#For now I've just been saying 'bud' when we talk cause that's what I call everybody

[bittyblog]

We still don't have a name but he's pretty settled in now, enough to play with my wool when I'm trying to crochet (it's okay he's helping) (he's not but he's cute so I'll let it slide)

[hollowbutcanlove]

The language of the flowers Pt. 2

warning: the hard moment with the Cypher.

Sova - rose red (bud) - confusion; "I think I've fallen in love with you," "I'm glad we met," "Every day my feelings for you grow stronger."

On the spacious streets of St. Petersburg, you and Sova decided to spend your little vacation. After visiting many memorable places, you decided that it was time for a little rest on one of the shores of the Gulf of Finland. He left you alone for a while, saying he needed to get something to eat.

The cool breeze ruffled your hair, making you wrap yourself tighter in your sweater. Growing up in a warm climate, you weren't used to the fickle weather of Sova's homeland. Suddenly, something that isn't a human hand touches your head, causing you to throw it back. You see a bunch of red buds that cover almost everything above you. The bouquet moves back a little and you see Sova's satisfied face.

"These are for you. In Russia, it's considered that giving fancy bouquets to your beloved is the basis of a strong relationship." He chuckles. "In fact, some men give a single rose in cellophane, which our women consider an insult."

"Then it could be considered a very very big compliment." You run your finger over the scarlet petals. "How many are there, anyway?"

"One hundred and one roses."

"One hundred and one?" - you take the bouquet into your hands admiringly, then give a light kiss on Sova's cheek. He sits down next to you.

"You deserve all the flowers in the world, but it remains to be seen - which ones specifically should you give? Peonies, perhaps? Or lilies?"

"Any flowers from you would be my favorite."

Cypher - yellow carnation - rejection; "You're avoiding me"; "You've disappointed me"

It was hard to tell when your communication with Cypher had gotten to the point where it was hard to tell if you were friends or lovers. It was even harder for you to understand why he was pulling away and running away, like a kitten who'd tried to confide in people but had gotten scared again and fled into the darkness of the street. He was either not in his office or the door was locked. He didn't answer messages or calls. But you knew he was watching you. Every move you made. But what was he feeling in that moment, doing all those things? You didn't know.

"Cypher, why don't you open up finally? I know you're in there." - You've been trying for the second week to get through to the masked man who's been so diligently avoiding you. "Please, we need to talk."

There was only silence in response.

"Shit... "You slump down next to the door, hugging your knees. "You should know how disappointing you're making me feel right now. I thought there was something between us...Or at least there was. And you're doing this..."

"You didn't know he had a wife and child?" the sudden voice of Viper shakes you out of your trance.

"A wife and child...?" you look at the woman, who at that moment was looking at you with a kind of sympathy, with incomprehension.

"Don't kid yourself, girl. He's still pining for them, and you...you just got caught up in the moment. Forget it and move on." She wanted to support you in some way, but it didn't come out well.

You swallowed the lump in your throat, tears starting to well up in your eyes. Just a substitute? An attempt to dull the pain of longing?

"Argh... Come on, I'll give you a job to distract you."

Gekko - anemone - sincerity, hope, joy, emotionality; parting, fragility; "Why not?", "I feel really good with you", "Let's have a party?"

The beautiful scenery opens up from the Venice rising in the air, where one of the training grounds is located. You and Gekko watch the sunset while the other agents finish their training. The green-haired guy's creatures were snoring somewhere nearby, exhausted from the training.

"Hey, guess what?"

"What?"

"What if I offer you to be my girlfriend? Would you say yes?"

"Why not?"

"So you'd say yes?"

"Yes."

"Say it again."

"Yes, I agree, Gekko."

A bright smile appeared on the guy's face before he gently took your hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it. You giggled and tilted your head to the side. Such small and happy moments were rare in the hard life of a protocol agent, but nevertheless you tried to cherish them and live them as long as possible.

[angelic-writer]

Lichtenberg - Friend or Foe?

Day 2 of @whumptober

February 11, 2014

Jeremy stayed silent throughout the whole day. He didn't speak to anyone at all, not even Rachel. He just stared at his hands, trying his best to contain his anger. All that was running through his mind was how Roderick and Sam were going to kill Kevin.

There was no mistake. It was his scream he heard yesterday while he had his... vision? He had no idea what to call it. It was just something he heard when he had taken too many blows to the head, right? So why did he get so angry at Sam to the point of him beating him up outside of the school? And in front of Dan, no less. He didn't mean to freak him out like that. He wanted to apologize to him right then and there, but his overwhelming anger caused him to stay silent. It didn't help that this mysterious sailor fueled his doubts even more last night. He kept on saying that all of his friends will betray Kevin.

Kevin... Sweet, little Kevin who had done nothing wrong was gonna be killed by people he thought were his friends. He had to protect him from these traitors. If he gets kicked off the team for his behavior, then so be it.

"Hey Jay!"

Jeremy had to clench his teeth when he heard Roderick's voice. He was the last person he wanted to deal with right now.

"Jay? Hellooooo? Dude, you okay over there?" Roderick waved his hand in front of his face.

"Oh, uh... sorry. I was uh..." Jeremy looked around, trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation.

"Geez, did you take something to make you space out like that?" He smirked. "Wish I have that during class."

"Haha. Very funny."

Roderick flinched a little at his tone. "Sorry. Didn't know you'd get offended by that." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, you remember that lake we used to go to in the summer? We'd swim in it when the weather got all hot and stuff."

Jay's heart panged with guilt. He remembered that. It was the best days of his life. Too bad all of that had been sullied.

"Kev and I talked about it yesterday and we thought it'd be a good idea if we all went together. I tried asking Sam, but he said he's too busy studying for a test. I mean, I don't blame him. He is on the honor roll, after all."

Hearing him mention Kevin's name made his blood boil. He knew he and Roderick had been hanging out more often lately, but Kevin shouldn't be hanging out with someone like him. Didn't he say that Roderick didn't think about anyone but himself? Despite everything he did to him, he was still hanging out with him. And he had the gall to try and get close to him.

"So do you wanna come with? It'll be fun. We could even go get Wendy's after."

"Ummm... N-No thanks. I uh... I've got plans with Rachel tonight."

"Come on, can't you call her and tell her you have other plans? Pleeeeeeease? It'll be awkward if it's just me and Kev."

"Well, you didn't seem to have a problem hanging out with him alone before. Why are you trying to drag us into it?"

"Uh, because we're friends? Because I wanted to spend time with my buds? Jesus, Jay, what is up with you? First Sam, now you... Did something happen?"

Jeremy tried not to look Roderick in the eye. "Nothing happened. I just..."

"Y'know, I saw Sam yesterday. He looked really messed up."

He flinched. Did he tell him already? That little weasel...

"Don't act like I'm stupid. His nose was bleeding and everything. He said he got into a fight with some other guys, but I know something else is up. Did something happen? Did you and Sam get into a fight? You do know the principal's his dad, right? You could get in trouble for that-"

"How about you shut the fuck up?!" Jeremy shouted, his outburst just loud enough for the other students to look at them.

"Jay, wh-"

"First of all, it's none of your goddamn business and second of all, I would appreciate it if you stop taking Kevin around everywhere!"

Roderick just stared, eyes wide like he saw someone collapse on the floor. "What the fu- Jay, all of this was Sam's idea! I'm trying to make up for all the shit I've done to him!"

"What's your goal here, huh? Are you waiting for Kevin to let his guard down so you and Sam could stab him in the back like you did before?!"

"Jeremy-"

"I bet you're just waiting to leave him behind like you did before, huh?"

"I didn't so far, have I not?!"

"Sure, but when the time comes, you'll just leave him for dead, right?"

"What the fuck?! Where did that come from?!"

"Oh, don't act dumb. You know what you did. All those times you bullied Kevin into doing things for you. How you threw Sam under the bus. And I bet you'd even kill one of us so you can save your own ass. You and Sam."

Everyone gasped. Roderick glared at Jeremy. "Jay, I don't know where you got that idea from, but I am not gonna let Kevin down like that. I've been an awful friend to him and I realize that. I want to make it up to him however I can. I know Kevin's a bit odd, but I want to make him feel accepted. Feel more welcome. You can accuse me of having an agenda all you want. It's not gonna stop me from hanging out with him."

"Tch." He turned away. "We'll see about that."

He walked away, pushing past the crowd of students that have gathered around. A familiar brunette raced after him.

"Jay, wait!"

Freezing in his tracks, he turned to see Rachel, looking like him like he was a completely different person. "Rach, I-"

"I heard everything. Jeremy, what is going on? Why did you argue with Roderick like that?"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it."

"Jay, I'm your girlfriend! I deserve to know what's going on!"

"I don't wanna talk about it! Just leave me alone!"

Before Rachel could get another word out, he walked away.

I'm sorry, but it's for Kevin's sake. I can't... I can't trust them.

He rounded the corner and bumped into someone, making them drop their books. When he saw it was Kevin, he immediately began apologizing. "O-Oh god Kev, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine, it's fine. Happens a lot." He chuckled as he picked up his books. He looked so happy, less anxious than he was before. It seemed that Roderick spending time with him made him a lot more relaxed. He wanted to be proud of him, but he could not shake Kevin's screams of pain.

I'm sorry, Kevin, but it's for your own good.

"Hey, Kev... Are you... doing anything later?"

"Um, just me and Roderick going for a walk after school. Maybe visiting the lake, getting something to eat - or maybe going over to his house and have his mom cook something. His mom makes the best pasta. You should try it. It's to die for!" He had the biggest smile on his face that made Jeremy's heart ache.

"Uhh, yeah, yeah. Maybe... You could take a break from him for a bit?"

Kevin blinked. "Huh? Why? Did Roderick say something about me?"

"No, no, he didn't. It's just..." He sighed. "I just think that you hanging out with Roderick all the time is... kind of unhealthy. You should hang out with the rest of us. What about Joey? Or Kyle? Or... me?"

"Well, yeah, there's them, but they've got other stuff. Roderick's pretty much the only one who has any sort of free time. Plus, with the game coming up, I need to savor what little time I have left before Coach really grills us."

"I know, but Kev, listen to me."

"Okay? Jay, you're scaring me."

Okay Jeremy. This is it. You have to do this. Don't back out.

"Kevin... I-I think... This is gonna sound crazy and you're not gonna believe me, but..."

Now or never.

"Kev... I think... Rod and Sam are gonna betray you."

"...Huh?"

"Well, I remember you saying that Roderick doesn't care about anyone but himself. That he won't help you or anyone unless it fits his agenda or he gets something out of it."

"Well, yeah, I did say that, but that was a long time ago. Rod and I already cleared that up a while ago. He said he was a shitty friend and he wanted to make it up to me. So far, he's done a good job. He... was there for me at that party. He took me outside and once I calmed down, we went to the football field to relax. He didn't have to do that, but it was really sweet. Sure, I still have his doubts about him, but from his actions, he's trying really hard to be a good person."

"W-Well, yeah, but surely, you're at least a little suspicious of him, right?"

"Of course I am, but I'm willing to trust him. I'm not gonna keep my walls up forever. Especially when Roderick's gone out of his way to protect me, build me up, make me feel like the most important person in the world. He's trying to be a good person, Jay and I'm really thankful for that. I need to thank Sam too. He's the one that pushed him to be better."

Jeremy's heart began to race. Why? Why isn't he getting it? "Kevin, you're not listening to me. I just have this feeling that something bad will happen to you at the game. Once you're in that situation, Roderick and Sam are gonna... They're gonna kill you!"

There it is. He just... blurted it out.

Kevin just stared. "So... You had the same dream as Sam, then."

"Kev..."

"Jeremy, didn't Sam say that he wouldn't hurt any of us? That it was all just a nightmare?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"So you should know by now that it's not gonna happen. We're gonna win this game and everything is gonna be fine." His voice had grown a little more confident. It was a side of Kevin that Jeremy had never seen before.

"Look, a-all I'm asking is that you take a break from Rod and Sam for a bit. At least until after the game. Then, you can hang out with them as much as you want, okay?! Just tell Roderick you've got family business today and you can just-"

Kevin suddenly grabbed him by his shirt collar. He glared at him with a fiery intensity that made him freeze. "Jay. Stop it. Stop trying to get me to stay away from him. You had no issue with Roderick being with me before. Why are you trying to push me away from him? Because some puppet on a tricycle told you that Rod and Sam cannot be trusted in your dreams? What are you trying to do? Huh?"

Jeremy just blinked at him. Kevin had never talked like this before. Sure, there was his freakout in the basement, but that was because he was under duress. This... This was new. For a moment, he thought he heard Roderick in his voice. "Kev, I'm trying to protect you-"

"By isolating me from my friends? Is that it? If Roderick was being the same dickhead he was before, then yeah, I would listen to you, but he's not. He's actually being nice to me for once. He went out of his way to get me out of the party when I was spiraling. If he didn't change, he wouldn't have done that. He's... actually here for me. And I... I think I might-" Kevin suddenly shut his mouth, stopping himself from saying more.

"Y-You might what?"

Kevin let go. "Nothing. Just... don't talk to me, okay?"

He joined the flood of students before Jeremy could say anything more. He slid down to the floor and gripped his hair.

Oh Kevin...

[rikinikigrl229]

"Crossing Paths With a CEO: An International Love Story" Ft Niki CH:11

CH:11

Hey, fam! 👋 How's everyone doing? I'm feeling great! 😄 Just wanted to say a big thanks for all the love on my story! 🙏💖 But hey, can you also hit that follow button? It'll totally motivate me to write more chapters. 📚✍️ Hope you're all digging it! Take care and lots of love! 😘🤗

As Riki retreated from the party, his mind became overwhelmed with a flurry of thoughts and emotions. He found it impossible to focus on anything other than Lavanya. "Why can't I concentrate?" he muttered in frustration. "Why do I keep thinking about her? Are Jay and Lavanya dating? Does Lavanya really not like me anymore? Has she moved on from me? Lavanya, what have you done to me? I regret breaking up with her for such a silly reason."

Sitting alone in his office, Riki replayed memories of his time with Lavanya, wondering how everything had changed so drastically. He questioned whether he had made a mistake and if there was any chance for them to reconcile. Regret gnawed at him, and he couldn't shake the feeling that he had lost something precious.

Just as Riki was deep in his thoughts, a sudden knock interrupted his introspection. Startled, he called out, "Come in."

The door creaked open, revealing a young woman named Jia. She introduced herself as Riki's new secretary, taking on the role previously held by Sara, who had left the country. A brief flashback flashed in Riki's mind, reminding him of Sara's misguided advances toward him while he was still in a relationship with Lavanya. He had harshly rejected her, causing Sara to leave the country in embarrassment.

Riki observed Jia, trying to focus on the present moment. "Hello, Jia. Please have a seat," he gestured, a touch of weariness in his voice. He couldn't help but wonder if Jia had similar intentions as Sara, although he hoped for a more professional working relationship this time.

Meanwhile, Lavanya couldn't stop thinking about Riki either. "Why am I thinking about him? Does he have a girlfriend now? He's so handsome, kind, funny, caring, cute, and warm. Imagining him with another girl makes me tear up, but I shouldn't cry. He wanted to break up because he wanted to marry me, and I'm still too young for that," she reasoned with herself.

The unexpected encounter at the party had stirred up memories and emotions she thought were buried. As she mused about their past, her phone buzzed, startling her out of her reverie.

Lavanya glanced at her screen to see Riki's name flashing across it. Surprised yet curious, she answered the call. Riki's voice, tinged with hesitation, came through the line. "Lavanya, can we meet? There's something I want to talk to you about."

A mix of apprehension and intrigue swirled within Lavanya. She agreed to meet Riki at the place they first met—a small café with a cozy ambiance that had once been the backdrop of their budding romance.

They sat across from each other, nervously sipping their coffees. The air was heavy with unspoken words, both longing for resolution. Finally, Riki broke the silence, his voice carrying a touch of vulnerability. "Lavanya, I've been thinking a lot about us. I regret breaking up with you for such a silly reason."

Lavanya's heart skipped a beat, unsure of how to respond. She had carried her own regrets and questions, yet Riki's confession left her torn between hope and caution. Slowly, she replied, "Riki, I've thought about our past too. It wasn't easy for me either. But we've both changed since then."

Their conversation continued, with both pouring out their hearts and acknowledging their mistakes. Surprisingly, Lavanya found herself agreeing when Riki tentatively asked, "Can we try again? Can we be back together?"

Days turned into weeks

 and Lavanya and Riki rekindled their relationship. Determined to move forward, they embarked on a journey together, planning a trip that would take them to the breathtaking landscapes of Australia and the vibrant cities of China. The adventure allowed them to reconnect, creating new memories and reinforcing their bond.

In China, they attended a lavish party, surrounded by an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. However, misunderstandings and jealousy once again threatened to cast a shadow over their happiness. Riki, observing Lavanya engaging in a friendly conversation with a handsome young man whom he thought was just a friend, was taken aback when he witnessed them kissing each other. Overwhelmed with jealousy and anger, his mind raced with assumptions and misguided interpretations.

Caught up in a whirlwind of emotions, Riki confronted Lavanya, his voice filled with accusation. "Who is he? Why were you kissing him?" he demanded, his anger clouding his judgment. Lavanya, desperate to explain the situation and clear any misconceptions, pleaded with Riki to listen, but he stubbornly refused to hear her side of the story.

Riki, filled with hurt and confusion, left for Japan without informing Lavanya, leaving her heartbroken.

The chapter ended with a cliffhanger, leaving their relationship hanging in the balance. Would they be able to resolve the misunderstanding and salvage their love? Or would the cracks deepen, irreparably damaging what they had fought so hard to rebuild? Only time would tell as their fates remained uncertain.

[wandering-the-fae-wyldes]

Arriving at the Barrier

Jacwyn sighs in frustration as he walks through the forest, they'd been walking for hours now, and he was starting to get frustrated at the lack of change in the world around them. Every tree looked the same, the foiliage only shifting slightly to his untrained eyes. What had once been a looming forest of impossibly high trees, awing him with its wonder, had quickly become nearly mundane to him. Now it was little more than just another woodland trail to wander through, much like the walking trails back home, except now there were no tasteful benches for him to rest on, and worse he had two companions, one of who insisted on riding on his shoulder.

"Gods, how much further do we have to go? I feel like I've been walking all day!"

Tink rolls her eyes as she kicks her feet as she sits beside his head.

"Oh, stop complaining you lazy bum, we'll get there whenever we arrive. Stop complaining."

Jacwyn glares at the fairy, unable to keep himself from retorting.

"Lazy!? Look who's talking! You've done nothing since this whole thing began, all you've done is ride my shoulder and make a nuisance of yourself!"

Tink bristles at this, her wings blurring into motion as she flies off his shoulder and gets in his face, poking his nose aggressively.

"What did you say!? You're calling me lazy? Look here pal, I'm keeping you safe, keeping an eye and nose out for danger! You have no idea how many animals I've diverted from our path, all we're telling you to do is keep walking! So how about you stop whining and get to it you lazy elf!"

Jacwyn swats at the little fairy, missing by a wide margin as she flitters out of reach above him.

"Hey! Get back you ungrateful little fly! You think you can just insult me and ride me around like some beast of burden?"

Tink: "Yeah, as a matter of fact I do think that! And watch who you call a fly mortal, you'd better watch your tone and start showing some kind of respect!"

Throughout their little spat Dew continues to fly quietly from plant to plant, taking this leisurely stroll as an opportunity to observe and care for new plants, collecting samples for her own glade when this is all over. She stops at a particularly interesting rose bush as the two really start to argue, bringing the party to a temporary stop. She frowns as she observes the roses, cocking her head as she tries to place just what is off about them.

Dew: "Now what do we have here? Hmm, tell me flower, what is troubling you?"

She checks bud after bud, checking the stem and its thorns as she listens carefully to the flower and the magic that maintains it. The rose seems to be suffering from some kind of plague, but not one of the natural world. It has a faint smell of death, the thorns wicked and cruel bent as if attempting to hook onto the flesh of any unwary travelers that happen by. A particularly strange thing to see in Spring, usually this kind of mutation only occurs around plague lands, or undead lords or lichs. Unfortunately, before she can determine the ultimate cause she's brought out of her musings by the high-pitched scream of Jacwyn from behind her. She quickly spins around to witness as a couple squirrels climb, bite and scratch at the young elf, who in turn flails wildly as he tries to throw them off.

