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spiltscribbles · 3 years

Note

Hi love!! I just took a look at the prompt lists u have linked and the prompt “you said what to your teacher?” sounds like it could be absolutely hilarious if u wanna write something for that!! <33333

Notes: OMFG HIYA DAN BABEYYYY!!!! Thank you SO SO much you absolute angel face!!! This was the first thing I tried writing and actually enjoyed and just wrote it all at once in the middle of the night dlkfsajlkgjasdofiewghklsdgj THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU!!!!

You Said What To Your Teacher? | Send Me A Prompt💜

“Do you remember when we were nine and I gave you my last sparkler because Regulus was crying that he wanted your purple smoke bomb and I was left with only my shitty poppers to throw when the ball dropped on New Year’s.”

Sub half way to his mouth and mobile lodged between his shoulder and ear, Sirius gently sets down his sandwich and dabs off the splatter of mayonnaise on his cupids bow as he tries to parse out what in bloody hell his best friend is blabbering on about.

“Oh, hi, Jem. Yeah I’m doing well, mate, thanks for asking. Works the typical grind but I think Minnie is about to give me that promotion any day now.”

“It’s a simple yes, or no answer, arse.” James retorts haughtily, sounding somehow frenzied and buoyant all at once.

“Pardon me, I thought we would just have a normal conversation like typical blokes,” Sirius sniffs, tilting back on his chair and clicking around on his desktop to look at the revised dimensions of a new building his firm was employed to begin constructing in south London. “Now remind me, my sweet. Was this the same New Year’s that you stuffed that stink bomb in the back of my shirt after stomping on it so it’d explode on me?”

“That is neither here, nor there.”

“I still feel the debris on my poor back on especially rough days.”

“You’re a twat.”

“And you’re acting dodgy.”

“I need a favor, and I thought a transactional proposition would be the sort of thing that you corporate types would appreciate.” James jabs, laughter in his words. Sirius just hopes he could picture the middle finger he’s emulating through the line.

“Just because you’ve completed residency doesn’t make you a special snowflake, you do realize this, correct?” Sirius tells him, already shooting a message to Minerva and his team that he’ll be jetting off a bit earlier so he could do whatever it is that James needs.

“Slander! It makes me the most special snowflake, Black. And it eats you up inside.” James retorts, moving away from the receiver to yell something towards one of his interns about a patient or the other.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, gorgeous. Now are you going to ever tell me what it is you need from me, or keep trying to get in my trousers, because listen either option is aces on my end. I’ll just add it to the document I send Lily every week about how I’m so obviously your dream partner.”

“It always just comes back to your burning jealousy that I chose her over you, doesn’t it?” James pretends to sigh forlornly. “Listen, my love. It’s not my fault that some birds are just born prettier than others.”

“Psha, I’m the prettiest fucker you know, Potter.”

“It’s the attitude for me, just absolutely no decorum about you.”

“Is this about that snag with me teaching Haz how to properly curse at a United fan?” Sirius asks, moving to collect his satchel and jacket. “Because I stand by that. We’re a fucking Arsenal family, damn it.”

“We were at brunch when he called that poor woman a weasel faced toad, Sirius.”

“Good man,” Sirius insists, waving goodbye to the secretary who always gives him the most devoted heart eyes.

“Well, speaking of the sprog. I’m stuck here with a new bout of paperwork to get someone transported to us from a hospital in the states, and Lily’s stuck in the maternity ward till at least nine.”

“Ooo, a bit of God father/God son time then??”

“With great power, comes great responsibility,” James says gravely.

“What have I told you about your shitty nerd references and how they give me a rash.”

“Spider-man isn’t simply for nerds you absolute pleb! There’s been three bloody franchisements for him in the past two decades!”

“Imma let Harry eat ice cream for dessert, I reckon.”

“Then you’ll have Lily to answer to,” James warns, still seething from the jibe. “And if you’re taking the bike, can you at least park a block away. This new school we’ve enrolled him into this year is well and proper, and I’d not want them to think that our son’s God father is some sort of ne’er-do-well.”

“You put respect on Rosco’s name, or so help me!”

“Right, right, the only constant love in your life.”

“She’s the only one who understands me.”

“ Whatever, just try and behave decently, will you?”

“Hah, and why wouldn’t I?” Sirius asks as he tosses his helmet into the air, patting Rosco in apology for James’s impertinence.

“Hmm, we’ll see, won’t we.” James says in an irritatingly ominous tone before clicking off the line.

There are a lot of reasons why Sirius could hate James. He could hate him for forcing Sirius to join him on his morning runs, or hate him for his intensely perky attitude about every sodding thing. Hell he could probably hate him for his complete disregard of the mad sport that is American football. But all that withstanding, Sirius reasons that for today he’ll hate him for his cryptic fucking warning and how he knew this would happen and is probably cackling over it as he fills out a new set of discharge papers.

That absolute, unceasing, weasel faced, toad.

The ‘this’ that Sirius is referring to of course is the fact that Sirius is left dumbstruck and gawping as he strolls leisurely into Harry’s third year class, eyes roaming over the small cluster of children who had stayed after hours for extra tutoring and who are now just lounging around, waiting for a guardian to come and pick them up. But instead of first spotting the dark head that belongs to his God son, Sirius’s gaze focusses on a man… A very fit, very golden, very beautiful man. A man that’s all lithe limbs and honey eyes, and a small, quietly encouraging smile as he kneels down to chat with a blonde girl who’s got on a blue tutu and rainbow poncho.

“Fuck you James Potter,” Sirius hisses lowly to himself as he tries to collect his wits about him, and remind himself that flirting with his God son’s actual, fucking professor is not a thing that is approved of.

“Uncle Pads!”

Sirius starts, feeling suddenly grounded as Harry bounds towards him and hugs his torso with a tight squeeze. “Hiya Prongslet,” he says, grinning indulgently as he ruffles a hand through Harry’s wild mop of curls.

“Am I coming to yours then?”

“If you’ll have me,” Sirius winks, tapping the bridge of his specs fondly.

“Brilliant! I’ll just tell Professor Lupin.”

Oh, that’s a very sexy name if Sirius does say so himself, though he tries not to marinate on the fact as he waits patiently while Harry leads that absolutely delicious looking man towards him. And God, the way he’s tipping back his head only slightly to meet Sirius’s gaze— It’s lewd.

“You’re Harry’s God father, yes?” Is the first thing Professor Lupin says to him, stretching out a hand that’s all long fingers stained by ink, and knobby knuckles that Sirius suddenly has the insane craving to nip at.

Jesus, he needs to get himself the fuck together.

“Ahem, yes, yes. I’m that. I’m Sirius I mean— Oh, my name, and erm— I’m also serious that I am his God father, that is a thing.” Sirius rambles, feeling like a complete idiot as he takes hold of Remus’s slender hand into his own, and shakes it with two, awkward pumps— holding onto it for a beat too long.

Sirius repeats, fuck James Potter.

“Right,” Professor Lupin says with something akin to amused. “Well he’s only got his maths to finish tonight, and a bit more reading for history.”

“Oh, good. I’ll definitely help with that. I’m great with numbers.”

“Wonderful,” Professor Lupin nods at him before peering down at Harry and grinning widely. “You did great today, just keep up with your novel for Professor Meadows and you’re splendid. Yeah?”

“Thank you Professor Lupin,” Harry preens, chest puffed out not unlike how James had used to do back in their school days every time they won a footie match.

“Nice meeting you Mr— ah?”

“Black!” Sirius quickly offers, straightening up immediately like a rose bud stretching towards the sun. “Sirius Black.”

The corner of Professor Lupin’s mouth twitches up, and Sirius is struck with the searing need to see the full force of his smile directed towards him— and also to snog it right off. “Remus Lupin, just to make things even.”

And fuck.

Sirius swears— hand on his chest and face to God— that it was a flirtatious inflection that Professor Lupin— Remus— used right then, but before he can even have the chance to toy around with the development, a mother in yoga pants and Starbucks strolls in and Remus walks over to greet her hello, and before Sirius knows it, Harry’s tugging on his hand and dragging him out the room.

Damn it.

Despite his total and complete fail of a first meeting with Harry’s sickeningly attractive professor, the rest of the night turns out to go as perfectly as planned. Otherwise known as them stuffing themselves with greasy pizza, and heaps of ice cream, and staying up an hour past Harry’s typical bed time to play Far Cry instead. And if Sirius contemplates asking him more about this elusive Remus Lupin, he bites down the urge and concentrates on sticking his spoon onto his nose before Harry could beat him in their match.

It’s totally fine.

That is until it’s six o’clock in the ruddy morning and he’s woken up by the loud knocking of his front door, only to be met by the grossly chipper faces of Lily and James— that sort of glow is only a thing that happens after a good shag, and Sirius knows that for fact.

“We brought pasties,” Lily tells him as she sashays indoors, red main of hair billowing in the late autumnal breeze and her voice ringing out like she’s some sort of radio show host.

“How was last night?” James asks him as he toes off his boots and follows Lily to the kitchen.

“Fine,” Sirius gripes, still pissy from James’s cruel joke. “Haz is always great.”

“Mmm, I hope Remus didn’t give you any trouble picking him up, you’re on the paperwork and everything but it’s the first time he ever met you and all.” Lily says, faux lightly as she picks out the plates and turns on the electric kettle.

“You knew!” Sirius accuses emphatically, pointing a heated finger her way and then directing it towards James.

“Knew that he is exactly your type?”

“And that you’d look like a tosser talking to him for the first time,” Lily tacks on, giggling.

“Fuck you, and fuck your weird, married telepathy!”

“Nah, not telepathy mate,” James assures, clapping him on the shoulder. “You’re just incredibly predictable.”

“We’d have to be thick not to know that you’d be a total idiot around him— You’re the worst whenever you have to talk to pretty people who you actually want to do more than just screw.”

Sirius feels himself go scarlet. “That is an attack on my person, Evans!”

“Yes, dear. I know.” Lily croons, patting him on the cheek like a doting grandmother. “But does it help that I think you should totally go for it.”

“Lily! He’s our son’s teacher!”

“Only for this year,” Lily shrugs, sitting on a stool that lines the island. “Besides, I really like Remus. We have the same cycling class and he taught me how to make my face into an emoji like I’m a Kardashian.”

“You guys talk about’m like he’s the second coming of Christ,” James harrumphs, doling out their mugs with a scowl.

“He’s just so pretty,” Sirius sighs, beyond dejected. “Did you see that little birthmark on his cheek that looks like a butterfly! And Jesus, his eyes are like a third of his face!”

“Don’t forget how well he fills out those trousers for such a skinny bloke,” Lily adds, mixing the honey into the tea that James had just poured her.

“I alas did not get a chance to give his ass the appraisal it warrants,” Sirius bemoans.

“I very much do not like the idea that my best friend and wife are thirsting over the same bloke.” James sniffs.

“Jealous, lover,” Lily leers, laughing at how James wrinkles his nose at them and kisses his cheek in reassurance. But Sirius doesn’t pay them any of his attention, is too distracted by painting the picture of Remus in his mind’s eye, and how he really does need a second look if he loves himself at all.

“He’s like those caramel lollypops from when we were kids,” he tells them unceremoniously. “But instead of that tart middle, he’s just sweetness through the center.”

“You want to lick him, huh?” Lily asks, smirking at him with a lecherous air.

“I want to lick him until he goes mad and begs me to just flip’m over and—“

“Enough!” James quickly cuts in with a smack of the hand against the countertop. “This man is Harry’s professor, I can’t have these sort of images of him while I go to pick him up after class.”

Sirius jerks forwards, beyond excited. “Then let me pick up Haz from school today, yeah? It’ll give me a chance to speak with Remus!”

“Why do you want to talk to Mr Lupin?”

The three adults turn around at once, met by the image of Harry in the spare uniform he keeps at Sirius’s house— hair sleep rumpled and specs askew.

“Hallo my beautiful boy,” Lily grins, her and James each kissing his cheek and giving his shoulders a squeeze as he sits between them.

“Why do you want to talk to Professor Lupin, Uncle Sirius.” Harry asks again, earnestly as he tares apart his cheese and veggie pasty. “Do you like him?”

“Oh, erm—“ Sirius feels his insides squirm, not sure where to step, afraid that his God son might not appreciate the fact that Sirius’s already planning out a reception party for his impending nuptials with Remus.

“I think it’d be cool if you did.”

And in an instant, Sirius feels his shoulders loosen and his smile go elastic. God he loves this kid. “yeah?”

“Mhmm,” Harry nods, taking a sip of his water to clear his throat. “Ron told me that Professor Lupin use to be married to his Uncle Fabs and then they broke up last year, so I bet he’s sad now. And you’re the best person on the planet and you always have fun! You should make him happy again.”

Sirius’s heart seizes, suddenly needing to be the person to help Remus with anything he could ever need.

“You’re a diamond kiddo, you know that?” Sirius says, standing up to lift his eight year old God son into the air and blowing a raspberry to his cheek. “Shove it to your dad, you’ll be my best man at the wedding, yeah?”

“Imma need to start smoking if he’s gonna be this much of a prat all the time now,” James mutters lowly, making it so Lily crows with laughter.

That afternoon finds Sirius parked back outside Harry’s school, straightening the collar of his jacket and combing a hand through his hair. Though once he steps into the nearly emptied classroom, he’s still slack jawed when Remus looks over his shoulder towards the door and grins at him in such a glimmering sort of way, that it punches Sirius in the fucking solar plexus!

“Mr Black, twice in one week?”

“Hah— Yeah.” Sirius hopes his smile comes out more gentle than a grimace. “It’s not far from my work, actually. So I guess I’ll be around more often.” In fact, the drive is a good twenty minutes from his office, but Sirius doesn’t think that’s really relevant.

“Lucky us.” Remus retorts, looking up and down his frame with a slow, languid sort of gaze that makes Sirius feel filleted right open. “Well I can’t wait to get to know you better.”

“You can know whatever you want,” Sirius practically sputters, wonders if he should try and act cool, especially now that Harry’s wandered over towards them.

“Is that an open offer?” Remus asks, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth and lying back leisurely against his desk.

“Yes. Yes, absolutely.”

Remus’s beautiful face goes absolutely incandescent right then. “Good.”

“Good,” Sirius repeats, completely devout.

“Oh, before you go,” Remus says, pointer finger raised to freeze them while his other hand fishes into a drawer of his desk. “It’s not a caramel pop, but at least the Tutsi ones are sweet all the way through.”

Sirius feels his jaw completely drop while Remus gently places the stick of the treat into his open hand, tossing him a quick wink before walking off to chat with a new parent who had wandered in.

“Harry�� You said what to your teacher.”

“That you said he looked like a caramel pop,” Harry answers, totally owlish and unconcerned.

Sirius contemplates drowning into the lake, but then decides that this is a game he will not lose against Remus.

“All right, Prongslet. Let’s grab us some chocolate eggs and you can tell me everything you know about your dear Professor.”

“Okay, Uncle Pads,” Harry beams.

~My Wolfstar FIC Masterlist💜

#WOLFSTAR #REMUS LUPIN #SIRIUS BLACK #WOLFSTAR FLUFF #SIRIUSXREMUS #REMUSXSIRIUS #THE HARRY POTTER SERIES #MARAUDERS #HARRY POTTER SERIES #spilt ink

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nose-bandaid · 4 years

Text

the little flower on your wrist

Wonwoo x (gender neutral) Reader | soulmate AU angst + fluffy ending i promise:) | 4.2k words

sequel to: the moon told me so ☾~ (highly suggest reading it first !!)

synopsis: four years have passed since wonwoo left to study abroad. four years without your soulmate. four years, spent doing all you can to stop your heart from racing every time you thought of him, because he wasn’t ready for love. and yet, suddenly, with a little mistake on your part, you find yourself next to him again, picking at the same flowers in this flower field of life.

a/n: hey thanks so much for loving the first part guys, it made me so happy to hear that people actually wanted it to continue too !! i hope this second part matches what you’re looking for and that you enjoy:)

=====

You spilled everything to everyone eventually. As the years passed and people constantly pestered you about your mark, you didn’t see that much harm in telling them. Especially with the fact that Wonwoo was away.

With the fact that you practically had no hope for a relationship at this point.

To put it simply, your friends were all shocked. Shocked that, with everything’s that’s happened, you somehow managed to hide your mark from all of them — save for the few who knew about it. After the initial instinct to chastise you for keeping such a big secret, they resorted to pity and sympathy, though you honestly didn’t need it. You’ve done enough pitying on your own.

In the loneliness of your bedroom, your hand drifted to your ankle where the mark resided, and pulled down your sock to check in on it — a habit you’ve developed recently. You weren’t quite sure when it started, but at some point, the flowers next to your crescent moon began to fade away, as if someone had taken an eraser and decided to wipe off the petals one by one.

And every time you woke up to see that another petal had disappeared, a part of your love for Wonwoo faded away as well. You took it as a sign that maybe it really was time to try and move on.

Your plan to move on did end up actually working. You busied yourself with work and picking up new hobbies to dwell on so that your thoughts wouldn’t return to him. And in your spare time, the other boys happily took you out on adventures around the city — Chan and Seungkwan especially — and you’ve never been more grateful to have them by your side. You still kept in touch with Wonwoo, sparsely, but once in a while you would contact the other to check in on how they’re doing.

To your surprise (and joy you suppose), it didn’t take too long for you to learn the art of letting go. Perhaps it was because there was only a single flower left on your ankle, or because Jun got you hooked on this amazing game you’re now obsessed with. Or perhaps, your heart had finally lost all hope in being with Wonwoo and was starting to back off. While you were far from being a master of letting go, you were content with where you were, and for the first time in a long while, you felt optimistic about yourself.

=====

“Now, why didn’t you tell me?”

That effort all fell apart when you received the phone call. You really had no clue how you were supposed to prepare yourself for it — if it was even possible for you to prepare for it.

Wonwoo had just called to inform you that he was going to come home that month because of a job opportunity he managed to score that wasn’t half the world away. That was already a piece of news you were trying to recover from because Wonwoo? Coming back? As in your soulmate is going to return just as you were getting over him? It was some stupidly accurate timing on fate’s part.

Then there was that sudden shift from joy to fear the moment he asked the question out of the blue. If you couldn’t wrap your head around the fact that you were going to see him again, how were you supposed to react to this? You didn’t know why, but you froze in fear when you heard the question, as if he caught you red-handed.

Your lips parted as you stared at the wall in front of you, not a single clue of what Wonwoo was referring to on your mind. “I’m sorry, what?” You managed to whisper back.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He repeated, voice devoid of emotions and you struggled to recall the events of the past few days. You didn’t do anything wrong, did you? The last time you spoke to him was last week, and to be honest, you didn’t even really think of him after that.

A few seconds of silence passed until you sighed in defeat. “Wonwoo you’re going to have to be more detailed than this, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” You didn’t know why he was suddenly being so cryptic with you, it was unlike him to have this hint of bluntness in his tone.

“Chan posted a photo last night.” Was all he gave and he left you to your own thoughts once again. Then it suddenly clicked — no matter how far Wonwoo was, you still managed to slip up.

You had gone to the beach with Chan, Mingyu, and Joshua yesterday, and you so ambitiously didn’t cover up your mark, because why bother? It’s not like Wonwoo was there to see it, and no one else would even care about your mark. They were so common and seen everywhere, letting your guard down once in a while wouldn’t hurt, right?

Or so you thought.

And of all the days and outfits you wore, and all the times you hung out with your friends, Chan just had to choose a picture where you didn’t have your socks on.

“Ah, well…” You really didn’t know what to say. You weren’t even able to tell him the words that you rehearsed before he left, and now you had to come up with something on the spot?

“How long have you had it for?” He asked quietly, he sounded more betrayed than he did angry.

“I got it before you did.” You replied meekly.

“Then why didn’t you tell me? Was it because of what I said? About not wanting to get in a relationship?”

You didn’t have an answer.

“I—” He let out an exasperated sigh. “I was so worried about meeting my soulmate before I left, and then I spent the what — the last four years? For the last four years I was still waiting and worrying about them, wondering if we were ever going to meet, but you were my soulmate the entire time?”

“I’m sorry…” The mark on your ankle burned as if it was ashamed, and you trembled along with it.

“No, I should be sorry, I didn’t mean to get mad about this.” Another sigh. “I’m just a little overwhelmed, and maybe even a little desperate now that everything’s falling into place. It all makes sense.”

“So what happens now?” You dared to ask the question that’s sat on the tip of your tongue ever since he called you out.

“I’ve — I’ve actually been thinking.” He started, and you heard shuffle around on the other end. “Maybe it’s because for these past 4 years I’ve been a little bit lonelier, living away from you guys, or maybe it’s just because I’ve grown as a person and got to learn more about myself.” There was a short pause.

“But I’m willing to, you know, try for a relationship. A romantic one, I mean. I think I’m willing to try it out, especially if it’s with you. And if it doesn’t go so well, then I was hoping that at least we could go back to being friends again, like the ones we used to be.”

Your head hesitantly nodded at his words until you remembered that he couldn’t see you. This wasn’t supposed to happen — this was hardly part of the plan. Your heart pounded rapidly in your chest as your mind repeated his words over and over again. Wonwoo was ready.

Wait, Wonwoo was ready?

So what happened to the whole getting over him part? It was thrown out of the window, clearly, seeing that your mouth couldn’t form any kind of disagreement to his suggestion.

“Ah, yeah, I’m willing to give us a chance.” You said.

He let out a small hum and then there was silence on the line. Though the conversation was quiet, your ears burned until he finally spoke up again.

“Also, now that this has been confirmed, I’ve been meaning to ask.”

“Mhm?”

“Has your mark been disappearing recently? Like the flowers?”

There was an odd sense of relief, hearing that you weren’t the only one experiencing that.

“Oh… yeah they’ve been disappearing.” You confirmed.

“Any idea on why that’s happening?”

You considered your next words before replying. “It could be because things weren’t going so well between us? Not that something wrong happened, but I guess, you know, we’ve been so far apart, and as time goes on, things change, we change. Maybe our marks are trying to tell us something.”

You heard him click his tongue. “That’s reasonable.”

More silence.

“Then,” He spoke up again. “I hope that when I come home, we’ll be able to give each other enough chances so that our marks go back to the way they were.”

Of all the emotions in the world, you never thought that you’d feel hopeful about the thought of Wonwoo coming back, and yet you smiled softly into the receiver.

“I’ll look forward to seeing you then, Wonwoo. Let’s try this all over again.”

=====

Chan called the next day sputtering out an apology about the picture and saying that he took it down despite you insisting that those measures weren’t necessary. What’s been done has been done. You weren’t really sure how the news got to him, but you suspected that Wonwoo must’ve shot him a message earlier. About what exactly? You didn’t know.

It took some time for you to calm the poor boy down, though you ended up having to agree to his persistent plans on buying you something to make up for his mistake.

You settled for a modest cup of coffee — he was still trying to get through school after all, and you didn’t want him to spend his money on something so futile. As a last-minute decision, you also invited Seungkwan to join in on the meeting after you told him about the phone call.

When you arrived with Chan in tow, he was already sitting there, arms crossed, steaming like the cup of white hot chocolate sitting in front of him. For some reason, during the call he had sounded angrier about the situation than you were, and you shared a wary glance with Chan when you realized that his mood hadn’t changed. He greeted the two of you dismissively as if he didn’t really want to be there.

You pushed it aside at first and spent some time talking about random topics and catching up with each other in an attempt to lighten up the mood. Then you relayed to them the exact details of the call and when you noticed that Seungkwan still hadn’t smiled at all that day, you bit your lip and took in his disheveled appearance.

“Seungkwan… Is everything alright? You seem kind of mad about something.” You tentatively asked.

“That’s because I am kind of mad.” He replied

You didn’t know what you were expecting, but that was not the answer you were hoping for.

“What are you so mad about?” Chan pressed further.

“What am I mad about?” He huffed and took a sip of his drink before continuing. “Everything! This whole situation is just wrong.”

You cocked your head at his words. “Wrong?” You echoed, a little lost.

He dropped his hands to the table in exasperation. “Yes, wrong! I understand that he wasn’t ready for love. That, I totally understand and respect him for, but the whole ‘leaving you to move across the world without even considering your feelings or asking how you felt about it’ just pisses me off in so many ways.” His hand waved around to accentuate his points and continued.

“Y/n, you’re an unbelievably kind person so you probably didn’t even notice, but as a bystander watching this whole situation play out, I just can’t help but feel that Wonwoo is just doing you so wrong. You don’t deserve to suffer like this. I don’t think he deserves another chance so easily.”

“I’m fine though, really…” You reached out in an attempt to hold his hand and calm him down, but he edged away from you instead.

“You’re not fine though! Don’t lie straight to my face and say that you were fine when he left you at the airport, crying, or when you ignored our messages for a week because you were ‘trying to get over the heartbreak’. I don’t understand how you’re still willing to give him a chance after everything he’s done to you.” He shot back, voice thick with spite.

