic you could really think of.

A flash of orange catches your attention, you know that orange beanie like that back of your hand and you’re glad to see that it’s making its appearance in season 2. You follow the hat as it’s weaving through people and see it stop in front of the cameras.

Charlie’s eyes catching yours, he gives you his dazzling smile and wave in your direction before Kenny pulls his attention back to him but not before Kenny throws a wave in your direction as well.

“Well we got to go, we’re all in this scene but we’ll see you after!” Savannah says pulling you into a hug, Tori quickly following her movements.

Now you’re left alone, to watch the scene unfold in front of you. It really is so much fun to watch them all interact with each other on and off the screen. It’s such a wonderful dynamic they all have going on.

This scene is some scene at school, where Dirty Candy confronts Julie. Julie has the boys behind her giving her comebacks to all the jabs thrown her way from Carrie. It’s actually a funny scene watching the boys yell the things at Julie.

Take one, take two, take three, take four, and then a large grumble erupts from your stomach pulling your thoughts away from the scene before you.

You look down at your watch to check the time, it has been about two hours and you’ve been so distracted by everything that you forgot to eat. The moment of realization makes your hunger grow about ten times more. You quickly make your way over to the food table.

There’s donuts, brownies, cookies, some croissants, an assortment of chips, and some breakfast sandwiches. Honestly it all looked so good, and your stomach was telling you to get a bit of everything. The donuts and croissants calling your name the most, and maybe one chocolate chip cookie as well. You’re finishing up putting together your plate and grabbing a water when a voice startles you.

“I’ve never seen you before, are you new here?” You turn to see a boy, probably about your age, dressed in the schools letterman jacket.

“Oh no, not really.” You say with a smile, turning back to grab your water and food, to walk back to where you were sitting.

“Oh really? I guess I’ve missed you around here then, what’s your name?” He asks, following your lead and sitting in the chair across from you. Guess this conversation isn’t over, you think.

“Ya, I’m actually just visiting. I was an extra for the first season. It’s Y/N.” You say hoping that was the end, but nope.

“Oh cool, I’m Josh.” He says leaning in, reaching out his hand for a handshake while scooting closer to you. Almost too close and beginning to ask more questions.

Little did you know, that someone’s eyes were on you watching the whole situation. The longer Charlie watched the more he could feel the pit in his stomach growing. He didn’t like how close that guy was sitting next to you or the way every time you said something he would just lean that much closer.

The look in that guys eyes could have made Charlie stop in the middle of the scene and yell something, but he’s too professional for that. But that look, he knows what that looks means, that guy liked you and he didn’t understand why you weren’t stopping the conversation. The pit in his stomach now a giant hole and his ears and face on fire from anger or is it jealousy he thought.

“And cut. That’s the last take for this one, great job guys!” He hears Kenny yell and before anyone could talk to him, he’s got his eyes locked on you and walking straight towards you.

A pair of arms wrapped around your shoulder and a kiss to your neck scares you, pulling you out of the conversation that never felt like it was gonna end. You can see Josh’s eyes widen at the action that just unfolded in front of him and before he could say anything you hear Charlie pipe up from behind you.

“Hi baby, who’s this?” You can hear him ask in a tone you never heard before; he sounds upset?

“Oh um this is Josh; he was just telling me about the role he’s playing this season.”

Charlie reached his hand out to shake Josh’s hand.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Josh, it’s weird that I’ve never seen you before. I appreciate you keeping my girlfriend company while I was just a little busy.” You can practically hear the jealousy coming from his voice and you don’t miss how Charlie emphases the world girlfriend.

Josh visibly gets uncomfortable by his words.

“Oh ya man, sure. Sorry, she didn’t mention she was here for her boyfriend, just said she was visiting.” He says giving an excuse to why he’s so close to one of the stars of the show girlfriend.

“Oh she didn’t, interesting...” Charlie says trailing off and giving you a look you don’t think you’d ever want to see again.

“As much as I would have loved to bring up the fact, I had a boyfriend there wasn’t much of a moment for me to mention it between Josh’s story telling.” You say getting upset at Josh and Charlie’s actions. Sass and frustration evident in your voice.

You can see Josh’s cheeks get slightly red. Charlie is quick to grab your hand and start to pull you away with a quick,

“Well nice to meet you bud. We’ve got to be going now.” He says while still pulling you away.

The minute you’re out of sight and hidden behind a wall Charlie has you pinned against the wall and his lips on yours.

He doesn’t even give you a chance to catch up before he has his tongue swiping your bottom lip to get in. He’s quick to bite down on your bottom lip, a moan escaping you.

Your hands entangle in his hair pulling him closer, his hands gripping your hips pulling you up to have your legs wrap around his waist. Charlie moves his hands down to cup your butt giving it a slap as he starts to attack your neck with his lips.

You can’t help but lean your neck to the side giving your boy all the access he wants, basking in the feeling of his lips on your skin.

You’re pulled out of your little world when you hear voices and they sound like they’re getting closer.

“Char...Charlie, stop, someone... there is someone coming.” You struggle to get out as he keeps kissing your neck, you place your hands on his chest to give him a little push away. You’re able to get him to detach himself from your neck and place you back on your feet.

Two people walk past you guys giving you small awkward smiles, definitely knowing what was happening due how close you guys were standing, the mess that Charlie’s hair now is, and what you can only imagine is two pairs of swollen lips.

When they leave, he’s quick to attach his lips back to yours. But you place your hands on his chest pushing you away a little bit, even though it took everything in you to do so because man is that boys mouth magic.

“Baby, what’s going on? As much as I know you and your love for what’s happening, it’s never this public.” You ask, slightly concerned at your boyfriends behavior.

He shakes his head a little and moves his hand to rub the back of his neck, a pink tint appearing on his cheeks.

“I just, I don’t know thought it’d be fun.” He says not making eye contact.

“Oh that’s some BS Gillespie, what’s up?” You knew your boyfriend too well and that was a cop out answer.

“I just, I didn’t like how that guy was looking at you, or sitting so close to you and then he brought up how you didn’t say you were here for me and I just I don’t know...” He trails off still looking away sheepishly.

A small smile does form on your face as his words, you’ve never seen Charlie get jealous and truthfully it was a little cute.

“Oh so someone was jealous?” You ask with a little laugh.

“What me? Jealous? No, never!” Again, he’s trying to brush it off; but with the lift of your eyebrows he knows you’re not buying it.

“Fine, I was jealous okay? I know it’s bad to be jealous but whatever...”

“Actually, I think it’s pretty cute.” You say with a little laugh, grabbing onto his arm to pull him closer to you.

“Really?” He asks with his signature smirk and that tone of cockiness he just always seems to sport just a little. He now has his arms wrapped around your waist pulling you just that much closer, if it’s even possible.

You give him a nod and lead his lips back down to yours to interlock them again. This time he pulls away but leaves his forehead leaning on yours.

“I love having you here, even if it means you get hit on by gross extras.” You laugh at his words and the fact that his insult is what a twelve-year-old would come up with.

“I love being here, you know that. I really did miss you.”

“I missed you too sweet stuff, just don’t forget you’re here to see your very handsome boyfriend.” You both laugh together at his words.

“How could I ever forget? Plus it seems like if he thinks so he gets a little jealous and I don’t mind the outcome of it.”

“Oh shut up, you’re my girlfriend just gotta make sure everyone knows.” You roll your eyes at his words and he leans down again to place another kiss on your lips.

“Yep, your girlfriend and don’t you forget it.”

You both laugh again as you pull him in for another kiss. Your boyfriend may be a little crazy but you wouldn’t change it for the world because nothing feels better than being able to be back in his arms and laughing in between sweet kisses.

#charlie gillespie #charlie gillespie imagine #charlie x reader #charlie gillespie x oc #charlie gillespie x reader #charliegillespieimagines #charlie gillespie fic #charlie gillespie fanfiction #julie and the phantoms #luke jatp #jatp

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drprettyboyspence · 4 years

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Beach Day

Dr. Spencer Reid/reader

Summary: Spencer Reid doesn’t understand the appeal of going to the beach so when Garcia plans a BAU outing, he honestly debates whether or not he should go. Turns out, when Y/n is at the beach, Spencer totally understands the appeal after all.

words: 2.8k

warnings: seriously none to my knowledge! a lot of fluff :)

a/n: Since its getting so warm out where I live and I’ve recently been watching season 8 (where Spencer says he doesn’t like the beach), I imagined what it would be like if Spencer went to the beach with his coworker who he has a crush on, I hope you enjoy! :)

“Come on pretty boy! We’re gonna be late and you know what we’re in for if we keep my babygirl waiting.” Derek Morgan playfully yells at Spencer Reid. It’s ten past 12 p.m. on a hot and sunny August day in Virginia, and the two boys are late for a carpool with the one and only Penelope Garcia.

“Morgan, why can’t you just go without me, no one will miss me anyway and I hate the beach.” Spencer replies in a frustrated manner. Garcia had been planning this for weeks, after the team had come back from an especially long case she thought what everyone needed was some good old day-at-the-beach fun. Through Spencer’s eyes however, you can’t exactly call an overcrowded area filled with unhygienic birds, sweaty, sunburned people, and sand that covers every inch of your belongings fun.

“Reid, what’s wrong with the beach? Just bring a book if you really want to, but we really have to get going man.” Derek asks, automatically regretting it when Spencer replies,

“Sandy food, pink skin, limited and unengaging topography, but mostly the drug-resistant bacteria spread by sea gull feces.” Spencer replies with a straight face, completely unaware that most people aren’t worried about the spread of sea gull poop or anything like that.

“Alright, kid, I’ll give ya that I guess. Fine, I’ll go without you, but I know one FBI agent in particular who’s gonna be awfully disappointed when you don’t show.” Derek says slyly, sure his evil plan will work. Spencer looks up from his bookshelf where he’s organizing his collection of 15th century literature from his mom, a slight blush forming on his cheeks.

“Y/n?, Morgan she won’t care if I don’t come to the beach today. Number one, why would she care about me? Number two, who wants to see me at the beach, my body isn’t exactly my most desirable trait.” Derek’s teasing face softens significantly, realizing the more real root of Spencer’s aversion to the beach.

“Alright kid, you have no reason to be insecure, I’ve heard chirps from a little birdie named Penelope Garcia that our very own Y/n has quite a big crush on you. It doesn’t matter if you have a six pack or not Reid, you have the sweetest heart of anyone I know and the biggest brain as well obviously, I don’t call you pretty boy as a joke, why wouldn’t Y/n like you? Come on, it’ll be fun, I promise.” Spencer feels awkward, not knowing how to react to Derek “lady’s man” Morgan’s motivational speech, he doesn't want to get his hopes up. To be honest, Spencer has liked Y/n since she joined the bureau almost a year ago now, she’s smart, honest, brave, and the most beautiful girl in the world in Spencer’s opinion.

“But Morgan, I don’t own shorts, I don’t have anything I can wear to the beach.”

“Well lucky for you kid I sorta assumed that, so I brought you a bathing suit, now can we PLEASE get out of here, I’m really not trying to be Penelope’s personal slave for the next 6 months.” Spencer reluctantly takes the bathing suit into the next room and puts it on, hating the way his skinny limbs look in shorts and an FBI tee-shirt, feeling as if he looks like a pre-pubescent boy. Even so, his desire to spend the day with Y/n persuades him to anxiously pack his bag with a few books he’ll surely need before following Derek out the door. They make it down the stairs and out the door of Reid’s apartment building before they’re greeted by the dulcet tones of Garcia yelling at them through the open window of her car.

“Derek Morgan! You are very lucky you are so handsome and delicious, I’ve been waiting here almost twenty minutes! I almost had to hack the parking ticket database to make sure I wouldn’t be charged, now get in! This is going to be the best day ever!”

“Sorry babygirl” Derek says, getting into the car and pulling Garcia into a greeting hug, “the kid here was feeling anxious, but I told him his little girlfriend would be devastated if he chose not to show up, so lover boy pulled through.” Spencer scoffs and Garcia squeals in joy, loving the idea of the two babies of the team falling in love.

The three of them get out of the car at the beach and Spencer automatically puts his sunglasses on, the sun beating down on him harshly, high in the sky and nearly at its peak of strength for the day.

“Well well well, it’s about time you three! We were expecting you to be no-shows!” Rossi teases from the spot on the beach the team has chosen. Spencer awkwardly tries to walk across the lumps of sand, the grains sinking through the holes in the sides of his signature converse sneakers, already regretting his decision to come here, like he says, he really hates the beach.

“Spence, you made it! I have to say I’m surprised, how are those sneakers working out for you?” JJ says in a teasing manner as well, knowing that when it comes to the beach, Spencer is one of the least prepared people she knows.

“Hi Spence, I’m glad you’re here.” Spencer hears from behind him, the shy voice of Y/n automatically brightening his mood.

“Y/n, I’m glad to be here.” He replies, the rest of the team looking at each other in bewilderment, not believing the sentence having just come out of Spencer’s mouth. Emily and Rossi had brought extra chairs so Spencer sits down and pulls out a book on understanding the theorems of quantum physics, having not read it since he was a teenager. He looks up from reading when he hears the familiar laughing and sounds of his two favorite kids, Jack running up from the ocean with Henry following closely behind, always looking up to his older friend.

“Hi Jack! Hi Henry! How’s it going guys!” Y/n says, causing Spencer to blush as he briefly imagines Y/n with kids of her own, their own, woah Spencer calm down, don’t go there, quantum physics, focus.

“Y/n! Will you come swim with us, please! please! please!” Jack says, the boys love Y/n because during the times the team hangs out, she can’t say no to them.

“Spencer, swim? please?” Henry says, walking over to Spencer and grabbing his hand, cold from being in the ocean. Spencer’s heart warms at the sight of his godson and he finds himself saying yes, not realizing the implications, he now has to take his shirt off and swim with Y/n, what has he done?

“Really, Spence? You’ll come swim with us! Yay!” Y/n responds, seeming so genuinely excited that Spencer finds himself getting less nervous. He hesitantly peels his shirt off, feeling surprisingly relieved to be rid of the sweaty fabric. He glances at Derek who is smiling at him, raising his eyebrows as if to say You got this player. Jack and Henry are getting impatient so Y/n takes her dress off leaving her in a bikini. Spencer automatically feels very awkward, averting his eyes to avoid blatantly staring at her, overwhelmed with how gorgeous she is, she’s truly the most beautiful girl in the world.

“Uh, s-should we g-go?” He asks, the rest of the team giggling at his obvious nerves. He remembers once Emily told him his IQ turns to 60 when he sees a pretty girl, maybe she was right because he feels, in this moment, he wouldn’t be able to read a single word of text. Y/n nods and they walk off with the two boys towards the ocean, Spencer hearing the remnants of the rest of the team surely gossiping about the clear tension between them. They reach the ocean and Henry and Jack run into the waves, splashing and tackling each other, getting water on both adults. Spencer shivers despite the hot sun still beating down on his now bare shoulders and back, trying not to think about his chances of developing skin cancer which are surely growing exponentially each moment he stays out in this sun.

“You cold Spence?” Y/n giggles, grabbing his hand and pulling him further into the water, his legs following even though the idea of being submerged in the cold water is not appealing whatsoever. Or maybe cold water would be better if Y/n doesn’t let go of your hand soon, the devilish side of Spencer’s subconscious whispers.

“Yes a little, water temperatures around the Washington D.C. area in August average in the low 80s, but I suppose the contrast between the 95 degree day to the cold water causes me to feel cold, funny how that works isn’t it?” Spencer replies, always trying to be more conversational, especially around Y/n, therefore less statistics.

“Yes Spence, now come on, it’ll be less cold if you just jump in.” Y/n says warmly, always finding Spencer’s statistics charming and adorable.

“No Y/n I don’t think that’s a- ah!” Spencer yelps as Y/n whispers something to Henry and Jack, causing them to splash him simultaneously, very quickly drenching him completely. Spencer can’t find it in himself to be mad, hearing Y/n hysterically laughing and high-fiving the boys in joy.

“Alright Y/n, you asked for it.” Spencer says, starting to laugh too despite himself. He somehow finds the courage to pick Y/n up bridal style and walk deeper into the ocean, dropping her in. She’s under the water for just a moment before Spencer begins to worry, statistics of drowning automatically filling his brain. He feels a tug on his leg and falls into the water himself. Y/n and Spencer now both in the water up to their necks, they look at each other and laugh awkwardly. All of a sudden realizing how close they’ve become, they both look away and focus their attention on the two boys still playing in the water, making sure they don’t get too far away.

“Can we play chicken? Please!” Jack says and Spencer looks at him with a confused look on his face.

“Chicken?”

“Come on Spence, this will be so fun!” Y/n says excitedly and once again grabs Spencer’s hand, pulling him toward the boys. Y/n kneels down in the water and motions for Spencer to do so as well, he follows, still confused as to what is about to happen. Henry climbs on Y/n’s back and Jack on Spencer.

“Okay, now what?” Spencer says, laughing at what the team must be seeing up on the beach.

“Now, we fight!” Jack says from Spencer’s shoulders.

Y/n and Spencer walk further into the ocean to more safely allow Henry and Jack to play. They hit each other and Spencer and Y/n find themselves suddenly chest to chest, Spencer trying everything to distract himself from his attraction to the woman in front of him. Finally Henry and Jack seem to get tired, asking if they can go back to their parents.

“U-uh, so that was f-fun!” Spencer says, trying to break the awkward tension that had followed him and Y/n since they had gotten so close in the water. Chicken, who knew?

“Yes it was Spence, thank you for coming in the water, I know you don’t like the beach that much.” Y/n says softly, smiling up at the taller man.

They make their way back up to the team, ignoring the knowing looks on their faces. Spencer sits down in his chair once again, suddenly noticing his stomach rumbling.

“Spencer, do you want to share this peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” Y/n offers. Spencer laughs, how did she know he was hungry at the exact moment he realized it too? He nods and she scoots closer to him to hand him the half. They joke with the rest of the team as well as the boys, trying to separate themselves from the horror they usually find themselves facing together. Spencer knows there is no science to the old phrase time flies when you’re having fun, but he thinks today might be an exception, soon it's getting late, JJ and Hotch opting to take their tired boys home, exhausted from the day in the sun.

“Spencer, before we leave, can you come with me to get an ice cream?” Y/n asks shyly, Spencer quickly agreeing before the anxiety of being alone with her can hit him once again. They sit together facing the setting sun while eating ice cream, Spencer knows he doesn't react the best to dairy but he can’t help it, he loves dairy, and honestly, he thinks he might love Y/n as well which is a terrifying thought. They sit and watch the sunset in relative silence, but it isn’t an awkward silence, it’s comfortable, Spencer wishes this moment would last forever. Too soon the sun dips below the horizon and their ice cream is long gone.

“Okay love birds time to go, it’s getting really dark and we should be getting home.” They hear from behind them, both of them flushing in the night air at the nickname and teasing done by Derek.

“Thanks for today Y/n, it was fun, see you at work on Monday.” Spencer says before following Derek and Penelope to the car, Y/n waving back before following Rossi, having car pooled with him and Emily. The drive home is silent on Spencer’s part, mostly spent looking out the window and ignoring the constant prying from his two nosy friends in the front, eager to know what happened between him and Y/n during the day at the beach. Garcia then drops Derek off at Spencer’s apartment as Derek lives closer to Spencer.

“Goodnight kid, I hope you had fun today.” Derek says before turning in the direction of his own home.

“Hey Morgan?” Spencer says quietly, so quietly Derek almost misses it, but turns around nonetheless.

“Ya kid?” He replies.

“Thank you for convincing me to go, it was really fun.”

“No problem pretty boy, anytime” Derek replies smirking before watching Spencer walk into his apartment building.

That night Spencer is lying in bed in severe pain, his fair skin blistering from the day in the hot sun. He knows he shouldn’t have been so stupid and reckless, allowing himself to become this burned. He was honestly having too much fun to stop and think about it. His phone buzzes and he grimaces, already expecting the worst, a new case, but instead, he sees a text from Y/n.

“Hey, Spence, are you still awake?” Spencer begins to text back but before he can he sees an incoming call.

“Uh, hi Y/n! Is everything okay? It’s pretty late do you need-”

“Spencer, I’m fine! Don’t worry, I’m sorry I’m calling you so late. How are you?” Spencer relaxes into the pillows on his bed when he hears Y/n say she’s okay.

“Aside from the sure to cause skin-cancer, painful sunburn covering my back in blisters, I’m doing great! How about you? Is there something you need or do you just want to talk?”

“Ouch that must hurt, you should have put sunblock on silly! I actually wanted to ask you something and I figured now is as good a time as ever. So um, Spence, I had a really good time today, and uh- I totally understand if you don’t want to, but would you want to go to dinner with me sometime soon?” Y/n’s heart is racing out of her chest as she anxiously waits for Spencer to answer.

“Like a date?”

“Yes- I mean not necessarily it doesn't have to be, we don’t actually have to go out at all if you don't-”

“Y/n, I would love to go out on a date with you.”

“Really? T-that’s great! Okay I should probably let you get to sleep now, I’m sorry again for calling so late. Goodnight Spencer.”

“Goodnight Y/n, see you Monday, can’t wait.” Spencer says before Y/n hangs up the phone, he finds himself missing her voice already. He looks at the clock, seeing its already nearly one am, now understanding Y/n’s multiple apologies for the late call. Spencer turns off the light next to his bed, noticing his sunburn doesn’t feel so bad now, ah, the psychology of love. Maybe, Spencer thinks before he closes his eyes, with Y/n by his side, a day at the beach doesn’t sound so bad.

#dr spencer reid #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds #criminal minds season 8 #reader insert #y/n #spencer reid x y/n #fluff #imagine

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puckbuddies · 4 years

Text

4 times Mat was caught simping by his friends and 1 time you caught him.

Mat Barzal x reader

4375 words

Thank you to @smiley-svechnikov for helping me with it :)

September 30th

When Anthony walked into Mat’s apartment, he expected to find his teammate on the sofa. What he didn’t expect however, was to find Mat laying on the sofa reading a book. He’d never in their however many years of knowing each other seen Mat read a book for fun. Tito had come over to see if Mat wanted to grab some lunch together on their day off but now his interests had changed.

Mat still hadn’t noticed the presence of his friend, being too concentrated on what he was reading to pay attention to his surroundings. Hearing a cough broke him out of his trance and made him let out a startled noise. Shooting up from his position on his couch, he came eye to eye with the blue eyes of his favorite teammate. If he hadn’t been so caught if guard, he would have noticed the impressed look in them.

“You scared the shit out of me.” was the only thing Mat could think of to say at that moment.

Tito let out a laugh at his reaction.

“How about you scaring me? I come over here to find you reading. Like an actual book, are you okay Barzy?”

Mat knew that Tito was just teasing him but he still rolled his eyes in over dramatic Barzal fashion. He’d read books in the past. Granted they were about hockey, but they were books nonetheless.

“Y/n just finished this one and she’s been talking about it all week. I figured I could just read it so I actually knew what she’s talking about next time. It’s longer than I expected it to be so it’s taking more time that I planned.”

Tito’s eyes widened slightly. Mat said it so casually, as if that was a normal thing to do for someone who was supposedly ‘just a friend’.

Obviously he didn’t believe it when Mat told him that. There was no way you and Mat were just friends. But Anthony wasn’t someone who meddles in others people’s business. Besides, he didn’t want to put any pressure on yours and Mat’s friendship in case the two of you hadn’t figured it out yet. However at this moment he couldn’t help himself.

His scoff confused Mat who didn’t feel like he’d said something strange. His look of confusing forced Anthony to explain.

“Oh come on, you’re reading a book for her. Don’t act like everything is normal. I can ignore you paying for all her drinks and you giving her your sweatshirts when she’s cold but I can’t ignore this. You have to see it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

And he really didn’t. Mat was clueless as to what Tito was hinting at.

