#< Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[gnaga37]

hater moment. biker the other day was biking on the 90km/h road, the one with the whole bike only road running next to it, that has a whole little wall to separate the 2 so bikers don't get hurt, and with constant breaks in the wall so you can get in and out of it easily. and they were biking outside, next to cars

[skylersprompts]

DC x DP Prompt *4*

Jason had been a little better recently. He had the pit better under control, even though it reared his head from time to time. But it was easier to talk with the bats... his family.

But B's staring was making his skin crawl. The big bad bat was staring him down for over ten minutes.

"What?!", his tone was harsher than he intended, but that wouldn't make him back down. The silence carried on for a few beats, before his fahter batman finally graced him with an answer.

"I spoke with Constantin... a while ago", it almost sounded like he wanted to talk emotions. Which could just mean something bad.

It took some moments before B continued. The emotional talk theory sounded more and more likely.

"There could be a way to help with the pit madness." - Bruce lifted his hand to stop any Protest from Jason - "I just want you to consider it. We won't do anything without your permission. It wouldn't even work without it. The entity is strong, but it is confirmed that it isn't a danger, as long as we treat this the right way", if he didn't know the old man any better, he would have thought that he was just as businesslike as always. But his jaw was clenched, his fingers kept twitching ever so slightly. His father Bruce was nervous.

And that was enough to reign the pit in, that kept whispering how they still didn't accept him. But that didn't mean he liked this idea.

So his answer was nothing more than a non committed grunt, before he swung on the back of his bike. The old man would be alright to wait for a bit.

.

.

.

It took months before Jason brought the conversation back up. The pit had been a bitch to reign in the last few weeks and today he felt at least somewhat like himself again.

They spoke just a little bit about what would need to happen, but Jason felt like his time was running thin. He didn't care all to much about the details at the moment.

Constantin was ordered to the cave and the summoning was prepared. No blood or sacrifice was needed, which made this magic bullshit at least a bit more tolerable.

Beside the Batman, Constantin and Red Hood was also Nightwing there. He didn't want any of his other siblings by his side. Not when he felt so easy to irritate.

The Magician began the ritual and in the circle formed a whirlpool of lazurus water. If Dick hadn't been standing behind him, he would have bolted.

But after just a few seconds emerged a white headed boy out of the pool. The portal closed and left a confused, floating boy behind.

But before Constantin or Batman could say a word, the green (Lazarus green!) eyes landed on him. The being gasped and flyed directly to him.

.

.

.

Danny had been minding his own business, free from rouges and king work for once. His finals stood right around the corner and he took the time off to learn.

But of course he had to be summoned in the only normal time he had. But since the energy felt familiar, he was to 90% sure that it should be sad trenchcoat man. So it should be important... hopefully.

As soon has he looked around he saw John and the Batman! But there was an energy that pulled his attention.

His eyes widened. This poor... Revenant? Halfa?? He wasn't sure, but! He was one of his people and it looked bad. And he seemed to be around his age, what made it so much worse.

Danny zoomed over to him, to have a better look. And that just made it worse.

"That looks bad... who did this to you?", he whisperd with a horrified glance at the chest of the other boy.

His core was slowly poisoned by his own ectoplasm and seemed like there was not much time left.

[hotmessmaxpress]

(a/n: I’ve never been only onlyfans. I’m assuming it works like patreon but for nudes? Allegedly you can also tip using the website?)

Rosquez OnlyFans AU, (1/?) Inspired by these posts on @unhinged-motogp-confessions

It's a common misconception that it is easy for Vale to get laid. While he does have the benefit of his celebrity status, charisma, and literal fanclub, that doesn't necessarily equate to a good deal of pussy on a practical level. For one, women often want more commitment from him than he's willing to provide. He has no interest in having a girlfriend at the moment, no matter how good the sex is. On the other hand, women who are comfortable with being one-night-stands sometimes have the air of wanting to exploit the encounter in some way. While he's never had a lover go so far as to take pictures without his consent, he has been made aware of more than enough tweets, blog entries, and other social media posts about his dick and skills as a lover. There is also the issue of Vale's additional preference for men; hooking up with women is risky enough without the threat of forced outing.

The easiest solution is perhaps the most embarrassing: porn. Vale has the money to acquire pretty much any type of porn that he wants, and it's convenient no matter where he is in the world (for the most part).

Vale has a private OnlyFans account with Rossano as the profile picture. It’s on that account that he discovers and subscribes to Marc. MotoMarc93 He is the hottest man Valentino Rossi has ever seen. He’s absolutely fit, six pack and all, and he rarely has a shirt on. He has the face of a model, and Valentino loves it when he smiles. What really makes Marc stand out though, is his garage. Marc has an entire garage of motorcycles. His favorite, that he includes in videos, is an orange and black wrapped Honda Fireblade. Marc is filthy on the bike. Sometimes it’s innocent; thirst trap selfies of himself leaned back on the bike, cock just out of frame. Other times it's a photo over his shoulder, showing the line of his toned back down to his bare ass. Vale pays for everything– he pays for the most expensive monthly subscription, but also buys the pay-per-view shots at every available opportunity. That gives him access to all the videos Marc posts. He posts one in particular of him riding a dildo that he has suction-cupped to the seat that makes Vale come so hard he thinks for a moment that he died. After that video he sends Marc a tip for 1000€ with a message: “amazing video xx”. Marc responds with a question: “what is your name?” That question is a red flag for Valentino, but he is horny and therefore stupid. “Valentino.” There is no response for 24 hours, which terrifies Vale. The next afternoon, however, he receives a direct message from Marc. It’s similar to the previous video, but Marc has changed the camera angle– his camera is set up behind the rear of the bike, but clearly his tripod is standing on something to make it even taller than normal. The angle of the video makes it feel as if Valel is looking down just slightly– like he’s standing behind the bike and watching. Marc takes his time in the video. He walks into frame already naked, grinning, and makes his way toward the bike. He kneels next to it, jerking the dildo off slowly with a grin at the camera before turning, swinging his leg over the bike, and slowly seating himself on the dildo. The camera angle gives Vale a perfect view of where the cock enters Marc's tight hole. He groans as it fills him, and Vale scrambles to free his hard cock from his pants. Marc rocks his hips before sliding up and back down the silicone cock. He moans, rocking up, before he opens his mouth. “Valentino,” he moans. “Harder.” He picks up speed, fucking himself deep and hard on the dildo. Vale pumps his cock in time with the rise and fall of Marc’s hips. He doesn't think he's ever been this invested in a screen before in his life. “Valentino, please,” Marc cries. Vale comes hard, cum shooting nearly up to his chin. He moans as he jerks himself through it.

When he opens his eyes, Marc has reached behind him and picked up the camera. He brings it around his body, and Vale nearly comes again at the sight of Marc’s cum painting the body of the bike, nearly up to the handlebars. The camera flips, and Marc grins and blows a kiss at the camera before the video ends.

[letmeridethatstaff]

The Truman and (Y/N) Show

Chapter 4: Travelers Beware

Word count: 4.3 K

Relationship: Truman Burbank x Reader

Disclaimer: this is all parody. I do not own the Truman show nor do I claim it. Do not repost. Do not translate and repost.

Warnings:

- baby talk of course

- lies

- their life is a television show from birth so ya know

- water aka ocean and fire

- uhhhh idk if I miss some tell me

Not edited and written like weeks apart.

———————

Truman and (Y/N) ended up sleeping in for the day. They made coffee and put their plan into action. After Angela left they did their normal routine, with a small difference. If they really were being watched then the running water of a shower would drown out their whispers. In the shower they planned. Pack a suitcase in the morning and rush to the travel agency after breakfast.

Going into the agency they both noticed posters of multiple disasters: TRAVELERS BEWARE! TERRORISTS, DISEASE, etc. another with lightning shooting through a plane mid flight- IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!

Truman and (Y/N) sat down in front of the desk. Eventually a lady comes out with a napkin around her neck. “I’m sorry to keep you!” Truman stands up as a gentleman would do- as he was raised to do.

“Oh it’s okay!” Truman quells her.

“How can I help?” She sits down and removes the napkin.

“We would like to book a flight to Fiji, please.” (Y/N) chimed. The lady starts typing away at the computer.

“When would you like to leave?” Truman picks up his suitcase tapping the side.

“Today.” She nods and goes back to typing. The computer beeps a few times, and Truman perches his arms onto the desk. His chin resting on his hand. She starts shaking her head.

“I’m sorry I don’t have anything for at least a month.” She turns to the both of them.

“A month?!” (Y/N) exasperated.

“I’m afraid it’s the busy season.” Truman scoffs.

“Do you want to book the flight?” She points to the computer.

“It doesn’t matter. We’ll make other arrangements. ‘Kay?” (Y/n) smiles to the lady. Truman and her get up to leave.

~

Their backup: the bus station.

The conductor yells: “LAST CALL FOR CHICAGO! ALL ABOARD!” As Truman was getting the tickets she waved down the bus conductor. The bus director blows his whistle. Truman finally got the tickets,”Thank you!”, and they raced off to the bus.

“Windy City, here we come!” Truman tells the bus conductor as he hands him their tickets. They get aboard. As they get aboard a little girl peeks out behind a seat.

“Mom isn’t that-“

“Shhh sweetie face the front.”

(Y/N) and Truman make it to their seats. The bus starts to sound horrendously loud with gears grinding onto one another. After a few attempts of starting the bus a loud hissing sound comes from the engine along with smoke of some sort.

“Everybody off. We’ve got a problem.” The bus director climbs aboard to tell them. Immediately everyone gets up. Either for their luggage or to leave. No one complains. Everyone files off the bus while Truman and (Y/N) stay.

“I’m sorry you two.” The bus driver seemed put down by the events. He then gets off the bus.

~

The scene cuts to audience members.

AM 1: “Why are they trying to go to Chicago?”

AM 2: “Well you see Truman’s dad was from Chicago, wasn’t he?”

AM 1: “No. his dentist was from Pensacola. His father was from Des Moines.”

AM 2: “B-but how come they want to go to Chicago?”

AM 3: “Their not going to Chicago. Their not going anywhere.” She shakes her head, “They won’t let them.”

~

The scene changes to the next morning. (Y/N) heads outside to see Truman still sitting in his car after not going to work.

“Truman?” She asks hesitant, “you okay?” Their neighbor and Pluto the Dalmatian was staring at them- as if they were also concerned.

“Get in.” He gestures with his fingers. She climbs into the passenger seat.

“What is it?”

“Look-“ he shows the rear view mirror. They wait, “I predict in just a moment we will see a lady on a red bike, then a man with flowers, and then a Volkswagen Beetle with a dented fender.” She waits and watches with him. It happens- a lady on a red bike, a man with flowers, the beetle with a dented fender.

“M-maybe it’s just an uh routine?” She was nervous and worried trying to call herself, picking her cuticles. Truman gently grasps her hands to stop her.

“Maybe OR- their walking the block. They just go around and around and around.” Truman started acting funny. She had it.

“Get out-“ she quipped.

“What-“ he was shocked. They never had a tongue with one another.

“Switch seats with me- now.” She started to climb into the drivers seat.

“Okay okay- OW!” A muffled sorry came through.

“Let’s go- now- let’s go to Fiji.” He starts laughing and so does she. His more hysterical and hers more nervous. She buckles up and so does he. She slams the gas and they back out. She starts driving in circles around the round about.

“Let’s forget Fiji!” Truman yells. “Can’t drive to Fiji!”

“ATLANTIC CITY!!!” She spins out towards a random road. Suddenly multiple cars and a truck stop them.

“Blocked at every turn.” She taps her thumb on the steering wheel.

“Beautifully synchronized, don’t you agree?” They look at each other- they know.

“Ya know what we should head home.”

“Agreed.” She speeds backwards towards to round about. “ACTUALLY-“ Truman pips up, “let go to New Orleans, party c’tay!” Truman sticks out his tongue and shakes his head back and forth- a goof- she smiles. Turning down the same road and the traffic is completely cleared.

“Like magic, wouldn’t you agree dear?”

“Absolutely, my love.”

~

Fuck. Why did they have to live on an island.

“We can turn back.” Truman tells her. The bridge loomed in front of them. The windows were rolled down, making the sound of the lapping waves all the more present.

“Absolutely not. My fears not as bad as yours…” they looked at each other. “Close your eyes.” She asks Truman. She starts speeding over the bridge, swerving slightly- “WE’RE OVER THE BRIDGE!” She exclaims happily. Truman laughs cheering with excitement and relief.

A warning sign on the road: FOREST FIRE WARNING

“Truman what about the sign!”

“Pull over I’ll drive! Don’t worry, I think it’s just an exaggeration!” She pulls over and they switch seats. As they keep racing down the road- a fire wall appears.

“Exaggerating?! That’s a literal wall of fire!!” He keeps pushing the gas and drives through the wall. Smoke fills the cabin of the car.

“Shit! Truman we have to be on fire!”

“It’s okay! It’s okay! It’s just smoke!” The smoke starts to disapate, “You okay?”

“Yes!” She coughs out.

“Wanna do it again?!” He laughs.

“No!” She laughs and smacks his arm.

~

A while later down the road.

“How do you think everyone will take this?” (Y/N) asks knowing that if this really was real life and not a show- her family (and Angela) would be worried sick.

“I don’t know but I do know I’m glad we don’t have a pet- let alone a kid.”

“Agreed.” A siren started to blare.

“What now?” Truman sighed. (Y/N) started biting her nails. He grasped her hand with one of his and kissed the back of it. She took a breath. They arrived at a scene of a nuclear plant being blockaded by the police.

Truman has the windows rolled down, “Back up! Back up!” An officer yelled at them. A speaker blared about a Red Alert, “There’s been a leakage at the power plant.”

“Is there anyway around?”

“Whole areas being evacuated.”

“Well good luck and thanks for the help.” (Y/N) pipped up.

“You’re welcome, (Y/N)!” The officer saluted and walked away.

She nor Truman said their names.

“(Y/N).” Truman whispers to himself with a dawning realization. He swiftly, discreetly unbuckles himself and (Y/N). They rush out of the car and into the woods.

“Hold my hand!” Truman shouts, they grasp each other's hand. Almost as if to say they have each other. That they aren’t crazy.

People in hazmat suites started to chase them in the woods. The perfect woods, in perfect rows. Truman found a stick and started swinging it at the people. Truman was tackled to the ground. “Truman!”

~

“Thank you for bringing them back officers.” Sam, (Y/N)’s mother, had been called to watch them. Unknown who called them- the police most likely- or…others.

“Next time, we’ll have to file charges.”

“I understand.” She nods to them, “Thanks again, good night.” She closes the front door. She stocks her way over to Truman and (Y/N) in the kitchen. (Y/N) was holding an ice pack to Truman’s head from where he was tackled.

“I swear I’m fine.” He whispers. She shakes her head at him.

“Fine,” she whispers, shaking her head. She reached up and kisses his forehead. Sam walks over to the counter and stands in front of them both.

“Let me get you some help,” Sam gently whispered. “You are not well.” A moment passed before (Y/N) asks.

“Mom, why do you want me to have kids? You can’t stand Truman.” She’s exhausted, he knows, everyone knows their in-laws hate their spouses.

“That’s not true!” Sam exclaims almost offended. She turns around briefly. Turning back to them with a cocoa tin in hand and a large smile. “Why don’t you let me fix you some of this new Mococoa drink? All natural cocoa beans from the upper slopes of Mount Nicaragua- no artificial sweeteners!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” (Y/N) exasperated, she looks around. “Who you talking to?!”

“I’ve tasted other cocoas. This is the best!” Her mother was nervous- for some reason. She never really acted like a mom growing up. More like…a playmate. Babysitter almost.

(Y/N) stands up, “What the hell does this have to do with anything?” She’s walking towards Sam. “Tell me what’s happening!” She shouts. Truman stands up.

“You’re having a nervous breakdown, that's what!” (Y/N) scoffs as her mom backs up from her approaching form.

“What the hell mom!”

“(Y/N) you’re scaring me!” Sam grabs the dicer that can peel, dice, and chop.

“Hey hey! Don’t point that thing at her.” Truman stands in front of (Y/N).

“Alright enough you need to leave!”

“Fine! But don’t come crawling back to me when you need a babysitter!” Sam states. But ever so faintly just barely at a whisper, such unprofessional conditions.

That was the final straw. She broke. Sobbing Truman held her- her whole life a lie- or maybe she was lying to herself. But if that’s the case how did Truman experience the same things?

~

A few moments later Marlon showed up at the door. He had heard what happened and wanted to check on them both. (Y/N) was curled up against Truman with her puffy eyes. They had talked about their childhood with one another. How Marlon got pneumonia because (Y/N) wanted to play North Pole and camp outside. How Truman and him would cheat off each others tests- right together and wrong together.

The scene on the tv cuts to Cristoff- “…but, well, the point is I’d gladly walk in front of traffic for you two.”

The scene changes back to Marlon and the Burbanks. “…well the point is I’d gladly walk into traffic for you two.”

Back to Cristoff: “And the last thing I’d ever do is lie to you. Either of you.”

Marlon’s back on screen, “And the last thing that I would ever do…is lie to you. I mean think about it, if everybody is in on it.” He starts to get choked up. “I’d have to be in on it too.” He takes a sip of the beers he brought. “I’m not in on it because…there is no “it”…You both were right about something though.”

“What’s that?” Truman’s whispers.

“The thing that started all this…” he gets up and goes outside. They follow him. In the fog there stands a figure. A familiar one.

“Yep. I found him for you, Truman. That’s why I came by tonight.” He tsked, “I’m sure he’s got quite a story to tell.” The camera pans closer to Truman’s face. “Go to him.” Marion whispers placing his hand on Truman’s shoulder. The figure walks closer to them.

The scene goes back to Cristoff. “Easy on the fog. Stand-by light post cam.” A second passes, “Post cam.”

The scene changes to Truman. Marlon has wrapped his arm around (Y/N)’s shoulder as they watch Truman. He gets closer to his father.

Back to Cristoff. “Button cam three.” The scene is now through a button cam hidden on the cardigan. It’s Truman.

The tv shows audience members holding one another.

“I never stopped believing.” Truman tells his father.

More audience members are shown: this time a pair of older ladies. With a Truman pillow and (Y/N) mugs.

Christof returns on screen, “And wide curb cam eight.” The scene is now from the curb- a fully body wide shot from the side of Truman and Kirk.

“My son! Oh!” His father embraces him. (Y/N) is shown leaning on Marlon’s shoulder and sniffling.

Christof and a crew member appear on screen. “Move in for a close-up?” They suggest.

“N-n-no no…” his hand is raised while the other holds a pen. “Move back and…fade up music.” The music swells from the live piano player. “And now go in close!”

Truman’s father speaks, “All those years wasted! I’ll make it up to you son. I swear it.” Their still in an embrace. The camera zooms in to Truman’s smiling face above his fathers shoulder.

“Dad.” Truman cries. The crew starts to cheer. So does everyone else- the rest of the world- the audience members.

“Bravo!” Cries a crew member.

“That was a really great experience.” Everyone gives congratulations to Cristoff.

The scene changes to Sylvia. Sitting in the floor before her television. She watches Truman and (Y/N) share a cup of Mococoa- an ad plays below it as they drink. Sylvia’s face contorts with anger. More anger for the way he— Christoff— manipulates them.

The scene then shows a sort of replay or recap of The Truman and (Y/N) show- how it came to be. The picture of the two of them drinking coco is put in the upper right part of the screen.

Announcer: 1.7 billion were there for his birth, and later 2.3 billion for hers. “A star is born” flashes on the screen across baby photos. Over 200+ countries tuned in for their first steps. The world stood still as (Y/N) had her first kiss. As they grew so did the technology. An entire human life recorded on an intricate network of hidden cameras. A clip of Truman and (Y/N) through their neighbors trash can is shown. Broadcasted live and unedited 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to an audience around the globe. Coming to you now form Seahaven Island enclosed in the largest studio ever constructed- the scene zooms out to show the scale of the dome as it lives right above the Hollywood sign in LA- along with the Great Wall of China, one of only two man made structures visible from space. Now in its 30th great year it’s The Truman and (Y/N) Show!

~

Interviewer: “What a week it’s been. I don’t know about you— I was on pins and needles the entire time.”

The scene shows someone taking a bath with the television set up right next to it. The scene then changes back to the interviewer, Mike.

Interviewer: “Hello and good evening. I’m your host Mike Michaelson and welcome to Tru-(Y/N)-Talk our forum for issues growing out of the show a rare and exclusive interview with the shows conceived and creator. So, come with us now as we go live to the lunar room. On the 221st floor of the Omni Cam Echosphere. This is where we’ll find the world’s greatest Televisionary-“ the camera zooms into the moon to show Cristoff. “The designer and architect of the world within a world that is Seahaven Island—Christof.”

Mike: “Before we begin, I’d like to thank you on behalf of our audience for granting this exclusive interview. We know how demanding your schedule is- and we know how jealously you guard your privacy. This, sir, is indeed an honor.”

Christof: “Don’t mention it.” He sits down.

Mike: “Well, the catalyst for the recent dramatic events on the show has been Truman’s father. Kirk— and his attempts to infiltrate the show, but before we get into that. I think it’s worth noting that this is not the first time someone from the outside has attempted to reach both (Y/N) and Truman, is it?”

The scene changes to show (Y/N) and Truman spending the holidays together. Both of their families gathered watching the young (Y/N) and young Truman open presents.

Christof: “We have had close calls in the past…” A man pops out of a large present. Shouting: “(Y/N)! Truman! It’s television! Yes!” Their mothers pick them up and carry them out and their fathers wrestle the intruder. “I did it! I’m on the Truman and (Y/N) show!”

The scene changed once again, this time it shows Truman at the newsstand. A parachuter is coming down behind him in the background.

Mike: “But there’s never been anything to compare with this most recent breach in security— the first intruder to be a former cast member…” the parachuter has a sign taped to the front of his chest: TRUMAN YOU ARE ON TV! The scene changes back to Christof.

Christof: “A dead one at that.”

Mike: “Gotta say, writing Kirk back in— Masterstroke.”

Christof: “Since Kirk started this crisis in Truman’s life— and by association (Y/N)’s — I came to the conclusion that only he could end it.”

The scene shows (Y/N) and Truman as toddlers—about 5– at the beach. Their family started to shout at them as they reached the top of the rocky seashore. Kirk and her father- Neil- were yelling at them: “Truman! Truman! (Y/N)! No!” Neil hopped the fence and started racing for them.

“That’s off limits sweetheart.”, of course this peeked both of the young minds.

“Why dad what’s over there?” (Y/N) questioned. Everyone at the beach was staring at them— it was their normal.

“Nothing. It’s dangerous. That’s all.” Kirk chimed in. Kirk started climbing the rocks to get them down. “You’ve got to know your limitations you two.” He picked them both up and brought them down.

Mike: “But let’s remind viewers exactly why dad—Kirk— was written out in the first place.” The scene shows young Truman and (Y/N) staring out into the ocean.

Christof: “As Truman and (Y/N) grew up, we were forced to manufacture ways to keep them on the island.”

The scene shows a pre-teen Truman. “I’d like to be an explorer like the Great Magellan!” Informed the teacher. The teacher pulled down a map.

“Oh you’re too late. There’s really nothing left to explore.”

Christof: “For (Y/N) it was easier to dissuade her from wanting to leave. She didn’t want to be an explorer like Truman— she wanted to be an artists.”

The scene shows pre-teen (Y/N) and Truman at a pier. (Y/N) with her painting supplies and Truman with his binoculars. A dog was snarling and barking at them making them pause and leave.

Christof: “Finally, I came up with Kirk’s drowning.”

Mike: “Most effective.” He praised.

Christof: “Truman— and by association— (Y/N) as well have been terrified of the water ever since.” The scene shows pre-teen Truman and (Y/N) watch Kirk “drown” in front of them. Truman was bawling his eyes out— (Y/N) going numb but holding onto Truman like a lifeline. “When Kirk read the synopsis for the Death at the Sea episode he was disappointed to say the least.” What the kids don’t see is Kirk being rescued by a scuba diver and given oxygen. “I’m sure that’s what caused him to break back on to the set.” The scene returns to Christof and Mike.

Mike: “But how do you intend to explain his 22-year absence?”

Christof: “Amnesia.” Mike scoffs slightly.

Mike: “Brilliant. Let’s take some viewer phone calls: Charlotte, North Carolina, you’re on with Christof.”

Caller: “Uh, yeah, hi, Christof. I was wondering how many cameras you got in that town?”

Christof: “Somewhere in the vicinity of 5,000.”

Caller: “Woah, that’s a lot of cameras.” The scene zooms in on Christof’s face.

Christof: “Remember, we started with just two.” The image shows two ultrasound cameras— one of Truman and the other (Y/N). “They were curious from birth. Truman was premature by two weeks— (Y/N) was late by a week— Truman acted as if he couldn’t wait to get started.”

Mike: “and of course his eagerness to leave his mother’s womb was the very reason why he was one of the multiple baby boys chosen.”

Christof: “Yes, in competition with five other unwanted pregnancies. The casting of a show determined by an air date. Truman was the baby boy who arrived on cue.”

Mike: “(Y/N) of course was late, as she is in life.” Christof slightly chuckes.

Christof: “Ah yes, as for (Y/N) we didn’t want to add her until a year later once we knew that the general public would take well to seeing a show like this.”