“Dude you need to chill out. Wonwoo didn’t really do anything wrong, he had no idea they were soulmates.” Chan interjected, voice firm as he stared at his friend in disappointment. Neither of you could believe that Seungkwan, sweet, lovely Seungkwan, was the same man standing in front of you. Sure he had his petty moments, but he’s never lashed out at a friend like this before — his sassiness was all supposed to be saved for jokes.

Said person scoffed at Chan’s words and then turned to look at you.

“All I’m saying is that he doesn’t deserve you! Is it wrong for me to say that?” He defended and stood up from his seat. The chair was pushed back with a noisy screech that made you wince.

In the midst of his wild gestures, he’d accidentally knocked over his cup, spilling some of the leftover contents onto the table. The people sitting at neighbouring tables cast curious glances your way and you frantically gestured for Chan to grab some tissues as you started to clean the mess with the ones you already had.

“Seungkwan please calm down, I’m alright now, seriously.” You tried and looked up at your friend who was still standing, angrily watching you clean up the drink as if it offended him.

“I’m leaving.” That was all he said. It came out quiet, barely a whisper, but you heard it, and you could do nothing but watch him grab his jacket and stride straight out the door, bringing a draft of the cold air into the shop.

Being left to deal with the commotion he created, you and Chan gave a small apology to the people in the shop and tried to ignore the awkward stares and mumbling directed towards you. If only people could mind their own business, the world would’ve been so much better.

Taking a deep breath as you tossed out the soiled napkin, you tried to calm yourself down. You reasoned that getting yourself worked up about his attitude would only make things worse and decided to leave the shop as well, after Chan suggested you go to the comfort of his house to talk it out instead.

You didn’t know what riled Seungkwan up so much that day.

=====

“The mall?” You got another impromptu call the following weekend when you were gently washing what was left of your mark. Rumours had it that if you took care of a mark well enough, it’ll flourish. Especially if you use bath salts, they said. The lavender ones.

Maybe it was silly to believe so, but when the petals started fading away daily, you grew desperate, and you were desperate enough to believe anything that was told to you. Either way, a little self-care didn’t really hurt, right?

“Yeah, I just thought that you know, two friends, we haven’t seen each other for a while… hanging out at the mall sounds nice doesn’t it?” The voice on the other end chirped back.

“Jeonghan, I literally saw you yesterday.”

“So you’re saying no?” You could imagine him childishly pouting right about now and you sighed, shaking your head.

“I’m not declining the invite, but there’s something else going on isn’t there?”

He let out an awkward laugh at your skepticism. “I just wanna see my friend, is it too much to ask for?”

You let out another sigh. “When were you planning on meeting up?”

“How about now? I’m right at your door.”

And sure enough, Yoon Jeonghan was standing right outside your door, all dressed and ready to take you to the mall on a Saturday morning.

=====

You couldn’t place a finger on what made the meeting so suspicious. Jeonghan acted normal the entire time, even offering to buy you a snack when he noticed you eyeing the tempting display. But he didn’t hint at anything he needed to say, and you began to wonder if he really did just want to see you. The man could be a little ambiguous at times.

He did end up having something to talk about. On the bright side, at least your suspicions were correct. On the… not so bright side, that probably meant there was some bad news to share, and you weren’t so sure how much more you could take before you combusted.

You realized his true intentions behind the meetup when he grabbed your hand and led you to one of the benches nearby, nudging you to take a seat as he joined you. He didn’t hesitate to get to the point.

“I heard about what happened the other day.” He had entered therapist Yoon mode.

“What happened?” You played it dumb — you’ve been a fool your entire life, falling for Wonwoo and not doing anything about it, so acting a little oblivious wasn’t too farfetched from your character.

“With Seungkwan, about the little incident.” He spoke to you in a hushed tone, as if there was someone to hide from, but all around you were people milling about, minding their own business. No one was really going to care about what he said to you, nor were they even going to listen in the first place. That idea didn’t seem to occur to him though.

“Oh, that.” There was nothing else to say, and you just nodded your head at his words.

You began to jokingly wonder if there was a secret group chat about you behind your back, and that that was how all these messages were being passed around because you sure as hell didn’t tell anyone about it.

(There was)

“You know… Seungkwan…” He trailed off for a moment and absentmindedly tugged at the hem of your shirt to smoothen out the wrinkles. He was buying time, but there was only so much he had to spend. Taking a deep breath, his hand stopped fussing over you.

“He likes you, yeah?”

You blanched. “He whats?”

Jeonghan stared straight into your eyes and repeated what he said. “Seungkwan. He likes you. He’s liked you for a while now.”

“I,” You faltered as you searched for ways to respond to that; nothing came to mind. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say to that.” You admitted. You didn’t know why your body was defaulting to cry at the news, but it did, just like when you said goodbye to Wonwoo, and Jeonghan soothingly stroked your head in an attempt to calm you down.

“Hey, it’s alright, I’m sorry to tell you so suddenly, and I’m sorry that it’s not him who’s telling you, but honestly, I don’t think he ever would, and you wouldn’t have ever gotten a proper explanation for his actions.” He comfortingly laced his fingers into yours. “Take some deep breaths first — can I continue?”

“Go ahead.” You whispered as you followed his instructions and inhaled deeply. The faint smell of pretzels from a nearby shop entered your mind and in its own way, grounded you as your mind tried to catch up with everything that was going on.

Seungkwan… likes you? Boo Seungkwan, one of your closest friends, your confidant when you learned about Wonwoo’s mark, had liked you this entire time?

“You know things didn’t go so well with him and his soulmate.” It was hardly an explanation, but it was all Jeonghan offered. If anything, it made you feel guilty. What if you were the reason why they didn’t love each other happily? Seungkwan hadn’t told you the details of what happened, all you knew was that someone came in the way, that they just didn’t feel like they were actually soulmates.

And perhaps, you were that certain someone. Now it made sense why he didn’t tell you anything.

Thinking about it now, you felt so bad for pining for someone who didn’t love you back — or at least someone who didn’t love you back then — while someone else close to you had been loving you without you even knowing. It hurt. It hurt to suddenly learn all of this when it was too late. But what would you do if you were to learn about it when Wonwoo hadn’t left yet? When Seungkwan had just met his soulmate?

You didn’t have answers, but it explained why Seungkwan got so mad when he heard that Wonwoo decided to give you a chance. It makes sense that he would’ve felt cheated off of.

You probably would’ve felt the same way.

“So,” Jeonghan hesitated and drummed his fingers on the bench before continuing. “The question now, it’s been four years… do you still love Wonwoo?”

The years prior to his departure were dedicated to pushing your feelings aside, and the past four years had been dedicated to finally picking up the dustpan and throwing them in the trash. But now, the emotions came piling on you once again and you were drowning in it.

“Yeah, I still do.”

=====

Jeonghan had advised that you didn’t let Seungkwan’s feelings get in the way of your potential relationship with Wonwoo. The latter was supposed to come home by the end of this week, and now it felt like there was a time bomb ticking away. Any hour not spent in preparation for his arrival felt wasted. You argued Jeonghan’s statement, saying that it was rude of you to pretend like Seungkwan didn’t exist, that to not acknowledge his feelings was essentially the same as saying he didn’t matter.

But then he said that he needed to let go of those feelings and learn to give his soulmate a chance. Apparently, she was willing to love him, but he was still blinded by his love for you. It’s kind of funny how you were in the exact same situation, except with Wonwoo instead.

Maybe you were all fools.

You listened to Jeonghan and gave Seungkwan the space he needed, only sending him a small message that he has yet to reply to. Your time was instead spent on preparing yourself for Wonwoo’s arrival, which came much too quickly for your own good.

=====

Standing there anxiously at the airport your ears perked when you heard the announcements above your head state the arrival of his flight. That’s when it really hit you that you were actually going to see him again.

You were going to see Jeon Wonwoo again.

You were going to see your soulmate, your soulmate who has finally acknowledged you.

Before you knew it, he was there, standing right in front of you.

In all honesty, he didn’t change much in appearance. He was still the soft boy you remembered him to be, with sweater paws covering the hands that carried the bags trailing behind him and round glasses perched on his face.

His small, polite smile was still the same too.

“Hello, y/n.”

Instead of returning the greeting, you found yourself rushing into his embrace, hugging him tightly as if he was going to disappear again.

“I’ve missed you more than I’d like to admit, stupid.” You muttered into his body and you felt him chuckle at that. Pulling apart, you looked at him in the eyes to make sure that it was actually him holding you. “Welcome back.” You smiled.

“Well, I don’t plan on leaving again anytime soon, so we can have more time together then. That is, unless you get sick of me and shoo me away.” He joked lightly and ruffled your hair.

“Me? Shooing my soulmate away?” You replied dramatically, before clearing your throat and getting serious again. “Any time spent with you — romantic or not— is valuable to me, and I don’t plan on ever getting tired of you.”

The hand resting on your head made its way to your side and he timidly took your hand into his, studying your face to make sure he had permission. It was a little awkward, a little clunky, but you thought his hand fit perfectly into yours and you smiled, leaning into him a little bit. As you made your way out of the airport, you glanced down at your hands intertwined with each other and noticed the familiar navy blue beads on his wrist.

“You’re still wearing the bracelet I gave you.” You pointed out.

“This?” He brought his hand up to inspect it. “Of course I still wear it, it’s a gift from you—”

You halted your steps when he suddenly stopped speaking.

“Hm? What is it?”

Still staring at his wrist, his mouth quirked into a small smile and he chuckled.

“Huh, funny.”

You strained your neck in an attempt to see what he was looking at. “What? What is it?” You asked again.

“There’s a little flower on my wrist now.” He replied softly, tilting his arm for you to see, and sure enough, in the midst of the faded flowers by his moon, was a bright blue forget-me-not.

=====

The next morning when you woke up, there was a little flower on your ankle, next to the crescent moon. Though the mark wasn’t the same flowery sky it used to be, the little flower was a start.

And maybe one day, those flowers will flourish along with your love for each other.

=====

epilogue: kairosclerosis

#seventeen #seventeen fanfic #seventeen wonwoo #wonwoo fanfic #seventeen x reader #wonwoo x reader #wonwoo #jeon wonwoo #wonwoo fluff #wonwoo angst #seventeen angst #seventeen fluff #seventeen soulmate au #wonwoo soulmate au #nose-bandaid

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lifeofkaze · 3 years

Text

October Writing Challenge 2021 - Day 5

Zadie Taylor-Allen belongs to my wonderful bestie @the-al-chemist, Farid Sikander (in mention) belongs to @carewyncromwell

Dedicated to the wine club @kc-and-oc @the-al-chemist @whatwouldvalerydo You know why🌻🌻🌻

It was common knowledge that time moved slower when one wasn’t enjoying themselves, but Reva Amari had never felt the truth of it more ardently than on this sunny winter afternoon. It had snowed the night before, and the grounds of Hogwarts were covered in a thick layer of perfectly white, powdery snow.

Reva could hear the screams and laughter from the other students enjoying themselves in the wintery wonderland through the high windows of the dusty library. She thought wistfully about her new snowboard waiting for her in her dormitory; how much fun would it be to pile up some of the snow and just whisk down the makeshift mound on it. She would even settle for throwing snowballs at the Slytherin Quidditch team; she wasn’t picky at all, as long as it got her out of this lifeless, boring library.

“Reva, concentrate,” the voice of her friend and honourary older sister Danielle broke her out of her musings. “You need to pass this test with flying colours if you don’t want to get taken off the Quidditch team.”

“I know,” Reva sighed deeply. “Give me some credit for trying.”

“I don’t see you trying that hard,” her brother Dylan jumped in. He didn’t even bother raising his eyes from his book about Potions, but he didn’t need to; he knew Reva was rolling her eyes at him without looking.

“It’s not my fault History of Magic is the most boring subject in existence,” Reva complained. “I don’t even know how you manage to stay awake during class.”

“I don’t,” Dylan said flatly, “I get Dana’s notes from the year before.”

Reva opened her mouth to protest but shut it again when she saw the withering glare of the librarian directed her way. “What are you lecturing me about then,” she hissed with a lowered voice, “you’re no better than me.”

“The best notes don’t help if you don’t put the work in to memorise them,” Dana said leniently. “You can have them as well, but that alone won’t do you no good.”

“I need someone to make this more interesting. Right now, this nonsense is drier than the desert,” Reva complained. “Maybe I could ask Farid for help?”

Dylan did look up from his book at her words. “You’re going to do no such thing,” he said with a surprising sharpness in his voice.

Reva smirked at having successfully gotten under her brother’s skin; served him just right. She wanted to tell him so, but was cut short when an enchanted piece of parchment fluttered into her view and landed before her on her textbook.

Curious, Reva picked it up and unfolded it; she recognised the handwriting of her best friend Zadie immediately. The note contained only two words:

Code Sunflower

Next to her, Dana leaned over to take a look; she frowned. “Code Sunflower? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Reva didn’t reply; she was busy stuffing her things into her bag as fast as she could. She was halfway up from her seat when Dana got hold of her arm. “We’re not done here. I’m your prefect and your friend, and I promised to make sure you’ll pass that test,” she said sternly.

“I know, I’ll do it tomorrow, promise,” Reva said hurriedly and gently freed her arm from Dana’s hand. “But this is kind of an emergency.”

Before either Dana or Dylan could say anything else, Reva snatched up her bag and quickly left the library. She made a short detour to the Gryffindor Tower to drop off her things and retrieve some others from her dormitory before she made her way up to the Astronomy Tower. It was one of Zadie’s favourite places and if she was troubled, chances were good she would be there.

As it turned out, Reva had been right. She found her best friend leaned against the wooden railing running around the platform that circled the highest tower of the castle. She was bundled up in a thick coat and her blue-and-bronze Ravenclaw scarf to counter the sharp winds up here. Reva stuffed her own crimson-and-gold scarf deeper into her jacket and buried her hands in her pockets as she stood next to Zadie.

“You were quick,” Zadie said with a small smile.

“It’s Code Sunflower,” Reva replied, “you don’t make someone wait when it’s Code Sunflower.”

“I suppose so,” Zadie sighed and fell silent. A troubled expression crossed her face and Reva waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, Reva nudged her gently into the side.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” she asked gently.

Zadie looked out over the snowy grounds and extended her hand. A lone snowflake floated down from the grey sky and landed on her palm. Both girls watched as it slowly melted and left only a tiny puddle of water behind.

“I had Potions earlier,” Zadie said eventually.

“The worst,” Reva said immediately, but fell silent when Zadie gave her a look. “Sorry, go on.”

“You know I’m no good at Potions,” she sighed, “but I was really trying today. But I still messed up. I added the shrivelfig before the valerian sprigs, and all the wrong amounts, too. I don’t know how it happened, my head was somewhere else. My potion started expanding and flowed over the cauldron and the workbench and literally everywhere. It was a disaster.”

“Oh no,” Reva said sympathetically, “that can happen to the best of us, though.”

“I know,” Zadie said passionately, “but that’s not what the professor seemed to think. He was so mad at me. ‘I’m clearly teaching the worse Taylor-Allen girl’ were his words to be exact.”

Zadie sniffed ever so slightly and a wave of righteous anger flooded Reva. How did that old bugger dare talk to Zadie like that? Only because her grades weren’t as perfect as those of her older sister, it didn’t mean Zadie was stupid, or untalented, or anything else but a fantastic witch.

“Screw him,” Reva said fiercely, “he has no idea what he’s talking about. So what, you don’t have a straight O in Potions like Phoebe does. Neither do I. Neither do Dylan or Dana or Victoire. The only person I know who did is Dana’s mum, if I think about it. But that doesn’t mean we don’t know what we’re doing, or makes us stupid or anything like that. Don’t you dare think this even for a second or I’ll give you an earful. You’re brilliant, and talented and great, just in a different way than Phoebe.”

She saw the small smile forming on Zadie’s face and Reva continued. “I very much doubt Phoebe would have been able to block my throws as annoyingly well as you did in our last housematch. That really hurt my pride, you know.”

Zadie threw her head back and laughed, the sound ringing clear into the winter sky. “You’d have transported her right through the hoop. If she had managed to stay on her broom in the first place.”

Reva grinned. “That’s my girl talking.”

She reached into her pocket and produced a small, silver flask she offered to her friend. Zadie raised an eyebrow sceptically. “Do I want to know where you got that from?”

“A gift from my godmother,” Reva laughed, “she sent it over the other day.”

“You know that’s probably 100 % forbidden,” Zadie grinned as she took the flask from Reva and took a small swig.

“I have a reputation to uphold after all,” Reva smirked and took a sip herself. The coffee liqueur burned delightfully and was much milder than she had anticipated. She immediately felt a little warmer.

“Speaking of which,” Reva said slowly, while she furtively pushed the snow on the railing in front of her together, “try blocking this.”

She quickly gathered up the snowball she’d formed and threw it at Zadie. Before Zadie could even react, it had hit her square in the face and Reva couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s dumbfounded expression.

“You didn’t do that for nothing,” Zadie exclaimed before gathering her own load of snow from the ground and throwing it after Reva, who just so managed to duck away from it.

The sky was already darkening when they made their way down from the Astronomy Tower, drenched, shivering and with their faces feeling like they were on fire.

Reva’s cheeks were still flushed from both the cold and the coffee liqueur when she dropped into her seat next to Dana and Dylan in the Great Hall for dinner. Dana looked her up and down with an amused expression, taking in her dishevelled state.

“Is your emergency solved?”

“You could say so, yes,” Reva smiled and helped herself to some deliciously warm soup. She shuddered when she warmed her hands over the steaming bowl.

“Wonderful, just in time to study with me after dinner,” Dana continued. She laughed when Reva pulled a face. “Sorry kiddo, I’m not letting you off the hook so easily. And there won’t be another cryptic message getting you out of this one.”

Dana’s expression turned curious. “What was it about anyway?”

Reva blew against her spoon and winced when she burned her tongue. “It was a message from Zadie.”

“Naturally,” Dylan muttered from the other side of the table, but Reva and Dana both paid him no mind.

“Code Sunflower is when you’re feeling troubled because someone said something stupid and you need to vent,” Reva explained before trying her soup a second time. It warmed her even better than the liqueur had.

Dana blinked at her in surprise. “Why sunflowers, though? They are lovely.”

Reva dipped her head back and laughed at the memory of how they had come up with that code in the first place.

“Trust me,” she giggled, “you don’t want to know.”

#hpma #magic awakened #harry potter magic awakened #reva amari #zadie taylor allen #october writing challenge 2021 #october writing challenge

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majolishious · 4 years

Note

May I request the brothers taking care of a sick MC? (: 💕

Hope you like these! Please stay safe <3

【Lucifer】

You always make sure to let Lucifer know if you plan to miss breakfast, so when your empty seat remains as such, his concern grows, prompting him to leave the table to check on you - especially after his messages remain unread. He slowly pushes your door open, creeping his head around to see where you were, and his eyes fall in your bed. He’s a touch annoyed to you there, especially when he had been so worried. Lucifer was two seconds away from ripping the blanket off, until he hears you coughing, “(Y/N)? Is something wrong?”, his face and voice soften as he sits down on your bed, pulling the cover back just a touch to look at you. You certainly didn’t look too good, and your voice was rather hoarse when you did try to speak to him; so he made sure to gently shush you by softly petting your head with an ungloved hand - the cool touch was certainly welcome.

While he may not show it in his face, Lucifer is deeply worried about you, and allows himself to dote on you just a bit. He’s almost nostalgic from the times he used to care for his younger siblings when they took ill, but his concern has more to do with you being human. Even if it’s just a cold, he wont take any chances, and has a doctor summoned immediately. Once given the all clear, he relaxes a bit, and gets you to rest, making sure you have plenty of water to keep hydrated, along with medication and a cool, damp cloth. When your eyes flutter shut, he plants a soft kiss on your head, while carefully moving loose strands of hair away. Lucifer made sure to check on you as often as he could throughout the day, but he made sure you knew he was a mere call away if you needed him.

【Mammon】

It was probably his fault you got sick in the first place. He was constantly getting you caught up in his antics - from simply pulling a few pranks on his brothers, to then facing the consequences of said pranks. It was hard to catch a break, and eventually, the exhaustion caught up to you, making you rather ill in the process. The day you planned to spend inside, nursing yourself was the day Mammon had a new scheme in the works, one that required his human to help, and when you didn’t show up, he began to furiously message you, and the cryptic picture you sent him in return of the thermometer didn’t help your case, as he practically stormed the fort you had built, being as loud as he usually was, but a soft whimper brought him to a halt, “You really are ill, aren’t ya?”, his voice was low, and laced with concern. He assumes you’re on death’s door, and begins to panic, no matter how much you try to tell him it’s just a cold.

Mammon is somehow able to pull himself together, when he realises that you are indeed not dying, and like the colds even the great Mammon suffers from, you can be cured with rest, but Mammon still insists on nursing you back to health, despite his more than questionable bedside manner. He’s not the worst caretaker in existence, even offering to feed you soup personally, all while acting like it’s a chore, and it’s hard not to laugh at the faces he unintentionally makes while he feeds you - made funnier only when he begins to blush and get all pouty. He also insists that he stays in your room with you; not because he’s worried, but because his room is super cold, and he needs the warmth you’re giving off, as he wraps his arms around your from behind, keeping you nice and close.

【Leviathan】

He doesn’t even realise something is amiss at first. It’s not like he leaves his room often enough to notice when something is going on around the house, but you’ve always made sure to come to his room and watch the latest episode of, ‘That time I went for a shower and discovered a mermaid had somehow ended up living in my bathtub’. He even had the snacks and everything ready for you, but as time grew nearer, your lack of presence in his room was getting more and more worrisome, so he decided to call, and was relieved when you picked up, “Yo, normie, you know it’s starting soon right?”, he tried not to make it obvious, but he’d be hurt if you made other plans or simply forgot, “Yeah I know, I’m coming, I just don’t feel good,” you croaked in response, and Levi began to feel a touch guilty, “Ah, a-actually, just wait there,” he mumbled, quickly hanging up the phone and making the snap decision to come and see you.

When he entered your room, he felt even worse, seeing you stood in the middle, wearing fluffy and comfy pyjamas but still shivering, “(Y/N), you should be in bed!”, Levi was shocked to say the least, and quickly ushered you back into the comfort and security of your bed, nervously resting a hand to your forehead. Like Lucifer, his hand was lovely and cool against the heat of your face, but if anime had taught Levi anything, it was that you were possibly dying, and he should call an ambulance. It was hard to convince him otherwise, until you grabbed onto his hand, insisting that you only need him to stay with you. He soon stopped fretting so much, instead doing his best to help you sit up, making sure you were as comfortable as could be before he put the anime on, though you didn’t exactly get too far into the episode before falling asleep against his shoulder.

【Satan】

It’s rare for a demon to get sick, but humans are so weak and frail by comparison, so it was only natural that eventually, you would catch a cold. Despite knowing this, Satan was still pretty worried. He had only popped to your room to ask if you’d finished reading the book he lent you, after his messages went unanswered. Finding you curled up in bed, shivering was a worrying sight, but when he approached you and saw your face reddened with a fever his concern grew, but seeing your eyes flutter open as he gingerly rested a hand on your head eased his concern, as he offered you a reassuring smile. Satan knows he can’t do all that much for you, but was happy to do what he could to make you feel better. He started off by leaving you with plenty to drink, and even whipped up a potion to ease your symptoms that some of his witch acquaintances taught him.

“Sorry about the taste, I can’t do much about that,” he couldn’t help but laugh when your face twisted at the taste of the bitter potion he had presented you with, even though it worked a treat. Satan was kinder than you had ever really seen him before, as he tucked you back into bed, one hand resting on your head while softly petting you, the other holding a book he began to read aloud to you. His hand was warm, but feeling him softly run his fingers through your hair was a heavenly experience, even if it came from a demon. You didn’t focus so much on what book he was reading too you, as you ended up drifting off to sleep a couple of pages in; your soft snoring being Satan’s cue to close his book, and leave you to get some well needed rest.

【Asmodeus】

You were late coming to his room for spa night, so he decided to drop you a message, or two, or maybe six to find out where you were. Though it crossed his mind that you maybe ignoring him, as he remembered in class earlier he continued to chirp on and on about some bath bombs he bought, even with you telling him your head hurt. He didn’t think for too long, as his phone went off, signalling your response. It was a short and sweet messaging saying you were sick, and that you’d do spa night when you felt better, but Asmo wasn’t having any of it. The only ones he’d be willing to care for when sick, were Lucifer, Solomo, Simeon, and you, and he had the perfect nurse outfit he wanted to wear for the occasion; complete with a mask and gloves, because he certainly didn’t want to catch any cold.