“You don’t have to tell me anything but just think about it. You are reading a book she likes and she hasn’t even asked you to read it, surely that means something. I came here to ask you if you wanted to get lunch but from the Taco Bell on the table I see you’ve already eaten so I’ll just leave you to it.”

All Mat did was let out a noise of agreement before his teammate was out the door. He stared at his book with a vacant look for a while trying to process what Tito meant with what he said. Suddenly he didn’t feel like reading anymore. Leaving the book on the table next to his empty wrappings from before, he took off to take a shower.

Mat Barzal was simping before he even realized he was.

December 12th

Mat didn’t really think about Tito’s words much longer. They were out of his head as soon as he was out of the shower. That was a couple of weeks ago and nothing had changed in the way he thought about you. He still called you after every game to let out his happiness about winning or to discuss the things he could’ve done better.

Tomorrow however he wouldn’t have to do that anymore seeing as you were flying out to stay in New York for a week. And Mat was fucking excited about it. He hadn’t seen you in person since September when his training camp started and you had college to attend, and that was almost three months ago.

September was always the hardest month to go through. After spending practically the entire off season in Vancouver together, being in different countries was a big change.

Mat could barely contain his excitement driving to the airport. Messages were just not enough anymore when he got to talk to the real you in approximately 20 minutes. Seeing you standing at the airport with your bags waiting for him to pick you up, all he could think about was how it was all worth it.

His feelings of excitement continued all throughout the next day as well. He’d never had as much trouble taking his pregame nap as that day.

But getting ready to leave for the arena, he felt good. On the one hand he was nervous because he wanted to play well, but on the other hand having you there calmed him down like nothing else could. He was feeling confident in himself and the team and was sure they were going to pull out a win.

You on the other hand, were shitting it. It had been a while since you had seen Mat play in real life and you really wanted him to win. More than that you wanted him to enjoy himself and winning was a lot more fun than losing. On top of that Mat had insisted you sit with the Wags who you didn’t really know all that well. He’d assured you they were all great and while you believed that, you still felt like you’d be an outsider. It might look like you were his girlfriend -you were wearing his jersey after all- but you certainly weren’t and you weren’t sure if you could handle any questions about your relationship.

You decided you should tell him how you felt in an attempt to calm yourself down. So when you got into the car to drive to the arena the first words out of your mouth were: “Mat I’m nervous.”. You knew you were overreacting and felt a bit silly for being this nervous when Mat was the one who actually had to get on the ice and do something.

Mat however never made you feel stupid about anything, not even something as small as this.

“Why? You just have to go meet some new people and absolutely amaze them with your personality, which by the way comes naturally and takes you no effort because you are amazing, and then I’ll spend the rest of the season answering questions about when I’ll bring you around again.”

His words were teasing but you knew he meant them and it still helped you feel more at ease about the situation you were about to find yourself in.

“How about this, I’ll walk you up to the box so you don’t have to go in there alone.” He continued still sensing your anxiety.

Your heart swelled up at the suggestion. Mat just kept amazing you with what he was willing to do for you.

“Would you not be late if you do that?”

“Nah it’ll be fine, I’ll just have to get dressed a bit faster.” He hesitated after that and turned to you with a smirk on his face. “Or I could just drive a little faster.”

This caused you to panic and slap his arm closest to you. “No you can’t do that! We won’t even make it to the arena.”

Mat let you his typical laugh at that and the last of your worries flooded to the back of your mind.

When you arrived, Mat kept his promise and went with you to meet the Wags for the first time. You might have not noticed the smile on his face after he hugged you and once again whispered in your ear that it would all be fine, but they sure did.

December 13th

When you woke up the next day, you felt a little bit of a headache coming up. The Isles did manage to pull out a win the night before and Tito practically forced you and Mat to go out and celebrate with the rest of the team. While you really liked the other Wags, you were still a bit uncomfortable holding a conversation with them so you had decided to drink just enough to take the edge off.

You thanked your past self for being responsible and for not trying to keep up with Mat, who drank a lot more than you did. You still didn’t understand how that boy could drink so much and still be able to walk. Thinking back to last night, you felt it was a good idea to go check up on him and see how he was doing. Making the short trip to the other side of the hallway didn’t take much time even if you did stop at the bathroom to check your reflection. When you reached your destination, you were surprised to not see Mats face staring back at you from his bed.

Checking up on the kitchen and living room, you still couldn’t find Mat and you were starting to get a little worried. He hadn’t left the apartment after you went to sleep had he? Pulling your phone out to send a quick message to Tito asking if he’d seen Mat, an unread message from the boy in question caught your attention.

“Getting breakfast, be back in 20.”

received 18 minutes ago

Okay, so you were worried for no reason. At least you knew where he was now.

You settled down at the kitchen island and entertained yourself with your phone until Mat came back about ten minutes later.

“You’re about six minutes late Barzal. Any excuses?” was what you opened with once you saw him come into the kitchen.

“You know, funny story because you said that to mock me but I do actually have an excuse.”

You looked at him expectantly and he looked back with a playful expression on his face. When he doesn’t say anything else for a few moments you notice he has his hands behind his back. Looking back up at him, you raise an eyebrow to signal for him to continue.

Your whole face lit up when he pulls breakfast from behind his back along with a small bouquet of flowers.

“Oh my god you got me flowers? Why would you do that?”

“Apparently there’s a new flower shop next to the place I always get my breakfast and these were in the windowsill. I know they’re your favorite so I couldn’t not buy them.”

The last of his words were muffled as you jumped up to give him the biggest hug possible, thank yous coming out of your mouth for the next minute. As you finally settled down to eat together after a while, you couldn’t stop smiling. You still couldn’t believe Mat got you flowers.

After cleaning up the dishes you took to Instagram to post the beautiful bouquet on your story. And when Mat got a phone call from one of your mutual friends that night to taunt him about the flowers, he began to understand why people always called him out on his actions.

June 2nd

You knew going out the day before was a bad idea. Mat had invited you to the lake with him and a couple of his friends and because you couldn’t say no to him, you went. And you got sunburned. It wasn’t your fault really, you had applied sunscreen at least three times but it happened to be exceptionally hot that day. Besides that, being out on the water for four hours didn’t make the situation any better.

It was mostly your back that was hurting and it prevented you from finding a comfortable position in your bed. After another painful turn you decided that you needed to go find a bottle of after-sun asap. Turning on the bathroom light you came into contact with your reflection for the first time that day. Your face and arms were slightly red but your back somehow looked even worse than it felt. Silently cursing Mat for convincing you to go out and yourself for not putting up more of a fight you opened the cabinet door in search of the bottle that would relieve you of your pain.

Except you couldn’t find it, neither in that cabinet or the next. It occurred to you that you might’ve left it at your friend’s house when you last went swimming. Concluding that you weren’t going to find it in your room, you went to your parents bathroom. Alas, the universe had apparently decided that today wasn’t your day as you couldn’t find anything. Your luck got even better as you remembered your parents were out with friends and had taken the car so that you couldn’t even go to the store to buy a new bottle.

Going back to your room to find your phone, you saw that it was only half past eight. Part of you felt guilty having to call Mat at such an early time to help you out somehow. The other part of you felt like it was at least a little justified as it was him you asked you to stay out in the sun. You sent him a text anyway asking if he was awake yet. It took a while for Mat to reply but when he did you took no time to call him figuring it would be easier to beg him that way.

“Hello?”

His voice wasn’t as deep as it usually was in the mornings. It even sounded like he was a little out of breath. Deciding to not waste any more time you got straight to the point.

“What are you doing right now?”

The reason why Mat was out of breath was because he was training with Tyson that morning. Looking back it hadn’t been his smartest decision to agree to an early morning workout after not having slept a lot the night before.

“I’m training with Tys today. Why? Is something wrong?”

“Oh no I’m fine, I’m just dying a slow and painful death at this moment.”

Mat’s first instinct was to panic at your words until he realized that you had to be fine if you had the option to be that over dramatic. Before he could respond though, Tyson called for his attention.

“Are we running or what?”

Waving him off with his hand Mat turned to speak to you again.

“I’m kind of busy right now but I’ll call you back after if you want me to?”

“No please I actually need your help.” Your response came very quickly and it peaked his interest. “I am really fucking sunburned and I’ve searched my entire house but I can’t find any after-sun. On top of that my parent apparently enjoy to see me suffer because they’ve taken the car so I can’t go to the store. I guess my question is if you would maybe perhaps please go to the store and pick up a bottle for me?”

Your voice had gotten higher as you came to the end of your little speech clearly indicating that you needed something from him. Even though Mat couldn’t see your face, he knew that you were putting on your best puppy eyes.

“ I’ll go to the store after I’m done here.”

“But that’s still so long.” You whined dragging out your last word. “I’m actually in a lot of pain and you are my only hope right now. Please Mat.”

He could argue all he wanted, but deep down Mat knew that he’d made his decision already. He couldn’t say no to you even if he tried. He sighed and at that moment you knew you’d won.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” you sang happily through the phone.

“Yeah yeah only this one time though.”

His words had no truth behind them. And now he had to explain to Tyson why he had to quit their workout after only forty minutes.

When Mat turned around, he found Tyson already looking at him with a smirk that Mat had become quite familiar with in the last year or so and it was reserved specifically for these types of situations.

“So I actually have to go right now, y/n needs my help.”

This caused Tyson to burst out laughing.

“Barzy you are so incredibly whipped.”

Mat only rolled his eyes in response knowing it was useless to try and change Tyson’s mind. He packed up his things and made an effort to avoid eye contact as he left the field.

+ 1. Driving past the city lights made all the tension in your shoulders disappear. This has been just what you needed, only now realizing the stress of trying to find a job was really getting to you. The two-month break after finishing university was a well needed rest after four years of hard work but you were well aware that it couldn’t last forever. You had to start living your life now. Getting an apartment in Vancouver was far from cheap and finding a job was proving to be harder that you’d thought.

Sighing contently and resting your head on the window you turn to Mat. He looks ridiculously good driving his car under streetlights. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were so deep in the friendzone you could stare at him forever. But Mat being Mat had to ruin the peaceful atmosphere by belting out the lyrics to whatever song had just come on the radio.

“Jesus Christ Mat, if I wanted to listen to off key singing I would just record myself.”

“Oh don’t do me like that y/n, you know I have the voice of an angel.”

“One that’s getting his wings ripped out maybe.”

Mat gave you an offended look.

‘Okay rude. Don’t forget who’s driving an hour to bring you to go stargazing in the fricking middle of the night. Don’t be ungrateful”

It was your turn to be offended now.

“Which was your idea must I remind you. But you are right, I appreciate it very much.”

He looked happy with your response as he went back to quietly singing along to the radio. It wouldn’t take too long for you to arrive at your destination. You recognized the signs by the side of the road.

Excitement filled your stomach. You hadn’t been at the lookout in a couple of months and while you knew Mat was joking about you needing to thank him, you were really grateful for him taking you. This specific lookout had been your happy place ever since you first discovered it when you were fifteen. And now being twenty-two, it still had an effect on you. Mats voice broke you out of your thoughts once again.

“So, you can tell me how much you love me when we get out of the car and under the sky. Unless your plan is to just sit in the car and look out the window.”

“Yeah no that is actually what I wanted to do, I’m so glad we’re on the same wavelength.”

Your statement was followed by a challenging smile that you regretted as soon as he sent you one of his own in return. You knew Mat was stubborn, annoyingly so. And now your stupid comment meant that he would not be getting out of his car until you took it back. In a different situation you would have sat like this for hours but on this specific night you really needed to see the stars to calm the doubts that seemed to follow you around.

“Just get out of the car.” You sighed while opening up the door on your side.

Walking to the picnic bench in the middle of the grass you could hear his laughter even before he got out of the car.

“How do you always know exactly how to get on my nerves Barzal?”

You didn’t have to wait long on his response.

“Because I know you. I have known you. For about ten years now. You might think you’re mysterious but you’re far from it.”

You chuckle at that, choosing to close your eyes and lay your head down on the bench. A moment of silence comes over both of you. Turning to face Mat you see he’s already looking at you.

“Tell me.”

Your reaction draws a small smile from him and you feel the sudden urge to run your fingers over his cheeks to try and capture it in your hands.

“I know that you did not want to come say hello when you moved into the house next to mine. I know that your dad forced you to and that you thanked him for it a year later because you met me.”

You almost pushed him off the bench for that but the smile on your face told Mat that you weren’t really annoyed at him. He stopped talking for a while after he heard it. Crazy how you could make him lose his train of thought by doing something so easy. He realized after a while that he should probably continue talking, more for his sake than yours.

“I know that your least favorite color is purple but that you don’t like saying that because it makes you feel bad. I know that you don’t like to put your hair in a ponytail because it gives you a headache. I know that your favorite book is the song of Achilles and that you get sunburned by being in the sun for like thirty minutes and that despite that you’re always out of after-sun.”

His face turned serious after that.

“I know that coming here and watching the stars is your favorite way to calm down but that you’ve not asked me to bring you because you don’t want to bother me. I know that you’ve been extremely stressed thinking now that you’ve finished school you have a deadline to do all the adult things you feel like you’ve missed out on until now. I know that thinking about the future freaks you out and that all you want to do right now is just lay here and not go back home.”

You don’t speak after Mat finished his little monologue, trying to process what he had just said.

“But I know that you’ll be fine.”

This causes you to scoff. The fact that he was trying to reassure you was sweet really, but you knew that he couldn’t possibly be sure of that. Mat was great at pretty much everything he did, but no one could predict the future.

“Y/n I know that you don’t believe me but everything will turn out alright.”

“And how do you know that Mat? I appreciate you being here for me but the things I’m dealing with are slightly out of your field of expertise. I’m terrified that I’ve spend my entire life studying for something that I’m completely unprepared for. I have no idea what direction I want to go in with my professional career and I don’t have time to think about it because I need to find an apartment in like three months unless I want to live with my parents for the rest of my young adulthood. I can’t afford to wait much longer.”

“Move in with me then.”

Everything paused for a second. You almost asked him to repeat himself but the look in his eyes told you that you’d heard him right the first time. You took the time that it took you to slowly sit up from your position on the bench to collect your thoughts. Still you couldn’t come up with much more than “You don’t mean that.”

“I get that you’re stressed about everything right now, but you don’t have to be. I can help you figure it out.”

“Mat you’re not serious” you interrupted him. “I can’t ask you to babysit me, you have your own things to deal with.”

“You’re not asking me to. And I’m not babysitting you, I want you in New York with me as much you need an apartment.”

Your head was spinning even more than at the start of the evening. Moving in with Mat. It would be everything you’ve ever wanted. But it wasn’t like that. He wanted you there to take care of you as a friend. As much as it hurt you to say no to him, you knew that you couldn’t do it like that.

“Mat I can’t ask you to put your life on pause for me. I-”

“Y/n I love you. I have no idea how you haven’t figured it out by now because my friends have reassured me that I’ve been very obvious, but I. Love. You. I’ve wanted to ask you to move with me for an entire year now. I want you with me not to take care of you but to hold you and kiss you and reassure you. I want to give you the future you want. And I can give it to you.”

At this point Mat was furiously running his fingers through his hair and you were staring at him open-mouthed.

“I’ve probably fucked everything up by saying this but I can’t let you believe that you don’t deserve everything good the world had to offer.”

You couldn’t think. It was like your body was moving on auto-pilot. So it surprised you just as much as it did Mat when you jumped up to press your lips against his. You pulled back quickly though to start your own rant.

“Mat I want that. I want you, in Vancouver and in New York and everywhere you’ll take me.”

You didn’t need a reply. The way he kissed you told you that he was on board with anything you said. And you were so exited about it.

#mat barzal #mathew barzal #mat barzal imagine #Mat #Things I write

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cryingoverafictionalcharacter · 3 years

Text

Request from @iwannagotospaceforever: Could u do a Fred Weasley x reader maybe with prompt 12 and 13???

12: “I’m Fine!” “Y/n, there's blood coming out of your head!”

13: “You’re cute when you want to stab me”

A/N: I love this!!! I hope you guys enjoy, feel free to leave me any feedback or requests you might have <3

Prompt: You and Fred have been friends for a while, you’ll hang out together on school grounds, pull pranks with Fred, and just seem to get along well, unless its on the quidditch pitch, where your competitive natures can get a bit out of hand.

Warnings: Reader is not in the same house as Fred (Gryffindor), Swearing, mentions of blood, Frenemies type shit, Fluff, terrible quidditch writing

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

You walked onto the quidditch pitch, resting your broom against your shoulder as you swung your other arm, excited for game day. You were determined to win this round, Gryffindor having won the last couple games, and you were not going to let your house fall into the same fate. You had been getting up early the past two weeks, trying out new flying techniques, working on your stamina, and practicing chaser moves with Fred.

You and Fred have been friends since fourth year, having met in Snape's potions class when your concoction may have blown up in Snape’s face. After that you were constantly hanging out. Fred joined in of course, pulling pranks and just talking about random things in general, but for some reason, you and the older twin just had a connection. It might have had something to do with your competitive natures constantly keeping each other on your toes.

You spotted him on the other side of the field with George, each carrying their beaters gear and walking to the Gryffindor rest area. His eyes met yours and a smile spread across his face as he waved.

“You’re going down” He mouthed, his hand that was once waving now having a thumb pointing downwards. You smiled back.

“Fuck off” You mouthed back, going to give him the bird before you suddenly remembered Dumbledore was watching, and he probably wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.

Fred made a fake sad face, making you laugh a bit before returning the gesture. Suddenly Lee Jordan's voice rang through the bleachers.

“Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the third game of the season, today we have Gryffindor against (Y/H). Lets have a good game, and may the best team win.

This signaled for you and the rest of your team to get on your brooms and fly up to the starting point, forming a circle with the other chasers on your team as well as the chasers on Gryffindor.

There was a bit of silence, before madam Hooch opened the trunk, releasing the bludgers and the golden snitch, before finally throwing the Quaffle into the air, officially starting the game.

After a few minutes you had finally gotten your hand on the quaffle, headed to the goal, and towards Fred and George. You saw George moving to block your left, and moved right, now having to face Fred. You had been practicing with him for the past few weeks, so you knew his weak spots, but he also knew yours. You faked going for the far right goal before quickly turning and going through the middle, scoring your team a point.

“That's ten points to (Y/H)!” Lee’s voice rang out, causing cheers and boos to ring through the crowd. You flew up beside Fred, having a moment before the next play started.

“You need to up your game Weasley” You said jokingly

“Please I saw you from a mile away” He joked back, suddenly making you think that he might have let you score.

“I swear to God Weasley, if you are going easy on me im going to kill you” You said, giving him a look, before starting to fly off, but not before Fred got in the last word.

“You look so cute when you want to stab me!” He said, causing you to look back at him and giving him a pose, causing the both of you to laugh, but secretly you had butterflies going insane in your stomach.

Did Fred Weasley just call you cute? You weren’t blind, you thought the twin were quite attractive, but every once in a while, you couldn’t help but think about Fred specifically, about how the sun caught his hair, or how his eyes crinkled when he smiled, or how he was able to laugh every day, but also made sure that you felt heard.

You were quickly snapped out of your thoughts however when you made it back to the starting circle, putting your focus back into the game.

A few rounds later and you were 20-20 with Gryffindor. You had just gotten the ball again and was headed towards the goal, Fred facing you, a smirk on his face which only motivated you more. You were only a few seconds to scoring the goal, when Fred's face changed from irritating smugness, to worry. You didn’t have time to make out what he was saying before the right side of your head suddenly erupted with a sharp pain, and you were spiraling towards the ground.

The fact that you were still on your broom didn’t make the fall to bad, but before you knew what had happened, you were laying on your back looking at the sky.

“Looks like one of (Y/H) chasers got a good knock by one of the bludgers, that gotta hurt” Lee Jordan said

Madam Hooch was knelt beside you, asking you about the pain when Fred suddenly landed next you, running over and kneeling by your side.

“I know you said to not go easy on you but I swear it wasn’t me” He said, quickly, causing you to laugh a little.

“Fucking coward” You mumbled suddenly realizing that the game was still going on.

“Fred what are you doing go play I’m fine!” you said, finally sitting all the way up, your head spinning a bit.

“Y/n, there is blood coming out of your head!” Fred said, making you lift your hand to poke the side of your head, only to pull it back to see blood. Before you could say anything else to get Fred back to the game, Lee Jordan's voice rang through the crowd.

“Harry Potter has captured the Golden snitch! Gryffindor wins!” Lee said, causing the crowd to cheer.

“Well that sucks” You groaned. All the practice, only for the golden boy to catch the snitch AGAIN. You reached out your hand to Fred, motioning for him to help you up, which he took. However as soon as you were on your feet your head started to spin, but Fred saw you sway and caught you.

“I want you to go straight to the medical wing to make sure you don't have a concussion, Weasley can you take them?” Madam hooch said, making you roll your eyes.

“I don’t need to-” You started, not thinking your injury was such a big deal

“I would be happy to” Fred said before smiling at you, you glaring at him in return.

A few minutes later and you were sitting cross legged on on of the bed in the hospital wing, Fred making it his job to annoy you while Madam Pomfry to checked on you.

“Be honest doc, how long do they have” Fred said, causing you to roll your eyes and swat his arm, which caused him to laugh.

“Y/N will be living for a long while, but you do have a very mild concussion, so I don’t want you to do anything labor intensive for the next week.

“What? But quidditch!” you practically yelled, horrified at the news.

“I don’t want to hear it, now at the end of the week, I want you to come back in so we can see how you’re healing, as for the rest of the day I want you to relax” Madam Pomfry said, giving you a sympathetic look before leaving to check up on someone who had a bad encounter with the wrong Polyjuice potion.

“It could be worse” Fred said, trying to lighten the mood, causing you to glare at him.

“How could it be worse?” You asked

“Well you could not have me to keep you company!” Fred said, causing you to groan.

“Death would have been a kinder fate” You said, before quickly laughing at Fred’s shocked expression. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding” You said, moving to get up, which Fred helped you do without fully realizing it.

“Are you sure you want to stick around? I can’t do any strenuous activities so I’m basically the most boring person in the world right now” You said, causing Fred to shake his head.

“Impossible, you could never be boring, but I have an idea if you’re up to it?” Fred asked, quirking a brow which made you suspicious, but you agreed non the less, nodding your head.

“Excellent, adventure awaits!” He said, before walking off while still having his arm around you.

A while later and you were sitting outside by the black lake, underneath a tree. You had been spending the last few minutes throwing rocks in the water, just watching the ripples.

“You think the squid is mad that we keep throwing rocks in his house?” You asked, causing Fred to laugh a bit.

“Why do you think I brought you along? If he suddenly wants to kill us I know you're going to be way slower than me.” Fred laughed, laughing even louder when you shoved his shoulder.

“Typical, you only bring me places to benefit your secret agenda” You joked, leaning your back against the tree.

“Nah, you're to pretty to sacrifice” He said, suddenly tensing up realizing he just said that.

You were feeling something similar, your face heating up as you shook your head, trying to dismiss the comment as something platonic. He just felt bad because you got hit.

“Fred, I am in dirty quidditch clothes, with crazy hair and a bruise on the side of my head, I wouldn’t describe myself as pretty right now” You said, thinking he would make a joke and that would be the end of it.

“Well I disagree” He said, the sincerity in his voice surprising you, you turned to look at him to see he was already looking at you, before looking down at his hands.

“You really scared me today” He started “When I saw you get hit, and saw you falling, I was so scared. I kept thinking of how it happened, how I could have stopped it, how you were probably out cold, but then I got down there, and you were the same you always were, calling me lame for not intentionally trying to kill my friend at quidditch” He finished, his joking tone returning a bit.