Mike: “and incidentally, I believe both were the very first babies ever to be adopted by a corporation?”

Christof: “That’s correct.”

Mike: “The show, uh, has generated enormous revenues now equivalent to the gross national product of a small country.”

Christof: “People forget it takes the population of an entire country to keep the show running.”

Mike: “mhmm. Since the show on 24- hours a day without commercial interruption, uh- all those staggering revenues are generated by product placement or (Y/N)’s paintings.”

Christof: “That’s partially true. (Y/N) generates her own income. When she sells a painting she keeps that money, not the studio. However, everything on the show is for sale. From the actor’s wardrobe, food products, to the very homes they live in.”

Mike: “Uh and all of it available in the Truman and (Y/N) catalog. Operators are standing by. Christof, let me ask you: why do you think Truman and (Y/N) have never come close to discovering the true nature of their world until now?”

Christof: “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. It’s as simple as that”

Mike: “The Hague for Christof. Hello? The Hague?” There’s static and The Hague hangs up. “All right, we’ve lost that call. Let’s go to Hollywood, California. You’re on Tru-(Y/N) Talk.”

Caller: “Hi, Christof. I’d just like to say one thing: you’re a liar and a manipulator and what you’ve done to them is sick!”

Christof: “Well, we remember this voice, don’t we? How could we forget?” The scene shows that the caller is actually Sylvia.

Mike: “uh let’s go to another call.” Christof interrupts him, “No, no no. It’s fine Mike. I love to reminisce with former members of the cast. Sylvia…as you announced so melodramatically to the world you think because you persuaded (Y/N) to find Truman once— that you know what’s right for her? For him? You really think you’re in a position to judge them?”

Sylvia: “what right do you have to take a baby— two babies— a-a-and to turn their lives into some sort of mockery? Don’t you ever feel guilty?” Christof shakes his head.

Christof: “I have given them a chance to live normal lives. The world… the place you live in is the sick place. Seahaven’s the way the world should be.”

Sylvia: “They're not performers. Their prisoners. Look at them! Look at what you’ve done to them!”

Christof: “They can leave at any time. If his was more than just a vague ambition. If he— and she— were absolutely determined to discover the truth there’s no way we could prevent them. I think what distresses you really, caller, is that ultimately they prefer— as you call it— their cell. Mostly (Y/N) prefers it.”

Sylvia: “That’s where your wrong. You’re so wrong! She’ll prove you wrong.” Sylvia hangs up the call.

Mike: “Well, aside from the heated comments of a very vocal minority it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience.”

Christof: “Yes. For Truman’s and (Y/N) and for the viewing of the public.”

Mike: “Well, Christof, I can’t thank you enough for giving so generously of your time tonight. I think it’s safe to say now that this crisis is behind us and that Truman and (Y/N) are back to their old selves. We can look forward to some exciting new developments?”

Christof: “Well, Mike, the big news is that Sam— (Y/N)’s mom, will be leaving Neil. A possible new love interest for Neil may be introduced. (Y/N) as an adult will have to navigate what it’s like to be a step-daughter as an adult.” The scene shows Sylvia staring at the little video picture in the top right corner. Showing (Y/N) and Truman eating cereal. She gently touches the picture of the two of them.

Christof: “I am also determined that the first ever live on television, conception will take place. Whether that be (Y/N)’s doctors having to fib a little about her needing to get off birth control o-or setting the mood who knows.” Mike chuckles.

Mike: “Well, another television milestone straight ahead. You heard it here first. It has been a singular honor and pleasure, sir. Christof, thank you.”

Christof: “Thank you, Mike.”

The scene shows an audience memeber has fallen asleep in their tub.

Then it shows both Truman and (Y/N) cuddled together sleeping. A large screen is showing this into the studio of Christof’s. Christof gently touches the screen. As if he was patting their heads to say goodnight.

[kingdomof-omens]

Day 4- Clutch: Folio/OFC

30 days of Bad Omens Bingo Card here Masterlist Can also be found on Wattpad and AO3 This is a work of fiction based on real people. If you don't like it, don't read it.

_______________

Pairing: Folio/OFC (Lesley)

Warning: No smut in this one- just fluff, motorcycles, short one-shot

_______________

"You want to WHAT?!" Nick screeched through the store, turning to face Lesley, his best friend since childhood.

"C'mon, Nicky! You said you'd teach me and yet I still haven't learned!" Lesley shoved his shoulder, pushing him gently into the shelf.

"Yeah Les, I did... but with my baby?" He put his hand over his heart, feigning hurt.

"Ugh, you're so dramatic." She waved him off, walking away towards the back of the store where they displayed their motorcycle helmets.

Nick was back home for the summer off of tour and his motorcycle was finally out of the shop from where someone decided to rear end it. He was excited to ride again, but he had made plans with Lesley for when he got back home to travel down to the beach. He figured they could take his beloved Harley since Lesley had never ridden before. First, she needed proper gear so to the store they went.

Lesley did make a good point, though. Nick did promise to teach her how to drive a motorcycle, but he didn't think she would actually want to. Now he was stuck between breaking a promise, or trusting his clueless best friend to ride his bike.

He didn't dwell on the thought too long, following behind her to the back corner of the store for her to pick out a helmet.

"The number one rule of riding bikes is that you dress for the slide, not the ride." He told her, grabbing her shoulders and moving her away from the faceless half-helmets to the full faced ones. "Losing body parts and getting gnarly road rash isn't fun."

She shot him a playful glare before picking up a bright pink helmet, twisting it in her hands. "What about this one, Nick?"

He took the helmet from her hands and looked it over, reading the helmet's information tag. He nodded, handing it back over to her. "This one is highly rated. It's a good one. Plus it has a communicator in it, so we can talk to each other without having to yell over the engine."

She smiled, deciding that this was the helmet for her. She left Nick standing there as she went to the counter to pay for all of her items. The leather jacket Nick had to argue with her about included.

_______________

"Okay, ready?" Nick asked, tension in his jaw. He made through on his promise, taking Lesley to a deserted parking lot to teach her how to properly drive the motorcycle. He decided to teach her later that day, so when they left for the trip tomorrow she wouldn't annoy him the whole time. She didn't mean any harm in constantly reminding him, she just didn't see Nick that often and was excited to learn something new.

She took a deep breath sitting on the bike, Nick standing right next to her. She looked up at him through the face shield on her helmet and nodded.

"Remember, you can talk. Our communicators are synced."

"Right, sorry. This is a lot of information at once. I'm just...trying to remember."

"Dude, you're good. That's why I'm here. Ask me questions, tell me what you're thinking.

"I just ask that you don't burn my clutch because it's new and hasn't been broken in yet."

Her eyes widened at his words. Things on bikes needed to be broken in?! Who in their right mind sells a bike with it not completely ready for the rider?!

He laughed at her shocked face, reaching his hand out to give her the keys. "That's a normal thing, Les. Each driver is different. You want the motor to be catered to the driver, not the other way around." He reassured her.

She grabbed the keys from his outstretched hand, placing them in the ignition. "Whatever you say, Nicky. This is why I wanted you to teach me. You know way more about this stuff than anyone else I know."

"Alright, so go ahead and make sure the bike is in neutral. Look for 'N' to be lit up."

"Done."

"Now, start her up!"

Lesley gripped the key in her hand and turned it, hearing the engine below her purr to life. Her face split open, forcing a wide smile on her face, as she looked up to Nick, who's expression mirrored hers. The gentle vibrations from the engine below her was an accomplishing feeling- she got step one down successfully.

"Now here's the fun part. Remember how to drive a stick shift, Les?" Nick asked, leaning forwards and placing his arm on her shoulder, her nodding in confirmation.

"Same applies, but the controls are opposite. Clutchwith your hand, shift with your foot. One down, five up. Then the opposite to come to a stop. Try it out."

He backed away from Lesley, crossing his arms over his chest waiting for her to be comfortable enough to try to move the bike. He knew she would get the hang of it rather quickly, he was the one who also taught her how to drive a manual car. She was able to grasp that concept within three tries, and now she frequently drove her dad's old stick-shift pickup truck with the worn transmission.

The first time she attempted to move, she stalled the bike out. She didn't give the bike enough acceleration as she lifted off the clutch, causing the bike to lurch forwards slightly. Nick was immediately next to her, reaching out and grabbing the bike to keep it steady so she wouldn't topple over and get hurt.

"Dammit!" She yelled into the communicator, throwing her hands into the air. Nick chuckled at her, shaking his head. She was always a perfectionist, getting agitated if she didn't succeed at something the very first try.

"Give it some more throttle. You got this, Les. You're overthinking." He tapped his finger on the visor of her helmet.

She groaned, putting the bike into neutral before starting it again, and feeling the engine roar to life beneath her. She sat calmly, taking deep breaths and letting the vibrations of the motor sink into her bones. She remembered what Nick had told her: just like her dad's truck, the bike is finicky. "Treat her with respect and she'll glide over the road with you."

Nick backed away slowly again, standing not too far away in case Lesley needed him again. The man had the patience of a saint, and it was obvious in him calm and soothing demeanor.

Feeling like she was ready, Lesley pulled the clutch in with her left hand and kicked the shifter down into first. Taking another deep breath and closing her eyes, she cleared her mind and decided to let the bike tell her what to do. Like what Nick had taught her before: she would feel for the pull of the gear catching, and accelerate from there.

Letting off of the clutch slowly, she waited for that pull, giving the bike a tad bit of throttle to even out so she wouldn't stall again. She opened her eyes and looked to her right, seeing Nick walking beside her. He had both of his thumbs up and was nodding enthusiastically. She picked up her feet, and gave the bike more throttle, the bike gently gaining speed.

"Don't forget to shift when she's ready!" Nick called to her, coming to a stop and watching her slowly drive away. He heard her giggle in her helmet, accelerating more, as she gained distance between them.

He stood there with his arms crossed, watching his best friend with amazement. Her little giggles in his ear were bringing a smile to his face. She was a determined woman, that was for sure- never giving up on something she had set her mind to, and learning new things with ease.

He heard the bike go quiet for a moment and the click of her switching into a higher gear, then she was accelerating more.

"Nicky, look! I'm doing it, Nick!" She yelled into his ear, excitement coating her voice.

"Alright, bring her back to me. Remember to lean as you turn so you don't fall."

He watched her make the turn, leaning into it, before the headlights were casting shadows behind him.

"Can I just pull the clutch and stop like in dad's truck?" She asked as her hand came up to grip the lever on the left hand side.

"Yeah, that's a good idea." He told her, hearing the roar of the engine quiet down slightly when she pulled the clutch in.

She came to a stop next to him, gearing down the bike back into neutral, before turning the key in the ignition to the off position. She jumped off of the bike and lowered the kickstand, pulling off her helmet and turning to Nick.

He was pulling his helmet off of himself when he felt her body collide with his, her hands coming around his back to grip around his torso tightly.

"I did it! Did you see that?! I can ride a bike now!"

Helmet in his hand, he brought his arms around her to embrace her, chuckling at her words. "I saw. I'm very proud of you, Les. You did great." He squeezed her tightly once before letting go and taking a step back. When she looked up at him, she had a face splitting smile and her eyes twinkled with delight.

"You'll need more practice because you only got to second gear and there's no traffic, but we're going to save that for later." He brought his hand up and ruffled the hair on the top of her head.

"I know, but at least I got the hardest part down! The rest is super easy." She removed his hand, smoothing her brown hair back down.

"Let's get something to eat before I take you home. We gotta pack for tomorrow anyway. Just please, Les, don't pack too much shit. You see what I'm working with here."

She agreed, placing her helmet back onto her head. She waited for Nick to hop onto the bike first, before she climbed on behind him.

As Nick was driving away from the parking lot, he started shaking his head as he heard Lesley through the communicator: "Can I drive tomorrow?"

[mrssimply]

Find the word/Manuscript search tag

Ohhh!! I was so excited to see this game appear on my dash, Thank you so much @rockerboyrepo for the tag! Very happy to play, even though it took me a week or something (I was on holiday with limited access to my files)

you gave me the words: Again, Deeply, Growl, Smirk

And since it was very diffisult for me to cut after a few sentences, you get full snippets.

Again

[That one is for Rockerboyrepo, actually, I need to finish it when inspiration strikes again - it's the follow up to his own fic that I started to write with his permission ;p]

After going back to his apartment and burying himself under booze and drugs, Kerry elects to ignore the motorcycle for a week.  He can’t help but think about it, and as the week passes by, he’s starting to feel angry again. 

Even in death, Johnny is a fucking asshole, coming back to haunt him, making sure Kerry can’t live a normal life, free of his perpetual shadow. Making sure he can’t forget, as if he ever could in the first place. He might want to but he’s not sure he can.

Which is how after a particularly bad day that started with spilled coffee on his brand new tank top, went on with a frustrating meeting at the label, and ended with the discovery that the Rainbow Cadenza wouldn’t reopen after the damage it had taken during the explosion, Kerry went down to the garage instead of his flat. 

He rounds it with jerky movements, crossing his arms as he looks at it. He feels the rage rise inside of him, let it sour his tongue and fill his stomach with acid.

“Fuck!” He curses out loud when the feeling overflows, and he kicks the rear tire once, then twice with more strength, and a third time with a cry of rage. The bike doesn’t move an inch, pretty much like its previous owner, stubborn by default.

“Fuck you!” Kerry screams at it, aiming his futiles kicks higher to try and unbalance the vehicle, but with the center stand and the weight, Kerry is no match. The motorcycle takes his rage placidly. With another cry of anger, Kerry grabs the seat and the trunk, pulling at them to try and upturn the bike, but it doesn’t work either. It doesn’t force the compartment open, though, and the surprise unbalances Kerry, who falls on his ass with a stunned expression.

Other words bellow the cut :D

Smirk

That one is from the secon John Wick fic, publication should happen soon(ish)! Kept it short because of spoiler for the fic ;)

“I didn’t think you were capable of love,” he declared, prompting an eyebrow raise from Santino. “Love isn’t supposed to be that vicious.”

The Italian mob boss snorted and his smirk turned into his usual sneer.

“Did you ever consider it was vicious because I was always on the defense? I had no choice but to be cruel because I didn’t know any different. It was the most precious thing I ever experienced, and it made me particularly savage when it came to defending it.”

Winston made a face, but didn’t debate the reasoning.

“And what about now? Did you learn anything different?”

“No,” he admitted with a shrug, “But he did.”

“Ah, sweet Helen taught him, and you expect him to teach you in turn?”

Santino bared his teeth in a poor imitation of a smile, making Winston snort and hold his hands up in surrender.

Growl

[that one is from the original story I'm trying to write. It's... slow progress but hey, first time I show it!]

“It’s a key,” Tiberion went on, pulling Sisay’s focus back to him. “And like every key, it opens a door. I need a team to find that door, and then help me retrieve something.”

In the couch between them, Kheor shifted, and Sisay sensed something like agitation. It was hard to tell, as she still looked unflappable, but there was a new tension in her body.

“I thought this was for the Rebellion,” she hissed between her teeth.

Tiberion gave her a fleeting smile.

“It is. In a way.”

“Tell me it’s not what I think it is?” she asked in a sharp bark.

The Primadyne pulled on his cigarette, eyes fixed on her. 

“It would be difficult for me to tell you this, since I don’t know what you think it is.”

She gave him a grin, the kind that would make lesser men quiver and cower, but Tiberion didn’t look impressed. 

Their interaction clued Sisay on the fact they weren’t just from the same alien race: they were close, too, they knew each other like friends, or something like it. 

“Kheor told me you lost a lot for this mission,” Tiberion went on, “I know what it’s like to lose everything. So let me offer you a new purpose: it’s a dangerous mission, with high rewards.”

“I have enough money with what you paid for the gig,” Sisay found himself replying. The words were robotic, a negotiation technique more than real disinterest. Truth was, the idea of another job to distract him was appealing.

Tiberion smiled: it was an ugly thing, full of irony and pain.

“Yeah, well, what I’m offering now is glory, to go with the money.”

“I don’t care about glory.”

“Revenge, then. Wasn’t it the Imperat guards that killed your friend? What I seek would help the Rebellion greatly. It’s a chance to fight back.”

Sisay gave him an unimpressed look. So far Tiberion’s attempt to lure him felt half hearted, like he couldn’t be bothered to really try. Kheor seemed to think so too because she was giving him about the same expression.

“You’re really bad at this,” she commented. “Why don’t you give us the truth: what does this key do, what does it open… You know, the questions I asked you before taking this job for you that you didn’t answer because you told me to trust you. I did,” the Witch reminded him pointedly even though the second Primadyne refused to look at her.

“Back then, you told me you would clear everything up if the key was retrieved. It’s been retrieved, so now, I’m asking again, and I expect answers.”

Tiberion went on smoking in silence, he took the time to ash his cigarette before turning to Sisay. The hacker was startled by the intensity of his gaze; for a flash, something powerful shone through his pupils.

“What do you know about the Deathwalker, Sisay?”

Next to him, Kheor sighed and got up.

“Not this again,” she muttered in a growl before making her way to a small cabinet to the left of the room where she retrieved  glass of a purple liquid that glittered, and poured herself a glass.

Tiberion ignored her, gaze still stuck to Sisay, who was frowning.

Deeply

[from the John Wick fic again]

Santino listened to the silence for a few more minutes before sitting up with a soft groan of contentment. Despite the dread and the lack of sleep, his body felt deeply relaxed, and ached in the best ways. He couldn’t help but snort when he thought about their joining. Letting John drive had been a marvelous idea, and it showed how much both of them had changed in the past eight years.

After showering, Santino put on his own suit: dark shirt, sacks of a deep anthracite color and matching jacket, to put on top of a forest green vest. For later, he had also brought  the heavy black coat to drape over his shoulders. He laced his shoes, knowing he would have a few hours more of reading and work before he was to make his way to the Sacré Coeur. John would start making his way earlier: from the Bowery King to Santino, every one of them was persuaded the Marquis would try to prevent John from being on time, or from coming at all. 

As he crossed the threshold of the living room, he found John bent over the table where he’d set shop, skimming over the papers. He was in the middle of securing his cufflinks, stopped in the process by his curiosity as he read over the coded documents. Apparently, he still remembered the decryption key because he didn’t seem to struggle deciphering them.

Walking up to him, Santino gently plucked the cufflink from his lover's hand and took over the act of securing the button on the sleeve. John glanced at him, dark eyes assessing him in silence.

“Why are you doing this, Santino?” 

The man knew the question was layered, and since he wasn’t particularly willing to discuss all of them, he started with the most obvious one.

“Making sure you’re perfectly dressed to meet death. Wouldn't let you lose the battle of style to your brother.”

[matueszdmowskeyblog]

ACTIVITY 2 - MONTH 1

Since the time I posted the first post about activity, I have unfortunately not been to the gym as much as anticipated. That is because I got sick on the 20th and could not attend two of my sessions; on the 21st and 25th. I was, however, able to go twice; on the 14th and 18th days of the month. 

I had no inconveniences to disrupt my normal 2 hour routine on the 14th, Monday, so I proceeded as always. I trained chest, triceps and deltoids as always. As usual, I started with an incline dumbbell bench press. After that I moved over to the pec deck chest flies, which were followed by the flat bench press. Those are all of my exercises for my chest, since they are the perfect mix of hypertrophy; strength and growth. That day there were no notable developments or changes since the previous session. After chest, I move over to my shoulders. I just do 4 sets of, slightly bent, lateral raises. They perfectly target the side delts and, along with the bench press, the front delts. I tried to lateral raise 12.5 kg that day, nevertheless I was only able to do a few repetitions. After that, tricep rope pull downs come. I usually only do 2 sets of reaching failure, because that is essentially all needed for maximum growth. In the end I used the biking machine for 30 minutes, as usual. 

That day, I did not notice any changes worth noting, except for a slight increase in performing some exercises with more depth. 

On Friday, the 18th, I sadly had to finish 15 minutes earlier for personal issues. The gym I go to was also unnaturally crowded. Those conditions forced me to skip the cardio in the end, because of how much time the other exercises took. After warming up, I began with lat pull downs. This exercise took me over 30 minutes, because of how many people were occupying and stealing it. After that, I went to do seated rows. I just recently changed my plan to include seated rows instead of the standing version. I then did the reverse pec deck for rear delts and trapezius muscles. I then moved over to do cable shrugs. When I was done with that, I was feeling most of my back muscles completely sore. I decided to finish my back off with deadlifts. At that point, I had little time left, so I just ended my workout with preacher curls, reverse grip EZ bar curls and wrist curls; all with 1 or 2 sets to failure. 

That day, because of earlier mentioned problems with time limitations and overcrowded area, I was expecting an unsatisfactory session. Nevertheless I turned out to increase my performance since the last one. 

My summary of progress in the second part of the month: 

-12 consecutive pull-ups

-Deadlift 60 kg

-Lat-pulldown 115 kg

-60 kg bench press

-10 kg lateral raises

-55 kg tricep pulldown

I overall progressed in my back muscle group by a large margin and in my chest and arm muscle groups, by little to nothing.

Proof of evidence:

[khivrajmotors]

KTM Duke 390 the most powerful bike in KTM Duke series

The KTM Duke 390 is listed as one of the top models in the KTM Duke series due to its rugged looks, muscular power, and numerous smart technological facilities. If you plan on getting a bike that is fun to ride, easy on the handling, and filled to the brim with the latest technology then the Duke 390 could just be the bike for you. If you use your bike to constantly go to work and back or if you use it only during the weekends, the Duke 390 has something nice waiting for you.

What is the KTM Duke Series?

The KTM Duke family features naked street bikes with intense focus on sportiness with the needs of the rider in mind. The product offering begins with Duke 125 models and followed by Duke 200, Duke 250, Duke 390 models and KTM Duke 790 and KTM Duke 890 models.

Every model in the Duke series is designed for those riders who appreciate power and design. Although the 125 and 200 Duke are excellent for beginners, the ktm duke 390 is excellent for someone who wants to get more power than the 390 but is not yet ready for the super powerful KTM bikes like the 790 or 890. It is a very good mid range bike with good performances, stable price and could do with being used daily.

Key Features of the KTM Duke 390

1. Bold and Aggressive Design

The KTM Duke 390 has a sharp, aggressive design that makes it stand out on the road. It has:

A split LED headlamp with a very unique look which enhances the look of the bike more and is very helpful in night time.

An exposed frame with a trellis construction that is compact in that it unveils bulk of the bike’s structure and gives it an edgy look.

Aggressive and distinctive graphics, and the basic low-slung shape that give an impression of speed even at idle.

The design is functional too. It therefore offers the rider an easy view of the road ahead besides being suitable for both normal ride and touring. They are padded enough to ensure comfort and the wide handle bars are of help when handling the bicycle.

2. Powerful Engine and Performance

To complete the KTM Duke 390 its engine is a single cylinder with a cc capacity of 373.2 cc, outputs a power of 43.5 PS and 37 Nm of torque. This engine is amongst the most powerful within its class making the Duke 390 light and fun to ride. When you turn the throttle, the vehicle responds with seemingly punched up acceleration no matter if you are driving through the city traffic or at high speeds on the highways.

It also has a completely new 6 speed gearbox with a slipper clutch, thus which makes the gear shifting smooth and prevents the rear wheel from locking while going down the gears.

3.KTM 390 Duke: Price and Value 

Currently, the KTM 390 Duke is about ₹3.10 lakh (Ex-showroom, India). Actual prices may differ depending on region of delivery, and are to be additionally increased by the cost of registration, insurance, and other accessories. At this price it can be considered one of the most ‘value for money’ under 400cc bikes, that comes with a host of features and power.

4. Handling and Comfort

Nonetheless, what might be rather feared when it comes to this KTM Duke 390 is the handling as this bike is produced to be light weighted and the suspension is excellent. The bike weighs about 166 kg; which means it is lightweight to move in traffic or lean when taking bends on hilly Whitney trails. The Metzeler tires offer good traction; thus you can ride safely in various terrains.

The WP suspension is again in a suspension which uses upside down front forks and a monoshock at rear which retains comfort along with sportiness at the same time. Though it may be somewhat rigid on the rough surface, it is ideal for vivid drives on the smooth roads. The seat height is 830mm and that might seem tall for some but in general the bike does not seem too tall for most riders.

5. Fuel Efficiency and Practicality

Considering the lively performance of this Duke 390, the bike’s mileage is quite reasonable. This means you can comfortably get an average of 25-30 km/l, depending on the way you ride mostly when you are aggressive. The 13.5-liter fuel tank brings maximum freedoms for daily use and weekend rides without constant refueling.

A tad unfair to compare it to the Duke 790, but while the sporty suspension and the upright seating aren’t the best for very long-distance touring, they do make it comfortable for the odd long weekend trip and doubles up as a fun city commuter.

Where Does the Duke 390 Fit in the Duke Series?

The KTM Duke series offers a range of options for different types of riders:

Duke 200: These are ideal for persons who have not advanced so far in computing or who do not require a powerful operating system.

Duke 250: serves as an upgrade from the 200 with more power while being still small to handle for new bikers.

Duke 390: Proving to be ideal for riders seeking performance in a bike other than the giant numbers like 790 or 890.

The Duke 390 makes for a standout because of its power supplemented by the modern-day features and offered at a price bracket that is low compared to the 790 or 890 Duke.