Jacwyn: "Ahhh! Get them off you psycho bug! Agh! Damn it, furry bastards!"

Tink stands proudly in the air as she looks down at him, watching as the squirrels torment him.

"Ha! Yes, take that you disrespectful mortal! Next time you'll think twice before you insult a proud member of the fae!"

Dew flushes with fury as she flits up to Tink and shoves a finger into her chest, hissing a harsh whisper at her friend.

Dew: "Are you insane!? Call off the squirrels you idiot!"

Tink: "What? Why? He was disrespectful! You heard him, and we both know we've done far worse for less! He deserves to get humbled a little."

She crosses her arms petulantly, refusing to call off her attack squirrels.

Dew: "Because if anything happens to him then there goes our ticket to freedom! Worse, if Mab figures out it was US that hurt him? Then you can not only forget about a reward or freedom, we'll be lucky if she doesn't turn us to snow or tear off our wings and feed us to a frog or something! Now call off your beasts!"

Tink deflates a little, sinking just a couple inches in the air as her wings slow down, biting her lip as she considers the truth of Dew's words.

"Ok, yeah you're right…"

Just as easy as that the squirrels dart off of Jacwyn, leaving him scratched and bruised, panting for breath as he watches the two rodents scurry off into the woods. He glares up at the two fairies, having completely missed their discussion due to the viscious squirrels.

"Great, now look, I-I'm not going to be able to continue like this you know. Fuck, what if one of those rodents had rabies, or parasites?"

Tink rolls her eyes as she flutters down to hover in front of him, Dew following suit after a moment.

Tink: "Oh don't be a baby, look neither of us are great with medicine or anything like that, but there's a town up ahead. We can stop there and rest, and you can go whining to whatever local healer they have there. Sound good whiny elf?"

Jacwyn looks like he's ready to protest, to pick another fight with the little fairy, but even as Dew elbows her roughly, Jacwyn decides he'd rather not get attacked by those squirrels again.

Jacwyn: "Yeah, yeah fine."

With that Tink and Dew fly ahead, each of them whispering to one another in hushed tones, Jacwyn following behind limping slightly as he presses a hand to one of the deeper cuts on his neck. The two squirrels had really done a number on him, his numerous cuts and open wounds dripped blood behind him, leaving a slight trail for others to follow. Tink and Dew both fly on their own as they walk, Dew still going from plant to plant but keeping Tink close by now. Jacwyn just sighs with frustration, the squirrels didn't do too much, but every step caused another cut to bleed freshly, the dozens of little cuts and bites each their own little source of pain.

Jacwyn: "How much further until we reach this town of yours?"

Tink rolls her eyes but luckily this time, before she could speak Dew shot her a meaningful glance before responding.

Dew: "Not much further, vegetation is starting to thin out a bit, that's usually a pretty good sign that a settlement is near."

Almost as though it had been spoken into being, the group soon found the edge of the forest, and like night turning to day the party was greeted by the sight of a massive settlement. The settlement that looked to normally be a quiet small town for travelers, consisting of few permanent buildings including a tavern, hot springs and a town hall, had boomed into a veritable city of tents, temporary structures, and strange constructions that looked to have been grown from the very ground itself. It wasn't until the Jacwyn stepped past the threshold of the forest that the sight was truly brought to life by sound, suddenly he could hear the guards talking to travelers on the road, the sound of musicians playing for money and attention, merchants hawking their wares to anyone near enough to hear, it brought back memories.

Jacwyn: "Oh wow~. This is amazing, look at all this!"

Jacwyn couldn't help but to chuckle at the sight.

"Ha, I had no idea that there would be actual normal towns here. I half expected all the buildings to be just like, grown out of the trees or something."

Dew gives him a confused look at that, as Tink just sighs with frustration.

Dew: "Really? You thought… but that doesn't make sense. How would tents even, I mean that doesn't really make sense does it?"

Jacwyn blushes and gestures back at the forest but seeing the both of their looks he just shakes his head.

"Right, I suppose not. I guess it's just, nevermind. Come on, let's get to it. Agh, these cuts sting, let's find that doctor you guys were talking about."

With that he begins walking again, Tink avoids Dew's eyes when she glares at her again. Tink then mutters quietly to her, lingering far enough behind their elven charge that he wouldn't hear.

Tink: "Dew, I know you're angry but what do we do here? This was supposed to be a small town, no one to recognize him! How are we supposed to make sure no one else tries to claim the reward?"

Dew bites her lip and shakes her head. Watching Jacwyn with concern, trying to think of what they could do, at least what they could do without alerting him.

Dew: "I don't know. Look, what we do is keep an eye on him, and just, do our best. Just don't let your guard down and be ready to run."

[liedownquisition]

Oh boy. You know, I really love how you've cut some of those panels out. Here's a little more context on Oliver very clearly laying a solid chunk of what's wrong with Jason at Bruce's feet:

And you know what, you're right! No one's ever obligated to forgive everyone or anyone ever! But also guess what! You're also ignoring like... a lot of stuff actually. You think the batarang is the only thing people have an issue with.... as if it exists in a vacuum as the only thing Bruce has ever done wrong to Jason ever? Because most people aren't so much mad over a single incident as we are over it happening again and again and again.

RHATO Rebirth v2 #25

Batman and Robin uhhh Issue 6 I think? Going off the omnibus, sorry

Batman #138* *yes I'm aware that Bruce is being influenced by "Zur-En-Arr" in this, but honestly? I've always felt that this & the Batman & Robin one were some of the more in-character examples of Bruce's flaws manifesting in abusive ways

Or maybe some of these are too recent. Let's talk my personal favorite little beef that I like to contrast with Ollie:

Batman #424-425 The Diplomat's Son & Consequences

Ollie, on the other hand, when his charge commits a murder that Ollie thought could be prevented:

Now there's something to be said for how the writers for these stories had very different opinions of the sidekicks that were responsible, Starlin, for example, fucking hated Jason (Well, Robin in general) and wanted him dead, and it's deliberately set up to be a question of whether or not Jason actually did. Regardless, Bruce pretty cleanly absolves himself of any wrongdoing in his upbringing of Jason, whereas Ollie takes responsibility for Mia being in the position that she even could/would make that kind of call. And at this point, Oliver had Mia with him for a lot less time than Bruce had had Jason.

If it was Just the batarang, then, frankly, I think it's be a lot less controversial. This isn't even everything OR the worst panels from those incidents!!! I'm just cherrypicking, just like you were. And you know what, let me add this:

According to Bruce, Ollie's a pretty forgiving guy, it looks like. And if we're taking more Rebirth into account, Oliver was pretty chill about Cheshire hanging out with his family, and she's definitely caused her fair share of problems for the family and world at large on scales Jason has yet to even touch*, regardless of if she's Lian's mom. *some of Jade's crimes are dubiously canon, but with the reality mashing from Convergence in a way all of it is.

Ollie is a lot of hot air. I love the man, and he'll rip anyone and everyone a new one at the drop of a hat for any godsdamned reason. Pretty sure he's called Bruce and Barry and Hal all fascists before, so he has no hesitation in saying the absolute worst about people while... still having a relatively decent relationship with them in the long run, actually. Hal even used to be a villain for a while and Oliver was forced to kill him and now they're buds again. An alternate version of Hal that is STILL that villain continues to torment Oliver and his family.

Would Jason need to actually work to earn forgiveness from the Arrows? Probably. But he's still friends with Roy now (yes, CURRENTLY. AS HE HAS BEEN FOR OVER A DECADE he hasn't even been features in much w/ Roy lately but it has been REFERENCED), and even if it was small that olive branch of helping Roy and Lian reunite (and their general friendship, actually) isn't something that Ollie would just brush off, just as he wouldn't just brush off the events of Seeing Red.

But, in the grand scheme of things, kidnapping her, sending him on a wild goose chase across town, "having a talk" (mia's words) then letting her leave unharmed, and blowing up a building behind her is honestly small potatoes in comparison to the Repeated incidents of textbook abusive relationships that goes on between Bruce and Jason. (And I cannot overemphasize how little Mia was injured by this incident.)

Of course Olie was talking shit about Jason in the interim, Red Hood is incredibly dangerous, and he's scared for her safety. You can SEE how stumped he is by her coming out of this completely unharmed. Plus! This is hot on the heels of her return after the Dr Light Incident, and Ollie has every right to be scared out of his fucking mind.

But when it comes down to it, Mia Was Not Harmed. I will not stop saying that. Because in the world of villains and superheroes and red Hood doing significantly worse shit to other characters, this is NOTHING. Even actually within Arrow comics???? This WAS NOTHING.

And oh my god "He did the same thing Joker did" okay so where do I start with this

a) that was the point, obviously.

b) he didn't, actually.

c) that was the worst description of both incidents I've ever read in my entire life. Joker didn't "take a kid from his father and torture him and make him doubt his place in his family" unless you're talking about the fucking Arkham 'verse!

c2) actually let's break down that description: "took a kid from their father figure" Joker didn't take Jason, he was sold out by his mom. "Beat them up" understatement, but go off. "Tortured them mentally about their place in their family" not really. Joker just beat him nearly to death laughing for the most part, Jason's doubts about it came after he came back to life and saw news that Joker was still alive.

d) hmmm I wonder who said it was just Jason messing with Bruce...

Hm. Yeah. Bruce is definitely the most reliable source for Jason's intentions. I mean, was it generally to spite Bruce? Probably, yeah. But Jason's very good at multitasking and layering his intentions.

e) once again, Mia was not harmed. Jason spent most of their sparring match on the defensive, And only hit Her, physically, like, four times? and all of them in retaliation to her getting in close and hitting him first*? (And, trust me, if Jason can pull the hypercompetent bullshit that is "Seemingly shooting wildly but managing to hit nothing but THE STRING OF MIA'S BOW while also accounting for how she'd dodge" he could do sooooo much worse.) Notably, he briefly had her pinned to the floor with his hands around her throat... and then let up just after he held it long enough to make his point *Note: this is not a justification, she had every reason to fight back with everything she had and what Jason does is very fucked up on like...a normalscale. But it's worth noting he was Very Visibly and outright explicitly "teaching" her throughout it and it's soooo much less than any other villain has done to her.

This doesn't read to me "Making her doubt her place in her family" so much as "Emphasizing their similarities" this is the kind of speech the villain gives when he's trying to recruit the hero. (something which, hilariously, he mocked the idea of in UTH) But you know, all interpretations of canon are valid, although...

Funny enough, this also is very much not what Joker Did, actually. I mean, I don't recall Joker letting Jason have ANY agency at all, really. Just started breaking bones.

Now, I didn't post all of them because if I kept going it'd just be the whole comic, but yeah he does very much air out his daddy issues and compare them to her relationship with Ollie. It's clear that while he does know a lot about Mia... he also doesn't know much about Ollie. At least, not personality wise. Not how much genuinely better he is at this whole parenting gig.

This is so, so much easier to forgive, conceptually, than everything that goes on in the Batfam both from and to Jason and from and to OTHER MEMBERS OF THE BATFAM without involving Jason at all!!! (Birthdays, amirite?)

And, honestly, I'm probably seeing a lot of the posts that you are, and the ones making the Jason & Ollie bonding posts? Aren't really the same ones going on about the Batarang Incident. We've moved on to the rest of the, gestures above, Patterns of Abuse. If we discuss anything past post-crisis at all. (Speaking of post crisis, I actually remember Jason doing a pretty big solid for one of Oliver's close friends... hmmmmmm. Oh, yeah, he helped out when Black Lightning was framed for murder by Slade so good that even HE thought he did it! Granted, that was pre-Mia. So he's not going to stop being wary, but it's not like Jason hasn't done good things that affected people close to Ollie either.)

And if Jason's emotions aren't an excuse, than, well, Bruce's aren't really an excuse either, are they?

Jason's not even the only one who gets abusive treatment from Bruce. And regardless of your personal interpretations of whether or not it's a valid Batman characterization, after multiple writers have written this kind of thing across multiple continuities, there comes a point when you have to accept that this is a genuine flaw that Bruce carries and find a way to reconcile it with everything else.

And if we're going off of canon-gospel, Jason's own behavior has steadily trended towards more and more fangless, more palatable, in a way that given exposure Oliver would probably tolerate, considering all the others that he tends to tolerate. He still seems to regard the Batclan in general as a dumpster fire, "None of my kids would take a shot at me" he says, completely correct, while Batman's kids wouldn't even hesitate. He rolled up with unsolicited advice about Batman's relationships multiple times, all correct, and gotten shot down or ignored as if his significantly fewer incidents of being a shitty parent that he's very self-aware about somehow make him unqualified to speak at all!

Sometimes the reason that people are writing this, is because they like Ollie more than Bruce, because he knows how to actually apologize and actually do better. And trying to ignore canon in favor of making "good dad" Bruce stories, can wear you down when you just keep seeing Bruce depicted worse and worse and worse, and so maybe you want to start seeing the people trapped in Bruce's vortex move away from that.

And among those in that vortex, Jason has it the worst. Like, this isn't a competition. Some of the shitty stuff that Bruce does to him could be argued to be just responses to what he does himself (victim-blamey, but you know what let's pretend it makes things okay) like uth, or RHATOv2#25 But... Batman & Robin? "Oh Bruce was upset about Damian."

What was it you said? Oh, that's right: "Your feelings being valid don't excuse the harm you do, guys."

Gotham War? I'm sure you'll make excuses for Bruce there. I mean, maybe implementing it was Zur, but, frankly, that "Failsafe"? That has "Bruce genuinely thought this" written all over it. Hypocrite. Considering what his response was to the last time someone messed with his mind.

Oliver... kind of is the canon version of fanon's "good dad Bruce" tbh. And sometimes people make that connection, see those parallels, and want to play with that. It's just a what if.

You know that thing about tragedies about how if anything happened any differently it could have been prevented, that someone could have been saved? Ollie fucks up, but, fundamentally, if Ollie had been in Bruce's position, he would have saved Jason, not by doing the impossible of making it there in time, but by putting Jason first and having healthy communication lmao. Because Bruce very explicitly didn't! He didn't want to talk about it because he was scared of the truth! Or, he was scared of what he believed to be the truth, which would be that Jason had killed. And that it wasn't Bruce's fault. Because it's never Bruce's fault if he failed to raise Jason in that way that took that instinct out. It's not his responsibility to have realized, as the adult in the situation, that Jason maybe shouldn't have been exposed to so much rape and murder at an impressionable age. It's not his responsibility to keep better track of his barely teenaged son who's going through severe trauma right in front of him because they failed to enact justice on someone.

And Bruce had a lot to say about what he thought about Jason that varied and, honestly, rang more as projecting his own issues onto Jason than matching up what was actually happening on the page. Better meta-writers than I have discussed how rarely we get Jason's POV in these situations, that we're TOLD a lot about Jason by everyone else who has an agenda to frame Jason in a certain way.

If you hate Jason Todd, or hate jayroy, then block the damn tags & add it to a content filter bcs generally the latter is always marked. if it's someone on your dash reblogging them and it's not tagged/hiding it then ask them to tag it so you can filter it or stop following them idc. Don't pretend your cherry picking of canon and willful out-of-context misinterpretations is any better than anyone else's.

I have seen many posts and fanfics who are going "Oliver works with Jason to annoy Bruce!", "Oliver protecting Jason from Bruce!", "Oliver deciding to annoy Bruce by being like a father figure to Jason!", "Oliver being so happy for Roy and Jason being together!", and etc, but in canon, Oliver HATES his guts.

Here is a compilation of Oliver thinking or talking about Jason from Seeing Red, which is the first Red Hood's story after Under The Red Hood, and the one time Oliver and Jason interracted in canon (if I'm not mistaken, they never did since):

For the last one, he is talking to Bruce and Jason is one of the "every damned manner of sociopathic fruit fly".

And like, Oliver and the Arrowfam are 100% justified in their dislike or hate. He literally pulled the same shit Joker did on them: took a teenager away from her father figure, beat her up, torture her mentally about her place in her new family and her usefulness, make her and her guardian think he was going to kill her, explode the building she was in in front of her father figure to make him believe he was too late... And all of that to get to Batman. He doesn't give a shit about Oliver or Mia, it's about Batman, it's about Bruce. Just like when the Joker killed him, it wasn't about him, it was about Batman.

And it doesn't matter that Jason changed, because others aren't obligated to forgive someone because they redeemed themselves. I do not believe that Oliver is fine with Jason, he is probably not very happy he hangs around Roy, and does NOT want him near Mia ever again, and certainly not his granddaughter, Liam. That's the man that kidnapped his daughter because he was mad at his own father, nope. He knows how it is to be annoyed with the Bat, and it doesn't justify this.

I can hear y'all seeing disregarding canon is fine, and yes, sure. But also, folks, you are such hypocrites if you want to keep in that Bruce threw a batarang at Jason's neck, and erase how it was an accident ("Batman doesn't make mistakes!" Firstly, he does, canonically, make huge mistakes sometimes. Secondly, the man was an emotional wreck, his son had come back to life and had been killing people and his other son, Dick, was maybe dead because his city just exploded. He is human, not a machine! Thirdly, it is simply fucking stupid for a character who is against killing to willingly inflict such a mortal wound.), but Jason being a huge asshole to others is either erased or excusable (your feelings being valid don't excuse the harm you do, guys). Talk about favoritism.

[tombeane-blog]

I Were Become Bad To The Bone

September, 2023

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold."

Hunter S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I worked in Barstow, California for short time and never saw drug one.

It was slightly different one night in old Mexico.

Me and a couple of friends carrying too much money and too little self control crossed the border into Mexico for a night of Ugly American type partying.

And that was the last thing I remember until I  found myself - staring into a bathroom mirror with vague colors swirling around my head and my hands looking like they were made of silly putty.  I looked around and I was in some cheap motel room and the furniture was floating.  Luckily I was just across the border and safely back in the U.S. of A.

To this day I have no memory of anything that happened after crossing over into Tijuana.

"Come on Tom, it coulda' been pretty easy to just ask your friends what happened."

"What a genius you are, Vern.  That's exactly what I did!  Their response..."

"Haven't a clue Tom.  We were in a cheap Mexican bar sometime around midnight.  We looked around and you were gone."

It will forever remain a mystery how I ended up in that run down motel staring into the mirror like Alice through the Looking Glass.

"But I'm off the subject here Vern.  That isn't what I wanted to talk about."  "I wanted to talk about life."

"I was somewhere around 80 when old age began to take hold."

Tom Beane - Fear and Loathing in 2023

When I was young I had six pack abs.  Well maybe not the kind that would make 'an old woman blush, and a young woman squeal'.  It was more like the difference between a full bodied English Stout and a Bud Light.  They're both beer but...

Then in my 40's my six pack transformed into a full keg filled with cheap beer.  It worked out OK when I traveled in Asia on business 'cause many Asian cultures revered a big belly as a sign of knowledge and good fortune or something.  Now I Am Become Buddha.

Since I retired I got serious about my health and I've been pushing my body beyond all known physical limits through intense, muscle tearing, sweat pouring, heart pounding workouts that are probably just like what the Army's Delta Force uses - well, I'm pretty sure.

And now I have something like an almost visible three pack of abs surrounding a pony keg of slightly more expensive beer.

I don't want to brag but when I was young I had some kind of magic attraction to the opposite sex.  Now I Were Become Bad to The Bone.

"You're gonna' have to explain that one Tom."

"Vern, Vern Vern. Case in point. When I was a young salt in the Navy traveling in Southeast Asia I was like a chick magnet.  No matter what bar I wandered into - you know - just to sit quietly with my buddies having a cold beer and intelligently discussing why the Navy sucks - I couldn't hide the red haze of bad-to-the-boneness that surrounded me.  

"To wit: Invariably some young local lovely would surrender to my handsomely manliness and even though they wouldn't know me from Adam one would always, and suddenly, appear at my side and say..."

"You numbah one, Joe.  Me love you long time."

It was like a curse I had to learn to live with.

And now?  I look in the mirror and say, "Who is this guy?"  "And where did that other guy go?"

It used to be someone would ask, "Jeez Tom.  What happened?  How'd you get that huge bruise on your arm?"

"Well, me and some buddies were playing a little pick up baseball this weekend and the pitcher hit me with a 90 mph fastball.  It's no big deal."

But now?

"Jeez Tom.  What happened?  How'd you get that huge bruise on your arm?"

"Haven't a clue. It's no big deal."