“I think the term I used was coward” You said, smiling a bit.

“Yeah, that I am, not because of quidditch though” Fred said, smiling a bit, but you weren’t, stuck trying to think about what he could be talking about.

“Fred, you pull pranks on professors for fun. You stole your parents car, for fun. I don’t need to say all the crazy things you’ve done to know you’re not a coward. Why do you think that?” You asked.

“Because I never told you about how I really felt” Fred said. Suddenly the butterflies in your stomach returned, causing your face to heat up.

“What?” You asked, not quite believing what you were hearing.

“I like you Y/n, I have for a while, but I haven't said anything because I was afraid you wouldn’t feel the same way, and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship” He said, still not looking in your eye and instead looking out on the lake.

“Well then I guess where both cowards” You said, causing Fred’s head to suddenly snap to look at you, which made you laugh a bit.

“What?” It was now Fred’s turn to look shocked. Instead of answering, you just shake your head and put a hand on his cheek, closing the space between you two and connecting your lips. Fred took no time to respond, moving his hand to gently cup the side of your face that wasn’t bruised. We stayed like that for a moment, before finally pulling away for air.

“Well, that was unexpected” Fred said, making you laugh.

“What that I like you back or that I’m such an amazing kisser even with a head injury” You said, making him laugh in return.

“Speaking of which, maybe we should stop, Pomfry said no strenuous activity and I wouldn’t want to-” Fred started but you knew he was joking.

“Just shut it and kiss me dumb ass” You said, smiling as he reconnected your lips again, this time the kiss going a bit further, his tongue sweeping your bottom lip. You opened your mouth, your hands moving to his hair and-

“Oi no snogging with a concussion!” George suddenly yelled from a bit a ways, Oliver and some of your team mates following.

“Mind your own business” Fred said, making you laugh.

“And here we are, trying to be good friends and make sure you haven't died or something” George said, shaking his head in feign disappointment. “This couldn’t have waited a week?”

“No!” You and Fred said in unison, causing the group to laugh before making their way back to the school, wanting to give you two some privacy, but not before George gave Fred a quick thumbs up, glad that he finally made his move.

“Well I’m glad you didn’t wait to tell me” You said once everyone was out of earshot.

“Me neither, except we still have to wait a week to-” Fred started, a suggestive smirk on his face.

“Fred Weasley I swear to God!” You yelled swatting his chest, causing him to fall into a fit of laughter which you quickly followed. Maybe getting hit by a bludger isn’t the worst thing that could happen.

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

Ah, to be hit in the head by a giant ball and be comforted by Fred Weasley. The Dream. TBH I know this ending is trash! But still I hope you enjoyed it, let me know if you have any recommendations or feedback! Also @iwannagotospaceforever I hope you liked it!

#fred weasley #fred weasley fanfiction #fred weasley fanfic #fred weasley headcannon #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley x y/n #george weasley #Harry Potter

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ohhipstaplease · 3 years

Text

Sunrise Salutations [AU]

One-Shot Modern AU - As the sunflowers bloom year after year, Naruto tends to the garden his childhood friend, Hinata Hyuga’s family left behind in hopes that his almost love returns one day.

For Naruhina week 2021 @nhweek | April 12: Sunflowers / “Good morning!"

Having been somewhat of an early riser for the better part of his young life, Naruto Uzumaki always woke before his alarm went off. This wasn’t without reason, especially not as sunflower season rolled around once more.

Naruto sighed as he kicked off the tangled covers and stretched out his tired limbs. He could’ve used ten more minutes of sleep, but, he knew today was the day the flowers were finally going to bloom. It was the one day he looked forward to all year.

After his childhood friend, Hinata Hyuga, suddenly moved away years ago, he found that continuing to tend to the garden her family left behind helped him make some sort of sense of the unresolved feelings he had towards her. He was only seven when his friend had left his side, but still, it felt like it was yesterday that he realized that maybe girls weren’t gross and that perhaps holding Hinata’s hand wouldn’t be the worst thing he could do.

Back when they both fit into overalls and found fingerpainting fascinating, the pair used to wake up at the crack of dawn and watch the sunrise from the Hyuga garden under the watchful eye of her mother, Hitomi. Naruto’s mother was not a morning person, but his father always made sure to rouse him awake right before the sun rose so he could be out the door and right next to Hinata tending to the sunflowers as morning unfolded upon the city of Konoha.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Hitomi would say as she refilled her watering can.

The children would look at each other and smile, always in wonder of Hitomi. Whether it be as simple as a sunrise, or a perfectly shaped petal on a sunflower, the way she found beauty in everything around her was contagious. Every morning she had something new to show them, something to teach them. Every morning Naruto looked forward to the warm embrace of the sun as he learned what made the flowers he and his mother so adored thrive.

This was their routine, summer after summer, until Hitomi suddenly passed away one morning. Naruto remembered it well, the cries of his mother, when she received the call, the arms of his father, tightly wrapped around him as he tried to explain what had happened. But the one thing that always stood out to him the most? Hinata’s stoic stare as she held her younger sister’s hand at Hitomi’s funeral. He wanted to reach out and hug her like his father had embraced him. But she was too far away, always too damn out of reach.

Heartbroken, and unable to tend to two daughters alone, the head of the Hyuga household, Hiashi, decided to move his family closer to his brother’s home so he could grieve without the weight of having to take care of two young girls as a single father.

They disappeared the day after Hitomi’s funeral, without a single goodbye being said. If the fully bloomed sunflowers hadn't been left behind, you never would have guessed the Hyuga family had ever lived there.

Naruto’s mother, Kushina, woke at sunrise a few days after the Hyugas had gone. She paced the hallway leading to Naruto’s room until she decided it was an acceptable hour to get him out of bed without concerning him. Gently rousing her son awake she whispered, “Good morning, sweet boy. It’s time for sunrise salutations.”

He didn’t question why she was up so early, didn’t dare. Instead he let her wrap his hand in hers as they made their way into the backyard of the now deserted Hyuga home and quietly began watering the flowers. When the sun was fully out, and the flowers were completely watered, Kushina brought out a pair of gardening shears and cut one single sunflower from its thick stalk.

“For Hitomi,” She said, as she placed it in Naruto’s hand and smiled sadly. She already had a vase inside their home with a picture of Hitomi and her daughters from the previous winter when they had come over for the holidays. A makeshift altar.

“You know, Hitomi once told me this beautiful story about why sunflowers turned to face the sun on their own,” Kushina said as she brushed her son’s hair back.

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm,” She nodded, “It was some sort of Greek myth. Like the one you learned about in school last year?”

“Oh.”

“Yes, let me see if I can remember,” She tapped her chin before pulling the wild strands of her fiery red hair up into a messy bun, “Ah yes. Well there was a nymph that was in love with the sun god Apollo. You know who Apollo is right?”

Naruto nodded.

“Good, well, Apollo didn’t love her back. The nymph was so sad at his rejection that she didn’t eat or drink anything, she would only stare at the sun and imagine a life where he too felt what she did.”

“Yikes,” Naruto said, tilting his head.

Kushina let out a laugh, the first one she had genuinely had since the funeral, “Stop it. Let me finish,” She took a breath before continuing, “Well, the gods took pity on the nymph and decided to turn her into a sunflower because it would always face the sun god’s path.”

“So the flower is a woman?”

“Metaphorically, yes.”

“Metaphorically?”

“It means it’s like a symbol. So the sunflower is a symbol for love and adoration, no matter what Apollo did, the nymph would always face towards him and follow his path until the day he realized her feelings for him.”

“That’s really sad. You said it was a beautiful story.”

Kushina tapped her chin, “I guess you’re right, it is kind of sad. But that’s life, buddy. Sometimes you fall in love with someone who barely knows you exist, but you’d follow them to the ends of the Earth anyways. Something beautiful can still blossom from the pain, you know? I think that was the best part about Hitomi...she always saw the beauty in everything.”

Kushina didn’t take the sunflower away from the makeshift altar until it completely wilted, and to this day, the framed picture still sits in the same place.

Naruto didn’t quite know how to feel, he was too young to understand loss, but old enough to understand that his best friend was gone, that she was sad. That this was something he couldn't fix. Eventually he moved on and made friends with kids at school, but he never once was able to look at a sunflower without remembering Hinata’s lavender eyes peering through her blinds, trying to make sure Naruto was up every morning to meet her in the garden.

He had asked her one day why she always peeped on him through her window, and she bashfully looked away, “I just want to make sure you’re up for our sunrise salutations.”

“Sunrise salutations?”

“That’s what momma calls them. Y-you know. When we say good morning to the plants.”

“Good morning? Why not just say that?”

She thought about it for a second before saying, “I think it just sounds better. Don’t you?”

He smiled to himself as he recalled how she went out of her way to say good morning to by waving to him through her slightly opened window everyday since they had that conversation. Their own little version of sunrise salutations. He especially missed her little quirks on days like today.

Naruto couldn’t help but wonder how she was, if she was still as painfully shy as she had been before, if her annoying cousin had finally stopped picking on her. He hoped she was happy, eating well, that she grew to love the hair she demanded her mother chop off because it was too heavy on her neck and too hot in the summer.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d venture he was in love with the Hyuga girl he barely even knew anymore. Just like the nymph from the Greek myth Kushina had shared with him, he had been left listless, simply trying to gather enough warmth from the sun to keep moving on, but never forgetting the girl who made his heart race a little faster for the first time.

For good measure he peeked out of his blinds and in the direction of Hinata’s former room just to feel something. But all he felt was a pang in his chest as he saw the blinds had been taken down and the room was barren.

The family that had lived there since the Hyugas moved away had also packed up and gone this past week. They were kind, that was without a doubt. An older couple with grandchildren who would visit over the summers. They’d been nice enough to let Naruto continue gardening on their property, claiming their arthritis would prevent them from keeping the garden as nice as it was.

In reality, though, the woman had known of the family who had lived there before and had a hunch the young blonde boy before her was smitten. How could she deny him the last connection he had to a first love he’d most likely never get to see unfold?

“Naruto! Breakfast!”

Naruto perked up at the sound of his mother’s voice. He knew she too wanted to see the blooms, although she'd leave the gardening to him. All she’d ask in return was that he cut one single sunflower for Hitomi.

“I think I’ll eat a little later, don’t want to miss the sunrise,” He said as he snagged the cup of coffee from her grasp, took a swig, and ran out the front door.

Kushina shook her head as she looked down at her mug, peering through the kitchen window to watch her son as he slipped on his favorite gardening gloves and began turning on the hose to fill the beat up watering can he had used since she could remember.

She waved at him through the window, a slightly devilish grin upon her face as she waited for him to notice her, and once he did, she took her mug and sat at the little table they kept in the kitchen, leaving Naruto to his sunrise salutations.

Naruto breathed in deeply as he saw the sun slowly rising in the horizon, felt that pang in his chest once more as he remembered how Hinata had fearlessly interlaced her fingers in his and led him through the garden when all the flowers were in full bloom. Hitomi’s laugh intermixed with the birds chirping and the wind whistling was the perfect soundtrack to summer.

Nonetheless, his music would have to do now. He popped in his headphones and blasted his latest favorite song to try to shake the melancholia he woke up with this morning.

His music was so loud that if anyone were to approach him, he surely would not have been able to hear them. And that, in fact, is exactly what happened.

As he turned to refill his watering can, he screamed out as he fell backwards. A hand reached out to grab him, only for him to pull the girl down with him.

Naruto, clearly startled, panicked as he felt her upon his chest. They were a tangle of limbs, he could almost feel her rapid heartbeat on his as she laid upon him.

“Holy shit, are you okay!?” He tried to sit up and pull her up with him, only to find inquisitive lavender eyes staring back at him.

He was at a loss for words, the eyes he had so missed, he didn’t think it could be real.

The girl rubbed her head, cheeks flushed and hair askew, she attempted to get up, but stumbled back onto the grass. Naruto quickly lept into action and helped her get back on her feet, leaving his headphones and watering can strewn upon the ground.

“This wasn’t how I planned for this to go...” She said as she dusted her dress, avoiding his gaze.

“W-what?”

She smiled at him, meeting his gaze for the second time that morning, “I just wanted to...um...to say good morning to you...like we used to.”

“H-hinata?”

She nodded, “We were told you kept up the sunrise salutations, I made papa drive us back in time to see the flowers bloom.”

“Y-you’re back?”

“Moving back in this week.”

“You’re back...” He whispered, taking her in. She was ethereal, the sunlight illuminating her like a halo. Her hair had grown past her waist, her face as beautiful as he had remembered it. Wherever she went, he wanted to face her, he had no doubt now.

“I’m back,” She said, shyly pushing a strand of hair back behind her ear.

Now he understood his mother’s sly smile as he slipped out the door that morning. She had not risen to see the flowers bloom, rather she had gotten up early to ensure her sunflower would be ready to face the sun when it rose.

Naruto reached for her hand, leaving Hinata a tad breathless. He had never been the one to initiate contact all those years ago, it was always her leading the way. The only time she had felt brave enough to assert her feelings was when she was around him.

“Good morning,” He said, interlacing his fingers in hers. His hands were large, callused. She noticed immediately the difference in size between them, both in the width of their hands and their heights.

She had to look up to meet his gaze, “Good morning, Naruto. Can I help you tend the garden today?”

He squeezed her hand and relished the light her shy smile exuded, “Hinata...that sounds perfect.”

From the window in the kitchen, Kushina Uzumaki peered towards the garden and saw her son reunited with the eldest Hyuga. She raised her mug in cheers towards the photo of her friend, and finally, decided to rejoin her husband in bed.

It was far too early for her to be up anyways, and she was sure her son would wake her when he was finished with his sunrise salutations anyways.

“We have a lot to catch up on,” Naruto said as he grabbed the shears to cut the single sunflower he had promised his mother.

“We certainly do,” Hinata nodded, “Wait are you cutting them already?”

He blushed, “It’s for your mother...for Hitomi. We always give her the first sunflower of the seaso-”

He was taken by surprise for the second time this morning as Hinata wrapped her arms around his waist tightly and pulled him into her embrace, “Thank you,” she murmured into his chest.

Naruto nearly melted as he took in her fragrance, he rested his chin upon the top of her head and breathed in deeply, “You’re welcome.”

She looked up at him and smiled through the tears that began falling from the rush of emotion of being back at her childhood home and reunited with Naruto. Her mother’s memory lived on in every inch of the garden, how could she not feel at peace when she was there? She wished she had never left.

“Do you have an extra pair of gloves?”

Naruto nearly whimpered as she unwrapped herself from him, but he knew that she was back. She wasn’t leaving him again. Her touch would be something he’d be reacquainted with day in and day out if he had his way. All he needed was patience, he had waited more than ten years after all. What was a little while longer?

“For you? Always,” He replied with a large grin.

He couldn’t wait to spend the summer with her in the garden. Just like they used to, but now, perhaps, a little different.

#nhweek2021 #nhweek #naruhina #naruhinaweek #narutoevents2021 #naruhina fanfiction #naruto uzumaki #naruto fanfiction #naruhinaau

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heavenlyhaechan · 3 years

Text

A Fateful Delay

Pairing: Jaehyun x Gn!Reader

Genre: friends to strangers to lovers au, fluff,

Word Count: 4.1k

Warnings: swearing, kissing, lots of dialogue

Rating: PG-13?

Note: Happy birthday nct aquarius boy 5/5! Forewarning I am an amateur tarot reader, so if it’s not entirely accurate *shrugs* Heavily inspired by Jaehyun’s I like me better cover video. (p.s. you’re a real one if you recognize the book quotes.)

Gate 26, gate 26, gate 26, you repeated in your head, not confident that your half awake mind wouldn’t forget. Heathrow airport was still quite empty at this hour, with only a few other stragglers hanging about. 6:00 am wasn’t exactly the most desirable time for a flight after all.

Here it is, you sighed in relief when you saw a crowd still waiting to board the early flight. You looked down to check that you had your boarding pass before looking up and suddenly being transported back to an older time.

“Jaehyun,” you said it without thinking, prompting him to look up from his phone and make eye contact with you. Recognition flashed across his face almost immediately, along with something else you couldn't quite place.

“What are you doing here?” you asked as you reached him, setting your backpack down on the bench beside him.

“I’ve been studying here,” he said. “What about you?”

“Just traveling. I’ve been in Europe for,” you paused to count in your head. “A little over two months now.”

“Alone?”

“Mostly, yeah.”

He whistled. “That’s pretty impressive.”

“It’s been an adventure, that’s for sure.”

You lapsed into silence, your mind still reeling with the fact that you had run into Jaehyun here of all places. And as coincidences like this didn’t happen very often, you quickly resigned yourself to the fact that you would probably never see him again.

Except…

“Flight 2491 from London Heathrow to Incheon International Airport has been delayed 18 hours,” a nasally voice announced over the speaker. Groans erupted all around you as they continued. “Boarding will commence at 12:00 am. If you have any questions or wish to board another flight please come to the front desk. Thank you and have a good day.”

Jaehyun sighed, reaching up to run a hand through his hair.

“Good thing I checked my bag,” he said as though he was trying to find a glimpse of good in the situation. You nodded emphatically.

“I was just thinking the same thing.”

“You know what I need now?”

“What?”

“Coffee.”

——

Once you’d left the airport the two of you entered the first cafe you could find. Unlike Heathrow, this was it’s busiest time of the day. You looked around as you waited, observing the artwork and the office workers that came and went without a second glace in your direction. They must be used to tourists.

“Does this place have a bookstore?” you asked as you peered past the espresso machines. You repeated your question to the barista when you reached the front of the line, and learned that yes, there was a bookstore just down the hall.

“Lets go,” you said once you’d ordered.

“Now?”

“When else?”

“You go,” he said. “I’ll wait for our coffee.”

——

The bookstore was even quieter than the airport, with not a soul to be seen but your own. You ran your finger along the bookcases as you explored, the rough texture and musty scent of the books making you feel at home. Jaehyun found you sitting on the carpeted floor in the aisle between two bookcases, a stack of hardcovers next to you.

“Watcha doing?” he asked as he handed you your coffee and sat down next to you.

“Let me read you some of my favorite lines,” you said in place of an answer.

“Didn’t we read that in high school?” Jaehyun asked as you picked The Sun Also Rises from the top of the pile.

“Yeah,” you said. “Junior year.”

Eventually you found the page you were looking for and read the line: “I can’t stand it to think my life is going so fast and I’m not really living it.”

“Damn,” he sighed.

You nodded. “That’s why I decided to come here. To Europe I mean.”

You picked up the next book.

“Okay here’s another one. ‘Brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared. It means you go on even though you’re scared.’”

“How are you finding these so fast?” Jaehyun asked, dimples appearing on his cheeks as he smiled.

“I’ve probably read them too many times,” you laughed along with him, ripping your eyes away from the ever endearing marks.

A minute later: “We accept the love we think we deserve.”

“Ouch.”

You laughed again, and he forced himself to smile with you.

“Okay last one. ‘That’s what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway. Don’t you believe in true love?’”

“Do you?”

“What?”

“Believe in true love.”

“Yeah, don’t you?”

He sipped his coffee as he considered the question.

“Yes,” he said finally. “I just don’t think I’ll ever find it.”

You were taken aback by that. Jung Jaehyun had always been one of the most desirable people you knew, and from what you could tell the last six years had done nothing but make him even more so. But maybe that wasn’t what mattered.

“Doesn’t it scare you?” Jaehyun interrupted your thoughts.

“What? Love?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean yeah I guess so, but isn’t true love worth the fear?”

Jaehyun smiled again at that, nodding quietly as his gaze moved to focus on the floor between you. You weren’t sure if the nod meant yes, but it brought an end to the conversation anyway.

——

As the morning turned into midday the two of you found yourselves in a quieter part of town. The sky had begun to darken as you walked and it casted a looming shadow over the street, filling you with a strange sense of foreboding.

Soon enough raindrops began to fall, creating dark spots on the concrete beneath your feet. You ducked into the first shop you could find for shelter, not paying any attention to the signs posted outside. Thus you were surprised to see the crystal balls, tarot decks, and palm reading books laid out on the tables inside.

Incense filled the air, and midnight blue and royal purple drapes were hung along the walls, highlighted by shimmering golds and silvers. A woman stood at the counter wearing colors to match. Other than her the store was empty, which didn’t surprise you considering the fact that it was late morning on a Monday in February. Not exactly the height of tourist season.

“Welcome,” the woman said, her voice soft and silvery. “Are you looking for something in particular today?”

“Uh, no,” you looked back at Jaehyun.

“We were just escaping the rain,” he finished for you.

“Well then, perhaps you’d be interested in a reading?”

You felt bad for seeking refuge from the rain but not buying anything, so you agreed. You followed her to the back of the shop with Jaehyun close on your heels. An embroidered curtain was pushed to the side to reveal a small table with a few chairs scattered around it.

“Please take a seat,” she said as she pulled a deck of tarot cards from a drawer in the table. You and Jaehyun sat next to each other on the side closest to the curtain, and she sat across from you.

“So, I want you to think of a question,” she said as she began to shuffle the cards. “It could be about anything really, but please make sure that it’s clear and specific.”

You played with your hands where they rested in your lap, feeling quite put on the spot.

“Take your time,” she smiled at you.

Your mind came up with and then discarded a million questions as the seconds ticked by, but eventually you settled on one.

“Our uh, flight was delayed this morning,” you explained. “Do you, or do the cards think that it was delayed for a reason?”

“Hmm,” she nodded in understanding. First she split the deck in three, then put it back together as a whole in no obvious order, before finally beginning to place the cards on the table.

“Let’s see,” she pondered, looking down at the cards she’d laid out. First she pointed to the world and high priestess cards, both reversed on the table before you.“It looks as though you lack closure, likely because of some feelings that you’ve repressed or kept hidden.” Next she pointed to the hermit and the ace of swords. “But you are searching for the truth, which will soon lead to a breakthrough that will provide you with clarity.”

Now she pointed to the page of wands. “You have been exploring recently, or maybe you still are.” Next to the knight of wands and the knight of cups. “You are fearless right now, and are ready to follow your heart. This will lead to new beginnings,” the fool, “dreams come true,” the ten of cups, “and a unique and deep partnership,” the lovers.

“Taking all of this into consideration, I’d say that yes, it did happen for a reason,” she finished. And although you weren’t one to believe in the superstitious, when she looked up at you with a twinkle in her eye you had a feeling she knew something that you didn’t.

——

Your stomach grumbled as you left the store, which made you realize that you hadn’t actually had a proper meal all day. You hadn’t had time on your way to the airport that morning, and coffee didn’t exactly count as food.

Like he could read your mind Jaehyun pointed out a fish and chips place nearby. It was lunchtime, so the place was bustling. Nevertheless you were quickly escorted to a booth made of dark wood with faux leather seats. It had been placed near a window looking out on the street you had just left behind.

Music played through speakers, battling the rowdy conversation of your fellow diners. Your still complaining stomach prompted you to order without much consideration, confident that you were hungry enough to enjoy whatever you were served.

“Do you believe everything she said back there?” Jaehyun asked as you waited for your food, his nail tracing a crack in the table.

“Yeah?” you phrased it as a question, watching as the group next to you was served. “I mean I wouldn’t usually, but a lot of what she said rang true.”

You lapsed into silence again, and you noticed a newfound awkwardness filling the space between you. An awkwardness that had nothing to do with the time that had passed since you’d last seen each other. You couldn’t stand the feeling, and so no matter how out of character it was for you, you felt that you needed to disrupt it somehow. So you said the thing that had been dancing around in the back of your mind since you’d first laid eyes on Jaehyun that morning.

“I liked you in high school you know.”

“Oh. You did.” He tilted his head, the look in his eyes hard to decipher. It wasn’t a question but you answered anyway.