He takes care of you surprisingly well, softly dabbing a cool, damp cloth on your face, and making sure you have vitamins, water, juice, blankets, a picture of him, and any thing else needed to aid you in getting better, even after you telling him all you need is some rest. Asmo still insists on being your nurse, while he feeds you some soup, and holds a cup of tea to your lips and helps you take sips, even though you’re perfectly able to hold the cup. The tea seemed to do wonders for you, while Asmo eased you back down into bed, tucking you in with pillows behind your back, and leaving you feeling like the bed was a soft cloud of comfort. For when you wake up, Asmo has a bath fully ready for you, and he offers to help with bathing you too.

【Beel】

Beel usually makes a habit of coming by your room on at least one of his nightly raids, and he made sure it was his first one. He didn’t say much at the time, but he noticed that you didn’t want to eat, instead preferring to go straight to bed. While he doesn’t complain about the extra food, he did think it was a bit weird. He comes into your room with a soft knock, announcing his presence by softly calling out your name, though you heard his growling stomach before he spoke. He noticed that your room was in total darkness, and assumed you had fallen asleep with a lack of response. He was content to smile and make his was to the kitchen until you pathetically croaked out his name, “(Y/N)? Sorry if I woke you,” he says apologetically, before approaching your bed. He was about to ask if you needed something form the kitchen, but as he drew closer to you, he could hear the soft sniffling, and light coughs.

He’s worried about you, and feels incredibly guilty for not noticing sooner as he places a large hand onto your head, moving his face a bit closer to yours, “Wait here, I’ll be right back,” he whispers, quietly leaving towards the kitchen, with the intent of making some soup. Even though you only get one bowl as he taste tests the majority of it, it’s delicious, and he even manages to feed it to you, and only occasionally putting the spoon in his mouth. It’s hard to be mad at his puppy face as he apologises over it. He does his best to care for you, staying with you all night with his hand locked with yours, even long after you’ve fallen asleep and he can go back to bed, or the kitchen.

【Belphegor】

He only came to your room to take a nap with you, but as he stood in the doorway, watching the lump of blankets shake while coughing, he began realised it wasn’t going to be that simple. Belphie figured it would be a pain to care for you, but he couldn’t leave you alone, and came closer to the lump, slowly pulling the blanket down. An odd feeling rushed over him when seeing you at your most vulnerable; red cheeks, red nose, and glazed eyes that met his own. He offered a small smile, but his expression changed quickly when you began to cough again, “It’s okay, (Y/N)”, he soothed, while rubbing small circles on your back. Belphie was surprisingly helpful, and even allowed you to rest on his beloved pillow, with the only condition being that you didn’t sneeze on it.

Belphie usually only took care of Beel when the latter had a stomach ache, and he wasn’t too sure what to do for a human, but he managed, getting you to drink some warm tea while he gently put the Devildom equivalent of vaporub on your chest. He knew the best thing to do would be to sleep, and Belphie took it upon himself to cuddle up into bed beside you, allowing you nuzzle into his chest for the security and warmth it offered, as he softly played with your hair, humming a soft lullaby Lilith used to sing to him, which had you asleep much quicker than he could have imagined. Belphie was still determined to get his nap with you, and very quickly fell asleep too.

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artificialqueens · 3 years

Text

Galactica, Chapter 73 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Previously: Courtney committed a fireable offense when she lost Miss Fame’s sketches.

This Chapter: Bianca rides in on a white horse, and Violet says yes to cake.

***

BIANCA: I need Courtney’s address

ADORE: Why

BIANCA: Because she seems upset and she’s not answering and I’m worried

ADORE: What did you do?

BIANCA: NOTHING

BIANCA: I don’t think

BIANCA: Something probably happened at work

BIANCA: ADORE. SEND THE ADDRESS FOR FUCK’S SAKE

BIANCA: I WILL CUT YOU OFF BITCH

BIANCA: Adore, please.

ADORE: Fine! But if she’s mad, that’s on you

BIANCA: ACCEPTED

ADORE: Just to warn you, it’s a real shithole

BIANCA: Alright, alright, just please send the address

Even though Bianca felt like a little bit of a stalker just showing up at her place like this, she didn’t know what else she was supposed to do. Courtney had cancelled with those few cryptic messages and then gone radio silent. Bianca knew her well enough by now to be certain that something had gone wrong, since just hours earlier, she was sending sweet messages about how much she couldn’t wait for them to be together.

She tried calling her a few more times from the car, but there was no answer. Finally, standing in front of the crumbling brownstone, she had to come clean.

BIANCA: Look, I’m sorry for taking drastic measures, but I was really worried…

BIANCA: I’m outside your building

Seconds later, her phone rang. She answered, heart filling with relief. “Hi baby-”

“What are you doing here?”

Her voice sounded broken and raw, and it was immediately clear that she’d been crying. Bianca could feel her heart in her throat, head suddenly racing with all the possibilities of things she may actually have done wrong. Had she really fucked this up so quickly?

“I was worried about you, so I thought…” Bianca bit her lip, afraid to even ask if she was the one who had upset Courtney like this. “Are you gonna let me inside?”

There was a pause, a few beats, the sound of sniffling.

“I just...I kind of don’t want you to...see it.” She sounded choked up again, voice small and soft.

“Angel…” Bianca couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief. It didn’t sound like she was angry, at least not with Bianca--just ashamed of where she lived, which Bianca could understand. “Do you think I’ve always lived in a penthouse?”

“No,” Courtney admitted after a pause.

“No,” Bianca repeated. “Not by a longshot. Please let me in, I need to see you. I just want to talk.”

A few minutes later, Courtney appeared, opening the door from the basement level. Bianca raced down the narrow steps and swept her into a hug, trying not to fret too much about the way she hung limply in her arms.

She followed her inside, and while she’d been prepared for something small and substandard, based on everything she’d heard so far, this was far worse than her fears. A tiny basement unit, dank and dark with exposed pipes and what looked like the world’s oldest sofa bed. It was also clearly an illegal sublet with no kitchen--only a metal, industrial sink with an electric kettle and micro-fridge below.

Besides the bed, there was little furniture. Her closet appeared to be two wardrobe boxes, and a few other boxes were stacked next to the bed to create a makeshift side table. Bianca took it all in, wondering exactly how she ended up in such a dismal place.

But now was not the time to ask about that, not when Courtney looked so utterly miserable. Even in the dim lighting, Bianca could see that her eyes were red and swollen. She followed her to the sofa bed, sitting down gingerly beside her (and holy shit was that thing uncomfortable) and taking one of her hands into her lap.

“Tell me why you’re so upset, angel, please.”

Courtney took a shaky breath, fresh tears filling her eyes. “I did something...really terrible today.”

“Did you kill someone? Do you need me to get a shovel?” Bianca asked, and she was rewarded with a hint of a smile as Courtney shook her head.

“No, but…” Every trace of smile disappeared from her face as she said, “I bet Miss Fame is gonna think this is worse.”

“What happened?”

“I accidentally left an envelope with a bunch of her sketches in a cab.” A tear rolled down her reddened cheek.

Bianca’s eyes went wide, understanding why Courtney was so distraught. Fame rarely sketched anymore, but when she did, she was as attached to the original work as if it was a piece of her own body. She immediately went into problem-solving mode, trying to think of things to mitigate the damage.

“Have you tried calling the cab company-”

“I don’t know which cab company it was, I didn’t get a receipt and I can’t remember no matter how hard I try,” Courtney cried. “But I did call, I must have called a hundred different companies, but...I think they might be gone.”

“Okay-”

“It’s not okay! Her sketches, her original sketches! How could I have done that, I’m so dumb, I’m so bad at that stupid job!” More tears poured down her cheeks, sobs heaving her chest.

“Hey, come here…” Bianca pulled her in, hushing her softly, a hand rubbing circles into her back. “I know, I get what a big deal it is, but it sounds like you did everything you could. And I promise you, it’ll be okay-”

“How?! How will it be okay?! I’m gonna get fired!” Courtney exclaimed, and Bianca had to bite her tongue, the word ‘so?’ nearly slipping from her lips.

“Okay, well...let’s say you do get fired,” Bianca said slowly. “I don’t think you will, but if you do...would that be so bad? It’s clearly not your dream job.”

“But I need it. I can’t get my new work visa without it. It’s been months and I still don’t have the answer and-”

“You don’t have a work visa?”

“Not after March. I have an attorney who’s working on it, but he keeps running into problems and he’s already charged me so much and I don’t know-”

“Hold up. Galactica hired you, but they’re not handling your immigration issues?” Bianca asked.

“Well...Violet told me not to tell Miss Fame, so I...I was afraid to bring it up with HR. But I got the number of an immigration lawyer from Miss Fame’s contacts, and...it’s all just so expensive. He keeps asking for more money, and I can’t-”

“Wait a second.”

Bianca was no immigration expert, but she knew two things: 1, getting a work visa for an entry level administrative job was nearly impossible and 2, it was actually impossible without the full support of a sponsor company.

“Whoever that lawyer is, they’re a total fraud. Don’t give them any more money, okay?”

“Oh god.” Courtney moaned, squeezing her eyes shut. “Why can’t I do anything right?!”

“This isn’t your fault,” Bianca assured her. “You trusted a professional and they took advantage of you. They could be disbarred for that. And as for the sketches...stop beating yourself up. Yes, she’s going to be angry, and upset, but things happen. People make mistakes. I’ve made plenty, believe me.”

“Like this?” Courtney asked, eyes skeptical.

“I once dropped my boss’s wife’s passport off a subway platform.”

“Did you get fired?” Courtney asked.

“No. But I did get yelled at for a solid hour. Maybe two. It wasn’t a good day. But...I got through it. And you’ll get through this.”

“Maybe. But I just know I’m gonna fuck up again. Everything is...I don’t think it should still be this hard, not after 4 months. Miss Fame even said that, earlier today. I’m not new anymore, I should know better. I should be better. What’s wrong with me?!”

At first, Bianca said nothing, simply wrapping her in an embrace. She knew that Courtney was finding the job stressful--anyone in their right mind would find that job stressful. But the fact that it was this bad...Bianca felt guilty for not noticing sooner. She rocked Courtney slowly, letting her fall apart in her arms, whispering comfort into her ear.

After a while, when she sensed that Courtney was cried out, sobs slowing down and some of the tension finally melting away, Bianca pulled back and took her by the shoulders. She paused, considering for a minute if she really wanted to get involved before saying, “Maybe this isn’t the right job for you.”

“Well, I don't have another offer, so...oh, god, what am I gonna do? Is the visa thing really bad? Am I gonna get deported?”

“No,” Bianca said with a smile, shaking her head decisively. “I’ll take care of your visa. Don’t worry about it.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet, but there are options. I promise, okay?” Bianca kissed her cheek softly, up near her ear, lips lingering on her tear-stained skin. “I’ve gotten pretty attached to you, so you leaving the country would be a huge bummer.”

Courtney finally seemed to relax, letting out a small chuckle, resting her head on Bianca’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to leave you either. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, angel.” Bianca squeezed her hand tighter, lacing their fingers together. “Does that mean you want to come home with me?”

Courtney nodded slowly, squeezing Bianca’s hand back. “Yes please.”

“Good.” Bianca tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “And, um...okay so, remember when you said that Christmas music makes you want to go to the beach?”

“Yeah…” Courtney tilted her head, puzzled.

“Well I may have booked us a little...getaway. Just for a few days. So you can have some sun and relax and get away from this dreary weather.”

“Where?” Courtney asked, eyes wide.

“Puerto Rico. It’s not that long of a flight, so-”

“But I thought you had to stay and work!”

“I can work from there.” Bianca flashed her a charming smile, adding, “I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, you did. I’m…” Courtney took a deep breath, clearly overwhelmed, and then glanced over to where a beaten-up duffel bag lay on the floor. “I guess I need to pack some other clothes, although I’m not sure I have the right stuff here...”

“There are stores in San Juan.”

Courtney laughed, shaking her head and wiping her eyes. “I’m never gonna get used to the way you live.”

“You will. And that’s a promise,” Bianca said. “So will you come with me? Our flight leaves tomorrow at 2.”

“Yeah, of course! I just need like 20 minutes or so to pack.” Courtney’s mood already seemed to brighten as she began pulling boxes out of a stack against the brick wall.

“Of course, take your time. Mind if I use your bathroom?”

“Oh. Uh...yeah, sure. It’s uh...out that door and down the hall, on the right. I share with Fred, but I think he’s at work right now, so-”

“Who’s Fred?”

“Um-”

“You know what, I can hold it,” Bianca assured her, crossing her legs.

“I’ll be fast, I promise,” Courtney said, pulling a pair of sandals out of the box and tossing them to the floor. “And B...thank you.”

“For what, sunshine?”

“Everything.”

***

“I’ll get to the dishes in a minute, mom!” Gigi closed the door behind her, looking around her bedroom in an attempt to remember where she had put her earpods. She crouched down, digging through her backpack. Symone had made her a playlist of music she had to listen to over the holidays, and if she was gonna be put on Cinderella duty, she might as well make it productive.

It felt strange to be home; the smells, sights and sounds were all exactly the same, while she couldn’t help but feel different, like she had grown up in the weeks she was away.

Some of her friends had reached out when they had seen on Instagram that she had returned to L.A, but she hadn’t responded yet. She was an adult now, with a real job, not a college kid that could mess around and do all the things she used to, hanging out in the skate park suddenly so lame and childish compared to all the things she was doing in New York.

She had spent the day in her mom’s studio, watching her work like she had done so many times before, her mom excitedly asking about what clothes she should make her, and showing her all of the sketches she had done while Gigi was away based on the pictures she had sent.

Gigi couldn’t wait to wear her mom's creations, the outfits more chic than anything she had seen in the multiple designer stores she had now been in. Sutan’s words that her style was her edge ones she had really taken to heart.

“There!” Gigi exclaimed triumphantly, pulling her earpods out of her backpack. She grabbed her phone, and was just about to get to the kitchen to do the dishes, when she saw that she had gotten a message from Symone, a massive grin spreading on her face as she slid back down to the floor, leaning against her bed to respond, her chores completely forgotten.

***

JINKX: Hey honey. Just want to make sure you made it home from the airport okay.

JINKX: I read it was snowing a ton.

JINKX: Plus you know, I haven’t heard from you in almost 4 hours so I miss you like crazy.

JINKX: ;-P

ALASKA: Haha, I’m fine. At a bar right now catching up with the bro.

JINKX: Tell him hi for me

JINKX: xoxo

ALASKA: <3

***

It was Christmas Eve Day, barely past dawn, but Courtney was already awake. She’d slipped from the bed as quietly as possible so as not to wake Bianca, padding over to the big picture window to watch the golden sunlight reflecting off the buildings, admire the light dusting of snow on the trees in the park. She wasn’t used to thinking of New York as pretty, but from up here, it really was.

“Hey...good morning…” Bianca said, her voice rough with sleep, just the way Courtney loved most.

“Good morning.” She turned around, giving her a slightly apologetic smile. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“Nahh...I guess my body just doesn’t want to sleep without you.”

“I love it when you’re cheesy,” Courtney giggled.

“Oh yeah? Plenty more where that came from. What are you doing all the way over there?”

“Just...checking out the view. It’s pretty amazing.” Courtney turned and headed back to the bed, suddenly missing Bianca’s warmth beside her.

“The view over here isn’t half bad either,” Bianca told her with a wink.

Courtney giggled some more, crawling toward her across the mattress. “Happy Christmas Eve…”

Their lips met in a sweet and tender kiss, Bianca’s hands cradling her face.

“Speaking of which...how do you feel about opening one of your presents now?”

“Really? Already?” Courtney asked, eyes lighting up.

“Well, it’s kind of useful, so I think it makes sense.” Bianca got up out of the bed, pulling a huge box wrapped in silver from her closet.

Courtney sat on the edge of the bed, bouncing slightly as she ripped open the paper to reveal a gorgeous pink Fendi suitcase, covered in what had to be custom crystals. Her mouth fell open.

“I figured you could use it for our trip. You know. I’m all about practical gifts.”

Courtney couldn’t help laughing. The suitcase was anything but practical...but it was perfect, like it was designed from Courtney’s wildest daydreams.

“I don’t know if I have enough to fill this,” Courtney said, running her fingers over it, watching the way the stones glittered in the light.

“Well...that’s cool, I could use the extra space myself.”

Courtney raised her eyebrows. She’d seen Bianca’s packed suitcases, two giant Louis Vuittons and a large, matching carry-on, nearly ready to go.

“You need more space? We’re going for a week...what are you even taking?!”

“More presents,” Bianca said, dimples deepening.

“Oh my god…”

***

Violet chewed on her lip; sorting through Google images really not where she excelled. She was looking for pictures of Raja at the Met Ball, slowly combing through what she could find since her emails to Max and Pearl had gone unanswered. It was annoying, but expected. Pearl never missed out on the chance of ignoring her emails, and Max was british so he completely ignored both phone and computer the minute he left the office, so she was on her own.

“Violet?”

Violet looked up from her station at the living room table to see Sutan head peek in through the kitchen door, his phone against his shoulder, the glasses in his hair betraying that he had been working as well even though it was Christmas Eve. “My mom’s asking if you like klappertaart?”

“... Excuse me what?” Klappertaart? Violet had no idea what that was. It wasn’t unusual for either Raja or Sutan to get a bit confused when they bounced between Indonesian and English, their sentences sometimes mixed up, but that didn’t sound Indonesian at all. “Is that German?”

“Dutch, actually,” Sutan smiled. “Remind me to educate you on the thrilling saga of Indonesia's colonial history some day.”

“Ah,” Violet felt a brief stab of shame, that information seeming like something she should have known, though she had barely even been aware that Indonesia existed before she had met her boyfriend.

“So?” Sutan walked fully into the room, leaning against the doorframe, his black pants tight in the waist, and Violet couldn’t help but admire him for a second. “Klappertaart?”

“I still don’t know what it is.”

“Oh fuck, right” Sutan’s eyes widened, and Violet laughed as she heard a noise from the phone, Murni clearly picking up on her son’s swearing, Sutan quickly putting the phone against his ear.

“Ya Bunda, ya ya, maaf,” Sutan grinned, walking over to the table before putting the phone down so he could continue talking.

“Klappertaart is… It’s a cake, that’s…” Sutan paused, clearly looking for his words. “There’s coconut and… Know what, excuse me.” Sutan held the phone up again, Indonesian falling from his lips as he talked to his mom and Violet had to hide a smile, Sutan clearly never considering what was in this mysterious klappertaart.

“There,” Sutan pulled away, “It’s a coconut cake with almonds and raisins, and we usually have it for Christmas.”

“Huh,” Violet ran over the ingredients in her head. It was incredibly nice of Sutan’s mom to ask if she liked the menu, and there weren’t any of the ingredients that she hated, though warm raisins were disgusting, but she was pretty sure she could get away with picking them off, so there was no reason to create a scene. “That sounds lovely.”

“Great,” Sutan smiled, bending down to give her a quick kiss before he returned to his phone call.

#rpdr fanfiction #thedane #veronica #galactica #bitney #jalaska #vitan #bianca del rio #adore delano #courtney act #gigi goode #jinkx monsoon #alaska thunderfuck #violet chachki #raja gemini #lesbian au #m/f au #fashion au

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piermanwalter · 3 years

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Thief’s Apprentice: Popular Fiction in Surenia

As many revenants no longer have the mental faculty to keep track of stories and reality at the same time, these stories are mostly for the living to rationalise their plague-ridden surroundings. Common themes of the oldest and most well-known stories are escaping the plague and love that lasts after death. These stories usually follow someone as they travel across Surenia, and serve as escapist fantasy for bedridden plaguebearers as they look forward to all the travelling they can do as revenants and wait to die.

CURE QUEST

Hearing of the revenant plague spreading to their kingdom, instead of hoarding food and barricading themselves in fortresses like neighboring kingdoms, Prince Orto and his mother Queen Mavia set out to investigate the cause of the plague and find a cure with their court mage Ovid. The story is allegedly the writings of Ovid himself as he recorded their adventures, but Cure Quest is so fantastic and implausible that most people now believe it’s complete fiction.

The basic story structure of Cure Quest is Ovid receiving cryptic messages from the Gods to guide the Prince and the Queen, then they encounter a weird guy in the wilderness that Prince Orto fights and/or befriends, then they rescue a town from some disaster and are allowed to rest there in thanks, and then Ovid finds some town specialty herb or potion that alleviates the plague a bit, but doesn’t totally cure it, so they have to keep going, and then they get captured by another kingdom or mage or giant gryphon that is too strong for them to beat, then Queen Mavia sings their captors to sleep or distracts them while Ovid comes up with an escape plan. By doing this many times, they eventually build up a huge procession.

There are many versions of Cure Quest, but they all feature Prince Orto making friends with wandering knights with extremely specific superpowers, such as a knight who can eat mountains of food, a knight who can steal anything that can fit in the palm of his hand, a knight who draws blood every time his sword is unsheathed, a knight who can turn into a flock of sparrows, etc. Most versions of Cure Quest are also known for huge epic battles between the royal knights and hordes of insane revenants, knights of rival kingdoms, monsters, and evil mages.

However, there are also Cure Quest versions that address how a plague-ridden land can’t realistically support full-scale wars all the time, so the problems are instead solved with cunning tricks, political leverage, and magic.

In all versions of Cure Quest, the royal procession follows Ovid to The Fountain of Life, which can cure any disease or injury, but the Gods have led them to the end of The World. It turns out The Fountain of Life is on a separate land mass floating off the edge of The World, and while everyone is deciding how to get there, Prince Orto becomes impatient and jumps off the edge, but he misses and falls through space for all eternity. The rest of the procession builds a bridge to The Fountain, but as soon as they all cross, The World flies away.

It’s widely believed that Cure Quest originated from Beringians in Surenia, since knights and dedicated soldier classes in general don’t exist in local cultures, and the effects of plague described in the story are hilariously wrong. Some people believe Cure Quest must have been first spun in the early years of the plague when people didn’t know exactly how it worked and genuinely had no idea revenants could be sane and articulate. Since different locations in Surenia are mentioned in many versions of Cure Quest, there is much literary debate over which city produced the earliest version of Cure Quest.

This story is the most popular among the living and not very well liked among revenants because all of the named characters are alive and all revenants are mindless shambling wrecks. However, the continued popularity of Cure Quest comes from there being a version anyone can enjoy. Children are told the version where Prince Orto is their age and Mavia is a beautiful young queen, and everyone aside from Orto, who was too impatient, got to live on an amazing new World. Once they outgrow that story, they can find another version where Prince Orto is a callous Machiavellian adult and Queen Mavia is wise and elderly, and they finally accept the plague has no cure, so they kill themselves to become the revenants they once so reviled. And if there’s no version to you liking, you can always make your own.

Most Surenians see leaving The World as a metaphor for death, and Prince Orto missing The Fountain as a metaphor for those who die before their time and go mad.

Muireland has coopted Cure Quest as an embellished retelling of their own kingdom’s founding and claims jumping off the edge of The World is a metaphor for establishing a new homeland on the edge of sea cliffs, and their own royal family is descended from Queen Mavia.

Despite getting blown up and occupied by Gehennans, many Veilheimers are still struck by, “Wow! Real Prince! Real knights! This is just like Cure Quest!”

WANDERING GONOT

He wakes his shirt covered in dirt and thinks, “How rude to pitch dirt upon a sleeping man! Dare they do this to I, the... I... know not mine own name.” A wooden signpost reads GO NOT. PLAGUE LAINS HERE. “Lo! My name. Gonot... Plague... Lainshere. I do not like the middle part! Bolfred Miller be called Bolfred Cheating Miller, but his name be not Cheating though he be cheating. A fool’s title on us both. My name is Gonot Lainshere.”

Gonot stands and leaves and sees a milkmaid. “Holla maid! There be dirt on my shirt, but not on my heart. Knows you the-” The maid cries like a hawk and runs. Dirt on a shirt be so vile? Gonot bends to clean and Horror! Skin is flaying off his legs! Nails torn from his fingers, but not a drop of blood! Bowels spilling from his belly! Gonot is dead! He is walking and speaking but he is dead!

Gonot is chased out of town with torches and pitchforks and wanders aimlessly around Surenia, getting into shenanigans and witnessing all sorts of interesting things. Wandering Gonot is a very relatable story about one of the first sane revenants figuring out basic things that every modern revenant knows, like seeing through solid objects, eating, or kitbashing your own metal prosthetics.

Unlike Cure Quest, there is only one version of Wandering Gonot written over 600 years ago. Some attempts were made by other writers to add to the story, but the syntax and style of the original writer are so distinct that imitations are easy to detect. Wandering Gonot is historically important because it’s set when Surenians were most afraid of the plague, now that symptoms and epidemiology were better understood, but revenants were not. Earlier stories in Cure Quest had knights charging fearlessly into combat with supernaturally strong revenants that caused crushing bruises with the slightest touch, but by the time this story was written, it was known that massive inexplicable bruises were the first sign of plague infection, so Gonot empties towns and ends battles just by showing up. This time period is also significant because there was once so many people that Gonot could find a new town after one day of walking, but now revenants could wander for months and not encounter anything but thousands of miles of wasteland.

