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rcmclachlan · 2 months ago

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wind finding

buck/tommy

8x14/8x15 spec fic

I wrote this right before my first morning meeting, so if it's rushed and makes no sense, I'm well aware. Enjoy!

The very second Tommy went with helicopters, people came crawling out of the woodwork to offer their two cents on everything from industry politics (all dangled carrots and empty promises) to what constitutes a good operator (whoever's actually signing your paycheck at the time) to which jobs would bring in the most money (ditching helicopters entirely in favor of planes) to the best ways to manage stress (avoiding utility altogether).

But the one piece of advice Tommy has never forgotten came from one of his first operators in Afghanistan, who had a face like a mountain crag and every word that came out of his mouth had to first find its way around the wad of dip permanently attached to his bottom gums.

"Being able to find the wind is the only skill you need to nail down, or else you're gonna frag out faster'n you can say 'high as bat pussy'. The odds of being able to see the leaves on a fuckin' tree are less'n nothin' out here, never mind spottin' a fuckin' windsock, Kinard. The second you get in the air, you just listen to your bird; she'll tell you point blank where the wind is, so long as you've got your ears on."

Then Warrant Officer Harold hocked a loogie the size of a crow at the ground and stormed away, shouting, "PRIVATE KEATON, IF YOU DON'T STOP FONDLIN' THAT REFUEL PROBE I'M GONNA SHOVE IT IN YOUR DICK HOLE!"

Twenty years later, Tommy's in the cockpit of his favorite AW139 with the mouth of a glock pressed right above his brain stem, and the second he achieves optimal altitude, he finds the wind.

"You make it look so effortless, like it's just something your body does. Like breathing," Evan had said during their one and only legal flight together, like he wasn't furious that Tommy had woken him up at 3:30 in the morning on his day off to go for a joyride. Even as the sun peeked over the horizon to see if the coast was clear, it couldn't hope to match the sheer brightness of Evan's smile.

If being able to find the wind wasn't practically part of his autonomic nervous system at this point in his career, Tommy'd have no business being in the air at all.

"Remember," the guy with the gun, Remo, murmurs into the headset he'd forced Tommy to give him. "Top of the Aon. We're making the switch there."

"Nakatomi Tower would be better for this sort of thing," Tommy mutters.

Instead of being whipped with the gun, the speaker in his ear crackles with Remo's laughter. "I was more partial to the second film."

Tommy grips the cyclic a little tighter. "That's the worst thing you've admitted to so far."

It's not. Bombing multiple police stations was bad enough, but one of them was right next to a school. The last thing that came through the comms before Remo's buddies hacked it was the 118 being called to 309 Lucas Ave in Westlake North for fire containment and emergency medical assistance.

He glances at the dashboard. Tucked right above the radar is a little photo he'd printed out at his local CVS on a whim while he was getting a 'Happy 80th birthday, grandma!" card for Sal. It's barely anything: a portrait forced to inhabit a 4x4 square, so the quality is extra shitty. But the man in it is smiling brighter than a sunrise over the ocean, and Tommy's heart gives a pitiful thud just looking at it.

Melton would've shit a brick if he'd known about it. Despite what Hollywood would have the general populace believe, having pictures of loved ones on a pilot's dashboard can be a hell of a distraction. It goes against LAFD regs.

But having spent the last month reacquainting himself with Evan's smile and the wild hope that they could have a future together, it felt right to tack the photo up. He was professional enough that he wouldn't let it get in the way of the job.

He thinks of Evan watching him from the bed this morning, tangled up in sheets that smelled like the both of them. He thinks of the blurred, sleep-damp smile on Evan's face as Tommy hid the evidence of what they got up to the previous night.

"You're covering up a masterpiece," Evan had said, voice a little blurred with sleep. "That's some of my best work."

"Let me guess: if I connect all the hickeys, it's gonna turn into a dolphin or something?"

Evan had thrown back his head on the pillow and cackled, and Tommy had thought, We could build a life on this.

Except Evan is pulling tiny bodies out of the ruins of Gratts Elementary, Tommy's got a gun to his head, and Remo's little cell of opportunistic assholes are using the bombings across the city to distract from the 51% blockchain hack they pulled off two hours ago. Tommy doesn't understand crypto for the life of him, but what he got from Harbor's newest probie was something something a blockchain’s distributed ledger was changed and double spending was enabled. At the time, it seemed like a lot of bullshit that boiled down to "they now control the invisible internet money conveyor belt," but at least 200 people are dead, and according to Remo, there are still 70 bombs wired and ready to explode on his say-so.

Unless Tommy flies him and his weird, silent friend to the Aon, where someone's going to be waiting to whisk them away to all points nowhere. Tommy knows exactly how this is going to shake out: the second he lands the bird, Remo's going to bury a bullet in Tommy's brain before disappearing into the wind, leaving the world in shambles. But it won't be enough. Remo will get bored before long—the smart, psychotic ones always do—and then pop back up at some point to do even worse if he has the opportunity.

Ten years from now, they'll make a documentary series about all this. Evan will watch it, because he's contractually obligated to seek out things that will hurt him for some reason, and it'll probably be like cutting open a just-healed wound. He'll spiral until Maddie or one of the others forces him to stop. The series will be called something stupid, like Finding Remo.

That is, of course, if Remo has the opportunity.

Swallowing, throat clicking, Tommy glances at the photo on the dashboard. Evan beams at him from where he's posing like the dorkiest Greek god in the pantheon on top of a boulder somewhere on the Temescal Canyon Trail. That had been a good day. It seemed like the start of a lifetime of them.

He looks away and out the windshield where, up ahead, the Aon stands tall against the sky. But standing taller, and closer, is Library Tower.

Exhaling, Tommy keeps his eyes straight. "Listen, you can put the gun away. It's not the threat you think it is."

"No?" Remo presses the glock harder against the back of Tommy's head, and Tommy stifles a wince. "You think I won't shoot you?"

"Oh, I know you're gonna shoot me," Tommy says, almost cheerfully. He refuses to look any closer at that. "I just don't think you're gonna do it while we're hanging 900 feet above the city."

The pause that follows is probably only a second or two, but it feels like a decade. Finally, the press of metal disappears, and Tommy hears the safety clicking back on.

"You seem pretty calm about all this," Remo says, curiosity making his already light voice positively airy.

Tommy shrugs. "Last year I stole one of these to fly some friends into a category 5 hurricane, then landed it on a capsized cruise ship. This? Doesn't even break a 6.5 on my Crazy Shit-o-meter."

Remo laughs, and Tommy hears the tell tale rustling of the gun being holstered. Thankfully the rotors completely drown out the sound of his heart pounding, which would otherwise be audible from space.

"Let me just say that of all the pilots I could've kidnapped, you're by far the most entertaining."

"Thank you," Tommy says seriously.

Below them, the Walt Disney Concert Hall is lit up for the night's show. They'll be passing the BoA Financial Center, and from there it's only a couple of minutes until their destination.

"Hey, uh, since this does end with me getting shot," Tommy ventures, trying to keep a lid on the massive amounts of adrenaline that are being dumped into his bloodstream. He must be visibly vibrating. "Could I... could I make a call?"

Remo snorts. "Let me guess: 9-1-1?"

Okay, that's kind of funny. Tommy cracks a grin. "Not quite. I have someone... I have someone, and there's something important I need to say."

One of the drawbacks of a helicopter's cockpit is there's no rearview mirror, which would really come in handy right now. He has no idea what Remo's face is doing. He has no idea if he's looking at his silent companion and having some kind of wordless conversation, if Remo is the kind of guy who would grant the last wish of someone he's using.

Finally, after what feels like years, Remo says, "You get ten seconds. You'd better make them count."

He's done more with less. "That's fair. But I'm either going to need you to call it for me or let me hook into an open line."

The air inside the helicopter seems to squeeze inward. "An open line?"

"My... my boyfriend's LAFD." He bites down on the inside of his cheek as they pass the BoA Center on the left, and hopes against all hope that Remo isn't too much of a homophobe to deny the request.

But surprise, surprise. Remo only laughs and says, "How romantic. Urs, get him on an open line to his firefighter boyfriend. It's the least we can do after everything he's done to help us."

Tommy can't see what Urs is doing, but his headset crackles with the familiar static of a live comms line.

"Ten seconds," Remo reminds him. Below them, the roof of Library Tower seems both miles away and impossibly close.

It's all he needs.

"This is LAFD pilot Tom Kinard. Evan Buckley, if you're listening, look in the drawer to the right of the microwave. There's something in there for you." He quietly undoes his harness and kills the engine. "It's yours. It's always been yours."

Just as the AW139 is about to clear the roof of the tower, Tommy shoulders open the door and kicks off into the sky.

The wind is blowing southeast.

"N-No, no, no, hey, it's okay, don't fight it, you're okay—hey, I need some help in here! He's waking up! Tommy, they're going to take it out, just wait."

There's a tree trunk growing out of his throat, but trying to move it is impossible, and the effort takes everything out of him. So he gives up, gagging and drifting in and out, then decides to just climb the entire length of the tree to get a look at the view. From there, it's just a matter of finding the wind and floating away with it.

The next time he surfaces, there's something hard over his face, warm and humid, and when the clouds clear from his vision he's able to see two things: Evan's wide-eyed expression of relief, and a giant orange poster board in Lucy's familiar, blocky handwriting that says 2 DAYS SINCE KINARD LAST TAUNTED GOD.

There's a 1 in front of the 2, but it's crossed out.

"Hey!" Evan breathes, and the mattress at Tommy's hip dips a little under his weight. "H-Hey, there you are. Morning! Well, not, uh, morning exactly—it's like 8 o'clock at night—but you're awake!"

"I am." It's muffled by the oxygen mask.

"How are you feeling? Are you in any pain?" Evan leans in, blocking Tommy's view of anything else. He hasn't shaved in a bit, and the hair at his temples looks a little greasy. He's the most gorgeous thing Tommy's ever laid eyes on.

"No pain," Tommy rasps. "M'body's full'f cotton."

Evan smiles a little. "Yeah, they've got you on the good stuff. I can't tell you how many bones you've broken, because it seems like they're still finding them. The doctor did say he'd never seen a pneumothorax quite like yours before, though. He keeps bringing other doctors in to look at your scans. I think a couple of them cancelled their surgeries so they could watch yours yesterday. You're like a celebrity. You've got, like, four tubes in you sucking the excess air out."

For a second, Tommy has no idea what he's talking about. Pneumothorax? How'd he manage that? Lucy's gonna give him shit for the next year.

Then, like a breeze kicking up from the west, it all comes sweeping in. Something starts beeping a little erratically. "Did—did he... he didn't... did... R-Remo...?"

The words are slow and thick, like they have to climb over the broken branches the tree had left behind, but understanding lights up Evan's face almost immediately. He thinks Evan must be holding his hand, because there's pressure on his fingers that feels like it's coming from another room.

"He didn't," Evan says softly, but there's a sparkle of brutal satisfaction in his eyes that Tommy can't look away from. "The helicopter went down like a sack of bricks after you ditched it. It took out the coffee shop in the library. Before you ask: they close at 2:30, so no one had been in there for hours. No one was hurt. Except, well, what's his name."

Tommy closes his eyes and breathes in the canned, almost metallic stuff they're feeding him through the mask. It's so pure, it makes him a little dizzy.

"Good." His sinuses prickle hotly. "Good. That's..."

"Hey, hey, shhh," Evan coos, and Tommy opens his eyes just in time to see Evan press his mouth lushly to the curve of the oxygen mask. Despite whatever they're giving him, Tommy's lips ache with the need to feel that kiss.

"Evan," he whispers.

When he pulls back, Evan's got a wide, almost gleeful grin tugging the corners of his mouth to his ears. He looks like he's about to blow up a Gotham City school bus to try and draw out Batman. Instead, he lifts his left hand.

The lights in the room are low, so the ring on Evan's finger doesn't really glint as brightly as it should, but the light in Evan's eyes is almost blinding.

"Drawer to the right of the microwave, huh?" He laughs a little, like it's bubbling out of him, like he can't stop it. "How long had that been in there?"

It takes a moment for Tommy to pick through the cobwebs in his brain. "Mm... got it... after we did that flight over... hm... Channel Islands."

Evan stares at him, then his bubbly laughter morphs into maniacal cackling.

Tommy glances down at his hands to see if they gave him a button for the pain meds he's on. He's going to dilaudid himself into oblivion.

"That was four months into..." Evan uses their joined hands to wipe away the tears beading on his lashes. "When I asked you to move in, you ran away so fast you left a trail of dust behind you. But you bought an engagement ring four months into dating me?"

"In my defense," Tommy says, suddenly very jealous of Remo for dying a fiery death in the LA Library coffee shop. "I knew... you were it for me. You, on the other hand, had no idea... hm... what you wanted. Asking me... to move in wasn't—it wasn't about me."

Pursing his lips, Evan ducks his head and doesn't deny it, but when he tilts his chin up, the only thing on his face is bare, earnest truth. "I knew I wanted you, Tommy, any way I could have you. I didn't know what that looked like, and not knowing made me... I don't know if you've noticed, but I tend to cling when I panic."

Tommy thinks back over the last month—how every time he showed up on Eddie's doorstep, Evan practically threw himself at Tommy, clutching at him like he was afraid Tommy might go back down the walkway and leave; how getting up to take a piss or grab a Gatorade meant leaving the bed, and the look on Evan's face every time was like watching a car crash—and squeezes Evan's hand. He thinks he does, at least.

"Do you... know what it looks like now?" It takes almost all his strength to get the words out. A wave of exhaustion rolls over him, and he pinwheels a little with it. Kicking his way back to the surface takes concentration.

Evan lifts his hand again. The ring fits his finger perfectly. "It looks like you, about to fall asleep."

Another wave bowls him over, and he fights to keep his eyes open. Lucy's stupid poster blurs like someone's upturned a can of Sprite over it.

"I'll be here when you wake up, and so will half the LAPD and a bunch of people from the FBI. You're the hero of the day," Evan murmurs, and Tommy grumbles a little. "But, hey, Tommy. Before you—how did you know? How'd you know I was it for you?"

Even as he's being pulled down into the dark, he looks up, and he sees the surface roiling, dancing with the light of an old sunrise that couldn't hold a candle to the phenomenon of Evan Buckley's smile.

"Found th' wind," Tommy mumbles, drifting down, down, down. "'s easy. Like breathing."

#i wrote this directly into the tumblr text box like i had nothing to lose and it shows #bucktommy #bucktommy fic #tevan fic #911 spec fic #rc's 911 fics

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dearestzaychik · 2 months ago

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Hi! I love your writing, and may I request a one-shot of a reader who is the player from blocktales x Chance? The reader somehow got into forsaken by some bug, but they still maintain the game functions of blocktales, like their cards! Have a lovely day! (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

OH MY DAYS YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I EXPLODED WITH THIS IDEA ITS SO GOOD?? I'M THRILLED AND GLAD TO BE ABLE TO WRITE AN AMAZING IDEA LIKE THIS!! I hope you have a lovely day as well!! o⁠(⁠(⁠*⁠^⁠▽⁠^⁠*⁠)⁠)⁠o

Just might be my lucky day. ♡

Chance x BlocktalesReader!

WARNING : Slight Spoilers for Demo 3 if you haven't played Blocktales yet! WORD COUNT : 2.2k+ words

Grasping the Ghostwalker in your hands, you couldn't help but feel proud of yourself. Especially knowing all the things you went through to purify yourself and actually wield it, but you definitely didn't want to experience that again though. Nonetheless, this mission was a success either way as you've already taken down 3 swords. Looking at your collection of cards as you had a triumphant smile. Tossing them into your bag, you laid down on your bed as you let out a breath you didn't even know you were holding in. A lot has happened, and you weren't sure if the next day would go easy on you. Sleeping and being able to rest would be the top priority, and you'll decide head on after you do. Closing your eyes, falling into a deep slumber as for once in your life, you felt at peace.

Something sparked in the corner, Red glitches coming out as the breeze felt colder. Startled by this sudden uneasiness, your eyes opened as you sat back up, looking at the corner of your room yet seeing nothing there. Was it Hatred coming back to haunt you once more? But you could've sworn you purified yourself, so it can't be it. Just what was it? Before you could react, your room started to glitch out and it wasn't long before something started dragging you. Looking down, it was practically a black hole trying to pull you down. Within instinct, you could only grab your bag before you eventually got pulled in, leaded to nothing but darkness once more.

It felt like ages, you didn't know where you were going. It continued on like that until you could finally see something through the abyss of darkness. A light that shined through the dark. Clutching onto your bag, you realized you were falling as the light grew closer and closer until..