Conclusion : 

KTM Duke 390 is one of the best motorbikes ever to be produced with amazing power, advanced technology and classy look. No matter if you are going around the city or on a weekend tour, the Duke 390 never disappoints in any ride. It is designed for riders who seek something more powerful than initial bikes but still comfortable for a day to day ride.

Frequently Asked Questions on Ktm Duke 390

Q: What is the top speed of the KTM Duke 390?

A: The top speed is around 165 km/h.

Q: Is the KTM Duke 390 good for beginners?

A: Yes, it’s suitable for beginners with some riding experience, but absolute beginners should start with a smaller bike like the Duke 125 or Duke 200.

Q: What is the mileage of the KTM Duke 390?

A: The bike offers around 25-30 km/l, depending on riding style and conditions.

Q: Can the Duke 390 be used for long rides?

A: Yes, but the sporty suspension and upright seating may not be the most comfortable for very long tours. It’s more suited for short to medium rides.

For More information: Contact us 

[myfeetkeepdancing]

Tom Holland, a contract killer, wakes up in the morning to a phone call informing him that he has been poisoned and has only one hour to live unless he keeps a high level of adrenaline in his body. He does everything he can to keep his pulse racing (having sex with his boyfriend.) Until he gets the cure.

Happy Birthday Tom! 😊

Any day would be a normal day if it weren’t for Tom’s distressed call. The sound of screeching tires assaulting the asphalt approached your home quickly. Blaring horns and honking cars multiplied the closer it got. Tom had warned you through a very noisy and hectic call. Only leaving you with the instructions: “Stay where you are right now!” 

Whether it be the early morning or the late night you had, it still made you question things. A strange mixture of curiosity and worry crept into you about what was to come. It didn’t take long for Tom’s sporty motorbike to come into view. The sound came first. Racing down your street way too fast. 

To your fear, you watch Tom use his speeding motorbike as a jumping platform. Letting go and pushing himself off just in time. Letting the bike speed off riderless into the neighboring fence and plants. Nothing could stop its momentum. Tom, on the other hand made a spectacular entrance, rolling across the floor and landing a few feet from your door. 

“What the hell?!” You manage to call out before the bike produces a loud bang as it halted against a cluster of containers and a brick wall. In all, it created a lot of smoke as it lay wrecked in pieces. Rear-wheel still spinning. Motor sputtering. “Are you okay?!” 

“I don’t have the time to explain!” Tom scrambled to his feet, discarding his helmet, turning his hair into this ruffling mess of brown curls. Turning into a sprint, closing the distance very quickly. A hint of purpose in his eyes. 

“Hold up!” You try to stop him in his tracks. But are pushed inside. The door closed shut behind you. “Tom!” You call out again, grabbing him by both his shoulders. “Talk to me, Tom!”

“I’m not who I seem to be.” He explained like it was nothing, pulling the zipper open on his jacket. Reaching behind his back with one hand. “I’ve lied about everything. My work. My travels. All of it. And now… I’m in the shit.” Revealing a gun before tossing it far and wide across the room. “I’ll try to explain along the way.”

“Tom…?” Your eyes darting back and forth from the gun back to him. Mind blown and scared at the same time. Trying to figure out the grander picture of a puzzle, you feel like you only have two pieces off. “What the…-t-t-this doesn’t make sense… What’s going to happen…?” 

“I know…. you probably have a lot of questions. B-But… But please… be mad at me later.” Tom pulled the jacket from his frame, making you lose your grip on his shoulders. Leaving you standing with an empty and scuffed leather jacket. “I simply don’t have the time.” Revealing a simple hoodie. Hanging loose and sloppy hanging around his frame. “My life is in your hands.”

The hefty confession hadn’t registered fully in your mind. You manage to make eye contact for a brief moment. A hint of desperation seeped through. You wanted to ask questions. You need answers. And fast. But there was no time. He couldn’t and wouldn’t let you.

As soon as he pulls his arms free from the sleeves, he moves onto you. Cold and shaking, his hands reach up to cup your cheeks. Without any further explanation, his lips move onto yours. With all the force behind the kiss, it sends you stumbling on your legs. Forcing you up against the wall. Kissing you fierce and fiery. Toms into it. Passionately exploring you. Wanting you.

“I’ve… been p-poisoned.” He breathed out as he let go of your lips. Showing you a reassuring smile. “And time is of the essence.”

So many things went through your head all at once. But you let it happen. Overtaken and still registering the kiss. Zipping open his hoodie, Tom yanks it off his body. Showing nothing underneath. His body was bruised and beaten. Hypnotized by the heavy sway of his muscled chest and round pecs. Breathing with a growing intensity. Tom looked swollen and ripped beyond your imagination. 

“I’m here. Heartbeat is over 125.” He speaks into a little earpiece as he checks his watch. You hear a voice responding to other medical information he quickly cites. You don’t register it. You’re overwhelmed by Tom’s presence. So up close and personal. Sandwiched between the wall and Tom. Feeling him. It’s all a bit much to take in. “You know where to find me.” Prying the piece out of his ear and tossing it into the room nonchalantly. His attention is on you again. And you don’t mind it.

Words struggle to reach your lips, but Tom sure doesn’t want you to talk. You feel yourself pulled into the moment. “I’m a killer for hire, (Y/N).” Tom breaks the news to you. “I’m sorry.” He adds on as if the apology has any means of lessening the blow. “But now they’ve gotten to me. And I need you… more than ever.” 

“Are… they g-going… to kill you?” You stammer the words as Tom’s smile softens. Your hands find purchase on his hips; it’s somehow instinctual. You feel him. Touch him. The warmth of him. It sends a shudder of excitement through you. 

“They’re already t-trying…” Tom stutters while he checks his watch. Taking one of your hands, he plants it on his chest. His muscles feel firm. And a swooning softness warms your core. Making your knees weak and heart flutter. It is everything you desire. And more. 

A rhythm. A pounding rhythm, rapid and hard, hammering inside his chest. You begin to feel it. Moving with the beat and the sway.

“If my heartbeat falls below 100… Adrenaline subsides from my system… and I will… die.” His gaze softens as your eyes meet. Yet the words were hitting you hard. You’d known Tom for so long. And now this. “At least…” He kisses you. “That’s what they told me… And I don’t want to find out the other way…” 

“T-Tom…-” You sputtered. “-I… I don’t want you to…” Eyes starting to water. The realization hitting you. “-leave me…” Emotions beginning to kick in. Tom’s eyes pooled with tears. Kissing you swift and sudden. Hand still on his chest. Feeling his heartbeat. “Wha-…What c-can… I do?”

“They’re… working on it.” He whispered as he wrapped himself around you. “Trust me…” He pulled you tightly to him. “I need you… to trust me.” He went again. “They’re the… b-best of the best.” Shaking hands fumble with the corners of your shirt. Fingers brushing and teasing your skin along your spine as he pulled it over and off you. “I’m not going anywhere… if you stay with me…”

“I will…” A moan escaped you as your bodies touched. Uttering his name along with a curse. A pleading curse. “Tell me… T-Tom. Tell me what I need to do…”

“I need you… (Y/N)...” He groaned. “Only you...” Sucking the skin along your neck. Feeling you. Touching you. Loving you. “That’s all I need…” Breathing heavily into his confession of love. “You’re the only one that can make my heart go crazy. And keep it going…”

[mstopportunity]

#genuinely this was very interesting to read!!#I've heard how nice the netherlands is with bikes :') can only dream of it#also the ''good bikes'' part: are there not good bikes in denmark? :0 are the bikes THAT good in the netherlands#I know the culture around is is very good and stuff I've heard stories of how nice it is to cycle there#but I haven't heard of the actual bike quality also being a thing :0#also the roundabout thing sounds horrible and yep you are right about the helmets#I've never considered that helmets become less relevant If the cars would just. behave. and especially If there would be more laws and#rules separating the two#anyways again this was very interesting to read thank you :D and also see see it's good that we all exchange even small things like that#I haven't even considered the thing with helmets before!! the district I live in (I live in germany btw) is talking a lot about-#infrastructure with bikes and stuff that is a very good point to bring up#<- right now I mean. it's getting talked about a lot here rn

Eh, the bikes themselves are fine I guess. I haven't been able to find any snelbinders (idk how you'd translate that, bungee cords that hold stuff on your rear-wheel rack?) so that's annoying. And the bike storage I've been able to use has been 80% outside, which isn't quite the ratio I'm used to. But other than that the actual bicycles are fine. Mine might actually be a bit unsuited for Denmark, because it's heavy, and that makes taking it in the train a pain. I've seen people talk about "city bikes" that have a bar handle, no stand, no rack, no lights, not even fenders. Compared to that Danish bikes are fine and normal.

One thing I do genuinely appreciate is that it's very easy to take your bike on a train, and on some trains it's free.

If you're interested in more stuff about bike infrastructure, Not Just Bikes on YT has some good stuff about how Dutch infrastructure helps keep neighborhoods walkable and bikeable, the horror that is stroads (which I have seen in DK, but never in NL) and how/why civil engineers might choose to emulate Copenhagen rather than Utrecht or Amsterdam.

Considering I follow so many people from so many different countries, there's surprisingly little diversity

[p4lparker]

Part of the Pack

The aggressive alpha threw you away as if you weighed nothing, like a broken toy or a floppy rag doll. You felt your body crash into the concrete wall. It crumpled in on itself- nothing felt broken, as far as you knew. Well nothing apart from your pride. Thinking back, you had hoped today would be normal day- or as normal as cold be for you anyhow.

         The day had started out normal, well as normal as it could when there was a new alpha in town hoping to take over the pack. Scott had warned you and so had the others, but you didn’t feel all that scared. You were just a human who ran with wolves- you weren’t supernatural and you definitely weren’t a threat to anyone or anything. Though the rest of the pack felt it necessary to keep tabs on you and Stiles constantly. They would take it in turns ‘hanging out’- which was basically babysitting you to make sure you didn’t put yourselves in danger somehow. Scott had come over and watched movies with Kira and yourself, you all were sat watching Kick Ass- when Scott perked up. Almost like a dog; he quickly sat up and brought Kira with him. You paused the movie- waiting to find out what had caused him to do so.

         “Derek’s here..” Scott said, standing up and walking to the door; you followed Kira after. You stood leaning on the wall as Scott opened the door and revealed a brooding Derek. His dark brow furrowed and his face scrunched in a frown- his green eyes glaring at the three of you intently.

         “I’ve been calling you for an hour and you didn’t pick up. It’s your turn to patrol the perimeter.. I’m supposed to stay with Y/N.” Derek grunted, he was still glaring- but it was mainly aimed at Scott and Kira, rather than you. You folded your arms and stayed leaning against the jam of the lounge room door. Watching as Scott and Kira collected their things and gave you a sheepish goodbye before dashing through the still open door and to Scott’s parked bike. Derek turned his almost angry gaze to you before nodding his head at the front door. You flustered for a moment before gesturing for him to enter, then closed and locked the door behind him at his instruction. Not that locking it would keep an alpha out or anything- but whatever, you did as the intimidating wolf told you and lead him through the house to the kitchen. Grabbing a glass and a can of pop from the fridge, you offered one to him which he gratefully agreed to. Offering him a glass he nodded and allowed you to pour the carbonated refreshment. You both stood in silence as you took sips from the drinks. You shared an awkward smile with Derek, who just nodded at you- not smiling back or giving any emotion away. You gestured for Derek to follow you back to the lounge- sitting down and making yourself comfortable on the sofa once more. You watched as Derek perched himself on the couch- at the other end of it. You started the movie again and allowed yourself to get sucked into watching the movie- trying not to feel on edge, Derek’s tense body and stoic facial expression was making this situation feel all the more forced.

         The movie was almost over, throughout it you’d wriggled and squirmed around the sofa- all the while Derek sat still, perched on the very edge of the couch cushion. You’d tried to concentrate on the vigilantism on the screen, you found it difficult to focus; it wasn’t until Derek sat up even straighter, as if that was possible. He lifted his head and glared at the ceiling, your eyes following his. He tilted his head and sniffed the air. You watched half amused half confused as he stood and walked out of the lounge room and to the stairs of the building. All the while still sniffing at the air. Following behind him as he began to trek up the stairs, through the hall and sniffing at each door until he stopped in front of one. Yours. He sniffed deeply, before rearing back. When he finally turned to face you, you could tell something was bothering him.

"Have you left your window unlocked?" His voice gruff and demanding. You looked at him in surprise. Shaking your head quickly.

"No! Everywhere is locked up tight, like you and Scott and everyone else had ordered.." You muttered, glaring alternatively between your feet and Derek's leather clad back. All you heard in return was a grunt, before you bedroom door was roughly pushed open; the handle slamming against the pale walls and probably leaving a dent or a mark or something. Derek stalked around the room still sniffing, until he found himself standing under the sky light. The access to the roof, the wide opening window didn't work though- it wouldn't lock, so your dad nailed it shut. Derek jumped up from the floor and onto your bed, boots and all. As he stared intently at the big window above him. You watched, from your position by the door as his eyes flickered blue.

"The window is broken." Was all he uttered, the anger present in his voice.

"Yeah, it always has been.. My dad nailed it shut years ago. It wouldn't lock or anything.." You stated, shrugging your shoulders.

"No. The glass. It's broken. It's like its been lifted from the surround. And put back." Derek growled, eyes narrowing as he glared at you.

"Meaning what?" You asked, terror seeping into your words that you couldn't control. You were sure, Derek could hear how fast your heart was beating even without his wolf hearing. The tension in the room and your bodies built.

"Meaning, I don't know how long the alpha may have been coming in here. Meaning I don't think you're safe here.." Derek answered. His eyes narrowed still, but holding worry in their green depths. "C'mon." He grunted. Stalking towards you and gripping your upper arm. You struggled to keep up with his long strides, he walked out the room not even closing the door- dragging you with him as he practically ran down the stairs and out the front door. He came to a stop just short of the road, you not realising he'd stopped slammed into his back. Wincing as you nose bumped into the leather was wearing, you stumbled back and lifted your free hand to your nose checking for blood. Derek let go of your arm and glanced over his shoulder at you, dark brows drawn together. He moved towards your neighbours car, looking around him suspiciously. Raising his elbow and slamming it into the drivers side window, you shrieked. Dashing over to him quickly and gripping his arm through his jacket. Through the thick material did nothing to hide or disguise his tensed muscles. It took a moment for you to shake yourself to move your brain back to what the issue at hand was.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" You demanded, trying to tug his arm away from the broken glass- he was slowly moving his elbow to knock the remaining pieces from the frame.

"I'm stealing your neighbours car. Get in." Derek replied, as if it was the most simple thing in the world. Once the frame was clear of any sharp shards, he put his hand through and pulled the lock up. You heard the click as the internal locking mechanism worked. Opening the door, Derek threw himself into the drivers seat and waited impatiently for you to copy him. Groaning to yourself, you dashed around the front of the car and got in. Staring at Derek as he was fiddling with some wiring under the steering wheel. In a moments notice, you were off. Driving down the road quickly, Derek not really paying all that much attention to the road; he wriggled around awkwardly for a moment before pulling his phone from his jeans pocket. He looked sparingly at the road before dialling someone's number. You watched the scenery pass, you were in the warehouse district. Full of concrete walls and steel roofs.

"The alpha's been in her room. She needs to leave..." Was all he managed to get out before he was slamming the brakes on. Both of your bodies being jarred forwards, your seat belts yanking you back into the cushioned seats.

Breathing heavily as you tried to gather your bearings, you stared straight ahead of you in terror. There in the middle of the road was a great hulking beast. It was black and huge, making Peter's alpha wolf form look like a kitten in comparison. Derek stared ahead also, sizing the creature up. Before either of you could comprehend what was happening, the beast was pounding towards the stopped vehicle. Derek thinking quickly tried to put the car in reverse, but the beast just came at a quicker speed. It charged towards you on all fours and once it was close enough- it stood on two feet, reaching its clawed hands out and ripping the hood of the car to shreds. The scraping of metal made you cringe, but what petrified you was the fact that the engine was destroyed, and there was no chance for you to escape. The creature sauntered round the car, it ripped off the door on you side and snagged you from the opening. You screamed. Derek flustered with his seat belt before he leapt from the destroyed vehicle. It didn't take  long for you to realise that he was in full wolf form, but you also resigned yourself to the fact that he wouldn't be able to save you. He stood no chance against the monstrosity holding you captive in its sharp claws- you struggled to breath.

Your throat being constricted dangerously as you were held captive. You watched through bleary and unfocused eyes as Derek launched himself from the car; his eyes shining a bright blue, claws protruding from his hands and fuzzy hair clumping on the sides of his face as his face contorted into that of his wolf form. He dashed towards where the Alpha had you clasped, he started throwing slashes here and there. Desperately trying to free you from the monster. Though, the alpha did little more than seat Derek away as if he were nothing more than a fly. Derek didn't give up though, he kept coming- attacking again every time he got thrown back. You could feel your breathing becoming more laboured as the claws tightened. You felt the darkness calling to you like an old friend. You hadn't noticed that the rest of the pack; Malia, Isaac, Scott, Kira and Alison all joining Derek in trying to rescue you. Your eyes had fallen shut, and you felt consciousness slipping away. It wasn't until you felt someone stroking hair from your face gently, did you wake up. Peeking your eyes open to see Alison kneeling next to you- she smiled down at you as consciousness came back to your aching body.

“She’s okay guys.. but she needs moving. Like yesterday.” Alison stated as she helped to pull you up into a sitting position- you winced slightly, pain radiating from your ribs causing you to freeze. You looked to Alison, who frowned and prodded gently at your ribs; she shook her head.

“And I think she has either some cracked or broken ribs from the awkward way she’s moving..” Alison muttered, pulling you even more gently into a sitting and then standing position- in a slow but sure manner, she kept her arm supporting you. The rest of the group nodded, moving around you. It was then you took notice of them; they were all battered and bruised, deep angry looking gashes on their faces and arms. Your eyes caught sight of Derek who was favouring one arm, it cradled to his chest- which was barely covered by the shirt he had been wearing. It was slashed to smithereens, blood and skin showing through the rags, Alison and Kira helped you stand- staying close until they were sure you were steady on your feet.

“The Alpha’s gone for now. He’s off to lick his wounds. But I have no doubt that he’ll be back and soon. Y/N needs to be somewhere safe and secure- I vote we take her to the old train car.” Isaac stated, mainly directing his words to Derek and Scott who both nodded.

“There’s at least two other scents that’ll mask yours and hers, you should be safe their until we can get rid of this guy… Even if we have to chase him from Beacon- he’s gone.” Scott stated, you didn’t miss the red circling his irises as he spoke. He looked determined, and you knew not to be afraid. Scott was an alpha. He was a true alpha. He was your alpha- even if you weren’t a wolf. And with that the others were off, you looked to Derek still cradling his arm and knew he wouldn’t be able to drive.  Looking around, you spotted the demolished car not too far from you- sighing as you had no way of getting to the train car. Derek grunted and nodded his head to the left, you followed him. Hoping he knew where he was going, as you had no idea. You followed as he walked through the maze of practically identical buildings- leading you left and right and left again. Hoping like hell you wouldn’t have to navigate your way out yourself, as you had no chance of remembering and would probably end up living in this concrete jungle like a hermit. Soon enough you were standing in front of the abandoned subway- staring wide eyed as Derek had successfully navigated you both there- you had no idea it was so close, but then you realised that, that was the reason Isaac had suggested it to begin with. If the Alpha’s scent was covering the area, he probably wouldn’t return to it and you’d be safe- or safer. You followed Derek into the abandoned area and shivered. It felt so lonely- you remembered Boyd and Erica, smiling faintly before it slipped off your face all together. Moving further into the abandoned area, you collapsed onto a tattered seat- your eyes roving over all of the graffiti and claw marks that marred the walls. Derek groaned as he too collapsed into a seat. Breathing deeply, through his nose and clenching his jaw. It was then you realised how badly he was injured. His dark features were even darker due to the bruising covering his face, the gashes and slashes in his chest and torso- still bleeding, looked angry and painful. And the awkward angle that he held his arm, showed you he was in bad shape. Pulling yourself up and off the seat- ignoring your screaming muscles, you searched slowly- or as quickly as your sluggish body would allow, for some medical supplies. Knowing that Derek’s old pack must have had something like that lying around.

Your eyes landed on a couple of old shirts that looked similar to the tattered remains on Derek’s shoulders- making your way over to them, grabbing them up and letting your eyes roam over the area- until they landed on a lock box of some sort. Moving towards it, you checked on Derek over your shoulder- he hadn’t moved, you opened it quickly and smiled lightly. There in the box sat a bottle and a half of Jack. Gripping them both and the shirts in your hands before moving back over to him. Kneeling in front of him, you let your eyes scan over his injured body once more. Derek’s eyes flicked open as he felt you pushing his knees apart- allowing you to slip between them and situate yourself more comfortably.

“I-I th-think we need to set your arm first and then deal with the..” You stated and gestured to your own chest, Derek said nothing- just nodding and delicately offering you the obviously broken arm. “You need to tell me how to do this.. I’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy plenty.. but I’ve never actually done it..” you spoke quickly the words tumbling from your lips almost of their own accord. He nodded, and grit his teeth as you gently took hold of the broken limb.

“It’s my shoulder.. it’s dislocated- you need to grab hold of my arm and pull as hard as you can. When you hear it click and me scream- you’ve set it back.. Go!” Derek commanded, your eyes were wide as you tried to remember his words. You steadied yourself and pulled as hard as you could like he said. You yanked at his arm- as he growled- pulling as hard as physically possible for you until you heard a loud and sickening click and a scream-like groan fly from his slowly healing lips as well as some more unsavoury curses- you tried to steady your breathing and not let the pain show on your face too much. You let go of his arm and fell back onto your butt, watching as he breathed deeply and a light sweat dotted his forehead. He nodded and gestured to the injuries marring his chest, you too nodded and gripped the bottle of Jack before handing it to him. He raised a brow and chuckled darkly- before shoving it back at you.

“You need it more, besides it won’t do any good for me to drink it. It won’t affect me.” Derek told you, you nodded before unscrewing the cap and taking a swig of the dark liquid- letting to sweet taste linger in your mouth before swallowing it- then taking another long gulp. Setting it down by Derek’s foot, you kneeled up and gently tried to move the shreds of material away from the affected areas- but having no luck. Derek sighed almost impatiently, before gripping the fabric in his hands and tugging- the material falling away from his glorious chest- injured, but still glorious chest. You held your breath as he shrugged his shoulders, making the material fall to rest around his hips- his torso now bare to your wide eyes. You took hold of the bottle and one of the shirts, lifting both to Derek’s chest. You took a deep breath as you tipped the bottle allowing the liquid to flow down and onto the injuries. He hissed in pain- you moved the shirt and pressed against the wound- he groaned but allowed you to continue the process until you were sure the slashes were cleaned out. You knew though- he wouldn’t heal for a good while, but the treatment you’d given would do for now. Derek nodded his thanks, you smiled shyly at him before gripping the bottle and bringing it to your lips again. Taking a deep swallow you sat back, not realising your eyes had locked with his. The deep green boring into you- you didn’t know if it was the alcohol or what, but a shiver ran down your entire body. Blinking and looking away, you let one hand slip to his thigh and pushed yourself up- still gripping the bottle, you looked over your shoulder when you felt his eyes still on you.

You turned away and took another swallow of the sweet liquid, the burn becoming a comfort now. You hadn’t heard him move until you felt him rest a hand on your shoulder. He span you around so quickly- it felt like the room was spinning around you. The bottle slipped from your lips as you stared wide eyed at him, he stepped you backwards until your back was pressed against the cool metal of the train car. Lifting one of his hands, he gently brushed his fingers against your neck- gasping softly- his fingers sweeping your hair out of the way. One of his hands stayed at your neck, gently poking over the area, whilst the other trailed down your arm and to your hand gripping the bottle- pulling it from your fingers and bringing to his lips taking a swallow himself. Before placing it near your lips offering it to you- you obliged gulping some down, he then moved it down slightly and tipped the contents onto you. Your eyes still staring into each other’s, though yours widened marginally as a stinging pain radiated from you neck.

“Looks like the Alpha got you…” Was all Derek whispered, his eyes not leaving yours as the liquid flowed over the affected are of your skin. You just stood frozen, back to the wall- alcohol dripping down your neck and chest soaking your t-shirt, teeth biting into your bottom lip as you tried to control the raging hormones in your body. All you could think of was that if he leaned just that bit closer- his inviting lips would meet your own. Your body moved of its own accord, pushing forwards slightly. Your lips pushing against his. It wasn’t a kiss, not really- it was just your lips meeting his. And he didn’t push you away- so you pressed against him harder, your wet chest meeting his. Your lips moving with his as the kiss gained momentum and passion. You weren’t sure who’s tongue slipped out first and deepened the kiss, but you were sure it was you who moaned- and you were definitely sure it was Derek who pushed away from you. He stumbled away from you, and you struggled not to giggle at the image. The big bad wolf stumbling away from little old you. A giggle must have slipped out though, because Derek glared at you. He stormed towards you- ceasing the giggles almost immediately. He stopped in front of you. His body flush against yours, glaring eyes boring into you. Before he pushed his lips against yours kissing you furiously. Soon it wasn’t just lips meeting, his teeth were scraping against your bottom lip, and clashing against your own teeth as you opened your mouth.

