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auroralix · 9 months

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✩ fairly odd christmas - part 2 ✩

read parts one and three here!

pairing: chanlix. this is still chanlix. this will always be chanlix.

summary: single and lonely on christmas, felix makes an offhand wish to have someone to love. the man who appears in his kitchen the next morning to make that wish come true is the last thing he expects.

song: fictional ~ khloe rose

this section’s word count: 5.6k

warnings: i don’t think there are many ?? ummmm the boys(tm) are in love so if you’re homophobic gtfo, the tiniest bit of angst if you squint bc felix is insecure, also felix is still thirsty he’d like some water pls

small a/n: part two! i highly recommend reading part one before this as this will make more sense. i have part one linked above (: also i’m still in the process of editing this, which i’m going to focus on once all parts are written and posted

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The next several days passed without much excitement, much to Felix’s relief. The time consisted of both Chan and Felix learning to love with each other and become more comfortable in their shared space.

Felix took an extra day off work to help Chan settle in more before having to return and leave the spirit at home. He felt horrible the day after when he had to leave Chan and go back to work, but he knew it was for the best.

During the day, Felix went to work and sat at a desk and dreamed about clocking out and going home to the man waiting for him. He was mildly embarrassed to admit just how quickly Chan had worked his way into Felix’s heart, but the damage was done, there was no going back to how he was before.

Chan was the sweetest person Felix had ever met, he was convinced of it. Yes, he hadn’t known the other very long at all but there was no way anyone else could even compete. All of Felix’s past loves were shadows in comparison to the beacon of light that found himself in the center of Felix’s life.

With anyone else, he would’ve been scared he was moving too fast and getting himself in too deep. He and Chan had spoken about it, made it clear from their first day together that Chan was there to fill Felix’s lovesick heart the way he craved so intensely. And he had, he was there when Felix woke up, came home from work and went to sleep.

That wasn’t to say he catered himself completely to Felix’s every desire. He had his own little quirks that endeared him to Felix even more, one of those being his ability to Christmas-ify any and every room he walked into on a whim.

Felix couldn’t believe his eyes his first day home from work to see his apartment decked out in Christmas decor. Little baubles had been placed here and there and paper garlands were strung across the apartment. His sad little Christmas tree he’d put up in the corner had been completely transformed into a glowing masterpiece, just the same as the sad little tree in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” had been. And to top it all off, the whole apartment smelled like fresh cookies.

Felix didn’t know if spirits were allowed to marry, but if they were, he would’ve proposed on the spot.

His apartment had never felt quite as much like a home as it did once Chan aggressively redecorated, making the apartment look like a scene straight out of a cheesy Christmas movie. It was a bit overboard, but Felix didn’t have the heart to say so when he saw the utterly joyful expression coloring Chan’s face.

Christmas was his favorite time of year but he hadn’t properly celebrated Christmas in too long. The most he’d done was put up a tree and maybe some lights on his apartment balcony as he had been by himself every Christmas since college. He was grateful for Chan coming in and springboarding him right into the Christmas spirit.

Although the two of them were spending lots of time together outside of Felix’s work, their relationship hadn’t progressed farther than cuddling while watching a movie or falling asleep. They had time and while Felix was more than happy to let his inner monologue go crazy over Chan, he didn’t want to jump into anything more physical until they’d been on a few dates at least.

One of those dates Felix had been planning for some time, or at least a couple hours while he was supposed to be working.

Chan had a penchant for cookie baking that nearly put Felix’s brownie skills to shame; he’d made large batches of the tasty treats in three different variations since arriving in Felix’s kitchen almost a week ago. And while Felix figured a lot of people would get tired of the baked goods constantly covering his counters in different little tins Chan found, he was not one of those people. Felix had a notorious sweet tooth that could rival that of a five year old’s so he wasn’t complaining by any means.

It had sparked an idea for their first official date, a metaphorical bulb lighting up above Felix’s head when the thought popped into his brain. An ad had popped up while scrolling through TikTok for a shop where people could decorate their own Christmas cookies. As soon as he saw it, he knew it was the perfect place to bring Chan.

He made a reservation for the next night, barely able to contain his excitement and stop himself from spoiling the surprise to Chan when he got home.

“Someone’s happy,” Chan commented when Felix came home hours later. He was in the kitchen, absentmindedly stirring something on the stove and the smell immediately made Felix’s stomach grumble in interest.

Felix hummed, nodding and making his way over to Chan so he could peek over his shoulder at the pan on the stove.

“How’d you know?”

Chan gave Felix a dimply smile before shrugging. “It’s just one of those things.”

“You say that, but I have the feeling it’s another one of your little powers you haven’t mentioned yet.”

Chan just shrugged again, smile still on his face as he looked back to the pot of pasta on the stove. “It might be, you never know.”

Felix groaned and shook his head. “Why can’t you just tell me?”

“Where’d the fun be in that?” Chan giggled, wiggling his hips slightly in a way that made him look like more an excited, oversized puppy than the powerful spirit he was.

And if Felix’s heart didn’t skip a beat or three at the sight.

“Okay, fine, don’t tell me. You’re lucky you’re cute,” Felix grumbled quietly, hardly realizing the words that were leaving his mouth before they tumbled out.

Moments later, a soft squeaking noise came from Chan’s general direction as he tried not to choke on his own spit.

“Y-You… you think I’m cute?” Chan’s words were hushed, his tone disbelieving.

Felix felt his brain stop for a second as it caught up with his words before nodding quickly, unable to help the adoring little smile growing on his face. “I- I, um, yeah, I really do.”

Chan’s own shy smile mirrored Felix’s, his face flushing a bright shade of pink as he looked back at the pot of pasta. “I- uh, o-oh wow, would you look at that, the food’s done. Do- do you want a bowl?”

Felix nodded once again and went to retrieve two bowls for Chan and himself. He chose to ignore Chan’s blatant subject change after being complimented for the time being. Instead, he decided to bring it up later when the other didn’t seem quite so flustered and was less likely to burn himself on the hot surfaces he was surrounded by.

Chan hurried through serving Felix and then himself, keeping his head ducked to try and hide his reddened face the whole time. He offered Felix an awkward, sheepish giggle, waddling into the other room without another word.

Felix shook his head and followed Chan into the other room, fond smile dancing on his lips as he looked after the other. He settled down on the couch next to Chan, not at all thinking about the way their knees lightly rested against each other as he pushed the pasta around in his bowl.

“So, um, I was thinking we could go out tomorrow night,” he began after a moment. “One of my days off from work is tomorrow and we haven’t been on an actual date yet.”

He looked up from his bowl to once again find Chan beaming at him, dimples etched deep on either side of his mouth, the embarrassment from earlier long forgotten. Felix had the fleeting thought run through his mind that he’d never seen someone as beautiful as the man sitting opposite him. The thought was quickly followed up by another right after of how lucky he was to be faced with that bright smile everyday. And to be the cause of it so often made him feel wholly unworthy.

Chan was the sun, and Felix was a simple sunflower, greedily basking in the warmth of the other’s gaze.

It had only been a few days and already, Felix was unsure how he’d made it this far without the Christmas fairy in his life.

“You want to go on a date?” Chan asked, his voice snapping Felix out of his daze and back to the present.

Felix blinked at Chan dumbly a couple times before nodding and giving the other a small smile in return. “That’s part of why you’re here, right? So we can do cute couple things together?”

“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t sure if you actually wanted to-“

“Channie,” Felix interrupted, scooting closer and putting his face in front of Chan’s so he couldn’t escape his gaze. He also refused to think about how quickly and easily that little nickname slipped out of his lips. “Why would I not want to go out with you? I haven’t known you for a very long time, but I do know that you’re kind, funny, the best cookie maker in the whole world, and quite possibly the hottest person I’ve ever met. I want to take you out and make you smile and let everyone be jealous that someone as amazing as you would be with someone like me.”

Sometime during his short speech, Felix’s hand had found its way to rest on Chan’s arm. And once Felix realized, he kept his hand where it was, secretly enjoying the feel of Chan’s arm under his hand.

Not that Chan had noticed, his face red and eyes wide as he stared back at Felix.

“Really?” he said quietly, tone unsure. “Y-You mean it?”

Felix gave Chan the sweetest smile he could muster, the Christmas fairy deserved nothing less. “I mean every word.”

Chan let out a soft giggle, looking down at his hands for a brief moment. He looked up at Felix again, who had still not moved away from in front of Chan’s face. This time, his expression wasn’t shy, it was the exact opposite. Chan’s full lips were quirked up in a cocky smirk and one of his eyebrows was raised as he gazed at Felix, who suddenly felt much too warm and too close to the other.

“So, you think I’m hot, huh?” Sadly for Chan, his façade lasted only until the end of that sentence, after which he immediately broke down into embarrassed giggles. He set his half eaten bowl of pasta down on the end table next to him and sunk into the corner of the couch, covering his face with both arms. Tiny, distressed groans and squeaks could also be heard coming from Chan’s general direction.

Felix just sat in his spot for a few seconds too long, his entire face now a deep shade of red to match Chan’s. He let out a nervous giggle of his own, trying not to think too hard about how his stomach was in knots over seeing that new, albeit short lived, side of Chan.

He didn’t know what he was going to do with the sweet, and apparently sometimes feisty, Christmas spirit that had found himself a staple in Felix’s life faster than he’d ever admit.

•••

The next evening couldn’t arrive fast enough.

For Felix, it was torture trying to keep the idea for his date a secret from Chan. And for Chan, it was torture as he followed his human around all day trying to guess what the date could be.

But eventually, it was nearing time for them to head out so they didn’t miss their reservations at the cookie shop.

Felix had told Chan to wear comfy clothes that he didn’t mind getting dirty which was a struggle for Chan as he loved his new, nearly all black wardrobe he’d picked out with Felix the week before. He didn’t want to get any of his new outfits messy, but after much reassurance from Felix that they could be washed, he settled on a set of clothes and the two headed out.

From the moment they walked into the shop, Chan had gone quiet, gazing at the rows of cookies waiting to be decorated in wonder. Felix just followed him around, letting him look at the impressive spread of cookies, icings, and candy decorations they had to choose from. He couldn’t help but smile fondly every time Chan came bouncing up to him, rambling about another type of cookie he just had to decorate and take home.

“Which ones do you want to start with first, Chan?” Felix asked after they started their third lap around the store.

“I- I don’t know, they all look so good,” Chan replied with a slight huff.

“Well, we can decorate a few to begin with and come back for more after. You don’t have to decide on everything right now.”

The smile Chan gave Felix in return was blinding, immediately bounding back to the front of the store so he could start collecting the cookies he wanted.

As he followed Chan around, Felix began to realize just how much he underestimated the amount of energy the spirit truly had. It took another three turns around the shop before Chan was ready to sit down and decorate. To Felix though, the slight twinge in his feet from so much walking was worth it to see Chan’s face permanently lit up with joy.

Another thing that quickly became apparent to Felix was just how skilled Chan was when it came to decorating. They’d barely sat down and already Chan was spreading out the cookies he picked out and icing them to near perfection. He held the little piping bottles expertly, concentrating on filling in every little gap with the colorful frosting.

Felix, on the other hand, was struggling a little more. He’d picked out some cookies for himself and though he considered himself somewhat skilled as a baker, it was clear that talent did not translate over into decorating. While Chan could create the most wonderful little pictures with frosting, Felix was just happy to complete a sad little stick-like snowflake on one of his cookies.

After multiple failed attempts to pipe out a Christmas tree that didn’t look like a blob, Felix huffed in defeat and slumped back in his chair.

“Is it like, a Christmas fairy requirement to just be amazing at cookie decorating?” he asked, looking enviously at the little murals Chan was painting next to him.

Chan shrugged, not looking up from the cookie he was now decorating with tiny candies. “Not necessarily, I’ve- I’ve just always liked it. I can let my creativity be free, you know?”

“I guess, but you’re so good at it, I don’t know how you manage to make every one of them look perfect so effortlessly.” Felix gestured to his tray of cookies with lumpy little pictures on them. “Mine look like they just got run over.”

“They’re not… terrible.”

Giving Chan an incredulous stare, Felix couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped his lips seconds later.

“What?” Chan asked, voice squeaky in confusion. “Mine just look this nice because I’ve had a couple more years to perfect my ways.”

“Oh sure, because that’s just practice.” Felix nodded again, wholly unconvinced. “Go back to your decorating and let me be jealous.” He waved a hand dismissively and turned his attention back down to the cookies on his tray. The little smilies he’d shakily drawn onto one cookie stared at him tauntingly, like they knew he tried to make them better but was completely incapable of doing so.

Felix scrunches his eyebrows into a frown and petulantly poked at the cookie, offended by its happiness when he was trying to sulk. From his side, he heard a snicker and whipped his head up to look at Chan. “Don’t laugh at my pain.”

“I’m not laughing, I promise!” Chan snickered again and flinched dramatically when Felix reached out to lightly smack at his arm.

“Yes you were! You think my lack of talent is funny.” Felix pouted, poking his lips out in a way he knew his friends and others had a hard time resisting. Chan was no exception to his ways.

“I’m sorry, I- I didn’t mean to upset you.” The smile was gone from Chan’s face, leaving him looking genuinely concerned.

Felix’s eyes widened as he realized what he’d done. Twice now since Chan came to him had Felix accidentally offended him. Scrambling to correct his error he rushed out, “No! No, no, Channie, no. I’m not upset, I promise. I was just joking.”

Chan still didn’t seem horribly convinced at his words, and Felix once again felt like the worst person alive for making his Christmas fairy feel that way.

His Christmas fairy. Huh. That was new.

“I mean it, I’m really impressed by you and couldn’t create anything close to that. I- I say stupid things sometimes, so don’t listen to me, like, ever. I’m really sorry.” Without thinking, Felix reached a hand out to brush a couple stray curls off of Chan’s forehead. He didn’t miss the way Chan stilled at the move, the tips of his ears flushing a dark red.

“You really like my decorations?” His question was quiet, half unsure and half shy.

“I don’t just like them, I love them. Now, let me watch the master work and maybe I’ll pick up something.” Felix lightly poked Chan on the cheek, grinning when a small smile made its way back onto the other’s face.

“If you insist…” Hesitantly, Chan picked up a new cookie and piping bottle, beginning to work on his next design.

Felix just watched him work, sending the spirit encouraging nods every so often when he held up the cookie to show his progress. He smiled as Chan regained his confidence and momentum after a couple minutes, falling back into his decorating groove.

Some more time passed and Felix started to get restless. He’d handed over his undecorated cookies to Chan, letting him make them pretty in a way he never could but now he was left with nothing to do. Until Felix looked at the little bottles of icing laid out before him and suddenly, he had a very stupid idea.

He picked up one of the bottles of red icing and put a dollop on the paper plate in front of him. Felix stuck his finger in the frosting before turning back towards Chan and lightly poking his cheek. Chan stopped mid-frosting swipe, frowning slightly in confusion and a tiny, surprised giggle leaving his lips.

“What was that for?”

Truthfully, Felix had no real answer other than a simple, “Because I wanted to?”

Giggling once more, Chan looked back at him for a moment, seeming to have an internal conversation with himself. He set down the cookie and offset spatula he had been using to decorate and reached in front of Felix, dipping his finger in the frosting on Felix’s plate. Then, with a mischievous smile of his own, he booped Felix’s nose, leaving a smudge of red icing.

“There, now we match,” he announced proudly.

“I guess we do. But maybe I should just…” Felix trailed off, grabbing the bottle with the green icing and putting a dot on his finger. He glanced at Chan and, wiggling his eyebrows, smeared a line of the frosting along the top of his cheek, right above the initial spot he’d left.

Chan’s eyes widened and he reached for the blue frosting to repeat the action of swiping a line across Felix’s cheek. Felix laughed, going for another bottle of frosting.

“Maybe this is the decorating I’m good at,” he joked, making a couple dots on Chan’s other cheek. There was a distant thought in the back of his head that they shouldn’t be doing this with the frosting and they could get in trouble for it. But one look at Chan’s smiling, red face and Felix couldn’t find it in himself to care too much.

The two went back and forth for a couple minutes, sharing laughs and shy glances as their faces became more and more covered in the bright frosting. They probably received some weird stares but neither noticed, too wrapped up in each other to think about anything else.

“I hope this doesn’t stain,” Chan whispered, leaning in close to Felix like he was sharing a deep secret.

“If it does, too bad. At least we’ll both look silly,” Felix shrugged with another laugh. “We should probably try wiping it off soon though, I don’t want the owners to kick us out.”

Chan nodded and picked up one of the paper towels that laid untouched in a pile by their cookie trays. He focused once again on Felix, lightly swiping it over a spot of frosting on his chin.

“Hold still for me.” The soft tone of his voice made Felix freeze, heart thundering in his chest at all of Chan’s attention on him, his face so close. He took in every inch of Chan’s perfect face, the light freckles across his nose that couldn’t be seen from far away, the way his eyebrows furrowed as he realized, “Uh oh. Felix… it’s not coming off.”

Felix was so deep in his own mind he barely heard or registered the other’s words. When the words finally sunk into his brain, his eyes went wide. “Wait, really?”

Nodding once again, Chan sat back immediately, his eyebrows still scrunched together as he studied the streaks across Felix’s face. “I think we’re both gonna look weird for a while.”

“Oops?” Felix offered unhelpfully and scooted forward in his chair, reaching for a paper towel to try and wipe the color off Chan’s face in return. Chan stayed still, closing his eyes while Felix dabbed at his face. Sure enough, the layer of frosting came off, but not the colors of the dye underneath. His skin was lightly stained, the little dots and streaks Felix painted stayed right where they were.

Even with the mismatched colors all over him, Chan was still the prettiest person Felix had ever seen. He was sure, now more than ever, that nobody else on earth would ever change that.

“There we go, all done.”

Slowly, Chan’s eyes fluttered open, his gaze meeting Felix’s. Felix was sure time slowed down in that moment as he looked at the beautiful man in front of him, the world fading into static around them. They were so close but so far away, and all Felix could think about was closing the distance that separated them; a couple short inches and he’d have what he’d been dreaming of for what felt like forever.

But not here, not in this crowded shop. His Christmas fairy deserved better, his Christmas fairy deserved nothing short of the whole world.

Felix tore his eyes away from Chan’s, turning back to the discarded cookies beside them.

“We should- we should, um, go,” he muttered. “I’ll go pay and get a box for these, okay?”

Chan just blinked several times, seeming dazed for a second before he gave a hum in affirmation that he’d heard.

Minutes later, they were walking back home, and all either of them could think about was what had happened inside the shop. Felix didn’t like the silence that hung between them.

He hated it, actually. He couldn’t keep messing up like this, Chan deserved better.

Long minutes turned to quiet hours and all too soon, Felix was getting ready to sleep, Chan already in bed in the room next to him. They hadn’t said much, neither of them knowing how to broach the subject of earlier. They made small talk, ate dinner and watched a movie together.

Felix still climbed into bed, curling up on his side. Chan still wrapped his arm around Felix’s waist, pulling him against his chest. Things were a little weird, but wouldn’t be forever. They could handle a little awkwardness for a day or two.

Next time, Felix would get it right, he silently promised Chan, and himself, as Chan’s steady breathing slowly lulled him to sleep.

•••

Another thing Felix had quickly learned about the Christmas fairy was that he could not sleep. He didn’t know if this was a problem all Christmas spirits had, but it was clearly one that Chan struggled with. More nights than not, Felix would wake up at three am to find Chan gone, in the kitchen baking or making hot chocolate.

Tonight was one such night.

Felix had woken up to again find that Chan was no longer next to him and instead had went off to the kitchen, presumably. Normally, Felix would just stay in bed and fall back to sleep, but tonight was different. He felt a pull, like something was telling him he should get up and join Chan in his late night kitchen adventures. So, he dragged himself out of bed and trudged toward the kitchen.

It had been a few days since the Incident and they still hadn’t talked about it. Things had been awkward at first and it had taken some time, but a couple batches of baked goods later and everything didn’t seem quite as dire as it had before.

Felix wandered into the kitchen and was met with the sight of Chan’s bare back as he stood in front of the stove. While Felix preferred to wear his cute, warm pajamas at night, Chan opted to sleep in shorts; though he suspected the reason Chan bothered to wear anything at all was just to keep Felix from feeling uncomfortable. Not that he would’ve minded if Chan wore less, which was another thought he’d tried desperately to push to the back of his brain whenever possible.

Chan heard the quiet shuffling of Felix’s feet on the floor and turned toward him, offering him a slightly concerned look.

“Felix? Are you okay, what are you doing up?”

Felix just shrugged, because once again, he had no good answer for the Christmas fairy. “I- I noticed you were gone and wanted to check on you.”

To that, Chan smiled softly and turned back to the pot of hot cocoa in front of him. “I’m fine, just can’t sleep sometimes, you know?”

By now, Felix had made his way to stand next to Chan and was watching him stir absentmindedly. “I’ve noticed.”

Things were back to being awkward and Felix hated it.

He wanted to fix it and make things better but he didn’t know how. What was he supposed to say? “You know that really awkward moment a couple days ago? I was really close to kissing you because you looked so pretty but didn’t want to because it wasn’t the right time and you deserve better than that and-“

“Do you want some?” Felix was snapped out of his inward spiraling by Chan’s question.

“I- what?” He asked dumbly, his brain still not having caught up with the moment.

“The cocoa, do you want some? I can make more if you want any.” There Chan was, still smiling sweetly at him like Felix hadn’t been a huge idiot in every way since the first day he showed up. Felix truly didn’t deserve anyone like his Christmas fairy.

His Christmas fairy. Oh fuck, there it was again.

“Felix, are you sure you’re okay?” Chan was frowning now and reached out to feel his forehead with the back of his hand. “Are you getting sick?”

Upon Chan’s skin touching his, Felix’s brain kicked back into overdrive, making him back away quickly. “N-No! No, I’m okay, I’m sorry. My brain’s just been… elsewhere, I guess.”

Chan just tilted his head, giving him a long, considering look. Eventually he sighed and looked away. “I can hear you overthinking again.”

There really was no hiding from Chan with his Christmas-spirit-emotion-telling-thing he had. That didn’t stop Felix from panicking internally.

This was one half of the two things he hated about love. The confessing. He was a chronic over-explainer and always rambled on for too long and weirded the other person out with how much he talked. He couldn’t help it; when he fell, it was deep and hard and there was never any going back.

Not that he was falling for Chan, except that he definitely was.

“Please talk to me, Felix,” Chan said, his voice barely more than a murmur. “I know it’s about the other day, stuff has been weird ever since then.”

Felix took a deep breath. It was time to face his anxieties and be honest. This was Chan, his sweet, lovely Christmas fairy that made him hot cocoa in the middle of the night and looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. He could tell Chan anything and would still receive that same smile that brightened his mornings and made his nights glow.

“About that,” he began, huffing out a sheepish laugh, “it’s stupid, really. I just- in the shop, you looked so, um, so pretty and I really wanted to kiss you but it wasn’t- it wasn’t the right time. I- I wanted to give you the perfect moment because you’re so amazing and- and you deserve something just as special.”

“Felix… why didn’t you tell me?” Some time during his stumbled explanation, Chan appeared in front of Felix, fixing him with such an earnest gaze that he was sure his legs nearly turned to jelly.

“I- I didn’t know how to. I was scared I’d messed up again and made things awkward and I didn’t want to make things worse.” Felix looked down, feeling a burning blush spread like wildfire across his face. Seconds later, a hand tilted his chin up and he was staring into Chan’s warm brown eyes. He was smiling faintly, his head tilted just slightly to the side with his dark curls falling across his forehead.

“What had you imagined?” He asked, voice barely above a whisper.

That took Felix aback. Truthfully, he hadn’t fully planned it out, but different scenes would float across his mind throughout the day. One minute, it was them ice skating, twirling around with each other; and the next, they were outside as the snow fell around them, glittering against the twinkle lights brightening the night.

He closed his eyes, and concentrated on the scene that appeared most in his brain.

“We’d go out, maybe we’d go ice skating, it’d be at an outdoor rink I know of. There are pretty Christmas lights hanging all around and it just feels so magical; we’d skate and maybe hold hands, I’d stress about having sweaty hands or tripping and falling on my face. We’d take a break for some hot cocoa before skating a little more and when the moment was just right, I’d turn toward you and ask before kissing you.” Felix’s eyes were still squeezed shut, wistful smile gracing his face.

And then there were two large hands cupping either side of his face and his eyes were flying open, once again meeting Chan’s searching gaze. He was close, so close. Felix’s breath caught in his chest as he gazed at the wondrous man in front of him. Mere inches separated them but it felt like a mile wide ravine.

“How attached are you to that idea?” Felix could feel Chan’s warmth breath on his face and his brain short-circuiting in response.

“N-Not very, anymore.”

“Then can I please kiss you?”

Unable to form words, Felix just nodded, closing his eyes once again as Chan leaned in. Softly, almost tentatively, Chan pressed his lips to Felix’s. They were soft, just as Felix had imagined, and he hurried to reciprocate, his hands coming up to gently rest on either of Chan’s sides.

It wasn’t like any other kiss Felix had ever experienced. With other people, it had been nice, wonderful, even. He’d tried to push himself to feel the fireworks spoken about in his favorite books and had never had anything close to that experience. But that wasn’t this either, there were no fireworks.

Instead, kissing Chan felt like coming home.