CRASH!!-

Groaning in pain, its safe to say that wasn't a great landing. But it wasn't as bad as the other things you've experienced before. Getting up, you noticed you have been transported to a different location. Into a Carnival no less. Looking in your bag, thankfully none of the swords seems to have gotten lost during everything and your cards were still here. Breathing a sigh of relief, you looked around once more, scanning the area. There wasn't much people around, and the Carnival would've looked almost abandoned if it weren't for the fact that the electricity and power seemed to be functioning well enough. As your brain processed everything, you suddenly felt a danger coming towards you, looking at your left before you quickly blocked the strange item that was thrown in your direction. It was a perfect block yet, why did it still hurt? Whoever threw that was definitely strong... Perhaps too strong for you as you looked down, realizing what was thrown at you. A Brick. You've gotten hit with many things in your life, but you didn't expect a literal brick to be easily gliding through the air like that with ease. Hell, it went through a wall too. Who was strong enough to throw a brick that glided through the air like it was nothing and even clipped through a wall? If it weren't for the Training Wheels card that you had equipped, that could've done more damage than expected.

Following the direction of the said brick, you started to hear a few things... Well, only two things really. An explosion and laughter specifically. Reaching the destination, You found yourself looking at two individuals. One is having a suit and a fedora, greatly injured judging by how much he's limping. And one that seemed to be.. a red-like being? They looked like Red Noob but if Red Noob was practically on steroids, that's for sure. Looking at the injured individual, you took the initiative as you pulled out the Ice Dagger, healing both you and the fedora-wearing man.

This really wasn't a good time, he was the last survivor and all his gun did was explode on him. He looked at c00lkidd as he stumbled backward, trying to roll for more in order to get Hat fix. But instead of any charges, he was left with even more weakness. For once, the smug grin in his face faltered, showing a frown at his sudden unluckiness. He was definitely done for, seeing how c00lkidd was practically about to send him back to the Survivor's Cabin.

Yet, when he expected his demise, he suddenly felt a boost of health out of no where. The fire that c00lkidd inflicted suddenly didn't hurt as bad, he was healed to almost his full health too, helping him tank the hit that was supposed to kill him even with the amount of weakness he had. c00lkidd themselves were surprised as well, looking around before spotting another individual that was far away, holding THE Ice Dagger in their hands. c00lkidd frowned at the Individual, stomping their feet on the ground.

"You're no fun!- You all are cheaters! You guys don't play fair and square anymore!"

They yelled, punching their hand onto the ground as minions started spawning. Chance took the opportunity to leave, running up to the Individual that miraculously saved his life as he grabbed their arm, running off to another part of this damned carnival map. Whoever this person was, they just most definitely saved both him and the win for the survivors.

You successfully ran away...?

As the fedora wearing Individual ran with his hand clutching your arm as it forced you to get out of battle, you couldn't help but look at him. You haven't seen him around, and maybe... Just maybe, he can help you get back home. If not, then at least he might know why you got transported here. As he stopped in a random corner of the map, he was out of breath as he clutched onto his own arm now. Looking at him, you decided to drop your bag onto the ground before opening it and started rummaging through your things. As Cards, Swords, Balls, and other weapons you might have you just simply tossed, trying to find a specific item. Meanwhile, Chance looked at you with surprise as multiple things were flying out from a singular, small travel bag you had. Just how much stuff did you have in there? How did something like a rocket launcher and a huge stack of dynamite even fit inside and what was up with all these cards that you had?- He was definitely confused more than anything, especially considering whoever kept them here in this realm usually took away powerful abilities or items from each survivor to avoid becoming... 'Overpowered.' He had a slight gut feeling, that this Individual wasn't supposed to be here at all.

"..Now, what's up with all of this-"

Chance muttered out, before he was interrupted as you probably found the item you were looking for, standing up as you handed him what seemed to be two slabs of meat. Although it looked edible, it definitely didn't look like it can be steak or porkchop.

"..What is this?-"

"Cooked Whale Meat."

"....What."

Awkward silence befell upon you both as Chance had a look of bewilderment across his face. Cooked Whale Meat? Was this person serious? As much as he would like to refuse, giggling can be heard close by. This individual heard it and just shoved the two slabs right in his mouth, nearly choking him but he somehow managed to consume all of it. He felt a lot better, his stamina felt greater and his HP restored 50 HP.. Nevermind his doubts, This Cooked Whale Meat actually saved his life and it tasted pretty decent too. Looking at the Individual once more, they scrambled up to get their things that they threw around the ground earlier. Footsteps grew closer, and Chance started flipping his coin once more. His smug smile coming back as he fixed his hat and had his gun on stand by. c00lkidd popped out as he held a familiar looking sword before dashing forward to the Individual.

"There you are!"

Finally finishing up the mess you made as you shoved it all back in your bag, you heard someone yell as you could only look to the right, seeing the Red Noob look-a-like from earlier starting to lunge at you with a sword... And it didn't seem to be a normal sword either, you could've sword that was the Firebrand sword as well. What was that doing there in this person's hands?- Before you can only close your eyes, attempting to dodge the attack until a gun shot ran through the air. c00lkidd's attack was interrupted as they let out a pained cry, stumbling backward as they covered their face.

"I'm telling dad!"

the more you noticed, they genuinely sounded like a child. you didn't know how they came to be the very thing they are today, but you knew this.. thing didn't have bad intentions. You could only look at the man that you helped once more as he pointed a gun at them. The man could only look at you with a grin, tipping his fedora to you.

"..Take it as a small thanks to the little stunt you pulled earlier, Little Angel. Its a shame that we don't have much time to know one another, but its clear you're never supposed to be here, aren't ya?"

The man said, looking at you. Though you couldn't see his eyes, you knew he was an observant and definitely a smart guy. He looked up, causing you to look up as well to see a timer above your heads. It had 10 seconds left on it.

"..Well, It's great meeting ya. The name's Chance by the way, remember that when we meet again won't you? You owe me a name for the next time we meet, Little Angel."

"Wait!-"

You exclaimed, looking at him with confused eyes. You still had many questions about everything that just happened. Yet compared to your panic-stricken expression, he simply looked at you with a carefree smile. Although you didn't even know the man, his way of speaking and that smile definitely already stirred butterflies in your stomach, but there was an underlying sense of sympathy you couldn't grasp yourself. Was it the sudden realization of their situation? Or was it simply the fact that there was an intuitive feeling telling you there was more than meets the eye? nonetheless, c00lkidd themselves were starting to recover from the gunshot, but there was barely any time left for them to attempt to win as everything went black.

[ THE ROUND HAS ENDED. ]

Survivors Won.

The moment you opened your eyes again, you found yourself on the floor of your bedroom. What the hell just happened? Your heart was still racing and beating loudly from everything that happened, and you were clutching onto your bag as well. You were sure that wasn't a dream, it felt too real to be one. Was your mind playing tricks on you? You didn't know yourself. Well, you were back home now but you were just left with questions you couldn't answer yourself.

Getting up from your floor, groaning in pain as you held your head that ached in pain. You could only practically think about what happened earlier. Chance... That was his name. Why was he getting chased by something like that? You had many questions, but you could only think back to the carefree smile he gave you. As if everything that you experienced with him was just a normal day to him. That was definitely a weird experience, and you weren't sure if you should tell the others about it. But you were most definitely clearing things up with Shedletsky, remembering how that kid seemed to hold the Firebrand sword... But before you could even process more of the things that happened, a striking pain attacked you on your head as you groaned in pain once more. Maybe the exhaustion is getting to you, your first priority should probably be to get medicine or something to relieve this headache first...

Meanwhile, a certain fedora wearing man was found sitting at the table. Getting bombarded by his teammates questions about what happened during the round. Specifically more on Shedletsky and Builderman, they probably spectated and noticed what the individual had as well. As the questions died out one by one as he answered and explained the situation, he was finally left alone after a while. He could only look at his hands, holding a certain card he sneakily picked up during the chaos.

A Clover Card was in his hands, labeled Lucky Start from behind it. He was right about his intuition about that Individual not belonging here, and he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed by it. Although he wouldn't wish anyone the experience he's going through right now, that certain individual felt interesting enough. Especially considering they had Three out of the Seven of the SFOTH swords, they could've probably been a big help to know what exactly was going on. Nonetheless, he kept his head high. Putting the card he picked up in his pocket once more as he looked out the window of the cabin, looking at the stars that never went away due to the time of day always being night. Who knows what fate had in store for him, but he sure did hope he'd meet them again one day. After all, they still owe him a name.♡

@lucky-traveler! Tysm for requesting and giving a wonderful idea!

Thank you for ordering! We hoped you enjoyed it, come back again next time! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

#forsaken #forsaken roblox x reader #forsaken x reader #roblox forsaken x reader #★ 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓹𝓮��

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eoieopda · 3 months ago

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in limine | wjh

in limine (latin): at the threshold, in the beginning

synopsis: you think that by remaining single this year, you’ve found a loophole in your string of shitty valentine’s days. the universe thinks you should lose your paralegal on the eve of a major trial and see if you wouldn’t rather have all of those untimely breakups and missed dates instead. pairing: wen junhui x reader au: law firm, coworkers to something genre: fluff, minor angst, smut word count: 12.5k rating: 18+ (minors, do not interact) content/warnings: attorney!reader, attorney!junhui, pov switches, civil litigation (derogatory), forced proximity, discussions of shitty relationships, i haven’t practiced in this field of law in years, recreational drinking, explicit sexual content (v fingering, p in v penetration; use of protection isn’t referenced — the smut is v prose-y —but these two would not fuck without a condom!!). reader notes: afab, no pronouns used, no descriptions of hair/complexion/body/ethnicity/nationality/etc., canonically queer, has at least one (small, nondescript, hidden wrist) tattoo. a/n 1: this fic is part of the lonely hearts club café collab, hosted by @camandemstudios! please check out the rest of this masterlist, as well as their previous collabs! 💕 a/n 2: everything here is based on u.s. law, even though the setting is nondescript. family law attorneys: i’m sorry. this is based on my one (1) month in that practice area. a/n 3: smooches to the (w)hor(e)anghae beta gang — @jihopesjoint, @daechwitatamic, and @sailorsoons svt masterlist. svt permanent taglist. multi permanent taglist.

If you had a dollar for every exasperated sigh you’ve let out during this seemingly never-ending phone call with your mother, you’d be able to pay off your student loans in an instant. Though the frustration is palpable to you, causing your already elevated blood pressure to spike further, it’s invisible to her.

Or worse, inconsequential.

“I’m just saying!” She offers, as if this takes the edge off. As if she’s ever said anything just to say it. “It wouldn’t kill you to give Mika another chance. It’s Valentine’s Day, after all.”

The next time you hear her voice, it doesn’t come from the phone pinched between your ear and shoulder; it materializes in the back of your brain and lingers like a poltergeist.

Don’t roll your eyes like that unless you want them to get stuck that way.

Across the counter, the person subbing in for your usual barista shoots you an impatient glare, then flicks his gaze to the growing line behind you.

“Mom, I have to —”

“— You really should return her calls, dove. Bitterness causes premature wrinkles, and you can’t afford —”

At this, the thread you’re dangling by snaps. Squeezing your eyes shut, you try your best to keep your voice down. “I don’t have time for this. I’ll talk to you later.”

When you hang up on her, the forceful tap against your phone’s screen sounds more like a rock against a window. Already wind-bitten from the walk here, your cheeks burn even more harshly when you note the multiple pairs of eyes watching you with poorly disguised interest.

Not wanting to make an even bigger spectacle out of yourself, you hurriedly shove your phone in your pocket and accept the drink being handed to you, even though you can tell by the blatant lack of ice that it’s wrong.

“Thank you,” you mutter with a curt nod.

The second-string barista doesn’t acknowledge that you’ve spoken. That said, the throbbing vein in his temple disappears the second you back away from his counter.

With the americano you didn’t order burning a hole through your palm, you turn swiftly and head for the door. You barely make it two steps before your phone starts screaming from the inside of your coat pocket.

Leaning hard against the glass door, you force it open with your body alone and use your spare hand to instead grasp the source of all your morning’s problems. The pressure of that godforsaken brick shoves the post of your earring painfully into your neck.

You growl, “When I said later, I didn’t mean by thirty seconds.”

A voice that is distinctly not your mother’s stammers, “Um — hello — This is Tom from Amato, Shapiro, and Santi.”

Never have you ever encountered a firm of assholes so aptly named.

He waits a beat, no doubt expecting you to apologize for your rude non-greeting, but you don’t. In fact, he could wait forever and still not get a mea culpa.

It’s only fair, you think.

Just last month, the serial sex pest he represents escaped liability for harassing your client, due in large part to Tom’s bullshit antics. If that poor woman couldn’t even get an apology for what she went through, Tom certainly won’t now.

“Yes, I know where you work, Tom.”

You roll your eyes again. It’s a reckless decision, given how furiously you’re charging down the sidewalk. A dog-walker scrambles to get both himself and his tiny, white dog out of your way.

“Do you need something? I don’t chat for free.”

The shitty little laugh you get in response makes your skin crawl. He doesn’t drag it out, though, immediately simpering, “But do you make use of the time you bill for?”

“What are you — ?” You begin to ask.

Tom cuts you off, his tone jovial and no less fake than his back alley Gucci loafers. “I’m inquiring about your witness and exhibit lists for the Qian divorce in two weeks. Really waiting until the last minute, huh? Trying to keep me on my toes?”

Though he can’t see you do it, you shake your head with a patronizing smile.

“Nice try, Tom,” you sigh. “Judge Ito continued that to May. She’s the keynote speaker for that cancerous children charity gala, or whatever.”

You weave through two old women with a muttered apology. Both are too busy gossiping about their grandsons to hear you, which is no surprise. They didn’t notice the queue of pissed-off pedestrians stuck behind their roadblock, either.

“No,” Tom corrects you. “She issued an entry a month ago, advising the parties that the conflict was no longer conflicting; and the original trial date would stand.”

The block heel of your boot catches in a divot in the sidewalk. Although you don’t trip, you may as well have. The coffee you didn’t want sloshes violently, goaded by your sudden, harsh squeeze of its cup; and it splatters all over your top, burning your chest through sticky, soaked fabric.

Because why not, you rue, the heel that did you in clatters separately to wet concrete when you lift your foot, having ripped itself from your sole.

Rather than lie down on the concrete and wait for death in the way you crave, you swallow hard and choke out, “I never got that entry.”

“It sounds like you never got competent support staff.” He laughs too loudly, making your blood boil. “Ultimately, it’s up to you which is more pressing: cleaning house or the Rules of Civil Procedure.”

Your mouth opens instinctively to tell him all the million ways he can fuck off and die. He cuts you off again before you can start:

“Just know that I will make it a problem if you can’t get your shit together in time for court. My client is sick of yours dragging this out. Frankly, so am I.”

And without another word, Tom hangs up on you.

Whatever.

Anything else he might’ve said would’ve been drowned out by the hammering pulse in your ears, anyway. What you did hear loops through your brain with every uneven step you take down the warpath, bringing your office building closer and closer into view.

Trial in two weeks.

Competent support staff.

As much as you hate to admit it, Tom has a point. You’ve been making excuses for your paralegal, Dev, for months, but this kind of fuck-up can’t be overlooked. No matter how endearing he is, Dev’s a goddamn disaster. Put simply, you can’t keep sticking your neck out for him only to have it trampled, time and again.

Dread churns in your stomach for the remainder of your commute, although the full-blown nausea doesn’t hit you until you exit the elevator and wobble out into your firm’s waiting area. A deep breath in through your nose is followed by a shaky exhale through your mouth.

Neither helps.

You make a mental note to tell your therapist that she was wrong, then another one to actually schedule an appointment.

Despite your unflinching exterior — and the profession you’ve willingly chosen for reasons still unknown to you — the simple fact remains that you don’t seek out confrontation. Nothing ruins your day quite like having to ruin someone else’s. Unfortunately for Dev, you don’t have a choice not to go nuclear. Likewise, you don’t have much time left to get your shit together prior to trial. All you seem to have is an ultimatum to present him for consideration:

Stay late with me tonight to clean up this mess, or be out of the job by the end of business hours.

“Fuck,” you mutter to yourself as you make a beeline for your personal office.

There, somewhere amidst the out-of-date statutory reference books and evidence boxes, you’ve got at least one pair of spare Chelsea boots hidden for circumstances like these.

Well, that’s not quite true.