After wandering Surenia, barely holding himself together, trying to make friends, and killing thousands by accident, Gonot gets hit by a mudslide and sinks to the bottom of a lake, which dries up and traps him underground, so Gonot decides to Lainshere until the lake floods again. The story ends with a plea for the listeners to make their communities kinder and more peaceful so when Gonot wanders again, he won’t have to suffer.

Gonot probably never existed, since he is written as too preoccupied and destitute to record his own travels or tell them all to someone else. It’s believed that another early sane revenant wrote Wandering Gonot as a compilation of real events that happened to many different sane revenants in attempt to prove their sanity and humanise them to the hostile and suspicious living. It worked, because the story has been preserved for all this time, and the living like the story because it makes revenants funny and understandable, and revenants like it because many of Gonot’s struggles match their own. Most city dwellers, living and dead, are grateful because they don’t suffer from lack of basic understanding like the characters in Wandering Gonot do.

Although Wandering Gonot is meant to be funny, many stories have an undercurrent of inescapable loneliness, such as “Priest of Harus” where Gonot meets another sane revenant but he’s a High Priest of a different God than he prayed to, so they could never be friends, and “Bone Mare” where Gonot finds a horse revenant and tries to catch it, but no matter what it always runs faster than he can so it slowly gets smaller and smaller in the distance until it disappears, except for one extremely divisive story that has since spun off into its own separate thing.

MERCIFUL DEATH

Gonot is hanging out in an orchard after harvest, because it’s a nostalgic place close to civilization, but nobody is there because all the remaining fruit is rotten. He sees a living maiden in a tree and tries to leave before she sees him and raises the alarm, but she isn’t afraid, introducing herself like he was any normal person. Gonot climbs the tree and has the first conversation with a living person he can remember. Goblinder asks how he was able to stay sane, then asks Gonot to strangle her. It is her town custom for plague bearers to do penance by starvation, and once they know she has the plague, they will wall her into a room. Goblinder would rather die quickly at the hands of a stranger than slowly by the hands of her friends.

Gonot doesn’t want to strangle her, so he pulls an arrow out of his back and stabs her in the heart with it. After Goblinder dies, Gonot climbs down and thinks about how plaguebearers are like rotten fruit because nobody wants them, and sane revenants are like good wine because it is a rare state that not all rotten fruit can reach.

20 stories later, Gonot encounters a sane revenant with an arrow sticking out of her chest. It’s Goblinder.

Although the original story wasn’t explicitly romantic, a lot of motifs from it, such as a heart pierced by arrows, fruit wine, and being in a tree with someone, became symbols of romance. There have been several rewrites and expansions of Merciful Death, usually with Goblinder deciding to travel with Gonot after either their first or second meeting. The archetype of a revenant killing someone begging for death and later falling in love with them was used for countless other stories. One Merciful Death subgenre exploded in popularity 300-400 years ago, because this was the time Veilheim was finally prosperous enough to support fine art and literature, and also relationships between the dead and the living weren’t taboo yet.

One Merciful Death rewrite in this subgenre became so popular that it superseded the original and when people talk about Merciful Death, it’s usually in reference to this one. In this version, Gonot is a Gore Mage royal doctor and Goblinder is a Princess, and instead of everything being over and done in a single conversation, Gonot agonises over whether or not to kill Goblinder and what it means for her kingdom to lose their last heir while trying not to think about what she means to him, and Goblinder tries to live what remains of her life by taking scented baths, suffering elegantly from plague, hunting, and throwing huge parties while screaming inside because she truly doesn’t want to die. Whenever they meet, Gonot tries to stay professional while Goblinder tries to act resolute. After several emotional breakdowns and dramatic confessions, Goblinder finally loves Gonot enough to trust him to kill her. What tragic heartbreak! If Goblinder didn’t love him, she could yet live! Gonot uses Gore Magic to pull all of Goblinder’s blood out of a few small cuts so she can die painlessly.

Gonot is depressed and wandering aimlessly outside for medicinal herbs to avoid the royal palace as much as possible and suddenly gets shot in the chest with an arrow. A hunter runs up and apologises for mistaking him for a wild animal. It’s Goblinder.

Detractors hate this version of Merciful Death because the original was about two ordinary people calmly choosing to kill and die because this was the only way to survive in a world that feared them, and Merciful Death is basically set in Veilheim. Gonot and Goblinder are rich assholes wasting everyone’s time and money on interpersonal drama and killing and dying out of laziness and cowardice. This story is also hated for public health reasons now that romance between the dead and living is taboo, and also how it’s creepy to kill someone right as they are most in love, forcing them to stay in love forever.

Enthusiasts love this version of Merciful Death because it portrays the wild and opulent zeitgeist of Veilheim 400 years ago, and regardless of how it’s seen now, there really were romantic scandals between revenants and the living at that time, and Gonot would surely rather be a rich educated Gore Mage doctor in a kingdom where revenants are accepted than a terrified and confused peasant where almost everyone is trying to kill him. The whole point is that society has finally become kind and peaceful enough that outrageous luxury and interpersonal drama are the driving forces of people’s lives instead of survival.

Merciful Death Enthusiasts and Detractors are basically political parties. The Mayor of Veilheim stays neutral because he is a foreigner and wouldn’t have as much knowledge and attachment of Merciful Death as a born and raised Veilheimer.

Master Courtesan is a huge public Merciful Death stan because it’s expected of her, but her dark secret is that she doesn’t think it’s very good. Also she killed the author centuries ago for entirely different reasons.

Tax Collector has the political leanings of a Merciful Death stan but is a Merciful Death hater, because his job involves stabbing and being stabbed and he’s sick of people seeing it in a romantic context.

THAES

Unlike the huge rambling epics above, Thaes doesn’t exist in a specific story and instead serves as a mouthpiece for social commentary. Thaes is witty enough to make interesting observations, but is also oblivious enough to say them out loud. Thaes blunders her way to success via blind luck and coincidence, or she could just be resourceful. Depending on the story, she may be living or dead, anywhere on The World, set in any time. In a more contemporary setting, if Thaes is dead, she is instead called Careless Weaver. If you don’t want to reveal where you got information, you can say, “I heard it from Thaes.” Naming your children Gonot and Goblinder is universally seen as cringe, but Thaes is always a popular name for girls.

Thaes got the plague and had to leave the living district. She sees a stubborn donkey, refusing to take a single step and braying so loudly no one else can speak. “Good morning, The Mayor! How brightly Veilheim shines under your rule!” Thaes sees a towering lumbering ox, pulling ten times its own weight but moving as slowly as a snail. “Good morning, Noble Porter! Any important deliveries today?” Thaes sees a wild ass, kicking high and menacing its handlers with its horns. “Good morning, Tax Collector! Surely not everyone owes you money!”

Thaes is deciding which prosthetics to save for before she dies. She visits Noble Engineer and he says, “Your carpometacarpal and distal phalanges are gone! Do you want 32-2 cobalt steel? Do you want 56-1 lead steel? Do you-” Thaes interrupts, “You speak too quickly and I don’t understand what you are asking! I will ask someone else.” Thaes visits a Principian and he says, “I won’t let the Veilheimers make a carcass out of you. Why don’t you become a bronze statue like me?” Thaes says, “I may not look like a carcass in a statue, but it’s so heavy! I will feel like a carcass.” Thaes visits a Cyrenean and he says, “Don’t get prosthetics. Let yourself fall to pieces.”

Careless Weaver stands in the market with her wares, yelling, “Tubes! Get your metal tubes! Use them for anything you want! Water pipes! Prosthetics! Augers! Opium cooling!”. A guard asks, “Say, Careless Weaver. You are not an Industrial Mage. Where did you get these metal tubes?” Thaes says, “We got new spring-powered looms put into the textile factory. We revenants had a go, and now look at them. Post-hole diggers! Pastry stamps! Rolling pins!”

Although Thaes stories are mostly told in person, and their format ensures a ton of them are extremely horrible, there are some written compilations of them, and Thaes will probably become a character in the distant future the same way Gonot is a character now.

ROSANGELA AND BENDANIEL

In a world where the plague is a fact of life, it’s fitting that the most popular horror story portrays being plague-free as alienating and unnatural. As the plague reaches the western shore of Surenia, the royal family escaped by sea to Sidra, but burned all the ships they left behind. Rosangela and her husband Bendaniel are imploring a powerful mage to save them and their children, and before he leaves to Sidra, he gives them a book of instructions for a magic ritual that allows them to be plague-free while they are conducting it and live forever, free from revenants once it’s finished.

By the end of the month, the plague has hit the coastline, and both of them have been bitten by plaguebearing animals with no ill effects. But the steps of the ritual are steadily getting more difficult, rubbing human ashes on themselves and eating nothing. Fortunately, the ritual also protects their children, who are growing up and looking more and more like their parents. The ritual worsens, and by the time it’s finished, their whole town is empty except for them and insane revenants. Rosangela and Bendaniel starve to death in a pit of human ashes.

Their children are now identical to them, take their parents’ names, and have children of their own. Rosangela and Bendaniel and Rosangela and Bendaniel live like ghosts, unable to be touched by anything aside from their own family. When Rosangela and Bendaniel die, Rosangela and Bendaniel take their place as the heads of the family, and Rosangela and Bendaniel have to take on new responsibilities.

Rosangela and Bendaniel and Rosangela and Bendaniel live in a little house together, with a pit of corpses on one side for Rosangela and Rosangela and another pit on the other side for Bendaniel and Bendaniel.

Unlike the other stories, the city of Alhambra claims these people actually exist and are still alive. They are studied by the mages there, although it might be a lie to maintain Alhambra’s elite magic reputation. Rosangela and Bendaniel reportedly regret performing the ritual and refuse to share it, but it is known that it involves huge amounts of mugwort.

Most people believe Rosangela and Bendaniel don’t exist, and the story is a cautionary tale about extreme measures taken to avoid the plague being worse than getting the plague, which makes a lot of sense given that the most plague-free regions are filled with inbreeding, cannibalism, and/or violent xenophobia.

Some people believe that this story is about how life itself is bad, plague or no plague, since Rosangela and Bendaniel suffer every way the living can suffer before dying and compelling their children to replace them, and becoming a revenant is the only escape from going extinct or having someone take your place and continue to suffer.

#thief's apprentice #cure quest #wandering gonot #merciful death #thaes #rosangela and bendaniel #graphic injuries

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vitamx · 5 years

Text

watch and learn: chapter 3

[ Read on AO3 too! ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 2 ] [ You are here! ] [ Chapter 4 ]

---

Chewing on his lip, Mumbo looked down at the floor, choosing his next words carefully. Grian was right- he couldn't waste time thinking up the questions themselves, but what else could he do?

This suspicious figure he'd unintentionally spotted had seemingly been following him, watching him...

Of course it would be a bit hard to pick his words.

Grian's icy gaze seemed to watch his every precise movement, narrowed dangerously.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Mumbo sighed, grasping his hands together to keep them warm, and raised his head, locking eyes with the winged being.

"What... are you?" He muttered cautiously. "Humans don't have wings."

"Straight to the point, are we?" Grian tsked, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "I'm simply an observer; a spectator... A Watcher." He hummed in amusement, a polite smile growing on his face once more.

"That doesn't exactly answer my question," Mumbo huffed in frustration. "Are you some new- new mob or something?" He guessed.

Grian laughed loudly, covering his smile with his hand.

His laugh sounded hyper and mischievous- sounded as if it belonged to someone who was watching the world explode.

That laugh sent shivers down Mumbo's spine.

"Oh- no, no! I'm not a mob, do you take me for some mindless monster? That's so silly. I answered your question- I am a Watcher." He chuckled, his laugh quieting down. "Though... I used to be human, you know. I was the owner of a server, too." He mused, a strange softness in his eyes.

"You were human?" Mumbo questioned, the tension from his shoulders slowly fading. "How can you suddenly not be a human anymore? What happened?"

Grian's smile fell from his face, an icy cold returning to the room once more. He did not look mad, per se, but rather, he looked melancholic, and bothered.

"Don't you think there are more important questions you could be asking?" He replied flatly, before an amused smile was plastered on his face. "You can't unlock my secret backstory until my 7th side-quest!" He joked, snorting to himself.

Despite the unexpected answer, Mumbo snapped his mouth shut, unease settling in his gut.

Though, if there was some way to turn a human into... whatever it is that Grian was, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

"Well- alright, then..." Mumbo stuttered, rubbing his arms as the room grew colder still. "How... How did you come here? Did Xisuma whitelist you? He never said anything about a new hermit coming."

"...Ah." Grian hummed, pulling a face. "I'm actually not so sure myself. I think we just... Can. Not so sure why- though, we Watchers are some sort of otherworldly entity and such."

"You don't know how you were able to enter the server?" Mumbo asked, dumbfounded. "-Wait, 'otherworldly entity'?"

"Yes, yes, I just said that," Grian sighed, rolling his purple-hued eyes. "And yeah, Watchers live beyond the Void, which technically makes them 'otherworldly'. Maybe that's why, actually- the Void connects to all worlds, after all..." He mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows.

"That's... O-okay, then..." Mumbo muttered, pulling on the collar of his dress shirt- he was talking to some sort of alien, then? "Why... Why are you here? You said you had a 'task' to do. What is it?"

The corner of Grian's mouth twitched, and he glanced to the side for a quick second- usual signs that belonged to a liar.

"Well, if you must know..." He sighed, quickly plastering a smile on his face. "It's a Watcher's duty to keep an eye on worlds. Make sure it's not falling apart, or that nothing gets corrupted... Oh, and we help with updates, too." He explained, tapping the table with his finger mindlessly.

Mumbo's eyes narrowed in confusion and hesitance.

He remembered Grian's earlier statement, if it was that hard to believe he wasn't here to hurt him... And while it was not even ten minutes ago, suddenly it felt as though, just maybe, Grian didn't seem so bad.

(Though, of course, something about him still left him with a sense of unease and uncertainty.)

"So..." Mumbo began, his lips pulling into a thin line. "You're like... A guardian of the world? Then... Why are you so against me telling anyone you're here?"

Grian frowned, the tapping on the table growing faster and painfully louder as the seconds quickly slipped by.

He was silent, eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared daggers in Mumbo's direction, the room suddenly feeling like a freezer. The ice patterns on the walls ever so slightly grew out towards the ceiling and floor, the air chilled and foggy...

"Didn't I mention it before?" Grian muttered, annoyed. "Watchers are not supposed to be-"

Suddenly, his eyes widened, and the familiar warping effect of an enderman flashed around him- within a second, he was gone.

Mumbo's eyes were wide, and he stood up abruptly, shivering still and tightly hugging onto himself. Nearly instantly, a firework was heard, and after that, several more. Before long, a figure flew in through the window, nearly tumbling into him.

"MUMBO!" Stress yelled, stumbling onto the ground and taking ahold of his shoulders. "How could you be four hours late to a meeting?! It's nearly-"

Mumbo couldn't hear the rest of what she was saying- his eyes had drifted to the side. On the table where Grian had sat, there were faint carvings on the tabletop, of which appeared to be strange symbols and markings: Galactic writing.

Before long, Stress had noticed he wasn't listening, halting her speech and following his gaze.

"Oh, hey," Stress hummed, hands slipping off of Mumbo's stiff shoulders, her fingers tracing over the symbols. "Isn't this Galactic? Have you been practicin' writing it or somefing?" She wondered, turning to look at Mumbo with wide, innocent eyes.

"I-" Mumbo began, blinking rapidly. He felt a slow pit of guilt return to his gut as he carefully planned his next words. "...Yes, I- I have been. It's a... nice pastime. Rather than redstone, I mean." He stuttered, wringing his fingers together almost in shame- he hoped he was better at lying than he thought.

"Well," Stress huffed, eyes narrowing playfully. "Next time don't carve it on our table! Now I've got'a go replace the damn block... What's it say, anyway?"

"Oh-! Um, it-it, says..." Mumbo stammered, face flushing red in embarrassment. Why'd he have to go and make up an excuse that he himself couldn't go with?

(Though, more adamantly on his mind, why was he making an excuse for Grian, anyways?)

"Wait, wait, don't tell me! I've been learning a bit myself too, you know! Helpful when you're enchantin' stuff, 'n all that." Stress grinned, eyebrows furrowing as she looked down at the carvings once more. "Ot... No, that's an A... At the... 'At the dragon'? What is that s'pposed t' mean?"

Slowly, the dread Mumbo had been setting aside came back to him full-force, his face paling and his eyes widening ever-so-slightly.

"At the dragon". Grian had carved that out, hadn't he?

"Um..." Mumbo began, swallowing as his throat suddenly felt dry. "Don't... Worry about it. I was just... writing down random stuff." He rasped, looking off to the side and forcing a grin onto his face. "Sorry for, erm, missing the meeting, too. Didn't sleep too well, I guess."

Stress' eyes softened, and she offered Mumbo a comforting smile- one that seemed much more genuine than the polite, porcelain smiles Grian had on his face constantly.

"Oh, forget about all that, luv. Why don't you go get some more rest, then? You look a little pale," She hummed, placing a hand on Mumbo's shoulder gently. "It's awfully cold in here, too. I'll bring by some hot cocoa later, how's that sound?"

Mumbo smiled exhaustedly and gratefully, shoulders drooping.

"That... sounds lovely. Thank you, Stress," Mumbo mumbled, rubbing at his eyes. "I think I will go and do that- rest, I mean. I'll see you later, Stress..." He hummed, grabbing his set of rockets and waving a quick farewell before leaping out of the window, and stumbling into the air towards his base.

He tried not to think too much about the cryptic message Grian had most definitely carved onto the table- with his finger, too.

Though, of course, curiosity did kill the cat.

"At the dragon"... What exactly did that mean? The first thing that came to mind was Stress' faux ice-dragon that curled around her winter-themed castle in Hermitville.

Other than that, there were Tango's dragon towers (which weren't even complete yet), but that seemed like the less likely option. Though, was there something inside the dragon? Did Grian want to meet up with him there?

...Should he risk meeting up with him?

Grian still wasn't exactly a friendly entity, even if he claimed that he was watching the server as it's- what, protector?

But still, Mumbo couldn't risk leaving Grian alone and letting him do whatever he pleased- he still had questions that needed answering, too.

As Mumbo landed on the roof of his spherical base, he looked down at the familiar scenery of the ocean.

The ocean was big, nearly endless, filled with life and wonders- Mumbo loved the ocean more than anything; save for redstone, of course. The salty smell of the ocean was comforting in a way, a reminder of what was around him.

Mumbo stayed on the roof of his base for hours- snacking on golden carrots, messing with redstone parts, and enjoying the smell and scenery of the ocean and the gentle wind that blew past him.

The sun soon began to set, and by then Mumbo had made up his mind.

Dusting off the redstone on his hands, Mumbo fired a rocket and flew down, down to the bottom of his base and through his nether portal.

Distantly, on a sculpted ice dragon, someone lay within the opened jaw of the non-organic creature, waiting...

Watching.

---

Stress drifted slowly to the floor of Mumbo's base, making a u-turn for his room, two mugs held in her hands and a bright smile on her face.

She couldn't help but feel giddy- it had been a while since she had hung out with Mumbo, after all! And what better way to spend time with a friend than to enjoy a tasty mug of hot cocoa?

Pushing the door open with her elbow, Stress glanced down at the chocolate and buckets of milk in her inventory, whispering into the room as to not cause a startle.

"Hey Mumbs, I brought the-" She began, stepping into the room completely.

She faltered, the smile on her lips slowly falling.

The room was empty and dark- it didn't look like anyone had been inside for hours.

"...Mumbo?"

---

#hermitcraft #hermitcraft au #hermitcraft fanfic #grian #watcher grian #wal grian #wal mumbo #mumbo jumbo #mumbo #stressmonster101 #stressmonster #wal stress #watch and learn #WaL

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petalsforbangtan · 6 years

Photo

•anaxiphilia// min yoongi•

genre: angst, slight fluff if you squint and turn your head to the side.

note: there are going to be some text conversations and yoongi is going to be the bold.

this is my first written au so please be nice,, i also didn’t mean for it to be so long,, please enjoy.

note number two: this is unedited

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

“yoongi come on!! you promised you would show me today” you pouted and practically whined while trying to pull him off the bed.

“fine, but only for an hour.” he’d mumble and shoo you off.

you made your way to the grand piano that he just happened to have in his house. he promised to show you your favorite piece by Beethoven, Moonlight Sonata. Yoongi has been your unofficial piano teacher for 3 months now… but quite honestly you took it as an excuse to be alone with him.

the way he played with such passion; you loved the way he would close his eyes, get lost in the way the keys would feel under his fingertips. it was mesmerizing to see how he was able to recite the piece without even looking down at the black and white keys. he truly was in love with the instrument and music.

that’s when you first realized you had a crush on Yoongi.

**********

you make yourself around the piano and sit on the bench provided. there you were, pathetically sitting in front of the piano of your university in the empty music room. you touched the keys so delicately and soft, almost as if they would break if you pressed on them too hard.

you could still feel his presence next to you. you missed his peaceful aura, he was always so patient with you. no matter how many times you would mess up, he would never show any signs of annoyance. you were thankful that he was always kind with you. he always used the excuse ‘i love music, i just want to share my love with others’.

you played the first notes of the familiar sonata

thats when you first realized, it was reality.

**********

let’s go for coffee.

i’ll pay.

do i have to goooo?

i’m on my way now. you better be ready when i get there

kidnapping me… typical yoongi.

that evening you didn’t plan on going out. you just wanted to stay in your bed and listen to music and read your book you’ve had your nose in for a week. you and Yoongi would have coffee runs so often that the baristas already knew your regular. yoongi’s disgusting iced americano and your non coffee, because you hated coffee, hot chocolate.

even though you didn’t wanna go out that day you certainly didn’t regret it. after staying in the cafe for maybe an hour, he decided to take you window shopping. it was nice to get to walk around the small town, see the sunset, and just look walk around. he always brought you immense amounts of peace.

you looked down at his hand and it took all the courage in you to reach and grab it. even though you wanted it to be a romantic grasp, you knew it was just a platonic, friendly hand hold. you didn’t even dare intertwine your fingers with his. it was too risky.

that was when you realized you had more than a crush, you really really liked him.

**********

one thing you loved about Seoul was that everything was so new and you could go on an adventure and make new discoveries. this night you were out with your friends Taehyung and Jimin. they were some of the first college friends you met when you first moved to Seoul and you were extremely glad they came up to you and immediately took you in as one of their own.

you were walking around the town and a sense of nostalgia came to you when you happened to come across a small jewelry shop you guys have never seen. you all decided to go in and you got instantly drawn to a bracelet that looked familiar to you. it looked like the one you got for Yoongi for his 21st birthday. your heart felt swollen. you couldn’t stay in there any longer and told the guys it was time to continue walking. you walked out with no explanation.

“y/n we didn’t even get to see the whole store!” taehyung called after you.

“yeah come on! i was eyeing this one watch that i really li-“

you cut jimin off “i’m sure we can find some other store better if we keep walking… please lets just go.”

the two confused just looked at each other and said nothing but followed behind your steps. you were looking down the whole time not minding where you were going until you felt a pair of hands grabbing your hands. you looked up and saw taehyung grabbing your right hand and jimim grabbing your left hand.

you felt the tears welling up in your eyes and bit your bottom lip and blinked away the tears.

“what are you dorks doing??” you asked with a sniff and a chuckle. taehyung just smiled and said “don’t worry. lets just keep on walking”

thats when you realized, bittersweet moments still lingered.

**********

“so you’re moving away to Seoul for college??” yoongi asked in an almost pleading tone.

“yeah… i’m sorry i didn’t tell you earlier, i never actually thought they would accept me so i never bothered telling you i applied for a university outside of Daegu.” you mumbled back to him. you couldn’t even look him in the eyes, you were scared to see what his eyes contained. was he mad? sad? happy? confused?

“i’m happy for you y/n.” you looked up at him and he had a small smile on his face. you couldn’t tell what he was necessarily happy for.

“i know you wanted to get into a good music school and Seoul has the best schooling. i’m really proud of you” it was like he read your mind. he engulfed you in the biggest hug he’s ever given you. you hugged him back without saying anything and just wanted to stay in his arms forever. he eventually pulled away and ruffled your hair.

“just don’t forget me when you leave and become crazy famous and popular aright?” he had a heartwarming smile and you laughed “if anything i should be saying that to the underground rapper, Agust D. you’ve been gaining a bunch of followers in a short amount of time!” he shrugged and simply said “i don’t care about the follower count. i just want others to experience my story and words in a unique way”

he somehow always knew how to hypnotize you with his words

“how much longer until you have to leave?”