“Yeah well I mean everyone probably liked you at some point, but,” you bit your tongue, already regretting your words.

“So you liked me because everyone else did?”

“No! I liked you a lot more than everyone else did.”

You only registered the teasing lilt in his voice after you’d finished blurting out the confession, and you felt your whole body go hot as the smile dropped from his face. The pause felt like it lasted for centuries because of your embarrassment.

“Why?” he asked eventually.

“Why what?”

“Did you like me.”

“Um,” you fiddled with your paper napkin to focus your thoughts. You second guessed yourself yet again. Were you really going to spill your guts to him now, here, after all this time?

Fuck it. When else?

“It always seemed to me like you didn’t care what anyone else thought of you, but not in a high and mighty way, you just minded your own business. Everyone either wanted to be you, or be with you in high school, but you didn’t let it affect you. It never got to your head, and you were always equally kind to everyone no matter what.”

Your eyes didn’t leave your hands the entire time you talked. Your fingers shredded your napkin methodically, too embarrassed to even imagine looking him in the eye ever again.

“Plus, you’re not bad to look at,” you said with your last ounce of confidence, before descending back into silence.

Luckily you didn’t need to say anything else, as just then your server arrived with your food. You dug in despite your now roiling nerves, still too scared to look up. If you had, you would have seen the fond look in Jaehyun’s eyes, and the way his dimples couldn’t seem to be tamed.

——

After lunch you walked across the Thames, but were eventually forced to make way for two small children zipping by on their scooters, their faces both full of pure and unadulterated joy. You couldn’t help but smile as you watched them go by, remembering when things had been that simple for you too.

“Do you want kids?”

You don’t know why you’d asked. Maybe it was something about the way his eyes had sparkled when he’d moved for them to pass by, or the small smile that still graced his face almost a minute later.

“Me?” he laughed a little after he said it, knowing full well that he was the only person around for you to ask. “I…yeah.”

You nodded, not particularly inclined to say anything more, but he went on anyway.

“Sometimes I think about like, having a house with a big yard, and a dog, and some kids, and just all the people I love with me,” he trailed off. “I guess it sounds kinda cliche to say it out loud.”

“A little,” you chuckled lightheartedly even as your heart leaped in your chest. “But I know what you mean.”

——

Soon enough you stumbled upon a covered market set up along the river selling everything from clothes, to records, to furniture. You wandered into the clothes section while Jaehyun browsed the rows of records.

Eventually you found a mirror and started trying on the most ridiculous accessories you could find. Jaehyun found you adorned with a lime sunhat, sparkling ruby red glasses, and a fluffy green absinthe scarf.

“Why does that kind of work?” he chuckled as he looked you up and down.

“Complementary colors,” you said simply, trying to ignore the way his eyes surveyed your figure. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were serious. They took you in like you were a statue in a museum, something to treat delicately and with reverence.

“I had an idea,” he said as you began to shed your layers of color and ludicrous.

“What kind of idea?”

“I thought maybe we could pick something from all of this,” he waved his arms around, gesturing to the market around you, “and buy it for each other.”

“Like a secret santa?”

“Kinda, yeah.”

“Okay,” you nodded. “Meet back here in say, twenty minutes?”

“Sure.”

You set off in opposite directions, not wanting to spy on each other’s search and spoil your own present. Twenty minutes later you met back up where you’d started, before quickly deciding that you needed to find somewhere to sit while you shared what you’d bought. You chose a loveseat in the middle of the furniture section, it’s surface made of navy blue linen.

“You first,” Jaehyun said once he’d made himself comfortable next to you.

“Okay but fair warning, this is kind of dumb,” you said before pulling a white mug from behind your back. On its surface was painted a singular peach hued letter J.

“I just had to,” you laughed, relief filling you at the look of amusement on his face as he took it in his hands. “You can use it when you get that house you were talking about.”

His smile softened at that, and he looked up at you with a genuine look of gratitude. “I love it. Seriously. Is it weird how much I love it?”

You laughed again, your cheeks aching with delight.

“Okay my turn,” Jaehyun turned serious again as he leaned down to carefully tuck the cup into his bag. When he straightened up he had a record in his hands. Taking it from him you saw that it was the self titled Hozier album from 2014.

“I remembered that it was your favorite album in high school so I uh, yeah,” he trailed of as you looked back up at him, your eyes as big and sparkling as the full moon.

“I can’t believe you remembered.”

“Yeah well, maybe I liked you a little bit in high school too.”

Your stomach dropped at his words and you forced yourself to swallow back your surprise.

“Really?” you managed to get out, desperately searching his eyes for any hint of insincerity. But when he nodded you found nothing but nerves at his years awaited confession.

——

Eventually the two of you found yourselves in a sprawling garden backed by a row of old Victorian houses. Wide walkways created borders between garden beds full of both familiar and unrecognizable plants, the air full of their sweet scent.

You split off to wander on your own for a while before meeting back up at a bench near the back of the garden. Jaehyun presented you with a one of spring’s first daffodils when you reached him, and you bit down on your bottom lip hard as he tucked it behind your ear.

“I bet a lot of people get married here,” he mused a while later, arms propped up on the back of the bench.

“Yeah, it’s beautiful.”

The foolish part of you let your mind imagine yourself having a wedding here. As your eyes traced the slope of his nose you wondered who would be in attendance, what food would be served, what you would be wearing.

“Do you ever think about all the things that had to happen for us to run into each other this morning?” Jaehyun asked. “Like I never thought I’d ever see you again, and even if I did I thought it would be at a reunion or something.”

“And what if our flight hadn’t been delayed?” you considered. You knew what would’ve happened. You would have gotten on that plane without speaking another word to each other. Maybe a brief goodbye in Incheon, but that was certainly the very most. And then you would go your separate ways yet again, passing it off as an innocent coincidence.

“I’m glad it was,” he said as though, yet again, he could read your mind. Or maybe he was just thinking the same thing.

The sun was setting now and his face was lit up by its fiery glow. It turned his deep brown eyes gold and his cheeks rosy. His lips were parted the tiniest bit, like they were trying to grasp onto a word that he couldn’t quite remember.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” you asked.

“Like you,” his jaw clenched as he paused, eyes flickering with uncertainty. “Like you could fall in love with me,” he finished finally.

“Maybe I already have.”

He ripped his eyes from the setting sun in favor of looking at you. The corners of his lips were down turned, and his eyes were set in shadow. You decided you liked them better this way, twin pools of warmth that you could fall into and stay in comfort forever.

“Would it be crazy if I kissed you right now?” he whispered just loud enough for you to hear.

“Yes,” you said breathlessly, your lungs not working quite the way they were supposed to. “But you should do it anyway.”

And so he leaned forward that left over inch, and your lips melded together like honey in the golden light of the sun as it sunk beneath the horizon.

——

As night fell upon the city you decided you needed something sweet to end your day. You ended up at a diner near the center of the city, with milkshakes and french fries set on the table between you. You dipped one into your shake and then huffed out a laugh as Jaehyun grimaced.

“It’s good!” you defended yourself. “At least try it before you judge me.”

“Fine.”

He reached forward and dipped a fry into his vanilla milkshake before popping it into his mouth. He considered carefully, eyes never once leaving yours.

“Okay I admit, it’s pretty good.”

You cried out victoriously before he’d even finished his sentence properly, pumping your fists in the air. It was Jaehyun’s turn to laugh now, the indent of his dimples enchanting you for the thousandth time that day.

“Do you think,” Jaehyun began, spinning the shiny silver spoon in his cup around in circles.

“Hm?”

“Are you…happy?”

You blinked. As an adult people would always ask you how your career was going, if you were married, or if you’d bought a house yet, as if life was some kind of grocery list where you had to check off each item in order for you to be complete. He was the first to ask if you were happy.

“I think so,” you leaned down and took another sip of your milkshake to give yourself a chance to think. “I’m not unhappy,” you decided after a moments thought.

“You know what makes me happy?” he asked next.

“What?”

“You.”

You stared at him, your mind reeling. A thousand thoughts came to you, but none of them expressed quite what you were feeling. But maybe words weren’t what you needed right now.

You reached across the table, pushing your cups and fries out of the way until you could lean forward free of any obstructions. He met you halfway without you needing to do or say a thing.

This time he tasted sweet and salty, like adventure and familiarity all wrapped into one. Fireworks erupted behind your eyelids as you kissed, disrupting the calm darkness you usually found there. When you pulled away you became starkly aware of the countless eyes on you, but you couldn’t find it in yourself to care. The only eyes you cared about were the chocolate ones looking straight into yours.

As you sat back down you noticed the flower that had fallen from behind your ear and on to the table top. Jaehyun noticed it at the same time as you, and carefully he reached forward to pick it up and twirl it between his fingers absentmindedly.

“One of the classes I took while I was here,” he started. “It was just for fun, an extra credit course you know. And at some point we talked about the language of the flowers.”

You watched the flower spin, a yellow blur under the diner’s fluorescent lights. It was mesmerizing, or maybe you were just tired.

“Do you know what the daffodil’s meaning is?” he asked.

You shook your head.

“Unequalled love.”

——

You reached gate 26 for the second time that day with nearly half an hour left until midnight. Some of your fellow voyagers sat around in groups, some by themselves. Some lay across the airport benches like cats trying to enjoy their midday nap. There were tired eyes everywhere you looked.

You, on the other hand, felt more awake than you had all day. None of it had felt real, passing more like a dream than real life. You had been tempted to pinch yourself several times that day, and now you finally decided to submit to the urge. You pushed back the sleeve covering your left arm and gave the skin underneath a quick pinch, if only to confirm that you were indeed corporeal.

You sucked in a short breath at the small tinge of pain, but then smiled at the ground at the confirmation that everything that had happened today was in fact real, and not just a figment of your overactive imagination. Jaehyun looked over at you with curious eyes at the small sound. You shook your head at the unspoken question, preferring to not indulge exactly how surreal all of this felt.

“What’s your seat number,” you asked instead.

“Uhhh,” Jaehyun rummaged around in his bag for a second before pulling out his boarding pass. “32F. How about you?”

“32G.”

You stared at each other for a second before Jaehyun burst out laughing.

“You’re telling me that our seats were next to each other this whole time?”

“I think so,” you looked down at your boarding pass once more before joining in on Jaehyun’s disbelieving laughter.

“Well would you look at that,” Jaehyun said, pulling your right hand into his lap and squeezing it gently. “I guess this really was fate.”

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annakie · 3 years

Text

Patchy

A little under two years ago I made this post, a chronicle of Patchy, the outside feral, turned inside kitty who took ten years to learn to love being petted.

Today we got some bad news.

TW for pet illness under the cut.

Patchy’s always been a bit of a puker, usually oh, say, once a month or so she’d have a good puke for no reason. I’ve had other cats that are pukers so it’s not that surprising.

In the late winter/early spring I started to notice more frequent pukes.

I’d decided around that time that I needed to find healthier food for my cats, with Leela, the oldest turning 16, Fry turning 11, Pemily turning 7 and Patchy turning, I don’t know, 12 or 13. No way to really know. They already got decent food, but I did my research and had started looking at Blue Buffalo, American Journey and Dave’s canned food.

Patchy had been on a mostly canned food diet since she went to the vet back in early 2020 and had a bunch of teeth pulled. Also, as a note, Patchy’s brief flirtation with hanging out in the rest of the house ended after like a month. She and Fry fought too much, and eventually he claimed the rest of the house is his. He also still thinks the master bedroom should be his, but, Patchy defends that territory well if anyone else encroaches. (The door just stays closed most of the time.) I really wish they could have all gotten along, I loved having Patchy out, but both Fry and Patchy agreed it wasn’t going to work.

The food she’d been on was pretty junk-food-ish though, which she did love and eat. But I wanted everyone on more or less the same diet and the highest quality food I could readily get them. So I bought a lot of cans of different kinds of food, and kept a list of which ones seemed to be hits and misses. (I still have a dozen cans of the kind nobody liked -- Blue Buffalo Wilderness Salmon -- I’ve been meaning to take to the city shelter).

Around halfway into this experiment I noticed Patchy puking more, so I decided to try to stick with her favorite kinds, which, I thought was helping.

But once I was fully vaccinated this year, it was time to get all the pets to the vet. I noticed Patchy had still lost some weight, I thought it was due to switching around her food too much earlier, and tried to stick with the things I felt she really liked.

Then, of course, Leela got sick, spent two and a half days in the pet ER and almost died back in April, and then it was like... yeah we’re done being afraid of COVID, we’re done waiting. It’s time to get them all their checkups.

My regular vet was doing COVID restrictions so no pet owners inside the clinic back then, so they took Patchy (and the others) in without me. I thought Patchy had lost some weight, but Dr. B. sounded alarmed when he called me with how much lost she’d lost in the last year, about five pounds. He wanted to do some bloodwork for Patchy, and I said of course go for it.

He called back, sounding much calmer and was like “her bloodwork couldn’t be more perfect. Let’s try switching up her food, get her on some sensitive stomach food and let’s see how she’s doing in a couple weeks.”

So two weeks later it did seem like she was doing better, I called Dr. B back and he said to bring her back in a month.

It was my plan to take her back next week when I had some PTO coming. I admit, later than planned... my last couple of months have been mucn more focused on Leela... who, thankfully, continues to thrive. But feeling like my time with her is running out, she’s been my main area of concern.

The last few days though, Patchy has really not been eating well. Sometimes she does OK, sometimes nothing at all. And then puking every day. I swapped her back even to a few cans of the Junk Food (Whiskas) I still had laying around. She’d eat it... and then puke it up. And also she... stopped sleeping with me. I thought... well, it’s summer. It’s probably too hot to cuddle. But she stopped laying on the bed. She stopped coming up for pets when I come to bed and hang out for awhile specifically to spend time with her and pet her. She runs under the bed again when I come into the room. It’s like we regressed to three or four years ago... just two weeks after our two year anniversary of getting to pet her.

So this afternoon we went to the vet. Getting her into the carrier sucked. I tried nice methods, then I had to scare her into the closet by running the vacuum, and then pretty roughly grab her. I have scratches and a pretty deep bite on my thumb which either maybe hit a nerve or is infected, may have to go to the doctor for it tomorrow. (Yes, washed it thoroughly with soap as soon as I could.) I also hated betraying her trust that badly, but it’s for her own good. But it was rough.

Dr B. wasn’t working so I saw one of the other vets. I liked him. Also COVID restrictions are gone so I got to go inside. But after talking to him for a few minutes, going over her history and what changes I’ve made, he spent a long time rubbing her intestines (Patchy was perfectly behaved, at least.) Then he looked concerned. Then he said let’s do an ultrasound.

A few minutes he came back in and showed me her scans.

Lymphoma.

I was a bit stunned for a second so I missed a bit of the technical speak he said next, but it came down to the best thing we could do is give her some medicine that may buy her more time. It doesn’t sound like Chemo or Operating is even really an option. I’m going to call back tomorrow and see if Dr. B or the vet I talked to can talk me through it a little better now that I’ve had a chance to digest.

If I can get Patchy to take the medicine, and if she responds well to it... she may have 3 - 6 months left.

If she won’t take it, or if she doesn’t respond, it’s at this point, a matter of her comfort and quality of life. So... weeks. And I’m worried about getting her to take the medicine, especially since she won’t even come let me pet her and we just had a huge trust betrayal today. I don’t know if I could take her spending her last few weeks hating me, especially if the medicine doesn’t work.

The vet also told me that... I didn’t do anything wrong. And we did the right thing six or so weeks ago by changing her food and seeing if a few other things worked. Especially with how good her blookwork looked. He barely felt the cancer today, he said six weeks ago Dr. B wouldn’t have been able to feel it at all. And for this particular type of lymphoma... there’s not a lot to be done, anyway. That made me feel better, at least.

(As a really dumb side note, after I got her home, I sat down to eat dinner and watch an episode of Star Trek to take my mind off of all of this since I’d been crying since I found out, paid my bill, and drove home, stopping at a drive through so I didn’t have the mental load of cooking. And I’m in the middle of my rewatch of Enterprise. I bet any trekkies reading this can guess what episode was next in my rewatch because yep I’m in season two and A NIGHT IN SICKBAY started playing, of course, so obviously I NOPED THE FUCK OUT OF THAT EPISODE. For the non-Trekkies.... the Captain has a dog on board, an adorable beagle, Porthos. The dog gets sick and almost dies and spends his night in Sickbay. He does pull through. But the ONE episode centered around a beloved pet getting sick and almost dying... and that’s the episode that fate decreed I was supposed to watch tonight. I did not. I don’t know if I can watch it anytime soon.)

So now for the next few weeks I will spend my time being grateful that Leela is alive and thriving and pray she keeps doing so -- I will continue to give her extra love and care and attention, and also I will need to do the same for Patchy. I can’t even do it at the same time because Patchy will not come out here, and will not allow Leela in her room.

I am low-key freaking out that there’s the possibility of the nightmare scenario happening to me again. In winter 2016, after months of being sick, I woke up on Christmas morning and my 16-year-old cat Jim had died overnight. It was terrible, and traumatic, and I had to deal with everything all alone because anyone who could support me was... well, it was Christmas morning and my family was all out of town, too. Posting about it on Tumblr... actually really helped me, since it’s the only place I felt like I could talk about it.

That Christmas was on a Sunday.

Wednesday morning I woke up to hearing my dog, Cebu, moaning in pain. I rushed him to the vet, but whatever happened overnight, it was too late, maybe there wasn’t anything we ever could have done even if I’d been awake when the puking started. The vet said the kindest thing we could do was put him to sleep. And we did.

Also I just, JUST now realized that the vet who helped put Cebu to sleep was the same vet who I saw today about Patchy.

But I lost two of my pets within 3 days of each other. I was very lucky that my job let us have the week between Christmas and New Years off that year. I had a few days to pull myself together, and I needed it. It took months to recover totally, though. Every once in awhile I think about that week and I still cry, though. I miss them both so much and they both had deaths that were less than ideal.

I remember thinking then “I have like, five years of reprive. Leela will be sixteen in five years, and that’s when I have to start to worry again, when I have to be ready to say goodbye again.”

I thought then that even after that I’d have two or three years until Patchy would leave me, and two or three years past that until Fry. And then five more years with Pemily.

Right now I’m realizing that I will likely lose Patchy, very best case in six months, but possibly before July is over.

I need Leela to keep thriving. I don’t know how I would handle losing another two so close together again.

Patchy is... she’s the one who chose me. I chose my other cats. Fry and Pemily I plucked from the backyard when they were tiny kittens and brought them inside. They didn’t have a choice. Leela I adopted from a rescue, she didn’t have a choice. Patchy chose to stay. She chose to stick around when she realized I’d feed her. It took years but she learned to trust, she chose to come inside when it was cold, when it was hot, when it was storming, and when she was pregnant. She chose me to help raise the last litter of kittens she’d ever had. (My entire Rescue Kitties tag is full of adventures in finding, raising and usually adopting out strays. Lots and lots of posts about Patchy and her final litter. Been awhile since I’ve done it, though.)

I used to joke that Patchy was my roommate, not a pet. She ate, drank, did her business, and kept to herself for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, she was a very good, quiet, considerate roommate and I loved her. But it wasn’t until that wonderful day she let me pet her that I felt like she was my pet.

I loved having her just hanging out living in the house since 2014, but the last two years especially have brought me such joy. I’ve tried to never take Patchy’s trust in me for granted. It was EARNED. Every small step forward was a milestone to be celebrated. I worked for every bit of trust and love Patchy has given me, and have been rewarded. And it was worth it. Every minute. Every long, patient year.

Even now I’m telling myself... without me, she would have died years ago. Probably violently, or starved, maybe frozen to death. Getting to die of cancer brought on by older age is not something that most feral cats ever get to do. Getting to become an inside kitty where she’s loved, and comfortable for the second half of her life was something remarkable, brought on by her wiles and will to survive for so many years, bolstered by the food I left out for her. She’s had this much time, this much life, this much comfort and love that she would have never had otherwise, and that’s something to be happy about.

I’ve watched dozens of ferals come and go through my neighborhood throughout the years. I feed them, I work on seeing if I can get them to trust me enough to let me TNR them, but even those that I have, I don’t keep seeing for much longer. There’s one right now, I jokingly call him Patchy’s Boyfriend. He still won’t trust me and never has fallen for the trap when I’ve tried. But he’s there most nights when I feed him around 11. He’s getting terribly thin despite the quality food I leave out. I’ll miss him.

But none of them were Patchy. None of them became what she is to me. None of them survived long enough to adapt and decide to live another life.

Also? I wouldn’t have Pemily without her. Pemily is literally Patchy’s Granddaughter and that is one more thing I love Patchy for.

I feel guilty sometimes, both because I don’t spend nearly enough waking hours with her I feel, but I have three others who need me, as well. One who’s time is growing short, as well. And they don’t get to sleep with me, she does. What a joy it was all winter when I would wake up and she’d be sleeping on my chest. I’d get a bit annoyed when she’d sleep with her backside to my face and her tail would tickle my face and wake me up. I’m a side-sleeper half the night and she hated that it was harder to get comfortable on me that way. She still doesn’t want to have my hand just stay on her, she wants pets and skirtches, no long-form touching. That’s ok. I sleep better with her weight on me.

I don’t know what the next few weeks or months will hold, but at least pet-wise, it’s going to be rough. I’m going to wrap this up and give these three out here a good pet, then go hope Patchy comes and asks for love, too. Tomorrow is one more day with all four of them, and for that, I’ll be grateful, for every remaining day.

#personal post tag thingy #my pets #pet illness tw #pet death tw

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drop-of-infinity · 3 years

Text

Destiel fic time, this part canon compliant with season 12. As always, anything is quotation marks is directly from the show, and any chapter can be read alone.

Chapter one

Chapter two

Chapter three

Chapter four

Chapter five

Chapter six

Chapter seven

Chapter eight

<><><><><><><>

Chapter 9: season 12

Keep Calm and Carry On

{“Whoa whoa whoa! It’s okay, it’s okay. He’s a friend.” On some level Dean knew that Mary’s gun couldn’t actually hurt Cas, but he still panicked at the sight of it pointed at the angel’s chest. Besides, he didn’t want Mary and Cas’s first meeting to involve anyone getting shot. Cas stared at him in shock, then immediately wrapped his arms around him. Dean sunk into Cas. I’m home, he thought.

{“Dean!” Cas felt like his chest was going to explode. He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive. He latched onto the hunter, desperately needing the contact, and almost cried when he felt Dean’s arms lift up to hug him back. This is real. He’s alive. When they separated, Cas found himself breathless. Odd, as I don’t technically need to breathe, his slightly scrambled brain thought distantly. He looked up at Dean who was smiling softly, and his heart clenched. I love you.

{“Cas Cas Cas! Don’t hurt him. Not yet.” Cas allowed Dean to hold him back. He was an angel, Dean wouldn’t actually be able to stop him from doing anything, but Cas had enough faith in him to allow himself to be manhandled. He still glanced up at Dean ruefully, although the effect was slightly ruined by the way he’d already melted under his hands.

The Foundry

{“Morning sunshine.” Sam gave Dean a weird look, and he realized he’d said that out loud. It was getting steadily harder to keep his thoughts under lock and key around Cas. Dean was used to hiding feelings, but four years was a long time to know you were in love with someone and never say anything. He took a deep breath and pressed everything down again.

First Blood

{“They’ve only been gone-“

“Six weeks two days and ten hours.” Cas’s chest hurt. He hadn’t stopped beating himself up for letting them go, even though Dean had told him to. Dean. Where was he now? Was he ok? Cas knew that the longing rolling off himself must be palpable but he didn’t care at this point. He just wanted Dean back.

