#I used it for Knives earlier this year too

[setsuntamew]

Today is just gonna be a lot of sanding, which is my least favorite part of prop making...maybe cosplay in general tbh :T

HOWEVER!!! I do find it very cool and magical that @arahith just 3D modeled all these and printed them out, because the future is incredible and I love to see how cosplay has grown :D IT'S SO NEAT!!!!!!!!!!

Related: my wife is currently sewing on the machine I got my freshman year of college, which was originally purchased with one of my close friends so that we could make our Kingdom Hearts cosplays in my dorm room ;D It's now my secondary machine, because it was the cheapest of the cheap at the time, but it's still trucking along reliably enough to use during con crunch ✌

[etherealyoungk]

—⟡ covert desires | kim mingyu

summary:  the mission is simple - infiltrate a high-stakes auction that the top leaders, businessmen, women, and politicians of the world attend every year and steal one of the most highly guarded and hidden-away paintings from the target’s collection. the only downside, you had to work with kim mingyu, whom you absolutely hated. and to make it even worse, you had to pretend to be his wife for this mission to work.

pairing: spy!mingyu x assasin!reader (fem!reader)

themes: spy au, mafia, enemies to lovers, fake marriage, mutual pining, spies, angst, fluff, killing

warnings: suggestive, kissing, use of curse words, weapons, guns, knives, violence, use of drugs/painkillers, blood, gore, killing, death

wordcount: 19.5k

a/n: i had so much fun writing this! thank you so much to @fairyhaos to listening to my random ideas and helping me with the title and just being really helpful, ily. and tysm to @gyuswhore for beta-reading this and giving me valuable feedback, lifesaver honestly. tysm! i'd love to know your thoughts on this ^^

full fic under the cut!

— character guide

seungcheol - underground mafia leader

jeonghan - manipulator, gets things fabricated like documents, ids etc.

joshua - keeps a log on the accounts/transactions and assets

jun - spy

hoshi - spy

wonwoo - in house doctor

woozi - in charge of gadgets and other necessary equipment

the8 - in charge of weapons

mingyu - spy and your partner for the mission

seokmin - gathers informations and intel

seungkwan - negotiator and works behind the scenes

vernon - hacker

dino - spy

you wipe the last of the blood off your hands and carefully move the body, manipulating the crime scene to make it look like it was a suicide. with a carefully crafted suicide scene, the police wouldn’t even blink an eye and just close the case as a suicide, not wanting to bother investigating further. you just had to leave around the right clues and bait them. once they’d find it, they’d conclude the case without thinking any further and your job was done. you were sure no one would even miss the bastard that you had just sent to hell anyways. after scanning the room, you make sure everything is in place before exiting quietly and disappearing into the shadows. 

when you reach home to your apartment, you swiftly change out of you soiled and bloody clothes. that idiot decided to put up a fight, making things harder for himself really. you planned on killing him quietly, but the fight he put up was unnecessary and he wasn’t going to stand a chance against you regardless. you would have finished earlier and your clothes would have been significantly less bloody. sighing, you peel off your clothes and they fall to the floor in a heap as you step into the shower. the hot water offers some sort of relief and relaxation, your muscles relaxing under the hot water. wrapping a towel around yourself, you step out and hear the faint ring of your burner phone fill the room.

“hello?”, you say as you put the phone to your ear.

“did you get the job done?”, the voice on the other side asks.

“yes, you didn’t hire the best for no reason, did you?”, you scoff back, offended he’d even have a sliver of doubt in your skills. 

“good. we have another urgent matter on hand and it has to be discussed in person. you know where to meet me”, the voice adds.

“i swear if it’s another-“

“you’ll love this one, trust me”, the voice says, cutting you short and hanging up as you begin to say something. you curse under your breath; that idiot never had manners. you huff,  throwing the phone on the bed and changing into something comfortable before you crash into bed, too tired to complain or think about anything else. 

you were an assassin or a hired killer you could say. but you liked to call yourself an assassin - because let’s be real, it sounds cooler. you were trained, skilled, and good at what you did – which was killing people, bad people specifically. when you weren'’t out hunting people down, you were working as a barista at a local cafe. it was somewhat therapeutic compared to your other occupation. but you had to if you wanted to survive in this world. if you wanted your life to have some semblance of normalcy. the world was a cruel place and somehow you ended up doing this for a living but hey, at least it paid well.

the next morning you’re sitting in the hall of seungcheol’s fancy office, or what you liked to call the safehouse.

“you’re here! let me tell seungcheol”, dino says upon seeing you, flashing you a friendly smile. you give him a small smile as he retreats, making his way to look for seungcheol.

seungcheol walks in a few moments later, and his presence can be felt in the room immediately. no one messes with him – everyone knew that. he was the most feared man in the underground mafia and a threat to the government as well. his connections and dirt on powerful people ran too deep with secrets only he knew and used as leverage. hell, even the government would hire him to do their dirty work so he was practically untouchable.

