#DASH / WE TRYING NOT TO BE NOISY

[isnotwhatyourethinking]

One For The Ages

Cassian x Fem!Reader AU

Cassian Appreciation Week 2024

Day Six: Birthday

Summary: Cassian's been feeling a bit down since you both took a break due to some silly miscommunication, so his friends, Feyre, Mor, and Azriel, persuade him to go out for drinks, his birthday being the perfect excuse for the outing. As the night unfolds at Rita's, Cassian walks into an unplanned birthday surprise, and a song that helps bridge the gap between you two.

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: happy @cassianappreciationweek! this one-shot is for all the cheesy hearts, for the readers that want nothing but young, unfiltered, unapologetic, flirty, coma-inducing love between them and our favorite Illyrian baby <3 

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, language if you squint, reader is a bit of a brat, a dash of angst, and nothing but feet-kicking, giggle-inducing fluff fluff fluff

All ACOTAR rights to the genius of Sarah J Maas✨

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Mor and Feyre had been relentless, trying to drag Cassian out of his funk ever since the breakup. 

It had been a couple of weeks since you and Cassian had decided to take a break over some stupid miscommunication. He had tried to explain himself countless times, but you, as stubborn and proud as you were, hadn’t given him the chance. Two days ago he'd spoken to Rhys, hoping to get some advice on the situation, and Rhys had told him to give you some time and space to think things through, and he had, even though he still missed you terribly. 

He’d spent the day between meetings checking his phone for a message from you, a notification, a TikTok meme—any sign that you still cared—but nothing came. He wished he spent the day with you, though he knew his friends might have something planned, and he certainly appreciated the distraction. As it just so happened that today, on his birthday, the girls finally had the perfect excuse to take him out for drinks. 

Azriel walked into their shared apartment, arms loaded with bottles of aged tequila, chips and salsa. He found Cassian wrapping up a virtual coaching session, clearly planning to stay home after a quick shower. 

"Don't be a boring baby, Cass. It's your birthday. Get out and enjoy it," Az chided, setting the supplies on the kitchen counter.

Cassian arched an eyebrow, genuinely surprised. "Even you want to go out and celebrate? Who are you, and what have you done with my roommate?"

Az smirked, pouring two shots of tequila. "Just trying to get you out of your cave for once.”

Then he hooked an arm around Cassian's neck, pulling him into a playful headlock. With his free hand, he formed a fist and rubbed his knuckles into Cassian's hair, mussing it. Cassian grumbled, but a small smile crept onto his face as Azriel's quiet laugh filled the room. 

“Cheers to your birthday, man." 

They clinked glasses just as the buzzer rang. Azriel pressed the intercommunicator and two loud voices greeted him with a singsong.

"Go, Cassian! It's your birthday! We gon' party like it's your birthday!”

"Aaand that’ll be Mor and Feyre," Az said, buzzing them in. "Now go shower and get ready. You’re not weaseling out of this."

Cassian sighed and made his way to his room, still brooding a little over tonight's outing, but grateful for his friends, the group he had come to call family.

Moments later, two noisy girls burst into the apartment, each carrying a small bag containing a gift, already dressed and ready to hit Rita's. Mor and Feyre walked in with playful smiles that quickly faded when they saw the look on Azriel's face as he greeted them. 

"Hello, ladies. It looks like the party just arrived.” He leaned in to hug Mor first, then Feyre, while he said in a hushed tone:

"He's getting ready, still not in the mood, though."

Mor leaned in, whispering, "Any word from Y/N?" Feyre glanced hopefully at Az, who shook his head.

Both sighed in disappointment while dropping both gift bags on the kitchen counter, their hopes for a reconciliation dampened. 

You, Feyre and Morrigan were inseparable ever since you and Cassian had become best friends, even More so when you started dating. Whether it was planning girls’ nights out, painting each other’s nails, or curling up to watch scary movies, your time together was always filled with laughter and closeness; you formed a trio that was not just friends, but a cherished sisterhood that had not been the same since the breakup. The girls had been there for you through and through, even to call you out on your bullshit when you told them you were not sure if you were ready to forgive him. 

“Girl, it wasn’t that bad. You gotta let it go,” Mor had said in a teasing tone while rolling her eyes at you. And you knew it wasn't, you knew you were acting like a brat; they still loved you and didn't judge you, nonetheless.

From his room, Cassian's voice boomed, "You know I can hear you scheming, right?"

The girls giggled, and Mor called out, "Hurry up, Cassian! Amren and Rhys are meeting us at Rita's, and they should be there by now."

Cassian emerged, wearing a leather jacket, worn jeans, black boots, and a Van Halen t-shirt that wrapped tightly every single perfectly crafted muscle on him. He joined the group in the living room for pregame drinks. 

"Don’t think I didn’t miss you got my favorite tequila," he remarked to Az, offering him a wide grin.

Az winked at him. "Yeah, apparently that's what it takes to get you to leave this apartment."

They all laughed, clinking their glasses and taking shots. After a few minutes of catching up, and a few more shots, they left in almost a hurry to their Uber, closing the door behind them as the home phone rang, unanswered. The voicemail clicked on, a robotic voice echoing through the apartment:

"Please leave your message after the tone. BEEP."

"Hey, Cass. I know it's been a while. I’m sorry, I, uh, texted earlier but wasn't sure if you got my message. Anyway, are you coming to Rita's tonight?” Your nervous tone rang loudly over the background noise of drinks and chatter, “I was hoping to, uh… wish you a happy birthday. Plus, it's buy-one-get-one-free happy hour and karaoke night…! Shit, I'm ranting. Sorr—" 

“Your mailbox is full.” 

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Rita's was busting. The whole place was loud with pounding bass and bursts of laughter, as more and more people made their way to a corner of the bar, some still wearing work attire, but most likely all waiting for their turn to submit their karaoke song requests. You sat next to Emerie at the bar, leaning against the sticky surface as you awaited the shots you had ordered, and your song to come up. You constantly turned your face back to check the door, hoping he’d come tonight.

Emerie was tired of your antics.

“You’re making me nervous.”

You sighed. “Sorry I’m being a wreck tonight… should I call again, though?”

Emerie blanked her eyes at you with astonishment. “Y/N, be for real. You already texted and left a voicemail. We don’t want to sound desperate, do we? Besides, I think I saw Amren a minute ago. They’re all most likely coming.”

A pang of hope hit your chest. 

You’d been busy with work, this week going so fast you hadn’t had the time or energy to reevaluate Mor and Feyre’s advice, and more so to acknowledge you had indeed made a mistake and should have given Cassian the chance to explain himself. And you hated fighting with your best friend, much less on his birthday, as you had already planned over a month ago a couple’s retreat in Big Bear for this weekend—just the two of you in a quaint cabin secluded by the lake, phones on do-not-disturb, a schedule of all of his favorite outdoor activities, and some of the indoor activities that you both enjoyed, too. 

You hoped that if he came, he would at least hear your sorry-ass apology for being a proud snot, even if he wasn't interested in the birthday present, and you would finally give him the opportunity to talk, as you should have done in the first place.

You sighed once again with the turmoil of regrets in your head, ready to hit another shot of gin, when the DJ announced your name, letting you know it’s your turn and your song is about to come up.

Emerie’s head suddenly snapped back at you with a wide grin and complicit eyes, excitingly tapping the bar as the melody started. You finally finished your shot of gin, trying to gain some confidence. 

As you made your way to the corner of the bar towards the karaoke booth, where the DJ reached out with his arm to give you the microphone, you realized you were actually looking forward to this moment, to release the stress of the work week and the restlessness that sleeping without Cassian cuddling you these past few weeks had left you. 

The screen next to the karaoke booth lit up with the image of pink cotton candy skies, and the lyrics started playing in a fuchsia glitter font:

Ah

Ah

Ah

Ah

Ah

Emerie began clapping with an occasional “YAAASS” that tinged your cheek with embarrassment as you tentatively swayed on the small stage and brought the mic close to your mouth, when a familiar towering shape crossed the bar entrance with an entourage you knew all too well. Feyre came first, rushing into the bar and screeching with excitement while dragging Mor by the hand to meet Emerie, and you definitely did not miss how Mor and Emerie exchanged flirty looks.

All your confidence sank to your stomach when you saw Cassian walking in behind them, mindlessly heading towards the bar with a distracted look. Azriel elbowed him, nodding his chin towards you. Cassian’s eyes lit up, drifting in a flicker to the sundress he loved to see you wearing, and his jaw dropped faintly as you had no other choice but to start singing the song you had been blasting for weeks since the breakup:

Saying goodbye is death by a thousand cuts

Flashbacks waking me up

I get drunk, but it's not enough

'Cause the morning comes, and you're not my baby

You continued singing with a somewhat shy demeanor, though the grin that grew on Cassian's lips gave you the encouragement you needed to keep going. 

You both loved coming to Rita’s on karaoke nights. It had become an unspoken rule between you two—whenever the work week felt like a little too much, you'd come here to rant about clients, coworkers, or both, in the middle of 2x1 drinks and your poorly sung favorite songs.

Emerie, Feyre, and Mor, were now cheering you with shot glasses in their hands, Mor whistling loudly, while Cassian and Azriel tried to get the bartender's attention from the now impossibly crowded bar to order more drinks for the group. 

You sang with the newfound boldness Cassian’s grin gave you from the bar, never losing sight of you as you savored every single word that had held you up these past few days, your smile barely reaching your eyes as his attention fixed on you.

I look through the windows of this love

Even though we boarded them up

Chandelier's still flickering here

'Cause I can't pretend it's ok when it's not

It's death by a thousand cuts

The words kept pouring out just like the many shots of gin you’d had earlier, and you now regretted having that many as your skin felt too warm, too sweaty, too exposed to the crowd gathering in front of you. You tried to shake off the uneasy feeling that started to creep up on you when you saw Cassian click his tequila shot with Az, hit it while keeping a straight face, and walk towards the karaoke booth to your left.

Oh, Gods. 

He now reached the DJ, whispering something in his ear that made him laugh and reach out for something under his desk. Never mind him, keep singing, you told yourself, trying to ignore the fact that he now held a microphone and was walking onto the stage with a roguish smile that shattered any remnant of pride left in you. He walked towards you and reached for your hand as he began to sing playfully, staring into your eyes:

You said it was a great love

One for the ages

But if the story's over

Why am I still writing pages?

You shook your head in disbelief, covering your face with a knowingly amused expression that implied this was typical Cassian behavior, as now both of you were singing the next few lines in unison, while the now larger crowd cheered, and familiar faces sang along from the front line: Feyre stood in front of Rhys, who hugged her from behind; Mor and Emerie sang loudly, chanting and waving every word with frenzied exaggeration; and Azriel and Amren recorded a video with their cellphones, eyes full of amusement, knowing they’d use the evidence to tease you both in the future.

Cassian never stopped facing you, now solo singing with eyes glinting as he relished the next lines like they’d been written for you only:

My heart, my hips, my body, my love

Trying to find a part of me that you didn't touch

Gave up on me like I was a bad drug

But you didn’t back down, spitting back the lyrics you knew by heart, all this time never paying attention to the prompts on the screen,

My time, my wine, my spirit, my trust

Trying to find a part of me you didn't take up

Gave you too much but it wasn't enough

But I'll be all right, it's just a thousand cuts

The back-and-forth continued until you both finished the song, almost panting and laughing. Your friends, the crowd, the DJ, hell, even Rita, who had been watching from behind the bar, cheered for yet another entertaining karaoke-after-work Friday at the bar, which by this time of the night was always packed with drunk patrons.

Still holding hands as he wouldn’t let go yours, you both left the stage to greet your friends after returning the microphones, and before any of their teasing began, Cassian excused himself to pull you into a quieter hallway by the restrooms, his chest heaving while he placed himself impossibly close to you to address the elephant in the room.

He moved a strand of your hair away from your face with such a delicate touch that you subtly shivered.

“You came.”

"I, uh, wasn't sure if you'd be happy to see me here," you said tentatively, lifting your head as high as you could to meet his gorgeous hazel eyes, wondering if you could go another minute without kissing him, and foolishly telling yourself that it was probably the gin talking, “but I wanted to see you, I wanted to say I’m s—”

"No, wait, Y/N. I'm sorry. About our anniversary." Cass interrupted with eagerness before you could finish, his eyes reflecting nothing but regret, holding yours with a suffocating intensity that almost made your knees buckle.

"I swear, I had plans for us, I wanted us to spend a few days away from everything and everyone like we've always talked about, but I closed my two biggest accounts to date by offering them a free one-on-one, and they could only do it that weekend."

You could see his excitement as he spoke, you'd heard him rant many times in the past about how much these clients meant to him. 

"The Vanserras?" 

"Can you believe it, baby? They booked me for the next couple of years," he nodded with another breathtaking grin, a charming smile that should be the end of you by how it made you reach out for his impossibly toned arms, his broad chest, up until you playfully reached his messy bun.

"I'm—that's fantastic, Cass, I'm so happy for you!" Emotions swirled in your stomach as the gin finally settled in your system, and your eyes stung with tears as soon as you started apologizing profusely for acting so immaturely. He leaned in for an embrace, resting his face on your neck while his nose and stubble tickled softly your ear and cheek.

"Sweetheart, if anything, I should be sorry. I promise I'll make it up to you," he whispered in a rich baritone that made you clench your thighs together.

"Now, let's wipe these tears from that pretty face," he said as he pulled away to grab your chin softly, gingerly kissing your eyes, tiny drops fading away on his lips. 

He glanced back at you with a look you had seen many times at this same place, those two pools of honey projecting the clear intention of appealing to your competitive side, for he knew just how to taunt you and make your whole body flutter with excitement, he knew how to make you feel that you had to be the luckiest girl in the world. 

Oh, you knew what was coming next. And it meant war.

“Are you ready to duo Runnin’ With the Devil, or are you too scared to break your perfect streak? And I won’t take no for an answer because it’s my birthday.”

"You think I'm going to let you win this time just because it's your birthday? Big spoiled baby," you taunted back, tutting in a flirtatious tone that made him pull you in for a kiss. “For your information, I already got you a birthday present.”

“Yeah?” he whispered between kisses, your lips losing themselves in a breathless dance.

“Yeah. We’re going to Big Bear.”

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yes cassian’s a van halen fan it’s headcanon

Taglist:

@bravo-delta-eccho @yamisuke @randomperson1234sblog @anxious-cactus @lilah-asteria  @darkbloodsly @wirdbeimaufhebengebunden @courtofkat  @lord-boozy

[marlynnofmany]

Racetracking

“The good news,” announced the gravelly voice of Mimi the tentacle alien, “Is that this model defaults to zero-g when it breaks.” He led the way down the corridor with tentacle slaps instead of footsteps, which managed to sound exasperated.

I had the brief thought that he was louder than Mur and Wio when he walked, possibly because he spent so much time in the engine room where everything was noisy. But I put that thought aside. I had a pretty good idea what the bad news was.

“The bad news,” Mimi grumbled, “Is that the carrying cage that these high-paying customers insisted on is so broken that I can’t fix it. Even with the right tools.”

“So we have animals in zero-g,” I said.

Mimi waved a tentacle in a way that I privately found hilarious. “We just took off! Just! It’s like they’re trying to frame us for damages!”

I looked at him in alarm. “Are we sure they’re not?”

He made a dismissive motion, still walking. “That’s what the cameras in the storage holds are for. There’s proof that no one dropped it or whatever. And I think Captain Sunlight is already talking to them about it, which is a conversation I do not envy her.”

I winced. “Yeah. Which animals? It’s just one of the carriers, right?”

“The little ones. I dunno what they’re called. They were alive when I left, but they looked pretty upset.”

That didn’t narrow it down. As the ship’s resident animal expert, I’d had a look at each of the half-dozen life support chambers that passed for carriers among the rich folks. Each of them held a different type of little furry whatsit in wild colors. Each was sealed with its own supply of air and gravity — or at least it was supposed to be.

I couldn’t hear any distressed noises yet, but when Mimi poked the button for the door, it slid open to a chorus of muffled squeaks.

The six chambers were lined up in a row, on display in the center of the room, with nothing close enough to so much as touch them. Five held animals calmly nosing around the bottom.

One held a whirling tornado of blue fur.

I dashed over to peer through the glass, hands dancing uncertainly. I shouldn’t touch it, shouldn’t open it. But—!

…But.

I looked closer. “They’re running.” I dropped my hands and stared.

Mimi plopped down next to me. “Is that bad?”

“No, it’s just — Look at them! They’re doing this on purpose!” I started to smile as I realized why the squeaks sounded familiar. “They’ve made their own hamster wheel.”

“A what now?” Mimi wanted to know.

I gestured vaguely. “It’s an exercise thing for animals like this where I’m from. A wheel that they run inside of, and it keeps spinning. These guys—” I pointed at the chamber. “—Have created their own.”

“Uh-HUH.” Mimi tilted his head to watch the antics, which were slowing down as they noticed us. “That is a strange reaction to zero-gravity.”

“I’ve heard of mice that did that, actually,” I said as a memory surfaced. “It took them a while to make a game of it. I wonder if this isn’t the first time the carrier’s gravity has gone screwy.”

Mimi held a curl of tentacle thoughtfully to his face. “That is an interesting data point. The captain will want to know.” He lowered it. “And if you’re sure these things aren’t about to die of organ explosion or whatever, then we should go tell her.”

The blue furry things — which did honestly look a lot like mice — had settled down to some more even-tempered bumping around in there. None were limping as far as I could tell, and none had been knocked unconscious or worse.

“I think they’re okay,” I said, looking closely. “The food dispenser is closed, thankfully, so there aren’t any pellets or globs of water floating about. They just got a bit of excitement.”

Mimi levered himself off the floor. “They’re not the only ones,” he grumbled. “Annoying little meatsticks must be in cahoots with the rich jerks, trying to make our lives harder. Why would they even do that?”

I gave the chamber one last look, then stood and followed him toward the door. “I dunno, it looks like fun. Probably a lot of animals would enjoy that if they knew it was an option.”

Mimi stared at me with one large eye. “Animals from your planet.”

“Well, yeah. Probably others too.”

He made a wet-sounding snort of skepticism and led the way into the hall.

I followed, smiling. “Come on, it looks like fun. I was just thinking it would be neat to try in a zero-g room, though flat walls wouldn’t be as good as curved ones.”

“Your planet’s full of weirdos. You know that, right?”