You’ve planned ahead for sudden court appearances or shitty weather, not for the abysmally bad luck you’ve experienced so far this morning. Regardless of why you have this contingency plan locked down, you’re grateful that you do. If nothing else, it will allow you to obtain some semblance of balance before potentially kicking Dev to the curb.

Upon hobbling into your office, you close the door behind you and immediately kick off your current shoes so violently that the broken boot flies somewhere out of sight. It takes several minutes’ worth of sock-footed scurrying to find their replacements. Eventually, you locate them in a far more reasonable spot than you expected: tucked neatly underneath the far edge of your L-shaped desk.

You drop yourself into your desk chair, suddenly feeling the crushing weight of your burdens against your shoulders, and begin to unceremoniously shove your feet into your boots.

It all just fucking figures, doesn’t it?

For as far back as you can remember, every Valentine’s Day you’ve experienced has been hellish. Comically cruel, like the showrunners in charge of your narrative are trying to maintain viewership, season after season; and they’re upping the ante as they go.

Last year, Mika couldn’t be bothered to remember your relationship, let alone the holiday. She spent it underneath someone else in your bed. Before that, the “first date” you had to be talked into in the first place ended the same way it started: with you sitting alone at a bar in a crowd of perfect pairs. The pattern started in undergrad, though the memories thankfully get foggier the further back you look.

By staying away from romance entirely for the last few months, you’d made yourself so sure that you’d cracked the code — that, for once, you’d make it through the fourteenth unscathed.

And yet, here you are, suffering immensely before your day even starts.

When your therapist’s bullshit breathing technique does nothing to soothe you, you close your eyes and mutter to yourself, “It cannot get worse. It will not get worse. Bad things have happened, but it is not a bad day.”

Whether the sudden sense of calm you feel is the byproduct of mindfulness or delusion, you can’t say. Whatever the source is, you’ll take it. You cling to that shred of perspective, push yourself to your feet with a grunt, and head back in the direction you just came from.

Outside your door, the hallway gives you two options: the waiting area, which you stomped through to get where you currently are, and the office shared by your firm’s two current paralegals.

Tsia, the more senior of the two, is currently on maternity leave, which means that you’ll be able to dangle Dev off the ledge without an audience. That tiny piece of consolation is enough to get you moving in his direction, although the serenity you just barely managed to scrounge up starts evaporating more and more with every step you take.

“Dev?” You call out as you approach his closed door.

This, you note, is unlike him. He’s never been productive enough to need to shut out distractions; and he’s never been shameful enough to hide the fact that he spends most days scrolling through TikTok — without headphones, no less.

“Dev?” You try again, attempting to sound much more pleasant than you feel. “Are you on the phone?”

Hearing no response, you reach for the knob and turn it slowly, offering him some additional time to at least pretend to be busy. After counting to five, you push the door open. Then, you freeze.

Dev and his blasted cell phone are nowhere to be seen. His work laptop is on, which might have suggested that he simply stepped away, but the backlit sheet of paper taped to it says otherwise. You cross to his desk and snatch the note from his screen, eyes scanning quickly through his shockingly neat script and widening with horror at every word.

Boss,

Please consider this my resignation letter. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you in advance, but everything came about so suddenly that I haven’t had much time to wrap my brain around it. My partner’s business trip to Malta turned into a relocation offer, and now the two of us are going to –

Without bothering to finish that sentence, you crush the paper within your white-knuckled fist and squeeze your eyes shut tightly enough to sting.

FuckfuckfuckfuckFUCK.

Unable to scream out loud, you slam that same fist down onto his desk with force. The smack of your hand against the wood doesn’t distract from the panic swelling in your chest, but it does bring his laptop back to life. The sudden appearance of his desktop is especially surprising, considering you told him no fewer than ten times to password-protect his shit.

Because the hits simply will not stop coming, you see two things at once that make you want to vomit.

The desktop wallpaper is an adorable photo of Dev and his partner. Both are smiling, holding one another closely on a beach somewhere, as if the world isn’t capable of crashing down around them.

At the bottom of the screen, below sand-covered feet, is a growing list of push notifications on his minimized Outlook application.

It’s the last thing in the world you want to do, but you can’t help it; damage control is impossible if you can’t properly triage the problem. Swallowing down bile, you click on the icon and bring up your firm’s primary email inbox, which Tsia and Dev are jointly responsible for manning. Of the hundreds of untouched messages, more than half are from either local Clerks of Court or Tom fucking Santi.

Just above the notice of your now-upcoming trial, you find the only January emails that Dev did read, confirming one-way plane tickets to Malta and the booking of international movers. That motherfucker not only lied in his quote-unquote resignation letter about the amount of notice he could give you but also about the billable hours he burned, planning his escape.

All at once, you feel your internal systems crashing out. Your eyes swim, your head reels, and your stomach lurches. You don’t know whether you want to scream, sob, or send yourself flying out of the nearby window. All of them — preferably at once.

The only reason you don’t do any of these things, no matter how strong the urges are, is the fact that your professional reputation is at stake. Your abject refusal to appear incompetent kicks you into overdrive. It kicks you so far, in fact, that you find yourself in your co-worker’s office with no real memory of walking there in the first place.

Yuki jolts when she looks up from her monitors and finds you looming over her with your eyes too wide to be normal. She gets up immediately and gestures for you to sit on the plush loveseat underneath her window. You don’t – rather, can’t – move, so she places her hands on your shoulders and ushers you onto a cushion herself.

“Dear god,” she mutters. “Are you okay?”

She should know by now that this is the worst possible question to ask you under circumstances like this. Of course, you weren’t okay when you barged in here to begin with. You’re even worse off now because your weakness is being perceived.

Embarrassment and self-loathing bubbles under the surface of your skin, making you hot. Both threaten to leak out through your eyes.

You don’t want to have to ask for help, period, but you’re out of options; and Yuki is the only person here who’s allowed to see you anywhere near a breakdown. That, and you’re certain she’d be available. Having drafted the shared parenting agreement for her and her ex-boyfriend, you know for a fact that their daughter will be with him tonight.

“If I buy you takeout, would you be willing to stay for a while after work to help with some last minute trial prep?” You can’t even bring yourself to meet her eyes when you explain, “Dev bailed, and I’m so, so, so fucked now.”

Yuki grabs your hand from your lap and squeezes. For a split second, you feel relieved. Then, you hear her sigh, and your hopes are dashed just as quickly as they were raised.

“Kimiko’s kindergarten class is having a daddy-daughter dance for Valentine’s Day tonight,” she starts.

The pained look on her face tells you everything you need to know. Nevertheless, she continues, “Ty flaked, as usual. I had to be the one to decide what would be more humiliating for her — being the only kid there with their mom, or the only kid who doesn’t get to go at all.”

“I’m so sorry, Yuki.”

You mean it, wholeheartedly. The only victim of your shitty love life is you. Yuki, on the other hand, has a six-year-old to protect from becoming collateral damage.

She simply shrugs, too used to this sort of letdown to let it ruin her day. “Kimiko bounced back fairly quickly, which is pretty sad, in and of itself. She asked if we could wear matching outfits.”

You crack a smile for the first time all day. Gesturing to her entirely black, incredibly chic outfit, you tease, “Is she dressing for a funeral, too?”

“I wish!” Yuki throws her head back and whines, “The vibes tonight are tragically bright pink, and I have to leave early to shop before the dance starts.”

“Well…” You give her hand a squeeze, then let it go entirely. “I’m sending you thoughts and prayers, buddy.”

She swats at you, tells you kindly to fuck off, and then wishes you good luck while you head back out her door.

As you trudge back towards your office, you run through your list of contingency plans.

The firm’s owners, Zavier and Jaein, are both out of the question. If they’re not spending the night with their respective spouses, they’ll be continuing their not-so-secret affair with one another. Even if they weren’t, you’d rather stand in front of an oncoming train than give them any reason to doubt your abilities.

Next.

With Yuki out of commission, there are three other associate attorneys left for you to consider.

Dani is engaged and definitely has plans with his smoke-show of a fiancé; there’s no point in asking him for help. You’d never hear the end of it if you did, anyway. He’s so committed to his one-sided rivalry with you that he’d probably make a plaque to commemorate your failings.

Pass.

Sana and her wife are on a cruise somewhere far more pleasant than here, so she’s out. Thank god. Beating your head against a wall would be preferable to spending several hours in a room alone with her. Sana’s only personality trait is married, and she’s entirely incapable of talking about anything else.

Hard pass.

The relatively new hire, Junhui, is still an unknown factor. In the few months he’s worked here, you’ve met him exactly once that you can recall. It was a brief encounter in the break room; and his mouth was so full of whatever he’d brought for lunch that he couldn’t respond beyond simply waving when you’d introduced yourself.

He seemed perfectly nice — and from what you hear, he’s perfectly competent — but yours is far too big a burden to shove onto a virtual stranger.

Besides, there’s simply no way that someone who looks like that doesn’t have better places to be tonight.

Junhui doesn’t realize that he’d nodded off until his bleary eyes travel down from his half-finished report and spot the time in the bottom corner of his screen. Apparently, it’s already a quarter to six. If he hadn’t fallen asleep at some point in the recent past, he’d be stepping off the train home by now.

Of course, he isn’t. Now, with all the other commuters flooding public transit, the trip home will be at least twice as long.

Damn it.

He scrubs his hands over his face in an attempt to get the exhaustion off of it, though he doesn’t manage without yawning into his palms.

Figuring that he’s already behind schedule, he slowly rises to his feet and stretches his arms over his head with a groan, dreaming all the while of the caffeine he can down before heading out. With no one left in the office, he’ll be able to fail his way through this acquisition without anyone knowing how completely inept he is at using the firm’s espresso machine.

As expected, Junhui’s walk to the conference room is lonely. Each of his colleagues’ doors are closed, making it clear that they all bolted the second they could. Even the cleaning staff managed to come and go without him noticing; all the trash and recycling bins have been emptied.

Thankfully, he notes, someone forgot to turn off the conference room light before they dipped. If they hadn’t, all his steps would be taken in total darkness — because, even after three months of working here, he still doesn’t have a clue where the switches are.

As soon as he crosses the threshold into that sole, lit room, Junhui stops. The massive table that normally occupies the center of it has been shoved up against the interior wall, along with all its chairs. In its place, evidence boxes form a haphazard little fairy circle on the rug. You sit cross-legged in the middle, nose all but buried in a case file, wearing leggings and a crewneck instead of the suit you likely came here in.

“You look comfortable,” he muses.

It becomes abundantly clear very quickly that you, too, thought you were here alone. You jolt at the sound of his voice. All the papers you were holding drop and scatter, both across your lap and the floor you’re monopolizing.

Junhui’s hands fly up. “Whoa, sorry. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

The look on your face is far from startled, though. Even from a few meters away, he can see how tightly your jaw is clenched. If he listens closely, he’d likely hear your teeth grinding one another into dust.

He can also sense how stiff your posture is, now that you feel his eyes on you. His gaze shifts to the piles of paper near your knotted limbs; and he tells himself that he’s averting his eyes out of respect, not the tiny tremble of intimidation he feels working its way down his spine.

At this point, Junhui knows you by reputation only. He’s rarely at any of the courthouses you frequent, and his specific line of work keeps him out of the office, more often than not. Whenever he is here, you’re not — too busy with that massive caseload of yours to catch much of a breather.

The two of you may be passing ships in the night, but you have a lot of people in common. He can’t say that he’s made much of an impression on them so far. You, on the other hand, are both widely known and discussed.

So far, anyone that’s ever mentioned you to him speaks about you as if they’re describing a force of nature. It’s the kind of awe people usually save for something fearsome yet worthy of respect, like a tsunami — with the sole exception being that sanctimonious cunt, Tom Santi, who most recently described you as a nightmare bitch from hell.

Of course, Junhui has no firsthand knowledge to back any of these claims up, but he figures it can’t be that far out of character for you to be here now, working too hard. For all he knows, it could also be on-brand for you to snap his neck for distracting you.

“Do you…?”

One of your eyebrows arches quizzically. His question dies on his tongue, halfway finished, because he doesn’t know where it was headed in the first place. Just the same, he can’t tell if that expression on your face is due to stress, annoyance at being interrupted, or some secret, third thing.

…Want me to leave?

Junhui points awkwardly to the espresso machine in the corner, which you’ve unintentionally barricaded behind the conference room table. Like a fucking buffoon, all he says is: “Espresso?”

Your face scrunches a tiny bit. For the second time, he finds himself completely unable to read you. Is it disgust? Suspicion?

No, he realizes, it’s neither. He sees the tiniest flicker of it when the corner of your lips twitch: amusement. While the smile doesn’t overtake your mouth, there’s a glimmer of it in your eyes. It’s reason enough for Junhui to breathe for the first time since he walked in.

“Yes, I do espresso.” You nod with your lips bitten between your teeth, like you’re seconds away from laughing.

Too eagerly, Junhui nods, too. “Right. Got it. Order up.”

Order up?

Running away isn’t an option; and he can’t dig a hole to hide in without a shovel. All he has left to do is shuffle over towards the corner and slink through the obstacle course you’ve built. With what he feels is impressive agility, he makes it all the way to the machine before pausing suddenly.

Under his breath, he curses, “Fuck.”

The jig is up now. Junhui has no idea which buttons to press, or even where the espresso beans are. Unfortunately for both of you, the only way for him to find out is to interrupt you further.

Whoever handles his eulogy better leave out how little time it took him to provoke you into killing him.

Bracing himself for impact, he squeezes his eyes shut and smiles sheepishly. “Do you happen to know how to… use this?”

There’s a groan from the center of the room. Junhui cracks one eye open and searches for the fist coming his way. Instead, he finds you on your feet, twisting at the waist and stretching.

While twisting, you lock eyes — well, eye — with him, then you freeze with your torso still rotated in his direction. Your hinged arms stay where they are, held up at your sides.

“I’ve been sitting here like a goblin for too long,” you explain, tone self-conscious. “If you just heard every joint in my body pop…. no, you didn’t.”

Before Junhui can think of a quip in response — he’s capable of coherent speech, he swears — you step over the shoes you’ve discarded and make your way over to him, patterned socks clashing with the neutral carpet below. He steps back on instinct, although there isn’t really anywhere left for him to go.

You either don’t notice how close you get to him, or you don’t care. Entirely unfazed, you set to work, grinding and tamping like it’s all second nature to you.

Junhui knows he should use this time to observe your processes carefully, but he doesn’t. That’s not to say the learning opportunity is entirely squandered, though.

And he’s a quick study.

In less than a minute, he learns more about you than he has in the last three months. His first discovery is that you’re wearing a watch on your dominant wrist, which is weird as hell — until he spots the small tattoo hiding beneath it. He catches the very faint notes of patchouli at the base of your perfume, too, underneath the cassis and freesia.

It’s nice, he thinks, even better than the overwhelming scent of coffee that swoops in to drown it out.

“This goes here —”

The silver piece in your hand twists into place with a click, drawing his attention back to where it should’ve been all along.

Fuck.

Have you been talking this entire time?

“— and then you press the start button to release the hot water.”

You glance up at him then to confirm that he understood you. Junhui blinks, buffering while he tries to play this out.

“You’re good at this,” he improvises, although he admittedly has no idea if this is true.

“No compliments until you survive drinking it.” You offer him a wry smile to go with the drink you’ve made him. “I’ve quite literally never touched this thing before in my life.”

With your vaguely expectant eyes on him, he takes a small sip, then he murmurs with his lips still hidden behind the glass, “I don’t think I believe that.”

“Why?” You smirk and tilt your head to the side. “Because it’s just that good?”

No, in fact, it’s terrible, but you don’t need to know that.

Junhui nods his head towards the center of the room. His reply is simple, and despite not being the full truth, it’s not a lie: “I’d expect more practice from someone who seems to live here.”

For the first time since he walked in, you offer a full reaction — not just a hint of one. He would’ve preferred a laugh, or even a genuine smile; however, that’s not what he gets. Instead, your face becomes pinched.

“Fucking Dev.”

Whatever thought you might have had about making your own shitty drink disappears. You stalk back over to your shrine of documents and drop once again to the floor, legs knitted. In the split second you’re not looking at him, Junhui spits out the bean shards you missed while grinding and tosses them in the nearby trash can.

Although he’s curious, he hesitates to ask what it is you’re working on. Clearly, whatever it is has got you stressed to the point that caffeine is no longer a priority. Based on personal experience, that’s a bad sign.

Still, Junhui can’t seem to stop talking to you, even though he’s sure it’s a bother. He takes a second look at the sheer amount of paper surrounding you and ventures a guess: “Class-action suit?”