“4 months”

“perfect, that way i can show you all the things you’ll miss. starting with me.” he gave you his sweet gummy smile.

thats when you realized, you were in love with Yoongi.

**********

it was your first day of junior year. you made a promise to Yoongi that you would text him your schedule whenever you received a new one. again it was just an excuse to talk to Yoongi. you open up your phone and go to the messages you had with him. the last time you texted him was months ago, and it was a very simple text message. sadly your conversations seemed to drift off from the beginning of your move. you two used to text almost every single day. now it was almost every other month or so. the typical ‘happy birthday’ and ‘merry christmas’.

hey Yoongi. its been a while since we last texted. i hope you’re doing well. i’m just here to send you my next schedule for this semester.

you sent the picture but you didn’t expect him to answer any time soon. the boy was awful at replying and texting in general. it would be a miracle if he even read the message before the next century.

you locked your phone and right before you were about to put it down, you saw that he actually answered back.

hey y/n. its been too long. i also hope all is well w you.

i can tell you got pretty awesome classes this semester are you sure your loser self can handle all of them??

you froze. you reread the messages as if they were cryptic. you smiled and finally replied.

same old yoongs.

i’ll have you know that i can handle myself pretty well thank you very much

they seem pretty difficult to me. i’m sure it requires someone w more the 3 brain cells.

that entire night you two went back and forth with your old bickering. it felt really nice to just get to talk to him again.

everything was going really well until the topic of his current girlfriend came up.

i’m glad everything is still going good and strong with her, ya know.

you hesitated to answer. of course you were glad that he found true happiness. you wanted him to be happy no matter with who.

i’m really glad, Yoongi.

she better be treating you well, if not imma have to go down to Daegu and have a little talk.

you’re a handful. you know that.

sigh. i’m wondering why i’m even here to visit your ass.

wait. what did he mean by that?? visit as in, he’s here in Seoul?

you’re doing what exactly???

lmao, i messed up.

it was supposed to be a surprise. i’m here in Seoul to visit you. i’m currently heading near your campus.

this had to be a joke right? a dream??? a figment of your imagination!?! there was no way Min Yoongi traveled all this way just to see you right??

lol my phone’s about to die.

meet me at the coffee shop near your campus in like 15 mins. i’ll see you there.

also, be a dear and order my usual. thank you sweetheart.

you frantically got up from your bed. 15 minutes!? oh dammit Yoongi. of course he’s one to tell you plans at the last minute. you made yourself presentable and grabbed your wallet and headed out of our room and made your way to the coffee shop.

you couldn’t believe you were finally going to see him after so much time. you couldn’t believe you would finally get to see him in person once again. you couldn’t believe you were going to hug him n, be in his presence, see his deep, hooded, beautiful eyes, see his adorable gummy smile once again. you just couldn’t believe it.

thats when you realized, you had to gather the courage and face your fears.

**********

there you were.

moments away from being separated from not only your hometown and your family, but also the best friend of a lifetime. the man you had fallen in love with.

“you promise to text me everyday right”

“yes yoongi i prom-“

“you also promise to send me your schedule at the beginning of the semester right?”

you chuckled “yes yoongi”

“you also promise not to forget me when you become successful and famous right?”

you giggled “those are a lot of promises, yoongs”

“you promise right?” he had almost a look of urgency in his eyes.

“yes. i promise”

he smiled and hugged you tight. this was one of the last hugs you would give him. it was such a bittersweet moment that you couldn’t hold back your tears.

when he figured out that you were crying he pulled away and immediately cupped your face. “noooo please don’t cry y/n” he cooed and wiped away your tears. you sniffled a couple times and said “i’m just going to really miss you Yoongi.” his face softened up and pulled your head into his chest and stroked your hair. “i’m going to miss you too, but just remember our promises and know we’ll see each other again. very very soon.”

you felt so heartbroken that you couldn’t even speak and just nodded against his chest.

after you calmed down a bit you pulled away and looked up at him. you saw that he had visible tears in his eyes as well. you’ve never seen Yoongi cry. you couldn’t help but feel your heart aching at the sight.

“here, take this as a way to remember me” he took of his necklace. it was a simple gold chain that had his birth stone on it. he always wore it. he never took it off… until that day. he took it off and put it around your neck.

you didn’t reject it, even though you knew how much he loved that necklace. you were overwhelmed with different emotions at the moment that you couldn’t even think straight.

he smiled and wiped away his tears “it looks better on you anyways” you didn’t say anything and just hugged him tightly

“next train heading to Seoul will arrive in 5 minutes” you heard the intercom say and your gut instantly fell to the ground.

today was the day you were going to confess to yoongi. you hated how long you waited to confess to him. it was such a wrong time, wrong place to confess. it was even the wrong person to fall in love with. yes he was the absolute definition of perfection but you knew he didn’t see you beyond a best friend. even if he did feel the same way about you, it would just be a hell for the both of you to deal with the distance. but you knew you had to tell him or you knew you would regret it.

you let go of him and grabbed your bags and headed to the boarding area to wait for the train. Yoongi followed close behind. your hands became clammy and felt your breathing increase. to say you were nervous was an understatement. you stood there looking down at rails trying to get the courage to say it. you looked up at yoongi and he reached out to hold your hand. you almost combusted when you felt his touch. you almost screamed when he intertwined his fingers with yours.

you held your breath for what seemed like years. those 5 minutes came by as if it were just 5 seconds. you slightly panicked when you saw the train coming into the station. you felt Yoongi’s grip become tighter and you looked up at him. “its time.” he said.

he let go of your hand and all you wanted in that moment was for him to grab your hand again and pull you into his arms and tell you not to go. you swore you would’ve done it if he asked you to. as people began to board on you say in a shaky voice, “yoongi, there something i need to tell you.” he looked you straight in the eyes and damn, the last bit of confidence you had left through the backdoor

“train to Seoul will leave in 1 minute” you heard the intercom say and your heart started beating as if you were running a marathon.

you gulped and opened your mouth to speak but nothing came out.

“y/n come on, you have to board soon. what is it that you have to tell me??”

you cleared your throat and said “i left you a gift. i left it with your mom. it was supposed to be a surprise when you got back but i got too excited” you laughed nervously. he just chuckled and closed his eyes. “you’re a dork. i’m going to miss you, sweetheart”

“i’m going to miss you too yoongs.”

with one last quick tight hug, you made your way into the train. you sat near a window to get one last look at yoongi. as the train was leaving the station, you saw him with a frown and tears in his eyes. he wiped them off and waved a goodbye.

thats when you realized, you made a big mistake that was going to eat you alive.

**********

you were sitting at a table that was far from any other tables. there on the table was the old regulars. iced americano and hot chocolate w extra whipped cream and extra marshmallows. your knee was bouncing up and down as you waited anxiously for him. you knew e wasn’t going to text you when he was there so you were left playing the waiting game. your hands unconsciously travelled up to the necklace Yoongi gave you before you left Daegu. you also never took it off. it was a part of you and you felt bare not having it around your neck.

you decided to calm your nerves by looking around the cafe. you used to come to this one often but eventually stopped because it just didn’t feel right to come here without your ‘regular’.

it was remodeled since you last went. it was cute. it felt a lot more cozy and welcoming. you looked around at the people. there was a couple having their drinks and sharing what seemed to be like a cheesecake. you smiled softly at the sweet moment. you saw a woman, in office attire, reading a book and drinking her hot coffee. she’d stop once and a while to write some stuff down and what you believed was her work notebook. in another table you saw a group of three guys. close friends you thought. it was nice to see that they weren’t on their phones and just enjoying each others company.

as you were about to look at another table, you saw him.

Min Yoongi.

you immediately stood up but froze. your legs couldn’t move and you looked like and idiot.

he was ethereal. his fair skin, delicate pink pouty lips, his black hair fell perfectly in place, his cute button nose. his hooded eyes are still as hypnotizing as always. he made his way over to you with a huge gummy smile on his face.

you suddenly snapped out of your daze and met him halfway. you practically threw yourself a him. he luckily caught you and gave you the tightest hug. you swore you felt like you were in absolute bliss being in his arms once again.

“i missed you so so much sweetheart” he mumbled into the crook of your neck. you held onto him tighter and said “you have no idea how much i missed you Yoongi”

he pulled away and cupped your face and had his gummy smile on his face. you melted at the sight and swatted his hands away “enough. i don’t want to cry”

you two laughed and made your way to the table you were sitting at.

“you still remember the regulars?” he chuckled and sat in front of where you placed the iced americano for him “you think i’d forget important information?” you said and took a sip from your hot chocolate.

for the rest of the day, you guys talked and talked and talked for hours on end. you talked about his musical career and how well its taken off. you talked about your classes and how you would have your debut soon. you talked about old memories you guys had, new ones you’ve both have made…

“i can’t believe you still have that bracelet i gave you for your birthday yoongs.” you say grabbing his wrist. “what you really think i’d get rid of it so easily?? it’s my good luck charm. i always wear it whenever i go to a gig. it holds a special place in my heart.” you blushed at his sweet words and let go of his wrist. “i can’t believe you still have that necklace i gave you” you laughed almost ironically “are you kidding me?! you really think i’d just never wear it or something?? its the closest thing i have to you, to home” his face soften and you could tell that warmed his heart.

it was starting to get late and you knew you had to tell yoongi before he left to the hotel.

“hey yoongs, theres something i have to tell you. its really important and serious.”

“oh lord, please don’t tell me that Taehyung kid got you pregnant or something”

you scoffed “what!? no!! eww gross!!”

he laughed “okay okay, sorry anyways, whats up? is everything okay??”

you took a deep breath and reminded yourself that you’ve been in this situation before and this time you HAD to tell him

“Yoongi, i know you’re in a current relationship and it is kinda messed up to tell you this now,” you took another deep breath “but i have been in love with you, for years Yoongi. years. it has literally killed me every single day that i didn’t tell you before i left Daegu. everything i do, say, or see reminds me of you. i just, i know i shouldn’t have fallen this hard for you Yoongi, and i would have hoped that with time, i would’ve gotten over you, but i can’t. i can’t get over how you make my heart race, how you make me laugh, how you make me smile when i have bad days. i love how passionate you are about the things you love and care. i guess what i’m trying to practically say is that i love absolutely everything about you. but i obviously understand that you don’t feel the same way and i just hope this doesn’t stop us from being best friends. you mean too much to me to lose you over my stupid little feelings. i just really needed to tell you…”

thats when you realized, you finally overcame your fears and you were ready to take whatever Yoongi was going to hit you with.

#bts fanfic #bts imagines #bts scenario #bts one shot #bts suga #suga x reader #yoongi x reader #bts ot7 #bts x reader #namjoon x reader #jin x reader #jhope x reader #hobi x reader #seokjin x reader #jimin x reader #taehyung x reader #v x reader #jungkook x reader

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fire-the-headcanons · 5 years

Text

Follow the Beacon Summer—Summertime

[If you don’t like angst, go ahead and start here! Otherwise, here’s a link to the Masterpost. A fun chapter this time.]

Summer squinted through the rifle’s scope at the apparently deserted building, searching each window for any sign of movement. Of course, if a teacher had come in on Saturday to grade papers they’d hardly be pacing around their classrooms, but at least none of the lights were on.

Back on the field, preparations for the dance were now well underway. She took a few seconds to locate her mother and Huang, helping Tai and a few other students put up the large tents near the cafeteria doors. All busy and distracted.

Summer spun the rifle, extending Gungnir into spear form with a satisfying click. A twist and a shove let the shaft separate from the gun. Clamping the harpoon between her teeth, she slotted in the special Dust magazine she’d prepared.

It wasn’t a difficult shot. A huge banner stretched over the cafeteria doors, taped to the gutter. She took aim at the far side and fired, the modified ice round striking the tape dead center and freezing into a ball about the size of her fist.

Nobody on the field batted an eye at the sound of the rifle discharge, and she hadn’t expected them to. Gunfire was just background noise at a combat school like Signal, even on a Saturday. Three other shots had echoed over the grounds by the time the ice melted enough to fall from the wall, taking the soggy tape off with it. The banner fluttered down, still anchored on one side, to hang over the security camera on the corner.

Summer grinned and let the harpoon drop from her teeth into her hand. It glided into the rifle’s barrel with ease, and she aimed over the building before pressing the button on the stock. The Dust cores in the rifle and arrow glowed to life, repulsing each other, and she braced against the gun to keep it from flying in the opposite direction. The half-spear arced into the air, stabilizer fins popping from the shaft as soon as it left the barrel, and disappeared onto the school roof.

Perfect.

Her mother emerged from the tents carrying a stepladder toward the banner, and Tai sprang forward to stall. At best, they had a minute before the security camera was clear. Summer tossed her rifle into the box of tablecloths she’d been sent to retrieve and stepped from the bushes onto the sidewalk. Nobody spared her a glance as she strode right up to the wall and back out of sight of the field.

Around the corner, the ladder rattled under her mom‘s footsteps. “Ah, the tape’s wet. Tai, could you grab some more?”

“Sure, Mrs. Rose.”

The banner twitched as her mom started to pull it back into place. Summer dropped the box, grabbed the rifle, and activated the Dust cores again—this time to attract. The gun nearly leapt from her hands, but she was ready and tightened her grip as she flew into the air. The angle of attraction threatened to drag her against the brick, but she ran up the side of the building using Gungnir like a rappelling line.

Below her, the camera emerged as her mother dragged the banner away, but she rolled onto the roof out of sight. She retrieved the arrow and returned it to the rifle, folding her weapon to its most compact form before sliding it down the back of her hoodie. It took a moment to get it to clip to the magnetic holster, but finally it caught with a soft click and Summer moved for the entrance.

The door opened without trouble, and she peeled the tape from the latch before slipping inside and letting it lock behind her. No cameras in the emergency stairwell, luckily, though one pointed at the ground floor exit. Summer headed down to the second floor instead, and gave the handle a slow and tentative push. It still creaked louder than she liked.

Other than the faint growls of captive Grimm in a classroom, the hallway was silent and deserted. If the door opened more than a foot the cameras would catch it, but she’d always been on the small side. It wasn’t hard to squeeze through. The bank of lockers that ran right up to the doorframe provided a blind spot—she jumped, grabbed the top, and pulled herself up as quietly as she could manage. No one came tearing out of the classrooms at the sound of wobbling metal, though the Grimm growled a little louder as they sensed her nerves.

Her boots on the locker roofs sounded almost like swords clanging together, but she made it to the next classroom without falling from the narrow ledge or alerting anyone. Another door she could only open a crack waited at the other end.

This room was unique, with windows into the courtyard that were nearly blocked by a large tree. Summer slid to the floor and inched forward along the wall to the blind spot behind the teacher’s desk. It was easy to climb from the window to a sturdy branch and make her way to the ground. Leaves shielded her from the camera at the far end of the yard, and any movement would be passed off as a gust of wind.

It was even easier to climb back in through the window to the headmaster’s office, always left unlocked. No cameras either, thanks to the same employee privacy law that provided a blind spot behind the desk upstairs. Summer exhaled with satisfaction as she sat in the grand leather chair.

And nearly fell out of it again as the phone rang.

Just someone leaving a message. She shook herself mentally. The computer snapped awake at her touch, demanding a password. Summer grinned and started to type.

SUMM3RTAIM3.

It opened instantly, and she leaned back in the chair with a delighted smile. What should she dig through first? …His travel arrangements would probably still be in his email, if the state of his office at home was anything to go by. She clicked on the application.

Password:

“Oh, come on, who logs out of their email?!” She slapped the desk and tried again. SUMM3RTAIM3.

Incorrect password.

Just perfect. The phone wasn’t helping her think either. “You’ve reached the office of Headmaster Azraq of Signal Academy, please leave a message...”

She scowled and typed BALT515.

Incorrect password.

She didn’t know any others. Maybe she should go through his latest documents instead? They were a lot less likely to hold anything useful...

There was one more thing she could try. She started to type, ST3RLINGRO—

“Summer, knock it off.”

She froze, hands hovering over the keyboard, staring at the phone in abject horror. “B-Balt?” her voice squeaked so badly she winced.

“Come on, pick up.” He didn’t sound mad, but he definitely wasn’t happy either. “Azraq set up the webcam, I can see you in there.”

Summer hung her head and pressed the button. “Hi, Uncle Balt.”

“I thought you talked about this,” the desk speaker said.

“I didn’t get to talk,” she grumbled, leaning back and kicking at the floor so the chair spun slowly. “They did all the talking. I just want to know what they’re hiding from us!”

“It’s Huntsman business. Summer, they don’t tell me about their secret missions either.”

She paused, halfway through her second rotation. “…What, really?”

“I love Azraq and I trust his judgement. And he tells me what I need to know, even when Ozpin disapproves.”

Ozpin.

A wild grin stole its way over her face as she stared at the phone in disbelief. She’d been hoping to get an imprecise location, or more cryptic and coded messages. Maybe today hadn’t been a total loss. “Ozpin?“ she repeated. The new headmaster of Beacon Academy, the mysterious academic that everyone joked was too young to attend the school, let alone run it? The one that had been appointed amid whispers of nepotism and conspiracy? That Ozpin?

The line went silent. And then very...not silent.

“Swear jar, Uncle Balt!” Summer laughed, logging out of the computer and ending the call. This was worth getting grounded.

Well, no point in hiding now. She walked right out of the office, around the corner, and out the front door.

“Summer? Where were you? I thought you were helping them set up for the dance on the back lawn!” her mom demanded, nearly dropping the box of tablecloths Summer had abandoned earlier.

“Azraq’s office.” She didn’t bother to hide her grin.

Tai stared at her, disbelieving. “What happened to stealth?!”

“Were you involved with this?” Huang scowled down at him.

“No, definitely not.”

He shook his head, almost laughing. “I ought to ground you.”

“You broke into the school?” her mom demanded. “We told you he was leaving for a classified mission, and you broke into his office?!“

“No! Calm down! The doors were unlocked, so I just…walked in.”

Her mom didn’t look convinced, but she also had no way of knowing Summer had spent the better part of two years figuring out that route through the security cameras. “You’re going to make your uncles a batch of apology cookies, and then you’re grounded for a month.”

That was way too much! “Mom!“

“That sounds like an excellent idea, Claret,” Huang growled at Tai.

His jaw dropped. “Dad, come on! We’ll miss the dance!”

“Then you two shouldn’t argue if you want to convince us to let you go.” Her mom folded her arms. Summer and Tai both grumbled acknowledgement, and the four of them headed back toward the field.

Is Uncle Azraq even going to be home in time for the party? Wait. Maybe— “Is Uncle Azraq even going to be home from Solitas in time?” she blurted.

“Nice try, kiddo,” Huang said with a glare.

Summer grinned. “So he’s not in Solitas.”

Her mom grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the Xiao Longs. “You’re going to have to try harder than that if you want to convince me to let you go to the dance, Summer.”

“I wasn’t going anyway,” she said. “Sorry, Tai! Balt caught me. They rigged the webcam. See you Monday!”

“Yeah, sure,” he sighed. Behind him, Huang looked like he wanted to laugh.

[Looks like Qrow isn’t the only Grimm Reaper fan in Team STRQ...I couldn’t resist giving Summer a weapon that also took inspiration from Maria’s. The gravity Dust cores are awesome and I’m kind of sad the show probably won’t utilize them more]

Next Chapter: Taiyang—Baking the Rules

#rwby #roosterteeth #strq #team strq #summer rose #taiyang xiao long #rwby fanfiction #follow the beacon #my fic #mine

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adapted-batteries · 6 years

Text

Trust Only the Solid Rock

Fandom: The Librarians

Rating: General/SFW

Relationship: Flynnstone

Word Count: 7155

After watching The Librarian: Quest for the Spear on New Year’s Day, I had an idea: what if Flynn’s first Guardian was Jacob Stone instead of Nicole Noone. So this is what I came up with, how things would’ve been different, and the same.

Also posted on my Ao3.

-----

“And remember, trust only the solid rock,” Judson said. Flynn stuttered in confusion but Judson disappeared off the screen without clarifying his cryptic message.

At that moment, a rather gruff looking man entered the cabin, chatting with the pilot like they were old buddies. “Let Harrison know I said hi, alright?” the man said, clapping the pilot on the shoulder as he grinned at him. The pilot nodded, smiling as well, and then headed off to the cockpit.

The man, who Flynn thought belonged somewhere in Texas, based on the blue and orange plaid western shirt and well worn jeans, continued down the aisle, stopping right at Flynn’s row. “Aw, was hopin’ for the aisle seat, little more room ya know?” The man’s southern drawl confirmed Flynn’s southern United States theory.

It was at this moment Flynn noticed how the blue on the cowboy’s shirt was the precise shade that matched his eyes. Flynn cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah, sure,” Flynn stammered, hastily moving himself and the book in his lap to the window seat. He forgot he had the tray of the window seat out, so his side slammed uncomfortably into it. It took ten obnoxious seconds for Flynn to finally get himself into the window seat. He expected the man to be annoyed with him, and it’d be a lie if Flynn said he wasn’t a little scared of the muscles underneath that shirt, but the man didn’t seem mad at all, in fact, he looked somewhat amused.

They both settled in to their seats as the flight attendant did the standard air safety spiel. It wasn’t until they had taken off that the cowboy gave in to his clear curiosity about the old book on Flynn’s lap. “What’s that there? Looks ancient.”

“That would be because it is,” Flynn replied. He knew he shouldn’t discuss the book with a stranger, but he had such bad impulse control when it came to anything he knew something about. “Written in the language of the birds, in fact, which no one can read. Well, not yet anyway.”

The man glanced down at the book, then back to Flynn. “And you’re gonna translate it on an airplane?”

“I have roughly seven hours to do so, so yes, I’ll be translating it on this plane. And I would like to get to work as soon as possible,” Flynn snapped.

The man just shook his head at him. “Sure you don’t want help on that?”

“No!” Flynn lowered his voice when other passengers looked at them. “No, I can do it, trust me.”

Now the man looked annoyed. “Fine, then.” He then faced forward, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. Flynn thought the man fell asleep, and would hopefully stay asleep the full flight, but an hour in, he opened his eyes and tried to sneak a glance at the text.

“Do you mind?” Flynn growled, shifting closer to the bulkhead.

“Am I not allowed to be curious?” the man growled back.

“It’s not like you could help anyway, Cowboy,” Flynn retorted, and then flinched when the man tensed. He’s not going to punch me on a plane...right?

The man closed his eyes for a moment, took a breath, then looked down at the text for a moment. “To best protect the staff of old from the hand of evil, split twice and scattered abroad-”

Flynn jerked the book away from the man. “How did you...who are you?”

The man smiled smugly. “The name’s Stone, Jacob Stone. And you’re Flynn Carsen, current Librarian I assume.”

How did know my name? How doe he know the language? “Trust only the solid rock,” Flynn muttered, eyes narrowed at Jacob. Then Flynn sucked in a breath and grabbed his arm excitedly. “You’re the rock, the one Judson was talking about.”

Jacob let out a huff of air at the mention of Judson. “That’s how he briefed you on me? Classic Judson.”

“You didn’t answer my question. How do you know the language of the birds?” Flynn asked, releasing his arm and settling back into his chair.

“I know a whole lot. Enough I could’ve been in that seat right now,” Jacob said, nodding at Flynn.

“Then how come you aren’t? Surely if you know this,” Flynn shook the book gently, “then you’d be more than qualified to be the Librarian.”

“That’s what I thought a few years ago, but when I met Charlene, she congratulated me on becoming the new Guardian for Wilde,” Stone said, folding his arms across his chest like he was still annoyed at the decision. “Apparently my brawn was more important than my brains.”

“What’s a Guardian?”

Jacob looked at Flynn with pity. “They really didn’t tell you anything, huh?”

Flynn shook his head a bit too forcefully. “They don’t tell me anything, and when they do, it’s cryptic, or not useful things like ‘save my receipts.’”

“I’d get used to that, if you wanna keep the job,” Jacob said, smiling at him. “A Guardian protects the Librarian. It’s a dangerous job in a lot of ways, and it’s my job to try to keep you alive to keep on doin’ it.”

Flynn nodded, then tilted his head like a dog. “What happened to the last Librarian?”

Jacob’s mood darkened. “He died, because I didn’t do my job good enough. And I’m not gonna let that happen again.”

Flynn was not sure how to respond to that information. “That’s...good to know.” He cleared his throat, not a fan of having Jacob brooding next to him. “So this book, you can translate it?”

“Sure, but so far I have no clue what it’s talkin’ about,” Jacob said, looking down at the book. “I’m better with art and literature and languages."

“Well, I can handle that,” Flynn said, savoring the fact that he still seemed to be the Librarian for a reason.