“Oh, it’s been said before.”

~~~

Thanks to this post for inspiration! It was too good an idea to pass up.

Anyways, this is the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book. But you probably already knew that.

[metalhoops]

Steve never liked the cities. 

They were always too crowded, too noisy. He liked Hawkins. He liked a quiet life in the suburbs. It was part of the reason he’d never gone to college, that and having to worry about his adopted band of misfit kids and the hell dimension that opened every year. Yet, somehow he found himself on a weekend trip to Chicago.

It was all Eddie’s fault. He had to pick some things up from a music store in town for the band, he’d mention strings or amps. Steve only half understood. It was an excuse for Eddie to take his van to Chicago. Steve had been surprised to find himself invited.

“You never leave town since Vecna went dark, dude. How are you going to travel around with six kids and a Winnebago if you never leave Hawkins?” Eddie asked, somehow managing to convince Steve to join him. 

They took turns driving Eddie’s van.  Eddie’s choice of music was questionable, but his version of road trip games was even more worrisome. They’d been travelling behind an old truck for the better part of an hour when Eddie kicked his feet on the dash and questioned,

“What do you think would be the worst way to die right now? Because I’ve spent the past half hour watching that guy’s toolbox rattle around and I’m convinced a nail gun to the head would be a killer way to go.” 

Steve should’ve known better, but he’d give anything for a distraction from the long stretch of road. 

“Probably getting set on fire at a pump while you insist you need a smoke the second we pulled over at the last gas station,” Steve noted, switching on his indicator and passing the vehicle, using all the horsepower the poor-beat up van had. 

“And here I was thinking I had a twisted imagination,” Eddie spoke, before listing off a series  of more gruesome scenarios. 

By the time the two reached their motel, Steve felt strangely lighter. Whether it was the distance from Hawkins and the trouble it had caused him or because he and Eddie had spent an hour listing out worst-case scenarios until they felt comical and absurd instead of real and imminent threats, he didn’t know. Being trapped in a town with a rip in the fabric of space and time had a way of making you always feel on your guard. That night the two slept quickly and soundlessly. 

It was when they walked through town Steve remembered why he hated cities. He was left shuffling through unfamiliar streets, elbow to elbow with strangers, trying desperately to keep up with Eddie as the man weaved and ebbed with the crowd as Steve used to slice through water. Eddie was one with the city. Steve was apart from it.

Without thinking, Steve reached out, grabbing onto the hem of Eddie’s jacket, letting himself be guided. Eddie showed him where to step, how to move. He kept his head down and followed Eddie’s lead to the music store. Much to his surprise, when they were all done, and once more ready to head back into the fray of the foot traffic, Eddie offered the crook of his elbow for Steve to hold onto. 

“Hey, it’s easier than you almost tugging a hole in a perfectly good jacket. You don’t have a good track record, Harrington,” Eddie teased. He had a point. 

He hadn’t meant to make a habit of it. Yet the small action of latching onto Eddie to keep him at arm’s length followed the two back to Hawkins. 

The thing about hanging out with Eddie was that the man was surprisingly hard to keep up with. He was always rushing places at the drop of a hat, jerked one way or the other by whatever flight of fancy caught his attention. 

He’d be beside Steve at the Family Video store one minute, then darting to the horror section driven there by some tangential conversation, which then of course, would lead him to remember some old sci-fi film and send him running to the sci-fi section, only to find it lacking. That would lead him to Robin and their extensive movie catalogue on the computer, all the while, he’d still be talking to Steve. He found it easier to keep up with Eddie if he had a hold of him. 

He’d find his fingers tucked into the crook of Eddie’s elbow, hooked in the chain of his jeans or clinging to the cuff or hem of his shirt and trailing in the wake of him. 

Contrary to popular belief, Steve wasn’t an idiot. Not when it came to social situations. He knew being extra touchy with Eddie was something he could only do in certain situations. He was hyper-aware of it when he’d made the mistake of hooking his thumb into the back pocket of Eddie’s jeans in the arcade. The two had driven the kids there and were wasting time bouncing between watching the kids and playing pinball. 

A group of teenagers had been gawking at the two already, likely trying to work out what twist of fate had landed the former king of Hawkins High and current school Freak together. With the action, the mumbled whispers turned into slack jaws and less favourable words muttered just loud enough for Steve to hear. 

Steve wasn’t an idiot. He knew what it looked like. He would be lying if he said he didn’t want it to be like that, not that he’d voiced any of it. Not yet. He needed to do it in a town where people didn’t know his name, so people wouldn’t talk if he was reading Eddie all wrong. He didn’t think he was, he was good with reading people. 

In a crowd, holding onto Eddie was okay.  On their increasingly frequent trips to the city, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Fort Wayne. When no one else could see, that was okay. In small-town Hawkins, in broad daylight, it wasn’t. 

Steve suddenly understood the appeal of the city.  

[ariseur]

Hello there! Thank you so much for addressing my request...I'm new to Tumblr app so I hope I'm messaging your inbox! So yes! I hope...this isn't too demanding. I anon requested zack x fair reader...and I'm gonna let it all hang out with you:

I simp for zack fair very very hard...and Im HUNGRY for fluff..all the gentle kisses, hair playing ...jawline holding, couch cuddling, sweet compliments, rainy days...holding...waist clutching, skin contact, lips grazing coffe sippinng...deep eye dinner dates, jokes , teasing silly ...I can handle!!! I don't do smut or too overly steamy. I'm too old for that shit

Maybe perhaps...on the opposite spectrum, zack boyfriend scenario, comforting s/o with anxiety...drying of tears, wiping tears away, consoling cuddling...hearing him hum reader to sleep...mentions of heartbeats being felt through chests....feeling of voice vibrations through MUSCULAR chest...comfort bare muscular arms , tender kisses...goosebumps...ok I'm sorry too demanding...if I'm blessed and you create chapters of like simple one date, fun.."friends to lovers" type of thing, casual playstation gaming hangouts, cooking dinner as friends...thinking of each other while away ..to eventually relationship and consoling s/o anxiety....full on love date..that close intimacy (i,crave safe for work) I'd wait FOREVER, however long it would take you to write chapters of joy....you'd be my hero!!!

I stress his scar (in my own ramblings i always place my finger tips on it, i kiss it gently, we discuss who gave it to him, how he feels about it).. Our first date I wear some tight fitting dress his favorite color, but as he gentlemanly removes my peacoat for the evening he notices I'm covered in tattoos, and he's memzmerized (I do have quite the collection of ink irl) he smells of sweet sandalwood and is wearing the black suit in that turks mod for remake... his eyes. I make my own feeble attempts at fanfic but I'm TOO new and insecure to really write anything as I REGULARLY indulge in AI chat and it proves so many USEFUL fever dream instances for me to write but for now...I let the experts handle it.

Should you accept, thank you for bringing JOY into my life....

Please do take your time...I know you amazing ppl are BUSY and mine isn't the only request and might even not be too interesting.

But I thank you so so so much...I've been searching for weeks ..no replies.

EPHEMERAL - ZACK FAIR (CHPT. ONE)

ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀི₊ ⊹ notes - omg!! i’m so sorry this has been sitting here for so long!! i’ve been trying to go about this and since i’m not that experienced with creating chapter fics, i decided— what the hell?? why not try it?? so— i hope i did somewhat of a good job and stay tuned for some more!!

ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀི₊ ⊹ warnings - none except one mention of suicide ( but like in a ‘social suicide’ way ), intended lowercase, you spar with zack as kids ( cardboard swords ) lmk if i missed anything 💕!!

ᡣ𐭩ྀིྀི₊ ⊹ word count - 2561 words, 13990 characters

STRENGTH. that was what mattered most in this world.

strength was a word you had learned in the first grade, sitting next to a snot-nosed kid babbling to his friends as he completely took up all your attention with his nasally voice in your ear. the teacher seemed to pay no mind, only engulfed in tapping her stubby chalk piece against the board, stained with dashes of residual white from the previous words that had been written earlier today, as she barely looked back at the rest of you.

you remembered it so vividly, the smell of the sanitizing wipes she had used during the twenty minutes recess you always anticipated, eager to escape the boring rants of mrs. ozaki and her slow paced curriculum. you remembered the knock you felt on your chair from behind you, soft as to not alert the teacher — as if she couldn’t hear the noisy kid blabbering next to you known as ono, although you only referred to him as, “booger-face.”

craning your neck and grabbing ahold of the side of your chair in order to turn further, you looked behind you only to see the half-toothless, sanguine kid you knew as zack fair. his dark hair, slicked back with only a few strands sticking out, probably from all the activity he did during your break at recess. you two had met earlier this year as he had defended you from the previous, aforementioned offender— ,”booger-face.” you had remembered the way zack stood over you, hands on his hips as he surged forward at the boy to stop him from pushing you around. his eyes, always so bright and lively, squinted at you with his smile as he helped you up and helped dust off your skirt.

after that moment, zack fair had started hanging around you more and more, inviting you to play around with his friends on the merry-go-round’s or hanging out with you after school, running around and playing with rocks or cardboard swords before your parents’ both called you in for dinner, to which you would hastily say goodnight run to your guys’ houses awaiting dinner.

removing his hands from your chair and placing them neatly on his desk, he beamed at you, “you still up for some training after school?”

you rolled your eyes as your lips twitched upwards into a small smile, “duh,” you said. you turned your body completely in order to to fully face him. “near the water still?”

he chimed in agreement, “duh,” his eyes crinkled with the way his grin widened, identical to the day he had practically saved you. he chuckled a little bit before fixing his posture and sitting upright in his seat, the wooden chair creaking as he readjusted his position. your eyebrows knitted together before you heard a stern shout of your name.

you flinched, whipping around back to face the front as your face burned hot with embarrassment. upon your turning of the body, you were met with the stares of your classmates and the hard glare of your teacher, fixated on only you now. her arm was no longer raised up and scribbling nonsense of vocabulary on the board, instead it hung low and remained against her thigh as she impatiently tapped the piece of chalk against her knee-length skirt. her lips, a light pink as they contrasted with the darkness of her tied hair, were pressed into a thin line before she asserted, “pay more attention, first warning.”

you nodded shamefully as you ducked your head down, grabbing your small wooden pencil and gripping it in your hand, as if you’d use it to jot down notes of whatever she was talking about— although it lay unused and useless for the remainder of class, only a placeholder of a ‘what if’ factor your teacher always liked to use when she began the period.

skeptically, she let her raised brow drop as stopped tapping the chalk against her leg, turning around and beginning to explain the curriculum planned for tomorrow again.

you tried to ignore the feeling of holes being burned at the back of your head, multiple pairs of eyes staring at your fork while you made your attempt at keeping your eyes forward and your mouth shut. you ignored the small, boyish giggles emitted from behind you, you’d ‘kick his butt’ outside of school, you thought. you’d get your payback, but for now — you sighed. keeping your hands interlocked, your faced your palms on another area of the desk, the foreign spot now cold against your warm skin. trying to act somewhat proper and behaved, you waited out the rest of class ( which was only presumably about twenty minutes ) just to find that sublime feeling of escaping the torturous ‘h-e-double hockey sticks’ that you referred to as school.

and you held up to that promise of kicking zack fair’s butt — watching as he stumbled backwards with his hands flailing in the air, a flimsy cardboard cutout of a sword gripped tightly in his hand as he let out a loud, “woahh—!”

you giggled, “what’d i tell you about that stance, zack?” you put a hand on your hip as he yelped in surprise. his foot slipped in the body of water, making an animated sound while he skidded across a rock, luckily able to catch his balance in time. you could hear the small chattering of the people near you, the rivers of gongaga rushing as your laughs continue and rise up into the quiet air.

“that’s not fair—! no water knocks!” he exclaimed.

you shrugged as he approached you once more, “you never said that before we started,” you chided. he charged forward at you, being blocked as you held your sword up in a protective expression. stepping backwards, your arm raised and lowered with every hit that the dark-haired boy threw at you, his confident face flashing between every brown whoosh of the cardboard weapons.

he heaved, “you know how mrs. ozaki kept talking about strongness or whatever?”

“you mean— strength?” another blocked hit, this time you tried to kick him and sweep the leg — unfortunately, you underestimated zack a little more than you had thought as he kept a firm hold in the cold dirt, digging his shoes into the ground.

“same difference, yeah?”

“what about it, fair?”

he pursed his lips as he tensed his body, waiting for you to strike again. you held off for a second, flinching as if you would hit in order to try to keep him off balance. zack decided to speak again in this momentary pause of your sparring. “i’ve been thinking about those SOLDIERs and.. i want to be strong— hey!” he exclaimed as you landed a surprise attack on him, barely grazing his not-so-ironed-anymore jeans before he deflected your hit. “now, that’s really uncalled for, c’mon.”

“finish your thought before i hit you again.” you quirked a brow.

he wore a smug look on his face, putting his hands on his hips while he shook his head at you. “didn’t hit me but ‘kay,” that smugness didn’t last long as you feigned waving your sword at him, only for him to let out a small yelp and jolt backwards. you smiled, quirking an expectant brow while he groaned in exasperation. “i wanna be strong too, y’know. have some— strength,” he said; and that was almost the end of it . . until he had managed to mutter a quick hiss of, “unlike you.”

you watched as his arm raised, the sleeve of his uniform’s button-up lifting up a little to reveal his tan line that he had obtained after being outside with you for so long. his hand gripped the thin handle while he went overhead to try and strike you from above. making haste, you took one more step back as your hands flew up to catch his attack with your own sword. in your imagination, with the collision of your toy weapons, you envisioned a loud, ‘clank!’ as they clashed with each other — it felt much more awesome-r to imagine sounds of iron versus the soft flap of refraining yourself from putting too much pressure on the thin material of the cardboard.

you grinned at him, watching as his determined face managed a crack of a smirk while he tried scaring you and randomizing the amounts of pressure he’d put in an attempt to try and catch you in a daze. however, the swiftness in which you jolted to the side and flipped your sword flat so that the tip faced outwards, thrusting the faux weapon and jabbing it into his chest caught him off guard, rendering him the loser of that evening’s battle.

you watched as zack carefully looked down at his stomach, then finally bringing himself to peer back up at you. he placed a hand on his chest while he acted like he really was injured, even going so far as have spit dribble out of his mouth and act like it was blood.

“gross—!” you exclaimed, pushing him as he fell on his back in the dirt and raised a dramatic hand to the sky. you laughed while he let out his ‘last dying breath’ before ceremoniously lolling his head to the side.

with some more giggles, you judged him with your foot as he magically arose from the ‘dead’ and beamed at you, reveling in your laughter. although, in that moment he wouldn’t tell you. he didn’t want to admit his growing crush on you, he didn’t want cooties. that was practically suicide. you extended a gentle hand out to him, throwing your sword to the side as he took your offer and hoisted himself up. zack brushed the dirt off of his pants while you cleaned his back up, still laughing about the whole encounter.

you claimed victory for a long while, even when you both had sat by the water and skipped rocks onto the cerulean river, now being painted a harsh lilac as the sun began to set and the heat of the sky began to cool, a soft breeze coming to rest upon your bodies rather than the draining, blistering sun.

you let a small beat of silence pass over the both of you, spinning the cold stone in your hand before chucking it into the water. your chest began to tighten, for a reason you don’t know why but you could feel it— crawling up your throat as it engulfed your esophagus. it creeped up the inside of you. almost as if you were gonna throw up, the pit in your stomach began to settle. you felt it, twitching on your tongue as it settled, trying to escape its enclosure from past your lips. you held it in for so long, fighting this battle you were so determined to win as you tried to focus on anything; the birds chirping around you, the rushing of the water, zack’s stone skipping across it. you tried to hold it in until—

“do you really think you’ll become a SOLDIER one day?”

the rock he had grabbed remained lifeless in his hands, his fingers tightening around it while he contemplated his options. he turned to you— dirt on his face and his smile, gapped with all the recent teeth he had been losing. he never faltered with that smile, you thought to yourself; and you never forgot what he had said to you after you asked that, “i’ll make sure of it.”

you smiled back at him, before it dropped once you had heard the calls of your name coming from the huts above the creek, where both of your homes had been located. with not another second, zack had already gotten up and running. he swiveled back to face you, waving a goodbye with his lanky arm before he shouted, “i’ll see you tomorrow!” but, of course, he wouldn’t be zack if he didn’t get hurt every now and then, you thought, as you watched him trip over a small rock. but— you realized, he also wouldn’t be zack if he didn’t get up afterwards. still, he turned his head to make sure you didn’t see only to discover you had ( much to his embarrassment ), before getting up and running back home again.

you laughed under your breath, “dork.”

and now, you’re still you. sitting in a bakery in nibelheim, you had almost never changed. well— besides the fact that you grew a couple of feet and wore a wider range of clothes than your school uniform and an old, colorful your grandmother had gifted you when you were five. you wore your hair differently and went out of your way to try and make a difference in the world; specifically by starting and doing some jobs around town and seeing if anybody needed help with those.. things — that would appear around town. the day zack left for midgar had stained your brain permanently, his hug leaving a mark on your body as you knew you might not see him again— even if you chastised ( or more so threatened ) him that he stay in contact with you no matter what.

although it was a few years ago already, you never forget about it, your mind always traveled back to that day at the river. grabbing another hold of your pastry, you admired the vibrant frosting as it created the symbol of a chocobo, not even able to take a bite in fear of ruining the perfect design. you watched the simple villagers of nibelheim float around their daily life while you stayed under the canopy in front of the shop, seated at a little table with the shade covering you from the heat of the sun. you remained bored as you tapped your foot and listened to the bustle of the small town before you heard pairs of assertive footsteps and the, ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s of the people.

tilting your head upwards, you only assumed maybe a few flat footed people or some kids running around was the answer but no— you’re met with the sight of a long, silver haired man with wide, white should plates while a shinra infantryman accompanied him along with another SOLDIER, only this time in black armor. you had watched the town guide, and even with your fuzzy memory you think you had recalled her name was tifa.

you squinted at them, watching as the SOLDIERs looked around at the small village. you gasped as the SOLDIER with the darker uniform turned his head, those eyes were all too familiar, and that familiar cowlick that peeked out from his thick, black hair was all too distinct. putting down the pastry, your eyes narrowed even further almost as if you couldn’t believe what you were seeing. you watched as he turned his head, his full face on display as he beamed at the environment— his smile still the same besides the fact that all of his adult teeth had grown in and his jaw became more defined.

you sat upright, your lips quirking upwards as you felt that childish wonder grow as it had all those years ago like when you had first met him, brave and confident as ever when he had defended you.

“zack?”

[msweebyness]

Papa’s Got You: A Descendants Short (Rest in Power, Ken Page)

Here’s a little short I did for the Spooky Month, a sweet little moment between baby Darcy and her papa! Rest in peace to Ken Page, thank you for giving life to one of my fave villains of all time! Enjoy! @imsparky2002 @artzychic27

Another crack of lightning ripped across the sky, the thunder that followed rattling the barrier and all the buildings of the Isle of the Lost that laid beneath it. The thick, heavy raindrops smacked onto its jagged edges and rolled off it into the ocean, the storm stirring the waves up around its base. Many of the residents of the forlorn island grumbled in annoyance at the noise and picked up items that had fallen from their places. Storms without the rain were common here, and most of the residents were indifferent by now…

Most.

On the outskirts of the dilapidated city sat the lair that was home to the Boogie family. The twisted tree stood menacing as ever, knowing what lay beneath it. But in that dread chamber now, hunched below one of the various machines with her tiny burlap hands over her ears was little Darcy Boogie, the daughter of the Boogie Man himself. She wasn’t scared, of course, don’t be ridiculous! Nothing scared her, just like her papa! She just…didn’t like all the noise, that’s all!

Heavy footsteps sounded through the room as the one and only Oogie Boogie entered his lair, just as another streak of lightning split the air and thunder roared once again. Following this sound, he heard another, a little shriek of fright and he gained a soft, knowing smile one would never expect to see on the face of the King of Terror as he walked toward the sound. Kneeling down, he was greeted with the sight he had expected: his little girl, hunched up and trying to put on a brave face, but unable to hide how she was shaking. Eyes wide, Darcy turned to look at her father.

“I don’t like it, papa! It’s too loud! I want it to stop!”, she said, before quickly adding, “But I ain’t scared, I’m not scared of nothin’!”

Her father gave a low chuckle before reaching over to ruffle her hair, “Course not, Lil Terror.” He had just barely gotten the sentence out before another boom of thunder sounded and Darcy dashed over and leaped onto her father, hiding her head in his shoulder.

Standing up with Darcy in the crook of one arm, the boogieman soothed his daughter, “It’s alright now, Darlin’. Thunder can’t get ya, it’s just noisy.”

Darcy only pouted and clutched on tighter in response. She kept her face hidden as her papa took her about halfway up the stairs, stopping in front of a window with a view of the skyline. Lightning continued to flash, and Darcy peeked up when the light caught her eyes. It was…kind of pretty.

“Ya see, Pun’Kin? All it is is a flashy light show, nothin’ to be spooked about.”, Oogie assured her, and Darcy seemed about ready to agree, before thunder rattled the entire floor, and she squealed and hid her face in her father’s shoulder again.

“Shh, it’s alright, baby girl. I’m here, papa’s got ya.”, he told her softly, rocking her back and forth. After a short while, Darcy began to calm down, though her grip on her father never faltered.

“How ‘bout we go up and you can try and spook the trouble trio, huh? That always makes you feel better, don’t it?”, the Boogie Man suggested. Shakily, Darcy nodded and the daddy-daughter duo headed up the stairs to do their favorite thing in the world.

Later, after she had thoroughly petrified Lock, Shock and Barrel, earning praise from her father as he’d given one of his big, booming laughs, Darcy found herself standing by the door, watching the clouds begin to dissipate. She stuck her tongue out at the receding gray mounds. Nothing was going to get her. Not while her papa was here, ready to scare anything threatening away.

And there you have it! Let me know what you think in the comments and reblogs!

[sirdolraan]

Escape from Dalaran, Part One

Dalaran was in chaos. Lorellai had barely managed to link up with Dolraan and Janosis, and introduced them to her new friend Spiru before the Nerubians had appeared, emerging from portals to attack the entire city at once.

Lorellai pulled her scarf up over her nose to try and keep the dust and rubble from choking her as she fired her pistol at an advancing nerubian, silently thanking her da' for giving her a full box of explosive rounds. The four of them fought well in tandem, despite the chaos and screaming all around them.