“That would honestly be preferable,” you mutter, looking up from your notes long enough to glance over your shoulder at him.

He takes this as a sign that his presence isn’t entirely unwelcome. At least, it’s a good enough omen to draw him closer. He skirts back around the mess of chairs until he’s standing across from where you sit, and then he leans back against the table.

You look back down again, leaving Junhui to wonder if he made the wrong call. For what it’s worth, he also wonders what it really is about you that’s making him act so awkwardly all of the sudden.

“What are you still here for?”

His heart drops into his stomach, which is about ready to fall right out of his ass. His mouth opens, though nothing comes out.

Sensing the way he’s quietly spiraling, you look up at him. “In the office, I mean,” you amend quickly with a shake of your head. “We don’t really run into each other during business hours, so I didn’t expect to see you here after, you know?”

Ah, fuck.

Junhui swallows.

The truth — that he’s only here because he dozed off on the clock — is offensive, even to him. Here you are, working hard enough for two people; and in stomps the clown whose tasks bored him right to sleep. While he doesn’t want anyone to know about his unprofessional little snooze, the thought of admitting it to you feels…

Nope.

He’s not going to unpack this, not now. It doesn’t matter if it’s a desire to not look dumb in front of a colleague or one to be a little more impressive to you, specifically.

“I was working on an investigatory report,” he eventually says, conveniently leaving out the fact that his impromptu nap kept him from finishing it.

You arch an eyebrow again, which he’s beginning to believe is an unconscious tell of yours. Yet another quiet invitation.

“Investigatory report? Is that… common?”

The two of you look at each other. Now, he’s confused.

“You do immigration law, don’t you?” You gesture over his shoulder, out the door. “You’ve got five different name plates outside your office, written in as many different alphabets —”

Oh.

“— I kind of just assumed —”

Junhui laughs, which causes your other eyebrow to rise up and join the other. “I mean, I dabble. It’s all soul-crushing, though, so I try not to take those cases unless they’re, like, dire.”

Too many of them are.

You hum in acknowledgment. “So, what do you do?”

“Guardian ad Litem work, mostly,” he replies with a shrug. “The name plates are —“

He gestures vaguely, but then all that suppressed, systemic frustration starts to bubble up, unbidden. He’s never been great at withholding his little rants, so he starts talking a little too quickly, a little too loudly.

“There are a lot of immigrant families in the area, right? Whether or not they should, a lot of them wind up court-involved, especially where their kids are concerned.”

As aware as he is that his hands are moving too much with each word, he’s unable to stop.

“I noticed that absolutely nobody on the local courts’ appointment lists was multilingual, which is just fucking negligent —”

When you finally speak, it’s with your head tilted and eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Sounds to me like someone found their calling.”

And against his better judgment, Junhui takes his balled up fist, extends his thumb and pinky finger, and holds it up to his ear. “Might have been a wrong number, but it’s worked out well enough so far.”

And you laugh, sincerely and squeakily in a way that nearly makes him laugh, too.

“You’re weird. You know that, right? Like weird weird.” You grin as you say this, leading him to believe it’s a compliment of the highest order. “I never would’ve guessed.”

Junhui looks at you, looking at him, and he feels the charge your shitty espresso couldn’t muster. He feels bolder. Gesturing to your mountain of documents, he finally brings himself to ask why you’re still here. The second he does, he regrets it; he watches you deflate in real time, smile warping downwards.

“It’s a clusterfuck.”

You take your eyes off of him and plant them back on the file in your hands.

“I found out that a nasty trial of mine is taking place in two weeks, rather than twelve, and I have to get shit together tonight or I’m fucked – genuinely, irrevocably fucked. I can’t file a Witness and Exhibit List until I get through all of this discovery–”

You shift your extended left leg to give one of the boxes a half-hearted kick.

“– and if I don’t submit that for electronic filing by midnight, all my shit will be excluded.”

Junhui nods his understanding, then pushes himself off the table he’s been leaning on. You watch him carefully, waiting for him to excuse himself and walk out the door, but that was never his intention. Instead, he sits cross-legged on the floor across from you and grabs a packet of exhibit stickers off one of the nearby boxes’ lids.

“Letters or numbers?” He asks, holding the packet aloft.

You blink before you splutter, “Oh, wait, no. No, you really don’t have to. I couldn’t ask you to –”

“Letters or numbers?” Junhui repeats himself, softer but no less seriously.

“You seriously don’t have other plans?”

Now, it’s his turn to balk. Unlike you, his shock is entirely manufactured. “On a work night? In this economy?”

“On Valentine’s Day,” you correct him with emphasis.

Rather than feigned horror, it’s earnest embarrassment that floods his face. The tips of his ears start burning, too, in a matter of seconds. Smiling sheepishly, he admits, “Guess I forgot. Don’t really have much to celebrate, you know?”

You raise the manila folder in your hand and reach over to tap it against the packet of stickers in his.

“Cheers to that,” you scoff.

Junhui, it turns out, is even more productive than you are. He falls into lockstep with you the moment he sits down, and other than asking him to hand you things that are closer to him than to you, you don’t need to direct him.

Better still, he anticipates. Every time you finish reviewing one exhibit, he’s holding another one out to you – pre-marked – with a packet of post-it tabs for you to mark especially relevant pages. Though you certainly didn’t ask him to, the tabs he gives you follow a color-scheme, creating a key for easier reference.

Green for financial records, red for social media posts and other electronic communications, blue for your clients’ extensive medical and therapy records.

In only a handful of hours, you comb through everything you need to in order to truly start preparing. The sinkhole that’s been occupying your stomach since this morning disappears. In its place, all that’s left is a void of a different kind.

“I’m starving,” you announce suddenly and dramatically, flopping onto your back with your arm flung over your forehead. “Are you?”

When you don’t get a response, you pull your arm away from your face and crack one eye open in the face of the overhead fluorescents. If your vision wasn’t already blurry from all the time spent reading, this stupid decision likely would’ve blinded you. Thankfully, your eyes still work well enough to look over at Junhui.

Where Junhui was, rather.

You blink, dumbfounded. You didn’t see or hear him leave, which begs the question: were you too locked-in to hear his goodbye, or did he slip past you like Casper the Selflessly Helpful Ghost? You don’t know when it was that he even left, or why it is that you’re frowning now for the first time in six hours.

You reach for your phone to text him and ask. It’s in your hand before you realize that you don’t have his number and back in your pocket before you feel yourself truly start to pout. Although he was putting in unpaid labor on your behalf, you’d gotten the impression that he was enjoying himself. You were, anyway.

Deciding that you can manage lonely better than hungry, you force yourself to sit up, then to your feet. Without bothering to put your shoes back on, you step over the paper fortress you’ve spent all night building and shuffle off with heavy eyelids towards the door.

Someone in this office has to have snacks, whether they’d be okay with you sniping some or not. You cross your fingers while you head for the breakroom and hope for a nice, unexpired yogurt, at the very least. Maybe a leftover packet of oyster crackers if you’re lucky – ones that aren’t stale if you’re especially so.

Before you can step foot into the breakroom, a sudden, muffled shout snaps you out of your famished, fugue state.

“Hot!”

Your gaze snaps from the floor to Junhui, who stands in front of you with both of his hands full. His eyebrows now occupy the space immediately below his hairline; his eyes are wider than you would’ve previously thought humanly possible. Relief splashes over you. If you’re being honest, it doesn’t have a damn thing to do with the two steaming bowls of buldak ramen you just narrowly avoided crashing into.

With two, paper-wrapped pairs of chopsticks held between his teeth, Junhui can’t say much of anything. That doesn’t stop him from trying, though. “Ih ooh mih meh?”

“What?” You snort.

Realizing how truly useless that question is, you reach up and carefully pluck the chopsticks from his mouth. A heart-shaped smile takes their place.

“I asked if you missed me,” he simpers. “I told you I’d be right back.”

You blink twice, quickly.

Did he?

He jerks his head in the direction of the conference room. “C’mon. You’re hungry, and I’m burning through my epidermis.”

As soon as you side-step out of his way, Junhui takes off at a laughable pace, footsteps measured and careful to avoid sloshing hot soup as he goes. You have to bite down on your lips to keep from telling him how much he looks like those sprint-walkers turning laps at the local mall. All he needs is a tracksuit.

When you finally catch up to him, you find that he’s already set both bowls onto the table and pulled up a chair. One chair. You open your mouth to ask him about this, but he senses your question coming and waves it away with his hand.

“There’s only ten minutes left to file your Witness and Exhibit List,” he points out.

You don’t doubt him enough to check your watch, but you’re surprised to learn that he’s kept track of your deadline, even when you haven’t. Both of you move at once, nearly colliding a second time on your respective routes to your laptop.

Oh.

That single chair is for you.

“Seriously, eat,” Junhui urges. “I’ve got this.”

He sits down on the floor and hauls your computer into his lap without another word. You can’t seem to move, though. You simply stand there, watching him, and try to fight the very unexpected urge you suddenly feel to cry.

In fact, you’re still standing there when he calls out to you without looking up. “Case parties and who else?”

“The fertility –” You swallow thickly then clear your throat. “The fertility doctor, Eve Nguyen. She’s testifying to the in vitro hell my client put herself through while her husband was withholding the truth about his vasectomy from her.”

Junhui types furiously as you talk, face scrunching up in disgust without turning away from your screen.

“Her therapist, too: Phoebe Miller. She’ll testify to the impact of the hormone treatments on Ms. Al-Hamin’s mental health, and the sheer amount of time she spent sobbing on Ms. Miller’s couch when she finally found out about her shitbag husband’s useless balls.”

“Eat,” Junhui urges again, more emphatically this time. He gestures with his head to the table, where the ramen he made for you is still waiting. “I mean it. I’ll figure out a more court-appropriate way to phrase shitbag husband’s useless balls.”

You do as he says and sink down into the chair he pulled out for you, pulling the food toward you eagerly. Thankfully, he doesn’t glance over at you to confirm that you are in fact eating. Though you’ve bonded quickly in this little trench of yours, he doesn’t yet have the kind of security clearance a person would need to see you scarf down noodles with reckless abandon.

Maybe eventually the two of you will get to a point where he can perceive you unhinge your jaw like a snake just to devour a meal.

Today is not that day.

Without needing to be asked, Junhui switches his focus to the stack of numbered exhibits to his left. As he thumbs through them, he adds each one to your Exhibit List in order, then quickly shuffles the one he’s identified to the bottom of the stack. He does it all so effortlessly that he finishes that task before you’ve finished your food.

Unfortunately for you, that means he looks up in time to see the massive, final bite you stuff into your gaping maw. It’s not disgust that you’re met with, though. It’s something soft, a smile that’s entirely present in his eyes. You freeze and thaw at the same time, not giving a shit that those things should be mutually exclusive.

“Do you want to look this over before I e-file it?”

You shake your head, mouth too full to tell him that you trust him. Setting the empty cardboard bowl down on the tabletop, you offer him a thumbs up instead, which makes him laugh; then a finger-heart, which makes him laugh harder.

Although he could, Junhui doesn’t stand up right away. He goes right back to typing, throwing you for a loop.

“Hey,” you say. When he doesn’t stop, you do your best to mimic his softly commanding voice. “Eat.”

He shakes his head. When he speaks, he sounds a thousand miles away; too focused to be fully present. “I’m already over here. I might as well file these subpoenas.”

Now, you really want to cry.

“I don’t even know how to thank you.” You laugh to hide how close to tears you are. “Seriously. I don’t think I’m the kind of person who’d stay this late to help someone, let alone someone I hardly know.”

Junhui presses down on the trackpad, definitively hitting submit on the last of your work for the night. He closes your laptop, sets it back down on the box to his left, then turns to you.

“I think you would,” he disagrees with a gentle shake of his head. “Besides, I can’t say that I hardly know you anymore. I got paid for my labor with lore.”

You snort out a laugh. The buldak sauce lingering in your throat burns your sinuses, prompting you to close your eyes tightly and laugh even harder. When you reopen your eyes, it’s impossible to tell whether the tears on your lash line are steeped in mirth, spice, or bone-deep gratitude.

“Don’t say that like it’s just compensation,” you warn.

Junhui tilts his head to the side, his stare innocent and not at all challenging. “Isn’t it?”

Outwardly, you roll your eyes. Inwardly, there’s a war amidst the butterflies in your stomach; the majority love the way he looks at you when he’s perplexed, while the rest scream not to fall into the same old trap for the millionth year in a row.

You force a change in subject lest you start to choke on all the honey dripping from your eyes.

“How about you actually eat this ramen you made while I clean up the mess I made of this room?”

Junhui sighs like he’s truly put-upon. Nevertheless, he holds one hand out to you, silently requesting that you haul him to his feet. Figuring it’s the very least you can do, you oblige. He’s towering over you in no time, shooting you a tiny, thankful smile that sends your brain into a tailspin.

He eats, and you busy yourself with the numerous trip hazards around him: first, shuffling your case files and boxes to the side of the room, then wheeling both Junhui and his chair back where the latter belongs. He protests all the while — not because you scoot him without his consent, but because you wave off every single suggestion he makes about waiting until he’s done so he can help.

“You’ve done enough!” You grunt as you forcibly drag the table back into place. “There’s above and beyond, and then there’s you — way past that.”

His cheeks go pink while he goes quiet. You bravely decline to stare at that dusty rose color and instead hop foot to foot while you tug your boots back on.

“I feel awful that you’re going to get, like, five hours of sleep before you have to come back here. Do you have —”

You lose your balance and the rest of that sentence, but you gain Junhui’s hands on your upper arms, preventing you from falling over entirely.

“— court in the morning?” You supply breathlessly, a little too shocked by his quick reflexes and concerned eyes to function.

Junhui waits for you to let go of the back of your boot and regain your footing before peeling his hands off you and shoving them quickly into the pockets of his coat. His response comes a bit clumsily, though you don’t have much room to talk.

“Nope,” he says, shaking his head and shrugging. “My schedule is pretty light this month, actually.” Then, he smiles sheepishly. “Especially compared to yours.”

Eyes narrowing playfully, you snip, “Don’t brag, Wen Junhui. It’s uncouth.”

He pauses for a second then asks, “Is it couth with you if I walk you out?”

Your jaw damn near drops. His response is so stupid, so hopelessly devoid of rizz despite the beat he took to think of it, and yet you’re powerless in the face of it.

This man is a loser; and even though there are a million Human Resource-related reasons why you shouldn’t, you kind of want him.

No, you do want him.

Badly.

You swallow that burgeoning need like a shot, then you let out a measured, cooling breath.

“I’ll allow it,” you sniff.

The subsequent walk to the elevator, as well as the ride down, aren’t quiet. You’re grateful, but you can’t take credit; Junhui keeps the conversation going easily, notwithstanding your distinct lack of input.

If he notices how quiet you’ve gone, it doesn’t seem to bother him. Just the same, if he notices how intently you watch him while he talks, he gives you the benefit of the doubt.

Before tonight, it never really occurred to you how pretty he is. Of course, you haven’t been blind. Your few passing encounters clued in you in that he was good-looking, at least from a distance, but he’s something else entirely when he stands as close to you as he is now. You can’t even pretend to look anywhere else.

No matter how many sharp angles he has — the high bridge of his nose, the L-shape of his jaw, and the peaks of his cheekbones — there’s softness to balance it out. You see it in the heart-shaped curve of his mouth when he smiles; the faint freckle directly above it; and the cat-like, slow blink when he occasionally glances down at you. It’s present in the almost breathy tone of his voice, the one that makes it sound like he’s reaching you through some dreamlike haze.

But then you realize how fucking stupid it is for you to look at anyone the way you currently are, let alone a co-worker.

You made a pact with yourself after breaking up with Mika to keep to yourself for the foreseeable future — to protect yourself from the series of unfortunate romantic events you can’t otherwise seem to avoid. For eight months, you’ve stuck to it, even though you’re lonely. It’s been working, too. Nobody’s been able to shatter you because you haven’t given anyone the hammer or the opportunity.

And your avoidance isn’t just for your own good, either. Something about you either draws shittiness out of people or grows it where none existed before. Everyone you’ve dated in recent years was fine until they got too close; they all seem to be better off now that they’ve gotten away from you. In fact, if your social media creeping has taught you anything, it’s that Mika is the only one of your exes not happily in a relationship.

The pattern is too significant at this point to be a coincidence, and though you try to pass it all off as shitty luck, you’re the common denominator amidst all these disasters.

Shouldn’t you be held accountable for that?

“Look alive, sunshine.”

You snap back to attention with a jolt.