When I used to feel a little twinge of pain, I'd think, "Hmm better take an aspirin for that." 

Now I wonder, "Should I call the doctor and ask if this is something I need to be worried about?"

Long ago having a double mint espresso frappe for the first time would have seemed like a life changing event.  

Now I realize LIFE is the life changing event.  And it changes you so slowly you don't even feel a thing while it is happening.

Because now I don't know if my unconscious brain has some form of dementia, has atrophied, or just no longer gives a shit about how it does it's job. 

In the before time, I never needed to think about standing straight or walking tall.  I could just leave that to the silent part of my brain and focus on important things - like calculating precisely how many minutes I had left before jumping into the weekend at 4:00 p.m. Friday.  

I can no longer rely on on my unconscious and have to constantly tell my knees, hips and back to keep straight, sit straight, walk straight. If I don't, I'll suddenly realize, I'm stooped over.

What's next? Having to consciously think every important frigging thing through?  "Lift the beer to chin height, move it slowly towards your chin while opening your mouth.  Rotate the beer until the liquid slowly enters your mouth through your lips.  Reverse the procedure and sigh slowly and quietly.  Optionally, smack your lips" 

Is that what this is coming to?

Later in his life when I was sitting and chatting with my Dad, most of his conversations would start out like, "Well, doctor Patel told me...."

To misquote a line of text from the movie 'Oppenheimer' quoting a line of text from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita,, "Now I Am Become Death"

"Now I Am Become Dad."

But everybody gets to be cool and bad to the bone when they are young...

George Thorogood, Bo Diddley and Willie Mosconi

[wdwmarveldisney]

....so it's my first time watching teen wolf all the way through (I've never seen it before) and I've just reached all the void stiles stuff and where he's at Eichen House and like....omg but also it got me thinking....and idk if you wanna write this or not or just scream into the void w me (bud dum tsssss) but like imagine a wolf in eichen house finding stiles to be her like soulmate/mate and then he gives into void so all she thinks is thay void is the mate when it's not cause it'd just be the vessel....anyway I'm screaming at my TV haha

My Mate

Void/Stiles x werewolf!reader

Summary: Eichen House, or rather known as Echo House, has been your place of residence for a couple of years now. You never expected to meet your mate there.

Masterlist

A/N: Ok four things. One, I absolutely can’t wait for to reach later seasons. Two, it is very much omg and I know it’s wrong to just love that plot but like I’m past caring. Three, love the pun and I will a hundred percent do that with you. And four, I hope this is okay, not sure if I’ve done Void right.

Part two is here.

GIF isn’t mine

Eichen House wasn't exactly your average mental institution. It was filled with supernatural people as well as oblivious humans. You'd been there for a while, year or two you think. You lost count of the months a little while ago. All you knew was that your parents saw you lose control a couple of times and had put you in there. It didn't feel a good enough reason to shove you into a mental institution but you knew they were terrified of you. Yeah, that hurt but you couldn't blame them.

Your fingers fiddled with the blades of grass as you sat there, eyes fixed on the people who walked around in front of you. Your gaze focussed on Oliver when you heard the new voice and your eyes widened in shock at the boy next to him. He was talking animatedly, hands flying around as he ranted and Oliver listened and you just kind of knew in that second.

Sometimes it happened. Werewolves had mates and for some, they had to get to know a person before they know that they are mates but for others, it can just click. It can be one glance and suddenly, you could just feel the pull. Your old alpha said that it was the most compatible ones, like soulmates. Some were just destined, written in the stars. You called bullshit but seeing him there, you decided she had to of been right because there was no other explanation for what you felt.

You wanted to go over and talk to him, say hi and introduce yourself but then what would you do? 'Oh yeah, by the way, I'm your mate and we should really get to know each other'. 'Cause you can really say that to a total stranger. It just so happened he caught you staring and you used your supernatural abilities to listen in to their conversation. "Who's that?" You could see him point to you and Oliver grin when his gaze settled on you. The two of you were kind of friends over the whole you'd been here. "Oh that? That's Y/N. She's really nice," The boy gave a small nod and he seemed to just be as lost for words as when you saw him. "I'm going to go talk to her," he mumbled after a few beats of silence and began to make his way over.

You panicked. I mean your mate who you hadn't even met yet was deciding to walk over and introduce himself and you were sitting there playing with grass? Not exactly the best impression. So your head fell and you fingers began to pluck at the grass instead of twirl it. Your leg bounced and your tongue ran over your lips repeatedly. Not looking up until he stood in front of you, you missed the nervous glance to Oliver and the way he seemed to hit one hand into the other repeatedly.

"Hey," it was like one of those moments in a movie or tv show where the camera slowly travels up, starting at the feet and when it reaches the face, you just kind of fall in love. You took note of the baggy jeans, loose T-shirt and heavy jumper. Notice the way he clicked his fingers in front of his chest and how he seemed to bounce on his feet. And then you saw his face, and you were a goner. Whiskey eyes and small smile and quite little moles and raised eyebrows with his head tilted to the left. Though feeble, you managed a small, "Hi," back, hand raising in an awkward wave.

"I, um, saw you staring," it was like your senses flooded back in then, anxiety practically suffocating you. There was a hint of confusion and something else you couldn't pick up on. Eyebrows pinching together in befuddlement, you let your head fall to the side and nose scrunch slightly as you sniffed. Yeah, you were pretty obvious but he was going to have to find out sooner or later. Except you saw the realisation on his face, mixed with this defensive look in his eyes.

"Are you a...?" His hand waved around in front of him, as if gesturing to a word only he could see but you got the idea, "Werewolf? Mhm," you paused a second before sticking your hand out, "Y/N," he stared at your hand, debating what to do and he seemed lost in thought until you shook it slightly and effectively snapped him out of his daze. His hand slipped into yours and you gave a half shake before pulling back and waiting for him to say his name, "Um, Stiles,"

"Well, it's nice to meet you Stiles," you jumped up then, giving him one last smile before leaving a very confused him behind. And you didn't see him for the rest of the day. Not until that new werecoyote, Malia, was leading to the basement. Curiosity got the better of you and so you followed. Malia stayed for a while but then she had to cause a distraction so she had to go so it was just you and awkward Stiles. To be fair to him, you were pretty awkward too but because of what you knew. "Do you know what you're looking for?" You watched him closely, trying your hardest not to focus on the anxiety that seemed to suffocate you. "Something to do with that," he showed you a symbol, noticing your eyebrows pinching together and head falling to the side and he realised that was a very cute habit of yours. Your eyes trailed back to him, lips pursed, "What does it mean?"

"Self," you gave a small nod, going back to what you were looking through before pausing again. He barely gave you anything there, you still had no clue what all this breaking rules is for. So you decided there's no harm in asking, "Maybe you should tell me more?" Stiles looked up to you, smiling faintly at the raised eyebrow and slight light to your eyes. The smile slowly faded and he turned back to the papers, "You might not like me if you know any more..." Your face said it all, it perfectly conveyed how ridiculous that was to you. What the hell was he on? "Try to remember that my whole family is terrified of me and I almost killed my dad," And that you're my mate. You decide against saying it not wanting to freak him out, "I won't judge. I promise,"

He didn't say much more to that, other than an incredibly brief explanation, carrying on with searching until you spoke up again, "This place definitely used to be a lot more fun- electroshock... ice baths... trephination?" He ignored the fact you called it fun, instead focusing on the question you had asked, loving the look you had done once more. Why was it so beautiful on you? Anyone else and he wouldn't care but you? That's a whole other story. "That's what Oliver was talking about. Trephination is when they drill into your head," your lips formed a small 'o' as you looked back to the sheet before your nose scrunched up in distaste, "No wonder they don't want anyone down here..."

There was a slam of papers and your head shot up to stare at him, frowning at the disappointment and increase in anxiety that filled the room, "There's nothing here," you heard the huff and reached out to place your hand on his shoulder, not sure how to comfort someone. Your whole body tensed, eyes widening in fear you were doing it wrong. Stiles sent a quick glance your way before signing again, "Could you do me a favor? Could you just check the lines on my back?" A curt nod from you made him turn and you gently lifted his top slightly, internally freaking. "Just tell me if they're fading?"

And they were, they were fading quick and you frowned again, "Yeah, they're almost gone," you took a second to watch his face fall and smell his chemosignals before your frown deepened, "I'm guessing that's bad?" He hummed slightly in affirmation so you slowly pulled his top back down, fingers grazing his back. You flinched back, hand quickly holding over your other as you gave a surprised him a sheepish smile, "Oh, sorry. I'm kinda always cold," a small nervous laugh left your lips as he turned to you, hands hovering above your own, "That's okay. Here-"

He almost winced when his fingers intertwined with yours, making sure you knew he was okay with a small grin, "Boy, you really are," you both gave awkward laughs, neither sure what to do. You seemed closer than before and you could feel your heart hammer against your chest. You could hear Stiles falling into a similar beat as you draw little circles on his hand with your thumb. It was supposed to calm you down but it wasn't really working. You saw his gaze flicker down to your lips and back up and your whole brain just shouted screw it. Next thing you knew, you were kissing him or at least trying. When he kissed back it was a lot easier given that you just followed his lead.

You were the first to pull away, grinning madly when he chased your lips. Quiet quickly surrounded the two of you until he sighed lightly, "Was that your first kiss?" Heat rose to your cheeks as you gave an embarrassed nod and smile. He grinned back, fingers pulling away to fiddle with yours. He seemed anxious still, "Was it okay?" You looked shocked by the question, head snapping up to nods rather aggressively making him laugh lightly. "You want to try it again?" This time the response wasn't immediate, face leaning into where his fingers grazed your cheek. You contemplated whether what you were about to do was a good idea before you gave a small huff and shook out your shoulders.

"I want to try something else,"

"Something else...?" He shut up when your lips were back on his, a lot more passionate this time. Things were heated, your hands sliding up his back under his top making him shiver slightly. You pulled away again to pull off your top, his eyes immediately dropping making you giggle. And then he was kissing you again and laying you back on the sofa.

Safe to say it wasn't so awkward when the two of carried on making out and it didn't get awkward when you had sex either. You admitted to Stiles about the whole mate thing, explaining it to him and he eventually understood. There was something about that was just right. He wanted to help people, keep them safe. He was funny and kind and smart. He was silly and making small jokes where possible but if other people's safety was in his hands, he was not going to let anything happen to them. He was a hero who was just so normal. He wasn't all out good, no person ever will be. Maybe it was how real and down to earth he is that makes him so perfect. So you just talked until you went back to the searching.

"Stiles..." he missed your small mumble as you looked around for the source, "Do you hear that?" You spun to face him, noticing how he held a photo up, eyes fixed. He was so in tranced by it, "This is him," you frowned, trying to get a better look at the photo by putting your head on his shoulder, "The Nogitsune?" You grabbed another photo from the same pile and held it up for him, "Recognize them?" He scanned the picture, not sparing you a single glance as his eyes focused in on one person, "One of them...I have to get this to Scott,"

And then you were both knocked out and Oliver was threatening to actually drill through your head unless Stiles 'gave over control'. You weren't sure what he was on about but Stiles seemed to get it. "You did this. You got into his head," you couldn't see who he was speaking to, eyes barely open as your head lolled to the side. He was giving you a panicked look and you wished you had the strength to send him a comforting smile back but god your head hurts. Everything was quiet for a while as Stiles eyes followed the thin air as he struggled against the restraints. A quiet groan left your lips as you glanced to Oliver holding a drill and then your eyes were closing again but you weren't blacking out. "Just let her go,"

He began to struggle harder, eyes meeting your heavy ones with a desperation in his eyes as he tried to tug free repeatedly with his hand. After a long silence, save Oliver's heavy breaths and the sound of the drill, Stiles spoke up again, "Just let her go, please," his voice shook but you barely registered that. How could your head hurt this much? How had you not healed? Consciousness was falling through your fingers like sand passing through a hour glass, time moving too fast. Once more he shouted, voice strained as he just began to struggle harder and shake with fear, "Just let her go, please!"

And then he was silent. There was a sound similar to a small sob and then he was quiet and all you heard was the drill. You could feel Oliver push it closer to your head and incoherent mumbles began to leave you, begging for him to stop. You couldn't keep your eyes open, fighting off the wave of exhaustion and pain. All you could feel was dread, filling your veins like an ice and freezing you in place. Fingers twitching, you couldn't help the regret and shame binding with the dread to cause a nausea within you and suppressing the pain. And then you heard his voice except it wasn't. There was this laced evil into his words making goosebumps rise and shivers trail down your spine, breath hitching in fear.

"Oliver,"

"Stiles?" Your senses came flooding back in as you faced the two, noticing just how different Stiles was. Oliver was out in a second and then Stiles approached you, undoing your restraints and helping you out of the chair. He didn't ask if you were okay, didn't scan you over like you imagined he would. This time his touch was ice, you tensing simply at his fingers trailing up your arms. He was different. He wasn't Stiles, he was someone else entirely. He was cold, inside and out, this spark in his eyes showing his true nature, pure evil. He didn't seem to care for others or even himself, he was completely inhuman. Emotionless and lifeless. Just a shell, despite the hidden chaos of corruption and trickery just waiting to burst free. If this was always a part of him, maybe this was who you were meant to be with. Maybe that's why you met now. Maybe this was it for you and just like everything else in your life, it completely and totally sucks.

Why does life always go terrible for you?

[scarasimplysimping]

Run Away

Scaramouche x GNReader

Sypnosis: Scaramouche remembers the time you invited him to elope with you.

Angst?

How young you both were. Naive, impulsive, and reckless. You both wouldn't last a day on your own. Scaramouche was sure to have made the right choice in rejecting you. At least, this is what he tells himself to ease the budding regret at the back of his head.

It was so vivid. The dark haired boy tried not to think about it; He really did yet he always found his thoughts trailing back to that night in his free time. It would've been a beautiful memory had it's circumstances not been so tragic.

The midnight before he became a harbringer, Scaramouche was perched on the terrace of his home with his head resting on his palm, counting the stars with a displeased and bored look.

"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, let down your hair!" The soon-to-be harbringer hears your voice from below.

His whole form perked up instantly as he ran to the railings of the terrace and sure enough, you were down there, grinning ever so mischievously.

"Quiet, you moron! Someone will hear you!" He shouts back, attempting to sound uninterested but the small curve at the corner of his lips gave away his true emotions.

You stare up at his form, illuminated by the moon. How majestic and alluring. Careful now, it would be embarrassing if he caught you drooling over him in his pajamas.

Gathering your thoughts, you start to climb your way to him. Scaramouche could only look at you with an amused expression.

"I have a ladder y,know." He says nonchalantly.

"Is it for climbing when you want to kiss me? Cause... Yknow. You're short." You joke, not bothering to look up knowing he was probably glaring holes into you by now.

"I am tempted to throw it at you sometimes."

One last step and you were sat on the railings, your faces, inches away from each other. Neither of you dare say a word that could ruin the moment for a few seconds. Perhaps both of you were trying to engrave this somewhat romantic scene into your vault of memories.

Something about his pretty purple eyes drew you in so you take this opportunity to steal a quick kiss from his lips.

Scaramouche feels the heat rising to his cheeks as he huffs in surprise. Trying to find words but ultimately failing.

"So... sixth harbringer, huh?" You start as you leap off from the railings and land closer to him.

He takes a step back to regain his composure. Going back to the bored expression he had earlier. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about this.

"Yes. Well, would you suggest someone more worthy for the title than I?" Scaramouche says rhetorically in an arrogant tone.

"Do you want it though?" You ask, leaning on the railings, with your back facing him.

You couldn't see him but you could tell he hesitated to answer. And that one split second of hesitation was enough for you to muster up your courage.

"Run away with me." You say sternly, turning to him again so you could take in his expression.

Scaramouche feels his heart beating faster in his chest, he's almost afraid you might hear it.

He chuckles nervously in response, not sure if you were joking or being serious. "Don't be stupid. You can't just waltz your way out of here."

You shake your head, glad that he was actually considering it. "Just say the word. I promise you I'll handle everything."

So you weren't joking. Still, Scaramouche wouldn't follow through with something so ridiculous and unprepared. "We've never even set foot outside of Snezhnaya."

You continue to press. "I've read enough books. Seen enough maps. We'll work it out!"

Your eyes glow with eagerness and hope, Scaramouche could almost feel himself falling more in love with you more than he already was... not almost. He actually was.

The dark haired boy starts to contemplate more on the idea of starting a whole new life with you.

"We could travel all across Teyvat." He says subconsciously.

You interlace your fingers with his, thinking you both were really gonna do this.

"Maybe settle down in Monstadt." You suggest.

"The city of freedom." He adds, locking eyes with you.

"Just a normal couple doing normal couple things." You smile, and in turn that makes him smile.

Scaramouche lays his head on your shoulder. Thinking about the beautiful future you both could have together, worrying not of combat training or fatui business. Growing old, maybe even having children, then grandchildren. Dreams of an amazing future together.

But dreams remain dreams.

You both snap out of it when you hear a knock at the door.

All of the sudden, you're back to reality and he still was gonna become a harbringer tomorrow and you're still going to lose him.

"Sir, the Tsaritsa would like to have a word." The voice at the other side of the door calls. A fatui agent.

You find a place to hide for a bit as he rudely shoos off the poor man.

Once the uninvited guest was gone, you give him a sneaky back-hug, with the hopes that the plans were still on.

"I can't." Scaramouche says in a defeated tone.

You're eyebrows furrow, slowly you let go of him. "Of course you can! Just pack a few bags and we'll be off before dusk."

"No. No one has ever went against the Tsaritsa's will and lived to tell the tale." Scaramouche states.

"You won't be going against her! Just moving away from her." You try convincing him in a shaky voice.

"No. (Y/N), listen to me. Even if we did leave we have nothing to feed ourselves. No money, no family, no authority-"

"Authority? Is that why you want to stay so bad? Because of your little power fantasy?" You retorted, later regretting it as you see the hurt in his face.

The expression quickly turns into anger. "How dare you even accuse me of that. Who do you think you are!?"

"Well I thought I was your lover."

You both stare each other down as the room's atmosphere grows heavier.

It pained him to fight with you and fights were never this serious. And Scaramouche was scared that one more persuasive sentence from you would cause him to give in, follow his heart, sweep you of your feet, and be on your way to springvale by tomorrow.

So he said what he thought he had to say, "Lover? You're just a fling. Give me a break. You're a fool if you really thought whatever we had was going anywhere." It broke his heart to lie but Scaramouche was great at hiding his sadness, or rather, disguising it with anger.

After all, you continuing to be with him as he was a harbringer would put your life in peril. He was doing the right thing... but then why did it feel so wrong?

You feel tears running down your cheeks but you still refused to believe him. How well you could see through him. Or so you hope. "You're lying."

He turns his back to you for fear of his own tears giving him away.

Scaramouche lets out a forced groan. Out of desperation, he lists things he hates about you. Personal things he didn't actually hate but had to pretend he hated. His voice laced with venom and anger, not towards you but rather the Fatui, the Tsaritsa, even the whole of Snezhnaya and it's damn snow for putting the both of you in this situation.

"-I hate that you think you can read me. I hate it when you try acting all lovey dovey with me it's disgusting. And I hate you for making me want to just kiss you right now and forget about everything but us." He lets the last part slip.

Silence

Scaramouche turns to you. You're not there. Not anymore.

Filled with regret, he runs to the railings and tries to search for you but not a trace. Not a damn trace of you and it seems you took his heart with you too.

That was the last time he saw you. Scaramouche can't help but sigh sharply everytime he recalls that night. But he treasures it. He treasures every moment he spent with you and promised to himself that when all of this is over, he will find you again and you'll finally run away, hand in hand.

[yunopouts]

stars on the beach - k. doyoung

-> kim doyoung x reader

-> era: punch!

-> genre: crack, smut (barely)

-> w: smut, alcohol consumption, mentions of food, mentions of eating, swearing, mentions of shitting (SORRY I FELT THE NEED TO MENTION THIS) tell me if i've missed anything

-> taglist: @doieclayed @foreverdy @neomulucased @ncteaxhoe

-> network: @nct-frathouse

-> a/n: here's a shitty blurb that i speed wrote. it's not detailed- definitely is actually very shitty i don't know what happened lmao

Your head rolled back as he kissed down your neck, enjoying the way his hands acted as if your body was the most brittle thing on earth- one sliding down your side while his right hand focused on your chest. His thumb grazed your nipple, making you moan loudly.