Janosis ducked behind Dolraan's armored form, firing arcane bolts at the fliers overhead. "Please tell me we have a plan beyond shoot them until they overwhelm us!" he cried, doing his best to keep the skies in their immediate vicinity cleared.

Stroganoff lashed a Nerubian with his big tongue, allowing Spiru to land a flying kick to its head, cracking its carapace and casing it to fall lifeless. "I can hear calls from the mages to evacuate, where would they be trying to get to?"

"The landing!" Lorellai shouted, "that's the muster point for evacuations, since it has all the teleport runes and flying creatures! Hey! Everyone, get to the landing!" she cried, but her voice was lost amidst the chaos. "Dangit, it's too noisy, we'll have to go house to house?"

A glare of pure Light got her attention, as she turned to see Dolraan's armor and shield glowing along with his eyes, and his voice boomed out. "PEOPLE OF DALARAN! THE CALL HAS BEEN MADE TO EVACUATE! PROCEED TO KRASUS' LANDING! WE SHALL PROTECT YOU!" he shouted, punctuating his sentence by throwing his shield at a big nerubian and knocking it from the wall it was crawling on.

The effect was immediate, as several citizens began to emerge from hiding places, dashing towards the landing and covering their heads. "Alright, move with them, keep the spiders away, we'll worry about the rest later!" Dolraan ordered, taking the point and leading the survivors as the rest of them followed, Lorellai and Stroganoff taking up the rear. The nerubians began to swarm at them, seeing so many moving targets at once, and the four adventurers were hard pressed to keep them at bay. Lorellai unloaded her pistol at several advancing nerubians, but in the chaos she lost her count, and the click of an empty chamber filled her with dread as a cluster of flying horrors descended on her. She drew her spear and got ready to call out when she was knocked to the ground as Stroganoff lept in their path, the flyers striking into his massive hide instead of her body. He croaked in pain as he spun and lashed at them with his tongue, and Lorellai let out a cry as she lashed out with her spear, stabbing and sweeping the monsters off her, wincing at the deep wounds their fangs and probisci left. She felt two sets of arms pull her to her feet as mirror images of Spiru lifted her, while the third continued to hold off the right flank. Whistling for Stroganoff, they continued to retreat.

At the landing, things were calmer. The contingent of Dalaran guardians were bolstered by Silver Covenant and Sunreaver warmages, protecting the civilians and the mages who were teleporting them to hopeful safety down on the surface below. Lorellai breathed a sigh of relief until she heard Stroganoff's strained croak, and turned to see him looking very worse for wear. "Buddy! Dolraan help, Stroganoff's been poisoned!" she called, trying to lift her listing hornswog back into a comfortable sitting position as he listed to one side. Dolraan and Spiru came over, Dolraan's hands glowing as he called upon the Light. "Whoof, whatever it is, it's fighting back, I'm having trouble purifying him."

Spiru hopped up Stroganoff's back, peering into his eyes, and encircling him with mists. "The poison is tainted with void energies. He requires medical aid beyond my capabilities."

"Not likely with the city in shambles," Janosis said, "I'm pretty sure the medical quarter was one of the first hit!"

Lorellai looked into her buddy's eyes, tears stinging hers, and he croaked apologetically. "It's okay buddy, you did real good, I love you so much," she said, digging in one of her pouches, and pulling out a device. "Everyone get clear, I'm sending him home," she declared, activating her emergency Dimensional Ripper. "This is going to be loud!" she continued, tossing the device in Stroganoff's mouth so he wouldn't drop it as Spiru hopped down and Janosis moved behind Dolraan. After a three count, there was a beep sound, and then Stroganoff appeared to explode as the Dimensional Ripper activated. Lorellai held her scanner tightly, watching the light turn from yellow to green. "He made it... I think!"

"Your dad will take good care of him. Alright everyone, there's more people in need, I'm going back in for them. If you're able, I'd appreciate you at my back." Dolraan declared, adjusting his shield.

"I was afraid you were going to say that. I'm with you," Janosis sighed.

"I came here to help, and that's what I intend to do," Spiru declared.

Lorellai stowed her scanner and reloaded her pistol. "For Stroganoff."

Dolraan nodded at the trio. "Alright, let's go meddle!" he shouted, as he led them back into the chaos of the ailing Flying City.

[magicshopaholic]

Other People (Seokjin x OC)

Summary: You learn a new trick, while Seokjin discovers something unexpected at Big Hit.

Pairing: Seokjin x OC

Genre: Best friends; angst

Word count: 8.5 K

Rating: 18+

Warnings: language, alcohol, mention of diets, mentions of brain surgery, mentions of a car accident (again, Nari is a surgeon, so)

A/N: This got unnecessarily long; I would apologise for it, but I couldn't find a single thing I wanted to delete. It's also two am so I've made an executive decision to not proofread this. I wish I could predict the reaction to this fic but I honestly have no idea. Takes place approximately three months after The Test.

Tagging:  @bbl32 @quarter-life-crisis2 @dreaming-with-happiness @meirkive @faearchives @margopinkerton @purpleseoul7 @kflixnet (italics could not be tagged; drop a message if you want to be added)

Listen to: "don't know why" by norah jones

seokjin masterlist | main masterlist

It’s cold and rainy in Seoul, even when it shouldn’t be. 

The day had started off as a nice sunny winter morning in November, the sun a soft golden, a welcome respite from the low temperature. As noon arrived, so did the clouds. By late afternoon, they were grey and ample, sealing the city in a coffin.

Now, the evening doesn’t look at all like it’s continued from the same morning. The rain comes down in torrents, creating a constant din, loud enough for people to have to speak in slightly raised voices to be heard properly. 

Nari stands outside the ER with a coffee in one hand and her phone in the other, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. The coffee is losing its heat with every passing second and she tries to gulp it down as fast as she can without burning her tongue in the process.

“What do we have?” Daeun appears from behind her, tying her hair into a ponytail, trauma gown already on.

“Two cars crashed into each other outside the mall,” supplies Nari. “Five victims, multiple contusions, broken bones and at least one head trauma. Coffee?”

Daeun accepts the cup with a nod and takes a noisy sip. “Ah, that’s good stuff. Shit, the rain is bad. I don’t think this will be our only car accident today.”

“Not even close,” mutters Nari, as two more fellow doctors join them. “I just hope we have the room.”

“We don’t,” says Jason, shifting from one foot to another. “Two of the trauma rooms are still unusable from the pipe leakage and the most of the X-ray machines are done after the Wednesday Soccer Team Incident. We have exactly one CT machine in working condition. The hospital is going to have to scrape money off the sidewalk to pay for all those repairs,” he adds, shaking his head in disappointment.

“Good thing they’re hosting a fundraiser then,” says Daeun dryly, just as the ambulance pulls in and the paramedics spill out. “A bunch of rich donors with their cheque books hanging out of their pockets - if that doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.”

Two patients, strapped to a gurney each are then lowered out of the ambulance. All four of them dash forward and tag themselves to a patient, hurrying inside as they listen to the paramedics rattle off their initial assessment and vitals on the field. Nari finds herself next to a woman, possibly in her thirties, with fresh cuts on her face and arms. Her t-shirt is drenched and her jacket has been ripped off, most likely by the paramedics themselves.

“Abdomen is tender so there might be internal bleeding,” says one of the paramedics. “There was no fire but there’s indication that she might have a swollen airway because of the fumes.”

“Alright, we need to get a CT,” says Nari, scanning the ER for an empty trauma room but finding none. “Damn it,” she mutters. “Okay, we’re going to have to keep her here - maybe we can use an ultrasound for now until we can move her.”

“Empty bed over here.” Jason steers the gurney over and immediately hooks the patient up to an IV. “I’ll get the portable ultrasound.”

“I’ll check her airway.” Nari gets to work immediately, trying to intubate the patient, who seems to have passed out entirely. She’s almost done when Jason returns, a nurse and the portable ultrasound machine in tow.

“This better work,” he mutters to her as the nurse begins positioning the patient correctly. “If we can’t find the bleed on this, we’re going to have to get in line for CT, which will take… hours.”

“Here’s hoping,” she agrees, standing back and observing the screen as he moves the transducer over the patient’s abdomen. She sighs and bites her lip when the image comes up clean. “Nothing. Move it to the left?”

Jason obliges, clicking his tongue. “I can’t believe the hospital doesn’t have a budget set aside to fix this stuff. This is a hospital,” he repeats, sounding appropriately frustrated. “Damn it, this bleed is really small. It’s barely showing up on the scan.”

“It has to be there. Here, let me try,” she offers, taking the transducer from him and moving it slower along the woman’s torso. “Do we all have to actually go to this fundraising thing, though? Can’t we skip?”

Jason scoffs. “It’s either dress up and smile at a bunch of rich people or stay here in the ER all night because all the attendings will be at the event. We’re not going to get a night off. The best we can do is make sure we’re all there so we at least have someone to talk to.”

It takes a second to click. “Shit, that’s it.” 

“What is? Did you find the bleed?”

“What? No. Sorry,” she mutters, going back to the ultrasound, feeling an encouraging flutter in her stomach. I didn’t find the bleed, she thinks apologetically. I found a segue.

—

It’s hours later when Nari finally gets a moment alone. Sitting at a table in the residents’ locker room, a sandwich in one hand and her phone in the other, she stares at her last chat with Seokjin. It’s a depressing series of heys and what’s ups and not muches, which is all it’s been for months now, ever since they’d last seen each other in August.

It started with superficial questions and forced conversation, half-hearted plans to meet before he had to leave for Europe again, until they dwindled down to monosyllabic answers that Nari found herself too humiliated to keep going, for more than one reason.

For one, it didn’t help her newfound insecurity of being a clingy friend, especially to a man who had made perfectly clear that he didn’t see her as anything but a friend. On top of that, she had no way of knowing what he was thinking. He wasn’t angry; she knew what Seokjin was like when he was angry and if he truly was, she would know. 

No, he wasn’t angry. He was… distant. Part of it could’ve been that he was busy, completing an entire promotional activity across Europe. But now that he’s back from their last stop in Japan, Nari knows that they have to get back on track. Being her date to a fundraiser isn’t her top pick, but it might just be the right balance between an organized event where he can’t ignore her and a public enough place that they won’t have to be alone at any point. Besides, if it doesn’t happen now, between his stint in Europe and his tour beginning early next year, she has a sinking feeling that their relationship will stagnate right here.  

She swallows, her heart racing slightly. It’s the middle of the night; Seokjin is most likely asleep, which gives her a great excuse to text and not call. 

Nari [01:11]

Hey.

She sends it before she loses her nerve, the soft whoosh sounding awfully final. Her stomach tugs uncomfortably with anxiety that she’s only recently started to associate with Seokjin, a strange and new feeling of not being able to expect what’s coming. 

She continues staring dementedly at the phone, its screen dark, until she finishes the entire sandwich. 

“It’s the middle of the fucking night, Nari,” she mutters to herself, standing up with a groan and stretching. There’s no point wasting her night worrying when she’s probably not going to get a response until tomorrow. She changes out of her scrubs and runs a hand through her unwashed hair, counting herself lucky that she can get a good six hours of sleep before she has to return in the morning.

The rain has slowed to a drizzle now; despite the cold, Nari tilts her head to the sky slightly, welcoming the fresh air. She runs her hands through her hair again, feeling the droplets cooling her scalp as her hair falls around her shoulders in clumpy strands. She doesn’t even make it past the entrance when she feels the unmistakable vibration of her phone in her bag, touching her hip. 

Nari freezes. This is unprecedented; Seokjin is never awake this late. Fishing out her phone, she lets out a low breath when she sees a message from him. She can ignore it, to be sure, and deal with it tomorrow morning - but then she would come off as a coward. 

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s ridiculously late, maybe it’s the fact that she just spent a better part of the evening fixing a bleed in a person’s abdomen - but the inner voice in her head simply sighs tiredly and goes it’s just Seokjin, prompting her to shake her head and open his message.

Kimbap [01:35]

Hey.

It’s anticlimactic, for sure, but still unexpected. Nari takes a seat on a bench near the parking lot and wipes the droplets off her screen with the sleeve of her jacket, hoping this isn’t going to be another one of their pointless conversations.

But he replied, didn’t he?

He did. Even though it’s the middle of the night. Encouraged, she responds.

Nari [01:39]

Didn’t expect you to be awake.

Kimbap [01:40]

We’re watching a movie at the dorm.

Nari [01:40]

Oh. Which one?

Kimbap [01:41]

Hereditary. I hate it.

Nari [01:41]

Jesus. Then why are you still watching it?

Kimbap [01:41]

There’s a bet and Jungkook is involved. It’s a long story.

Nari’s immediate response of I have time gets backspaced instantly. The honest truth is that she doesn’t have time and he clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. She can’t be sure how well a joke will land right now but she also knows that she needs to respond fast or this is doomed to be another one of their hopeless attempts at a conversation.

All of a sudden, her phone rings and Nari almost drops it. It’s Seokjin, his name blinking bright on the screen. Now fully panicking - because this was not part of the plan - Nari looks around wildly around the empty parking lot, as though hoping for someone to spring out of the bushes and tell her what to do.

The phone is still ringing. Before she realises what’s happening, her thumb does an awkward sort of spasm and lands on the screen, answering the call.

Here goes nothing, she thinks. “Um, h-hello?” she stutters.

“Hey.” 

It’s like a football being kicked into her ribcage from the inside. Nari winces, wondering when her anxiety got this severe, to the point where her best friend’s voice is starting to cause her physical comfort. She leans back on the bench and tries to breathe slowly.

“Aren’t you, um, watching a movie?”

“Yeah. But if I’m on the phone, I have a decent excuse to get out of it.”

Oh. Nari feels her shoulders deflate. “Glad to be of help,” she murmurs, chuckling awkwardly. “How - how are you? Are you in Seoul?”

“Yeah, I am. Busy, though,” he adds quickly. “The album’s coming out in a week, so there’s a lot of work going on for it.”

“Right. Of course. How’s that going?”

“It’s fine. Hectic, as per usual. What about you?” he asks after a moment. “How’s the hospital, and the… surgeries and stuff?”

“Same. I mean, hectic. As usual.” Nari closes her eyes and feels her heart sink at the sheer effort this conversation is taking. She can’t begin to think about how they got here and it seems way too exhausting to even try.

“You sound tired.” Seokjin pauses, the sentence sounding incomplete. “Have you - I mean, are you still at the hospital?”

“Going home now. I just got a sandwich at the cafeteria,” she adds, hoping she’s guessed his half-question right. 

“Now? I thought you hated the night cafeteria.”

“I do, but it beats the vending machine crap. Have to make do when the jajjangmyeon isn’t an option,” she jokes, bracing herself for his response.

But all he does is chuckle half-heartedly. “Yeah. What’s up? You texted?”

“Oh, right. Yeah.” Nari had barely worked up the nerve to text him about the fundraiser; asking him over the phone was a whole different ball game. “I was just thinking…” She trails off, her eyes widening as her vocal chords stay unwilling to go further.

“M-hm?”

Pull yourself together, woman.

“I was thinking that… we haven’t hung out in a while,” she ventures bravely, her knee jerking up and down. “And there’s a - there’s a thing later this week, so… that could be… you know.” She swallows, wishing Jason hadn’t put this stupid idea in her head in the first place. “... If you want,” she finishes lamely.

Seokjin is silent for a few seconds, during which Nari goes from anticipation to full-blown horror. “I’m sorry, are you - are you inviting me to something?” he asks, sounding confused.

“Um, kind of?”

“Like a party?”

“Well, no. Not a fun one,” she says wryly. “It’s a - there’s a fundraiser. And I have to go and… yeah, I was wondering if maybe you do, too. Since we haven’t hung out in a while.”

“Fundraiser, huh?” He doesn’t sound enthused at all. “Like, for charity? Wait, who’s the charity?”

“We are the charity,” she explains, rolling her eyes. “The hospital. Which means it’s just going to be all board members and senior doctors and other board members - and us. The residents.”

“Huh. Way to make it sound appealing, Nari.”

“It’s not appealing, at all. But it’s free food and booze and I get a chance to get out of my scrubs,” she points out. “Nice dress, straightened hair. And you’ll have to wear a suit,” she adds apologetically. 

“Right.” There’s a soft sound and Nari realises a moment later that he’s laughing quietly. It makes her stomach feel uncomfortably heavy. 

“What?” she asks, a bit defensively.

“Nothing,” he says, still chuckling. “We haven’t hung out in a while, so your idea was to do so at a… boring work event?”

Nari is quiet for a moment. The fact that he laughed is still prickling. “Well, I’d be open to other suggestions but you haven’t really had the time,” she can’t resist saying. “I work long hours; I don’t really get a lot of other opportunities to go out.”

“Yeah, Nari, I work long hours, too,” he reminds her, sounding irritatingly calm. “But if it’s either that or a hospital charity fundraising event filled with doctors… I think I’ll pick the long hours.” He chuckles again.

You’re a fucking idiot, Nari.

“Got it. See you around, Seokjin.”

“Nari, come on, I was joking -”

His words get cut off when she hangs up, fuming. She puts her phone on silent then, for good measure, and begins storming home in the cold. She won’t respond to any of his calls or messages tonight, the arse, she thinks. But fate must be on her side, for even after she gets home, changes and gets into bed, Seokjin doesn’t call or message.

—

Seokjin reaches the Big Hit building earlier than required. There’s no one in the rehearsal room yet, not even Hoseok, so he decides to get a much needed shot of caffeine from the cafeteria on the fourteenth floor. As he waits in line, he scans the food menu, each item like a gourmet creation.

Have to make do when the jajjangmyeon isn’t an option.

Seokjin sighs and tries not to think about what Nari had for dinner last night, but by the time his coffee is handed to him, he knows he’s a goner. It had taken him every ounce of restraint to not reach out to her again last night, knowing that no good would come of it. But now, in the light of day, he knows he can’t avoid it any longer. 

He calls her before he can talk himself out of it. Looking out at the city from the floor-to-ceiling windows and sipping his coffee, he hears her phone ring continuously until it goes to voicemail. He tries not to read too much into it; she’s probably already at work and she rarely answers unless she’s taking a break. It’s better than the other option; the feeling of Nari being angry with him is too foreign for him to consider right now.

He dials her number again to be certain and when it once again goes to voicemail, he clears his throat and takes another sip of coffee for liquid courage.

“Hey, Nari,” he begins, then sighs. “Look, I’m sorry if I was a bit of a dick last night. You just caught me off guard. Honestly, I… I didn’t think you really wanted to hang out with me so when you said you did, it just kind of threw me. And your event does sound boring,” he adds, hoping she hears the teasing in his voice, “but I’ll be there anyway. Suit and everything. I want to hang out with you, too,” he says after a moment, knowing the words don’t even begin to explain the magnitude of how much he wants to see her again, how hard it’s been to distance himself since the last time he saw her. “So… yeah. Text me the details.”

He should be saying something more but he can’t think what. As he looks around, hoping the words will come to him, he spots a figure just outside the cafeteria doors and does a double take. His mind runs through a myriad of memories to zero in on the right one, when he remembers he’s still on the phone.

“Anyway, I have to go. Bye.” Locking his phone and heading out towards the figure, Seokjin pushes his shoulders back and hopes he isn’t wrong. She’s in a slim navy blazer, skinny jeans and very high heels, a sleek laptop tucked under one arm and her fingers flying across the keypad of a Blackberry.

He taps her shoulder with a feather-light touch. “Um, hi? I think I have something that belongs to you?”

When she turns around, face carefully blank, Seokjin is momentarily sure of two things: one, that she is exactly who he thought she was, and two, that her lack of expression can only mean that she doesn’t remember him.

“You do?” A moment later, her perfectly lined lips tilt upwards slightly. “That’s right. What was it again?”

“Um…” Seokjin licks his lips, glad that he didn’t just go up to a random stranger and interrupt her in the middle of what seems to be a very long email. “I think it was a collectible of some kind? Very glamorous. Had a name on the inside?”

Her smile widens. “Do you remember what it was?”

Seokjin gulps but keeps his face still. “Of course. It was… Seulgi.” The relief at her nod is unexpected. “You think I’d forget the person that saved my hand that night? How would I ever hold a mic otherwise? My career might have been over!”

Seulgi laugh, a nice, low laugh. Her teeth are perfectly lined and perfectly white, shining against light bronze skin without a single pore. Her hair is long, straight and black, not a strand out of place. She looks like she belongs on a pamphlet for corporate employees.

Which reminds him.

“Do you - do you actually work here?” he asks. “In Big Hit?”

“Yeah,” she answers, looking only very slightly apologetic. “I thought I recognised you that night as well but I couldn’t be sure. I only just moved to the Marketing team. Sorry.”

“Uh, no, don’t be.” Seokjiin shakes his head. “It’s good to see you. And now I can return the wrist brace to you, too! This is great.”

“I mean, you don’t have to. I told you, I have a bunch of them,” she reminds him, raising her left hand slightly. From under the sleeve of her blazer, a navy blue brace, just like the purple one she’d lent him, peaks out. 

“No, no, I should,” he says anyway, shaking his head and glancing at the clock on his phone. There’s a message on his notification tray… “It’s back in my…” He wracks his brain, “... uh, flight. Which I took. The day after you lent me the brace.” He drops his face in his hands when she laughs again, low and husky.

“It’s really okay,” she says, touching his arm before taking a step back. “I actually do have a lot of them. And maybe they’ll help out some other poor soul who’s hurt his wrist.”

“That’s the hope,” he agrees, knowing his ears are reddening. “Man, I really wish I’d known you worked here. I would’ve… I don’t know. Broken the news about losing your brace sooner, for starters.”

“The loss would’ve been easier,” she agrees.

Seokjin bites his lip, preparing to let the awkwardness wash over him but it doesn’t. Seulgi’s warm, despite her appearance suggesting she’s about to walk into a room and fire a dozen people. 

“I feel really guilty, though,” he repeats after a moment. “Can I - I don’t know… buy you a coffee? It’s no collector’s edition wrist brace, but still?”

“Oh, that actually sounds good,” she replies, and for a moment his heart skips a beat of relief, “but the line seems long and I have a meeting.” She holds her Blackberry up apologetically. 

For the first time, Seokjin notices a Galaxy in her other hand – a personal cell and a work cell. She’s core corporate, he realises, possibly senior management. He doesn’t know why, but it’s slightly intimidating.

“Oh. Oh, okay. Sure.” He nods as she moves past him. “It was good to see you, though.”

“Yeah, you, too. Glad your wrist is better.” With a quick wave, she heads down the corridor and disappears from view.

Seokjin watches her leave, still cringing somewhat over the wrist brace he hasn’t thought about in months. She’d been the only person that night he’d had a normal conversation with - somehow, this doesn’t seem like the best way to show his gratitude.

It’s time to head for practice, anyway. As he steps into the elevator, he opens his messages and breathes a sigh of relief. 

Nari [09:14]

[Location]

Nari [09:14]

Friday, 7 pm

—

It’s hours later when they’re finally done with practice. All seven of them, a choreographer and a couple camerapersons are the only ones left. Jimin and Jungkook are still standing, going over their portion of the choreography as Hoseok watches, even though they look like they might collapse any second. Taehyung is spread-eagled on the floor, his bowl hat on his face. Yoongi is sitting in one corner of the room, staring into nothing.

Seokjin feels too tired to move, every single muscle aching. He leans back against the mirror and tries to catch his breath. Next to him, Namjoon is lying on the floor and texting. Seokjin catches a couple of words and immediately looks away; It seems to be in English, so it’s a fairly easy guess who the other person is.

“Any plans tonight, hyung?” Yoongi trudges over and tumbles down on his other side, crossing his legs.

“Not a one,” answers Seokjin. “In fact, I don’t think I’ll be getting out of bed for a while so if you need anything, I’ll respond to you in two to five business days.”

“You need to be at the studio tomorrow morning.”

There’s a pause. “Fine, but apart from that,” he amends, wagging his finger in Yoongi’s face, “two to five business days.”

“There’s also the interview on Friday.”

