#‘have you ever heard of grocery delivery’

[thebluestbluewords]

places where you shouldn’t be (where you could be anyway)

“This was a mistake.” Carlos says under his breath. “We’re gonna die here, right? This is where it ends.”

“Yeah,” Jay agrees, equally quietly. “Biggest mistake we’ve made in a while. Nice knowing you, but we’re not getting out of this one.” 

Their cart squeals as Evie navigates them smoothly around a turn. 

It’s fine. They’re all fine and great and surviving, thriving adults. 

Who totally know how to do grocery shopping. 

“Do we even have money for this?” 

Jay shrugs. “Dude. I don’t know. I didn’t even bring a wallet.” 

“What’s in your pockets?” 

Jay’s wearing a jacket with at least six hidden pockets. It’s one of the most honest, upstanding items of clothing he owns. “Nothing. Literally. It’s like, physically painful.” 

“Take some gum or something,” Carlos says, flicking a silver wrapper at Jay’s head. It falls on the floor. It’s a testament to the way that respectable Auradon adults seem to gloss over the VKs when they’re not actively shouting that nobody in the store even blinks an eye at them. “Nobody's gonna care about that. It’ll keep your hands busy if there’s something to fidget with, yeah?” 

“I can’t.” 

Carlos shoves the gum into his mouth. “Why the fuck not?” 

“Dude. We’re being good. I have to keep being good, or we’re gonna get shipped back and the girls would never forgive us. Do you want that on your conscience? Me being shipped back to the isle forever because I couldn’t keep my hands to myself in the fuckin’ grocery store?” 

“Nobody’s gonna care.” Carlos points out. He’s wearing a jacket that’s more rips than fabric, and the four of them are the only people in the store not wearing pastels. “The cameras only cover the door and the health food display. Stores like this bake a certain amount of loss into their profit margins. They don’t give a shit if we take some gum.” 

Jay shoves his hands in his pockets. There’s tiny little cheese rounds in the side cooler they’re walking past, and they would fit so neatly in his hand. 

He could fit like seven of them in his pocket without blinking.  “Nope. I’m not doing it.” 

“I’ll start moving my shit to your pockets.” Carlos says, chomping his gum so aggressively that one of the adults who’s pushing a cart in the opposite direction almost looks at them. “I’m gonna run out of space.” 

Jay twirls a bottle opening keychain around his finger before tossing it back on the shelf. “You wouldn’t.” 

“Mine’re gonna be full before we get halfway through. You’ve got a lot more space.” 

“Yeah,” Jay says, still casually, slouching so that they’re shoulder to shoulder. “Because I’m not fucking four feet tall, and I’m not wearing skinny jeans.” 

“You’re just jealous of my incredible calves.” Carlos says, shoulder-checking him towards the side of the aisle. The subsequent noise is a great cover for the transfer between their pockets,  not that they need it. They’re a polished ducking team, and the plastic-wrapped candy bars don’t even crinkle. 

Evie’s going to kill them both. 

[seoltzuki]

Delivery!

momo x fem reader

fluff

Weekly Momo deliveries and you just want a little sweet treat!

a/n: based from a true story (I didn’t kiss the delivery person though, but we are very good friends now) wait kiss? oops spoiler! also this used to be on my ao3

hbd momo ily!

Every Monday, you wait for the knock on your door, signaling the arrival of your weekly supply of fresh fruits and vegetables from the local farmers market. You’d heard about the service from Tzuyu, who swore by the convenience and quality.

Before your first delivery, you had already made a little request in the online order form: “send a sweet treat, surprise me.” It was a tiny change to break up your predictable and mundane schedule.

Just a little something new!

Your first meeting with Momo, the delivery person, was something. You opened the door, eyes still crusty from sleep, and there she was: rolled-up sleeves, a half-up hairdo, and cute glasses framing her face.

“Oh, hey! Didn’t expect—uh, someone like y-”

She flashed a smile that could rival the sun. “Hi! I’m Momo! Hope the surprise is a good one!” she said, raising the bag higher to your face, her muscles working and showing.

You caught a glimpse in the bag: a pack of gummies poking out the top. “This is exactly what I needed. Thank you so much!”

Momo chuckled and shrugged. “Glad you like it! I’ll be sure to keep them coming. Have a nice day!”

With that, she left, but you couldn’t stop smiling. From that Monday on, your exchanges became something you looked forward to. Momo started adding a different treat each time, a little touch of sweet mixed into your groceries.

Mondays slowly turned into mini-breaks from life’s usual grind, and Momo would show up each week with her easygoing charm. You’d chat about the weather, exchange stories from your week, and laugh over the oddities that ended up in the produce bag. Once, Momo brought you an alien-looking fruit neither of you could identify, sparking a lively debate over how one might even begin to eat it.

One Monday, Momo didn’t show up. Instead, her replacement named Jihyo knocked on your door. And of course you asked,

“Momo doing okay?”

“She’s fine, just a bit under the weather,” Jihyo replied with a smile. “But she wanted to make sure I didn’t skip your sweet.” She handed over your bag, complete with a box of chocolates and a handwritten note: “Caught a cold. I’m fine—don’t worry. And here’s the weekly treat ;)”

In that moment, you realized it wasn’t just about the fruits and sweets anymore—it was more. The connection Momo had brought to each delivery, her attention, her care...

Her, her, her.

Each Monday after that was a little brighter. One week, Momo handed you a box of caramels, a playful gleam in her eye. “Going for extra sugar today. Hope you’re up for it.”

You giggled, “I trust your judgment. You're somehow always right.”

Momo grinned. “Hey, maybe I have a hidden talent for matching snacks to people’s moods. Or just giving the right treat to the prettiest person I know.”

Your small talk gradually gave way to deeper conversations. She’d share stories from the market—the quirky customers, the hectic mornings, the occasional disasters with fresh produce. You found yourself opening up too, laughing about the oddest things in your week, discussing favorite candies and ridiculous fruit facts.

One rainy Monday, she handed over the bag with a selection of comfort sweets: chocolates, marshmallows, the works. “Rainy days call for the good stuff,” she said simply, and you couldn’t help but feel seen.

Loved, maybe?

Another Monday, Momo told you about a local festival coming up. “They’ve got some amazing desserts there. Maybe you’d want to check it out?”

It sounded like a nice change of pace. So of course you agreed.

And of course you'd say yes to the cutest girl you've ever met.

When the day of the festival came, you ended up meeting Momo there, navigating the crowded stalls and sampling all the treats. At one point, she turned to you. “You know, it feels like I’ve known you forever, and it’s only been, what, a few months?”

You nodded. “Honestly, Mondays have started feeling like a whole separate world. All because of you Momo, thank you.” you whispered, linking your pinky with hers.

You didn't miss the way she blushed.

In the weeks that followed, you found yourself waiting eagerly for those Monday and the possibility of other shared moments beyond the doorstep. Then, one sunny Monday, Momo brought you a small potted plant.

“I thought your place could use a touch of green. Plus, plants are like natural mood boosters, right?”

Touched, you accepted the gift, realizing it was more than just a plant—it symbolized something more.

One day, as you sat together on your cozy couch, Momo turned to you with a soft smile. “You know, you’ve made my Mondays something to look forward to. It’s not just about the deliveries—it’s about you.”

You felt a flutter in your chest and met Momo's gaze. She looked so sickeningly cute, her glasses slightly crooked, her cheeks flushed red and puffed up.

The words hung in the air with hearts beating faster and butterflies flying harder.

Before you could respond, Momo’s hand gently cupped your cheek, her warm fingers brushing against your skin, sending a shiver down your spine. She leaned in slowly, her lips meeting yours—soft, warm, tentative at first, then pressing with a little more certainty. The gentle pressure of her mouth against yours deepened as you both leaned closer, letting the moment linger.

When she pulled back, Momo gave you a small, shy smile, her nose scrunching up in that familiar way. “I really like you, Y/N.”

Her other hand slipped to the back of your neck, her fingertips tracing lightly along your skin, pulling you closer as her lips found yours again. This kiss was warm, unhurried.

“I like you so much.”

Another kiss.

Mondays would then never be the same, they’d be even better.

[winchester-books]

My Girl

Based on - OBX

Characters - JJ x reader, Pope, Rafe

Warnings - Language, violence

W.C - 1.5k

Summary - Y/N gets caught in the crossfire between Rafe's rivalry with Pope and the pogues. Needless to say JJ is furious.

“Good God, this is a lot of shit,” you groaned as you handed Pope the last of the bags, climbing out of the boat as you did so.

He shrugged, “I guess that’s what you do when you’re rich,” he sighed, picking up a bag of groceries and a 6-pack of beers, “Order groceries and random crap while on a golf course… that’s the most ridiculous, privileged shit I’ve ever heard,”

You agreed, grabbing the remaining bags of groceries and following Pope. Knowing that tensions between Rafe and his Kook friends had been high with the pogues recently, you figured that him going alone to Figure 8 alone wasn’t the smartest decision, so you’d promised Pope you’d help him with his dad’s deliveries.

Speak of the Devil. 

You slowed your pace, noticing none other than Rafe and Topper with their golf clubs in hand, “Pope!” You hissed his name through your teeth, hoping to catch his attention before the two blondes noticed you. But Pope was a few steps too far ahead of you to hear, and that’s when Rafe caught sight of him. 

You watched as Rafe’s face lit up and Topper muttered something to him, shaking his head. Whatever Topper had said, Rafe had no interest and was now quickly making his way over to you and Pope.

“Well,” Rafe grinned, twirling his golf club as he spoke, “What do we have here? You two get lost or something? ‘Cause this sure as hell isn’t your side of the island,”

“Screw off, Rafe,” you narrowed your eyes at him.

Rafe bit his lip, angling his head to the side as his eyes roamed up and down your body, “No can do, sweetheart,” The nickname was sickening coming from his mouth, “You see, you’re on my side of the island- it’s my business to start asking questions,” Rafe stalked forward, eyes scanning over the the things Pope was carrying. He lifted his club, tapping on the rack of beer, “How much for a cold one, Heyward?”

“Come on Rafe, just back off,” Pope kept his eyes down, trying not to start anything with the volatile boy in front of him.

“Pope,” Rafe dragged out his name as he shook his head, a frightening smile still on his face, “Just one beer? Can’t you make an exception for a friend?”

Pope shook his head, rolling his eyes and over Rafe’s games, “They’re not for sale- they’re already paid for,”

But Rafe didn’t care. He stuck his club into the plastic bag in Pope’s other hand, yanking down and ripping it to shreds. He stood there, laughing as the groceries spilled out onto the sand.

“Dude! What the hell, man?” Pope exasperated, anger rising in his voice, “You owe me for that!”

Rafe glared at him, “I don’t owe you shit,” Rafe stepped forward, shoving his finger in Pope’s chest.

“Rafe don’t-” you flinched when Pope shoved Rafe backwards, catching the blonde boy off balance for a moment.

Rafe was grinning now, amused at the prospect of a fight. Topper lunged forward and ripped the beer from Pope’s hands, sending him sprawling to the floor in the process. 

“Topper, cut it out! Someone paid for that-”

“Really, Y/N?” Rafe gave you a pointed look, his tongue swiping across his teeth, “What are you gonna do about it?” He took a few steps toward you, lifting his club until it was resting right under your chin, “Huh?”

Out of nowhere Pope was standing and flinging himself at Rafe, sending a solid punch into his jaw. Topper was quick to shove Pope in retaliation, making him stumble forward. Rafe was panting, anger coursing through him as he shook off Pope’s blow. You watched in horror as he lifted his golf club and struck it down onto Pope’s back, driving him into the sand. 

“Rafe!” you screamed, but the boys were too caught up in their fight to hear your words, “Topper! Make him stop- please!”

You could see it in Topper’s eyes, he knew Rafe was taking this too far. Messing with some pogues for fun was justifiable to him, but this level of violence? The look on Rafe’s face, like he was enjoying this? He was going too far. 

“Alright Rafe,” Topper tried to calm the boy who was seething above Pope, sending another hit to him with his club, “Rafe!” his tone was more serious now, “Too far! You’re taking it too far-”

Before you knew it, you were running toward Rafe, trying to do something- anything, to get Rafe to stop. Rafe brought his fist back, reeling to give Pope a blow to the face, instead his elbow nailing you in the cheek. 

“Shit!” Topper ran his hands through his hair as you dropped to the sand, clutching your face, “Rafe… dude!”

You tried to sit up, still in shock from the blow. Rafe rolled his eyes, pushing you back down into the sand next to Pope with the end of his golf club, “Stupid pogues,” he muttered, leaning down close to Pope who was still gasping in pain, “Hey,” he tapped Pope on the face repeatedly until he was looking up at Rafe, “Stay the hell of Figure 8.”

“Fuck you Rafe,” you spat out, glaring at him as you cradled your already-bruising cheek.

Rafe smirked, hovering above you now, chest heaving as his raked you up and down, “That’s bold, Y/N,” he rose a brow as he nodded toward Pope’s bloody and bruised face, “You’re lucky I don’t wanna mess up that pretty little face of yours…” His smirk widened into a grin and his tongue darted past his lips. He gave you one last look, before standing up straight and picking up the discarded beers. 

Topper gave you and Pope looks of pity, his mind racing at what the right thing to do was. 

“Thanks for the drinks, Pope!” Rafe said sarcastically, “Topper, let’s go!” he demanded, leading the way back up the beach.

Topper frowned slightly, but turned, jogging to catch up with his friend and leaving you and Pope painting on the beach. 

You turned on your side, getting a better view of Pope, “You okay?” whispered with a shaky breath. 

“No.” He sighed, “You?”

You tossed your head back into the sand, exhausted and face throbbing, “No.”

-

“Y/N! Wanna smoke?” JJ asked, not even turning his head as he heard you and Pope walk through the chateau’s front door.

You opened your mouth to respond but stopped when you made direct eye contact with Kie, her eyes immediately noticing the purple bruise spread across the left side of your face. 

“Y/N? What the hell happened?” Pope trailed behind you and she caught a glimpse of him, who was in much worse shape, “Holy shit! Who did this?” 

JJ practically flew off the couch with the speed he stood up at Kie’s worried cries, “Y/N?”

Pope’s eyes fell to the floor and he shook his head at Kiara’s question, “Don’t wanna talk about it,” he mumbled, walking himself over to the fridge and grabbing a cold beer which he used as an ice pack for his busted face.

“You need bandages,” Kie was mostly talking to herself, trying to find something useful to do to keep herself from burning down the entire island to find out who did this to you and Pope. She hurried off to the bathroom, rummaging through cabinets for some form of first aid kid. 

You blinked and JJ was in front of you, worry etched all over his face as he looked at your bruise, “What… Who…” his mind was racing with questions, but he finally landed on a simple, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” you winced as JJ brought his hand to your jaw, his thumb gently running over your cheek which was already turning a light purple color., “It’s just a bruise,” you assured weakly.

“Just a bruise?! The whole side of your face is black and blue!” JJ ran his hand down his jaw, getting worked up as he thought about who would do this kind of thing to you, “Who… Who did this?” he demanded.

“JJ,” you sighed, “It’s fine- we’re fine. Just leave it, you don’t need to start anything else-”

“It’s fine?” Pope perked up, repeating your words and shaking his head, “It is not fine,Y/N!” He slammed his beer onto the counter, finally reaching his breaking point, “Those selfish assholes have everything they could ever want! Yet they go out of their way to take anything we have and make our lives hell in the process!”

“Slow down!” JJ was raising his voice now too, Pope’s anger only fueling his own, “Who the hell did this?” he repeated.

“Who do you fucking think?” Pope snapped, “Rafe. Rafe, fucking, Cameron.”

“Rafe did what?” Sarah asked curiously, her and John B walking through the front door, completely oblivious to the disaster they were walking into. 

“This,” Pope turned toward her, pointing at his still bloodied face, “And that too,” his finger was trained at you now, “Not to mention the hundred dollar grocery order that he destroyed and stole when I was supposed to deliver it!” He was nearly shaking with anger, trying to catch his breath. 

“Shit,” John B breathed out as he looked between you and Pope, shocked to see you both so beat up.

“Get your brother under control!” Pope glared at Sarah before storming off to the bathroom where Kie was and slamming the door behind him.

Sarah opened her mouth, hurt flashing across her face at Pope’s harsh words, “I can’t- ugh, he’s not my fucking dog! What am I supposed to do about it,”

“He didn’t mean it,” John B assured her, “He’s just pissed,” 

“Rightfully so,” JJ snapped up, “Rafe is a psychopath,”

Sarah didn’t argue with that. 

“I’m gonna kill him- he can screw with me all he wants but you?” His eyes landed on your bruise again, “I draw the fucking line at my girl,”

John B reached out, catching JJ’s wrist before he could storm outside the door, “JJ just hold on okay-”

JJ was glaring daggers at his best friend, chest heaving with anger, “He put his hands on her,” his voice was dangerously low as he spoke.

“JJ, please,” you spoke up, managing to catch his attention, “He didn’t do it on purpose- Just drop it okay?”

“Y/N-”

“I know you’re pissed… hell, I’m pissed, but this isn’t gonna solve anything,” you grabbed his hand, “I don’t want you to get hurt too,” 

JJ chewed the inside of his cheek, squeezing your hand a little tighter. If it had been anyone else telling him not to go he would’ve already been on his dirt bike by now. “Y/N,” he cupped your face with his other hand, “He hurt you… I- I should’ve been there. I could’ve stopped him, I-”

“J, this isn’t your fault okay? It’s Rafe. He’s the asshole,” You gave him a small smile, “Just drop it okay?”

JJ didn’t seem pleased, but he nodded anyway, “Fine. But I swear, if he ever even looks at you wrong again…” 

You laughed him off, but you knew he wasn’t kidding, “So… you mentioned something about a joint? Because, I could really use some weed,”

He cracked a small smile, wrapping his arm around your shoulder, “Me too,”

“Pope’s gonna need a hit too,” Kie announced, walking out of the bathroom with Pope following close behind, looking much better than he had before after she had cleaned up most of his superficial cuts.

“Yeah.. more like a few,” he groaned, plopping himself onto the couch next to Kie.

[dgybbvrcsacgswtcbkyv]

Kinchana?

Hanni Pham x fem!reader

Warnings: reader suffers from anxiety/anxiety attacks & low self-esteem

a/n: erm.. thought I’d give writing a try. Any feedback is appreciated. This also might be pt1 depending on if anyone even reads this lol. (Title might make sense later?)

Also, I have used some Korean words I hope they're correct.

______________________________________________________________

You’re awake before your alarm goes off. The same blue haze which sets over you every time you wake greets you. Along with a weight settling on your chest. You’re used to this feeling. But it’s still uncomfortable so you place a hand over your chest and apply pressure, as expected, it doesn’t help. This has merely become a force of habit now. You ignore it as usual and get ready for work. 

Clad in your oversized blue jeans and oversized tee, you walk towards the grocery shop where you work. Plugging in your wired earphones to the tiny mp3, you play the song you’ve had on repeat for the past week. Ever since you came to Korea you’ve always preferred not to use your phone much, finding that it only increases your anxiety. So you’ve taken it upon yourself to find little alternatives that don’t require the internet.

The shop bell jingles as you enter with a greeting, “Morning Ahjumma”. 

“Ahh you’re here?” she gives you the usual response. You’ve been working for Ms. Kim for a little over 3 months and you were still learning Korean. Thankfully, she knew basic English and was always helping you out. You begin your usual day of work, going through your tasks. Taking stock of inventory, arranging deliveries and creating some displays. 

It’s about midday when you hear the sound of reversing coming from the truck that brings stocks. You come out from the back of the store. “Ahjumma, I’ve told you to call me when the boxes arrive. Please don’t lift them by yourself.” You scold Ms. Kim as you run over to take the box from her hands. She’s not that old, being in her 50s, but you knew she’s been developing back problems and you didn’t want it to get worse for her. 

“Stop treating me like a halmeoni. Do I look like a halmeoni to you?” she sniped at you. “Yes. Absolutely.” You replied with a poker face. She grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a fly swatter and started to beat you with it. Not for real, of course-you could barely feel the swatter touch you. Yet you faked groans of pain and pretended to scream for help. Both of you were chuckling at your own antics when the doorbell jingled indicating the arrival of a customer so both of you ceased your little k-drama in order to appear sane. 

You heard multiple feet enter as your back was turned to them. “Annyeonghaseyo” Ms Kim greeted them with a bow. Without so much as a glance at the customers, you retreated to the back of the store with the box you were carrying. Being an introvert as well as not being fluent in Korean, you didn’t fancy dealing much with customers. Ms. Kim was usually the one handling the cashier unless it was the graveyard shift. Which you usually took over since it meant less customers. 

Ready to make the several trips to unload all the boxes, you go to the front of the shop again. The delivery guys had piled the boxes outside the door. You bent down to pick one up—God, how could soft drink bottles be so heavy? and started to make your way to the door. Now, the door is automatic so you weren’t worried about having to open it. However, what you didn’t expect was the girl who was walking right into you. She was looking back and chatting excitedly to her friend, and you, being your introverted, dumbass, awkward self, was trying to back out of her way instead of verbally warning her. You weren’t quick enough and she bumps into you. 

A gasp leaves her mouth as she turns around and the box almost escapes your grip. You catch it and tighten your grip before it falls. Thank God, cause otherwise it would’ve definitely landed on yours AND her toes. “Oh! I’m so sorry” she quickly replies. Awkward as ever, with box still in your hands, a hurried apology comes from you as well and you bow to her. You look up and have a proper look at her for the first time and your mouth hangs open.

She was gorgeous. Like.. she looked like a 'first love''. That’s the only way you could describe her. Your brain short circuits and words elude you. You force yourself back to Earth and quickly give her another bow and shuffle away from the door so she and her friends can exit. You notice the friend right beside her, wearing a thick pair of glasses and almost a head taller than her, stifling a laugh as she drags the beautiful girl away. 

What you failed to notice was, she also malfunctioned upon coming into such close contact with you. Hence why she had to be dragged away. 

[flamingpudding]

Danny, the 'twig' Bouncer #2

A/N: My original Idea was that Danny worked at some random neutral Bar. Buuuut the Reblogs were inspiring, so I think I will add to this whenever I get some ideas. Also now our sweet super dense Ghost boy is working in the Iceberg Lounge as Bouncer. But just a warning, I know like zero cannon names of people that work there aside from who owns it in the dc comics. Sooo yea... sorry if i get something wrong here. It's just that titbit would make Danny's obliviousness a whole lot more funny....

Exactly 30 days later, one month, Danny stepped back into the bar through the front doors. He would have gone in through the back door but that entrance was currently blocked by a van. Probably some drink delivery's for the bar. Probably. They did look busy enough that Danny didn't want to squeeze past them just to get in. Last guy who disrupted their work got fired on the spot. Or at least Danny hadn't seen the guy ever again. He still needed the job to sedate his obsession. So he took the front door.

Man his weird promotion must have been gossiped about. People kept staring at him wide eyed, though he noticed a couple of his coworkers appear to be relieved to see him again. He just gave them a smile before going to the back rooms. Though he couldn't help but glance at the red helmet guy. He had been hanging around the entrance to Danny's underground home and seemed to appear every time Danny had left his home to get some groceries, some materials for his pet projects or some sort of fresh air. He had caught the guy laying our traps and he also had offered him a better payed job. Danny had declined though.

He needed to lay low. And he didn't think working for someone with a recognisable red helmet was laying low. Besides his underground-neighbours, Waylon and Grundy, said the guys name was Red Hood, and that he was a known Crime Lord apparently. Which only added to the fact that working for Red Helmet dude was not going to help handle his obsession. A shame, he did seem like a nice guy to hang out with, ignoring the weird feeling Danny was getting around him. But yeah, working for that guy surely wasn't laying low.

"Danny you're back, alive." He blink at Tailor, one of the other bouncers a good head or two taller than him and just hummed in greeting, resisting to make an insider pun. Not like he could tell the guy that he was actually half dead, then he remembered a hole in a wall he saw on his way to work. Originally he was going to ask Steve, the barkeeper and gossip source of the bar, but Tailor was just as good of a source.

"Hey Tailor, what happened to the wall across the street?" He asked as he took off his shirt to change it for his working shirt.

"You don't know? Red Hood cut the wall with the Jokers imprint out and is keeping it as a trophy, or that's what I heard."

"The Joker's imprint?" Danny tilted his head confused, it sounded like someone threw the guy with immunity against a wall hard enough to leave a human shaped imprint. Huh, Danny wondered, I hope I didn't inspire someone to do that with my stunt a month ago. From what he remembered his boss telling him, messing with the guy that called himself Joker was a very bad idea and could result in permanent death for normal human beings.

His thoughts must have been shown on his face because Tailor just laughed, shaking his head as he patted Danny's shoulder and left the backrooms first. Leaving the ghost boy to mull over it and also wonder why Red Hood would even want to keep a piece of wall as a trophy.

He was still thinking about it as he leaned against the wall in his usual Spot when Red Hood approach him.

"So, you thought about the job offer? I can include one of my safe houses as an apartment for you." The modulated voice resounded and Danny frowned, that was a tempting offer but...

"No thanks. Thanks to my promotion vacation, I finally had time to fix my kitchen area and the air filtration my neighbor as been nagging me about for weeks."

"You live in the sewers." Even through the voice modulation Danny caught the unimpressed, deadpan, are-you-serious tone and barked out a laugh in response.

"It's rent free, I got my own space mostly fixed up and I got two neighbors with similar intents of staying out of sight that only asked me to help fix their spaces up too. All that's missing is finally finding a clean water source I can pull from to finish my bathroom and washing area."

"What the fuck? Why the sewers if I can offer you a fucking safe house?" Danny grinned, living underground was nice, no one was there to disturb him. There was no real address to track him back to and a lot of quick escapes routes should certain people show up. He had build his own little underground apartment which had nearly all utilities a normal apartment had. Plus he got two very nice neighbors, that had been grumpy in the beginning, but eventually warmed up to him. Now they even occasionally spared with him, so he gets fights where he didn't have to hold his strength back, it was great!

"If I don't find a clean water source, I will just put building a water filtration system on my pet project list right after fixing our TV system so me and my neighbours can stream and i can show them what a real horror movie night really is about." He shrugged, turning his eyes away from Red Hood who's voice modulator sounded sort of strangled or like the man was muttering something inaudible and watched a couple of drunks stumbling around the club with narrowed eyes.

"Triple. I will pay you triple if you work for me."

Danny side-eyed the man before pushing off the wall. The drunks were starting to cause a problematic ruckus, and Steve had signaled him to get them out. "Sorry man, still not interested."

He pushed up some imaginary sleeves before letting a friendly buisness smile spread across his face as the crowd started to cheer the moment they noticed Danny approaching the drunks. "Okay buddies! Time to get out, peace is an option!"

Red Hood watched how one of the drunks swung at the 'twig' bouncer before getting flipped and carried with one hand by the neck like a cat. Danny now sporting a feral grin as he stared at the other drunks that looked torn between attempting to fight him and fleeing.

The crime lord continued watching the display of strength and breath taking feral grin for a while longer before a distinctive "Fuck." Came through his voice modulator.

[dreamerinthemoonlight]

Lisichka

Request: Hii ! I hope it's okay to request Tartaglia and (a very shy) childhood!reader reuniting after many years and pining for one another? Reader knows him very well so they're not rlly shy around him...until they developed a crush on him. Which makes them timid and mildly awkward around him, and it really shows more and more. I had a thought of what if Tartaglia also has a crush on them around the same time? I hope this is okay and have a good one! ♡

Summary: Tartaglia returns home after fighting the narwhal. You try to avoid him, unwilling to face your crush after so many years, but he manages to meet with you anyway.

Note: Lisichka means little fox

cw: none

Word Count: 1081

Tartaglia x gn!reader

“Have you heard? Ajax is back.”

You’re walking around the local market when you catch wind of the first rumors. The speaker--one of the old women who spend every market day discussing everything from local drama to the contents of this month's delivery of various newspapers--speaks in a hushed voice.

“That’s only news, Marya. My husband has already been to Lev and Anya’s place. Ajax looked pretty beat up.”

If Marya’s question hadn’t caught your attention, the second speaker would have. 

You lift your groceries and approach Marya and Elizaveta.

“Ajax is back?”

Elizaveta gives you a measuring look. “I’m surprised you didn’t know. You spent so much time with the boy before Lev sent him off to join the Fatui.”

“You mean until they started avoiding him.?”

“Yes, yes. And blushing like---”

“I’ve been helping around my grandparent’s house,” you blurt. “So no, I hadn’t heard.”

Elizaveta chuckles. “In that case, yes, Ajax has come home. You should go visit him. I’m sure you’ll make his day.”

“I’m not sure he’d remember me.”

“Nonsense. I’d put money on the opposite being true.”

You sigh and tighten your scarf around your neck. “I’ll think about it. But I still have shopping to do. Have a good day, Mrs. Marya, Mrs. Elizaveta.”

Several days later, you walk up the path to Ajax’s home, a heavily wrapped pot of soup cradled in your arms.

A boy with a shock of red hair sits on the porch with a toy ruin guard in hand.

“Good day, Teucer. Is your mother around?”

Teucer looks up and grins. “Big Brother! Y/N is here!”

“Teucer,” you groan, “I’m not here to see Ajax. In fact, please give this to your mother. Tell her Katia sends her regards and that we hope Ajax gets well soon.”

You place the soup next to Teucer and hurries back down the path.

This was such a bad idea, you think to yourself. I can’t ever keep a straight face when he’s concerned.

Ajax steps out of the house, smiling into the collar of his thick, woolen coat.

Unbeknownst to you, the young harbinger watched the entire thing.

He picks up the soup and looks down at Teucer. “Did you say thank you?”

“I didn’t have a chance,” Teucer pouts. “Why are they acting so weird?”

Tartaglia laughs. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

A few days later, you find yourself sitting on the bank of a lake. 

You keep your eyes trained on the hole you made and the line disappearing into the water.

This is the only place in town where there aren’t curious looks and questions about Ajax’s health. It’s the one place where you don;t have to be reminded that after so many years of being his friend, you’re now too cowardly to meet him face to face.

You’re so caught up in your thoughts that you don’t hear the snow crunch behind you, though the footsteps are soft enough that it could be any small animal.

“Lisichka, Lisichka. Are you done running from me?”

The familiar nickname startles you out of your reverie.

You turn, ever so slowly, to find a pair of bright blue eyes twinkling at you.

“I never ran from you.”

Ajax sits next to you. “Are you sure about that, Lisichka? I recall that before I left to join Fatui, you wouldn’t look me in the eye. And I saw you run from my house the other day.”

“I---”

“Got a bite yet?” Ajax changes the topic of conversation, much to your relief.

“No. Not yet. Though I might not, now that your pretty face is here.”

“If a pretty face is all it takes to scare off the fish, you must never catch a thing.”

You open your mind to reply, only for your brain to finally register your words and his reply.