Junhui stands in the opening of the elevator with his hand on the frame, actively preventing the door from closing on you. You didn’t hear the bell go off when it opened; you have no idea how long you’ve been standing there, zoned-out stare fixated on the floor.

He sees what must be a bewildered expression on your face and laughs. “Did you fall asleep with your eyes open? I apparently do that sometimes, too.”

“No, I —” You shake your head while you start to explain, but then your brain stops buffering. “I’m sorry, you what?”

“I didn’t say anything. Out you come!”

You let Junhui usher you out of the elevator, but as you do, you crane your neck to look up at him with unabashed wonder. “Like a prey animal?”

He holds his left index finger up to his lips to silence you, then goes as far as actually shushing you. The tips of his ears peek out from his wavy hair, bright red against the dark.

“Like a little bunny?” You tease, tugging at the hem of his coat.

He rolls his eyes, though no part of him seems annoyed in the slightest. He doesn’t even move away from you. Instead, he rebuts you while lingering at your side, “No.”

You take your fist and rest it on top of your head with your middle and index fingers extended upward, smiling brattishly while you wait for Junhui to look back over at you.

His gaze is locked on the door ahead, however. He raises his arm and points, drawing your attention. “What is that?”

The second you see it, you drop your head back and groan with everything you’ve got. “Fuuuuuuck.”

That would be the security gate, which the building security staff lowers over the front doors when they leave for the night. It’s electronic and can be easily opened with a passcode — which you don’t have.

“Oh, my god.” You shove your face into your palms. “Oh, my god. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot about the fucking gate. I don’t even know what time they close it.”

“There’s a pin pad over there.”

You can’t see him, but you’re sure he’s pointing.

“You’ve worked here for a while. They gave you the code, right?”

You will yourself to shrink, to turn into a speck of dirt on the floor and be promptly kicked away. If he can’t see you, he can’t hate you for getting him locked in the goddamn building after donating hours of his time to help you.

Oh, you fucking clown.

Swallowing harshly, you whisper, “I’ve never stayed late enough to need it. I’m seriously so sorry. Technically, we can get out through the emergency fire exit, but that will —”

“— Set off all the alarms and sprinklers,” Junhui correctly assumes, prompting you to nod with your head still buried in your hands.

Silence creeps in then and settles over the two of you, suffocatingly thick like a fire blanket. It’s fitting, given how badly embarrassment burns your cheeks. You want nothing more than to curl up and die — right here, where security can find you in the morning and atone on their knees for trapping you like a rat.

But then Junhui laughs — really, truly, deeply laughs — so hard that you feel him momentarily double over at your side.

You part your fingers and peek over at him through the gaps. With his eyes screwed shut, the mirthful tears have nowhere to go except the far corners of his eyes. They streak down his temples, glowing a hazy shade of blue due to the colored security lamps overhead.

“I’m sorry.” His apology comes out squeaky on the tail of a wheezing laugh. “No one should have to spend this many consecutive hours with me. God, you were so close to freedom.”

You buy into the bit, rather than admit to the tiny thrill spinning dizzy circles in your brain. “It is a tremendous burden, yes. Of all today’s trials and tribulations, you will be my undoing.”

Junhui wipes his cheek, then glances over his shoulder at the elevator. He stares at it thoughtfully for a moment, gears turning, before he turns back to you with his head tilted sideways.

“If I can bother you for a little while longer, I think I have a way to pass the time.”

In the far corner of the conference room sits a bar cart, weighted down with more bottles and glasses than is even remotely necessary for a place of business. Artfully curated for trial and settlement victories, it boasts at least six different kinds of liquor. Each one is more expensive than the last.

“You sure this is a good idea?” You ask, gesturing to the bottle of gin in Junhui’s hand.

He can’t make heads or tails of your hesitation. You strike him as the type to apologize later, rather than seek permission first. Even if his assessment of you is wrong, he knows without a doubt that neither Zavier nor Jaein would ever draw a sword on their most objectively successful associate.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” He asks, tone laden with amusement. “You’re the reason we have this cart in the first place.”

You shoot him a warning look that lacks heat. He hopes you don’t intend to rebut him; there’s no need to be humble, especially when what he said is true. Without you, there’d be a hell of a lot less to celebrate around here.

Come to think of it, the only thing more impressive than your trial record is the long list of happy client reviews that come up in internet searches.

Not that Junhui has Googled you.

Okay, not that he’s Googled you more than twice.

He twists the cap off the bottle and pours matching amounts in two glasses, keeping his eyes focused on his ministrations instead of on you.

“Don’t tell me you’re scared of getting in trouble. What would Tom Santi think?”

Two seconds after he adds a splash of tonic, your hand appears from his peripheral vision and grabs the nearest glass from its spot on the edge of the cart. When Junhui’s eyes travel down the length of your arm and up to your face, he spots the innocent, bewildered way you’re blinking back at him.

Cotton-candy sweet, you lilt, “I’m just worried that you can’t keep up.”

You tilt your glass — a silent cheers — before taking a sip, a devilish smile appearing as soon as the cup leaves your lips.

His stomach flips excitedly even though he’s aware that it shouldn’t. There’s a fence of red tape building a perimeter around you, and it’s dotted with hundreds of warning signs: off-limits, trespassers will be prosecuted, etc.

He needs to get a grip — quickly. Entertaining the idea of you finding him attractive, too, is idiotic in more ways than one, and he knows it. Not only are you astronomically out of his league, but you’re also his colleague.

Assuming for the sake of argument that you did stoop to his level, you’d eventually come to your senses and realize that he’s nowhere near your caliber. When that inevitably happens, Junhui will still have to work down the hall from you. He doesn’t have the confidence to bounce back from something like that, not since his ex put his self-image in a blender half a year ago.

“Did you fall asleep with your eyes open again, bunny?”

He blinks rapidly, and you come back into focus. You’ve moved from his side since he zoned out. Now, you sit on the edge of the conference room table with your legs knotted, not unlike the way he found you on the floor several hours ago. Though you tease, there’s a distinct hint of concern in your narrowed eyes while you assess him.

Junhui’s instinct isn’t like a prey animal’s at all, but he knows better than to act on it, so he finishes pouring his own drink and recaps the bottle. Rather than put it down, he keeps it in his hand, grabs his drink with the other, and heads off for the door.

“Come with me,” he tells you.

You follow without question, footfalls sounding off quietly behind him as he leads you through the dark back to his office. Before you can get the wrong impression — or the right one, if the circumstances themselves weren’t wrong — he flicks on the lamp near the door and ushers you inside.

You’ve never been in his workspace, just like he’s never been in yours. Your office, he imagines, is as immaculately organized as you seem to be. That said, he wouldn’t be surprised if you had opposing counsels’ severed heads mounted on the wall.

His office, however, has a wildly different vibe. It seems to surprise you, so much so that you freeze halfway inside with wide eyes and a partially open mouth.

“You have kids?”

Apparently, it’s Junhui’s turn to be surprised. He glances over to where you’re pointing and laughs.

On the wall directly behind his desk is a full collage of drawings and handwritten notes, most of which were done by kids under the age of ten. Though their backgrounds, ages, and abilities vary significantly, they all have one thing in common: they all got really attached to their court-appointed Guardian ad Litem, Wen Junhui.

He shakes his head, although you don’t see him do it. You have your back to him, too focused on reading the various letters to react when he finally speaks.

“In a way, they’re kind of mine, just not… literally.”

You maintain your respectful silence, as if you’re wandering through a museum exhibit. He watches while you lift a hand and let your fingertips run gently overtop an especially artful tribute from a six-year-old named Iseul.

“Big fan of glitter and googly eyes, that one,” he muses, chuckling softly. “You have no idea how long it took me to clean up the visitation room at the community center when our meeting was over.”

You point to three stick figures, who hold hands in front of a large, grey building. Above them, a gigantic sun fills the corner of the page. It wears black sunglasses, the irony of which seemingly didn’t occur to Iseul.

“Who are they?” You ask.

Junhui points to each person as he explains:

“The — uh — wonky-looking one with what seems like a bloody neck is me in a red tie. In the middle is the artist herself, Iseul. She took some liberties; in reality, she has all ten fingers and isn’t known to wear a crown. To her right, that’s her foster mom, who she calls ‘grandma’, even though she’s only 45.”

“Is she still with grandma?”

“Yeah, actually.” He grins, unable to help it. “That stately, grey blob behind us is the probate court. We finalized her adoption last month.”

“Cute. I wish my clients would send me celebratory masterpieces,” you hum.

Junhui snorts. “Are you sure you want that?”

He can’t even imagine what kind of shit newly-divorced adults would send you. Nothing cute, he’s sure.

“No, actually. I take that back.” You shake your head and laugh. “I just want them to pay their legal fees on time.”

“You’re really asking for the world, aren’t you?”

You take another sip of your drink, then shrug, smiling impishly. “A nightmare bitch from hell’s gotta do what a nightmare bitch from hell’s gotta do.”

Before he can start ranting about Tom fucking Santi and his shitty opinions, you change focus again and begin to drift towards the bookshelf on the opposite wall. The top half of it is lined with statutory volumes, while the lower half has books and activities for the kids who occasionally come with their parents and caregivers to meet with him here.

You grab a deck of cards off one of the shelves and turn back to him with a vaguely menacing look.

“You brought me in here so I could beat you, didn’t you?”

“I brought you in here so I could beat you,” he rebuts.

In the time it takes Junhui to cross over to you, you drop your work bag to the floor, move the two child-sized chairs out of the way, and sit directly on the floor without a second thought. He sits on the other side of the small table and reaches for the deck only for you to shake your head vehemently at him.

“Nope,” you state emphatically, popping the second consonant. “I don’t trust you to shuffle these. You have clearly stated ulterior motives.”

He opens his mouth to argue otherwise but is shut down.

“Despicable,” you tut.

Once again, he tries to defend himself. “Excuse me? Your intentions aren’t any better —”

But you block him, grinning wickedly.

“— I’m a guest here and will not have my ambition questioned, thank you! Now, would you prefer to be destroyed by luck or skill?”

He has the feeling you’re going to destroy him in any and every way, so he says, “Dealer’s choice”, and takes a pointed swig of gin.

You think on this while you shuffle, making a big show out of it with your eyebrows furrowed and bottom lip pinched between your teeth. Then your eyes light up to broadcast that an idea has come to you.

Dutifully, you split the deck between you, doling out one card at a time to ensure the numbers even out. You slide your half over to you, face down, and gesture with feigned impatience for Junhui to do the same.

When he obeys, you look him dead in the eye. “I declare War.”

Four games and three drinks later, all your laughter finally catches up with you. With your abdominal muscles aching and eyes swimming, you tip over backwards and land on your back with a muffled thump.

“Okay, that’s bad, but I still think I can top it,” Junhui states with a shake of his head.

Your head lolls to the side so you can squint up at him properly. Once you catch his eye, you petulantly insist, “No way.”

There’s a flash in his eyes that says challenge accepted.

You like it.

In fact, you like this side of him: the version that isn’t intimidated by you, that isn’t afraid to be bold. Neither of you is drunk by any means, but your respective masks are off now, and you have gin to thank for introducing you properly.

“I can’t believe I’m telling you this out loud, on purpose,” he starts, then takes a deep breath. “This is perhaps the stupidest way anyone’s relationship has ever ended.”

He sits cross-legged next to you on the floor, perfectly within range. Without sitting up, you swat his knee. “Stop stalling! I don’t have all night.”

You do, but that’s neither here nor there.

“So, the last girl I dated had this… kink, I guess? Where she wanted to tell me she loved me during sex. We’d only been seeing each other for a few weeks at that point, but I figured, why not? What’s the harm?”

Your eyes widen. “Famous last words.”

“See?” He snaps his finger and points at you, grateful to be understood. “That’s the thing. She dumped me not long after that because things were —” The reveal comes with air quotes. “— moving too fast.”

You set your glass down somewhere above your head. Even though it’s empty of liquor, melted ice spills onto the carpet. You ignore the mess you’ve made and throw out both fists, thumbs down. “Boo!”

“Thank god I didn’t like her much,” he sighs.

“You dog.”

Junhui levels you with a playful glare, so you withhold further jokes and simply ask, “What was wrong with her, other than the attachment issues?”

He doesn’t answer immediately. In fact, he takes his time in finishing the last few sips of his drink, then he sets the empty glass down on the table. Unburdened, he lowers himself onto his back next to you with one bent arm underneath his head. From there, he concentrates on the ceiling above.

“It wasn’t her so much as us.”

“Oh?”

Junhui heaves a sigh. “Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like there needs to be some sort of announcement during law school about how fucking hard it is to practice law and date.”

He’s not wrong.

Your career has impacted every single one of your relationships, no matter how hard you try to keep them separate. You’ve never figured out how to manage it — to split yourself successfully between two spheres, both of which demand one-hundred percent of you.

None of your other attorney friends have ever brought this up, though, leaving you to feel like the broken one.

Still staring thoughtfully at the ceiling, he fills the silence you’ve left. “I don’t think most people get it, you know? Not that they should have to — nobody should accept something they’re not comfortable with — It’s just hard to make things work with someone who doesn’t understand what this is like. What it costs.”

You’re well acquainted with that massive fucking toll.

The struggle to find community in an inherently adversarial system, the second-hand trauma that comes with managing the worst moments of people’s lives, the burnout, and all the shitty coping mechanisms these things lead to if you’re not careful.

You don’t need to speak on any of this now, though. For the first time in an abysmally long time, you’re sitting with someone who doesn’t need an explanation.

Junhui, however, seems to interpret your silence as discomfort. You don’t blame him. He still hasn’t noticed the heart-eyes you’ve been staring at him with since he started talking, so he has no idea

“Ah, nuts. I’ve made things too serious.” He screws his eyes shut then yells, “Aaaah!”

You crack up, fully and immediately, which only prompts him to do the same. Never has there ever been a loser so endearing.

Turning his head now to look at you, he urges with a grin, “Quick, say something stupid!”

And goddamn, if the first thing that comes to mind isn’t exactly that…

“Kiss me.”

Junhui doesn’t react, save for the grin slowly disappearing off his face. He doesn’t even speak. For a moment, all he does is stare right back at you, straight through the full-body cringe you’re experiencing.

Fuck.

Maybe now’s the time to use that emergency exit, fire alarms and sprinklers be damned.

You open your mouth, armed and ready to explode into awkward apologies; and you suck in the breath needed to do so, but not a fucking word comes out.

His gaze shifts from your eyes, to your lips, then back again. The expression he wears all the while looks something akin to tortured — but you’re clearly batshit insane, so your judgment is questionable at best.

A beat passes again in silence. You’re ready to crawl out of your skin, an urge that only grows when he finally murmurs, “It’s a bad idea, isn’t it?”

Terrible.

Perhaps the worst you’ve ever had, second only to you blurting it out just now.

You have nothing better to say now, but that’s not what keeps your big mouth shut. It’s the fact that his question doesn’t seem to be directed at you at all.

Something about that tone of his comes across as rhetorical, like he’s got to work this shit out separately from you.

But he doesn’t stay separate. The hand not being used to prop up his head reaches out and gently encapsulates your chin between his thumb and index finger. His thoughtful eyes narrow, searching yours.

“Why doesn’t that make me want to any less?”

All at once, your heart skips; your breath hitches. You don’t have an answer to his question, just an inkling that you have as much to gain as you stand to lose. That cost-benefit analysis, coupled with the insatiable need you have to be kissed before you fucking expire, make you reckless.

Leaping past the point of no return, you grab him by the tie and pull him along for the ride.

Any timidness he showed you earlier is forgotten in an instant, replaced entirely by an assertiveness you didn’t know to expect from him. He gets you on your back without resistance, then settles himself above you with his weight balanced on a single hand beside your head and his knees on either side of your thighs.

His other hand slips to the nape of your neck, deepening the kiss and keeping you where he wants you: well beyond the professional boundaries you’ve both crossed to get here.

You could be embarrassed by how quickly you melt, seep, spill, but your better judgment is discarded alongside your sweatshirt without a second thought. Junhui’s jacket, button-up, and tie are tossed into that same void, not long after.

Absolutely fucking none of them are missed.

Lost under the warmth of his bare skin on yours, your brain is far too occupied to worry about which articles of clothing ended up where. All you're capable of caring about is his mouth on your throat; his hand between your thighs, slick fingers dragging you slowly out of your mind.

The orgasm his hand steals from you leaves you half-dead, but that doesn’t stop you from clinging tightly to him, begging for more, please, everything.

And that’s precisely what you get, though you shouldn’t be surprised. If this day has taught you anything, it’s that Junhui is synonymous with acts of service.