“Damn it, Yoongi,” groans Seokjin, glaring at him. “Fine, but that’s the last one. I have plans to vegetate all weekend in my apartment,” he informs him, knowing that there’s no way he'll get the entire weekend off, but needing to put across the point, “so just… don’t ruin it for me.” He watches Yoongi make a motion that might be a chuckle and rolls his eyes. “And besides, the interview is on Thursday. So my weekend begins on Friday.”

“The interview is on Friday,” says Yoongi calmly.

“No, it’s not. It’s Thursday. The twenty-fourth.”

“Thursday is the twenty-third.”

“No,” repeats Seokjin, feeling his pulse start to race, “it - it was always on Thursday.”

“No, it’s Friday,” pipes up Namjoon from his other side, not looking away from his phone.

And thus, Seokjin is left to spend the rest of the day in a growing pit of guilt, knowing that he’s going to have to disappoint Nari yet again - this time, completely unintentionally.

Her hesitation last night had not gone unnoticed by him. It was hard to hear but equally hard to respond to, and Seokjin half-hoped that she would find it too hard to go through with actually inviting him somewhere and drop the idea altogether. 

But she persisted and while it made Seokjin profusely glad that she still cared, it also meant that he would have to find a way to face her after avoiding her for months.

It doesn’t feel nearly as easy as it sounds, for Seokjin has absolutely no idea what to expect when it comes to Nari now. Part of him still feels guilty for lying to her the day after the wedding; her question had taken him completely off guard and lying about his feelings was the only way he’d been able to think of to avoid the situation getting worse.

It was a mess already but somehow, twenty-four hours later, it was So Much Worse. Somehow, Nari had come to him with a problem he couldn’t ignore. Somehow, he suddenly had to reevaluate his entire life with her in it, and somehow, in less than a day, his short-lived future with Nari as the mother of his child and best friend for life had been created and shattered.

It was hard to think of, and so much harder to talk to Nari about. Seokjin had been on the verge, dozens of times, of just breaking the ice and chatting with his best friend while he sat in cold European towns and watched Taehyung get his heart broken over and over again by Dilara Komyshan.

At least we’re not that bad yet, he’d tried to tell himself. He wanted to tell her, too, that they weren’t that bad, that they were okay, that he just needed some time. But the thought of confessing his surreal daydream, of irretrievably changing their friendship felt like too much of a responsibility - especially if she didn’t respond well. Avoiding her sucked, but it beat being around her with nothing to say.

Still, saying no to her outright, when she’d asked him point blank to accompany him to something was too hard. The fundraiser thing did sound boring, but he wanted to see her, too, so badly. It felt like a missing limb, not being able to talk to her. 

Nice dress, straightened hair. And he would have to be in a suit. He shudders when he remembers what happened the last time she was in a nice dress and he was in a suit. 

“Namjoon.” Seokjin jogs over to the leader as they’re heading out of the building to their cars in the basement. “About this press conference on Friday.”

“Yeah?” 

Seokjin hesitates, already sensing a no-nonsense mood. It hasn’t been the best day for Namjoon; the choreography was a complicated one, he was having to negotiate schedules all day, and if he’s not mistaken, he and Kaya have definitely been having some disagreement all day.

“About this press conference on Thursday -”

“Friday.”

“- I was - yes, Friday -” Seokjin clears his throat. “How important would you say it is for all of us to show up, on a scale of one to… Grammys?”

Namjoon stares. “At least VMAs.”

Seokjin nods seriously, even though it doesn’t help him in the least. “Okay,” he says, changing tacks, “how long do you think it’ll go on?”

“Uh, I don’t know.” Namjoon sighs, scrolling through some document on his phone. “It should be done by six, but there’s a sponsors’ dinner after that - but that won’t be filmed so maybe we can leave early… of course, we’ll need to let management know so they have an exit plan…” He shakes his head and continues muttering under his breath.

“Okay, sure,” interrupts Seokjin, sensing that Namjoon is starting to lose the plot. “But what time do you think the event will actually end? Because I have to be somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“Uh… a thing. With Nari,” he adds shortly. To his relief, Namjoon simply raises his eyebrows but doesn’t probe.

“I - I don’t know, hyung,” he says, not sounding apologetic at all. It’s definitely a fight with Kaya. “We won’t know until we get there. Depends on the sponsors. If it helps, it’s happening right here, in this building.”

It does help, a bit, for the location is closer to the Big Hit building than the hospital is. Still, it could be better.

“Look, I just need to tell Nari if I can make it or not,” he says, no longer beating around the bush. “I don’t want to make her a promise I can’t keep.”

Namjoon licks his lips slowly and nods. “I think you’ve been in this business long enough to know the answer to that, hyung,” he says cryptically, patting his shoulder and walking away.

“What the hell does that mean?” Seokjin demands, but Namjoon just shrugs and continues walking away. 

He does know what it means, though. But you’re a coward, Kim Seokjin, says the voice inside his head, sounding like Nari’s, as he prepares to text her later that night rather than call, knowing (and somewhat hoping) that she’ll be too busy to answer right away.

Seokjin [20:11]

I have some not so great news.

To his horror, she replies almost immediately.

Nari [20:13]

Bring it.

Seokjin [20:13]

Promise you won’t get mad?

Nari [20:14]

I’m two beers and a tequila shot down. This would be the right time to give me some not so great news.

Seokjin pauses. She’s drinking, which means she got off work at a reasonable time tonight. He should be glad about that, for her, but he can’t figure out what is also bothering him about it.

Seokjin [20:16]

Oh? No surgeries?

Nari [20:16]

Nope, I’m not on call tonight. I was going to go home and crash but the others convinced me to have a drink first.

Seokjin [20:17]

Sounds like more than a drink.

Nari [20:18]

I may have gotten carried away, but zero regrets. 

Seokjin [20:18]

Do you have a ride home?

Nari [20:19]

I live half a block away from the hospital. I’m sure most of these guys will crash at my place when they’re too trashed to get home.

Seokjin [20:19]

Are you sure?

Nari [20:20]

Yes. You don’t have to worry about me, you know.

She’s drunk; her transparency makes that clear. This may be the best or the worst time to give her the news, but Seokjin doesn’t think he can continue worrying about this for the rest of the night.

Seokjin [20:21]

Okay. Look, I need to talk to you about Friday.

Nari [20:21]

Something came up and you don’t think you can make it?

Seokjin’s heart jerks. He may not have met Nari much over the last few months, but he still knows her well enough to tell when she’s reaching the end of her tether.

Seokjin [20:22]

It’s a press thing. I can’t miss it.

Nari [20:23]

Of course. Unfortunate that you found out about it only today.

Seokjin [20:23]

No, it’s not that. I actually forgot. I thought it was on Thursday but it turns out it’s actually Friday. It’s my fault - I mixed up the days.

Nari [20:24]

Of course. Some other time, I guess.

Seokjin can picture her scoff, locking her phone and placing it on a bar table, screen down. He scrambles.

Seokjin [20:25]

I’m just saying I’ll be a little late.

Nari [20:25]

Late? Are you sure?

Seokjin [20:26]

Yeah. I don’t know how late but I’ll be there. I’ll try my best anyway.

Nari [20:26]

I’m sure you will.

This time, her status goes from “online” to “offline” and he knows she’s gone. This is a side of Nari he hasn’t seen in years: snide and sarcastic. It’s incredibly rare, requires a mix of things to be going wrong in her life, and has never, ever been directed at him.

Seokjin feels squeamish and guilty and helpless all at once - but he’s also beginning to get mildly annoyed. He’s determined to show up now, if for nothing else than to prove her wrong. 

Take that, Nari. He pictures showing up at the event, jogging up the stairs and bursting into a hall filled with white-haired individuals in conservative finery. Nari, in the same leaf-green bridesmaid’s dress with strappy high heels, would be at the end of the hall at the bar, looking victorious at the assumption that he hasn’t shown. The crowd would part then and she would turn, the satisfied smirk fading at the sight of him, late and panting - but there.

The next moment, Seokjin cringes at this ridiculous fantasy. Even the imaginary voice in his head that sounds a bit like Nari snickers. 

—

Nari fingers the strap of her dress nervously, feeling rather odd at being this dressed up around people who only ever see her in scrubs. Most of the other doctors seem to be feeling similarly, though, and she tries to coach herself to remember that they’re still the same people - just wearing make-up and cologne.

“Hey,” comes Jason’s voice from behind her, and she turns, glad to see someone she knows. “You - wow, you look amazing.”

“Really?” Nari asks quickly, smoothing down her dress. It’s long and plain black, nothing fancy, with a thin necklace and the only strappy high heels she owns. “It’s not too low cut?”

“Um -” Jason frowns and immediately looks away. “I - I don’t know. It looks - I mean, I didn’t -” He stutters in confusion, his gaze darting around in panic. “I don’t - I mean, should I look?”

“What? No, of course not.” She shakes her head and sighs. “Sorry. I’m just not used to it.”

“Used to what?”

“This,” she says, referring to nothing in particular. “The dress and the hair and the - the make-up. I don’t do it very often.” Looking up to see him still deliberately looking away, she slaps his shoulder. “Damn it, Jace, you can look at me now.”

“Oh.” He makes a big show of slowly moving his gaze towards her, grinning when she chuckles begrudgingly. “Don’t worry, dude. You look great.”

“Thanks. You, too, by the way,” she says honestly, noting the suit and the neatly brushed hair. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your jaw this smooth,” she remarks, turning his chin slightly.

“A last minute shave in the residents’ locker room changed the game.” Jason rubs his jaw and winces slightly. “Should I be concerned about my skills as a surgeon that I cut myself in two different places while doing it?”

Nari laughs, feeling slightly less nervous. “Not unless you’re the patient. Also, where the hell is everybody else?”

“Oh, Daeun got pulled into surgery - her motorcycle guy ruptured his spleen,” he answers, gesturing to the bartender. “She said she’d be back if it got over in time. Hyeri had to monitor her valve replacement lady to see if she’ll make it through the night. Oh, and Eunji is over there,” he adds, pointing to the other end of the hall.

Nari squints in the direction he’s pointing. “Who’s that she’s with?” 

“Her boyfriend, probably.” Jason shrugs as the bartender comes over. “A chaebol type, from what I can tell. Hey. you want a drink?”

“Uh, sure. Beer. Wait, can we have beer?” She frowns.

“I don’t know. Not fancy enough, is it?”

“We don’t have beer,” volunteers the bartender.

“Right,” says Nari. “In that case, I will have a glass of your strongest… whatever is strongest.”

Jason nods seriously. “Two of those. Thank you.”

The bartender raises an eyebrow but nods anyway, going back to mix their drinks. 

“So… it’s just you and me?” She leans back against the bar and scans the room. “Wait, do you have a date coming, too?”

“What?” Jason wrinkles his nose. “No. I’ve been on a neuro rotation all week - I haven’t had time to breathe, forget about looking for a date. You?”

“Have I had time to breathe?”

“Do you have a date.”

“Right.” Nari bites her lip. “Not exactly. I mean, I - I invited a friend. Seokjin - you met him, remember?”

“Yeah, of course.” Jason nods as their drinks arrive and they automatically pick theirs up. “Cheers. So why isn’t he a date?”

“Because he’s a friend.” As she says it, a terrifying possibility occurs to her: could Seokjin actually think this is a date? It would explain his random excuse to arrive “late” - if he does at all.

“He is? Really?” He looks mildly curious. “Because that night at Hyeri’s - I could’ve sworn he had a thing for you.”

Nari’s heart skips a beat. “You’re not the first person to think that,�� she mutters into her glass, taking a stinging sip of what tastes like scotch. “Ugh, that’s disgusting.”

“It’s strong,” he remarks. “But I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head, the painful humiliation of that moment after the wedding seeping into her body again. “Just… he doesn’t. Have a thing for me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really? I mean, because it seemed like -”

“Jason,” she interrupts him, needing this conversation to end. “He doesn’t. Believe me. I’m completely sure.”

For a moment, it looks like he’s going to say something else but then seems to think the better of it. Nari is thankful; reliving that moment is bad enough, but her mind is now also preoccupied with the possibility that Seokjin might be avoiding coming tonight because he thinks she’s asked him on a date - and because he’s nice and can’t reject her outright twice, he’s having to resort to half-hearted lies and work excuses.

It’s a grim thought. She and Seokjin haven’t spoken since he told her he’d try to make it - and she’d been less than gracious about it. It was the alcohol, she’d reasoned the next morning, and despite the annoyance with his flimsy attempts at avoiding her, she’d dropped him a cursory Seriously, don’t worry about it. She’d waited just long enough to get a I’ll still try my best, and tried not to think about it since.

Nari takes another sip of her disgusting drink, not sure which is worse - if he shows or if he doesn’t.

—

“There he is. Jerk.”

Seokjin’s ears perk up at Taehyung’s quiet snarl. He follows the younger member’s gaze and feels his mouth twist as well when he spots the one journalist who had pestered them relentlessly with questions, each one more backhanded than the previous one, ranging from their solo ambitions to accusations of plagiarism.

“Where’s Namjoon?” he mutters, looking around. “Let’s make sure he doesn’t run into that guy without other guests around. Or witnesses,” he adds.

“He’s over by the water,” supplies Jungkook. “I think he’s talking to one of the sponsors.”

“Let’s keep an eye on him, then,” says Yoongi dryly. “Just in case he decides to do something drastic, like get into a logically structured argument.”

Seokjin half-chuckles. He does want Namjoon to come over, partly to keep an eye on him but mostly to check when he can leave. He checks his phone; it’s almost eight. As much as Nari’s last message, days ago, hadn’t seemed at all confident that he would make it, it only made him more determined to show up.

Namjoon doesn’t come over, though. Eventually, Seokjin joins him, hoping to get a moment of his time between guests.

“Maybe you should take a break,” he suggests, after another one of the sponsors leave and Namjoon’s well-practiced public smile fades. “Eat something? Or even have a drink?”

Namjoon smiles wearily. “Thanks, hyung. Maybe later.” He runs a hand over his face. “God, I can’t wait to get out of here. Zoom date with Kaya,” he adds, answering Seokjin’s silent question.

“Then we should leave now,” he says immediately, jumping at the opportunity. “Or you’ll just get even more tired and you’ll have to cancel on Kaya.”

“Are you kidding? It’s the only thing I’ve been looking forward to all day,” he replies, shaking his head. “There’s no way I’m cancelling.”

Seokjin responds to this with a grimace; while he would ordinarily find it sweet, right now, this blatant happiness is just annoying. He tries to think of another line of reasoning that could convince Namjoon to bounce, but before he can, two middle-aged people, one man and one woman, join them.

There’s some initial greeting; Seokjin gets through it robotically while Namjoon goes from tired to charming in a microsecond. The topic predictability begins with the press conference that just took place, followed by both guests praising Namjoon for his wonderful answers that he receives with respectful gratitude.

“I’m sorry you all have to stay for the dinner,” the woman says to Seokjin while the other two speak about something else. “You’re so young; I’m sure you all have other plans tonight.”

Lady, you have no idea. But he forces a smile on his face. “We’re happy to be here. Besides, if I’m lucky,” he adds hopefully after a moment, “my plans might still be there after this.”

“Oh?” The lady seems most interested. “A fancy party you need to get to?”

“Something like that. I have to meet someone at an event.”

“Girlfriend?”

“No,” he answers hastily. “Just a friend. It’s a work thing at the hospital she works. She’s a doctor,” he adds for good measure.

To his surprise, the lady nods. “Oh, I know that. It’s a fundraiser, right? Seoul National Hospital?” When Seokjin raises his eyebrows and nods, she smiles in acknowledgement. “I have a couple of friends there, too. Those doctors do such good work - pity they don’t have the money to continue their work in peace. Your friend is smart, though,” she says after a moment, patting Seokjin’s shoulder with a knowing look, “inviting a BTS member to the event.”

Seokjin doesn’t immediately understand. “I’m sorry?”

“Well, they need the money, don’t they?” She chuckles, sounding almost impressed. “Not a lot of people have the contacts to bring in someone like BTS to be a donor.”

Something drops in his stomach. “Oh, I - I think you’ve misunderstood. She’s my friend and we - we haven’t met in a long time because we’ve both been very busy. It’s not a - I mean, I’m not a - a donor.”

The lady looks confused for a moment. “Oh. My apologies. It just seemed like a smart thing to do, you know?”

Seokjin swallows. “Sure,” he says shortly. “But, uh… it’s not like that.” He nods to himself, knowing he’s right. “Nari would never do that.”

—

Nari shuffles through the crowd to where she can see Jason with Eunji and her boyfriend, taking care not to trip in her heels. She sees them turn and spot her as she gets close, but she doesn’t have time for pleasantries.

“Incoming,” she states. All of their eyes dart up and behind her; Eunji is the first one to notice.

“Damn it. Come on, babe,” she commands her partner, taking his hand and setting off. “Let’s go dance before he gets us.” In a flash of a second, they’re both gone.

“Okay, it’s our turn,” she says hurriedly to Jason, placing her drink on the bar and gathering her long dress in her hand. “If Dr Jung gets hold of us, it’s going to be a repeat of the mixer.”

Jason grimaces. “Oh, God. You mean when he tried to recruit each of us one by one by using his holiday calendar as a selling point?”

“That’s the one. Come on, he’s already seen me, but maybe we can still make a break for it!” she whispers dramatically, getting ready to go but stopping when he grabs her wrist.

“It’s too late,” he says gravely. “We’re going to need another plan. Tell me about your craniotomy today.”

“I - what?” Nari’s eyes widen. “Did you not hear me?”

“I did. Now talk to me about something medical,” he instructs. “And make it seem like there’s a problem - like, just talk urgently. Come on,” he urges, shaking her wrist.

“Um - okay, uh, the patient came in with migraines and was having seizures so we did an MRI and found an aneurysm located in the temporal lobe of the brain -”

“That’s great,” he whispers, and Nari notices his gaze slide carefully to the left to watch Dr Jung reach them, before quickly looking back at Nari. “But his vitals still aren’t stable,” he says suddenly, at a regular volume.

Nari’s jaw drops before she realises what he’s doing. “His blood pressure is what we need to observe carefully or he’s going to need another surgery tomorrow.”

“Is there any chance the aneurysm could’ve burst anyway? Even after you clipped it?”

Nari stares, a little thrown by how convincing his acting is. 

“Answer me!”

“A little over the top, don’t you think?” she mutters.

“The man is two feet behind you,” he replies, equally quietly, before tugging her closer and placing his hands dramatically on her shoulders. “What if it’s a brain bleed? What if -”

“How dare you?” She interrupts him, jabbing him in the chest. “My aneurysm was clipped perfectly, you son of a bitch!”

Jason’s eyes flicker with this unexpected turn of conversation but he plays along. “We still need to get an MRI to rule out any other complications, like a hematoma, or an air embolism or -” He pauses, craning his neck slightly, “... and he’s gone.” His shoulders relax and his hands slide off her arms.

“No way did that work,” she marvels in a low voice, turning around to check and see that he’s right.

“Of course it did. Nobody interrupts two doctors discussing a patient,” he says absently, rubbing a spot on his chest. “You may need some practice, though. I think you bruised my chest.”

“Don’t be a baby,” she tells him teasingly, asking for another drink and feeling a lot more relaxed than before. “But that was a pretty neat trick.”

“I can teach you many, young ‘un,” he says seriously, casually taking a sip of his third scotch. “But I don’t think we have the time tonight. Won’t Seokjin be here soon?”

Her drink arrives then and Nari takes it with a quiet thanks. Taking a larger sip than intended, she shakes her head. “He’s not going to make it,” she says, swallowing and wincing.

“Oh.” Jason frowns. “Did he call?”

“Nope.” Nari shakes her head, finding it a bit sad how unsurprised she is. “But he’s not going to make it.”

His frown deepens slightly and she’s sure he’s picked up on her change in tone, but she’s thankful he doesn’t mention it.

“Do you want to learn another trick then?” he offers.

Nari smiles, trying to look at the bright side: Seokjin would not have enjoyed this. He wouldn’t know anyone and he wouldn’t understand any of their conversation. A call would have been nice, but things aren’t the same anymore. 

She’s here, she has a night off, and she’s not alone. It could be a lot worse.

“Sure,” she answers. “But I’m going to need to be a lot more drunk for the next one.”

—

The ETA on the map says forty minutes. Seokjin has no idea how long hospital fundraisers last, but he needs to try. He exits the building, already tired from the negotiating he had to do to leave early. It’s starting to drizzle, so he ducks into the nearest establishment - a small cafe - as he waits for his car. The traffic outside is ridiculous, though; he hasn’t the faintest idea how long it’ll actually take him to get to the fundraiser.

Nari hasn’t called or messaged, though. Neither has he, he knows, but her last message had implied such a lack of faith in his intention to show up that it had rankled him just a bit. Over the course of the week, it had festered until it’s now more of a challenge than anything else, for he can’t think of a single other reason as to why he’s going to this thing. 

For Nari, says the voice weakly, sounding unconvinced. Nari, it seems, neither knows nor cares if he shows up, for all the interest she’s shown in his whereabouts. I’ll try me best, he’d said, meaning it completely, but she clearly didn’t believe it.

Seokjin sighs, mentally so exhausted that he can’t even muster the energy to be annoyed or hurt or confused right now. He’s just about to step back outside when he hears a voice he doesn’t expect.

“Can I get a bottle of water, please?”

He turns to see straight hair and a blazer, mint green this time, with the sleeves pushed up. “Seulgi?” he calls unsurely.

She turns and her eyes light up in recognition. “Hey, Seokjin. How are you?”

“Tired,” he admits. “You?”

“The same. Just trying to find the guiltiest pleasure on the menu to break my diet with tonight,” she says, pointing at the few items on the board. “It’s just been one of those days.”

“Tell me about it,” he murmurs, taking a few steps to stand beside her. “Anything catch your eye?”

“Not really. It’s just sandwiches,” she grumbles. “But I don’t really have a lot of options right now.”

Seokjin is quiet for a few seconds while she gets a bottle of water and takes a long swig from it. “I actually know of a ramen place close by. If you want. I break my diets there all the time,” he tells her.

“Really?” This time he isn’t imagining it; her eyes do light up. “How much?”

“Well… enough to feel like I’ve rebelled against the company for the night, but not so much that I can’t resume it the next day.”

“That’s the perfect amount.”

“Is that a yes?”

Seulgi grins tiredly, reminding him for a moment of Namjoon earlier tonight. “It is.” Her eyes flicker lower and her smile fades. “Oh, wait. You’re in a suit - are you going somewhere?”

Seokjin bites his lip. “I was at the press conference, and the dinner after that.”

“Oh.” She doesn’t look fully convinced. “And you were going… where?”

“Well, now I’m going to get ramen because it’s in my head.”

She cracks a smile. “I’m serious, though. You’re in a suit,” she repeats, adjusting the strap of her handbag on her shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t need to be somewhere?”

Question of the hour. But Seokjin knows that even if he does make it through the traffic, this will still be the easiest conversation he’s going to have all day.

“No. I don’t need to be anywhere.”

—

Thank you for reading. Don't forget to drop a review :)

[awkwardgtace]

Cursed Dreams

day 28 Cursed!

I actually used the soul mate dreams idea again for this one :D

Melody feels like she's cursed. A borrower with poor health, it gets worse when the dreams of her perfect match start

Cursed Dreams

Melody felt that her life was cursed. Things had always been hard and without Caprice it would be worse. They managed with the humans they were with now, but they weren’t easy to deal with. Loud, noisy, and they kept things too clean. At least it was possible to get the supplies they needed when it mattered. She wanted things to be easier. She wanted to be less of a burden.

Caprice was great at borrowing. Climbing, running, everything a borrower needed to survive. She got horrible coughs when there was dust. It was hard for her to climb and run around. The thing that made her a decent borrower was her observation skills. She could find what the humans would never miss. Direct Caprice to the perfect spot to borrow from. Guide them to things that would make their lives a bit easier.

Unfortunately that wasn’t enough for most of the borrowers they met after they lost their parents. She was a problem. A liability. If she left, Caprice could stay. There were a few times she tried to leave. Caprice always came after her. He was a good brother.

That was why she was out where the humans could find her. She had something to get for him. It wouldn’t be hard. The humans were out and would be gone for a while. She could do this. Melody traveled carefully. Never leaving the shadows just in case. The only good thing about these clean humans, the dust wasn’t around to make her sick.