“I--- How are you feeling, Ajax? I heard you were hurt.”

This time you’re the one to change topics, though you’re certain he’s aware that it’s a desperate attempt to keep from addressing the proverbial bear in the room.

Tartaglia holds out a hand and you frown at the clear tremor. “Fontaine was a little rough,” he admits. “I don’t recommend fighting a whale for a couple months.”

“A whale? How do you fight a whale?”

“Not easily. And I lost miserably. I don’t like Fontaine’s Iudex--though I want to fight him again one day---, but I’m not sure I’d have survived if he and the traveler hadn’t intervened.”

“You were never careful with yourself,” you comment. “Even less so after your three day disappearance.”

Ajax huffs. “This wasn’t my fault. There was a lot of weird stuff going on.”

“Uh-huh. I’m sure. You know you go looking for trouble and when you aren’t it has a habit of finding you.”

“You know me so well, my Lisichka.”

“I thought we were too old for pet names like that, Ajax.”

“Says who? You were my Lisichka when we were kids. Why can’t you be now?” 

You raise your eyes to the sky, where the constellations lay hidden.

“Because if you keep using pet names like that, I’m going to get the impression that you’re not just a childhood friend.”

Ajax reaches over and cups your cheek, turning your face so that your eyes meet his. “If you did I would be awfully happy. I’ve been trying to get your attention for years.”

“You mean…”

“Silly fox, I have liked you for a while now.”

“I bet I’ve liked you longer.”

“You wanna bet?”

Tartaglia tosses your fishing rod to the side and opens his arms to you. “Will you be mine?”

You let him pull you close, brows furrowing when the movement makes him stiffen. You rest a hand on his shoulder, feeling the bandages that deform his sweater.

“Of course, but please, please be more careful.”

“I love you, Lisichka, but I can’t make that promise.”

“I know. It was worth asking.”

As you start to doze in the safety, you can’t help but ask, “Why Lisichka?”

Ajax laughs, smiling into your hair. “Because, a teenage me had no other way to flirt with his best friend and you looked so cute playing in the snow.”

You join him in laughter. “I guess you win.”

“Oh?”

“I started running from you because I realized that I wanted it to be more.”

You yawn, eyes fluttering shut.

“Sleep, Lisichka. I will be here when you wake.”

[ohmyamor]

Siren!Wooyoung

inspired by this little thought I had floating around a while back :)

w.c.: 3.1k

warnings: kind of yandere? obsessed wooyoung, attempted and successful drowning

the sea has always called to you, for as long as you can remember

silent beckonings to come closer, to explore it and rid yourself of your mortal troubles

and as much as it scared you, these feelings intrigued you all the same

you know you're not supposed to feel this pull

if anything, the other villagers and even your own mother have continued to drill inside your head the dangers of the water

not only of the sublime waves that are forces to be messed with

but other things that lurk beneath the surface

your mother is one of the sea's biggest cynic

ever since she lost your father to the waves years ago, she seems to hold a grudge fiercer than anything else in her life

no one really knows what happened to your father

you all lived a humble, yet comfortable life due to his job as a fisherman

every morning at the break of dawn he would finish his morning coffee alongside your mother before giving her and you a kiss goodbye and heading out to sea

he was always joined by at least one other fisherman, one of your longtime neighbors and a trusted family friend

one day, the friend was unable to go out with your father

an ominous storm had blown in suddenly overnight and the friend, due to his wife's begging, opted to not go out into the gray waters

he suggested that your father not go either, saying something about an eerie feeling emanating from the waves

but your father politely declined, claiming he had a family to feed and besides

he was never a fan of superstitions anyways

and so he left one dark and cold morning, giving your mother a heartfelt kiss on the lips and you, an affectionate kiss on your forehead

that was the last time you had ever seen your father walk out the door

since then, your mother vehemently forbade you from going anywhere near the sandy beaches

she wouldn't even allow you to stand across the street and look out into the sea

"nothing good lurks in those waters" she scolded every time you begged her to go

and so eventually, you gave up trying to convince her

as the years went by and you continued to age, you focused less on changing her mind and instead focused on helping her with anything and everything you could

with your father gone, it was difficult to make means ends, but not impossible

your mother took care of most of the finances on her own, but you helped with deliveries and any grocery shopping

the village was quite a ways away, and with your mother's slow aging, it was simply a better choice for you to make the journey rather than her

but what she was unaware of

was how you would take advantage of slower days and sneak out to the sandy beaches

although you had stopped asking for permission to go near the ocean, that didn't mean it ever left your mind

besides, it was always better to ask for forgiveness than permission

it's simply unexplainable, the peace and longing you felt when you sat on the cold sand and stared out into the waves

peaceful, yes, but also like there was something calling to you

and so you sit, knees tucked close to your chest and head resting peacefully on your arms

your eyes are closed, taking in the breeze and salty air that invades your senses

why the village hates the ocean so much, you'll never know

you're unsure of how long you stay sitting there, blissfully unaware of your surroundings

the only thing that snaps you out of your small doze is the sound of splashing water

blinking tiredly, you bring a hand up to gently rub your eyes

you scan the water in front of you to see if maybe some dolphins or sea lions have perhaps made their way to this part of the beach

but all you see is calm water

frowning slightly, you continue staring, hoping that something will appear and make sense of the splashing that you heard

but nothing appears

sighing, you pick yourself up off the ground and stretch your arms above your head, taking this as a sign to head home

as you gather your small basket and begin your trek to back to the pathway that led you there

you remain blissfully unaware of the eyes that peek out from beneath the waves

-

Wooyoung has been watching you

creepy? maybe

but that's none of his concern

technically, he isn't supposed to be anywhere near the surface

he knows this

he knows this rule like the back of his hand

and yet, Wooyoung has always considered himself a pioneer of sorts

a trail-blazer, if you will

there's a whole other world outside of the murky waters he and his family reside in

and it would be such a shame to act like there isn't

his family disagrees, of course

"humans want us dead Wooyoung. They're not our friends" his father had chastised him

"but why?" Wooyoung can't help but to argue back

"what have we done that makes them hate us so much?"

his father had only shaken his head

"exactly. they're humans. they need no excuse to inflict horrors on those different from them"

Wooyoung never liked this answer

"we use our voices to sink ships. What makes us so different?"

and this is where the conversation always ended

with an exasperated sigh and flick of his hand, Wooyoung's father demanded he get out of his sight

Wooyoung thinks to himself that doing this, going up to the water's surface, is just one small way of getting under his father's tail

and so he continues to sneak away from his family and friends as much as possible

swimming gracefully to a secluded area of the water's surface where he can expose himself to the outside sky

it works, for a while

until one day, he makes his way to the top and when he brings his head out of the water

he spots something

or someone

sitting in the sand

almost as quick as he broke the surface, he dives back beneath the waves, wincing as he hears the splashing of the water

he can't really see the figure as well with his head underneath the water, but he can make out a blurry form standing up and raising their arms before turning to walk away

seizing his moment, Wooyoung carefully pokes the top of his head out and watches as a young woman walks away from the sea

-

you forget quite quickly about the odd splashing

not that it bothered you much in the first place

the ocean is a wonderful, terrifying thing, and you're sure it was the sound of waves crashing or a fish coming out of the water that caught your attention

it's not until a few days later that you can return to the sea

your mother had fallen a bit ill, and rather than risk leaving her side in fear that something worse would happen, you opted to forget about the ocean for a few days to help nurse her back to health

but now that she had recovered, you were eager to return to your secluded spot

this time, you bring a blanket

the sun is shining today, and combined with the cool salty breeze and the sound of seagulls in the sky, you believe it would be the perfect opportunity to take a nap

so, you finish your errands quickly and make your way to the seaside, gently setting out the blanket and removing your shoes before laying down beneath the sun

inhaling deeply, you cannot help the smile that takes over your face

this is nice

your eyelids do not hesitate to fall shut and you lay there for quite some time, relaxing under the comfortable heat of the sun

it isn't until you hear what sounds like faint singing that you abruptly sit up

straining your ears, your eyes flick around anxiously to see if you can spot anyone

there's no one

and yet, you can still faintly hear singing

it's then you notice that you can no longer hear the gentle sound of the waves crashing against the shore

nor can you hear the seagulls in the sky

besides the singing, it's oddly quiet

an uncomfortable feeling worms its way down your spine and without hesitation, you begin to gather your things

promptly making your way up the path, you can't help but send a questioning look back towards the water

what was making the noise?

-

Wooyoung truly didn't mean to scare you off

really, he didn't

but after the first time he caught a glimpse of you on the beach, he couldn't help but be curious

after all, you are the first human he's ever seen

and so, for the following days after his first encounter with you, he continues making his way up the surface

he just needs to see you again

it's disappointing at first, the way he makes the long and annoying journey past his family and up to the surface only to not see you anywhere

but Wooyoung is persistent if anything and he has the feeling he will see you again

so he waits patiently, checking in day-to-day to see if you've returned

and finally

you return!

Wooyoung is quite happy when he comes to check in on your beach only to find you laying down comfortably on the sand

he can only make out so much from a distance, but from what he can see, you look quite content

initially, Wooyoung is fine with watching from afar

but then he gets this sudden itch

this urge to see you closer

and so he swims closer to the shore, closer than ever before

but it just isn't close enough

he sighs, frustrated, at how you seem so close yet so far away

when an idea strikes him

he knows that technically he shouldn't be using his voice to lure you in

after all, humans have been known to kill sirens for their voices for eons

but other than his voice, Wooyoung has no other way of getting closer to you

so he ignores the warning voice in his mind and slowly opens his mouth

he sings, just loud enough for you to hear, but not to pin point his location

he watches as you sit up and look around confused

and he can't help the little prick of satisfaction when you glance for a second in his direction

he stops singing when he sees you get up and begin packing your things

and while he is a little bit disappointed to see you go so quick

he can't help but grin at the plan that begins forming in his head

-

you'd be lying if you said there wasn't a nagging urge to go back to the beach

you just couldn't wrap your head around the singing

where exactly was it coming from?

you know for sure there wasn't anyone in your village who was heading to the beach

everyone was always too scared to even step foot within a five mile radius of the water

perhaps someone from out of town?

but your village hardly ever received visitors

there's only one way to find out you thought to yourself as you gathered your small basket and bid your mother farewell

walking out the door and down the street to a place that was most familiar

once you found a good place to settle down, you laid down your blanket and settled in

breathing in deeply, you admired the view before laying down on your side

one of your arms rested underneath your head and you closed your eyes, waiting

a few moments later, you began to hear singing again

the urge to sit up was incredibly strong, but you fought against it

last time I sat up, whoever was singing stopped. I don't want to scare them off

furrowing your eyebrows slightly, you remain laying down

the singing began to grow slightly louder and as it did, you found yourself melting into the blanket beneath you

the sounds of the waves and the feeling of the blanket slowly faded away

you were hardly aware of just how heavy your body felt and how murky your mind had grown

then, the voice stopped

inhaling sharply, you sit up and look around quickly

still, you saw no one

but the feeling was there again, the feeling of eyes watching your every move

clearing your throat, you let out a small, "hello?"

you hold your breath, anxiously awaiting a response that never comes

sighing, you once again gather your stuff and head home, unaware of the hour that had somehow flown by

-

this trend continues on for a while

you head to the beach after your errands are done in hopes of catching whoever was singing so beautifully

only to never see a single soul

except today is different

you tell your mother as you leave that you'll be back soon, kissing her cheek goodbye and exiting the house

you lay your blanket down and rest, not completely lying down but instead remaining seated upright

sure enough, a few moments later, the voice appears once again, singing louder and much clearer than ever before

you can't help the way your eyelids flutter shut and your body gently sways to the words

words that you do not even understand, but make the same fuzzy feeling appear in your brain

you allow yourself to be carried away by the beautiful song and do not bother looking for whomever is singing

except

you're snapped out of your haze when you feel freezing cold water hit your shins

gasping, your eyes snap open and you look down

you've somehow made your way away from your spot near the back of the shore and you're now standing in the water

you fall backwards slightly, anxious and unsure as to how you managed to make your way over here without even realizing it

you watch as the waves come up and barely skim your feet before retreating back

shaken and slightly out of it, you hurriedly walk away from the beach, leaving your basket lying in the sand

when you get home, your mother is quick to rush out of her room and towards you

"where have you been?" she almost yells, her hands on either side of your arms

"I was running my normal errands," you reply, unsure as to why she seems so anxious

"(Y/n), it's been hours since you left!"

your heart freezes

"hours?" you echo

your mother nods

"you're never gone this long! I thought something had happened to you," she frowns, running her finger along your eyebrow

"lord knows I can't handle losing you too," she whispers

you frown, guilt sinking into your chest at how much you seem to have worried her

"I'm sorry mom, I promise I'm okay. I just lost track of time," you tell her

she stares into your eyes for a few long moments before sighing and releasing you

"Just please be more careful honey"

you nod, watching as she walks back to her spot over the kitchen stove

how did I not notice how much time had passed?

-

you stay away from the beach for almost two weeks this time

it drives Wooyoung insane

he knows he had gotten quite bold last time, using his voice to lure you ever so close to the water

but he couldn't help it

observing you from afar wasn't enough

he needs you closer

so he waits anxiously, tail flicking nervously and sharp teeth nibbling at his salty lips as he waits day after day for you to return

and when you do finally come back, he knows what he must do

Wooyoung watches with focused eyes as you settle into the sand, farther away than normal

he frowns a bit at this, not liking that after all his hard work, you've gone back to square one

but he's quick to shrug off this annoyance

he has a plan and nothing can stop him

Wooyoung waits a few moments to let you settle in before opening his mouth

he allows the sweet sounds to release from his throat and carry themselves to where you sit

nothing too direct, yet

he just wants you to relax

and when he sees that your eyes have once again fallen shut and you allow yourself to be swept away by his song

he sings louder, with more intent

Wooyoung watches hungrily as your body slowly stands up and ever so gracefully makes its way closer to the water

as he watches your feet approach where land and water meet, he begins to sing even louder

he learned his lesson last time, and he was going to make sure you don't wake up before he allows you to

time goes by agonizingly slow as Wooyoung watches your body wade through the water

it rises from your ankles to your hips to your midsection before finally, the water has reached just below your chin

Wooyoung can't help the victorious grin that makes its way across his face

he fights the urge to stop singing and swim closer to you, but he knows that's not the plan

instead, Wooyoung ducks under the water and swims backwards slightly

his throat is beginning to hurt ever so slightly at the way he has to project his voice, but he knows it'll all be worth it

finally, Wooyoung can see your head come underneath the waves

and only then does he stop singing

Wooyoung watches your eyebrows furrow and your eyes fly open, fear as evident as the sun rays coming in from outside

you flail around helplessly, legs kicking desperately and arms moving around to try and find something, anything to grasp onto

all your movements have your air running out quicker than ever and Wooyoung can't help but feel a little pity when you open your mouth to breathe, only to swallow water

you struggle valiantly, he must admit, but the sea is not friendly to your kind

he watches as your eyes begin to fall shut and your limbs move slower and slower, before stopping altogether

it's only then that Wooyoung swims up to you, gathering your limp body gently in his arms and beginning to swim away

as he swims, he looks fondly down at your beautiful features, features he's only ever been able to admire from afar

the sea may not be kind to you, but Wooyoung will be

after all, he's all you have now

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

two fics in one week?? who am i lololol it's bc my semester is basically done :) hope you all enjoyed this, I had a lot of fun writing it!

[mymoodwriting]

21.5k, Maestro AU, dystopia, advanced technology, robots, kidnapping, manipulation, mind control, hypnosis, assault, physical assault, violence, hacking, supernatural elements, restraints, collars, mental abuse, electrocution, hallucinations, reader is a minor character, I don't know who the main character is either

“Do you hear the piano?”

“Huh?”

“The piano. It’s playing in the distance.”

“I don’t hear anything, y/n.”

“It sounds so pretty.”

“And you know music isn’t really a good thing around here.”

“Yeah…”

You could definitely hear a piano, even if it was quite faint, but there was no way you were gonna be able to find the source. Mingyu was right though, music wasn’t much of a thing around here. The world itself was quite depressing, and everyone worked to stay alive, even if the job was shit. You were lucky to work as a delivery person, one of the simpler jobs, but it had its cons too. You’d drive all over the city, even to the more dangerous parts. So far nothing bad had happened to you, but there was no guarantee that would always be the case. Still, you made money, and you could pay your part of the bills.

You lived in an apartment with three other guys, who were all like brothers to you. It was a decent size place, and you all had your own space too. Most of the apartment was littered with electronic parts as Vernon was a technician that worked from home. He was a freelancer, fixing things in what he considered his work space, which was everywhere that wasn’t a bedroom. Wonwoo worked construction, getting up early and coming back late, but he always said he had enough down time to rest and recover. Mingyu worked as a mechanic at an auto shop not so far from the apartment.

Between the four of you there was a car, but on most days Wonwoo would take it. You had your work van, so if Vernon ever needed to get somewhere, or some items needed to be picked up, that job usually fell on you. At least your office was nearby so it wasn’t a hassle to get to and from work without a vehicle. Today though was a rare treat as you were all off and could do somethings together. You had all gone out to get some groceries, as well as other necessities for the apartment. As you were loading up the trunk that’s when you began to hear the piano, instantly entranced by the melody. In this world music was scarce and unfortunately not encouraged. If anything it was frowned upon.

The peacekeepers maintained order, and many times you had seen them beat those for causing a ruckus or playing music. You weren’t entirely sure why such a thing seemed to be a problem, but it made you appreciate whenever you heard a nice tune. Besides the peacekeepers there were robots around the city. Some worked alongside humans in certain labor-intensive fields, others had simpler tasks, and some freely walked around available to help anyone who needed assistance with anything. Then there were the roaming CCTV robots, the robo-dogs as people called them. They were all over the place,watching everything. Of course there were still normal CCTV cameras around too, so safety and peace were maintained well on multiple levels.

“Let’s go.”

Mingyu shut the trunk and you followed him to the front. You got into the passenger seat, Mingyu hopping behind the wheel. You glanced in the rearview mirror, seeing Vernon on his tablet, headphones on, clearly engrossed in work. Whereas Wonwoo had his head back against the headrest, eyes closed, using this time to wind down. You couldn’t help the small smile on your face. They were all great company. When you got to the apartment everyone helped bring things up, allowing it to be done in one trip. You put things away and then collapsed on the couch, turning on the TV and half listening to the news.

“Y’all better not stay up late.” Vernon commented. “You guys have work in the morning.”

“And you?” Wonwoo mumbled. “All you do is stay home.”

“I pay my bills.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m a technician, or did you forget where you got such a dope phone?”

“Well you better not stay up late making a bunch of noise!”

“I won’t.”

“You say that a lot.” You added. “You should soundproof your room.”

“I don’t wanna work in my room.”

“Obviously.” Mingyu mentioned. “Your shit is everywhere in this apartment.”

“You’re just jealous I get to work from home.”

“Only sometimes.” Wonwoo added. “Or so you say.”

“Whatever.”

Most days were the same, but you each kept each other entertained, making every sundown and sunrise worth seeing. On slow days when you’d get home first you tended to sit out on the balcony, enjoying the cool breeze of the night air. While sitting out there one day you began to hear the sounds of a piano. Just like before, it was a beautiful melody, and you could hear it better this time. You closed your eyes and let the music take over, softly nodding your head along to the beat, tuning out the rest of the world.

As Wonwoo walked in he was careful not to make too much noise. It was pretty late and he was certain everyone else was already sleeping. He was sneaking back to his room when he heard a soft hum, suddenly realizing how cold the living room was. He looked around, realizing the balcony door was slightly open. Wonwoo made his way over, realizing the humming was getting louder. He slowly slid the door open, seeing you hugging your knees to your chest, eyes closed and rocking to the sides as you hummed. You seemed rather content but he was concerned by all of this.

“Y/n?”

“Hm?”

You opened your eyes, smiling when you saw Wonwoo, although he seemed very worried. Which you didn’t understand.

“You’re home.”

“How long have you been out here? It’s really late, you know.”

“Is it? I didn’t realize…”

“What were you doing?”

“Just listening to the piano, can’t you hear it?”

“Y/n, I don’t think anyone is playing a piano at these hours.” 

“I heard it. I swear. It was coming from over there.”

You didn’t have an exact location, but you had a good idea which direction the sound had been coming from. You got up, although now that the music was gone the exhaustion was starting to hit you. A yawn escaped your lips and you pointed off into the distance mindlessly, leaning against Wonwoo. He wrapped his arms around you, feeling how cold you were. Before he could comment his gaze followed your gesture, and his concern for you only got worse. You were pointing towards the Metronome Theater. 

“Let’s get you inside. You need to get some sleep.”

Wonwoo led a sleepy you down the hall and towards your bedroom, helping you get under the covers and tucking you in. He made sure your alarm was set so you wouldn’t be late for work. He quietly stepped out and shut the door behind him. He stood outside your room for a moment, his thoughts lingering on what had just happened. It wasn’t necessarily something to worry about, but it still bothered him. He barely managed to sleep that night, and next thing he knew it was time to get up again. As he was about to head out he stopped himself, going over to Vernon’s room and knocking on the door before opening it. Unsurprisingly the boy was awake.

“Are you working outside the apartment today?”

“No. Why?”

“Could you do me a favor and look after y/n today.”

“Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know but could you just tag along with her today and keep her out of trouble.”

“Sure. No problem.”

“Thanks.”

Despite the unspoken outlaw of music, the Metronome Theater still stood. It looked exactly like the name described, a giant metronome amongst the buildings that made up the city. Most of the time the pendulum remained still, glowing an ominous red, but on occasion it would glow blue and move from side to side, creating a low ticking in the air. No one really understood the purpose of that structure, and for fear of getting into trouble many avoided the area. Regardless of what went on everyone understood one thing, the Metronome Theater was a dangerous place. Wonwoo stared at it before getting into the car. He never paid the theater any attention, but he might have to going forward.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

You woke to the beeps of your alarm, groaning and rolling over in bed. You hadn’t slept much last night, but you weren’t all that tired. After a moment you got up and began to get ready for the day. Once you were dressed you got yourself a quick breakfast, ready to head out.

“Morning, y/n.” Vernon greeted you. “How you feeling?”

“Good. Just getting ready for work.”

“Cool. Mind if I come along with you today?”

“Why? Do you need me to drop you off somewhere?”

“No, no, just wanna get out of the apartment, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. I could use the company.”

“Awesome.”

Vernon walked with you to the office, letting you go off on your own to clock in and then come around for him in the delivery van. He happily hopped into the passenger seat.

“Lunch is on me.”

“Obviously.”

“What?”

“You think you just get to ride around for free?”

“But you enjoy my company.”

“And free food.”

“Fine. Whatever you want.”

“Excellent.”

Of course Vernon was just coming along for fun, not actually helping you with the job cause he didn’t want to do anything wrong and get you in trouble. He tried that once before and it did not go well. So it’s more accurate to say he doesn’t help so you don’t wind up in trouble again because of him. When he went with you nowadays he was more like your guardian angel, and today was no different for him. He stayed in the van, saving you the trouble of rushing and hoping it wasn’t stolen while you did your deliveries. 

“Oh, why hello there.”

The robo-dogs could be found anywhere in the city, both high and low, and in very unlikely places. You were used to seeing them in the buildings you delivered to, and it was great their programming had them act very friendly, like real dogs.

“I’m just doing some deliveries, little guy.”

You held up your badge, showing proof you could be there. You didn’t have to, but you liked to do so whenever you ran into these guys. That way if anything ever happened in the building you’d be recognized as a delivery employee who’s just passing through. It was your own insurance, and there was no real reason to hide your purpose here. You gave the little robot a pat, and it seemed to enjoy that. Soon enough you started to hear a soft melody. You thought you were imagining things, but the sound slowly got louder and then you realized it was coming from the robot.

“You got a song for me, little guy?”

You didn’t know the robo-dogs had speakers in them, let alone that they would play music. It was a nice treat, and you couldn’t help but follow the little guy when he started walking off. You could use a break anyway.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

While waiting Vernon would be on his phone, going over his list of things to do and figuring out how to prioritize. Although at a particular stop he felt like you were taking too long, especially since you had walked in with like two boxes. He was about to go check on you when he saw you walk out, immediately feeling relief. Then again he noticed you weren’t walking towards the van, and instead seemed to be following one of the robo-dogs. It was very strange, and he wasn’t just gonna watch. He got out of the van and called out to you, but you didn’t respond. When he caught up to you he grabbed your arm and turned you around, seeing a dazed look on your face before you seemed to come back to your senses.

“Vernon?”

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“What were you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just now.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know. You were like sleep walking or something.”

“Oh, I guess maybe I’m just tired.”

“Did you sleep enough last night?”

“I think so. I’m alright though, I promise.”

“Okay, but you let me know if anything’s wrong.”

“I will. Let’s go now.”

Vernon wasn’t entirely convinced, but he wasn’t going to push it right now. Instead he was starting to get an idea as to why Wonwoo wanted him to go out with you today. Something certainly felt wrong here, but he wasn’t entirely sure what. At one point his eyes landed on the Metronome Theater, staring at it as you drove along. That whole place was just an eyesore, and it always gave him the creeps.

“Okay. This might take a few since I gotta deliver on multiple floors.”

“Alright, just be safe and come back.”

“That’s a given.”

You grabbed what you needed from the back, making your way into the building. You started from the top and made your way down. For the most part you just left packages at doors, but on occasion you’d knock to get a signature. You were a bit tired when you dropped off the last one, but at least you were done here.

“Do you require assistance?”

You jumped when you heard a robot, looking back to see it on the steps leading to the basement floor. In a bigger building like this it was more common for there to be robots to help tenants when needed.

“I’m alright, thank you. I’m just doing deliveries.”

You showed your badge once more, definitely needing to identify yourself as these robots tended to have records of who lived here and would call the authorities on any unauthorized visitors. You waited for the robot to accept your reason for being there, but it was eerily quiet.

“Uh… I’m going to be taking my leave now.”

As you stepped away the robot suddenly grabbed your arm. Then the blank face plate began to glow red, swallowing you up and cutting your world to black.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

Vernon stepped out of the van, stretching his limbs. He stared at the building you had gone into, getting this uneasy feeling. He checked the time, seeing that you had been gone for about twenty minutes now. That wasn’t too long, but something just didn’t feel right. It probably wasn’t best to just dwell on it, so he locked the van and took the keys, heading into the building. The place seemed quiet, so he went around calling your name, getting no response. Every second that went by was making him nervous. As he was about to head out a gleam of light caught his attention. He walked over to the source and picked up your badge off the floor. Now he was very concerned.

“Shit…”

He called out your name again, stepping down towards the basement. It seemed very dark down here, but that was the least of his worries. He called out to you again and again but there was no response. Then he wound up bumping into something and falling to the ground. He looked up to see a robot standing in his way. Before saying something he noticed some light down the hall, realizing there was a door that led out, another exit. Vernon quickly scrambled to his feet, but the robot moved to stand in his way.

“Do you require assistance?”

“No, no, I-”

“Do you require assistance?”

“No! I’m a delivery person.” 

Vernon held up your badge, covering your face and name, hoping the robot would accept that and leave him alone. It didn’t work, and the machine still stood in his way. Vernon tried to get past once more, yet he was blocked. He intended to push his way through only to be grabbed and shoved to the floor. He groaned as he hit the ground, partially out of breath. He looked back up to see a red glow emanating from the robot’s faceplate, telling him that something was very wrong here.

“You… you intentionally stopped me… you hurt me… you hurt a human…” Vernon got up, making note of the number on the robot’s chestplate. “Robot model S-009588, you are to answer all my questions going forward, what is your directive?”

“Protect the target.”

“What target?”

“A young female identified as a delivery worker. Last spotted at this location.”

“What? Where is she!?”

“Unknown.”

“What do you mean? How do you not know where she is! You took her in the first place!”

“Incorrect. My objective is to protect the target.”

“From-”

The robot suddenly seemed to glitch and shut down, completely powering off right in front of Vernon. He cautiously took a step back and then it seemed to reboot itself.

“Do you require assistance?”

“Uh… no…”

Vernon took a small step forward and the robot stepped to the side. It was certainly acting how it was supposed to now. He still had many questions, and needed to further look into this, but for now he needed to go. He ran towards the back door, stepping out into the streets once again. Despite the minutes that had passed he still looked around, hoping by some miracle to see you, but of course you were nowhere to be found.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Vernon went back inside, intending to find the robot and interrogating it, but just like you, it was gone. He kicked the nearest item and swore again, storming back to the van. He slammed his hands against the wheel, screaming. The whole point of him being out with you today was to prevent something like this, and he had royally fucked it up. Now he had to make things worse with a phone call.

“What’s up?”

“Wonwoo…”

“Hm?”

“She… y/n… she’s gone…”

“What the fuck do you mean she’s gone!? I asked you to look after her!”

“I know but… I’m not sure what happened. I was attacked by a robot and-”

“Have you told Mingyu?”

“What the hell am I supposed to say? That y/n just walked into a building and never came out? You’re the one who was worried about her and didn’t really say anything!”

“Look, just call Mingyu and get back to the apartment, I’ll head over too, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Vernon drove over to the auto shop Mingyu worked at. He was familiar with the other mechanics, and just waltzed in, finding Mingyu under a car. He kicked at his leg to coax the boy out. His smiling face changed to concern when he saw Vernon.

“What are you doing here? I thought you went out with y/n?”

“We need to talk. Wonwoo will meet us at the apartment.”

“What happened?”

“It’s complicated.”

“And y/n?”

“…”

“Fuck. Vernon, what did you do?”

“Let’s just go.”

The two walked back to the apartment in silence. Vernon couldn’t imagine what was running through Mingyu’s head, but he had questions of his own. A while after they arrived Wonwoo entered the apartment.

“What the fuck is going on?” Mingyu questioned. “What did you guys do?”

“It’s not something we did.” Wonwoo explained. “But something that happened.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t really know how to explain it.”

“One of you better start talking.”

“Y/n’s been kidnapped.” Vernon stated. “That’s what’s going on.”

“What do you mean!? What did you do!?”

“Why do you think we did something? How do I know this isn’t your fault?”

“You’re the one who messes around with the law, Vernon! And Wonwoo works with all kinds of people. How do I know either of you didn’t piss off the wrong person?”

“We didn’t do anything.” Wonwoo interrupted. “I think something else is going on.”

“Like what?”

“When I got home last night I found y/n out on the balcony. She had been out there for a while, saying she had been listening to some piano.”

“A piano?” Mingyu wondered. “Did you hear it?”

“No. It stopped playing by the time I stepped out. Why?”

“Y/n… she mentioned hearing a piano when we had gone out the other day, but I didn’t hear anything.”

“Why is a piano our concern here?” Vernon questioned. “What does that mean?”

“She said the music was coming from the Metronome Theater.” Wonwoo admitted.