“Kiss me,” he commands breathlessly with his tip waiting at your entrance.

You do, eagerly, unaware at first that this is an act of service, too — a distraction, more specifically, to take your mind off of the stretch he brings. Nails pressed into his back, you whimper against his lips and let that pressure melt into something perfect.

“I can’t tell if you’re sleeping or not,” you whisper.

His eyelids may feel like lead, and you look like a dream, but Junhui is wide awake, laying half-dressed at your side.

Of course, you knew this when you asked. You keep opening your eyes to look at him secretly only to find him watching you, amusement growing each time he catches you.

Even though his voice is rough from exhaustion, he musters the strength to tease you, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“My co-worker dicked me down to hell and back, and I’m recovering, obviously.”

You roll your eyes but can’t keep up your nonchalance for long. You bury it, along with your face, into his shoulder. When you finally tell the whole truth, it comes out rushed, as well as muffled.

“I spent most of the day wishing it was over. It was nightmarish, right from the jump. All I have to do is fall asleep, and it will be over…” Your shoulders sag under the weight of your sigh, which is delivered warmly against his skin. “But I don’t want that anymore.”

Junhui hums in acknowledgement. He pauses for a moment to consider what to say next, then decides to take a page out of your book. He’s an attorney, after all; he doesn’t ask questions he doesn’t already know the answers to.

“What changed?”

A lot.

“My co-worker dicked me down to hell and back, and I’m recovering,” you repeat.

Your laugh makes his body move, too. Just the same, the smile he feels forming against his bicep mimics the one on his own mouth. “You know, you keep saying that, but it doesn’t seem accurate.”

This prompts you to pull away from him, prop yourself up on your elbow, and stare at him incredulously. “Excuse me? Need I remind you how many times you just made me cum?”

He makes a big show of counting on his fingers until you swat at him. Then, he gets back to the point:

“What I meant was, is it co-worker or Valentine?”

You blink, no doubt stunned that someone was finally able to catch you off guard. Junhui doubts that this happens often. If that’s the case, he’ll keep this image of you, surprised into silence, in his back pocket for later.

“I’ll concede that those things aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive,” you eventually demur with a haughty shake of your head.

Junhui grabs your hand, pulls it to his mouth, and kisses the back of it. “Your concession is noted for the record.”

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eternal-sunshine-222 · 6 months ago

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Omg hii I saw that you are writing for Judd birch. I’m so happy to see that the tag is getting a little more active now. Could you please write a blurb for Judd x alt!reader where Judd and reader are just hanging out and someone in the birch family catches him being all soft and cuddly with reader?

Hii! I will tell you right now I just recently started watching Big Mouth so I don't know too much about many of the characters, but I will do my best! This is my first request on here and to be honest I'm really glad it's for Judd. I didn't think many people would want me to write for him so I'm excited. I hope you like it! <3

YOU BIG SOFTIE, YOU - Judd Birch x Alt!Reader

Characters: Judd Birch, fem!reader, Nick Birch, Diane Birch, Elliot Birch, Leah Birch

Warnings: light cursing

Contains: lots and lots of fluff

Judd Birch was not a people person at all, not even with his own family. He preferred to stay by himself, his only company being his battalion of raccoons and he was perfectly fine with that. He didn't need someone constantly nagging him. Now, cliche as it is, that all changed when he saw her. He would do anything for her, anything at all.

Y/n was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, with her hair dyed dark crazy colors, bold graphic makeup, and band tees that never seemed to end. She, much like himself, didn't seem to care about social status or making friends at school. She wanted out of that hell hole as soon as physically possible.

The eldest Birch spawn had approached Y/n almost nervously after school one day with plans of asking her if she'd like to come meet his raccoons. But, alas, he chickened out. He couldn't believe that; that was something Nick did, not him! Eventually after watching Y/n for weeks the woman herself approached him outside during their lunch break, ready to beat him down if he was perving on her.

It was almost Christmas break, very cold outside. When Y/n approached Judd who was leaning against the side of the brick school building smoking a cigarette, his black and blue hair lightly blowing in the cold breeze, she could've fainted right then and there. He was beautiful. Y/n had only ever saw him from yards away, definitely not close enough to get a good look at his features. She liked what she was looking at and she liked it a lot. It would be such a shame if he really was perving on her.

Judd hadn't seen who he referred to as the girl of his dreams approaching until she spoke to him for the very first time.

"Hey."

It was such a small, simple greeting yet it caused him to lose all the breath in his lungs and start coughing violently. Y/n jumped slightly, startled at the sudden reaction. She quickly took a water bottle out from her bag and handed it to him, hoping to ease the burning he felt in his lungs. Judd chugged down half of it before handing it back to Y/n with a flushed face and narrowed embarrassed eyes.

"First time smoking?" Y/n joked lightheartedly, a small smile on her face as she glanced up at him from her bag.

Judd's face turned even redder and just nodded at her, stubbing out what was left of his burning cigarette.

Y/n sighed at his lack of words and had mentally decided that she apparently wasn't going to get any answers out of him, but she talked anyway.

"I've seen you staring at me for the past few weeks. Wanted to know what that was all about. Care to tell me?" She raises a thin drawn on eyebrow at him as she tucks her gloved hands underneath her arms to warm them up further.

Judd doesn't answer her immediately, stuck on what to say. Y/n waits a few moments more before sighing and starts to walk away.

'So much for that,' she thinks to herself.

"Go out with me."

Y/n stops in her tracks and whips her head around.

"I'm sorry?"

Judd is silent.

"Please?" He's hopeful.

Y/n walks back over to where he's still leaning against the school building. Her arms are still crossed as she narrows her brows slightly in confusion.

"Is that what you've been wanting? Because you could've just said so instead of being a creep. I mean, look at us." Y/n gestures to their alternative appearances. "It's like we're made for each other!"

Judd smiles, knowing she's joking but also getting a hint of seriousness from her words.

Y/n took Judd up on his offer of a date and the two have been pretty much inseparable ever since. They spent all their time together, skipping school to drive around, going to small diners around the neighborhood late at night for their little dates. But they kept in on the downlow. Both parties felt it was not necessary for people to know what wasn't any of their business. It wasn't until Christmas day that the Birch family found out Judd even had a girlfriend of sorts.

Shortly after school had let out for break Y/n and Judd had spent the day together at her apartment with her parents. They were very supportive of their daughter's relationship. As long as she was safe.

And safe she was. Y/n and Judd swapped gifts early on that morning seeing as she would be going on a small trip to a few states away to visit some family for Christmas. He had gifted her a new pair of large black boots, something she had been eyeing for a while, along with a new pocketknife for which she thanked him thoroughly and showered him with kisses. In turn Y/n had gifted him a lovely soft deep blue sweater and a chain necklace with her initial on it.

Judd loved the sweater she got him but he didn't love it as much as his new chain. He never took it off unless it was to shower. It had quickly become his most prized possession and he would die before he let anyone touch it, let alone take it. Unfortunately, that day came a lot sooner than he would've liked.

Judd woke up midway through Christmas day which resulted in an even later shower. He undressed and before he stepped in he put his chain in the same place he always did: on the little shelf above the sink, careful to make sure it didn't fall off to the side or down into the sink. But when he got out it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Panic filled his heart and chest, his entire being really, as he searched the entire bathroom from floor to ceiling. After finding nothing he wrapped a towel around his still dripping form and slammed the door open. He almost slipped rushing down the stairs and into the living room where his mother sat on his father's lap and Nick and Leah were on opposite ends of the couch.

"Where the fuck is it?" His voice was harsh and his eyes narrowed, cheeks red.

Diane looked over at her eldest child from the television and smiled kindly.

"Where's what, darling?"

Judd huffed out a breath, impatient and worrying, afraid he might tear up.

"My chain. The one I always wear. Where is it?"

It's only then that he notices Nick with a small smirk on his face as he looks at his phone. His eyes narrow more and he frowns before lunging at his younger brother. The two wrestle for a short time with Judd easily overpowering his youngest sibling before he stands, wet hair ruffled messily and towel askew, held in place by only one hand as his other clutches onto the chain he retrieved from Nick's pocket.

"Stay out of my shit, dickface." He then stomps back upstairs to the bathroom and slams the door shut.

The remaining members of the Birch family all look at each other with curious eyes before Elliot speaks up.

"What was all that about?"

Nick, who is still out of breath with red cheeks, shrugs his shoulders and they all continue with their previous activities.

It isn't until Valentine's Day that the Birch family meets Y/n. The love-filled holiday fell on a weekday this year, meaning his siblings would be in school and his parents would most likely be spending the day out and about going on little dates. He thought he'd have the entire house to himself so he invited Y/n to come over so they could spend quality time together.

Judd and Y/n spent most of their time watching horror movies on the downstairs television, cuddled up under the many blankets that Y/n had brought over with neither getting up unless to use the bathroom or make more popcorn and snacks. It was a laid back, calm day, just how both liked it.

Both Judd and Y/n wished this day would never end.

But unfortunately it had to.

Y/n fell asleep on top of Judd sometime during their fourth movie of the day, her face buried in his neck with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He was starting to doze off himself when he heard the front door unlock and open quickly. As much as he wished his family wouldn't say anything he knew they would. But he wasn't going to take any chances in waking Y/n up so he stayed perfectly still and let them.

Nick and Leah were the first to enter the living room. Leah glanced at her older brother laying on the couch briefly before continuing on to her room. Nick on the other hand stopped in his tracks and stared at the girl laying on top of his brother for an ungodly amount of time before Judd raised a tired eyebrow at him. It was only then that he called out for Elliot and Diane.

Judd quickly reached his hands up and covered his girlfriend's ears, shielding her from the loud voices as his parents entered the room. They, too, stopped in their tracks upon entering the living room but instead of staring they both smiled and grabbed onto each other.

"Oh, Judd, you big softy! I knew there was something going on with you." Diane smiled sweetly at her son and his newly revealed sleeping love. "How long?"

Judd cleared his throat lightly.

"Few months."

Elliot spoke up next.

"Looks like you got yourself a nice one, son. Just like you father." He turns to Diane and the two start to snuggle together.

Judd grimaces and turns away.

"Gross."

But Judd knew his father was right. Y/n was a nice one. The nicest. And he wouldn't change her for anything in the world.

I finally finished it! I really hope you like this, and like I said I just recently got into the show, so I don't know too much about it. I wrote this purely based off vibes alone. Please let me know if there's anything I can improve and don't be afraid to leave comments or ask questions. Thank you so much! <3

#big mouth #big mouth x reader #judd birch #judd birch x reader #judd birch fluff

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brickks · 4 months ago

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Selecting the Best Exposed Bricks for Construction: A Guide with Kailash Bricks

Exposed bricks, or facing bricks, are pivotal in construction projects where aesthetics and durability meet functionality. Choosing the right brand, like Kailash Bricks, known for its high standards in brick manufacturing, can significantly enhance the overall quality and appearance of your building. Here’s a guide to the key qualities you should prioritize when selecting exposed bricks for your project.

To Read More CLICK HERE

#3 hole bricks #3 hole brick #911 abc #agatha all along #facing bricks #agatha harkness #extruded brick

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hometoursandotherstuff · 3 months ago

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Adorable little 1881 lighthouse for sale on the Taunton River, in Somerset, MA. 1bd, 1ba, 900 sq ft. $1.1m. Unlike the deteriorated old ones you usually see, this one's been completely restored and is move-in ready. Comes fully furnished and is accessible by a 3 minute boat ride- the sale also includes a 22ft Deck Boat.

Enter the cute little compact kitchen.

It's 5 floors high with a spiral staircase.

There's a little dining area.

Love the view from this port hole.

The bath is cute.

The living room has wonderful brick walls and built-in shelving. Look at the antique gramophone record player.

I wonder what that green pipe is for.

This is so cozy.

The bedroom is lovely. It's on the floor right beneath the lighthouse beacon. Look at the red ladder going up to it.

This is so beautiful.

Great deck provides a pretty big outdoor space.

In this photo, you can see the boat that comes with it. It's like a 3 minute ride. You can see that it has solar panels, which is nice.

So pretty at night. 87 sq ft lot is the measurement of the round outdoor space.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1-Taunton-Riv-Somerset-MA-02726/299493080_zpid/

#lighthouses #lighthouse conversion #unique homes #old house dreams #houses #house tours #home tour

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chugging-antiseptic-dye · 2 months ago

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⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧ through your my our eyes 🔍(mingyu x reader)

contains: soulmate au, tooth-rotting fluff, soulmates to old married couple to friends to lovers, slight swearing, etc. a/n: happy birthday, mingyu <3

".....he is able to see one of Ae-sun’s poem’s published. It’s dedicated to Gwan-sik, telling him she will be OK after he dies. The poem ends with an expression of immense gratitude that uses the show’s Korean title: “My precious dearest, here’s to all you’ve been through." The story is all the more precious when you realize Gwan-sik and Ae-sun are not soulmates. Brick by brick they built up their love into a wonderful shelter for their loved ones to rest their wings on. Maybe we, who are used to exchanging our souls with our destined one; we, who know who we are meant to be with, will never ever understand a world where if soulmates do exist, they are not found, they are made (by choice)." - An Excerpt from the Time Magazine on the ending of 'When Life Gives You Tangerines'

Kim Mingyu did not want a soulmate. He has a great life, amazing friends, a job he loves, and the best family. What would he even do with a soulmate? And yet, when he felt his soul shifting from his body to theirs, he couldn't stop himself from being a bit excited. Who did the universe choose for him? And why?

The din of the house party was muffled to him as Mingyu sat at the corner of the balcony. "It's my birthday today". Why did he text that? It's been two days since their souls were exchanged for a few minutes. Well, one day sixteen hours but who is counting? Just as he had given up hope of getting a reply, a ting from his phone raised his hopes up. "happy birthday lover boy. hope you had some cake". He should scoff at this. How generic. No, it was not him who was grinning like a cat who got the cream. He was a dog. A golden retriever. Not some ally cat.

Most of his friends jumped into the rabbit hole of falling in love as soon as they exchanged their soul with their soulmates. While, on the other hand, Mingyu was fumbling. How do you connect with someone when you don't know what to say? His nickname maybe 'motor mouth' but the motor had an engine failure every time he opened his chat with her. A few minutes of having his soul whooshed into her body isn't enough to get to know her. So, Mingyu started doing what he does best when he doesn't know what to do: he finds a solvable problem. She likes kimchi and is too lazy to make her own? Boom! He makes her homemade because his mother's recipe is obviously superior to whatever readymade kimchi is in the market. She hates putting away her work stuff? Okay, no problem. He can sort them out and make it easier for her to find where she left off. A bit of cleaning, lighting some candles to bring out a cozy vibe, dimming the room, setting up her blanket and pillows exactly how she loves it. He can do all of these. And if it makes him feel a bit giddy inside to imagine her burrowing herself into the blanket and drifting off while watching the latest netflix series, its a secret that that he taking to the grave.

Look, Mingyu doesn't need to be protected. He is a big seix foot guy with biceps bigger than most people's head. And he is used to being teased by the guys. So, when she possessed his body and fell back first into the pool because of a stray basketball to the face, it was nothing new for him to be the butt of every joke made by the guys. it's was kind of irritating but he can just ignore it. However, the mind-blowing moment was when Jeonghan and Hoshi came by to apologise to him. He tried everything to make them spill what she did for a once in a lifetime thing to happen but they would not budge. Again, Mingyu doesn't need protection or to be coddled. It was nice though. It felt nice to know that someone got his back. Even if he doesn't need it. Especially, when he doesn't need it.

Mingyu knows he can be a lot. He is too loud, too tactless, too demanding. Yet, he never feels that way when he talks to her. His every word were given undivided attention. His texts were never left on seen. He felt valued. he felt that he was a person worth knowing. he felt that being himself was enough. Mingyu had a few ex girlfriends and boyfriends. But they never made him feel that being Mingyu, the human was enough. He was always Mingyu, the loving partner or Mingyu, the popular guy or Mingyu, the hot boyfriend. Love and respect were depended on his value; what he could bring to the table. With her, Mingyu had to think that his worth was conditional. Maybe, just the universe didn't choose soulmates to fix their worse half. Rather, maybe soulmates are people who can help you love yourself.

“.....I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.” - An Excerpt from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

dividers from @strangergraphics-archive and @saradika-graphics

#unbetaed #seventeen #svt #keopihausnet #seventeen imagines #seventeen drabbles #seventeen fanfic #seventeen scenarios #mingyu x reader #svt x reader #seventeen x reader #mingyu imagines #mingyu fluff #svt imagines #svt fluff #seventeen fluff #kim mingyu x reader #writings of tie-dye

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daydreams-after-dark · 1 year ago

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Free Use Jail Cell, Part 2

full master list for additional installments

Police Officer Skz ot8 x female reader

Premise: you're arrested and held for 24 hours by 8 police officers at the local police station / reader has her fantasy play out.