“Like that?” he asked, thumb now pressing down on the bud. He let out an arrogant laugh at your whine, enjoying the torture he was putting you through. You gasped when he took your nipple in between his teeth, tongue poking at the tip before sucking on it whole.

“I want you inside.” your voice was strained when it came out.

“If you promise to scream my name so loud we get a complaint, then you’ve got yourself a deal.” His voice was velvet smooth, like the devil. “Can you do that, beautiful?” You nodded eagerly, badly needing him. “Good.” he chuckled, giving you a closed-mouth smile, blinking once at you before feeling your core. “God, you’re so fucking wet.”

As you were about to respond a vibrating noise came from your right, you both looked to the side table- where it was coming from. The man without a name looked back to you, his face now obscuring that you had been interrupted.

He opened his mouth to speak again but his voice was fading out and instead you heard a bang.

Snapping your eyes open at the sound of something hitting the floor, you sat up and looked around your room, searching for what had fallen. They were drawn to the phone that was vibrating on your carpet.

“What do you want, Mark?” You asked, picking up the call.

“Well hello to you too.” He chuckled

“You woke me up.” You grumbled. “Why are you even calling me at this ungodly hour?”

“Y/n, it's three thirty in the afternoon. You’re supposed to be here.”

“Where am I supposed to be? Need I remind you that it’s Saturday?”

“Need I remind you that you’re supposed to be at the house because you’re sleeping over?”

“Crap.” You cursed, scrambling to get out of bed.

“Watch your potty mouth, missy.” You could hear the stupid smirk he was wearing in that moment.

“Shut it, shit face.” You huffed. “I’ll see you in twenty.”

“That’s more like it. Bring your shit for tonight.”

“Watch your potty-” he cut you off as he hung up. You groaned, stalking over to the bathroom, you slumped down onto the counter, resting your head on your arms.

A vibration shot up your leg as someone sent you a text. You pulled your phone out of your pocket to check the notification— it was a text from mark.

-

lee [15:40] get off your counter and get ready, you turd.

you [15:41] tell the boys to clean the bathrooms or else i’ll give all of them swirlies after someone takes a dump

lee [15:42] we already did. and it won't be me getting a swirly cause i cleaned mine

you [15:43] tell hyuck to clean it again

lee [15:44] okay mom

you [15:45] don’t ever call me mom again unless you want me to shit on your pillow

read 15:45 pm

-

After getting ready you grabbed your duffle bag and ran to the front of your apartment, slipping on your shoes and speeding out the door. You were about to jog down the street all the way to the boys house, but stopped when there was a honk behind you.

You were about to tell them off when someone called your name, making you freeze in your tracks.

The voice from your dream.

“What are you doing? Get your ass in the car!” Mark yelled.

Slowly turning on your heel, you moved as slow as a turtle, not even daring to raise your gaze any higher— because if you did, you would be looking straight at the voice from your wet dream just an hour before.

“Hi Y/n,” the familiar velvety smooth voice cooed from the front seat.

“Hey.” you gulped, staring into the capturing eyes of the one person you were dreading to see.

Kim Doyoung.

-

“Oh fuck, my ass hurts.” Johnny groaned as he stretched his long limbs once he stepped out of his car after three hours of driving.

“Comere’ lemme massage it.” Jaehyun held out his hands, to which Johnny jokingly backed up, making Doyoung snort before he walked to the front door of the beach house.

You and Mark hopped out of the back after Jaehyun, and popped the trunk.

“What’s wrong with you?” Mark asked as the two of you unloaded the bags from the trunk of Johnny’s jeep. “You were silent the whole ride, what happened to you?”

“I had a sex dream…” you mumbled, yanking a bag out and swinging it over your shoulder.

“Okay, why would that impact-”

“About Doyoung.” the blond's eyes almost popped out of his head.

“You had a wet dream about- ow!” he winced, rubbing his arm after you punched it. “You had a wet dream about Doyoung?” Mark hissed. “What the fuck?”

“I know.” you whined, also confused as to why you had a lewd dream of Mark’s friend. “I don’t know what’s wrong.” Your head fell back in annoyance.

“What’s wrong?” A deep voice appeared beside you, making you flinch… hard. “Jeez, are you okay?” Jaehyun asked, steadying you out with both his hands on your biceps.

“She had a sensual dream about Doyoung.” Mark explained to the older boy and he gasped, eyes glowing.

“You’re so nasty.” He shimmied his shoulders, feigning a flirtatious tone. You rolled your eyes and groaned loudly.

“Would you guys please-”

“Who had a sensual dream about me?” Once again, you flinched, this time almost falling backwards after stepping on Mark’s foot— who was now yelling in pain.

“Mark did. He said he had a dream and he walked in on you rubbing one off.” Jaehyun lied straight through his teeth, but the man believed it, scrunching his nose.

“Oh, I thought you were talking about Y/n.” Jaehyun wheezed at the comment, nudging you in the ribs. Shooting him a look as you joined in, laughing awkwardly.

“Mark you dirty pig.” He sent you a glare before stabbing you with his own comeback.

“Well at least I didn’t have sex with my ex and moan Jaehyun’s name.”

“You did what?” The 97 liner looked down at you with an incredulous smirk before you turned to Mark, kissing your teeth.

“Shit.” The golden haired boy sprinted and you chased after him, Jaehyun following and taunting you from behind- leaving Doyoung standing alone, confused and surrounded by their luggages.

-

“Okay,” Taeyong clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “We need to figure out who is sleeping with who, and where. There are five bedrooms, so we can split equally.”

“Thank god.” Haechan mumbled. He had arrived earlier, along with Jungwoo, Yuta, Taeyong and Taeil, but they decided to wait for you to come to figure this out in a fair way. “I call Taeil!” He shouted, almost jumping out of his seat.

“I wanted Taeil.” Mark whined as he watched the younger boy sit in the eldests lap, wrapping his arms around his neck before sticking his tongue out at Mark.

“I’ll take Mark since y/n will kill him if she’s alone with him.” Yuta suggested, raising a hand.

“I can be with Taeyong;” Johnny hollered from the kitchen, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge.

“Woo.” Jaehyun patted the knees of the boy who was sitting in his lap.

“Okay so that leaves Doyoung and Y/n.” Mark and Jaehyun both looked at you as if they knew something, because they did. “Y/n are you cool with that

“Y-yeah sure; it’s fine.”

“Are you sure? Cause I can just sleep on the couch.” Doyoung stepped in, to which you shook your head.

“No, no it’s really fine. I bet you Doyoung is a better roommate than all of you.” You stuck out your tongue at the others who were gasping dramatically. “Except for Taeil;” The eldest let out a teasing laugh before someone began speaking again.

“They get the master bedroom.” Jaehyun added and you froze, catching his and Mark’s growing smile.

“Did say masterb-”

“Master room;” Doyoung muttered in your ear. You nodded slowly as tingles went down your spine, sitting back against the couch with a soft ‘oh’ leaving your lips. “Thanks man,” you missed the wink he sent the plotting pair.

“Anything to spare ourselves from her cursing us for taking the comfortable bed.” Hyuck said.

“You know, you guys make me out to be some scary monster that will bite your head off.”

“You bit my arm when I took the last Nanaimo bar!” Mark argued.

“Because I said I didn’t have one! How do you bring someone, who’s never been there, to B.C and not let them try an authentic desert?” You fought back.

“That’s kind of cruel, Mark.” Jungwoo mumbled, the others agreeing with him.

“We were in Coquitlam for another three days, you could have gone to Nanaimo on your own!”

“You were going to let a foreigner travel two and a half hours by herself?” Doyoung’s voice raised as the rest of the boys began to scold him too.

“Shameful.” Taeyong shook his head. Mark got up with a huff and began stomping away. “Get back here you dimwit, we didn’t decide the rooms.”

“I’m gonna go unpack.” Doyoung followed Mark in standing up. “Wanna come?” He asked, holding out a hand.

“Sure.” You took it and the older boy helped you up, leading you to the second floor.

-

Only when you let go to sit on the bed did you realize that you were still holding on to Doyoungs hand when you reached the room. It was nice, had eggshell coloured walls— very much like a beach house. The bed was nice too, white sheets on a king size mattress that sat on a rustic looking post bed. Everything in the room was the same eggshell colour as the walls, and the handles and knobs matched the metal posts of the bed frame.

“Which side do you normally sleep on?” Doyoung asked as he unloaded some of his clothes into a drawer, pulling you out of your thoughts.

“I’m fine with any side.” you replied, hands running over the cool comforter.

“You sure you’re okay with sharing?” The boy turned to look at you, finding you with your back flat against the bed.

“We’re both adults.” Was all you said before he turned back, organizing his shirts as he let out a soft chuckle.

“Is it okay if I sleep on the right side, then?”

“Of course.”

“Cool, thank you.”

“No problem, Doyoung.”

You were about to start a different conversation to make yourself feel a bit more comfortable when Johnny appeared at your door.

“Beach in twenty?”

“It’s seven.” Doyoung stopped his movements and looked at the older boy.

“We’re going to a beach party.”

“Alcohol?” You strained your neck when peeked up at the older boy when he said ‘party’. Johnny laughed, nodding in response to your question.

“I’m a little tired from the drive, so I’m gonna pass.” Johnny nodded and left the room. Doyoung made his way to the bed, latching himself onto a bedpost. “Do you want me to get out?” you shook your head.

“I’m just gonna wear this.” the both of you laughed lightly. “You really not gonna go?” propping yourself up on your elbows, you cocked your head to the side. He pushed up the clear-frame glasses that sat perched on that perfect nose of his, smiling down softly at you.

“Nah, I think I’m just going to chill; I kinda wanna take a nap.” You hummed gratefully when he helped you up again.

Doyoung accidentally pulled you with too much force, forcing you to come crashing into his chest. He grunted as you stumbled back, the boy's arms wrapping around your waist. He was warm and he smelt like an enchanting fabric softener. You stayed that way for a few extra seconds, Doyoung wanting to stay in your grip, and you in his- but it all came to an end when a phone vibrated on the dresser.

You jolted back and picked up the phone, reading the message. “I-I’m gonna go.”

“Y-yeah, yeah. Um… have fun.”

“You too.” you replied awkwardly, practically running out the door.

-

“So, you have a boyfriend?” a random guy next to you raised a brow as he slurred his words.

“No,”

“Do you wanna-” “No, I don’t want to fuck you.” rolling your eyes, you turned on your heel and walked away, towards the group of boys that were on top of each other.

“Y/N!!!!” Haechan raised his hands in the air, spilling his tequila shot on Taeyongs head. “Oh whoops.” he sniggered.

“How’s your grinding going?” you asked, staring at the group of drunken friends- only one, Jungwoo, was completely sober.

“Only Jaehyun and Johnny have gotten somewhere.” Mark, who’s cheeks were a dark red, was pouting.

“As expected.” you sighed, sipping from your beer bottle. “Oh fuck, it’s already two.” you cursed, checking your phone before sliding it in your back pocket again. “I’m gonna go; don’t really want to be hit on by anyone anymore.”

They wished you farewell before you began your short journey back to the house. When you got to the front door, you kicked off your flip flops and entered. Quietly but quickly, you made it up the stairs and opened the door. You did a double take before your eyes zeroed in on the sight in front of you.

There you saw Doyoung, laying on the bed half naked, with his cock in hand, moaning your name. It would be a lie if you said it wasn’t hot- because it most definitely was, your heart might have even skipped a beat.

What are you, a pervert? You scolded yourself and tried to shut the door as discreetly as possible but he called your name again, this time, not in a moan- but in a calm manner.

“Stay.” his voice was raspy before it turned into a soft moan. Locking the room once you entered, you kept your back pressed to the cool wood of the door. “Come.” he ordered and like a trained dog, you obeyed, slowly making your way to the bed.

“Can I…” the words came out as a whisper, but he still heard and agreed.

His hand ghosted over yours, letting you take hold of his member, whimpering at your cold touch. You began by grazing your thumb over the slick slit, pressing down just enough for him to pinch your thigh in annoyance. Smiling, you began to work your wrist, moving your hand in swift motions so good it made Doyoung’s thighs shake.

“Fuck,” his noises left his mouth breathlessly as he bucked his hips into your fist. “Hmm, wait, stop.” you paused, body going still. “Strip, I wanna fuck you.”

You gasped at his words, but removed your clothing with his help. Doyoung held your waist as you mounted him with your knees on either side of his own torso. “Slowly;” he mumbled, bringing you down on his dick.

“Doyoung,” you sighed while he leaned forward to place his lips on yours. They were soft and supple, everything you’ve ever wanted in a pair of lips that had the job of kissing you. Once he bottomed out and made sure you were comfortable, Doyoung held your ass to guide you in moving up and down, all the while he pulled you in close so that his mouth could reach your nipple. Taking the bud in his mouth, his soft tongue grazed over it softly before sucking and pulling on it. Even though it was the simplest of actions, you were being so vocal- and Doyoung loved that. Your whines only egged him on, pushing you further, forcing you to cry out louder.

As your hips rolled with his, Doyoung became harsher with his thrusts, handling you like you were a toy- like you were as light as a feather.

“Not to sound like a creep, but I’ve dreamt of this moment.” he panted out as his cock hit a new length. “I’m pretty sure you have too, if I’m not mistaken.”

You couldn’t say a word, when you tried to, only a grunt of pleasure left you- making the boy under you chuckle. Almost screaming when his thumb reached your clit, rubbing intensely on the nub, like it was a mission of his, like his life depended on it. “Fuck, Doyoung… fuck, Doy-”

“Close?” he asked. He took you letting out a long whine as a hint and started thrusting faster and harder. “Don’t be shy baby,” he tugged you closer by his grip on the back of your neck. “Cum for me.” he whispered in your ear.

When your eyes rolled back, you saw stars; stars one the ceiling, stars on the beach, stars in his eyes- everywhere, there were stars everywhere.

When he felt his cock twitch, he stopped moving you- even though you were at the very end of your high. You watched for yourself- what Doyoung looks like when he comes, and you can now proudly say that it was the hottest thing you’d ever seen. With his lips slightly parted, head tilted back against the wall and fingers digging into your sides, he let go, ropes of white painting your walls.

A few minutes later, once you were clean and laying beside him, you mumbled to Doyoung, “You knew?” cheeks warm with embarrassment.

“Of course I knew, Mark would’ve acted the exact same way you did if he had a wet dream of me.” that didn’t make you feel better. “But, I also had one… of you.” he made sure to say.

“Was it good?”

“It was good, but not as good as this.” he smiled, pecking you softly on the lips.

[calif0rnia-lovers]

Lover of Mine #5 | Angel Reyes

part I | part II | part II | part IV | series taglist

Title: A Heavy Heart to Carry

Thought that I would change, but I'm the same guy Blamed it on my youth, but I know I've had time

a/n: split this original part into 2. the second half of the couple's retreat will be in 5.5

warning: a character experiences a panic attack

rating: 💔

Sum: Angel Reyes doesn't fear much, but he's scared to face you once it's set in that he's broken your cardinal rule. He must decide what's more important: maintaining a lie or sharing a secret that will change the way you look at him forever.

Words: 9.4k

“Take him home, Ezekiel. Now. I’m serious. I am going to fucking kill him if he tries to stay here tonight. And then, I’m going to kill you for letting him.”

These are the words that stopped Angel Reyes in his tracks. Left him standing on the front steps, afraid to move past the threshold of the front door to his own house.

When he pulled into the driveway, exhausted covered in a mixture of dirt, sweat and blood, Angel was met with a sight that somehow managed to wring the knots in his stomach tighter.

The light from the living room cast a golden hue across the dark lawn.

He knew the odds of you being asleep upon his arrival were slim to none. You haven’t waited up for him in years. There’s no need to wait up when you know his whereabouts.

At some point in the evening, the attempts of communication stopped. Angel isn’t sure why, but he knows it isn’t a good sign.

He’d pushed against Ez’s shoulder prompting him to step up to ring the doorbell.

“Y/N, I’m sorry.” Ez had shocked his older brother, stepping into the war zone to calmly produce some sort of explanation. “We had to go down south, and shit got--we lost track of time. By the time we got finished, we--”

“Now that I know that neither of you is lying dead in a ditch somewhere, you can leave.” Despite your words, Ez didn’t move. He glanced over his shoulder towards Angel. “Or stay outside, I don't care, but he's not stepping foot in my house. Tell him I said test me.”

Needless to say, he didn’t.

Angel heeded the warning allowing his brother to drive him home. He didn’t bother calling you.

What’s the point of calling to apologize when you’ve just spent half the night ignoring the calls from the same person?

Hours have passed, and Angel hasn’t slept.

Although he’s now freshly showered, the cut on his hand poorly wrapped, Angel Reyes finds himself in the same predicament. Outside of your house.

Scared shitless.

Only this time around, Ez isn’t willing to risk his life for the sake of being collateral damage.

Both men remain in the driveway, eyes on the sunflower yellow-painted door of 1101 Rock Creek Avenue. Each is resting against the hood of Angel’s car. Waiting, silently willing the other to bravely ring the doorbell.

Angel releases the smoke in his lungs before reaching up to remove his sunglasses.

“You gotta go in at some point,” Ez glances over at his brother.

Angel doesn’t respond. He drops his cigarette bud to the ground, stepping on it with the heel of his shoe.

“Especially since we’ve been out here nearly an hour,” Ez continues, a tiny smile finding his lips as the sight of Angel’s rolling eyes. “Neighbors are probably gonna put in a call--”

“I’m checking the windows,” Angel responds. The humor in his voice falls flat as his eyes search the front of the house. “Gotta make sure she doesn’t shoot me the moment I touch the driveway.”

“Shouldn’t have taught her how to shoot.”

The daggered stare sent his way causes the youngest Reyes to chuckle. Shaking his head, Ez takes a step forward.

“Angel. It doesn’t matter if you go in now or later.” He sighs. “If Y/N's gonna shoot you, she's gonna shoot you-- regardless of the time.”

“Yeah.”

Getting up, Angel crosses the lawn to the front door. Although he now has a key, he reaches forward to ring the doorbell. For a brief second, he considers turning around and heading back to his car.

His stomach tightens as the door swings open. He lets out a sigh of relief when he’s met with the sight of a smiling Isabela.

Her smile slips, her eyes narrowing as she stepped outside. She waits until the door is shut securely behind her to speak.

“What the fuck, Reyes!” She shoves hard against Angel’s shoulder, not blinking as he stumbles a step back. Angel massages his shoulder as she lowers her voice. “I orchestrated the perfect week for you two. All you had to do was show up with a packed bag, and you somehow managed to fuck everything up. Where the hell were you last night?”

Although he’s had all night to come up with an excuse, no coherent words come out when Angel opens his mouth. Isabela’s eyes roll, her attention shifting to a quiet Ezekiel standing just beyond his brother’s shoulder.

“And you. I thought you were the smart one.”

Ez looks away from a flushed Angel to find Isabela’s glare on him. He opens his mouth to respond, but suddenly Angel’s inability to speak has washed over the youngest Reyes.

“You didn’t think it was smart to drag him home in time for his son's recital?”

Angel’s voice has returned. It comes out lower than he’s intended. His eyes briefly shift to the front door.

“She’s--”

“Pissed.” Isabela sighs as she turns to the door. “I’d thank Bishop next time you see him. He talked her down last night.”

Isabela pauses just as Angel steps forward to follow her inside.

“Angel, she lied to Jeyson for you,” she says. “You need to talk to him.”

“I know.”

“Hey, lego master,” Isabela smiles as she steps back inside. “Someone’s here to see you.”

Jeyson is on his stomach, lying in the center of the living room floor. Chin resting in his hands, he is studying the progress he’s made on his lego set.

A grin brightens his face as Angel steps inside. He scrambles to his feet, pulling a chuckle from his father as he nearly crashes into his legs.

“Hey, lil man. You good?”

Allowing him a quick hug, Jeyson takes Angel’s hand in his. He tugs him towards the living room. He motions towards the legos on the floor.

“I finished all the escape pods! Now, you can help me with the left-wing--”

“Hold up,” Angel diverts Jeyson’s attention, lifting him off the ground, forcing him to silence. “I wanna talk to you about something--”

“Last night?” His question silence his father. Jeyson reaches forward, his fingers tracing the patch on Angel’s chest. “Mom talked to me already.”

“Yeah, I know, but I wanted to apologize. To say I’m sorry for not being there to see you play.”