“Oh… wait, so you think someone from the theater kidnapped her? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You know that place is weird.” Mingyu said. “The people who go in don’t tend to come out, and if they do, they’re not quite the same.”

“Okay, but why would they kidnap her? In fact, how do you know it was them? I was attacked by a robot! Someone clearly hacked into that thing.”

“You were attacked by a robot? Like an actual one or the robo-dogs?”

“Now that you mention it… after a certain stop I saw y/n sleep walking behind a robo-dog, like it was leading her somewhere.”

“Oh so you knew something was up and you still left her alone!” Wonwoo accused. “Are you serious!”

“You could have told me what you were actually worried about here! I thought maybe she was sick or something.”

“I shouldn’t have let her go out in the first place.”

“We don’t know who took her.” Mingyu reminded. “Not for sure. So let’s focus on that first.”

“How?”

“Easy enough. Vernon, you can hack into CCTV right?”

“Obviously. Even the robots, so clearly whoever took her knows a thing or two about tech.”

“Right. So let’s go back to where she was taken and see if the CCTV can lead us to her.”

Everyone was pretty tense over the situation, but they were trying not to let panic take hold. This could all just be some big misunderstanding and you’d call them soon enough, asking where they were. For the sake of not sticking out they decided to take your work van, returning to the last place you had been seen. In a matter of minutes Vernon gained access to the CCTV cameras around, sifting through the footage to find you. He showed the others the moment you went inside, and then skipped ahead, switching to the back door cameras. They were all concerned and surprised when they saw you walk out, following a robot as if you were being escorted somewhere. From there they followed your path, Mingyu driving. Although they soon lost track of you.

“What happened? Where did she go?”

“I’m not sure, the CCTV cameras in the next area are down.”

“What?”

“Let me try finding a different angle.”

Vernon kept working to find a camera, although it seemed that one after the other just weren’t operational. Wonwoo was looking over his shoulder, realizing they had lost track of you. He swore under his breath, although he soon realized something.

“Vernon.”

“Hm?”

“Do any of the cameras work around the Metronome Theater?”

“Uh… no… actually… none of the cameras within a quarter mile radius of the theater work.”

“So that whole area is a blind spot, and she walked into it.”

“Yeah.”

“So the theater it is.” Mingyu commented, staring at it from the car window. “Let’s go.”

The area around the theater was mostly abandoned, and now knowing none of the CCTV around worked made the place all the creepier. Mingyu parked the van across the street from the theater, all three staring out at it. 

“Are we sure she’s in there?” Vernon asked. “She went into a dark zone, someone could have taken her from here and there would be no record of it.”

“Perhaps.” Wonwoo said. “But something tells me she’s in there.”

“Okay, but how are we getting in? That place is usually closed, and it only opens sporadically. We don’t even know if it opened today.”

Just as Vernon said that the pendulum of the theater started moving, and the shutters over the doors went up.

“Huh, guess they’re open now.”

Wonwoo was the first out of the car, crossing the street, the other two soon following. What was strange were the other people that seemed to appear from nowhere also making their way to the theater. Despite what one might think, the inside of the theater was lavish and luxurious, not something you’d expect to see in this part of the city. None of them knew where to go, but the others that entered did. It was weird to see how everyone else walked in silently and went up the stairs, acting like robots themselves. The trio followed, keeping quiet as well and just going with the flow.

They went up two flights of stairs to the third floor, making it to the entrance of the actual theater. Rows and rows of empty seats surrounded the stage, people just taking a seat wherever. The curtains were down, and the lights were slowly fading and growing bright, signaling the show would begin soon. The boys took a seat towards the back, looking around to see if perhaps you were around, but they had no luck. A while later the doors closed and the lights went out, leaving them in darkness before the stage was illuminated. The curtains were drawn, revealing a whole orchestra on stage, two gentlemen standing front and center. 

“Welcome to the Metronome Theater.” The one with a beret spoke. “I’m the director, Seungkwan, and this is Joshua, the conductor for the night. Do enjoy the show.”

Seungkwan made his way off stage, disappearing into the darkness. Joshua on the other hand took his place before the orchestra, and soon the show began. The music was quite nice, not something any of them were used to hearing. There was no piano present, but they didn’t care much for the show itself. They took in their surroundings, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else. All the other guests were engrossed in the performance. For a moment Wonwoo zoned out while watching the conductor lead, something about him just seemed odd. He snapped out of it when Mingyu lightly shoved him, giving him a questioning look. They had other things to focus on right now.

When the show ended everyone got up to applaud, all seeming to move together. Joshua took a bow before the orchestra did the same and then cleared the stage. The doors had opened and a few robots were coming in, greeting some of the guests and then leading them towards the nearest exit. The trio immediately thought to follow, stepping out into the aisle and walking towards the stage. Although they didn’t get far before a spotlight was suddenly aimed at them, stopping them in their tracks.

“You three aren’t meant to be here.”

Once they had adjusted to the light they saw Joshua looking up from his bow, slowly standing, arms crossed over his chest, lightly tapping his wand to his shoulder. A smirk appeared on his face, looking them up and down.

“I advise you to leave before the Maestro gets upset.”

“We have no intention of leaving.” Mingyu stated. “We’re looking for someone, and perhaps your Maestro knows something.”

“Is that so?”

“If we can just talk to them and clear things up, then we’ll be on our way.”

“That’s not going to happen.”

“How come?”

“You were advised to leave.”

Joshua lifted up his wand, flicking it in the air as if he was still performing. They were all confused until they realized the other guests were moving in on them. Before they knew it they were surrounded and grabbed. The people around them had blank stares in their eyes, but they were doing well to restrain them.

“Thank you for coming.” Joshua stated. “Don’t return.”

The people began to drag them towards the exit, forcing them to fight back. They didn’t want to hurt anyone, but the situation was getting out of hand. These people didn’t want them here, so it was all the more reason to stay and investigate. Especially as Joshua was walking away. Wonwoo managed to break free from the crowd, running up towards the stage and tackling the conductor to the ground. The two tussled for a moment, and Wonwoo knew he had to get the wand out of Joshua’s hand. It wasn’t just some stick, but as soon as he ripped it away from Joshua he froze. His gaze slowly turned to the item in his hand. He couldn’t describe the feeling well, but there was some sort of power radiating from it, and now that he held it this energy seemed to be coursing into his veins.

“You have potential.” Joshua commented. “Perhaps the Maestro will see you.”

Before Wonwoo could really register what had been said, or what was happening, Mingyu had come to his side. He had escaped the crowd and took the wand from Wonwoo, snapping it in half without hesitation. Once he did so Joshua screamed, grabbing his head and thrashing on the ground. Both boys took a step back, unsure of what was going on. Even the rest of the guests seemed to collapse, leaving Vernon just as confused as his brothers. A moment later the lights went out again, and Joshua’s screams seemed to die down. When the light returned there was someone else present on the stage. A boy with white hair knelt down before Joshua, hands on his head, seeming to sooth the distressed boy. Soon enough the gaze of the stranger looked to them, a fire in his eyes.

“Get out!”

The lights flickered, and next thing the boys knew robots were rushing into the theater. They grabbed each of the boys, two or three per person, effortlessly dragging them out. Their strength was no match for the machines as they were thrown out onto the streets. Mingyu was the first to scramble to his feet, but as he reached the doors of the theater the shutters slammed down, locking him out.

“NO!”

Mingyu slammed his fist against the shutters over and over, as if that would change anything. The other two eventually came to his side.

“This doesn’t mean anything.” Vernon said. “This could just be some territorial shit, and this Maestro guy doesn’t like outsiders. Y/n might not be here.”

“And yet she could be.” Wonwoo remarked. “You saw how some people were taken elsewhere, not to mention the others… it’s like the music put them under a spell and they did whatever the conductor wanted. Y/n kept hearing a piano, and didn’t you say you caught her sleepwalking?”

“I… yes, but we don’t have solid proof.”

“Then find some.” Mingyu hissed. “There’s gotta be a robot around here that saw something.”

“Yeah, yeah I can look for that.”

Vernon made his way back to the van, the other two soon following. Although Wonwoo stopped and stared back at the theater. His mind went back to the moment he had held the conductor’s wand. The way he felt then still lingered, and he wanted to know what that was.

“Wonwoo!”

Upon hearing his name Wonwoo made his way back, the three in the van, Vernon getting his laptop out and getting to work on searching for some video footage.

“How are we gonna find proof?” Wonwoo asked. “The CCTV doesn’t work around here.”

“But there are other cameras.” Vernon remarked. “The robo-dogs are also CCTV. Even though they are everywhere, they each stick to a certain area. If we can find one around the theater I could get into its system and look at the recorded footage.”

“Alright. I’ll drive, you two keep a lookout.” Mingyu said. “Let me know when to stop.”

As planned they drove around the area, looking for a robo-dog. The issue with those was that they were free roam cameras, so it wasn’t entirely common to see them on the streets.

“What about taking down a robot?” Mingyu suggested. “We’ve seen a few of those.”

“It wouldn’t work.” Vernon mentioned. “The robots have their programs and internal systems, but they don’t actually record anything. We have CCTV and the robo-dogs so it would be overkill.”

“I guess.” 

“Oh, there’s one, Mingyu, pull over.”

The van came to a stop and Wonwoo stepped out, walking up to the little thing as it stepped out of an alleyway. They were very friendly robots, so the thing walked up to Wonwoo all on its own. Vernon had opened the side door, laptop in hand.

“What do I do?”

“Just grab it and bring it here. I’ll erase the footage of us grabbing it when we’re done.”

Wonwoo picked up the little guy, bringing it over the van and setting it down inside next to Vernon. It tried to get out, but Wonwoo prevented it from doing so. After a moment it sat down, the little red light going out.

“Alright, I’m in.”

“Are you sure it saw something?” Mingyu asked. “Or do we need to look for another one?”

“No. One should give me access to a few more in this area, one of them surely saw some… hold on.”

“What?”

“…”

“Vernon.”

“Hold on!”

“Aish, could you tell me-”

“Got it.”

“What?”

“The robo-dogs here are on two grids. The city and something else, I managed to dig deeper into the system just now, but I’m gonna need another minute to access this other grid.”

“I’m not understanding you.” Wonwoo said. “What do you mean another grid?”

“Another power grid, another system. Someone else besides the city is connected to these robo-dogs and thus has access to their recordings.”

“That’s not concerning at all.”

“I know so just- oh… this isn’t good… the CCTV around the theater isn’t broken, it’s on another grid.”

“Wait so you mean all the cameras around here work?”

“How come the city isn’t aware of this?” Mingyu questioned. “This whole area is thought to be a dark zone.”

“The city doesn’t care about the cameras being down cause the rodo-dogs in this area still work, and they’re more valuable.” Vernon explained. “That’s why they’re still online and connected to both grids. I doubt the city knows that someone else has easy access to the robo-dogs around here.”

“So who’s running this other grid?”

“Who do you think? Who’s at the center of this whole thing?”

“The Metronome Theater.”

“They’re the biggest power source in this area, so logically they’re the only ones who could run all this.”

“What about y/n though?” Wonwoo reminded. “Is she really in the theater?”

“Well, let’s check. Once I get access to the cameras we can see where she really went.”

A few minutes later Vernon did as he said, pulling up camera footage and going to the moment they had originally lost you. They could see you were still following a robot, and a moment later two more appeared. They continued to follow you through the cameras, and just as they suspected you made your way to the Metronome Theater, heading inside.

“Okay. So she’s in there somewhere.” Mingyu confirmed. “How do we get back in?”

“We can’t just walk in again.” Wonwoo added. “I’m sure they’ll be looking out for us.”

“Then we go in from below.” Vernon suggested. “The robo-dogs go underground to recharge and there has to be some sort of maintenance facility in this area. My guess is the theater. Someone in there must be a technician that fixes up all the robots around here. Which means there should be a way in the theater through underground maintenance tunnels that the robo-dogs would use.”

“Okay, but those things are small, do you think we’d fit?”

“The maintenance tunnels are designed to be big enough for a person to crouch through in case a robo-dog loses power down there and needs to be retrieved.”

“So all we gotta do now is find those tunnels and get inside.”

“What do we do once we’re in?” Wonwoo asked. “That place is huge and we have no idea where y/n would be.”

“If we’re going in then we’re not looking for y/n, but the Maestro. Whoever that is, they’ll surely know where she is.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

You felt as if you were waking from a dream, unsure as to when you fell asleep. Wherever you were, it was dark, but the light in front of you drew your attention. As you regained your senses you began to perceive your surroundings. You seemed to be in some sort of theater, watching a show. There was an orchestra on stage, along with the conductor leading the show. You noticed a few other people around you, but that all seemed to become pointless as you began to listen to the music. You hadn’t heard such a melody, becoming entranced by. After a moment you closed your eyes to give all your focus to the music, feeling so calm and relaxed.

“Good girl.”

The voice made you open your eyes, finding a gentleman with white hair standing before you with a big smile on his face. Before you could really process anything he lifted his glowing wand, gently tapping your head and causing your world to fade to black.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“Let’s go over the plan once more.”

With access to the robo-dogs it wasn’t hard for Vernon to map out their travel patterns and find multiple entrances to the maintenance tunnels. From there he could figure out where they needed to go and how to get inside the theater.

“Okay. I’ve found our entrance point into the maintenance tunnels, the closest one to the theater.” Vernon explained. “When we get to the theater itself I can mimic a robo-dogs signal to open the entrance and get us in. Although from there I’m gonna need to find an access port in order to gain access to the systems in the theater. There are no schematics or blueprints for that place, so right now I have no idea how the interior looks besides what we’ve seen, and that wasn’t much.”

“From there the goal is to go up.” Mingyu added. “Surely the Maestro would be at the highest point in the building. We just need to find the fastest route, and avoid as much resistance as possible.”

“The building will most likely be littered with robots, but once I have system access I can make sure they don’t hurt us.”

“What about the conductor?” Wonwoo asked. “Or that other guy? They seemed to have a lot of power in that place.”

“We already broke the conductor’s little stick, so they shouldn’t be a problem. As long as we move fast and don’t attract attention we should be fine.”

“Then what do we do if we find the Maestro?”

“When we find them we’re gonna demand answers. If things have to get rough then so be it. We know y/n’s in there. Let’s gather what we need and be ready to move in ten.”

Honestly the only person who needed things was Vernon, the other two were ready to go whenever. They all needed to travel light as there wasn’t much room in those tunnels to begin with. Since they knew the cameras around the theater worked they needed to avoid them. The best way to do that was to enter the sewers outside that area and travel through there to the maintenance tunnel that would lead them into the theater. It wasn’t pleasant, but it did well to give them the advantage they needed in order for this to work. None of them liked walking through the sewers, and the maintenance tunnels wouldn’t be any better. It would be short but uncomfortable nonetheless.

“Give me a second while I get the hatch open.”

Vernon got out his phone, doing a little something before the hatch opened. He was the first one through, glad to be able to stretch out, the other two soon getting out as well. They seemed to be in the middle of some hallway, and to their benefit it seemed empty.

“I need to look for some electrical currents so I can find an access point.” Vernon stated. “Give me a second.”

“Why do the walls say S3?” Wonwoo questioned.

“Shit.” Vernon mumbled. “I wasn’t entirely sure how low we went, but I think we’re in sub-level three.” 

“How big is this building…”

“No idea.”

Vernon followed the device in his hand, leading the others down the hall and towards an elevator. Which was the perfect thing to find. He pulled out some other tools, connecting to the wires behind the call button hacking in, ultimately gaining access to the entire system.

“Got it. Looks like this building has seventeen floors, and three sub-floors. So you definitely know where we are.”

“Great, we’re as far from the top as possible.” Mingyu said. “Just our luck. What’s the fastest way up?”

“Uh… there seems to be some kind of elevator that goes up to the seventeenth floor that we can access from the theater room.”

“So we need to go to the third floor?”

“No, there seems to be another theater on the thirteenth floor.”

“Of course. Is that the only way to access the top floor?”

“It seems to be the only direct connection closest to our current location. There are a few other elevators in this building, but only the one on the thirteenth floor will get us to seventeenth the fastest.”

“How are we supposed to get to the thirteenth floor undetected?”

“I’m looking into that. A place like this surely has blind spots, and if not, it shouldn’t be that hard to access their security system and hide us. I’m trying to map out our fastest route and looking into what type of security they have here. I just need a few minutes.”

“Well hurry up, we can’t push our luck.”

“I know.”

Vernon managed to find schematics of the building, taking a look at where they’d need to go in order to make it to their destination.

“Alright, from what I can tell the security here is pretty lax except for a few floors which we can avoid. There are some robots roaming around the building but they won’t be an issue either. We can take this elevator up to the first floor, and not so far from there we can get on another up to the seventh floor. From there we can reach the thirteenth. I’ve mapped out our path and have the cameras along the way looping. I’ve sent you both a copy of the route just in case, but we should get up to the seventeenth floor in about ten minutes.”

“Cool. Let’s move.”

It was a little strange being back in the lobby, considering they had been thrown out not so long ago. Vernon led the way over to the next elevator they needed to catch. Since the building didn’t see a lot of traffic they didn’t wait long. The highest this elevator went was the seventh floor, which was their next stop. It was strange that no single elevator connected all seventeen floors, but Wonwoo mentioned it was probably a safety thing. They thought things would be easy for them, but the elevator suddenly came to a stop on the fifth floor. For a moment they all got tense, Wonwoo and Mingyu ready to fight while Vernon was trying to cover them. Although when the doors opened there was no one. Mingyu carefully peeked his head out, but the halls were empty. Vernon tried closing the doors, but the elevator wouldn’t budge.

“I think it’s stuck.” Vernon commented. “This thing does seem old.”

“Then we should probably get off.” Wonwoo mentioned. “I guess we should take the stairs.”

“Not necessarily. Another elevator on this floor could take us up to the tenth floor, but that place seems to use a lot of power, which means heavy security.”

“Then why would we go there?”

“We could access the elevator that goes up to fourteen, and from there get up to seventeen. It’s our new fastest route from here.”

“As long as we’re still undetected it should work.” Mingyu said. “Lead the way, Vernon.”

No one else seemed to be on this floor either, the place being eerily quiet. There were a lot of doors with numbers, but no windows to see inside. It gave them all this uneasy feeling, but they kept going nonetheless. That is until they rounded a corner and Vernon stopped, stepping back and shoving the other two back, putting a finger to his lip and explaining himself in a whisper.

“Peacekeeper.”

“What!? Why is there one here?”

“I guess everyone comes to this theater.” Wonwoo commented. “You guys stay back, I got this.”

Wonwoo stood right against the corner, listening for footsteps. Once the peacekeeper was close enough he attacked. Lucky for him the only weapon his opponent had was a baton, and he had taken worse hits. It was easy for him to take down the peacekeeper, and the other two came to his side when he had won.

“I expected robots, not this.” Vernon mentioned. “Luckily the cameras here are looping so none of this was seen.”

“Then we can use this to our advantage.” Mingyu said, taking the mask from the peacekeeper. “I can dress like one of them so if another person sees us, I can act like I’m escorting you both.”

“But what do we do about the body? If another peacekeeper walks by and sees it they’re gonna sound the alarm.”

“It might be too late for that.” Wonwoo said. “Far too late.”

Vernon and Mingyu looked over to see what Wonwoo meant. At the end of the hall a crowd of peacekeepers were gathered. It seemed they no longer had the advantage.

“Go.” Wonwoo stated. “I’ll keep them busy and catch up with you later.”

“Wonwoo-”

“Now!”

Mingyu was already pulling Vernon down a different hall, but the boy was fumbling with his phone. Before Wonwoo was completely out of view Vernon activated the sprinkler system on the floor. It would help Wonwoo out since the peacekeepers wore goggles and the water would mess with their vision. Hopefully they’d meet up later.

Vernon found an alternative route to the elevator they needed to use, although it appeared their luck had really run out. A group of robots was marching down the hall towards them, someone else at the front of the group leading the way.

“I suggest you surrender now.” The other spoke. “But I’d prefer it if you don’t.”

“Run.” Vernon mumbled, looking down at his phone. “Go, now!”

“What? Vernon-”

“I’ll be right behind you, I just needed a second to hack into the robots.”

“I won’t leave you then.”

“Go get on that fucken elevator before they cut us off completely. You’ll be closer to the top on the tenth floor than the fifth!”

“Fuck.”

Mingyu knew Vernon had a point, so he bolted, feeling awful for leaving the other behind, for leaving them both. When he made it to the elevator he frantically hit the button, looking back, hoping Vernon managed to get him enough time. He pulled out his phone, opening up the link Vernon had sent so he could follow the route they had planned. Once the elevator arrived he got in and hit the button for the tenth floor, knowing he couldn’t wait around for the others. He let out a sigh of relief when the doors shut and he was moving. Things went south fast, but as long as he made it to his destination he trusted everything would work out.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“Get fucked!”

The robots were advancing on Vernon, but he tried not to let the panic overwhelm him. When he managed to hack them he laughed, making them stop in their tracks. He looked up at the other with a gleeful grin, having the robots turn around to make his point. The other seemed shocked by the sudden change.

“Thanks for the robots. Now I suggest you surrender and answer a few questions for me.”

“Impressive, but that’s not going to happen.”

“Wanna bet?” 

“Do your worst.”

Vernon smirked and ordered the robots to attack, knowing he could get this guy pinned in second. He sent two at him first, walking over himself since he knew this would be over soon. Although he wasn’t prepared for the punch the other guy threw, which actually knocked the robot back.

“Holy shit!”

Vernon stepped back and had all the robots attack, watching from a safe distance. It didn’t do him any good as the robots were beaten down and torn apart right before his eyes. The robots only managed to hit their target a few times, and it did nothing to slow them down. Vernon was frozen in shock as the other stalked up to him, a silver liquid dripping from his lip. He seemed to notice what Vernon was staring at, wiping his lips and laughing when he saw his fingers stained silver.

“I guess I need to go up to maintenance too. Don’t worry, I’ll take you with.”

One punch knocked Vernon out, and his unconscious body slid to the floor. The other stared down at him, finally relaxing after the whole ordeal. He knew back up was on the way, not that he’d need it. He looked around at all the robots, before sliding down a wall and sitting down to wait.

“Seungcheol’s gonna kill me.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

After dealing with the last one Wonwoo continued where he left off. At this point he was certain Vernon and Mingyu were no longer on this floor. It shouldn’t take too long to catch up. He pulled out his phone, following the path Vernon had laid out. Although upon rounding a corner he noticed the torso of a robot leaning against the wall, sparks flying from the damage. He proceeded cautiously, ready for another fight even if he was spent.

“I can hear you, so there’s no point creeping.”

The new voice caused Wonwoo to come to a halt. He knew whoever had spoken was just around the corner, although he wasn’t gonna lower his guard. He took a quick step into the next hall, seeing a bunch of robots torn to pieces, and Vernon passed out at the other end. Although his focus quickly shifted to the gentleman standing up, wincing in the process. Silver tainted his lips and nose, clearly exhausted, but Wonwoo was starting to put two and two together.

“Did you-”

“The robots? Yes, as for your friend, they’re just unconscious.”

“Who are you?”

“You ask as if I’m the trespasser here.” The gentleman chuckled. “The name’s Jun, and you’re Wonwoo, correct?”

“How do you know my name?”

“We’ve taken an interest in you, so it’s only proper we do our research. You’re strong, which explains how you handled the peacekeepers with ease. Very good.”

“What do you want from me?”

“That is something for you to discuss with another.”

“You mean the Maestro?”

“They’ve taken a special interest in you, yes.”

“Well I don’t care for that. I’m here for my friend.”

“You mean the girl? I assure you, she’s in good hands.”

“I doubt that if you went through the trouble of kidnapping her.”

“She came here on her own, just as everyone does.”

“Bullshit. Now tell me where she is.”

“Why don’t you tell me what happened when you held Joshua’s wand? How did you feel?”

“…”

Jun scoffed. “You only got a taste before you were so rudely interrupted. Would you like to experience that again? To know what’s going on here. The answers might just lead you to your friend.”

As Wonwoo contemplated everything a handful of peacekeepers and robots surrounded him. Jun ordered everyone to stay away from Wonwoo, having the robots take Vernon away.

“The boy will be fine.” Jun assured. “What’s your choice then? Shall you come willingly or do you have to be restrained?”

“Who will I be meeting?”

“Escort our new friend Wonwoo here to the fifteenth floor. Oh, and Wonwoo, I recommend you don’t try anything funny.”

Wonwoo allowed the peacekeepers and robots to lead the way, having them before and behind him. Jun watched him go, struggling to keep his own composure. He stumbled when he took a step back, nearly falling to the ground only to be caught by a friend.

“Seokmin.” Jun smiled. “Hi.”

“Funny, just wait until Seungcheol sees you.”

“Don’t get me started. Just take me to his shop.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

By the time the doors opened Mingyu had put on the mask, dressed as a peacekeeper to hopefully help him hide. Yet he was met with emptiness. He stared down a gray hallway, dim lights illuminating his path. From what Vernon had said this place held a lot of power, yet he saw none of it. Perhaps it was some diversion so people avoided the floor. He checked his phone, and it told him to proceed, so he did. At the end of the hall he was met with a door. It seemed to be locked, but Vernon had already accounted for that, so when he held his phone near the door it unlocked. He slowly opened it and stepped through. Now he understood the major power report.

The silence of the empty hall was suddenly filled with the hums of machines. Rows upon rows of servers were at either side, but before him stood the real source. A set up with multiple monitors showed him live camera footage from multiple floors. Moreso a bunch of offline robots stood around the monitor set up, creating a daunting warning. Still, Mingyu ignored it all, taking off the mask and approaching the computer. He should be going off to the next elevator, but if he could find you on the cameras then he’d really know where to go and not need to chase after a ghost. He sifted through the cameras, but there was no sign of you, and none seemed to be the seventeenth floor.

“You were never in control, you know.”

Mingyu turned around to discover he was no longer alone. A familiar face stood before him, the director from the show, Seungkwan.

“You’ve come quite far. I doubt I can convince you to stop here.”

“Where is she?”

“In good hands.”

“I doubt that. Just give her back, and I’ll be on my way.”

“That’s not gonna happen. In fact, I’m still very upset about what you did to Joshua.”

“I’m not.”

“Good. I won’t feel bad watching you suffer.”

Seungkwan snapped his fingers, the robots around starting to come to life. Mingyu knew his only option now was to run, so he did just that. He followed the guide, moving as fast as he could to the elevator. He hurriedly pressed the call button until the doors opened. Once inside he repeatedly pressed the button for fourteen, but the doors didn’t close. Something was probably wrong with this elevator too, so he pressed the button for thirteen and he watched the doors close as the robots charged at him. Once again he let out a breath in relief. At least now he was following the original plan, and knew he was one step closer to the Maestro, and you.

It was quiet and empty again when the doors opened, and Mingyu didn’t hesitate to step out. From what he could see the last elevator was behind the theater itself. So he made his way down the aisle towards the stage, not caring to try and hide his face with a mask. There seemed to be no one else around, yet as he stepped up to the stage he heard the sound of a spotlight turning on, except it wasn’t at him. He stopped, feeling the eerie sense that he was no longer alone. When Mingyu turned around he saw the light pointed at another in the aisle, closer to the door. A moment ago he had been alone, but now he wasn’t. Although what drew his attention the most was the wand in the other’s hand.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

Vernon groaned as he regained consciousness, feeling the ache from that sucker punch. He was quick to realize he was tied up, hands behind his back and legs stuck together. He was propped up against a wall, but nothing around him seemed familiar. At least this wasn’t a place he had been to before, but all the cables and random tech pieces scattered around was certainly unexpected. A robo-dog suddenly came up to him, getting real close and staring at him, sending a chill down his spine.

“You know they’re harmless.”

Vernon’s gaze snapped away from the robot, looking for the source of the voice. His eyes soon landed on this guy walking towards the computer set up and taking a seat.

“You have potential, I’ll admit that. Figured out a way in here. It was fun to watch.”

“Wait, you knew we were here?”

“From the beginning. Don’t be so surprised though, I keep watch over this whole territory with my dogs. Although Seungkwan is internal security.”

“So you’re the one running the grid here? You reprogrammed the dogs to work for you?”

“Bingo. So tell me, you really broke into this place for some girl?”

“Where is she?”

“She’s fine, and well taken care of, I promise.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to, but it’s true. The name’s Dino by the way.”

“I don’t care.”

“Yet I do. Vernon, a freelance technician, making money doing all kinds of legal and illegal things. Would be a shame if someone reported you.”

“Is that a threat?”

“You’d think, but not really. Why do you even do what you do, hm? Just to make some money and pay the bills? You could do so much better with your talents.”

“Why do you care?”

“You hacked into Jun’s little escort pretty fast and bypassed safety parameters so they’d attack a person. Then again those safety parameters were already diminished.”

“Let me guess, your doing?”

“No, no, my dogs and I run surveillance. The big clunky robots are Seungcheol’s department. He’s looking forward to meeting you, but he needs to attend to Jun first.”

“That guy does need a doctor.”

“Seungcheol works with robots, not people.”

“Wait, you mean-”

“Gotcha, didn’t I?” Dino giggled. “Jun’s a cyborg. He’s got a few mechanical parts here and there. You might have realized it if you kept snooping around, but you didn’t. It wouldn’t be easy to hack into his mechanical parts anyway. So just relax, the hyungs want to talk to you.”

“Talk to me about what?”

“An opportunity. You’re good, but you could be better.”

“I don’t want to join your little gang here.”

“You say that now, but you don’t know anything.”

“I know you kidnapped my friend, and are doing who knows what to the people you lure here.”

“Yeah, you don’t know anything. It’s always difficult to make people understand when they can’t hear the music. Maybe that’ll change soon.” Dino sighed. “Let’s go see the hyungs.”

Dino got up and grabbed something from a drawer just out of view. Vernon tried to see what he was doing, but he didn’t need to wait long.

“Behave.”

Dino walked back to Vernon with a metal collar, and leash in hand, a big grin on his face. Vernon tried to move away, but his restraints limited his motion. He wound up falling onto his side, getting a laugh out of Dino. The boy merely knelt down and grabbed a fistful of Vernon’s hair, pulling his head up to expose his neck so the collar could snap into place. He loosened the rope around his legs a bit so he could walk, and then attached the leash to the collar and helped Vernon to his feet.

“This is gonna be fun.”

Vernon followed alongside Dino, the boy holding the leash very close so he basically had to walk while hunched over. They went to a nearby elevator, and once inside Vernon noted they were on the eighth floor, and that this elevator apparently went all the way to the top.

“I know what you’re thinking. You never really hacked into our systems, we just let you see what we wanted. Besides, it was fun watching you all run around. Don’t worry we’re just going up one floor.”