Word Count: 3k (part 2)

Chapter Summary: You're interrogated by 2min.

a/n: This fic will be in multiple parts because I get too impatient not to share what I’ve written so far. There will be two, possibly three installments (tag list is open).

I refer to the officers as “Officer Hyunjin”, “Officer Minho” etc just to make it quick to identify the characters.

The whole premise is planned and explained in the fic. The story is purely fantasy, but please be mindful of content warnings, as it has potentially triggering content. I want you to be safe here on my blog.

CW: dom 2min, sex toys (various: anal and vaginal), stretch kink, harness restraints, paddles, spanking, nipple clamps, double pen same hole (toy and penis) double pen two holes (oral and vaginal), anal penetration, everything is unprotected, degradation, face slap, hair tugging, shoe on face (really quick), collar and leash, cum eating, creampie, safeguards are in place to stop everything if reader wants/needs to. Aftercare.

🚨🚨🚨🚨

Chief Chan leads you to the interrogation room himself. "Now I don't want to find out you've been insolent, you hear me? Although I know Officer's Seungmin and Detective Minho are more than capable of handling you. Go." he pushes you into the empty room, closing the door behind you and locking it.

You gulp and slowly take in the space around you. It's not a modern interrogation room. It looks like a morgue. The brick walls are cold and gray, the concrete under your bare feet is filthy. You're not sure what the dark stains that are splattered around the place are either, and you try not to think the worst. This isn't real. You remind yourself.

In the center of the room is a stainless steel table. Beside it a stainless steel trolley, with what appears to be dildos, straps, and various other paraphernalia, and - oh fuck - a paddle hanging from a hook on the side. The entire room is illuminated, barely, by a single naked globe hanging from the concrete ceiling above.

There are no chairs, nowhere for questioning to occur, but you have a sneaking suspicion that you'll be on that cold, hard slab of a table very soon.

You hear the door unlock and your heart pounds loudly. Fuck. This is it. You take a deep, grounding breath as you watch Officer Seungmin and Detective Minho enter the room.

"On your knees, pup." Seungmin spits, immediately shoving you to the ground and pushing the sole of his combat boot into your cheek. Your face presses against the disgusting concrete. He doesn't push harder than he needs to, but just the act itself makes you feel so small, helpless and filthy.

You sense the Detective walk over to the trolley, then back towards you, leaning over you and placing a leather collar and leash around your neck. Suengmin removes his boot, and Minho tugs you up until you're on your knees.

"Look at this pathetic little bitch." Minho leans over you and pushes your hair out of your face. "Someone has been a very bad little girl." He scolds. "And we're going to find out exactly what you're keeping from us." He smirks evilly.

"Up." Suengmin barks, from behind you, taking the leash from Minho and yanking on it until you're standing in front of him. He presses his body against your back, breathing in your ear menacingly, making you shudder. He snakes a hand up underneath the hem of your oversized shirt, the only thing you're wearing, and slides his fingers through your folds. "This is gonna be so much fun." he chuckles low. "Up on the table." he slaps you hard on the ass.

The table is barely big enough to fit you, and you realize it's designed so two people can access you easily from either end. You're instructed to kneel on all fours, with your feet almost hanging off one end, and your head extending precariously over the other end, so you get another view of the filthy floor.

Minho picks up a pair of metal scissors and your eyes widen as he cuts your clothing and rips it off you so you are naked and bare for them. Then you’re adorned with a ball gag with attached nipple clamps.

"We can't have you being a brat. We don't need you to say a word for us to get what we want from you." Seungmin says, as he secures the clamps tightly to your nipples. The sensation of your nipples being pinched sends a spark of arousal to your cunt and you immediately feel yourself becoming moist.

"Here. Keep this in your hand." Minho places a small device in your palm. "Press this button and everything stops immediately. You understand?" he says quietly looking into your eyes. You nod. Once he's certain you understand, he’s back in character.

The two men take their time circling you, taking you in, deciding how they are going to proceed. They look dominating, cold, mean. They start to touch you, stroke your body, your back, the backs of your thighs. All with villainous smirks plastered on their beautiful faces.

“Let’s start with a punishment.” Minho decides, grabbing the paddle.

Your eyes widen and you try to swallow, but it’s so hard with the ball gag in your mouth, and you brace yourself as he settles behind you. The impact of the paddle takes you by surprise, making you cry out a muffled sob. Again, Minho brings the paddle to your fleshy ass cheek with a loud slap. You drop your head and squeeze your eyes closed. It fucking stings, but at the same time your cunt throbs. How can this hurt so much yet feel so arousing?

Minho soothes the skin with the palm of his hand before delivering another hit. You grip onto the edge of the steel table with your free hand, while trying to stabilize yourself with the hand that’s holding your safety device.

Another round of paddling ensues, and you’ve lost count of how many you’ve taken. Your ass feels red raw, and the tears are running freely down your face. You feel pathetic, useless, helpless. No one’s ever been able to make you feel this way before. You’ve finally found what you’ve been looking for.

“Enough.” Seungmin raises his hand signaling for Minho to stop. “Let me inspect.” he moves behind you to marvel at his partner’s work. “Fuck. Look how red she is.” He runs his palm over your red cheek and you wince. “Shh… Now now.” Suengmin purrs, but there is absolutely no hint of concern in his tone. “We haven’t even gotten started. That was just punishment for making our cocks so hard.”

You drop onto your elbows, already exhausted from “just the punishment”, and sob. Seungmin crouches in front of you and lifts your head so you’re looking directly into his cold eyes. “Hey, Pup.” He slaps your cheek, hard. The sting makes you feel more alert. “Minho’s going to do his probing now.” He raises an eyebrow. “And you’re going to be an obedient little pup and take. Every. Single. Inch.”

Your stomach drops, and you feel your juices leak from your cunt. The anticipation, the fear, the excitement of what is unfolding has your heart racing.

Suengmin stands back up and leans against the wall to watch Minho, whom you can hear rustling around at the trolley. You hear the sound of a bottle opening and closing. Then with one hand holding your hip steady, he presses a solid, cold, lubed object against your vaginal entrance.

“It’s just a dildo. Nothing to be scared of. Deep breath through your nose.” he commands and pushes the dildo into your cunt. The stretch feels good and you wonder why on earth you were fearful. It feels regular sized. He fucks you with it for a few minutes, until your hips are rocking back and you’re arching your back in a such away it makes their cocks throb.

“Seungmin, come help hold her steady.” He instructs his partner, and he is at your side helping hold your hips still. You whine in protest around the gag, and then you feel Minho press the dildo in further. Your eyes almost pop out of your head and your whole body tenses, when you're abruptly spread twice as wide. You feel like you’re being ripped in two as you realize the dildo has a bulbous base. The tip now presses hard into your cervix as your opening is being stretched obscenely wide. You’re so full. You feel so full.

“Suengmin, fuck look at how much she stretches. She’s gonna look good when two cocks are inside that slutty little cunt.” Minho declares.

“Fucking slut.” Seungmin says in a disgusted tone.

“She has to take more.” Minho says flatly, reaching for something from the trolley, and then another lubed object presses against your ass. You try to squirm to no avail, and cry out when a hand slaps you on your sore, red cheek. “Sluts have to behave themselves or they will regret it.” Suengmin warns.

You pause and try to relax as Minho pushes the device past the tight ring of muscle. “I don’t know why you’re squirming? This is just to prep you. You’re gonna have to take a much bigger one shortly.” he advises.

He’s right. After torturing your ass with increasingly bigger devices, he is ready to insert the “big” one. It’s thick and it feels endless, reaching places no one, or thing, has ever reached before. You can hardly hold yourself up, and you’re on the verge of what you can tell will be an earth shattering orgasm. You are scared. You’re not allowed to come without permission, and part of you thinks that maybe you won’t be given permission at all. Although, you are sure that they will rip at least one from you before this interrogation is over. All so they’ll have a reason to punish you further.

Minho, silently works on fucking your ass and cunt with the two oversized devices until you are a fucking mess. You can’t keep it contained any longer and a brutally intense orgasm hits you so hard you shake uncontrollably and almost slip entirely off the table.

“Fucking whore!” Growled Seungmin. “Who told you you could come?” he came around to the front and tugged your head up by your hair. “You just want us to punish you more, don’t you? Well. That’s exactly what you’re gonna get." He lets go of your head abruptly, and removes your ball gag, resecuring it around your neck with your collar. You can finally breathe properly and you start to cry.

“No. No one said you can cry. We haven’t given you anything to cry about yet.” Snarls Seungmin.

The dildos are removed and you’re repositioned onto your back, your knees thankful for the relief. But this new position isn’t any more comfortable. The table, being so short in length, means your head hangs over the edge, whilst you have no option to fold your legs up because your ass comes to the other edge. Perfect for what is about to happen.

Your legs are strapped with leather restraints to keep legs bent and folded towards your chest and your wrists are cuffed and attached to ankle restraints. You’re essentially folded in half and spread open, with no way of moving, and for them to do whatever they please. The little alarm buzzer is placed in your hand for safekeeping.

You see Minho in your upside down vision, unbuckling his belt and releasing his cock. Your mouth waters at the memory of taking him down your throat just a few hours before, and you are more than pleased when he approaches you. “Open up, time to be fed again.” he holds your face steady as he slides his cock all the way into your throat. You can take him a lot easier in this position, and he uses it to his advantage, fucking your face rough and deep. He doesn’t care that you’re gagging, or that you can’t breathe when he pushes his entire cock in and stills. He pulls out, letting you fill your lungs, and then he’s back inside cutting the air off.

You squeak when you feel something cold, slimy and flexible being squeezed into your pussy. Minho pulls out. “Wanna see what Seungmin’s doing?” He taunts. He supports your head as you lift yourself and look down at your pussy. Seungmin is holding what looks to be a silicone or rubber snake-like device. It’s about an inch and half in diameter and so fucking long. Maybe three feet long? Your eyes widen. “Don’t be so alarmed. He’s not gonna stuff the entire thing inside you.” sneers Minho. “Now, back to being a cockslut.” he drops your head back down and resumes fucking your face.

All you’re imagining though, is Seungmin pushing more and more of that - was it a snake? A hose? Fuck, is it even a sex toy or is it some random thing from the hardware store? - into your cunt.

“Yup, that’s as far as it's gonna go.” Sighs Seungmin. It’s deep, but not filling you out too much, not like that monstrous dildo from earlier. Until you feel the tip of his cock pushing in alongside it. Minho, as if pre-empting your protests, holds you by your neck keeping you steady and deliberately fucks you hard and fast. “You’re gonna take it, kitten. Everything.” he hisses.

You can’t cry. You can’t scream. You can only take what they are giving you. Your throat hurts, but Minho doesn’t seem like he’s going to tire anytime soon.

Once Seungmin is fully inside you, he starts to thrust, building up the pace quickly. You’re so wet and stretched already that it doesn’t take long for your walls to adjust to him. The men fuck both ends of your body, using you like a fleshlight. Growling, grunting, making sounds of approval as you simply lay there and take it.

“I wanna fucking come in her mouth.” states Seungmin.

They pull out of you simultaneously, leaving you gasping and gaping. You’re so empty, even with that fucking snake situation still in your cunt.

Your mouth is filled first, with Seungmin sinking into you. You can taste your juices coating his cock, mixed with lube. Like earlier in the cell, Seungmin is rougher, more erratic with his thrusts than Minho, and you gag much more as he fucks you. He runs his hands along your body then squeezes both your breasts hard. You arch off the table as he tugs on the nipple clamps. You moan around Seungmin, who must not have been expecting it, and he cums down your throat with a “how dare you, you fucking slut.”

You’re secretly satisfied as you swallow him down. “You still need your mouth stuffed. I don’t want to hear you and your pathetic little whines.” he finds the other end of his ‘snake-friend’, and starts to shove it into your mouth. He pulls some sort of extension out from the table, a headrest, so you don’t have to keep dangling your neck. How thoughtful.

Minho lubes himself up and presses himself to your anus, pushing in the entire way. He fills you so good. He pulls out halfway and thrusts back in, and it’s too much. You come again. You know they see you quivering, and they’re not happy.

“Just keep fucking her, Minho. Might as well just force her to come over and over at this point. Until she begs us to stop. Oh wait. Her mouth’s full, she won’t be able to. Shame.” The Officer laughs.

Minho doubles down, on a mission to rip as many orgasms out of you as he can, overstimulating you in the process. How much can you take before you need to hit your safety alarm? You’re determined not to. You want to take everything. Minho grasps the snake dildo and tries to jam more of it into you, but it won’t fit, and you cry out.

“Fuck, I’m hard again. Haven’t you even blown yet?” Seungmin looks to Minho in disbelief.

“Course I fucking have, but I’m not done, bitch feels too fucking good. Gotta fuck my cum deep into her, y’know.” he grunts. He reaches out to grab yet another device, this time a small vibrator and presses it onto your clit. “Fucking come, kitten.” He growls.

Your eyes roll into the back of your head and you convulse as you come again. Minho doesn’t stop, he continues to fuck into your ass, still hard as stone, turning you into a sobbing, overstimulated wreck.

“Again.” he pushes the vibrator harder against you with one hand and attempts to fuck you with the snake dildo, all whilst not missing a beat with his thrusts.

Where the fuck Seungmin gone you had no idea. Until you feel him tightening your nipple clamps and then pulling out the snake and replacing it with his cock.

“The detective said ‘come again’, pup.” He thrusts into your mouth and fills you with his cum again. He pulls out and wipes some on your cheek.

One final time, you come, trembling on the table, the straps and restraints dig into your skin as you fight against your restraints. You can’t possibly take any more. They seem to know too.

Minho pulls out, and you wonder if he even came a second time. You manage a glance at his cock and it looks painfully hard, and you’re not sure why he just didn’t use you until he came again.

He pushes your cheeks wide, spreading your holes and sighs when you feel cum dribble out. He slips an anal plug in to keep the rest inside you.

The straps, restraints, chains, clamps are all removed from you carefully and you’re cleaned with warm, wet towels from a cabinet under the table.

Seungmin applies cream to soothe where you were spanked, and helps you put on a fresh oversized button down shirt, and Minho carries you bridal-style back to your cell. You nuzzle your head against him and close your eyes. You’re absolutely exhausted. He enters your cell and places you down on the mattress, pulling a blanket over you. Such a contrast to the treatment just before.

“Detective?” You whisper, looking up at him. “You didn’t get to finish.” you say in a small voice.

He shrugs. “That back there wasn’t about me.” He half smiles. “It was about satisfying you.”

“But what if finishing you off would satisfy me even more?” You ask.

“You need your rest.” He grunts, ignoring your advances, tucking the blanket around your chin.

“It’ll help me sleep.” You plead.

“Fuck!” He sighs and looks up to the ceiling. “Where do you want my cock then, kitten?”

“In my cunt.” You purr.

He swallows hard. “Fine.” he concedes. “But - I come inside, and you gotta keep it safe in your tight little pussy. Got it?”

You nod fervently, lifting the blanket that he’d just tucked you snugly in, and let him slide on top of you. He removes his shirt and undoes his pants with nimble fingers and frees his cock, then grips your thigh, pushing it wide and grinding against your sore core.

“Will you kiss me, detective?” You gaze up at him.

“I don’t do kissing on the mouth.” He says flatly.

He sees you pout around that.

“I can kiss your neck. If that’s what you want.”

“Please.” you wrap your hands about his neck as he hovers over you, peppering kisses to your neck, and sucking the skin while he fucks you slow, but extra hard. You feel so full with the anal plug still in your ass. “You’re so tight, bet you’re tender? Am I hurting you?” He whispers.

“Feels good.” you mewl.

“Fuck, I’m gonna cum real soon. Can I fuck you evenharder?” He chokes.

“Yes.” you sigh, letting him take what he needs from you.

“I’m coming…ngh…fuck.” he thrusts his hips three more times then you feel him empty himself inside you. “Keep it in there for me.” He plants a peck on your forehead and pulls out carefully.

You’re asleep before he even leaves the cell.