You moaned again. Not even caring. It felt too good, his toned chest pressed against your own- even through the saturated top, you could feel his body heat, his pecks pressing against you- his muscled abs pressing against your belly. Which felt like it was filling with liquid lava- that seeped solely into your core, giving you a pleasant ache between your legs. Derek pulled back, closing his eyes as he tilted his head and sniffed the air. His eyes narrowing as he stepped back, taking your hand and leading you after him. He stepped backwards until his knees contacted the leather of the seat, he fell back and tugged you with him. Pulling you until you were kneeling on the seat- knees each side of his hips, he pulled on your hand until your chest was hovering over him- leaving you to straddle him in the abandoned train car. He stretched his neck up to graze his lips over the fragile and broken skin of your throat- his stubble creating a delicious friction, before moving to your lips and pulling you into another passionate kiss that sent shivers straight to your core. Derek breathed deeply through his nose and growled- before pulling you down onto his lap. You fell and kissed him more comfortably as your neck wasn’t craning at an awkward angle.

Derek’s hands rested on your hips for a moment, before they ventured upwards- dragging the wet material of your shirt with them. He pulled the soggy shirt up and only separated from your lips to remove it from your body. Tossing it away and pressing his lips back to your own. You let your fingers wander over neck and shoulders feeling the tensing muscles. Derek picked up the discarded bottle of Jack beside him. Pulling from the kiss to take a swig of the booze- before pulling your lips back to his own, you felt the Jack slip into your own mouth before you swallowed it. Derek pulled back from you again and you moaned in disappointment. You were getting sick of him pulling away from you! You watched as his eyes roved over the expanse of your half naked body before him- his fingers lifting to caress over our rubs, causing you to suck in a breath. He frowned before pushing his lips against your own more ferociously than before; and soon enough you were lost in his lips and tongue again. The pain simply disappeared. And when you pulled away from him to watch the blackened veins recede into his skin, you knew he’ deliberately taken your pain. Raising a hand to stroke over his stubble covered cheek- you kissed him gently, before letting him control you once more.

He tipped the bottle over you neck again, you hissing at the sting it brought- until his lips followed the trail. Licking and sucking over any skin that was flavoured with the drink. His lips lingering around your breasts, kissing and suckling at the sensitive ignored area. His hands trailed over your stomach, caressing the skin and tracing down to your hips- where they played with the waistband of your jeans. Fingers moving to unfasten them and tug them over your butt and hips. You stood from his lap and stepped back, catching his eyes and pulling the denim down your legs slowly- his eyes only stared at your partially dressed form. The damp bra still hiding your breasts from him and the dark panties covering your core from his waiting eyes. He leaned forward and tugged on your hand- pulling you back to your spot on his lap. You kissed him solidly, letting your tongue trace over his lips before letting your lips explore. They kissed over his rough cheeks, and down his neck- gently nipping at the stubble covered skin, he groaned loudly- letting his hands grip your hips and pull you down onto his own.

Once you were situated in his lap and still devouring his neck- he moved your hips back and forth- creating a friction that was almost maddening.  It was driving you to distraction, and you almost lost focus on kissing as much of his skin as you could. You weren’t sure what it was- but you couldn’t get enough of him, and you needed more. You ground your hips against his and could feel that pooling sensation- though it was more noticeable now, that and there was a stirring within Derek’s pants that had you grinning into the open mouthed kisses you were leaving down his chest, careful to avoid the injuries that were still trying to heal. You let you fingers feel over those delicious abs, before dipping lower; rubbing over the bulge in his jeans, rubbing back and forth until you were desperate for more, moving your shaky fingers down to the button and zipper. Popping one and tugging the other. Derek got the message and lifted his hips obediently and shuffled out of his boxers. You moved your gaze to look at him, his size was impressive and made your mouth water and core clench. He lifted your chin with the forefinger of one hand, as his other made a home rubbing you through your panties. A pathetic moan- not even stifled, echoed through the silent room; his calloused fingertips were rubbing the dark lace onto your most sensitive area, and you were revelling in the feeling of it. The way it sent shocks through your body, the way it thrilled you and left you needing more and more. You were chasing that soul shattering feeling, and you were well on our way to catching it- especially if Derek kept his fingers moving at that pace and in that certain pattern.

You hadn’t realised, but moans and groans were spilling from your lips almost in a chant. You were praising Derek’s skilful fingers and he chuckled in response, letting his other hand unclasp your bra and let it fall to rest against your stomach- the straps caught on your elbows, as your hands desperately clutched at Derek’s waist for something to keep you grounded as you floated higher and higher into the pleasure he was offering you. His lips descended onto your exposed chest, teeth and lips nipping at the taut bud. All it took was one hard bite to your nipple and you were coming apart in his arms. Your breath halting, your shoulders tensing and your knees shaking. His fingers didn’t let up though- they guided you through the haze of pleasure and only left you when you were breathing out slowly into the crook of his neck. You let your forehead rest against his shoulder as your tried to calm yourself down, once you felt your breathing return to a semi-normal pace; you let your eyes trail to where his erection was straining and leaking happily- if it were possible, he looked like he was even more erect and ready for you than before. You watched as he let his hand slip from between your legs and you gasped at how wet it was, he just chuckled before slicking his hand down himself and moving your hips to just above him. They rested poised, ready- yearning to plunge downwards and onto him- but he held you steady, teasing you. Before deciding; enough was enough and letting your hips drop.

He raised his own the moment you met, and a sigh slipped from his manly mouth as he was welcomed into your warmth. He held you still for a moment; as if he knew you were still too sensitive and needed some time to adjust. And adjust you did, soon you were desperate to grind yourself against him. Or thrust yourself one him and chase that pleasure again. Sure you were being reedy, but it was almost a necessity! Derek held your hips steady- still buried within you, but not moving. He hissed a breath through his teeth- then let his grip on your hips loosen, you let yourself free. Grinding against him- the skin above where you were joined rubbing at the sensitive nub, you let out a guttural moan; which made even Derek blush by the looks of his pink cheeks. He gripped your hips tighter and guided them into a rhythm. You could feel him rubbing against you in all the right ways, reaching parts of you- you didn’t think was possible, merely a myth. But Derek Hale proved you wring and reached that elusive spot within you. Your rhythm continued, gaining speed and strength. Until you could feel yourself on the cusp of oblivion, and Derek gave a hard thrust within; giving you that final nudge. You cried out- probably an unrecognisable sound or even made up language you weren’t sure. You just knew the way you were feeling in that moment nothing mattered. You could feel the pulsing between your legs, though if it was you. Or Derek. Or you both combined, you weren’t sure and you sure as hell didn’t care- your body was shaking and covered in a light sweat. But nothing mattered apart from Derek still being buried deep within you as you both experienced euphoria. Once you were both calmed from your activities, you rest your head against his shoulder and lifted your hips lazily from his. The slightly uncomfortable feeling of being empty, brought you back to reality. And your senses- and it seemed like Derek’s had also returned. As his mood changed from sated to grumpy in no time. He was soon shoving you off his lap, and onto the seat beside him- and shoving a discarded shirt into your chest.

His glare forced you to tug the shirt over your head, and once it was situated; covering the necessities and Derek had tucked himself away. You noticed that Scott was stood sheepishly by the entrance- rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly and blushing a bright red. You buried your face in your hands embarrassed, because Scott could tell what had not long since transpired within the abandoned train car.

[ladyreapermc]

Fic: Closing Time (Johnny Utah x fem!reader)

Summary: You work at a clothing store, you get a last minute customer at closing time and sexy tims happen.

Pairing: Johnny Utah x fem!reader

Author’s Notes: So I’m slowly getting back to writing. I’m not gonna say I’m fully back just yet, but for this week at least, there will be content! Huge thanks to @toomanystoriessolittletime and @meetmeinthematinee​ for being cheerleaders and giving me early feedback on this! 

Wordcount: 3125

Warnings: smut. oral sex (F! receiving); dirty talk; unprotected sex with strangers (don’t do this kids!); sex in inappropriate places.

Most days you quite enjoyed it when there was barely any movement at the store. It gave you the opportunity of just being by yourself, reading a book, or enjoying some music or studying for college, things that you didn’t always have the privacy of doing at your dorm because your roommate seemed to always be around. Even during the summer and what was up with that? Didn’t she have better things to do?

She wasn’t like you, who actually had to work to put yourself through college and took some extra jobs during the summer so you could have some savings for the following term when all you managed to get were part-time jobs that you had fit in between classes and paid shit.

Fortunately, at the shop, you had some peace and time for yourself. It was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall sort of place around Venice Beach where tourists could get some shirts and other knickknacks to take back home and locals surfers could find cheap clothing and supplies for a day out on the beach. Most days, you worked from 9-5 and after your shift, you could head to the beach, spread your towel on the sand and enjoy the gorgeous Californian sunset. However, as the summer winded out and the fall winds blew the scalding hot weather into simmering heat, your boss let you close a little early, especially on Tuesdays, when most tourists had already headed home and the new arrivals hadn’t landed yet so there were barely any customers around.

Your plan today had been to finish your reading for class and start the new crime thriller you picked up at the used books store on your way to work. Except, today you were just too restless to focus. You must have reread the same paragraph of your textbook twenty times before you gave up and set it aside, giving the other book a go, but it was just as unsuccessful at holding your attention.

So instead, you moved around the cramped space, adjusting the decoration items, dusting off shelves, and refolding every single shirt in the display until it was perfectly symmetrical while you willed time to move faster so you could end this day. Maybe it was the heatwave that had made an appearance turning the air in the shop stifling and all you had to help you was an old and slow fan that made more noise than blow air. The A/C was busted and your boss still hadn’t called someone to fix it.

Another possibility was the fact that you had to keep the glass doors opened to help circulate a little air and every time any kind of wind blew or someone walked in, it brought with them the crisp smell of salt and sand that always made you ache for the ocean and fight against the temptation of just abandoning everything and heading for the beach so you could cool off taking a dip in the deliciously cold water. Either way, you kept checking the slow ticking of the clock hands, counting the seconds before you could turn the closed sign.

When the minute hand finally hit twelve, you let out a cheer, jumping off your stool and taking a step towards the door. You always locked the doors first to discourage most last-minute walk-ins while you closed the register, put away the money in the back office safe, and slipped out of the store through the back door, taking any garbage with you to throw in the dumpster outside.

Before you could move from behind the counter, a man stepped into the store and you groaned low in your throat. Of-fucking-course! It was like they stood in wait to come in at the precise moment you were about to head out.

“Hey, you’re still open, right?” He asked, pushing the overgrown dark hair back from his forehead and offering you an unsure smile. You felt the urge to lie and say that no, you were closed and he should come back tomorrow.

“Yeah, sure.” You said instead placing your best and most fake seller’s smile. “Feel free to look around and let me know if you need help.”

“Thanks!” He replied, flashing a wider smile that showed a small dimple, before moving towards the shirts in the display while you made your way to the main entrance, flipped the sign, and locked the door to bar any other walk-ins.

You hung back while the guy browsed the options, taking a moment to assess him. He didn’t look like a tourist, but also not fully like a local. Most Californian guys that you knew had the most horrifying hair cuts or bleach jobs you had ever seen and that was not the case for the man in front of you.

His hair was dark brown, a little shaggy from too much exposure to sun and salt and it flopped a little over his forehead, just above his eyes. He wore a grey cropped t-shirt that had definitely seen better days and struggled to contain his broad shoulders, showing a peek of toned abs. His jeans were ridiculously tight and hung low on his slender hips, the light-wash of the denim accentuating the perfect bubble butt and for the love of God, you needed to get laid. Badly.

“Excuse me,” he called, startling you and you prayed he hadn’t noticed the way you were checking his ass just now. “Do you have this one in black?”

“Yeah, sure.” You moved towards the drawers. “What’s your usual size? Medium or large?”

“I think large should be good,” he replied and when you turned around with the requested shirt, he was just standing there, barechested, his top hanging from his shoulder and you hoped your gasp wasn’t as loud as it sounded in your head.

“Here you go,” you croaked, offering him the shirt. “We do have a fitting room…” you gestured towards the small cubicle to the rear of the store.

“Oh right!” He glanced over as he pulled the shirt on. “Do you mind if I try them out here, though?”

“Not at all,” you forced your voice to sound somewhat normal.

“Awesome!”

Damn! He wasn’t just fucking hot. He was also cute, the wide grin he just flashed giving him a boyish look that was only enhanced by the almond-shaped chocolate-colored eyes. Biting your lip, you watched as he turned side to side in front of the mirror, checking himself out.

“It think is a little too big,” he said, meeting your gaze. “What do you think?”

“Well…” you cleared your throat and moved closer so you could look at him through the mirror. “If you want it more fitted, then yeah, probably a smaller size would be best. Want me to get it?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Once again, by the time you turned back to him, he was shirtless, the garment he had just tried neatly folded and resting on the shelf as he took a look at some other shirts, his attention snapping at you when he noticed you coming closer to hand him the new shirt, giving you a glimpse of a pale, sunken scar running down his abs that stopped just above his belly button and that drew attention to the small trail of fine dark hairs that disappeared under the waist of his jeans and holy shit! He was bare beneath those jeans.

“Bike accident,” he commented as he took the shirt that you offered and you met his eyes in confusion.

“What?” You asked, mouth suddenly dry.

“The scar,” he clarified, putting on the shirt and his lips were tilted into a slight smirk. “That was what you were staring at, right?”

“Right,” you agreed, feeling your face burning. “I’ll just head to the register and give you some privacy.”

I don’t mind,” he shrugged, turning to the mirror. “This is better. What do you think?” He turned towards you, giving you a full view of the cotton fabric covering his muscles, looking almost as if painted on him.

“Sure...” you swallowed hard, trying not to stare. “If you prefer it more fitted...”

“I do,” pulling the shirt off and once again giving you the glorious view of his torso. “I’ll take it.”

You took the shirt to the register and he followed, pausing only to pick up his own, which he had discarded on a nearby hanger. You were expecting him to put it back on, but he just threw it over his shoulder, reaching for his wallet as you registered the sale and tried not to stare.

“Is that the only camera you have around here?” He asked, gesturing to a point above your left and you glanced at the object before nodding, exchanging the money he gave you for the paper bag with his purchase.

“Yeah, why?”

“So basically...” he started, taking a step to the side, closer to the fitting room. “I’m completely out of sight over here?”

“Basically, yeah,” you frowned a little, stepping away from the counter. “Why? Are you planning to rob the place? Because let me tell you, there’s not much worth...” You trailed off with a surprised squeak as he tugged on your hand, pulling you over to the blindspot and nearly pressed against his strong chest.

“Because honestly, I never really gave a fuck about the shirt. I just thought you were beautiful and wanted to ask your number when I walked in, but you looked kind pissed so I got cold feet,” he confessed with a rueful smile.

“So you decided to just get mostly naked in front of me?” You snorted, shaking your head and he shrugged.

“Needed to make sure you might be interested and considering the way you were eyeing me earlier, it looked like you saw something you liked.”

“You’re really sure of yourself, aren’t you?” You arched an eyebrow at him, not ready to concede just yet. Even if the heat of his body and the smell of sea breeze whiffing off his skin were driving you crazy.

“Only when I’m right,” he flashed you a lopsided smirk and just waited, gazing into your eyes, making it clear that the next step was yours.

Part of you screamed that it was crazy to even consider hooking up with a guy that just walked into your store, no matter how hot he was, but it had been a ridiculously long time since you last had sex and he was so fucking hot, the scent of his golden skin intoxicating and his heat was making you dizzy with want as you looked him up and down, noticing the volume pressing against the denim of his pants.

“We might not have cameras, but the windows are see-through, so get your ass to the fitting room while I finish closing up.”

He flashed a victorious smirk and nodded, heading towards the back while you rushed through the steps of securing the store before joining him.

Your heart was pounding with anticipation as you made your way towards the back, pushing away the curtain that blocked the small space of the fitting room and finding him perched on the low stool that you kept there so customers could put down their things, facing the full-length mirror, legs spread, jeans undone, revealing the bush of dark hairs surrounding his long and thick cock.

You nearly whimpered at the sight, your center pulsing in want as you leaned against the doorframe, watching him as he run his left hand up and down his shaft, head tilted back, breathing hard, eyes hooded. He was such a beautiful and debauched sight that you felt the urge to photograph him, capture that sensuality.

“Are you just gonna stand there and watch?” He asked, eyes meeting yours through the reflective surface.

“You seemed to be doing fine on your own,” you teased stepping into the tight space, fingers itching to touch all that glorious skin.

“I did not just spend most of my afternoon at the corner diner, drinking burned coffee just to jerk off in front of you,” he declared, standing up and turning your way.

“Ohhh, so this was premeditated?” You asked, kicking off your sneakers as he reached for you and you stumbled against his chest.

“A little bit, yeah,” he admitted, large hand hot against your hips and you wanted to feel it against your flesh. “You probably don’t remember, but I was here last week and you had to bend over to get something from one of the lower drawers...” he let out a soft groan, hands moving to your ass and squeezing lightly. “Fuck! I don’t think I ever popped a boner so fast in my life. I had to get out.”

You vaguely remembered that. There was so much coming and going in this place, it was hard to keep track of faces, but customers just taking off after asking to see something usually caused an impression. If you weren’t about to get fucked after six months, you would be more pissed.

“So you decided to come back when I was alone and seduce me?” you asked, running your hands over his chest and abs, scratching it slightly and goosebumps rose in his skin as he hissed.

“Yeah,” he spoke in a low voice as his hands move to the button of your jeans. “I’ve been thinking about you all week,” he slid your fly down and your breath caught in your throat. “I thought about bending you over that counter and fucking you until you’re screaming.” His fingers skimmed over your cunt, just a soft touch, but you gasped and arched your hips forward, holding onto his arms to steady yourself. “I thought about it eating your pussy and your ass until you’re begging me to fuck you.”

Those words were whispered right against your ear, before he changed your positions, crowding you against the mirror and pushing your jeans down to your thighs before he once against skimmed his fingers over covered sex, making you ache for him.

“What do you think about that?” He asked, lips brushing your cheek in an almost chaste kiss, completely opposed to the lewdness of his hand exploring your cunt. “Do you want it?”

“If you’re as good with your tongue at eating pussy like you are at talking dirty, then I maybe I do,” you declared, tired of his teasing and you felt his smirk as he gracefully slid to his knees in front of you.

You didn’t manage to get another word out before he shoved your panties down to join your jeans and his lips firmly connected to your clit. He gave it a sharp suck and you groaned, burying your fingers into his hair to keep yourself on your feet as your brain short-circuited and your knees turned to jelly.

He was very good at eating you out, especially because he was very attentive to every sound you made, every tightening of your grip on his hair, and roll of your hips to nudge him into going faster or slower, harder or softer... It wasn’t long before he reached that perfect alternation of fast flickering against your clit and slower and broad strokes of his tongue over your entrance and lips, a combination that drove you crazy.

You were whimpering and moaning, legs quaking with the alternating urge to close them around his face to keep him trapped there pleasuring you forever or spreading them wider so he could have more space to work, but the edges of your jeans were digging into the lower part of your knees, signaling you that that was as far as they could go.

As if reading your thoughts or maybe he just realized he would need more room, he shoved your pants down and helped you to kick them off so you could be completely free of the garment. And didn’t you two looked like a mismatched pair, with you standing there wearing only your top while he knelt in front of you, his jeans still on.

Once your pants were off, he hooked your right thigh over his shoulder, pressing his mouth even harder against your cunt, flickering his tongue over your clit before dipping it in between your lips, gathering the juices soaking your sex like a starved man.

“Fuck! I’m so close...” you hissed, rolling your hips, seeking more because that tight knot deep inside you was about to snap and from the way you ached and shuddered, your muscles tensing, you knew it would be a hard one.

“Yeah?” He mumbled against your core, his breath against your overheated skin making you shiver as he pushed two fingers inside you. “Gonna cum all over my mouth?”

He pistoled his fingers in and out at a fast pace, crooking inwards with every down motion, his tongue matching his rhythm against your clit and it was that made you snap as you bit down on your fist to stop yourself from shouting as your body was flooded with pleasure and all you knew was the unbelievable bliss that surrounded you. Stars bust behind your closed lids, the air came out of your lungs in short gushes as you fought hard not to slide down to the ground because your legs felt like jelly.

“Ok?” he asked, making you finally snap your eyes open to look at him.

He was sitting on his heels, face still glistening with your orgasm, his lips swollen and red from the abuse. His cock was rock hard, red, and leaking and you really wanted to return the favor.

“Way better than ok,” you replied with a gasp. “My turn?” To your surprise, he shook his head and got to his feet.

“Tonight, the only place I’m cumming is in that pussy,” he announced against your ear and shivered with anticipation. “So let’s get out of this fucking store and go to my place?”

“Fuck yes!” you grinned breathlessly at him as you reached for your jeans and he buttoned his over his hard cock and that couldn’t be comfortable.

“I’m Johnny, by the way,” he said. “Johnny Utah. Just in case you want to know what to shout when I fuck your brains out later.”

You rolled your eyes at his cheeky smirk and moved closer to him, once fully clothed, the only evidence of your recent climax was the sweat cooling on your skin and the stupid grin that refused to leave your face.

“I think I like you more when your mouth is busy with something other than talking,” you declared and before Johnny could manage a reply, you silenced him with a kiss, tasting yourself in his tongue.

xxx

If you enjoyed this work, please consider reblogging and/or commenting please. Feedback gives life to us writers!

[jae-canikeepyou]

| adjacent | j.jh

pair: jaehyun x fem!reader

word count: 18k+ (unedited & not proof read)

summary: jaehyun turns into a golden retriever whenever the day reaches the most beautiful time; golden hour. a secret he kept his entire life & always wonders how long he could keep it, especially when you suddenly showed up.

genre: au + golden retriever!jaehyun + hs!nct

a/n: idk what came to me as i brainstormed this but by now, nctzens and valentines should know jaehyun’s a golden retriever :3 so i decided to write a plot for this adorable fact T^T heavily inspired with fruits basket and beauty & the beast! i really hope you’ll like it. lmk what you think! enjoy reading lovelies! ~j

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

time was ticking real quick.

he rushed through the bustling people, avoiding the narrow crowds and jay-walked countless pedestrian crossings. he needed to hide. no one should see him transform. there was little time left. why was he so careless each time this happened? his parents and younger brother warned him to be alert at all times. did he listen? no, never did. they compared him to a rock— hard headed and stubborn. but all he ever wanted was to be free.

curses! just a little more, a few metres more! he pant as he tried to catch air. he felt his flesh tingling, his senses doubling and tripling. jaehyun peddled as fast as he could, at least reach the line of bushes by the basketball court. hopping over the plants, he threw his bag aside and jumped off his bike before bracing for the fall.

the now broken bell sounded horrible as jaehyun’s brother caught up to him with his skateboard. “dad’s gonna kill you if you ask for another bike for your birthday.” he sighed looking at the loosened chain while picking up the single-track vehicle and the scattered clothes.

jaehyun transformed to a golden retriever puppy and struggled to come out of the bushes with his tiny paws and body. when he succeeded, he scratched the back of his ears to brush off the leaves stuck to them. “won’t happen, sungchan. i’ve already saved up enough by then. i’m not gonna burden dad for my wants.”

sungchan pressed the bridge of his nose. “you’re kinda being a burden now.” he picked the animal— his brother— up and put him inside his coat, as well as the belongings on the ground. he hopped on the bike and headed towards jaehyun’s campus.

“what did you say?” jaehyun barked tried opening the zipper from the inside of sungchan’s coat.

“nothing.” the younger excused. “but can i have your bike if you actually plan to get a new one?”

“ugh just bring me to the court. i’ll be late for my morning practice.”

the brothers were able to communicate telepathically as they’re related and were both cursed. instead of golden hour, sungchan transforms during the blue hour, which occured at twilight. tracing back to their ancestors, all were cursed for unknown inexplainable circumstances. they tried breaking it with all they could. every idea ended a failure. so they had to live through it, adjust, adapt and be alert.

they bumped into ten, kun and jungwoo, who were doing warm-ups and they simultaneously trailed their eyes and heads towards the jung brothers. seeing the huge pouch on sungchan’s stomach area, they all cracked up and checked the time. “oh yeah, it’s sunrise.” jungwoo spun the ball on his pointer finger.

ten grabbed the pup with one hand and jaehyun barked at him but he couldn’t understand a thing. although he was confused, he continued to carry him in his palm because jaehyun’s response was funny. “what is he trying to say?” he chuckled and poked the pup’s snout.

“he said ‘it hurts. put me down idiot’. i have to be honest with you hyung. holding us by the back of the neck really hurts.” unlike his brother, he was rather calm and collected despite already imagining the pain.

“you’re a blue holland lop bunny. it’s normal to carry you like this too right?” ten showed the pup to sungchan.

kun facepalmed at the question and took jaehyun. “no dimwit it’s not normal. sorry jae. you know he just likes teasing your puppy form.”