{“Cas.” “Dean?” “Hey buddy, long time.” “What-what happened, wh-where are you?” Cas almost collapsed on the spot. His heart was trying to beat out of his chest and his knees were weak with relief. How many times had they almost lost each other by now? It didn’t matter, because every time it was the same bone crushing relief, the same lung deflating he’s okay he’s okay he’s okay. Cas grabbed the edge of a chair to steady himself, and took a deep breath for the first time in weeks.

{“Hey buddy.” Cas melted into Dean’s arms, barely holding back a whimper. The hug was over far too soon for his aching skin, and he turned his body towards Dean as he walked away, like a flower trying to catch the sun.

{As they sat in the back of the car, Dean considered what he had done and what he was about to do. There was no way he was letting Billie reap Sam or their mom. He was about to die. It was why he was sitting in the back of the car with Cas. He just wanted to be with him for a minute. Cas’s hand rested on the seat between them. Dean didn’t grab it, because he was, at heart, a coward, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever wanted anything so badly. He could practically see the longing radiating off himself in waves.

Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets

{“Why do you let him talk to you like that?” Dean’s blood was boiling. This dickhead had no idea what Cas could do, what he had done. He might not command celestial armies anymore, but the dude was still amazing. It was more than just righteous anger though. Cas had rebelled against heaven for them. For Dean, or so he said. The way Ishim was talking to Cas, everything he said about how far Cas had fallen... it was all on Dean. He knew Cas would resent him for saying it though, so he didn’t.

{“I’m gonna cure you of your human weakness the same way I cured my own. By cutting it out.” Cas lay bleeding on the floor, unable to do anything, but he knew Ishim was wrong. Ishim’s love for Lily had turned him dark and twisted because she didn’t love him back. Cas knew Ishim could feel Cas’s longing, and saw a similar situation to himself and Lily with Cas and Dean, but he hadn’t accounted for one thing. Cas was at peace with it. He was prepared to always love Dean and never get an answer, and that wasn’t a weakness. It was what had made him strong enough to stop the apocalypse, to break free of Naomi’s control, to save the world from Amara. It was his greatest strength.

Stuck In The Middle (With You)

{“I think I’m dying.”

“No.” Dean could feel the panic rising into his throat, and he forced it down. Cas needed him right now, he didn’t have time for this. I can’t lose him he thought desperately. They had to do something. A distant part of his mind reminded him of something someone had told him once. “I watched the man I loved die. There’s no normal after that.” Dean steeled himself. He was NOT about to watch the man he loved die because they were going to fix Cas. They had to.

{“I love you. I love all of you.” Cas was dying, and he needed them to know. He needed Dean to know. He had imagined saying it a million times, and there had been dozens where it was on the tip of his tongue, but somehow he hadn’t pictured this. Dying in a barn, stabbed by a prince of hell. In some ways, Cas thought it was fitting. Dean met him in a barn after all. The beginning of the end. It didn’t matter now. He had said it. I love you. Yet somehow, Cas couldn’t even meet Dean’s eyes. He had a feeling the other man hadn’t gotten the real meaning behind his words. Not that it mattered. This was the end.

{Miraculously, Cas didn’t die. As Sam and Dean pulled him to his feet, all of his nerves were focused on the place where Dean’s hand held his. As the hunter let go, Cas chased his touch unconsciously, and felt Dean’s hand pivot back towards his and brush his skin again. His heart clenched painfully.

The Future

{“You know what, whatever. Welcome back.” Dean knew he wasn’t being fair, and he knew he was just making things worse, but he couldn’t stop. He was just so angry. He’d been worried sick about Cas and turns out... turns out the angel had just been ignoring him. It hurt like hell. He wanted... well that was the problem wasn’t it? He wanted. Dean rubbed his face and sighed. Just because you’re in love with the guy doesn’t mean you get to be an asshole, he told himself firmly. You wanted him back and now he’s back. Don’t be a dick.

{“It’s a gift. You keep those.” It was an olive branch, and Cas knew it. He was strangely relieved to be allowed to keep the mixtape. He remembered Dean giving it to him, and he remembered listening to it anytime he was driving alone. The music was... enjoyable. Cas found he liked the beats and the feel of it, but mostly he liked that Dean had given it to him. He was pleased to be allowed to keep it. Cas felt a surge of guilt about what he was about to do, but it had to be done. For the greater good, he told himself. He remembered repeating the same thing when he was working with Crowley all those years ago, and felt slightly sick. This time is different, he thought firmly. I’m not letting Dean do this. This... this is on me.

{“W-we?” “Yes dumbass, we.” Dean’s heart broke a little at the uncertainty in Cas’s voice. Sometimes the angel seemed seconds away from breaking, and Dean just wanted to grab him and hold him together. He pushed that feeling down, along with the way his chest ached with fondness at seeing Cas silhouetted in his doorway.

{“What the hell were you thinking?”

Dean shoved him up against the hotel wall as soon as he walked in, his arm warm against Cas’s chest. He hoped Dean couldn’t feel how fast his heart was beating through the trenchcoat. Cas should really not be staring at Dean’s lips right now, but Cas has missed him so much and he wants so desperately. Sam called Dean over before Cas could do something he would regret. He ran a hand over his chest, aching and missing Dean’s angry warmth.

{“You’re hurt.” Cas reached out and touched Dean’s hand lightly, then slid up and wrapped his hand around Dean’s injured arm. It was not necessary to touch people to heal them, which Cas was hoping Dean hadn’t figured out yet. He drew his hand away slowly, and Dean looked down at his healed arm as though in awe. Cas couldn’t imagine why. He’d healed Dean countless times since they’d met.

All Along The Watchtower

{“Here Dean. Let me.” Cas touched two fingers to Dean’s head gently, and his leg healed at once. The cut on his cheek also stitched itself up. Dean felt his heart speed up a little as Cas drew his hand away, and Dean looked down, flustered. He sighed inwardly. He was a grown man, not a teenager with a crush. He didn’t get fucking butterflies. Except, apparently, he did.

{“No!” As Sam ran inside to find Jack and Kelly, Dean sank to his knees, overcome with grief. Their mom was in the other world with Lucifer, and Cas... Dean knelt next to the angel, too stunned to do anything. The outline of Cas’s wings stretched across the ground beside them, and Dean lowered his head. He felt hollow. He stood slowly, looking up at the sky. Cas had always loved the stars. Dean wanted to scream, to find God and rip him limb from limb, to do something other than sit here and drown in his sorrow, but he couldn’t. Dean looked down at Cas again. The angel’s eyes were closed. He was gone.

{Cas had felt the life drain out of him, felt his spirit fall into the earth and then sink beyond it. Now he felt nothing at all.

{Dean wished he could fly into the stars, find Chuck and make him bring Cas back. He couldn’t. He couldn’t do anything at all.

#supernatural #destiel #spn #deancas #castiel #supernatural thoughts #spn thoughts #spn season 12 #supernatural season 12 #lily sunder has some regrets #destiel fanfiction #destiel fanfic #destiel fic #deancas fanfiction #deancas fanfic #deancas fic

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adamarinayu · 3 years

Note

Can you tell us more about your author au, back in action au, and Notre duck au? Sorry if I'm asking for a lot but I just saw them on your AU list and they caught my interest 😅

Haha sure! I haven’t worked on any of them in a while but here we go! It’s a bit long, especially the Back in Action section....

In the Author AU, Donald is an author who works under a pseudonym, so that he and the triplets can have some normalcy in life while also being able to support them comfortably. He’s the author of a best selling series, which is the Paperinik series (maybe in this AU it’ll be called Duck Avenger, idk).

He began writing the PK stories during highschool, and they were published as shorts regularly in a small magazine. Of course, being a teenager, it began as a fantasy- it was how he vented his frustrations. Gladstone, of course, figured it out, as did Della, but Scrooge had no interest so no one else outside of Donald’s closest circle (that is to say, Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and Goofy) knew. It soon grew to be a hero story, rather than a story about vengeance. At this point there are no nephews in the story.

After highschool, his story got picked up by a publishing company and Uno was his agent. He ended up including the character ONE based off of Uno, which Uno is equal parts amused and exasperated by (”Honestly, I thought you said you wanted to be anonymous.”). The two don’t officially become friends, however, until a couple of years later, when Della went missing. Donald had taken a surprisingly dark turn in the story which would have resulted in killing off the main characters, at which point Uno decided to intervene and talk to him. With Uno’s support and growing friendship Donald rewrote the story, keeping the darker tone but ending it on a higher note with all the characters alive and happy.

Donald also gave PK a family of his own, having him be a single father to three children (hinted heavily at them being adopted, after PK saved them as eggs), a decision which forever changed the direction of the books from being about a duck who fights because it’s all he’s good for, to being about a duck who fights because he has something worth fighting for. He and Uno obviously become very close over this time.

Gladstone reads every book that comes out. He always wins a free edition but insists on buying it, as his way of helping Donald out. He uses the tone of each book and the events that happen in them to determine whether or not he needs to come and kick a little sense into Donald.

Donald ultimately concludes the book series after Della comes back, with the story having a happy ending all around. Which definitely includes ONE getting a physical body and joining the family. Unsurprisingly he and Uno get married. Scrooge and the kids find out he’s the author of PK after Scrooge announces his studio bought the movie rights to the film lol. Della and Gladstone are just like “wow seriously, you guys didn’t see the writing clear on the wall?”

The Back in Action AU is basically, PK was a TV show and Donald was the titular character, PK. His co-star was Uno, who lent his voice and face to the character ONE (the names of all the characters in PK are changed, ofc, their real names are the actors’ names now, except for Uno and Xadhoom). The entire cast (yes, including Angus Fangus) were a pretty tight-knit family, of a sort. So while Della and Scrooge were adventuring (as he had left the adventure life behind, feeling as if he wasn’t contributing or seen as an equal among the group) he became part of a family of his own. Daisy also played PK’s love interest, though the two of them are actually more like Best Pals. They went to highschool together so. Daisy wasn’t in the main cast and was just a recurring character, as she had a main role in another series.

The triplets in PK were just babies, but PK wasn’t their primary caretaker. They were more like background characters, but occasionally PK would get roped into babysitting them and having to balance watching the children and saving the world because “oh god even if I stop the Evronian invasion if any of their feathers get singed my sister will kill me!” (Note, PK’s sister was only seen in photos and was a blonde, like in the original comics. You can hear her voice now and then though)

Donald was close with everyone (oh the bloopers he and Angus had.... and of course the Evronians, something ALWAYS went wrong with their costumes!) but Uno became his best friend (and his almost-more). The series was the most popular thing on TV for a while, and Gladstone and Fethry were so proud of their brother cousin and so sad that Scrooge and Della were missing the best moments of his life. Gladstone and Fethry are much more involved in Donald’s life than Della and Scrooge are in this AU. That isn’t to say they don’t all love each other very much, it’s just Della and Scrooge’s interests laid elsewhere.

Anyway, every series hits its end, and more often than not it comes much faster than planned. PK ended a whole season sooner than expected, due to the sudden buyout of their studio and the new owners choosing to shut PK down in favour of one of their own shows (couldn’t afford both at the same time, and their own show had a smaller budget). So the series ended on the cliffhanger of PK losing ONE and (Lyla’s character), the Evronians being defeated and PK choosing to hang up his cape because of just how much that final battle cost him. It was an ending that angered many people, extremely upsetting especially knowing that it hadn’t been the planned ending of the series.

The entire cast and crew split up, most still staying in acting but a few leaving. Donald went back to adventuring with Scrooge and Della while Uno went back to Italy with his brothers (Due and Tre, the former of which played a major part in 2-3 episodes) to work in their father’s lab. They ended up falling out of contact (not by their own choice, just due to the nature of their jobs). Then a few years later Della went missing and Donald was left caring for her three children- it was a bit ironic, perhaps.

In the 10-12 years Donald was taking care of them, a “sequel” movie and a spinoff came to be with different actors and stories, but neither were well received because they lacked the “spirit” and charm of the original series. Especially the spinoff, which was animated in a very Saturday-morning style.

The triplets don’t really know about the OG PK, only knowing it by the spinoff, or that their uncle used to be a big name actor. However, 10 or so years later it’s announced that PK is coming back.... with the original writers and actors (except for the kids). Including Donald Fauntleroy Duck, the actor who played the titular PK. They are shook.

The original children who played PK’s nephews were unavailable (”We were like 2 during all that, we really don’t care”) and, besides that, had already aged out of the roles (the comeback was a Ten Years Later kind of deal, and it had been more like 14 or 15 since the end of the show, so the original kids were already mid-late teens. Therefore, when the director discovered Donald was now caring for his three nephews (convenient that there were three) he suggested they play the role of the triplets. Donald left it up to the triplets, under the stipulation that they would have minor roles (as the triplets always did) and this wouldn’t interfere with school.

They actually made a whole new role for Webby in the show! Because the triplets agreed on the condition that Webby gets to join them. And that’s how Webby began to play the triplets’ younger sister. The director decided to take a page out of Donald’s real life and wrote PK’s sister out (this was also partially because the actress had died) so PK was now being a full-time father to his kids who had no idea who he really was.

But then Donald finds out that not only is Lyla there, not only is Angus there... so is Uno. Uno and both of his brothers. It’s quite a reunion. And of course everyone expects Donald’s most emotional reunion to be with Daisy, but no. It’s Uno. And Uno is the one he ends up on the front of a magazine with lol.

Also yeah they get married :3

Man I think I may have overspoke about this one XD But I really enjoy this one what can I say jkkghfdsjlk

Notre Duck!! That’s another one I enjoy though it isn’t as in-depth as the last. So basically Everett came to Earth, and it’s kinda like.... a Duck version of medieval times. He came here for inspiration, then ended up building Uno, who became like a son to him. However, when other flesh-and-blood ducks realized he was an android, they became fearful and called him a monster, and tried to attack and run him out of town.

After that, Everett hid him away in a tower attached to a church, where no one but the church staff would go. He didn’t want to lose his android son. But Uno watches the world below his tower change, dreaming of a day when he could go out there too.

One day he meets Donald, who is a street performer with an association to Scrooge McDuck, a king in a neighboring kingdom. Donald finds out very quickly that he is an android and doesn’t judge him for it, instead encouraging him to leave the tower because “life is about the adventure.” This, of course, does not sit well with Everett, who forbids Uno from leaving the tower or seeing Donald.

Donald is wanted by the lord of the city, who wants to use him against Scrooge (and earn favour with his own king). There’s no creepy old men lusting after young women and no slurs being used casually so.

Also anyway this actually spawned from me imagining Uno to the song Out There so yeah.

#Ask #DT17 AUs #They're all DUno

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floofiestboy · 4 years

Text

Haruhara Live Q/A Session via Text

Translations of past question corners:

- Question Corners #1-10

- Question Corners #11-20

- Question Corners #21-30

- Question Corners #31-40

- Question Corners #41-50

A couple days back, Haruhara asked people subscribed to his channel to send him questions via email. These are the answers.

Haruhara’s comments:

In this article, instead of a live Q/A session, I answer all the questions I got via email in text form.

Just like in an actual live session, I’ve answered the questions without carefully double-checking my notes and past chapters, so please take this as entertainment. Treat it as non-canon. Anything I haven’t explicitly talked about in canon shouldn’t be treated as such.

Senyuu has technically ended, and so now that’s it’s been over ten years, I’m even answering questions that made me think before, “If I answer this, it’ll affect how they read the main story...”!

Treat it separately from canon! These are just backstories, settings!

source: ch.nicovideo.jp/haruhara-ch/blomaga/ar1939122

Q. I love the BGM on the chapters on NicoNico, so I was wondering who composed them?

A. I don’t know either. Similarly, I don’t know who designed the logos either. But they are nice songs, aren’t they?

Q. Has Alba’s father been journeying since he was young? Did he live apart from Alba?

A. While he’s always been journeying, he came back regularly. If I compared it to a modern-day job, he’d be like a long-distance truck driver or a fisherman.

Q. Does Rchi still have her Mark of a Demon Lord? Do Rchimedes and the Second have the same mark?

A. She still has it, but since I keep on forgetting to draw it, I’ve decided it only shows up when she prays for it to appear. Rchimedes and the Second do not have it.

Q. What sort of job does Justice do in the Demon World?

A. Her job is to be cheerful. Since she’s strong, she has no problems living the way she does. Since the Demon World is still kinda a lawless land, being strong is enough to keep on living on.

Q. Are there only three Four Great Demons?

A. Yes, I just wanted to do a joke where there were a fewer (or greater) number of actual members than a title would make you think.

Q. Is the hole in the world still there?

A. To be honest, when I said that a hole had opened up in the world, what I actually wanted to say was “Something strange happened to the world.” I hadn’t thought about what the hole would be or anything. I bet a giant gate or something opened up for a moment, and monsters and stuff came over here from there. In that case, the hole would’ve closed already.

Q. Please tell me how demons age!

A. It really depends on the demon. Since demons are a race created by Rchimedes going like “Eh, whatevs”, their characteristics aren’t really consistent between each other. I think that demons have long lives because somewhere deep inside Rchimedes, he hated the idea of death and losing loved ones. Though he did play around and had demons fight each other and stuff. While on the surface level, it may have seemed like he fell into despair and raised havoc, I think he really did grieve about losing loved ones deep down.

Q. I’d like to hear more about the Loli 12 Organization and Loli Master the 5th (Master Go Rori).

A. To be honest, I just wanted to say gorori (T/N: onomatopoeia meaning ‘to lie down’). I’m sorry!

Q. Can we no longer see the BL route?!?!!?!

A. Huh?! What do you mean?! - was my first thought, but ah, I remember now. You’re talking about when I drew Ros getting jealous of Alba sleeping with Grandpa during season 2. Since you’re asking if you can no longer see it, I’m guessing you mean that you can’t? I myself have forgotten where I drew it and don’t have the file anymore.

There was a time in the past when I was super into AUs - I drew anything that hit my mind. But then I realized that readers tend to take anything the creator draws super seriously, so I stopped really doing it.

Though lately when I still really want to draw something AU, I always make sure to put a disclaimer stating “This is unrelated to canon!” before it.

(T/N: Please tell me someone has the drawing mentioned here saved somewhere I need this I beg of you.)

Q. In Senyuu Season 2, Rchi keeping information about Creasion from Alba was treated as a joke and kinda just skipped over, but now that I think about it, unless Rchi had told Alba about it, Alba would’ve basically never found out about Creasion. (Since it was pure coincidence that he ended up in the Demon World and found out about it.)

I was wondering if Rchi really intended never to tell Alba about it even though they were working at saving Ros.

If there are any such reasons, I would like to hear about how Rchi was actually planning to tell him once some more time passed, or about how she had some other reason and was really planning never to tell, etc.

A. Ros being the Demon Lord’s son isn’t directly related to saving Ros (via finding a way to free the Demon Lord.) Even if Alba found out the reason why Ros couldn’t defeat the Demon Lord, there wouldn’t have been anything he could’ve done about it. So since knowing the truth would just give Alba more to worry about, I think that Rchi decided it would be better to just stay on their journey and keep looking for information. I don’t think she had any particularly strong desire that would make her really want to tell him.

Q. In F5 Ep. 11, I loved how Alba believed in Ros so easily, and how Ros declared with a smile, “The only person I punch for no reason is you, Hero-san!” How much deeper has their bond become since their early days?

A. How much deeper... how much deeper, I wonder? I feel like bonds aren’t the kind of thing you can measure in words. But I guess, compared to their early days, Ros trusts Alba enough to still be violent towards him even though he’s begun to realize that hey, “It isn’t really good to be violent.”

Q. How do you decide on the characters’ hair and eye colours? What do you use as reference when you draw their clothing and accessories?

A. Honestly, it’s always just whatever comes to me. Aside from the first few characters, I draw new characters vaguely at the storyboard stage, then draw them in properly at the manuscripting stage. For eye colours, in Senyuu I’ve decided that “people who can’t use magic don’t have red eyes.” That’s just something I’m trying to stick to, it doesn’t mean that “Everyone with red eyes in the Senyuu universe can use magic.” Cecily can’t use magic, after all.And there’s random citizens with red eyes out there too. I feel like people’s eyes turn red when they obtain magic because Rchimedes’ feelings towards Cecily were the trigger for magic’s discovery, even in Elf and Alf’s world. Cecily is an important character even though she hasn’t done anything.

Q. Elf and Ros haven’t really gotten the chance to really talk to each other thanks to their respective situations, but now that they work at the same place, I was wondering how close you think they are to each other. If you could expand on how their thoughts and impressions towards each other since their first meeting have changed, I would be really happy.

A. Elf used to think of Ros as someone to be pitied, but nowadays he’s realized that being pitiable isn’t something a bystander should decide, so he doesn’t think that any longer. The two of them aren’t particularly close, but they do chat normally. They’re like classmates who get along pretty well at school but never hang out on the weekends.

Q. If you have any thoughts on scrapped characters like Soldier Rosicks, the Season 2 Alba with the large sword on his back, cat-eared Rchi, etc., I’d love to hear them.

A. It’s less that I “scrapped” those characters and more that I just drew their appearances while I was drawing out all sorts of ideas, so they don’t have any particular backstories or settings associated with them. I’m the type to decide on things like settings as I move the characters around on a storyboard, so when I draw simple illustrations, they’re just empty shells.

Q. I’d like to know more about what happened with the first and third year Hero Academy students after Season 3. Also, how much do Sochi and her classmates know about “Lake’s little brother”?

A. I haven’t really thought about it, so if you’d like me to think about it I’d like to have at least two days for it, but I can’t take two days to think about this question, so the answer is “I haven’t really thought about it.” I’m sorry. Sometimes I can just think up answers on the spot, but I’d feel sorry to push entire lives onto characters based on ideas I thought up on the spot. So I’d like to think about what happens to characters “after” properly. Though I’ll decide things on the spot when it comes to random mob characters and aspects I don’t care about.

Q. The reason why Alba and Salt, who both obtained enough mana to affect the world around them, were able to leave prison was because they became capable of controlling their mana, not because their knowledge reached the level of say, Ros or Elf - would that be the correct interpretation? Additionally, what level of knowledge have Alba and Salt reached by F5, considering that they were getting 0% on even simple multiplication tests before?

A. Alba was released because he became capable of a certain level of control. His level of knowledge has not reached the levels of Elf and Ros. He hasn’t caught up to them, so unlike Elf and Ros, who’d use their knowledge and little tricks to turn 100 bits of mana into 200, Alba uses the bare minimum amount of knowledge to use 500 bits of mana as only 300.

I’ve forgotten most of what I intended for Salt back them, so I apologize if I’ve given a different answer before which contradicts the one I’m about to give. Salt obtained great power, but he had no talent in keeping it within his body, so the mana was gradually released from him. I think he became so incapable of using magic that he was no longer an exceptional case, so he was eventually released.

Q. I have a question about the differences between Main Quest and the original canon. There are scenes in Main Quest that weren’t in the original canon, such as Rchi and Alba’s discussion in Part 2 Volume 4 Chapter 41, “Alba Expresses His Gratitude”, and Chapter 50, “Alba Is Stupefied”, where Mortmorte the 2nd offers to be sacrificed. I was wondering what your thoughts were when you added these extra scenes in.

A. While it isn’t as though I thought carefully about every new addition, when I drew Main Quest, my thoughts were along the lines of “Let’s go a little deeper into things.” I think that’s what I was thinking when I put in new lines. Also, typically I had a set number of pages I needed to draw for, so I think I moved around lines and expanded scenes as needed to fit the pages.

Q. I have a question about Teufel. In Season 1, Teufel only shows up in the extra chapters, but did you already intend to use him as the “Soul Manipulator” during the fight with Rchimedes in Season 2? Or was this something you decided as you got through Season 2.

A. That was something I planned from the start! If you’d like to know why Teufel appeared early, please read Filled It With My Feelings! There’s even a PDF version!