---

They made it through most of the book, then as soon as Jacob got up to go to the lavatory, Flynn was promptly almost kidnapped. Thankfully Jacob heard the commotion and burst out of the lavatory and knocked some goons about, krav maga style Flynn noted. To say Flynn wasn’t impressed by the speed at which Jacob disabled their wannabe captors would be a lie. And then Flynn forgot all about Jacob’s fighting style when the Guardian shoved him out of the plane with no parachute.

For a good ten seconds, Flynn was free falling, screaming all the while. And then an arm grabbed him by the torso, pulling him flush against someone, and then there was a jerk of a parachute unfurling as the other arm of this person secured Flynn.

They were drifting at a much less deadly speed now, but Flynn was still screaming. “Shut it, would you?” Jacob rumbled in his ear, loud against the woosh of the wind around them. Flynn stopped screaming, mainly because within another ten seconds they were tumbling to the rainforest floor.

Once Flynn righted himself, he turned towards Jacob, somehow already standing there like Flynn took five minutes to stand up. “You! Do not shove me out of a plane!” Flynn shouted, poking Jacob harshly in the chest.

Jacob stared him down. “We had no choice. If we stayed, we would’ve been captured.”

“You don’t know that! It looked like you had it handled.”

“Don’t question my judgment,” Jacob snarled, putting some space in between them. “Where are we?”

Flynn thought for a moment, thinking of the flight plan and their trajectory. “I need to get above the canopy to know for sure, but we should be fairly close to the secret Mayan temple.”

“Then get up that tree there,” Jacob said, pointing to a thick tree.

“Sure, I’ll just...climb this tree here,” Flynn said, walking over to the tree. Fueled by Jacob’s unimpressed look, Flynn scaled the tree.

Above the canopy, Flynn got confirmation of their location. Annoyingly, Jacob climbed the tree too, and looked annoyingly less winded than Flynn felt. “I’d say we’re about twenty miles away,” Jacob said, squinting at the temple in the distance.

“Nineteen and a third,” Flynn grumbled under his breath.

Jacob rolled his eyes. “Then we should get going,” he said, then left Flynn sitting at the top of the tree.

---

Trekking in the forest was not a thing Flynn really wanted to do, at least not so unprepared, but Jacob didn’t seemed to mind roughing it. They were sitting around a little campfire, eating roasted squirrels that Jacob had trapped earlier. It was quiet without it actually being quiet; the rainforest had plenty of noises, some Flynn didn’t want to think about, but he and Jacob ate in silence, at least, for a little while.

“So...what did you do before you came to the Library? Professor? Grad school?”

Jacob chuckled, shaking his head. “None of that. I was working on an oil rig when I got the letter, and before that I had a couple year stint at land surveying.”

Flynn blinked. “Oh.” He took a bite of meat to occupy his mouth, but the question came out anyway. “Then how did you...learn?”

“Not everyone has to learn through school, Flynn,” Jacob replied. “There wasn’t anythin’ stoppin’ me from reading books from my town’s library as a kid. And the internet is pretty nifty.”

“But...you’re brilliant. Why oil?”

Jacob kicked a little stone into the fire. “My dad has...had an oil company, one of the biggest local ones in Oklahoma. He expected me to run it, and for awhile I did.” He paused, pulling at meat with his teeth, but he eventually continued when Flynn wouldn’t quit staring at him. “My pa, he wasn’t one for smarts, or for people who had ‘em. He was worse than the kids at school.”

“So you hid it,” Flynn said. He hadn’t meant to be sarcastic or anything, but he was bad with the whole social interaction thing.

“Yeah, I did, and what of it?” Jacob glared at him. “Just because I didn’t study like you doesn’t mean I’m any less smart than you.”

Flynn cleared his throat awkwardly, finishing his roasted squirrel. “You, uh, wouldn’t happen to have toilet paper on you?”

Flynn hated the fact that the fire made Jacob’s eyes very piercing, because they were attempting to murder him with a look. Jacob took a knife from his boot, stabbed a leaf, and offered it to Flynn. “Be my guest.”

“Thanks,” Flynn said, taking the leaf and walking away from Jacob. Conveniently, he walked towards the cliff they’d camped near, and happened to see a group of not nice looking people around their own fire. He near sprinted back to Jacob. “We have friends!” he shout-whispered.

Jacob sprang up and followed Flynn to get a glimpse, and then promptly went and put the fire out. “They won’t scale the cliff ‘till morning.” He then settled down next to the dying embers, apparently ready to sleep for the night.

Without the fire, Flynn was acutely aware of the drop in temperature. “It’s, uh, it’s getting cold without that fire. We may need to do something to keep us warm.”

“Are you askin’ to cuddle?” Jacob looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

“No! Uh, I just, was making an observation,” Flynn stammered, pacing around the dead fire.

“Get over here,” Jacob commanded, and it was a voice Flynn was not going to disobey. He sat down next to Jacob, leaving space in between them. Jacob eyed the gap. “That’s not gonna keep us warm.”

Flynn tried to restrain himself, but still probably got right up against Jacob a bit too quickly. The cowboy-fighter didn’t seem to notice. Despite the exhaustion, Flynn’s limbs were buzzing with energy. What am I, a teenager? Jacob made it worse when he wrapped an arm around Flynn’s waist and said into his ear, “try to get some sleep, you’ll need it.”

---

They were up and moving as soon as it got bright enough to make out general shapes of plants, hopefully leaving the people down below none the wiser. They continued hiking through the rainforest...happened on some locals, where of course Jacob spoke their dialect of Portuguese perfectly (and it sounded stupidly good coming out of his mouth, Flynn noted). Jacob even didn’t seem to mind when Flynn geeked out about the mating dance they got to watch that night. In fact, if Flynn wasn’t in such a weird situation, he’d say Jacob was watching him fondly that whole night.

It would’ve been nice to spend more time at the village, but the Serpent Brotherhood showed up the next morning, prompting Flynn and Jacob to flee into the jungle. They ran as fast as the forest floor would let them, and took a plunge over a waterfall to put distance between them and their pursuers. Flynn noted that Jacob’s soaked undershirt (he had his western shirt tied around his waist to dry), clung obscenely to his solid torso and muscular arms.

They got to the temple as the sun neared three in the afternoon. Flynn took over on that one, about got them killed but then saved them, thankfully. When they walked into the treasure room, Jacob kept Flynn from being stupid by dragging him back before he could go mess around with the piece of spear on the pedestal. “Woah there, these things are near always booby trapped. Don’t ever go wanderin’ up to something like that,” Jacob said.

Flynn felt himself flush. “I knew that.”

“Uh huh.” Jacob looked around the room, trying to find a release for whatever trap was inevitably on that pedestal. Flynn wanted to beat Jacob to the punch, so with his quick thinking, he took a rock and threw it at the spear piece, knocking it to the floor.

Jacob spun around to Flynn. “What did you-” A large stone face slamming into the space in front of the pedestal cut him off. Jacob looked at it a bit, then said, “Well, that works.”

They left the temple much quicker than it took them to get in, however the Serpent Brotherhood goons were standing right outside. Considering the odds if they tried to flee, Jacob and Flynn complied, and were dragged harshly through the jungle to a makeshift camp nearby. Someone was in the farthest tent they were facing, based on the rustling Flynn could hear. The person stepped out, and Flynn couldn’t believe his eyes at who was standing in front of him.

Jacob was furious. “Ed...you died...you...how…” It took three men to restrain him.

The apparently-not-deceased, previous Librarian shook his head like Jacob was slow. “What you saw was a special effect. Though your tears were perfect,” Edward said. Jacob bristled, but stayed put as the men restraining him prodded his sides with their guns. Edward looked to Flynn with disgust. “You’re the Librarian?”

Jacob ignored Edward’s jab. “Why?”

Edward swaggered closer to Jacob. “Absolute power, who wouldn’t? Oh, that would be you, the Guardian who hated magic.”

Then three men were not enough to restrain Jacob. He lashed out, grabbing Edward by the throat, before two more men joined the first three to push him back. Flynn noticed the red finger-length marks on Edward’s neck.

Edward coughed a little, grimacing, but then cocked his gun and aimed right at Jacob’s chest. “Goodbye Jacob. It was nice to see you again.”

Before Edward could fire, Flynn leaped in front of Jacob. “You can’t kill him.”

Edward looked at him. “Why not?”

Flynn stood a little straighter, adrenaline substituting for confidence. “Because you need me to find the last piece, and I won’t do it without him.”

Shoving his gun in the back of his pants, Edward closed the five feet between him and Flynn. “I don’t need you. I have this,” he said as took the book out from Flynn’s messenger bag and started flipping through the pages. Edward looked at Flynn in disbelief. “The language of the birds. No one can read this!”

“No one except a real Librarian,” Jacob said from behind Flynn.

Flynn bit back the immediate thought that Jacob technically translated it first. Instead, he started speaking in the language of the birds. “Tu zak su auk chi, coo coo coo coo coo coo coo caksi, kappa pippsi pash. In the language of the birds, that means you’re up a creek, and I’ve got the only paddle.”

Edward slammed the book shut. “Tell me where the third piece is, and I’ll let him live.”

“Don’t tell him,” Jacob said to Flynn.

“It’s in Shangri-La,” Flynn said.

Jacob kicked him in the back of the leg. Flynn winced, but Edward didn’t seem to notice. “Don’t screw with me, that’s a legend.”

“Shangri-La is in Mount Kailesh, in the Himalayas,” Flynn said, then turned his head to look at Jacob. “Excuse me for trying to save your life...again.”

“The spear is more important than my life, Flynn,” Jacob growled, his menacing tone making the mercenaries around them anxious.

“He’s not gonna get anywhere near that spear, unless I interpret the clues in there,” Flynn said, nodding to the book.

---

In captivity, they were shoved through the jungle to an airstrip, onto a plane, under constant watch of at least four men at any time. Both Flynn and Jacob took the break to get rest, and eat what little food they were given. Only when they were scaling mountains in the Himalayas did the security dwindle, though there wasn’t exactly anywhere for them to escape to anyway.

Flynn did not want to visit Shangri-La like this, but Jacob seemed even more distraught about it. “What’s wrong?” he whispered, hoping to not provoke the goons dragging both of them along.

“I...I trained here, to fight, and now I’m here in captivity to take the very thing they’ve sworn to protect,” Jacob replied, looking at the ground the whole time. Flynn noticed the monks were watching the Guardian, giving various looks of concern, disappointment, and pity, but the one in the center had no expression on his face.

“Welcome. It has been long prophesied that you would come today,” the monk in the middle said.

Edward, not one for pleasantries anymore, pushed in between Flynn and Jacob while the rest of the goons aimed their guns at the monks. “Give us the spear piece.”

The monk in the middle sighed, and then let them into the temple. The Serpent Brotherhood mercenaries shoved Flynn and Jacob through the temple to the golden statue in the back of the room.

“It is hidden inside,” the monk told Edward.

“Open it,” Edward demanded.

“We are the meer keepers. We have no idea how to open it,” the monk replied.

Edward shoved Flynn forward. “Fortunately, he does.” Flynn slowly made his way up to the statue, but apparently it wasn't fast enough for Edward. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at Jacob’s head. “Get the spear piece, or I blow his brains out.”

Flynn raised his hands to show he was complying, took out the book, and looked at it for few moments. “Uh...this can’t be right,” Flynn said, flipping through pages.

“What?!” Edward said, shoving Jacob forward so he could see but still keep his leverage on Flynn.

“Well, this says it can only be opened with the name of god.”

“So?”

“So, the name of god is only the biggest secret in the WORLD. Over four thousand years, people have been trying to figure out, you expect me to come up with it in fifteen seconds?” Flynn retorted.

Edward replied by cocking his gun and re-aiming it at Jacob’s occipital bone.

Defeated, Flynn rolled his sleeves up a little and studied the characters on the statue’s stomach. After a few moments, he smiled. “M...E,” he said as he touched two symbols. The symbols glowed, then the whole stomach section glowed around the edges and retreated into the statue with a bright flash, revealing the spear blade. “Me, god is within us all,” Flynn explained.

The monk who had greeted them smiled and nodded at Flynn as Edward released Jacob and made his way up to the blade. Flynn, wanting to pull a fast one on Edward, stood up in resignation. “Go ahead, take it.” He winked to Jacob, who looked about ready to take out all the Serpent Brotherhood around him.

Edward about fell for it, going so far as to reach his hand just across the threshold of the compartment, but then he stood up and looked at Flynn. “No, you take it,” Edward commanded. Flynn, not wanting to show his concern, did so, but his hesitation gave him away. “Problem?”

Flynn shook his head, and proceeded to pull the blade out quickly, with no ill effects. That’s not right. Edward swiped the blade from him as Flynn glanced around the room in confusion.

“Lars, fly up here now, track my signal,” Edward said into a walkie talkie, staring at the blade in his hand like he just had the world handed to him. Just then, the statute started to descend into the floor.

“About time,” Flynn told the statue as a gong sounded, and the temple started shaking.

Things descended into chaos. The monks took advantage of it, targeting the Serpent Brotherhood. Jacob grabbed the blade from Edward after elbowing him in the stomach, then grabbed Flynn’s arm and dragged him through the chaos, though they had to get past enemies first...or rather, Jacob took care of them quickly in a similar yet different style than the monks were using around them.

Seeing their escape, Edward blocked their path. “Give me the spear!”

Jacob took the blade in his hand and chucked it across the room into the chaos.

“Noo! Get the spear!” Edward roared, pushing past them into the room.

Jacob continued leading Flynn out of the collapsing temple, ignoring his “but the blade!” until they were outside.

“Hold on, we have to get the spear piece,” Flynn said as soon as they stopped.

Jacob pulled out the blade in the sheath built into his boot. “If you wanna hide something, you do it in plain sight.”

The monk that had first greeted them ran up to them. “The spear must be protected.”

“Master-” Jacob started, but the man held up a hand to stop his sentence.

“Protect it. You cannot fight a crowd alone, Jacob. We will rebuild. Do your duty.”

Jacob looked like he had more to say, but he just nodded, grabbed Flynn’s wrist, and ran off to the helicopter that had just conveniently landed on the lawn.

---

With their new helicopter, they flew towards the nearest blip of civilization that was big enough to have a hotel, and promptly booked themselves a room. Flynn didn’t blink an eye at sharing a room, but he gawked when the manager informed them there was only one bed.

“It’s not like we didn’t just spend a week in each other’s company. Any bed is better than camping outside again, and I don’t want to let you out of my sight when they’re still lookin’ for us,” Jacob said. He then thanked the manager and took the room key, expecting Flynn to follow him to the elevator, which he did.

The room itself was fine. Flynn claimed the bathroom first, hoping the warm shower and scrubbing off a week’s worth of grime would let him fall asleep quickly. Eventually he forced himself out of the shower so Jacob could use it.

Just as Jacob stepped into the bathroom, the tv turned itself on. Judson was in the screen. “Mr. Carson.”

“Judson! You and everyone at the Library can completely relax. We have the third piece of the spear right,” he paused to dig under the bed to retrieve it, “right here. Completely safe.”

Judson nodded in approval. “Good work. I still can’t believe that Wilde joined the Serpent Brotherhood. He was a fine Librarian. Thank goodness we have a…a better one now.” Flynn wiggled a little where he was sitting on the bed, savoring the praise. “Get some rest, and return to the Library as soon as possible,” Judson said, and then the tv turned off, ending the conversation.

Once Judson’s image fizzled out, Flynn let himself lay down on the bed, the left side when looking at the bed, leaving more than enough room for Jacob to sleep on. His back ached at the soft mattress after several nights of sleeping on the ground, so he shifted around until he was on his side, back facing the edge of the bed. He was exhausted, but of course his brain didn’t want to rest quite yet, so he laid there, staring at the wall, trying to process his past week. He did his best to ignore the steam curling from under the bathroom door, to not think about how he'd rather be back in that shower, listening to that southern voice sing some country song without a door and a shower curtain between them.

And then all thoughts of anything ceased to be at the forefront of his brain when Jacob walked out of the muggy bathroom, only pajama bottoms on, towel draped around his neck. And of course, Flynn's mouth acted of its own accord. “You're not wearing a shirt.”

Jacob looked at him, thought a moment, and then said, in a rather gravelly voice, “No, I'm not. Accidentally left it out here.” He nodded at the shirt still sitting on top of the dresser.

“Hmm, was it truly an accident?” Flynn asked. And then he processed those words and sat up quickly. “I'm sorry, uh, I-”

“Do you want it to be on purpose?” Jacob asked. He kept eye contact with Flynn as he ran the towel through his damp hair slowly. “‘Cuz it could've been.”

“Uh, well, um,” said Flynn eloquently.

Jacob chuckled. “You sure have a way with words, Flynn.”

“Well, you make it hard to think,” Flynn retorted. He meant it to be a jab, but it just came out as a compliment.

“Do I now?” Jacob said with a smirk. He slowly walked over to the side of the bed Flynn was sitting. “Tell me, Flynn, what would you like to do right now?”

With Jacob’s solid body right in front of him, and the way he was practically purring Flynn’s name, it took a couple tries for Flynn to get words to work. “Right now? I, uh, I…”

“Would you rather show me?” Jacob asked, leaning down at the hips so his face was level with Flynn’s. Flynn nodded, and didn’t stop nodding until his face pressed against Jacob’s. Jacob kissed him for a moment, then pulled away, smiling at the way Flynn tried to follow him. “Hold on, now. Why don’t we get into a more comfortable position, hmm?” Flynn nodded yet again, but Jacob got him to stop by gently holding his jaw with one hand, the other stabilizing himself as he straddled Flynn’s hips. “There, now how ‘bout you go on and lay down,” he instructed, giving Flynn little kisses all the way down.

Flynn couldn’t restrain himself now that Jacob was above him; his hand went for Jacob’s torso, feeling the lines of muscle there. “I’ve been wanting to do that since the waterfall,” Flynn admitted.

“Have you, now? Well, don’t be shy,” Jacob muttered, leaning down to let his mouth explore Flynn more.

---

While they could’ve been more well-rested, they woke up the next morning to sun seeping through the curtains, a little stiff in places that hadn’t been sore the night before. Jacob was lazily carding his fingers through Flynn’s hair, where his head still laid on the Guardian’s chest. Once Flynn had savored the memories of the night before, his mind was on to more questions about the Guardian’s past. “How long did you train at Shangri-La?”

Jacob’s hand hesitated a moment before it resumed its path through Flynn’s bedhead. “A couple months, near soon as the Library hired me.”

Flynn traced the lines of Jacob’s torso. “Where else did you train? Your form was...unique.”

“There’s a lot to be learned from bar brawls and school yard fights,” Jacob said, hand moving down Flynn’s neck to his shoulders, making the Librarian shivver. “I had more than my fair share of them.”

For awhile they enjoyed each other’s touch in silence, but eventually Flynn’s curiosity returned. “What did Edward mean when he said you hated magic?”

Now Jacob’s hand stopped moving. “I don’t...Edward liked usin’ it, to save the day, he said. I hated that he did that. Magic is...it’s dangerous, and power corrupts. It’s the reason the Library exists, to keep it out of the hands of those who want to wreak havoc.”

Flynn turned his head so he was looking at Jacob, as much as he could anyway. “Was he always...how he is now?”

Jacob looked away in thought. “I never thought so, I mean, sure, he was headstrong, but his heart was in the right place, or ‘least I thought it was.”

“Were you two...close?”

“No, he, well, he didn’t even know about me,” Jacob said. He still wasn’t looking at Flynn.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I think breakfast...or maybe lunch is in order,” Flynn said, sitting up.

Jacob looked back at Flynn, smiling, but he still seemed distant. “Sounds great.”

They got dressed and made their way to a cafe just down the street from the hotel, spear blade safely sheathed in Jacob’s boot. They ate their food and coffee in a politely ravenous manner, earning a couple glances from other patrons.

“Have you published anything?” Flynn asked Jacob out of the blue.

“What?” Jacob said around a mouthful.

“Any papers, books? I know the way you talked about the language of the birds sounded familiar, but I’ve read countless essays and articles and books to pin down the specific ones I’m thinking of that sounded like you. I mean you had to have done it under a pen name-”

Jacob held up his hand to get Flynn to quiet. “I have, under pen names,” Jacob answered, emphasizing the plural.

Flynn did not want to let this go. He racked his mind, temporarily ignoring his food. “Was Dr. Oliver Thompson one of them?”

Jacob huffed, more amused than annoyed. “Yup.” Just as he took another bite, a sizeable dart sunk into his neck.

“Jacob!” Flynn half shouted, shooting up from his chair. Jacob stood up too, albeit slower than Flynn, and he swayed a little on his feet.

Jacob pulled the dart out, looking around, but his head turned too slowly to really cover the area. “Flynn, run,” he slurred, somehow still standing. Flynn instinctively backed up, just in time for some Serpent Brotherhood brutes to descend on Jacob, who then finally passed out.

Flynn was torn; Jacob told him to run, and he wanted to, but he didn’t wanna leave Jacob. He didn’t get much time to think as the men dragged the unconscious Guardian over to a truck, and sped off. It was then that Flynn realized the blade was still in Jacob’s boot, though the mercenaries didn’t seem to know that as they had taken Flynn’s messenger bag too, not that it would do them any good. Freaking out, Flynn ran down the street in the direction the truck had gone, but there was no way he was going to catch them by foot. He stopped to catch his breath conveniently near another tv.

“Flynn, what’s wrong?” Judson asked. He was sitting in a chair, unlike yesterday’s magical video call.

“Jacob, they took him, a tranquilizer dart, they have the spear, the Serpent Brotherhood took him,” Flynn rambled.

“Alright, alright, not all is lost. It took a great power to split the spear, and it’ll take even more to fuse the pieces together again,” Judson said.

“How much?”

“Well, mysticism aside, you’ll need a local electromagnetic field registering over fifteen on the Shoum scale,” Judson explained.

“Okay, good,” Flynn said, nodding and pacing a little. “The only time that kind of energy’s ever been registered was during a peak full moon at the great pyramid, when it had its capstone. The Egyptian government refuses to replace the-” Flynn had an epiphany “-capstone. Next peak full moon is tomorrow night. Call the marines, Judson, I’m coming home.”

---

That night, New York time, Flynn sneaked up to a service entrance of the museum where just a few weeks ago, he had been working with Professor Harris. He tried busting down the door, but only gave himself a bruised shoulder.

“Flynn,” Judson said, startling him, “we can get in through the ventilation system.”

“Where are the marines?” Flynn asked, looking around.

Judson pulled back the collar of his shirt revealing a small tattoo of the eagle, globe and anchor. “Semper fi.”

“You were a marine,” Flynn said, to which Judson nodded. Flynn had no idea how they were going to get Jacob and the spear, just the two of them. “Good, good.”

“Well now, let’s get that spear back.”

They snuck in, through the ventilation system, and approached the gathering of the Serpent Brotherhood gathering around the scale pyramid from the second floor. Flynn spotted an annoyingly familiar face. “Well well well, Professor Harris. I should’ve known he was evil. He gave me an A minus.”

Edward stepped out of the pyramid, spear pieces in hand. His two main henchman-hench people...the bald one and the lady, stepped out from behind him, Jacob in tow with hands bound behind him. “Serpent Brothers, our dream comes true tonight,” Edward addressed the gathering.

“Doesn’t that guy ever die,” Flynn whispered to Judson.

“We call down the power of the gods, the ancient ones,” Edward said, lifting the pieces up. Then, from the capstone, the pyramid lit up, blue energy coursing down to the base and back up like a scanner before flashing at the capstone. Edward and the people on the stairs with him, Jacob included, went into the pyramid replica as the others outside started chanting, led by Professor Harris no less.

Judson and Flynn made their way to the first floor, hiding behind a large stone head. There’s just too many of them. “I can’t do this alone,” Flynn whispered.

“Well, you got me,” Judson said.

“No offence, Judson, but you’re-” Flynn was interrupted by Judson slamming a patrolling guard’s face into the stone. “You bad mother.”

“I was a Librarian too, you know,” Judson said, and then sneaked off to get a better position on the crowd waiting for Edward. Flynn, knowing all the entrances of the pyramid best, decided to sneak in there because Edward was up to no good.

Flynn’s suspicions were confirmed when he got in there just in time to see Edward stab the bald guy with the newly repaired spear, and consume his soul before throwing him into the magical field created by the capstone. He was about to do the same to Jacob too, but Flynn was not about to let that happen.

“Dying by the very thing you hate, how fitting,” Edward said, and started towards Jacob, spear aimed at his stomach, but Flynn jumped out and tackled Edward before it could touch Jacob. The Guardian looked at Flynn in surprise, and promptly followed him out of the pyramid, only to be greeted by the crowd waiting on Edward. “Kill,” Edward commanded, then went back into the pyramid. The lady followed him.

Seeing Jacob needed his hands, Flynn undid the handcuffs. “Ha, Houdini, Prague, nineteen twenty six,” Flynn said as he threw the cuffs away.