“‘wait until i turn back’- ugh seriously do i really have to translate hyung’s words every time?” sungchan gave jaehyun’s clothes and bike to jungwoo. “you know what to do when he transforms back yeah?”

they nodded and upon seeing the kid leave and headed towards his campus, jaehyun couldn’t wait to turn human. he would always beat ten up almost immediately— sometimes forgetting that he was naked. for the dudes it was alright. the problem was if he was with girls, though he hasn’t encountered anyone so far. he hoped he didn’t have to.

the harsh drills from basketball practice already sucked the energy out of jaehyun. not only that it was physically tiring, transforming into a dog twice a day before that have doubled the strain. then him transforming back would cause migraines and painful joints, as they were the aftermath of the curse. he had to keep his title of m.v.p and captain since the told them there was a possibility of him of having a scholarship for college. he couldn’t let a minor pain hinder that chance. not ever.

however, ten and the others could read his suffering. to them it was obvious through his exhales and slowing speed. hiding it was of no use. jungwoo ruffled his hair with a clean towel after shower. “can’t you just be like that dog in the movie ‘up’? have a collar that translates barks into actual language?”

jaehyun rolled his eyes and wore his black t-shirt. “it’s a damn movie, jungwoo. the world might’ve evolved and advanced in technology and even if they were to exist they’d be expensive. can’t afford that.”

“you sound negative, don’t you have any hope at all?” kun joined the conversation.

“never had any. stopping this curse is impossible. it’s been generations. my dad’s still suffering too. i have to find a way.” he fixed his black cap in front of a mirror.

but he knew there wasn’t. silence loomed above them as the team struggled to continue the topic. they tried not to bring it up yet each time they did, it always ended awkwardly and badly. it was either they riled jaehyun’s mood— mostly ten— or jaehyun himself was building his own raincloud by sulking about it and not looking at the bright side.

how ironic it was, he thought. generally speaking, even though being golden had good intentions and the breed was meant to bring happiness to others, he felt the total opposite. if he had to describe it, it was all insecurity, lowered his self-esteem and hopelessness only increased over the years as he grew.

thinking about it, he slammed the locker a little too hard that its components caused it to bounce back.. and also added to fuel of his anger. “break that again you’ll be in the coach’s office.” kun tied his shoelaces and the others agreed.

“my dad is the coach, what do you mean?” he questioned at the stupidity.

“you didn’t show up the last time it broke. we got the punished in your stead. uncle wasn’t happy.” ten got out of the showers last, a towel was wrapped around his waist before the younger ones were scarred for a second.

“it was sunset and i transformed! of all people dad’s supposed to understand! i-” jaehyun rubbed his face quite agressively and headed straight outside.

“oi i’m still changing! wait up!”

jaehyun kicked the bike’s stand attached to the rear wheel. he and his father didn’t have the best relationship compared with other kids, but he could say that it was better than the relationship he had with his mother. she loved her little family, yet over time the curse grew onto her. her husband would turn into a werewolf at full moon. and until now, even though that happened once month, she thought a part of him wasn’t the same person she loved before. even more so, when her sons were just the same as him.

your mom’s delusional! she doesn’t love us! she fears us!

that feeling stayed in the boys’ mind until they were old and mature enough to comprehend the situation they’re in. why couldn’t she love them like any mom would? she was no different from an animal mother abandoning her calf/pup just because they were or had defects.

mr. jung tried his best to be the perfect father, for only he understood what his two sons were going through, as they might go through decades with it, just like he was. jaehyun still remembered his first transformation, he only had puppy paws, but that was a sign to mr. jung that he indeed inherited the curse. when sungchan grew a tail at a fine age of one, their father gave up his 9-5 hour office job to tend the boys. and that was before he became jaehyun’s basketball coach. now he could monitor them at a close range.

much to jaehyun’s dismay and for that reason, he felt more caged and overprotected.

—

“y/n! coach’s looking for you!” your classmate called.

no.. you groaned. again?..

it was already after school hours. you slouched on your desk as you covered your ears, remembering the errands he asked you to do previously. you didn’t know why, but ever since you had detention because you refused to run a 1600m marathon for an assessment, seemed like the other punishment was that he passed his job to you. that was a month ago, and today was the tenth time.

but curious as you were to find answers, you brushed it off and tried not to show any remorse. it’s all for conduct, you kept telling yourself. the whistle echoed the entire hallway and jolting you up in your seat. “okay, okay! hold on!” you yelled from the back of the classroom.

as coach jung stood rather comfortably outside the room, he gestured you to walk faster with a dimpled smile. “y/n! took you approximately three minutes to walk here.” he laughed and handed you several files and a zipper folder.

“thanks for counting?..” you replied with a confused and questioning tone. “coach, what’s this?”

“all school sports teams will have an annual retreat before their playoff seasons. i need a representing manager since ours was admitted to a hospital just today.” he pointed at the list. you followed his finger and it landed on your name.

“sounds like to me it’s more practice. and you want me to go because?” you raised your brows. he asked you to follow him to the gymnasium, in which it was making you recall all those extra detention after school.

“to make up with all of the p.e assessments you ‘purposely’ missed.” he said proudly while looking at his team doing drills. but he didn’t get any response from you. when he looked on his side, you were gone and ran across the basketball gym. “y/f/n!”

you squealed as embarrassment crawled your entire body. not only were you escaping from coach, you were disrupting the team’s practice and hitting couple of duffel bags and water bottles. “ah! sorry! coming through!”

*whistles* “after her!” coach jung’s voice added an extra chill to your spine.

“ugh why us?” ten groaned with sore muscles as coach gestured to them widely.

“just go.” kun panted.

then you heard a several footsteps turn into drums until they sounded a stampede. you jumped on your toes as you passed the line of showers cubicles. good thing you haven’t seen a naked man, or else you’d faint without knowing. you turned around and went straight ahead then to your right, and hid in a random room. the echoing voices and squeaking friction between shoes and waxed floors were cut to a silence, like your ears were muffled instantly.

your wobbly legs were tired and you were sighing in exhaustion and crouched down against the door. great, i’ll stay out of their sight- “what are you doing here?” you heard a low voice and froze on the spot. “only members of the basketball team can access the meeting room.”

that sounded like the captain.

“did you hear what i just said?” he raised his brows. you slowly lifted your eyes from his shoes to his legs, then to his built and face. “well if you’re a nobody you might as well leave before coach arrives. you interrupted my recording-”

“i heard you jung jaehyun.” you tsked and realised you had the name list on your hand. “ah, as a matter of fact, i can be here because i am part of the team. my name’s on the list.” you grabbed a pen and ticked the empty box on the paper.

what are you saying, stupid?!

“uh-huh..” jaehyun trailed, putting down his camera.

“y-yeah!” you stuttered. “you heard me.”

the door shook by the loud knocks from the other side. on the frosted window, you could see four figures. orange and black jerseys, they must be the team members. “ah! the door’s locked! she’s definitely in here coach!” one said.

“i’ll toss you the keys!” he yelled. oh crap. you were caught in between. your heart patterned with the knocks.

“you look terrified after hearing coach, y/n.” the chair squeaked from the weight. “i’m guessing you’re that troublesome student he has a hard time dealing with recently?”

of course captain knows you. great reputation you have, y/n.

“so? what’s your point?” you stood up to see his amused grin.

“say hello to a term’s detention.” jaehyun waved as the door swung open, revealing ten, kun, jungwoo and.. the coach.

you sighed heavily and dropped the papers. the coach crossed his arms and you lowered your head a little. “you plan to escape again y/n? then i shouldn’t hear any excuses from you. you’ll join us for the twelve day retreat. period.” he picked the papers up and wrote something.

“sir i can’t be with a bunch of jocks for that long!” your whine had the captain blocking his ears. “i have debate finals to attend to.”

jaehyun flinched at the high pitched sound and rolled his eyes. what was your deal? it was rude of you to suddenly barge into athlete’s quarters but judging them for that was even more rude of you. he had to shut you up at some point.

“so much excuses.” he played with his nails and to you he looked more amused than ever. you rolled your eyes at his chuckle and know he would target you from now on. “dad, y/n told me she’s ‘part of the team’.” he played his video that recorded your voice, clearly saying what jaehyun heard.

coach jung looked rather surprised, but his smile definitely screamed happy. “oh? that’s all i needed to hear. welcome, uh- temporarily. i’ll inform mrs. park about the situation.”

nononono- “i did this.” you were at a loss for words. “i won’t be able to compete in the debate.”

“yeah pretty much you made the wrong decision.” jaehyun stood to tower over you. “i’d like to see you suffer our drills-”

four knocks cut jaehyun off. “oh no, she’ll only do those for two days.”

you swifted your head in confusion, seeing coach jung wrote down your schedule on the white board. you were packed and it’s a lot worse than the actual assessment planned in school. “and what about the rest of the ten days?!” you exasperated that your hairtie snapped at the right moment, and your hair fell in sightful way.

“ooh that was hot.” ten commented in soft whisper, causing kun and jungwoo nudge him on the each side.

“she’ll be our manager for the remaining days, keep track of our drills and score points, or other extra things i needed a hand with while taeyang’s in the hospital.”

jaehyun rested his palms on his waist, swirling his tongue inside with a provoking gaze at you. “see if you can keep up, manager.” he chuckled.

you checked the time, it was nearing 5 p.m. “you know what, give me a day to process all this sport thing. it’s close to evening and i have to get going-”

“it’s evening already?” jaehyun cut you off as he looked outside the window.

the sun glistening at the distance while the sky showed a pretty ombré of warm colours. his senses doubled again and his whole body ached. he had to make you leave. it was already enough that his friends knew about his situation. there’d only be more trouble if you knew too.

“uh duh? the clock’s right there.” you pointed.

“hm, anyway you have to leave now.”

“sheesh i was going to anyway.” you rolled your eyes, but felt jaehyun’s palms behind your back. “hey stop pushing!”

“you’re too slow!” his tone changed. different than the usual because panic was what you felt from his palms. “quickly!”

the rest of the boys could tell you were pissed. they couldn’t understand why jaehyun had to make a fuss out of it when all he had to do was to kindly ask you. using force would only cause misunderstandings, like what’s happening now. “hey what’s your deal?!” you flicked his arms. “do you like to push people around? just because i’ll be with the team for the next two weeks, that doesn’t mean you could treat me like this already!”

“tsk so noisy! you’re wasting time! just leave would you?!” jaehyun turned you around towards the door.

this time you wouldn’t budge. “no jung jaehyun i need an explanation with this stupid attitude of yours!” you wriggled off of his hold, pushing him back with pats several times more that he stepped backwards.

“i don’t owe you an explanation!”

“you definitely do?!”

“why can’t you listen to what i say?”

“why can’t you stop being pushy, pushy?”

“you’re the one pushing me! time’s ticking y/n!”

the continuous back and forth of bickers and the war of pushing each other was an idiotic sight. your wrist was in jaehyun’s palms as he gripped you tighter. “i don’t care captain jerk! it wouldn’t bother you or hurt you to just give me one reason- and he slammed the door at my face! argh!”

jaehyun smirked wide and proudly knowing that he ‘won’ argument. silencing you was better than letting you see his other form. the boys stared him once he turned around to face them. “what?” he questioned,

“definitely not the right way to treat a girl.” they all said simultaneously.

“you know how bad it makes me feel when you all said it at the same time?” jaehyun pressed the bridge of his nose.

he knew well enough that this wasn’t his usual self. he’s good friends with you despite being in different teams of the school. you both took literature as your electives. sometimes you’d let him copy your notes when he had matches or leave small appetisers and juice cartons when he was tired and vice versa.

but no matter how close you both were, he couldn’t afford to let you see his other self.

not just yet.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

waking up so early in the day to assist the team was way more annoying than birds chirping by your bedroom’s window. instead of hearing their tuneful tweets, you had to endure endless phone calls every minute. you couldn’t remember much from that day because you passed out. and the team didn’t look for you until yesterday.

coach jung waved to catch your attention, only to be greeted with your huge yawn and a disinterested face.

“ah there she is! c’mon now, i got the green light from mrs. park. she agreed that p.e is the only subject you’re likely to fail this semester, so she’s giving you a cool-off from the team and focus on here.”

“yep. heard you coach.” you tied up your hair, only listening to half of what he said. “where’s the captain?”

kun did few stretches & jumps, his expression mirrored the other two boys who were also doing the same. you had a feeling about this— their telepathic gaze and awkward silence. you took a basketball to pass it to ten. “is he still mad about me calling him a jerk? that was a few days ago and i didn’t expect him to be that sensitive.”

they laughed because they couldn’t deny his obvious trait. “he doesn’t show it but somehow you know he is.” ten passed the ball back to you. “but not this morning y/n. he’s late for.. another reason.”

you hopped to catch it yet you were a second late, and groaned as you had to run far to retrieve it. “uh-huh. nature calls in the morning, again?” you yelled.

“do you think she knows about jaehyun?” jungwoo asked the older ones. they eyed you rummaging in the bushes for the ball, later looking back at each other for answers, but no one knew how your mind worked. “it’s been five days and no word from her at all.”

“if she actually does, i guess she just doesn’t want to be involved? i think we can trust her for that.” kun drank from his bottle.

ten didn’t look convinced. “involved or not, we have to make sure she doesn’t tell anyone about jaehyun’s curse. keep an eye on her-”

“ah!” they heard your squeals and ruffles from the bushes. “guys look what i found!”

kun sighed when they saw you running back with a golden retriever puppy in your arms, taking back his words said earlier.

“uh-oh. that scream means she has no clue at all.” jungwoo brushed his hair up.

“this puppy is so cute! i wonder what it’s doing here? are you lost?” you hugged and sniffed into its fur and gosh it smelled like vanilla shampoo. there was a metal collar around its neck, the piece spelled “jj”. “aww it has a name!”

no matter how happy you looked from the boys, they couldn’t help but take a photo of you and ‘puppy’ jaehyun. they had to tell you before it was too late. the golden hour in the morning was shorter than sunset, so either they would tell you straight up, or let jaehyun transform back to human.

but guess what? they were too late. they shouldn’t have second-guessed.

what had happened was way beyond your comprehension. it was in an instant. all it felt in totality was that, you weren’t carrying a puppy anymore. you lost balance and the weight in your arms doubled or tripled, you couldn’t tell. but you knew you were falling backwards. was there to brace for impact? none.

you blinked several times from the orange sunrise blinding your vision from the window. slowly you got up to sit and soothe the pain. that hurt..

here’s the thing. remember you mentally told yourself you hoped you didn’t run into any naked boy in the basketball team’s showers? there you have it. you jinxed it. jaehyun’s figure was on top of yours and you knew he had no clothes on. oh goodness.

“hyung? you forgot your lunch box- oh.” sungchan barged in the scene and everyone could tell he sort of malfunctioned. he froze then facepalmed.

you took turns into looking at the embarrassed jaehyun and at the boys who whistled to avoid the numbers of questions you were going to ask.

kun quickly shielded your eyes where your doubts were showing in your face. and no matter how much thought hard, you just couldn’t believe it. with fear written all over you, you dusted your pants and hands reached kun’s arm to support your weight.

“oh so you shielded her eyes but not my body?!” jaehyun���s voice entered your ears and you swore there was a hint of puppy whimper.

“this is a dream.. right?..” you asked before you fainted.

sungchan managed to save you from the fall. “whoa! ah, i had a feeling something like this would happen.”

—

“was she always like that?” minnie took a peep of your classroom, her eyes showed confusion. “is she tired?”

lisa shrugged and in her innocence she pursed her lips. “i don’t know. she’s been sighing a lot for the past hour? i wanna ask her but it might be too personal.”

you could her them and they were wrong. it was nothing personal at all. you’ve been sighing because you didn’t know how it was possible but it just happened— right before your eyes. since then you hoped that science could explain but not even the smartest people could give you a conclusion. you’ve been called out from lessons that came in the day and not that you didn’t blame jaehyun.

because for one thing, he at least told you the truth and the answer to your question as to why he had to make you leave that day. you propped your chin on your palms from jaehyun’s warning: “tell anyone i swear i’ll make you run a hundred laps with no water breaks.”

but the other thing? he was naked. and that’s not something you could erase in your memories overnight.

you let out a small whine that led to minnie and lisa copying your position, obviously making fun of you. “seriously, not a good time.” you laid on the table and hid from them. “don’t ask me anything.”

minnie and lisa looked at each other as you were being unreasonable and already gotten them curious with your remark. they both grabbed each of your arm, tugging on your sleeves where they begged nonstop for you tell them what had happened. they knew it was about the basketball team.

since you started to train and be with them, you’ve never complained. because if you did, coach jung would add another exercise for you, in which you knew you couldn’t handle. broken bones and sore muscles awaited for you. so you chose not to utter a single sigh, but you were careless just now and there was no escaping from these best friends of yours.

“c’mon y/n! tell us the deets! you sighing could only mean one thing.. did someone confess to you?” minnie closed her eyes and a wide smile suddenly became shrieks of laughter when you facepalmed. “oh who in the basketball team confessed?” she singsonged.

it’s not really a confession, jaehyun being a golden puppy is a secret that was never meant to be revealed but i happened to see him transform-

“what if it’s not a guy? maybe two? or three? oh gosh this is like a reverse harem anime-” lisa began to hype an awful assumption but you covered her lips. and plus? her voice was loud and how embarrassing it would be when the rest of the class heard it.

you were already restless at their energy. “none you idiots. i was sighing because i didn’t know that people with dimples would be that attractive.” you tried to divert the topic.

“pfft you’re talking about jung jaehyun?” lisa raised her brows and grinned teasingly to get a reaction from you.

“no, i’m taking about coach jung.” you hit her arm.

“but jaehyun’s his carbon copy, so you’re basically saying he’s handsome too.” minnie quickly rebutted.

“i mean, coach’s the original face so he’s definitely more handsome-” you paused. shoot they nearly got you to a corner. “wait- why are we talking about this? i thought we’re talking about me.”

“ah you were paying attention to our conversation?” minnie’s eyes grew.

“you’re not telling us anything dimwit.” lisa hit you back.

couple of squeals echoed the corridor and your classroom door crowded with people. apparently jaehyun stood by the door frame and scanned the room looking for you. when he spotted you, his face bubbled up and literally glided his way to your seat. you could tell he was slightly fuming, but you didn’t know what reason. “y/f/n! come here for a second!” he grabbed your wrists and pulled you up from your chair.

you tried to catch up with his pace as he continued to pull you. “let me go!”

jaehyun did in fact let go of you, but he instead led you to hit your back against numerous lockers. the squeals didn’t stop there and how that you were the centre of attention amongst all of the students, you had endure this for a little while. he was staring into your soul, eyes piercing that could strain yours, you knew he was pissed about something.

he slammed his forearms at the space right above your head, then the screams of giddy began to grow louder. you managed to see your friends at the far end of the corridor. they were smiling and lisa mouthed ‘kabedon’, making you flustered than you already were. “what do you want?” you asked.

“i thought i made myself clear?” jaehyun smirked as he felt you quiver against his skin. he leaned lower that his whispers tickled your ear. “did you tell anyone? your friends?”

“i’m not gonna risk my health for some dumb secret.” you rolled your eyes and crossed arms.

“please it’s not like our training puts your life on jeopardy-” jaehyun butted back.

“it’s safe with me. if there’s anything you’re worried about, just look at your fanbase. you’re making them sad.” you sighed, walking away and through the girls who has been following jaehyun around.

jaehyun exhaled at a rather slow pace. he liked your reaction and was aware of their presence. and in order to shoo them away, he had to do what he did. he just hoped you’d notice that too. “see you after school!” he yelled.

you briefly stopped in your tracks at his greet, you continued walking and pulled your girls away from the scene. you didn’t pay any attention, but you knew they couldn’t contain their smiles appearing on their faces.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

the bags full of foldable cones fell to the floor. the rest of the team turned to your direction, who already made mistakes on the first day of camp. they knew that you were obviously flabbergasted with your encounter. it was funny that you managed to stride your way so quickly towards jungwoo— he was very much entertained with your expression. “i know right? that was me earlier.” he stroked the large pup.

“h-how did puppy grow so big? that’s an adult sized dog! you stuttered but hiding your love for golden retrievers just wasn’t possible. there were times you forgot that this was actually jaehyun. “it’s only been a week.”

“yeah i’d like to know the reason too.”

suddenly you heard jaehyun’s voice. it felt like he was close to your ears again, but he wasn’t anywhere near you.

remains of memories probably were still in you head. you wouldn’t say you were traumatised, just surprised. why the hell am i hearing his voice? you shook the thought off at first but then again-

oi y/n. beside you. i’m talking to you!

what?

you gasped and fell on your butt. the pup’s ears were on alert and you knew he was hearing you too. “you can hear me?” jaehyun’s dog form practically towered on your fallen self. you avoided his look although the pup was so cute. his paws poked your shoulders, whiskers twitching as he waited for your response. “don’t look away! you can hear me right??”

all the guys could see was jaehyun staring down at you. and while you did the same, your knitted brows only meant something was definitely going on. they wanted to know. “what’s wrong y/n?”

your lips shook in heavens knows it was fear. “you’re asking me what’s wrong? why can i hear jaehyun? can you hear jaehyun? oh my g- this is really really weird-”

“you can?” they scooted closer to you, very much intrigued with your gift.

“and you all can’t?” you pushed jaehyun away for his body was weighing you down. he whimpered and got up to sit in front of the boys too.

they shook their heads vigorously. “only sungchan and coach were able to hear him.” kun stated, typing on his cellphone to inform his family.

“y/n! let’s talk when i transform back!” jaehyun’s paws kept poking you again. you glared at him with a loud hiss. his ears were alert, he didn’t realise that he was clawing you already, and turned a few rounds before he was laying like a bagel-shaped position.

jaehyun thought it was pretty strange. never in his life were there any people who could actually converse with him telepathically. other than his family, you were the first and he was determined to find out why this impossibility was made possible. there was a spark of hope forming in his heart at this sudden revelation. the glow from the orange light then shone above your head, marking the end of sunrise.

you looked at jaehyun’s dog form, it was- correction, he was.. quiet, and was still staring at you as if you were his master. he laid on this front legs, snout on the ground. huh, he can actually be behaved. footsteps were closing in. at the distance, coach jung walked with lisa and minnie, who were in their cheerleading uniforms. right, you forgot that they were also included in the annual athletes camp.

for a moment you panicked because you knew jaehyun would transform back from being a dog. ten and rest knew more people shouldn’t know about jaehyun’s curse. they were glad you read the atmosphere too. seeing jaehyun’s jersey in his duffel bag, you grabbed it and wore it on the animal.

coach jung made eye contact to your direction. he diverted the girls’ attention, and led them away from the basketball court. they headed towards the storage to “retrieve” some equipment.

jaehyun grunted and growled, his fangs tried to bite your skin. however, goldens were known for having a soft jaw, so his bites weren’t that painful. when you finally managed to put the jersey on him, jungwoo couldn’t catch up. “why let him wear the jersey?” he questioned.

“so he wouldn’t transform back naked when lisa and minnie arrives.” you pointed out the obvious.

ten held his laugh in. you recognised this tone, and prepared what came after. “heh..” he trailed off. “is it because you want to keep jaehyun to yourself?”

you continuously threw random items at him as heat spread to your cheeks. “screw you!” you scoffed. “get jaehyun to wear his pants. i have to pack a lot of things before we head onto the bus.”

“yes ma’am.” ten nudged your shoulder. “i’m kidding y/n. don’t take my jokes seriously.“

“it’s fine.” you picked up the fallen cones. “you’re worried about people knowing his curse. so i’m just doing my part to keep it secret.”

he pursed his lips and his heart softened at your willingness to help. “hm, i guess i can trust you after all.” ten opened the bag to help you pack. “oh! and also, jae in his dog form already is naked anyway.”

“you think i’m not aware of that?” you rolled your eyes.

your friends already have settled themselves inside the coach bus and you were seated in between them. now they would get to witness you with the team and hoped for a budding romance with any of the boys. you lowered your face under a cap to pretend you were sleeping, but in reality you just wanted to avoid lisa and minnie’s bombardment.

few rows at front, jaehyun stared by the window, deep in thought. rarely spoke a word since they started their journey to the retreat campsite. why was his hunch telling him to get closer to you? why could you hear him and he could hear you? he slightly turned to his side between the gaps of two seats. seeing you giggling with your friends had him rethinking if what happened earlier was just his imagination. he wondered why you purposely ignore him after he transformed back.

he slid lower from his seat. “i’d understand if this was a soulmate thing, but it’s not.” jaehyun sighed heavily where he broke the silence and supposedly ending the conversation earlier. now that he wanted to talk about it, his friends were still up for the news.

“oh yeah. those things are going on. except it only happens to some people.” kun popped a chip in his mouth.

“i just don’t get it. dad told me that never occurred to anyone with this curse.” he stole the bag of chips from the younger one to relieve his emotions.

jungwoo’s pursed his lip in wonder. “maybe the curse in another light has its own blessing? maybe you guys are soulmates?”

“nah, impossible.” they all said simultaneously.

“it’s a possibility-” jungwoo’s face soured where wrinkles appeared on the sides as the boys flared at him.

jaehyun shrugged not knowing what to say. his friends have bizarre ideas throughout the journey, and he wouldn’t say they were wrong either. all he could do was to wait until the next transformation. maybe you would say your thoughts about it through telepathy.

he would know if time passed quickly when he didn’t pay attention to anyone. one of them was the number of times you waved in front of his face to snap him back to earth. “jaehyun?” you laid on the ground and called out, panting to catch air after your successful reps. you tugged the ends of his track pants.

“hm?” he hummed, looking for your voice until he got annoyed with your repetitive pulls of his clothes. “ah stop that. i have to report your record to coach. come with?”