He felt like a warm hug on a cold day, reassuring and there. He was the sun after a long winter night and a refreshing swim in the middle of summer. This wasn’t the feeling Felix had dreamed of, but one so much better; one he hadn’t known he’d needed and now one he knew he’d never be able to live without again.

Moments passed and all too soon, Chan was pulling away, leaving Felix forever wanting more. He knew right away that he’d never be able to get enough of those kisses, of Chan himself.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, blinking at Chan with a slightly dazed smile.

Chan smiled back, always and forever looking at Felix like he held the world. “Was that okay?”

Felix couldn’t help but let out a soft giggle at the question. “That was the best kiss I’ve ever received.”

Chan’s beautiful, dimply smile grew ever wider as he started to lean in once more. “Then would you mind if I did it again?”

This time, Felix beat him to it, wrapping his arms around Chan’s neck and eagerly pressing his lips against Chan’s. Chan let out a small, surprised noise but still returned the kiss, fitting perfectly with Felix.

As he pulled Chan in closer, Felix couldn’t stop smiling. Finally, he had someone to love and someone who loved him just as much.

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read part three here!

#stray kids #chanlix #skz bang chan #bang chan #skz felix #felix #lee felix #skz fluff #fluff #love #i love them #wholesome content #christmas fairy #so many cookies #they’re in love your honor

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xihe1874 · 2 years

Text

The first chapter of Bradley going back to 1986 fic is ready!!! (Yeah, yeah, I can't believe that either lolll) Please enjoy and tell me what you think! 😉

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Pairing: Iceman/Maverick, Rooster/Hangman, Carole/Goose

Rating: T

Word Count: 1835

Completed: No

Additional Tags: Angst, Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Time Travel Fix-It, Pining, Ice's funeral mentioned, Goose's death mentioned, but everyone will live, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Cigarettes, Father-Son Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, POV Bradley, Basically Bradley goes back to 1986 and fixes many things, Eventual Romance, Butterfly Effect what Butterfly Effect, Hurt/ComfortIdiots in Love, Getting Together

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Chapter 1

Rooster leans forward on his chair and keeps his eyes firmly ahead.

Cyclone is going on and on about tomorrow’s mission, some shit like patriotism or sacred duty, maybe. He lost concentration a long time ago but still fixes his gaze on the sturdy admiral, even when his mind is blurred by the tedious speech and meaningless lip movement.

He has to. Otherwise, his eyes will instinctively go to Maverick, sitting in front of him now. He will notice the tremor in his arms or the way the old man clenches his fist so tight that he must have drawn blood.

Only thirteen hours have passed since Maverick pulled the crazy stunt and literally stole his way back to the mission. Only twelve hours since he was announced as the team leader. And only ten since he dropped the bomb and chose Rooster as his wingman.

Speaking of Mav’s wingman… It’s only been two days since Ice died.

Rooster squeezes his eyes shut and takes a deep breath to suppress the sudden surge of emotions in his chest. Several high-ranking Navy officers delivered formal and solemn memorial speeches at the funeral, singing empty praises of the late admiral’s glorious achievements. Maverick, however, didn’t speak - he didn’t even shed many tears. He hammered his badge into the coffin with eerily stable hands, saluted the picture, and then walked away without a word.

Every attendee looked at Sarah, Ice’s sister, and the rest of his family with sympathetic and mournful eyes, so no one noticed the weird conduct of the admiral’s ex-wingman. But Rooster saw Maverick stop at a corner and hump his body, beginning to retch.

Being raised by and growing up around this man means that Rooster has seen and known many things, even if he cut himself off from his godfather a decade ago. Watching Maverick clench his hand around the chest and shudder in unspeakable grief, Rooster had to bite his lips hard to avoid going to him.

Maverick has loved Ice for more than thirty years, and that is a fact Rooster never doubts for a second. And judging by the fact that Ice has more interest in being Mav’s guardian angel than getting married, he probably loved Mav more.

He startles at Maverick’s voice. It seems that Cyclone asks the mission leader to say something too.

“I believe in each of you.” His godfather is speaking, his voice hoarse, and Rooster looks at him, taking in his bloodshot eyes and wrinkles. There is something in Maverick’s eyes akin to sad determination and automatic persistence. “And I also believe that we can make it, and make it home.”

Maverick’s eyes linger on Rooster’s face for one more second, and then he continues. “I will not talk about the mission now, as I have told you everything in the past several weeks. Please rest well tonight, and we will do our best tomorrow.”

Or we die.

The sinking feeling in Rooster’s stomach doesn’t get any better.

He glances around the room. Phoenix is whispering something to Bob, and the WSO looks at her softly and nods. Payback stares out the window while Fanboy is fiddling with his pen. Hangman, however, is looking at him directly, his face totally unreadable.

The scrutinization makes Rooster uncomfortable, and he quickly turns away.

Tomorrow. Rooster is trying very hard not to think about the phrase “last night”.

———

He can’t fall asleep.

It’s well past 11 pm, but Rooster still lies with his eyes wide open. He stares at the ceiling and listens to Bob’s steady breath. Turning over, Rooster kicks off the blanket and rubs at his sweaty face.

Ten minutes later, he sighs and gets up.

No one is in the corridor, so he wanders like a ghost until he sees the light in the ready room and hears Hondo’s voice.

“I am worried about you, Mav. And I don’t like that look.”

He creeps over and sees his godfather sitting in a chair, face buried in his hands.

Maverick laughs in a watery way, and his voice comes out muffled. “It’s the only one I’ve got. And please, go have some sleep. I will be OK.”

Hondo pats him on the shoulder and raises to his feet. “I know you need to have some time alone. It’s just… so many things have happened. Ice’s gone, and Rooster….”

Rooster holds his breath at the mention of his name.

“Yeah. Ice… Sorry I can’t talk about that now.” Maverick exhales, and it’s evident he is trying hard to keep his voice even. “But about Bradley, I know he is a damn good pilot and can make it. He just needs to believe in himself.”

But you don’t believe in me.

Rooster almost barges in when he hears Mav’s following sentence.

“I am ready to do anything to make it possible, Hondo. I am ready. That’s what I am here for.”

He sees Hondo shake his head slightly and hug Mav before he walks out of the room from another door.

Rooster stands there for a long time, staring at his godfather’s figure. Maverick looks even older, sitting alone in the dark room. He considers walking in and asking all the questions accumulated in his heart for decades, the old ones about pulling papers and the new ones about the exact meaning of “doing anything”. He also wants to tell Mav that he didn’t mean some of - most of - the things he said. But he just stands still and lets the chilly wind blow over his bare arms.

————

He sees the lit cigarette first, then the person holding it.

Hangman raises the cigarette to his lip, inhales once, and blows a smoke ring, his eyes glued to Rooster in the dim light. A robin starts to chirp somewhere.

Rooster walks up the staircase until he reaches the rooftop. They stand side by side momentarily, Hangman’s gaze blazing on Rooster’s face.

“Didn’t know that you smoke.”

“Normally don’t. But we can’t drink, which sucks.”

Why are you staring at me like that? He wants to ask, but what comes out is instead - “Can I have a drag?”

Rooster turns around and is captured by the glitter in Hangman’s blue eyes. He is handsome, Rooster thinks, an asshole, but still gorgeous. Hangman holds the cigarette, and Rooster reaches out to take it, his heart beating against his chest.

But instead of handing it over, Hangman ducks his head to take another puff and pulls Rooster close with one hand behind his neck until their lips are only one inch apart.

The warmth of Hangman’s hand burns Rooster’s skin, and he shuts his eyes when the smoke passes between their lips. The other pilot’s finger gently rubs little circles on Rooster nick, and his breath is hot on the other’s mustache.

“You are stingy like that?” His own voice hoarse beyond recognition.

Rooster feels the hand on his neck tighten like Hangman is holding on to Rooster and refuses to let go.

“Full experience is only available when you are back, Bradshaw.” Hangman is whispering. He raises his other hand and caresses Rooster’s lower lip with his thumb. “So make sure you get back.”

—————

The next day comes in the blink of an eye. When Rooster sits inside F/A-18E/F alone, his brain a hot mess, he looks up to the bright sky and whispers. “Talk to me, Dad.”

He hears Maverick in their private comm. “You got this, kiddo.”

“Dagger One is hit!”

“Rooster, Mav is gone. We have to get back.”

Get back.

We will talk when we get back. The sentence overlaps with Hangman’s similar words, replaying in his ears.

Rooster clenches the handle and turns it with more strength than necessary.

When his jet is hit, and the explosion almost deafens him, Rooster knows he will not make it. He feels… calm. He has saved Mav, and that bastard will be able to find a way home by stealing a jet or something like that. They have accomplished the mission successfully, and he may finally see his parents after so many years. Maybe he will meet Ice too, and he will definitely ask him why he and Mav won’t make each other happier.

The only thing he may regret is that he will never have the chance to taste that cigarette.

Rooster closes his eyes and lets the force pull him to the dark.

—————

“You, hey, you! Wake up!”

Bradley doesn’t want to wake up. He is so tired that it is almost like he has run a hundred miles. He shakes his head and turns over.

“Mav, come here!”

He hears footsteps.

“What, Goose, I was planning to serenade… wow, what is this?”

Now, that voice sounds quite familiar, if only more cheerful and lively than he remembers. Bradley struggles to open his eyes and sees two men squatting around him. One of them has a mustache and brown hair that look like his. The other has dark hair and shiny green eyes and is examining him suspiciously. Both are young and wearing white uniforms.

Bradley vaguely realizes that he is lying on the ground. He tries to get up but groans at the headache.

“Whoa, easy there.” The mustached man smiles at him warmly and helps him sit up. Bradley stares at him, and the other stares back with wide eyes.

“Holy shit, Goose, he looks exactly the same as you!”

Goose?

No, that can’t be.

“No, Mav, I am obviously way more handsome.” Goose frowns at the dark-haired man.

Mav.

Bradley’s brain slowly recovers, and he starts to remember things. The mission, Mav saving him, he saving Mav back, the darkness…

He looks around him and finds himself in a noisy bar. Men in white uniforms are everywhere, mixed with civilians. Their dressing styles are old-fashioned, which reminds Bradley of the old photo of his mom. There is music in the air, and Bradley recognizes it as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”, released in… 1965.

He snaps his head back to gaze at the two men before him.

His dad and Mav, in their twenties, are young and alive. The faces he could only imagine using faded photos and memories previously are right before his eyes.

“What is happening here?”

Another voice, deep and smooth. Bradley raises his head to see a young Ice with spiky hair. He is wearing shades, but it’s definitely him, as the irritated way he purses his lips at Mav is too familiar. He hasn’t heard this voice in almost five years since Ice’s cancer became severe.

It’s a dream. Or he is already dead. He looks back at his dad and whispers. “Is it a dream, Dad?”

His dad splutters in confusion. “What, no, what, I am not… What???”

Bradley doesn’t care. He just pulls his dad forward by the collar, hugs him tightly, buries his face in Goose’s shoulder, and cries when he feels his dad hesitantly put one hand on his head.

#icemav #iceman x maverick #tom iceman kazansky #pete maverick mitchell #icemav fanfiction #hangster #rooster x hangman #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #nick goose bradshaw #top gun #top gun 1986 #top gun: maverick #top gun fanfiction #where past and future are gathered

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mahou-furbies · 2 years

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It is time for

This year the event will be hosted by Snow Miku! Not exactly magical girls but close enough design wise.

Here is the magical girl media consumed on this blog this year:

(Delicious Party Precure, Futari wa Precure Max Heart, Magia Record s3, Machikado Mazoku s2, Tokyo Mew Mew New, Magic Users' Club! (OVA), Magic User's Club! (Tv), Tropical Rouge! Precure season movie, Futari wa Precure Max Heart season movies 1 & 2)

At first it looked like I barely read any magical girl manga this year, but then ended up reading a couple in the final few weeks of the year:

(Magilumiere co ltd, Time Stranger Kyoko (reread), The Life After Retirement of Magical Girls, No Match for Aoi-kun, Magical Lollipop)

Also I read a lot of magical girl webcomics!

(Magical Mom, Sleepless Domain, Cloudy Wondrous, Apricot Cookie(s)!, Miss Guillotine, Strawberry Seafoam)

Then let's go through the events that happened this year. We had a tournament for the favourite Precure, and Cure Milky was the winner! This time it has taken even longer to draw the celebratory art for the winners than last year and I'm still not done, but I guess nobody but me really cares about that so all is well.

We also had a poll for most/least favourite magical girl elements, which I used to compile the most liked and least liked magical girls (though I think the least liked one turned out to be more popular). I really liked this idea and would like to do something more with it one day, or at least just get statistics on people's opinions on different magical girl tropes for fun.

I also did both Mermay and Witchtober this year (and Adorkastock Draw Everything June which I've done every year since its inception), which included a lot of magical girl content. I like these monthly drawing challenges since I enjoy drawing a set of themed characters, and usually the results are a lot more varied than the stuff I usually draw. So next year I'd like to do some more, but I'll have to find different challenges so it won't get repetitive, this was the second Mermay I did and while it mostly involved characters I never draw otherwise, I'd still like to give that spot to something else next time.

Saban Moon was unleashed to the public this year, which did not affect me that much since I have very little relationship with Sailor Moon, but I can still appreciate unearthing a secret alternative version of a well known character (also it was my most popular drawing this year)

This year I started and exercise project by trying to motivate myself with the reward of buying a Miku Nendoroid each time I exercise a certain amount of times. It has been mostly successful, or there are breaks but they are a lot shorter than they would ever be without a prize looming in the future. Much recommended!

Finally one thing that's different from last year that I didn't draw a lot of characters for my magical girl chibi series, because I was busy drawing a different kind of chibi series (hundreds of Pokemon chibis on my other blog). And this chibi style spread to several of my other fandoms too, I used it on the Witchtober, and I've done four (I think) sets of requests in it.

Finally a mention to my frustration on the lack of green Precures culminating in a series of green Precure OCs.

Then onto the awards!

Best Henshin Design goes to Cloudy Wondrous! A solid design where everything works together (I’m especially a fan of the cloud motif used in different places), and the unique details (crown, wing eyepatch thing) make it more memorable.

Best Team Design goes to Tokyo Mew Mew New! Granted I think I like the original designs more, but TMM team design is still strong here as well, it's recognisable as TMM but highly customisable for OCs.

Best Powerup Design goes to Strawberry Seafoam! Or they should probably rather be called separate forms on the same level with different purposes rather than increasing in power, but who's counting. They are all pretty (as are the other mermaids' transformations) but let's say the jellyfish one is my favourite, it has such warm glowing palette (but also an illuminated dark mode!) and it creates a unique silhouette.

Also a shoutout to Cure Spicy's Party Up Style "hat".

Best Civilian Design goes to Amane's winter look from Delicious Party Precure! It just looks so comfy...

Best Hair goes to Sae from Magic User's Club! It's pretty simple compared to the usual absurd magical girl hairstyles, but I like how the angular shapes make it memorable.

Best Magical Item goes to Bijou's pen from Strawberry Seafoam! It looks pretty, and I like magic where you actually draw your spells. And it's fun to see her style evolve!

Best Henshin Scene goes to the dresser henshin in Magilumiere! Overall it has a lot of creative henshin and I really hope it gets animated some day!

Best Fan Creation is the catch-all award for everything that's not from, like, a big corporation, and this year the competition is really tough with all these highly polished webcomics, on a normal year any one of them would have been the winner but now I have to pick one. And it is also this year's Best Work, so more on that later!

Best Relationship goes to the group in Magic Users' Club! Their relationships feel very natural, and everyone has something different going on with the other characters. And while there is a little drama, the overall vibe is delightfully positive.

Best Mascot goes to Kome-Kome from Delicious Party Precure! Personality or plot-wise there's nothing that interests me about her, but it must be said that I'm a sucker for progressively aging designs and she's also stupidly cute.

Best Supporting Character goes to the 4th wall breaking Director of Darkness, from Apricot Cookie(s)! He just cracks me up every time he is on panel with his friendly and welcoming attitude.

Honourable mention to Mari-chan from Precure who is the best character in the season but who unfortunately doesn’t get to do much.

Best Visual goes to the art style of Strawberry Seafoam! Bold and unique glowing saturated colours that somehow feel nostalgic. Special mention to all the swirly magic.

Honourable mention to the art style shifts Apricot Cookie(s)!, sometimes the art goes to retro manga or anime or 3d idol dance models for fun. And another honourable mention to the visual presentation of the Apricot Cookies website.

Best Audio goes to the Shiny Luminous / Queen theme in Futari wa Precure Splash Star (not the henshin one but the one when she’s doing something epic). Feels very majestic.

For the Best Scene I don’t have anything specific that comes to mind over everything else this year, so let’s say Kuroe’s fate in MagiReco, Shiny Luminous in the Max Heart finale and Grandma’s fate in Apricot Cookie(s)! can share it.

Innovation Award is for honouring a work doing something new and refreshing for the magical girl genre. This year I read several webcomics (that generally get to be more innovative than commercial anime) and even one actual manga that focused on "magical girls as a job", but each with a little different angle. So a shoutout to Magilumiere Co ltd, Sleepless Domain, Cloudy Wondrous, Apricot Cookie(s)!, Miss Guillotine and Magical Mom! With this many of them it'd feel a little weird to pick any for the "innovation award" over the same topic, so let's reward Magical Mom, for having, well, the magical mom! Magical girls whose mother is also a magical girl are of course a thing, but this time the child is a boy, and the mother also is an active and prominent character (and not just a background mentor), so that is new to me.

Then the Golden Mana Award, that is the dishonourable mention awarded to one thing I didn't like this year!

This year it goes to Porun from Futari wa Precure Max Heart. Frankly he was probably more annoying in the original Futari wa but I had something else to complain about that year so now it's his turn. For the life of me I can't understand how this would be an appealing character concept even for children, like don't even 5-year-olds get annoyed at a toddler sibling's tantrums interrupting their big kid play? Even his less overtly irritating scenes don't do much for me, since they rely on "aww isn't it cute how the baby wants to be with you" mushiness.

Also another dishonourable mention to downgrading Pudding’s jumpsuit into a dress.

Best Character goes to Kuroe! (from MagiReco) I really like her design (especially how it mirrors Iroha’s), her quiet and hesitant personality and her melancholic story that felt fresh among all the magical girls who excitedly jump into saving every passerby. Or I don’t really like how she fit in the larger narrative, but in isolation I think her story was interesting.

Best Work goes to Apricot Cookie(s)! It's really funny and the art is great, and the character designs are memorable. The heroine is charmingly dumb and everyone in her family is great. And it took a while to grow on me, but in the end the weeb references make me feel at home.

Plans for 2023

I didn't manage to get any of the shorter mg shows from last year's list (though I did watch Magic User’s Club which wasn’t on the list) so those are still there. I'd also like to watch two series from the Precure backlog, this year I only managed one.

Art-wise I plan to do more for the chibi series, and do another "x colour Precure oc" series. And I'd really like to draw more art that has, like, a background or a mood or a composition, but let's see if that goes anywhere.

(also hopefully more Miku Nendoroids)

#blog stuff #annual wrap up

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kjs-s · 2 years

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A new holiday tradition

Moon Knight/Werewolf by night crossover

Summary When everyone celebrates different holidays you make new traditions together

Word count 1290

Warning mention of people wanting to harm Jack

Characters in this Marc Spector Steven Grant Layla El-Faouly Jack Russell Ted Sallis (man-thing)

A/N I wrote this as a gift for @redgillan and i liked it so I post it here too. Also thanks to @girl-next-door-writes for a lot of great information because I originally wrote this as a Christmas one

Living in a household with people that have three different religions sounds like it could be a mess but the four of you always managed to compromise. Steven and Marc celebrated Chanukah and have a menorah on display. You and Layla celebrate Christmas so you have a tree with ornaments for each one of the four of you. Layla also has her Coptic ones on the tree. Since the first day of Chanukah and Coptic Christmas are days apart you all decided to exchange gifts in the middle between those dates. This year your gift exchange would happen on December 28.

''We need to have a schedule on which item needs the most time to be made. This way we can make all seven things on time.'' You put on an apron and spread the recipes on the kitchen counter. Steven looked around wondering when you started a catering business and didn't inform the others.

''Just tell me what you want me to help you with. But if I may ask don't you think it's a little much for four people?''He picked one of the recipes that read mushroom and chestnut tart on it and checked the list of ingredients.

''What do you mean four people? We will be six at the picnic. Did you forget about Jack's invitation or did Marc not tell you about it?'' He tried but failed to remember anything so you had to narrate the whole story again while preparing the food for the picnic with your new friends.

On July 13 you and Layla had a girls' night out to watch a movie at an open-air cinema. After enjoying yourselves Marc called you about needing help with an issue half an hour after midnight.

'' What is going on? What do you need help with?'' You asked him when you showed up at the square he had asked you to meet him.

''I was on my way to meet you two so I would ask whether you wanted a midnight stroll around town when I heard people yelling. Most of them mentioned a monster and some of them had a few interesting ideas about how to kill it.''

''Are they serious? Even if there is a monster on the loose the best option is to stun it.'' Layla was trying to come up with solutions to not kill whatever they would encounter.

''What kind of monster did they mention? A werewolf? Considering there is a full moon that happens to be the biggest one of the year.'' You turned to Marc for confirmation of your assumption.

''That's what the people said. And we have to protect them. Think you can come up with a plan? A couple of the people shot at the werewolf and it ran off toward the west.''

You traced the werewolf at an abandoned factory and you three came up with a plan to stop it. You would try to distract it while the others would try to subdue it. And maybe try and check if it can transform back into a human. After a while, you managed to control it and he turned back into a man with markings on his face. He was exhausted and you approached him to check on him despite Marc's pleas about him probably still being dangerous.

''Are you ok?'' You tried to examine if he was hurt in any way.

''Where am I?'' And who are you?'' He seemed disoriented.

''I'm (Y/N). Me and my friends tracked you here when you were a werewolf and <<helped>> you turn back. Here they are. This is Marc and this is Layla. What about you?''

''I'm Jack. Thank you for helping me. Did I hurt anyone?'' He was still disoriented and now looking quite sad.

''Nobody was hurt, Jack. But you need to leave because the town's residents were looking everywhere for any sort of weapon to use against you.''

''I should call Ted to come and get me but he might become their next target. Could any of you help me get back to the forest?''

''You live in the forest?'' You began worrying about the man in front of you.

''Yes with Ted, my friend. He is big, green, and very friendly.'' The description piqued your interest and all of you helped Jack back into the forest.

''And that's how we met Jack and Ted. And after that, we check on them every full moon. They invited us to celebrate Christmas with them. But because of our unique traditions, we suggested having a picnic with them today. Did you forget about the gift exchange? Your recipient was Layla.''

''Right, I got her a scarf. I just forgot about the picnic part. Let's start cooking.''

You made almost everything and then you noticed Steven nodding off and closing his eyes. When he tried to peel a mushroom instead of an apple you decided he needed to rest.

''That's it. Break time for you. Let Marc front so you can rest for a little while. We will take it from here and Layla will be home soon with the challah bread and the vegan fruit cake. So she will help and we will be fine.''

Marc helped you make sufganiyot, a pomegranate and apple salad, a mushroom and chestnut tart, koshari, a vegan stew, and potato latkes. All vegan since Steve is vegan and Layla was still fasting.

''All we have left to bake are the vegan kahk. (Y/N) you can take a break. Marc and I will make those.'' Layla helped you to bed.

''Thank you. I will just take a nap and come by to check on you in an hour.''

When you returned the kitchen looked like a flour bomb had exploded in it.

''What happened here?''

''We had a breakdown. Just like the guy on the show you watched yesterday. Bake off right?''

''Well, that guy had a breakdown because he was jet-lagged from being awake for nearly forty hours. What's your excuse?''

''We read something wrong in the recipe?'' You laughed at Layla's answer and helped them finish baking. When everything was done you all grabbed the gifts for the exchange and left to meet Jack and Ted.

You put two enormous blankets on the ground and separated the food.

''The blanket with the angels on it has all the vegan foods on it. Challah bread, a salad, latkes, a tart, sufganiyot which are jelly donuts, fruit cake, koshari that has rice and pasta, kahk biscuits, and a stew. The blanket with the bells on it has pigs in a blanket, pavo that has turkey in it, and romeritos that has shrimp. And of course, there is sushi for Ted just like I promised him.''

''Everything seems delicious. Thank you for letting us be a part of your special tradition.'' Jack gave you a brief hug and threw a piece of wood into the bonfire they had made.

You suggest starting with the gift exchange and then roasting marshmallows that Jack mentioned being vegan and drinking some juice.

Marc gave Jack a compass so he would never get lost again. Jack gave Steven a board game. Steven gave Layla a scarf and she gave you a beautiful jewelry box. Ted gave Marc a handmade menorah for the house that you would put on Gus' tank. And you gave Ted fishing gear to catch his own fish.

Afterward, you gathered by the bonfire to roast marshmallows while music was playing from a wireless speaker. Steven taught everyone how to play dreidel and you played even more games and danced until your feet were sore. That new tradition would easily become your favorite day of the year no matter when it landed on.

#moon knight fic #werewolf by night #marvel fic #moon knight #werewolf by night fic #my writing

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supahn0v4 · 7 months

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I Knew You Once

Rise!Leo/Reader

You two reunite after your return from University

Returning to the Lair had been on your mind since you got back into the state. Having gone off to complete your Bachelor’s, it had been hell to be so far from the Turtles. While Leo did come to see you(Portal powers RULE!), it didn’t make the move any easier. Dropping in occasionally, regularly once every month as no bestie left behind on Lou Jitsu night, you didn’t see him much else.