Melody smiled when she found it. She’d been watching for weeks to see if the humans looked. Neither of them cared. It would be hard to carry back, but she knew Caprice wanted this. He wanted matches and this was a whole ton of them. Melody lifted the thing that held them together and tied it to her back. The trip was worth it.

Unfortunately the curse she knew she had decided to rear its ugly head. The humans were back early. Melody ran with all her strength to a spot the humans wouldn’t be able to find her. She focused on their steps, tuning out the loud voices as they talked. Something about forgetting some stupid human item. She just needed them to leave. Her breathing was rapid as she tried to catch her breath from her dash.

The steps landed near her. She barely held in her yelp. She slid further back. One of the massive faces darkened her hiding place. Their breath smelled awful as it washed over her. She held her breath to keep from coughing. Thankfully the human stood up. The loud voices continued, steps walking away. A jingling followed by a deafening “Found them!” saved her.

The humans left, the click she’d always listened for before followed. She hadn’t heard it earlier, she should have listened. Melody rushed home, stopping to catch her breath only when she absolutely had to. One of the humans in the other houses had this thing too, they called it asthma or something. She hated it, a borrower couldn’t survive like this.

As soon as she reached the wall sat down to try and calm herself. Caprice wouldn’t know this happened, he was asleep so it was fine. Except that was another way the curse of her life followed, he had woken up. He woke up and was running towards her. Melody undid the knot and tried to push the matches out of sight. She wasn’t fast enough.

“Mel, what were you doing out there?!” Caprice shouted at her. She pulled the matches forward to try and show him.

“I was getting your birthday present…” she mumbled. They had this argument too often lately. She had to stay in the walls. Refill their water and anything else safely out of sight.

“I don’t need a present! I need you safe. What even are these!?”

“They’re matches. We were talking about how we could use-”

“We don’t need them!” Caprice grabbed the heavy package and shoved it out of the wall. Their entrance was hidden well enough and they both knew a stray item wouldn’t make the humans curious. “Those aren’t worth risking your life! You know what starts tonight, the least you could do is be careful knowing that.”

“They start for both of us. You don’t have to treat me like a child, Caprice. I was careful, I stayed hidden. I can borrow if I need to. You don’t get to decide if I ever leave the walls!”

Melody stood up and walked away from her brother. She almost never made mistakes the times she left the walls. He had no reason to treat her like this. She stormed straight into their home and got back to work on one of the blankets she’d been making. The weather would get cold soon so they’d need it.

A long time later Caprice walked into their small home. He had a few things they’d been needing. Rubber bands, paper clips, and needles. Helpful, but she was still mad. Their parents used to push her to leave the safety of the walls and she did then. She knew how to survive, she was only in trouble if she had to run. Which was why she couldn’t do a lot on her own…

“Mel…” Caprice said. She shot him a glare, waiting for him to continue. “Can’t we just enjoy our birthday? I mean, everything changes for us tonight.”

“Nothing has to change after tonight,” she grumbled as she turned back to her work. It was true. So what if they were both starting their dreams. Nothing promised anyone would be in them. Nothing promised that the first one they met would work. Nothing promised there was anyone for her…

“Everything is gonna change! Some random person is gonna be in our dreams and-and… and nevermind…” Melody looked up at Caprice, he’d hugged himself and turned away.

“No… what is it Cap? What do you think is gonna happen?” She put the blanket down and walked over to him, grabbing one of his hands.

“Mel… after these stupid dreams start you’re gonna leave… I just don’t want to lose you before I have to. It’s always been us against the world.”

Melody pulled Caprice into a tight hug. “Caprice you idiot. It doesn’t matter who shows up in my dream tonight. As far as I’m concerned we’re a package deal… Besides, both of us get dreams tonight, maybe you’ll be the one who-”

“That would never happen. I’m not going anywhere without you. Especially not after how some of those borrowers acted around us. I’m not making you stick with me either though.”

“Then I guess it’s good we’re both stubborn enough to stick together.”

Caprice finally wrapped his own arms around her. Their hug lasted for a few seconds before he pulled away to store what he’d taken. Melody went back to work, the rest of their birthday passed in a calm silence. That night she pulled out something she got without Caprice finding out. A bit of cookies, that at least made him smile. 

Melody stayed bothered by what he said. Their lives would change even if she pretended they wouldn’t. Things couldn’t stay simple, others would be involved. She meant what she said at least. In her mind the two have always been a package deal. If someone expects her to go make a dangerous trek to meet them she wouldn’t be arriving alone.

Eventually they had to sleep. She was nervous. This would open up doors for them both. A chance where he wasn’t the only one collecting supplies and she could help others get more impressive things. First they had to enter the dream that would lead them to someone. A dream that would be the first time they couldn’t rely on each other for help…

“Good night Mel,” Caprice whispered. Melody smiled, it was clear in his voice how nervous he was too.

“Good night Cap,” she said. “Remember, nothing has to change.”

“Right…”

Melody sat in the dark for a while. Just listening to the silence and Caprice’s breathing. She couldn’t keep her eyes closed. If she wanted it, she’d fall asleep. It was supposed to be easier for her to sleep once the dreams started. It could be anyone, it could be someone she already met. She was scared. Eventually it got hard to keep her mind going and her eyes open. Slowly, but surely Melody fell asleep and into her first dream.

Waking up she was alone, but out in the open. Not just in the open on something she’d only seen once. A big black thing that had white bars she could jump on. When she did they made a sound she loved. This was what she found the first time they had to move. Caprice was with her, inside the part of the black thing that opened. He stole some of the strings inside, she never knew what he wanted them for.

Without thinking she jumped from where she woke up onto one of the white bars. The beautiful noise rang out and she laughed. That joy was circumvented by fear, a human could come just like back then. Catch her and make things worse. Leave Caprice scrambling to find a way to free her. She was lucky they just slammed a cup over her and never grabbed her.

Melody spun around again and again. The place wasn’t the house she expected. The walls were the wrong shade of white. All the pictures were things she wished she could live through again. The time Caprice stole some tiny music player and they used it every time the humans went out. Another time when they moved and found a ladybug that followed them for days. When they collected flowers for their home and so many more. 

“Wow…” she murmured. If this was what these dreams would be like she wanted to have them forever. A place she could enjoy herself. Melody started to move across the bars. Humming along as they grew easy enough to walk across while they made the noises.

“Hey!” A man’s shout made her stop. She turned toward the voice, he was above her. He probably came from the place Caprice had stolen the strings. His hair was a strange blue that reminded her of water. His eyes were a brilliantly deep shade she could watch for hours. His skin was a beige color that somehow made her think of outside. 

Melody tilted her head, something about him was off. She didn’t want to answer. She started to back away along the white bars. The man’s eyes widened, but she didn’t stop. After all this time she knew to trust this feeling. He wasn’t a normal borrower, there was something off about him. Something she couldn’t trust.

“Wait!” his voice managed to make her freeze. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” Melody said. She had to find a way to get down at least. 

“I mean I just woke up inside a piano and that alone is weird. I figured you probably know what’s going on.”

“Piano… so that’s what this is…” At least she finally knew what to call this thing. “It’s the dream. We’re supposed to be a perfect match.”

“Perfect match? Like soul mates?” The smile on his face made her nervous. She wasn’t the type borrowers tended to like if her past meant anything. “I guess I’m lucky if that’s true. Either this is real and someone beautiful is my soulmate or I have someone to dream about from now on.”

Melody started to back away again. He jumped up a bit more. She couldn’t figure out what was wrong yet. Just looking at him there was something she feared.  He pulled himself up and over the black wall he was leaning on. When he stood on the other side she understood. He was at least twice her height. She couldn’t imagine how he’d stay hidden when he was that big.

“I’m Kyrie, what’s your name?” he asked. 

Melody shook her head. This was insane, the tallest she’s met was maybe a head or two taller than her. This man wasn’t normal. She wasn’t sure he noticed how small she’d be next to him yet. He tilted his head before sitting to hang his legs off the ledge above them. Melody took more steps away, but he landed on the piano bars. They made a deep noise she hadn’t heard before.

Kyrie stood up from his fall and towered. Somehow this was more terrifying than a human. An insanely tall borrower, one who might start looking for her. Thankfully he wasn’t watching her. His focus was on the bar he stood on. He bounced making the deep noise again. Then he shifted towards the black bar that was next to him. She didn’t know what they did. She always assumed it was how the humans would put that cover down that hid the white bars.

“This is really cool. Giant piano keys,” he said.

“G-giant?” she mumbled. He looked at her again. While their eyes were locked he put a single foot on the black bar, pressing down it made a strange noise. Just like the white bars or rather keys. Why were they keys? She wanted to ask, but she had an idea worming into her skull about what this man was.

“Yeah, it’s a giant piano. This whole place is huge. It’s kind of cool. I’m used to ducking under door frames in some older houses. Being this small seems fun.”

“...you’re a human?”

“Yes?” He took a step towards her and Melody took a few away. “Is something wrong?”

“S-stay away from me!”

Melody turned and took off running. The noise of the keys felt cruel. She could hear the sound of Kyrie running after her, crossing more ground than she did with each stride. A human version of this man would be even worse. It was painful to hear the way the sounds almost complemented each other as they both ran. Even in a dream she couldn’t escape the curse of her life. It wasn’t long before it became a struggle to suck in a breath. At the same time a hand the size of her head grabbed one of her arms.

“Wait!” Kyrie was panting too. It was even worse for her up close to see this man. Twice her height and a human height when awake. The universe honestly must have cursed her. “I’m sorry if I scared you. I-I don’t know what’s going on. Could we try again?”

“Go away!” Melody screamed trying to pull her arm free. The gigantic hand had her entire forearm in its grip. “You shouldn’t be here! The universe is playing some sick joke sending a human!”

“Does that mean you aren’t human? What are you?”

“I won’t tell you!”

“Is there a reason?”

“Humans can’t know about u-me. I won’t tell you anything!” She nearly told him too much. It was bad enough she told him where they were. It really had to be a sick joke.

“Oh… Well maybe I can prove you can trust me and then you’ll tell me?”

“What do you mean?”

“Before you seemed happy to know we were on a piano. Why don’t I just tell you things you want to know? Like how the piano keys work or anything else. If I don’t know it I can find out before we talk next. I mean I guess I’m assuming we’ll see each other again. I could be wrong, but I’d like to see you again. I mean…”

Kyrie’s words trailed off, but Melody was a bit tempted. She tugged on her arm again and this time he let go. He even backed up to the black key and sat down. It almost made her smile the way he made the sound keep going. She was still struggling to catch her breath so she focused on that first. It would be better not to risk what he said. Trusting a human would get her killed, but maybe one time it wouldn’t hurt. Tomorrow she’d be alone after the universe realized a cruel joke wouldn’t beat her.

“...what’s the noise called that the key things make?” Melody asked. Kyrie brightened and she almost felt happy herself. She couldn’t have that.

“It’s music. Have you ever heard a song played on one before?”

“No… The humans who owned the one I saw never played it. What… How would you play it?”

“I’m not that great, but I know some basics… Can I show you?”

Melody nodded. Kyrie shot up to his terrifying height and came closer. She wasn’t expecting that, but all he did was hold out his hand. For a long tense moment she considered running again, but her curiosity won. A curiosity that got her in trouble far too often. She put her hand in his and watched as his fingers enveloped her hand. At his real height it would be her entirely.

“Follow me,” he smiled.

For the night he took her across the keys. Together it sounded amazing. Something she never could have imagined on her own. If this was basic she wanted to know everything. At one point it felt more like a strange dance. She was able to forget what he was, laughing when he lifted her up. It didn’t seem like he should be able to with her weight. Then again he was actually a human.

When they stopped she was close to him. He stared down at her with a warm smile and she couldn’t stop her own. It was fun to act like this with someone who wanted to know her. When he jumped the spell was broken, she remembered what he really was. Thankfully he took his own steps away leaving her on her own. Somehow she felt cold when he let go of her hand.

“I guess I got too into it. I never managed to play like that when my fingers could hit the keys on their own. Maybe you’re good luck,” he winked at her.

“It would be a human who finds luck in a curse,” she whispered to herself. A wry smile replaced the warmth she was feeling.

“I wouldn’t say you're a curse. Just some strange luck finding me tonight. I won’t tell anyone, no one’s going to know. Can I ask just one thing?”

She knew better than to answer anything and yet… “What do you want to know?”

“Are you this small when you’re awake?”

Melody closed her eyes. She shouldn’t answer. He’d look for people like her if he knew. Another borrower could be put in danger. It was a foolish idea to say anything about her life. Yet she still wound up opening her eyes and staring up at his stupidly kind face. The innocent curiosity and an asinine belief that he really wouldn’t tell anyone. She nodded, begging to wake up right after.

For once her luck was in her favor. The wish to wake up happened. The darkness of the inside of a person’s wall was high above her. The night felt magical while they danced on the piano keys. If only that was something they could do in reality. Dance to a music that existed only because of each other. It wasn’t possible. The dream was over and she had to warn Caprice.

Quietly, she pushed herself up. All her worries disappeared when she met her brother’s eyes filled with tears. She scrambled out of her fabric bed and crawled over to him, holding him in a tight hug. She just had a stupid human to deal with, Caprice had something that made him cry. That was more important.

“Cap, Cap, what happened?” she mumbled. “Whoever it was, you won’t have to see them again. We’ll figure it out.”

He reached a hand up to grab her arm, it felt weird to have someone normal sized so close. “No… Mel I-I didn’t have a dream. I just slept like normal.”

“What? Even if there’s no one yet your world should have-”

“Mel… I’m happy. I was so scared. I didn’t… I’ve never felt anything like you did. When we were kids and you’d watch the shows with the humans because someone caught your interest. I didn’t understand and I was so scared I would meet someone in this stupid dream who wanted me to be someone else. To want kids, be… be interested in them like mom and dad were to each other. Just… to be more like you and now… I don’t have them. There’s nothing and that’s honestly what I want. No one to push me to be anything other than myself.”

“That’s what you want?” She could sort of understand. The few times there were other borrowers in their lives she didn’t understand some of what they talked about. A feeling the others had that she didn’t.

“...yes… I… Melody, do you hate me?”

“What? Why would I-”

“Mom and dad always talked about how we had to have kids. There had to be another generation and we’d bring them into this world… It was fine if they called me dad, but we need to keep borrowers alive. Aren’t you mad I won’t do that? That there’s no chance that someone will convince me to-”

“Caprice. You are my brother. I don’t care what happens as long as you’re happy. If you don’t want the dreams then I’m just as happy as you are that they didn’t happen. If you want them then we’ll figure out why they aren’t there.” She pulled away to make sure their eyes met. “Besides, no one is going to make my brother do something he hates or would make him hate his own body. No kids allowed unless you’re ok with it. No duty to fulfill either.”

“But mom and dad-”

“Mom and dad aren’t here anymore. It’s us and as far as I’m concerned that duty they always talked about was crap. We’re alive, that’s the only duty there is to fulfill. Maybe we can add staying together to that.”

Caprice slid out of her grip to wrap her in his own hug. His head buried in her shoulder as he kept crying. Melody hugged him, rubbing his back. She wished he had told her these worries. This whole dream thing was supposed to make people happy. The person met in them should love who you are… That almost seemed like what she got.

Eventually Caprice pulled away from her. He wiped at his eyes for a bit too. She wanted things to stay the same. All she had to do for that to happen was to stay out of her dream. She could do it.

“What about you?” he said, clearing his throat a bit too. “You had the dream right? Was anyone there? How was it?”

“Oh!” Melody considered telling him. That she met a human who was twice her size in the dream. It was easy to picture the panic it would cause. So she smiled with a tilt to her head. “No one was there. Guess I’m just waiting for now. Just shows I was right. Nothing has to change.”

Caprice laughed, Melody tried to join him. Nothing had to change. It didn’t matter that now she knew what a piano was. That she wanted to hear the music again. That she knew the bars were called keys. She never had to go out so it would be fine. She’d avoid sleeping and avoid Kyrie when she did. Everything would be fine.

That day they both stayed in. Caprice sat with her and helped her work on the blanket they needed. Sometimes just giving her a hug again. She didn’t mind, the feeling was comforting to her and if it helped him that was even better. A simple day and when night fell Caprice looked happy. Relieved to sleep without the terror of dreams hanging over him.

Melody waited for him to fall asleep long before she made her way to her own bed. Actually she waited hours after Caprice was asleep, reluctant to meet Kyrie again. Their lives couldn’t change. She’d make sure of it. After all this time it was the two of them against the world. A human that gave her one night of fun wouldn’t change that. Her job was to keep them ready for the weather and to watch the ones they lived with. She was good at that job.

Eventually her eyes grew heavy and she couldn’t fight off sleep anymore. She stumbled over to her bed and got comfortable before falling asleep. This time she woke up on the ground, no sign of the human. It would be nice if he never showed up again. He’d promised to tell her more things if she asked, but that didn’t need to happen.

“Hey!”

Kyrie’s shout made her heart race. She was tempted to run again, but he’d catch her. Even in a dream she couldn’t run and he was twice the size of a normal borrower. That part would never get out of her mind. When she finally turned to face him he was actually on the other side of glass. It was weird.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“I woke up here this time, looks like I can’t come closer even with permission,” his pout was cute. Melody chastised herself, those thoughts had to stop. Kyrie walked behind the glass to stand across from her. He sat down, meeting her eyes. “So, you’re really this small? What’s it like?”

“I won’t tell you anything more.”

“Oh… you still don’t trust me then?”

“I bet you started looking for me. All around your human home for some signs of me or if there’s anyone else like me near you.”

“No.. I wanted to, but if it was you then you’d be more scared right?”

“How can I believe you?”

“Well… I don’t know, but I really want to talk more about anything. Just what you want to say is enough. I would like your name if that’s ok…”

“What does my name do for you?”

“It tells me the name of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

“...what do those strings do in the piano?”

A big grin appeared on his face. “I got lucky. I looked into pianos more. I had a feeling you’d ask me about them.”

Melody walked forward and sat across from Kyrie. The glass almost seemed to get thicker once she sat down. He started telling her all about how hammers fell on the strings to make the music. It made no sense to her, but she loved the idea. Strings make the sounds, she’d never seen that on anything besides something called a guitar. The guilt eating at her made it hard to enjoy the knowledge. 

“Stop,” she interrupted him. He was talking about how there were electric ones. “I can’t do this. You’re a human and I’m not…”

“Why would that matter?” he asked. He stood, putting his hands on the glass.

“I know you want to know about me, why not try imagining my life. Living around monsters dozens of times your size. Ones that stomp around and would kill you for just trying to survive. If you didn’t meet me here would you think twice before killing me?”

“Of course I would! Or wouldn’t… Well I wouldn’t kill you! That’s what I mean. Just because your small is no reason-”

“I bet you kill spiders without a second thought.” The glass in front of her shifted to those pictures from the night before. Memories she could never share with a human. “You’d casually kill a ladybug. Crush flowers underfoot because you didn’t care to think about it. If you found someone like me who took something you’d take it back and kill us without a second thought.”

“I-”

“Tell me I’m wrong!” With her shout the glass between them cracked. The image she saw of Kyrie distorted until he towered as high as a human. So high it might have been the real him. She stumbled away terrified of what this image meant.

“I wouldn’t hurt someone like you…” The distorted version of Kyrie looked down at her with what almost seemed like pity. “I… How can I prove I wouldn’t hurt you? We had fun together didn’t we? Even if I found you by accident, without this dream I wouldn’t hurt you. Can’t I prove it to you?”

“H-How?” The Kyrie in the glass kneeled. She was so scared of what this meant. If maybe on the other side he was huge. That the mercy of these dreams wore off in her anger.

“Just doing this, let me talk to you. Maybe once you know me you’ll trust me?”

“If I don’t want to?”

“I don’t really know how to not be here, but I can try not to bother you I guess.”

Melody never got to answer. She was woken up by Caprice shaking her. He said something she barely heard and ran off. There was a part of her that was almost sad that Kyrie wasn’t there. That she didn’t get to respond. It didn’t matter, she’d fight off sleep to avoid things like that. Caprice came back looking at her strangely.

“Are you coming? They’re opening the boxes already!” he said. Melody climbed out of bed and rushed up to him. This was her life, she didn’t get to daydream about a human who wouldn’t stand by his word. “What do you think they got? It was a lot more than normal.”

“Hopefully it’s something we can make use of,” she smiled.

They arrived at the perch where she’d watch. Caprice ran off to get other things while the humans were busy. It was easy to keep an eye on the humans from here. Boxes she’d never seen before were spread out all around them. It was hard to tell quite what it was. The time it took felt long. After only a few minutes she was yawning. How long had she been asleep?

Slowly her blinks started to grow longer. She saw them take out metal at one point. It wasn’t clear yet. Another set of even longer blinks. She was so tired. More metal and some plastic. Nothing put together. Her eyes shut again and the next thing she knew the metal was gone. They were cleaning up. She hadn’t slept, at least not enough to dream. It was strange. She never had so much trouble being awake before.

They cleaned up the boxes slowly. It only just occurred to her how quiet they were. It wasn't how these humans usually acted. She had to pay more attention. Notice what they were hiding. It could be life or death for her and Caprice. It could mean they had to move.

At the very least she found a number of scraps thrown all over the room. One of the weird tools they use for putting things together too. It fell under the table she’d gotten the matches from… She almost forgot about the matches. They should get them, fire was useful. Especially with the cold weather coming in no time. These humans didn’t keep the house warm enough last winter.

Once the boxes were gone she made her way home. Nothing useful left behind and whatever they put together was gone already. It would be fine. Metal with these humans usually meant some new thing on the wall. It was simple enough and unimportant. Making her way home she yawned even more. Maybe something was wrong in those dreams. Maybe she just got no rest because of her guilt.

When she walked in Caprice hadn’t gotten back yet. She got back to work on the blanket. It was almost done, just a few more layers. As she sat down to work her eyelids grew heavy again. It was like something was pulling her into sleep. She couldn’t let that happen. She needed more ways to stay awake.

One blink and she was back in the dream. The glass was gone and she was on a table. She thought maybe this would be the first time she was alone. Instead horribly heavy steps rocked through the table. As she looked around she realized this was the kitchen of a human house. One where she’d been terrified before.