“It’s okay.” The smile he offers tightens Angel’s throat. It is a smile that matches his words perfectly. A smile of forgiveness often comes when a child is willing to look past moments of a letdown if that means they can still spend time with that person.

“It’s not okay,” Angel admits. He watches as Jeyson’s gaze lifts to meet his before dropping to patch. “I broke a promise, and I’m not supposed to do that. I’m sorry.”

Jeyson studies his father’s expression. A smile slowly spreads across his face as an idea sets in.

“I can play it for you now.” He suggests, his attention moving to the piano across the room.

That’s where you find the two when you step into the living room.

Jeyson has finished playing and is giggling as he watches Angel try to match the series of keys he just showed him.

“What’s so funny?” Angel’s brow arches as Jeyson attempts to stifle his laughter. “I think it sounded pretty good.”

Jeyson shakes his head.

“You weren’t paying attention.” Reaching over, he moves Angel’s hand into the correct placement. “Your fingers aren’t in the right place.”

Angel’s gaze falls to his hands. To him, they seem to be in nearly the exact same spot. But he knows better than to argue with your son. He watches Jeyson’s fingers, trying to match the same tune. Only he can’t, the smile on his face growing once he realizes the tempo has changed. Jeyson plays at a cadence that seems hyper speed to his father but is nothing out of the normal for him.

“It’s not nice to show off,” Angel chuckles as he tickles Jeyson’s side.

Angel glances over his shoulder, his smile dampening as he finds you waiting patiently by the door. Jeyson’s smile does the same, his eyes widening once your conversation from last night sets in.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes,” you nod, watching as he gets up, his head hanging forward as he crosses the room. “Remember we talked about this last night?”

Jeyson waits until he’s standing before you to speak. With his arms wrapped around your middle, face pressing against your shirt, his words come out muffled.

“But, I want to come with you.”

“I know, but you have to stay and keep Isabela company. You guys are going to the carnival tomorrow. You're going to have so much fun.” Your fingers brush through his hair, a smile finding your lips as Jeyson tips his head back to look at you. “Besides, I won’t be gone long.”

“Five days is a long time,” Jeyson pouts. “You’re never gone that long.”

He’s right. The longest you and Jeyson have been apart being two days. For the weekends when he would spend the majority of his time at his father’s house.

“You can call me whenever you want,” you remind him as you squat down in front of him. “And then, I’ll be back before you know it.”

Tommy Flores currently stands at the front of the line. The weight of the metal door causes it to slam shut with a loud bang.

The echo vibrates through his chest, the force doubling him over. The dialed-up pitch brings Tommy’s hands to his ears.

He’s stopped in his tracks. His silent plea, to stop the ringing in his ears, sparks a slew of grunted protests from the inmates behind him.

Officer Rogers stands near Tommy, his shoulder resting against the wall. Each time an inmate is escorted through the secured door, the guard slams it shut with as much force as he can. He watched as Tommy flinched each time, the sound louder with each step he got closer. Now that Tommy stands directly in front of it, the sound is too loud.

Rogers steps forward, his lips turning up into a sneer.

"You alright there, Flores?" The lack of concern in his voice is amplified by the soft chuckle he releases. "You look like shit. Rough night?"

It's a question, Rogers knows the answer to. Better than anyone--well almost anyone.

He was the one who woke Tommy, in the middle of the night, the glare of his flashlight blinding the inmate. He yanked Tommy from bed, hand-delivering him to the showers. He stood guard, watching as Tommy took each blow and kick sent his way. He hand-delivered Tommy back to his cell, denying his trip to the infirmary.

Rogers would never admit it, but he was initially shocked when saw Tommy shuffle into the visitation line. He knew Tommy had a scheduled visit but didn't expect him to have the strength to bother trying to attend it.

"Your girlfriend coming today?" Rogers continues as he watches Tommy's fist clench. "Must be. That's the only reason I could think you'd get up this morning. Maybe I should let your friends give you another round tonight. How's that sound?"

Tommy's body is bumped forward—a silent warning from his cellmate to move. The shove to his shoulder clenches his jaw shut. But Tommy knows better than to hold up the line any longer than he already has.

Each step he takes is slow, sending a jolt of searing, white-hot pain down his spine.

The swelling of his right eye limits his vision, but he’s able to recognize a familiar face in the crowded room.

Each grey table is occupied by anxiously waiting loved ones. Tired from the extensive process of being cleared for visitation day. Hopeful their time won’t get cut short due to the delay of the inmate's arrival.

As he’s shuffled forward, Tommy’s gaze is fixated on his feet. It’s easier to ignore the look of pure rage directed his way.

“Stop staring.” The smile on Tommy’s lips is a good attempt. No matter how much he wills it, it can’t reach his eyes. “I’m fine.”

Leonardo Flores's gaze slowly studies the man before him. He knows his younger brother better than anyone. The blue Stockton uniform covers most of the damage but judging by Tommy’s walk and shallow breathing, he’s nursing a broken rib.

Leo doesn’t speak until Tommy’s gaze lifts. “I’d ask how you’re holding up, but it seems you’re still getting settled.”

His observation prompts his brother to shrug. Tommy winces as he shifts to bring his hands to rest on the table.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Tommy smiles.

“I thought this lawyer you got was supposed to be good—"

“She is.” Tommy’s sigh goes unnoticed. “She's good.”

“If she’s so good, why the fuck are you in gen pop?” His brother’s eyes roll, Leo’s head shaking once he gets no response. “Huh? She doesn’t seem too concerned about doing her job. If she was you wouldn’t have been nearly beaten to a pulp—"

Leo’s rant slowly fades out, blending into the surrounding conversations. It takes all of his concentration for Tommy to drown out the sound. Tommy’s eyes are shut, his left hand massaging his brow. The throbbing in his head seems to be getting worse. He flinches as Leo’s boot scrapes his shin.

“I don’t know what the fuck you want me to say, Leo.” Tommy laughs dryly, the throbbing in his head pumping irritation into his voice. “She could pay off the entire fucking city of Santo Padre, it’s not gonna mean shit.”

His eyes open to see Leo’s jaw clenched. He presses on as Leo opens his mouth to speak.

“They put me here because they’re hoping I don’t make it to trial.”

“Judging by how you look, you won’t.”

Tommy shakes his head, dismissing the observation.

“I’m fine. I need you to do something for me.”

An uneasy wave washes over him at the sight of Leo’s rolling eyes.

“What?” Leo chuckles, his arms crossing over his chest. “Your brothers can’t help you?”

“I don’t trust the club with this,” Tommy admits.

No matter the amount of truth behind his statement, Leo’s expression doesn’t change.

Probably because Leo knows the truth. With the number of years he’s facing, Tommy will soon be forgotten by his fellow Horsemen. You’re only worth remembering if you’re valuable to the M.C. Tommy’s not valuable rotting in Stockton. It doesn’t matter if the charges he’s acquired were at the expense of the club.

“Leo—"

Leo’s sigh drowns out the plea in Tommy’s voice.

“What is it this time, Tommy?”

Tommy doesn’t miss a beat. His voice drops, his eyes briefly passing to the guard nearby.

Angel forgot what it’s like to be on the receiving end of your silent treatment. It’s brutal. Probably because you stick to it, religiously. The silence isn’t the worst part. He knows you’ll have to talk to him—eventually. He also knows that once you do, the words you’ve prepared will cut him to the bone.

When it comes to arguments, Angel operates on pure emotion—always ready to fight a war. He says the first thing that comes to mind, often trying to hurt whoever he’s arguing with before they can hurt him. He wishes you were the same.

You have an incredible ability to walk away from an argument on a whim. He can count on his left hand the number of times you’ve raised your voice at him. In all the time he’s known you.

You don’t see the purpose in having a screaming match. It never gets you anywhere. One of you has to operate on the side of logic. Angel has learned that once you’ve had the chance to get your thoughts together he’s in for a world of trouble.

He’d foolishly tried to get the conversation going the moment you both got in the car, but you beat him to the punch.

“I’m not talking to you right now.”

The declaration had come out just as Angel opened his mouth to speak. It also made him close his mouth, his brow furrowing.

“We’re about to drive for four and a half hours, Y/N,” he sighed, his eyes rolling as he sticks the key in the ignition. “You’re really not gonna say anything to me the entire ride there?”

He waits for you to respond, his eyes dropping to the bouncing of your knee.

“And then what? You’re not going to go speak to me at the hotel? What sense does that ma--”

“Trust me, Angel. You do not want me to say what’s on my mind right now.”

Angel’s not certain if it’s the admission itself, or the look in your eyes, but he silently redirects his attention to starting the car.

The four-and-a-half-hour car ride ironically turns into a six-hour trip of stop-and-go traffic. Six hours of Angel left to fiddle through the various radio stations while you silently scroll through your iPad.

At the three-hour mark, your voice breaks the silence, peaking Angel’s hopes. At this point, he’s willing to take you yelling at him if that means you’ll eventually talk again.

He glances away from the bumper-to-bumper traffic to find you holding up your iPad. The screen facing him, you ask. “Have you seen this before?”

He leans over the console for a better look at the image on the screen. His stomach drops as he takes in the jet-black stallion, his mouth going dry as his gaze passes over the red eyes.

“Thinking about getting some new ink?” He jokes his throat clearing as your eyes roll.

“Nevermind.”

Redirecting your attention back to your iPad, you don’t catch the nervous glance Angel sends your way. A few minutes of silence pass before he glances back in your direction.

“What’s it for? The uh--tattoo.”

“Work.”

That’s all he’s able to get out of you. Even after you arrived at the hotel, where you discover that Isabela has booked the two of you for the hotel’s honeymoon suite. Which comes with a complimentary package that Angel is almost certain you won’t partake in. He gets nothing out of you when you are both informed that your introductory session with the couple therapist on sight is in less than an hour after your late arrival.

The counselor, Dr. Mallory, currently sits across from the two of you. The smile on her face remains in place, even as she watches you put as much distance as possible between you and Angel. The task is nearly impossible with the small sofa she’s sat you both on.

Angel's eyes roll to the ceiling before he lets out a deep breath.

Dr. Mallory’s question breaks the silence.

“How long have you two been married?”

Angel’s eyes shift to you. He answers as your gaze remains focused on the pillow in your lap. “We’re not.”

“Divorced?”

“Seven years.” A dry laugh escapes his lips as he softly shakes his head. “To do the date...actually.”

“Oh, I see.” Dr. Mallory’s smile widens as her gaze passes between the two of you. “You’ve decided to join our retreat, as a means of reconnecting. Hoping to bring back, and foster, that love that brought your two beautiful souls together all those years ago.”

“Uh...yeah.” Angel nods slowly as Dr. Mallory’s hand shifts to rest over her heart.

Her eyes close, her smile softening as she lets out a sigh.

“Love is such a beautiful thing,” her eyes open as she continues. “And I am so happy to see the two of you are willing to give it another try. But, more so, I am honored that you have elected me to help guide you through this journey.”

“What exactly does this ‘journey’ entail? We’re not about to go sit in the desert and sing kumbaya or some sh--”

The elbow that digs into Angel’s side swallows the rest of his sentence. He glances over at you.

“It’s a serious question,” he coughs. “I didn’t realize we signed up for some journey that has to do with...souls traveling together…”

Dr. Mallory’s eyes had brightened at Angel’s question. Angel’s words trail off as he realizes Dr. Mallory is no longer seated. She is not standing directly in front of both of you. Holding two orange sheets of paper.

“I have accumulated a list of activities that will allow the two of you to get in touch with your inner selves this week.” She beams, not noticing the uneasy look that washes over Angel’s face as she continues. “One cannot love their partner wholeheartedly until they truly love themselves.”

Angel’s eyes quickly scan the list, realizing that it's more than a list of suggestions. It's a checklist.

“This week, the two of you will work on opening the airs of communication,” Dr. Mallory continues, motioning between the two of you. “Which I can sense are bogged down at the moment, by anger and mistrust. We want to take the time to open them back up--”

“No offense, Doc, but this isn’t going to work.”

“Mr. Reyes, I ask that you don’t speak that way this week. Everything that you put into your relationship can work.”

“It’ll be hard to work on our…” It takes all Angel has not to roll his eyes. “...airs of communication when she’s not even speaking to me.”

Dr. Mallory returns to her seat, her attention focusing on you.

“Angel is right. Ms. Reyes, care to share what’s on your mind with him? He seems eager to listen.”

Angel watches silently as you keep your gaze on the sheet of paper before you.

“Last night was the first night that I have wanted to kill you. And I mean it in the most literal sense, Angel.”

Angel’s throat tightens, his gaze dropping to his hands.

“You’ve done a lot of shit, Angel. But last night you didn’t see your son’s face when he realized that you were not showing up. You promised that you would never do that again.”

Angel attempts to swallow the lump in his throat. He shifts in his seat, his gaze briefly looking towards you.

“I know.”

“I had to get a call from the school telling me that you decided not to pick our son up. You could have picked up the phone, and called me.” The calmness in your voice does nothing to ease the knots in Angel’s stomach. “Since you’ve forgotten, Angel. You don’t get the courtesy of falling off the face of the earth. Club business, or not. You have a son.”

Angel doesn’t offer up a response. Primarily because he knows what’s coming next.

“What could possibly have happened that you disappeared off the face of the earth last night--and don’t say club business. Bishop is not that great of a liar.”

Angel swallows, his eyes briefly drifting across the room to where Dr. Mallory sits.

He can feel your expectant gaze on him, but he can’t bring himself to look at you.

He can also feel it rising in his throat. Words he hadn’t planned on telling you. His eyes drift shut as he sighs.

“I uh...I followed Samuel to this bar downtown.” A silence falls over the room. Angel looks up from his hands, watching as your eyes widen. “Aiden, he told me what he did to you--and I just wanted to talk to him.”

“And that’s all you did?” The look of skepticism sent his way causes Angel’s jaw to tighten.

“Yeah. I told him to leave you alone.”

Dr. Mallory interrupts the silence, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Samuel? Who is he?”

“Nobody.”

Angel’s eyes roll. “He’s her boss.”

“I went on a few dates with him,” you sigh. Your fingers massage your temple.

You already know where this conversation is going.

A smile finds Dr. Mallory’s face as she watches Angel shake his head.

“No, this is great.” An encouraging smile finds her face. “You see, you two are already past the most difficult part. Starting the conversation. Angel, tell Y/N how you feel about this situation involving Samuel.”

“You shouldn't have dated other people.”

Your brow furrows as his statement sinks in. “Did you miss the part where we got divorced?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then what are you saying? Do you know how many women I had to hear that you slept with? Half of the time from you!” The sight of Angel’s rolling eyes is enough to make you shift in your seat. Turning to face him, you watch his jaw clench. “So you can fuck anyone you want, but it’s a problem when I go out on a date with someone?”

“Yeah.”

You blink, a humorless laugh escaping your lips. Clearly, you’ve heard him wrong.

“Do you know how hard it is watching you fall in love with someone else?”

“Oh my goodness!” Your voice comes out muffled against the palms of your hands. “What is it with you and Samuel putting more stock in this situation than it deserves? I wasn’t falling in love with him, Angel--”

“But that’s what you were looking for?” He cuts you off, the raising of his voice causing your hands to drop. “Why else do people date? Yeah, I slept around, but you never had to worry about me trying to replace you with someone else. For years, I’ve had to watch you go through relationships, bringing other men around my son like you were auditioning them for the role of his father--”

“You know I wouldn’t do that--”

“Yeah, well, we all do things we don’t think we’re capable of.”

“Well, Dr. Mallory. Congratulations. You have just witnessed the one thing Angel Reyes is always capable of doing.” You shove the pillow in your lap towards Angel. “Trying to make me feel guilty for something that he’s done. This time, I’m not apologizing to you for anything. And I’m not saying 'thank you' if that’s what this whole woe is me act is about. I didn’t ask you to go see Samuel. Just like I didn’t ask you to sit here and lie to my face.”

“I’m not lying to you--”

“You may have gone to see Samuel, but that’s not where you were last night. I know you, Angel. You didn’t skip out on our son for Samuel.” It’s an observation that gets the response you’re looking for. It’s a look that lasts for only a brief second. A look in Angel's eyes that tells you that you’re right. It disappears as quickly as it had come. “And until you’re willing to stop lying to me, I’m not staying here.”

Angel’s jaw sets. “Since we’re talking about capabilities, her specialty is walking out. She walked out on me seven years ago, and she’s doing it now.”

“Maybe this time, you'll actually stop and ask yourself why,” you mumble as you step over his feet.

Ez is sitting on the living room sofa. He’s not in the most comfortable position but hasn’t been able to move for the last hour. He’s drinking a beer, his eyes on the television playing quietly across the room.

He’s not even sure what show he’s watching. A series Isabela had roped him into. The room is pitch dark--apart from the glow of the screen--the house quiet. Jeyson has been asleep since his 9 pm bedtime.

Despite her need to catch up on her favorite tv show, Isabela is also asleep. With her head resting against Ez’s shoulder, her body curled up against his, Isabela has been asleep for the last hour. If asked, she’ll blame it on Ez. The second he allowed her to share the blanket with him, his body heat acted as a furnace. One that pulled her right to sleep.

Ez is currently debating on the best way to transfer her from the living to the bed when his phone lights up.

He knows who is calling before he checks the caller I.D.

Angel has been texting Ez non-stop.

Angel’s voice comes out low through the receiver. “If I don’t call you back tomorrow it’s because she’s stabbed me in my sleep.”

“You better take the couch tonight then.” Ez brow furrows, wincing as he double-checks the time on his brightly lit screen. “Why are you whispering?”

“I’m in the bathroom.” Angel quickly dismisses his brother’s question. “Listen, it wouldn’t make a difference. Trust me. She hasn’t been talking to me--except for when she ripped me a new one in therapy today--”

“Therapy...hope you tipped the doc.” Ez chuckles. “Having a witness might have saved your life.”

“...she knows about Samuel.”

Ez releases a sigh, his hand running down his face. “I told you it was a bad idea.”

“I had to tell her,” Angel mumbles. “It's not like I could tell her about last night. I figured…”

“Give her something else to be mad about?” Ez shakes his head, sparing his brother the laugh. “Angel--”

“I’m working on it.” Angel’s side goes quiet for a moment. His admission is an admission of truth. He has been thinking about it for the last twenty-four hours. “I'm gonna tell her, I just need the right moment...besides, don’t rush me. She’s gonna be mad at you too when she finds out you helped.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how I always end up in your shit.”

“That’s what brothers are for,” Angel chuckles. “Remember what I said. If I don’t answer tomorrow--”

“Bye, Angel.”

Hanging up, Ez pushes his phone aside.

He carefully lifts the blanket covering him and Isabela. He successfully carries her down the hallway to the bedroom and has finished tucking her in when she stirs.

She watches as he removes one of the extra pillows from the bed before taking a step towards the door.

“I know it might be extremely difficult for you to stay on your side of the bed,” she yawns, rubbing at her eyes. “But I’m willing to share it with you, as long as you let me take the left.”

A smile spreads across Ez’s face as he watches her pat space next to her. He lifts the pillow in his hand. “Bed’s all yours tonight. I’m gonna take the couch.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he chuckles. “I’ve slept in worse places.”

“Okay,” Isabela’s eyes are already drifting shut as she yawns. “Well, just know the offer still stands if you change your mind.”

“Besides, I gotta at least take you out on a date before we start fighting over sides of the bed.”

“Give me the time and place, and I'll be there,” she giggles, her face nuzzling against her pillow. “Just know I’m a tough negotiator.”

Since when has knocking become so difficult?

It is the question you ask yourself as you stand outside the bathroom door. You quickly knock before you can change your mind.

“Yeah?”

“Um--are you decent?”

Your eyes grip shut as you let your own words sink in.

Are you decent?

The bathroom door opens to reveal a freshly showered Angel. He stands on one side of the double sink. His phone is in one hand, a towel in the other. He wears just a pair of briefs, his hair still dripping from the shower.

“What are you doing? You’ve been in here forever.”

“I've been done for a minute,” he responds, his eyes glued to his iPhone. “Didn’t know you were waiting on me.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t go to sleep until I brush my teeth.”

“You could’ve just come in.”

“You were taking a shower.” Your response is automatic.

It is also the same thing that has kept you waiting patiently on the bed for the past thirty minutes.

“You’ve seen me naked before, querida.”