With his hands behind his back any sort of action was limited, and he couldn’t even run in this state. When the doors opened Dino led him out, going down a plain hall. The floor seemed rather empty until they went through some double doors, revealing a whole workshop. Robots were all over the place, some just standing guard and others working on things. A few spare parts were lying around as well, but his focus was soon pulled to a table. The boy from before, who he now knew to be Jun, was sitting on it, a bunch of wires sticking out of his arm. There was another person next to him, looking at some monitors. Jun’s eyes were glowing blue, fading and growing bright, when he saw Vernon he smirked.

“Guess you’re not dead.”

“You weren’t trying to kill him, were you?” Dino questioned.

“Maybe. Although I bet Seungcheol wants to kill him.”

“Do not start, Junhui!” 

One of the others in the room snapped at Jun, which he presumed to be Seungcheol. The boy was pointing and yelling about Jun’s careless behavior. Jun seemed to be amused, although Vernon noticed the rest of the robots around were mimicking Seungcheol. It was strange and concerning, but he didn’t know what was happening.

“Do you have any idea how long it’s gonna take to repair those robots?” Seungcheol mentioned. “Days, Jun, days!”

“Don’t forget some were Seokmin’s designs.” Dino added. “So you’re not the only one who got screwed over.”

“You’re not helping!” Jun hissed. 

“Just saying. Also, hyung, you might wanna take a moment.”

Seungcheol looked over at Dino with a questioning look and the boy just gestured to their surroundings. That’s when Seungcheol noticed all the robots around moving as he did. He sighed and took a breath, and then the robots returned to their original task. Vernon still had no idea what had just happened.

“Why’d you bring that dog up here anyway?” The other in the room asked. “Do I get to hit him this time?”

“That’s enough, Seokmin.” Seungcheol cut in. “Just focus on Jun.”

“I know, I know.”

“You. Vernon, isn’t it? What are you doing here?”

“Don’t you know?”

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if that’s the truth. Answer me honestly and I’ll get the maknae to give you back your dignity and get that collar off.”

“What have you done with her?”

“That’s not the answer I was looking for.”

Seungcheol came over and grabbed the leash, pulling on it and making Vernon fall to his knees. After a moment Seungcheol knelt down and grabbed the boy’s chin, forcing their eyes to meet. It was quiet for a moment, and Vernon could feel his resolve melting.

“You’re being a waste of talent. I admire you care so much for this girl, but have you stopped to realize that you’re probably not leaving this building ever again.”

“You gonna lock me up?”

“You wouldn’t be the first, but the circumstances would be different. Wanna try again to answer my question?”

“I’m here for my friend, is that good enough for you?”

“I suppose.”

Seungcheol got the collar off, returning it and the leash to Dino. He then helped Vernon get up, but the ropes would remain. He returned to Jun’s side, looking over the readings as Seokmin continued to examine the boy. The silence was awkward, but Vernon wasn’t done with the conversation.

“How… how is it that you run the CCTV here, that you have access to the robo-dogs and some robots as well. Your whole operation should have been shut down ages ago, yet here you are. I guess the better question is why.”

“Do you really wanna know?”

“Are you gonna answer me?”

Seokmin chuckled. “We’re gonna change the world.”

“What?”

“Those in power won’t ever do anything that goes against the status quo. So we must do it ourselves.”

“Are you insane!? What reason-”

“Reason?” Seunghceol questioned. “Look at the world around you, do you think it’s fair as it is now? That it doesn’t require change?”

“So you’re gonna start a revolution by hacking into robots and killing anyone who gets in your way? Is that your great plan?”

“You’re not thinking big enough. Robots aren’t completely reliable, but human connection is.  All we have to do is reach those in power, and we’ll make them understand.”

“Ah, you mean the music, don’t you?”

“I see you’re not just savvy with technology. You were present for a show earlier today, so I suppose you do understand what we’re doing here.”

“You mean brainwashing people? Like you said, I was at your show, and I’m not under your control, am I? Your music is shitty.”

“Don’t insult the Maestro. The fact their music can enthrall people is reason enough for you to worry, isn’t it? There are already people out there who understand us, just like the peacekeepers we have here. After all, how do you think your friend came to our theater?”

“Leave her out of your plans!”

“She’s here of her own will, and she’s helping us. Soon enough our music will reach more people, especially the difficult ones such as yourself.”

“I guess you can’t hear how crazy you sound since you’re brainwashed yourself!”

“Unfortunately those of us here can’t truly understand the Maestro’s work. The melody is beautiful but I can’t truly feel its power. Only the Maestro and the conductors can, and our guests at the theater. One day though, we’ll all be on the same page.”

“You’re all crazy.”

“I think you’d be a great addition to our team, truly. Although the choice is ultimately yours. We can always place you in a cell on the fifth floor until the time comes. I’m certain your other friend, Wonwoo, will join us though.”

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“That depends, do you care to know more? Or can Jun knock you out again?”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

The elevator ride was crowded for Wonwoo, completely surrounded on all sides. He wasn’t going to try anything, and even if he did he’d surely get pinned. Vernon said only certain elevators went to certain floors, yet the one he was taken to had access to all floors, even the sub-levels. Something else was definitely going on here. When the doors opened there was an empty hallway before him. Those in front of him stepped out and then he did so. Although once out the others returned to the elevator and left, leaving him alone.

For a moment he thought to press the elevator button again, getting himself up to the seventeenth floor, but his own curiosity was winning out. At the end of the hall there was a door, and he could feel something on the other side calling to him. Without realizing he was walking down the hall, reaching for the doorknob and opening it. A blinding white light overtook his vision, his senses needing a moment to adjust. He stepped through, surrounded by technology and machines he didn’t quite understand. It seemed he was alone, until a familiar voice broke through the silence.

“I’m glad to see you came back.”

“You… I… are you alright…? Before when we-”

“I’m fine.” Joshua assured. “What happened back then wasn’t your fault. Honestly, it was surprising for us too.”

“What… what did happen? You were screaming and-”

“It’s complicated. I’m sure you have many questions, and I will do my best to answer them.”

“… where’s y/n?”

“Ah, the girl. She’s alright.”

“Why… why did you bring her here?”

“She came on her own, as do all the guests at our theater.”

“I know that’s a lie. I saw robots escorting her here. The music you play has a certain effect on people. You turned the other guests against us at the show before. That’s what you did to her to lure her in, isn’t it?”

“You really want to talk about her?”

“She’s the real reason I’m here.”

“Then why didn’t you go up to the seventeenth floor? Not that you could, but you didn’t even try. You can ask anything and you want to ask about her?”

“Why are you so reluctant to tell me? Why not just take me to her and let me ask her if everything you’ve said is true.”

“She’s unavailable at the moment, but if you want to talk about her, then there are other things that need to be discussed first.”

“Which are?”

“You, for starters. Tell me, when you grabbed my wand.” Joshua pulled his wand out of his sleeve. “How did you feel?”

Wonwoo couldn’t help but stare. The feeling from before was starting to creep back up. He had no idea what it was, let alone explain it.

“… energy… whatever it was… it was alive… it was coming to me… and it didn’t hurt… it was… intoxicating… it was power…”

“It was music, the power of music, specifically the Maestro’s music. The conductors perform it and the effects remain. I’m sure you felt it.”

“The music is dangerous. What you did to those people, to y/n-”

“Creating connection and understanding. Those who truly listen to the music find happiness and purpose. You could feel it, couldn’t you? A sense of peace.”

“More like a high. All those people were at your mercy.”

“We have no ill intentions here. We’re just trying to change the world for the better. You’ve seen some of our recruits, I was quite impressed to see you take on that many peacekeepers all alone.”

“So that’s why they were here. How many people have you… recruited?”

“Many, hard to keep track of. The Maestro’s music is unique in its abilities, but it cannot reach everyone, not yet that is.”

“So what do I have to do with this? What of y/n?”

“You could understand the music, feel its power, like myself. It means you’re special. Only the Maestro’s conductors can listen to the music and perform it. The Maestro themself is focusing on creating new compositions to bring more people in, so we conductors lead the show. You have the potential to be one, a conductor that is.”

“Me?”

“Only a conductor feels the power of the music. The wand is a means of commanding that power, and you felt that when you held mine. You could have your own. A few upgrades and some practice and you could do your own show.”

“Why would I join you?”

“The question is why wouldn’t you? Like you said, that power was intoxicating. You’ll never get another taste otherwise. Besides, your friend is with us now. You can speak with her yourself later, but right now I need your answer.” Joshua held out his wand. “Will you be joining us?”

“What if I say no?”

“I doubt that’d be your answer, but if you truly refuse, you’ll be locked up. We can’t have you causing trouble and getting in our way. So, what will it be?”

“What happens after… if I say yes?”

“There’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?”

“… show me.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“The name’s Minghao, shall we play?”

A moment ago Mingyu was staring down at someone who seemed to be a conductor, yet they weren’t on stage nor did they have an audience. It seemed like it would be a quick and easy fight, but as Mingyu took a step down everything seemed to change. The lights went out, covering him in darkness. A moment later red lights began to shine, and a light from below illuminated the conductor. Instead of a wand he had a violin, and the red lights were emanating from it as he played. Although there wasn’t any sound, at least not at first. Minghao smiled and continued his song, then a moment later Mingyu heard an ear-piercing screech.

He yelled and covered his ears, falling to his knees. He took in a deep breath, trying to adjust to the sound, but that wasn’t his only problem. Out of the corner of his eye he could see robots entering the theater, and he knew what the outcome would be if he got caught. He needed to think fast, and figure out a way out of this. His eyes landed on the mask he had dropped, the peacekeeper one. Perhaps that could help him. He reached for it and slipped it on, trying to figure it out while the screeching continued. The system wasn’t too complicated and he managed to adjust the hearing and block out the Minghao’s song. He could only rest for a moment as the robots were closing in.

Mingyu jumped into the nearest row to avoid getting grabbed. He would have bolted straight to Minghao, but a few robots would stop him. He needed to figure something else out, although he stumbled in his steps when Minghao changed his tune and he heard the screeching again. He had to fumbled around with the mask controls again so he wouldn’t be incapacitated.  Once he was good he looked over to see Minghao wasn’t even watching him, but more focused on the music, clearly not affected by the melody the same way he was. He continued to move around and avoid the robots, trying to think of a plan. He looked at the settings on the mask to see if anything was helpful.

Besides the night vision there didn’t seem to be anything else the mask could do. Although he soon discovered he could control something else with the mask. All peacekeepers kept a baton with them, something he had taken as well. One would think it was normal, but from what Mingyu was seeing it had a stun option. He put the electricity to the highest voltage it could go and then activated. Surely with a weapon like this he could deal with the robots and get to the conductor. He didn’t approach any of the robots, wanting them to come to him so he could strike the best he could.

He was nervous with the first robot, knowing very well if this failed he was screwed. The first swing made contact with the robot’s head, causing an explosion of sparks, and the robot was knocked down. It seized and certain parts were shooting out sparks, but it seemed to be down for the count. Mingyu was satisfied with his new weapon, not afraid to take on the rest of the robots around him. He didn’t want to get cornered so he continued to move around, trying to get closer to Minghao while taking down robots and making sure the music didn’t throw him off. At one point he came face to face with two of the machines and stung at the closest one. Although his baton went right through it and the robot itself disappeared.

The moment of confusion cause him to let his guard down and the other robot, which was real, managed to grab him. He struggled in their grasp, managing to press the baton against its torso and get free. Now he had a new problem, not all the robots around him were real, and he had no way to tell them apart. His eyes focused on Minghao, starting to realize the music wasn’t just to mess with him and control the robots, but possibly causing these hallucinations as well. The only way to end all this was to take him down. Mingyu took in his surroundings, planning out the best route and executing it. 

He dodged as many robots as he could, and took down those in his way, reaching Minghao and tackling him to the ground. The other had realized too late that Mingyu had gotten close, getting pinned to the ground. The moment the music stopped everything changed. The theater was no longer pitch black, and there was no violin. Minghao was holding his wand and glaring up at Mingyu while he tried to free himself. Although Mingyu had a goal in mind, keeping Minghao pinned as he snatched the wand out of the other’s hand, taking off his mask.

“Let’s see if the same trick works twice.”

Mingyu snapped the wand in half, causing Minghao to scream in agony. Mingyu had no idea why that was the reaction, but he didn’t care for it. He threw the pieces to the side and made his way back to the stage. The lights suddenly went out again and he stopped, Minghao’s screams fading away. He looked back to see something glowing in the darkness, but the sound of the stage lights turning on caught his attention. He went up to the stage, seeing it was illuminated, and that someone was present. This new conductor took a bow, and then he found himself yanked up into the air by some unseen force.

“Welcome to the stage.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“… where am I…?”

As you regained your senses once more you realized your environment had changed again. You were no longer in the theater, but a much brighter place. Different types of machines surrounded you, and you were sitting on some sort of examination table. You carefully got off, needing a moment for your legs to adjust. You tried to remember how you got here, but it was all a blur and thinking about it gave you a headache. Regardless of what you remembered, you knew that you needed to leave. You began walking around, looking for an exit. You thought you were alone until a rather familiar voice startled you.

“Welcome.”

You jumped and looked back at the source, seeing a boy with white hair, the one from the theater. They offered you a smile and bow, the same glowing wand in hand. You swear a moment ago there had been no one else present, and yet suddenly he was here.

“… hello…”

“Apologies for skipping parts, but I’ll introduce myself now. My name is Hoshi, welcome to the Metronome Theater.”

“… how did I even get to the theater? I was working and then…”

“We had some of our robots escort you here. The Maestro is eager to meet you.”

“The Maestro? Who’s that? Why… why me…?”

“You’ve heard them play the piano before, haven’t you?”

“… piano… you mean that was coming from here?”

“Yes. Not many can hear the Maestro play the piano, which is why they brought you here.”

“I don’t understand…”

“I assure you there’s nothing to be afraid of. Come, they’re waiting for you.”

Hoshi gestured for you to follow them, and you hesitantly took a step forward. You should have asked to leave, yet those words never came from your mouth. You were more curious about this Maestro and the piano you had heard. Many times when you told the others they had no idea what you were talking about, and this was proof you weren’t hearing things. So you followed Hoshi, wanting to know more. You came over to an elevator, stepping inside and seeing the button for seventeen light up. Hoshi merely smiled at you.

“You… you said not many can hear the piano… who else can hear it?”

“As far as we know, it’s just you and me.”

“You hear the piano too?”

“I’ve been the only one for a long time. It’s why the Maestro was so eager to meet you.”

“But how did you find me?”

“We have eyes and ears everywhere.”

“But down in the theater… what happened?”

“I assure you the Maestro will explain this all to you.”

When the elevator doors opened Hoshi gestured for you to step out, and then led you down another hall. You came to some double doors and then they opened on their own inviting you in. The room was grand, and quite empty, with no real furniture around, but what stood out was the piano. A gentleman was playing, the melody instantly captivating you. Your feet moved on their own, walking closer and closer to the piano, only stopping when the music did too. The gentleman stood up, greeting you with a smile.

“Hello, I’m the Maestro of the theater, but you may call me Woozi.”

“It’s… it’s a pleasure to meet you…”

“Likewise. I’ve been looking for someone like you for a long time.”

“Like me?”

“You’re very special my dear, come, would you like me to play for you?”

Woozi came over to you and took your hand, leading you over to the piano. He had you sit, taking a seat next to you. He let you run your fingers along the keys before he started playing. There was something incredible about hearing the music so up close and personal. Your body swayed from side to side a bit, watching his fingers work. Occasionally Woozi would glance your way, able to play without fully seeing the keys. You didn’t know how much time passed as you listened to the beautiful melody, but it was suddenly rudely interrupted.

A screeching, feedback loop, type sound snapped you out of your daze, causing you to place your hands over your ears. You screamed, doubling over and falling to the ground. Despite the pain you became aware of something else, feeling this small metal disc against your head, and ripping it off. The pain immediately began to subside, allowing you to breathe. Although you couldn’t say the same for the other. Woozi was still in pain, stumbling around but ultimately falling to his knees.

“Hoshi! Find Joshua, now!”

A moment later Woozi seemed to calm down, getting back on his feet. You on the other hand remained where you were, unsure of what had just happened. When Woozi noticed you he put on a smile and made his way over, although you crawled back and he stopped.

“You have nothing to be afraid of. Are you alright?”

“What just happened… who are you… what’s going on…?”

“Take it easy. I can explain everything.”

Woozi reached out his hand to help you up, but you were reluctant to take it. He seemed to understand and knelt down, grabbing the little disc off the floor. He examined it before reaching over to put it back on your head but you swatted his hand away.

“What are you doing?”

“Truth is, I need your help, y/n.”

“Me? For what?”

“To change the world, to save it.”

“What?”

“There’s no music out there, no passion, no joy… I want to change that.”

“How?”

“Maestro.”

Hoshi interrupted, seeming to have appeared from nowhere. Woozi gave you a smile and went over to the other.

“What happened?”

“Some intruders in the theater rushed the stage and broke Joshua’s wand. He’s stable now and is being taken to the medical floor. As for the intruders, they’ve been thrown out, and the theater is currently locked down.”

“Good. Keep an eye on the situation.”

Woozi dismissed Hoshi and turned his attention back towards you. Before you could say or do anything you heard the sounds of a piano, a recording that is. You began to feel at ease, the melody washing away your tension and worries. Woozi came to your side, placing the disc back on your head and you felt a little spark of electricity coarse through you. Then he helped you to your feet and brought you back over to the piano.

“As I was saying before, my music is special, able to reach a person in a way nothing else can.” The music stopped, giving you a moment to regain your senses. “But it can’t reach everyone, not yet that is.”

“What did you do to me…”

“It’s rather difficult to explain, but my musical composition is able to lull people into a sort of trance, like putting them under a spell. Although it doesn’t work on everyone.”

“I… I still don’t understand what this has to do with me…”

“The piano is one of my greatest instruments. Yet for the longest of time it seemed that no one could truly hear the melody besides Hoshi, then you came along. I need your help in understanding what it is that draws you in. Specifically your brain waves, and how they react to my music.”

“Then… the device on my head…” You slowly reached up to it. “It’s monitoring my brain waves?”

“Recording them, yes, with your help I’ll be able to share my music with the world.”

“But if you’re… putting people… under your control then-”

“I don’t have any ill intentions. I just want to bring music back to the world, to bring peace.”

“… what if I refuse to help…”

“I’ll be honest, you don’t have a choice. You won’t find a way out of this theater, and as you know my music can start playing at any moment. Many of the robots and robo-dogs have been modified with speakers. You can’t escape.”

“… oh…”

“I want your help willingly, but I won’t let you leave either.”

“I understand…”

“You don’t have to be mentally present if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sure things will be better if I am. I also want to know what’s truly going on.”

“Thank you.” Woozi took your hand and kissed it. “I’ll continue playing now.”

There was still a lot on your mind. You were worried about your friends, but Woozi made it very clear you were stuck here, at least for the time being. Of course all your concerns were washed away when the music started playing. You were helpless to resist, finding yourself on cloud nine while you listened, the time passing by without meaning. When you finally had a chance to regain your senses you found yourself alone at the piano. You could vaguely make out voices around you, but you were focusing on getting your head on straight.

“Dino is monitoring the situation.”

“Thank you, Hoshi.”

Once your head wasn’t spinning you got up, looking over to see Woozi by himself. You swore you heard Hoshi before, but it was just the two of you in the room.

“You back with us?” Woozi questioned. “How about a tour? The others would like to meet you.”

“Others?”

“I don’t do this alone.”

Woozi hooked his arm around yours and led you back the way you came, or at least that’s what you thought, there was no way to tell. You came to an elevator, Woozi hitting the button for the eighth floor. It was a quick trip and once you arrived Woozi led you down a hall. You came to a huge room full of monitors, seeing the outside world, some still images and others in motion. There was a gentleman at a desk, browsing through some of the screens, but upon hearing you two he stood up to greet you.

“Maestro, what brings you down here? I see you have a friend.”

“This is the girl I was telling you all about. Y/n this is Dino, our eyes and ears.”

“Ah, nice to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine.”

“So you… like, run security here?”

“No, that would be Seungkwan. I keep an eye on things outside the theater. I was the one who found you, fascinated by a piano that no one else could hear. I’m quite jealous, I’ve always wanted to hear the Maestro’s music.”

“It doesn’t affect you?”

“Unfortunately not, but you’ll be able to change that.”

“You really think so?”

“I believe so.”

“Hoshi told me what you were up to earlier.” Woozi mentioned. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes, although we might have some guests soon.”

“Prepare for them.”

“Will do.”

“Let’s go meet some of the others.” Woozi said. “Come now.”

You merely went up one more floor, to the ninth, coming to a much different area. There were parts and machinery all around, kinda like some workshop. Many robots were around as well, seeming to be working on different things. You were quite fascinated as this reminded you of home, and the mess of electronics Vernon always left lying around. There were two gentlemen in the room talking, but their conversation ceased when you two entered, both greeting Woozi.

“It’s nice to see you as well. This is y/n, our special guest, y/n, this is Seungcheol and Seungkwan.”

“Hello…”

“Seungcheol works with the robots we have here, and with Seungkwan, who is in charge of security here.”

“I… I think I saw Seungkwan earlier… at the theater.”

“Yes. I’m also the director. I hope you enjoyed the show.”

“I did. May I ask what goes on here? This is a shop, isn’t it?”

“It’s my shop.” Seungcheol explained. “I work on some robots, a bit of cosmetic work but mostly programming. I have an implant that connects me to the robots in our network which makes it easier to do my job.”

“So you build robots here? I thought only the government did that.”

“I don’t make them, just some modifications, but Seokmin does create some pretty unique robots. You’ll like his workshop.”

“Speaking of.” Woozi interrupted. “Why don’t we go see him.”

Another elevator trip, this time going up to the twelfth floor. Just as Seungcheol said, this place was another workshop, although there were far more robot pieces lying around. You thought maybe other robots would be around, but there were only a few. If you didn’t know any better you’d think the floor was abandoned, but Woozi led you through everything with purpose, knowing exactly where to go. It wasn’t long before you came across another person, another two. One was lying on a table, and the other at the side looking at a computer screen. Without saying anything the one at the computer stopped and looked back, smiling at Woozi.

“Maestro, what brings you here?”

Then the person lying on the table sat up, startling you a bit, but they quickly apologized. You assured them you were fine, and apologized yourself as you didn’t mean to intrude on whatever they were doing.

“So this must be the girl you mentioned before.”

“It is. Y/n, meet Seokmin, and Jun.”

“Hello…”

“You’re very pretty.” One commented. “I’m Seokmin, and this is my shop.”

“Yes, Seungcheol mentioned it to me, he said you build robots.”

“I do. The Maestro is kind enough to let my imagination run wild.”

“What do you make robots for?”

“No real reason at all, it’s just fun. Besides, my skill set is very helpful for Jun.”

“Jun? Why?”

“I have a few robotic parts myself.” Jun explained. “So that leaves Seokmin, and Seungcheol, as my doctors.”

“Oh, that’s interesting.”

“Just doing some routine maintenance now.”

“I never would have thought you were a cyborg.”

“My handsome face hides it well, right?”

“I worked on that face so I can take partial credit.” Seokmin joked. “I used myself as inspiration.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Since you two are busy, we’ll leave you then.” Woozi said. “Shall we.”

Everyone you had met so far was interesting, and it made you wonder how they all wound up here. Although now you were very curious about one in particular. So you decided to ask as you made your way to the next floor.

“May I ask something?”

“Hm?”

“What happened to Jun?”

“Peacekeepers. He stole something and they hunted him down, beat him to a pulp and left him for dead. It happened in my area, and I wasn’t just going to watch the boy die. My people brought him here and fixed him up. He had some severe wounds which required different treatment, with his consent of course.”

“So… those that are here… they know what you’re doing, right?”

“Of course.”

“And they’re okay with it? They’re on board?”

“Yes. They understand what I’m trying to do here and believe in my cause. They’re here to help me, and I appreciate them.”

“They’re here because they want to be, yet I can’t leave.”

Woozi chuckled. “You’re a special case.”

The doors opened and you arrived to the fifteenth floor, where you had originally woken up. It made you a bit nervous to be back here, but Woozi seemed calm as usual. Last time you were here it was quiet and felt abandoned, but now you could hear machines operating, and a few muffled voices here and there. It seemed that you were heading towards those voices as they got louder and louder. You came over to a group of people, seeing a gentleman lying in bed, two others at his side and Hoshi looking at the monitor.

“Maestro, you’re here.”

“How is he?”

“Stable and recovering.”

“And the rest of you?”

“Fine. Although we should be asking you. The sudden disruption-”

“I’m alright.”

“And her?”

All eyes suddenly turned to you, making you nervous. Although now that you had their attention you realized the gentleman dressed in black seemed familiar.

“I’m okay… but what… what are you talking about…?”

“I haven’t explained all that yet.” Woozi admitted. “We can do so now while you get examined.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You can have a seat over here.”

You were led over to one of the beds nearby, taking a seat and having Woozi remove that little chip on your head. While that happened the gentleman in black asked a question.

“Did you enjoy the show?”

“Ah, yes, it was lovely… uh… I hate to ask… but have we met before?”

“I would say so. I’m Jeonghan, I was the conductor for your show. This is Minghao, and our friend who is recovering is Joshua. You’ve met Hoshi, right?”

“I have. Then, are you all conductors?”

“We are.”

“So what happened to Joshua?”

“You felt it earlier.” Minghao commented. “That shrieking. Some bastard broke Joshua’s wand.”

“The conductor wand?”

“Yes. They’re much more than they seem.”

“But why would breaking that hurt him?”

“We’re all connected here.” Hoshi mentioned. “Through this neural network and the Maestro’s music. The conductor’s wand serves as a way to keep them connected, while also allowing them to access the true power of the music.”

“It’s more like it flows through us.” Jeonghan explained. “And we can manipulate it from there.”

“You mean control people.”

“One can do much more with lots of practice and patience.”

“Like what?”

“You’ll see.”

From what you could tell Woozi was downloading the contents from the chip, your brainwave readings. Your eyes lingered on Joshua as he laid in bed. You remembered the headache from before, so you couldn’t imagine what he had felt if he wound up unconscious. Although a moment later the boy jumped up from the bed, clearly panicked. The others held him down, hoping to keep him from hurting himself. Hoshi gently placed his hand behind Joshua’s head and the boy seemed to calm down.

“You’re alright.” Jeonghan assured. “The others are fixing your wand and Hoshi is keeping the connection stable.”

“Where are they…”

“Gone. So don’t worry about them.”

“They were looking for-”

“We know. You can say hello.”

“Huh?”

Jeonghan gestured over to you, and Joshua’s eyes followed, seeming to be surprised. He offered you a weak smile, trying to figure out some words.

“Hello… you doing okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Are you?”

“I’m fine. How do you feel though? How was the music?”

“Beautiful. It lingers in the back of my mind.”

“You should let me perform for you sometime.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

“I’ll give you a show as well.” Minghao added. “So look forward to that too.”

“Alright. I will.”

“The data looks promising.” Woozi stated. “Shall we move on to the next phase?”

“Next phase? What’s that?”

“It will be much easier to monitor you when you’re directly connected to our network.”

“Wait, you want to put something in my head? Like an-”

“It won’t hurt at all. Honestly you’ll be-”

“No, no I said I’d help you with this but-”

“This is part of it.”

“But… I…”

Minghao came over to your side and held out his wand. You stared at it confused, not sure what he was implying.

“Since you’re the Maestro’s special girl, you’ll be able to feel the power before you’re fully connected. Go on, grab it, tell me how you feel.”

You hesitantly grabbed the wand, not feeling anything at first and then it slowly began to hit. You felt this warmth starting to grow inside you, to spread and open up your senses. The melody in the back of your mind was starting to become clearer and you could remember its beauty. Perhaps this feeling was like getting high, and you couldn’t help but giggle. Although the feeling didn’t last long as Minghao took the wand back, quickly leaving you feeling cold.

“Wait-”

“Sorry, but since you’re not in our network it’s dangerous for you to hold a wand for too long. But I’ll tell you this, that feeling will only be better once you join us.”

“This is all really starting to sound like a cult…”

Minghao chuckled. “If you want to see it that way, but the Maestro is right, we need you.”

“And I can’t refuse…”

“Do you want to? Leave that is. Do you think you could walk away now? You’d probably still hear the Maestro’s music playing out in the streets. Could you resist the urge to come back?”

“I… I don’t know…”

“I do.” Jeonghan admitted. “I tried walking away, but you can see how that turned out.”

“What… what’s gonna happen to me?”

“Right now I need to administer a sedative.” Woozi explained. “You need to be in a relaxed state both physically and mentally before we can begin the procedure. Then you’ll just sleep. When you wake, well, I can’t really describe the sensation since it’s always been with me. Although I’m sure one of my conductors can.”

“It feels like truly waking up.” Joshua recounted. “You realize that you were never actually awake until that moment. Your senses are heightened, and you can feel this energy in the air. The feeling only grows stronger when there’s music and it creates this harmony within you. It might not be easy to understand the Maestro’s music or intentions, but once you reach this deeper level of connection it all makes sense. You feel bits of it now, and that’s what draws people to the theater. It’s what ultimately brought you here.”

“Oh…”

“May we begin?” Woozi asked. “Or do you need a moment?”

“No… you can start.”

Woozi gave you a smile and stepped over to a table near the bed. He grabbed a needle and vial, filling the needle. You watched intently, starting to feel a bit nervous. He asked for your arm, which you gave, watching as he stuck the needle in you and emptied out its contents. Afterwards he had you lay down, telling you that you’d feel the effects soon.

“I’ll go get Seokmin, I’ll return shortly.”

Minghao offered to go with Woozi, needing to talk to him about something. Jeonghan took over from there, attaching some patches and wires to you. Hoshi came to the other side, looking over the monitor. All this was making you more uneasy.

“Wait… wait-”

You reached over to grab Hoshi’s arm, only for your hand to go right through him like he was some sort of ghost. You looked up at him with wide eyes, glancing at your hand as if something would change.

“… you… you’re not real…”

“I am.” Hoshi assured with a smile. “I’m just not physically here.”

“… what… what happened?” You asked. “I… I’ve been curious about you… with everything Woozi said…”

“Hm. Shall I tell you a story while you drift off?”

“Okay…”

Hoshi glanced back at the monitors, making sure everything was alright. Then you noticed a chair roll over to your bedside, Hoshi taking a seat. You knew he wasn’t physically present but he was trying to seem as normal as possible.

“I’ve known the Maestro since we were kids, we grew up together. He always had an affinity for music, and we’d do our best to scavenge for instruments or parts to make our own. Neither of us realized at first, but when he played, he drew me in. This energy surrounded him, making it seem like the world wasn’t such a bad place. Eventually the Maestro became aware of how I’d get when he played, he was worried but I assured him I was fine and wanted to hear more. That’s when he started performing for others. Many who heard his music had a smile on their face, and the world seemed like a better place. I believe he would have been content just playing on the streets for random strangers, but you know the city. One day peacekeepers came, and I couldn’t let the Maestro get hurt. I told him to run and I took the fall.”