Shadowy forms walked into the room. Ones she faintly recognized. It made her freeze. She had to get away before they found her. The people would hurt her. A hand grabbed her arm and dragged her away. In the shadow of a bowl she was held tightly to the human currently only twice her size. Kyrie’s hand on the back of her head was huge, but also comforting.

“Shh,” he whispered. “I’ll figure a way out. I don’t know how these dreams work, but I won’t let even dream humans see you if I can stop it.”

Melody stayed silent as the steps of the humans in the dream reached them. Empty noises of their voices, it was terrifying. Kyrie holding her made it a lot easier to face. It was weird he was even here though. Time had passed in reality. Eventually the loud voices and horrible steps wandered away. Somewhere far from the two of them. As soon as he let her go she fell to her knees.

“Are you ok?” he whispered. She nodded, he joined her on the ground. “You deal with that all the time…”

“I’m usually not this close,” she said. “I stay more hidden, away from where they can find me… What are you doing here?”

“I thought I could try to learn more if I was here. Try to see things how you do… Especially after I scared you.”

“Who said you scared me?” Melody looked away. She didn’t like that it wasn't entirely a lie. It scared her more that she was curious about being near him. She wondered how it would feel if he held her. That she almost wanted to trust him.

“I thought I did with my questions. You were upset and just left.” The bright grin she shouldn’t like wound up on his face. “I’m glad that I didn’t scare you though.”

“I shouldn’t be here…”

“Wait! Before you tell me how wrong this is again, please give me a chance. I… I really won’t hurt you or look for you or anyone like you. I just want to know you.”

“...My name is Melody.”

After that she forced herself to wake up. The pull of a dream with someone so desperate to learn about her was hard to ignore. She still succeeded, jumping up from how she’d hunched forward for the small time she was there. Caprice walked in just as she got back to work, a lot hung on his shoulder. He looked upset though.

“Cap, what’s wrong?” she asked.

“The matches are gone, guess it’s what I deserve for getting so angry,” he sighed.

“I’m sure they’ll lose something else worth it in no time. Maybe I’ll sneak out to get it again.”

“Don’t you dare. Anyway, what was in the boxes?”

“Oh! Uh… nothing useful or to worry about. Nothing that looked good for us to use either.”

“Alright.”

Melody settled back into her work, Caprice helped again. A normal day where she kept feeling that pull on and off to go back to sleep. Now at least she had an idea it was because of Kyrie. Because he was there and trying to understand her. It was weird, why would a human want that? It was the thought that haunted her for an entire day and through most of the night. Eventually the siren’s song of sleep won.

This time she was back on the piano. All alone she wandered the keys playing the song Kyrie showed her to the best of her ability. It was kind of fun, if only she could try it in reality. Learn more about the strings and hammers. All the things humans knew. When she stopped, soft claps came from far away. She followed the sound, finding Kyrie on the chair far below the keys.

“How much have you been sleeping?” she asked.

“A lot, but it’s making me understand,” he smiled.

“Understand what?”

“Why you don’t trust me. I can’t really see how I’d look to you at my real height, but I think I get it. At least a bit now… Melody.”

“I almost thought you forgot. I said it just before I left.”

“I won’t ever forget your name.”

“Maybe you should. Maybe you should forget I exist, that this happened. Then you can go back to your normal life.”

“I don’t want my normal life. I want a life where I know you.”

“Maybe you’ll never know me. Maybe I live near you and I’ve already started to move away. Maybe I never want to meet you.”

“Then I guess I have to just hope you can’t make these dreams stop with your own opinion…” He gave her a look that sent a chill down her spine. A chill she kind of liked. “Plus I kind of think you don’t hate this as much as you pretend to. I think… maybe you feel what I feel too. That this is real for us and we should make it work. In and out of this dream.”

“No… I think you’re a human and this is just how the universe decided to add to the curse it gave me.”

“You said that before, why do you think you’re cursed?” He stepped forward and her world changed. He was looking down at her. The only emotion was worry in the eyes that felt too blue and she wasn’t scared. The strange image got closer, staring down at her. “Is it because of me?”

Massive hands came to rest next to her. She should be afraid. Nervous at least that he was so close. She wondered if he saw this. If Kyrie was seeing how small she was next to his fingers. A part of her hoped he did. Another part hoped he didn’t. All of her was tempted to touch the fingers resting near her.

“No… I’ve always been cursed. I get sick a lot, I can’t run for very long,” Melody started. She knew she should stop. Telling a human these things would kill her. He would know how to trap her. “I’m not good at climbing and others usually think I’m a burden. I’m a curse. A curse that ended with a human in my dreams…”

“Well… maybe it’s not a curse.”

“Of course it is.”

“Maybe it’s just normal. Humans have those things too. Struggles running for long times, getting sick a lot, not climbing well, feeling like a burden.”

“You don’t get it!” She stomped her foot, the key made a noise, and the image of a human around her was gone. The whole world changed again. Setting them face to face on mirrored pianos. “I’m supposed to do these things. We’re not just small, our bodies are different. Climbing is how we survive. We’re built for it and I can’t do it like I’m supposed to!”

“Maybe-”

“No! You… have you tried climbing? You say you’re trying to understand me, but have you done anything to live how I do? How I’m supposed to?”

“I can’t when you won’t tell me what it takes for you to live.”

Melody closed her eyes, almost wishing she had a hook and bag to give to him. A way to show what should be possible. When she opened her eyes he had exactly what she wanted. The tools needed. Slowly the world shifted again, back to the kitchen from earlier. This time they were on the floor, and Kyrie had a water bag on his shoulder.

“What the…?” he mumbled.

“You want to live like me, like I should, fine. Use that hook to get to the top of this human thing and fill that bag with water. I’ll show you what I can.”

Melody had her own hook appear on her shoulder. The one she and Caprice shared. She threw it up in a smooth motion, it wasn’t hard at this part. A few tugs to promise it was safe and she took off climbing. Her hands ached from the climb, stupid things she’d done to hurt them. Things that had helped her family at least. She pushed that from her mind as she reached the top, this was part one. It was the rest that made it so hard.

Looking over the edge Kyrie was staring at her with wide eyes. Slowly he mimicked her movements, he couldn’t even reach high enough with the hook. She watched him as he tried again and again. Eventually she threw her own rope down for him. Kyrie didn’t take it, continuing his own attempts.

“I have to wake up soon!” she called down.

“By the time you come back I’ll be able to do this!”

Melody woke up right after she heard those words. It was early, Caprice was still asleep. She climbed to her feet, she had to do something. Her heart was heavy and Kyrie’s determination made her feel strange. A human was so determined to have her trust. The same type of thing she was hiding from in the walls of a house. He wanted to teach her things and spend time with her. Worse, she was starting to really believe him.

At the entrance they used most often she ducked out. In the shadows she heard their heavy tired steps. Early for her was even earlier for the humans. Loud clinks came from the kitchen. She listened with her eyes closed. Kyrie holding her tightly as they hid was stuck in her mind. If that could be real she wouldn’t mind having someone twice her size around. Except he was a human.

The humans kept up their noise for a while. When it died down she managed to hear their plans. Ones that would have them out of the house in a few days for an entire night. She had to keep that in mind if they needed anything major. She moved back into the walls with a plan to take inventory and list out what they needed.

When she got home things were different than she expected. Caprice was awake and had a strange thing behind him. He had a big smile on his face when he turned to look at her. Stepping aside she saw what almost looked like a piano. Her eyes went wide as she took it in.

“Cap, what is this?” she asked. As she got closer she could see the strings he stole years and years ago. That was unbelievable. She thought by now they were gone.

“It took a while, but this is your birthday present. I’ve collected the stuff in pretty much every house, but this is the first time I could build it. It should make noises like the one we saw that day,” he smiled. If she was right the humans were still far enough she could try it. So she reached out and touched a key, it only had the white ones. It sounded wrong, out of tune now that she’d heard it so clearly. It was more beautiful than the music in her dream.

“This is amazing.” Melody ran up and hugged her brother tightly. Now she knew what to do with the humans leaving soon. “Thank you so much. I can’t believe we have a piano. At least with most of the keys.”

“Is that what it’s called? When did you learn that? What are you talking about keys for?”

Melody felt her blood freeze. “Oh, uh, in one of those things the humans watch. They had one there? I overheard?”

Caprice pulled away from her and crossed his arms. Her secret was coming out. “Melody, are you hiding something?”

“No!” Too fast, he doubted.

“Is it from your dreams?”

“Of course not!” Narrowed eyes, she was failing. He was the only person who ever saw through her lies.

“Melody, tell me now.”

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath… “There has been someone in my dream… since the first night.”

“There’s more isn’t there? You wouldn’t hide that from me.”

“...he’s human.”

“You’re that against telling me you’re making up something impossible?”

“He told me about pianos and that the white and black bars are called keys. It’s used for music, the hammers hit the strings to play the music.”

“Mel you have got to be kidding. You got this from somewhere else right?” Melody shook her head. Caprice slowly let his arms fall, his face twisted into a mixture of hurt and anger. “So you’ve what? Been meeting a human every time you fall asleep and haven’t told me? Does he know your name? That we exist? What have you told him?”

“Nothing!” She stumbled back, she was the one with a bad temper usually. It didn’t mean Caprice didn’t have one of his own. “Well… mostly nothing.”

“What does mostly mean?”

“He… knows my name.”

“...and?”

“And that I’m always as small as I am in the dream.”

“Mel! What-”

“And that I’m not the only one like me that exists.”

“Melody what the hell were you thinking? We need to plan to move! You hid this and this human has been able to use these dreams to figure out exactly where you are!”

“We haven’t been here at all! He doesn’t know about you or-or anything else. He thinks I’m on my own. He keeps saying that he won’t hurt me and wants to help. I think he means it.”

“You could be leading so many of us into danger entertaining this Melody. You could have at least told me so we could have made plans! I can’t believe you would even consider trusting a human after what happened to mom and dad!”

“I’m not! I haven’t told him anything where he can find us! I wouldn’t do that. You think I’d put us at risk for someone I met in a dream? I would never do that!”

Caprice turned and walked out. Melody was left alone, angry at the whole situation. She stared at the piano he made for her… He was right. As much as she wanted to think Kyrie was worth it Caprice was right. Humans were a risk. A human knowing that she even existed was a risk. She put every borrower in danger like this.

All she could bring herself to do was stare at the gift. The matches were gone and Caprice had saved the strings for so long for her. She wouldn’t sleep anymore, not until Kyrie accepted the dreams had to stop. When the humans went out she’d go get the metal thing she saw get lost. A replacement for the matches at least.

Caprice was gone for the whole day and Melody forced herself to stay awake. The threat of Kyrie being there was too much now. When her eyes grew heavy and sleep started to take her she poked herself with a needle. It was better than sleeping. Caprice stalked in late at night and sat with her. He put his head on her shoulder without a word.

“I’m going to avoid dreaming Caprice,” she whispered.

“That’s pretty hard when you have to sleep, he can’t always be there right?” he asked.

“He’s there a lot. Said he wants to understand.”

“Maybe you can mislead him? Make him think we work some way we don’t.”

“I can try… I don’t… There’s something when I’m there… it’s hard to trust what I know I should do. I thought I saw him as a human the other night, towering over me and hands closing in. I wasn’t scared…”

“Mel… you know even if this human says things-,” she put a hand on one of his.

“I know… I’ll do what I can to redirect him. At first he said he’d tell me things. Told me all about the piano. We even played it together.”

“How?”

“We danced…”

She told Caprice about all of her dreams. Leaving out when she fell asleep for a bit watching the humans. He didn’t have to worry when that wouldn’t matter. He actually smiled when she said Kyrie protected her in the dream. That he lifted her when they danced. His determination to try climbing, even if she wasn’t great at it she could still show up a human. Eventually they fell asleep together, leaning against the wall.

Melody opened her eyes to that kitchen again. She wasn’t at the edge this time. It was like she was trapped in a strange glass watching as Kyrie moved about. He managed to get on top, she could hear muffled joy from him. He turned his attention to the sink, holding the water bag with one hand. It would be hard. She put a hand on the glass, the image changing slightly. He was standing in front of the sink as a human looking down and pinching the bag in two fingers. 

“Why couldn’t you just forget me already?” she whispered. If he forgot she could forget. Somehow he heard her. The massive Kyrie turned to face where she was. Before he could answer she begged to wake up. Thankfully she did, at least an hour later too. She could do this.

There were a few more times she fell asleep. Kyrie was there for most of them. The one time he wasn’t she stayed, but he appeared and she woke up. Getting any closer would lead to pain. There was enough of that already. She could and would be happy just surviving like she and Caprice always did.

When Caprice woke up they didn’t talk. He went out to get what they needed, she noticed he took the bag they filled for moving. They had to prepare at least. She stopped working on the blanket and worked on packing what she could. It would be best to have it ready if the dreams took a turn. The day had her pulled into the dream a few times. Kyrie tried to call her name when she was there.

By that night she was exhausted. Caprice could see it, he made her lay on his lap while he worked on other things. She agreed to just rest her eyes. Sleep would only mean Kyrie. The human that made her want to trust him. She slipped a few times during that time too, but Kyrie wasn’t able to catch her. She didn’t know if he could keep her asleep. When she found Caprice asleep she got up and worked on the blanket again. She didn’t need to sleep.

Days kept going like that. She got a few hours here and there, but never much. Sometimes she was in just the right spot Kyrie couldn’t find her and she’d see him trying to get water or food. Other times he saw her and tried to reach her. At least once she got to dance on the piano, waking up when she heard him clap again. It was working though.

It worked enough that she felt safe hiding the fact the humans were leaving. Each day Caprice would give her a look like he had something to say. They could talk once she gave him his new birthday present. She prepared what she needed for her own trip out of the walls. Her staying awake made it easy to tell when Caprice was asleep and she could sneak out.

Quiet and determined, Melody made her way to the entrance she needed. The same one the matches were left outside of. It would be fine. 

She ran through each piece of furniture confidently. Pausing to catch her breath a few times. It would be easy.

When she was nearly at the spot the metal thing she’d taken note of had landed she smiled. Confidently, she walked forward… Confidently her steps tripped something her tired mind had missed… Confidently she screeched as metal slammed down, trapping her in something the humans had put together. Something that would have been noticed if she’d been awake that day… Something that would mean she was dead.

“Melody!” Caprice’s voice was too close. He shouldn’t be out here now. She was on a trip alone. He ran up to her, he must have followed her. She should have noticed.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed. 

“You were acting weird, I knew I had to follow you… You need to sleep for real Melody. It’s been days. When I get you out of this you’re sleeping even if that human is there…”

“Caprice, just go home. I'll get out of this, don't worry.”

“No, and… when you sleep find out where he is. We’ll go to his house and find out for sure if we can trust him.”

“Caprice…”

Her brother ran off and she was alone. They had time and tools for things like this. It was a cage, a metal cage with thick bars that no borrower could squeeze through. She ran her hands over them, there had to be an option. She was so tired, she couldn’t think straight. Melody tried to stick her hand through the bars, she couldn’t reach anything. Time felt weird, where was Caprice?

A few blinks and the world was too light. What time did she finally leave? It wasn’t close to dawn was it? Maybe it had been. Caprice came back with the tools they had in his hands. She gripped the bar, they were too thick. She shook her head, he frowned and ran off again. More blinks, more time. It was getting risky. The humans would be home… Would the humans check for her?

The door opened and her blood froze. Caprice was nearby. They shared a look for a long time. She wasn’t getting out. It was her own fault. He ran up to her as the door slammed from the humans coming in. The heavy steps made them both grab the bars to stay standing.

“Go, I made the mistake just go. Find one of those other borrower groups we’ve met and stay there. I’m sorry Cap… I should have told you from the start,” she whispered. He placed one of his hands over her own.

“Mel… I shouldn’t have blamed you… You want to trust the human right?” he asked. She couldn’t lie to herself now of all times. She nodded. “I’ll keep them busy. Tell him where we are and have him come help. Just wait until I’ve got them distracted. What happened to mom and dad won’t happen to us.”

“Caprice, don't do it. Just run. I’ve always been fucking cursed just let it play out.”

“Do what I said. I’m keeping you safe like I’ve always promised. Wait until they’re distracted.”

Melody watched in fear as Caprice ran off. She was alone now and the humans were stomping around. Her tired and terrified mind barely processed one of them said to check a trap. That had to be what she was in. They were going to find her. She moved to the side that could see the humans. One of them was right in front of her. She could barely breathe.

Then a crash. The two humans ran off. They were far enough she could see their hands. See how one dangled Caprice by his leg in the air. The way they started to inspect him. She couldn’t make out the words they said, her pulse was too loud. Time slowed as one of the humans moved. A hand getting closer to her brother. Even from here she could see the one holding him by his leg tense. 

The world froze. She wanted to wake up in bed. Make it so none of this happened. Go back to her birthday and forget about those stupid matches. Never start her dreams. The only good thing that came from them was Caprice no longer being afraid. Slowly time moved forward. The human hand tensed more and somehow she heard the moment it caused a crack. The moment a borrower’s leg was shattered. The only noise louder was the awful wail of pain that followed. The next thing she knew her world went dark.

“-dy! -ody! Melody!” Kyrie’s voice brought her from the darkness. He stood over her, hands as big as her forearm cupped her face. She dived at his chest as tears fell from her eyes.

“I need your help! Please I’m in so much trouble everything is awful. The humans I live with found us. Please,” she cried. Massive arms wrapped around her. They offered safety just like the night on the table in the kitchen. 

“I need to know where you are.” Melody nodded into his chest. She tried her best to remember the information humans would recognize, but all that was in her mind were the monsters holding her brother. The arms around her tightened, she wanted to feel safer. To know no one could touch her. “Wait… I know those two… I know where you are. I’m coming, Melody. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He pulled away, grabbing her chin in his hand. He tilted her head up and kissed her. It was powerful, intense, and warm. She could feel the determination behind his action. It felt like an ending to something too. Did he know that this would change things? That he’d have her and be able to keep her like a pet? Did he plan to get rid of her and free himself of her dreams?

“Just wait for me. It won’t be long,” he whispered against her lips. “I won’t let them touch you anymore.”

She managed to see what he’d seen. The humans holding someone who looked almost like her. Of course he wouldn’t know. She never mentioned Caprice. That was too dangerous. He was gone before she could tell him. Sitting in the dream she thought that might be best. He’d walk off with Caprice and she’d be forgotten. Her brother and Kyrie free from the curse she brought to them.

That would be later for now she forced herself awake. The humans had left the room, she couldn’t see her brother. They didn’t move her trap at least. Although that felt a lot more bad than good. She couldn’t get out and now Kyrie was coming. Caprice told her to ask for his help, but that was before. All she could do was stare at the door waiting for the human she wanted to trust to barge in.

Too much time passed before there was a noise. A noise she knew meant a human was outside. Would Kyrie try to get in politely? Would he just say she was his to get them out? So many questions she couldn’t answer. One of the humans came back, grumbling about it not being their fault. The door was ripped open to reveal a petite black woman. Long blonde hair trailed down her back and her eyes almost looked white.

“I’m sorry, Byss and I need some help again. Would you two mind?” the woman said. The human Melody knew shook his head. 

“Hey, the doctors need some help again!” The voice was too loud and it made her cover her ears. She tried not to think about the chances they’d bring Cap along.

“Oh, it’s one of my patients so you probably should make sure you have empty pockets.”

“Don’t bring anything along!”

Melody closed her eyes as steps shook her cage. She wanted to get out and find Caprice. To promise him she’d never do something so stupid again. She’d sleep and stay far from the human so this could never happen again. She chanced looking towards the humans again. She saw as one set Caprice in a jar on a table in her sight. He wasn’t dead at least.

The sound of the door closing was a relief. She wanted some sign her brother was going to survive. To let him know she got help. Instead the door opened and a new human walked in. Hair a strange shade of blue and eyes that reminded her of water. Kyrie was here and the dreams didn’t prepare her for his real size. She’d never seen a human so tall. A part of her wanted to call out, but her voice wouldn’t work.

Kyrie walked closer and his step was enough to knock her off her feet. She could tell the moment he noticed Caprice. The steps kept going as he walked right up to her brother. She had to do something to let him know it was ok. Kyrie blocked her view of the jar once he stood in front of it. She could only imagine how Caprice would feel. Massive hands lifting the jar and dumping him out. 

Melody climbed to her feet and stared out of the cage in worry. Kyrie didn’t know about her brother’s leg. It could get worse if he did something wrong. The lid was put to the side, she didn’t even know he’d opened the jar. The scream of pain she expected never happened, instead she watched the hand so much bigger than her and her brother reach in the jar and grab him. Kyrie brought the hand with her brother to his face.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to try dumping you out if you were hurt,” Kyrie whispered. His voice was so much louder than the dreams. He was talking to Caprice though, that was good. “Are you hurt, Melody?”

A part of her was hurt; he didn't realize it wasn’t her. That made sense though. She and Caprice were identical. Their differences were kind of obvious if you looked. They were too small to him, he wouldn’t notice. At least her brother was-

“Wait… I’m sorry you two look similar and I kind of assumed she was the one they found. Are you family?” Melody was stunned, he realized it… “We don’t have time for that. We should get going, where’s Melody?”

“Over here!” she tried to shout. It came out at her normal volume. It was hard to make herself talk when she was on the ground and he was so… big.

It looked like it had been enough. He turned around looking towards her. Her heart entered her throat as a step came closer. It got worse when he rushed, step after step getting closer to her. She took steps back as he got closer, but nothing was getting her away from the massive human.

“I thought…” he muttered.

She tripped over her feet and fell back into the wall of the cage. The noise had one of Kyrie’s knees hitting the ground immediately. The light she had in her prison disappeared as his face darkened the opening. She wasn’t sure he could see her, but that didn’t stop one of his hands reaching forward. Easily opening the entrance, they way she and Caprice never could. The door opened, she wanted to run. Instead a hand bigger than her reached inside, backing her into a corner.

Fingers taller than her wrapped around her. The fight in her heart died, they felt familiar. Like the times he held her promising she’d be safe. The hand pulled her out and up as Kyrie himself stood. She never thought about how terrifying it was to be so high with no control. The fingers holding her started to open and she faced a smile she’d seen at least a dozen times.