While his portals were convenient, you had 3 roommates, 6 if you counted their pets. As much as he loves attention, especially from you, Leo did try not to pry into your personal affairs too much. “Lest he push too far and have his title of best friend revoked” as Donnie had put it. You’d never do that to him though, right? Well, better to be safe than sorry. He didn’t have much experience with this kind of stuff but college breaks normally end bad for friendships in the movies and he didn’t want to press his luck. Respecting boundaries was never really his strong suit but he’d learn for you.

He always offered to bring Don to help you study but it normally fell through the more you got into your degree. So he stopped trying as hard for your attention. Limited to sending each other memes through So-Shell. Especially once you both started dating. Usagi taking up most of his time and your boyfriend eating up what little spare time you had. A big move for both of you, everyone surprised, thinking the two of you had already been together.

He’d be lying if he said that didn’t make his heart skip. You would look good by his side. He’d also be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about it either, though his preference for compartmentalizing his feelings won out in the end. Oh but you’d been so happy to introduce him to Usagi, a yokai friend of yours you had met when you were portal jacked(it was one time! Give a guy a break.) when he sent you home after a hangout in high school.

He remembers the day you told him you weren’t allowed to talk with him anymore. Remembers the outburst, his veins in his forehead almost popping as you tried to convince him everything was fine. That he wasn’t the first of your friends to tell you how you’re becoming a stranger because of this boyfriend. How it didn’t matter what he said. How desperately you were trying, and failing, to convince those around you this wasn’t self destructive and going to hurt worse in the end.

—72 was his body count, you had told him.

Of course the second you leave, some walking red flag worms his way into your life. And of course you dedicate way too much time to this fucking idiot than he deserves. Was it jealousy? No! No! No! Friends don’t let friends date guys who cheat in every relationship date their friends. Especially not their cute friends who deserve a good man who can treat them well. Which totally wasn't him- he had a boyfriend! A cute rabbit yokai too; one you had helped him get.

—73 now with you.

An insanely high number and a really sleazy thing to be proud of. Leo remembers you telling him of all the high expectations the guy put on himself, only to then lord those over your head as if you put those on him whenever the two of you fought. Talking with other women during your dates. Seeing them the second you left his house. But you kept running back to him. What the hell was so important about a misdelivered package for his ex that he had to go hand deliver it to her, at 7pm on a Tuesday night?

“He’s delivering his package, alright.” He remembers how you choked up on the phone, troubled by the reality of the situation. Even more troubled by the fact that he refused to sugar coat his words and called it as he saw it. He wishes you really had left that day, just grabbed your stuff and left while he was with his ex.

—76 by your first “break up”.

It made him feel,,, sad? Empty? Lonely? His best friend transforming before his eyes for some guy who doesn’t see you as more than a game. Even Usagi noticed right away! So it was safe to say he’s not going crazy. But, you stayed regardless. Knowing he was doing this to other girls while with you, knowing that he lied the entire time, knowing that your friends were cutting you off to avoid having to get involved. Knowing how easy it would be to call Leo and the rest of the Hamato’s and be rid of him. But, you wanted to do this on your own, you said. And as your best friend he complied with your wishes, even though he hated it. Even though when you discussed the situation with the others they told you the same thing.

—81 the last time you talked to Leo in your second year.

Pizza supreme, it made his heart ache terribly. You’re supposed to be the smart one! And so you cut him off. A promise to keep in contact and call should the need arise. It never does. Not for another two years at least. Not until you’ve graduated and been scouted at your final presentation. Not until you finally move back to New York.

Your off-again-on-again situationship, calling him a boyfriend felt wrong, broke up with you finally. And it was official this time because he was the one to initiate it. Leo was over in an instant. Disappeared with a dismissive “Be back later” to his brothers and was by your side. He didn’t hesitate, portalling you to the lair with all your packed stuff shove into his subway car, he hauls you into the living room and plops you down on the couch. Retrieving his pillows and his softest throw blanket, he returns to you. Haphazardly making a nest before pulling you to him and forcing you to lay down.

Mandatory Jupiter Jim marathon to ease your troubles and fill in the silence of the lair as you sobbed into his plastron. Leo hated seeing you like that knowing he couldn’t do anything. You were best friends, and it was perfect! He did not need to ruin that by telling you how much better he’d treat you. How much better he already does treat you- No. He wouldn’t pressure you into an ultimatum, it needed to come naturally from you. Especially would not be doing so after him and Usagi were doing so well.

A confession would make things change. And everything had finally calmed down. No more Kraang, no more Cassandra trying to kill them, Raphael finally showing signs of recovery from his episodes, no more secrets between the boys and their dad, April and you graduating University. No, this was nice.

Even when his brothers returned from the mission and chewed him out for ditching them. Even when Usagi came to see why he went AWOL for their date. When they heard your sniffles they all came over to ensure your safety. The people who care about you most wanting to ease the pain and offering to fix it. “The offer still stands to remove him from the equation permanently.” Donnie had said before he placed his hand on your shoulder, light squeeze before everyone turned their attention to the movie. This was your home, Leo thought as he periodically rubbed his hands up the expanse of your back. Extremely pleased with himself when you would curl into him, head tucked low in his shoulder as you nodded off.

Having you pressed against him, hot puffs of breath in crook of his neck from where you fell asleep against his shoulder. Claiming they were the perfect pillow despite his rough textured scales or the strong muscles beneath them. One hand clinging to the top of his plastron as if to hold him in place as his own arms wrap around your waist. His calloused thumb caresses your cheek. Wiping away the stray tears that kept falling even in your sleep. Usagi on the other side of you, hugging you from behind in his sleep. His soft hand overtop yours and Leo’s in an unspoken promise to remain close.

Getting to share in your space was just enough for him. But just maybe he could convince you to stay with him and Usagi.

#writing #rottmnt #leo #rise leo #Leonardo/reader #mentions of Usagi Yuichi but I’m not super familiar with his character yet #cross posted on ao3

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longterra · 2 years

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Texas chain saw massacre torrent

#Texas chain saw massacre torrent movie

Lionsgate and Millennium Films lost the rights to produce future Texas Chainsaw Massacre films because of its delay in release. It received generally mixed reviews from film critics, and garnered $1,476,843 worldwide. After being temporarily shelved by Lionsgate Films in 2016, the film was made exclusive via DirecTV on September 21, 2017, before receiving a wider release on video on demand and limited theaters, simultaneously, in North America on October 20, 2017. Principal photography commenced in Bulgaria in May and June 2015, with locations and sets chosen for their resemblance to the Texas terrain and as homage to the series' previous films. Maury and Bustillo signed on as directors after reading the screenplay, impressed with what they found to be a unique take on the long-running franchise. Sherwood pitched Leatherface to Millennium Films as a prequel that would follow the titular character in a mentally competent state, enduring trauma that transforms him into the intellectually disabled murderer seen in the previous films. In favor of avoiding the convoluted continuity of the previous films whilst going in an unexpected direction, Seth M. įollowing the financial success of Texas Chainsaw 3D, a sequel went into development from director John Luessenhop for a planned shoot in Louisiana, but failed to receive the greenlight to move forward. It is the eighth installment in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre ( TCM) franchise, and works as a prequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013), explaining the origin of the series' lead character. Sherwood, and starring Stephen Dorff, Vanessa Grasse, Sam Strike, and Lili Taylor.

#Texas chain saw massacre torrent movie

Thank god I got movie theater gift cards for Christmas.Leatherface is a 2017 American horror film directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, written by Seth M. See for yourself if you like but if you are a die hard TCM fan like I WAS, then I highly expect you to be disappointed and don't spend money on it. It's all just very confusing and makes me feel like a woman with a glass of wine wrote the story line. This new TCM makes it seem more like a fantasy horror movie. Plus the other movies really portrayed the fact that the movie was based off a true story. During the first half of the movie it is just like the other TCM movies, but the last half turns into some weird love/family reuniting story which I absolutely hated. The whole story line was completely changed. And don't even get me started on how Heather was acting at the end of the movie. Also the makers of the movie made a huge error with the the main character's age (should be at least 40.) The killings were not that severe, the only 3D parts were with the chainsaw (which didn't even happen that much), and Leatherface was turned into this sweet character that you began to feel bad for. And the fact that Trey Sonz was in this movie(even though his acting skills WERE better than I expected) totally ruined it for me. However, once we met the main characters of the movie it was obvious that it wasn't going to meet my expectations. The movie started out good, and had some good background information to later understand the present scenes. I believed that the TCM movies were always better than that, but now my opinion has changed. If someone didn't know anything about the previous TCM movies, they would think this was just your everyday horny teenager horror movie. I was so unbelievably disappointed in this movie it sickens me. I rushed to the theater on opening night super excited because the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D facebook page shared a lot of information about the making of the movie and I expected it to be the best one yet. Literally have been counting down the days. Being the extremely huge Leatherface fan that I am, I have been looking forward to seeing this movie since the first posters came out.

#Texas chain saw massacre torrent

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chubbyheadquarters · 2 years

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Updated: Sept 24

I JUST WANNA MAKE SOMETHING CLEAR-

I was a bit stumped about it at first, but I've decided that I'll write NSFW too, so minors 👁👁 please don't look. If I see any minors interacting with any NSFW posts. I will block you. I REALLY don't like blocking people, so please don't make me.

Other than that-

Hello! ٩( ᐛ )و

Just a quick note that this blog will be more about the writing aspect, so headcanons, oneshots and links/updates on AO3 stories, along with recommendations of stories will be posted here!

Another note!

I write SPECIFICALLY for chubby readers, since-

I am a chubby girl myself and I can't find any x chubby reader fics from/for my fandom to save my life- (´༎ຶ ͜ʖ ༎ຶ `)♡

Granted, some people may see it as a simple weight change, but for me, it's the feeling of REALLY being included in the story.

These lines from a bunch of fics I've read-"His shirt fit loosely on you", and "he wrapped his arms around your thin waist", "your small frame" or "He picked you up with ease", etc-don't fit me and I know I'm not the only one.

If a fic usually doesn't clarify that it has a chubby reader, then it's USUALLY a skinny or medium-sized person. I just wanna give me and my chubby fellas a chance, y'know? ┐(シ)┌

And please don't take this the wrong way & please don't think I'm attacking you if you write like this I swear I'm not! Everyone's allowed to write for whatever fandom they want and with whatever body type they wanna write for! I'm just stating that this blog is focused on specifically chubby/plus sized readers.

I write Platonic Readers! For example, if someone requests being just best friends with a certain character, or having a sibling dynamic with another character, then it's all good! 👌🏽

I also write for Yandere characters/situations! If the situation asked for IS uncomfortable to write, I have the right to deny it.

I also do genderbend! I don't see it done much, which is cool! But I'm a dumb little hoe so- ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Final thing! I also write for monsters! I write for skeletons and demon monkeys 😑 Basic stuff, like werewolves, vampires, mermaids/merman, hybrids, etc!

I'll write for certain characters for certain medias since it's the only thing I feel I can actually write without making the characters OOC. (´･ω･`)

🐵MONKIE KID🐵

Sun Wukong

Macaque

Mei

Red Son

Spider Queen

Syntax

Maybe the others too if they're requested enough 👀

I WILL NOT write for LMK NeZha, due to the controversy of his age. I've seen many discussions on it, from all sides, mainly from those who are Chinese. And all I have to say is that I don't wanna touch that shit with a 10 foot pole.

Monkey King: Reborn, Hero is Back & Ne'Zha Reborn Sun Wukong are also a go! I just watched the movies and I am quaking 👀 If you guys have any Sun Wukong movies or game characters that're fleshed out enough to be written, PLEASE send them my way.

🌌WAKFU🌌

Yugo

Dally

Eva

Goultard

Joris

Count Harebourg

Oropo

If there's other characters that are requested, then I'll see who they are and if I can write for them.

Maybe I'll do Transformers in the future! I've only seen Transformers Prime, so I'll need to expand my knowledge first. I mean, unless y'all want some Prime stuff 👀. I'll probably watch Animated and read the comics soon-(Hopefully, I've dropped the damn thing twice-😔)

Now for the big boy-😥

💀Undertale💀

I'll write for it and certain AUs. The AUs follow as below(Sans nickname 1st, Papyrus 2nd)

Undertale (Vanilla and Creampuff)

Underfell (Red and Edge)

Underswap (Blue and Stretch)

Fellswap (Raspberry and Rus)

Swapfell (Black and Cash)

Fellswap!Gold (Wine and Coffee)

Horrortale (Axe and Sugar)

The Outertale AUs count too, but it's best not to ask for something that includes, for example, Undertale Sans and Outertale Sans since they'll basically be the same.

Outer nicknames include:

Outertale (Cosmic and Nebula)

Outerswap (Orion and Atlas)

Outerfell (Comet and Sirius)

Also including specific characters include:

Error

Geno from Aftertale

Passive!Nightmare and Dream from Dreamtale

Cross from XTale

Killer

Dust from Dusttale

And to be honest, I'm at a bit for a dilemma when it comes to if I should include Ink, Evil!Nightmare and Fresh. Since Ink doesn't have a soul to feel. Granted he has the ink he drinks to emulate the emotion he wants to feel but idk- (´⌒｀;)

Fresh is parasitic monster that lacks emotions and jumps from different hosts so writing him romantically might be a bit of a problem.

Evil Nightmare searches for negative energy, as it's said that positive emotions make him weak. (╯︵╰)

I try my best to stay on track with how characters would canonically react, along with a dash of what I think they would do. But if there's enough asks, then I'll try my best to write them! ଘ(੭ ᐛ )♡

Other potential AUs

Underlust

Storyshift

Mafiatale

Underpatch

I haven't read Underlust or Storyshift, but if there's enough requests for them, then I'll do my best to read through their stories/find information and write for them.

I'm having a bit of trouble finding concrete information for the bottom two, so they might be a bit more tricky to write about. (•ิ_•ิ)

As far as rules go, just don't send anything rude, k?

Also, please specify if you want Angst, Romance or Platonic/ if you want Headcanons or a One Shot.

Other than that, this post will update every once in a while if I decide to add or negate something, so keep an eye out! (≧∇≦)/

Sorry if there are spelling errors! Have a good day!

#undertale #wakfu #lmk #lmk x reader #lmk x y/n #wakfu x reader #undertale x reader #chubby reader #x reader #x chubby reader #undertale x chubby reader #wakfu x chubby reader #lmk x chubby reader #lego monkie kid

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pynkhues · 2 years

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Ok Sophie. Top 5 final girls

Alex, this is literally impossible. Okay, okay, at a push, I think right now I'd say:

5. Gorgeous, House (1977)

Okay, she's not technically a final girl, because she is possessed by the spirit of her aunt by the end of the movie, but given she's the only one of the girls not transformed into a clock or decapitated, I think she still counts. Also: I love her a lot. I only watched this for the first time recently, and it's just bonkers and also staggeringly good. Using horror to explore real trauma is hardly unusual, but the way Nobuhiko Obayashi uses witchcraft, hauntings and possessions to explore the legacy of WWII on Japan and the way those most affected by it take it out on those too young to have experienced it is intergenerational trauma storytelling at its finest.

4. Amelia, The Babadook (2014)

I think you could really make the case that we're in a golden age of horror right now, and I think it's one that really began in 2013 / 2014. I mean, god, what a good couple of years for horror - The Conjuring, Stoker, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, It Follows, and Creep to say the very least - but The Babadook has to be a favourite. I think it also had a big impact on what horror could look like, from it's complicated take on motherhood, and, in particular, the way a narrative could flip depending on who's head we were in. The fact that the movie almost justifies Amelia's contempt for her tiny son before recontextualising the grief and depression and neglect that he was living through was just some brilliant writing and direction from Jennifer Kent, but especially the moment Amelia figures out how to fight not just for her son, but herself, is movie magic.

3. Nancy Thompson, Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

I feel like everyone has that 70s/80s final girl that really feels like she's theirs, whether that be Jess or Laurie or Sally, but Nancy was always That Girl for me. The thing about Nancy is that she's curious. She follows leads, she explores her options, she wants to understand, but she also wants to fight, and I think that curiousity is something that's really often lacking in horror protagonists. Plus this movie is just so wildly fun, I can't believe it's not everyone's fave of the 80s wave.

2. Lila Loomis nee Crane, Psycho (1960)

I had never really considered Lila a final girl until a few articles came out last year repositioning her as an ancestor to the trope, and ever since then, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Psycho is a movie that's complicated and of it's time, and yet feels contemporary in a lot of ways too. It's a movie that, at it's heart, is about the failure of the system, in health, family and justice, and about the way familial love operates within those failures. While it's ultimately fractured in Norman and Norma's case, Lila and Marion's story, to me, is the beating heart of that film. It's her love persevering for her sister, even in the face of unknown danger, that sees her reject the police failure and seek out her sister on her own. She survives where her sister doesn't, but she also doesn't stop until she's able to find justice for her sister, and if that's not the final girl trope at its best, I don't know what is.

Sidney Prescott, Scream (1996)

I mean, who else does it like Sidney? She's really one of those formative characters to me and I don't think any character grounds a franchise in the way she does. It doesn't matter how big or silly or bad the sequels are, Sidney is always Sidney, and I'd watch her face off with anyone.

#this was v fun to think about #thank you!#now i want to know who yours are #horror #film asks #sidney prescott #scream #lila loomis #psycho #nancy thompson #nightmare on elm street #amelia #the babadook #hausu #gorgeous #welcome to my ama

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kidney9-9 · 2 years

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Honey, I Shrunk You! - Part One

Hi hope y'all enjoy this miniseries! This started from requests sent from anonymous, and I liked them very much so I decided to do a small series.

There will be four parts to this and should be updated every other day

Severus Snape x wife!Reader [Established Relationship] Warnings: Transformation and nudity Word Count: 4.1k

Severus Snape was on a mission to make at least one of your wishes come true. Ever since your last anniversary together, Snape had kept your confession of three of your wishes in his mind. He often thought of them and would repeatedly ask himself how to at least achieve one of your wishes.

The first wish – which seemed utterly impossible at the moment, was to float up into the air and travel across the seas with an umbrella. The only reason it was impossible was because you specifically added that the umbrella was supposed to be the umbrella your childhood best friend gave you, covered in little stars and hearts and quotes from your favorite movies. You drew him a picture of it, and even added a few details like that one sticker your friend had stuck onto it. You explained that the wish was something you had hoped for after you were shifted into the wizarding world, leaving your childhood best friend and the gifted umbrella behind.

The second wish – to read the entirety of Phyllida Spore’s unpublished works. This dear author created the book, “One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi”, which was a beginner’s guide to herbology and such. It was said that Phyllida Spore hid many journals, filled with valuable information of different herbs, not commonly known in the wizarding world. You described your dreams to find different ingredients for spells – or even possibly creating new spells, which Snape instantly disagreed with you profusely, claiming it was too dangerous for either of you to even think about doing.

And the last wish was to view the world from a doll’s perspective. Snape found hope in granting you this wish, as a gift to you. It was a very odd wish, but you expressed that you didn’t truly mean becoming a doll, but you wanted to see what the world looked like from the perspective of something small, like a mouse, just for a few hours. You said you could generally imagine what the perspective of a giant would be, but you still were very curious as to what a mouse or maybe a small cat would see the world like.

Snape thought each of these wishes were ridiculous but oddly charming, coming from you. He found that each time you spoke, he found himself leaning closer, listening to you intently, instead of ignoring and blocking out people’s speaking as just general background noise. He has done so ever since you two have met, which he claimed gave him the slightest understanding of what “true love at first sight” meant.

Even though he said he never wanted you to be creating spells as it was a dangerous and mostly deathly career as a wizard, he began potion mixing and adjusting to hopefully grant you that last wish.

And this morning, he secluded himself into his office in dreams for mixing the perfect spell for you to see from a different perspective. He was good at potions, so he trusted himself for this.

“Dash of salt – no, three dashes of salt.” He muttered into his wand, acting as if it were recording his voice, but once he let it go, the wand drifted over to the notebook on the desk to scribble down what he was saying.

“The slightest bit of syrup of Arnica, boiled and treated with thyme.” He added it into a mixture, breathing out as a sigh as he started to wonder about a few things. He wasn’t too sure about it all, but he gathered that he was very close to his end result or at least the first mixture of his experiment.

He was reading from a few different books, which floated around him, turning from page to page. The closest spell to what you wished for was a three paged spell for turning people into stone, only for a few moments – but was quite dangerous enough.

Another spell that helped him was a spell to turn one’s eyesight to something enhanced in the night.

“Tooth of wolf, crushed and steamed. Powdered turtle shell and burnt roots of aconite.” And hours went by faster than he’d thought, and he rushed himself even more as he knew you’d walk in soon to greet him a good morning.

By the time he was close to finished, he bottled up the smoke and safely put the dense and gritty liquid into a container and pushed it into a closed space.

He closed every book and tidied up his space, still wondering about the work as he held the bottled smoke in his hand.

He set it down on the shelf, next to the door and he left the office with another sigh. He felt a bit tired already, wanting to fall back asleep next to you on the bed. You usually slept in late – or at least that’s what he thought was late. He usually woke up around four to five in the morning, to start on the work he planned the day before.

Even though he felt tiredness ache throughout his body, he stood in the doorway of your shared bedroom, not wanting to go in. He didn’t want to accidentally wake you up, and he also liked to watch you for a few seconds to see your face look so peaceful and delicate while you slept.

When he confessed to you that he did this most mornings (a while ago), you kissed his forehead and chuckled.

He was confused as to why you thought it to be funny until you responded, “I like to watch you read, you look so concentrated but relaxed, it’s lovely.”

He left after a few moments. The next stop was to the kitchen to start the kettle and choose the day’s selection of tea. He loved picking different teas, knowing you’d always be surprised but interested in each flavor. He picked up the kettle, filling it with water and setting it on the stove.

He decided on a simple tea, but he set out a special type of honey that would enhance the tea greatly. He enjoyed his daily ritual of stirring in happy and great intentions into each mug of tea, for you and him.

As the kettle was screeching ready, you awoke and had sleepily slugged into the kitchen with your slippers on. The noise of your footsteps were hidden as Severus took the kettle off the stove and set it on a kitchen cooling mat. You grinned at your husband, admiring how peaceful he seemed at that moment.

You slowly walked up to him, still unnoticed and you slightly bent downwards to place your head close to his. You were taller than him and every time you hugged him, you tried to make sure you were slightly in level with him. He hummed gently back at your touch, feeling his skin warm from it.

“Good morning, how are you feeling today?” You murmured into his ear, causing a few goosebumps to rise in his skin. He smiled softly though, turning to look at you for a second.

“Well, it is a good morning, I must agree. Even though it was already a good morning, you made it even better by hugging me, so I’m feeling alright.” He spoke back, a little on the teasing side because you always greeted him with “Good morning”, even when it was definitely a bad morning.

“Only alright?” You noted back, pulling back from the hug as the steam escaped from the kettle.

“Yes, you can make me feel better, though.” He flirted, turning to look at you. His smile stayed as he realized you put on his robe this morning, it looked adorable on you.

Instead of responding, you raised your eyebrows to him and let out a small, tired laugh, still sleepy. You sat at the table and laid your head down to rest as he continued to prepare the tea. When he set it down in front of you, you grinned.

“Thank you,” You whispered to him, going to take a sip but he slapped your hand away, “No! It’s still too hot.” He shook his head at you, and you laughed.

“Okay, I’ll wait a minute for it to cool.” You wanted to laugh again but he shook his head more.

He always knew to watch out for things like this, it was a bit wonderful but annoying. Like when you forgot to lock the door, he’d always realize and tell you before you two left, or when you left a candle burning in the bathroom while you changed your clothes and he’d be alerted by the smell of smoke.

“Wait two minutes.” He replied instantly and then added on a small, “Please.” You nodded to him, smiling even more.

When you finally sipped at the tea, you were delighted. “Oh, it’s great!” You exclaimed and he nodded, feeling happy with the selection he made.

The two of you drank the morning tea and some water as well, as the morning officially began.

He enjoyed his daily lifestyle with you, everything fit into place so well. You two merged into something so good – practically perfect that he was happy about. He enjoyed boasting to himself about you, which was a bit funny.

He’d have little conversations in his head, or he’d start to be reminded of you when you two were apart when he was out and about, or when he was teaching, and he would read something out of a book.

There was that ridiculous time he accidentally called out your name when reading over instructions to his class, and everyone gasped at him, unnerved by how his tone changed.

But in general, he had slightly changed over time he believed, into a somewhat brighter person, not like the ones he despised seeing. He just started to enjoy things more regularly now, especially with you as his wife, enjoying things with him.

“Did you see the flowers our neighbor planted? Its so pretty, right out by their gates.” You brought up and yes, he did see them. He almost blushed when he remembered thinking about how the colors from the flowers, glittering in the sunshine, would look amazing on you. He daydreamed of placing them behind your ears or pinning them to your shirt.

“Yes, pretty.” He responded, gazing at you as you sipped again at the mug. You glanced over to him, almost instantly noticing that look in his eyes and chuckled.

“You’re pretty too, dear.” You paused, stretching back against the chair and it creaked a little.

You patted at it, distracted by the noise before looking to him again, “So, what are your plans for the day?”

He blanked. Huh, he already spent up much of energy in his study, and he had hoped that he would clean it up better, but other than that, he wanted to spend his days indoors. He became a homebody once the cozy home you two bought was fully decorated.