Just then Judson joined them. “We have to get the spear back to the Library,” he said, which prompted the crowd to attack them. Judson went straight to work, taking down several men. Flynn glanced to Jacob, who was gawking just as much as Flynn was. “Get the spear away from Wilde, before he gets too powerful,” Judson commanded. Knowing he wasn’t much good in a fight, Flynn sprinted into the pyramid.

Professor Harris stepped out in front of Flynn, so Flynn used his momentum to break his nose. “You...you broke my nose!” the professor said, blood dripping. “How dare you Flynn!”

“Yeah, I did what you said,” Flynn mocked, grabbing the professor by his jacket. “I learned a few things in the big, bad, real world!” He turned the professor around and gave him a good kick, sending him down the stairs to the floor. Flynn couldn’t get farther into the pyramid though, as the lady came out, gun pointed at him.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” she said, voice disturbingly gentle despite the chaos around them. “We’re gonna rule the world. We can be together.”

Flynn blinked at her in confusion and fear, but thankfully Jacob had been paying more attention and ran up and decked her square in the temple. “Get your own geek,” he growled. Flynn moved past her on the floor, going up to Jacob, grinning. Jacob nodded towards the doorway, and Flynn ran inside.

Edward was standing just at the edge of the energy field. “It’s too late Flynn. The power of the spear is MINE!” He backhanded Flynn with inhuman strength, sending the Librarian into the nearby wall head first. Blood trickled out of gash above Flynn’s temple. He felt it, just a surface wound, but head wounds always bleed a lot.

Edward stalked over to him. “You’re the best they could come up with?” He then went to stab Flynn with the spear, but Flynn rolled out of the way, letting the spear impact the stone right where he had been. Edward pushed it back a couple inches with the force of his jab. Flynn barely got to his feet before Edward was swiping at him. In his backpedalling, Flynn tripped over rubble. “You’re too clumsy to even die properly!” Edward snarled, spear in one hand ready to throw. Flynn scrambled backwards into the wall, then promptly rolled out of the way.

Just then Flynn realized which stones Edward had shoved back. So he ran to the next corner, Edward trailing him. Edward caught him with the butt of the spear, recovered, and did what Flynn wanted on the third cornerstone.

After Edward hit the fourth cornerstone, Flynn was just beat up enough that he couldn’t get away quick enough. He got roundhouse kicked in the jaw, sending him dazed into a pillar. Edward then took him by the throat and hoisted him up like Flynn weighed nothing.

“Goodbye Librarian,” Edward said, and tossed Flynn towards the energy field, which promptly dissipated as soon as Flynn neared it.

“If even one of the support stones are off even by an inch,” Flynn said, struggling to get to his feet, “the whole pyramid collapses.” He picked up a bit of rubble already crumbling in his hand. “I’d say this was out of alignment.”

“I will destroy you!” Edward roared.

“You never will!” Flynn retorted. “You know why? Because the things that make life worth living can’t be thought here-” he smacked Edward under the chin with the rubble in his hand “-they must be felt here!” Flynn sent Edward stumbling back with a forceful blow to the sternum, enough to put him just under the capstone. And just as Flynn predicted, the capstone came crashing down onto Edward, finally killing the previous Librarian. The spear, undamaged, flew to Flynn’s hands.

Outside, Judson and Jacob had taken care of all the other Serpent Brotherhood people, leaving mess of bodies on the floor. “I believe this belongs to the Library,” Flynn said, using the spear for more support to stand than he’d like to admit.

Jacob didn’t seem to care, he was looking at Flynn with a proud smile...and maybe a bit of bedroom eyes, but Flynn couldn’t be certain considering he did hit his head.

---

Three Months Later

Flynn had taken his mother out for a brunch at a café, where of course she was trying to set him up with the three ladies at a nearby table. “Flynn is a librarian now, but he’s capable of so much more. He just needs the right woman to push him.”

“Mom, you don’t understand. Being a Librarian is actually a pretty cool job,” Flynn said. He leaned towards her a little. “And you don’t need to keep trying to fix me up, I told you that.”

His mom seemed a little taken aback at his bluntness, but brushed it off. “This mysterious J, never quite around to meet the mother, or even have a real first name.”

“I told you, it’s their first initial,” Flynn said, a bit exasperated. “Well, it’s complicated.”

Just then, a motorcycle jumped a potted hedge, drove right into the middle of café patio, and stopped right at their table. Flynn’s mother was shocked, but Flynn looked cool as a cucumber, though in his head he was battling the sudden rush of adrenaline.

Jacob pulled his full-face helmet off, smirking at Flynn. “Hey there, handsome,” Jacob said as Flynn stood up to greet him via a kiss. His mom gasped, making Flynn remember that he should introduce Jacob and not stand there thinking about how stupidly sexy the leather jacket looked on his Guardian.

“Jacob, this is my mother,” Flynn said, forcing his gaze to his mother for a brief moment.

“Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Carsen,” Jacob drawled, putting on that stupidly charming smile of his (it took all of Flynn’s self-control not to kiss it off his face) and offering Flynn’s mother his hand.

“Oh no, the pleasure is mine,” Mrs. Carsen said, taking his hand, which he then brought up to his lips to give a polite kiss on her knuckles before letting her hand go. She looked thoroughly charmed.

Jacob then looked at Flynn. “The Deadly Scorpion League has found H. G. Well’s time machine. We’re the only ones who can get it back.”

“Deadly Scorpion League, what is it with these bad guys and insect names for clubs,” Flynn said, a bit exasperated. Then he looked to his mother. “Mom, I get going,” he leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek, “see you soon.” He then got on the back of Jacob’s motorcycle, though he narrowed his eyes at the grin on Jacob’s face. “You’re smiling...why are you smiling?”

“Oh, deadly time-travelling ninjas out to kill us,” Jacob said like he was describing the color of the plates on the table.

Flynn shook his head. “Just a normal day at work,” he said, smiling as he put on the spare helmet. Once Flynn had secured his arms around Jacob’s waist, the Guardian sped off into the street, said ninjas hot on their tail.

-----

Apparently I just needed some more Flynnstone, because I had seriously thought my first Librarians fic for 2019 was going to be another Jazekiel one, or another installment on my Land Pirate AU. Though it wasn’t near as original as my other stuff, considering I used dialog and scenes directly from the movie. Oh well, whatever gets me out of my writing slump I guess!

I always pictured Stone as one of those “on the fence” characters, where he had the ability to be either a Guardian or Librarian with his skillset and personality. That’s probably why I wanted to play with him being a Guardian. Also, I wanted to play around with Stone’s history more, mainly giving him access to the Library earlier in his life. I didn’t think he actually went to college, so he did all his degrees online or something because of the aliases he used, but wiki says Stone went to college so idk. Mainly, my thinking is if Stone actually went to a college in person...he wouldn’t go back to oil rigging and he’d be a professor instead ( see “And the Happily Ever Afters” where that was his dream job).

#the librarian: quest for the spear #the librarian #the librarian fic #the librarians #the librarians fic #flynnstone #flynn carsen #jacob stone #flynn writes #flynn x stone

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trbled-at-the-root-blog · 6 years

Note

☁

Studio: send me a symbol for… Partner: @fvkup

☁ five times my muse has thought about yours, and the one time they do something about it.

The clock hits midnight and Kyungil is stuck at the studio. Work was driving him mad. As much as he did enjoy it, there was a point that it got too much. Too many hours spent in the same space doing the same thing. It was practically the definition of insanity. His brain feels like a jumbled mess as he sits staring aimlessly at the mirrors surrounding him. He can recall the first time Gyeoul came to visit. She looked the least bit excited to be stuck in a place like this with him for a few hours. Granted, it was her decision to wait on him. It had been two weeks since the two last spoke and now he stops to wonder how she’s doing. Maybe he should send her a text, check up on things. He’s aware that her father went out of his way in attempt to get in touch with her again. It threw her off. Probably sent her spiraling into isolation. Kyungil understands. He understands but he misses her.

Why do I miss you so much?

Maybe because she had just clocked out entirely. From practically talking every single day to the sudden disappearance, it was hard to deal with. But again, he has always been understanding of her circumstance. Ever since the night she opened up to him via too many alcoholic beverages.

Are you okay?

I hope you’re doing okay.

He’s stuck in the middle of a line at one of Seoul’s largest malls. A woman wearing some loose fitted clothing, long brown hair, and a tattoo (similar to that of his friends’) passes by. Kyungil’s head swings left toward the direction of the woman but when his eyes finally fall upon her face it is clear that he is not who he thought she was. That momentary spurt of happiness is quick to fade. It simmers away and his shoulders slouch again.

Back to standing in line.

The dancer whips out his phone in a spur of the moment decision to send her a text.

|Kkt: Snowflake 🖕| Hey… how have you been? I thought I just saw you but it was definitely some other chick. Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe I’m tired I’m hallucinating.

But as fast as he types the message out, he also deletes it and shoves his phone back into his pocket. The last thing he wanted to do was bother the woman. She had been busy with work. The waitress job was no fun anywhere, especially not the night shifts. Gyeoul was probably just busy.

“I’m sorry, sir. I don’t speak Japanese.” Touring could be a bitch. That and traveling to help with the development of certain choreography for dance groups. At the same time, did he really have a right to complain? Most people would kill for the opportunity. But having to argue with the elderly man in front of him (the current owner of the large company he is here to help with) is driving him mad. How many times would it take for him to say that he has no idea how to speak Japanese? To make it worse, his understanding of it was minimal.

“Damn it, Gyeoul. Why aren’t you here?” She had traveled with him once just a couple months ago. They had gone briefly to Japan for a dance convention and the dancer practically begged her to help him out. She got a free trip out of it so (eventually) she did agree. But with him going for ten days and her job, there was no way she would be able to come this time around. Nor was he sure that she would be comfortable with the idea of having to spend so much time with him at once.

Still, how nice it would have been to be able to have her here. It feels like his mind always thinks that way, yet his body does nothing to change it. A simple call would suffice. Even a text. But with how busy he got days mutated together into weeks, and weeks into months. They never went much longer than a month without speaking.

If he could he would text her. Pull out his phone and ask her to come over. Tell her that he misses her and some sort of cryptic text which (like always) would drive her insane.

Why don’t you just say you miss me, wolf-boy?

He can hear it in her voice. That hint of sarcasm with a punch of playful mean. But she’s said it to him so many times before and he never does anything about it.

Because it’s weird to say.

Is what he thinks. Never says. God, no. Forget that. He could never say it aloud. Not that he missed her (a lot of the time), or that he feels weird saying it. Even with how detached she normally was around others, Kyungil had noticed that she was quite affectionate around him. Something he greatly appreciated.

“Yeah well, now I do miss you. Stupid ass.”

It’s early morning and Kyungil is up searching through his most recent playlist for the next song he wants to create choreography to for his intermediate class. It had to be something reasonable, where the beat was quick enough but not overwhelming.

He leans back and lets the list play on, eyes closed as he waits for that magic song to appear. There was no use clicking through a billion different songs, when the right one came along he would know. Until then there was nothing else to do but to wait and listen.

After about an hour of sitting around, a song comes on that reminds him of Gyeoul. It was the song that played in the club they met at for the very first time. He was out with a few of his close friends trying to have a good night and not focus on all the negativity that had been going on during that time in his life six months ago.

I shut down the party

I miss you so bad

I need you so bad

Gyeoul was their waitress that night and from the very get go the two hit it off. In fact, Kyungil had gone out of his way the next few weeks to go out to that same place in order to get a chance to see her again. The first time they met, he was being indecisive on his order and she made fun of him for it then proceeded to recommend one of her favourite dishes which he loved. They spent several nights the same way. Making eye contact across the floor, unable to really have any time alone because of the blaring music and hoards of crowds. It was a club which meant it was full of people, especially during the late evenings which was just about the only time he had free to go out.

After that their friendship bloomed. He spent a few of his free days coming to visit whenever she worked earlier times, they exchanged numbers, hung around with each other outside of where they had originally met. They had gotten close. Far closer than he expected. Kyungil had told her many things he had yet to tell anyone else in the world. And she did the same.

Listening to the song brings a smile to his face. It reminds him so very much of her and it seems like just another one of the many days he is thankful for her existence.

The soft scent of newly washed sheets and the warmth of the rays of sun peeking through his one window lull him into a state of sleep. Nothing about this situation made him want to get up. Not even that it was now eleven in the morning and far too late to still be passed out in bed. Nevertheless, he is. It was one of his few lazy days and as he rolls over to his side (as far away from the sun as possible), his right hand creeps underneath the pillow for some support. Fingers get caught in the mesh of fabric. His first response is to furrow his brows, face puzzled by whatever it might be that lies beneath his pillow.

Kyungil pushes himself up and pulls the item out so that he can have a better look at it. What he finds is a woman’s top, plain, with some lace and black, much like his hair. “Hm. This is definitely not mine.” But in spite of what people thought, there were not many women that frequented his bed. He did recall that just a week ago Gyeoul had slept over at his place. They were hanging out and had a little too much to drink so by no means did he want to send her home on her own. Not even in the safety of a cab. Kyungil insisted she stayed the night and honestly, the female never argued much over it. They spent the night together cuddled and there is a blur of a memory where their lips might have met. But with how intoxicated he was there is no telling whether that is nothing more than a mere figment of his imagination.

|Kkt: Snowflake 🖕| Hey, I found your shirt. Undershirt? I’m not really sure but it’s at my place.

Now the only question he has is how on earth did it get there and not on her? Maybe he gave her a change of clothes to sleep in for the night. But honestly, he couldn’t remember.

|Kkt: Snowflake 🖕| Come over. I miss you. What time do you work today? I’m done late. I can come pick you up if you’re up for it.

#rep.#re;|Kyungil|#fvkup #(( sorry this is late #and sorry it's long #I'm so rusty bleh

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junker-town · 4 years

Text

Jalen Johnson doesn’t owe Duke anything

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Jalen Johnson realized Duke needed him, more than he needed Duke.

Jalen Johnson shocked the college basketball world on Monday when the Duke freshman announced he would opt out of the remainder of the season to focus on preparing for the NBA Draft. Johnson, seen as a lottery pick before the season began, leaves the team in exactly the same spot. He will almost assuredly be picked early, but his decision to leave the team in February is getting a lot of people really riled up.

Pundits branding Johnson with the “quitter” moniker are intentionally ignoring the nuance of the situation. A talented player, who took to the court in a middle of a global pandemic, playing on an objectively terrible Duke team, decided it was in his best interest to prepare for the next level. There was never much nobility in the idea of trying to carry a disappointing Blue Devils to the NCAA Tournament in a trying season for everyone involved. Instead, Johnson prioritized his own health, safety, and future by using his time to train for the draft rather than finish out a lost season.

In a sport that so often shows a lack of care for athletes, Johnson decided to take care of himself — and people are mad.

There’s been long-held anxiety about Johnson, when it comes to Duke fans.

Regarded as one of the best forward recruits in the country, and the No. 13 player in his class by ESPN, Johnson was the crown jewel in Duke’s 2020 recruiting haul. A star for Nicolet High School in Wisconsin, Johnson made the decision to go to Bradenton and play for the prestigious IMG Academy as a senior. He then decided to leave IMG without playing a game.

Returning to Nicolet in the middle of Covid, Johnson managed to play just nine games his senior season due to the pandemic, but proved in that short time that he was still the same dominant player who garnered attention during the recruiting process.

However, the decision to leave IMG in mysterious circumstances had message boards buzzing. Some feared it was a sign Johnson might skip Duke all together, and find an alternate path to the NBA, especially after Johnson posted a cryptic tweet which some took as a sign he was getting cold feet about playing for Duke.

everybody did what was best for them, now it’s my turn..

— JJ (@Jalen_J23) January 7, 2020

Those fears never materialized, and Johnson arrived in Durham as planned, but the general uneasiness never went away. This is why the majority of fans now might be angry, or disappointed that he decided to opt out — but not surprised.

The decision to leave sparked the same old debate.

The struggle for the rights of student-athlete is a direct challenge to the old guard of college sports. A system that, for years, has benefitted, thrived, and made enormous amounts of money off the backs of unpaid athletes, who are paid in the “potential” of being noticed and getting a major pay day in the pros. Yes, they receive athletic scholarships the average person couldn’t get, but in exchange coaches and athletic directors became some of the highest paid state employees. As the money swelled in college athletics, it diminished the sheen of getting a scholarship and little else.

For decades this has been a one-sided relationship. Colleges knew that they stood as a gatekeepers for players to get noticed by NBA scouts, which gave them the luxury to call all the shots. If you fail to fall in line then your minutes, your place in the rotation, and your chance to showcase your skills would all diminish — meaning it was in the player’s best interest to continue participating in the system, like it or not.

Recently things have changed. Athletes are learning that the system needs them more than they need it, and for the first time since players began jumping to the NBA straight from high school, young players are making decisions for their future with autonomy. It’s stuck coaches in a bit of a catch-22. On the one hand they obviously need star players to fall in line so they can be successful, but they also can’t push back too strongly and scare off future recruits.

It’s why the greatest condemnation for Johnson leaving for Duke is coming from the old guard of writers and coaches, while the younger generation, like Duke assistant head coach (and former player) Jon Scheyer are handling the situation gently.

Jalen has a great future ahead. Going to miss J rest of season, but excited to see what’s next for him! https://t.co/6Jw4pptT1k

— Jon Scheyer (@JonScheyer) February 16, 2021

The tone was very different from North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who has been steeped in the culture of the one-sided relationship since entering NCAA coaching circles in 1978.

Roy Williams: “Do you know what opting out means? It means you freakin' quit. Whether it's a team or an individual, opting out means you quit. And that bothers me."

— Ross Martin (@RossMartin_IC) February 15, 2021

It causes you to pause when you see a rival coach lashing out at a situation like this. On paper Williams should be overjoyed. UNC’s biggest rival in the ACC is losing one of its best players, making the Tar Heels’ path to the NCAA tournament easier by extension. While Duke might only be 30 minutes away from Chapel Hill, Johnson leaving didn’t happen in his backyard — so why have such strong feelings about it?

Because Williams is coming face-to-face with the reality that the control he’s benefitted from for decades is being whittled away. There’s a newfound fear that a player, given a commitment to excellence and winning in their living room during a recruiting pitch, might bounce and look out for themselves when the team can’t uphold its end of the bargain and compete at the highest level.

Williams witnessed Johnson leave Duke early and saw the reflection of every top player he’s recruited, who could decide it’s best for them to take off and prepare for the draft, rather than play out the remainder of the season.

So we’re left with the threats.

Take a stroll around Twitter and there’s no shortage of people saying that Johnson leaving Duke “destroyed his draft stock.” A myth, perpetuated by those who want to keep the status quo, using the last arrow in their quiver — fear. A masterful manipulative power that intends to scare a player into falling back in line with the threat that their dreams of making it to the NBA are directly linked to whether or not they keep playing out the college season.

Of course, we know this is bullshit. NBA teams aren’t myopic enough to get caught up in babble about “quitting.” They see talent, and nothing more, and are teams are willing to take risks on personality if it means getting that talent on their rosters.

Heck, look no further than LaMelo Ball. Here’s a kid who skipped the entire process all together. LaMelo didn’t attend UCLA as planned, went pro in Lithuania, then to Australia — and early in this process people joked that he would never be drafted as a result. In the end talent shined brighter than any threat of disrupting the status quo. Ball was selected No. 3 overall, and is en route to winning the NBA Rookie of the Year award.

Every time a player succeeds in the NBA by skipping the college process like LaMelo, or thrives in the league by coming from Europe like Luka Doncic, it erodes the mystique that playing for a Division 1 school is the only way to make it in the pros. That is terrifying for the old guard of college athletics, who realize there needs to be a greater incentive to get players to stay in school and fuel March Madness — paying them.

What’s next for Jalen Johnson?

We had Johnson as the No. 9 overall pick in our mock draft earlier this month.

Entering this season Johnson was seen as a lock to be selected in the lottery, and he leaves in exactly the same place. Nothing that happened at Duke was enough to propel him into consideration for a top 3 pick, nor was it enough to bounce him out of the lottery. Remember: The NBA believes in talent more than internet outrage, and Johnson still has enough upside to entice dozens of teams on draft night.

Make no mistake though, this is a reckoning. Maybe Johnson leaving will be a one-off and won’t start a snowball effect, but there’s a possibility, albeit slim, that players in the future will look at their place on college teams, where they’re projected to go in the NBA Draft, and decide that playing for free just isn’t worth it anymore.

That is the existential threat to the system that guys like Roy Williams fear. For now, Johnson is putting himself first and doing what’s best for his future.

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minijenn · 7 years

Text

Universe Falls Preview 3

Decided to give you guys a longer preview because i have been making good progress today thank god. I think its cause I’m getting closer to the nity grity of this chapter (aka the original stuff) so I’m hype about that. But for now, enjoy this:

Eager to follow this newest lead, everyone rushed to pile into Soos’ truck and head over to the museum. However, as soon as the handyman turned the ignition, they were all instantly met with a song playing over the stereo that set Wendy off the moment she heard it.

“Are we blanchin’? Girl, we blanchin, I live up in a mansion.”

“Ugh, Soos!” the cashier groaned in frustration as she hurriedly ejected the aggravating CD and tossed it out the window. The others all looked to her in surprise at this, particularly Soos, which was why she was quick to make a terse, rather stilted apology. “I’ll buy you a new one.”

“Can you guys believe it?” Steven remarked to the other kids with a bright smile. “The four of us are finally back in action, solving mysteries and rewriting history again! Isn’t it great?”

“It will be great if we can jog McGucket’s memory and he actually turns out to be the author after all,” Dipper remarked rather dryly, his attention mostly focused to combing through the journal for any further clues.

“And hopefully we can do all that without running into that Blind Eye thing he mentioned, whatever that is,” Connie added just as seriously, already examining a map of the museum on her phone for anything out of place.

“Y-yeah, but… we can still have fun doing all that, can’t we?” Steven asked, suddenly apprehensive as he glanced back at the Gems, whose expression were all also rather somber and tight.

“Fun?” Dipper repeated with something of a scoff. “Steven, come on. This is serious, our biggest break towards finding the author yet. We have to focus on that first. Especially considering what happened the last time we let ourselves get distracted…”

“R-right…” Steven said, his smile finally falling completely as he let out a small sigh as he leaned his head against the window. Dipper and Connie didn’t notice this, and the young Gem didn’t blame them for it; after all, he knew exactly why they both had every intention of pushing themselves so hard with this important mystery. Still, that didn’t make him feel any better about one of the underlying reasons in particular about why that was.

Mabel, on the other hand, had taken notice of Steven’s sudden melancholy as she sat right next to him, and while it did worry her, another part of her saw it as an opportunity. One that, largely without thinking, she decided to try and take. “Uh… hey, Steven?” she spoke up, trying her best not to come across as flustered.

“Yeah?” the young Gem replied in an absent mutter.

“W-well… I was just wondering… if maybe you and me could, uh… if we could…” Mabel trailed off, her cheeks blushing brightly as she let out a small gasp of realization. “Oh my gosh, I think I finally know how Dipper felt about this whole confession thing…”

“What was that?” Steven asked, having not heard her last muttered statement.

“Oh! Uh, I was just…” Mabel finally gave up with a small sigh, deciding that now really wasn’t the time for this, especially as she spared a quick glance over at Connie sitting on the other side of her. “I was just, uh, thinking that you and me should take Dipper’s advice and be more, um… serious and focused about this author mystery, is all… Y-yeah, that’s… that’s totally what I was gonna say…”

“Oh… Ok, then…” Steven frowned, both confused and downcast as he went back to staring out the window, not noticing Mabel’s clear frustration with her own nervousness. Usually, she had no problem with this sort of thing, but this instance was entirely different than anything she had ever felt before. If she was perfectly honest with herself, these feelings in general were rather foreign to her, at least to the extent that she had been experiencing them for the past several weeks. Which was likely why she was having such a hard time admitting them to anyone really, but especially to the young Gem and in a sense, even to herself. After all, she had already failed at this so many times already; what would good would throwing her heart out on the line again do her, especially since she knew there was such a huge chance that it would be thrown right back?

The rest of the ride was rather silent until the group got to the museum, which was, for some reason, closed for the day, Fortunately, they were able to find easy enough access inside through an open window, and as soon as they all made it inside, Garnet held her teammates back for just a moment, to make sure that they were all clear about what exactly their mission was.

“Remember,” she cautioned, her voice quiet but firm. “Our main mission is to fill in the gaps between us and the author. We don’t know what we’ll find here, so we need to be ready for anything. And if we learn something that we don’t like… then we’ll just have to deal with it and move on from there.”

Amethyst and Pearl nodded in affirmation of this, both of them knowing just as much as Garnet did that today’s investigation could very well change everything they thought they knew. But all the same, they were quick to rejoin the others in starting their search for clues.