“I was hurt badly and left for dead. When the Maestro found me again he feared he would lose me. Everything was hazy, but somehow the Maestro got help, and that’s how he met Seokmin. They stabilized me, but I wasn’t exactly conscious. I wasn’t very responsive, but apparently I still reacted to the Maestro’s music. It gave him hope, and so they tried something else to help me. The Maestro met Seokmin’s friends, Seungcheol and Dino, and they put something in my head, letting me project my consciousness outside my body. The guys did a bit of adjustments and here I am.”

Despite everything you had been told you couldn’t help but reach up, wanting to touch Hoshi’s face, but once again your hand just went through him. Hoshi chuckled, giving you an amused look.

“Sorry.”

“… where… where is your body?”

“Somewhere in this building.”

“… are you okay?”

“Yeah. It’s been a while but I’m making progress. I’ll be up on my feet soon.”

“Woozi really cares about you…”

“He does.”

“Because… your situation… is that why he needs me?”

“Yes. Although I know you would have come here eventually. The music is so beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

“You should close your eyes and sleep. I’ll have a surprise for you when you wake up.”

A small smile appeared on your lips, and you gave a little nod. It was already a bit of a struggle to stay awake, so you closed your eyes and let yourself sink into the darkness. You were still nervous, not knowing what would happen, but by now it was far too late to object.

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“If I agree… do I get to see y/n?”

“That could be arranged.”

“Fine. I’ll see what’s going on with your cult.”

“Not a cult but-”

Seungcheol groaned and grabbed his head, falling to his knees. Jun also screamed and fell back on the table, thrashing around a bit. Even the other two seemed to be suffering from some sudden headache. Vernon was left unaffected, and he had seen this scene before, back at the theater. Although he had no idea what was going on. He thought to use this chance to get out of his restraints and try to escape, but Dino wasn’t affected as badly, so he knocked Vernon down to the ground. A moment later it seemed the headaches had passed, and they were all recovering.

“I should probably go check on our guest after this.” Seokmin commented. “Take care of Jun.”

“Yeah. We’ll follow shortly.” Seungcheol assured.

“Wait, guest?” Vernon questioned. “You mean y/n?”

“Maybe.”

Seungcheol checked in on Jun, seeing the boy was just catching his breath. He looked over his vitals again, assuring the boy he was fine. They all were.

“What happened to you all just now?”

“It’s complicated, but we’re fine.”

“Are you? I saw this before with Joshua, the conductor, when his wand broke. Why the hell does that hurt, why does it hurt all of you?”

“We’re connected.” Seungcheol admitted. “And you’ve been interfering with it, but if you’re truly on our side, you won’t be a problem anymore. I can’t say the same for your friend.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We’ll see.”

Vernon was still uncertain about everything, but he knew he had to go along with this to see you. By now his own personal curiosity had also taken hold and he wanted to know what was really going on in this theater.

“Our presence is requested at the theater. Let’s go.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

Wonwoo felt the pull of the wand, but despite Joshua holding it out for him, he was not allowed to touch it. There was some disappointment, but he wasn’t going to voice that. He had made his choice, and he wanted to see what came of it. Joshua smiled, glad by his decision and then led the way further into the lab. Wonwoo followed, not sure if he should speak, although he soon rushed past his guide. He came to another room lined with beds and noticed one was occupied, seeing you. He ran over to the bedside, taking your hand and calling your name, but there was no response.

“What did you do to her!”

“She’s fine. She’s merely resting after the procedure.”

“What procedure? What are you talking about?”

“She chose to join us, and thus became part of our connection. It’s a painless procedure. One you’d surely participate in if you’re serious about your choice.”

“When will she wake?”

“Soon. Hoshi should be by momentarily to check on her.”

“Who?”

“You’ve seen him before.”

Wonwoo still didn’t really understand, but you were the bigger concern. He was mostly glad to have found you again, although this wasn’t the state he was hoping to see you in. A moment later he saw someone else approach the bed. He looked up to see another boy at your side, white hair, looking at the screens, and very familiar to Wonwoo.

“It’s you…”

“Hello. You won’t attack Joshua again, will you?”

“No… no… but you… how… how is she?”

“Stable. She took everything well, and should wake soon.”

“Are… are you the Maestro?”

“No, but I’m flattered. My name is Hoshi, and I’m the internal conductor.”

“Internal conductor?”

“The Maestro has a multitude of conductors to spread their music, but I do not leave the theater, and I keep everyone connected. I’m actually very glad to properly meet you. I have a proposal for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes. You have a strong connection to the Maestro’s music. You felt it during the show, moreso when you held Joshua’s wand. You have the potential to be a conductor, and your ideal physical state would make you a great one.”

“You want me to be a conductor?”

“You’ll come to truly understand what we do here, and wield power unlike anything you could imagine.”

“And why would I accept? You kidnapped my friend, and hurt the others.”

“I saw your little trio trespassing into the theater. We could have thrown you out, but we didn’t. In fact you would have come back on your own, the pull of the Maestro’s music is very strong. You came all the way here. Do you really think you can walk away now?”

“You-”

Wonwoo’s words were cut short as he heard a groan, looking over to see you moving and whimpering. He was excited to see you waking up, holding your hand tightly.

“Y/n, it’s me, can you hear me?”

It took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the light, but you thought you were dreaming when you saw Wonwoo. His familiar smile made you feel warm, and then you felt his hand, realizing this wasn’t a dream.

“Wonwoo… how…?”

“Hey, how are you feeling? Are you alright?”

“I… I’m fine… but… when did you… get here?”

“Your friends came looking for you.” Hoshi stated. “And I wanted to speak with Wonwoo.”

“Oh… is everything okay?”

“You tell me. How do you really feel?”

“I…”

Your senses were starting to come back to you, but it was certainly different this time. You could feel this energy in the air, but more importantly you could sense others. Joshua had this glow around him, as did Hoshi, but Wonwoo didn’t. You could sense the presence of the two, and then had a feeling in the back of your head of others close by. As you were lost in thought you saw Hoshi reach over to caress your cheek, and to your surprise you felt the warmth of his touch. You looked at him with wide eyes, reaching over to take his hand in yours. It didn’t feel like Wonwoo’s hand, but different. Almost like a ghost, just on the edge of physicality, like the flow of water or a cool breeze.

“How…?”

“You’re part of our network now, you’re connected to the rest of us so my essence is that much stronger for you to pick up on. Strong enough to be physical, even if just a bit.”

“It’s incredible.”

Wonwoo had been quietly watching the whole time, not really liking the situation. He reached over to move Hoshi’s hand, but he couldn’t touch the boy. His hand passed right through the other, confusing him as you appeared to be able to make contact.

“What is this…”

“Power.” You mumbled. “It’s in the air and everywhere. Only when you’re connected does it manifest into something more. Like the music. When you really listen to it, you open your eyes to a whole other world.”

“Very poetic.” Hoshi chuckled. “You’re very good with words.”

“I guess… but what did you want to talk to Wonwoo about?”

“The Maestro would like for him to be a conductor.”

“Really?”

“He has great potential.”

“That’s incredible Wonwoo.”

“I don’t know what any of this means, y/n.” Wonwoo reminded. “I only came here looking for you.”

“I’m sorry… I really wouldn’t have wanted to worry you, but things were out of my hands.”

“I’m sure they were, but we should get out of here.”

“I’m not leaving Wonwoo, I can’t.”

“What do you mean? What did they say to you?”

“They just told me about the Maestro, and what he’s doing. I want to help him.”

“You don’t know him.”

“Not truly, not yet, but I’ve seen enough to know that I want to help. There’s this energy, this warmth inside of me because of the Maestro and I know the world would be a better place if everyone could experience this. They’re not evil, Wonwoo. You should stay too actually. The things we could do.”

“I’m not so sure I understand what they’re talking about.”

“All the more reason to stay and find out. Together we-”

Your words were cut off as a searing pain overtook you. Wonwoo could only watch as you suddenly began to scream and thrash. He tried holding you down, hearing similar cries of anguish from Joshua. The boy had collapsed to the ground. Hoshi wasn’t as affected, seeming more irritated than anything else.

“What’s happening!?” Wonwoo yelled. “What did you do!?”

“It’s your friend who did this!”

Hoshi seemed to glitch out of existence, leaving Wonwoo alone to worry about you. He didn’t know what to do in order to help you, but the pain didn’t last too long. After a moment you seemed to calm down, although you were whimpering and seemed very out of it. Joshua stumbled to his feet, not in a good condition himself, but he was worried about you. He looked over at the machines, making sure all the readings were well.

“What happened?” Wonwoo asked again. “What was that?”

“Your friend broke another wand.”

“I don’t understand, will y/n be okay?”

“Yes. I’m sure Seokmin and Hoshi will be here any moment now.”

“Why are you on your feet?!”

Another boy suddenly came rushing into the room. He grabbed Joshua and sat him down on the nearest bed, getting him to lie down.

“I’m fine, Seokmin.”

“Sure you are. Not like you’re still recovering from the last incident.”

“I was checking on y/n.”

“I’ll do that, you just relax.”

Seokmin went over to the monitors, completely ignoring the other. A while later another rather familiar face showed up. The director, Seungkwan, came up, and Seokmin told him to look over Joshua. Wonwoo stayed quiet and watched Seokmin like a hawk, remaining silent until a needle was pulled out.

“What’s that for?”

“A minor sedative. She’s gonna need it in order to stabilize.”

“Where’s Hoshi?”

“Dealing with Minghao. I’m sure he’ll be back momentarily.”

“Are you sure she’ll be okay?”

“Have a little faith.”

It was good to see you at ease with the sedative. You weren’t unconscious, but you certainly weren’t all there. Wonwoo was glad to keep you company, listening to you tell him about the theater and the Maestro. He wasn’t sure if any of it was real, or just propaganda you had been fed. Still, he just wanted to make sure you were alright. Although you were asking him to stay, to take on the roll he had been offered, but it wasn’t that simple.

“You know Vernon and Mingyu are here too. We got separated and-”

“Vernon is with the others down on the ninth floor.” Seokmin interrupted. “As for Mingyu, who do you think is causing all this?”

“Oh…”

“He’s made it far enough.” Seungkwan added. “Jeonghan will deal with him.”

“Jeonghan?” You questioned. “What is he gonna do?”

“Nothing bad, I promise.”

“Let me talk to him. I can reason with Mingyu. He’s only here and causing trouble because he’s looking for me. Please.”

“Y/n.”

“I don’t want to be the reason something bad happens to anyone.”

“Let her.” Joshua cut in. “It would benefit all of us.”

“Fine. I’ll have the others gather around as well.”

“Where are you going?” Wonwoo asked. “Because I’m going with you.”

“To the grand theater on the thirteenth floor.”

♩. ♩. ♩. ♩. ♩ ♪ ♩ ♪ 𝅗𝅥.

“Put me down!” Mingyu screamed. “Now!”

“Why would I do that? You’ve been nothing but trouble.”

“You must be the Maestro then.”

“I’m honored, but no. My name is Jeonghan, the lead conductor. You should have stayed out, but you don’t seem all that bright. Since you didn’t learn from your past mistakes, I suppose it’s only fair to teach you properly.” 

Jeonghan got into place, as if he was performing, but there was no audience, and no orchestra. He didn’t need that.

“I’ve always wanted to perform this piece. I hope you like it.”

Jeonghan took a breath and closed his eyes, beginning his performance. It seemed rather funny at first, to see him leading the air, but then Mingyu began to hear it. A slow and steady rhythm slowly becoming audible. Mingyu had an idea as to where this was going, but before he could get the mask back on it was ripped from his hands and fell off stage into darkness. In a matter of seconds the music was loud and clear, but it wasn’t this shrieking sound. Instead it felt like this pressure in his head. Mingyu screamed, there was nothing he could do to make this pain go away. The pressure was gradually increasing so it was only a matter of time before he passed out. He had to do something.

With the bits of conscious thought he had left he tried to come up with a plan. Jeonghan was engrossed in his performance, eyes closed and moving with such fluidity. The only thing Mingyu had was the stun baton. He had one shot to use it, and if he failed it’d be all over. He focused on his plan, getting the baton and figuring out how to throw it before electrifying it. The task was complicated, but he didn’t have much time, so he took his shot. He aimed for the chest and electrified the baton, throwing it with all the strength he had. The pain grew worse so he couldn’t see the outcome, but hearing a scream and falling to the floor was answer enough.

Mingyu groaned from the impact, but he forced himself up. He stumbled as his body was aching and he had yet to properly regain his senses. Still he managed to get to Jeonghan, ripping the wand from his hand. Although before he could do anything Jeonghan had gotten the stun baton and hit Mingyu with it. Now the two were down and recovering from being electrocuted. The wand fell from Mingyu’s hand and rolled away, at least it couldn’t be used against him for the moment. Since Jeonghan had been hit first, he recovered before Mingyu, managing to get back on his feet. He held his hand out and Mingyu watched as the wand returned to him.

“Clever. Maybe you’re not all that dumb, but your game ends here.”

Jeonghan walked over to Mingyu, staring down at him before placing a foot on his chest. He put pressure and watched as Mingyu squirmed, attempting to get him off. When he managed to get some movement he used it to get out from under Jeonghan, rolling away and getting onto one knee. Before he did anything else he heard another voice and looked over to see that at the other end of the stage there was a boy with white hair, and a glowing wand in his hand. The same boy he had seen before.

“Enough.”

“I had this under control.” Jeonghan stated. “I didn’t require assistance.”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“You must be the Maestro.” Mingyu breathed out. “What took you so long?”

“I’m not the Maestro, but I was sent here on their behalf. You’re not worth their time, but we’ve all had enough of you hurting us. Jeonghan.”

“I know.”

Before Mingyu realized it he was back in the air again, although not so high off the ground this time. The white haired boy walked over to him, glaring.

“Hoshi, stop!”

Despite your state you rushed onto the stage and grabbed Hoshi. Your hand slipped through him a bit, but he still moved because of your touch. His gaze shifted to you and softened. He wouldn’t act for now, you trusted that. Wonwoo stayed behind with Seungkwan, watching.

“Y/n, are you okay!?” Mingyu asked. “Did they hurt you!?”

“I’m fine. Can you put him down?” You asked Jeonghan. “Please.”

“I don’t believe that’s a good idea.”

“Jeonghan.”

“Do it.” Hoshi said. “We outnumber him anyway.”

Mingyu was gently let down, and as soon as his feet hit the ground he stepped towards you and pulled you into a hug. You were a bit amused by his actions, but didn’t mind. You hugged him back, assuring him you were alright.

“Everything’s okay. I’m sorry I made you worry.”

“I know it’s not your fault. I’m just glad you’re okay. Let’s go now.”

Mingyu took your hand and started pulling you along to step off the stage but Jeonghan got in his way.

“You’re not leaving.”

“Get out of my way.”

“Mingyu, please don’t fight. Look, I don’t want to leave this place, I’m not going to leave.”

“What?”

“I know things didn’t go so well at first, but they’re not bad people.”

“They kidnapped you.”

“Not really. I came here because of the piano, because of the Maestro, and-”

“I know what their music does to people, and it’s clear you’ve been affected.”

“It’s more complicated than that.” Wonwoo cut in. “She’s made it very clear she’s not gonna leave.”

“So then you’re gonna stay with her? We were attacked by peacekeepers and robots, not to mention Vernon is still missing.”

“Not anymore.”

Wonwoo gestured out to the crowd as he saw the doors open. Vernon and a few others entered the theater. As soon as Vernon saw you he ran up to the stage, no longer restrained in any way. He came to you and embraced you in a hug. The trio that escorted him up remained out in the aisles, watching.

“They didn’t hurt you or anything, right?”

“No, not at all.”

“Good. So we can leave now?”

“Apparently not.” Mingyu stated. “She doesn’t want to leave. The music has gotten to her head.”

“Y/n, this place-”

“I’m not brainwashed or anything! Woozi told me what he’s doing here, and what I can do to help. So I’m not leaving. I’ve already explained some things to Wonwoo. You don’t have to leave either, you guys can help too.”

“I’ve already heard the story.” Vernon mentioned. “I’m not sure I’m on board. Being involved with a revolution, we’re practically signing our death certificates.”

“A revolution?” Mingyu questioned. “Is that what these nutjobs think they’re doing?”

“They’re not crazy.” You countered. “I know what they’re doing, and I know it’s gonna work. Woozi just needs my help so his music can reach everyone, including you guys.”

“I’m not gonna leave you here to be a pawn in their game. If they want to start a revolution, they can try, but none of us are taking part in it. Wonwoo, tell her this is crazy.”

“I don’t know…”

“So they got to you too. Vernon?”

“They’re kinda scary with the tech they got here…”

Mingyu scoffed. “I cannot believe you two. Are you seriously considering this?”

“I’m not so sure we have much of a choice anymore…”

“Then I’ll leave on my own.”

It really felt like this whole thing was all for nothing, but Mingyu wasn’t going to stay where he wasn’t wanted. Although Jeonghan stayed where he was.

“Move.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“Jeonghan, just let him go.” You said. “I’m not gonna make anyone stay.”

“That’s not your decision to make.”

“What?”

“The Maestro has no intention of letting any of you leave.”

Mingyu was suddenly up in the air again, Vernon as well. You glared at Jeonghan but he merely shook his head at you. This wasn’t his doing, but the Maestro’s.

“This is not what the theater is for.”

You looked back to see Woozi walking towards center stage, Minghao, Joshua, and Seungkwan at his side. Everyone was present now.

“Minghao, are you alright?” You asked. “A moment ago-”

“After the earlier incident we’ve created contingencies.” Minghao explained. “Much faster recovery time. Are you alright though?”

“Better now.”

“You should be resting.” Woozi stated. “Not down here.”

“I wanted to talk to my friends. Make them see reason.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

“So it’s you then.” Mingyu cut in. “You’re the Maestro.”

“Yes, I’m the Maestro, and you’ve been trespassing.”

“I’m more than happy to leave now.”

“I’m sure you are, but that is no longer an option. You forfeit that when you set foot in my theater.”

“Look, I want nothing to do with your little revolution thing, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. You don’t have to worry.”

“But I do.”

Woozi brought Mingyu closer to him, bringing the peacekeeper mask to his hands as well. He examined it with an amused grin and then looked up at Mingyu.

“You went through a lot of trouble just to see me and now you want to leave. Kinda disappointing. If you want to play dress up though, how about I make it real. Why don’t you become one of my peacekeepers.”

“What?”

“I’m always in need of more peacekeepers. My music can only reach so many at the moment, but someone like you could lead them. You could actually embody the name they carry.”

Mingyu scoffed. “Are you seriously offering me a position when I already said I want nothing to do with you?”

“Your words are surely disappointing y/n, but I’m not asking. I know you’ll truly come around eventually. Same for Vernon.”

“What the hell are you talking about!?”

“Y/n cares about you. The last thing I want is for her to be upset.”

“Wait, Woozi, I don’t-”

“Hoshi.”

“Yes, Maestro.”

Hoshi came up behind you, placing a hand against your face. Your eyes went wide and your vision went dark. You felt this sudden warmth spread through you, calming your nerves and pulling your consciousness under into tranquility. Your eyes glazed over, starting to glow just as a few glowing veins spread around from where Hoshi’s hand made contact with you. His own eyes were glowing, completely engulfed in white.

“What the hell are you doing!?”

“Silence.”

One moment everything was normal, and then Woozi’s eyes were glowing, and the same had happened to the others. The conductors moved to the edges of the stage, silent and without emotion. Then they began moving in unison, performing a silent melody. Wonwoo felt a change in the air, something moving through the empty space, partially making him dizzy. He stumbled and took a step back, shaking his head to stay awake. Although he soon noticed Mingyu and Vernon were passed out, and dropped on the floor. The others had come to the stage, grabbing the two and removing them.

Wonwoo took a step forward, wanting to stop them, but that seemed difficult at the moment. He couldn’t reach either of his friends, and you were clearly unavailable as well. All he could do was watch, not understanding what was happening, but still being hit with this energy and staying put. Then Woozi glanced over at him, a smirk appearing on his face and walking over to the boy.

“That leaves you.”

Now Wonwoo knew he was stuck in place, those glowing eyes sending a chill down his spine. Everything in this theater had been strange from the beginning, but this was starting to let him know just how dangerous it was to be here. 

“You can’t fully hear my lullaby, but you can feel it, can’t you? Only those outside my network will be affected, but you are dancing the line.” Everyone spoke as one, following the Maestro’s lead. “You don’t have to worry about y/n. I don’t want her to remember any of this and I have the means to guarantee that. So it’s just you and me now.”

Just as Woozi said that he snapped his fingers, everyone else disappearing. Now it really was just the two of them but Wonwoo could still feel the energy in the air, feel this melody in the back of his head. The others weren’t really gone, just invisible to him now. He knew that for sure as Woozi’s voice continued to boom with the echo of everyone else speaking with him.

“… what… what do you want…”

“The answer is very simple.”

Woozi held his hand out, a wand manifesting out of nowhere, glowing brightly. It was just like the one Hoshi had. Woozi seemed to examine it for a moment before holding it out to Wonwoo.

“I could use a conductor such as yourself. Someone who will be much better at guiding y/n due to a personal connection. You are free to refuse, but not many can, not an offer like this.”

“Why ask if you seem to know the answer… did I ever really have a choice? Did anyone here?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Woozi chuckled, his laughter echoing in the theater. “Does it?”

“… no…”

Wonwoo reached out to grab the wand. It wasn’t like before, this energy felt stronger, and it hit him like a crashing wave. Everything around him seemed to stabilize, and those that had disappeared were back in view. The glow of the wand traveled down to his arm like veins, and he could feel them digging deep and planting roots within him. This sensation was only growing stronger, and he knew at that moment he’d never let it go.

“What do I do now?”

“Follow the Maestro’s lead.”

[keepingitformyself]

we might just get away with it (i)

A/N: hey all!!! this is the first part of my first ever series, i’ve had this one in the drafts for a while and i’ll try my best to update it as much as i can. a-lot of this first part is just setting up readers life until their eventual meet with natasha (who goes by natalie rushman in this) this is an AU. HOPE YOU ENJOY!!!! i had a lot of fun writing this one.

ALSO: in honor of scarlett johansson opening an instagram account.

synopsis: hollywood is a tricky place for someone new like you, a certain elusive redhead is hoping for you to let her in.

pairings: writer!natasha romanoff x youngactress!reader

genre: fluff.

warnings: none.

part two found here. part ii

please do not repost my work anywhere for any reason at all. if you do see this happen to any of my stories, please let me know. thank you x.

—————————

you hadn’t been in the dating scene since you graduated college two years ago. it was a long time to go without going on a proper date with anyone, even your mother had called at one point to voice her concerns on why her only daughter hadn’t brought anyone back home to introduce.

truth be told, the mere idea of a relationship really stressed you out. especially now that you’ve been working tirelessly since the second you left college. the week after graduation your plane had already been booked four months in advance when you found out you landed the role for a lead in a film.

you left your hometown in texas and flew to la for a three month shoot. it was only in post-production for five months before the first teaser dropped and two months later the film finally hit hbo max to stream.

the success of it was enough to earn you an online following. people within the industry had reached out in hopes of getting to know you or even work with you. and now people knew your name enough for you to have been stopped a handful of times during grocery runs.

it was back to work in getting auditions and doing things that kept your artist mind flowing. it wasn’t too long before you landed a role for another lead in a netflix series.

the director of the series was a well known one. greta gerwig, it was her first time directing for tv as opposed to film, she told you she was truly impressed by your delivery in the film you’d been in months prior. you felt incredibly lucky to have even been thought of for her leading girl.

you told her you were a fan of the work she’d done. how you truly cherished her way of encapsulating the female experience through her writing and directing.

she smiled gratefully and said she hoped you’d be willing to accept the role she was practically offering to you, you knew she was just teasing. no one was stupid enough to let an opportunity like this pass. you said yes without hesitance.

it was a lot more intimidating this time around.

you were set to shoot for six months in london. a whole different country thousands of miles away from friends and family. you left home two months later.

greta was amazing, the sets were amazing, the cast was amazing, the crew you were especially grateful for. you made sure they knew that by ordering a free coffee and pastry truck to set every friday.

some of it comes as a blur to you. it’s easy to get lost in the craft when you love it so much, your mother told you once. you worked tirelessly often times worrying the ones around you but you promised you were fine. it was very easy for others to say how lovable and playful you were while still being able to maintain the professionalism that was needed on set.

it’s what they loved most about you. so it was no surprise to anyone when there started to be some conversations involving you, the star, and the series.

there had been mutterings between crew and even your own cast-mates.

you were in the city today, sat outside a corner coffee shop in mayfair. devyn, a cast mate of yours, and self proclaimed local, offered to show you around london.

‘i heard gary, one of our light technicians say that he heard the producers talk about how they’re expecting a huge rollout once they start announcing the series.’ devyn said as he sipped on his latte.

‘what do you mean?’ you took your eyes off the busy street to look at your cast mate.

‘you’re an absolute powerhouse in this series, you know that right?’ he told you seriously. ‘everyone sees it, there’s no doubt this show is gonna get big. they’re already expecting it to be.’

you cringed at his words, you were never good for taking compliments. ‘oh god, please stop.’ he smiled with a shake of his head, a look on his face that screamed, you’ll see.

turns out devyn was definitely not talking out of his ass.

greta had started to pull you out for meetings with the producers. they spoke to you about how netflix was willing to go all in for promoting.

greta told you herself, ‘although netlfix will definitely be a big help, i think just the show on its own is already set for a very promising release.’

they had you sign contracts and explained to you what would happen once filming was over. 1. you’re gonna go home and take a well needed three month break. 2. prepare yourself for what’s to come. 3. then you were to be called back in for promo shoots and teaser reels. 4. get ready for the big premiere.

‘it’s gonna be a lot, there’s no way of knowing the scale of success this will reach except that it will be huge, and a lot of that will be you.’ tony, one of the producers told you. greta along with everyone else in the meeting nodded to his words.

‘yeah, some stills from some of the finished scenes released a few weeks ago. it’s easy to say a lot of people seemed to make noise from that.’ rhys, another producer said.

your blood ran cold. although it was easy to say you were proud of how far you were able to come on such a short notice… it also sort of felt like a lot was being thrown at you all at once.

you maybe had an idea of what your life would be looking like afterwards. you remember seeing all sorts of opinions once it was found out by the world that you’d be the next lead for greta gerwig’s first ever series.

mostly everyone was excited. greta on her own was an insanely talented writer and director, people were happy to hear she’d be turning to tv and seeing what she’d come up with. you remember the week following the announcement feeling a little overwhelmed, all due to the men in cameras who had followed you around for a week.

‘rising actress Y/N Y/L/N seen leaving her west hollywood condo ahead of reports saying that she’s been casted for the lead in greta gerwig’s next directorial project.’

you’re thinking that maybe life will look like that but multiplied by a thousand, but you’re hoping not…? the success part will be great. why wouldn’t it be? it’s all you’ve ever wanted. to be a successful actress. but at the expense of having your life put on a pedestal? it was a very tricky thing to play at.

greta gave you a smile, almost teasing, like she knew the big secret that everyone else didn’t.

she leaned forward with her arms crossed on the table. ‘once this is over, it will never truly be over. are you ready for it?’

nothing could have ever prepared you enough for what would come with the release of the series. if you thought everyone knew your name before, they definitely do now.

the release of the series was just seven months after you finished filming it. it definitely had a huge rollout like everyone else said it would. you don’t remember much of the premier either. it was a bunch of flashes and getting asked questions. as soon as you got home you knocked out cold.

number one in seventy three countries was a lot. you wouldn’t even want to imagine the amount of people it took to watch you for that to happen.

but with the success of the series also came a huge amount of scrutiny on your personal life. within the week of its release you’d had an influx of followers on any social platform they could find you on.

apparently that still wasn’t enough. people were itching to know more about the new girl that had come out of nowhere and stolen their attention in just a week.

it was all very scary. it was all mostly positive, at least the things you’ve seen and been shown. your agent and team did a great job at keeping you away from all the bad. you still knew it was all there though. people loved you but people also really disliked you.

you’ve also come to learn that people chronically online are insane. especially if you give them something to hyper fixate on, you knew of the tweets and posts people had been making of you. it made you absolutely freak out how fast people were to find out every little thing there was to know about you in such a short time.

‘i want you to go home for the week. not home in LA, home as in with your mom.’ samantha, your agent, told you. samantha along with your publicist fred, had seen firsthand what was being said online. she’s been in the industry long enough to know how ugly it can get for the victims, you were young and she wanted to protect you from that as much as possible.

‘i called your mom, she’s already expecting you home by tomorrow morning. your plane leaves at midnight.’ you nodded gratefully. the tension in your shoulders had slouched a little after hearing that. you missed your mom and you were scared as shit right now.

samantha was there in the uber when you were dropped off. she bid you goodbye and told you she’d call you for details on the next flight back to LA. ‘rest as much as you can, the press tour is gonna hit real hard.’

now came the insanely difficult part. the week back home went too fast and now you’re on a plane back to LA where your agent and a stylist were awaiting your arrival.

as soon as you’re off the gate a beefy man in jeans and a polo helps to escort you towards your luggage and eventually the car. ‘ma’am, just a heads up. there’s paps.’ he tells you before quickly ushering you out the glass doors and into the suv.

you don’t remember much after that. just that as soon as you arrived to your condo you were quickly pushed into a room with a stylist and pushed into another car after that.

the week had gone fast for the amount you’ve been doing. you’d met up with your cast-mates for the first time in a while and you were happy for that. most days it was just going to interviews answering questions, promoting, playing question games, more questions, etc…

it was finally friday. but promo was far from over. ‘you’re flying out tomorrow morning to new york and then we’re off to europe for the week.’

tonight was the huge post-premier party for the series. it was expected that there’d be quite a few well known names attending tonight aside from the cast. although a part of you was dreading another night of questions and just overall socializing, you knew it was needed to network.

cameras flashed in your face and people shouted your name upon arrival, but people were quick to let you in. ‘there’s a lot of people who want to speak with you.’ samantha tells you. you nod and put on your best brave face for the night.

samantha lingers around you as you cycle through speaking with all kinds of people. producers, actors, writers and the like. the first two hours fly by and things have reached some sort of stasis by then.

you’re in the middle of a conversation with some cast mates when tony— who you recognize as one of your producers— walks up to you with a redhead in tow.

‘the woman of the hour!’ he raises his arms to hug you.

‘i have to introduce you to natalie! she’s an excellent writer!’ the redhead next to him who you now know as natalie lets out a dry laugh at the man’s words. he was very obviously drunk.

and you see now that she is very obviously attractive.

she takes a few steps towards you and sticks out her hand for you to shake.