(T/N: *shills Haruhara* Filled It With My Feelings (Digital): hiaruron.booth.pm/items/2329424 Filled It With My Feelings (Physical, only available to order until midnight JST Sept. 3rd): tckc-ch.net)

Q. “The world isn’t at peace or anything! He isn’t! Meta Ros isn’t smiling!” So anyways, Meta Ros hasn’t appeared since the last episode of Senyuu+, but is he happy? Is he having fun with Meta Alba?

A. Honestly, I haven’t really thought too deeply about it since he’s just a joke character. But since he’s just a joke character, I’m sure he’s off doing his own thing somewhere, free and unrestrained by anything.

Q. Since Lym is a demon and Lake is from a thousand years ago, they don’t have last names, but does Salt have one? He is from modern times. If he does, what is it?

A. He does. I’ve also thought up names for Rchimedes the Second and his wife, but the thing is with manga is that you shouldn’t include everything you think up. It’s more interesting to the readers if you just include the information they need to know. Like how if you introduce yourself to someone in real life, you don’t tell them your whole life backstory, like- “My name is Tanaka Tarou! My father is Tanaka Katsuo. My mother is Tanaka Hanako, my grandma is-” You just tell them what they need to know, right? That makes things go more smoothly. Yeah.

So anyways, about his last name, I did think of one. Yeah. But I don’t remember where I wrote it down, and I can’t remember the name at all right now. I mean hey, even in real life, sometimes you forget people’s names when you just call them by a nickname all the time. It’s like that, etc., blah blah.

Q. Why was Ros the only one to be released from the seal even though he was sealed together with Rchiemdes? Who broke the seal?

A. Wasn’t it Elf who released the seal in order to give Alba some stimulus? Though Alba and Ros’ first meeting itself was a coincidence. Elf wanted to release Ros, or rather, the Demon Lord into Alba’s time in order to give Alba some stimulus, and to achieve that goal he teamed up with Dezember... wait, was this something I scrapped? Did I never write about it? I remember everything until Season 4 pretty well, since I drew a lot until there, but when I reached Season 4 I started feeling that sense of relief like “It’s all over~” and remember absolutely nothing...! I’d need to completely re-read Senyuu to know for sure... every, please re-read it for me! If there was something like that in canon, then I’ll go with that. If there wasn’t, then I must’ve scrapped it, or else I just had to cut back some parts that I wanted to draw.

...Now I’m starting to feel like I scrapped it after all... because I thought that having Elf doing everything wasn’t a good plot device... I don’t know...

Anyways, for now the answer to the question is “Wow, it’s really quite strange... I wonder who did it~”

Q. Foyfoy said that Ros was “a soldier from a country who doesn’t know war.” What kind of environment did Foyfoy grow up in?

A. While Foyfoy’s hometown is peaceful, Foyfoy spent time as a mercenary in wartorn countries in order to make money. It’s never been shown in canon, so it’s basically just a little backstory that was thought up at some point in the past.

Q. There’s other countries in SQ, but if there’s other countries in canon would Alba be seen as a threat?

A. There are other countries. But the King of the country that collected all those heroes is so powerful, Alba being a wonder of nature isn’t as important. If we say that Alba’s country is Japan, the neighbouring countries are on the scale of the Fukue Neighbourhood in Kurashiki City of Fukushima Prefecture.

(T/N: You can see the exact scale on Google Maps by searching “岡山県倉敷市福江”, but essentially, incredibly tiny in comparison.)

Q. Is the King’s right-hand man Maine (Minister) still working at the castle?

A. He should be. He is.

Q. Crea awakened to his magic through contact with the Mana Maker, but can he no longer use it?

A. Crea doesn’t know how to use magic so he can’t. There’s no longer a Mana Maker in his body as well. There may be some mana left behind in his body, but he has no idea how to draw it out, so he can’t use it. At the start of Season 3, he tries to make a flower bloom with magic, but fails, after all.

Q. Hasegawara and Grandpa returned to their youths - did they continue living like that?

A. Since they did technically achieve their goal, they should’ve gone back to their original lives.

Q. In The Hero of the Port City, Guilty Justice says that she came because she sensed Creasion’s mana. What was she planning to do?

A. She probably came to fight him because she sensed some rare mana. Considering canon, it’s strange for Justice to appear in a place like that, isn’t it?

Q. How is Alf and Cecily’s relationship at the moment...?

A. They don’t have one.

Q. Back in his Originia era, Crea was an orphan, so how did did he survive?

A. Back then, orphans weren’t uncommon. The villagers helped raise him - he lived a happy life.

Q. The princess from ‘Tis Time for “Torture”, Princess and Hime-chan have the same birthday and a similar hairstyle - are they related in any way?

A. The reason why their birthdays are the same is that when I went to write about the princess’ birthday, I thought, “Hm, did I decide on her birthday? Oh right, March 3rd.” and accidentally remembered it as Hime-chan’s birthday. The princess’ hairstyle is entirely Hira Kei-san’s design, I had no hand in it, but I don’t think it’s that similar to Hime-chan’s?

Q. It seems like demons have long lifespans, so does the Demon World have problems with overpopulation?

A. In order to birth a new demon, you need to have a fair amount of mana and a good amount of skill in manipulating it. Alternately, you need to meet someone who you’re really in perfect sync with. Because of that, their population doesn’t increase that much.

Q. I really really love the “three burrs” hairstyle - will Ros never wear his hair that way again?

A. That hairstyle was something done by the first hairstylist he went to after he was unsealed, so unless he goes to that exact hairstylist again, he won’t have that hairstyle.

Q. What is Dezember and Justice’s newlywed life like? Is Dezember the househusband after all?

A. Though Justice was getting things going with the wedding, Dezember ran away so their newlywed life hasn’t begun. Their dynamic is kinda like the one in Urusei Yatsura.

Q. Rchi is now over 12. How does Rudolf feel about this?

A. I thought that Rudolf was good with anyone below 13? Was it only until 10? But even if she grows past Rudolf’s age ceiling, he won’t really stop being kind to her. He would stop spoiling her so much though, in how he used to do whatever she asked with no strings asked. He would instead start saying that it’s important to try things out yourself too. That’s the only thing that would change.

Q. F5 is a regular manga, so are there any plans to release a physical volume for it?

A. Not in the slightest.

Q. Cecily and Lake were living alone together before reuniting with Ros, so how did their neighbours react to a young teenager Lake having a younger brother in his 20s?

A. Their neighbours don’t think of Ros as the younger brother - they more just think of him as Cecily’s son who came back home from afar. I think updating the family registry wouldn’t have been hard with the connections they have in the government.

Q. I would like you to tell me how Januar got into ninja and tomato farming.

A. He got into ninja because they’re cool, and he got into tomato farming because tomatoes are yummy.

Q. Elf and Alf were time travelling in Season 4 - I would like it if you made a detailed timeline of what they and other characters did. (For example, Alf erased Elf’s memories during X time, at this time Rchimedes and Creasion were doing Y, etc.)

A. When I was writing Season 4, I did make a timeline, but I’m not sure where it went... what Elf and Alf did is all written in the article before this one, “My Memos”. I don’t think things have changed much from the timeline there for Elf and Alf, so please figure things out from there!

(T/N: I’ll consider translating that article at some point... it’s a lot of text... and it’s all disjointed...

Though I guess this Q/A is also a lot of text, I’m already at 3.5k words.)

Q. In the extra chapter in Season 2, “Right Before Episode 60″, Foyfoy asks if Marl wants to come to the castle with him, but do the two of them actually live in the castle itself? Or do they live near the castle?

A. Marl does live in the castle because she thinks it’s cool to live in a castle.

Q. Why are Elf and Alf not returning to their original time (ignoring the new future timeline after their changes) and are instead working at Alba’s research center?

A. Because they look up to Alba and want to help him out.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on how Alba watches over all kinds of worlds out there?

A. I do think, “That seems rather dangerous, doesn’t it?” But I also think, “Well, it’s Alba-san, he’ll be fine.”

Q. Personally, I feel like Senyuu. has a lot of whiplash between comedic scenes and serious scenes. Is there any particular scene you drew while specifically considering this whiplash?

A. Senyuu, is a work I drew as an amateur out of sheer willpower alone, so it isn’t that it has a lot of whiplash between comedic and serious scenes - it’s just that I didn’t understand a thing. “Woo hoo! This seems fun!” was the only thing on my mind. As a bystander, you may wonder, “How can he zoom right into that corner at that speed?” while watching me cruise along in my vehicle, but in reality, you just didn’t know that I was unaware of the fact that zooming into that corner at that speed could result in death. If I wrote Senyuu. the way I am now, I think it would end up being a much tidier manga, much easier to read as well, but I doubt it’d have that same speed and power to it.

Q. I had a question about Rchimedes the First’s character design. Did you give him black and white hair because you personally thought it was really cool? And then you thought it was too cool for him so you made his clothes super lame as a compromise?

A. It was all just from powering through drawing him. I did think “Wow, his clothes are lame!” but I immediately ignored it and continued drawing.

Q. Somewhere along the line, cellphones have spread among the masses - does Ros have one? And really, who’s making them?

A. From the very start, I planned for Senyuu. to be unconstrained by the chains of fantasy and include technology. Even in the start of Season 1, there’s a picture of Ros holding a DS at one point. Since it’s a manga, I completely intend to ignore real-life technological development timelines.

Q. Ros has pretty lax shifts - six day weekends and only needing to come in from the afternoon. Does he really only go to work once a week?

A. He doesn’t even go to work once a week. He does no work but wanders over to the research center to loiter around when he feels like it.

Q. In Senyuu+, Alba seems pretty tired sometimes. Is working at the research center actually pretty bad? As in, does it require a lot of overtime?

A. It isn’t bad, Alba is just going ahead and doing the work he wants to do, then going ahead and getting all tired because of it. From the perspective of the government running it, even just having the world’s hero Alba owning a research center they manage is good enough. It would be fine even if Alba never showed up at the research center at all and never did even one iota of work. Alba is just doing his best for everyone’s sake. Lately, he rests properly.

Q. Boss seems to have accessories and clothes other than his hoodie. Does he buy all of them himself?

A. Yes, he does. I talk about this in the doujinshi Filled It With My Feelings as well!

(T/N: If you enjoyed reading any of this tidbits, please consider supporting Haruhara by purchasing the original article on his channel: ch.nicovideo.jp/haruhara-ch/blomaga/ar1939122)

#senyuu #senyu #senyuu spoilers #haruhara robinson #haruhara robinson channel #senyuu content #my translations

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artificialqueens · 4 years

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Blue Neighborhood Series: WILD (Crystal/Nicky) - Mac

AN: Hi there, this is the first of a series of oneshots based off of Troye Sivan’s Blue Neighborhood album. The basic premise is that all the season 12 girls live in one neighborhood but have very different lives. Each song off the album applies to one of them/a pair of them. And we get to see how each of their lives intertwine. Does that make any sense? Who knows.

All my love to Meggie for beta-ing. Hope you enjoy!

Summary: Crystal can’t get her mind off her new neighbor.

Crystal groaned loudly as she heard yet another crash from the house next door.

She heard a few curses and another loud banging noise before the cul-de-sac went blissfully silent. Crystal fist-pumped the air as now she could finally, finally get some sleep. Who the hell moved into a new house at midnight?

Unluckily enough, another noise started sounding below Crystal’s window. This noise was softer and didn’t immediately warrant a groan of distaste. No, it sounded an awful lot like singing. The voice was muffled, but Crystal became more and more sure the voice was singing as the notes travelled up a floor to her room.

The person sounded… rather good. Crystal hated to admit that their new neighbors, who had the bright idea of moving houses in the middle of the night, were doing anything well, but the fact persisted.

The singing was rather good. And now Crystal was both awake and intrigued. So now, of course, Crystal had to get up to peer out the window and see who was doing the rather good singing.

It was dark. Midnight. So she could barely make out the figure, but it looked to be a girl about her age, high school senior, maybe junior. She was carrying boxes from the back of the moving truck into the house.

Fuck it,Crystal thought She was already snooping; she might as well snoop more. She opened her window slowly, wincing as it creaked from disuse. She went slowly, drawing up the frame until the warm night air danced across her face.

She could hear the song more clearly now, still didn’t recognize it, but the singer was definitely a girl. It took Crystal a few more minutes to realize the song wasn’t in English. Her three years of French seemed to fail her in that moment, other than identifying that the song was in fact, French.

The girl looked to have blonde hair, or maybe that was just a trick of the faint garage light that illuminated her. Crystal leaned a bit closer to her window to get a better look, in the process she nearly knocked the screen out of the damn thing and cursed rather loudly.

There was a scuffling from under her window and Crystal ducked down so she couldn’t be seen.

“Hello?”

The voice was heavily accented.

“Is someone there?”

Crystal held her breath, not that it would help much, she was a whole story above her neighbor. Still, the intensity of the moment made her wary.

The girl must have given up looking because she went right back to moving boxes, but her singing turned into light humming, and Crystal surprised herself by being sad at that fact.

The days passed, and Crystal saw neither head nor tail of their new neighbor.

She brought it up on Wednesday, during lunch, or what was considered their lunch period.

Freshman year, Crystal would always steal away into the art room to work on her unfinished projects at any given moment. This included lunch, breaks between classes, and sometimes even during her other classes. After about a year of her doing this, and her friends complaining about never seeing her, they finally decided it would be easier to hole up in the stuffy art room with her rather than brave the bustling cafeteria.

Crystal nonchalantly mentioned the racket that occurred the other night while trying to seem invested in the unfinished painting in front of her.

“Oh yeah, the new girl, what’s her name, Nicole? Nina?” Jackie shrugged. “Something with an N.”

Jackie seemed unbothered by the appearance of the newest member to their neighborhood, as she went right back to studying for their chemistry exam. Heidi shrugged too and continued looking over Jackie’s shoulder as she studied for their chemistry exam.

“I think she’s French,” Crystal threw out.

Jackie hummed noncommittally, absorbed in her studies. Crystal was just about to shrug it off when Aiden piped up from the table beside her. “You talkin about the new girl? The one that moved in at the asscrack of dawn?”

Crystal nodded.

“Her name is Nicolette, goes by Nicky. Moved from Marseilles, France. Only child. Seemingly lives with her single mother.”

Crystal and their present company looked up from what they were doing to stare wide-eyed at Aiden.

She just shrugged. “I know people.”

Crystal didn’t press further. She turned back to her unfinished painting and lamented that it wouldn’t paint itself.

But at the same time, her mind was reeling.

Nicolette.

Crystal liked that name. It seemed… fitting in a way.

She went through the rest of her day with little care for anything else, Nicolette on repeat in her head.

She didn’t know why she was so absorbed in this girl. She shockingly didn’t seem to mind either.

When Crystal got home, she finally shook her strange stupor. She let the dogs out, made herself a snack and went up to her room to start on the metric fuckton of homework she had to do.

She sat down, opened her textbook, and promptly closed it again. She did this twice more, before actually starting to read the words inside.

Her focus drifted after the first few lines, along with her eyes. and she soon found herself looking out her window, but not just aimlessly, looking directly into the eyes of the neighbor she had been obsessing over for most of the day.

Crystal startled herself when she realized what she was doing, and had the decency to blush. The girl, Nicolette, Nicky she mentally corrected, smiled a bit at her clearly flustered state. Crystal felt her stomach flip.

This was the first time she actually got to see Nicky in the daylight, albeit through a crusty window screen, but goddamn, she was just as beautiful as her singing voice. If not more so.

Nicky waved after a few awkward moments of the two staring at each other. Crystal waved back immediately and then mentally kicked herself for looking too eager.She’s gonna think I’m a freak.

But Nicky didn’t close her window shade in horror, she didn’t look disgusted by the mere sight of Crystal. No. What she actually did was look around her room for a moment before holding up a finger. Wait a second, she mouthed.

And Crystal found her mind supplying that she would wait much longer than that if Nicky asked her to. But she just nodded.

Nicky smiled and got up to search her room for something.

She came back a moment later with a notebook and a pen. She scribbled something down before pressing the notebook to the window.

Hi I’m Nicky

Crystal couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on her face. She pulled out one of her hundreds of sketchbooks and wrote her own message.

I’m Crystal

Nicky smiled and wrote her response.

Hi Crystal

Crystal giggled to herself.

Hi Nicky

Nicky went to write something else down, but Crystal beat her to it.

You could just open your window, you know?

Nicky grinned, but jotted down something else.

I thought this was more romantic.

Crystal couldn’t stop herself from blushing. Nicky was joking. Surely.

Crystal didn’t have time to process the possibility of Nicky not joking because the girl in question was now opening up her window.

Crystal followed suit and tried to not look like a complete fool, evidently, the world was out to get her because the screen from her window fell lifelessly to the grass below her.

Nicky laughed.

And oh, they could hear each other now.

“I meant to do that,” Crystal tried to cover for herself.

Nicky only laughed harder. “Sure, you did.”

And oh, Nicky was definitely French. Her accent smoothly tied up in her words. It made her impossibly more fascinating.

“Hello there, neighbor.”

“Hi.”

“How you doin’ with moving in?”

Nicky sighed, “Oh, you know, I’m drowning in cardboard boxes, and I want to die, but what else is new.”

Crystal nodded, “I feel that.”

Nicky smiled softly, but averted her eyes, “I’m sorry I have not introduced myself. I’m not the best at English.”

“You’re from France, yeah?”

“What gave it away, the accent, or the good looks?” Nicky winked.

“The flag hanging up behind you.” Crystal pointed to the very evident French flag on the far wall of Nicky’s bedroom.

“Oh.”

It was Crystal’s turn to laugh.

And then abruptly stop laughing.

The sudden silence was awkward, and Crystal found herself tracing the lines of the fallen window screen on the grass.

Nicky also seemed uncomfortable by the sudden lack of sound. So uncomfortable in fact that she motioned back to her room, “Umm, I should… get back to-”

“Yeah! Yeah, me too.”

Nicky nodded. “Umm, see ya?”

“Yeah, I’ll see ya.”

Nicky smiled and went to close her window, but just before it could shut, Crystal called out, “Same time tomorrow?”

Nicky looked up at her and smiled.

“Sure.”

Crystal nodded and closed her own window as Nicky pulled her blind down.

She found herself constantly looking over to see if Nicky’s blind went up.

It didn’t.

Crystal couldn’t possibly concentrate now. Her mind replayed Nicky’s laugh like a loop in her head.

Maybe that made her crazy. To be so infatuated with a girl after knowing her for less than ten minutes.

Heidi certainly thought so.

“Girl, you sound clit-matized.”

Aiden looked up from her sculpture to look confusedly between Crystal and Heidi, “What the hell is that?”

“You know, like dickmatized, but she’s a girl? Clitmatized,” Heidi explained.

“That’s not a real thing,” Aiden said.

“Well now it is, hoe,” Heidi shot back.

“Guys!” Crystal exclaimed. “We were talking about me and my problems.”

Aiden rolled her eyes. “So what, you have a crush on her. You’re bein’ a little creepy. We’ve all been there.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Jackie chimed in.

“I think it’s creepy,” Heidi called.

“I think you should talk to the bitch more,” Aiden said.

“I think I’ll just die in a hole,” Crystal lamented, throwing her head down on her open homework.

Crystal decided that dying in a hole would be counterproductive to figuring out why she was so infatuated with Nicky. Hence, she settled for trying to finish the homework she had neglected from the previous night.

The rest of the day passed slowly. Maybe it was because she had something to look forward to. Maybe it was just that high school was boring as hell.

Crystal didn’t know.

What she did know was that as soon as she watched Heidi, Jackie, and Aiden close their front doors, she sprinted upstairs to her room.

She found Nicky had beat her to it and was staring dreamily out her own window. So she had most probably seen Crystal’s frantic running.

God, just kill me now.

Crystal put on a brave face and marched over to her window, opening it with greater care this time around so as not to dislodge the screen.

“Hey there neighbor.”

“Hey there.”

“How was your day?”

“Ugh, god, it felt like it would never end! I swear high school is such a scam.”

Nicky chuckled. “Well, what do you want to do after?”

“Realistically or in my fantasy?”

“Oh fantasy, definitely.” Nicky smiled.

Crystal smiled and felt a bit of the tension in her mind dissipate, “Well, in my French vanilla fantasy, I get into this really prestigious art school, like the Juilliard of art schools. And on my first day of class, I create this masterpiece. Better than Van Gogh.”

“Naturally,” Nicky added.

Crystal giggled and continued on, allowing herself to really ham up the details. Nicky seemed to smile more when she did. “They see my potential, and they fast track me to the big leagues. The MET, the Smithsonian. Boom. One cold day in February, that masterpiece from before is hung up. I am undercover in the crowd, observing everyone’s reactions. After a while, everyone leaves, except for one guy. He is staring at my painting with an unreadable expression. I approach him. He is crying. He is moved to tears by my masterpiece.”

“He wants to buy it?”

“Better. He’s a washed-up artist, hasn’t created in years after his wife died tragically.”

“How is that better?”

“I’m getting there!” Nicky held up her hands in surrender, and chuckled lightly. “So he’s a washed-up artist, and he loves my painting and offers to mentor me. I decline.”

“Why would you-”

“I offer to help him get back into his art. We build a friendship even though he’s a cynical old man who doesn’t laugh at my jokes. But he starts creating again. He and I open up our own gallery in New York City. And people come from all over the world to get a look at our art. But the best part is, on the opening night of our gallery, I meet his daughter.”

Nicky rolled her eyes fondly, “Let me guess, you fall in lov-”

“We fall in love.”

Nicky laughed. So hard she snorted a bit and then laughed at herself for snorting. Crystal went giggling right along with her.

“I like that world,” Nicky spoke softly. The fondness in her voice struck Crystal like a slap.

“Me too.” She smiled.

It was at that moment that everything changed. Suddenly, the tension that hung between them was gone. It was like the universe decided they had suffered from their mutual awkwardness enough. Conversation flowed smoothly from the two windows, and before either of them could blink, the sun had set.

They didn’t seem to notice, talking long into the night about anything and everything under the stars.

Nicky talked about her childhood. Growing up in France and Morocco. She had so many stories from so many different places, Crystal worried she’d never hear them all.

Maybe that’s why they stayed up so late.

Maybe Crystal worried that when the sun rose, the spell would be broken, and Nicky would go back to just being the girl that lived next to her. And not this incredibly fascinating human that seemed to be equally as fascinated with her.

Unfortunately, Crystal wasn’t superhuman, and after the third consecutive yawn, Nicky sentenced them both to some well-needed rest.

Crystal agreed, begrudgingly shutting her window and giving one last wave to her new friend.

They went on this way for the next week. Crystal rushing home to find Nicky waiting for her, window propped, a smile etched into the corners of her eyes.

Crystal swore she got more beautiful every day.

On one such afternoon, Crystal finally got the courage to ask Nicky about the night she moved in.

“Were you the one singing the other night?”

Nicky’s head shot up in surprise.“Oh, god, did I wake you up?”

“No! No!” Crystal lied. “You sounded really good,” Crystal said truthfully.

Nicky blushed at the compliment and ducked her head. “Now you are just winding me up.”

“No really!” Crystal insisted. “You sing beautifully.”

“I really don’t-”

“Wait hold up!” Crystal cut her off and made her way over to the far corner of her room. She picked up the worn down guitar and came back over to sit by the window.

“You play?”

“Not since I was ten, but it’s just like riding a bicycle, right?”

Crystal tried to play a chord and the screech from the instrument rang out like a gunshot.

“Yep, just like a bike,” Nicky teased.

Crystal fiddled around with the tuning until the noise emanating from the instrument sounded a bit more like music and a bit less like a feral animal.