He glances away from his phone to find you still hovering in the doorway. Toothbrush in hand. Your weight shifts as his eyes linger on the black satin sleepshirt you wear. His gaze returns to his phone once he realizes he’s still staring.

“You can enter since apparently, you need the invitation,” he responds, a smile finding his lips. He doesn’t need to see your face to know your eyes are rolling.

Angel may be silent as you start your nighttime skin routine, but he’s panicking inside. Panicking might not be the right word. Paranoia has begun to set in.

From the moment he and Ez made it stateside Friday night, the realization of his actions began to set in. The realization that he has somehow managed to tie himself to Tommy Flores for the second time. The note he'd shoved into his pocket was now in the trash back in Santo Padre. The message, however, was seared in his mind.

Always get insurance.

You were right to ask what Angel has been doing for the last thirty minutes. He’s been searching for information on Tommy. From the moment he started the search, Angel realized this was a terrible mistake.

Now that you’re standing next to him, the cut on his hand seems to throb. He glances down at the bandage. It’s bled through and needs to be removed.

You’re brushing your teeth when you glance up to the mirror before you. You pause, watching Angel's reflection as he studies his right hand. Strangely, it’s the first time you’ve noticed the bandage.

You wait until you’ve rinsed your mouth to face him.

“What happened to your hand?”

Instinctively, Angel moves his hand out of sight. He drops it to his side.

“Nothing,” he responds, suddenly focused on toweling his damp hair.

“It was bleeding?” You reach around him, ignoring his silent protest.

Angel knows there’s no point in fighting you on it. He turns to face you, allowing you to get a better look at his hand. Unwrapping it, you feel him flinch as the cool air hits the open cut. He drops the towel to the floor, resting back against the sink as your brow furrows.

“Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Before he can respond, you’re already out of sight.

Angel stays where he is, waiting patiently for over five minutes. His brow rises when you return, a black bag in your hand. It is one he’s known you to carry for as long as he can remember. He always teases you for carrying the first aid kit, but always seems to need you to use it on him.

A tiny smile finds his lips as he watches you sit the bag on the sink. “You packed this in your suitcase.”

“No,” your eyes roll as you reach forward to cut on the water. “I keep it in the trunk. Let me see your hand.”

Offering it, Angel watches your expressions as you take the time to study the cut. Whatever questions are on your mind, you don’t share them with him. You don’t say anything else. You silently clean and wrap the cut.

“Thanks.”

The kiss he presses against your cheek halts the washing of your hands. He doesn’t linger to leave a second. He picks up his phone before leaving you alone.

When Angel wakes, he finds you quietly moving around the suite. Cell Phone in hand, one shoe in the other.

“You’re leaving me?”

His question causes you to jump.

“Yeah,” You release a sigh as you turn to find him watching you from his makeshift bed. “I was hoping you’d sleep through my getaway.”

Sitting up, Angel glances over as you take a seat alongside him. He silently watches as you slip on your shoe, his eyes passing over your leggings and sports bra.

“Where are you going?”

“Yoga. Figured you wouldn’t want to come. It’s not really your thing.”

“Yeah, but it’s a couples class…”

He doesn’t add anything to his previous statement. Instead, he stands.

“So, you’re coming?” You ask, watching as he pauses to stretch.

“Yeah, it’s just yoga.” He yawns. "Besides, Dr. Mallory said we gotta do things to nurture our souls."

You’re not sure if Angel tagged along to make a point or because he honestly thought it would be easy.

At the moment, you’re concentrating on keeping your breathing controlled and steady. Your eyes are closed, the only blinders you have for the man on the mat alongside yours.

Although you can no longer see him, you know Angel is in the same state as before.

Struggling.

The hushed “shit” he releases, as he wobbles, brings a tiny smile to your lips.

Angel’s eyes shift from the instructor, who is slowly making her way around the room, towards you. He readjusts his posture, trying his best to mirror your stance. But it seems no matter what he does, it doesn’t look like yours.

He wipes at the sweat on his brow. “I thought we were starting with the easy stuff.”

“This is a beginner’s pose,” you note. Your eyes open, a giggle escaping your lips once you take in the look of skepticism on his face.

“You sure?” Angel watches as you effortlessly move into the next pose. He releases a huff, his neck rolling before he tries to follow your lead. “Seems like you signed us up for the advanced class. Just so you could torture me.”

“I didn’t even know you were coming.”

Angel knows your statement is one of pure truth, but that doesn’t stop him from chuckling, “feels like a setup.”

“You know you can always do the modifications,” you nod towards the front of the room. “It’s easier.”

Angel follows your gaze to where an elderly couple is demonstrating the modified version of the pose.

“Easier?” Angel scoffs. “I don’t need easier, I’m doing pretty good--”

He speaks too soon. His weight tips forward, the sight causing your concentration to break. Before he can fall, you catch his left hand pulling him upright.

Angel blinks. His widened eyes move to meet your gaze. A sheepish grin finds his lips as your grip remains tight around his hand.

You eye his less than steady stance. “Are you okay?”

Angel nods. The grin on his face begins to morph. The sight of his smirk causes you to drop his hand.

“Shit, for a second, I thought you were mad enough to let me faceplant.”

“Shut up,” your eyes roll as you redirect your attention back to the instructor. “I just have good reflexes.”

Halfway through the class, Angel gives up trying to follow along. He spends the remainder of class distracting you. When he’s successful in making you smile, he complies with your request “Angel, please focus. You’re going to get us kicked out.”

He settles back into participating. He sticks solely to the modifications. When the class ends, he manages a few steps before collapsing on your mat.

He rests his head on your lap, preventing you from standing. His eyes drift shut as he lets out a deep breath.

“Angel, get up.”

“I can’t,” he sighs. His right-hand rests over his heart, the dramatic change in his breathing causing you to shake your head. “I can’t feel my legs.”

Your eyes roll as he remains where he is. Head resting against your lap, eyes closed, a tiny smile on his lips. It grows into a familiar grin as the warmth of your fingers brushes against his skin.

Your touch lightly brushes through his hair. You watch his eyes open to meet yours.

“I thought yoga was supposed to be relaxing,” he chuckles.

“I’m relaxed,” you smile, your touch drifting to his jaw. “You’re not relaxed.”

“Now I am. It’s what you owe me, after that hour of torture.”

“You get an A for trying.”

He smiles falters as he watches you let out a deep breath. The smile on your face is gone, the sight letting him know his plan hasn't worked.

"Can you get up now?" You ask as your eyes follow the couples filing out.

A red 1964 Chevy Impala turns onto Rock Creek Avenue for the second time this Sunday morning. Windows rolled down, music playing low, it comes to a stop alongside the light blue fire hydrant marking the end of the street. Although its idling engine has been cut, the gear shift in park, its driver remains inside.

Dressed in a worn leather jacket, too hot for the already humid morning air, Leo releases the smoke in his lungs. He had committed the address to memory when Tommy had whispered it to him the morning before.

He stops to double-check the home’s number as he returns his cigarette to his lips.

1101 Rock Creek Avenue.

The house itself is nothing special. Apart from the sunflower yellow-painted door, it is nearly identical to the other single-story homes which line the street. A street that is strangely quiet for the hour.

The impala’s dash clock reads 11:35.

Leo leans across the console tugging the latch from the glovebox. Shifting the Ruger, which lays inside, he retrieves the folded newspaper. He pauses long enough to close the glovebox before settling back against his seat.

He stays that way, finishing off his slowly dwindling cigarette, scribbling on the paper in his hand.

The Saturday edition of the Daily Imperial Gazette has a newly noted license plate number written in its top-left corner. The crossword puzzle for the day, ninety percent complete.

Focused on the black and white squares before him, Leo lets out a breath.

An eleven-letter word for satisfaction?

“...vindication…” he mumbles, scribbling the answer into the boxes. His gaze shifts to the watch on his wrist.

12:01.

A shift in his peripheral causes Leo to direct his attention elsewhere.

The sunflower yellow door opens, a woman stepping out. She has a black BB-8 backpack slung over her left shoulder, the eye of the orange and white droid catching a glint of sunlight. Her long dark curls are pulled into a high ponytail. She wears a purple tie-dye sundress and white platform sneakers. She turns back to the door, smiling at the man who steps out after her.

Although Leo has never met Angel, he knows this is not him. The prospect patch stitched across the back of Ez’s kutte, the indicator he needs.

“I can’t wait to see you have some actual fun,” Isabela giggles as Ez stops before her.

Ez’s brow furrows, the corner of his lips turning up slightly, as he meets her playful gaze.

“You make it sound like I’m boring.”

“Uh-uh, don’t put that on me. I did not say boring, you did.” Isabela’s nose scrunches in concentration. Her smile widens as she settles on a more fitting word to describe the man before her. “You’re always so...serious.”

“Serious…” Ez echoes. He watches as Isabela bites her lip, suddenly wondering if her word choice was taken on the offense. As she opens her mouth to add an explanation, Ez shrugs. “I’ve been called worse.”

“I’m just saying, I think I’ve seen you crack a smile maybe once since you’ve been here,” Isabela adds. “You don’t laugh at any of my jokes--”

“Maybe they’re not funny.” Ez glances up from the sunglasses in his hands. He watches Isabela’s hand find her chest, her mouth falling open in disbelief. “Besides, I didn't realize you were trying to impress me.”

For once, in their time together, Ez is able to render Isabela speechless. The smile that brightens his features, causes Isabela’s eyes to roll as she steps around him.

“Wait, can we go back a second? Did Ezekiel Reyes actually crack a joke?”

“I do it from time to time.”

“Well, you should do it more often because you have a cute smile, Zeke,” she teases. “Can’t blame a girl from wanting to see it more often.”

Ez fails at stopping the smile on his lips from morphing into a grin as he slips his sunglasses over his eyes.

Isabela takes a step back inside. “Jeyson Iván Reyes! Let’s go!”

With Isabela no longer before him, Ez’s gaze passes over the street coming to a stop on the red Chevy Impala. Aside from being illegally parked, the car would catch the attention of any passerby. It’s not every day that one sees a vintage car, in pristine condition, riding through the streets of Santo Padre.

He steps forward, giving the car a closer look. But he looks away once he gets the look at the driver’s seat. A man focused solely on flipping through a copy of the Daily Imperial Gazette.

Leo lowers the newspaper slightly. His focus moves past an unsuspecting Ez to the little boy who bolts out the front door.

In his Lakers jersey, Jeyson Reyes is nearly a blur of purple and gold. His laughter drifts down the street as his uncle catches and lifts him into the air.

“Someone’s excited,” Isabela giggles as Ez lowers Jeyson back to his feet.

“I wanna try the bumper cars!” The grin on Jeyson’s face is wide. His entire body radiates with anticipation as he impatiently watches his uncle lock the door. “And the ride that spins you around really really fast so that you’re dizzy—and the mini golf!”

“Yeah?” Isabela’s fingers brush through Jeyson’s curls. Her playful eyes drift to Ez, the smile on her face grows as Jeyson follows her gaze. “I think you and I can beat Ez over here. What do you say, J?”

Ez’s brow arches, his eyes briefly meeting hers before moving to Jeyson’s.

“We can beat him. Easy.” The confidence in Jeyson’s voice is almost enough to break his uncle’s facade.

Ez’s eyes study both pairs of brown eyes focused on him, his head shaking softly.

“I don’t know,” he winces as he steps towards the car. “What are you willing to bet on it, J?”

For a moment, Jeyson is silent. An endless amount of possibilities rush through the eight-year-old’s mind. His round eyes widen as he settles on an answer.

“Funnel cake.”

“Good choice.” Ez squats down before Jeyson. He offers him his hand, pulling it back slightly once Jeyson reaches for it. His gaze lifts to Isabela, his resolve finally cracking, a smile slipping through. “You two can’t back out when I win.”

Folding the newspaper, Leo tosses it into the passenger seat as he watches the truck back out of the driveway. As the truck rolls to a halt, before the stop sign at the end of the street, the engine of the 1964 Chevy Impala rumbles to life.

“When can we go on the Ferris Wheel?” Jeyson groans, the impatient whine in his voice causes his uncle to smile.

“In a minute.” Ez ruffles Jeyson’s hair before reaching into his kutte for his vibrating phone. “We gotta wait for Isabela.”

“Where is she?” Jeyson pouts. Standing on his toes, he releases a huff once he doesn’t see her. “She’s been gone forever!”

In reality, it’s only been five minutes. But five minutes can seem like a lifetime to a kid waiting anxiously to continue his exploration of the carnival.

Two hours in, and Ez has learned that Jeyson doesn’t tire easily.

“I thought you wanted ice cream?” Ez chuckles, glancing over to watch Jeyson shake his head.

“Not anymore,” Jeyson sighs. “I want to go on the Ferris Wheel.”

“We will the second Isabela gets back. Okay?”

Despite the pout on his lips, Jeyson nods as he meets his uncle's gaze.

The text that holds Ez attention is from you. It is a question that has been on your mind for the past few days.

Zeke, need that brain of yours. PLEASE tell me you know of a club with a stallion patch?

Ez’s brow furrows as he reads over the message. He types the first thought that pops into his mind. Followed quickly by the second.

Horsemen.

Don’t know much about them. Prospect...limited information. Gotta ask Angel about that stuff. He was at the table Friday.

He glances up from his phone at the burst of laughter coming from a passing group of teenage girls. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he takes it forward once he realizes that the insistent voice of Jeyson is no longer there.

“Jeyson?” Ez’s brow furrows as his gaze passes over those closest to him.

He has no sight of Jeyson, his stomach dropping as he takes another step forward.

The second time he calls Jeyson’s name his voice is louder, a slight tremble slipping in.

Despite it being a Sunday afternoon, the carnival is packed. The Ferris Wheel is on the last round of its current cycle. This has ushered in a shift in the crowd. People are rushing to make it to the line, excited for a seat on the upcoming cycle.

“Jeyson?”

The cheers and music drown out Ez’s voice. Between the bodies pressing against him and the breath that seems harder to pass than the previous, Ez can't quite remember the way he’s just turned from.

The tightness in his chest causes him to stumble forward. The thought of finding Jeyson slips away with each painful squeeze of his heart. It becomes painfully loud, drowning out the same cheers and music that had blanketed his voice mere seconds before. He can’t focus. His mind is useless, unable to bridge the disconnect to the rest of his body.

No matter how hard he tries to get air, Ez chokes on each breath he takes. No amount of air that he swallows can be caught by his lungs. He is left breathless, his feet blindly searching for a break in the crowd. His vision is blurred, the images blurring as his focus scrambles.

Through the crowd, he catches sight of a disfigured BB-8 backpack.

“Thank you! Have a great day.” Isabela’s smile widens as she accepts the two ice cream cones from the vendor. She drops the change into the tip jar, carefully sidestepping the couple running past her.

She stops to take a lick of her ice cream, her eyes scanning the crowd. She starts to move forward, in the direction of the designated meet-up point. A tall green pole, that houses a baby blue flag at its top.

Through the break in the crowd, she catches sight of Ez’s kutte. Her steps slow once she realizes he’s bent over, the cones she holds slipping through her fingers.

Ez can’t hear his name on her lips, but he can feel the heat of her shaking hands as they cup his face. Her body shifts with his, as Ez’s back presses against the pole. His lightheadedness dragging his body to the ground.

Despite the trembling of her hands, Isabela’s voice is calm as she lowers herself to her knees before him.

“Ez--hey, look at me. I need you to breathe. Okay?” The softness of her voice lifts Ez’s gaze from his trembling hands. A smile finds her lips, the sight forcing him to take a breath. “Good. Here.”

Taking his left hand in his, Isabela gives it a gentle squeeze before moving to place it over her heart.

“It’s okay, you and I can do it together.” Isabela takes a deep steady breath, Ez’s hand rising and falling with the motion.

It takes a second breath for him to follow suit. The harsh intake of breath comes in slightly smoother than before. His right-hand finds her waist, his eyes drifting shut as he tries to push out another breath.

The grip on her hip is painfully tight, but Isabela remains in place. Resting her forehead against his, she continues to breathe, her fingers gently brush against his cheek. With each passing second, her heart slowly anchors his forcing it to match the steady rhythm beating against his palm.

“Shit--” Ez’s voice comes out hoarse, shaky as he opens his eyes. “I’m sorry--”

His body tips back. Isabela’s weight pressed against him as her arms wrap around his neck. The hug she gives is tight, causing Ez to blink.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I uh--I’m sorry--I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Ez.” Isabela shakes her head, pulling back to get a look at Ez’s face.

The look of concern on her face drops Ez’s gaze to his hands. The slight tremble that remains causes him to clench his fist together.

He attempts to swallow the lump in his throat, but it remains. His voice comes out thick, as he shakes his head slightly.

“I haven’t had one of those in years,” he speaks quietly. “The first year in Stockton…”

Isabela nods, not needing him to finish the thought. Instead, she wraps her arms back around him. This time, Ez returns the hug, his face resting against the warmth of her neck briefly.

It’s not until she has him steady and on his feet that Isabela lets out a deep breath.

She looks around when a realization sets in.

“Where’s Jeyson?” The look on Ez’s face causes her to take a step sideways.

As she turns around, she stumbles forward nearly tripping over a grinning Jeyson.

“Oh my god--” Isabela lets out a deep breath, her hand finding her forehead as her eyes drift shut. “Jeyson, where did you go?”

Jeyson’s words come out muffled as he attempts to speak through a mouthful of hot dough.

“We went to get a funnel cake.”

“What?” Isabela’s eyes open.

Jeyson stands with a large plated funnel cake in hand. He wears a grin.

“You can have some,” he offers as Isabela brushes at the powered sugar dusting his cheek.

She blinks. “You don’t ever walk off without me or Ez. You don’t go with strangers, you know that--”

“He wasn’t a stranger.” Jeyson glances up from the piece of funnel cake in his hand. “He was daddy’s friend. He knew my name. He said it was a gift for doing good at my recital.”

His brown eyes widen as he takes in the look of confusion on Isabela’s face.

“Am I in trouble?” He asks. The possibility causes Jeyson’s smile to falter.

“No,” Isabela shakes her head, wrapping him in a hug. “You scared me, that’s all.”

You can learn a lot about a person from their home. Leo discovers all he needs about you the moment he enters yours.

Your son is the center of your universe.

Leo stands in your living room, his eyes passing over the incomplete Millennium Falcon set in the middle of the floor. Overstepping the abandoned legos, he moves closer for a better look at the photos hanging on the wall.

Jeyson is in nearly every photo. Spanning from baby photos, holiday shots, candid moments of fun, to yearbook photos, they allow Jeyson to grow up before Leo’s eyes.

He pauses at the latest hung photo.

Taken in September, it shows Jeyson standing between you and his father. The smile he wears matches Angel’s to the tee. It was taken on the first day of third grade. Jeyson is wearing his Gilman Prep uniform.

Leo lifts his phone, delaying long enough to snap a photo before moving on.

He starts his trek through the house. Sifting through recently delivered mail, abandoned on the kitchen counter. The piano holding the sheet music for Jeyson's recently passed recital. Studying the neatly printed schedule written across the whiteboard on the refrigerator door. The fully stocked bookshelf in Jeyson’s bedroom. The password-protected laptop on the desk of your office. The gun safe in your bedroom closet.

As he returns the closet door to its original position, his eyes pass over the room. They land on the dresser. The wooden, hand-carved jewelry box is smaller than he would anticipate from a woman. The first item to catch his attention is the oval cut diamond of your engagement ring, paired with the matching wedding band. He lifts both, pausing to study them in the sunlight peeking through the bedroom window. Returning them to their original resting place, he lifts the tiny velvet red box nearby. Inside, he finds a pearl necklace.

The necklace itself is simple. A single pearl embellished with a small, round white stone. It is a necklace you rarely take off. It was gifted to you years ago at a high school graduation dinner by Marisol.

Closing the box, Leo pockets it before leaving. The only sign he was ever there is the unlocked front door. It gives Ez a brief moment of a pause upon his return. He’s almost certain he locked it when they left. But with the high-speed rate Jeyson is talking at the moment, he chalks it up to his mind spacing.

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[headinthestaticsky]

Frozen Within the Night Wind: Jasper Hale x Fleur Swan, Chapter 6

None of the characters in Twilight belong to me. All rights go to Stephenie Meyer.

"Baby, you don't wanna leave You'd be sorry, 'cause honestly I can make you feel better, any day Look at what you've done for me, I called it how I see You belong with me."