‘i hear you’re the talk of the town. have not stopped reading about you online.’ the smirk she wears makes you appreciate her beauty even more.

it was true. you were everywhere— in the tabloids, the headlines…natasha indulged in every single piece of information about you that she came across.

she also might’ve convinced tony to somehow introduce you two when she found out he was working with you.

she was a fan since your last film, and as a working screenwriter for film and television, she caught a bit of inspiration from seeing you on her screen.

‘i’ve gotta say, i was really impressed by your performance in this show. greta is a long time friend, she did good in choosing you.’ natalie compliments.

‘oh, thank you! it was a pleasure to work with her…she’s great.’ you cringe at your words. you still aren’t any better at taking these compliments no matter how many you get.

natalie smiles at you in silent understanding. she’s picked up on the small awkwardness that underlies the conversation.

you let out a low huff and motion towards the bartender to get you a shot of tequila. natalie quirks an eyebrow at your order but doesn’t question it.

‘do you want a drink?’ you turn to natalie with a smile. not only is your social battery slowly starting to diminish but talking to someone like natalie will have you saying nonsense.

you figure you’ll need a drink if you’re gonna continue to speak with her.

‘a diet coke will do me right. i’m driving home tonight.’ she says, the bartender nods and fixes your drinks.

an hour later and the drinks are sure to have calmed you down. in fact they’ve done more than just calm you down.

natalie and you spend a long while talking about anything and everything. you bond over being major nerds when it comes to philosophy. she tells you about how she double majored in philosophy and english at nyu.

‘my love for english had always existed but after taking a philosophy course my freshman year, it’s like i needed to write about these things that were talked about. i needed people to see what i thought about.’ natalie explains to you.

you’ve come to enjoy natalie despite only have met her about an hour and a half ago.

you tell her about how you were a huge thespian in high school and entering college, how philosophy was an added bonus when you figured out they both go very well together.

you’re grasping her arm as you explain it to her.

‘i mean genuinely i would hear so much about aristotle in my ethics class and then he’d somehow be connected to creating the 6 elements of a play! how crazy is that?!’

natalie is trying hard to concentrate on your words. you’d think it’d be a lot easier for her given the fact that she hasn’t had a single drop of alcohol…but all she can pay attention to is your lips. how they’ve now plumped up slightly due to your drinking.

she’s completely smitten with you by now, and she’s just met you. you’re definitely not like what the internet makes you out to be. for the most part, it really is just the alcohol in you.

you continue to ramble on.

‘honestly, i think socrates is good guy— like he has some great ideas but it’s kinda annoying how he thinks his way is the only way and he makes it his entire personality— ugh hold on i need to go piss.’

you’re clearly too drunk to care about what words leave your mouth. natalie doesn’t seem to mind it— and quite frankly neither do you.

‘do you need help getting there?’ natalie is quick to ask. all in good intentions, of course.

‘uhhh, yeah.’ you’re quick to agree. you have a rule, always travel in pairs when alcohol is present.

your arm is hooked to natalie’s as she helps lead you to the restrooms. it’s here when you get a slight whiff of her. you cringe at how weird you think of it in your head.

but she smells awfully appealing. like suede, lemon and a fireplace. all combined.

‘you smell really nice,’ you say, too worried about your bladder to care.

you feel vibrations of a chuckle leave natalie, you smile when you see her smiling too.

you nearly run into a stall as soon as you’re in the seemingly empty bathroom, thank god, you think. pee anxiety is a real thing.

you feel a little more level headed after doing your business. natalie waits by the door staring as you dry your hands.

‘feel better?’ you hear her ask.

‘much,’ you smile, a drunk one, your mind a little hazy.

‘i had a fun time tonight, with you, i mean.’ you find yourself saying.

she quirks an eyebrow. you continue.

‘i’ve had a really stressful past few weeks, it was nice to just…drink and talk knowing my words wouldn’t be plastered on some magazine issue the next day.’ you finish. your body is still buzzing. the alcohol making your body slightly move in place. but nonetheless you feel oddly content.

natalie smiles. a really big one.

‘i’m glad i could help take the edge off,’ she says.

you chuckle, turn to the mirror and make sure your makeup is still in place. a ding from your phone makes itself known, indicating a message. you dig through your clutch bag to get it.

we’re leaving now, you have an early start. plane to nyc leaves at 7:35am.

the text message from samantha reads.

you huff.

‘sorry to cut this short, natalie. my presence is needed near the entrance. i have to be in new york tomorrow before noon.’ you smile apologetically

she smiles. a part of her wasn’t surprised at all. you’re you, and everyone wants to be around you. she was surprised she even had your attention for more than an hour.

she nods. ‘i get it, can i ask why though?’

‘interview with fallon, i think.’ is all you say before you step closer to the redhead and press a kiss to her cheek. you think nothing of it.

‘truly, it was lovely to meet you natalie.’ and she doesn’t have the chance to reply before you’re out the restroom door.

natalie realizes she never got your number.

two days later, she’s made it back to her home in new york. natalie decides to shake off the jet lag with late night televison and a glass of wine in hand.

ironically, jimmy fallon is on.

‘please welcome…!’ and she sees you appear before her.

she is so captivated, she doesn’t realize she’s finished the bottle of pinot grigio next to her.

stupid as it sounds, this is when natalie rushman decided she wanted to be a part of whatever world you were creating for yourself.

[angelsanarchy]

Alkaline: Euronymous x Y/N Series CH 1

Tagging: @ophelialaufey @madamemaximoff06 @forever-not-gonna-sink

Euronymous saw her everywhere. She worked for the local grocery delivery service during the day and his favorite food place in town. He wishes he could say that it was his favorite only because of the falafal but he enjoyed the banter that they had with one another. He was too focused on Mayhem getting a new singer and getting some shows under their belts to even remotely consider the idea of courting anyone but if he had, Y/n would be the first person he would look up.

"Oystein! Make sure you take that dead plant to the garbage before you leave!" He grabbed the now brown plant and shoved it under his arm as he walked down the front steps. He noticed the grocery bike parked across the street but no sign of Y/n. He tossed the plant just as she came through the gate of the neighbors house and smiled when she saw him.

"Hi there! Heading off to make the devils music?" Y/n knew he was in a band and that metal was his favorite genre. He never understood why she wasn't afraid of him like most normal people he ran across but he wasn't going to question it.

"Of course. Just doing my part to crumble the edification of society." Euronymous said confidently with a smirk.

"Sounds like a busy day. I'd hate to interrupt." She threw her leg over the bike.

"You want a ride? You can put your bike in the back-" He gestured to the empty trunk and she shook her head.

"I'm done with my deliveries for today so I'm heading home, thanks." She appreciated the offer but she knew that wherever he was heading wasn't anywhere close to her house.

"Ah so you don't want me to know where you live? I thought we were kindred souls." Euronymous teased.

"Atheist is not the same as Satanist, Oystein. Not exactly kindred but I'd hate for you to be caught with a poser like me riding shotgun." He had never mentioned he was a Satanist but the band also frequented the Falafal joint and he's sure she's heard them discussing the direction he wanted to take Mayhem in.

And still, that didn't scare her off.

"Euronymous. My name is Euronymous." He corrected firmly. She smiled, scrunching her nose at the name like she always had.

"I'm sorry but I won't ever call you Euronymous. I just don't see it." He paused at the statement.

"See what?" He inquired.

"I know the origin of the name. You just don't give off flesh eating spirit dwelling in the underworld. Your eyes are too pretty for that one." She complimented making him cough into his hand to hide the blush creeping up his neck.

"You don't know me very well. Maybe you should come to one of my shows and you'll change your mind." He tried to sound menacing but Y/n knew just as much about Oystein as he did her.

She knew he was a good son and brother. She knew he used to get pretty decent grades when he was in school and that he's been playing his guitar since he was 10 years old. She could never see him as some cannibalistic nightmare of a person. He might think highly of himself but she had seen such a softer side of him when delivering groceries for his family.

"Maybe." She shrugged. She had often responded to his show invites with a maybe and he was always disappointed when she never showed but he understood how busy she was. She worked two jobs to take care of herself and her family.

"I'll see you around, Y/N" He held his hand up and she mockingly gave him the devil horns she had seen his sister do so often when they were listening to the loud metal music blasting from the upstairs bedroom window. He chuckled and returned the gesture.

"See you around Oystein." She watched him pull down the street and didn't even notice he was already looking at her in the rear view mirror. He would never understand how two people who were so insanely different could have such a good rapport.

[cleavetheclover]

Headcannons about Cypher & his tech capabilities (from most mundane to crazier)

cypher makes everyone do hard resets of computers & other devices once a month and keep backups on two separate physical hard drives, one for themselves and one for cypher. If the protocol is hacked extrenally, very little will be found

each person's room has a unique passcode. if people are dating, their codes work on each other's doors. It’s his funny little way of saying “caught you!” most people haven't realized because they haven't bothered trying

backdoor password to brimstone's bracer is "cypherdiedandiforgotmypasswordagain12345" (brimstone is not aware of this, but he will be automatically informed of such by the bracer if he is still alive and unlocks it with the current password)

cypher has hacked grubhub, instacart, amazon, and literally any other delivery service imaginable so that the protocol never has to pay for groceries or anything

He has thumb drive titled 'gifts' and it's just like 700 tutorials + tiktoks about various arts and crafts activities and there's folders for every type (knitting for omen, whittling for sova and skye, embroidery for astra, pressed flowers for sage, plant care for anyone, spray paint for raze and phoenix, etc.) When an agent has a particularly bad time on a mission he picks one and emails it to that specific agent

Most agents were wary of the “gifts” at first but have come to appreciate it. Everyone is aware that cypher does this but no one talks about it so it’s kind of like a public secret

On a related note, everyone secretly wants cypher to be their secret santa because they know he absolutely will give them the very thing they've been secretly ogling on amazon for the last 70 days

in the month of december, individual security cameras will play christmas carol's at random intervals of the day, and it drives everyone insane, except phoenix, who is a diehard christmas fanatic and loves Christmas music

cypher is an expert at photoshop bc he knows how to look for discern fabricated images etc. this gives him an extremely powerful way to mess with the other agents

if you've ever seen that tweet about the guy who kept making missouri bigger on the US map on the state’s wikipedia page, thats what cypher does to agent portraits. He is the culprit behind widejoy, breach's comedically bushy mustache, reyna's vampire fangs, the extreme size of his own hat, dulling/erasure of chamber's stripes, making yoru's onion hair larger, and occasionally flipping everyone's valorant logo upside-down

fade heard about the digital pranks in the above bullet point and is now cypher accomplice

[bluehoodiewoozi]

Where’s the Fun in That?

Yoon Jeonghan x Reader (gender not specified)

Genre: fluff, coming of age

Word Count: 10.3k

Warnings: some stronger language. one tiny mental breakdown. some tears are shed. some mail is stolen. food mentions.

[Series: Serenity Street 17]  The mailman keeps mixing up your mail nearly every day. The guy who gets your mail often demands a gift of some sort in return for your stuff.

[Your package has been delivered…]

The notification lit up on your phone screen and you would have squealed with joy had you not been on a crowded bus home. Finally! Your long-awaited new bluetooth speaker was finally home.

There was a skip in your step all the way home. Though the sun had already gone to rest, you had no qualms with the dim streetlights that shone on your way. The weekend was here and so was the package you had been waiting all week. What was there not to be happy about?

The journey home quickly came to an end and, before you even realised, you were facing the worn light blue front door of Serenity Street 17. It creaked in a cheerful manner, welcoming you home – or so you liked to believe, no matter what Jihoon tried to tell you. 

You held back a laugh as the man in question practically crawled out the door of 1B with an indignant look on his face. You offered a wave and he returned the gesture with a frown as he passed you on his way to the grocery store.

But even his sour mood couldn’t tamper yours. The way up the stairs was easier than ever, and you smiled all through it.

And then it happened. 

The greatest disappointment of your week. The worst heart-break of your entire life. The start of your supervillain arc.

“What?!” you practically screeched when you reached your apartment. The doormat – the very same one where your package was supposedly delivered – was just as empty as when you left it.

You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, clasped your hands tightly together, said a quiet prayer, and opened your eyes again. Nothing still. The doormat was empty, and there were no new boxes or envelopes within a metre of you. 

There must have been a mistake. You checked the golden number on the door. It read 2C – this was your door. 

“Maybe I’m in the wrong building?” you guessed in your panic, unwilling to believe that your new extra fancy bluetooth speaker had not been delivered to your apartment, or worse. 

But before you could fully reach for that tiny little glimmer of hope, you remembered the sour look on Jihoon’s face. It was definitely Jihoon’s face; there was no mistaking it – you were in the correct building, in front of the correct door, and you did not have your new bluetooth speaker.

In a desperate attempt to figure out the issue, you reached into your pocket and took out your phone. The minimised delivery notification was still happily standing on your screen. You decided to open and check it. 

Your heart dropped all while anger bubbled inside of you as you read the full message. 

[Your package has been delivered to Serenity Street 17, apartment 5B.]

You were beyond fuming now. How had the deliveryman misread the address so much? 

“5B?” You groaned at the thought of climbing three whole floors for a mishandled. Still, you took a deep breath of courage and set on your way up the stairs, all the while wondering, “Who lives in 5B anyway? Was it Hyesoo?” 

You found yourself wishing it was indeed Hyesoo because at least you knew her. Getting your package back from her would be no problem at all. 

But your hopes were once again crushed. As you watched Hyesoo slipping into the apartment 5C instead, you truly began to wonder if the universe had it out for you on this particular day. What crime had you committed to be treated so harshly?

To tired of the tricks of the universe, you didn’t hesitate for a second to knock on the door of 5B. Twice. Getting louder with each knock. 

Soon – but not soon enough – you heard some grumbling from behind the door and then it opened. You came face to face with a man you faintly recognised as Yoon Jeonghan. 

A shiver of worry ran up your spine for you had heard too many horror stories of his teasing nature and pranks. Having taken many of Chan’s and Joshua’s warnings, you had managed to avoid him. This was your second time coming face-to-face with him since he first moved in three months ago.

“You have got to be kidding me,” you mumbled under your breath, now sure the universe held a grudge against you, before faking a smile and greeting him. “Hi, Jeonghan, right?”

He smiled a little too brightly, eyes shining in a – dare I say – mischievous way. “That’s me.”

“Hi, I’m (Y/n), and I think there’s been some sort of misunderstanding by the deliveryman.”

“Ah,” he drawled, “is this about the package delivered this afternoon?”

He then ran a hand through his hair and for a split moment – a very brief one indeed–, you wondered if a man this gorgeous could possibly be nearly as evil as Joshua and Chan had made him out to be. 

“Yes!” you finally managed to spit out once you broke out of your daze. “Please tell me you have it.”

“I do–” 

A sigh of relief.

“– but I want something in return.”

You choked on the very air you were breathing.

“Excuse me?!”

He had the audacity to smile innocently as if he had just asked you about the weather. “You heard me. Nothing big though,” he shook off the thought but kept eye contact, “just an itsy-bitsy tiny favour.”

“... the favour being?” 

“Give me your phone number.”

That’s it? You blinked in surprise. “Are you serious? That’s all?”

“I’m sure Chan disagrees,” he laughed, “but I am not a devil sent from the pits of hell. I’m just a guy trying to be friendly with his neighbours.”

You couldn’t help but laugh along as you took the phone from his hand to enter your number. “You know, there are easier ways of getting someone’s number, right? You could’ve just asked.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he joked before walking into his apartment, the door ajar in a promise he’d return in just a second.

As you typed in the digits, you heard some shuffling of boxes, cardboard against cardboard and some plastic. Something soft fell, followed by a muffled curse and more aggressive shuffling. Then, just as you locked his phone, Jeonghan emerged, a victorious look on his face.

He held out a neat box, the logo of a tech store printed all over it. As you took it from his hand, you examined the address and name written on it. Strangely enough, it read “APARTMENT 2C” loud and clear – so how come it ended up in 5B?

With a sigh, you figured you could solve this mystery on a different day. You offered Jeonghan a thankful smile. “You just saved my day. I was about to have a mental breakdown over this.”

“It’s what neighbours are for,” he laughed and waved you goodbye as you headed back to the stairs. “Good night!”

“Good night, Jeonghan, and thank you!”

“You’re very welcome,” he called out before you heard the satisfying click of a lock behind you. 

You smiled and hugged the package close to your chest. You had your new speaker and you had a new friend – maybe the universe didn’t hate you after all.

“There is no way,” you mumbled to yourself and lifted your hand to knock on Jeonghan’s door. 

The golden numbers on the door of apartment 5B seemed just a little bit more annoying on this fine Monday evening. Just a little bit, because you had just seen them last Friday.

Once again, you had come home to the message that your package had been delivered – a collectors’ edition of your favourite book this time –; once again, with no package in sight near your door. Just like last time, you had opened the text message to find out the deliveryman had decided that 2C was actually 5B.

It felt like déjà-vu to hear unintelligible grumbling and the dragging of feet on the other side of the thin wood door. The unlocking of the door. And then the charming smile of Yoon Jeonghan, leaning against the door with utmost comfort when he recognised you. 

“Well, well, well,” he sang cheerfully. “What brings you to my humble home on this beautiful day?”

“Hi,” you greeted him, for you were mad at the deliveryman and not at Jeonghan. “Did you happen to receive a package in my name today?”

He pursed his lips and averted his eyes in a way that made you think he wasn’t very sincere with his demeanour. “The one from the bookstore?”

Your eyes lit up at the mention. “Yes! That’s the one.”

He frowned. “I might have it, yes. Why?”

A part of you wondered if he was actually dumb. Still, you reminded yourself that he was not at fault for the deliveryman’s mess-up. “Could you, maybe, give it to me?”

“Why?”

“So I can get my package and go home?”

“Hmm,” he pursed his lips before raising an eyebrow, “but why?”

Your jaw dropped. “But– Because it is my package?”

“Yes, but…” Jeonghan smiled and his eyes glinted with something you didn’t quite recognise yet. “Why should I give the package to you?”

“Because it is mine,” you reiterated your point, “because I’m the one that ordered it and had it delivered to this building.”

He shrugged. “I’m not convinced.”

“Jeonghan,” you breathed out in an attempt to not start yelling like your heart wished, “it is my package. I paid for it. It is mine. I want it back.”

“To be fair, you never actually had it.”

You felt yourself gritting your teeth. This man was testing your last nerve, and on a Monday of all days. “Do you want to fight?”

“No,” he answered like your threat meant nothing to him – not that you could blame him for it because even you rarely took your own threats seriously – and tilted his head, “but I do have something I want in return for my package.”

“A right-hook to the nose?” you suggested. 

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t think you deserve your package, (Y/n).”

You failed to take the underlying threat seriously, but your senses kicked back into gear as he began slowly – almost comically so – closing the door in front of you. You squeaked and pulled the door towards you.

“Okay, what do you want?”

The door opened as if you had said the magic words. Jeonghan offered a wide smile. “Bring me bubble tea.”

“Bubble– You–” You grimaced as your brain struggled to process his words. “You want me to get you bubble tea in return for my package?”

He pretended to think for a moment before nodding. “Yeah. Yes, exactly.”

“Isn’t that… illegal?”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because you are essentially holding my package hostage right now,” you told him with a deep sigh. “Please tell me you are kidding.”

He gave you a deadpan look. “Do I look like I’m joking?”

As the door began to slowly close in front of your eyes once again, you cried out, “Okay, fine! What flavour do you want?”

Just like last time, the door seemed to magically open. He smiled once again. “Surprise me. I like trying out new things.”

“New things like federal crime?” you suggested with a venomous smile which he was glad to return.

“Exactly,” he agreed with a teasing wink. “See, you get me.” He then waved at you. “I’ll see you in a bit then. I’ll be waiting.”

And just like that he closed the door. You bit back a choice of words not so appropriate for a hallway of a rather respectful apartment building and threw your head back to glare at the sky. 

When you headed for the stairs, you found Hyesoo from 5C offering you a pitiful smile from her spot on the stairwell’s window sill.

You couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of her serene smile as she sat in bay window between the houseplants she had hand-picked, her small orange cat sat in her lap, looking outside with utmost happiness. You felt this jealousy every time you met her but on this day it was particularly strong.

But you pushed forward, offered only a smile as you walked past her, and headed back down the stairs. Five floors by stairs, all because the building’s only elevator was not in service (and it was directly the fault of Junhui from 6A). 

Hyesoo was still in the bay window, painting with watercolours, when you returned with a taro bubble tea. This time, unwilling to meet Jeonghan yet again, you came to a halt in front of her. Your annoyance must have been evident in your eyes because she immediately pouted. 

“I see you don’t like Jeonghan much either,” she joked softly and waved you closer, motioning for you to pet her cat. The touch fo the soft fur made you feel a little better, you couldn’t lie. “He’s not always this mean, you know.”

“He’d literally be a criminal if I just reported him.” For some reason, this idea sparked a little bit of joy in your heart. “Stealing mail is a punishable crime by law.”

She grimaced. “Yeah, I don’t think he cares.”

“He definitely doesn’t,” you agreed before giving the small animal a final pat on the head and straightening your posture. You glanced towards the door of Jeonghan’s apartment and let out a soft sigh. “Wish me luck.”

“I believe in your ability to prevail,” she declared and winked at you before returning to her watercolour project. You wished your attitude towards life was even half as carefree as hers. 

You knocked on Jeonghan’s door again, the second time this day, and waited. The walk up and down the many flights of stairs had tired all anger out of you. All that was left was desperation to get your hands on the book you had ordered. 

While Jeonghan took his sweet time walking to the door, you closed your eyes tightly and reminded yourself that you would get your book if you were nice to him and then it would look so good on your bookshelf. Just hang on a little longer.

The door creaked open and Jeonghan smiled brightly. “You made it back in one piece, I see.”

You frowned. Had he been hoping otherwise?

“Here’s your bubble tea.” You held it out for him to take, which he was happy to do. You felt a bit of jealousy as he sipped his bubble tea – you should’ve listened to your heart and gotten two cups. “Now, can I get my package?”

He held up a finger as he took a longer sip. Then he breathed out, thoroughly satisfied. “This is great. What flavour is it?”

“Taro.” You held out your hand. “My package?”

“You’re quite impatient, aren’t you?” he joked and walked back to his apartment, door ajar. 

You took great offence to his comment for you had been nothing but patient towards him. Before you could comment on it though, he held out your package and a bank note on top of it. 

Confused, you stared at him for a moment. He only raised an eyebrow and held the package out further. “Your package.”

“What’s the thing on top?” you asked, feeling very apprehensive as you slowly took the package and the bank note. “Money?”

“I’m not sure it covers the whole bubble tea cost, but it’s the best I can do right now,” he told you with a sweet smile before waving goodbye. “Well, have a nice trip back down. I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

“Right,” you breathed out in relief before his words fully registered. “Bye for– Wait, tomorrow?!”

“Goodbye!” The door slammed closed in front of you.

Turns out he wasn’t wrong.  It quickly became a pattern. Two weeks passed of the same events recurring like a rule of sorts.

Nearly every day, you’d receive a message that your package had been delivered to the wrong apartment (how the delivery man had his job when he clearly didn’t even pass kindergarten was beyond you). You’d huff and groan and cry and stomp up the stairs because the elevator was never working. You’d knock on the door of 5B and…

“Back so soon?” he greeted you with a wide smile. 

To your surprise, he looked a little out of breath this time, his face red and his hair a mess. It was a refreshing change from his usual annoyingly handsome and put-together look. 

“Hey, I think we’re missing a screw,” you heard the familiar voice of Wen Junhui from inside the apartment. 

Jeonghan glanced over his shoulder, a little irritated, before calling out, “Did you check your pockets?”

“I only have one pocket!” 

You watched Jeonghan scrunched up his face. “Are you sure?”

“Do I look like a middle schooler to you?!” came a rather aggressive yell of a reply.

“I see you’re busy,” you finally vocalised, clearing your throat when your annoying neighbour’s attention was back on you. “So, just give me my package and I’ll–”

His eyes narrowed. “I see what you’re doing.”

“Just trying to make this easier for all of us…”

“No, no, nope.” Before you could protest further, Jeonghan had grabbed your hand and pulled you into his apartment. “I assume and hope that you have no further plans for tonight because–” he grandly gestured to his living room, “–I desperately need help with my new furniture.”

You gulped at the sight before you. His spacious living room was filled with cardboard boxes from IKEA, some of them opened, most of them closed. A half-built pale wood construction stood proudly in the middle of it all – you could only assume it was supposed to resemble a coffee table.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Junhui was walking in circles around the room at a snail’s pace. He was bent down so low that, despite having had only minimal interactions with him, you found yourself worrying all the blood would rush into his head. Feeling your gaze on him, he leaned his neck so he could look up for a moment and offer you a small sheepish smile before he returned to his task. 

“What are you guys doing exactly?” you found yourself slowly asking. 

Jeonghan let out a deep sigh. “All of my old furniture was worn out so I figured I might as well get some new one. My bed broke the other night–”

(Junhui interrupted with a scream of agony: “There’s a bed in here somewhere?!” You and Jeonghan paid him no mind.)

“–and that was sort of the last straw, I guess. So… Here we are.” He rolled back his shoulders. “Getting this stuff up the stairs was a nightmare, honestly.”

You pitied this man, really: anyone with half a brain cell would’ve waited until Christmas when Jihoon’s parents would inevitably get the elevator fixed for three whole days.

Maybe it was the pity that fuelled your decisions. Maybe your kind heart was clouding your judgement entirely. You knew you would regret it, and yet:

“Where do you need me?”

His eyes lit up immediately. Like a kid receiving his long-awaited birthday gift, Jeonghan clapped his hands together and led you over to the middle of the room, grabbing a box along the way. 

It was a little perplexing to see the new box. You glanced at Junhui, still bent at an odd and unhealthy angle as he searched the entire apartment for a single lost screw. 

As if reading your minds, Jeonghan waved his hand in a dismissive manner. “Let him do his thing. We’ll never get anything done if we spend the entire day looking for a screw.” He slammed his hands down on the new box, clearly attempting to appear confident and encouraging. “Divide and conquer!” 

Now it was his turn to began walking around the room bent at an angle. “Jun, where did you put the box cutter?”

“Somewhere near the coffee table,” came the muffled answer.

“The new one or the old one?”

You should’ve known right then that this day would be far longer than necessary. And so, half an hour later, you had finally laid out all of the contents of the box on the floor (after making sure to place the box cutter in a place where it would be easier to find next time). 

“Okay!” Jeonghan clapped his hands together and looked at the items. “This should be a…” Trailing off, he glanced towards the abandoned box, squinting his eyes. “Oh, it’s the new plant stand.”

“What do you even need a plant stand for?” you wondered while flipping through the manual. The two-page instructions were infuriatingly unclear. “You don’t even have any plants.”

“I have a cactus in my bedroom,” he defended and sat down beside you rather forcefully. “And now that I have a plant stand, I have an excuse to buy a new plant, or maybe twenty. 

“Depending on how lonely I feel after you reject me.” He added in a mumble that you failed to pay attention to. He cleared his throat with a cough and leaned to look over your shoulder. His frown quickly matched your own. “Is this thing written in Mandarin?”

Junhui, still searching for his long-lost friend, the screw, scoffed from his newest spot under the kitchen table. “Please. If it was Mandarin, I could read it. It’s written in complete gibberish.”

“It’s okay,” you decided, trying to sound as cheerful as possible as you all but slammed the instructions onto the floor. “There are pictures, so I’m sure we can figure it out. As long as we have everything shown in this manual–”

As if on cue, Junhui screamed, “FOUND IT!”. His cheer was quickly followed by a loud thump and a cry of pain – one could only assume he had hit his head against the table.

You paused and blinked, making the conscious decision to ignore him, before continuing with a defiant smile, “–we can finish this thing in no time.”

Jeonghan replicated your smile and nodded. “Right. We can do this!��

With that said, he glanced at the manual and picked up two pieces. “So, these two should go together, right?” But as he tried, the pieces failed to match up. He frowned. 

“I don’t think that will fit,” you laughed at the sight of his disappointed face and took the cylindrical piece from him, giving it a once over, “like, at all. This is way too big.”

He groaned. “I knew I should’ve just asked Joshua. We’re never going to finish these.”

“Hey,” you bumped his side playfully and smiled brightly, “I’m here, so we’ll definitely finish it.” When he offered you a disbelieving look, you rolled your eyes. “Believe in me a little, will you? I’ll make you a deal.”

“I’m listening,” he replied and you swore you saw his ears perk up.

A sigh threatened to crawl out of your throat. “If we don’t finish at least half of the furniture today,–” You already regretted the words you were about to utter. He had a sinister look in his eyes that you didn’t like one bit. Still, you kept your word and swallowed back the fear. “–I will grant your wishes the next three times you receive my package, no complaints or whining.”

“No complaints?” His brows rose in surprise, a smile appearing. God, what have you gotten yourself into? “Deal!”

You always did have a habit of overestimating yourself.

“Good day, dear neighbour!” Jeonghan greeted you the very next day with a smile wider than you had ever seen him wear before. You knew instantly that there was no escape now. 

Or was there?

“You know what?” You turned on your heal. “You can keep it.”

“What?” he laughed in disbelief, watching you with wide eyes. “You’re just leaving it here. Don’t you want your new bedsheets?”

You paused and contemplated for exactly five seconds before shrugging. “I have enough bedsheets already and I’d like to keep my pride while I still can.”

“Hey, hey!” he called out after you and dragged you back to his door by the back of your sweater. “You made me a deal, neighbour. Wouldn’t backing out of a deal with a friend hurt your pride more than making me some pancakes?”

The convincing argument was barely convincing. You weren’t swayed yet.

Sensing your hesitation, he added in a softer tone, “We could eat them together.”

And who were you to say no to pancakes? 

You expected the encounter to go many ways, but what you failed to predict was Jeonghan’s insistence on keeping you company and helping you as you cooked. 

“I’ve got it,” he said as he ushered you away from the hot pans so he could flip the pancakes. 

You couldn’t help but laugh. “You do know I can flip them myself, right?

“Well, we can’t have all the pancakes looking like they survived a plane crash,” he teased after cleanly flipping the pancakes in the air. You refused to admit you were impressed by his technique. “Besides, what if you burn yourself? Then I’ll be the one owing you a favour instead.”

“Now that you mention it…” you started and playfully reached for one of the pans. Jeonghan wasted no time in smacking you with the spatula he had stolen from you. 

Narrowing his eyes, he glared at you. “Keep it up and I’m putting you on bed-building duty.”

“Oh, by the way, did you guys finish the nightstand?”

“No.” He sighed. “Junhui lost another screw.”

“How does he–”

“I wish I knew.”

Silence filled the apartment. 

It was the comfortable kind. The kind that never makes you feel self-conscious about the way you’re sitting. The kind that you barely even notice because it’s filled with a conversation only you can hear. It was the kind of silence that friends and lovers shared. 