“do i really have to?” you whined. “i could barely stand, my legs are wobbly and i’m hungry.”

jaehyun rolled his eyes and took your hand, pulling you up on your toes. “then let’s grab something to eat on our way to the camp, hm?”

you gulped at the sudden gesture, even more so when you noticed your heart beating faster around him. somehow your sixth sense told you your friends were somewhere in the woods looking at you, and you were right.

minnie had her binoculars by her eyes as you and jaehyun headed in another direction back to everyone else were. she held in her excitement with a huge inhale. out of curiosity lisa stole the binoculars from her. a growing smile showed her pearly whites when within its frame, jaehyun was pushing you from the back before he took your hand again because of how slow you were. “min, consider your reverse harem dream for y/n over. we found her leading man.”

—

“few more reps y/n! do it properly this time?”

jaehyun rubbed his face, raising his tone in question of your athleticism. it was the second and final day of your assessments. your core should be able to get used to the pressure if you’ve done the reps for two straight days. so as of today you salute to all people who persevered and with great stamina. you just.. weren’t that person.

you’ve grown conscious now that jaehyun’s friends were watching a few metres away. you’d prefer kun counting and timing your exercises over him. in contrast, kun’s a little more understanding than the hotheaded jaehyun. “if i say i can’t, shouldn’t you consider stopping here? it’s the last one anyway so put random number on the blank or something.” you struggled to lift yourself up from the ground, arms in an ‘x’ position over your torso.

“is that so? then you wouldn’t mind if i write ‘0’ for the final count?” jaehyun checked the stopwatch while his knees put enough weight on your feet. “at least do five more?” he sat on the soles of his shoes.

“ugh! fine!” you tsked and did sit ups slowly, eyes shut closed.

jaehyun smirked with how determined you were in finishing. and he has gotta credit you for having the last brain cell to endure his overly playful bossiness and plans up his sleeves.

but even his friends has something up in their sleeves. they whispered to each other and nodded heads as excitement already boosted their anticipation. ten cupped his mouth then giving the raised brows as signal to start. “y/n! jaehyun’s recording your expression with his phone!” ten yelled.

jungwoo’s mouth widened and followed along. “jae! there’s a bee behind you!”

“what?!”

“where?!”

the moment you froze and opened your eyes after bringing yourself up, and jaehyun leaned forwards to avoid the insect, was way too hilarious for the guys to see. both of your faces were centimetres away from each other and jaehyun’s ears already tinted pink. jaehyun already found it awkward to help you for three days, but he never prepared himself for something like this.

as his friends bursting out laughing, that was when he realised it was all their plan. you were still too close to him, so he cleared his throat to cut the gap between. “is that a pimple on your nose?” he asked, only for his nose to be smacked and soon be numbed. “agh!”

what the- “jerk! don’t point it out!” you kicked him and rolled sideways to stand up, angrily leaving the area with the sheet in your hands. “i’ll give this to the coach!”

jaehyun held his nose and walked back to the guys, who were still laughing their butts off and rolling on the ground. “you can stop now.”

“oh that was funny! it was like a typical ‘ba-dump’ scene in a rom-com!” jungwoo wiped a tear.

“should’ve recorded it!” kun threw his head back while his hand rested on his heaving chest.

“no worries! at least it’s recorded in jaehyun’s mind!” ten cheered with closed fists.

“it’s embarrassing!” jaehyun threw his towel.

bonfires were mandatory at the start and end of the camp. however, because of your assessment, coach jung had negotiate with the other members of the basketball to get to the campsite a day before the other teams actually arrived at night. so for the kun and the rest, they had a little more free time than jaehyun. and him being the coach’s son.. he didn’t have the same benefits. he was stuck with you because he had to keep an eye on you while

he thought being with you would only be for the first two days, then he would go for his training. and yet here you were, sitting beside him in front of the bonfire while everyone else arrived and other danced to their hearts’ content. maybe he could ask you about the telepathy thing? but figuring you were cranky from earlier, he held back.

“can i ask more about your curse? if it’s okay with you to tell me.”

jaehyun nodded, you had the right to. not because you accidentally picked a random puppy then saw him naked few moments later. you could hear him in your head, and that was enough reason to tell you rather than a general information about it. “yeah. i’m okay with it.”

“you said your ancestors had the curse too. was there any specific reason why they had to suffer that your family and you had to be the..” you paused for a while. jaehyun was waiting for your next words, you guessed it was alright to say it. “..collateral damage?”

“right. i didn’t tell you more of it yeah?” he sniffed from the chilly night. “i don’t know how far back in the years it happened. but they said the head of the family casted out his wife because he assumed he cheated on him. he was the only person the wife ever treasured, so when she was accused, she took his pet and killed it. the head found out, he cursed her that her descendants turn into animals. and we’re the descendants of that woman.”

“that’s awful.” you cleared your throat. “i’m sorry you have to suffer the curse.”

“you don’t have to be. i’m just trying to cope with it.” jaehyun chuckled. “how awesome would it be if there was a way to reverse everything.”

“gotta find the blessing then.” you laid on the grass.

jaehyun’s face wrinkled in disgust. “okay you sound like jungwoo.”

“at least appreciate me for trying to lift your spirits up.”

he hummed in agreement.

“or you can just.. let the blessing find you.” you singsonged as you realised how corny you actually sounded.

“fine, and if it’s you?” he had to give a hint of the telepathic communication.

“because i can hear you when you’re in your retriever form? i’m not exactly a blessing but yeah i’d like to know how telapthy works too.” you stared back at the bonfire, flames flickering as the smoke flew in the air. as of tonight, you wanted to be that person who’d be the igniter of that hope he held on. “if i could help out a little, i’ll be happy to help.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

lisa and minnie stared at you, both had their palms under their chins as if their silence asked you to talk. “i can’t eat when the two of you are like this. it’s very disturbing.” you gripped on your fork, hesitant to eat as you took glances between the food and them.

you knew what they were going to ask. not like you didn’t want to share, it was just that you knew them well enough that they wouldn’t stop once they start. the food was getting cold every second passed, due to the wind outdoors, it was more vulnerable. lisa stretched her elbows while holding her poms to be noticed. five days have gone by and even though you were rarely with them in all those days, she had to ensure you’d tell them about the basketball team and your leading man— although you had no idea about that.

“any updates?” she raised her brows.

“nothing is happening with me or anyone in the team, if that’s what you both wanted to know.” you sighed. “i’m just simply taking down minutes.” you said sternly, kind of regret that you answered her and swirled the noodles with your fork.

“are you sure? twelve members should be enough for that.” minnie tied her shoelaces and bent down with a pressed smile when you pout. she softened her gaze when you were telling the truth and that their teasing should stop there. but they knew that the team should know something about you.

“they’re divided into teams. some did the score board while others practiced on their own. of course i have to be the one- why are you pulling my arm?” you asked and eyed them as if they stained your clothes.

lisa twirled on her toes and posed with her arm rested on her waist. “you’re being quiet again.”

“i’m not?” you said monotonously while you munched on your food.

she sighed and grabbed your chin. “you don’t look at me when you’re lying.” she hummed, yet you didn’t respond. “what’s up y/n? something’s on your mind i can tell.”

in fact a lot of things were.

so far in the week, you’ve helped jaehyun theorise solutions to end his curse after practice. not only for him, but his family and extended family too. some have passed not having to enjoy their lives, while others chose to hide themselves from the world. and a small percentage of the family tree actually tried to live through it— that was jaehyun’s family. coach jung was as determined as jaehyun to put a stop into this curse.

not only that thought alone. to you, jaehyun has been rather noticeable. even if you weren’t thinking of him, he’d appear out of nowhere— during your breaks, on your night-walks alone or even heading to the toilet. you’d always bump into him and his presence seemed to be marked in your consciousness now. not that you liked him around, it was just captain was more friendly than others made him out to be. “really, it’s nothing.”

to say that jaehyun didn’t feel same was definitely an understatement. since the start of the freshman year, he knew you were the loud girl with the two hot cheerleaders, but always wondered why you’ve never joined the team. sometimes he would catch you sitting at one corner, dancing along with the routines aside from cheering your friends on as he was heading to practice.

now he took a peek of you eating alone while lisa and minnie showed off their new uniforms. he was about to call you out to help the team, but the girls pulling you almost immediately once you were done had him holding back. “chaeyeon will be arriving soon, and remember the dare was to wear our uniform.” minnie giggled while you begged her to stop, to the point you nearly cried thinking about it. “you agreed to it-”

“i didn’t agree to it! you agreed for me! i had no say!”

jaehyun’s eyes widened at the thought of you in uniform. your yells were getting louder and pitchier. should he be your knight and shining armour? probably not. he’d like to have something to tease you about. for a moment there was silence, he hid behind the corner of a storage building. you were still telling your friends to stop doing what they were doing. but it was two against one, and he knew you were at the losing end.

the door slammed open, your huffs and puffs getting heavier and closer to where he was. jaehyun’s heart beat so fast that when he finally decided to call out your name, you bumped into him and he caught you to prevent you from falling. “i was about to fetch you, manager.”

you felt heat spread your entire cheek because of the attire you were forced to wear. “well you did and i’m here. can we go? my friends are giving me the stares.”

“fiesty, but i think you look alright.” he chuckled when you grumpily walked ahead. jaehyun followed you from behind with his hands in pockets.

what does he mean by that?

lisa and minnie pursed their lips, soon bursting into giddy squeals and continuously fanning each other from what they saw yet the second time. “he was really checking her out.” minnie laughed.

“his ears said it all.” lisa checked her watch on her wrist. “basketball team’s practice match is starting soon. wanna sit in?”

“girl you bet i will.”

even hours later you blew your baby fringes blocking your view. as you flipped the score board and whistles for a time-out echoed the outdoor gym, your friends could tell how uncomfortable you were but they’d do nothing to get more reactions from you. they liked that you entertained them. and what choice did you have? chaeyeon was already taking pictures of you in the uniform you despised wearing.

coach jung briefed the team information on their opponents this season. you wrote down important points, feeling the chill of the early sunset. you couldn’t wait to change into actual soft and comfy clothes, mosquitoes weren’t your friends.

jaehyun listened to his dad repeating the same points- mostly because he got the advice first before others. he heard you hiss several times, you were supposed to jot the notes down. then it got frequent. he tiptoed to see you opposite from him, shooing the bugs away. of course you were still wearing the cheer uniform. he didn’t want to draw attention, so he stealthy walked behind the guys and straight to you.

“trouble?” he asked.

“just a little chilly, that’s all. meeting’s nearly done yeah?” you hugged the file to your chest.

“say so if you’re cold.” he took his jacket off and draped it on your shoulder.

“and who am i to tell to?” your voice challenging him.

he hummed so low that it almost lulled you to sleep. “me. i’m not the captain for nothing.”

you were both busy talking that you and him weren’t aware of time nor anyone else close by. mind you that minnie and lisa were watching the whole thing. you managed to smile even if you were crossed with how you were dressed. like you enjoyed his company.

they couldn’t hear your conversation, nor were your lips were moving. but the body language they saw already proved and confirmed their assumption. they had to tell you. they went straight to you once the meeting was over, and pulled you aside whilst jaehyun was talking about his childhood.

jaehyun raised a brow and chuckled as you were being pulled away. his friends immediately surround him, bombarding him with questions that he wasn’t paying attention to the meeting. “dude, your time’s near.” ten smacked him on the back.

“don’t make it sound like i’m dying, ten.” jaehyun rolled his eyes, but whenever he did, they were always fixated on you. he couldn’t shake off the feeling you were that something to solve the curse.

“be alert than be busted.” ten shrugged, head tilting to where you were. your friends were busy recording you and giggles filled the air. “how are you so calm now jae?”

jaehyun pursed his lips. “with her, there’s no way i’m calm at all.”

“okay now i can’t tell if that answer was from human jaehyun or doggy jaehyun.” jungwoo pointed out.

his friends all looked at each other, jaehyun wasn’t his usual self. it was as if he was dazed but was able to converse with them properly. slowly his naturally peach-like fuzzy cheeks grew more fur, his tail started to reveal. although they were quick enough to hide jaehyun, they didn’t realise the commotion that came afterwards and drew everyone’s attention.

you swifted your head at the boys’ yells and gathering circle, faintly hearing jaehyun’s refusal into whatever they got him into. “stop it! hey!” he hissed.

jungwoo, a little too excited of the drama going on, spotted you looking at them and gestured you to come over too. your friends built up a curiosity and went ahead of you. as for you, you were mentally tired to think of anything.

not until you heard kun’s wavering yet convincing words. “uh.. y’all wanna see magic?” he chuckled nervously as he knew what jaehyun would do to him after all this was over. “quickly because it’ll happen soon!”

you held in a laugh at jaehyun when he was forced to sit down on the grass to hide his tail. “i’ve been trying to master this for months and i thank jaehyun as my participant. who loves animals? give me a name.”

most hands were up and the answers were said at the same time. some didn’t believe him, but others have seen kun’s little magic tricks over the days. so something of a huge scale like this already got them curious than ever.

“ah i hear great ones but i’ll choose dog. now i’ll turn jaehyun into a golden retriever.” he draped a blanket above his friend.

ten and jungwoo bit their lips to contain themselves, holding onto each other as they filmed this once-in-a-lifetime event. the circle enlarged in scale with the poor lad at the center and the golden hour shone over everyone.

“in 3.. 2.. 1..” kun only snapped his fingers then the blanket shrunk in size. your schoolmates were convinced that something was actually happening.

and it was amusing because you were able to hear jaehyun swearing so much in your head.

you let out a giggle. jaehyun was soon surrounded by everyone who wanted to pet him. even your friends went over to the animal. “at least pretend to be happy for them. goldens are known for being clowns.” you told him.

*sighs* “tell kun i’m gonna kill him.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

the silence was all jaehyun ever wanted after the shock he had to go through from kun’s improv few days ago. he’d be thankful for a moment because he actually forgot the gideon hour at the time, but he would soon later be clouded with annoyance that he should’ve been informed beforehand of his actions— not only kun, the others included. they’ve got a part in this too.

his friends seated side by side with bruises and bandages on their faces, jaehyun still giving them the silent treatment. he was cranky about that, yet even more so when there was no progress into finding a solution to his curse. “jae. we said we’re sorry.” jungwoo apologised and felt that he was the only one giving effort to talk to jaehyun compared to kun and ten.

“and i said it’s fine. so stop saying that before i actually don’t forgive you.” jaehyun pressed the bridge of his nose.

after walking up the slope to the cabin with heaves of breaths, you managed to hear their conversation before opening the door. “i refilled your bottles.” you threw them on a duffle bag, not caring whether either of them rolled away. “i have to apologise too, jaehyun. i haven’t come up with anything to help you.” true enough because you couldn’t think straight or have the energy to use your remaining brain cells for that matter.

“ugh it’s fine. i’m not in a rush or anything. not even assigning you to solve within the duration of the camp.” jaehyun squeezed the bottle as thirst continued to drive him crazy, the heat as well, so he removed his tshirt. you averted your gaze and looked elsewhere. maybe you were still a little bothered seeing him half naked after the incident?

ten sought the opportunity and decided to fan the flame even more. “why look away when you’ve seen him already?”

he managed to dodge your hits and you turned around embarrassed. jaehyun could see you fanning yourself from the heat. “it was an accident!” you cleared your throat.

“gah i’m tired. we’re done with practice. we get a day off tomorrow, so can’t we watch a movie? who has disney plus?” jungwoo wiped himself with a towel.

“i do.” kun brought out his ipad. “what do you wanna watch?”

“i haven’t watched that one.”

“beauty and the beast?”

“o-kay, i’ll be going now.” you yawned as you began to feel the exhaustion take over your body. “see you tomorrow.”

the door closed and suddenly you remembered a funny memory last halloween when taeil dressed himself as belle. he blended in with the other ladies that you didn’t realise it was him. either it was the wig’s work or just taeil in general. you found it funny when a bunch of young teens become children again as disney’s mentioned.

your phone vibrated with your friends asking to help them out with their practice. “i came to the camp for the basketball team, not you two.” you left a voice mail. all you wanted was to rest up today. not until a certain realisation hit you hard.

because what if?

it hasn’t been that long since you left the cabin when the boys jolted from their positions. their peace and concentration on the movie already ruined by you. “oh my goodness i think i got it?” you slammed the door.

jaehyun sat up and set his phone aside. “you’re saying it a question rather than a discovery. not convinced.”

“will you be when i tell you if it’s based on that movie?” you pointed at the tablet.

he trailed his eyes to the screen then back at you, a more confused expression on his face. “you expect me to find someone to love me so my curse will be lifted?”

“pfft nah kidding, you don’t seem that loveable anyway.” you stole a lollipop from ten. “okay bye for reals.”

as the door closed, ten unwrapped another lollipop. “bet you he’s thinking of his potential ‘belle’.” ten nudged the boys.

“shut up. i’m not going to base my life on a fictional movie.”

“but it could be y/n. i mean she can hear you.” jungwoo paused the film.

“it’s not going to be her and it doesn’t prove anything.”

jaehyun thought a lot for two things— you keeping his hopes up, the other was you setting his heart in a frenzy and he always hated that feeling. he groaned and dragged himself to bed to place a towel over his face. sure he’ll hold on to that idea you came up with for now. however it didn’t prove on telepathy.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

your heart missed a beat when jaehyun waited for you in front of the cabin you stayed at. he thought you bumping into his torso wasn’t a good way to greet in the morning, whereas you feeling some fur on his tshirt as greeting was any different. jaehyun handed you a file and a little note from coach.

while you read it, you could sense jaehyun was staring, like he had something to say. he retracted his lips when your friends appeared behind you with grins annoyingly appearing on their faces. “make it quick captain. we have things to discuss with y/n.”

“yeah sure. i just dropped by to pass this to you. coach said to make copies. i’ll come back after you’re done with breakfast.” he cleared his throat and announced his leave.

“hm. fishy. he could’ve just left it here outside but he seems like he waited for you.” lisa drank from her cup as you all sat and ate breakfast together.

“right? it’s been days he acted that way!” minnie walked back to the table. “he’s indeed a gentleman, but there are times he’s very hard to approach.”

you unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. “anyway, what is it you guys wanna talk about?”

“lisa will go first. she couldn’t wait.” minnie giggled.

lisa laid out series of pictures of nature she recently took and were indeed beautiful. “oh my goodness they look amazing!” you sat up. “as expected from someone in the photography club. i bet if you submit these to johnny he’ll regret putting you as backup-”

“really?! i took advantage of the retreat and i made sure they were pretty!” lisa interrupted you and placed more pictures down. “these are my favourite! i’m thinking of sending these to johnny instead!”

however your face turned sullen at the next pictures. they were blurry and almost gone, but it was definitely jaehyun at the background, each one showed he was transforming from human to dog. you paused and your heart did the same.

the silence got longer, you knew you had to speak up, but no words came out. “what’s wrong y/n?”

“you can’t submit these to johnny.” you brushed the first batch of pictures aside and bind latest pictures together.

“why not? you supported the rest of them! how could these be not good enough?” lisa’s voice changed in an instant, like you’ve taken away her pride. she sat back with folded arms, her behaviour scared you a little.

minnie slightly wiggled your hand. “hey, are you hearing to yourself y/n?”

“sorry, i know i sound stupid-”

“you are!” lisa huffed where her cheeks blew up. it was cute though.

“but you have to hear me out.” one thing was for sure, your stress levels shot up high if word gets to jaehyun. you had to prepare for the consequences.

“okay, so why can’t i submit them?” lisa sighed.

you held her hand. “it would be alright to, only if these are not in the background.” you said, pointing out a figure at the background of the subject. it all became clear as day to them when they looked closely. “did jaehyun just.. transformed?”

you were surprised with how quick they were able to catch on. as much as you wanted to protect jaehyun’s family curse, things would’ve turn for worst if someone else had noticed it. i’m sorry jaehyun, this is for your own good.

“we believed kun’s ability of illusion and his magic tricks. ten sent us a video of it and it didn’t really occurred to us that the golden was actually jaehyun.” minnie pursed her lips. “if you think about it, he does look like a golden.”

“how is this possible?” lisa asked with a growing smile, but refrained since transforming twice everyday was nothing good anyway.

“i found about his family curse accidentally. he turns into a dog when it’s golden hour, like sunrise and sunset.” you propped on your elbows.

“it’s a curse? poor lad.” minnie gasped.

a rather sad nod caught them off guard. “the coach signed me up to join this retreat. it’s not only for my missed p.e assessments but it was to keep his curse a secret. a-and now that you know, i’ll be damned if word gets to him. so you have to promise me you both don’t say or do anything..“ you sounded as if you begged. that was how much your the friendship you have with jaehyun meant to you.

“and yeah, that’s my answer. the magic trick was just a cover up to hide jaehyun’s dog form.” they listened and were surprised to hear you like this.

your fidgety hands and nervous breathing was too obvious. if jaehyun was just a friend, you wouldn’t act as if he was your- “oh no.” you slumped down on your arms. “why did i..” you mumbled as your feelings for him became clearer to you.

“oh my gosh. you like him! you like jaehyun!” lisa covered her mouth and changed the lingering negative atmosphere.

ba-dump. i..

“then that means your love for golden retrievers doubled!” minnie hugged you.

“no! it’s b-because you’re putting m-me in the spotlight-” you stuttered when they leaned towards you. “i’m gonna go.”

jaehyun flinched even though he was at a distance. your friends were yelling quite excitingly. you were being chased by them and although it was inaudible. he answered his phone as it was ringing for a while. “what, ten?”

“don’t ‘what’ me!” jaehyun tilted his head from his friend’s volume. “jae where are you?”

“i’m at y/n’s cabin and on my way bac-”

“nevermind that. i can see you.”

ten rushed towards him and looked at the cabin. “where’s lisa?” he squinted his eyes.

“just her and minnie chasing y/n out. i don’t know how but they left the door open. what are you doing here anyway?”

he mimicked a photographer’s gesture and pointed at the cabin. “lisa told me her pictures have developed and i’m here to get them.”

jaehyun flicked his forehead. “and you could’ve asked me instead.”

“they’re confidential and i’m shy if anyone sees it.” ten walked to the cabin.

“gross. just get them and head back quickly.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

you lost track of the days that have passed and there was an unsettling feeling that stayed in your chest. had it been two or three? you couldn’t remember. the basketball team’s practice matches and drills were normal. but there was a difference in air lingering around jaehyun. he still talked to you, kept the same gentle smile and was caring as usual. except whenever he did those, it seemed like he was distancing himself from you, creating an imaginary wall just to let you know your limits and boundaries.

you’d like to think it was because of the pressure coach has been giving him since the play-offs were close to date. but, it wasn’t all jaehyun who behaved that way. ten also distanced himself, his gaze pierced against your skull and thinking about it only caused you to have migraines. you were more scared of ten.

coach jung have asked you to help the cheerleading team, saying you’ve helped them enough. the amount of appreciation he had for you was too much, you couldn’t ask him about how jaehyun recently. yet this was all too sudden that your gut feeling told you otherwise. you planned to talk to jaehyun after the day ends. because in all honesty, something definitely happened.

and the boys left you out of it.

approaching jaehyun was harder than you thought. now you’ve realised it, he was always the one who took the initiative and you on the receiving end took the benefits of his kindness. it was supposed to be the other way around, so why were you taking advantage of this?

if having feelings for him was the reason for that, then you’re really stupid y/n. you laid on the grass in defeat from your thoughts and closed your eyes. you decided to have some peace and nature was your best friend in time like these. chirping birds and crashing riverbanks-

“jaehyun where are you?!”

ah crap. you twitched hard enough that swarms of goosebumps appeared on the majority of your skin. on your stomach, you hid behind the bushes to see jungwoo and the others struggling to find him. even at the mention of his name you were already feeling shy and flustered.

“is he skipping practice again?”

“ah whatever let’s just leave him.”

“i understand why he’s like that.”

“even i would feel hurt if i were him.”

a heavy and deep audible breath from their sudden entry was difficult to hide your response. you tried to leave as quiet as possible. not wanting to get caught, you had to move stealthily with few glides backwards on your knees, eyes glued to the boys’ actions if they looked elsewhere. when you felt something blocking the soles of your shoes, somehow you knew what it was.

“you’re blocking my way.” jaehyun’s irritated tone made your chest ache— in the most painful impact you never expected from him.

quickly you stood up and made sure you stayed out of sight from the boys. jaehyun scratched his temple at your awkward behaviour. he was already in front of you, why were you hesitating to ask him questions he left unanswered? jaehyun pulled a long face when you still remained silent. “if you’re not gonna speak when you clearly have something to say, do i really have to say it for you?”

what the hell is his problem? what’s with his tone? “yeah as a matter of fact i do. the thing is, i don’t understand why you’re being like this. you ignore me but still talk to me when i don’t help with the team anymore, and for some reason you’re mad at me?” you grimaced while leaning on a tree trunk.

there was cynism in jaehyun’s nods and the swirls of his tongue evident on his cheeks. you hated his attitude and all you wanted was an explanation. “whatever this is, i’ve got no reason for you to doubt me, jaehyun.”

“ah, really? ‘cause you just gave me one.” he fished out something from his pockets and as you watched, the item he was holding was too familiar and they were obviously not his. he flicked the sheets and that was when you confirmed they were the new pictures lisa developed.

why were they with him? at the pit of your stomach, a whirlwind of emotions and stressing pressure began, and you didn’t like the feeling at all. “what-”

he threw the pictures on the floor. “other than my family and friends you’re the only one who knows about my curse! and at some point you go against my back telling them to picture me when i’m left clueless?!”

right now you were really afraid jaehyun’s mood would attract attention.

you closed your eyes as he raised his voice. “look i have no idea how you got those but i promise you i had nothing to do with the picture-” you insisted and could feel your blood pressure rising.