🚨🚨🚨🚨

↣↣ Next up: you’re taken in your sleep by Hyunjin and Han

@channieandhisgoonsquad @noellllslut @itsseohannbin @weareapackofstrays @3rachasdomesticbanana @palindrome969 @xxkissesforchanniexx @chuuchuu1224 @fun-fanfics @wolfennracha @rhonnie23 @jisunglyricist @strayywayy @armystay89 @igetcarriedawaywithyou @mylittleponeypinkrosieposie @kyunchoni @justforreaders @melochacco @scenuniverse @oddracha @txa-r

@jeonginsleftcheek @meilix @itgirlalisaa @linocz @bubblebisk @boi-bi-ahaha @frozenpeasworld @grandma143 @milkypinkmimi @bangchansbbgirl @leefelixsslut @privhace @justforreaders @galaxycatdrawz @melochacco @jiwoos-baby-girl @lunearta @kavifornia @chuuyaobsessed @iadorethemskz @hyun-hwanj @favieeerrrr @courtnort455

#skz smut #skz ot8 x reader #2min smut #seungmin x reader #lee know x reader

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persevereforahappyending · 9 months ago

Text

A Legacies Secret |13|

Pairing: Tara Carpenter x Reader

Summary: You just wanted a happy life with your girlfriend but then Ghostface attacks, revealing long thought to be buried family secrets.

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence, Stabbing, Attempted Murder, Murder, Death, Blood

Word Count: 3.4k+

Main Masterlist | Series Masterlist

You glanced to the side as some of the guys laughed and shoved each other. You shook your head; you weren’t really friends with any of them, but they were fun. You put your attention back on the large canvas before you, smirking as you raised the spray paint bottle to the brick wall. While the others drank and smoked weed, you tended to focus on the vandalism side of things, you didn’t do any major damage, it was paint, it would wash off, eventually. Besides, it was the high school, it’s not like you were hurting anyone.

Just as you began to spray another line a siren sounded and there were red and blue flashing lights. “Shit,” you whispered. You tossed the can aside and took off running behind the others.

While the guys ran to their cars or down the street you veered right, running behind the school. You kept going, running behind all the buildings next to the school. When you no longer heard sirens or saw any lights you slowed to a light jog and eventually stopped all together. You rested against a brick wall as you tried to catch your breath.

You looked around one last time before pushing off the wall, you shoved your hands in your pockets and walked towards the street. If you acted casual, then no one would suspect anything. Almost as soon as you stepped onto the sidewalk a police car appeared. Your head snapped to the car, and you shuffled your feet as you considered taking off again.

“Don’t even think about it,” Dewey’s voice came from the speaker on the car.

You rolled your eyes and raised your paint-stained hands. You locked them behind your head as Dewey got out of his vehicle. “Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic,” he sighed. “Is the whole hands behind the head thing necessary?”

“Don’t you think some light vandalism is a little below the sheriff’s pay grade,” you snarked.

“What can I say, I just knew you’d be involved.” You couldn’t help but smirk at that. “Let’s go.” He gently grabbed you by the arm and led you to the cop car. He made sure you ducked down far enough so you didn’t hit your head getting in the back seat.

The two of you rode in silence back to the police station. “Want to give me the name of your friends?” He asked.

“They’re not my friends,” you said.

“Right,” he sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

You watched Dewey through the mirror, he was still treating you with the same kindness he always did when he brought you in. There was something different though, there were bags under his eyes, and it seemed as if he hadn’t slept in days. You slumped in the backseat, nothing to do put pick at the hole that was already there.

The one good thing about living in a small town was that you arrived at the police station in a matter of minutes. Dewey wordlessly got out of the car and opened your door for you. He once again gently grabbed your arm and led you into the station. You passed by the officer left at the station, he barely glanced up from his paper before rolling his eyes at seeing you again.

“Sit,” Dewey ordered when the two of you got to his office.

You slumped down in the chair across from his desk. You looked around, nothing was new, not like it had been long since you had been in this same position before. Dewey’s office was at the back of the station, but he generally kept the door open, and the blinds were always up so he could see out onto the floor and his officers could see him.

“What was it this time?” Dewey asked as he leaned against the front of the desk, staring down at you. He once told you he did this because he felt it created a more open dynamic, that it was more casual, and easier to talk than it would be if he was sitting behind the desk.

“Nothing,” you mumbled. You crossed your arms as you refused to look him in the eye.

“Come on-”

“Look can you just call my foster parents, I want to go home.” You rolled your eyes, you didn’t know why Dewey was trying to do this tonight, it was late, you weren’t in the mood for one of his speeches.

“Cut the bullshit,” Dewey snapped. You couldn’t help the way you flinched, your eyes instantly snapping to Dewey. “We do this almost every week, you’re sixteen,” you looked down at your hands in your lap. “I can’t keep protecting you.”

“Then don’t!”

“So, juvie, that’s what you want?” You glanced up to see Dewey’s disappointed glare. “Is it?”

“No,” you mumbled.

“Cause that’s where you’re headed if you keep this up. If you’re lucky!” You looked up at him, your eyes wide. “If they wanted, you could be tried as an adult.”

You opened your mouth, but no words came out. ‘I’m sorry’ didn’t seem like enough. ‘I’ll do better’ wasn’t enough, those were just words. Words didn’t mean anything at the end of the day, actions are what matter, actions are what spoke the loudest.

“He came home drunk, again,” you whispered. You glanced up to see Dewey’s furrowed brow. “My foster dad.”

Dewey sucked in a breath and nodded. He knew what your foster dad was like, he knew exactly what your life was like. “Did he hit you?”

You shook your head. “Left before it got that bad.”

Dewey sighed and took a seat in the chair next to you. “You don’t have to stay there, you know.”

You let out a humorless chuckle as you scoffed at just the idea of that. There weren’t any other options, you had to stay with them until you were eighteen and then they’d kick you out and you’d be on your own. “Yeah, cause I have so many places to go?” you snarked.

Dewey got up and made his way around his desk, grabbing something on the shelf behind it. When he turned around, he was holding a packet of papers. He leaned across the table, holding out the papers to you. You hesitantly reached up, taking the papers from him.

When you looked down at the papers you couldn’t help but furrow your brow. “Emancipation?” you asked, looking up at Dewey. “There’s no way I’d ever qualify,” you shook your head, tossing the papers back onto his desk.

“Not if you do the work,” Dewey said. He picked up the papers and held them out to you again. “You’re a smart kid, the only one who can pull you out of the path you’re on, is you.”

You reached up and took the papers back from him. You looked down at it. You had thought of it before, of course you had. Getting emancipated required a lot of work though, you had to have your living situation figured out, you had to have an income, you had to prove that you could be independent and support yourself.

“I don’t even know where to start,” you mumbled.

“First,” Dewey said. “This shit,” he picked up an empty spray paint can from a previous encounter with you. “Has to stop. No more. I don’t want to see you in that seat,” he pointed to the chair you were in. “Again.” You nodded, keeping your eyes on the floor. “I can’t keep giving you chances.” You nodded, you had gotten lucky every time Dewey was the one to bring you in, no one else would have been as generous. He got up and made his way to the door, resting his hand on the doorknob as he looked back at you. “You know the way out,” he said before leaving his office, letting the door close behind him.

You continued to stare down at the papers in your lap. Maybe Dewey was just having a bad night, maybe he really was done with you, either way, you needed to get your shit together. You were going nowhere if you kept going at it like you were, it was only a matter of time before you got caught up in something much bigger than a little vandalism.

You shot up in your seat, your heart beating erratically in your chest as you looked around. “Hey, hey,” Tara’s soft voice came. You calmed down instantly when your eyes landed on her. “It’s okay.” She gave your hand a comforting rub. You were at the hospital, you were still at Tara’s bedside, you guessed you had passed out from all the crying.

“Sorry,” you rasped out. You got up from your seat, moving to the little sink in the room to fill a glass of water.

“You have nothing to apologize for.” You leaned your back against the sink, resting your hands on the counter behind you. “How are you holding up?”

You shook your head; you had no idea how you were doing. “I hate this town.” You stared at the floor.

You felt Tara’s eyes on you, but you couldn’t look away from the floor. “Ask me again?” Tara whispered. You scrunched your eyebrows, looking up at her with a tilt of your head. “Ask me again.”

Your eyes widened when you realized what she meant. You couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on your face despite your current situation as you made your way to her bedside again. “Run away with me?” you asked, leaning forward to stare into her eyes.

Tara nodded, happy tears filling her eyes. “Okay,” she whispered. You were already leaning in as she reached up with her good hand, resting it on the back of your neck to pull you closer.

You eventually moved to Tara’s other side, even though you couldn’t hold her hand anymore, you still wanted to keep your eyes on the door. You were in the chair, pressed against the bed as you ran your fingers through Tara’s hair. The two of you were watching some mindless TV, trying not to think about everything that had happened.

You rubbed your eyes tiredly; you could barely remember what sleep felt like. The only times you had slept since Tara’s attack had been in an uncomfortable position in a chair, passing out from crying yourself to exhaustion, and the few hours you had been knocked unconscious, though Tara told you that last one didn’t count as sleep.

You pulled out your phone when you felt it vibrate. You couldn’t help but roll your eyes when you saw whose name appeared on your screen. “Who is it?” Tara asked.

“Your sister,” you grumbled. You rolled your eyes again as you swiped to answer the call.

“Y/N,” Sam practically screamed into the phone as the phone got to your ear.

“Too what do I owe the displeasure Samantha?” you asked, unable to hide the irritation at her calling. The only reason you even picked up was because of Tara, you had no problem letting it go to voicemail.

“Ghostface is going after Tara.”

“What?” You shot to your feet. “How do you know?” You started pacing around the room, your eyes darting all around for anything that could be used as a weapon.

“Judy’s dead.” You stopped in your tracks. Your eyes were wide as you looked up at Tara. She scrunched her eyebrows, silently asking you what Sam was saying. “Wes too.” You shook your head, that couldn’t be, you had just seen both of them.

“Fuck,” was all you could manage to get out.

“He’s going after Tara.” Sam was clearly struggling with what she was about to say to you. You were sure it probably had to do with the fact that she told you to stay away from Tara and now she was calling you, telling you Tara was in danger. “Look I’m-”

“He’s not laying a fucking hand on her,” you cut her off. You didn’t need her apology; you didn’t want it. All that mattered right now was protecting Tara, that was your only concern.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

You clenched your jaw and gripped the phone in your hand tighter. “Whatever,” you hung up.

“What happened?” Tara asked.

“We need to get you out of here,” you said. You looked around until your eyes landed on the wheelchair.

“What’s going on?”

You rolled the wheelchair as close to the bed as possible, so you could get Tara into it without risking hurting her more. “Come on.”

“What’s going on?”

Tara grabbed your hand, forcing you to look her in the eye. “Ghostface.” Tara’s eyes instantly filled with tears, and she began shaking her head. The same fear you saw when she first woke up was back. “Hey,” you moved to her side instantly, gently brushing away the strands of hair that fell in her face. “No one is going to hurt you.” You stared into her eyes. “I swear, I’ll protect you. Okay?” You waited for her to nod.

You locked the wheelchair in place. As soon as you got your arms under Tara to lift her you heard a noise outside the door. You held your breath as you stared at the doorknob, waiting for whoever was out there to start turning it. You could feel Tara gripping onto you, her nails digging into your arm.

You moved quickly, getting Tara into the wheelchair as you continuously glanced at the door. No one tried coming in and you couldn’t hear a sound coming from the other side. The silence, which should have been peaceful, was anything but, you knew the second that door opened all hell would break loose. Sam said Ghostface was on the way, but he could have already been there. The only thing standing between Tara and Ghostface was you and you weren’t going to let him lay a finger on her.

You started to roll the wheelchair as quietly as you could when you saw the doorknob begin to jiggle. You raised a finger to your lips and moved across the room, so you’d be behind the door when it opened. Tara shook her head furiously, but you kept your attention on the door, you weren’t letting him get her.

As soon as the door creaked open you rammed your shoulder into it. There was a groan as the door whipped back into whoever was trying to open it. You quickly opened it, ready to tackle the person when you stopped in your tracks. “Richie?” you asked.

“What the hell?” Richie said, holding a hand to his bleeding nose.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Richie opened his mouth, but you didn’t know what he was about to say because behind Richie was Ghostface. “Look out!” You tried to warn him. Richie turned just as Ghostface brought down his knife, slashing him across the forearm.

Richie backed up, nearly tripping over his own feet before Ghostface grabbed him and shoved him against the wall. You kept yourself between Ghostface and Tara, straightening your back as Ghostface turned to face you. He tilted his head and twisted the knife in his hand.

“Move as fast as you can,” you whispered, glancing at Tara out of the side of your eye.

Before Tara could argue with you, you moved. Ghostface raised their knife, but you caught their arm as they tried to bring it down. You backed them up, slamming them against the wall. You heard the wheelchair begin to move behind you, at least Tara actually listened to you for once. Ghostface pushed back and you turned them, so your back was facing the door. You just had to stall them long enough for Tara to get to safety. You started to walk them back when they tripped over Richie’s feet. Ghostface crashed to the floor, their knife flying out of their hand.

You didn’t hesitate as you turned and ran out of the room. You got your hands on the wheelchair and began racing down the hall towards the elevator with Tara.

Something hit you in the side, sending you slamming into the wall, the force making Tara’s wheelchair tip over, and sending her crashing to the floor. You groaned, your eyes instantly widening when you heard Tara’s cries. You moved to go to her when you felt something pierce your side. Your breath caught in your throat as you looked down, seeing a knife in your side. You lifted your head, staring into the white mask as Ghostface slowly pulled out their knife.

“No!” you heard Tara scream, though she sounded far away.

Ghostface raised their knife and waved it back and forth in front of your face so you could see your own blood coating the knife. They brought the knife down, shoving it into your left shoulder and giving it an aggressive twist. You screamed and brought your hands up, trying to pull their hand away from you. They ripped it out without a care and watched as you slid to the floor. Your right hand went to your shoulder as your left hand held your side, trying to stop the blood but it continued to seep between your fingers.

You tried to pull yourself up as Ghostface slowly walked towards Tara, he was taunting her, knowing she couldn’t crawl away. It sounded like Ghostface was talking to someone, but everything was muffled. You tried to move as Ghostface reached her, but you only collapsed to the floor.

You took away your hand from the wound on your side, reaching out as if you could get to them, as if you could stop Ghostface. Just as Ghostface raised their knife the elevator doors opened. You choked out a sob as Dewey raised his gun, firing several shots at Ghostface until they dove out of the way down another hall. Sam rushed to her sister’s side, helping her up and as gently as she could rushed her to the elevator.

Dewey rushed to your side, he swung an arm around you and helped you to your feet. He whipped around with his gun when he heard a noise, but it was just Richie coming out of the room, a hand to his head from where he was hit. Dewey put his other hand around Richie and began struggling to help the both of you to the elevator.

As the three of you passed the hall Ghostface ran out, slamming into the three of you, making you crash to the floor again. Richie stumbled back to his feet, his eyes widening in horror as Ghostface dragged you back by your feet. He stood above you, and you could only stare up as he raised his knife.

The next thing you knew Ghostface was thrown back, crashing into the cabinet display along the wall. You turned your head to see Dewey with his gun raised. He kept his gun trained on Ghostface as he ran to your side. He didn’t bother flinging an arm around you this time, opting to just drag you by the back of the shirt towards the elevator.

Dewey finally let you go when he reached the elevator, letting you slump against the back wall. Tara dropped down to your side, resting a hand on your shoulder. Sam dropped down next to her, helping put pressure on your wounds. Richie was slumped in the corner, holding a hand to his bleeding arm. Dewey pressed the button for the first floor as he stood in the doorway.

“The head,” he whispered.

“What?” Sam asked, furrowing her brow as she stared up at Dewey.

“You have to shoot them in the head. Otherwise, they always come back.”

“Who gives a fuck!”

“I do.”

You Dewey held your gaze as he stepped back out of the elevator. You shook your head, you tried to move but your body just wouldn’t cooperate. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“N-n-no,” you whispered, coughing up some blood in the process.

Dewey gave you a sad smile before turning and walking back to Ghostface. You shook your head as he raised his gun at Ghostface’s head who still laid motionless in a pile of broken glass. When Dewey stepped closer, the broken glass cracking beneath his feet Ghostface’s arm shot up, stabbing Dewey in the gut, making him drop his gun.

“No!” you screamed, tears instantly feeling your eyes.

The last thing you saw before the elevator doors closed was Ghostface standing tall above Dewey, raising their knife as they prepared to stab him again.

#tara carpenter #tara carpenter x reader #tara carpenter x you #tara carpenter x fem!reader #tara carpenter imagine #jenna ortega #jenna ortega x reader #scream #scream v #scream 5 #a legacies secret

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