“Clean. Perhaps create more sleeping drafts for Darcy, but I have a spare one, she’s been wandering on the roof at night lately. I’m… concerned she hasn’t been restful because of the new cat.” He chatted a bit about the neighborhood cats, and you almost pouted at the mention of Darcy.

“I did see her out in the backyard, I think her paw healed up. Are you bringing her in afterwards to check over her?” You responded, heart starting to warm as he nodded. He cared so much about the cat; it was adorable.

You sort of wanted to fully adopt her into the home, but she was more of an explorer and had become the talk of the little neighborhood.

“Yes, I fear that she still needs to be looked over, at the very least.” He didn’t lead into why, but you frowned a bit, understanding his worries, in case she was hurt in another place because of those fights with the new cat.

“I’ll go get it. I think she might still be around; I’ll hang on to it in case I see her. She’s still pretty scared about coming inside without that draft.” You spoke, nodding to yourself as you got up and leaned over to Severus.

He blinked in surprise as you leaned over and gave him a sweet kiss onto his cheek. “You are such a big teddy bear, you know?” You laughed, watching as heat traveled up onto his neck, and he wanted to deny it.

“Not exactly a teddy bear. But…” He trailed off, unsure of how to end his thought and smiled back to you instead as you leaned back. You picked up your tea, taking the last few sips and placed it into the sink, knowing to go back to clean it later.

His eyes followed your figure and he hummed quietly to himself as more warm light poured into the room. So relaxing… he very much loved this life indeed. It was better than before he met you, insanely better. He didn’t like to think about the past, but he did get reminded of it often when he had to return to Hogwarts for the few semesters he’d stay and teach there.

He remembered how he stuck to himself, barely finding much of a sense of belonging at work, among his coworkers and the students, along with the beautiful scenery. He felt like the entirety of it had disagreed at him, even the trees would mock him as he rushed through the corridors, gazing at them.

And now, he fit. He found the puzzle he belonged to, and he was no longer the strange puzzle piece, that did not fit into any other puzzle. He fit into this place he called home, he fit into the place he was called husband, and he fit into everything about you.

Your arms would casually brush up against him, and he’d get that kind of shiver that you never would have expected to actually exist when you’d only get it from watching movies. And he’d feel his heart rush when it wanted to, and slowed into relaxation when it wanted to, all around you.

He liked the feeling of you close to him, or on him, in general.

So, when you screamed in terror, he felt that puzzle he was placed in was thrown off the table and broken. He abruptly stood up in shock, knocking over his mug onto the floor as he ran to the direction of your scream.

It was cut off so short, so terribly, he feared that the worst had happened! Had you hurt yourself and passed out, perhaps?

He hoped not, but the silence following your scream had given him the worst thoughts.

“Dear? Honey?” He called out, nervousness bleeding into his voice as you didn’t answer. He saw a strange dust of smoke spoof out into the hallway. He rushed to his office, fear in his mind and now throughout his body as he started to shake.

You were laying on the floor, groaning quietly at your leg. You didn’t notice him behind you but as he placed his hands on your shoulders, you jumped up at the feeling.

“Sev?” You mumbled, turning your head to look at him in confusion.

The bottle of smoke had broken after you opened the door, and you fell down. But he was confused, there were no cuts on your legs – or anywhere on your body that he could see. You looked odd as well, you were looking at him so strangely, he held his breath in anxiously.

“Did you,” You cut yourself off as coughs poured out from your mouth, air still full of the smoke. It stunk horribly, and you breathed in so much.

“Fart in a bottle or something?” You finished up and he sighed out in relief, letting out a laugh of surprise.

“Are you okay?” He quickly helped you up, avoiding the shards of glass as you giggled at your own joke more. You swayed a bit, nodding to him a few moments after he asked.

“Well… yeah. It’s just I think I hit my leg or something.” You replied and again he noticed you swayed even more, blinking rapidly.

“It looks alright.” He hummed back, trying to keep himself calm as he tried to look at your head for injuries. The way you were acting, he was getting a bit scared.

You weren’t like this normally, at all.

And then he thought about that bottle that fell, it was definitely the potion he was working on earlier today. That must’ve been why you were acting so strangely now, but he wasn’t affected by it at all. His eyebrows furrowed, thinking back on the things he put into it.

“I’m sorry, can you get me – there’s something, I don’t know, I feel like I need something.” You stumbled over your words, and slightly pushed yourself out of his grip.

He paused; a bit frozen as you walked over to the cabinet, he put the actual potion into.

“Dear, please. Stop and tell me what’s happening, this instant.” He demanded softly, reaching out for you now. You shook your head at him and started to cough more. It sounded rough and terrible for your throat, and he frowned more as you struggled to say something.

“It’s – there’s something in there, I feel like I need it, I need to drink that!” You explained, choking up on the coughs.

“What?” He pushed out, feeling extremely scared.

“Sev, please! Help, I don’t know, it feels like its right here and needs to – ow, my throat, I need to drink it, it’ll make it better! It feels like my throat is on fire.” You begged him, your legs no longer moving.

You couldn’t feel them at all now, and it was like you were slowly being frozen from your toes to the top of your head.

“No, wait, that’s not – I was going to test it out, it’s not safe.” He tried to deny you, but he saw how much pain you were in, he couldn’t understand it completely. He didn’t understand why this was happening only to you, but slowly he started to be convinced and he reached to the package he put it in, opening it hesitantly.

“Please – I can’t move my arms, I’m really scared.” You had started to cry so quietly and terrified, and he poured the gritty liquid that was supposed to be a potion, down your throat. You swallowed as much as you could, as fast as you could.

“Honey? Please, are you okay?” He whispered hoarsely after you finished gulping it down. He didn’t know what to do, but you looked better, the color returned to your body, and you weren’t sweating as much.

But when you tried to take a step closer to him, you dropped to the floor. Instantly, your body dwindled down into something smaller and smaller, and you gasped in breaths as the clothes on you became bigger, it felt like.

Severus watched in horror as you grew smaller, now with your clothes falling to the floor.

The two of you fell into a stunned silence. He gazed down to you, a smaller you. And you stared at him – a very big him.

“What’s going on?” Your voice even quieted down too, and he almost threw up. Key word, almost, as he looked to his hands in horror.

This was not what the potion was supposed to do, at all. It was just meant to give your eyes the perspective of being small! Not actually turn you this small.

And the way you acted before, with the smoke in the air, it looked as if you were truly being turned to stone, which completely terrified him. He lowered himself to the floor, still staring at you in disbelief.

“I’m so sorry.” He gathered out of him, voice cracking again as you looked down to yourself, reality starting to sink in.

“Huh?” You peeped out and then you looked down to your body. You were naked, yes, you understood that part but then when you looked to everything else, around your body – it was huge!

Severus stood over you like a giant but now he was sitting next to you, and suddenly you could see the very fine bits of detail in the wood flooring. And all the dust and dirt on it – it was so much bigger than you’d ever imagined.

“This was – I’m so sorry, my dear.” It sounded like he was about to start crying, and he really almost did. This was not how it was supposed to happen, but the way the smoke affected you, and how it seemed to make you need to drink the contents of the container, it was all odd.

“Potions aren’t supposed to do this.” He murmured angrily to himself, “It wasn’t meant to happen like that.” He began to anger himself more as he thought about all the things that could’ve went wrong.

He didn’t do anything exactly wrong, did he? Did he really make you into such a tiny thing? You looked like a small doll now!

“Severus, what do you mean?” You finally had walked over to him, but you were scared. Everything was just so big now, and it was horrifying.

He made a strange noise and shook his head. He was going to tell you what he did, and he felt extremely guilty.

“It was supposed to be a gift, one of your wishes you told me. I made – or I thought I made a potion that would give you the perspective of a mouse, or something small. Like you wanted! But it was only supposed to be for your view of the world, only for a few minutes.” He explained, pressing his hands up against his face.

His voice came out mushed from him covering his mouth, but you understood it perfectly.

“Only for a few minutes? That means I’ll transform back, right?” You didn’t even sound angry at him and it only made him want to cry. He needed you to be angry, because what he just made you into and what you just experienced was terrifying.

“Yes.” He made another noise, a sigh through his nose after he answered you.

“I don’t feel like anything’s happening though, how long has it been?” You replied, goosebumps spread throughout your skin. You rested your body against one of his folded legs, making him flinch slightly at the touch.

“Two minutes, but… the amount you drank of the potion, I don’t truly know. And the smoke affecting you, it wasn’t supposed to be like that.” He shook his head, utterly confused as his voice pushed out of him. You didn’t respond and he noticed.

“I’m so sorry. I will fix this instantly.” He promised, gazing down to you. You hid your face against his leg, and he felt a spot of dampness. He frowned deeper, cupping his hand, and picked you up. He brought you up to his face as you sat down, huddling yourself in a crouch, covering most of your body with your hands.

You cried silently, pressing your head onto your knees. “I’m sorry too.” You spoke up, sniffling.

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine!” He raised his voice because of how absurd it was for you to blame yourself but when he saw you cower back even more in his hand he stopped. It was ridiculous that you were feeling that guilt, because it was truly his actions that made you into something so small.

He was already thinking of ways to reverse it, but he didn’t really know what the answer would be, and it scared him so much. And to see you suffer because of him…

“I’m sorry.” He whispered, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. He refused to cry now in front of you, in fear that it would only make you more worried about your condition. When he felt a weight on his ring finger, he opened his eyes to see you admiring it and touching the ring softly.

“It’ll be okay. I trust you, thank you for thinking of my wishes.” You mumbled, hugging his finger.

He wished he could hug you back, and he caressed your back softly with his thumb. He found himself thinking of finding you clothes that would fit in the meantime, knowing that perhaps you would be stuck like this for a few more hours (he hoped that it was only a few hours). And then he also started to think about the more mundane things, such as what you’d like to eat for lunch and how you’d walk around if the house was too big for you now.

“I’m sorry,” He started to repeat himself and each time he would, you’d kiss right above the ring and shake your head and tell him it would be alright. By the time you two were out of the room, Severus had figured out he needed the help of others to figure out what to do.

Hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think :) Thank you for reading

Do NOT Repost

#severus snape x reader #severus snape x you #snape x reader #harry potter fanfiction #thank you to anon!!

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lowkeyerror · 3 years

Text

You Left Me

Natasha Romanoff x Reader

Word Count: 1965

Warnings: Angst with a happy ending

An: Hi this part of my celebration for 400 followers. I'll be posting everyday for the next 7 days. If you've left a request I've seen it and am already working on it. Feel free to send in more. Thanks for 400 everyone 😊

Masterlist

You didn't regret much about being a villain. The influence, the money, the power; you loved it all. The only thing you had wished ended differently was things between you and Natasha.

She was everything good about you. The only woman that could bring out the best parts in you. The parts that you now hide behind an iron gate in your heart.

You were already an established evil when you first met her. Back then she had no allegiance to anyone. She wasn't necessarily evil or necessarily good. So it didn't hurt her image to be with you.

It was a romance for the centuries in your head. Everything was so scandalous until it wasn't. The flirting and coy looks were only a facade to hide the true feelings you both had.

When you finally admitted your feelings everything just felt like a movie. If you were out, Natasha was with you. Those were the moments you felt most powerful, with her by your side you could do anything.

You loved her more than all of it and you thought she felt the same. Until she just disappeared one day. No call, no text, no note; it tore you apart.

And when you saw her again, she was news. Natasha was playing hero with America Man, Billionaire Bot, and the rest of those fucking losers.

It made you sick. How could she leave you, with no notice, for them? They didn't love her, they couldn't give her anything that you couldn't, but because they were the good guys… because they were the good guys they got to have her.

Seeing her with them lit a fire under you. Up until then you had been scaling back your operations preparing to close shop but not anymore. In fact after that you began to think bigger.

You wanted people to know who you were. You wanted them to fear you and to respect you. You wanted to walk into any place and have eyes immediately on you because the civilians were so nervous.

And you got it.

Now you are a bigger threat than ever before and that puts a target on your back.

For some reason though that didn't bother you. Maybe you wanted it like this. Maybe you wanted to be so big that the Avengers would come after you.

" Master Y/ln there's a woman here claiming that she knows you"

" She have a name?"

" Natalia Romanova"

That made you get off your couch. You made a beeline towards the door, your butler trailing behind you. You yanked the door open with such force that it slammed against the wall.

There she was. Standing on your porch in a disguise that you could see right through. You had so much to say to her but your nerves wouldn't let you.

You stepped out of the way and she stepped in. You sent a pointed look to your butler," Don't let anyone else in and do not disturb us under any circumstances"

He nodded and you led Natasha to your room where you could talk privately. She wasted no time making herself comfortable on your bed.

" It's been awhile"

You wanted to scream at her or shoot some snarky comment at her but you didn't. You didn't want her to think you were the same person you were back then.

" It has. I see you've gone and started playing hero"

She laughed," And you've just transformed into a big bad villain"

It was your turn to laugh," I've always been the bad guy Natasha"

She falters for a moment before regaining her composure," I suppose that's true but you weren't doing crazy shit like this back in the day"

You shrugged," People change"

She hadn't changed much since you had last seen her. Her hair had grown a little longer and her aura was a lot lighter than it used to be. You could see that she had worked through a lot of things that used to trouble her.

" They do but a lot of times they change for the better," she snaps back at you, this time with a little venom in her voice.

You just smile in return," Well this is better… for me that is. More money, more control, more influence; I think that makes me pretty better off"

" What happened to you?"

“ Do you really need to ask that question?” You snapped back at her.

You could see her hang her head slightly. She was avoiding your eyes because she knew she was responsible for your new darker path. But that wasn’t going to stop you from finally getting this off of your chest.

" You wanna know what happened Natty? My life was fine, I had everything I could ask for. Then one day I woke up and the love of my life was gone with no explanation. The person who claimed to make me better, the person who claimed to believe in me, the person who claimed to love me, left. She walked out of my life and the next time I see her, she's on tv with my competition. That's what happened to me. I saw that and decided I needed to replace the feeling that I was missing with something else. So I filled it with crime"

“ Y/n,” she made the move to come towards you but you took a step back.

“ You left me”

You didn’t mean for it to come out so weak. The hurt was evident in your voice and your eyes, which was everything you were trying to avoid. How could she walk in here with the audacity to act like you did something wrong? When it was her, the hero who decided that you weren’t even worth a proper goodbye.

“ I loved you, Y/n I really did,” her eyes were downcast to her feet.

“ Really for all I know you could’ve been with them this whole time. I could’ve been one of your missions, just another bad guy deemed not a threat right?”

There was a new fire in her eyes, “ You really think that? I loved you just as much as you loved me. I was by your side through everything you did. I loved, I supported, and I never once asked you to change”

You rolled your eyes, “ You didn’t love me enough to say goodbye. I could’ve moved on from this life. I would’ve eventually gotten over you but.. I can’t believe after all we went through you just left”

You hadn’t noticed it but you were crying. The tears that were pooled being your water ducts began to overflow with little regard to your ego.

Natasha cautiously walked up to you, this time you didn’t step away. She reached to wipe away your tears which caused you to flinch. It didn’t deter her though, her thumb was still gently stroking away the loose tears.

“ Get off of me,” you made no move to remove the woman’s hand from your face. In fact you leaned into her touch out of instinct.

“ Leaving you was the last thing I wanted to do. Y/n I was a wanted woman. A Russian spy, enemy of the state, the feds had been keeping tabs on me. They picked me up and gave me an ultimatum: either I was going to join the Avengers or I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison"

She took a second to gather herself before continuing," They knew about us. They knew about your criminal history and the fact that I was with you meant you were harboring a fugitive. They were planning to throw you in jail and I couldn't let that happen. So I joined the team"

" We could've ran," you whispered.

" They would've always found us"

There was an almost hopeless silence that followed that. You were in a stalemate with yourself. You wanted to be mad at Natasha but you couldn't. Not when she was this close to you. Not when her scent was so intoxicating.

" Why'd you come here Nat," your eyes pierced through hers.

She took a step away from you and clasped her hands together, " I came to warn you"

You sighed, " You and your friends are coming after me next?"

She gave a curt nod," You're on our radar but I'm not going to let you get caught. You either need to disappear or scale down your operations"

You chuckle earnestly," You trying to save me now? Last time you did that you walked right out of my life"

She gave you a look," I'm sorry but this is serious. The Avengers are supposed to solve world problems. This means you are seen as a threat to the world Y/n. You'll be tossed away without the key"

You knew it wasn't the time but you couldn't help but joke," Would you come and visit me in the big house?"

She smacked your arm," This is not funny Y/n." She was holding back a smile.

" What so you wouldn't come see me? I mean that kind of tracks, so I'm not super surprised"

There was a hint of truth in the joke. It had been years since you had seen Natasha. She could've found you at any point to come see you but she didn't.

" I'd be there everyday to make up for all the time that I wasn't but I'd rather not see you behind bars"

You couldn't help the small smile making its way on your face," Still smooth as ever I see."

She shrugs coyly," Only for you"

You take in this feeling. It had been years since you felt like this. There was a warmth you could feel in your heart. A tingle when you smiled. This magical aura around you that only presented itself when Natasha was around.

" So I have to disappear?" You took yourself and Natasha by surprise when you wrapped your arms around her waist.

" Ya," she mumbled into your embrace.

" So I won't be seeing you again?" You whispered, speaking to yourself more than the woman in your arms.

She leaned her forehead against yours and her eyes fluttered shut, " I don't think I could forgive myself if I left you again"

Her lips brushed against yours ever so lightly when she spoke. The familiar feeling of her lips against yours drove you crazy. It was enough to make your eyes drift shut out of pure bliss.

It felt like it took centuries and you couldn't tell who made the deciding move but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that after years apart Natasha's lips were on yours.

They were as plush as you remembered. You could taste that chapstick she used to wear all the time. Her hands rested on the back of your neck like they always had. Your hands were tucked under her chin bringing her as close as she could be.

It was like you traveled back in time just to capture feeling again. You hadn't thought that you'd ever be able to feel this again. It was always so enchanting with her.

The way you two held each other didn't change when your lips parted. You were still holding each other close, not willing to let the moment die.

" What are we going to do Nat? I don't think I can take another couple of years without you, I love you too much" There was no way you would go years without seeing her again after this. You didn't ever want to be away from her again if you were being honest.

She pecked your lips again," We'll work it out. I don't know how, but we will; because I'm not losing the love of my life again. Not for anything"

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff imagine #no black widow spoilers #angst #natasha romanov #lowkeyerror

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xihe1874 · 2 years

Text

The first chapter of my IceMav "You've Got Mail" AU promised to you!

Tell me what you think! Like it? No? I want to hear everything!

Since I will be back to work tomorrow, I expect my updates to slow down a bit. But I will post as soon as I can.

--------

Pairing: Iceman/Maverick, Carole/Goose

Rating: T

Word Count: 1680

Completed: No

Additional Tags: Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Competition, Texting, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Alternate Universe - You've Got Mail Fusion, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Interior Designer Maverick, Interior Designer Iceman, Chatting & Messaging, Anonymity, Idiots in Love

-------

“Wallpaper?”

“Ready, Mav. Exactly the kind of pinkish blue-green you asked for, though I believe Ellen from the purchasing department is going to kill us.”

“She won’t, we are her bosses. Curtains?”

Pete Mitchell, endearingly called by his close friends (or friend, honestly, who is walking beside him right now) as “Maverick”, takes the cup of iced black coffee from Nick Bradshow, or “Goose”, co-founder of M+G Design Ltd.

“Done. But do you really think brocade will go with the style? Most people will choose linen if you ask me.”

Pete walks into the elevator and holds the door for Nick. “Well, what can I say?” He pulls down the aviator and winks at the moustached blonde, who rolls his eyes. “I am not most people. Most people can't start the number one interior design company in the state from scratch, either.”

“I admire your confidence, Mav, I always do, but…” The lift dings, and they strides towards their office, greeting employees on the way. “But someone may have something to say about the number one thing. Some Kazansky guy, to be specific.”

Pete dumps the tons of folders he is holding on his desk, randomly opens one and takes some glances, before drops it on top of the pile to his left. “I don’t know how many times I have told you, Goose, but trust me, that pompous dumbass can’t even hold a candle to us.”

“I don’t know, Mav…” Nick sits down and strokes his chin. His serious and deep-in-thought face triggers a string of uncontrollable giggles from Mav, and the brunette receives a smack with a scroll on the head. “That guy is good. Perfect grades, top-notch university, turned down several excellent PhD offers, ace at the Minimalist and Scandinavian… and so many famous projects. Remember the Jester’s house? Yeah, yeah,” Nick waves at Pete, “I know you can do that too.”

“All right, I admit he is not bad, OK? He knows his stuff, unlike all the others. BUT.” Pete slaps the table to emphasise the word. “He lacks creativity. It’s 2022 now, who still needs a one hundred percent by-the-book boring dork to design their homes?”

“Hmm, Beau Simpson? You know, that famous movie star who speaks of Kazansky like he has a huge crush on his interior designer.” Nick glances at his phone and puts it away. “We have a meeting at ten with the suppliers. ”

“Meeting with the suppliers.” Pete repeats. “Always the worst. And, Simpson probably does. That guy is not horrible to look at. What?” He flips Nick off at his suggestive smirk. “Just being objective. Relax, Goose, Kazansky Concept is no match for our ‘innovative boldness and pioneering unorthodoxy’, as I quote Penny from Design Review.”

“Annnd we both know why she said that.” Goose shrugs. “Mav, I just… The Viper project is no joke, OK? He is the most respected art critic in this country, and getting this assignment is gonna mean a hell lot for our company. For us. I just don't want to let Carole and Bradley down.”

Pete softens. He rises and goes to his best friend, offering him a half-hug. “We won't. I promise.”

They have been working almost two months on the proposal for Mike Metcalf's new villa, or as they refer to it, the Viper project. That old man is notorious for being extremely picky at the layout of his houses, and, unfortunately, he has profound influence in the industry. So all staff at M+G have been keeping their noses to the grindstone as the deadline of submitting the final pitch approaches.

Rumors have that Kazansky Concept also eyes the project hungrily. Tom Kazansky, founder and CEO of that company, recently expressed his absolute self-assurance about getting the contract. “We have every confidence that Mr. Metcalf will choose Kazansky Concept for our scrupulous attention to detail and cautious professionalism.” The blonde flashed his perfect teeth at the camera (Did he bleach and spike his hair? Looks ridiculous.) “We are not some amateurs who casually and carelessly experiment with clients’ precious properties.”

Pete snorts at that smug face in the Youtube video, titled “Interior Designer WAR? Kazansky implicitly called Mitchell ‘an amateur’! ”.

—-You know what’s worse than meetings with suppliers? This Kazansky idiot.

Another day busy as a bee, and when they walk out of the building, night has drawn in.

Pete waves goodbye to Nick who lives with his wife and child, and walks home by himself. He lives in a luxury flat two blocks away from the company, alone. Now, being single is not uncommon at the age of 32, plus he is happily married to the job. He has flings, sure, but he never finds someone who is worth settling down for. Maybe he just has to keep looking.

When he is about to turn the corner, Pete catches a glimpse of some posters on the wall. In the dim light, he can barely make out the words on it.

“Anonymous chat… safe and private… find your soulmate… make relationships pure and simple again… one heart to another…”

Pete blinks and shakes his head dismissively.

He takes two steps, and then stops.

—-----------

Twenty minutes later, Pete is back at his dining room, eating Chinese takeaway. He takes out his phone and stares at the snap. Driven by some unknown forces, he inputs the website in the browser and hits enter.

A mail emoji appears on the screen, followed by a short list of log-in questions.

“The website can use some designing…” Pete murmurs and looks at the quiz. “Choose your call sign? What is it, secret pilot program?” He hesitates for one second, before entering “Maverick”. There is no chance that Goose, a contentedly married man, will use this website, so he is safe.

He answers the remaining questions (“Gender… Male… Aged over 18? Of course…”) then sees a progress bar. When that ends, a message pops up reading “Congrats! You have found your soulmate!”

Pete rolls his eyes.

He is matched by the website with some anonym called… Iceman?

Pete tentatively types.

[Maverick: Hello?]

The response comes immediately.

[Iceman: Hi.]

[Maverick: I thought it would take longer for a… thing named Iceman to reply.]

[Iceman: A thing?]

[Maverick: I am still not sure whether or not you are a robot.]

[Iceman: I am the same species as you.]

[Maverick: What if I am a robot?]

The response slows down a bit. Pete can’t tell if the thing is amused or worried.

[Iceman: Sounds suitable for a thing named Maverick.]

Pete smiles.

[Maverick: Why are you calling yourself Iceman? You like being cold?]

[Iceman: I actually hate coldness. But that’s what my friends call me.]

[Maverick: You must be very calm then.]

[Iceman: You can say that.]

[Maverick: Calm people are the worst.]

[Iceman: Why?]

A certain blonde comes to Pete’s mind. He throws away the empty beer can and types.

[Maverick: They are often fakers. Upright on the surface but full of evil shit on the inside.

I bet you are one of those people.]

[Iceman: Such a charmer.]

Pete huffs a laugh. Is this Iceman thing flirting with him?

[Maverick: I am competing with one of such bastards irl rn.

It's the worst situation, if you believe me.]

[Iceman: Actually, I do, although mine is exactly the opposite as I am fighting the most reckless and impulsive dummy on this planet.

Blowing their own trumpet all the time.]

[Maverick: Is that why you are using this website? To let the stream out a bit?]