She played softly, getting reacquainted with where to put her fingers and what the hell a strumming pattern was. Nicky just watched her with a soft smile and chimed in with praise and some teasing words until the afternoon sun had turned into moonlight.

They had gone so long without talking that when Crystal finally spoke, her voice cracked. She blushed, but Nicky only smiled warmly.

“Do you know Landslide?”

Nicky nodded.

“Okay, gimme a second.” Crystal grabbed her laptop and pulled up the chords, before beginning to strum lightly.

Nicky nodded along to the first few notes, humming lightly through the verse. When the chorus came, she finally started to sing.

Well, I’ve been afraid of changing

‘Cause I’ve built my life around you

Crystal couldn’t help the smile on her face. Nicky still had her accent when she sang. The fact made Crystal’s chest feel fuller than it should have.

But time makes you bolder

Even children get older

And I’m getting’ older, too

Crystal cheekily tried to chime in for the last line.

Said, I’m getting older too

Nicky looked up at her pleased. “You can sing, you can play guitar, and you are an artist? Is there anything you can’t do?”

Crystal was very close to saying something stupid like ‘I can’t stop thinking about you.’

But luckily, a voice from Nicky’s house called out before she could make a fool of herself.

“NICKY!”

Nicky sighed and turned around to yell back, “Coming, Mom!”

She shot an apologetic look to Crystal who just motioned to say ‘Go ahead. I’ll be here.’

“See you tomorrow?”

Crystal nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

But Crystal didn’t see Nicky tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that.

Her blinds remained shut tight for the next week.

“Maybe she hates you.”

“Aiden!” Jackie scolded.

“What, you were both thinking it.”

Jackie shook her head and turned to face Crystal. “She could just be going through stuff. She just moved, yeah?”

Crystal nodded.

“So she’s probably unpacking still, or getting ready to start a new school. Or literally any number of things other than her hating you.” Jackie shot a glare at Aiden who held her hands up in surrender.

“Or she died.”

“Heidi!”

“Just me thinkin’ it?” Heidi looked to Aiden who shook her head. “Just me, okay.”

Crystal groaned. She had probably scared Nicky off. Probably scared her off so much she never wanted to see Crystal again. Probably scared her so much she was moving back to France.

Probably scared her so much she was… waiting by Crystal’s locker after homeroom.

“Hey there, neighbor,” Nicky smiled.

And oh god, Nicky up close was even more breathtaking. Her long blonde hair tied into the most perfect braid and her outfit was so trendy and cute and, Jesus Christ, she smelled good too.

“Sorry, I missed you the past couple of days. We went to stay with family and it was so short notice I didn’t have time to tell you.”

“You’re… oh.”

Crystal’s brain was still trying to process that Nicky was here. That she was real. And apparently going to their school. She looked to the locker Nicky was leaned up against and saw her name in cute cursive letters on the front.

“We’re… locker neighbors?”

“Yeah. I asked the principal to put me next to you.” Crystal must not have given the right response because Nicky’s face fell and she quickly started apologizing. “Oh god, I am so sorry I should have asked! I wasn’t even thinking. I don’t mean to cramp your style”

Crystal couldn’t help but laugh, “No! Nicky, Jesus, if anything you’d be helping my style.”

“What do you mean? I like your style.”

“Oh. I… Forget it.” Crystal shook her head to clear the blush from her cheeks.“You want a tour?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Crystal smiled in spite of herself and held out her arm. Nicky gave a chuckle and took it graciously.

The two frolicked about the school, under the guise of a tour. They chatted and laughed and caught up with each other’s lives.

Crystal hadn’t realized how much she had missed this. This ease between them. The way their thoughts seemed to run together like ink. It was refreshing to have someone who’s brain worked like yours.

When the bell finally rang for lunch, Crystal steered Nicky away from the mass of teenagers heading for the cafeteria, and toward the art room.

The two entered to find Jackie and Aiden already in a heated discussion about which version of A Star Is Born was better. Heidi was sitting next to Jackie just watching on in amusement.

The three of her friends did a double take when they noticed Crystal’s guest.

“Hey guys, this is our neighbor Nicky.”

“Our?” Nicky asked.

“Yeah. Heidi lives across the street from me, Jackie lives on the other side of Heidi, and Adien lives next to you.”

“Oh, well hello there neighbors.” Nicky smiled and waved.

Heidi’s eyes lit up in recognition.“Oh, is this the girl you been talkin our ear off about? The one you’re kinda in love with?” Jackie elbowed Heidi in the ribs.

Crystal’s whole body flushed crimson and she opened her mouth to respond, but Nicky beat her to it.

“Oh, so you’re in love with me?” Nicky asked teasingly.

“No! No. God, no,” Crystal lied unconvincingly.

She looked over to her friends for backup.

Jackie caught on and tried to cover, “No, Crystal has had this insane crush on… on… on Gigi!” Crystal winced at that name. “Yeah, Gigi. Since we were little.” Jackie nodded.

Heidi clearly didn’t know what was happening as evidenced by the confused expression on her face. “Wait, I thought Crystal broke up with her-”

Crystal cut her off, raising her voice to drown out Heidi’s “Yeah, I’ve had this silly crush on this cheerleader. It’s kinda pathetic. Like just cause we grew up together doesn’t mean she would ever look at me like that.” Crystal laughed nervously.

Nicky looked unconvinced, and a little… disappointed. But the expression disappeared a second later. “Well she’s stupid if she doesn’t think you’re cute.”

“Amen,” Aiden called.

Nicky nodded and turned back to Crystal. “Anyway, enough of that sad stuff, let’s see those paintings you are always talking about.”

#rpdr fanfiction #crystal x nicky #nicky doll #crystal methyd #high school au #cisgirl au #lesbian au #fluff #flirting #blue neighborhood series #wild #mac #s12

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pillsxcoffee · 3 years

Text

Short Story: “The Barkeep”

Each moment of our lives presents an excuse to pursue control. We sit in its grips and seek it while occasionally becoming validated by perceived successes at the practice. The idea of control is the biggest lie that the universe has ever sold us. But without its presence, who are we? I have often wondered why societies failed attempts at control result in such destruction and separation. My only guess is that it brings us down to size and allows us to descend further towards chaos. Our imperfections give our perfect world its imperfect equilibrium, and I believe that it has to be that way.

My attempts at deciphering control from the acceptance, the true from the false, the power to the power-less has led me right here, writing this all out for you. They may call this a manifesto of sorts. They will call me crazy, perhaps mentally ill, they will not remember their part, but they will remember the name, place, and time of the day when I finally broke down and said, "what am I to do?"

The evening began normally enough. I was sitting in a dive writing out my arduous truths while purposely sipping on a margarita that was far too sugary. My weathered glass stained a displeasing opaque brown. It was here where I began to consider my own mortality. At my misery's behest, I requested another. I downed half the glass before placing the drink on a crinkled, disgraced, and damp napkin that read: Cabalo Cantina, Just Like Paradise. While analyzing this feeble attempt at memorable marketing, the barkeep waltzed up to me and stared with an invasive gaze, his brow acutely furrowed. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost or witnessed something traumatic. He rotated himself towards the illuminated bar where bottles upon bottles of liquid relief occupied the splintering walnut shelves. Taking down a sorry excuse for top-shelf mezcal, he proceeded to grab a set of tumblers and swiftly pour two generous shots. He pushed one my way.

"Drink up, buddy. We're gonna need it."

He threw back the drink with an exaggerated gulp; it was almost like he wanted it to hurt. He winced, removed his Cabalo Cantina apron stained by bitters, rolled up the apron, and spiked it on the ground with surprising force.

"I can make ten times in a week on the trawler than I can here in a month. The tequila here is shit anyway."

Nobody batted an eye. He started through the tacky, Christmas light-infested archway and out the tinted double doors. Briefly, I was reminded of my father. I wished I had remembered what he looked like, but all I remember is that he, too, worked on a boat. He caught tuna deep in the unforgiving waters of the Atlantic. Thankfully, these thoughts were quickly supplanted by the view of the drink in front of me. I followed the dearly departed's lead with a shot of my own before returning to my notepad. If this is paradise, I would hate to see what hell is like.

After two more margaritas, I noticed the illuminated clock branded by some obscure Mexican beer company that I had never heard of: 12:50 PM, last call. I didn't need it; better to cap the night off at home anyway. I decided to exit the fluorescent arch and start my walk home. As the doors sealed behind me, I turned left to head to my flat. With my notepad carefully tucked against my breast pocket, I wobbled down the sidewalk. The street danced with a hand from the dimmed lights overhead, which created a greasy, orange hue. I made my way towards the day's end.

As the pavement moved beneath me, the streets became less illuminated and more littered. I began to pick up the familiar putrid stench that coated the air. It was musky, thick, and sour. The smell reminded me of last year's charter out of Chatham; towards the end of the trip, the men became more offensive than the dead fish. Vagrants, beggars, tramps, and drifters proceeded to voice their typical pitches in hopes of finding a generous passerby. I didn't have anything to give them, but I would tell them to get lost if I did have some money in my pocket. Tonight, I stayed quiet, however. We were all in the same boat, one which appeared to be taking on some serious water.

Since I'll be gone by the time this reaches curious eyes, I have particular freedoms that I don't have while wasting away in the outside world. The only thing that is truly mine in this world is my secrets. Even though therapists, social workers, and the like have told me that I am only as sick as my particular omissions. Even if I wanted to share them (which I don't), I wouldn't know where to begin. The darkness harbored under the surface of those truths is a prison, far worse than the one that I would be sent to if they only knew. I have never been known for my veracity; I prefer to live in the realm of the obscure.

To understand the breadth of my circumstances, I provided a bit of a picture in the aforementioned "memoir," It is strictly for your eyes only, and I hope that it adds some context. For those not privy to my life story, I would like to acknowledge that I believe myself or my story to be unique in no way. Despite how much I would like to think that my experiences are so different in contrast to those around me, it simply is not the truth.

As I approached my apartment, I engaged in my predictable anticipatory sigh before entering the lobby. Whenever I get home, I remember what my life is and what it is not. I am reminded of the loss, both monetary and personal, that has occurred at my hand. I try my best to accept present circumstances for what they are, but living in the moment has never been my strong suit. The best that I can do at any given moment is to give in and recognize things for what they are: shit. Luckily, I always have some writing to do; it's what keeps me busy.

At this very moment, I am staring blankly at my laptop screen, which continues to mock me for all of my literary atrocities. Perhaps if I don't end up in prison, Oxford will have something to say. Strange sensations overcome me when I'm with myself at night. I don't become tired, but there's a particular energy that overcomes me, but for whatever reason, I am unable to move. This type of paralysis brings the only semblance of normalcy in my life.

My body feels like it needs to run away. I become stimulated and overwhelmed by feelings I cannot describe. I want to rise up and move, but Newtons' third law has other plans, so I remain still. I have come to embrace this purgatorial, dream-like state that overtakes me. I see visions of the past that seem manufactured specifically for my broken mind to consume. I call them my "could have been," the way that I wish things would have gone. I close my eyes and see a young boy.

He looks and sounds like me, even has that 2-inch scar above his right eyelid, but he is not me. He is smiling, he is talking, he is with his father, and he is happy. I can see him resting on the edge of a broad, aluminum dock. He seems comfortable watching all of the boats set sail in search of that next big haul. He sits next to his father, a slender man of 40 or so who looks far more seasoned than his age suggests. The two have considerable space between them, yet they appear to have some bond I cannot relate to. For the first time, I can see some communication beginning to form. I can hear his father as he turns to his son and says, "my boy, if you will listen to anything I ever say, make it this. There is nothing in this world that is certain. Many men consider themselves experts of their crafts, leaders of enterprise, and patriarchs of their family, yet they practice utter ignorance towards the truth." The eerily familiar boy looks back at his father with interest, "what is the truth then, dad?" A strenuous pause ensued. The tired old man brought himself upright and looked at his trawler docked several feet away. "Nobody really knows anything. Nobody really knows." The man handed his son a tattered notebook with a tan leather casing, "there are more truths within these pages. These are for you, son. Read as much as you see fit, read until you no longer need to, and then begin to forge your own beliefs."

The boy stayed silent while accepting this unexpected parting gift from his father. He remained dockside, salty waves kissing his narrow, swaying feet. He opened up his new notebook, the first page read:

He stands within the confines of his vessel

Between himself and normalcy is a one way mirror

The room is soundproof

Bustling passerby are aware of his existence, yet they are unable to make a connection

It is not their fault - he understands this

His only weapon is his voice.

He yells

Howls for an attentive ear. Anyone

Only to realize that relief will be found in his silence

But only until it kills him.

Reflection allows him to see the truth.

That the vessel is of his own design

He accepts that.

Maybe it is never too late.

The little boy, who now seems more familiar to me, remains locked in place, confused, and not understanding much of his father's writings. He feels ashamed and stupid and reads the poem once more. After his second attempt at reading this vague prose, he hesitantly peeks up, expecting his father to still be somewhat visible in the distance. He is not. The crawler has made its way, the silhouette of the faraway ship begins to mingle with the horizon. Now, it is only the red masthead light that is visible. The boy becomes angry, tears out his father's words, crumples up the paper, and tosses it in the ocean, sure that it will never be seen again. He sits back down on the dock's edge, starting at the next page that simply reads: Just Another Day in Paradise. I wake up. I remember that boy now.

End.

TBC...

#short story #writers on tumblr #writer #fiction #poets on tumblr #poetsandwriters #my writing #pillsandcoffee #psychological

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madisonhentosh · 3 years

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A Day In The Life Of An Endicott Student-Athlete

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a student athlete at Endicott College? I caught up with Catherine Miles, a member of the women’s ice hockey team, this past week to get a glimpse into her busy schedule.

Miles is a 20 year old Sophomore on the Beverly campus hailing from Northfield, Vermont, home also to Norwich University. Although the town of Northfield and its people are considered her family, Miles has found, and been welcomed into, a new family on the Endicott campus.

The Northfield Pharmacy is the only pharmacy in town. It is in the center of the downtown area which only consists of a handful of stores adding to the homey feel of Northfield.

With hopes of being a physicians assistant when she graduates, Miles is currently studying Exercise Science. A popular major among athletes, she finds herself in classes surrounded by other athletes from various sports teams.

Miles checks her class Canvas page prior to the start of class.

After waking up and preparing herself for the day, a typical Wednesday morning involves Miles walking from Stoneridge Hall all the way to the Arts Center, or better known as the VPAC. From 9:00-9:50a.m. she sits attentively in a class labeled philosophy and sport. As the clock strikes ten to the hour, the rose gold Mac laptop gets placed back in her backpack and she prepares to walk back to her dorm as her next class begins.

Being a college student during a pandemic means hybrid learning, and today, Miles’ 10 o'clock class, exercise physiology, happened to be occurring on Zoom. She did admit that, “keeping up with when, where, and what days you are actually in the classroom seems to be the hardest part of hybrid learning.”

Welcome to Zoom University! Miles completes her last two classes of the day in the comfort of her own room.

The academic day comes to an end with sport and exercise nutrition from 11:00-11:50a.m., also on Zoom. But, with the academic day coming to an end, the athletics part of the day is just beginning.

All teams on campus participate in strength and conditioning with Coach Dustin. The women’s hockey team mostly all lift on Monday and Wednesday mid morning to afternoon. Miles was placed in the 12:30pm lift group with a few other members of the team along with a couple members of the women’s lacrosse team.

The Endicott facilities are second to none. It is a rare occasion to see this gym empty of athletes and their hardworking, get-better, attitudes.

Due to the pandemic, regulations and precautions allow for 10 people in a lift group at a time, so team lifts are off the table. Team lifts were always a good way to build team chemistry and build a positive atmosphere as your teammates attempted max weights on exercises such as back squats, hang cleans, and bench presses. Miles stated that, “[a]s long as everyone does what they need to do in the weight room, time usually spent together at lift can be made up in other ways.”

As lift concludes, Miles now finally has the time to eat lunch. When asked about Callahan or the new market in the Wax, she responded with a smile, “I think the new options in the Wax could be one of the better things to happen on campus.”

The Callahan Dining Hall is usually the most popular choice for meals on campus. Other options include Einstein’s, the Lodge, and the new market located within the Wax Academic Center.

With the academics and lift now complete, Miles now has some two hours of down time as practice starts at 3:40p.m.

We happened to catch Miles on a good day, well good day to be a reporter, as the women’s ice hockey team happened to be having their team media day. As the team picked time slots to go and take pictures, Miles picked the 2:00 slot, and we can understand why with her busy day leading up to this point.

Photographer David Le, who runs all of the media days for the athletic teams, was at the Raymond J. Bourque Ice Arena on campus from 11:00-3:00p.m. snapping shots of the 35 members of the team. Miles got herself dolled up and headed over to the rink for both her headshot and on ice posed photos. She completes her temperature check and CoVerified check at the door and gets cleared to enter.

Miles awaits practice as media day concludes. The pre-game practice fuel of choice is a handful of Baked Lays chips with an Honest iced tea.

Now that the fun and games of media day had wrapped up, it was time for business as the team is preparing for their two upcoming games against Nichols College. “Practice is valued just as much as games this year because in reality, there is no guarantee our games will go as planned this weekend”, Miles added. COVID has made athletes everywhere value their sport even more than usual because one positive test can impact the whole, shortened season.

Quarantine took away the opportunity to step on the ice everyday. It took away the opportunity for fans to hear the ringing of the post, blades cutting into the ice, and the cheers of temmarts when a goal was scored. Miles added, “... having hockey taken away made me realize how big of a blessing hockey has been for me in my life. Each time I step on the ice now it’s a breath of fresh air, an escape from the outside chaos of the world.”

Ever since a young age playing for the Northfield Stars, Miles fell in love with the game of hockey unaware of how big of a role it would play in her later years.

Miles, a center, is a tenacious, hard-working player that might go unnoticed. Today’s practice at the Raymond J. Bourque Arena was defensive and neutral zone focused featuring a lot of regrouping and down low coverage. Being put in the center position of recent, Miles can be seen on the ice asking questions not only to the coach, but to upperclassmen who excel in the same position. Having played defense before and having experience, Miles understands the importance of staying low and supporting the puck on the breakout, which she is applauded for on many occasions by Coach McPhee.

As a freshman, Miles only logged minutes in 2 out of the 26 games played. But now, as a sophomore, she has 3 points in the past 3 games with a +4 rating, scoring her first goal in the Nichols series.

Miles (#28) looks to angle a Suffolk defender through transition.

“Every year is a tryout and an opportunity to prove yourself, and to others, that you deserve a spot on the lineup”, she explained. With 35 members on the team, practice is high-tempo and competitive as Coach McPhee looks to reward the hardest workers. Miles’ offseason efforts in the gym and on the ice, training with ELEV 802 in Vermont has seemed to pay off this year. There is always something to work on and when asked what that was, she quickly responded, “faceoffs, no doubt”, with a laugh.

5:10p.m.: Practice is wrapped up and Miles heads for the shower.

Following a shower, Miles, along with her teammates, head to the Callahan Dining Hall. On the menu tonight was a grilled chicken taco bowl, roasted vegetables, and of course, the Miles classic, a blue Powerade. “There’s just something about a blue Powerade from the Callahan. It’s almost like a Sprite from McDonald’s”, she discussed.

Surrounded by teammates, Miles finishes her meal at the Callahan before getting ready to head to work.

Although you may be expecting a typical end of the night with homework and Netflix in bed, our star of the show had other plans.

From 6:30-10:00p.m. Miles can be found working at the Post Center checking people into the gym, cleaning gym equipment, and monitoring open rec. Here she can work on homework, which she usually gets most of it done, watch Netflix, and today she even got the chance to watch her boyfriend play in his season opener soccer game for Elmira College.

7:05p.m.: Miles watches the Elmira men’s soccer game as she awaits the next gym cleaning.

At this point in the day, rest is much needed. Miles can go to bed knowing that she successfully made it through another day as a student-athlete on the Endicott campus.

As the clock strikes 11:00p.m., Miles finally hits the sheets and prepares to do the same thing the following day.

“I wouldn't want it any other way”, Miles concluded.

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ellewritesathing · 4 years

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So Close - S.S. XIII

Summary: The universe has a funny way of putting the things you want right in front of you, but just out of reach. Stiles and Y/N have been best friends ever since Scott brought him home, but when Stiles realizes that he might want to be something other than best friends, she leaves to go to some fancy private school up North. Now that she’s back though … maybe he’s got a shot? A Teen Wolf AU in which the reader has always been so close to Stiles and yet so far.

Prologue - S2E1 Part 1 - S2E2 + S2E3 Part 2 - S2E4 + S2E5 + S2E6 Part 3 - S2E7 +S2E8 Part 4 - S2E9 + S2E10 Part 5 - S2E11 + S2E12 Part 6 Part 7 - S3AE1 Part 8 - S3AE2 + S3AE3 Part 9 - S3AE4 Part 10 - S3AE5 + S3AE6 Part 11 - S3AE7 + S3AE8 Part 12 - S3AE9 + S3AE10 + S3AE11 Part 13 - S3AE11 + S3AE12

Word-count: 3.7k+

A/N: I’m starting to feel like three seasons of slow burn is getting a bit much but I’m super excited for you guys to experience the angst that is 3B. For now though, I really hope you guys like how I wrapped up 3A!! Let me know what you think :)

Oh and there’s like one swearword in this part if you guys need a warning

When the alarm woke you up, Stiles had already left. He left a post-it note on your phone with his reason; that he had to go tell Lydia what was going on before school. He found your mom’s keys and left them on the bedside table for you so you could drive yourself to school. How chivalrous.

The rest of the day wasn’t much better. You didn’t have the same classes as your friends, so you only saw them when the lunch bell rang and you found them in the hallway. You were on the phone with Isaac when you did and he was telling you that Blake had taken Chris in the bank vault. You weren’t really focused on what he was saying anymore because you were watching Lydia drag Stiles into the bathroom.

“Allison and I are heading to school now so-”

“Uh, Isaac? Don’t come to school. I’ll grab the others and meet you at Deaton’s. I’ll call you back once we’re on your way.” You hung up before he had the opportunity to argue with you and shoved your phone into your pocket. Something didn’t feel right.

Ignoring the pit in your stomach, you pushed the door open and went inside. It took you a second to find them, and it felt like your heart was being ripped out once you did. They were kissing. In your hurried attempt to leave, you knocked over a trash can. Stumbling out an apology, you rushed out and ignored their calls after you.

“Hey, Y/N! Y/N, will you please slow down?” Stiles caught your wrist and pulled you back. “That wasn’t- it wasn’t what it looked like.”

“So, what, Lydia was just helping you out with your algebra homework?” you asked, shaking your head. “Stiles, it’s not like we’re dating. If you wanna make out with Lydia, that’s your own-”

“I wasn't making out with Lydia.”

“So what were you doing?”

“I was-” Stiles sighed. “Look, she kissed me, okay? I didn't kiss her back.”

“You didn’t exactly pull away either.” You pulled your hand back and got ready to start walking again, but Lydia made you stop. She had that weird look on her face again.

“Has anyone seen Ms. Morrell today?” she asked.

---

You filed away your anger as you, Lydia, and Stiles rushed to Morrell’s office. When Danielle said she didn’t know why Morrell was late, you all agreed that if she wasn’t on time for a session, then she was probably missing. Stiles started digging through her desk for clues.

“Those files are private,” Danielle told him.

“Yeah, she’s kind of right,” Lydia said. She looked uncomfortable, but her discomfort faded as soon as Stiles started handing out files.

You’d been seeing Morrell when you transferred to Beacon Hills, and when Stiles dug out your file, your curiosity got the better of you. You only managed to skim a few phrases - problems expressing your emotions, defensive, in a sense of denial of why you’d been kicked out of Willow Creek - before Stiles and Lydia started talking again. Lydia’s file was full of her tree drawings.