Stick by: BANKS

For the next few weeks Me, the Cullens, and the wolves have been keeping watch on Bella and Charlie. It wasn't an easy alliance and anytime Sam or Leah went onto patrol they wouldn't even acknowledge me. So I often patrolled with Emmett and Jasper to make things less tense. Tonight however I had no choice but to patrol with one of the wolves... a plus side about tonight though, Bella wouldn't be here... she was out with Jacob right now. I had made an excuse that I was staying with the Cullens for the night so dad wouldn't be too suspicious.

"Are you sure Darlin, I can stay behind on this hunt to be with you."

"I'll be fine...I'm sure Sam won't do anything to me. Besides, I've already hunted for the week...you haven't hunted these past two trips because of me...Go I promise I'll be fine."

He sighed before wrapping his arms around me and laying his head on my shoulder. It didn't last long however since we heard rustling behind us. We both turned to see Sam in his wolf form standing there.

"I'll see you later love."

"Bye love."

When Jasper left Sam stood next to me, he didn't look at me at all. We sat in silence for an hour when I finally decided to say something.

"Look...I know I'm probably just going to end up talking to the air tonight but...I need to get some facts straight."

Sam just huffed in his place.

"None of the Cullens turned me...if they would've gotten to me quick enough I wouldn't even be patrolling my dad and Bella right now."

Sam seemed to be staring at me out of the corner of his eye.

"I don't know who he is...but someone working with Victoria turned me...If I am being completely honest I think it's the intruder we're looking for right now."

Sam huffed again.

"And I know you are absolutely disgusted with what I am now but... I really miss you, and Emily... Seth and Leah too. But I know I can't go down there anymore and Leah completely hates my guts but I just had to get off my chest." I looked away from Sam, feeling completely embarrassed that I spouted all of that out. Then suddenly, I felt some fuzzy nuzzle into my hand. I smiled and pet him, it seems he's warming up to me again.

"Thanks, Sam..."

Our heads both shot up as we heard movement and for a split second I saw firey red curls go across the way.

"Let's go Sam!" I said and started running toward her, he followed me a second afterward. She noticed us running toward her and took off back into the woods.

"Sam go back onto your territory so she can't jump back without being caught."

He followed my command surprisingly.

"I thought you were great at self-preservation Curly, but to come right to her house, right near the Cullens isn't very smart now is it?"

She didn't acknowledge me. Suddenly... something popped up in my head... I looked at Sam and winked, I mouthed to him that I had an idea.

Victoria stopped in her tracks and stuttered.

"James?"

I stopped running and crept up behind her, not wanting to let the hallucination go to waste. Carlisle was right... this second power would be useful to me. The image of James just looked at her with deadly eyes.

"James... how are you... here?"

"What are you doing with him?" "James," asked.

"It's not like that...It just so I could avenge you." Victoria stated.

"You disgust me..."

I was just about to get behind her and grab her neck when she snapped out of it and flipped me over and sent me into a tree. She took off again, leaving us in the dust. Sam jumped back over to me and nudged me with his head.

"I'm okay Sam... we need to go back to the house in case someone else shows up again. When we made it back to the house I saw Jasper and Rosalie standing in our spot looking confused.

"What happened? Why did you leave?" Jasper asked.

"We saw Victoria and chased after her...we couldn't catch her."

"Damn it," Jasper grumbled.

"Were you close to getting her?" Rosalie asked.

"I was inches away from grabbing her by the neck... I guess the hallucination I made wore off..."

"Can you tell where she's going now?" Rosalie questioned.

"I can try... the tracking is still a little wonky sometimes." I got into that trance again attempting to track her,

"It looks like she's going to Oregon..."

"Oregon what is she going to do in Oregon?" Jasper inquired.

"I can't tell..."

Before anyone could say anything else Jacob's car pulled up, Edwards was not too far behind.

"Uh oh... this can't be good," I said, I then began to jog toward the situation, it soon turned into an argument.

"IF YOU EVER TOUCH HER AGAINST HER WILL AGAIN!" Edward roared.

"Guys don't do this here!" Bella pleaded.

"She doesn't know what she wants."

"Hey what the hell happened?" I asked.

"Jacob kissed me..." Is all she said.

"Wait for her to say the words," Edward said.

"What... Edward do you want her to be in a relationship with him? You're losing the argument here bud. bring it back!" I thought to myself.

"Fine, and she will."

"Jacob just go okay?"

"Hey, hey hey... break it up you two," Dad said, he must've heard the commotion.

"Okay... what's going on?"

"I kissed Bella... and she broke her hand, punching my face... total misunderstanding."

I couldn't help but bust out in laughter... this whole situation was something you would find in a crappy soap opera they play at 4 in the morning when no one is awake to see them.

"What are you doing back here Fleur?" Dad asked.

I came up with a lie quickly.

"Oh I forgot some toiletries... and I came back down to get them." luckily my car was still here.

When I pretended to grab my items I came back outside, Bella and Edward were gone. I kissed my dad on the cheek and wished him a goodnight and drove back down to the Cullen's house. When I came in Carlisle was wrapping up Bella's hand, everyone else was sitting in the room with them. I sat by Rosalie and Jasper, just observing the situation, Emmett walked in with a smirk on his face.

"Geez did you try and walk and chew gum at the same time Bella?"

"No, I punched a werewolf in the face."

"Badass...you're going to be a tough little newborn."

Rosalie and I looked up, now focused on the conversation.

"Tough enough to take you on." She said with a smirk.

Rosalie slammed down the paper she was reading and left the room. Bella just rolled her eyes and sighed. I looked at Jasper and he nodded, I slinked out of the room without anyone noticing or so I thought.

"Hey, Rose."

"I can't stand your sister."

"I know the feeling."

"But at the same time... I envy her too."

I pulled her in for a hug, trying to comfort her.

I heard the slight sound of a door opening and closing again.

"What do you want Bella?" I asked.

"You can go and blather about the joys of being a newborn with someone else." Rosalie added.

"Okay... Rosalie, I don't know what I did... to make you hate me so much."

"How many times do I have to say it... If you treat someone I am really close to like dirt... then I'm going to hate your guts."

Bella scoffed.

"I envy you also Bella."

"What? That's ridiculous!"

"It's not...Bella." I jumped in

"How is it not?"

"You had a choice... we didn't... none of us do and you're choosing wrong, I don't care how miserable your human life is," Rosalie explained.

"My life is not miserable. It’s not perfect, nobody’s life is perfect." Bella stated.

"Mine was. Absolutely perfect. There were things I still wanted. To be married with a nice house and a husband who kissed me when he came home. A family of my own... Royce King was the most eligible bachelor in town, I barely knew him. But I was young, I was in love with the idea of love. On the last night of my life, I left a friend’s house late visiting her newborn son, I wasn’t far from home… They left me in the street thinking I was dead, believe me I wanted to be. Carlisle then found me, he smelled all the blood, but he thought he was helping me."

"I'm... so sorry." I said... I had never heard how she got changed until now.

"That's terrible," Bella added.

"I got my revenge on them, one at a time. I saved Royce for last so he would know I was coming. I was a little theatrical back then."

"That's not theatrical... that's bad ass," I said, Rosalie cracked a smile.

"Things got better after I met Emmett, but we’ll always be this, frozen, never moving forward. That’s what I miss the most, possibilities, sitting on a front porch somewhere, Emmett grey-haired by my side surrounded by our grandchildren, their laughter."

"I understand that’s what you want. There’s nothing I’m ever gonna want more than Edward." Bella argued.

"You’re wrong again, after you’ve been changed there’s one thing you’ll want more. One thing you’ll kill for…blood." Rosalie finished, she then walked out of the room without saying another word.

[kpop---scenarios]

Turn - kjn

Byun Baekhyun | Park Chanyeol | Kim Junmyeon | Kim Jongin

Warning: Smut

Word Count: 1.7k

Summary: Kai isn't very interested in Baekhyun's gift, until you make him interested.

"I need you to do one more," Baekhyun begs you through the shower curtain. You had just woken up and here he goes springing it on you. 

"I thought you said you changed your mind on the fourth one?" You yell back, letting the water run through your hair. 

"I did, but then he started acting like a fucking asshole and my guess is because he hasn't gotten pussy in a while." Baekhyun scoffs. 

"What's wrong with him?" You ask, a little nervous for this one for some reason. 

"Nothing is wrong with him, he's just abstaining and it's making him out to be a real jackass. Girls don't try hard enough to get into his pants. He rejects them once and they break down. I need someone strong and sturdy, like a mule." He says. 

You peak out from behind the curtain. "I'm sorry, what?" You ask, less than impressed. 

"Confidence wise." Baekhyun chuckles. "A confidence that is strong and sturdy, cause when he rejects you, you need to keep pushing. This one is important Ayn. I need you to fuck him, fuck him real good." 

"Get out Baekhyun." You yell, desperately needing to finish your shower in peace but you had no issues with what he needed. You'd get it done, that's for sure. 

When you finally left the shower, you met Baekhyun downstairs for some breakfast, so he could give you the instructions you needed to complete your, as he calls it, mission. 

"So our friend Taemin is the owner of the club M. And inside there is an exclusive VIP room, called the Champagne room. That's where Kai will be drinking tonight. 

"Kai? I thought you said his name was Jongin?" You ask.

"Kai is a nickname," Baekhyun says, waving off your questions. "Now, I talked to Taemin because he agrees that Kai is being a baby back bitch and said he would let you in to do your thing." Baekhyun smiles. 

"Why do I feel like a prostitute." You sigh, placing your chin on your palm. 

"You're not.. really. But I mean you're not getting paid for this so technically you're just sleeping with dudes.. as a favour for me..  that sounds bad." 

"Stop talking." You sigh, standing up. "I will be at M tonight at 10 pm." 

"Thank you, I owe you ones, I mean one, cause paying you would make you a hooker!" He finishes as you walk out the door. 

Baekhyun sits there with a smile on his face. "That went well." He laughs. 

**

That night you stood outside M in your sexiest pair of heels and your shortest dress that perfectly showed off your cleavage. You took a deep breath before you walked into the club, wondering how you ever let Baekhyun talk you into doing this shit. 

Oh yeah, you remember, he convinced you with his cock. 

You walk up a flight of stairs, before turning down the hallway to see a man standing outside the door at the end of the hall. You approach him and he looks you up and down before nodding approvingly. 

"You must be Baek's.. friend." He says. 

"I'm not a hooker." You clarify. 

"Oh I know, although I'm unsure if Baekhyun knows because of the way he described you, you sounded like one." Taemin chuckles. 

"He should just never talk. Ever." He groans. 

"Anyways, Kai is in there and tonight." He pauses with a laugh. "He's feisty." 

You give Taemin a slight nod as he opens the door for you, allowing you to walk into the empty room. You spot Kai immediately, sitting at a table alone but you don't go for him right away, instead, you walk to the bar, getting yourself a drink and lean against it while you sip, looking around the place. 

Your eyes dart to Kai who chuckles to himself and sighs as he leans back in his chair, shaking his head. You finish your drink, walking up to where he sits. He turns to you, crossing his legs. 

"So, must be my turn?" He says, looking unimpressed as he takes a swig of his drink. You cock your head to the side, smiling at him as he stares at you like he's trying to figure out your game. 

"It is." You answer. 

He chuckles again, looking at you with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not interested." He tells you. 

"That's fine." You say. "I just said I'd show up." You finish, sitting in the chair across from him. 

"What?" He asks, confused. "No seduction? No promises of a handy 600, or a gorilla grip job, or whatever people call it these days." He says. "Cyclone hips 5000?" 

"I'm sorry, what?" You laugh and then it dawns on you. "Ah, you've talked to Baekhyun." 

"I have. He warned me he was sending a present, and I've talked to Junmyeon and Chanyeol who told me to just let it happen because you change lives." He says. 

"I mean.. they're not wrong." You smile. 

"Like I said, not interested." He says again, finishing his drink. 

"And like I said, that's fine. But I've also heard somethings about you." You smile. "A nice, good, wet pussy really gets you going." You whisper, slouching in your chair a bit, spreading your legs.  "And I've been wet since I arrived." You finish. You watch Kai as his eyes dart down, looking between your spread open legs, no panties, just pussy. 

"Fuck." He hisses. 

You stand up, walking towards him before crawling into his lap. You sit on his thigh, letting him feel the heat radiating from you, letting your juices coat his pant leg.

"If you want me to stop, just say the word and I'm done." You whisper in his ear, biting his lobe. 

Kai lets out a small growl from in his chest, he picks you up and you wrap your legs around him. He looks at the bartender with hunger in his eyes. "Get out." He spits. The man quickly exits the room as Kai lays you on a couch, discarding his jacket as fast as he can. He pulls your legs open, falling to his knees as he buries his head between your thighs, licking a long strip up your pussy. 

"So fucking good." He groans. Kai spreads your lips with his fingers, latching his mouth to your clit, sucking hard. You pull down the top of your dress, exposing your tits before taking them in your hands, squeezing. Kai begins to lick your clit, teasing the bud with his tongue as he inserts two fingers into your pussy, causing you to arch your back. 

"Shit." You cry out, squeezing your tits harder. 

Kai continues to suck and lick on your clit as his fingers pump in and out of you. Your orgasm builds quickly, his movements throwing you over the edge, making you cum hard and loudly. 

"Oh my god." You scream as he keeps going, you come down from your high but he doesn't stop, his tongue and his fingers building another orgasm that makes you explode. Your chest is heaving as he pulls his fingers from inside you, sticking them in his mouth. His eyes meet yours as he licks his fingers clean, licking your cum off. 

"I've missed good pussy." He growls. He stands up, unbuttoning his pants before pulling them down. You move to your knees, staring, the veins running along his large, thick cock make you want to have him fuck you so hard. 

You place your hand on his shaft, pumping his cock a few times, making him throw his head back as he lets out some loud moans. You open your mouth, taking in as much of him as you can at once, hollowing out your cheeks. Kai groans at the sight of you taking his cock in your mouth, and the feeling of him going down your throat. You look up at him as he starts thrusting his hips, keeping his thrusts slow as he watches his cock go in and out of your mouth. His last thrust is hard, shoving himself down your throat, making your eyes water as his hands get tangled in your hair, keeping his rhythm while he fucks your face. 

He pulls his cock from your mouth, standing you up and turning you around to bend you over the table. Your dress rides up, exposing your bare ass. Kai raises his hand and comes down with a hard smack, landing it right on your ass cheek before he lines his cock with your entrance, quickly pushing himself in. 

"Jesus.. fuck." He grunts, his hand already grabbing a clump of hair to pull your head back as he snaps his hips, shoving his cock deep inside of you. 

"Just like that." You cry, clenching yourself around him. Your eyes begin to roll as he keeps up with his slow but hard thrusts, pounding into you, making your body jolt forward. 

"Good little slut." He grunts, pulling you up, flush against him. He continues to slide his cock in and out of you as his hand reaches around, cupping your breast before moving down between your legs to play with your clit. 

Your legs begin to shake as your orgasm comes from out of nowhere, building fast. "Cum all over my cock." He breathes in your ear. You cry out, loudly as your knees buckle and you cum. You can feel it dripping down your thigh as Kai groans about how wet you are. 

"Perfect fucking pussy." He grunts, thrusting again and again. "I'm gonna cum." He breathes. 

"Cum inside my pussy." You cry out, reaching behind you to keep him inside you. "Cum in me." You moan. 

Kai breathes heavily as he thrusts erratically, holding onto you tightly as he shoots his cum inside you, coating your walls. 

"Fuck." He moans. "I've missed that." He breathes. 

You both stand there for a few seconds, catching your breath. Kai pulls out of you, helping you sit on the couch as your legs wobble. He pulls up his pants, sitting across from you as you both laugh. 

"Thank you, Baekhyun." He laughs. 

** 

A few weeks later, Baekhyun had texted you to come over because he wanted to talk. It was safe to say you were a little nervous but you went. You walked into Baekhyun's room and see him, Chanyeol, Junmyeon and Kai sitting there, looking at you. 

"What's going on?" You ask. 

"We want you, again." Chanyeol blurts out.

"Here," Junmyeon says. 

"Now," Kai says. 

"All of us." Baekhyun smiles. 

You take a deep breath and walk into the room fully, closing the door behind you. 

[mtab2260]

Okay, I desperately need to rant about Apocalyptic Natasha Romanoff in this episode of What-If and I've decided to do it here over Reddit. Screw me.

First off...

Holy Fucking Shit! That was bloody AMAZING!

Second, I'm basically going to be explaining my excitement and jumping on the ceiling about each scene she was in, but also pointing out a few things as well.

(This feels like a Guardians of the Galaxy reference. No?)

I absolutely love this line because it says so much. In the main timeline, Steve had no clue about her Russian Vodka Family (as I've seen someone call it). In that timeline, I don't think she told anyone, not even Clint. But in Peggy's timeline, that Natasha clearly had to have opened up to Peggy which just shows how close those two had become during the year following the Battle of New York. Natasha Romanoff isn't an open person with anyone, in any timeline— even with Clint, the person she literally sacrificed herself for so he could live.

That says a million words I can't explain.

I also love the fact that the filter on Apocolypse Ultron World is dreary and it dulled out all the colour, and the sun's missing too. But in this shot, you can see hints of the sun shining through. It represents the hope Natasha saw when she saw them. The colour on Peggy's face and hair pop out. It automatically feels less dark and hopeless.

Also, I don't care what anyone might say this line is what sold Natasha that Peggy was an ally and that something was going on that she didn't yet understand. At the mention of Alexei, she just knew.

However... I must point out there are a few inaccuracies with this line. Actually, this entire line doesn't work.

Not really.

As because, up until ghosty Red-Skull said it on Vormir, Natasha had no clue what her birth father's name was and Peggy getting the serum instead of Steve wouldn't change that. So if she didn't know, there's no way she could tell Peggy.

And for the second part of that line... up until the events of Black Widow (the movie), Natasha was still lying to herself that their family in Ohio wasn't real— that it was just a mission and they were all just roles, nothing more.

But, I will say, maybe in that universe she and Peggy had a talk about it and Peggy make it clear she was a bloody numpty for thinking that and it was real regardless of the reason they were brought together. That could've happened in that universe. It's been made clear that those two traded stories with each other as her Nat knew about Steve, yet, main-timeline Nat didn't know about Peggy until she saw him staring at her photo. So who really knows.

But regardless, I still let out a jump of joy at this line because the What If series is letting the Russian Vodka Family be real!

Not that it wasn't real, but you get what I mean— anyways, onward!

This scene... oh my gawd... bloody-hell it's fucking terrific!

I cannot say how fucking overjoyed I am that when it came down to it, fucking Natasha Romanoff and bloody Clint Barton saved the entire bloody-fucking multiverse!

The (and I quote some random asshole) "Useless Avengers", saved everything ever known while also being the only survivors in an entire universe.

Let that sink in.

IT'S FUCKING AWESOME!

Like...

Holy Shit That's Awesome!

(I need more adjectives)

That's Bloody Insane.

I don't care how tacky they may be, I fricken loved these slow-mo arrow shots. And with the mirroring of Clint's (albeit fucking stupid) sacrifice coming full circle and to a close is outstanding.

Which brings me to my next point, that's kinda also this point too.

This point is part II we'll call it.

I

Am

So

Fucking

Happy

They

Didn't

Forget

About

What

Clint

Meant

To

Nat

And

Also

Just

Plainly

Forget

About

Clint

'Cause that would've sucked. I would've sued Marvel if that happened.

This scene. These two shots.

For someone who hides behind fake smiles and witty remarks, these shots show exactly what she's thinking at that moment and it's amazing. You can literally see the absolute peace on Nat's face that they did it, they ended Ultron, she avenged Clint's death, she avenged everyone's death, it was over. And hey look, Yelena, they didn't even need one of the big ones to do it!

But also look, see what I said about the filter— Natasha's hair actually looks fiery red instead of vibrant brown. Also, SUN!

Moving on...

I don't really have much to say about this line, but I fucking loved it, and serves the dude right.

She Has A Very Valid Point.

The pure amazement and life in Natasha's eyes and face is everything.

She saw everything she ever knew nuked and murdered because a robot spent five seconds on the internet and yet here she was now in a clusterfuck war full of life. Life that was at war with each other. But an alive war nonetheless and that's all she cares about at that moment.

Natasha and Clint being best buds part threeeeeeee........

On come on we all know what was going through Natasha's mind at this moment.

PAYBACK BIATCH!