[Iceman: Yeah. That guy is brainless, but they are good at their job, if I am being completely honest.

I have to work extremely hard.]

[Maverick: What a coincidence, huh? We are both stuck with some idiots.]

Pete washes and dries his face, casting sidelong glances at his phone the whole time. When no reply is coming, he grabs the device.

[Maverick: I am so fucking tired because of the current task.]

[Iceman: Me too. Everyone has such high expectations, so I have to put in extra effort and pretend to be relaxed.

Sometimes being too outstanding is hard.]

Pete sinks himself into the king-size bed.

[Maverick: I am stunned by your humbleness.]

[Iceman: I only speak the truth.]

[Maverick: So, tell me, Iceman, what do you do irl?]

[Iceman: I create dreams.]

[Maverick: Now we are entering mythology. Should you change your call sign to Jesus?]

[Iceman: What about you? Your job?]

[Maverick: I create better dreams.]

There is no response for a long time. Pete turns and tosses and decides he is not going to fall asleep in a while.

[Maverick: Where are you?]

[Iceman: Missing me already, Maverick?]

Pete doesn’t want to acknowledge the funny somersaults his heart is doing. Really, this is so stupid, he is not feeling things just because some anonymous person he just met online is teasing him. He is not a teenager, come on.

[Maverick: In the dreams you create, maybe, Iceman.]

[Iceman: I was just getting ready for bed.]

Huh. So they seem to be in similar time zones.

[Maverick: Is it OK if I ask where you come from?

Doesn’t matter, I ask that already.]

[Iceman: My origins are kinda complicated, But now I work in California.]

[Maverick: OMG. ME TOO.]

[Iceman: What a coincidence.]

[Maverick: Do you think we will ever meet irl?]

Long silence.

[Iceman: I hope not.]

[Maverick: ... Why?]

[Iceman: My elegance will take your breath away.]

Pete giggles.

[Maverick: Should I learn to get used to your humbleness?]

[Iceman: You probably should.

Good night, Maverick. Good luck fighting your calm fool.]

[Maverick: And good luck defeating your careless idiot, Iceman.]

Pete bites his lower lip and sends the last message.

[Maverick: Will I see you again?

I mean online, of course.]

[Iceman: You can count on it. Night.]

Before he puts the phone away on the bedside table, he receives an email from Mike's secretary, inviting him to a party for shortlisted designers. Pete scrolls down and groans when he sees the guest list.

Kazansky is invited too.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

#icemav #tom iceman kazansky #pete maverick mitchell #top gun #top gun 1986 #icemav fanfiction #top gun fanfiction #nick goose bradshaw #then I open my eyes and see you

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multifandhoem · 4 years

Text

server collab || ii

Server Collab from the Haikyuu HQ server with the prompt: “Guess I‘ll just have to cum inside you.“

The masterlist for the whole collab is here!

Genre: fluff, smut

Warnings: slight SPOILER (it‘s really really small), smut obviously, little bit of public stuff if you count it as such, slight breeding kink, wedding sex, lot‘s of fluff

Word count: 3292

“I still remember when Iwa-chan told me, how he embarrassed himself in front of a cute girl and hoped he would never see her again to not relive the existential dread he felt at that moment. And then he told me he met her again and she laughed over the mishap and they were going to get coffee next week.”

-*-*-*-*-*-*

“I am so sorry.” His face was red, head bowed down in embarrassment, but you could still see it at the tip of his ears.

“It’s okay, it wasn’t like you were a stalker or something.” You were giggling a bit at the state he was in. “On top of that it is kinda my fault, I should’ve closed the curtains or something.” He slowly raised himself again, face still scrunched up in discomfort. He really looked like he was in horrendous pain and it was kinda your fault. “Please don’t beat yourself up over it. I’ll treat you to coffee, to make you feel better, when are you free?”

Maybe the fact that he was a looker made you act a bit more open towards him than usual, but you genuinely felt bad for him. He was obviously beating himself up over that accident a couple of days ago.

You had realised fast that you could look from your window right into the room on the other side of the street, which was why you invested in curtains pretty early. But apparently, you had forgotten to close them this time, so when you turned around shirtless and made eye contact with a man, you were both equally surprised. He looked mortified and you couldn’t even blink when he suddenly dropped to the floor, now hidden from your wide eyes.

Your body reacted, even though he probably couldn’t see you anymore, shielding your breasts with one arm, the other hastily closing the curtains. After the initial shock wore off you couldn’t help but giggle a bit. Why did he just drop to the floor? He could’ve turned around or something.

-*-*-*-*-*-*

Next to you, Hajime buried his face in his hands, but the large grin that had adorned his face for the whole evening was still there. Tooru waited a bit until the laughter calmed down until he continued.

“When I came back from Argentina for a visit she was already his girlfriend of five months. And when I saw Iwa-chan I knew that she would probably stick around for longer. You know, Iwa-chan is a very violent person-“ “Only towards shitty people!” You knew he couldn’t have let that jab just go by, but Tooru professionally ignored him.

“but with her, he was very soft, always touching her in some way. Sometimes touching too much. Don’t think we forgot the trip to the cabin!” He scoldingly wiggled his finger towards you, accompanied by Makki’s and Mattsun’s affirming but still scandalised shouts.

-*-*-*-*-*-*

“We gotta be quick, Haji.” His lips were hot on your collarbones, fingers already dipping under your shirt, quickly pulling it over your head. “I know, they will wonder where we are.”

You had excused yourself for a second from the movie the others had put on. It was the first time this day where there weren’t two other people in the room with you, everybody being huddled in the living room of the small cabin where you resided for the weekend. With two bedrooms shared between the six of you and one big room that functioned as kitchen, living and dining room, there was never space for some alone time, which you were desperate to have after your boyfriend strutted around you shirtless the whole day. It should be illegal for someone as fine as he was to do such things.

Foreplay had to be postponed for the next time, you had little time until the others would grow suspicious. “No need, I can take you.”

You pulled his fingers out of your entrance, desperate to just feel his cock in you. He chuckled at your eagerness, pushing his sweatpants down until his cock sprung free, already hard and leaking. Apparently, you weren’t the only sexually frustrated one.

“Fuck,” you breathed out when he buried himself in you with one stroke.

“Quiet, baby.” His lips found yours stifling your small moans as he began moving his hips.

Breathless gasped and small moans soon filled the room, occasionally accompanied by the sound of skin slapping, when Hajime couldn’t stop his hips before they met yours. “I’m close,” you whimpered as he began rubbing your clit and he shot you a breathless smile and pressed a small kiss to your lips. “Bite something when you come,” he said quietly, thrusts becoming a bit more erratic.

“Disgusting!” Loud banging on the door interrupted you and Hajime let out a string of curses. “If you already know then don’t go interrupting, Shittykawa!” Not having to hide anymore his hips finally snapped into yours, using the full capacity of his strength to make you moan against his shoulder.

Unfortunately, the orgasm you experienced didn’t lessen the embarrassment when you faced the others again.

-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was your turn to hang your head in shame, trying not to meet your parents’ eyes, who were seated next to you. Or worse, Hajime’s parents.

Tooru chuckled at your misery, before continuing.

“To be honest, I wasn’t that surprised when Iwa-chan called me and told me he would send me pictures of rings and I should help him decide. He obviously forgot timezones since it was 2am for me and I first thought somebody had died, but after promising to make me best man I obviously forgave him.” The guests laughed again and Tooru took a well-rehearsed break.

“I don’t think I have seen Iwa-chan as nervous as when he was rehearsing his proposal through me via Skype. I told him it was good, even though he was a stammering mess. But the thing about those two over there is that they calm each other down. So I knew, when the moment would come, everything would go swimmingly. I saw the way they looked at each other, there was no way she would say no.”

-*-*-*-*-*-*

“What are you planning?” You were chuckling, when Hajime lead you through the small house on the outskirts of Tokyo you two had purchased together when it was safe that he was staying in Japan with his work. “Let me surprise you, woman, and stop asking.” You could hear the amusement in his voice and it made your heart bloom. After all these years together he still made you feel like you were going on your first date. And he probably always would.

“Small step, be careful.”

You felt the ground changing from the hardwood floor to a rougher and colder one, showing you that you were now outside on the small terrace. You didn’t have to wonder for long, what he was planning when he carefully pulled the blindfold off your face. The first thing you saw was him.

But it was enough. He was smiling at you, his eyes radiating love. You couldn’t help but snaking your arms around his neck, to press a kiss to his lips. “You look so handsome. I love you.”

Hajime in a suit was something you had the pleasure of seeing a couple of times, but it still caught you off guard how someone could look this good.

“You haven’t even looked around, idiot,” He chuckled but still laid his arms around you to tug you towards him to kiss you again. After that he still forced you to turn around, to take a look at what he conjured in the last couple of hours.

The small garden you had behind your house was completely transformed, fairy lights making the faint evening glow even more magical.

“It’s beautiful.” The words were soft, Hajime wouldn’t have heard them if he wasn’t standing this close to you. “All for you, baby. I love you. I just thought, maybe we could sit on the blanket, maybe drink a bit of wine and just talk, you know?” His voice was laced with nervousness, even if he wasn’t even sure why. He knew you would like what he did. He went through your Pinterest boards and they were loaded with fairy lights, clinking classes, kisses shared under the faint glow. “That sounds perfect. What’s the occasion? I haven’t forgotten anything, right?” He laughed out loud at your nervousness. “No, babe, you haven’t. I just wanted to do something for you.”

His smile was so pure, filled with raw emotion, you had to kiss him again, putting as much passion as possible into the kiss. “Thank you, Hajime. I love you so much. I can’t believe I got so lucky.”

Your eyes were a bit wetter than usual and you hastily blinked the tears away, smiling at your boyfriend, ready to have a magical evening.

He really had everything prepared. Next to the blanket, a small cooler with a bottle of rosé laid, together with two glasses for you. His phone played soft instrumental music in the background, as you settled yourself against his chest, occasionally sipping at your wine, reminiscing about the past years, wishing for the future ones.

“Hey, move for a second, my leg’s fallen asleep.” A small tug of his leg under you made you sit up, while he fixed his posture, both of you now sitting upright in front of each other.

“Sorry, about that. Do you want to stand up for a bit to move it?” His eyes twinkled with amusement as he tugged you back down when you already wanted to stand up.

A shaky breath escaped him. So this was it. “Y/N, baby, I love you. So much, you can’t even imagine. You’ve been with me for the past couple of years and I honestly can’t wait for the future, if you’re by my side.” He paused for a second, hand slipping into his pocket. “Hajime.” Tears were already welling up in your eyes before he even managed to pull the ring out of his pocket, that he and Tooru had chosen so diligently a couple months prior.

“Will you marry me?”

-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Those two, right there, are a great couple if I’ve ever seen one. I actually can’t imagine a better partner for my Iwa-chan. Hajime. I’ve seen you grow up. I’ve been growing up alongside you and, dare I say, we’ve both become pretty great.” Tooru chuckled a bit, but everyone could hear his voice wavering, as his eyes were fixated on his best friend.

“I can’t express how happy I am, to still have you in my life, to now seeing you maturing into this great man who is inspiring others in everything he does. Seeing you enter this new part of your life, with this great woman in my life warms my heart. And you deserve nothing less. A toast to you. A toast to your future, Mr. and Mrs. Iwaizumi.” He raised his glass to you, a big smile on his face.

If he weren’t sitting right across from you, you would’ve missed the small tears rolling down his face. The guests around you all raised their glasses to towards you, everyone touched by Tooru’s speech.

But nobody came close to Hajime, who was clenching your hand in his’ tightly, tears welling up in his eyes, before he strode over to his friend, tightly embracing him.

You couldn’t hear what words were exchanged as tears fell and people smiled at the pair. Every guest at your wedding knew about Hajime and Tooru. The best friends, the best partners, who have been with each other since they were about five years old. Who only see each other every couple of months, partners technically becoming rivals.

When your husband came back to you his eyes were puffy, some tears still escaping, but the happiest smile on his face. Tooru hugged you too, wishing you good luck for your future, making a small joke about becoming an uncle again and telling you, once again, to take care of his best friend, his brother.

“I’m so happy to be your wife.” Hajime kissed you at your words but you still knew that he was equally as happy as you were. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily now,” you joked, relishing in the laughter that escaped him.

“As if I would ever want that. I’m going to put some kids in you as soon as possible. And then we have a little family. Maybe even a big family. Whatever you want.” He kissed you again and you couldn’t help but smile at the picture of him with kids in your head. More importantly, your kids. “About that.” You leaned into his side, grateful for the minutes you had at the edge of the room. “I’ve been thinking, maybe stopping my birth control? I mean we don’t have to start trying and stuff, but we’re married now and we’ve been together for a while, and we talked about it already, and-“ You were cut off with a passionate kiss, Hajime even dipping you slightly as he practically devoured you.

“Do you mean that? Do you really mean that?” You could only nod, a wide grin on your lips as you cupped his face in your hands to bring his mouth to yours again. “Fuck, I love you. I can’t wait to fuck you today.” Heat shot through your stomach at his words and his kisses did nothing to soothe it.

“Hajime.” You really didn’t intend for his name to sound like such a whimper. But when he growled against your lips you knew you were done for. “The bridal room. Where I got ready. Let’s go.”

You felt like a schoolgirl sneaking around again, when you were rushing through the halls of the venue, hand in hand with your new husband, giggling around, until you finally closed the door behind you, being pressed against the same one in an instant, a breathless Hajime resting his forehead against yours.

You were whispering ’I love you’s to each other for the probably thousandths time this day, but it wasn’t like you were growing tired of it anytime soon. “You gotta be careful about the dress, I don’t wanna have cum stains somewhere,” you reminded him as he was flicking up your skirt, already sinking to his knees.

“Guess I’ll just have to cum inside you.” You giggled in excitement at his statement, soon leading into a moan, when he buried his face between your lower lips, thong pulled to the side, his tongue expertly doing all the things he found out about you the years before.

“Fuck, Hajime.” Your fingers thread themselves in his hair, tugging him closer.

He took one of your legs in his hand, tugging it over his shoulder and digging even deeper between your legs, using the fingers of his other hand as well, to insert two of them into your dripping cunt. “Haji, I’m coming,” you whimpered, clamping onto him.

“Wait for my cock.” The years of never neglected training came in handy, when he stood up, with you in his arms, to seat you on the small table, that was probably just in the room for decorating purposes. You shrieked a bit at how fast everything was happening, but you kind of agreed with him.

The first time you should come as husband and wife should be with him deep inside you.

He dropped his suit pants to his ankles and you could feel yourself clench with excitement. “Ready, baby?”

“Yes, please, Haji.” You pulled him towards you again to connect your lips, moaning into his mouth when he rubbed his dick up and down your folds, coating himself in your arousal.

It’s weird to explain what you felt the moment he pushed himself inside you. You had sex lots of times. But in that moment you felt more complete than you ever did.

You stayed like that for a couple of seconds, connected in the most intimate way possible, before his hips snapped back and into you again, eliciting a moan of both of you.

“Honestly, fucking you in your wedding dress is hot as fuck.” He laughed breathlessly, kissing you again, all while not halting his thrusts.

“Think about me pregnant with your kids,” you purred in his ear and squeaked in delight when his next thrust was harder than before.

“Don’t get me started. You’re going to look so good pregnant. All round and cozy.” His speed grew more erratic and you knew he would come soon.

“Fuck, we gonna start soon, right?” Your fingers clenched in his shirt, pushing him closer to you, chasing your own high.

“We’re starting right now, baby.” He kissed you again, hand moving down to rub your clit again, chuckling at the little whimpers you let out.

“Haji-“ You didn’t need to say more, he already knew, what you wanted to tell him.

“Go on, baby.” You kissed again, moans mixing in your mouths, as his tongue caressed yours, the slight taste of your juices still left on them. Every time his cock hit that one part you had to suppress a small scream, only slightly moaning in your husband's mouth.

“Can’t wait for tonight. Gonna fill you- ah- up again and again. And then you can be as loud as you want. Fuck. Gonna take my time with you.”

The filth he muttered against your lips only made you clench down harder onto his cock, feeling your high approaching rapidly. It was him coming, his cum spurting into you, which finally sent you over the edge, legs wrapping around him, bringing him even closer to your body, completely engulfing him, dead set on never letting him go.

Heavy breathing filled the room, as you both came down from your high. Small kisses were being exchanged, I love you’s were mumbled. But it was still perfect.

“I’m already anticipating tonight,” you mumbled, slightly exhausted due to moaning so much, making him chuckle, while his hands calmingly rubbed up and down your sides.

When he pulled out of you, you moaned again at the feeling of his cum slowly dribbling out of you.

“This looks so good. You look so good.” Hajime’s eyes were focused on the spot between your legs, fingers twitching to push it back inside.

“Don’t let it go on the dress!” You shrieked, chuckling at the way he darted to get a paper towel, carefully wiping you down.

“You alright, baby?” He helped you down from the table after pushing your thong back in place and fixing up his suit pants.

“Yeah. I love you. You made me the happiest woman alive, today, you know that?” The smile he threw your way at your words made your heart bloom. You were so in love with this man.

“Now, brace yourself for the comments.” You intertwined your fingers again, going back down the hallways to rejoin your guests at your reception. “You think somebody noticed something?” Your hands grew sweaty at the thought. Hopefully, nobody suspected a thing. Especially not his parents. Or worse, the grandparents!

“Tooru will have noticed for sure. You know how he is. If we’re lucky he hasn’t told Makki or Mattsun.” Hajime seemed way to relaxed at the thought, only shrugging his shoulders, ditching your hand to throw his arm around your shoulder and pull you into his side.

“I love you.” He pressed a kiss to your temple and you could feel he was smiling.

“I love you, too.”

No matter what was going to happen once you got back, this was still the best day of your life.

#haikyuu #iwaizumi #iwaizumi fluff #iwaizumi hajime #server collab #haikyuuhq #multifandhoem #seijoh #oikawa #oikawa tooru #wedding #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu fanfiction #fanfiction #fluff #aoba johsai #iwaizumi steamy #steamy

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jae-canikeepyou · 3 years

Text

| adjacent | j.jh

pair: jaehyun x fem!reader

word count: 18k+ (unedited & not proof read)

summary: jaehyun turns into a golden retriever whenever the day reaches the most beautiful time; golden hour. a secret he kept his entire life & always wonders how long he could keep it, especially when you suddenly showed up.

genre: au + golden retriever!jaehyun + hs!nct

a/n: idk what came to me as i brainstormed this but by now, nctzens and valentines should know jaehyun’s a golden retriever :3 so i decided to write a plot for this adorable fact T^T heavily inspired with fruits basket and beauty & the beast! i really hope you’ll like it. lmk what you think! enjoy reading lovelies! ~j

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time was ticking real quick.

he rushed through the bustling people, avoiding the narrow crowds and jay-walked countless pedestrian crossings. he needed to hide. no one should see him transform. there was little time left. why was he so careless each time this happened? his parents and younger brother warned him to be alert at all times. did he listen? no, never did. they compared him to a rock— hard headed and stubborn. but all he ever wanted was to be free.

curses! just a little more, a few metres more! he pant as he tried to catch air. he felt his flesh tingling, his senses doubling and tripling. jaehyun peddled as fast as he could, at least reach the line of bushes by the basketball court. hopping over the plants, he threw his bag aside and jumped off his bike before bracing for the fall.

the now broken bell sounded horrible as jaehyun’s brother caught up to him with his skateboard. “dad’s gonna kill you if you ask for another bike for your birthday.” he sighed looking at the loosened chain while picking up the single-track vehicle and the scattered clothes.

jaehyun transformed to a golden retriever puppy and struggled to come out of the bushes with his tiny paws and body. when he succeeded, he scratched the back of his ears to brush off the leaves stuck to them. “won’t happen, sungchan. i’ve already saved up enough by then. i’m not gonna burden dad for my wants.”

sungchan pressed the bridge of his nose. “you’re kinda being a burden now.” he picked the animal— his brother— up and put him inside his coat, as well as the belongings on the ground. he hopped on the bike and headed towards jaehyun’s campus.

“what did you say?” jaehyun barked tried opening the zipper from the inside of sungchan’s coat.

“nothing.” the younger excused. “but can i have your bike if you actually plan to get a new one?”

“ugh just bring me to the court. i’ll be late for my morning practice.”

the brothers were able to communicate telepathically as they’re related and were both cursed. instead of golden hour, sungchan transforms during the blue hour, which occured at twilight. tracing back to their ancestors, all were cursed for unknown inexplainable circumstances. they tried breaking it with all they could. every idea ended a failure. so they had to live through it, adjust, adapt and be alert.

they bumped into ten, kun and jungwoo, who were doing warm-ups and they simultaneously trailed their eyes and heads towards the jung brothers. seeing the huge pouch on sungchan’s stomach area, they all cracked up and checked the time. “oh yeah, it’s sunrise.” jungwoo spun the ball on his pointer finger.

ten grabbed the pup with one hand and jaehyun barked at him but he couldn’t understand a thing. although he was confused, he continued to carry him in his palm because jaehyun’s response was funny. “what is he trying to say?” he chuckled and poked the pup’s snout.

“he said ‘it hurts. put me down idiot’. i have to be honest with you hyung. holding us by the back of the neck really hurts.” unlike his brother, he was rather calm and collected despite already imagining the pain.

“you’re a blue holland lop bunny. it’s normal to carry you like this too right?” ten showed the pup to sungchan.

kun facepalmed at the question and took jaehyun. “no dimwit it’s not normal. sorry jae. you know he just likes teasing your puppy form.”

“‘wait until i turn back’- ugh seriously do i really have to translate hyung’s words every time?” sungchan gave jaehyun’s clothes and bike to jungwoo. “you know what to do when he transforms back yeah?”

they nodded and upon seeing the kid leave and headed towards his campus, jaehyun couldn’t wait to turn human. he would always beat ten up almost immediately— sometimes forgetting that he was naked. for the dudes it was alright. the problem was if he was with girls, though he hasn’t encountered anyone so far. he hoped he didn’t have to.

the harsh drills from basketball practice already sucked the energy out of jaehyun. not only that it was physically tiring, transforming into a dog twice a day before that have doubled the strain. then him transforming back would cause migraines and painful joints, as they were the aftermath of the curse. he had to keep his title of m.v.p and captain since the told them there was a possibility of him of having a scholarship for college. he couldn’t let a minor pain hinder that chance. not ever.

however, ten and the others could read his suffering. to them it was obvious through his exhales and slowing speed. hiding it was of no use. jungwoo ruffled his hair with a clean towel after shower. “can’t you just be like that dog in the movie ‘up’? have a collar that translates barks into actual language?”

jaehyun rolled his eyes and wore his black t-shirt. “it’s a damn movie, jungwoo. the world might’ve evolved and advanced in technology and even if they were to exist they’d be expensive. can’t afford that.”

“you sound negative, don’t you have any hope at all?” kun joined the conversation.

“never had any. stopping this curse is impossible. it’s been generations. my dad’s still suffering too. i have to find a way.” he fixed his black cap in front of a mirror.

but he knew there wasn’t. silence loomed above them as the team struggled to continue the topic. they tried not to bring it up yet each time they did, it always ended awkwardly and badly. it was either they riled jaehyun’s mood— mostly ten— or jaehyun himself was building his own raincloud by sulking about it and not looking at the bright side.

how ironic it was, he thought. generally speaking, even though being golden had good intentions and the breed was meant to bring happiness to others, he felt the total opposite. if he had to describe it, it was all insecurity, lowered his self-esteem and hopelessness only increased over the years as he grew.

thinking about it, he slammed the locker a little too hard that its components caused it to bounce back.. and also added to fuel of his anger. “break that again you’ll be in the coach’s office.” kun tied his shoelaces and the others agreed.

“my dad is the coach, what do you mean?” he questioned at the stupidity.

“you didn’t show up the last time it broke. we got the punished in your stead. uncle wasn’t happy.” ten got out of the showers last, a towel was wrapped around his waist before the younger ones were scarred for a second.

“it was sunset and i transformed! of all people dad’s supposed to understand! i-” jaehyun rubbed his face quite agressively and headed straight outside.

“oi i’m still changing! wait up!”

jaehyun kicked the bike’s stand attached to the rear wheel. he and his father didn’t have the best relationship compared with other kids, but he could say that it was better than the relationship he had with his mother. she loved her little family, yet over time the curse grew onto her. her husband would turn into a werewolf at full moon. and until now, even though that happened once month, she thought a part of him wasn’t the same person she loved before. even more so, when her sons were just the same as him.

your mom’s delusional! she doesn’t love us! she fears us!

that feeling stayed in the boys’ mind until they were old and mature enough to comprehend the situation they’re in. why couldn’t she love them like any mom would? she was no different from an animal mother abandoning her calf/pup just because they were or had defects.

mr. jung tried his best to be the perfect father, for only he understood what his two sons were going through, as they might go through decades with it, just like he was. jaehyun still remembered his first transformation, he only had puppy paws, but that was a sign to mr. jung that he indeed inherited the curse. when sungchan grew a tail at a fine age of one, their father gave up his 9-5 hour office job to tend the boys. and that was before he became jaehyun’s basketball coach. now he could monitor them at a close range.

much to jaehyun’s dismay and for that reason, he felt more caged and overprotected.