“how- how could you betray me like this?!”

your heart fell and instead of feeling bad about him knowing, you felt your head ache with so much anger building up inside you. because jaehyun didn’t bother to listen or let you explain yourself.

“i found you in the background before lisa actually showed those to johnny! it would spread if she did! where’s the betrayal in that?!”

he stepped closer to you, your entire was itching to run away. “i don’t care! you still told your friends! you could’ve said another excuse like kun’s practicing his magic trick or something! you promised me my secret’s safe with you!”

that’s messed up. i did tell lisa and minnie but not because it was to mock him!

“kun was no where to be seen in the picture! what else can i do? lie to them? i know my friends more than you do and they won’t tell anyone!” you raised your voice as well.

jaehyun scoffed, rolling his eyes. “i don’t trust them!”

“well, i do! and you should trust me!” your tone wavering at all emotions hitting you at once. especially coming from him— the guy you developed feelings for.

“the moment you told them you broke my trust already! what else did you tell them, hm? my dad and brother having the curse too?” he brushed his hair in anger when your silence meant yes. “ugh is this really happening?! you told them everything!”

“okay that’s enough-” your vision blurring from the tears wanting to fall.

“i’m asking what else did you tell them?! dammit y/n what could be so important to you than my secret?!”

“well- i-”

“i what?!”

other than the secret, you knew what went after the reveal. then you realised the weight of your words, you couldn’t tell him that you actually like him. you wanted to be selfish this once. “i can’t.. tell you.”

jaehyun started to harbour more resentment towards your reasoning. he found it ridiculous of you to even continue with this conversation. ten already warned him that the secret wasn’t safe with you in the first place. the glimpse of hope faded when he thought you’d be the key, even if you were, trust was still important to him. it was the very thing his mother lacked and you doing so reminded him of it.

his expression darkened and you were afraid of him— excluding of how cruel he was with you on the exercise reps. you were afraid you just broken a promise and put your friendship on a rocky end.

“so that’s it? i’m begging you with my life on the line and you just gave me the most bullcrap answer!”

“you’re being unreasonable!” you yelled.

“shut up! you found about my curse so you should be the one compromising!”

“y/n!” lisa came running with a panicked face.

tsk, wrong timing. “not now.” you mouthed.

“have you seen my pictures?! i told ten to get them the other day but he got the wrong envelope! it’s the one with jae-” she bent down to catch her breath and was taken aback with jaehyun’s presence. “..hyun.”

the boys followed lisa and once they found their friend, you could tell ten’s stares that felt like daggers. he pulled jaehyun away but eyes still locked on you. “what happened?” lisa asked as you mirrored ten’s expression, but your friends could see the hurt in your eyes.

“he has the pictures. i think ten saw them and gave them to him. jaehyun’s mad, he thinks i betrayed him for telling you-”

“no that’s not it!” lisa held your hand and glared at the boys, especially ten, since he was her childhood friend. “you had every right to tell us because the pictures are my works-”

“shouldn’t have said anything further y/n! you should’ve gotten the pictures and told us instead of them! you promised, remember?” ten finally spoke up.

you rolled your eyes. “and what?! you’re like saying i should risk my friendship for his stupid secret!”

his friends turned heads to jaehyun to see his tight-knit brows and softening demeanour. jaehyun frowned and hurt was evident in his face. he was hurt by you, someone he developed feelings for in a short amount of time. “i believed it when you said you’ll help me. or were.. were all those just words to you?”

ah.. that came out wrong.

you bit your lips to say something, but they left so soon after, making your chest squeeze as if your lungs let out the last bits of oxygen from your body.

shortly over an hour, jungwoo watched his friend pace back and forth, nibbling on his nails when the tension grew in their cabin. “aren’t you too hard on her? you didn’t let y/n explain further-”

“i can’t believe her!” jaehyun crumpled the picture after looking at it. “how could she do this to me?!”

“honestly i just don’t think she’s that type of person to go behind someone’s back for her own entertainment.” kun spoke up and tilted his head, avoiding the cup that smashed on his side of his cheek. “perhaps you’re mistaken.”

jaehyun wasn’t in the right headspace whenever his past trauma was reminded or brought up, so no matter how much reason was given, he wouldn’t listen. “do i have to repeat it? she already had her fun when she told her friends to picture me!”

“your explanations are always so conclusive.” kun sighed.

“and your heart’s too soft as usual, kun! so back off!” jaehyun grabbed the older one’s shoulder and shoved him against the wall.

he released him soon after realising that he didn’t once listen to you, but he was too stubborn to take any more excuses. there was one thing he thought you were wrong— weren’t you risking your friendship with him by exposing his secret he kept so dearly? maybe distancing himself more than he did would clear his mind off from the mess.

—

when all sports teams lined up with their designated coach buses the days after, jaehyun slightly put his chin up to search for you in the crowd— in a subtle manner, since he still stood in his decision into having his space from you yet didn’t want it to be obvious to others that he cared for you still.

you knew he was staring from afar. it was a stupid misunderstanding, both of you were in the wrong, but he made you feel as if you carried the blame for this.

sure that was a given, that he would react worse than expected. you were going to take the pictures from lisa anyway, and the guys wouldn’t know that your friends knew. you didn’t expect you’d burst out of anger or that ten took them before you did and made the assumption. it still drove you mad, ten probably convinced jaehyun of your doing since he didn’t trust you at first.

that aside, you decided to ride the coach bus with the cheerleading team. “when we reach school, you can forget about the basketball team and camp. how dare they hurt you?” minnie hugged you as you stared out the window.

“if i had to weigh it, it’s not me who’s hurting. jaehyun is.” you sighed and pat her back. “how do i act if i bump to any of them? i’ll probably do something stupid again. at all cost, i’mma just- *sigh*”

“she’s talking about jaehyun right?”

“yeah she’s still not straightforward about him.”

“we know she likes him. she doesn’t have to hide it.”

“i can hear you both.” you lowered your hat to avoid their gaze.

jaehyun sat beside his father at the front for a change, playing with the blinds to cover sunlight. coach jung knew his silence more than anyone, even if jaehyun didn’t plan on telling him. “i’ve done what you told me to do. you didn’t want to see y/n after the fight. so? did it to any change?”

“no. i kept my distance and i’ll see if she’ll admit her mistake.” jaehyun adjusted the fan above him.

“jae, if only you saw her reaction when i told her to not come see the team. i know you’re smarter than this. you know it’s not all her fault.”

he clenched his palms hard. crescent moons soon showed themselves on the flesh. “where exactly in this is my fault, dad? have i not been patient to wait for curse to be broken? who said that y/n might have a contribution in this? it’s you, dad. i’m not holding any grudge against y/n. i’m just disappointed at her because she’s nothing i ever imagined her to be. goodness’ sake i even like her.” he mumbled at the last sentence, missing the point that his dad could hear it.

coach jung let out a short laugh at the remark. “not sure if you noticed, you haven’t seen y/n working hard at researching about our curse while you boys practiced. she’s always brainstorming at the possibilities, science or not, she’s always looking for ways. don’t let anger cloud you.” his father paused and had a pressed smile. “..don’t end up having small fights like me and your mother. you wouldn’t want it to be bigger than it already is.”

“yeah.. i know.”

you woke up with a thud and saw a rather prominent bump on your right temple through the reflection of the window. arriving at the campus grounds was quicker than you thought, despite being almost a half day journey. you overheard that the basketball team would stay there a little longer and you had to leave immediately because once everyone has gone home, you’d see him. you didn’t want to risk yourself from being spotted after you both fought.

it was a small matter now that you think about that day. stubbornness outweighed understanding in the two of you, and that resulted in immaturity. and if neither of you were willing to admit, might as well make the first move.

but you were stubborn as he was.

once the coach bus was nearing the parking area, the first and only thing you decide to do was get out of the vehicle and head straight home. you wouldn’t let your friends speak and looked at their bus. there sat jaehyun fiddling with the curtain. you then rushed out, covering your face from the basketball team as they too were getting off. “is that what she meant ‘at all costs’?” minnie facepalmed as she saw you walking away quickly.

“oh look, there’s y/n.” coach jung tapped the window to make jaehyun notice you. the way you behaved was weird for him, because it was too obvious you were avoiding getting seen.

“i don’t care.”

“it means you do.” his father messed his son’s hair. “okay, off you go. i’ll cancel the extra practice today and let all of you rest up during the weekend.”

jaehyun’s lips agape at his father’s last minute decision. he wore his cap and slung his bag. “if you’re doing this and expect i’d make up with her, you’ll regret ever cancelling practice.”

“ah c’mon. your old man is helping you out with a girl. can’t you tell what i’m doing, jae?” he laughed at his son’s reaction. he could see himself in jaehyun and knew things would get better.

“it won’t work dad.”

he rolled his eyes and went to where the bikes were parked. he kicked the stand at the rear wheel when his friends caught up to him with their own bikes. goodness why can’t they just leave me alone? “what do you want?” he stood a little to pedal ahead.

kun rode along beside him, eyes alternating at and on the road. “what now? you’re just going to pretend you didn’t see y/n? like nothing happened?”

“how can i ignore that when her figure’s so obvious and literally running away from here? i’m not going to do anything about-”

jungwoo then sighed heavily, causing jaehyun to knit brows. “she looked over our bus you dimwit! that means she thought of talking to you but held back because of-”

“i’ll talk to y/n in my own terms and in my own time! stop forcing me to do things when you think it would work well for me!” jaehyun pressed on the brakes with his palms.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

kun and jungwoo’s eyes followed your swirling fork and the silent air that had been going for half an hour. they thought knocking onto the doors of jaehyun’s closed heart was hard, never expected yours was harder. you wouldn’t say anything after they invited you, claiming they missed you around them.

because it had been two full semesters since then. from what the boys told you, jaehyun lost focus and couldn’t lead the team to the championships. he always fought with his father and would burst in anger, throwing unnecessary fits towards them even though they worked hard to reach the quarterfinals.

this behaviour would happen so often that it began to strain his relationships with everyone on the team. the transformation did a lot worse to his body, he’d get sick and weak, and for over months, he would not transform back immediately within the golden hour ended. it lasted longer. sometimes even the morning after.

it worried them that if jaehyun given up all hope and continued to act that way, the urge to find the solution would never take place. and that he would remain an animal forever. even so, you knew their intentions to invite you today despite feeling sad for jaehyun. and you prepared your answer before they could speak.

“y/n-”

“as much as i love to stay, i’m here to tell you you’ve wasted your efforts. if jaehyun won’t talk to me.. then i’ll just keep giving him space until he apologises first.” you were already losing appetite talking about it.

“and you think waiting game would pull off too, hm?” kun’s dimple deepened, a flat smile seen on the exterior.

you put down your fork. “i didn’t think we’ll last this long not talking-”

ten smirked in disbelief, you forgot he was there too. his presence was almost non-existent as he kept quiet the whole time. “keep it like that. you’re held accountable for making jaehyun the way he is now.”

“ten!” kun scowled at the guy. “i told you not to talk.”

you rolled your eyes that his words hurt more than the eye roll. “why is he here anyway? you said it’ll only be the two of you. unbelievable.”

“to see if you came up with a solution to lift jaehyun’s curse. looking at you now, i guess you didn’t.” he said and you tried your best to refrain yourself from hitting him. “were you mocking him when you suggested it might be the same answer as that disney film?”

“i said as a joke but it might be a possibility. we live in a world where people go through inexplainable experiences that science couldn’t dive in deep.” you sighed.

jungwoo tapped the table to stop the bickering you and ten were starting. “like my hunch says, maybe it’s another soulmate thing i’ve mentioned to you guys at the camp.”

“it’s not a soulmate thing, jungwoo.” kun and ten said simultaneously.

you brought out an a5 sized sealed envelope and the action alone made the boys stunned. “don’t open this. just give it to him. anyway, the sun’s setting. i really have to go.” you passed the item to kun.

it’s suffocating. i can’t stay here long. they saw how hesitating your limbs were, your eyes averting them and clearing your throat several times.

“ten, does this look like she didn’t do anything? this proves she’s trying.” kun took the envelope and hit it on ten’s head.

as you put on your coat whilst standing next to the table, ten sat back with arms crossed. “acting smart, aren’t you? you really think you’re the belle for jaehyun huh? i wouldn’t believe that for a second.”

“i didn’t say anything about me being the solution. i’m still keeping my promise to help him. and trust me, i don’t think i’m belle either.” you grabbed your bag and left, your food gone cold and jungwoo sighed at the air turning worse thanks to ten.

the cash money was placed on the table when kun called the waiter. “please keep the change.” he looked at your slouching figure by the bus stop across the restaurant. it screamed sadness and hurt all over.

the reason for suddenly leaving wasn’t because you were offended with what ten said. of course there was truth in his words. at some point you thought you were someone important to jaehyun, since you could hear him.

you thought you both were soulmates.

you left because you spotted a familiar figure standing by the door. haven’t been seeing him lately only made you feel angry at yourself. you were a coward, you even passed the envelope to the boys instead of giving it to jaehyun yourself. your friends already encouraged you about it, that that was the only thing to narrow the gap between you and jaehyun. it was to show that you were still supporting him.

why are you like this y/n? if you like him, you’d do anything to get his attention and forgiveness. why are you doing things to push him away, rather.. why are you forcing yourself to not care when you still do?

you continued to walk with your head low for another hour, troubled in your thoughts as they’ve been bothering you for many months. snap out of it y/n-

*tug*

*scratch*

the hems of your baggy jeans were pulled and torn with minimal, adorable force. it took you a while to process the animal before you. a blue bunny, what’s a bunny doing here- oh.

“sungchan?”

—

he rose from the bushes in front of their house. you stood there awkwardly while he figures to cover his body after the blue hour. “i’m sorry for asking you to bring me home. i get tired from hopping sometimes.” he grabbed a towel that he was hanging by the gate.

“no worries. i-i’ve seen- nevermind.” your voice softened at the latter.

sungchan pursed his lips to refrain himself from smiling since he was there and witnessed when it happened. “come in, i’ll make you some tea. it’s my way of thanks.”

although he was kinder than his brother, probably more mature, he was still young that you could see through his intentions. you knew he wanted some patching up done between you and jaehyun. you hesitated for a while, but since you were there already, might as well try to talk to him—

even if there was a slim chance of making things work.

you sat on the sofa, slightly still and awkward being in the residence. little sips, light breathing and the soft wind from the fan were only heard within the living area. “did my brother cause you a lot of trouble during the camp?” sungchan asked and knowing that you were silent, he knew jaehyun probably did. “how about now?”

“actually, i think i’m the one causing more trouble for him because i feel like i’m not doing anything to help when i said i would.” you sighed as he continued to listen.

“really? i heard from the others you’re helping so much that it changed my brother.. at the least he’s not cranky.” his nose twitched so adorably that you thought it was derived from being a bunny almost his whole life. “also, there’s that envelope-” he paused while realising how your expression caught him off guard.

maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned it, but he wanted you to know he wasn’t spying on you. he made that clear with his silence.

if he saw that back at the restaurant, that only meant he was there for quite some time. you let out a small smile that he was probably there not for you, but to wait for his brother’s friends. instead of bumping into them, he bumped into you.

“oh, that. it.. has a bunch of handwritten letters i’ve compiled when i struggled talking to jaehyun. i just felt that maybe it’s more sincere if i had to apologise.. y’know, eventually.”

he pursed his lips and nodded. “then why not put those words into actual words? like verbal words.” sungchan’s fingers pointed upwards, hinting that jaehyun was up in his room. “for all i know it’s the most sincere thing to do.”

crap, he’s not expressive but he’s so so mature for his age. it made you feel inferior for a moment.

“but before you do that, i have to tell you something that my dad and brother missed out about our curse. why jaehyun-hyung is more pressured than i am.”

(few minutes later)

you slid against the wall while sungchan went out to do grocery shopping. at the other side of the door, in between the thin gap, you could hear soft breathing; jaehyun was on his bed, sleeping in his dog form and it hurt you since time already passed both golden and blue hour, he should’ve transformed like his brother did. instead he laid there as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

meanwhile, jaehyun knew you entered his room. he pretended to be sleeping and expected he wouldn’t know how to act when he gets to face you. he decided to stay as he was.

until you pat then caressed his head.

he didn’t want to settle or give in for the fact you loved golden retrievers. he blamed on the shallow euphroria dogs easily feel. and because he was in his dog form, the anger he held for you disappeared. but at the same time, was your touch out of care or pity? he couldn’t figure it out. then he could hear the beats of your heart, and that made him sit up. your heart was fast. it was worrying. it was—

“why didn’t you tell me the whole story?” your voice wavered in heaving breaths as he finally looked you in the eye. his ears twitched and he faced the door, knowing that sungchan told everything.

jaehyun shook his body and whiskers moved before he telepathically answered you. “believe me i tried. i hate myself for being sensitive and i couldn’t bring to tell you because i got angry. but you have to know that i value trust more than anything.”

“you know what’s ironic?” you sighed, pressing your forehead as pain began to form. “you didn’t trust me first and and we fought because you didn’t do that. and you didn’t trust me enough that you only told me what, like 50 percent of it?”

of course he knew what you referred to.

he was going to tell you the day he visited your cottage at camp. but he didn’t get to, because ten told him news ahead of him that it ruined the purpose to talk to you. it wasn’t that he blamed him, it was due to the fact he wasn’t prepared for something like that. even for something like this.

because there was that prophecy weighing on his shoulders.

“sungchan said that it has to directly come from you, so you better tell me now before our friendship falls out.” you warned and leaned back against the headboard.

currently your friendship was on the line, wobbling on tight ropes. pushing you further away would do no good.

jaehyun sat and his paws were dignified into a comfortable position. his head laid on a cushion pillow, facing towards you. “fine. most of my family turns into wild animals, and they couldn’t control themselves in that other form. their wildlife instincts overpowers their thoughts.” he yawned.

“and it’s different for me and sungchan. when we were born, when we had our first full transformation, they were shocked to know we turn into domestic animals. we’re able to remember, think and live as if we’re still humans. at the end, it’s either of us to stop the curse.”

“so why did your brother mention that you’re the most pressured? why did it only have to be you?” this time you spoke, there was more depth into your feelings if you spoke. as sungchan said, verbally was more sincere. “you could share the burden with him.”

he sighed at the tone of your voice. “isn’t it obvious? the role is immediately passed onto me not because i’m the first born.. it’s because you suddenly could talk to me.. telepathically.”

“yeah and we couldn’t even figure that one out yet.” you scoffed remembering the times you’ve placed your efforts on that matter and now it had gone all to waste. all because you both had that fight.

he read through your eyes and sensed the intention from your words. plus he hated how you delivered it with that certain tone. “i didn’t bring this up just to blame you for my own satisfaction!” he groaned. “i brought it up so that i can apologise! i was wrong, okay?! i should’ve listened to you instead of carelessly listening to ten-”

you refrained yourself from showing any further hurt. recalling it would only make you cry. “well you were manipulated with ten’s assumptions. you believed him more than me. he had proof while i didn’t. i was in the losing end! not like i expected you to change your mind. so can we just.. get this overwith and tell me what the prophecy is?”

he was speechless for a while. you being straight-forward yet in a pained voice was too much for him. he was already softening his feelings for you and you had to tense it all up again. “‘only one could save those who lay under the curse, for they must be in the correct peace of mind and body to break it before it turns for worse.’”

“and the ‘worse’ means you won’t transform back anymore?” you asked, the prophecy already piercing your heart as you waited for more explanation.

“that and..” he trailed off. “..we lose our humanity too. we won’t remember anything. memories erased like a snap of the finger. and we’ll just be.. another animal.”

you pushed yourself to sit up as your heart clenched tight. “jaehyun! why say it now and not before?”

“because! what is there for you to do-”

you squished the dog’s into a wrinkly mess, to the point jaehyun couldn’t see anything. his paws tried to put your arms down, but even clawing was hard for him to do. then he felt you lean forward to hug him. “y/n? what’re you doing?” you didn’t answer.

crap, this is warm. it feels.. nice. embarrassed, he put his thoughts at the back of his mind. “are you doing this out of pity? do i look that helpless-”

what crossed his mind was that you thought he needed a hug and was the only thing you could do. but you proved him wrong, so, so wrong. and why didn’t he realise it sooner in his life?

“you have to treat yourself like someone you love!”

what?

“you have to fill yourself with it! have you been thinking half-heartedly or do things half-assed because you’re different from people? do you not realise there are people who loves you? you trust them so less that you’re not confident into breaking the curse! because you didn’t really try!”

he froze in his stance, like a bullet pierced through his chest with how true your point was. he didn’t know what love was when his mother left the family. he didn’t dare to open up with his dad and brother, not his friends as for so long he didn’t do that one important thing— trust.

jaehyun thought he did that. he had enough encouragement but only to the level of content. he didn’t expect more as what else was there for people cursed like his family? “why are you so worried or do this much for me?”

“because no one actually helped you!” your arms tightened around him. “your friends were occupied into thinking that protecting you and your curse from others was the safest thing to do. it’s not! it just gets you self-conscious, conceited and too comfortable to not to do anything at all!” everything you said knocked down the pillars of his pride. he wasn’t at all living in humility if his friends did ever help.

“y/n we’re nothing more than friends. how could you be pushing yourself onto my problems-”

“i’m one of the people, jaehyun. don’t you get it now? i l-”

as if the phone line got cut off, he couldn’t hear the rest. you appeared like a television who lost its voice, however, somehow he knew what came after that. he didn’t want to admit it, after spending time with you at camp, he realised his heart felt the same.

you were quick to catch on. the golden retriever just stared at you, you couldn’t hear him as well. not even telepathically. jaehyun laid back down, ignored you and went to sleep. you nudged him, he wouldn’t move. you felt a swarm of blame towards him. if only he told you earlier, he wouldn’t be in this state where he was just another dog. mostly you blamed yourself for not taking the initiative first to fix things. you went along with your anger and his waiting game.

where did it get you? to this.

the one second revelation he heard from you and then fell into slumber, he was standing in front of himself, before a mirror. a series of himself switching from human to animal throughout the years. the glass cracked over his face. as if he entered a new world, he had to prepare mentally for what was to come.

instead he awoke like he only passed out from exhaustion. to only see you hugging your legs, head down with soft sobs and hiccups, he reached out for you yet hesitated. he checked the time, the golden hour was to arrive.

“y/n.” he called out in a low voice.

“no.” you mumbled. “i shouldn’t be hearing him.”

“but you really are, though.”

you shot your head up, tears rolling down your cheeks when you felt his touch— his large palms holding yours. he transformed, you had many questions as you thought it was too late.

confused and tired, you stared at him blankly. processing the guy before you took a whole minute to realise jaehyun transformed back. “is.. is this a joke?” you coughed and rubbed your tears. “i saw you faint- i saw how you lost the light in your eyes- i saw-”

he’s blushing. his ears are red.

jaehyun pulled you into an embrace, he caressed your head as if he held a newborn. “the curse broke around the time i realised i lacked self-care. it was the same time you said it too.”

looking back, he didn’t treat himself right since the beginning. he realised he shouldn’t have looked for a solution or someone to love him. he was the someone he was looking for, and should’ve reflected on himself than to rely too much on others.

“you’re still hugging me.” you said, stopping his trail of thoughts. you pat his back quickly and he was holding you tight. “you’re squeezing the oxygen out of me.”

“can’t i hold you longer? you’ve been so helpful even when i pushed you away. now i don’t really want to let go.” jaehyun whispered. he never felt something like this before— this urge to love someone. “what if the curse comes back when you go away?”

you felt your head bursting with temperatures your body was experiencing now. “you really have to let go!” clearing your throat, you tried to shove him away.

“no. don’t be stubborn.”

“don’t be clingy, clingy!”

“you want me to hug you though.”

“i do but- wait no that’s not- i-”

he squeezed your face between his hands. “you love me, don’t you. and you said i’m not loveable.” he teased and goodness his dimples shot you at the heart. you kicked him in the chest yet he leaned forwards, closer than usual. “i can feel your veins beating crazily.”

ah for crying out loud! “jung jaehyun.” you called him with a stern and plain voice. “get off me.”

“tsk i said i wouldn’t-”

“jaehyun you’re naked.”

hm? he pulled himself away from you, looked down and covered his lower body. ah heavens- “i’m sorr-”

a thud was heard by the door. you both turned heads to sleepy sungchan dropping a parcel delivered to jaehyun while holding a toothbrush with his mouth and prominent bed hair. “uh bro, this is-”

“dad! i think hyung’s in his mating season!”

“i’m so not!”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

because the curse was lifted and jaehyun made it happen, all those who fell under it soon experienced freedom and joy after years of agony and pain and fear. feelings opposite to them showered upon them that morning like spring rain.

you sat in between jaehyun and ten, who haven’t been talking to each since they fought over little things, mainly about you. ten still didn’t believe that you were jaehyun’s girlfriend, because he recalled you guys were not going to mend things.

“so that’s it? it’s so hard to believe. she just hugged you and the curse’s gone? even more so you’re both dating?”