Seriously I just love this short little bit. And the fact that Loki took over the world in a week, yet, this Natasha took him out with a kick and a small poke says things.

It's awesome.

As heartwarming as this scene was, I was hoping for more and truthfully it's a load of bullshit.

I don't care whatever the fuck Nick Fury has seen in his days, he did not know about the multiverse and if he wasn't happy as hell to see her on that Helicarrier then he was suspicious as hell as to who was this Natasha Romanoff imposter was. I'm sorry, I refuse to believe otherwise. No one's first thought after they've seen an alive version of someone they buried in the ground is—

"Oh, you must be Natasha just not my Natasha. Yeah, that makes sense."

Yeah, no.

Also... might I again remind you EVERYONE ON HER PLANET WAS FUCKING NUKED TO DEATH?! Did everyone seem to forget about this?

The first time we've seen Natasha Romanoff cry (almost cry) was Fury's death in The Winter Soldier. That's proof enough for how much Fury meant to her.

So the first person in like over a year (probably) she sees that she recognizes (besides Thor) who she also knew for a fact was dead— her reaction should've been more than a smirk. Especially if it was someone she cried over when they died. The line the two Natasha's share after Peggy's "I've got the shield. You've got the sword." line proves that different universes don't change a person's personality. So her seeing Fury again should've been a helluva lot more emotional for her, hell, for the both of them.

It probably should've gone something more like...

"Natasha...?" A very familiar voice behind her breathed. It wasn't one she's heard for over a year but she recognized it immediately. She froze— which was not a thing she did, ever, but it was only truly hitting her now that not everyone she knew was dead anymore. That the Steve Rogers over there was, in fact, alive. That the Nick Fury behind her was alive. That hundreds, millions, billions of other people were alive.

Natasha turned around slowly like her limbs were stuck in the gallons of maple syrup Cooper put on his pancakes.

"Fury—" She choked, honestly too overwhelmed to say anything else coherent. The tears in her eyes stung as she didn't let them fall.

Nick's one eye narrowed, he was pissed. "Who the hell are you?" He questioned, voice threatening. "I know you ain't Natasha Romanoff 'cause she's dead. So who are you?"

She was sure she just stared at his face probably for a full minute but she didn't really care. It was really nice to see and hear another face and voice.

Nat took a much-needed breath. "I know your Natasha is gone, the giant baby-man cape dude said so. I'm not her. I'm from somewhere else. But I am Natasha Romanoff... and it is really good to see you, Nick..."

Ah, shit the tears fell.

But maybe it was worth it as his eye widened and some form of recognition or some sliver of understanding set in. It was honestly hard to tell through her blurry eyes.

"You're aware none of that makes any sense, right?" He asked, voice much gentler now. Fury looked over her outfit and very dirty/beat-up appearance. "And I take it wherever you're from didn't have showers either? Because I can smell you from here." His nose wrinkled as he smirked.

She knew he was trying not to gag.

Natasha choked out a wet laugh. "Not for like a year, they kinda got all nuked from a psychopathic robot."

She was pretty sure that was the first time she'd ever seen Nick Fury actually shocked.

Okay, yeah so basically something like that.

And the reason I kept saying over a year is because Clint lost an arm and was honestly ready to die. He did die. After a year of being almost the only person on an entire planet and losing Laura and the kids, he hit his breaking point. In the five years of the blip he definitely became close to his breaking point, probably was about to hit it before Nat showed up, and that was with half the universe gone and he was alone without Nat. It could honestly be longer than a year, it probably was much longer, but then I started thinking about food and how much food would actually be safe to eat— or actually there. It was a matter of time really until both starved to death honestly.

And the shower thing, it's honestly impressive anyone could stand near here and not pass out. Like seriously if everyone is dead, I doubt any showers still worked— let alone be standing.

Anyways, I do have a couple problems with this episode despite how much I loved it.

Going back to the "EVERYONE ON HER PLANET WAS FUCKING NUKED TO DEATH?! Did everyone seem to forget about this?" part I mentioned earlier.

It seems no one outside of Nat actually seemed to acknowledge that everyone was dead. That Natasha, previous to their arrival, was the only living thing in that universe and that was it. You would think even Peggy would show some care or sympathy or some consoling words to her so-called BFF. If not that at least recognize the truly apocalyptic scene around her and look at it with disbelieving eyes. For someone who has so much compassion, she seems to have none in this case. Or at least she didn't outwardly show it. Which is completely fine. But it just bothered me no one seemed to really think about it all.

Another thing:

This isn't really towards the episode per-say but I'm just really fucking pissed about it.

It's great— no sorry— it's absolutely amazing that Apocalyptic Natasha is now in a universe that was thriving with life. It's awesome and she deserves it.

HOWEVER....

Are you fucking serious that out of all the universes that Natasha died in, you put her in a one that ALSO has a STILL DEAD Clint Barton???

SERIOUSLY?!??!?

I've said this what, three, four times now— Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton are more cursed than FitzSimmons. Because at least FitzSimmons always find their way back to each other in the end, Nat and Clint always just find the other fucking dead.

I swear, how the other doesn't have PTSD from heights now is a bloody miracle.

Anywho:

That's my entire rant on this week's episode. If you actually read this all, one, I'm so sorry for wasting your time, two, wow— congrats.

Also, I really need to see someone make a fic about Apocalyptic Nat seeing Laura and the kids for the first time again, and also for Coulson too.

[amane-by-together]

Blue Hour || Amane Yugi pt. 3/5

(Amane Yugi x Fem! Reader)

genre: romance, drama and a bit of fantasy

summary: amane and [name] stopped communicating after the pen pal project

“When we lost each other.”

The quarter felt like a shooting star, it was fast in a blink of an eye. As the late night calls stopped and so as the letters.

Amane laid down on his bed, staring at the messages that he and [name] exchanged. Something was weird, it's been a week since they chatted after the pen pal project was over.

Though, he doesn't want to assume that he has been ghosted, yet the situation is the same. Not being able to receive messages from the person Amane likes, it's definitely ghosting.

Amane stayed up all night, not because of star gazing, his honey amber eyes had lost their shine and looked like a zombie with eyebags forming under his eyes.

She disappeared like a ghost.

“You disappeared for an instant, like a faint ghost, you disappeared.”

Amane felt his eyes brimming with tears, he didn't get used to it, it's like being alone again. He never met [name], yet why was he crying for her?

‘This is not supposed to happen right? You're not supposed to fall for your pen pal Amane.’ the voice inside his very own head told him.

‘She's just a pen pal, Amane. Nothing special, you shouldn't cry about her.'

'It's all gone'

‘Don't disappear now, I'm searching for you’

‘It felt like the summer was winter without you.’

‘It's all gone, now. It's over.’

“Now I just missed you...” Amane choked back a sob. His heart was clenching making it difficult to breathe. It felt like he was having an anxiety attack, he wanted to make the feeling disappear.

Now that [name] was gone.

He wanted to disappear as well.

Amane hugged his knees hunched over while lying down. His phone was the only source of light inside the room since the moon isn't there when he needed.

Just like he needed [name].

But the thing is,

She nowhere.

She's gone.

Amane doesn't know what to do.

It's all gone.

“Whoah Yugi, you okay bud?” Yamabuki sat next to the young boy who was staring into space, his eyes were sore from crying and his eyebags are turning darker. “You look wasted man.”

“Yeah, I'm okay.” Amane smiled, even though he was hurting and grieving inside. To everyone it looked like it was the brightest smile, but in reality it was fake.

“No you're not, Amane-kun.” Yashiro interrupted, crossing her arms in front of Amane. She placed a hand on his shoulder, looking at him reassuringly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Truth to be told, Amane does need someone to talk with. He's been bottling up all his tears and suffering because of [name]'s sudden disappearance. His smile faltered, casting down to his desk and nodded gravely. Yashiro grabbed his hand before dragging him out to class.

“I thought you liked [name]?!” Yamabuki yelled out.

Yashiro stopped as the two of them arrived on the rooftop. Amane's shoulders slumped a little bit. “So tell me what's going on?” she asked.

Amane was silent for a while, he felt his eyes watering. Yashiro wrapped an arm around his shoulder, telling him to calm down before he can tell her.

And so he did, starting from the day he learned that [name] was his pen pal, to the epiphany of falling for [name]. Yashiro listened, nodding on every word he says. “Maybe it's a sign that you two should meet?”

“Huh?” Amane rubbed his eyes using his hands. “What do you mean?”

“I've read this somewhere in books!” Yashiro tells Amane with a smile on her face. “I always see this kind of plot, and it is time to apply it to the two of you!”

“The two of you are some sort of soulmates!”

Amane squinted his eyes in disbelief at Yashiro, a typical someone who doesn't believes in soulmates and then they meet in some point for plot purposes. After Yashiro had elaborated the term soulmate, she bids goodbye on Amane because she promised Aoi that they will go on a "date" together.

Amane saw her figure slowly going away from him, but he didn't try to call her back or even yell that he used to like Yashiro. Besides, the young boy already had fallen for [name] and was foolish for trusting his intuition that he wouldn't.

He gave a one last glance at the sky before going back inside to his respective classroom.

“Come on Minamoto-kun, beat Tsukasa-senpai up!” Mitsuba encouraged Kou who was randomly pressing the buttons of his controller whilst his electric blue eyes remain glued on screen. Tsukasa, his opponent, was concentrating really hard to win the video game.

Amane was sitting on his swivel chair, reading [name]'s last letter before the project's end. He was reading it for like...fifteen times already.

“Senpai, you've been staring at that letter for a while...” Kou worriedly pointed out. Tsukasa told him to leave him for a while since he was on a state of singularity.

Amane puts down the letter and sighed heavily. The three of them went over to the older twin to see what was going on. “Not gonna lie that pen pal is creative as hell.” Mitsuba remarked. “Anyways, may I see the letter?”

Amane nodded as he handed the pink haired boy the letter. Mitsuba carefully unfolded the letter and started to read. He grabbed the envelope and started to examine it. Mitsuba notices from the back of the envelope, a slightly peeled off paper. “Hey, Yugi-senpai,” he called. “I think there's a post card stuck on the back of the envelope.”

Kou scrunches his nose. “They probably didn't mean to stick the post card and paint it to camouflage it—”

“Okay who has long nails here?” Amane sighed as he looked at his cutted nails. “I recently cut mine.”

Mitsuba peeled off the postcard from the envelope with ease. He gave the post card faced down to Amane. As Amane receives the card, he flipped it up and saw something that made his stomach drop.

It was the ferris wheel that Amane saw in his dream along with the unfamiliar girl. The question is, what does the ferris wheel have to do with that? “A ferris wheel?” Tsukasa asked.

“This is the ferris wheel I saw in my dream last time—” Amane let out a shaky breath and pointed at the ferris wheel. “There was this girl who appears in my dream two times in different places. One with the carousel and the recent one is this ferris wheel on the post card.”

“Hm? I heard this one from an article that dreaming about a ferris wheel means that you don't want interruptions when you're excited.” Kou explained. “A carousel is a symbol of childish joy, which means that you don't want to forget in the past.”

“Then how about that unfamiliar girl?” Mitsuba asked.

“She could be someone from a past life?”

“If a carousel symbolizes as childhood happiness does that mean that girl was linked to you as a child?”

“I didn't even have a female childhood friend.” Amane crosses his legs. “Besides even if that girl was my childhood friend I wouldn't be able to recognize her.”

“Do you have any information about [name]-san, anyways?” Tsukasa asked.

“She goes to Sanaol Academy, which was far from here.” Amane answered monotonously. “It'll take a subway to go there.”

“How do you know then?” Kou asked.

“I researched her school online, and it was an all girls school.” Amane wetted his lips while brushing his hair back using his fingers. “It's a four hour ride—”

“Four hours?!” Tsukasa, Kou and Mitsuba yelled in disbelief. The three looked at each other and nodded as they knew what they're thinking. Amane raised a perfect brow at them, then looking at the post card on his hand. “That's just—”

“Hold up.” Amane raised his hand to stop them from talking. “The post card that Mitsuba peeled recently, there's something that was written on the back of the envelope.”

There are dots and dashes on the back of the envelope. It is some sort of morse code. Mitsuba thought it was kinda extra since they could've just say the actual letters instead of encoding the message for minutes.

The four of them spent hours to encode the morse, Amane leaned back to his swivel chair as he wiped a sweat from his forehead. “So what does it say?” Tsukasa asked.

Mitsuba and Kou looked over to Amane's shoulder to see the message along with Tsukasa.

“You and me in 5:53 at the ferris wheel...?” Amane says as if it was a question. He turned his head towards the four and gave them a lazy but determined smile. “How would you three like a bonding trip to find [name]?”

“I'm in!” Kou smiled whilst showing both of his canines and pointed at himself. “I'm totally in for some trip!”

“I guess I'll come too.” Mitsuba blew a raspberry and shrugged. “Only because I'm bored as hell.”

“If Amane's going then I'm going too!” Tsukasa wrapped his arms around his older twin causing the latter to elicit an 'oof' from his lips.

“Well that makes us four then. We'll go tomorrow.” Amane tells them.

“Tomorrow?” Mitsuba asked. “What time?”

“Since [name] said to meet at 5:53 pm by the ferris wheel, which wasn't specifically mentioned where and what, I guess we'll ride at dawn.” Amane looked at his laptop and started to peck the keyboard using his fingers. “When we arrive at Sanaol Academy, we'll ask for directions for the ferris wheel from the post card.”

“I have a theory though,” Kou tells him. “It could be a possibility that [name] is the person in your dreams.”

Then it clicked him into epiphany, why didn't he thought of that before? But again, Amane has no idea what [name] looked like anyways. He shouldn't be jumping in to conclusions that fast. Just because the girl who keeps appearing in his dreams doesn't mean it's already [name].

[name].

Amane lets out an exaggerated sigh from his lips and slouched against the swivel chair. He really did miss [name]'s company, even if it's just letters and texts.

Who knows, maybe tomorrow during their trip, they will meet. Amane makes sure of it, he wanted to see [name].

He wanted her to know how much he misses her after they lost each other. He can't go on.

Not without her.

[barnesandrogersfanfics]

Ocean Eyes - Part 9

A/N: Finally another chapter is done! 😂

Please like/share/comment, It makes me write more when i know you’re all enjoying it 💕💕

Chris opened up the back door and Dodger jumped out making a run for the house while i unstrapped Mason from his car seat. When i turned Lisa was already walking towards us with a huge smile on her face, Scott walking beside her.

"Hey Ma" Chris called out greeting his mom with a quick wave.

"Hey baby" she smiled coming to a stop in front of us "Y/N.....its so good to see you sweetheart!" She pulled me into a hug and squeezed me tight, i couldnt help but smile and return her hug.

"Hey Lisa, its good to see you too"

"Okay okay, enough! Where's my hug?" Scott asked pouting at me, i laughed and gave him a quick hug.

"Oh my god, you must be Mason" i heard Lisa say "he's a spitting image of you Chris.... i mean wow"

"Mason say hi, this is your Nana Lisa"

"Hi" he said quietly clinging to my leg.

"Oh you're gonna act all shy now bud? You were so excited to meet Nana Lisa before" i stroked his hair smiling down at him "Give him 5 minutes he'll soon be talking your ear off"

"Its fine hun, come on inside i've made some lunch for us all" Lisa said happily and turned to head inside.

"Mace, baby you're gonna have to let go of my leg"

"Come on pal lets go eat" Chris picked Mason up putting him up on his shoulders causing Mason to laugh loudly.

"Oh god be careful...."

"He does this with my sisters kids don't worry he's a pro" Scott laughed throwing an arm around my shoulders and leading me towards the house.

After lunch i was left with Lisa, we were laughing as we watched Chris, Scott and Mason running around playing some kind of ball game, Scott and Mason were apparently ganging up on Chris.

"I haven't seen him this happy in so long" Lisa suddenly said with a huge smile on her face.

"You haven't?"

"Nope, he's not been the same since you left. He puts on this front of being happy but i know its bullshit"

"He's the one who left" i mumbled quietly.

"Oh i know sweetie, he told me everything, i just mean he's been different since he's not had you in his life".

"When you say everything....."

"I know about the vegas wedding" she smiled "and how you're still married"

"Not for long, i signed the papers again..."

"Are you sure that was the right thing to do?"

"I thought it was done years ago" i shrugged "besides he asked me to sign them because things are getting serious with Lindsey"

"Ugh" Lisa mumbled under her breath but i caught it.

"Not a fan of Lindsey's then?" I chuckled.

"No, not at all! That girl gets on my last nerve"

Mason suddenly run over to us but his attention was on Lisa.

"Nana can i have a drink please?"

"Of course sweetheart" Lisa offered her hand to Mason and he happily accepted following her inside.

"Y/N your kid has worn me out!" Scott said dramatically collapsing on the grass beside me.

"You getting too old Scotty?" i laughed

"Definitely!"

"He'll crash out soon don't you worry"

"Oh thank god" Scott laughed "i might crash first just a word of warning"

"Come on Uncle Scott!" Mason called loudly running back out and diving on Scott.

"You okay?" Chris asked me quietly, i nodded yes with a smile.

Lisa came back out holding up a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses.

"Oh god, my mom's trying to get you drunk" Chris shook his head and laughed.

"I am not! A few glasses of wine with lunch is fine. Besides, you're the one driving not Y/N"

"She's got a point there" i smiled up at Chris wiggling my eyebrows.

"Fine, you ladies have fun" he rolled his eyes looking amused.

"Dad come on!" Mason called from across the yard.

"Okay i'm coming pal" he called back with a smile, every time Mason called him dad he'd light up.... it was the cutest thing i had to admit. Chris's cell phone started ringing and he pulled it out checking who it was, he sighed before answering it and walking away for some privacy. His phone had been ringing all afternoon but he hadn't taken any of the calls until now.

"Lindsey...." i heard him say as he answered the call, i couldn't hear any more than that though. I took a mouthful of my wine trying to act as if i didn't hear who had called Chris, that it didn't effect me.

"You wanna know something?" Lisa suddenly said making me raise my eyebrows at her.

"Sure"

"You and Mason are all that boy of mine talks about, i've not heard him even mention Lindsey"

"I don't know what to do with that information Lisa...."

"Just keep it in mind" she smiled lovingly "its so nice having you back sweetheart, i've missed you"

"I missed you too".

"So tell me, any guys on the scene?"

I laughed and shook my head.

"Honestly? No, well not really"

"So there is someone?"

"No, there's a guy i meet who has asked me out a couple times but...."

"You not interested?"

"If i had met him before Chris showed up  again, i would have accepted in a heart beat. He's so sweet and hot! But its not fair to start something with him while i'm trying to navigate things with Chris and Mason.... i just don't have the time"

"You know it might be what you need..."

"You think i should accept a date with him?"

"I do, Y/N you deserve it"

"Maybe i'll go on one date.... see how it goes" i shrugged "i haven't been on a date in years, i'm so bad at dating"

"You'll do fine sweetie, text him"

"I'll think about it" i chuckled shaking my head, maybe Lisa had a point though....

Mason was asleep the minute we started the drive back to Chris's, he had done well staying awake as long as he had.

Chris carried him in from the car and put him to bed while i made tea and fed Dodger.

I was sat reading a news report on my phone when Chris came back and sat on the opposite end of the sofa.

"These COVID reports are scary, have you read the latest? They're talking about a lockdown...."

"What?? Are you serious?" He asked raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah look" i passed him my phone to read it for himself.

"Wow this is crazy....."

"Do you think it will happen?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if it did" he shook his head as he continued to read "If it does, i think you and Mason should stay here"

"What...."

"Yeah, i mean... i think it would be best. I can help out with Mason and id know you were both safe"

"Oh... okay" i nodded, i guess it made sense....Besides, Chris wouldn't want to be apart from Mason.

"You'd be okay with that?" He asked me looking a little nervous

"Yeah sure, it makes sense" i shrugged.

"Cool, then thats settled. If this lockdown happens you guys will stay here with me"

"If it happens yeah" i nodded giving him a quick smile. Chris suddenly cleared his throat passing me my phone back.

"You've got a message" he said before getting up and storming off into the kitchen. When i looked at the screen there was a message from Derek.

Derek: Hey, i was so happy to hear from you.

I would still like to take you on that date.

When’s a good time for you?

Oh shit.... Chris just had to see that!

But why did he react like that?? He was with Lindsey! And why did i feel so guilty about it??

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