—

“y/n! coach’s looking for you!” your classmate called.

no.. you groaned. again?..

it was already after school hours. you slouched on your desk as you covered your ears, remembering the errands he asked you to do previously. you didn’t know why, but ever since you had detention because you refused to run a 1600m marathon for an assessment, seemed like the other punishment was that he passed his job to you. that was a month ago, and today was the tenth time.

but curious as you were to find answers, you brushed it off and tried not to show any remorse. it’s all for conduct, you kept telling yourself. the whistle echoed the entire hallway and jolting you up in your seat. “okay, okay! hold on!” you yelled from the back of the classroom.

as coach jung stood rather comfortably outside the room, he gestured you to walk faster with a dimpled smile. “y/n! took you approximately three minutes to walk here.” he laughed and handed you several files and a zipper folder.

“thanks for counting?..” you replied with a confused and questioning tone. “coach, what’s this?”

“all school sports teams will have an annual retreat before their playoff seasons. i need a representing manager since ours was admitted to a hospital just today.” he pointed at the list. you followed his finger and it landed on your name.

“sounds like to me it’s more practice. and you want me to go because?” you raised your brows. he asked you to follow him to the gymnasium, in which it was making you recall all those extra detention after school.

“to make up with all of the p.e assessments you ‘purposely’ missed.” he said proudly while looking at his team doing drills. but he didn’t get any response from you. when he looked on his side, you were gone and ran across the basketball gym. “y/f/n!”

you squealed as embarrassment crawled your entire body. not only were you escaping from coach, you were disrupting the team’s practice and hitting couple of duffel bags and water bottles. “ah! sorry! coming through!”

*whistles* “after her!” coach jung’s voice added an extra chill to your spine.

“ugh why us?” ten groaned with sore muscles as coach gestured to them widely.

“just go.” kun panted.

then you heard a several footsteps turn into drums until they sounded a stampede. you jumped on your toes as you passed the line of showers cubicles. good thing you haven’t seen a naked man, or else you’d faint without knowing. you turned around and went straight ahead then to your right, and hid in a random room. the echoing voices and squeaking friction between shoes and waxed floors were cut to a silence, like your ears were muffled instantly.

your wobbly legs were tired and you were sighing in exhaustion and crouched down against the door. great, i’ll stay out of their sight- “what are you doing here?” you heard a low voice and froze on the spot. “only members of the basketball team can access the meeting room.”

that sounded like the captain.

“did you hear what i just said?” he raised his brows. you slowly lifted your eyes from his shoes to his legs, then to his built and face. “well if you’re a nobody you might as well leave before coach arrives. you interrupted my recording-”

“i heard you jung jaehyun.” you tsked and realised you had the name list on your hand. “ah, as a matter of fact, i can be here because i am part of the team. my name’s on the list.” you grabbed a pen and ticked the empty box on the paper.

what are you saying, stupid?!

“uh-huh..” jaehyun trailed, putting down his camera.

“y-yeah!” you stuttered. “you heard me.”

the door shook by the loud knocks from the other side. on the frosted window, you could see four figures. orange and black jerseys, they must be the team members. “ah! the door’s locked! she’s definitely in here coach!” one said.

“i’ll toss you the keys!” he yelled. oh crap. you were caught in between. your heart patterned with the knocks.

“you look terrified after hearing coach, y/n.” the chair squeaked from the weight. “i’m guessing you’re that troublesome student he has a hard time dealing with recently?”

of course captain knows you. great reputation you have, y/n.

“so? what’s your point?” you stood up to see his amused grin.

“say hello to a term’s detention.” jaehyun waved as the door swung open, revealing ten, kun, jungwoo and.. the coach.

you sighed heavily and dropped the papers. the coach crossed his arms and you lowered your head a little. “you plan to escape again y/n? then i shouldn’t hear any excuses from you. you’ll join us for the twelve day retreat. period.” he picked the papers up and wrote something.

“sir i can’t be with a bunch of jocks for that long!” your whine had the captain blocking his ears. “i have debate finals to attend to.”

jaehyun flinched at the high pitched sound and rolled his eyes. what was your deal? it was rude of you to suddenly barge into athlete’s quarters but judging them for that was even more rude of you. he had to shut you up at some point.

“so much excuses.” he played with his nails and to you he looked more amused than ever. you rolled your eyes at his chuckle and know he would target you from now on. “dad, y/n told me she’s ‘part of the team’.” he played his video that recorded your voice, clearly saying what jaehyun heard.

coach jung looked rather surprised, but his smile definitely screamed happy. “oh? that’s all i needed to hear. welcome, uh- temporarily. i’ll inform mrs. park about the situation.”

nononono- “i did this.” you were at a loss for words. “i won’t be able to compete in the debate.”

“yeah pretty much you made the wrong decision.” jaehyun stood to tower over you. “i’d like to see you suffer our drills-”

four knocks cut jaehyun off. “oh no, she’ll only do those for two days.”

you swifted your head in confusion, seeing coach jung wrote down your schedule on the white board. you were packed and it’s a lot worse than the actual assessment planned in school. “and what about the rest of the ten days?!” you exasperated that your hairtie snapped at the right moment, and your hair fell in sightful way.

“ooh that was hot.” ten commented in soft whisper, causing kun and jungwoo nudge him on the each side.

“she’ll be our manager for the remaining days, keep track of our drills and score points, or other extra things i needed a hand with while taeyang’s in the hospital.”

jaehyun rested his palms on his waist, swirling his tongue inside with a provoking gaze at you. “see if you can keep up, manager.” he chuckled.

you checked the time, it was nearing 5 p.m. “you know what, give me a day to process all this sport thing. it’s close to evening and i have to get going-”

“it’s evening already?” jaehyun cut you off as he looked outside the window.

the sun glistening at the distance while the sky showed a pretty ombré of warm colours. his senses doubled again and his whole body ached. he had to make you leave. it was already enough that his friends knew about his situation. there’d only be more trouble if you knew too.

“uh duh? the clock’s right there.” you pointed.

“hm, anyway you have to leave now.”

“sheesh i was going to anyway.” you rolled your eyes, but felt jaehyun’s palms behind your back. “hey stop pushing!”

“you’re too slow!” his tone changed. different than the usual because panic was what you felt from his palms. “quickly!”

the rest of the boys could tell you were pissed. they couldn’t understand why jaehyun had to make a fuss out of it when all he had to do was to kindly ask you. using force would only cause misunderstandings, like what’s happening now. “hey what’s your deal?!” you flicked his arms. “do you like to push people around? just because i’ll be with the team for the next two weeks, that doesn’t mean you could treat me like this already!”

“tsk so noisy! you’re wasting time! just leave would you?!” jaehyun turned you around towards the door.

this time you wouldn’t budge. “no jung jaehyun i need an explanation with this stupid attitude of yours!” you wriggled off of his hold, pushing him back with pats several times more that he stepped backwards.

“i don’t owe you an explanation!”

“you definitely do?!”

“why can’t you listen to what i say?”

“why can’t you stop being pushy, pushy?”

“you’re the one pushing me! time’s ticking y/n!”

the continuous back and forth of bickers and the war of pushing each other was an idiotic sight. your wrist was in jaehyun’s palms as he gripped you tighter. “i don’t care captain jerk! it wouldn’t bother you or hurt you to just give me one reason- and he slammed the door at my face! argh!”

jaehyun smirked wide and proudly knowing that he ‘won’ argument. silencing you was better than letting you see his other form. the boys stared him once he turned around to face them. “what?” he questioned,

“definitely not the right way to treat a girl.” they all said simultaneously.

“you know how bad it makes me feel when you all said it at the same time?” jaehyun pressed the bridge of his nose.

he knew well enough that this wasn’t his usual self. he’s good friends with you despite being in different teams of the school. you both took literature as your electives. sometimes you’d let him copy your notes when he had matches or leave small appetisers and juice cartons when he was tired and vice versa.

but no matter how close you both were, he couldn’t afford to let you see his other self.

not just yet.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

waking up so early in the day to assist the team was way more annoying than birds chirping by your bedroom’s window. instead of hearing their tuneful tweets, you had to endure endless phone calls every minute. you couldn’t remember much from that day because you passed out. and the team didn’t look for you until yesterday.

coach jung waved to catch your attention, only to be greeted with your huge yawn and a disinterested face.

“ah there she is! c’mon now, i got the green light from mrs. park. she agreed that p.e is the only subject you’re likely to fail this semester, so she’s giving you a cool-off from the team and focus on here.”

“yep. heard you coach.” you tied up your hair, only listening to half of what he said. “where’s the captain?”

kun did few stretches & jumps, his expression mirrored the other two boys who were also doing the same. you had a feeling about this— their telepathic gaze and awkward silence. you took a basketball to pass it to ten. “is he still mad about me calling him a jerk? that was a few days ago and i didn’t expect him to be that sensitive.”

they laughed because they couldn’t deny his obvious trait. “he doesn’t show it but somehow you know he is.” ten passed the ball back to you. “but not this morning y/n. he’s late for.. another reason.”

you hopped to catch it yet you were a second late, and groaned as you had to run far to retrieve it. “uh-huh. nature calls in the morning, again?” you yelled.

“do you think she knows about jaehyun?” jungwoo asked the older ones. they eyed you rummaging in the bushes for the ball, later looking back at each other for answers, but no one knew how your mind worked. “it’s been five days and no word from her at all.”

“if she actually does, i guess she just doesn’t want to be involved? i think we can trust her for that.” kun drank from his bottle.

ten didn’t look convinced. “involved or not, we have to make sure she doesn’t tell anyone about jaehyun’s curse. keep an eye on her-”

“ah!” they heard your squeals and ruffles from the bushes. “guys look what i found!”

kun sighed when they saw you running back with a golden retriever puppy in your arms, taking back his words said earlier.

“uh-oh. that scream means she has no clue at all.” jungwoo brushed his hair up.

“this puppy is so cute! i wonder what it’s doing here? are you lost?” you hugged and sniffed into its fur and gosh it smelled like vanilla shampoo. there was a metal collar around its neck, the piece spelled “jj”. “aww it has a name!”

no matter how happy you looked from the boys, they couldn’t help but take a photo of you and ‘puppy’ jaehyun. they had to tell you before it was too late. the golden hour in the morning was shorter than sunset, so either they would tell you straight up, or let jaehyun transform back to human.

but guess what? they were too late. they shouldn’t have second-guessed.

what had happened was way beyond your comprehension. it was in an instant. all it felt in totality was that, you weren’t carrying a puppy anymore. you lost balance and the weight in your arms doubled or tripled, you couldn’t tell. but you knew you were falling backwards. was there to brace for impact? none.

you blinked several times from the orange sunrise blinding your vision from the window. slowly you got up to sit and soothe the pain. that hurt..

here’s the thing. remember you mentally told yourself you hoped you didn’t run into any naked boy in the basketball team’s showers? there you have it. you jinxed it. jaehyun’s figure was on top of yours and you knew he had no clothes on. oh goodness.

“hyung? you forgot your lunch box- oh.” sungchan barged in the scene and everyone could tell he sort of malfunctioned. he froze then facepalmed.

you took turns into looking at the embarrassed jaehyun and at the boys who whistled to avoid the numbers of questions you were going to ask.

kun quickly shielded your eyes where your doubts were showing in your face. and no matter how much thought hard, you just couldn’t believe it. with fear written all over you, you dusted your pants and hands reached kun’s arm to support your weight.

“oh so you shielded her eyes but not my body?!” jaehyun’s voice entered your ears and you swore there was a hint of puppy whimper.

“this is a dream.. right?..” you asked before you fainted.

sungchan managed to save you from the fall. “whoa! ah, i had a feeling something like this would happen.”

—

“was she always like that?” minnie took a peep of your classroom, her eyes showed confusion. “is she tired?”

lisa shrugged and in her innocence she pursed her lips. “i don’t know. she’s been sighing a lot for the past hour? i wanna ask her but it might be too personal.”

you could her them and they were wrong. it was nothing personal at all. you’ve been sighing because you didn’t know how it was possible but it just happened— right before your eyes. since then you hoped that science could explain but not even the smartest people could give you a conclusion. you’ve been called out from lessons that came in the day and not that you didn’t blame jaehyun.

because for one thing, he at least told you the truth and the answer to your question as to why he had to make you leave that day. you propped your chin on your palms from jaehyun’s warning: “tell anyone i swear i’ll make you run a hundred laps with no water breaks.”

but the other thing? he was naked. and that’s not something you could erase in your memories overnight.

you let out a small whine that led to minnie and lisa copying your position, obviously making fun of you. “seriously, not a good time.” you laid on the table and hid from them. “don’t ask me anything.”

minnie and lisa looked at each other as you were being unreasonable and already gotten them curious with your remark. they both grabbed each of your arm, tugging on your sleeves where they begged nonstop for you tell them what had happened. they knew it was about the basketball team.

since you started to train and be with them, you’ve never complained. because if you did, coach jung would add another exercise for you, in which you knew you couldn’t handle. broken bones and sore muscles awaited for you. so you chose not to utter a single sigh, but you were careless just now and there was no escaping from these best friends of yours.

“c’mon y/n! tell us the deets! you sighing could only mean one thing.. did someone confess to you?” minnie closed her eyes and a wide smile suddenly became shrieks of laughter when you facepalmed. “oh who in the basketball team confessed?” she singsonged.

it’s not really a confession, jaehyun being a golden puppy is a secret that was never meant to be revealed but i happened to see him transform-

“what if it’s not a guy? maybe two? or three? oh gosh this is like a reverse harem anime-” lisa began to hype an awful assumption but you covered her lips. and plus? her voice was loud and how embarrassing it would be when the rest of the class heard it.

you were already restless at their energy. “none you idiots. i was sighing because i didn’t know that people with dimples would be that attractive.” you tried to divert the topic.

“pfft you’re talking about jung jaehyun?” lisa raised her brows and grinned teasingly to get a reaction from you.

“no, i’m taking about coach jung.” you hit her arm.

“but jaehyun’s his carbon copy, so you’re basically saying he’s handsome too.” minnie quickly rebutted.

“i mean, coach’s the original face so he’s definitely more handsome-” you paused. shoot they nearly got you to a corner. “wait- why are we talking about this? i thought we’re talking about me.”

“ah you were paying attention to our conversation?” minnie’s eyes grew.

“you’re not telling us anything dimwit.” lisa hit you back.

couple of squeals echoed the corridor and your classroom door crowded with people. apparently jaehyun stood by the door frame and scanned the room looking for you. when he spotted you, his face bubbled up and literally glided his way to your seat. you could tell he was slightly fuming, but you didn’t know what reason. “y/f/n! come here for a second!” he grabbed your wrists and pulled you up from your chair.

you tried to catch up with his pace as he continued to pull you. “let me go!”

jaehyun did in fact let go of you, but he instead led you to hit your back against numerous lockers. the squeals didn’t stop there and how that you were the centre of attention amongst all of the students, you had endure this for a little while. he was staring into your soul, eyes piercing that could strain yours, you knew he was pissed about something.

he slammed his forearms at the space right above your head, then the screams of giddy began to grow louder. you managed to see your friends at the far end of the corridor. they were smiling and lisa mouthed ‘kabedon’, making you flustered than you already were. “what do you want?” you asked.

“i thought i made myself clear?” jaehyun smirked as he felt you quiver against his skin. he leaned lower that his whispers tickled your ear. “did you tell anyone? your friends?”

“i’m not gonna risk my health for some dumb secret.” you rolled your eyes and crossed arms.

“please it’s not like our training puts your life on jeopardy-” jaehyun butted back.

“it’s safe with me. if there’s anything you’re worried about, just look at your fanbase. you’re making them sad.” you sighed, walking away and through the girls who has been following jaehyun around.

jaehyun exhaled at a rather slow pace. he liked your reaction and was aware of their presence. and in order to shoo them away, he had to do what he did. he just hoped you’d notice that too. “see you after school!” he yelled.

you briefly stopped in your tracks at his greet, you continued walking and pulled your girls away from the scene. you didn’t pay any attention, but you knew they couldn’t contain their smiles appearing on their faces.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

the bags full of foldable cones fell to the floor. the rest of the team turned to your direction, who already made mistakes on the first day of camp. they knew that you were obviously flabbergasted with your encounter. it was funny that you managed to stride your way so quickly towards jungwoo— he was very much entertained with your expression. “i know right? that was me earlier.” he stroked the large pup.

“h-how did puppy grow so big? that’s an adult sized dog! you stuttered but hiding your love for golden retrievers just wasn’t possible. there were times you forgot that this was actually jaehyun. “it’s only been a week.”

“yeah i’d like to know the reason too.”

suddenly you heard jaehyun’s voice. it felt like he was close to your ears again, but he wasn’t anywhere near you.

remains of memories probably were still in you head. you wouldn’t say you were traumatised, just surprised. why the hell am i hearing his voice? you shook the thought off at first but then again-

oi y/n. beside you. i’m talking to you!

what?

you gasped and fell on your butt. the pup’s ears were on alert and you knew he was hearing you too. “you can hear me?” jaehyun’s dog form practically towered on your fallen self. you avoided his look although the pup was so cute. his paws poked your shoulders, whiskers twitching as he waited for your response. “don’t look away! you can hear me right??”

all the guys could see was jaehyun staring down at you. and while you did the same, your knitted brows only meant something was definitely going on. they wanted to know. “what’s wrong y/n?”

your lips shook in heavens knows it was fear. “you’re asking me what’s wrong? why can i hear jaehyun? can you hear jaehyun? oh my g- this is really really weird-”

“you can?” they scooted closer to you, very much intrigued with your gift.

“and you all can’t?” you pushed jaehyun away for his body was weighing you down. he whimpered and got up to sit in front of the boys too.

they shook their heads vigorously. “only sungchan and coach were able to hear him.” kun stated, typing on his cellphone to inform his family.

“y/n! let’s talk when i transform back!” jaehyun’s paws kept poking you again. you glared at him with a loud hiss. his ears were alert, he didn’t realise that he was clawing you already, and turned a few rounds before he was laying like a bagel-shaped position.

jaehyun thought it was pretty strange. never in his life were there any people who could actually converse with him telepathically. other than his family, you were the first and he was determined to find out why this impossibility was made possible. there was a spark of hope forming in his heart at this sudden revelation. the glow from the orange light then shone above your head, marking the end of sunrise.

you looked at jaehyun’s dog form, it was- correction, he was.. quiet, and was still staring at you as if you were his master. he laid on this front legs, snout on the ground. huh, he can actually be behaved. footsteps were closing in. at the distance, coach jung walked with lisa and minnie, who were in their cheerleading uniforms. right, you forgot that they were also included in the annual athletes camp.

for a moment you panicked because you knew jaehyun would transform back from being a dog. ten and rest knew more people shouldn’t know about jaehyun’s curse. they were glad you read the atmosphere too. seeing jaehyun’s jersey in his duffel bag, you grabbed it and wore it on the animal.

coach jung made eye contact to your direction. he diverted the girls’ attention, and led them away from the basketball court. they headed towards the storage to “retrieve” some equipment.

jaehyun grunted and growled, his fangs tried to bite your skin. however, goldens were known for having a soft jaw, so his bites weren’t that painful. when you finally managed to put the jersey on him, jungwoo couldn’t catch up. “why let him wear the jersey?” he questioned.

“so he wouldn’t transform back naked when lisa and minnie arrives.” you pointed out the obvious.

ten held his laugh in. you recognised this tone, and prepared what came after. “heh..” he trailed off. “is it because you want to keep jaehyun to yourself?”

you continuously threw random items at him as heat spread to your cheeks. “screw you!” you scoffed. “get jaehyun to wear his pants. i have to pack a lot of things before we head onto the bus.”

“yes ma’am.” ten nudged your shoulder. “i’m kidding y/n. don’t take my jokes seriously.“

“it’s fine.” you picked up the fallen cones. “you’re worried about people knowing his curse. so i’m just doing my part to keep it secret.”

he pursed his lips and his heart softened at your willingness to help. “hm, i guess i can trust you after all.” ten opened the bag to help you pack. “oh! and also, jae in his dog form already is naked anyway.”

“you think i’m not aware of that?” you rolled your eyes.

your friends already have settled themselves inside the coach bus and you were seated in between them. now they would get to witness you with the team and hoped for a budding romance with any of the boys. you lowered your face under a cap to pretend you were sleeping, but in reality you just wanted to avoid lisa and minnie’s bombardment.

few rows at front, jaehyun stared by the window, deep in thought. rarely spoke a word since they started their journey to the retreat campsite. why was his hunch telling him to get closer to you? why could you hear him and he could hear you? he slightly turned to his side between the gaps of two seats. seeing you giggling with your friends had him rethinking if what happened earlier was just his imagination. he wondered why you purposely ignore him after he transformed back.

he slid lower from his seat. “i’d understand if this was a soulmate thing, but it’s not.” jaehyun sighed heavily where he broke the silence and supposedly ending the conversation earlier. now that he wanted to talk about it, his friends were still up for the news.

“oh yeah. those things are going on. except it only happens to some people.” kun popped a chip in his mouth.

“i just don’t get it. dad told me that never occurred to anyone with this curse.” he stole the bag of chips from the younger one to relieve his emotions.

jungwoo’s pursed his lip in wonder. “maybe the curse in another light has its own blessing? maybe you guys are soulmates?”

“nah, impossible.” they all said simultaneously.

“it’s a possibility-” jungwoo’s face soured where wrinkles appeared on the sides as the boys flared at him.

jaehyun shrugged not knowing what to say. his friends have bizarre ideas throughout the journey, and he wouldn’t say they were wrong either. all he could do was to wait until the next transformation. maybe you would say your thoughts about it through telepathy.

he would know if time passed quickly when he didn’t pay attention to anyone. one of them was the number of times you waved in front of his face to snap him back to earth. “jaehyun?” you laid on the ground and called out, panting to catch air after your successful reps. you tugged the ends of his track pants.

“hm?” he hummed, looking for your voice until he got annoyed with your repetitive pulls of his clothes. “ah stop that. i have to report your record to coach. come with?”

“do i really have to?” you whined. “i could barely stand, my legs are wobbly and i’m hungry.”

jaehyun rolled his eyes and took your hand, pulling you up on your toes. “then let’s grab something to eat on our way to the camp, hm?”

you gulped at the sudden gesture, even more so when you noticed your heart beating faster around him. somehow your sixth sense told you your friends were somewhere in the woods looking at you, and you were right.

minnie had her binoculars by her eyes as you and jaehyun headed in another direction back to everyone else were. she held in her excitement with a huge inhale. out of curiosity lisa stole the binoculars from her. a growing smile showed her pearly whites when within its frame, jaehyun was pushing you from the back before he took your hand again because of how slow you were. “min, consider your reverse harem dream for y/n over. we found her leading man.”

—

“few more reps y/n! do it properly this time?”

jaehyun rubbed his face, raising his tone in question of your athleticism. it was the second and final day of your assessments. your core should be able to get used to the pressure if you’ve done the reps for two straight days. so as of today you salute to all people who persevered and with great stamina. you just.. weren’t that person.

you’ve grown conscious now that jaehyun’s friends were watching a few metres away. you’d prefer kun counting and timing your exercises over him. in contrast, kun’s a little more understanding than the hotheaded jaehyun. “if i say i can’t, shouldn’t you consider stopping here? it’s the last one anyway so put random number on the blank or something.” you struggled to lift yourself up from the ground, arms in an ‘x’ position over your torso.

“is that so? then you wouldn’t mind if i write ‘0’ for the final count?” jaehyun checked the stopwatch while his knees put enough weight on your feet. “at least do five more?” he sat on the soles of his shoes.

“ugh! fine!” you tsked and did sit ups slowly, eyes shut closed.

jaehyun smirked with how determined you were in finishing. and he has gotta credit you for having the last brain cell to endure his overly playful bossiness and plans up his sleeves.

but even his friends has something up in their sleeves. they whispered to each other and nodded heads as excitement already boosted their anticipation. ten cupped his mouth then giving the raised brows as signal to start. “y/n! jaehyun’s recording your expression with his phone!” ten yelled.

jungwoo’s mouth widened and followed along. “jae! there’s a bee behind you!”

“what?!”

“where?!”

the moment you froze and opened your eyes after bringing yourself up, and jaehyun leaned forwards to avoid the insect, was way too hilarious for the guys to see. both of your faces were centimetres away from each other and jaehyun’s ears already tinted pink. jaehyun already found it awkward to help you for three days, but he never prepared himself for something like this.

as his friends bursting out laughing, that was when he realised it was all their plan. you were still too close to him, so he cleared his throat to cut the gap between. “is that a pimple on your nose?” he asked, only for his nose to be smacked and soon be numbed. “agh!”

what the- “jerk! don’t point it out!” you kicked him and rolled sideways to stand up, angrily leaving the area with the sheet in your hands. “i’ll give this to the coach!”

jaehyun held his nose and walked back to the guys, who were still laughing their butts off and rolling on the ground. “you can stop now.”

“oh that was funny! it was like a typical ‘ba-dump’ scene in a rom-com!” jungwoo wiped a tear.

“should’ve recorded it!” kun threw his head back while his hand rested on his heaving chest.

“no worries! at least it’s recorded in jaehyun’s mind!” ten cheered with closed fists.

“it’s embarrassing!” jaehyun threw his towel.

bonfires were mandatory at the start and end of the camp. however, because of your assessment, coach jung had negotiate with the other members of the basketball to get to the campsite a day before the other teams actually arrived at night. so for the kun and the rest, they had a little more free time than jaehyun. and him being the coach’s son.. he didn’t have the same benefits. he was stuck with you because he had to keep an eye on you while

he thought being with you would only be for the first two days, then he would go for his training. and yet here you were, sitting beside him in front of the bonfire while everyone else arrived and other danced to their hearts’ content. maybe he could ask you about the telepathy thing? but figuring you were cranky from earlier, he held back.