“what’s this urgent matter that needs to be discussed in person?”, you ask, once he sits down opposite you.

“no hi?”, he prompts, raising his a brow as he looks at you.

“no thank you for yesterday?”, you prod back, challenging him. you were really the only person seungcheol let speak to him like that. he’d pretty much raised you and he didn’t seem to mind, especially since you did most of his dirty work. 

“we seem to have gotten ourselves another lucrative mission”, he starts off, treading carefuly with his words. “it’s something worth millions if not billions, so this is a really high-stakes operation”, he tells, observing you. “and we’re getting paid handsomely for it and so will you if it goes well”, he completes.

“alright, that seems like a piece of cake. what are we stealing?”, you ask.

“a painting”, he tells, as he takes a sip of his bitter black coffee in front of him.

“it’s going to be displayed in the national museum of culture and arts”, he says as he continues briefing you. “but that’s not all. the annual auction takes place in three weeks. many if not all the influential, powerful people, businessmen and politicians are going to be at this event, so it’s expected that the security is going to be very tight and advanced. they’ll be bidding for art and plenty of other stuff there but not this painting. this painting is special because it’s not for sale, it’s only on display and it’s the first time it’s being shown to the public in twenty years. the mission is to steal this painting, while also making sure no one finds out – so we place a knock-off”. he explains.

“all right, that doesn’t sound too hard”, you say, calculating everything in your mind.

“oh, don’t underestimate this. this painting is going to be highly guarded and anyone can’t just enter the auction either. you need to be specially invited to the auction otherwise you cannot enter, and you can’t go alone, it’ll be suspicious”, he adds.

“what do you mean i can’t go alone? how else am i going to do this?”, you ask, confused.

“mingyu’s going to be your partner for this mission and the only way it’s going to work is that you pretend that you both are a married couple”, seungcheol completes, making you whip your head up. your jaw drops to the floor upon hearing the words that came from seungcheol’s mouth, absolutely appalled.

“did i hear that right? i need to be mingyu’s wife?”, you repeat, leaning forward and seungcheol doesn’t say anything, only looks at you with a knowing smile.

mingyu and you don’t exactly get along together. he was always somehow getting on your nerves and you hated him.

“seungcheol, you know i don’t like him”, you say, annoyed already. “and i work alone”, you add, glaring at him.

“it’s for the mission and we don’t have any other option. everyone else is busy with other missions and mingyu was the only one who’s free at the moment, and i trust him on this one”, seungcheol explains. you can’t really argue with seungcheol because, at the end of the day he was your still your boss and he called the shots.

“i suggest you get friendly with mingyu because we don’t have a lot of time on hand. the auction is in three weeks and you and mingyu need to play a convincing husband and wife role starting today”

“today?”, i repeat. that was really short notice.

“mingyu has it sorted out”, he says, and your burner phone pings. “that must be him”, seungcheols says.

“please try to get along with him”, is the last thing seungcheol tells you before he stands up to leave. he emphasizes his words with the look he gives. it was a ‘don’t mess this up’ look and you sighed. he gives you a small ‘good luck’ before turning around and walking out, getting busy with something else.

you stand up to leave, opening your phone and reading mingyu’s text.

“meet me at the fountain park at 11am”.

you grumble as you make your way to the park and see mingyu sitting on one of the benches. there aren’t many people, but the sun shines warm and the sky is blue - a complete contrast to your mood right now. you’d very much like to walk away but you can’t. you drag you feet and will yourself to walk towards mingyu, who smiles when he spots you. you don’t reciprocate the smile, giving him a stern looking, already annoyed at the sight of him.

"you know, most people don’t scowl when they see a handsome face”, he says when you’re close enough. you roll your eyes and mentally flip him off, crossing your arms across your chest as you glare at him. “handsome my ass”, you mumble under your breath.

“long time no see”, he greets. you don’t sit. “i’ve been busy”, you tell him.

“you look good”, he adds, gesturing for you to sit.

“seungcheol briefed me on the mission, so what’s next”, you ask, getting back on the topic, not wanting to indulge in small talk with mingyu.

“i found us a house to move into until the mission is over and-“,

“wait, why do we have to move in together?”, you ask in horror and he just looks at you like the answer is obvious.

“because we’re husband and wife? and i don’t think i can come by your apartment and suddenly tell all the neighbours that the poor girl they thought was lonely and single is actually married, now can i”, he says.

you scowl again. “they won’t even care!”