“Alright, everyone, keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious,” Dipper advised as they all spread out throughout the main hall.

“So would this exhibit on these groady old caveman forks be considered suspicious?” Amethyst asked, casually infiltrating said exhibit without a care.

“Uh, that’s not really that suspicious, Amethyst,” Connie remarked, raising an eyebrow. “Its just… weird, I guess.”

“Yeah, I’ll say so,” the purple Gem agreed, grabbing one of the wooden utensils. “How the heck did humans used to eat with these lame things without getting mad splinters all up in their mouths? They should have just used their hands to chow down, like a civilized person or whatever.” With that, Amethyst downed the ancient fork with one gulp, much to the startled surprise of everyone watching. “Huh, kinda woody but other than that, it’s not too bad.”

As the investigation continued, Mabel found herself rather disinterested with it as she heaved a morose sigh, something that Wendy too notice of as she paused her search to check up on the younger girl. “Mabel, are you ok? You just walked past a cat without petting it,” she pointed to the nearby taxidermy mountain lion, which Mabel had barely even spared a second place at.

“Oh, Wendy, everything I look at reminds me of my failed romances…” Mabel pouted, nodding to several of the nearby exhibits. “That formaldehyde heart, that romantic diorama. Even this poster of my most recent crush,” she said, looking up to a poster advertising one of Gabe’s puppet shows before disdainfully pulling it down only to reveal an old poster for Sev’ral Timez underneath it. “Oh come on!”

“So, your last memory was here,” Dipper said to McGucket as the hillbilly meandered about. “Anything coming back?”

McGucket frowned as he looked around the museum, quite uncertain though it was clear he was making a genuine effort to try and remember something, as difficult of a task as that often was for him. “Er—well, I-”

“Guys, look!” Soos cut in, pointing down the museum hall. At the end of the corridor, obscured by shadows, was a vague human figure, one that was quick to further into the darkness upon being spotted.

“Whoa, who was that?” Steven asked with apt alarm.

“Everyone, after them!” Pearl commanded, already running on ahead. The others followed suit, chasing the shadowy figure down the hall, tracing their path all the way to a room lined with a myriad of images of eyes. Yet as they all piled into this room, the unknown figure was seemingly nowhere to be seen at all.

“Well kettle my corn! He vanish-ified!” McGucket exclaimed, aghast.

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Dipper shook his head, confused. “Where did he go?”

“Hm…” Garnet mused, looking over the eyes covering the walls and remembering something the hillbilly had mentioned earlier. “The Blind Eye…”

“You don’t think this could be it, do ya, G?” Amethyst asked, slightly disappointed. “Just a room filled with a bunch of creepy old eyeballs?”

“This better not just be it!” Pearl remarked hotly. “That would make this whole thing even more of a wild goose chase than it already is! You!” she spun around to face McGucket. “We brought you all the way here, so I think its about time you start remembering something or else!”

“I-I… I’m tryin’,” the hillbilly said, clearly intimidated as he shrunk back a bit. “But its mighty difficult to recall just ‘bout anything when I feel like all these eyballs are a-watchin me…”

“Wait,” Dipper interjected, tracing path of nearly pupil in the room right back to McGucket. “They are! Move aside.”

The hillbilly did so, casting a nervous glance at the rather impatient Gems as he did to reveal a central stone tablet, one that carried a carving of yet another eye, yet much like the one in the journal, it was crossed cleanly through. The way it was set up, it almost looked like a switch, and as Dipper gave it an experimental push, that proved to be exactly what it was as the wall started to peel back to a short staircase that led into mysterious darkness down below.

“Whoa, a secret passageway!” Connie exclaimed, amazed. “This just took on a whole new level of cryptic! And that’s saying something, seeing as how it was already really cryptic to begin with.”

“What’s down there?” Pearl asked, looking to Garnet for answers, which was something the Gem leader didn’t really have as she instead simply shrugged point blank.

“We’ll have to be stealthy,” McGucket noted with newfound resolve. “I’ll hambone a message if there’s trouble.” He did so, slapping his arms and legs in a rhythmic message that was lost on everyone else.

“I… have no idea what that means,” Dipper admitted with a frown.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Amethyst asked daringly. “Let’s scope this sucker out!”

Seeing as how the group was unsure of what they’d find below the museum, they made sure to take care to keep quiet as they descended the staircase down below. As they reached the bottom, the sound of deep, unified chanting soon became apparent amidst the narrow, candle-lit corridors. They all remained on high alert as they followed this chanting, which only grew louder and more ominous with each passing second until they reached a thick scarlet curtain. And as they collectively peered out what lay beyond this curtain, they were met with by a sight that none of them had been expecting.

#bout to write that ominous as fuck cult ass scene ahahahah #jen writes #universe falls #uf preview #society of the blind eye

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abloodycrow · 7 years

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Something About The Three Of Us

Sean prepares a picnic for himself, Skye, and Ben - he hopes to ask them a question which could change everything.

[TO BEN] meet me in the basement at 3, wanna chat :)

[TO SKYE] meet me in the basement at 3?? xx

Sean put his phone in his pocket, he’d probably check his phone if he got a reply, but for now he wanted to get the basement ready. He rushed around the small space, humming one of Kaylee and Noah’s songs as he did. As he prepared the room, the phone buzzed a few times in his pocket so he checked it quickly.

[FROM SKYE] Ooh, surprise date? Of course I’ll be there xx

[FROM BEN] alright? At least I know I’m not in trouble since you ended it with a smiley

[FROM BEN] it’s not a sarcastically bitter smiley is it? Because I have no idea what I’ve done wrong if it is.

Sean let out a laugh as he read Ben’s texts.

[TO BEN] don’t be stupid ben, you’re not in trouble, if it makes you feel better I’ll end it with a wink instead.

[TO BEN] meet me in the basement at 3, wanna chat ;)

[TO BEN] better?

[FROM BEN] much - I’ll see you there :)

He got back on with preparing the room, ready for the pair to arrive. There may be confusion to begin with, and he’d have to clear it quickly. He just hoped they’d both be okay with what he had to suggest.

* * * * *

Skye walked around the desk at reception, smiling as she bumped into Ben, “hi,” she greeted eagerly, “you look… Nervous, are you okay?”

”Yeah,” Ben let out a sigh and then shrugged even though he had answered with a yes, “Sean wants to talk to me later and I’m honestly kind of scared he’s mad about something - I mean what else would he want to chat about?”

”Perhaps he wants to organise some training?”

”He’d do that over video call,” Ben frowned, “have I done something that might upset him? I mean he told me not to worry but-”

“Ben!” Skye grabbed Ben by his shoulders, “Sean could never be mad at you! You mean more to him than I do,” she laughed gently, “and trust me - I mean that.”

Ben huffed out a laugh and looked around, “anything due to happen today?”

”Nope, just another day at the North Star,” Skye answered, she moved through to the next room with Ben. She paused an raised an eyebrow when she saw Noah sat back on one of the chairs with his feet on the table, “yeah, just another day.”

“Do you guys know why Sean’s in the basement?” Noah took his feet off the table and leaned forward, “because he went down there with a box of stuff and he wouldn’t tell me what was going on, and it just seemed super suspicious.”

Ben and Skye both spoke at the same time.

“I’m pretty sure we’re having a little date down there at thr…”

“I’m having a chat with him at thr…”

As they both went to say the same time, they stopped and looked at each other.

“Three?” Ben questioned, pulling a face to Skye as he did. The blonde nodded slowly, clearly confused. He had asked both of them to go to the basement at the same time, and Skye was sure it was going to be a date - but apparently not.

Noah looked between the pair with wide eyes, “well, drama at the lodge, who’d have thought?”

”Not drama, Noah,” Skye looked to the boy, “just… a mystery.”

Ben pulled a face, “I’ll say. So he’s down there right now?”

”Yeah.”

Ben and Skye shared a look, before both seeming to agree they’d go down to see what exactly was going on. They quietly walked down the steps, hearing Sean quietly singing Kaylee’s song ‘If You Only Knew’, they paused momentarily and listened. As well as the singing, they could tell he was moving things around.

Skye turned to look up at Ben who was a few steps higher, “is it just me or is this… Pretty cryptic?”

”It is,” Ben whispered, “should we ask what’s going on? Or wait until three?”

They both went silent in thought, considering their options.

“Do you feel what I feel?

There’s something about the three of us”

“That’s a lyric change,” Skye looked back up to Ben, “and you know when someone changes the lyrics, they’re making it personal.”

”Or he can’t count,” Ben offered in confusion, “which would be a stupid option since Sean definitely knows the difference between two and three.”

Skye nodded up to the door of the basement, “I know who to ask about this, come on.”

* * * * *

Josh was sat outside the North Star Lodge, messaging friends from the city and also thinking about what the focus of that night’s ‘Live At The Lodge’ could be. He had already covered Skye and Sean, and he had covered Noah feeling lonely without Kaylee, he could always speak to Ben about how he truly feels about the Sean and Skye situation - but that would be too harsh.

”Josh!”

Josh turned around when he heard Skye’s voice, “there she is, the queen herself,” he grinned, he then clocked Ben behind Skye and tilted his head, “well, well, the man I was just thinking of.”

”I’m flattered,” Ben laughed quietly.

”Not like that,” Josh tutted, “I meant I was thinking my ‘Live At The Lodge’ could cover you tonight, but have you got anything interesting going on in your life?”

Ben hesitated and looked at Skye, she was watching him and then turned her attention to Josh when the question came, “actually, we have a mystery that we need you to solve.”

”I’m not Scooby Doo, you know that, right?”

“Yes,” Skye nodded, she and Ben sat either side of Josh, “but you’re smarter than Ben and I.”

”I won’t refute that,” Josh began to grin, “tell me what’s on your mind.”

”Alright,” Ben slapped his hands on his thighs before speaking, “well, Sean sent me a text earlier-”

”Cheeky,” Josh commented as he looked over his shoulder to Skye.

Ben paused momentarily and then continued, “he was asking me to meet him in the basement at three-”

”Skye, I think I have some news about your boyfriend,” Josh joked to the girl.

Ben looked up at Josh, the boy simply flashed a smile to him before he let him continue, “so he asked me to meet him, but then he also sent Skye a text to meet him… In the basement… At three.”

“Okay,” Josh narrowed his eyes in confusion, “this isn’t really that mysterious.”

“We went down to investigate, but we stopped because he was singing one of Kaylee’s songs. But he changed one of the words,” Skye began to explain, “he was singing ‘If You Only Knew’, but instead of saying ‘There’s something about the two of us’, he said ‘the three of us’.”

Josh nodded slowly, “okay?”

Ben and Skye looked at the boy expectedly, “well?” Ben was practically ordering him to answer.

“You know, I saw him walk into the Lodge with a box of stuff earlier,” Josh thought about the moment he had seen Sean struggling to carry it, “and he seemed pretty happy when I saw him, excited I’d say.”

”Go on,” Skye smiled at her best friend, knowing he’d be able to give them an answer eventually.

Josh gasped and stood up, he turned around to face Ben and Skye, “I think I’ve figured it out!”

“Then tell us,” Ben began to smile, eager to find out what was going on.

Josh shook his head, “no way, he’s clearly waiting to surprise you guys! But I won’t tell you what he’s going to surprise you with…” He clapped his hands together and looked at Skye with wide eyes, “can I have a moment with you guys during it? Because it will be the biggest thing for ‘Live At The Lodge’!”

“This is taunting,” Ben groaned.

“Please?”

”You’ll have to check with Sean,” Skye crossed her arms, “and you can find out if you’re right with your suspicions.”

Josh laughed softly, “alright, challenge accepted - it wasn’t even that hard to figure out anyway,” he shrugged and began running towards the lodge. He rushed through reception and past Noah, the boy probably would have questioned him but Josh was already out of sight before he could utter a word. Josh quietly opened the basement door and crept down the stairs, he could hear Sean talking to himself.

“No, the fairy lights shouldn’t go there. That just doesn’t work.”

Josh slowly continued down the stairs, and looked through the open door. He could see Sean tangled in fairy lights as he tried to move them.

“You need help getting this place ready?” Josh leaned up against the doorframe, Sean turned to him with wide eyes to begin with, he then began to chuckle slightly.

”I… Yeah, yeah maybe.”

”Why didn’t you get someone to help from the beginning?”

”Because they’d ask questions,” Sean answered simply, “and I know that you will, so-”

”I promise I won’t ask questions about you wanting to be with both Skye and Ben.”

Sean dropped the fairy lights to the floor and stared at Josh, he stumbled around the room slightly, clearly nervous, “I- uh- I mean.”

”Chillax,” Josh walked into the room, “I’m not going to tell anyone, but you totally confirmed it just then.”

”How’d you know?”

”Skye and Ben heard you singing,” Josh then began to sing the line that Skye said Sean had sang, “there’s something about the three of us.”

”They… Heard that?”

“Yes, but they’re totally clueless. They had to ask me about it, I didn’t tell them, of course. I knew it’d be best for you to tell them yourself.”

“Thanks,” Sean picked up the fairy lights and smiled to Josh, “you still want to help?”

”Yes,” Josh grabbed the fairy lights from Sean, “what’s your plan?”

“It’s like… a picnic, but inside. I thought I’d make it aesthetically pleasing, you know?”

“Cute,” Josh looked around, “how about… these go on the banister to the stairs?”

Sean agreed to Josh’s suggestion and let the boy see his plans through. Once the lights were up Josh sat on the stairs with his back to the wall and called Skye on his phone.

She answered and she was still sat outside with Ben on the bench, “I’m not giving you any goss, but the fact is - I was totally right about what I thought, now you two have to promise not to come to the basement until three. Okay?”

Skye laughed softly at the request, “totally doesn’t make it weird at all.”

Josh tutted, “just promise.”

”I promise.”

”Fantastic, oh and don’t send Noah down here either - I know you’ll try to blackmail him into telling you.”

”We’ll wait for the surprise,” Ben spoke as he leaned closer to Skye so he could see the screen.

“Josh, you’ve done one thing and you’re already slacking,” the Scottish voice seemed to catch Skye’s and Ben’s attention, they probably wanted to speak to Sean to get some sort of hint, “sorry guys,” Sean shouted from the doorway, “Josh is helping me out right now! See you later.”

Josh ended the phone call as Sean was hinting for him to do, “totally inconspicuous.”

”I don’t want them to know until I ask them,” he whispered, “if they figure it out… Then they might not come down here and I’ll be stuck alone with a bunch of sandwiches and strawberries.”

“If they figure it out and run away, I’ll come down here to eat the food with you. Oh, that does remind me, do you think if you establish it with them we could film a segment about it for ‘Live At The Lodge’? There are fans out there who are still bonkers about the whole triangle between you three.”

Sean pulled a face, “I don’t know, I mean… I suppose you could, if they’re okay with it. But can it be after the picnic? I kind of want time with them if they say yes.”

Josh gave an affirmative nod, “yes, sir.”

* * * * *

Sean looked at his watch, 14:58. He turned to Josh who was sat on the sofa, “can you leave? Please?”

”Oh, right,” Josh jumped up, he grabbed one of the strawberries from the bowl and smiled to Sean, “good luck, this is a really brave move.”

Sean smiled to himself as Josh left the basement, he could feel the butterflies appearing in his stomach as he awaited Skye and Ben. Skye was his girlfriend and Ben was his best friend, this had the possibility of ruining both of those relationships - or hopefully starting an amazing new one.

He pressed his lips together and closed his eyes, the time was coming and he was actually terrified. He thought about the song ‘Tell It Like It Is’ but Oz, Teddy & Rufus and quietly began to sing the chorus, hoping it might build up a small bit of confidence in him.

He could hear Skye and Ben enter the basement, Skye had gasped at the fairy lights on the stairs, and Ben had let out a chuckle.

The butterflies flooded Sean’s stomach again, he took in a deep breath and turned to face the entrance.

Skye and Ben entered and both stopped when they saw what Sean had prepared, he put on a smile and held out his arms, “surprise,” he called out weakly - his nerves showing in his voice.

“What is this?” Skye laughed in excitement as she rushed to look at the indoor picnic Sean had laid out.

“It’s a picnic,” Sean answered swiftly, making sure to look into Ben’s eyes for a second.

”And what am I doing here?” Ben asked, not moving from the doorway.

“I, uh… That’s what I want to… Look come over here Ben,” Sean pointed to the sofa, Ben and Skye both sat down on the sofa and watched Sean, he began to pace side to side opposite the sofa, they both watched him as he moved - waiting to know what was going on. Sean stumbled over fractions of words, clearly terrified to speak, “I think- I wa- I… I mean… We… We’re all-”

”Oh my God, Sean,” Ben rolled his eyes, “spit it out, why are we here?”

Sean looked at Ben, and then Skye. He had to say it, he’d say it and if everything went bad that was how it would be, but it was now or never to make the move. He chose now.

“I like both of you, and I know that that may sound weird considering, Ben, I’ve been your friend for years. I like both of you, like I want to be with both of you. At the same time - I want all of us to be together, if Ben is attracted to guys, if he’s attracted to me… I’ve just realised I didn’t think about that and that was a stupid thing to do, I should have tried to find out before. I mean, I suppose we could both still date Skye, and we don’t have to actually be involved with each other… I want to know if you’d both be up to do something like that? Because I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and it didn’t seem like that much of a deal but now that I’m here in front of you both I’ve realised it’s stupid that I’m asking you and I should just shut up and get on with my life. You know what actually, uh, you two should just… You should have the picnic and I’m going to go upstairs and just forget about the whole thing because it was a stupi-”

”Sean!” Ben called the boy’s name to snap him out of his rambling, “stop freaking out, sit down,” Sean sat in the seat opposite the sofa and Ben then laughed, “come sit with us,” he patted the space between himself and Skye. Sean slowly made his way between the pair and sat down. Ben casually wrapped an arm around Sean’s shoulders, “I’m pansexual, you’re attractive, dreamy, and my best friend. I’m totally okay with it.”

”Really?” Sean looked at the boy with a growing smile. Ben and Sean then looked to Skye, waiting for her answer.

Skye was staring forward until she felt the boys looking at her, “sorry, to be honest, you were speaking so fast and you actually seemed to go more Scottish the faster you spoke… The only thing I heard was that you like us both.”

Sean and Ben both laughed, Ben looked at Sean and then Skye, “Sean wants to be in a polyamorous relationship with us.”

”Oh,” Skye looked between the two boys.

“What do you say?” Sean asked quietly, still afraid of an answer.

Skye began to smile, “two really attractive boyfriends who care about me? I’m totally in!”

Skye leaned up against Sean and began to laugh softly, Ben and Sean then joined in the laughing. Sean held both Ben and Skye close to him, he let out a sigh - releasing the butterflies from his stomach, “I’ve done so many bike jumps, fallen off so many times… I have never felt that terrified before.”

Ben hummed as he leaned against Sean’s chest, he then looked at the food that was laid out, “so this is a date?”

”Yes.”

”I already love it,” Skye whispered, she leaned forward and grabbed a strawberry, Ben and Sean followed her lead and began to eat the food that Sean had prepared.

Their time was filled with laughter, the type of laughter where they’d lean close to each other as though nobody else was allowed to know they were laughing. Sean had a bowl of melted chocolate to dip the strawberries into, and the warm chocolate had of course ended up over all three of their faces. Skye had been the first to cause trouble with the chocolate, she had managed to drip chocolate down her own chin and then the two boys laughed at her she grabbed the bowl and tipped some of the chocolate into her mouth. Ben and Sean were amused by her, until she moved towards them with her chocolate covered lips, she had pinned Sean down on top of Ben and pressed his lips. Sean had laughed against the kiss and Skye then leaned past him to kiss Ben.

When Skye attempted to move away from Sean, she ended up falling off of the sofa and onto the floor - which just made them laugh even louder.

Skye sat up again, her hair had fallen over her face, she knew she must have had chocolate in her hair by now but she was too happy to care. She reached up and Sean grabbed her hand ready to help her, but she pulled him off of the sofa as well.

Ben smiled and sat up again and moved to the centre of the sofa, “I’m so glad you had the guts to do this Sean,” he smiled at his best friend, and now boyfriend.

“I am too,” Skye leaned against Sean and looked up at Ben, “you going to stay up there? Or join us on the floor?”

”I’m just thinking of the possibility of spiders on the floor.”

Sean and Skye both jumped up instantly, Ben laughed whilst Sean and Skye fell onto the sofa either side of him.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” Sean whispered to Ben, smiling at the boy.

”No, you’re an awful best friend.”

The trio began to laugh again, each time they almost calmed down they were just given a reason to laugh louder. Sean leaned into Ben’s chest and Skye then did the same from the other side.

“I feel pretty powerful right now,” Ben announced proudly.

“What are you three doing?”

They all turned suddenly to see Noah stood at the entrance, he was looking at them all with a very curious expression - but he then seemed to realise what was going on.

“Oh! Oh! This is what you were doing down here!” He spoke to Sean. Sean nodded and then looked back to Skye and Ben.

“Noah,” Skye began to talk, a confident smile on her face, “Ben, Sean, and I have now decided that we’re all dating.”

”Ah, a polyamorous relationship,” Noah nodded, he flashed a smile, “well congratulations, just wait until Kaylee hears about this!”

Sean, Skye, and Ben all began to laugh again, “she’ll be ecstatic,” Sean commented, “I reckon she’ll be calling Skye up as soon as Noah tells her.”

Noah nodded, “so I’m going to go tell her, you guys have fun… But please clean up afterwards, I basically live down here in my breaks,” Noah then awkwardly smiled to the trio before leaving. Once he had gone, Sean looked back to Ben and Skye.

“So, Josh wants to cover this for ‘Live At The Lodge’.”

”You’re not scared about your dad finding out?” Ben asked Sean, knowing how the relationship stood between him and his dad.

”You really think my dad would watch ‘Live At The Lodge’?” Sean laughed, “we’ll be fine.”

* * * * *

Josh had interrogated the trio about their new dynamic and they were honest to the cameras, everyone would know now and that would be okay. Once they had finished filming, Skye had rushed off to reception and left the two boys outside, she had flashed them both a smile and blew a kiss before running back inside.

Sean looked to Ben and placed his hands into his pockets, “so, I mean…”

“Don’t be awkward around me now,” Ben laughed softly.

Sean nodded and pulled his hands out of his pockets again, he reached out and held onto both of Ben’s hands, “I suppose everything is out in the open now.”

“Exactly, everyone knows about us,” Ben tugged Sean closer and pressed their foreheads together, “you’re wonderful.”

“Thank you,” Sean laughed quietly.

Ben leaned closer and pressed a kiss against Sean’s lips, they where both smiling and letting out small bursts of laughter between the kisses - it was a perfect moment.

“What is going on here?”

They both turned quickly to see Skye’s dad, he was staring at the pair with wide eyes.

“Why is my daughter’s boyfriend… Kissing his best friend?”

”Uh-” Sean looked to Ben, “okay not everyone knows about it yet.”

“Hi Ed,” Ben cleared his throat, “uh…”

Ed was still waiting for an answer from the two boys, he simply raised an eyebrow - signalling he was getting impatient.

“You should hear it from Skye,” Sean eventually gave the suggestion, “since… She’s your daughter.”

Ed slowly nodded and began to step back, “right, so she’s aware of this?” They both nodded to Ed and he turned back to go into the Lodge.

Sean looked to Ben and pulled a face, “hopefully Skye was going to tell her dad anyway.”

”Should we go in there as well?”

“Yeah,” Sean kept one hand in Ben’s and the pair walked into the Lodge, seeing Ed leaning on the reception desk talking to Skye.

“And here they are,” Skye awkwardly announced letting out a laugh, “look, dad, they both like me and care for me. Happiness is important with a relationship and when I’m around them, when I’m with them both, I’m happy - it was Sean’s idea and we agreed to it,” she moved over to the boys and stood in front of them, they both smiled to her as she leaned back against them, “this is something new and exciting for me, dad, I’m going to be happy with them both.”

“Not that she wasn’t happy with me,” Sean quickly added, “right?”

Skye laughed and bumped into Sean’s chest, “of course I was, and you continued to make me happy by asking to be with both of us.”

Ed slowly began to nod, “alright, but you two take care of her.”

”We will,” Ben answered, “as well as each other.”

Ed accepted the trio and then walked off to find a job that needed doing, Skye smiled up at the two boys, “you are so lucky my dad loves me.”

Sean and Ben both brought Skye into a hug, she smiled as she stayed in their embrace.

“This is going to be the best time of my life,” she whispered, and although Sean and Ben didn’t say anything in response - she knew that they were thinking the same thing by the way the embrace tightened for both of them.

It would be no secret that they all felt as though they were the luckiest person in the world.

#tbh this was longer than intended #al:writing #the lodge #disney the lodge #sean x skye x ben

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