“can i ask more about your curse? if it’s okay with you to tell me.”

jaehyun nodded, you had the right to. not because you accidentally picked a random puppy then saw him naked few moments later. you could hear him in your head, and that was enough reason to tell you rather than a general information about it. “yeah. i’m okay with it.”

“you said your ancestors had the curse too. was there any specific reason why they had to suffer that your family and you had to be the..” you paused for a while. jaehyun was waiting for your next words, you guessed it was alright to say it. “..collateral damage?”

“right. i didn’t tell you more of it yeah?” he sniffed from the chilly night. “i don’t know how far back in the years it happened. but they said the head of the family casted out his wife because he assumed he cheated on him. he was the only person the wife ever treasured, so when she was accused, she took his pet and killed it. the head found out, he cursed her that her descendants turn into animals. and we’re the descendants of that woman.”

“that’s awful.” you cleared your throat. “i’m sorry you have to suffer the curse.”

“you don’t have to be. i’m just trying to cope with it.” jaehyun chuckled. “how awesome would it be if there was a way to reverse everything.”

“gotta find the blessing then.” you laid on the grass.

jaehyun’s face wrinkled in disgust. “okay you sound like jungwoo.”

“at least appreciate me for trying to lift your spirits up.”

he hummed in agreement.

“or you can just.. let the blessing find you.” you singsonged as you realised how corny you actually sounded.

“fine, and if it’s you?” he had to give a hint of the telepathic communication.

“because i can hear you when you’re in your retriever form? i’m not exactly a blessing but yeah i’d like to know how telapthy works too.” you stared back at the bonfire, flames flickering as the smoke flew in the air. as of tonight, you wanted to be that person who’d be the igniter of that hope he held on. “if i could help out a little, i’ll be happy to help.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

lisa and minnie stared at you, both had their palms under their chins as if their silence asked you to talk. “i can’t eat when the two of you are like this. it’s very disturbing.” you gripped on your fork, hesitant to eat as you took glances between the food and them.

you knew what they were going to ask. not like you didn’t want to share, it was just that you knew them well enough that they wouldn’t stop once they start. the food was getting cold every second passed, due to the wind outdoors, it was more vulnerable. lisa stretched her elbows while holding her poms to be noticed. five days have gone by and even though you were rarely with them in all those days, she had to ensure you’d tell them about the basketball team and your leading man— although you had no idea about that.

“any updates?” she raised her brows.

“nothing is happening with me or anyone in the team, if that’s what you both wanted to know.” you sighed. “i’m just simply taking down minutes.” you said sternly, kind of regret that you answered her and swirled the noodles with your fork.

“are you sure? twelve members should be enough for that.” minnie tied her shoelaces and bent down with a pressed smile when you pout. she softened her gaze when you were telling the truth and that their teasing should stop there. but they knew that the team should know something about you.

“they’re divided into teams. some did the score board while others practiced on their own. of course i have to be the one- why are you pulling my arm?” you asked and eyed them as if they stained your clothes.

lisa twirled on her toes and posed with her arm rested on her waist. “you’re being quiet again.”

“i’m not?” you said monotonously while you munched on your food.

she sighed and grabbed your chin. “you don’t look at me when you’re lying.” she hummed, yet you didn’t respond. “what’s up y/n? something’s on your mind i can tell.”

in fact a lot of things were.

so far in the week, you’ve helped jaehyun theorise solutions to end his curse after practice. not only for him, but his family and extended family too. some have passed not having to enjoy their lives, while others chose to hide themselves from the world. and a small percentage of the family tree actually tried to live through it— that was jaehyun’s family. coach jung was as determined as jaehyun to put a stop into this curse.

not only that thought alone. to you, jaehyun has been rather noticeable. even if you weren’t thinking of him, he’d appear out of nowhere— during your breaks, on your night-walks alone or even heading to the toilet. you’d always bump into him and his presence seemed to be marked in your consciousness now. not that you liked him around, it was just captain was more friendly than others made him out to be. “really, it’s nothing.”

to say that jaehyun didn’t feel same was definitely an understatement. since the start of the freshman year, he knew you were the loud girl with the two hot cheerleaders, but always wondered why you’ve never joined the team. sometimes he would catch you sitting at one corner, dancing along with the routines aside from cheering your friends on as he was heading to practice.

now he took a peek of you eating alone while lisa and minnie showed off their new uniforms. he was about to call you out to help the team, but the girls pulling you almost immediately once you were done had him holding back. “chaeyeon will be arriving soon, and remember the dare was to wear our uniform.” minnie giggled while you begged her to stop, to the point you nearly cried thinking about it. “you agreed to it-”

“i didn’t agree to it! you agreed for me! i had no say!”

jaehyun’s eyes widened at the thought of you in uniform. your yells were getting louder and pitchier. should he be your knight and shining armour? probably not. he’d like to have something to tease you about. for a moment there was silence, he hid behind the corner of a storage building. you were still telling your friends to stop doing what they were doing. but it was two against one, and he knew you were at the losing end.

the door slammed open, your huffs and puffs getting heavier and closer to where he was. jaehyun’s heart beat so fast that when he finally decided to call out your name, you bumped into him and he caught you to prevent you from falling. “i was about to fetch you, manager.”

you felt heat spread your entire cheek because of the attire you were forced to wear. “well you did and i’m here. can we go? my friends are giving me the stares.”

“fiesty, but i think you look alright.” he chuckled when you grumpily walked ahead. jaehyun followed you from behind with his hands in pockets.

what does he mean by that?

lisa and minnie pursed their lips, soon bursting into giddy squeals and continuously fanning each other from what they saw yet the second time. “he was really checking her out.” minnie laughed.

“his ears said it all.” lisa checked her watch on her wrist. “basketball team’s practice match is starting soon. wanna sit in?”

“girl you bet i will.”

even hours later you blew your baby fringes blocking your view. as you flipped the score board and whistles for a time-out echoed the outdoor gym, your friends could tell how uncomfortable you were but they’d do nothing to get more reactions from you. they liked that you entertained them. and what choice did you have? chaeyeon was already taking pictures of you in the uniform you despised wearing.

coach jung briefed the team information on their opponents this season. you wrote down important points, feeling the chill of the early sunset. you couldn’t wait to change into actual soft and comfy clothes, mosquitoes weren’t your friends.

jaehyun listened to his dad repeating the same points- mostly because he got the advice first before others. he heard you hiss several times, you were supposed to jot the notes down. then it got frequent. he tiptoed to see you opposite from him, shooing the bugs away. of course you were still wearing the cheer uniform. he didn’t want to draw attention, so he stealthy walked behind the guys and straight to you.

“trouble?” he asked.

“just a little chilly, that’s all. meeting’s nearly done yeah?” you hugged the file to your chest.

“say so if you’re cold.” he took his jacket off and draped it on your shoulder.

“and who am i to tell to?” your voice challenging him.

he hummed so low that it almost lulled you to sleep. “me. i’m not the captain for nothing.”

you were both busy talking that you and him weren’t aware of time nor anyone else close by. mind you that minnie and lisa were watching the whole thing. you managed to smile even if you were crossed with how you were dressed. like you enjoyed his company.

they couldn’t hear your conversation, nor were your lips were moving. but the body language they saw already proved and confirmed their assumption. they had to tell you. they went straight to you once the meeting was over, and pulled you aside whilst jaehyun was talking about his childhood.

jaehyun raised a brow and chuckled as you were being pulled away. his friends immediately surround him, bombarding him with questions that he wasn’t paying attention to the meeting. “dude, your time’s near.” ten smacked him on the back.

“don’t make it sound like i’m dying, ten.” jaehyun rolled his eyes, but whenever he did, they were always fixated on you. he couldn’t shake off the feeling you were that something to solve the curse.

“be alert than be busted.” ten shrugged, head tilting to where you were. your friends were busy recording you and giggles filled the air. “how are you so calm now jae?”

jaehyun pursed his lips. “with her, there’s no way i’m calm at all.”

“okay now i can’t tell if that answer was from human jaehyun or doggy jaehyun.” jungwoo pointed out.

his friends all looked at each other, jaehyun wasn’t his usual self. it was as if he was dazed but was able to converse with them properly. slowly his naturally peach-like fuzzy cheeks grew more fur, his tail started to reveal. although they were quick enough to hide jaehyun, they didn’t realise the commotion that came afterwards and drew everyone’s attention.

you swifted your head at the boys’ yells and gathering circle, faintly hearing jaehyun’s refusal into whatever they got him into. “stop it! hey!” he hissed.

jungwoo, a little too excited of the drama going on, spotted you looking at them and gestured you to come over too. your friends built up a curiosity and went ahead of you. as for you, you were mentally tired to think of anything.

not until you heard kun’s wavering yet convincing words. “uh.. y’all wanna see magic?” he chuckled nervously as he knew what jaehyun would do to him after all this was over. “quickly because it’ll happen soon!”

you held in a laugh at jaehyun when he was forced to sit down on the grass to hide his tail. “i’ve been trying to master this for months and i thank jaehyun as my participant. who loves animals? give me a name.”

most hands were up and the answers were said at the same time. some didn’t believe him, but others have seen kun’s little magic tricks over the days. so something of a huge scale like this already got them curious than ever.

“ah i hear great ones but i’ll choose dog. now i’ll turn jaehyun into a golden retriever.” he draped a blanket above his friend.

ten and jungwoo bit their lips to contain themselves, holding onto each other as they filmed this once-in-a-lifetime event. the circle enlarged in scale with the poor lad at the center and the golden hour shone over everyone.

“in 3.. 2.. 1..” kun only snapped his fingers then the blanket shrunk in size. your schoolmates were convinced that something was actually happening.

and it was amusing because you were able to hear jaehyun swearing so much in your head.

you let out a giggle. jaehyun was soon surrounded by everyone who wanted to pet him. even your friends went over to the animal. “at least pretend to be happy for them. goldens are known for being clowns.” you told him.

*sighs* “tell kun i’m gonna kill him.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

the silence was all jaehyun ever wanted after the shock he had to go through from kun’s improv few days ago. he’d be thankful for a moment because he actually forgot the gideon hour at the time, but he would soon later be clouded with annoyance that he should’ve been informed beforehand of his actions— not only kun, the others included. they’ve got a part in this too.

his friends seated side by side with bruises and bandages on their faces, jaehyun still giving them the silent treatment. he was cranky about that, yet even more so when there was no progress into finding a solution to his curse. “jae. we said we’re sorry.” jungwoo apologised and felt that he was the only one giving effort to talk to jaehyun compared to kun and ten.

“and i said it’s fine. so stop saying that before i actually don’t forgive you.” jaehyun pressed the bridge of his nose.

after walking up the slope to the cabin with heaves of breaths, you managed to hear their conversation before opening the door. “i refilled your bottles.” you threw them on a duffle bag, not caring whether either of them rolled away. “i have to apologise too, jaehyun. i haven’t come up with anything to help you.” true enough because you couldn’t think straight or have the energy to use your remaining brain cells for that matter.

“ugh it’s fine. i’m not in a rush or anything. not even assigning you to solve within the duration of the camp.” jaehyun squeezed the bottle as thirst continued to drive him crazy, the heat as well, so he removed his tshirt. you averted your gaze and looked elsewhere. maybe you were still a little bothered seeing him half naked after the incident?

ten sought the opportunity and decided to fan the flame even more. “why look away when you’ve seen him already?”

he managed to dodge your hits and you turned around embarrassed. jaehyun could see you fanning yourself from the heat. “it was an accident!” you cleared your throat.

“gah i’m tired. we’re done with practice. we get a day off tomorrow, so can’t we watch a movie? who has disney plus?” jungwoo wiped himself with a towel.

“i do.” kun brought out his ipad. “what do you wanna watch?”

“i haven’t watched that one.”

“beauty and the beast?”

“o-kay, i’ll be going now.” you yawned as you began to feel the exhaustion take over your body. “see you tomorrow.”

the door closed and suddenly you remembered a funny memory last halloween when taeil dressed himself as belle. he blended in with the other ladies that you didn’t realise it was him. either it was the wig’s work or just taeil in general. you found it funny when a bunch of young teens become children again as disney’s mentioned.

your phone vibrated with your friends asking to help them out with their practice. “i came to the camp for the basketball team, not you two.” you left a voice mail. all you wanted was to rest up today. not until a certain realisation hit you hard.

because what if?

it hasn’t been that long since you left the cabin when the boys jolted from their positions. their peace and concentration on the movie already ruined by you. “oh my goodness i think i got it?” you slammed the door.

jaehyun sat up and set his phone aside. “you’re saying it a question rather than a discovery. not convinced.”

“will you be when i tell you if it’s based on that movie?” you pointed at the tablet.

he trailed his eyes to the screen then back at you, a more confused expression on his face. “you expect me to find someone to love me so my curse will be lifted?”

“pfft nah kidding, you don’t seem that loveable anyway.” you stole a lollipop from ten. “okay bye for reals.”

as the door closed, ten unwrapped another lollipop. “bet you he’s thinking of his potential ‘belle’.” ten nudged the boys.

“shut up. i’m not going to base my life on a fictional movie.”

“but it could be y/n. i mean she can hear you.” jungwoo paused the film.

“it’s not going to be her and it doesn’t prove anything.”

jaehyun thought a lot for two things— you keeping his hopes up, the other was you setting his heart in a frenzy and he always hated that feeling. he groaned and dragged himself to bed to place a towel over his face. sure he’ll hold on to that idea you came up with for now. however it didn’t prove on telepathy.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

your heart missed a beat when jaehyun waited for you in front of the cabin you stayed at. he thought you bumping into his torso wasn’t a good way to greet in the morning, whereas you feeling some fur on his tshirt as greeting was any different. jaehyun handed you a file and a little note from coach.

while you read it, you could sense jaehyun was staring, like he had something to say. he retracted his lips when your friends appeared behind you with grins annoyingly appearing on their faces. “make it quick captain. we have things to discuss with y/n.”

“yeah sure. i just dropped by to pass this to you. coach said to make copies. i’ll come back after you’re done with breakfast.” he cleared his throat and announced his leave.

“hm. fishy. he could’ve just left it here outside but he seems like he waited for you.” lisa drank from her cup as you all sat and ate breakfast together.

“right? it’s been days he acted that way!” minnie walked back to the table. “he’s indeed a gentleman, but there are times he’s very hard to approach.”

you unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. “anyway, what is it you guys wanna talk about?”

“lisa will go first. she couldn’t wait.” minnie giggled.

lisa laid out series of pictures of nature she recently took and were indeed beautiful. “oh my goodness they look amazing!” you sat up. “as expected from someone in the photography club. i bet if you submit these to johnny he’ll regret putting you as backup-”

“really?! i took advantage of the retreat and i made sure they were pretty!” lisa interrupted you and placed more pictures down. “these are my favourite! i’m thinking of sending these to johnny instead!”

however your face turned sullen at the next pictures. they were blurry and almost gone, but it was definitely jaehyun at the background, each one showed he was transforming from human to dog. you paused and your heart did the same.

the silence got longer, you knew you had to speak up, but no words came out. “what’s wrong y/n?”

“you can’t submit these to johnny.” you brushed the first batch of pictures aside and bind latest pictures together.

“why not? you supported the rest of them! how could these be not good enough?” lisa’s voice changed in an instant, like you’ve taken away her pride. she sat back with folded arms, her behaviour scared you a little.

minnie slightly wiggled your hand. “hey, are you hearing to yourself y/n?”

“sorry, i know i sound stupid-”

“you are!” lisa huffed where her cheeks blew up. it was cute though.

“but you have to hear me out.” one thing was for sure, your stress levels shot up high if word gets to jaehyun. you had to prepare for the consequences.

“okay, so why can’t i submit them?” lisa sighed.

you held her hand. “it would be alright to, only if these are not in the background.” you said, pointing out a figure at the background of the subject. it all became clear as day to them when they looked closely. “did jaehyun just.. transformed?”

you were surprised with how quick they were able to catch on. as much as you wanted to protect jaehyun’s family curse, things would’ve turn for worst if someone else had noticed it. i’m sorry jaehyun, this is for your own good.

“we believed kun’s ability of illusion and his magic tricks. ten sent us a video of it and it didn’t really occurred to us that the golden was actually jaehyun.” minnie pursed her lips. “if you think about it, he does look like a golden.”

“how is this possible?” lisa asked with a growing smile, but refrained since transforming twice everyday was nothing good anyway.

“i found about his family curse accidentally. he turns into a dog when it’s golden hour, like sunrise and sunset.” you propped on your elbows.

“it’s a curse? poor lad.” minnie gasped.

a rather sad nod caught them off guard. “the coach signed me up to join this retreat. it’s not only for my missed p.e assessments but it was to keep his curse a secret. a-and now that you know, i’ll be damned if word gets to him. so you have to promise me you both don’t say or do anything..“ you sounded as if you begged. that was how much your the friendship you have with jaehyun meant to you.

“and yeah, that’s my answer. the magic trick was just a cover up to hide jaehyun’s dog form.” they listened and were surprised to hear you like this.

your fidgety hands and nervous breathing was too obvious. if jaehyun was just a friend, you wouldn’t act as if he was your- “oh no.” you slumped down on your arms. “why did i..” you mumbled as your feelings for him became clearer to you.

“oh my gosh. you like him! you like jaehyun!” lisa covered her mouth and changed the lingering negative atmosphere.

ba-dump. i..

“then that means your love for golden retrievers doubled!” minnie hugged you.

“no! it’s b-because you’re putting m-me in the spotlight-” you stuttered when they leaned towards you. “i’m gonna go.”

jaehyun flinched even though he was at a distance. your friends were yelling quite excitingly. you were being chased by them and although it was inaudible. he answered his phone as it was ringing for a while. “what, ten?”

“don’t ‘what’ me!” jaehyun tilted his head from his friend’s volume. “jae where are you?”

“i’m at y/n’s cabin and on my way bac-”

“nevermind that. i can see you.”

ten rushed towards him and looked at the cabin. “where’s lisa?” he squinted his eyes.

“just her and minnie chasing y/n out. i don’t know how but they left the door open. what are you doing here anyway?”

he mimicked a photographer’s gesture and pointed at the cabin. “lisa told me her pictures have developed and i’m here to get them.”

jaehyun flicked his forehead. “and you could’ve asked me instead.”

“they’re confidential and i’m shy if anyone sees it.” ten walked to the cabin.

“gross. just get them and head back quickly.”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

you lost track of the days that have passed and there was an unsettling feeling that stayed in your chest. had it been two or three? you couldn’t remember. the basketball team’s practice matches and drills were normal. but there was a difference in air lingering around jaehyun. he still talked to you, kept the same gentle smile and was caring as usual. except whenever he did those, it seemed like he was distancing himself from you, creating an imaginary wall just to let you know your limits and boundaries.

you’d like to think it was because of the pressure coach has been giving him since the play-offs were close to date. but, it wasn’t all jaehyun who behaved that way. ten also distanced himself, his gaze pierced against your skull and thinking about it only caused you to have migraines. you were more scared of ten.

coach jung have asked you to help the cheerleading team, saying you’ve helped them enough. the amount of appreciation he had for you was too much, you couldn’t ask him about how jaehyun recently. yet this was all too sudden that your gut feeling told you otherwise. you planned to talk to jaehyun after the day ends. because in all honesty, something definitely happened.

and the boys left you out of it.

approaching jaehyun was harder than you thought. now you’ve realised it, he was always the one who took the initiative and you on the receiving end took the benefits of his kindness. it was supposed to be the other way around, so why were you taking advantage of this?

if having feelings for him was the reason for that, then you’re really stupid y/n. you laid on the grass in defeat from your thoughts and closed your eyes. you decided to have some peace and nature was your best friend in time like these. chirping birds and crashing riverbanks-

“jaehyun where are you?!”

ah crap. you twitched hard enough that swarms of goosebumps appeared on the majority of your skin. on your stomach, you hid behind the bushes to see jungwoo and the others struggling to find him. even at the mention of his name you were already feeling shy and flustered.

“is he skipping practice again?”

“ah whatever let’s just leave him.”

“i understand why he’s like that.”

“even i would feel hurt if i were him.”

a heavy and deep audible breath from their sudden entry was difficult to hide your response. you tried to leave as quiet as possible. not wanting to get caught, you had to move stealthily with few glides backwards on your knees, eyes glued to the boys’ actions if they looked elsewhere. when you felt something blocking the soles of your shoes, somehow you knew what it was.

“you’re blocking my way.” jaehyun’s irritated tone made your chest ache— in the most painful impact you never expected from him.

quickly you stood up and made sure you stayed out of sight from the boys. jaehyun scratched his temple at your awkward behaviour. he was already in front of you, why were you hesitating to ask him questions he left unanswered? jaehyun pulled a long face when you still remained silent. “if you’re not gonna speak when you clearly have something to say, do i really have to say it for you?”

what the hell is his problem? what’s with his tone? “yeah as a matter of fact i do. the thing is, i don’t understand why you’re being like this. you ignore me but still talk to me when i don’t help with the team anymore, and for some reason you’re mad at me?” you grimaced while leaning on a tree trunk.

there was cynism in jaehyun’s nods and the swirls of his tongue evident on his cheeks. you hated his attitude and all you wanted was an explanation. “whatever this is, i’ve got no reason for you to doubt me, jaehyun.”

“ah, really? ‘cause you just gave me one.” he fished out something from his pockets and as you watched, the item he was holding was too familiar and they were obviously not his. he flicked the sheets and that was when you confirmed they were the new pictures lisa developed.

why were they with him? at the pit of your stomach, a whirlwind of emotions and stressing pressure began, and you didn’t like the feeling at all. “what-”

he threw the pictures on the floor. “other than my family and friends you’re the only one who knows about my curse! and at some point you go against my back telling them to picture me when i’m left clueless?!”

right now you were really afraid jaehyun’s mood would attract attention.

you closed your eyes as he raised his voice. “look i have no idea how you got those but i promise you i had nothing to do with the picture-” you insisted and could feel your blood pressure rising.

“how- how could you betray me like this?!”

your heart fell and instead of feeling bad about him knowing, you felt your head ache with so much anger building up inside you. because jaehyun didn’t bother to listen or let you explain yourself.

“i found you in the background before lisa actually showed those to johnny! it would spread if she did! where’s the betrayal in that?!”

he stepped closer to you, your entire was itching to run away. “i don’t care! you still told your friends! you could’ve said another excuse like kun’s practicing his magic trick or something! you promised me my secret’s safe with you!”

that’s messed up. i did tell lisa and minnie but not because it was to mock him!

“kun was no where to be seen in the picture! what else can i do? lie to them? i know my friends more than you do and they won’t tell anyone!” you raised your voice as well.

jaehyun scoffed, rolling his eyes. “i don’t trust them!”

“well, i do! and you should trust me!” your tone wavering at all emotions hitting you at once. especially coming from him— the guy you developed feelings for.

“the moment you told them you broke my trust already! what else did you tell them, hm? my dad and brother having the curse too?” he brushed his hair in anger when your silence meant yes. “ugh is this really happening?! you told them everything!”

“okay that’s enough-” your vision blurring from the tears wanting to fall.

“i’m asking what else did you tell them?! dammit y/n what could be so important to you than my secret?!”

“well- i-”

“i what?!”

other than the secret, you knew what went after the reveal. then you realised the weight of your words, you couldn’t tell him that you actually like him. you wanted to be selfish this once. “i can’t.. tell you.”

jaehyun started to harbour more resentment towards your reasoning. he found it ridiculous of you to even continue with this conversation. ten already warned him that the secret wasn’t safe with you in the first place. the glimpse of hope faded when he thought you’d be the key, even if you were, trust was still important to him. it was the very thing his mother lacked and you doing so reminded him of it.

his expression darkened and you were afraid of him— excluding of how cruel he was with you on the exercise reps. you were afraid you just broken a promise and put your friendship on a rocky end.

“so that’s it? i’m begging you with my life on the line and you just gave me the most bullcrap answer!”

“you’re being unreasonable!” you yelled.

“shut up! you found about my curse so you should be the one compromising!”

“y/n!” lisa came running with a panicked face.

tsk, wrong timing. “not now.” you mouthed.

“have you seen my pictures?! i told ten to get them the other day but he got the wrong envelope! it’s the one with jae-” she bent down to catch her breath and was taken aback with jaehyun’s presence. “..hyun.”

the boys followed lisa and once they found their friend, you could tell ten’s stares that felt like daggers. he pulled jaehyun away but eyes still locked on you. “what happened?” lisa asked as you mirrored ten’s expression, but your friends could see the hurt in your eyes.

“he has the pictures. i think ten saw them and gave them to him. jaehyun’s mad, he thinks i betrayed him for telling you-”

“no that’s not it!” lisa held your hand and glared at the boys, especially ten, since he was her childhood friend. “you had every right to tell us because the pictures are my works-”

“shouldn’t have said anything further y/n! you should’ve gotten the pictures and told us instead of them! you promised, remember?” ten finally spoke up.

you rolled your eyes. “and what?! you’re like saying i should risk my friendship for his stupid secret!”

his friends turned heads to jaehyun to see his tight-knit brows and softening demeanour. jaehyun frowned and hurt was evident in his face. he was hurt by you, someone he developed feelings for in a short amount of time. “i believed it when you said you’ll help me. or were.. were all those just words to you?”

ah.. that came out wrong.

you bit your lips to say something, but they left so soon after, making your chest squeeze as if your lungs let out the last bits of oxygen from your body.

shortly over an hour, jungwoo watched his friend pace back and forth, nibbling on his nails when the tension grew in their cabin. “aren’t you too hard on her? you didn’t let y/n explain further-”

“i can’t believe her!” jaehyun crumpled the picture after looking at it. “how could she do this to me?!”