“Found you,” he whispered. It made her flinch, he was so loud. On his other hand Caprice tried to stand, but his leg was broken at least. Kyrie’s face darkened as he moved her closer to her brother. His hand tilted and she slid off landing next to him. “Anyone else?”

Melody reached Caprice, held his hand, and looked up at Kyrie. A simple shake of her head was her answer. Kyrie nodded and held his palm against his chest. She could hear the thundering heartbeat beneath the warm skin. Caprice squeezed her hand. They were alive and that was better than nothing.

Kyrie was moving, she couldn’t tell where. Each step rocked her spine. Each step made Caprice wince. It would be a while before he could walk again. It would be a while before they were settled. They were always so careful. Always so prepared. Now it was all gone. The door she heard shut so many times slammed as Kyrie left.

“We’re alive,” Caprice whispered.

“They broke your leg,” she hissed back. “You should have run. It would have been fine if it was me.”

“You wouldn’t have gotten this giant to help if I let them find you.” The hand around them tensed, he couldn’t hear them right?

“Doesn’t matter. It’s gonna be hell setting everything up now. We don’t have anything this time… It’s all my fault.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes it is.”

“No it’s not.”

“Yes it is!”

“It isn’t!”

“It is!”

“It isn’t!”

“You can’t prove me wrong. The matches are probably what tipped them off!”

“If it was then it’s my fault for throwing them out of the walls!”

“I should have watched better!”

“You weren’t sleeping because I got mad!”

“You wouldn’t have gotten hurt if I didn’t hide the dreams from you!”

“They would have one of us trapped for good if I didn’t give you a chance to get help!”

Kyrie cleared his throat, Melody jumped and she knew her own face was as red as Caprice’s. Both she and Caprice looked up to see worried eyes on them. They weren't careful… again. She was going to get them killed.

“I think those two were on to you for a while,” he said. The words rumbled through them, a horrible feeling when he was saying they were known about. “They kept talking to Pel about how to deal with mice.”

“We’re not mice,” Caprice huffed. She couldn’t believe how calm he was. How calm she was. They were literally in someone’s hand, but it didn’t feel terrifying.

“One of you is hurt?” Melody shared a look with Caprice. A warning in his eyes, a warning she decided to ignore.

“They were holding him by his leg and started to argue. I heard a crack before…” She trailed off.

Kyrie looked up for a second before looking back at them. “…Can you trust me? Both of you?”

Another shared look. Caprice squeezed her hand again. “We kind of have to.”

A nod and something that felt like a promise as he held them against his heart. Caprice could see it. She knew he could. Something with this human made it hard to doubt. Hard to deny that he wouldn’t hurt them or trap them. A door opening, people talking. One of them sounded like the woman who came to the door.

“Byssal, I’m sure he had a good reason,” the woman’s voice sounded a bit tired.

“I don’t care about the reason Pel. He’s been trapped in his room for over a week and now this? Those two idiots are more likely to-” the man’s angry voice stopped. The hand she was on tensed again. “Kyrie, what the hell is going through your head? Getting Pelago to help you sneak into someone’s house?!”

“I had to…,” he said. His hand tense again before it moved. He flattened it, showing them off to two new humans. The woman who had been at the door. A man with green eyes and hair, pale skin, and a terrifying glare on his face. “They needed help.”

“What the…” The man’s stern gaze started to fall as he watched them. Melody tried not to be scared. Caprice’s fingers dug into her hand from his own attempt to stay brave. 

“Byss stop staring,” the woman slapped his arm before coming towards them. She smiled, her face was right in front of them. Somehow it made Melody more scared of this woman. “What are they, Kyrie?”

“Things that can talk,” Caprice grumbled. The woman’s eyes went wide and Caprice jumped. It wasn’t supposed to be heard, she knew that without even wondering. The two of them scrambled away from the human that definitely would be mad now.

“I shouldn’t have assumed. I’m Pelago, the grump behind me is Byssal. Who are you?”

Fingers curled up to block them from her view. Melody felt better with that. Without those eyes on her she looked at Caprice. He was pale, more so than normal. His short brown hair was slick with sweat. There was too much at risk. Whatever they did while she got help…

“Kyrie you found… people? Few inch tall people and snuck in to save them!?” the man.. Byssal again. “What is going on? How did you even know? None of this makes sense.”

“Help Caprice and I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Melody said. 

“Mel, what are you talking about?” Caprice growled. The other man came closer to look at them. His eyes were too sharp. 

“What happened?”

“Nothing!”

“They grabbed him, held him by one leg and with two fingers made it crack. I… I don’t know what else and he probably won’t tell you.”

“Melody. Shut up.” The woman’s hands came close and separated Caprice from Melody. She held him close to her chest. That conversation where she promised nothing would change screamed in her mind. Everything was changing. The two humans nodded at each other before Caprice was taken away… somewhere she might never see him again.

“We’ll make sure he’s ok. Are you hurt?” Melody shook her head. “What’s your name?”

“Melody…”

One of the man’s fingers came close and rubbed her head. The smile on his face was unexpected. “He’ll be fine, you won’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

She watched as he walked off. It was left as just her and Kyrie in the room together. He walked off without saying anything, taking her somewhere even farther from Caprice. Another way her curse had ruined everything for them. Another way she was a burden…

“Byss and Pel won’t hurt him. They’ll make sure he’s ok,” Kyrie whispered.

“What happens now?” she asked. The safe feeling she had was gone. This was a human holding her in his hand. Caprice was off with two others and she’d have to explain eventually. Reveal borrowers to three humans…

Kyrie didn’t answer right away. He kept walking until he reached a closed door. She stared at it as he pushed it open, a normal room with a dollhouse on a desk. He sat down in front of it and she thought it was almost funny. He thought of her like a doll, after all of this she was just a doll to him. 

“Over the last few days I got this, it has electricity and beds and stuff. I figured you could stay here for now… When Caprice is better the two of you can leave or stay whatever you want,” he whispered. The hand holding her finally moved away from his chest. She climbed off right away, but looked up at him. Instead of going into the house, she sat down leaning her back against one of the walls.

“Can you… Can we talk until they’re done with Caprice?” she asked. The grin she wanted to hate… the one she knew she couldn’t.

“Sure, about what?”

“...I’ll tell you about me now, if you want.”

Kyrie folded his arms and put his head on them, so close to her. “I’d love that.”

She told him all she could think of about her life. About the matches they argued over and the piano Caprice made. It lasted for hours, long enough for Caprice to be carried in by Byssal. Kyrie got a pillow for Caprice, she climbed up to stay with him. Everything changed, but she was at least a little hopeful that maybe everything wouldn’t be bad.

When Caprice woke up he looked at her with hope, a hope she hadn’t seen in a long time. “They were nice… Maybe we’re finally somewhere really safe…”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Melody, are you ready?” Kyrie asked. She nodded and his huge fingers slowly wrapped around her. A quick movement to bring her up to his face before letting her out on his palm. He smirked at her before pressing her into his palm with a warm kiss. By the time he pulled away she was laughing. A whole year of simple times like this.

“I thought you were asking if I was ready to go!” she smiled.

“It can be both things.”

Kyrie moved his hand to his chest. She loved hearing the steady beat behind her. She was starting to like the height too. He eventually pressed her against him so it was impossible to see what was happening. She grumbled a bit, but didn’t argue. When the steps stopped shocking her spine she got excited.

“Kyrie you took forever, hurry up and put her down. Mel keep your eyes closed,” Caprice shouted. It made her smile, he had gotten so used to the humans. To what they brought into the lives of two lonely borrowers.

She kept her eyes closed as the fingers closed in around her again. Her stomach dropped a bit as he let her off somewhere. Caprice grabbed her hand and she waited. Kyrie’s steps rumbled through the table they were on. She was getting curious. She froze as music she only heard once started to play. Caprice pulled her hands, having music follow each step.

“Open,” her brother whispered. Slowly she listened, shocked by what she found. A flat set of piano keys on the table. Kyrie stood on a farther end, playing the keys. Her steps added to the sound. “Have fun Mel, just like your dream.”

Caprice ran off before she could say anything. Slowly Kyrie ran his fingers over the flat keys to reach her again. Her brother would be long gone after only a few minutes. Melody took pointed steps to play only the notes she wanted. It could be like that first night, like the dreams they still shared. Just in reality. For the first birthday in her life, she didn’t feel like a curse. She was glad her dreams changed everything.

[artemistorm]

Kitten

When I first got this ask I was really confused. I thought this was your way of reminding me to tell you my Wild angst ideas. Then I scrolled though my dash and discovered the queued ask game post from a couple days ago and it all made sense. I sure got myself didn't I? Thanks past me!

******

"Did you guys hear that?" Legend said. "That weird little noise just now?"

"What are you talking about?" Sky asked.

"That sound! I swear I heard a little high pitched 'meh!' sound"

"We just finished a noisy battle," Hyrule said with a finger in his ear. "It could be anything."

"Of course you didn't hear it you little bomb-happy gremlin!"

Hyrule gave him a goofy grin and a thumbs up.

"Go big or go home!" He said giving Wind a high-five.

"Mew!"

"There it is again!" Legend exclaimed. He turned his head side to side trying to zero in on the source. Instead he zeroed in on the writhing mass on Twilight's chest.

"Oh my goddess Twilight what's wrong with your chest?! Is there something in your shirt?"

"Oh this?" Twilight pointed to the wriggling lump climbing up his chest in the space between his tunic and undershirt.

A small head popped out from the collar of his tunic.

"Mew!" The small tan kitten chirped.

"You have a kitten? Wh--where did you even get that??" Legend stammered in surprise.

"She has a name," Twilight said gathering the kitten in his hand. "This is Star Fragment, or Star for short."

"Can I see? Can I hold her?" Wind bubbled reaching for the cat.

"In the middle of the battle, she fell on my head," Twilight explained. "Not sure where she came from, best guess is the fell out of a tree. I put her in my shirt for safe keeping."

"We are definitely keeping her! She can be our little mascot. Isn't that right little Star? Hi baby!" Hyrule cooed.

"We ought to put in the effort to try and find her mother before we take her with us," Twilight said looking up into the trees.

"Only you," Legend sighed. "Of course a kitten would fall on your head." He reached out and gave the kitten's head a little scratch.

[leothil]

fuck it friday

@rewritetheending (<3) tagged me to post whatever I want, and for once I'm back to my roots, online on a Friday evening, so I can even get it out on the right day!

So I did a fun thing yesterday:

My choir often gets asked to do quartet gigs on a variety of events (company parties, graduation ceremonies, birthdays, weddings, funerals, you name it), but this time it was Helsinki airport who asked us to come perform by the tax free. :D They had a mulled wine (alcohol free) sample station beside us, and we sang three sets of five songs, spread out over three or so hours.

It's definitely one of the more unique gigs I've ever been on! A noisy area with lots of people walking past all the time (naturally), but surprisingly many also stopped for a while to listen. There was one old lady who very enthusiastically mouthed along to "I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus" which was adorable, and a really funny older dude who just walked past showing thumbs up and grinning the whole time.

I might also later share a clip of Silent Night, if you want a peep at an arrangement of it spanning e flat to a2 flat (or E3 flat to A5 flat if you're using the scientific pitch notation).

Tagging @onward--upward @buckactuallys @try-set-me-on-fire @glorious-spoon @mellaithwen @roy-kents and everyone else who wants to share something! Sorry if you get double tagged, it just means I love you and I haven't scrolled my dash yet!

[deartoru]

𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥

++ 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴: megumi x fem!reader ++ 𝘀𝘆𝗽𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘀 (of series): with an unlikely friendship set in place, the relationship is doomed to fail with both families in raging in conflict. ++ 𝘀𝘆𝗽𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘀 (of chapter): you are forced to attend a masquerade ball with your stepmother, but you find more than what you bargained for. ++ 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: slight fluff and angst idk :sob: ++ 𝘁𝘄/𝗰𝘄: violence, abuse (?), and smoking ++ 𝘄𝗰: 1k ++ 𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁: want to be added to the taglist? send me an ask or a dm! taglist is currently open. ++ 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀: hey hey lovelies!! i finally had some inspo to write and i pumped out a chapter of a series i've been putting off for so long! i hope u enjoy and likes, comments and reblogs are very appreciated !! <33

ao3 || masterlist

Two clans, alike in status have always fought over something so insignificant you could never wrap your head around it. The Gojo clan and the Zen’in clan have always been at each other's throats for as long as they have existed.

And you were __ Gojo.

The half-blood of the Gojo clan; a disgrace to the family. An unsightly bug that walked the surface of the earth. The only reason you were allowed into the family register was the fact that you possessed six eyes and the ability to use infinity. It is not like you had much of a choice either way. You had nobody left outside of your paternal family, and your mother? Well, that is a story for another time. However, the power of the Gojo clan is absolute, and so is the Zen’in clans. You were dragged into the world of nobles, without any prior knowledge.

-

That’s why you were here, at this mundane masquerade ball. All nobles and high-class people were the same. The sound of glasses clinking and empty chatter filled the air and halls of the ballroom. You trudged through the ballroom, escaping the empty banter of those around you. Your head throbbed from all of the bright lights and the noisy ballroom. You find a terrace nearby and head there for refuge, shocked to see someone was already standing at the edge of the terrace.

You look at the person’s form deducing that they’re a young man around your age. You walk up to the edge of the terrace, grabbing a box of cigarettes from your pocket. Leaning on the terrace railing, you grab a lighter from your pocket. You lazily light up the cigarette between your lips, exhaling a puff of smoke shortly after. You turn to the stranger next to you.

“Would you like a cigarette?” you uttered, your voice barely audible.

He nods in agreement before taking one of the cigarettes between his slender fingers.

“May I use your lighter?” the man inquired before you handed your lighter over to him.

You both shared a comfortable silence before finishing your cigarettes.

-

“What brought you here to the terrace?” You ask, staring into the landscape in front of you.

“I don’t like parties very much” he mumbled, turning his gaze towards you. “Neither do I, they’re quite bothersome in my opinion.” You blatantly stated as you turned toward the man standing next to you.

“I only come here because I’m forced to go.” You added.

“It’s an annoying thing we must do, unfortunately.” He replied, you nodded your head in agreement.

“The night sky looks quite beautiful tonight, others may say it’s boring but I find beauty in its simplicity.”

His eyes lit up hearing this statement. From that moment forward you shared a fruitful conversation with him. You don’t know how or why but you clicked with him instantly.

-

Your conversation with him was cut short as a shrill voice was heard outside the halls. It was your stepmother. You looked around frantically trying to find where she was before bidding the male goodbye.

“May I ask for your name?” You asked the black-haired male. “It’s Megumi, and you?” “My name is _.

You dashed off the terrace before making your way into the hallway to meet your stepmom there. “Where have you been, you insolent brat?!” Her shrill screams fill the ballroom as she speaks. “I was only looking for the restroom-” A harsh sting on your cheek and ringing in your ears cut you off. The taste of blood seeping into your mouth, this familiar sensation, the one of being slapped.

“Stop lying to me! You’ve been smoking again haven’t you?!” You stared into the woman’s eyes, face remaining expressionless.

“OH! For goodness sake just say something from that damned mouth of yours for once!”

You remained silent, listening to her harsh words as you walked out of the building. On the way out and the car ride back to the estate, you didn’t dare to open your mouth. This was a regular occurrence. Your stepmother hated your guts, for reasons you don’t know. Keeping quiet and never showing emotion was the only way to survive in the Gojo household. Never talking back was the one way to be left alone. Never showing emotion was to never give them the satisfaction of truly winning.

-

As soon as you arrived back at the estate, you were escorted by your kind and loving maid, Marie.

“Young Miss! What on earth happened to your face?!” exclaimed Marie as soon as she saw your swollen cheek. “My stepmother.” You deadpanned before climbing up the stairs.

“I’ll run a bath for you while I fetch an ice pack,” she stated before escorting you to your room.

The sound of running water soon filled the room as steam surrounded you and left a fog in its path. You slipped into the balmy water, letting the warmth of the bath take over you. The warmth seeps into your bones as you submerged yourself in the water. The world turns black and it’s silent; you're at peace. The silence turns into ringing and the black fades into nothing. Your escape from the real world has always been by distracting yourself with trivial things.

Marie bursts into the room, quickly pulling you out of the water and placing the ice pack on your inflamed cheek. She scolded you for putting your head underwater, but all you did was nod in agreement.

After washing up, you change into your nightgown and sat outside on the balcony of your room. You get up and look for a cigarette before lighting it up in between your fingers. You place it between your lips, letting the nicotine rush to your head. A fuzzy warmth clouds your senses as you finish one after another.

You stop the nth cigarette, before flicking it out on the ground. You stare up at the night sky, remembering the brief conversation you held with Megumi. A slight smile is found on your face as you remember the exchange between the two of you. It wasn’t unpleasant, in fact, it was quite the opposite.

-

At the same time, a certain dark-haired male remembered you. He stared up at the blank ceiling of his bedroom, recalling your interaction with him. He wonders if he’ll ever meet you again, knowing that the chances are slim.

-

It would take something only short of fate for the two of you to encounter each other once more, but it seems like fate has something cruel twisted up in it’s pocket this time.

[stumblngrumbl]

this car (2009 mazda 3s) has had a very noisy fan for quite some time

we were quoted almost $1000 to fix the hvac blower in it, very expensive because the way™ to get to the blower requires removing the seats and then the entire dash (it's actually possible to replace the fan in situ if you're small, very flexible and don't mind working upside down but it's a serious pain in the ass for people our size!)

a couple years ago i ran across a web forum post where someone was able to clean out the fan from the engine side

for whatever reason i procrastinated it forever but finally yesterday i dove in and did it (directions on the forum post were probably 85% accurate but i think they were for a different generation of the car)

first part: fan sounds before; second part: pull fuzz out with a hook; third part: fan sounds after (the flutter you hear is wind on the microphone - the fan is as quiet as new) [watermark on the video is because i'm cheap and had three separate videos to put together since tumblr doesn't let you upload more than one video]

the fuzz came from under the engine cover; it was insulation and had been shredded by rodents; they must've taken it near that fan area but i didn't find any poops in the fan so my guess is that they made a nest in the trough nearby and it was sucked in to the fan. i was expecting to have to vacuum the fan chamber out, thinking it would be full of acorn shreds but instead the fuzz came out in three hook grabs.

i did cut one of the ribs of the grate covering the chamber so that i had better access; i had anticipated needing to remove the entire thing to be able to get a tube in there for vacuuming but as i said that was not necessary. to reduce future repetition i put some "hardware cloth" over it all:

this is a form of fencing useful for rabbits or chickens; the mesh is 1/4" (~6.5mm) and rodents can't get through it and they're unlikely to gnaw it either. some people make "gopher cages" to plant trees in because gophers come from the side underground and won't go through it there either... imo inadvisable because roots end up bound up inside the cage long before the stuff rusts out

tools were used:

a small flat blade screwdriver

a basic wrench

long hook made out of some 12ga fence wire with a hook bent into the end; a metal coat hanger would work great for this

a "puller" that's used to get the windshield wiper off of its bolt (after you pull the nut off)

the puller is a really useful tool and for $25 for three sizes and the ability to pull things off without destroying them it's a fantastic buy:

basically the puller is a fairly generic tool used to pull things off of a rod that they're probably stuck on, just like this windshield wiper arm is stuck on to the stud; the nut just capped the stud and kept the arm from eventually falling off (no danger of that today!)

you get the hooks under the thing, and then using a wrench you turn the screw and it pulls for you very slowly. in this case, it took half of a turn and i heard a "tink" and the arm came unstuck

you can buy these cheap at most auto parts shops or places like harbor freight / canadian tire. HF sells a set of 3-4 sizes of these; i think this is the only one i have and i think it came from amz

i worked super slowly to try to avoid breaking any plastics (the car is 15ish years old) and it took me 30 minutes to get the

[immabethehero]

A Jolly Holiday (WDTAJN - Song)

Finally have them all done! Here’s my last entry for @wdtajn! The song? Jolly Holiday from Mary Poppins!

(So a bit of context: I made a boyfriend for Bruno. His name is Matias, he’s an inventor who showed up in the Encanto after the events of the movie. His inventions are unpredictable, to say the least. They don’t always work and often end with an explosion. Think Dr. Doofenshmirtz, but if his parents were actually supportive and loving. He was kicked out of his hometown when his parents died, and has been hopping from town to town since. Until he ended up in the Encanto.)

PS. he also owns a grey cat named Alegria ^u^

*******

Bruno spends an extra hour in the bathroom this morning, washing his hair and shaving as much as he can. Thirty minutes are spent on teeth alone. He throws on his prettiest ruana (with extra embroidery by Mirabel) over a new green and white striped shirt and purple pants. A corsage tucked over his heart, he dashes downstairs.

His cheerful presence is not lost on the family, who watch him intently.

“Wonder what’s got him all cleaned up,” Camilo says.

“Matias is coming over,” Isabela answers as she walks out. Camilo blanches.

“Not with a new machine, right?” he whispers to his sister. Dolores simply stares at him.

“Not with a new machine, right?” Camilo squeaks.

Dolores rolls her eyes and strains her head to listen. “It’s definitely not his typical machine… it does sound awfully loud. Sort of like… instruments crashing together.” Camilo weakly whimpers.

“Don’t worry, Papá and I have been teaching him to play,” Mirabel says as she passes.

“Play?!”

Mirabel ignores her primo and runs out. “I’m going for a walk, see ya!”

Bruno picks up a small parcel wrapped up in a custom wrapping paper with little drawn gears shaped like hearts on them. He approaches his sobrinos and twirls. 

“How do I look?”

“Better than usual,” Camilo admits. “I can’t even smell your breath from here.”

“You look muy guapo,” Dolores says. “What’s the occasion?”

“It’s our anniversary today!” Bruno squeals. “A whole year! I can’t wait to show Matias my gift-”

Bang! Crash! Bang! Crash! True to what Dolores said, whatever invention Matias has brought this time, it’s going to be a very musical, albeit noisy one.

“That’s definitely not what I had in mind when he said he would surprise me today,” Bruno says. “Camilo, what do you see out there?”

Camilo peers out the window. Matias has put on a lovely suit, no doubt tailored by Agustín. His black dreadlocks have been tied up into a bun. However, his silver vest and new purple shirt hide underneath a shield of musical instruments. A horn hangs across his chest, a trumpet is strapped to his chest, an accordion is fastened to his belt, and on his back is a large bass drum, with crash cymbals on top of it. When he moves, a mallet bangs on the drum and the cymbals crash together. Mirabel stands beside him, trying to suppress her amused smile.

Camilo turns back to Bruno. “Do you remember that movie we watched together? The one with the magical nanny?”

Bruno nods. “Yeah?”

“That’s your surprise-”

Bruno dashes out before Camilo can finish his sentence.

“Good morning, hermoso! Happy anniversary!” Matias yells over his instruments banging together.