“ten, c’mon dude.” kun brought out his fist to bump yours. “she’ll be hanging with us from now on. you have to stop being a stuck-up.”

ten shrugged in defeat and finally nodded in acceptance. “fine. i’ll let it go. i mean the curse’s broken won’t bother jae anymore.” he turned to you. “i’m sorry y/n. jae and i have been best friends since kindergarten. so it’s kinda a brotherly instinct to protect him. it just comes out.”

“you do seem like the leader of the pack.” you fiddled with jaehyun’s fingers while he draped his arm around you.

“i thought i was the leader?” kun sounded offended, but not entirely.

jaehyun remained quiet. he told everyone what had happened. however, there was still one question left unanswered. what was the telepathy about?

what did it have to do with you and him? he thought about that real hard. were you actually a missing piece in the prophecy or did he misunderstand it? there were a lot of possibilities, a lot of ideas coming up that maybe he figured it wrong. maybe you did contribute to the breaking of the curse-

“ah!” jungwoo exclaimed as flicked the paper back and forth. he proudly showed what he found, putting the pieces together. the paper was moving quickly that the pairs of eyes couldn’t focus or see anything. “i’ve been telling you guys since camp but you wouldn’t listen to me!”

you squinted your hardest to see the words. all you got from the sheet of paper scribbles and connecting lines. the boys started to fight for the so they could read the younger one forcibly shoved in front of their faces.

jungwoo wanted his friends to feel their pride stepped on them, and held on the paper. “read the prophecy again. i’m excited-”

“you being excited about these things is nothing new-” ten yelled, and kun covered his mouth at the loud volume.

“‘only one could save those who lay under the curse, for they must be in the correct peace of mind and body to break it before it turns for worse.’ guys, it’s already hinted in it!” he pointed at the parts he was scribbling on earlier.

he expounded the prophecy was a little misleading. it wasn’t being literal about the right mind and body. they were the results of the having the correct heart, as the two would only be affected greatly if not for the heart.

jungwoo scooted next to you. “y/n, you weren’t only the key to solving it. you were the only person who gave him that push and made him realise he should love himself for who he was. you gave him that peace of mind because you are the heart. as we all know, the mind and body can’t function without the heart.”

“that sounds sweet?” kun blushed even though he wasn’t supposed to.

“yeah sure but the telepathy happening at the same time with my curse was just a coincidence though?” jaehyun asked.

“onto my next point!” jungwoo drew on the paper again. “i realised you told us before that only family members of the same curse can talk to each other telepathically.”

jaehyun’s brows only furrowed narrower. “which doesn’t make sense because she’s not part of my family.”

jungwoo grinned widely, it almost made you nervous but if it was coming from jungwoo, it always had to be something good. “not even us lads can even talk to you with our minds though we’re close like brothers. what if it’s a sign that she will be part of your family? even if the curse’s broken, it still proves my point that you were soulmates all along.”

somehow you knew it was headed to this. what jungwoo’s saying was similar to your hunch. you weren’t confident as he was because at the time, the curse wasn’t lifted. now that it was, you never knew you were actually right.

jaehyun shrunk in his seat after hearing jungwoo’s theory. he looked at you; who was now giggling with the others. he never thought you were his soulmate, it never crossed his mind. you appeared in his life as a shadow at first, before you resurfaced and made it a roller coaster ride. it was an eye opener for him too, you loved him for who he was, his flaws— that being the curse. although there were frequent bickers, that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy or hate them. he was afraid you’d leave after knowing his transformation.

you didn’t. you stayed. not because you were forced to just to keep his secret, you stayed since you said you’d help. and that lifted weight off of his shoulders. colours came into view more spirited, clouded thoughts in his head faded and everything he heard that were once muffled became clear. he had to compare it like he was reborn.

in the end, you were still beside him, adjacent to him.

[the-slytherin-writer-12]

bucky's first christmas season post endgame and finds out his cute ass neighbor is lonely too and they spend entire of december filled w/traditions and aa super fluffy ending upto you??

Omg this is so cute! Thanks for requestion anon!! I sort of tweaked it, but it’s sorta the same idea.

‘Tis the Season (for love)

Pairing: Bucky x fem!reader

Warnings: nothing?

A/N: this is kinda an AU. Before WandaVision and TFATWS and Hawkeye..before all of the spin-off series.

Marvel Masterlist

General Masterlist

Bucky had no idea what was happening. He was at the newly rebuilt Avengers Compound, figuring he might as well make friends. Steve had be incessant about it.

He stood in the common room, watching as Christmas lights were floating up towards the ceiling, curtesy of Wanda. He had his arms crossed, the lights reflecting on his vibranium arm.

“Come on, Pops. Have some holiday cheer!” Sam joked, clapping Bucky on the back. Bucky jolted forward and turned to glare at Sam.

“First of all, it’s not even Thanksgiving. Second of all, I do. I’m just trying to figure out everything, Wilson. Haven’t exactly had a normal Christmas in a few decades,” Bucky grumbled. Sam scoffed and brought his drink up o his lips.

“Ok, ok. Whatever you say, Gramps.”

Bucky glared at Sam’s back as he walked over to Natasha. He watched as Natasha took Sam’s drink and downed it, with Sam groaning and walking away.

Bucky then noticed that Decorating was done. Lights and garland were strewn over all surfaces. A giant tree sat in the corner, adorned with ornaments. Each member had a ornament to represent them. Even the Spider-kid had one.

Steve noticed Bucky’s brooding, so he walked away from where he was listening to Tony ramble to Clint and Thor about something Morgan did.

“What’s wrong, Buck?”

Bucky glanced at Steve and shook his head, sighing slightly.

“Nothing, Steve. Just thinking,” he said quietly. Steve walked to stand beside him and threw his arm around the brunette’s shoulders.

“Why don’t you go home and sleep,” Steve said softly and knowingly. Bucky nodded and hugged Steve.

—————————————————————-

Bucky rode along the New York streets on his bike. Tony had offered a new Buick, or even a Ferrari, but Bucky kindly refused. He chose a motorcycle instead. There was just something about the thrum of the engine beneath him. It had a calming effect. The wind on his face never failed to soothe him too. It made him feel, even just for a fleeting moment, that everyone was fine.

As he neared his apartment building, he noticed a car sitting in his normal parking spot. He scowled but parked beside it. He turned the engine off, took off his helmet, and swung his legs off the bike.

While scanning the car (because of his paranoia), he noticed it belonged to a woman, or very feminine man. It had a leopard print steering wheel cover, a perfume-like air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror, and a purse sitting in the front seat.

He shook his head and walked up to the building, while fishing out his keys from his leather jacket. He walked into the lobby, being hit by a rush of cold air as the automatic doors opened. The bellhop greeted him with a bright smile, to which Bucky responded with a tight lipped almost-grimace. He walked to the elevator and pressed his floor number.

The elevator music was almost sickening. He grumbled about it all the way up to his floor. After the door dinged open, he practically raced down the hall. Once he rounded the corner, he stopped in his tracks. A young woman, probably around his age, maybe younger, was outside what he assumed was her door.

She turned his way and he realization hit him. His eyes widened.

It was his best friend…. from the ‘40s.

“Y/N?” He breathed. The woman’s eyes widened and she dropped her stuff.

“Bucky,” she almost whimpered.

They ran towards each other and launched themselves into a strong embrace. She wrapped herself around him like a koala, wrapping her legs around his hips and her arms around his neck. Bucky wrapped one arm around her waist and the other around her back, his flesh hand weaving itself into her hair and keeping her close.

“Oh Y/N/N, oh doll,” he whispered into her hair. Y/N pulled back and cupped his face. She admired his features, running her fingers over his beard. He looked tired, older. But his eyes hadn’t changed. “How are you here?”

Y/N laughed and gave him a watery smile.

“After you and Stevie..left, Howard developed cryogenic chambers, similar to how you were kept young with Hydra. I was in a really bad place and Howard saw my condition. I guess it was a gift back to me after introducing him to Maria,” she chuckled. Bucky set Y/N down and grinned down at her. He kissed her forehead.

“Where have you been all this time?” He asked, messing with her fingers.

“I was in the chamber until last year, after Thanos. The people who had me, I think it was the Wakandans, decided not to wake me until after. They knew it was no situation to wake up to,” she explained. Bucky nodded and smiled again.

“I’m just glad you’re back. We’ve got to tell Steve.”

——————————————————————-

Weeks passed, and Bucky and Y/N got back into a flow. They often stayed at each other’s apartment, mostly for Bucky’s sake. Y/N could tell that he was not okay mentally. She could tell that he wasn’t sleeping at night.

They helped each other decorate their apartments. Neither of them were very up-to-date with traditions and customs. Steve showed up multiple times, overjoyed that he had both of his best friends back with him.

They sat in Y/N’s apartment drinking hot chocolate, but spiked with alcohol. Steve sat in the arm chair, passed out from his day. Bucky and Y/N sat on the couch in front of her fireplace. She was leaving into his side with his arm wrapped around her shoulders. She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Y/N?” He asked softly and glanced down dr her. His hand moved to play with her hair, something he remembered she liked from their time together as kids.

“Nothing, really. Nothing at all. I’m just happy I have both of my best friends back,” she smiled and looked up at him. Bucky smiled and kissed her forehead.

“Me too. I don’t think a day went by that I didn’t think of you two,” he trailed off. The unspoken ‘unless I was being controlled’ lingered in the air.

Y/N moved out from under his arm and turned around to face him. Bucky’s eyebrows furled as she moved. He watched as his arm reached up and ran through his hair. He closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.

“I missed you so much,” he groaned. Y/N smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek. But, he turned his head towards her and their lips met in a quick kiss. They quickly jumped back and stared at each other.

“I’m so sor-“ she started but was cut off by him seizing her arms and bringing her closer. He planted his lips on her and closed his eyes.

Y/N’s eyes widened but she slowly melted into the kiss. Both of her arms wrapped around his neck and his wrapped around her waist. She sat up on her knees to get level with him and to prevent a strain on his neck. Slowly, their lips moved in sync.

They pulled back when oxygen was a necessity, but kept their lips not far from each other’s. Bucky was smiling so hard his face hurt.

“Merry Christmas, doll,” he whispered against her lips. Y/N pecked his lips once again.

“Merry Christmas, Bucky.”

[skellebonez]

Because I'm sure this is going to be inevitable, how about some angst for the Chaos Trio (Mei, Jin and Yin)? With 61 and 52

Oh I have been looking forward to Chaos Trio angst since you sent me this, anon. Despite how they act in show... I think Jin and Yin are not exactly harmless. Especially if you mess with people they start to consider family.

The Cursed AU and the Chaos Trio in it come from @winterpower98!

Warning: blood and head injuries, enemy demons limbs (not detailed).

That is not a good hiding spot./I am a really bad actor.

Things had been going pretty well, all things considered. Jin and Yin had no problem getting Mei to join them in a little bit of... let's say "competitive insurance" as it were. They had to make sure they were secured in their own little tech related ventures, and after some financial setbacks they needed extra fallback. They’d planned the whole thing out with her help, more than 2 steps and everything! She was good at that.

The problem was that someone got a lucky hit.

They would have made it out with no problems, if they all hadn't decided going on Mei's motorcycle as a group (which, now that Yin thought about it, was probably incredibly dangerous and illegal with 3 of them on it... not that they cared about legality for themselves but somehow when it came to Mei that suddenly made them concerned). But nope. 1 bike. 3 people.

One lucky shot to the rear tire.

The three of them went flying, Mei landing very impressively on her feet whole Jin and Yin bounced on a bush and thanked anyone listening that demons were sturdier than humans. They didn't thank anyone for the pieces of bike that came flying at them all, and they were certain that they heard a piece make contact with something hard, maybe the nearby light pole, but couldn't be sure.

By the time they looked up they just knew they had a group of very angry demons that were pissed they stole and then wiped their code for... something, didn't matter to the twins what it was. They just wanted their competition out of the way. For solely selfish reasons. Nothing else. Not like they wanted it to see what it was and maybe figure out a counter attack so that certain overpowered people with monkey motifs would have an easier time in the future.

Not a chance.

As they fought off the attacking demons they insisted to themselves they didn't care that much.

"That is not a good hiding spot!" Jin yelled across the battlefield as Yin ducked behind crates. "Just chuck it for now and beat em with the blunt end of something else!"

"Just give me 2 seconds, I can fix it!" Yin yelled back, trying his best to reassemble a part of his sword hilt that had broken off.

"Come on, these guys ain't so tough!" Mei laughed out, easily dodging projectiles and backsliding and slicing and dicing as she went. No one was actually killed, but they were lucky because the only reason for that was the young woman wasn't exactly out for blood. They'd be feeling every single hit well into morning though! She was doing much better than the two of them. "Grab a pipe or something! Wish I had MK's magic building power though, I'd rather not be here all-YIN!"

The younger twin looked up from where he had been crouched, eyes widening as he saw the form of a much larger demon hulking over him and ready to batter him with a club.

Things had been going well. All things considered. Then someone got a second lucky hit.

Right as Mei dove in to push the younger silver twin out of the way.

For a second the fighting stopped. There was just the sound of wood hitting hard plastic and fiberglass as the club was sliced in half by her sword and the lopped off half continued it's trajectory and slammed into Mei's head to lead to her crumbling on top of Yin. Jin stood on too of a pile of crates, watching as a line of red seeped through a crack in her visor and stained the white of her suit.

And then his entire vision was red as he lunged at the demon and sliced, sending his arm flying in the opposite direction.

The demon screamed, holding the stump that was his arm from the elbow down, backing away as quickly as he could. "W-what the hell!?"

"Mei," Yin said softly, carefully clicking the emergency release button to make her helmet digitize away. Her eyes were closed, blood dripping from a slice running along her scalp... but as far as he could tell it was from part of the helmet being cracked and cutting her. She was most likely knocked out from the impact, breathing odd but steady in her unconscious state. "You... we're going to get you to the hospital."

His tone hardened as he carefully laid her on the ground, standing tall as he grabbed his broken weapon and a nearby piece of broken steel.

"You. Are going. To pay for that," Yin said coldly, stance no longer lose and half playful as it had been the whole battle. His stood tall, eyes wide and cold and the demons surrounding them felt a chill run down their spines.

Jin stood in front of him, blood from the other demon splattered across his face and chest in a stark contrast to his orange visage.

This... this wasn't the pair of Gold and Silver Demons they had heard about before. They were known for not taking almost anything seriously, making bad deals and pacts and weird blood oaths they wasted on bizarre favors. They were known for being good at tach but not much else, most demons in the area knew vaguely of their history with the Monkey King but even that ended in failure. Their plans were half baked, goofy, and lately they'd heard they'd gotten roped in with the Monkey King's successor and renewed flame of the Six-Eared Macaque.

The two standing before them did not look like the demons they'd heard about.

Mei hadn't wanted to seriously hurt anyone. The demons heard her yelling as much on the battlefield. But now Mei was hurt.

And the twins did.

It happened fast. They wanted to get it over with quickly. Mei had also not wanted to kill anyone at the very least the twins could do was keep up their promise from earlier in the day to avoid that. And they did.

That didn't mean there weren't lost limbs. Hands and arms. A leg or two. More than a couple eyes were lost. Someone lost an ear. Another a tail and horn.

Injuries they could recover from meant as warnings.

All it took was 3 minutes and the entire storage area they crashed in was a mix of grey and brown and red. Demons holding their injuries or running off.

The one who had attacked Yin and hurt Mei stood in awe and fear, looking down at the smaller twins who has decimated an entire group so fast.

"I-how!?" He yelled, backing up slowly. "This isn't possible, you're not this strong!"

"Who told you that?" Yin asked slowly, tilting his head and watching as the demon realized... he'd never heard they couldn't fight. "We don't fight like this because we don't want to. Never meant we can't."

"Why?"

"We are really bad actors," Jin said, wiping the blood off his weapon on an unconscious demon's shirt. "Why bother trying to hold back when we can just hide it by not trying?" He turned to the demon, glowering coldly as he watched his brother pick Mei up carefully. "Tell anyone who asks nothing. We'd like to keep it that way. Unless you want a round two where someone else doesn't hold us back."

And then they were gone.

~

"What in the actual hell happened?" Macaque asked in an even tone. Practiced even. A dangerous even.

"Well-" "You see boss-" "we kinda-" "-there was-"

Jin and Yin tried to think of a reasonable excuse, faltering as everything they thought of sounded worse and worse in their heads.

The two sat in Mei's hospital room, towels draped around their shoulders. They’d been smart enough to stash Mei's bike somewhere safe and wash off in the ocean before coming to the hospital, less covered in demon blood meant less scared humans when they rushed in with Mei in tow, and it was easy to make the nurses believe them.

Simple bike accident, friend hurt, help please.

With Macaque staring them down with his patented death glower, shadows growing and warping around the room in response to him, it was infinitely harder.

Of course Mei's emergency contact was MK. Of course MK could call Macaque before her parents (who were apparently on their way back from some kind of dragon family business trip when they learned). Of course Macaque would show up almost immediately and begin asking questions.

"It was my fault," Mei chimed in, voice slightly off from having awoken with a nasty concussion. "I thought it'd be fun to go on a joy ride late at night, I've done it before without issues! But, uh... I've never had two passengers before... and we hit something. Don't be mad at them?"

Macaque looked like he believed Mei as much as he believed Tang would lose interest in the Monkey King and switch his field of study to obscure methods of basket weaving. Which is to say: he didn’t. But he sighed, giving Mei a small smile as the shadows returned to normal.

"Ok," he said softly, tone much more gentle with the dragon descendant as he reached out to brush loose hair out of her face. "I won't be mad at them. I'll be very disappointed-" his tone hardened for a second at those words as he turned to the twins with a glower again. "-but I won't be mad. Do you need anything?"

"Maybe a candy bar from the vending machines outside?" Mei asked with a smile.

"Sure," Macaque laughed and shook his head, moving to the corner of the room. "I'll be right back."

He sunk into the shadows, a cool trick that the twins would always be impressed by, and they breathed a sigh of relief at knowing they were alone. For now.

"You didn't have to do that," Jin said, frowning at Mei in concern. Maybe it was just because he was now the eldest in the room, but some kind of protective feel pulled at him.

"I know," Mei said with a tired laugh, laying back into her pillow. "But you guys are like... my bros. I gotta stand up for my bros."

And that made both Jin and Yin pause. They looked at each other, eyes widening as they both came to a realization that was probably a very long time coming at that point.

"Yeah..." Yin said, a soft smile forming on his face. "We'd do the same for you... you know, if you didn't take that hit for me you probably would have kicked everyone's ass way better than us! We barely got out by the skin of our teeth!" A full truth and a blatant lie, but he hoped Mei wouldn't pick up on that second part.

"You know it, boi!" She didn't.

It was odd for him in particular. Yin had never really thought of himself as an older brother before.

First time for everything.

[one-boring-person]

Hi, it's me again lol. I'm not very well, could you do one with Lost Boys, which the reader suffers with depression until one day she is about to try something to end the pain, but the boys find her and stop her plan? Something cute with them talking to her, hugs and they even decide to take her in. If you don't want to because it's too triggering, that's fine, I'll understand. I'm really sorry if it's bothersome, it's just that I needed some comfort with them and you write so well.

Oh no, I hope you feel better after reading this! I'm sorry it's so short!💛❤ and thanks for the compliments!

Why Did You Stop Me?

The Lost Boys x reader

Warnings: SUICIDAL THEMES, mention of death

Masterlist

A/n: this is the closest I will get to writing suicide (for future reference for others)

Wind tears around the four vampires as they race up the road, each thanking whatever God there is that their bodies don't get tired from exertion like this, though they use the same breath to curse them. Normally, they'd be much faster, using the air to get exactly where they need to be, but nature is playing a cruel trick on them today: a storm rages around Santa Carla, the wind and rain far too strong for flying to be of any real use. It does nothing to help the panic sparking through their systems, bodies tense as they push through the whirling haze of rain, eyes wide in terror. None of them, not Paul, not Marko, not Dwayne, not even David, can remember the last time they were as frightened, as helpless as they felt now.

Paul leads, his naturally leaner body moving faster than the others, though Dwayne is right on his tail, Marko and David bringing up the rear, their coats flying out behind them. None of them speak, each too focused on getting up the hill they've ridden up so many times, the stretch feeling longer than it ever has done. The sharp ridge of the bridge up ahead is already in view, the structure so familiar to them, a place they never thought would be used for anything except their own enjoyment. 

As they finally crest the top of the hill, a familiar figure comes into view, their silhouette almost invisible through the rainstorm as they stare down at the gaping drop below them. It's heartbreaking for the vampires to see this, the set to the figure's shoulders dejected, slumped and weak, something they've come to notice in past months, though they always tried to curb it. They tried all sorts: nights out on the Boardwalk, movie nights in their home, food dates, motorbike rides, everything. It had looked like it was working, like their efforts were making a change, but it was only tonight that they figured out it made no difference. The note they found at the cave had told them that their efforts were appreciated, but that, though they had tried, it wasn't enough. Not this time.

Their brains had gone blank as they tore from the hotel, forgetting their bikes as they started the long run to the bridge, where they knew she'd be waiting, ready to commit one last act.

Now, as they race out over the edge of the hill, they call out to her, Paul breaking into a sprint as he gets close. She looks over at them, eyes widening as she freezes in place, before she turns back to the drop, moving closer to the edge. 

Paul visibly strains to move faster, hair fanning out around his face as he leaps to catch (Y/n), who finally steps off of the edge. 

The others skid to a halt, screaming out to her as she starts to plummet to the black depths, hearts dropping in terror, their voices raw with pain and horror, pleading lacing their tones. David, Marko and Dwayne can only watch as Paul throws himself off after her, arms outstretched as he calls out to her, desperation driving him forwards. 

For a moment, there is no sound except the howling wind around them, the rain pelting the floor beating out a rhythm they don't pay any attention to, the three vampires frozen in place in terror. Genuine fear is etched into David's expression, his face more open and vulnerable than either Dwayne or Marko can recall it ever being, but then so are theirs. Stock still, they remain where they are, staring out over the empty crack in the ground, every particle within them being used to pray for (Y/n)'s survival and Paul's success. He'd always been a fast flyer, so he definitely stands a good choice of catching her.

Minutes pass, before Paul finally emerges back over the lip of the cliff, a body cradled in his arms. In the dark, the others can tell he's distraught, his eyes wide as he stares down at the girl in his grip, the limp figure curled into his chest. Instantly, the other three leap into the air, fighting the harsh winds as they move to crowd round their friend, anxious to know if (Y/n) is alright.

"She fainted...she's alive." Paul manages out, sounding breathless as he holds (Y/n) closer to him.

Relief floods them all, teary eyes closing as they thank whatever is out there that she's still with them, that she hasn't been taken away from them prematurely.

*

It's a few hours later that (Y/n) finally comes to again, finding herself confused and disoriented as she wakes in a bed full of four other bodies, each curled around her. The feeling is comforting, but she can't help the small spark of disappointment that flares up within her as she realises she's still alive. Groaning, she leans her head back, surprised when it meets the hard ridge of someone's collarbone. She glances up, eyes widening in surprise as she sees David watching her, his piercing eyes softer than usual. The look instills a sense of security within her, and she glances around her again, taking in the other vampires holding her. Dwayne lies to David's right, his head on her shoulder, whilst Marko uses her stomach as a pillow, Paul lying between her legs, his head on one of her thighs. All of them are watching her, relief written into their features.

"You're awake." Paul murmurs, his warm blue eyes meeting her's.

Tired, she simply nods, somewhat unhappy with that fact. They notice this, and their grips tighten around her. All is silent for a long while, (Y/n) sinking back into the dark thoughts that spring unbidden to mind.

"Why did you stop me?" She finally asks, voice quiet and hoarse.

"Because none of us would be able to live without you, and you were trying to take yourself away far too early. We couldn't let you do that to yourself when you've got a whole life ahead of you." David says, reassuring her with the rhythmic rubbing of his hand over her arm, "We love you too much."

"But why? I'm not happy with who I am, I hate existing, and, apart from you guys, there is nothing left for me to live for!" She argues back, frowning angrily.

"We love you for who you are and we know full well that you have a lot of opportunities that you'll miss out on. We want to help you learn to love yourself as much as we do, we're here for you, (Y/n). We always have been, as long as we've known you." Dwayne interjects, smiling down at me gently.

Rendered speechless by the confession, (Y/n) opens and closes her mouth a few times, trying to figure out an argument in response, before Marko leans up and places a finger over her lips.

"What they're saying is true. We all love you far too much just to let you go so easily. We're gonna fight with you and we're not gonna let you surrender, ever, because you have so much to live for. There are loads of people who care about you, it just seems like there aren't many because the world had a cruel way of making life difficult for us all. You're appreciated, (Y/n), by loads of people." The shorter blonde smiles, "Mostly by us, though.

"Yeah, (Y/n), we need you in our lives. You're so important to us." Paul chips in, watching her.

Again, (Y/n) struggles to find the words she wants, unsure of how to react though her heart has flooded with love and security, chasing off the darkness. She makes a few noncommittal sounds at first, until David interrupts her.

"Come on, we'll talk more about this tomorrow night. Right now, you need to get some sleep." The blonde vampire hums, holding her closer to him as the others cuddle closer, too, pressing their bodies to hers. 

"Thank you." (Y/n) murmurs after a little while, relaxing into the vampires' grip, feeling exhaustion starting to take over.

"Of course. We're always here for you." Dwayne purrs back, the boys cradling her until she falls asleep, the four of them unbelievably relieved that they got to her in time.