“It’s the same one I always see you drawing in class,” Stiles argued.

“It’s a tree. I like drawing trees,” Lydia said simply.

“No, but it’s the exact same one.” Stiles came closer and you closed your file so you could be more involved. Stiles grabbed Lydia’s notebook and started flipping through the pages - they were all littered with drawings of the exact same tree. It reminded you of when you used to draw the wolves.

“Okay, you can have my session! You’ve got bigger issues,” Danielle said as she gathered her things and headed for the door. You would’ve laughed if the situation hadn’t been so eerie.

Lydia was breathing heavily with tears in her eyes as she stared at the pages in front of her. “What is this?” she choked out.

Stiles flipped the book around slowly. What you all thought had been the top of the tree, from this perspective, was now a dense root system. Like the one in the woods that Cora told you about.

“I know where they are,” he said.

“Well, are you gonna tell us where they are?” Lydia asked.

You and Stiles shared a look before each grabbing one side of her and beginning to walk outside. “It’s the nemeton,” you explained. “That’s where they are.”

You barely made it ten feet before you heard someone yelling for Stiles. This time it was your dad.

“Alright, look, go to Derek, okay?” Stiles told you and Lydia. “He and Peter have been there before. They’ll know where it is.”

“I’m not leaving you with him,” you said. “Lydia, tell them it’s the root cellar, okay?”

Lydia nodded and walked away quickly, which left you and Stiles just enough time to plaster some smiles on your faces and turn to face your dad.

Rafael nodded at you before turning his attention to Stiles. “Did you know your dad’s car is in the school parking lot and has been since last night?”

“No,” Stiles lied. “What does that mean?”

“It means he’s officially missing.” Rafael looked down and sighed. “Can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

“Actually-” you put on the sweetest smile you could muster and reached for Stiles’ hand “-I have this really big geometry test Monday and Stiles said he’d tutor me, so we’re just gonna head out if that’s okay with you.”

“Actually, Y/N, no. No, it’s not,” Rafael said. He sounded like he hadn’t slept in a few days. He looked like it too. “I’m going to talk to Stiles, and you’re going to wait in the hallway until I come out to get you.”

You started protesting but Stiles said it was alright. He shook you off and went to speak to your dad. Alone. In private. You mumbled a good few profanities before slumping down in a chair outside the classroom they were in.

You almost didn’t see Deaton through the haze of annoyance you were in, but you stood up as soon as he opened the classroom door.

“Fine,” Rafael said. “But I don’t want you going home alone. Do you have someone you can stay with tonight? Someone who’s not my daughter.”

“He’s with me,” Deaton said.

---

When you and Stiles got to the animal clinic, pretty much everyone who wasn’t kidnapped or playing secret agent with the Alpha Pack was already there. You sat on one of the countertops and bounced your leg while Stiles spoke.

“It has to be on one of the telluric currents - or maybe even at the axis of two,” he explained. “Or where they all intersect.”

“It’s where Derek took Paige when she was bitten,” you added.

“My dad and Gerard were there once. But Gerard said it was years ago and he couldn’t remember where it was,” Allison said. She ran a hand through her hair. “And my dad obviously isn’t here to tell us now.”

“Yeah, mine either,” Stiles said softly.

“Then how do we find this place?” Isaac asked, always asking the relevant (if un-answerable) questions.

“There might be a way,” Deaton said after a moment. “But it’s dangerous.”

“When is it not?” you asked, pushing yourself off the counter.

“And we’re gonna need Scott.”

“Why?” you asked. “We’ve been trying to find him since he left and he’s not answering any of us.”

“This is important. He’ll be here,” Allison insisted.

“And what if he’s not?” you asked. “Then what? We just let our parents die?”

“Actually, Y/N,” Deaton’s gentle tone and thoughtful expression sliced through your angry exterior. “Now that I think about it, you should work just as well.”

---

Deaton explained what you’d be doing beforehand: you’d be surrogate sacrifices for your parents. If it went right, you would only be dead for a few seconds. By doing so, you’d give power back to the nemeton - which would make it a beacon for the supernatural again - and the darkness around your hearts would follow you for the rest of your lives. And if it went wrong …

As cheery as the explanation left you feeling, your heart somehow managed to drop further when you stared at the ice baths in front of you. You clutched onto the necklace in your hands as you watched Isaac empty out another bag of ice into the tubs.

“Alright,” Deaton said, “What did you bring?”

Stiles brought Noah’s badge. It looked pretty banged up, but Deaton assured him that it would work fine as long as it meant something. Allison brought a ceremonial silver bullet that her dad made.

“Y/N?”

“My mom, uh, got this necklace from my gran when she turned sixteen. Said it was the nicest thing she ever got growing up. She just about cried when I spilled nail polish on it one day when I was little,” you explained quietly. “But, um, looks don’t matter, right?”

“No, they don’t,” Deaton smiled. “Now, the three of you will get in and each of us will hold you down until you’re essentially … well, dead. But it’s not just someone who will hold you under. It needs to be someone who can pull you back. Someone that has a strong connection to you. A kind of emotional tether.”

You and Stiles looked at each other while Deaton was talking, but you looked away quickly. You were still upset with him, and you both had to go under so it wouldn’t matter anyway. You hoped.

“Isaac?” you asked softly. He nodded and put an arm around you. Lydia and Allison were already holding hands in a corner.

“Well, Doc, I guess that means it’s you and me,” Stiles sighed. “And Scott, you know, if he ever shows up.”

Stiles was the first one to stand in front of the tubs, and Allison was the first one to get in. Judging by her reaction, the ice bath was going to be - unsurprisingly - absolutely freezing. You took a breath and then stepped in, slowly descending into the icy water. Your feet were the first to go numb, and then your hands even though they were still above the water. Were you shaking? You couldn’t tell.

You looked over to find Stiles sitting in a pretty similar position to you, except he was staring at you. You couldn’t help but laugh. “What?” you asked when you were done.

“Nothing. You just look …” he didn’t finish.

“Yeah, well, I know this is serious and all but I just-” you looked down. Your anger felt silly now. “Are either of you surprised by just how fucking cold this is?”

“Yes!” Allison laughed. “Like I get that it’s an ice bath but-”

“Are you ready?” Deaton asked. “If we’re doing this, we should really get started.”

The laughter died down and the three of you nodded gravely. You felt Isaac’s hands on your shoulders and took a deep breath. He asked you something, but you didn’t hear it properly. You just nodded. You were ready. You had to be.

The cold was smothering as he held you under and you thrashed to the surface, even though you knew you had to be still. The ice swirled around your head and you watched the last few bubbles of air in your lungs float to the surface. One … Two … Was that three? Should you be counting the groups of bubbles? Did any of it really matter?

You guessed you were a stronger fighter than you thought, because the next thing you knew you were crashing through the surface, gasping for air. Only, you weren’t in Deaton’s clinic anymore. You were in a big, white room with Stiles and Allison. None of you spoke as you got up and out of the water.

You were the first to go to the big tree stump that felt like an eternity away. The nemeton. The eerie silence only added tension to the situation, but none of you were brave enough to break it. Stiles was the first one to reach for the roots, and the sound of you begging for him to stop was deafening. He didn’t answer. Allison reached out next. Now it was your turn.

You kneeled in front of the tree, closed your eyes, and touched one of the roots. Taking deep breaths, you counted how long you could stay still before waking up. You stopped as soon as the silence broke.

Water was running nearby in a steady stream you could hear the birds in the distance. But what really shocked you into opening your eyes wasn’t the feel of the breeze or the smell of the damp leaves, it was the sound of laughter. Children’s laughter.

“Guys,” you heard a little voice whine. “It’s getting dark. How much longer are we gonna be out here?”

The kid in front of you looked about nine years old, definitely not older than ten. He had the same goofy haircut that Scott had at that age. And his ears were also slightly too big for his face. And the same little-

“Well, we would’ve been out of here an hour ago if you knew your lines.” The little girl rolled her eyes. She was in a tiny white, flowered dress. You had the same one when you were little. She was holding hands with another boy, who could barely contain his laughter.

That was you, Scott, and Stiles. Getting married on top of the nemeton.

“Okay, fine! By the power vested in me-”

Everything went black and you clawed at your throat. Air. You needed air. You reached up and pulled yourself to your feet, ignoring the pounding in your head as you gasped for air.

“I know- I know where it is!” You looked around desperately, needing someone to hear you. You were back in Deaton’s clinic. Scott stood up and rushed over. He picked you up, out of the tub, and wrapped you in a towel. “When did you get here?” you asked.

Stiles and Allison were busy telling the others about what they saw and where the nemeton was, but no one was answering. They all looked like they knew something you didn’t.

“What?” Allison asked. “What’s wrong?”

“You guys were out a long time,” Isaac said.

“How long is a long time?” Stiles asked.

“Sixteen hours,” Deaton answered.

“If we’ve been out sixteen hours then-” you looked at Scott desperately. “The full moon rises in like three hours. Scotty, she has to still be alive. She has to.”

“I know, I-” Scott took a breath. “We need a plan.”

---

“No!” Stiles argued. He was mostly dry now but you knew he was still cold in his bones. “Dude, you are not going back with them.”

“I made a deal with Deucalion,” Scott said.

“Does anyone else think that sounds a lot like ‘a deal with the devil’?” Stiles asked.

“What does it matter, anyway?” Isaac asked.

“He doesn’t think we can win without them,” you said. “Right? I mean, they killed our friends but it’s whatever so long as they kill her too, right?”

“Y/N, it’s not like that.” Scott sounded so defeated and you knew you were wrong to snap at him like that. He didn’t like them any more than you did.

“Circumstances like this,” Deaton started wearily, “Sometimes require that you align yourself with people you’d normally consider enemies.”

“So we’re gonna trust him?” Isaac asked. “The guy that calls himself Death, Destroyer of Worlds? We’re gonna trust that guy?”

“I wouldn’t trust him, no,” Deaton answered. “But you could use him to your advantage. Deucalion may be the enemy, but he could also be the bait.”

It was quiet enough for you all to hear the sound of the door creaking in the entryway. You heard one of the twins asking Deaton if they could speak to Lydia.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I need your help,” he said.

Stiles stuck his head out to glare at him. You felt Isaac squeeze your hand lightly to distract from the overwhelming feeling of jealousy that spiked. “With what?”

“Stopping my brother and Kali from killing Derek.”

---

The plan that formed after that was arguably not your best plan, but it was the plan you were going with nonetheless. Lydia and Ethan went to the loft (Hale Duty); Allison, Isaac, and Scott went to her apartment (Weapons and Cavalry Duty); and you and Stiles went to find your parents (Rescue Duty).

“Will you cut that out?” Stiles asked, annoyance in his voice.

“Stop what?” you asked, still sounding annoyed.

“Bouncing your leg like that and ripping apart my seatbelt,” Stiles answered. “I get you’re mad at me for the Lydia thing but-”

“You think this about you and Lydia?” you asked and rolled your eyes. “Stiles, we are driving through one of the biggest wind storms I have ever seen to save our parents from getting ritually sacrificed. Sorry that I’m a little jumpy.”

Stiles sighed and slowed down slightly. “I’m sorry, alright?” You didn’t answer. “I didn’t know she was going to kiss me. You’ve gotta believe that I- that I wouldn’t-”

“Tree branch!” you yelled. In the time it took Stiles to look back to the road and swerve, you’d already been hit. And when he swerved, he lost traction underneath and the Jeep crashed into the tree in front.

You recovered quicker than he did, but you could feel the blood running down your forehead. As long as you could still move, you didn’t really care about the other injuries you might have. “Stiles?” No answer. You struggled to unbuckle and moved his head off the steering wheel, laying him back in his seat. “Stiles, I need you to wake up.”

You got out of the car and rushed to his side when he didn’t respond. You threw open the door and laid the seat down. “Stiles, can you hear me?” Nothing. You cursed and climbed on top of him, checking to see that his throat was clear. Time for CPR, you guessed. You didn’t know what else to do.

“Okay, listen to me, you little-” you bent down to give him air “-I don’t care that you made out with my best friend. I just-” air “-Need you to wake up. Okay?” Air. “I can’t lose you. Stiles, I- I love you-” air “-and if you die, I’m gonna kick your ass. Alright?” Air. It wasn’t working. “Come on, Stiles, please. I need you to-”

“Ow,” he groaned. “What the hell are you doing on top-”

“Oh, my god. There’s no time!” You pulled him up so he was sitting. You were still in his lap. “Can you see? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Uh, three?”

You looked at your two fingers that were up in a peace sign and sucked in a breath. “Good enough. We need to go.”

The two of you started stumbling, rather messily, to where you thought the nemeton stood. Stiles made you stop to get his bat out of the car and you grabbed your baton from your bag. The ground was collapsing around the nemeton, and it took you guys a minute to find your way inside. Isaac was struggling under the weight of it all. Stiles shoved the bat into the space to give some support, and you did the same with your nightstick.

“I always said aluminum was better than wood,” Noah said. Stiles pulled him into a hug, but their celebration was short-lived. The rubble was quickly filling what was left of the cellar around you.

Melissa pulled you close before you had the opportunity to say anything, and you felt the tears fall on your cheeks. Your mom was whispering all these things about how you were together now and that everything would be okay, but you weren’t listening.

“We need to get out of here,” you said. “Isaac, can you-”

“The eclipse’s started,” he said. “I can’t do anything.”

Turns out, he didn’t need to. In a few seconds, the wind slowed to a stop. The rubble wasn’t encroaching your space.

“Is it over?” Allison asked.

You all slowly took your hands off what was left of the roof, and Stiles reached for the phone in his pocket. “Scott? Yeah, we’re okay. We’re all okay.” He smiled at you, and for the first time all day, you smiled back. “How about you, you okay?” He paused, listening for an answer. “You think you can come get us? Oh, and, uh, bring a ladder. Please.”

---

“Listen, uh-” you looked up to find to Cora standing in front of you. Even though the world as you knew it had pretty much changed forever last night, Cora coming into the library to find you was the most surprising thing today. “Derek says you and Stiles are the only reasons I’m still alive and, um, I don’t know how much of a help he was so I, uh, just wanted to say thank you.”

You moved your bag over so she could sit. “Well, I mean I was the one that technically saved your life. He just kept us from being mauled by the twins so …”

Cora gave you a small smile and sat down. “I’m not really good at this,” she confessed. “Making friends, I mean. But you seem like a good first time.”

You were going to make a joke about promising to be gentle, but you didn’t think she’d find it funny so you kept quiet.

“I know this is sudden but Derek and Peter are going away for a little while.” She looked down. “I was wondering if I could stay with you until they get back. I- I can stay on my own, if it’s a problem, but I didn’t really want to be alone again.”

“It’s not a problem,” you promised. “But we are going to have to ask my mom.” Cora nodded. “And she’s going to make you go to school.” She paled. “But I’ll help you! Seriously, anything you have a problem with.”

“I guess-” she took a deep breath. “That’s a part of being normal. And the only reason I’m not going with them is that I want to be normal so … when can we talk to your mom?”

Part 14

#stiles stilinski #stiles stilinksi x reader #stiles slow burn #stiles stilinksi imagine #mccall!reader #so close #teen wolf #teen wolf au #teen wolf rewrite

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happyhearthooligan · 4 years

Text

Master List Oct Edition 2019

(2/2)

This half contains the Yandere Month Special, Classic Undertale headcanons, Multiple AU asks, other headcanons that didn’t quite fit the first half, and franstastic-ideas’ other posts

The first half contains AU-centric headcanons excluding Classic Undertale

franstastic-ideas - October Content (Continued)

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

Yandere Month

Oct 3

Frisk is on an ambassador trip?

Mafia Yandere hcs on both our sweet Frans ♡

Yandere King Sans and his Lady Ambassador!

Cryptozoologist Frans but… yandere~

More yandere for me please! have you heard of Echofell?

What about Murder Frans (Murder Sans x Frisk)

Ink x Draw? (InkSans x InkFrisk) but yandere???

Yandere Error x Core?

Horrortale brothers in the least to most nuttiest yandere spectrum?

These are my questions about the yandere skeletons…

Oct 4

Yandere version of the Convergence AU?

Any headcanons for yandere Storyshift bros?

Yandere lamia??

Oct 6 - How about a yandere Frister?

Oct 9

Haven’t really seen much yandere!G!Sans. Could you do that?

Yandere Headcanons on Nightmare and Dream?

If a female touched his lady as a platonic gesture? (Yandere!G)

If G!Frisk somehow found out how Yandere G can be

Oct 10 - Yandere Outertale?

Oct 22

Yandere cuddles with the Swap brothers

What would Yandere Dance be like

Oct 23

So what about a yandere Dusttale story

What would Yandere WraithTale Sans do with Rosalyn

Killing is extremely rare and saved for severe occasions

Oct 24 - If Chara escaped and Papyrus was unable to find her?

Oct 27 - "He wouldn’t sleep until she was found"

Classic Undertale

Oct 1

Imagine Sans never confessing

Frisk & Chara hear a lot of puns and knock-knock jokes from Toriel

Why does UT Chara hate humanity?

Does Frisk or Chara have a backstory

Thoughts on Asgore and Toriel coming back together

Oct 2 - Canon fact or a fan theory, Frisk fell 100 years, after Chara

Oct 3

Some Papyrus x Chara x Asriel hcs

Chasriel and Frans double date?

Oct 4

Frisk and Sans reconcile after getting into an argument?

How about some Gaster x Frisk x Sans hijinks?

Accidentally ripping your pants in front of your S/O

Oct 5

Other than losing Frisk, what does Sans fear?

Is Chara a tsundere?

Oct 6 - Why did UT Frisk climb the mountain?

Oct 8 - Sans’s Reaction to Papara In a Nutshell

Oct 9 - If Frisk did a genocide run and she had to kill Sans?

Oct 10

Frisk can flirt with Goat Mom and canonically flirts with Papyrus

Why Sans was creeping around before introducing himself?

Oct 11 - What are Frisk and Sans’ favorite seasons

Oct 12

UT Frisk as someone who flirts with pretty much everyone

Is UT Sans was a bit more eccentric and wild about his work?

Would Pap ask Chara about letting him in the Royal Guard?

Oct 14

What does Papyrus think of Grillby himself?

Do the Charas like to play with their Asriel's ears?

Asriel will state that Chara "wasn't the greatest person’

How do you think Asriel and Papyrus feel about each other overall?

"Prone to random bouts of stupidity when Chara is involved."

"And they have to share". Do you mean Chara or that one braincell?

When Asriel and Papyrus are competing, how does Chara react?

Chara's reaction to Sans’ secretly trolling Pap online would be?

Oct 21 - Do the skeletons have peeves that their human lover does?

Oct 22

How would Gaster and Sans respond to a third rival

How Frisk/Chara felt about Alphys’ crush on Toriel and Asgore?

Undertale cuddles? o3o I want more of those!

How you think Frans would spend a rainy day

How about surprise kisses? Chara initiating their first kiss?

Would Chara be the one to tell Papyrus about his cooking?

Has Sans or Papyrus seen natural disasters while on the surface?

Would Chara tell Pap Undyne’s feelings of him and the Royal Guard

Oct 23

Can we have some of that Frister cuddles?

What would Sans and Mettaton's relationship be?

In Undyne and Alphys' wedding. Frisk caught the bouquet!

Frisk/Chara receive X-rays. How do their boyfriends see it?

Papyrus with a human anatomy book of undeniable proof

Oct 26 - If Frisk put herself on a near death state to save someone?

Oct 27 - Paps has told a skele-ton of puns in the game

Oct 28

"Papyrus thinks his jokes are better than Sans’s." Does Sans agree?

Do you think that Chara met Dr. Gaster?

Perhaps Sans and Flowey aren’t the only ones aware of the resets

How do you think Chara behaved at first towards the Dreemurrs?

Papyrus' reaction was when he found out that MK was a fan of his?

Oct 29

When you check the family photo, Chara's response would be "..."

Do you think that Chara cuddled with Asriel?

Oct 30 - "Papyrus feels the need to inspect them… just in case."

Multiple AU Headcanons

Oct 1 - More Gpapara headcanons please! Child of the ruins too?

Oct 2 - Frans AUs reacts to Frisk suddenly dying and not resetting?

Oct 6 - Is Gaster Sans' older brother in these AUs or something else

Oct 8

In order from least to most, who are the ten biggest tsunderes

UT Frisk and US Chara when bfs are telling puns to other women?

Minus HT Sans, who are the most protective/possessive?

Oct 9

Skelebros react to someone very openly checking out their ladies?

Soft UT Papara, soft househusband Green, and soft UF Papara

With each Papara and Frans couple, who kissed who first?

Oct 10

Skelehusbands favorite places to kiss on their wives?

What would Older/Married Skelehusbands give to Younger selves?

Seeing his favorite human trying on his scarf

How do the Sanses react once Frisk starts aging...

What would their skeleton lovers react to "that time of the month"?

Oct 11

How do the Sanses feel if Frisk had a previous love interest...

UF, US, and SF Sans and Frisk are pregnant but the girls don't know

Would Soul sensing be the same in reverse?

Aww, man. I was hoping for them to freak out or something

Where do their wives like to kiss their favorite skeleton?

Lol, I can only imagine how freaked out they'd get. :3

If ��previous love interest” caused Frisk to have a negative reaction?

Oct 12

Do the Frisks squish their Sans' faces?

What if the first kisses where started by the cutiebones’ lovers?

Do any of the Frans/Papara couples get into arguments

Is there a human that likes the Gaster AUs?

How did each version of Sans and Papyrus go about soulmates

When did the Sanses realize that they were in love with their Frisk?

Chara had to deal with their ex-lover. Papyrus' response??

Oct 13 - Most Papyri refer to themselves as "the Great Papyrus”…

Oct 22 - Frisk/Chara with whom they refer to as a "boy friend"?

Oct 27 - Have the Sanses/Swap Papyruses always liked bad jokes?

Oct 29

Do UT Chara/US Frisk have doubts that the Royal Family loved them?

Frans/Papara confessions where Frisk/Chara confess?

Chara responds to receiving a bouquet of flowers/chocolate

Other Headcanons

Oct 1

Monster Hunter Chara and Monster Papyrus?

Can I ask for FellGFrans? or FellGPap?

Persephone/hades-esque headcanons for both Frans and Papara

Would HT Frisk ever fall in love despite him keeping her captive?

Oct 2

Your pacifist horrortale...but swapped?

Reaper and Frisk as Hades and Persephone X3

Oct 3 - I was wondering if you’ve heard of an AU called Farmtale

Oct 4

A modern war AU where Sans is a spy and so is Frisk

Any HorrorFrans/Papara hcs you could share with us?

About that Lamia AU... what would be the next step to courting

Horrorswap Papara please

Oct 6

Is Gaster Sans' older brother in these aus or something else

Snippets from Feeling Bonely without you?

Wild West AU love triangle between Grillby, Chara and Papyrus.

Skeleton bachelors in the HarvestTale/FarmTale soul events

Oct 10 - Horrorswap Papara proposal

Oct 12 - In Outertale, Sans shows Frisk where shooting stars fly by

Oct 13 - What is Henri's relationship with Frisk?

Oct 20 - What's your ideas about Core! Frisk and Error?

Oct 21

Headcanons for semisolidmind’s Aslyumswap

Narrator-Chara AU headcanons?

“The Villain I Appear To Be,” does Frisk feel remorse for hurting Sans

Oct 22

Swapfell Papara/Frans cuddles?

If the Convergence AU was a Papara reverse harem?

Oct 23

More cuddles! Outertale Papara/Frans?

AUs where Chara and Frisk are "joined at the soul” explanation

Oct 28 - "Chara and Frisk are attached via soul", an alternate view…