“Hey Matias! I heard you were coming,” Bruno says. “Literally. What are you wearing? What is all this?”

The inventor twirls around. “Do you like it? I thought I’d take a page out of the moving picture you showed us the other day.” He picks up the accordion and begins to play.

“You didn’t strike me as an accordion player,” Bruno admits as he listens to Matias. He’s actually holding the instrument correctly! And not butchering any notes! It’s a miracle!

“That’s because I’m not. Mirabel had to teach me,” Matias admits. 

“I did offer to play with him, but he wanted to do the whole act,” Mirabel adds.

“I’m dating an actual soap opera star. I need to have some credibility to my name,” Matias says. He takes a deep breath and begins to sing.

Ain't it a glorious day?

Right as a morning in May

I feel like I could fly

“Isn’t this from Mary Poppins?” Bruno asks.

“Shut up and please let me do this.”

Have you ever seen the grass

So green, or a bluer sky?

Oh it's a jolly holiday with Bruno

Bruno makes your heart so light!

“You have too much faith in me, mi vida,” Bruno says with a laugh.

When the day is gray and you feel low

The sky suddenly darkens before the sun breaks through once more.

Bruno makes the sun shine bright!

Bruno spies Pepa peeking out from behind a tree. How many Madrigals did Matias plan this with?!

Oh, happiness is blooming all around him,

The daffodils are smiling at the dove

Right on cue, daffodil petals shower Bruno. He catches Isabela high–fiving his sister.

When Bruno holds your hand

You feel so grand

Your heart starts beating like a big brass band!

Matias jumps to the beat, the instruments a rhythmic discord. Mirabel winces, but Bruno laughs.

It's a jolly holiday with Bruno

No wonder that it's Bruno that we love!

Matias grabs Bruno’s hand and pulls him through the town. Isabela showers flowers in their direction and Antonio stands by a fence with animals lined up. Matias joins them.

“We practiced on this all week! Take it away guys!”

“Baaaaa!” an older ram sings. Interesting.

“Baa! Baa!” a trio of lambs respond.

A horse whinnies the next part, followed by a cow mooing. Are the animals supposed to sing along? Bruno raises an eyebrow.

“You know this part sounded better in my head,” Matias admits. Bruno snorts. “Antonio said they sounded like a choir.”

“They do!” Antonio exclaims.

Donkeys bray the next line, and a large pig finishes the verse with two loud snorts. Mirabel and Antonio sing the translation, hoping to save the last verse of the song.

When Bruno holds your hand

You feel so grand

Your heart starts beating like a big brass band!

It's a jolly holiday with Bruno

No wonder that it's Bruno that we love!

Bruno applauds the “musician” and the animals (who honestly did their best). “Asombroso! Wonderful playing!”

Matias attempts to bow, the accordion pushing into his stomach. “Note to self: it’s hard to bend over when you have instruments strapped to you.”

“Need help getting all that off?” Bruno asks, gently knocking on the drum.

“Yes, actually, the local band needs all of these back before their next gig.”

Bruno freezes. “Seriously? How did you even get them to give you these instruments?”

“Your sobrina is a very persistent young lady,” Matias answers, nodding to Mirabel. She winks.

“He’s my best pupil! I’ve never seen anyone learn the accordion so quickly before,” Mirabel says. “Other than me, of course.”

“Your whole family is quite musical, so I thought it would be smart if I joined in,” Matias explains.

Bruno’s eyes widen. “Oh! I’m actually not that musical myself, you didn’t have to go through all that trouble.”

“Really? I always took you for a pianist, especially with those hands of yours.”

Bruno’s cheeks burn hotter than the sun. He shoves Matias playfully. “Come on, let’s get these instruments off you. That way I can show you the gift I got you…”

*

If Camilo hears the discordant cymbal crashing as he walks through town, he does not acknowledge it. He doesn’t hear the drum occasionally going thump. And he certainly doesn’t hear the rhythmic squeezing of a dying accordion squashed between two people. No. He won’t acknowledge the sound of the One (well, Two) Man Band!

*

Matias holds up his new notebook, running his hands over the pretty cover. Illustrated rats play with kittens, no doubt inspired by Alegria, Matias’ grey cat. “This is a wonderful gift! I definitely needed a new sketchbook! You have no idea how many new ideas I’ve got.”

“The last one looked like it was bursting at the seams. And look-” Bruno flips through the pages. Little sketches of cats appear, along with encouraging messages in Bruno’s handwriting. Matias freezes.

“My writing looks more like chicken scratches, so I hope you can actually read them,” Bruno rambles. “I did try looking for inspirational quotes from the future… but I don’t think you’d get any references, so I just stuck to basic stuff. Cheesy, right?” He stops when he sees Matias wiping away tears. Bruno winces.

“It’s bad, isn’t it? You can always rip those out or draw over them or-”

“My first notebook was a lot like this. Full of little motivational quotes written by my parents.” That catches Bruno off guard. In all their time together, Matias had never really mentioned his own family. Hell, he even arrived in Encanto alone!

“I think it’s still in my green toolbox. I always keep the most important stuff in that toolbox,” Matias says.

Bruno moves closer to Matias, motioning him to talk. From what he knows from the small tidbits Matias has told him, the inventor hopped from town to town, never settling in one place. He doesn’t think Matias has ever lived in a town for a whole year.

“After my first few ‘village incidents’, I started to keep all my precious things, stuff I didn’t want to lose, in that toolbox. Just in case I ever needed to get out of town quickly. I didn’t need to worry about a heavy suitcase.”

Bruno fidgets with his ruana, struggling to think up any comforting words. He finally decides to just put his hand on Matias’.

Matias turns to Bruno, smile slowly returning. He grasps Bruno’s hands. “But this time, I… I think I want to stay. I’ve never felt so welcome here! Everyone is so welcoming and encouraging. I’ve never felt more at home! So, if you’ll allow it, I want to live in Encanto permanently.”

No sooner has Matias finished his sentence does Bruno shower him with kisses. Matias chuckles. “Is that a yes?”

“Of course! You’ll always have a home here!”

[thefifthsister-notactive]

38

With An Audience

Post Series

The kids were trying to hurry her out the door before she’d even had the chance to say goodbye to her husband. 

“Let me tell Daddy we’re going, okay,” she insisted. “We have plenty of time and Grandpa hasn’t even left his house yet.”

“You and Daddy gonna kissy?” Reece asked.

Kate chuckled. “Maybe.”

The kids all groaned. “You are gonna kiss for so long. Mommy, they’ll have no pie left!”

Kate rolled her eyes at the drama coming from Reece. “Say bye to your Dad,” she instructs them all. “Babe, we’re leaving!”

The kids rush him when he comes out of his office, straightening his tie and she takes a minute to appreciate how good he looks. “Good luck at your meeting babe. Don’t let Gina boss you around too much.”

He kisses each kid, laughs as they dash for the door and reaches for Kate, freeing her hair from the collar of her jacket and capturing her lips in a kiss.

He feels her laughing when the kids make noises.

She grabs his face, plasters noisy smacking kisses against him to annoy them further and laughs when they start to pull their parents apart.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” she assures them. “Bye Daddy.”

“Have fun with Grandpa. Bring me home some pie,” he shouts after them before Kate turns to wink at him, blow him a kiss and follow their excited children down the hall

______________________

Prompt: fake kisses

[pure-garbage]

Unlucky Grove Thirteen! Straws Scattered To The Wind

Chapter Warnings: Violence, Injury

The battle for survival that erupted in grove thirteen wasn't unforeseen by any means, but no one anticipated it would be such a devastating struggle. By the time Luffy gave the order to split up, everyone was at their limit. Zoro moreso than anyone.

'Can he even run? He's still not recovered from his first fight with Kuma!' Lana wondered gravely.

They weren't allowed to flee far enough for her worries to pan out. Admiral Kizaru halted their egress, knocking them all off their feet with blinding power. Lana's head swam as it impacted the ground. She forced herself up, only to see Kizaru's foot poised above Zoro's prone figure. It glowed brilliantly, radiance so strong that it was difficult to look at.

"Zoro! Move! Get up!" Lana cried desperately.

Zoro struggled, but it was clear he didn't have the strength to evade. Robin tried to jump in to help, but to no avail.

Lana had been stealing sound the entire battle, hoping to contain the chaos and avoid attracting any more enemies.

'So much for that! All those stolen sounds...'

She had a technique in her back pocket, one that was less an attack and more an odd side effect of the power of the calm-calm fruit. She'd noticed it during her time spent practicing the limits of what her fruit could do. If she muted an area that was noisy enough, sometimes there was an echo after her power wore off. She could suppress that too if she did it consciously, but if not...

'I don't know if the force will be enough... I don't even know if the calm-calm fruit will let me release the sounds I gathered intentionally, I don't know if it will let me direct them, but I have to try!'

Lana was running out of time. All she could do was envision what she wanted to happen, a name for the attack springing to mind and bringing some hope with it. Her most successful tactics always seemed to be heralded by a tiny, impish voice, as if from the very devil that had made itself so at home on her shoulder when she ate the calm-calm fruit.

'Calm-calm secret technique! Chaos release decibel cannon!'

A deafening wave of sound burst forth, shaking the ground with its passage as Lana released the collective repressed sound waves from her crews battle with px-4, unleashing all their combined fury on Admiral Kizaru.

"Huh? Uh..."

The admiral sensed the attack coming, but didn't avoid it, assuming it wouldn't affect him. After all, nothing else the straw hats had thrown at him had been able to touch him. In the split-second before it hit him, Lana met Zoro's eyes.

'Crap! He's in its path too!'

A stunning array of colors exploded as sound waves impacted the photons of Kizaru's logia form, effectively forcing them to disperse. When the rainbow light faded, admiral Kizaru had disappeared.

"N-no way!" Usopp gased at Lana's side.

"Zoro!"

She dashed to his side, pulling him off the ground as Brook and Usopp gawked.

"Lana, what the hell was that?!" Usopp demanded.

"Something I can't do again! I need to gather loud sounds and we don't have time for that! Zoro! Stand up! We need to get out of here!" Lana urged him, tugging desperately as she attempted to get him to move without aggravating his injuries. She wasn't even sure where he was hurt.

"Just go," he managed. "Leave me and get out of here. Take the others!"

"No way! I'm not going anywhere without you!"

"Lana-"

"Would you leave me behind?!" she demanded.

Zoro grit his teeth, but he knew she wouldn't be swayed.

"Neither of us are dying today!" Lana insisted. "Not here!"

Usopp joined her and they pulled Zoro off the ground together. As they ran, Lana's intuition warned her...

'No way! Behind me?!'

Despite the fact that she saw it coming, Lana couldn't escape admiral Kizaru's grasp. He seized a handful of her hair, wrenching a pained cry from her that stopped her friends in their tracks.

"Hm, a sound based attack... very clever, little pirate," Kizaru observed, his words slow. "Unfortunately for you, it won't work again."

'Of course not! Even if I had the saved decibels to launch another attack, the admiral is made of light! He can outrun sound! My attack only landed once because he didn't realize it would hurt!'

"Lana!" Brook called back.

"Brook! Usopp! Keep running!" Lana yelled desperately.

"Don't- don't you dare!" Zoro groaned from Usopp's shoulder.

"Don't worry, we're not leaving her!" Brook assured the swordsman.

"Such loyal friends... but they can't save you, lockbreaker Lana," Kizaru tutted. He raised his fist, glowing with destructive light, preparing a strike that would obliterate her.

A silver angel came to her aid. Dark King Rayleigh blocked the blow that would have killed her. Lana went flying as the two clashed, knocking into Usopp and tumbling to the ground in a heap along with him and Zoro.

Luffy put out the call, ordering his crew to escape. They were already trying their damndest to do so.

"We have to go! Zoro-"

"I can stand!" he insisted, struggling upright. He did manage to stand, albeit leaning heavily on Lana and Usopp. "Let's go! You heard Luffy!"

Over her shoulder, Lana stole a final glance at the battle between Rayleigh and Kizaru.

'He can hit him even though he's a logia type!' she noted with awe. 'What kind of power does he have?!'

The straw hats barely made it three paces before they again found their paths blocked.

"Another pacifista!" Usopp exclaimed in dismay.

"No!" Zoro growled. Lana gasped as she felt him tense.

"Zoro?!"

"This one is the real Kuma... Lana! Get behind me!"

"Are you crazy?! You're in no shape to take him on again!" she protested. Zoro shoved her back with enough force to push her to the ground behind him. Even in his weakened state, his strength still far outmatched hers. She yelped, but she couldn't get back on her feet fast enough to do anything.

"If you could take a vacation... where would you want to go?"

Zoro didn't even have time to draw a sword. Lana watched helplessly as Kuma swatted him like a fly. In the blink of an eye, he vanished without so much as a trace that he had ever been there to begin with.

The world went silent, but not because of Lana's devil fruit. Shock muted the world around her as she stared trembling at the spot where Zoro stood mere seconds before. Luffy's frantic voice cut through the haze of her disbelief, bringing despair with it.

"EVERYBODY RUN! GET OUT OF HERE! GO NOW!"

For the first time, Lana felt defiance rise in her. Luffy had finally given her an order she couldn't follow.

"I'm not going anywhere!" she hissed, rising to draw two daggers as she faced the warlord bearing down over her. "Tell me what you just did! What did you do to him?! What the hell did you just do to Zoro?!"

Kuma's smack came so fast that she only sensed it with intuition. Her eyes couldn't follow his paw-palms as they came a hair's breadth from colliding with her body.

Lana went flying.

_______________________________________________

<== Previous Chapter

Next Chapter ==>

== First Chapter ==

[furrbbyx]

Mermay submission

I started writing this because I wanted to make a mermaid yandere fanfiction based in Tamsin Ley's universe. And then I thought, make it lesbian because I need more lesbian monster love in my life. I never finished it, even though it was supposed to be a one shot because I got obsessed with word count, and the tone of the story. I also had a hard time getting to the smut, and the climax of the story because I had to build the complicated parts of taking home a sea creature who wants to consume their lover. And the end was supposed to be dramatic but I got tired writing it sooo

Here's the first part

Black lady mermaid X Black trans lady human

mentions of suicide ideation, pitfullness, sadness, misery, and boobs, and cursing

no minors beyond this point.

I submit to the monsterfucker society: "harsh as a siren"

When I bought the old gray wood house on the beach I thought I wanted to get away from the city, from people. Really I wanted to get away from my heartbreak. When Celia left me I was shattered. Everything about my life turned to a bunch of shards of broken dreams dashed against the unyielding ground that was Celia's indifference.

"I'm just not in love with you York! I tried ok? I tried to make this work but I'm not happy."

"I can change. I-I I can make you happy I promise, please Celia. You're everything to me, don't go. Don't leave please, god, don't leave."

Pathetic. I realize that now. I couldn't make that woman happy in a million years. It took a long time to realize that I'd been a placeholder for Celia. She had bigger plans for her life that hadn't included me.

So I left too, I got out of the city I knew. Left my apartment and my memories of what we'd had. Shit, I'd even left my job because I couldn't face the pity and the attempts to set me up with a rebound. I wanted to run away from the things that had shaped me and by the time I'd finished there was nothing to hold me together.

So yeah. I bought a little coffin for me to live in until I died of sorrow and loneliness. A small wind weathered house tucked in a cliff over-looking a beach of rounded sandstone boulders.

I ached for Celia and couldn't convince myself that we were over for good. For days after I moved in I would stare at the water and imagine ways that I could get her attention. I thought about trying to kill myself, about what it would feel like to drown in the freezing cold foamy waves. I thought up so many scenarios of my death that I would sometimes wake up after a nap confused that I was still in the house, still alive. 

My favorite was a little  daydream of me walking down the beach, wind whipping at my clothes, kind of tragic like that sea witch who had to become someone else just for a chance of happiness. Except I had no more chances. The round stones on the beach would slip and crunch under my steps as I paced  the shore until I got to the finer sand. I would imagine sitting down and deliberately taking off my clothes and leaving them neatly folded for Celia to find, because she was going to come looking for me when she heard I'd been missing. I would walk into the ocean then, feeling a sense of ecstasy. The cold would be sweet, the first intense feeling I'd had that wasn't sorrow. I would just keep walking, until the waves grabbed me and rolled me over and over like flotsam. 

I thought about this over and over for hours. When I was supposed to be working my remote job, I was thinking about dying. I didn't care about B2B, selling, making my boss money. I became  obsessed with ending my life. Yet it felt like another thing that I couldn't fulfil, like Celia's needs. My own escape fantasy filled me with bitterness and longing until one night a vicious wind whipped up from the sea and I could swear it was calling for me.

It had been a particularly gruesome day. The tide had been distracting me with noisy splashes so I couldn't even pretend to be focused on my coworkers during meetings. The wind kept choosing the worst moments to rattle my windows and siding like a poltergeist, causing my connection to glitch during my presentation. I'd run out of beer and cannabis, so I wasn't even buzzed enough to get through without showing  impatience and apathy like usual. My freaking bones felt like they were grating against reality. Every fucking thing was annoying me.

So when I finally logged off and saw that the short winter day had turned to night, and I heard the wind shaking my place for the thousandth time, I pushed away from my desk with a purposeful shove and made my way out to the beach.

Gusts of freezing wet, salty air immediately caught at my clothes and hair  when I stepped outside forcing me to struggle to the sand. The tide was coming in, hitting the beach like a fist with loud, wild waves. It was dark on my little little slice of land, I could barely make out the stones underfoot as I picked my way towards the shore. Behind me my house groaned and swayed on the posts that held it above the storm surge level as if warning me back. A loud unhappy creak caused me to look back and wonder if the roof might be coming off. 

The wind felt like it was picking me up, lifting me bodily into the night. It seemed to want to grasp and tear at everything. It whirled through the stunted twisted trees down the beach, it swirled the sand up into little dervishes, it howled and shrieked so loudly that I turned my face against it. But facing away from the biting sand and cold the howling became a distinct voice. It wasn't tangled up in the wind, nor was it the wind itself. I stopped to listen, rapt.

It wasn't a sound like the call of a gull, it was more like the vibrations left behind when the wind rattled against the house's siding. It reverberated in the air and against my eardrums, low and sad and....urgent. So urgent.

I looked back out to the sea and the sound was whipped away from my ears. Was the sea...did the sea want me?

I jerked into motion again, a bit heedless of the stone and shifting grit under my shoes. I hurried down the beach to the shore, not caring if I twisted an ankle or fell headlong into the churning water. Stopping just before the breaking waves, my body strung tight, I turned my head again to hear...

The calling was still there. Beating like a drum against my skull. Urgent. Come. Urgent. Come closer. A voice? But no words I could understand, just a compulsion, an impulse put into my limbs to keep walking into the water.

I turned my head trying to catch the sound, to tell how close it was. A gust carved up over the sea and into my chest bringing a splash of cold water over my shoes as the tide crawled forward.

"Fuck!" I stepped back annoyed with the icy squish of my suddenly soaked feet. The cold brought me back to my body a little. What was I doing? Was I going to walk into this roiling cauldron? Was this the night I would end it all?

For a long moment I watched the turbulent swash moving like a leviathan. It could swallow me so easily. It could take control of my life and make me anew.

Vibrations of urgency curled into my ears and around my brain again. There! 

The wind died suddenly and I could pinpoint the direction. Over by the jetty to my right. I followed the calling, almost running towards it. I skirted past the the tide, ignoring the wind which had come back full force, and approached the rock jetty curving out from the shore. At first I couldn't see anything but the lumpy, jagged line of dark rocks making up the jetty. The song, someone singing to me, it was coming from here but I couldn't see anyone as I climbed the jetty.

Was someone in trouble? The sharpness of the song's pull was being dulled by my panic. Was someone drowning?

"I'm here! Do you need help?" I yelled into the night cupping my hands around my mouth hoping I was loud enough to hear over the waves and wind.

Come! Come! Here!

My ears picked up to the sound "Where are..." I started to call out but found myself unable to to make a sound as my eyes came alive with the improbable sight before me.

Pressed against the middle of the jetty by the incessant watery force of the waves was a woman. Half of her body was above the water. Her back was against the jagged rocks of the jetty, arms braced there to keep her from being drawn out to sea as the waves receded.  

As I watched  another wave surged. The woman looked at me with inhumanly shining eyes, her mouth stretched wide as if in a scream as the water rolled into and over her. She was lost for a moment in the dark water. Fear hit me like a boulder and I scrambled down the jetty towards her. As the water pulled back I reached her. The woman's thick curly hair was dripping water into her strange bright pink eyes. 

Closer to her now, I realized why I had missed her in my search before. Her skin was as dark as the rocks she was trapped against. I could see the sea gathering strength for another heavy wave and I was desperate to help her before she was ripped into the tide. 

"Give me your hands!" I yelled trying to be heard above the wind. I grabbed at her arms and tried to haul her out of the sea but she was heavier than I expected and dead weight. She must be exhausted from holding on, I thought.

I wrapped my hands around her arms and started to pull her up the beach along the jetty. The wave that was coming was going to cover both of us if I didn't hurry.

Her wet hands slipped against my skin, scraping me with her nails. I winced but I readjusted and kept pulling her even when I looked down and saw how her fingers were connected with a thin translucent webbing.

I didn't get far before the water burst over us and soaked me through. For a terrifying moment I thought I would loose her in the surf as my feet slipped on the rocks beneath me and I fell, landing hard. My foot jammed between two boulders with a painful twinge but the resistance prevented us from being sucked out to sea.

I panted and sputtered and kept dragging her even as I tried to push us closer to the beach, to shallower water. I was only able to get us a few more feet before the next wave broke, and thankfully it much weaker than the last.

I heaved in air, nearly gasping as I lay back against the rocks. My back was stinging with cuts from dragging myself over the jetty. My skin was chilly from the ocean water and I was starting to shiver. I still held the woman's forearms tightly.

I looked down to find her staring directly into my eyes, her own strangely pink and glimmering in the night, the brightest light on the beach. I couldn't look away even as the waves rocked us. Her arms were stretched out, webbed hands gripping my wrists. The rest of her body floating behind into the ocean.

I had to blink a few times to make sense of what I was seeing. Her naked torso, almost hidden by the water, ended at a pearlescent ghostly dorsal fin flattened against her back and flowed into round curving hips covered by taut, pink shimmering, and glowing white patterned scaled skin. I looked down her length, a thick solid shape where her legs should be, to a gently undulating satiny fan of a huge fish tail flipping in and out of the water.

"What the fuck" My voice sounded small. I sat up to get a better look, absolutely sure I was seeing things.

The woman watched me with a smile and a little chirrup slipped from her full lips. But the tail didn't disappear.

I dropped her arms and faltered in gaining my feet as they slid over the slippery smooth boulders. I was struggling to breathe more now than when I had tried to save her.

Her eyebrows snapped together into a frown as I backed away. A wave hit her back and pushed her closer to me. I could see her breasts, large and hanging in the water. Her chest expanded and she reached out of the water towards me.

Come!

I felt her desire thrum inside my bones. Her will communicated to me in a low resonating tingle against my skin and my mind. Her song  was so much stronger this close. It caused an immediate reaction. My cock sprang to life in my waterlogged jeans pressing with a sudden painful throb against my lower belly. But her spell of sexual arousal was overwhelmed by my own feelings of white hot shame and confusion.

I had just tried to save this woman, this creature. Now I was betraying her by perving on her naked body? And betraying Celia. Wasn't I? I was utterly overcome and stunned by her otherworldly body and my reaction to it.

I turned into the night and ran.