Friends. 

Did he think of you as his friend? Or were you just a random neighbour he found joy in bossing around?

Before you could ask him that, he smiled brightly and held up a plate filled with a ridiculous tower of pancakes. “I hope you’re hungry.”

You brushed your thoughts aside and matched his energy. “I hope you have enough syrup and jam to make it worth my while.”

Did you consider him your friend?

“Oh, this is going to be great!” he cheered and grabbed your hand with his free one, leading you to the dining table. 

You smiled. 

“Good morning, gorgeous!” 

His smile was as infectious as always, even if he once again looked just a little bit dishevelled. 

The corners of your mouth pulled upwards as a reflex already. “Good morning. What’s the favour of the day?”

He laughed at your straight-forwardness, already stepping aside to let you in. “You could help me finish my furniture–” You began to protest but he was faster, “–or you could just stay and keep me company for a bit.”

“Feeling lonely?” you wondered before throwing yourself onto the worn-out yellow armchair in the corner of his room as if it was yours to begin with. 

Jeonghan laughed dryly and sat down in front of a half-assembled bed. “You have no idea. I feel like I’m going insane here.”

“Ever considered getting a roommate?” you suggested rather lazily. “Half the rent, all of the chatty.”

He contemplated for a moment while picking out the right screws. “I don’t think I could survive living with a stranger, honestly. Maybe if it was a trusted friend or a significant other.”

“You know,” you began and glanced out the large window, “you have a nice view. I’m sure you could talk at least one friend into sharing the apartment with you.”

Why did you feel a pang of hope, followed by jealousy, at your own suggestion? You shook the thought out of your head – you did not need a roommate.

“Maybe one day,” he sighed and sat up straighter to look at you wistfully, “but for now I’m glad to just have one friend visit me every day.”

You smiled: he thought of you as a friend. The realisation made you feel nice and warm inside. Maybe now you could admit that you considered him a dear friend as well. 

He cleared his throat before focusing back on his screws and wooden poles. “Speaking of friends and significant others… do you have anybody?”

You grimaced and sunk further into the armchair. “... I have a fish.”

His head whipped up just so he could show his amusement. “A fish?” You nodded. His smile softened, as did the look in his eyes. “Is it a pretty fish?”

“Well,” you contemplated for a moment, “I think Timmy’s pretty enough.”

He laughed. “Not the first choice?”

“God no,” you joined in his laughter, “I saw him at the pet store and I felt so sorry for him that I brought him home.”

“I’m sure Timmy loves his new home.”

“He has been looking a little happier and healthier since I got him,” you agreed. 

But it seemed Jeonghan’s mind was still on the first question. “You’ve got a good heart, but still. No boyfriend? Girlfriend? Non-binary pal?” You shook your head at each question, growing more and more amused at the way his eyes lit up. “How come?”

“Too busy,” you lied through your teeth. 

Truthfully, you never just bothered to look for someone. Heck, you sometimes doubted you’d ever be anyone’s first choice. Some nights you just wished fate was kind enough to have someone feel pity for you as you did for little Timmy and just take you as their own. 

You were almost sure Jeonghan would call you out for your white lie. After all, how busy could you possibly be if you’re free to spend several hours at his apartment under the guise of a favour nearly every day?

But either he didn’t catch on or he didn’t want to embarrass you. Instead of calling you out, he chuckled and narrowed his eyes at you teasingly, “Maybe if you stopped watching dramas so much…”

You laughed. “What? You think some random guy in the streets could be better than Cha Eunwoo or Lee Minho?”

He contemplated for a moment before forcing his lips into a straight line. “I admit defeat.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Can you come help me out?” he then all but begged, looking rather hopelessly at the countless pieces of wood in front of him. He held up the manual, as crumpled and tired as it was, and pouted. “I swear these instructions are written in gibberish. I can’t make out anything.”

You hummed and settled down right next to him, so close that your shoulder touched his. “I’m gonna be stuck here until midnight again, aren’t I?”

“Hopefully.”

“Hopefully?!”

“... not?” he corrected himself with an unsure smile.

“That’s more like it,” you agreed, eyes still narrowed suspiciously at the way he was acting. You then took the manual from him and began inspecting it. “Dear lord, this is worse than that plant stand.”

Leaning further against you until his chin was resting on your shoulder, he groaned in agreement. “I think I might’ve made a mistake.”

As weeks passed, you found yourself on the worn-out yellow armchair more often than you would’ve liked to admit. Somehow you spent your evening in Jeonghan’s apartment nearly every day. 

At some point, the package-for-a-favour deal seemed to be mostly forgotten as you stumbled into his apartment for no reason at all more often than not. It was a new routine to drag yourself up to the 5th floor to share stories with him and laugh at his ridiculous anecdotes. 

It’s only logical that he grew worried (not that he’d ever tell you that) when you didn’t visit him for a whole week. Expectant glances towards the door around the time of your workday’s end turned into anxious pacing. 

Before long, he found himself sitting on the same yellow armchair, phone unlocked in his hand, thumb shakily hovering over your contact.

“Maybe I upset them somehow,” he wondered as he stared at your name. It was so tempting. But what if you didn’t pick up?

“You could just go and knock on their door,” Hyesoo suggested when he brought his worries up with her one lonely evening. “Make it difficult to ignore you. You seem rather good at that.”

Choosing to not take offence at her last jab, he took her advice and stumbled down the stairs almost immediately after. 

When he reached the third floor, an idea hit: if you were mad at him, then maybe…

All the while cursing under his breath, he jogged back up the stairs and to his apartment. He fumbled with the lock and keys for a moment before bursting into the living room and looking at the packages he’d received in your name in the passed week. 

He picked up the smallest one – the most convenient to carry – and shoved it in his pocket before rushing back out of the apartment and back down the stairs once again.

As he climbed down, he finally understood why you’d been so grumpy the first time you met.

“Gosh, this is a lot,” he groaned when he finally made it all the way to the second floor. 

Gathering the last of his energy and courage, as out of breath as he was, he knocked on your door. Once. Twice. One more time, a little more forcefully, just to make sure you heard him. 

“(Y/n)!” he called your name just loudly enough that he hoped you’d hear him. “It’s me. Can I come–”

The door opened and he felt his heart break in that exact moment. He hadn’t seen you this tired and defeated before. Annoyed? Sure. Ready to throw a fist his way? Absolutely. But close to tears? Never. 

“Oh, (Y/n),” he whispered, his demeanour softening immediately.

Jeonghan reached out to pull you into his arms. You didn’t even find the strength or will to protest. In fact, all of your will seemed to crumble the moment he touched you, and the first of the tears fell. 

When he felt his t-shirt getting wet, he gasped and pulled away just to fret and wipe your tears with his hands. 

“No, no. There will be no crying. Not on my watch,” he mumbled hurriedly, a pretty pout on his lips and his eyes wide with concern. His actions only made you want to cry harder. 

He pulled you into the apartment and closed the door in a panicked manner before hugging you closer and asking, “What happened? What’s wrong? You can tell me.”

“I just–” You sniffled and looked him in the eyes. “I had a bad week.”

“What was so bad about it?” he wondered, rubbing one hand up and down your back. His free hand came up to brush away the rest of your tears, gently as if just the smallest touch could break you. “I’m here, I’m listening.”

“I– I don’t want to talk about it,” you told him, determined to not burden him with your trivial worries. You shook your head and wiped your own tears this time, deadset on not crying another single drop. You forced a smile. “It’s just silly adult stuff, I guess.”

Now that you stood in front of him like this, you realised just how silly your worries were. Work stress had simply become too much for you to handle, in addition to the rising bills, and then you broke your favourite vase when you bought yourself flowers to cheer yourself up. The cup of coffee you dropped in your bed this morning was just the cherry on top. 

Silly, all of it. Nothing tragic. You’d just been overwhelmed and wanted nothing to do with other people for one horrible week. Nothing warranting the worry and attention he was giving you. 

Or so you thought anyway. Jeonghan seemed to have another perspective.

He continued pouting at you, almost as if he was hurt for you. After a moment of just watching you, he asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

You contemplated for a moment. “I don’t know…”

“One more hug, maybe?”

You didn’t manage to get out a verbal answer before your body betrayed you and you felt your arms wrapping around him. As you rested your head against him, you felt better already. 

He chuckled softly and reciprocated the gesture, squeezing you just a little tighter to prove a point. “If you needed a hug, you could’ve just said so, silly.”

“I’ll try and remember that next time,” you promised as you snuggled closer to him. 

He hummed and hoped you’d keep your word. As he stood there, just holding you, he glanced around your apartment. In all the time you’d been friends, he’d never once visited you. 

“Ah, is that Timmy?” he recognised a moment later, looking at the rather large aquarium in your living room. 

You snorted out a water laugh and nodded. “Did you come here to comfort me or to meet Timmy?”

“You know,” he started, a teasing lilt to his voice, “I came here and I was more or less ready to apologise for doing something wrong. I even brought one of your packages, completely favour-free. But I guess if you don’t want it–”

“Which package?” You perked up, looking at him with shining eyes. “Can I have it?”

He narrowed his eyes. “What about my favour?”

“You said it’s favour-free!” you protested, hitting his chest gently.

“That was before you were mean to me. Now it is just your average package with a free delivery service. I need a favour in return for climbing all those stairs.”

“But–”

“Ah, I guess it’s mine to keep then.” He turned to open the door and leave. 

You grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him further into the apartment. “Fine. What favour?” 

He looked at you for a moment (you suspected he was thinking of the favour on the go just to annoy you a little). Finally, he straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s your favourite movie? Something funny.”

“Why?” You watched as he sat down on your sofa in a manner that was similar to the way you often occupied his armchair. 

“We’re going to watch it until I hear you laugh,” he declared with a proud smile. “Now, come on. Your pick. I’m only so patient.”

You didn’t need to be told twice.

“You know, the strangest thing just happened,” you were rambling from the second you slipped through his front door. 

Jeonghan could only laugh as he watched you toe off your shoes and practically dance over to the sofa he was occupying. “What happened?”

Your eyes shone and you held up a package. “You know what this is?”

“A package,” he replied after a pause of hesitation.

“Yes!” You practically squealed as you hugged the package to your chest and sat down next to him. “And you’ll never guess where I found it!”

He raised a brow. “I hope you didn’t steal it…”

“What, like you?” you deadpanned before gently hitting his bicep and returning to the topic at hand. “It was in front of my door when I got back from work. The deliveryman got the address right this time!”

“Really?” He seemed a little less surprised than you would’ve expected him to, but you paid it no mind, too excited about the package. He chuckled. “Is that all it takes to make you happy?”

You scowled at him before smiling brightly. “This is the first time I didn’t have to climb all the way up here to get my package. Let me be happy about it.”

“Then why did you carry it all the way up here still?” Your smile dropped. “It’s almost like you want to pay me back a favour for getting the package still.”

“I don’t– I didn’t–” you sputtered defensively. Honestly, you hadn’t even realised your little error. You’d just been too excited to care and think of the logistics. 

“That’s okay,” Jeonghan cooed and patted your head before getting up and walking to the kitchen. He returned a few seconds later with a package similar to the one you were already holding. 

When you stared at him, apprehension visible in your entire being, he smiled in a sickeningly sweet manner. “You can still do me a favour in return for this package.”

Your eyes narrowed. “Why do you have my package?”

“I’ve had it for like a week now,” he laughed and held it out for you. But when you reached out to take it, he pulled it back towards his chest and effectively out of your reach. “Uh, uh. Favour first.”

You sighed deeply. Of course your life had been a little too easy for a while now. His favours had been too simple and enjoyable this month. You should’ve known to not let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security. Your glare was met with an equally stubborn one.

“Alright,” you finally hung your head low and admitted defeat, “what is it this time?”

“That depends.” You hated the mischievous look in his eyes. 

“On what?”

“What’s in the box?”

You let out a groan. “Why would I tell you that?”

“Ah,” he clicked his tongue, “then I suppose I’ll keep it and find out for myself. I hope it’s something expensive… Maybe I should return it to the sender, instead.” 

He turned to leave and you panicked. “Okay, fine, it’s my new ipad, probably.”

“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” He beamed and held out the package for you to claim again, still exactly out of your reach. You weren’t dumb enough to try and grab it this time. You’d had just about enough of his tricks.

“What’s the favour then?” 

You prepared for the worst. A week of cleaning his apartment? Driving him around the town for a month? Post an embarrassing selfie on social media? You were mentally ready to do whatever.

Biting his lip and averting his eyes, he seemed hesitant to ask you. All of his bravado had disappeared at a moment’s notice. He held the package so tightly you worried it would crumple. 

“Alright,” he took a deep breath finally and looked you in the eyes, “I’ll give you this if you promise to go to the building’s Christmas party–” That wasn’t too bad. You sighed in relief but he only seemed more nervous. “–as my date.”

Your jaw dropped without permission. He wanted you to be what?

“Are you serious?” you laughed through jitters and sparks. “Like, really? Really serious?”

He hesitated but nodded nevertheless. You thought he looked cute when he was nervous and flustered. Absolutely adorable with the way his ears blushed red and his lips pouted in an effort to stop himself from biting them. 

“So, then…” he breathed out and held out the package. 

You took it. He relaxed and breathed deeply in relief. 

“That’s a yes?” he clarified a second later, eyes wide as if it hadn’t fully hit him yet. 

You couldn’t help but laugh and grab his hand. “Silly. I would’ve said yes even if you asked me without holding my iPad hostage.”

“Really?” His eyebrows rose. Soon his flustered expression turned into one of confidence. “Well, of course. I’ve been nothing if not nice to you.”

“Don’t push it.”

“Sorry.”

Jeonghan whined as you walked down the hall to your apartment. “You know it’s not the same!”

“I refuse to wear matching ugly sweaters for the party,” you declared for the fifteenth time that hour. 

“But that’s the best part,” he begged with a soft laugh. “We can be ugly together.”

You failed to see how he could possibly classify as ugly under any circumstances. You grimaced. “Are you suggesting I’m not good-looking?”

“What?” His eyes widened and he giggled nervously, waving his hands around. “That’s not what I meant. At all.”

“Then are you saying that I’d look ugly in a Christmas sweater?” you continued prodding, less out of insecurity more to see how far you could push him. 

In the past few days, you’d found making him flustered and panicked was easier than you ever realised. It quickly became your new hobby. 

As you had predicted, he gasped and sputtered and shook his head like his life depended on it. “I’m just saying that no one looks pretty in a Christmas sweater and– Wait, that’s not better. I’m just saying–”

You laughed and patted his cheek to shut him up when you reached your door. “It’s okay. I was just teasing.”

His face dropped. If glares could kill, your neighbours would’ve been digging your grave already. “You’re mean.”

“Consider it payback.”

“Sure.”

As you reached into your pocket to take out the keys, a familiar voice interrupted you from the other side of the hall. “Oh, good, you’re home!”

When you turned to look at the person, Wen Junhui waved happily and held out a box. “I believe this is yours.”

“A package?” you wondered when he handed it to you. It was only now that you realised he was dressed in uniform. “Wait, are you the new deliverman?”

“Well, not so new anymore,” he shrugged and smiled. “It’s been a few months already.” Before you could ask him anything else, Junhui had already turned his back to you and was rushing back towards the stairs. He must’ve still had some packages to deliver.

You remained standing there, utterly puzzled. When you hadn’t moved in about ten seconds, Jeonghan chuckled and waved a hand in front of you. You flinched and turned to him. “Did you know Junhui’s our deliveryman?”

“Yeah,” he nodded nonchalantly, hiding his hands in his pockets, “he told me how excited he was about his job.”

“Does he struggle with numbers?” 

He raised a brow and laughed. “No. Why?”

“He knows where I live! How did he keep taking my packages to your apartment?” you burst in disbelief.

Jeonghan gulped, grimaced, and then took your keys from you to unlock the door. “Are you going to let us both freeze because of Junhui? Let’s go inside.”

Before you could get another word out, he was dragging you into the apartment.

You took a deep breath in front of the mirror, adjusting your sweater just one more time. Though Jeonghan hadn’t managed to convince you to go with his matching ugly sweaters plan, you had decided to compromise.

“Are you ready yet?” he called out from the living room. He’d been somewhat patiently sitting on your sofa for the past half hour, waiting for you. You weren’t sure if he had just wanted your presence or if he simply thought it would be more convenient this way, but there he was.

Giving yourself one last look in the mirror, you nodded and stepped out of your bedroom. “Do I look okay?”

“You look fine,” he declared with a sweet smile and jumped up from the sofa. You didn’t even really hate the way his cream cardigan matched your sweater. He smiled and raised a brow as he twirled in front of you once. “Do I look okay too?”

“You look perfectly fine,” you told him with a laugh and grabbed his hand, linking your fingers with his. It was hard to imagine ever disliking him.

“Then, let’s go,” Jeonghan suggested with a bright grin. “Joshua’s been texting me for the past fifteen minutes because apparently there’s a gingerbread castle or something and he desperately needs us to see it.”

You snorted. “Of course there is.”

“I wonder who baked it,” he hummed in thought as you stepped out of the apartment and locked the door, never once letting go of his hand. Any passerby could see the way he was desperately trying to pretend there was no red hue of his ears.

“Probably Mingyu.”

And just like that you went down the stairs, still hand-in-hand as if it was the most natural thing. Neither of you realised the other was screaming and gleefully sobbing inside at the gesture. 

“Mingyu can cook but he sucks at baking. I bet it was Seokmin instead.”

“You bet who was what?” you heard Jihoon’s amused voice the moment you reached the first floor and the newly decorated lobby. He smiled brightly (a sight you rarely saw but some inhabitants claimed was quite usual) and held out two pins. 

Jeonghan raised an eyebrow but took the two pins (separating your hands in the process, much to your dismay), eyeing them suspiciously. “Name tags?”

“Thought we’d make it less awkward for all the new inhabitants,” Jihoon told with a proud glint in his eyes. “We’ve never had so many new people at our parties before. Don’t want them to worry about forgetting our names all the time.”

“God, I remember how awful that was,” you agreed and attached the pin with your name to your sweater a little awkwardly. Offering him a playful glare, you asked, “You couldn’t have done this last year?”

“Nope.”

“So,” Jeonghan started, “who made this year’s gingerbread castle?”

“I did.” The man still wore a pleased smile.

“What?!” you and your date gasped at the same time. 

He giggled and nodded. “Yeah. Felt a little more festive this year. Now, go and enjoy the party. One of the new guys made the playlist so if you see anyone by the name of Seungcheol, tell him thank you.”

“Oh, I know him,” Jeonghan beamed at you as Jihoon left the two of you to give Vernon a pin as well. “Seungcheol. He lives right next door, in 5A.”

“I guess there really are a lot of new inhabitants this year,” you mused and made your way to the snack table. Your fingers itched to grab onto his hand again. “It’s nice that Jihoon’s trying to include them so much though.”

Jeonghan chuckled. “I bet you wish he did that for you too.”

You let out a soft whine at the memory of last year’s party. “Do you have any idea how awkward it is to go to a party where everyone knows your name but you only know one person and can barely remember their name? I swear I mixed up Junhui and Minghao like fifty times.” You grabbed a gingerbread man and broke off on of its legs to munch on it as you grumbled. “No wonder Jun delivers all of my packages to the fifth floor out of spite.”

Jeonghan took a deep breath at your words, looking guilty all of a sudden when you looked up to see what had made him so tense. He offered an awkward smile. “About that…”

“What’s up?” You reached up to offer him half of your cookie in an attempt to comfort him. He rejected your effort but grabbed your hand and led you towards the front door. 

“Can we talk for a second?” he asked when you got outside. 

It was a little chilly, but you didn’t fully mind – after all, he’d taken you outside, to privacy, and you were excited to find out why. Maybe he was going to– You felt a rush of heat run to your cheeks at the thought and prayed he wouldn’t notice.

“Junhui–” Wait, why was he talking about Junhui? You frowned in surprise. He sighed. “Junhui’s not a dumb and spiteful deliveryman.”

“Okay?” Really, what was he expecting you to say?

“I– I kind of bribed him to bring your packages to my apartment,” he confessed in a rush, so fast that it took you a moment to register his words. 

When your brain finally analysed the sentence, you let out a gasp. “What?”

“I–” He groaned and rubbed his forehead in frustration (probably at his own idiocy). “Remember last year’s party? You wore that pretty red sweater and you were so awkward and shy the entire time and you kept mixing up our names and you were so adorable–”

You didn’t remember the adorable part, or understand it, really. “Sure.”

“I thought you were so ridiculously perfect,” he confessed, finally looking you in the eyes again, “and I had no idea how to talk to you. So, I never spoke to you and then… Then Junhui got that job and he was excited that he told everyone on the fifth floor. And I thought I finally found an excuse. So–”

“So you bribed him?” You stared at him in disbelief for a moment. That moment was long enough for Jeonghan to be convinced he’d be rejected – he thought he deserved it. You then slapped his chest. “You idiot! You could’ve just come and talked to me, like a normal person. What the hell?”

“Where’s the fun in that though?” he joked while laughing awkwardly and rubbing the spot you hit. You really were strong when you wanted to be. He avoided your eyes “Besides, you probably would’ve told me to leave you alone then.”

You scoffed. “Didn’t I do that anyway?”

“Yeah, but it felt less personal this way,” he admitted with a grimace. “I don’t think I could’ve handled being rejected in a different setting.”

“But stealing my mail was definitely the better option?” You frowned and shook your head. “Did you hit your head somewhere or what the hell? That’s not normal, Jeonghan.”

Even in the dark ambiance of the night you could see the tears gathering in his eyes. “Are you mad at me?”

“What else am I supposed to be?” You rolled your eyes. “I just– I need some time, okay? Let’s–” A deep breath when you realised how awful he felt about his actions. “Let’s talk about this some other time, okay? We’re supposed to be having fun and you–”

He grimaced. “Yeah, I know: I ruined Christmas.” A single shameful tear ran down his cheek, he wiped it away immediately. “I’m sorry.”

You sighed. “Look, just give me some time, okay?”

There were no more words to exchange. You shook your head and walked back inside, forcing a smile when Minghao grabbed your hand to take you dancing with him and Li. It served as a welcome distraction.

Still, even when you finally found it in yourself to laugh again, your eyes trailed back to Jeonghan, standing in the corner and drinking champagne in the most miserable manner. When he felt your gaze on him, he looked up briefly to fake a smile and then look away again.

Your heart broke a little at the sight. You weren’t honestly even that upset with him – annoyed, sure. Maybe irritated that he went to such extremes. But his stupid scheme had worked, after all. The two of you were friends, at the very least, if not more.

You hesitated only a little when you found Junhui at the snack table, stuffing a bowl with as many chips as he could. You tapped his shoulder. “Hey, can I ask you for a favour?”

Jeonghan was inconsolable. Locking himself in his apartment, he spent the days watching screen adaptations of tragic love stories and scrolling through online plant stores.

After all, what’s a better fix for a heartache than starting a miniature greenhouse?

“At least plants can’t reject you,” he reasoned with himself as he placed an order for yet another three houseplants. His plant stand had been looking a little boring anyway. 

[Your order should be processed and on its way by tomorrow. Thank you for shopping with us!]

He sighed, telling himself he was happy at this development and laid down in bed. His eyes wandered around the room until they landed on the yellow armchair. 

With a groan he realised that the damned piece of furniture reminded him of you. He missed seeing you curled up in at 8 pm, chatting with him about anything and everything that came to mind. At this point, he wasn’t sure he had used the armchair himself at all – it was just yours ever since you first visited and smiled at him. 

“Snap out of it,” he cursed himself and squeezed his eyes shut as if that would make the armchair and memories of you go away. He’d been the one to be dumb and make a mistake. He didn’t deserve to feel any comfort. 

As he berated himself and pondered if he should just go up to your door and apologise again (something he’d been thinking of doing ever since the Christmas party), his phone vibrated. 

A hopeful part of him was still waiting for a text or call from you. Maybe this time you forgave him – he wished this was the truth. That’s why he practically dove to pick up his phone and check the notification. But disappointment followed hope more often than victory and this time again he slumped his shoulders. 

“Seriously, Jun?” he practically growled, frowning deeply at the message on the screen. 

[Your package has been delivered to Serenity Street 17, apartment 2C.]

He wondered for a moment about what he might have ordered for it to be delivered on this day. If it was nothing important, he could just… never go and get it. He could pretend there’s been a mistake and he never ordered anything.

“God damnit,” he groaned just a second later and threw himself back into the bed to let out an annoyed whine. “Why did I order so many plants?”

Still, maybe he could just ignore it. Maybe.

But no luck. His stupid broken heart had already named the ordered plant when he placed it into his virtual shopping cart: Martha the tiny pothos plant was waiting to come home to him. He couldn’t bear to leave Martha to die while waiting for him to gather his courage. 

He took a few deep breaths. He sat up and searched for his slippers. He put them on and threw a sweater over his t-shirt. He hesitated and gave his t-shirt a quick sniff before grimacing.

He told himself he should at least pretend to be fine and functional, and then put on a clean shirt and some nicer pants. He couldn’t let you see him in such a horrible state. A part of him hoped you weren’t home and the package stood on your welcome mat so this effort would go to waste.

Then, after what felt like both forever and a split second, he stumbled out of his apartment and down the stairs, not even bothering to lock his apartment door. He’d be quick. 

To his disappointment, there was no package in front of your door when he reached it. This could only mean one thing. He squeezed his eyes shut and sighed before slapping his own cheek in an effort to find the last bit of courage to live on. 

“Why are you so dramatic, huh?” he asked himself, eyes still shut. “You’re acting like you cheated on them or something. It was just a small scheme that annoyed them. You can look them in the eye just fine, idiot.”

“You are quite an idiot, yes,” he heard the words of a voice he’d spent the entire week fantasising about. His eyes snapped open to look at you standing in the doorway, the door ajar behind you.

You looked just as lovely as you had the last time he saw you. Heck, better even now that you didn’t have that glint of disappointed rage in your eyes. He gulped.

“Hi,” he breathed out as if he’d gone dumb in the brief second. “Hello.”

You let out a laugh and he swore he ascended to heaven. “Hello, Jeonghan. Came here for something?”

“Y-Yeah.” He fidgeted with his phone. “I think– I think you have my package.”

You hummed and smiled teasingly. “I might.”

“Can I maybe have it?”

“Depends,” you began and leaned closer to him until your noses were nearly touching, “I want a favour in return.”

His eyes lit up and you smiled a little brighter upon realising he’d caught onto your intentions. He coughed. “What kind of a favour?”

“You could…”

He breathed in deeply, fearing the worst. Maybe you were playing an elaborate game with him. He wasn’t sure he deserved a second chance after he swindled you.

To his surprise, you seemed a little shy as you cleared your throat and began again, “How about this?”

“Well?”

“Kiss me.”

Now he was sure he’d died and gone to heaven. Perhaps he was hallucinating.

“What?” he breathed out.

You feigned nonchalance and shrugged, your lips pouted as if to test his willpower. “You heard me just fine. Kiss me.”

“But…”

“You don’t want to?” You raised an eyebrow, stepped back into the apartment and began to close the door, slowly. “Fine, I guess I have a new plant then.”

“Wait, wait!” he panicked and held out his hand to stop you from leaving. “Are you serious?”

You scoffed. “Would I be asking if I wasn’t?”

“You– You want to kiss me?” He was in utter disbelief. There was no way.

You, on the other hand, were starting to get a tiny bit annoyed. You rolled your eyes and firmly grabbed his hand. “How many times do I have to tell you? If you want your plant–”

Suddenly his lips were on yours. He kissed you and neither of you could’ve been any happier. Naturally, your hands moved up to wrap around his neck and pull him closer. 

You hated to think that you’d been depriving yourself of this wonderful feeling for so long. 

The kiss wasn’t long enough, at all, because he pulled away almost as soon as he kissed you. Eyes wide and wild with disbelief still, he asked, “Wait, does this mean you forgive me? I thought you were mad and hated me.”

“I was never actually mad at you, silly. A little irritated, maybe, but not mad or upset enough to hate you,” you admitted with a chuckle and patted his hair. “I mean, really, who would do something as dumb as bribing the mailman to get someone’s attention?”

He scowled though there was little to no malicious intent behind it. “Then why did you make me suffer like that? I was heartbroken! You could’ve just said you forgave me or something, like a normal person.”

You’d been waiting for that phrase. A wide grin appeared on your face as you repeated his own words back to him, “But where’s the fun in that?”

Gasping, he stared at you. Then he laughed at the irony. “Fair game. I admit defeat.”

“Then can I get one more kiss as a prize for my victory?” you teased.

Leaning closer, until your noses touched and your lips were almost less than a molecule apart, he whispered, “As many as you’d like. I’m yours.”

“And I’m yours,” you murmured right back. 

His lips landed back on yours just a second later, with more certainty this time. Finally. You couldn’t help but smile into the kiss, a gesture he copied as he pressed closer to you, his arms wrapping around your waist as your hands played with his hair. 

When you pulled away, he began laughing. Dazed and feeling like he’d entered a dream, he giggled in your embrace, resting his forehead against yours. His eyes shone as he confessed, “I can’t believe you are mine.”

“You best believe it,” you murmured back and pulled him closer.

A/N: this was surprisingly fun to write, not even gonna lie. i wonder who’s next...

[i-am-a-bad-influence-writes]

Wherever I rest my head is home if it's with you

Part 1, Luck be with you

Masterlist Word count: 2 k Charles Smith x Fem!Reader Arthur Morgan x Mary Linton John Marston x Abigail Roberts Dutch Van der Linde x Molly O'Shea Mary-Beth Gaskill x Kieran Duffy

Summary: Looking for gold is a men's world in a town run by women. The amounts of violence and suffering these men go through with the hope of getting rich is insanity. Gold fever broke marriages and relationships alike until the settlement was nearly all women.  It's a small settlement, nearly a small town, next to the Elysian Pool. Most men red hot with gold fever pass through to stock up on supplies before heading down to the mines near Beaver's Hallow or Annesburg.  The settlement has only one law set in stone, as lawmen do not want to come there, and it is praised like it was one of the ten commandments. You do not harm the women.