“honestly i just don’t think she’s that type of person to go behind someone’s back for her own entertainment.” kun spoke up and tilted his head, avoiding the cup that smashed on his side of his cheek. “perhaps you’re mistaken.”

jaehyun wasn’t in the right headspace whenever his past trauma was reminded or brought up, so no matter how much reason was given, he wouldn’t listen. “do i have to repeat it? she already had her fun when she told her friends to picture me!”

“your explanations are always so conclusive.” kun sighed.

“and your heart’s too soft as usual, kun! so back off!” jaehyun grabbed the older one’s shoulder and shoved him against the wall.

he released him soon after realising that he didn’t once listen to you, but he was too stubborn to take any more excuses. there was one thing he thought you were wrong— weren’t you risking your friendship with him by exposing his secret he kept so dearly? maybe distancing himself more than he did would clear his mind off from the mess.

—

when all sports teams lined up with their designated coach buses the days after, jaehyun slightly put his chin up to search for you in the crowd— in a subtle manner, since he still stood in his decision into having his space from you yet didn’t want it to be obvious to others that he cared for you still.

you knew he was staring from afar. it was a stupid misunderstanding, both of you were in the wrong, but he made you feel as if you carried the blame for this.

sure that was a given, that he would react worse than expected. you were going to take the pictures from lisa anyway, and the guys wouldn’t know that your friends knew. you didn’t expect you’d burst out of anger or that ten took them before you did and made the assumption. it still drove you mad, ten probably convinced jaehyun of your doing since he didn’t trust you at first.

that aside, you decided to ride the coach bus with the cheerleading team. “when we reach school, you can forget about the basketball team and camp. how dare they hurt you?” minnie hugged you as you stared out the window.

“if i had to weigh it, it’s not me who’s hurting. jaehyun is.” you sighed and pat her back. “how do i act if i bump to any of them? i’ll probably do something stupid again. at all cost, i’mma just- *sigh*”

“she’s talking about jaehyun right?”

“yeah she’s still not straightforward about him.”

“we know she likes him. she doesn’t have to hide it.”

“i can hear you both.” you lowered your hat to avoid their gaze.

jaehyun sat beside his father at the front for a change, playing with the blinds to cover sunlight. coach jung knew his silence more than anyone, even if jaehyun didn’t plan on telling him. “i’ve done what you told me to do. you didn’t want to see y/n after the fight. so? did it to any change?”

“no. i kept my distance and i’ll see if she’ll admit her mistake.” jaehyun adjusted the fan above him.

“jae, if only you saw her reaction when i told her to not come see the team. i know you’re smarter than this. you know it’s not all her fault.”

he clenched his palms hard. crescent moons soon showed themselves on the flesh. “where exactly in this is my fault, dad? have i not been patient to wait for curse to be broken? who said that y/n might have a contribution in this? it’s you, dad. i’m not holding any grudge against y/n. i’m just disappointed at her because she’s nothing i ever imagined her to be. goodness’ sake i even like her.” he mumbled at the last sentence, missing the point that his dad could hear it.

coach jung let out a short laugh at the remark. “not sure if you noticed, you haven’t seen y/n working hard at researching about our curse while you boys practiced. she’s always brainstorming at the possibilities, science or not, she’s always looking for ways. don’t let anger cloud you.” his father paused and had a pressed smile. “..don’t end up having small fights like me and your mother. you wouldn’t want it to be bigger than it already is.”

“yeah.. i know.”

you woke up with a thud and saw a rather prominent bump on your right temple through the reflection of the window. arriving at the campus grounds was quicker than you thought, despite being almost a half day journey. you overheard that the basketball team would stay there a little longer and you had to leave immediately because once everyone has gone home, you’d see him. you didn’t want to risk yourself from being spotted after you both fought.

it was a small matter now that you think about that day. stubbornness outweighed understanding in the two of you, and that resulted in immaturity. and if neither of you were willing to admit, might as well make the first move.

but you were stubborn as he was.

once the coach bus was nearing the parking area, the first and only thing you decide to do was get out of the vehicle and head straight home. you wouldn’t let your friends speak and looked at their bus. there sat jaehyun fiddling with the curtain. you then rushed out, covering your face from the basketball team as they too were getting off. “is that what she meant ‘at all costs’?” minnie facepalmed as she saw you walking away quickly.

“oh look, there’s y/n.” coach jung tapped the window to make jaehyun notice you. the way you behaved was weird for him, because it was too obvious you were avoiding getting seen.

“i don’t care.”

“it means you do.” his father messed his son’s hair. “okay, off you go. i’ll cancel the extra practice today and let all of you rest up during the weekend.”

jaehyun’s lips agape at his father’s last minute decision. he wore his cap and slung his bag. “if you’re doing this and expect i’d make up with her, you’ll regret ever cancelling practice.”

“ah c’mon. your old man is helping you out with a girl. can’t you tell what i’m doing, jae?” he laughed at his son’s reaction. he could see himself in jaehyun and knew things would get better.

“it won’t work dad.”

he rolled his eyes and went to where the bikes were parked. he kicked the stand at the rear wheel when his friends caught up to him with their own bikes. goodness why can’t they just leave me alone? “what do you want?” he stood a little to pedal ahead.

kun rode along beside him, eyes alternating at and on the road. “what now? you’re just going to pretend you didn’t see y/n? like nothing happened?”

“how can i ignore that when her figure’s so obvious and literally running away from here? i’m not going to do anything about-”

jungwoo then sighed heavily, causing jaehyun to knit brows. “she looked over our bus you dimwit! that means she thought of talking to you but held back because of-”

“i’ll talk to y/n in my own terms and in my own time! stop forcing me to do things when you think it would work well for me!” jaehyun pressed on the brakes with his palms.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

kun and jungwoo’s eyes followed your swirling fork and the silent air that had been going for half an hour. they thought knocking onto the doors of jaehyun’s closed heart was hard, never expected yours was harder. you wouldn’t say anything after they invited you, claiming they missed you around them.

because it had been two full semesters since then. from what the boys told you, jaehyun lost focus and couldn’t lead the team to the championships. he always fought with his father and would burst in anger, throwing unnecessary fits towards them even though they worked hard to reach the quarterfinals.

this behaviour would happen so often that it began to strain his relationships with everyone on the team. the transformation did a lot worse to his body, he’d get sick and weak, and for over months, he would not transform back immediately within the golden hour ended. it lasted longer. sometimes even the morning after.

it worried them that if jaehyun given up all hope and continued to act that way, the urge to find the solution would never take place. and that he would remain an animal forever. even so, you knew their intentions to invite you today despite feeling sad for jaehyun. and you prepared your answer before they could speak.

“y/n-”

“as much as i love to stay, i’m here to tell you you’ve wasted your efforts. if jaehyun won’t talk to me.. then i’ll just keep giving him space until he apologises first.” you were already losing appetite talking about it.

“and you think waiting game would pull off too, hm?” kun’s dimple deepened, a flat smile seen on the exterior.

you put down your fork. “i didn’t think we’ll last this long not talking-”

ten smirked in disbelief, you forgot he was there too. his presence was almost non-existent as he kept quiet the whole time. “keep it like that. you’re held accountable for making jaehyun the way he is now.”

“ten!” kun scowled at the guy. “i told you not to talk.”

you rolled your eyes that his words hurt more than the eye roll. “why is he here anyway? you said it’ll only be the two of you. unbelievable.”

“to see if you came up with a solution to lift jaehyun’s curse. looking at you now, i guess you didn’t.” he said and you tried your best to refrain yourself from hitting him. “were you mocking him when you suggested it might be the same answer as that disney film?”

“i said as a joke but it might be a possibility. we live in a world where people go through inexplainable experiences that science couldn’t dive in deep.” you sighed.

jungwoo tapped the table to stop the bickering you and ten were starting. “like my hunch says, maybe it’s another soulmate thing i’ve mentioned to you guys at the camp.”

“it’s not a soulmate thing, jungwoo.” kun and ten said simultaneously.

you brought out an a5 sized sealed envelope and the action alone made the boys stunned. “don’t open this. just give it to him. anyway, the sun’s setting. i really have to go.” you passed the item to kun.

it’s suffocating. i can’t stay here long. they saw how hesitating your limbs were, your eyes averting them and clearing your throat several times.

“ten, does this look like she didn’t do anything? this proves she’s trying.” kun took the envelope and hit it on ten’s head.

as you put on your coat whilst standing next to the table, ten sat back with arms crossed. “acting smart, aren’t you? you really think you’re the belle for jaehyun huh? i wouldn’t believe that for a second.”

“i didn’t say anything about me being the solution. i’m still keeping my promise to help him. and trust me, i don’t think i’m belle either.” you grabbed your bag and left, your food gone cold and jungwoo sighed at the air turning worse thanks to ten.

the cash money was placed on the table when kun called the waiter. “please keep the change.” he looked at your slouching figure by the bus stop across the restaurant. it screamed sadness and hurt all over.

the reason for suddenly leaving wasn’t because you were offended with what ten said. of course there was truth in his words. at some point you thought you were someone important to jaehyun, since you could hear him.

you thought you both were soulmates.

you left because you spotted a familiar figure standing by the door. haven’t been seeing him lately only made you feel angry at yourself. you were a coward, you even passed the envelope to the boys instead of giving it to jaehyun yourself. your friends already encouraged you about it, that that was the only thing to narrow the gap between you and jaehyun. it was to show that you were still supporting him.

why are you like this y/n? if you like him, you’d do anything to get his attention and forgiveness. why are you doing things to push him away, rather.. why are you forcing yourself to not care when you still do?

you continued to walk with your head low for another hour, troubled in your thoughts as they’ve been bothering you for many months. snap out of it y/n-

*tug*

*scratch*

the hems of your baggy jeans were pulled and torn with minimal, adorable force. it took you a while to process the animal before you. a blue bunny, what’s a bunny doing here- oh.

“sungchan?”

—

he rose from the bushes in front of their house. you stood there awkwardly while he figures to cover his body after the blue hour. “i’m sorry for asking you to bring me home. i get tired from hopping sometimes.” he grabbed a towel that he was hanging by the gate.

“no worries. i-i’ve seen- nevermind.” your voice softened at the latter.

sungchan pursed his lips to refrain himself from smiling since he was there and witnessed when it happened. “come in, i’ll make you some tea. it’s my way of thanks.”

although he was kinder than his brother, probably more mature, he was still young that you could see through his intentions. you knew he wanted some patching up done between you and jaehyun. you hesitated for a while, but since you were there already, might as well try to talk to him—

even if there was a slim chance of making things work.

you sat on the sofa, slightly still and awkward being in the residence. little sips, light breathing and the soft wind from the fan were only heard within the living area. “did my brother cause you a lot of trouble during the camp?” sungchan asked and knowing that you were silent, he knew jaehyun probably did. “how about now?”

“actually, i think i’m the one causing more trouble for him because i feel like i’m not doing anything to help when i said i would.” you sighed as he continued to listen.

“really? i heard from the others you’re helping so much that it changed my brother.. at the least he’s not cranky.” his nose twitched so adorably that you thought it was derived from being a bunny almost his whole life. “also, there’s that envelope-” he paused while realising how your expression caught him off guard.

maybe he shouldn’t have mentioned it, but he wanted you to know he wasn’t spying on you. he made that clear with his silence.

if he saw that back at the restaurant, that only meant he was there for quite some time. you let out a small smile that he was probably there not for you, but to wait for his brother’s friends. instead of bumping into them, he bumped into you.

“oh, that. it.. has a bunch of handwritten letters i’ve compiled when i struggled talking to jaehyun. i just felt that maybe it’s more sincere if i had to apologise.. y’know, eventually.”

he pursed his lips and nodded. “then why not put those words into actual words? like verbal words.” sungchan’s fingers pointed upwards, hinting that jaehyun was up in his room. “for all i know it’s the most sincere thing to do.”

crap, he’s not expressive but he’s so so mature for his age. it made you feel inferior for a moment.

“but before you do that, i have to tell you something that my dad and brother missed out about our curse. why jaehyun-hyung is more pressured than i am.”

(few minutes later)

you slid against the wall while sungchan went out to do grocery shopping. at the other side of the door, in between the thin gap, you could hear soft breathing; jaehyun was on his bed, sleeping in his dog form and it hurt you since time already passed both golden and blue hour, he should’ve transformed like his brother did. instead he laid there as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

meanwhile, jaehyun knew you entered his room. he pretended to be sleeping and expected he wouldn’t know how to act when he gets to face you. he decided to stay as he was.

until you pat then caressed his head.

he didn’t want to settle or give in for the fact you loved golden retrievers. he blamed on the shallow euphroria dogs easily feel. and because he was in his dog form, the anger he held for you disappeared. but at the same time, was your touch out of care or pity? he couldn’t figure it out. then he could hear the beats of your heart, and that made him sit up. your heart was fast. it was worrying. it was—

“why didn’t you tell me the whole story?” your voice wavered in heaving breaths as he finally looked you in the eye. his ears twitched and he faced the door, knowing that sungchan told everything.

jaehyun shook his body and whiskers moved before he telepathically answered you. “believe me i tried. i hate myself for being sensitive and i couldn’t bring to tell you because i got angry. but you have to know that i value trust more than anything.”

“you know what’s ironic?” you sighed, pressing your forehead as pain began to form. “you didn’t trust me first and and we fought because you didn’t do that. and you didn’t trust me enough that you only told me what, like 50 percent of it?”

of course he knew what you referred to.

he was going to tell you the day he visited your cottage at camp. but he didn’t get to, because ten told him news ahead of him that it ruined the purpose to talk to you. it wasn’t that he blamed him, it was due to the fact he wasn’t prepared for something like that. even for something like this.

because there was that prophecy weighing on his shoulders.

“sungchan said that it has to directly come from you, so you better tell me now before our friendship falls out.” you warned and leaned back against the headboard.

currently your friendship was on the line, wobbling on tight ropes. pushing you further away would do no good.

jaehyun sat and his paws were dignified into a comfortable position. his head laid on a cushion pillow, facing towards you. “fine. most of my family turns into wild animals, and they couldn’t control themselves in that other form. their wildlife instincts overpowers their thoughts.” he yawned.

“and it’s different for me and sungchan. when we were born, when we had our first full transformation, they were shocked to know we turn into domestic animals. we’re able to remember, think and live as if we’re still humans. at the end, it’s either of us to stop the curse.”

“so why did your brother mention that you’re the most pressured? why did it only have to be you?” this time you spoke, there was more depth into your feelings if you spoke. as sungchan said, verbally was more sincere. “you could share the burden with him.”

he sighed at the tone of your voice. “isn’t it obvious? the role is immediately passed onto me not because i’m the first born.. it’s because you suddenly could talk to me.. telepathically.”

“yeah and we couldn’t even figure that one out yet.” you scoffed remembering the times you’ve placed your efforts on that matter and now it had gone all to waste. all because you both had that fight.

he read through your eyes and sensed the intention from your words. plus he hated how you delivered it with that certain tone. “i didn’t bring this up just to blame you for my own satisfaction!” he groaned. “i brought it up so that i can apologise! i was wrong, okay?! i should’ve listened to you instead of carelessly listening to ten-”

you refrained yourself from showing any further hurt. recalling it would only make you cry. “well you were manipulated with ten’s assumptions. you believed him more than me. he had proof while i didn’t. i was in the losing end! not like i expected you to change your mind. so can we just.. get this overwith and tell me what the prophecy is?”

he was speechless for a while. you being straight-forward yet in a pained voice was too much for him. he was already softening his feelings for you and you had to tense it all up again. “‘only one could save those who lay under the curse, for they must be in the correct peace of mind and body to break it before it turns for worse.’”

“and the ‘worse’ means you won’t transform back anymore?” you asked, the prophecy already piercing your heart as you waited for more explanation.

“that and..” he trailed off. “..we lose our humanity too. we won’t remember anything. memories erased like a snap of the finger. and we’ll just be.. another animal.”

you pushed yourself to sit up as your heart clenched tight. “jaehyun! why say it now and not before?”

“because! what is there for you to do-”

you squished the dog’s into a wrinkly mess, to the point jaehyun couldn’t see anything. his paws tried to put your arms down, but even clawing was hard for him to do. then he felt you lean forward to hug him. “y/n? what’re you doing?” you didn’t answer.

crap, this is warm. it feels.. nice. embarrassed, he put his thoughts at the back of his mind. “are you doing this out of pity? do i look that helpless-”

what crossed his mind was that you thought he needed a hug and was the only thing you could do. but you proved him wrong, so, so wrong. and why didn’t he realise it sooner in his life?

“you have to treat yourself like someone you love!”

what?

“you have to fill yourself with it! have you been thinking half-heartedly or do things half-assed because you’re different from people? do you not realise there are people who loves you? you trust them so less that you’re not confident into breaking the curse! because you didn’t really try!”

he froze in his stance, like a bullet pierced through his chest with how true your point was. he didn’t know what love was when his mother left the family. he didn’t dare to open up with his dad and brother, not his friends as for so long he didn’t do that one important thing— trust.

jaehyun thought he did that. he had enough encouragement but only to the level of content. he didn’t expect more as what else was there for people cursed like his family? “why are you so worried or do this much for me?”

“because no one actually helped you!” your arms tightened around him. “your friends were occupied into thinking that protecting you and your curse from others was the safest thing to do. it’s not! it just gets you self-conscious, conceited and too comfortable to not to do anything at all!” everything you said knocked down the pillars of his pride. he wasn’t at all living in humility if his friends did ever help.

“y/n we’re nothing more than friends. how could you be pushing yourself onto my problems-”

“i’m one of the people, jaehyun. don’t you get it now? i l-”

as if the phone line got cut off, he couldn’t hear the rest. you appeared like a television who lost its voice, however, somehow he knew what came after that. he didn’t want to admit it, after spending time with you at camp, he realised his heart felt the same.

you were quick to catch on. the golden retriever just stared at you, you couldn’t hear him as well. not even telepathically. jaehyun laid back down, ignored you and went to sleep. you nudged him, he wouldn’t move. you felt a swarm of blame towards him. if only he told you earlier, he wouldn’t be in this state where he was just another dog. mostly you blamed yourself for not taking the initiative first to fix things. you went along with your anger and his waiting game.

where did it get you? to this.

the one second revelation he heard from you and then fell into slumber, he was standing in front of himself, before a mirror. a series of himself switching from human to animal throughout the years. the glass cracked over his face. as if he entered a new world, he had to prepare mentally for what was to come.

instead he awoke like he only passed out from exhaustion. to only see you hugging your legs, head down with soft sobs and hiccups, he reached out for you yet hesitated. he checked the time, the golden hour was to arrive.

“y/n.” he called out in a low voice.

“no.” you mumbled. “i shouldn’t be hearing him.”

“but you really are, though.”

you shot your head up, tears rolling down your cheeks when you felt his touch— his large palms holding yours. he transformed, you had many questions as you thought it was too late.

confused and tired, you stared at him blankly. processing the guy before you took a whole minute to realise jaehyun transformed back. “is.. is this a joke?” you coughed and rubbed your tears. “i saw you faint- i saw how you lost the light in your eyes- i saw-”

he’s blushing. his ears are red.

jaehyun pulled you into an embrace, he caressed your head as if he held a newborn. “the curse broke around the time i realised i lacked self-care. it was the same time you said it too.”

looking back, he didn’t treat himself right since the beginning. he realised he shouldn’t have looked for a solution or someone to love him. he was the someone he was looking for, and should’ve reflected on himself than to rely too much on others.

“you’re still hugging me.” you said, stopping his trail of thoughts. you pat his back quickly and he was holding you tight. “you’re squeezing the oxygen out of me.”

“can’t i hold you longer? you’ve been so helpful even when i pushed you away. now i don’t really want to let go.” jaehyun whispered. he never felt something like this before— this urge to love someone. “what if the curse comes back when you go away?”

you felt your head bursting with temperatures your body was experiencing now. “you really have to let go!” clearing your throat, you tried to shove him away.

“no. don’t be stubborn.”

“don’t be clingy, clingy!”

“you want me to hug you though.”

“i do but- wait no that’s not- i-”

he squeezed your face between his hands. “you love me, don’t you. and you said i’m not loveable.” he teased and goodness his dimples shot you at the heart. you kicked him in the chest yet he leaned forwards, closer than usual. “i can feel your veins beating crazily.”

ah for crying out loud! “jung jaehyun.” you called him with a stern and plain voice. “get off me.”

“tsk i said i wouldn’t-”

“jaehyun you’re naked.”

hm? he pulled himself away from you, looked down and covered his lower body. ah heavens- “i’m sorr-”

a thud was heard by the door. you both turned heads to sleepy sungchan dropping a parcel delivered to jaehyun while holding a toothbrush with his mouth and prominent bed hair. “uh bro, this is-”

“dad! i think hyung’s in his mating season!”

“i’m so not!”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

because the curse was lifted and jaehyun made it happen, all those who fell under it soon experienced freedom and joy after years of agony and pain and fear. feelings opposite to them showered upon them that morning like spring rain.

you sat in between jaehyun and ten, who haven’t been talking to each since they fought over little things, mainly about you. ten still didn’t believe that you were jaehyun’s girlfriend, because he recalled you guys were not going to mend things.

“so that’s it? it’s so hard to believe. she just hugged you and the curse’s gone? even more so you’re both dating?”

“ten, c’mon dude.” kun brought out his fist to bump yours. “she’ll be hanging with us from now on. you have to stop being a stuck-up.”

ten shrugged in defeat and finally nodded in acceptance. “fine. i’ll let it go. i mean the curse’s broken won’t bother jae anymore.” he turned to you. “i’m sorry y/n. jae and i have been best friends since kindergarten. so it’s kinda a brotherly instinct to protect him. it just comes out.”

“you do seem like the leader of the pack.” you fiddled with jaehyun’s fingers while he draped his arm around you.

“i thought i was the leader?” kun sounded offended, but not entirely.

jaehyun remained quiet. he told everyone what had happened. however, there was still one question left unanswered. what was the telepathy about?

what did it have to do with you and him? he thought about that real hard. were you actually a missing piece in the prophecy or did he misunderstand it? there were a lot of possibilities, a lot of ideas coming up that maybe he figured it wrong. maybe you did contribute to the breaking of the curse-

“ah!” jungwoo exclaimed as flicked the paper back and forth. he proudly showed what he found, putting the pieces together. the paper was moving quickly that the pairs of eyes couldn’t focus or see anything. “i’ve been telling you guys since camp but you wouldn’t listen to me!”

you squinted your hardest to see the words. all you got from the sheet of paper scribbles and connecting lines. the boys started to fight for the so they could read the younger one forcibly shoved in front of their faces.

jungwoo wanted his friends to feel their pride stepped on them, and held on the paper. “read the prophecy again. i’m excited-”

“you being excited about these things is nothing new-” ten yelled, and kun covered his mouth at the loud volume.

“‘only one could save those who lay under the curse, for they must be in the correct peace of mind and body to break it before it turns for worse.’ guys, it’s already hinted in it!” he pointed at the parts he was scribbling on earlier.

he expounded the prophecy was a little misleading. it wasn’t being literal about the right mind and body. they were the results of the having the correct heart, as the two would only be affected greatly if not for the heart.

jungwoo scooted next to you. “y/n, you weren’t only the key to solving it. you were the only person who gave him that push and made him realise he should love himself for who he was. you gave him that peace of mind because you are the heart. as we all know, the mind and body can’t function without the heart.”

“that sounds sweet?” kun blushed even though he wasn’t supposed to.

“yeah sure but the telepathy happening at the same time with my curse was just a coincidence though?” jaehyun asked.

“onto my next point!” jungwoo drew on the paper again. “i realised you told us before that only family members of the same curse can talk to each other telepathically.”

jaehyun’s brows only furrowed narrower. “which doesn’t make sense because she’s not part of my family.”

jungwoo grinned widely, it almost made you nervous but if it was coming from jungwoo, it always had to be something good. “not even us lads can even talk to you with our minds though we’re close like brothers. what if it’s a sign that she will be part of your family? even if the curse’s broken, it still proves my point that you were soulmates all along.”

somehow you knew it was headed to this. what jungwoo’s saying was similar to your hunch. you weren’t confident as he was because at the time, the curse wasn’t lifted. now that it was, you never knew you were actually right.

jaehyun shrunk in his seat after hearing jungwoo’s theory. he looked at you; who was now giggling with the others. he never thought you were his soulmate, it never crossed his mind. you appeared in his life as a shadow at first, before you resurfaced and made it a roller coaster ride. it was an eye opener for him too, you loved him for who he was, his flaws— that being the curse. although there were frequent bickers, that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy or hate them. he was afraid you’d leave after knowing his transformation.

you didn’t. you stayed. not because you were forced to just to keep his secret, you stayed since you said you’d help. and that lifted weight off of his shoulders. colours came into view more spirited, clouded thoughts in his head faded and everything he heard that were once muffled became clear. he had to compare it like he was reborn.

in the end, you were still beside him, adjacent to him.

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