Preview

Going up towards the Grizzlies always brings a bone chilling wind along. It's that kind of cold that flows right through your lungs, into your bloodstream, and infects your every inch of being. But the four men on the road to prosperity aren't in that part of the woods yet. These men being Arthur, Charles, John, and Hosea. None of them are particularly fond of finding the gold around these parts but they are concerned about their friends who rode up weeks ago.  Before their journey, the men had been told and warned about a settlement. According to the men that came back, you're lucky if you leave with a broken heart and a nugget of gold in your saddlebag. If you're not so lucky, well, you don't make it out alive.  So many stories about this little settlement. They could just push through to Van Horn or go straight to Annesburg, but they have to admit they're curious. All the stories about beautiful, cruel women only fanned that curiosity. Hosea, with all his experience traveling through America, had never heard of the settlement which strengthened their desire to go see for themselves even more. After all, they've all had their hearts broken before, so what’s another chip?  What Hosea did seem to know is the major of the town. He had met the woman down by Emeral Ranch while she was picking up a delivery for the town. Hosea had, so kindly, offered to be a hired gun for her in hopes of taking over the stocked wagon but was met with the barrel of a shotgun against his back when he tried to get up onto the driver's seat. She had smiled at him and kindly told him to fuck off.  How he had managed to get onto her good side after an encounter like that was a mystery to the other men, but she had offered a place to rest their heads if they were ever close and in need.  As they reach the edge of town, they can already tell this is a settlement like no other. Though most settlements are one street, a good place to ride through, this settlement is spread out like a village. Down by the lake is a huge ranch and down by the train tracks seems to be a hotel and post office, but no train station which strikes both John and Arthur as curious. There's a grocery store, a tailor, a saloon, a barber, a gun store, a doctor's office, everything one might need.  And, as the stories predicted, a lot of women wearing pants and barely any men.  Hosea points at a large house a little bit higher up on a small mountain: 'From what I've been told, that's where the major lives. Let's go introduce ourselves gentlemen.' 

[tiredly101]

Villains still need grocery too, y'know?

Pairing: Howdy Pillar x Villain!Male reader

Illustrated Au, this post was adopted from another account because they are deleting it soo I adopted it with permission of the original author, I did make some changes to adapt it to my writing style! Picture done by @clownsuu

Eggs. M/n needed eggs, badly. He had a brilliant idea to egg Home, that house had been getting on his nerves for a while now. Home had caused a ruckus whenever he’d spot M/n causing mayhem thus ruining some of his incredibly thought out pranks and so he decided to egg him.

Sure it may be unoriginal but sometimes the classics work the best and egging Home seemed like the perfect way to get him back for ruining such beautiful prank. The only problems is, the only way to get eggs is from Howdy. This would normally be no problem if one, Howdy didn’t know your very, very, extensive history of causing trouble and buying 50 eggs in one trip would definitely ring some alarm bells and two asking Howdy for that many eggs would be so embarrassing.

He would think you were a weirdo or maybe he didn’t have enough eggs and it would inconvenience him or perhaps M/n drops the eggs on the way out causing a mess. The idea of M/n making a fool of himself in front of Howdy was out of the question.

M/! was suffering until a brilliant idea popped in his head, he would send a letter to Howdy saying that one of the villagers overheard you wanted to bake a giant cake but didn’t have enough eggs so they wanted to deliver them to you, it was honestly a flawless plan.

That was until when M/n sent said anonymous letter to Eddie Dear for him to send off to Howdy, he decided to open it the second he got it. Which lead to a lot of confusion when the Wally Darling stood in his store buying a single apple seemed to request 50 eggs in his letter. Why wouldn’t Wally just ask while he was there?

"Hey Wally, do you just want your eggs now since your here?," Asked Howdy earning confused look from Wally.

"Eggs? What eggs, neighbour?," Wally asked with a dopey but perplexed look. "How odd...," Howdy thought.

If this letter wasn’t from Wally who could it be from? As the cogs in his brain started turning he came up with a solution, he’ll just come and give M/n the eggs himself! He had a bit of spare time and the shop was pretty quiet today so he decided he would grabs the eggs and bring them over to M/n house as a special delivery.

Howdy then started to make his way over with many crates in hands and he decided to peek through the window to see if M/n was at home. Instead he looked straight in to see a drawing pinned to the wall of a very familiar house with very obvious eggs covering it for head to toe or more specifically roof to floor and then it clicked. M/n wasn't making a cake, he wanted to egg Home and now he was very aware of your many pranks and mischievous deeds but actually seeing your plan he let out a sigh, he was looking forward to try your baking, he was sure it was great.

Although he had never been victim of one of your pranks, surprisingly may he add, he had seen and heard the results of many of them with the village constantly making a fuss and deciding that the prime gossip place was in his store. Howdy couldn’t stay mad at M/n though, although some pranks were more annoying than others he knew M/n never took it to far and quite frankly he found you rather sweet, always being on your best behaviour in his store.

Not to mention M/n was the most beautiful guy he ever encountered him but he couldn't be thinking of that right now, he should be telling M/n off for his evil plotting and as if by magic, sensing he was there, M/n opened the door.

Both, equally as shocked babbled messy excuses of what they were doing here although there was perfectly good reason for M/n to be in his house he still felt the need to tell him that he were plotting. Quickly realising his mistake M/n shut his mouth looking rather guilty until Howdy chuckled letting him know he knew what you were up to.

Shocked, mostly embarrassed, and guilty M/n profoundly apologised to him and instead Howdy just shushed you.

"It’s okay silly, just maybe instead of egging home make that cake? I’ll even help you with it," said Howdy and without hesitation M/n agreed leading Howdy into his house blushing as red as an apple and bringing out all you cake ingredients.

Part of M/n wanted this moment to last forever and the other part desperately wishing it would hurry up and end. The embarrassment was killing him but soon your worries melted away since as the cake was baking he took your hands in his and started swaying with M/n to music he had playing.

"Why do you never do any pranks in my shop?," Asked Howdy curiously while dancing softly with M/n and he smiled while looking up at him.

"Villains still need grocery too, y'know?," Said M/n which made Howdy smile softly and chuckle which made M/n's face be overtakes with a shy smile.

"Haha.. I think I prefer it when your not causing mayhem around the village, but then again it’s very endearing how silly you look when you do it," Howdy mumbled out catching both of them guard as if he didn’t mean to say it out loud. Howdy apologised quickly not wanting to offend M/n but he quickly reassured him with a soft kiss in his lips that you feel the same way.

"Perhaps villainy and entropy could wait if the alternative is happy moment like this with him"

[deantfwinchester]

Fresh Start 2/?

Pairing: Pre-Outbreak!Joel x Neighbor!Reader

Summary: When you move to Austin after finishing grad school, all on your own, you find a small house for rent next door to a handsome contractor and his teenage daughter. He gives you a hand moving in, but it turns out he could use more help than he knows.

Word Count: 4k

A/N: Lol more Looking After Joel content (like anyone’s surprised)

Pre-outbreak or no outbreak (take ur pick). It's f!reader, 2nd person, w/ no use of Y/N.

Welcome once again to the Joel Miller fluff crusade.

Part 1

You saw Joel and Sarah a few more times in passing over the next few days, each time smiling warmly and waving across the way, but always on the way out. Most days you saw a younger man on the way out with the two of them, who bore some resemblance to Joel, and you figured that must be his brother Tommy. Sarah had mentioned her Uncle Tommy while recounting her day over loose pieces of bookcase as the three of you built a few nights prior. 

Since that night, you’d been trying to find the time to gather what you needed to make dinner for your neighbors, in an effort to adequately thank them for all their help getting your new home put together. After spending the weekend unpacking the last of your things, you resolved to hit the grocery store for the ingredients you’d need on Monday after work, and try to get dinner ready for delivery next door around the time Joel got home.  Monday morning, you noticed it was just Joel and Sarah hopping in the truck as you got ready to leave for the day from your own driveway. Joel looked over at you, squinting in the bright morning sun, and smiled wide, waving. 

“Just the two of you this morning?” you called, waving back at him.

“Yep. My brother’s outta town. Took a long weekend,” he said, walking over to you. You began walking as well, meeting him halfway. “I’ll have to introduce you two sometime soon.”

“Definitely, I’d like to meet him,” you said, smiling back at him. 

He nods back and continues, lifting one arm up to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly. “Oh, I uh, got an idea of how my week’s gonna look. Would you wanna come over for dinner on Wednesday? I think Sarah would really like it, and you could meet Tommy too, since he’s around all the time. Damn near lives here himself.” 

You tried hard to keep your eyes on Joel’s while he spoke, but you couldn’t help but be distracted by the way his shirt lifted barely two inches above the waist of his jeans, exposing a bit of his stomach. Your neck burned a little thinking of him, silently scolding yourself, pleading to Get A Grip. “Wednesday? Um, yeah, I don’t think I’m busy at all. I’d love to,” you replied almost too quickly. Joel didn’t seem to notice, however, mostly seeming relieved, and he smiled in response. God he had a gorgeous smile. Starting to seem like the Texas heat wouldn’t be the only thing making you melt. 

“Great! We’ll be looking forward to it,” he said, satisfied with your answer.

“I will be too! Thank you, Joel,” you replied, hoping he saw only your earnest appreciation and not your cheeks warming under his gaze. 

“Anytime. Well, I gotta get her to school,” he said, pausing and turning a bit to walk back toward the truck. Once again slightly bashful, he added one last thing.

“I hope you have a, uh, wonderful day, darlin’.” No doubt he could see the red in your face now, almost stuttering at his genuine tone. 

“I-I hope you do too, Joel. I’ll see y’all later,” you replied, smiling back and turning to your own car. He watched as you got into the car, and didn’t return to his own until he heard your engine start. Taking a moment to gather yourself in the driver’s seat, you realized this crush on Joel was only going to grow each time you talked to him. You tried to tell yourself this was a bad idea. Joel’s your neighbor, and you wanted to keep it friendly and welcoming, and you had no idea how Sarah would react if something ever did happen between the two of you. No, you’d make sure to get a hold of it before bringing dinner over for the two of them tonight, which you’d conveniently left out of the conversation with Joel. You’re wanting it to be a surprise thank-you, and thinking it might be nice to not have to worry about what to do about dinner after working in the heat all day. For your neighbor. Your friend. Just that. 

_____________________________________________________________

You arrived back home around five, shopping done and ready to start cooking. You set to preparing the different parts of the meal you were making. The lasagna you took a bit of time and assembly, and you were definitely making quite the mess. Around the time the bolognese finished, you looked out the window and noticed Joel’s truck still wasn’t outside the house next door. Not too concerning, you knew he worked late quite a bit. If nothing else, you could bring dinner to Sarah, and he’d have less to worry about when he did get home.

You’d been cooking for over an hour when you noticed the sun beginning to set outside. You got the hefty casserole dish into the oven, and cleaned up the mess you’d created in your kitchen, tying up the very full garbage bag to take outside. As you headed toward the cans in your driveway, a taxi pulled up in front of the house next door. Now this was strange, you had yet to see a single cab in your very residential neighborhood. You noticed as well that Joel’s truck still wasn’t in their driveway. This made more sense as you watched Sarah emerge from the back of the car on the street side and quickly walk around to the lawn, opening the door for the other passenger. You certainly were not expecting Joel to emerge from the car, grip tight on the top of the door, with Sarah leaning in to help him out. As he got out and shut the door, draping an arm over Sarah, with a pained expression on his face. While he leant heavily on the cab’s door, Sarah reached in and pulled out a pair of crutches, helping him to get a grip on the first one. After settling on the first crutch, Joel pushed the door to the cab shut behind him, and began to hobble forward. Before Joel can grab the other crutch from Sarah, you see him begin to lose his balance, enough to instinctively go down on his newly wrapped ankle, and you rush forward to help. 

“Woah! Hang on a second!” you call as you approach them. Joel is huffing with effort when he notices you, and lifts his arm, allowing you to slip right underneath and support his side. Joel straightens up, leaning heavily on you, and lets out a breathy “Thank you.”

“‘course.  Looked like you needed a hand,” you smile up at him. He smiles back down at you, and despite your grin, he could see your eyes wide, and brows knitting together in concern. Joel felt a growing warmth in his chest at the sight, reminding him of the wave he felt during your conversation this morning. 

You motion for Sarah on Joel’s other side to hand you the remaining crutch, and help him get a comfortable hold, as you slip out from beneath his shoulder. You keep hold of him as he adjusts, letting your hand linger lightly on his back.

“Good? Okay, let’s get you inside, then I want the story,” you said, rubbing his back a bit before letting go. Joel trudged forward, shifting his focus toward keeping his balance rather than missing the feeling of your hand, warm against his back. You kept close to his side, making sure he was stable, as Sarah led the way inside. 

The two of you got Joel seated on the couch, and Sarah ran to her room to change out of her school clothes. You take Joel’s crutches and place them on the wall by the couch, and sit down on the ottoman in front of him, motioning for him to place his injured leg up next to you. 

“Comfy?” you asked, and Joel nodded. 

“As I’m gonna get for right now, I think.”

“Okay, story time. What the hell happened today?” 

That look was back on your face, Joel realized, the one you gave him outside from beneath his shoulder, that warmed him from the inside. He just wanted to look at you for a while, feeling like he could melt under the care in your eyes. 

“I, uh, fell. On site today,” he responds, a bit flustered after catching his too-long pause. 

You wait a beat for him to elaborate, and when he doesn’t, you speak. 

“Wow. You’re a riveting storyteller, Joel. Way to paint a picture for me. Feel like I was there,” you say with more sarcasm than he can bear at the moment. Joel groans and rolls his eyes at your tone, and you grin at him, placing your hand on his injured leg, rubbing lightly, attempting to coax more of an explanation from him. “Okay, so injury acquired at work, that much we know. I assume also, based on the wrapped ankle and accompanying crutches, you saw a doctor somewhere? What did they say?”

Joel sighed, conceding to your press for information. “Yep, at work. Fall involved some scaffolding and I, uh, got unlucky, I guess. One of the guys drove me to get it checked out, and Sarah met us there. ‘S just a sprain, not a big deal,” he shrugged. Before you could respond, you heard Sarah yell from the hall. 

“He’s lying!” she said. Joel sighs at this, shaking his head, opening his mouth to protest as she walks back in the room. “Nope. Don’t even try it. We came from the ER, where he waited two hours, got an x-ray, and the doctor told him he’s very lucky it’s not a fracture.” She placed her hands on her hips and looked at you, exasperated. 

“It’s fine,” Joel says, “just gotta wait a couple days, then I can get back to work.”

“A week. The doctor said a week before you can go back to work. Then he said you need to spend another week supervising, no heavy lifting.” Sarah’s spiel made Joel sigh once again, this time in defeat. Your eyes were wide, impressed by her ability to both keep track and wear him down. 

“Good memory.” you say incredulously, smiling at her. 

“He remembers too, he’s just lying. That’s why I took the bus to the hospital instead of home like he told me. To hear the instructions myself,” she says to you, though pointed elsewhere. “ And Uncle Tommy’s still out of town, so…”

“So you took a cab home from the ER??” you say, turning your head back to face Joel, who looks at you confused. It’s Sarah’s turn to sigh now, and she turns toward the kitchen. 

“I’m getting something to drink,” she breathes, and turns to Joel, “keep that elevated!”

You turn back to Joel now. You’re touched by Sarah’s concern, and give him a look letting him know as much, and wait for him to continue.

“Easier than the bus like this,” he shrugged.

“Well, what about the guy who drove you there? Where’d he go?” you ask. 

“He had to get back to work, couldn’t wait around. ‘Specially with me gone for the rest of the day,” he says, like it made perfect sense. You look at him, face once again marked with worry but without the accompanying smile, he notices. You reach around Joel’s side and grab the throw pillow sitting next to him on the couch, then tap his leg lightly, signaling to lift it from the ottoman. You slide the pillow into the space he occupied, then move his leg back down to settle on top, laying your hand above his ankle once again. 

“I get it,” you tell him, “but I don’t want it to happen again. Gimme your phone.” You take his phone and add your number to his contacts, and hand it back to him after sending yourself a text. “So next time-“

“Next time? You plottin’ my next fumble?” Joel asks, grinning at you. You shake your head at him. 

“Let me finish! Next time you need a ride, or anything else you think I could help with, call me,” you say, gesturing to the phone now back in his hand. “I put my number in there and sent myself a text so I have yours now too.”

“Well, thank you, darlin’, but you don’t have to-“ Joel starts, but you cut him off. 

“Nope. Promise me you’ll use it. If you need to, if you want to, for anything either of you need. I know your brother’s usually here, but just, put me above the cab company on the list, at least. Promise?” you plead with Joel. The worried face is back, and he’ll do just about anything to make it go away. 

“I promise. Thank you,” he says, nodding, looking at you with a sincerity that reaches your bones. You look anywhere but at him, feeling your neck heat up into your ears like this morning. You pat his leg a couple of times, then stand, clearing your throat a bit. 

“Well. Safe to say you guys haven’t eaten yet, yeah?” you ask, loud enough that Sarah can hear in the kitchen. 

“Definitely not. And im stARVING,” says Sarah, walking back in and passing a glass of water and bottle of Advil to Joel, before placing an ice pack on his ankle. 

“Okay good, give me a couple minutes, and I’ll be right back.” Sarah’s eyes grow wide with curiosity, and you turn to head out the door just as Joel begins to protest. 

“What did you-“

“Just trust me,” you called to him, walking out, then peeked back in the door and pointed at Joel, “don’t go anywhere.” You said, raising your eyebrows at him. 

Sarah started laughing as he deadpanned back at you, eyes narrowed “Hilarious.”

“Too soon?” you ask him through laughter. He rolls his eyes and smiles at you, shaking his head. “Alright, I’ll be right back.”

______________________________________________________________

With all the excitement of the last hour, you’d run out the clock on dinner, with only a few minutes remaining on your timer when you walked back into your kitchen. You pulled the lasagna out of the oven, covered it in foil, then stacked some potholders and returned to Joel and Sarah’s. 

When you walk through the door, they turn to you, eyes wide. You can practically see their mouths watering like cartoon characters. Mission accomplished. 

“Okay, so I’d actually planned to bring dinner over here for y’all tonight. As a thank you for your help last week. Couldn’t have picked a better day, huh?” you say to the two of them. Joel just stares at you, speechless. He definitely hadn’t seen that coming, but he wasn’t really surprised. Just, didn’t know what to say. Sarah speaks for both of them. 

“You didn’t have to do that, we were happy to help. We had fun that night!” she says, excitedly, “but I am hungry, so come on.” Sarah leads you into the kitchen, then ushers you out, grabbing plates from the cabinet, insisting on handling it herself. You walk back into the living room, where Joel’s gathered his words, though they’re certainly nothing new. 

“This is real sweet, but you really didn’t have to do that, darlin’. Seriously,” Joel says to you, gravely. 

“I wanted to, Joel. Seriously.” you say, mirroring his intensity. 

“I’m sure you did. I don’t doubt that,” he says, smiling knowingly at you through the words. 

“Well, if you guys are good, I’m gonna get going. I’m sure you’re tired, so eat, enjoy, then get some rest,” you say to him, moving to leave. He’s exhausted, that’s for sure, but he’s also sure he doesn’t want you to leave. He’s got no idea how to make you stay, when Sarah walks back in from the kitchen, holding three plates filled with huge slices of the lasagna. 

“Nope, you’re staying. You made it, it’s huge, eat with us,” she pushes one plate into your hands and another into her father’s. 

“Oh, that’s sweet Sarah, but you guys have been through a lot today, I don’t want to intr-“

“Stay. Please. We’d really like you to.” This time it was Joel, insisting as well that you stay for dinner with them. With both of them staring up at you expectantly, you have no choice but to relent, taking your plate and sitting on the couch next to Joel.

______________________________________________________________

The three of you sat and ate together, first listening to Sarah tell stories of her day, then banding together to bully Joel into more details about what happened on site today. Sarah had a very strong feeling that, while unfortunate, the fall probably looked hilarious. The three of you giggled about the events of the day long after the empty plates were abandoned on the end tables. Sarah was curled up in a chair across from you two, when she got up, stretching, and announced she was heading to bed. She reached for the empty plates, but you stopped her before she could get to them. You told her not to worry about them, saying you would handle it, and she let you. After saying goodnight, she left for her room, leaving you and Joel alone. 

“You’ve gotta be pretty tired yourself, huh?” you ask Joel, reaching out and patting his arm, before getting up to grab the empty plates. 

“I’m alright. I’m glad you’re still here,” he says, that same sincerity in his eyes as he looks up at you, and you falter under his gaze, eager to busy yourself. Stacking the plates in one hand, you reach down and touch the ice pack on Joel’s ankle, finding it squishy and melted. 

“This, uh, this isn’t doing you any favors anymore. Hang on,” you grab the limp pack and carry it and the plates into the kitchen. After cleaning the dishes and covering the lasagna, you place it in the fridge, then open the freezer beneath it to replace the melted ice pack. Luckily, you find a second just like it, which you grab and return to the living room. 

You place the new ice pack on Joel’s elevated ankle, fiddling with it until you’re satisfied it’ll sit comfortably still. You’re at least partially trying to occupy yourself beneath his gaze, still unsure how to react to this feeling. He’s smirking at you when you meet his eyes, amused by your fussing over his injury. 

“You really don’t have to do that, sweetheart. I’ll be alright, I can handle it,” he says while you attempt to fluff the pillow beneath his leg before sitting down next to it on the large ottoman. You place your hand on his leg once again, this time not hesitating to rub comforting and light along his shin.

“I know you can. But so can I. You’ve had a long enough day, just let me help,” you tell more than ask him. 

“You already helped out plenty, bringing dinner over. She would’ve probably eaten something microwaved for dinner. Or worse, had to cook something for us herself. She does that enough already,” he glances down at his hands in his lap then, and you notice the guilt creeping into his voice. You lean forward then, and put one hand on his forearm, and he looks up, meeting your eyes.

“Hey,” you say gently, “she’s okay. More than okay, she’s wonderful. She was so sweet today, remembering every detail from the doctor, getting you in here and settled. It was adorable actually, watching you listen while she bossed you around a bit.”

“Sweet as can be, but ‘s not her job. I’m s’posed to be taking care of her, not asking her to take the bus home, or having her lug me out of a cab from the ER on a school night,” he says, running a hand over his face. You give his arm a reassuring squeeze before responding. 

“This whole situation was a one-time thing, and you know that. Getting hurt on the job the one day your brother’s not with you? Bad luck. All it can be. Don’t beat yourself up about this, and definitely not when you’re this exhausted,” you say to him, hoping to provide what little comfort you can. He nods a little, head turning back to his lap, looking at your hand still resting on his forearm.  “And don’t forget, find yourself in a run of luck like this again, you can call me instead.” You move your hand down, resting on top of his, and patting once again. As you move to lift it, he grabs your fingers, just wanting to keep your hand in his for a bit. You don’t move a muscle. 

“You really mean that, don’t ya?” he lifts his head again and smiles at you, still holding your fingers tight. 

You smile back, nodding at him, “anything you need, I told you,” squeezing his hand in return. He’s holding your hand in both of his now, and you rub little circles against the back of one with your free thumb. You wonder, for a moment, if you’re doing something you shouldn’t. He’s hurt, tired, and clearly carrying too much to think straight. Would a more awake, or less upset Joel be so open to this physical affection? Before you can spiral any further, Joel speaks again. 

“Well, in that case, I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you this week,” he says. 

“Anything. Shoot.”

“It’s a lot, and I hate to ask, if you can’t do it, I’ll understand,” he begins rambling. 

“Joel. Just tell me what you need,” you cut him off, squeezing his hand in yours. 

“Well, since I can’t drive for the time being, I was wondering if you could pick Sarah up from school for the rest of the week? Tommy’s on his way back already, he’ll get her there in the mornings, but without me there, he can’t leave the site in the middle of the day to get her home. She can take the bus if she needs to, it’s not a big deal, I just-“

“Joel. I’ll be happy to pick her up this week. My schedule is flexible, so it won’t be a problem. I’ll be there, and I’ll make sure she doesn’t wait on me either,” you assure him. 

“That’s- I can’t thank you enough, darlin’, really. I-“ Joel cuts himself off with a yawn, and you rise before he can even finish. 

“Alright, that’s my cue. And yours,” you keep his hand in yours, giving it one final squeeze before he lets his fall, reluctantly. “Time to put yourself and this day to bed. Do you need help getting up?”

He smiles at his lap once more. “No, I’ll be okay. I think I got the hang of those things anyway,” gesturing to the crutches against the wall behind him. “I’m gonna sit here a while longer. Thank you again for your help tonight. I’d walk you out, but..”

“Don’t you dare get up Joel, not until you’re heading straight to bed. Promise?” you smile back, making him swear once again. 

“I promise. Night, darlin’” he says, smiling slightly, eyelids at half mast. You doubted he was making it off the couch tonight, but you didn’t want to push. 

“Night, Joel. Get some sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow,” you lock the door from the inside on your way out, fairly confident Joel wouldn’t be getting up or remembering to do it himself. You walked out into the warm night air, head spinning with the countless moments you shared with Joel tonight. You didn’t realize how late it was until you walked back in your own home, feeling exhaustion take hold. You’ve got plenty to do tomorrow now, too, so sleep was of the essence. You head to bed yourself, silently thanking the universe you’d already cleaned up the kitchen.

[coloredsolos]

hi :) i’d love situations #6 + fluff with jean please. love your writing!

MIRACLE ON 104th STREET

pairing: jean kirstein x reader

prompt: watching christmas movies

content: jeanboy surprises you for christmas, MODERN AU, not proofread

wc: 1.2k

a/n: sorry this took so long! the new semester started and since I’m a senior in college it’s gonna be a little crazy!! also, i'm sorry I kind of broke off from the prompt! find the list of prompts here

“Alone? For Christmas?” Jean asked you, his eyes wide as he did so. 

You shrugged. It’s not like you had chosen to be alone this holiday season, but with your father working all break, you figured you might as well stay in your small apartment. Besides, your roommate, Annie, would be visiting her father, so you would have the place to yourself.

“I don’t see the problem,” you admitted, the walk to Jean’s car seeming longer than ever. Despite your protesting, Jean was driving you home from the 4pm history class the two of you shared. Damn this winter weather.

“W-what?! You don’t see the-! You can’t be alone for Christmas!” Jean practically cried out, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. 

The now exhausting conversation had started when Jean had begun telling you about his own Christmas plans. Mentioning how he would most likely go visit Sasha’s family again with Connie. It was their tradition, he would tell you. However, when asking about your plans, he did not like the answer he received.

“Jean it’s really ok. Annie will be out of town anyways. It’ll be nice not having to share the living quarters. Besides I’d much rather be alone at my place than sitting there at my dad’s. So can we please drop it?”

Jean sighed, but reluctantly nodded his head. 

There was a chill in the air on Christmas eve.  The snow that fell having no problem sticking to the ground, layering on top of one another until it was several inches thick. You had been bundled under a plethora of blankets while the heat in your apartment worked overtime. Jean has let all of your friends know about your Christmas plans, or lack there of, and now you were starting to regret declining Eren and Mikasa’s offer to come home with them. Especially since Carla made a mean Christmas dinner, or so you heard. The plate of place and bake Christmas cookies sat in front of you. 

They weren’t very good.

You only prayed that the copious amounts of sugar would knock you into a sugar coma that would last until the next day. Most places were closed, and probably would stay that way even a few days after Christmas due to the snow storm that was taking place outside. That being said, the lack of groceries at your place was starting to leave you feeling massively underprepared. Grocery shopping was not your forte. 

While debating if you wanted to pay the delivery fee in your favorite Chinese restaurant, your phone lit up from its place on your coffee table.

Jean: u awake?

You: do I ever sleep?

Jean: true

Jean: wyd

You: freezing to death

You: how’s Sasha’s?

You: did Connie sing the whole car ride there? rip to ur ears

Jean: I wouldn’t know, didn’t go

You were surprised to say the least. Why wouldn’t he go to Sasha’s? It was tradition wasn't it? 

Jean: coming over rn

Jean: damn there’s a shit ton of snow 

You knew there was no bother trying to stop the man from coming over. He was stubborn. Always had been. Instead your fingers hovered over the keyboard of your phone, unsure of what to say next.

Jean: do u want me to bring over groceries? connie bought way too much shit before he left fr 

You: yes pls ur a lifesaver

You: been eating christmas cookies all night 

You: also, please drive safe. I mean it. i’d be pissed at you if you died

Jean: <3

Deciding not to text the man while he was driving, you settled on making the living quarters look a little less like a tornado had ran through it, picking up and putting away any dirty dishes from earlier in the day.

Before too long, Jean was there. His arms draped with grocery bags, he wasn’t kidding when he said Connie may have gone a little crazy. However, you were more focused on how he looked. Jean had been dressed in what looked like a black turtleneck with a gray overcoat keeping him warm. How he always looked straight out of a fashion magazine amazed you. Meanwhile, you were wearing a pair of black sweats with mismatched cat socks on. And yes, they did have little ears on them. 

“Well are you gonna leave me in the hallway all night?” he joked, the smile evident on his face. 

Your face flushed as you realized you had zoned out. 

“Y-yeah, come in.” You stepped out of his way, ushering him inside. 

Jean immediately headed to your kitchen to put the groceries he had brought away. His familiarity with your apartment bringing a smile to your face. Jean shrugged off his overcoat, his muscles straining against the turtleneck that had been underneath. You couldn’t help but stare. It was no secret that your friend was a very attractive man. Not to mention he had the personality to match. His suave attitude, yet gentlemanly charm gaining the attention of many women whenever your friend group had their weekly outings.

“Helloooooo?” Jean waved his hand in front of you, bending slightly so he could meet your eyes. Snapping back to the present, you apologized quickly. 

“Sorry… what?”

“I asked if you’ve eaten? I can make something for us if you’d like.” Jean offered .

You nodded shyly, embarrassed you had been caught daydreaming again. “I’d like that…” 

Jean grinned, pushed up his sleeves and clapped. “Alrighty then!”

The two of you now sat on the maroon sectional located in the middle of your living room, your empty plates resting on the coffee table. 

“I just don’t understand how they forgot their kid at home!” You cried out, your legs tucked under yourself in an attempt to keep yourself warm. 

Jean let out a boisterous laugh, the sound music to your ears. “It’s just a movie! The whole point of Home Alone is being… ya know… home alone.”

You giggled, the harsh air providing the goosebumps on your arm a permanent residency. You shivered slightly despite the mountain of blankets you had been hoarding. 

“Come here.” Jean spoke softly.

“Huh?” 

“You’re cold.” He stated. “Just come here.”

Too cold to argue, you scooted over closer to Jean. His arm that had been resting on the back of the couch pulled you closer to him. You immediately felt relief, his body radiating enough heat for the both of you. You couldn’t help the sigh that fell from your mouth, nuzzling closer to the man without thinking. The tips of Jean’s ears turned a rosy shade of pink as you fell deeper into the man’s chest. 

You let the continuous stream of Christmas movies play lowly on the television. Neither you or Jean wanting to get up to find the remote and change it. Eventually, Jean felt your breath fall steady, the gentle sound of soft snores slipping from you as you slept soundly.

Without thinking, Jean shifted slowly, positioning himself in a more comfortable position, careful not to wake you as he did so. Finally comfortable Jean was able to follow suit, slipping into a warm, comfortable sleep. The soft sound of Christmas movies continued to play in the background for the rest of the night, counting down the hours until you and Jean would wake up and celebrate the holiday together. The first of many holidays together. And truthfully? Jean didn’t mind this being his new tradition.