“it’ll be a problem if they become suspicious. it’s better to move in elsewhere and you can move back to your apartment when it’s all done and they won’t even blink an eye about what happened. you can also avoid questions about your husband who mysteriously appeared and disappeared”, he explains. “unless you want to explain why you kept such a handsome man a secret and-“

“shut up”, you cut him off and he chuckles.

you weigh out all the options in your head and mingyu’s idea was the best and most promising, even though you didn’t like it very much. you hated the idea in fact. but sometimes desperate times called for desperate measures.

“fine”, you huff, gritting your teeth. “what else?”, you ask.

“jeonghan’s working on getting us the invitation to the auction. we can start by moving in. pack only your essentials. i’ll pick you up by 2 pm tomorrow so you can move your stuff into the new place”, mingyu tells.

you stack the last box with all you stuff and things that you’d need in the new place, dusting your hands on your shorts. if your neighbors asked, you were away, traveling back to meet family who lived in another state. you’d be back soon so you were sure you could get away with that excuse.

mingyu arrives at 2pm on the dot as promised. you start to carry the boxes out. he carries the other two effortlessly and follows behind you. the elevator ride is quiet, with neither of you saying anything. you’re sitting in his car as he drives you to the new house. you look around, all the houses looking more fancy, manicured and elite. that’s when you realize you’re entering the richer part of the neighborhood.

“how’d you manage to get a house here?”, you ask mingyu, knowing the rent or prices would not have been cheap.

“i invested in some land here and once they announced that they’re going to develop this area, the prices skyrocketed and i got rich. i own the house now and i thought it would be nice to finally use it.”, he explains.

“cool”, is all you can say as you look around at all the villas and large houses occupying this space. if anybody lived here, they definitely came from the wealthy and posh side. in hindsight, it was a good cover for you and it would make it easier for you to blend in if you had to pretend to be from a wealthy background.

you finish unloading and unpacking your stuff in the room when mingyu knocks on the door. you both thankfully had separate rooms because there was no way in hell that you were going to share a bed with him. you’d rather sleep on hot coal than do that.

“jeonghan’s finished gathering some documents so i’ll just go over and pick them up. do you wanna come along?”, he asks.

“sure”, you say, because you really didn’t know what you’d do here alone, plus it had been a while since you last saw jeonghan and oh he was a real menace.

“jeonghan!!”, you say upon seeing him, going up to give him a hug. “y/n! it’s been a while huh, you look great”, he says, a small smile on his face.

“that’s not fair, you didn’t give me a hug when you saw me now did you, baby”, mingyu complains.

“what did you just call me?”, you ask, not sure if you’d heard that right.

“baby”, he repeats casually.

“don’t call me that”,

“i have to if we’re going to play a lovely doting husband and wife couple”, he says and you give him a glare, lasers practically shooting out from your eyes.

“we’re not playing husband and wife right now so watch your mouth, mingyu”, you warn and he just shrugs as you fix your attention back on jeonghan.

“it hasn’t even been 24 hours and you guys are already arguing? i just hope you survive the mission and don’t rip each other’s throats by the end of this”, jeonghan says, amused.

“speaking about that, here’s your marriage certificate. i made it so you’ve both been married for a year and a half, less suspicious that way”, jeonghan explains. “oh, and i also sneaked you both an invite to a party hosted by yeonjun. it’ll be a good opportunity to gather connections and intel. it’s tomorrow night”, jeonghan adds as he hands you the invitations.

“damn how’d you manage that?”, you ask. “i have my ways, you should know that by now y/n.  i'm the man who can get away with anything”, he replies giving you a wink. you chuckle at his words. “how could i forget, you’re called a menace for a reason”, you tease, laughing along with him.

“and i’m still working on getting the invite for the auction, it should be done in a few days”. jeonghan later says and you both leave after chatting a bit more.

that night you lay in bed, barely managing to fall sleep. the hours fly by and you check your appearance in the mirror one last time before stepping out of the room. you’d worn a simple black dress and just lightly styled your hair. you didn’t want to go overboard since this wasn’t the actual mission, so you kept it pretty but to a minimum, but still enough to make it look like you were wealthy and could blend into the crowd at tonight’s party.

“are you ready? we’ll be late”, you say, calling out to mingyu who was in his room.

you hear the shuffle of his shoes as you do a quick check of your small handbag – tissues, lip gloss, phone and most importantly, a pocket knife. when you look back up, mingyu is staring at you.

“what? hurry up, we haven’t got all day”, you add, walking to the front as you slip into a pair of matching black heels. you know our cover when we’re out yeah?”, mingyu asks as he comes up to you.

“yup, we just moved in the neighborhood, you’re an ER doctor, and i’m a lovely housewife who spends her time shopping, relaxing and spending your money”, you say with a fake smile.

“but do you even know anything about being a doctor, you better not mess up if someone asks you medical terms and shit”, you say, pointing a finger at him.

“don’t go underestimating my skills y/n, i’ve got it covered”

“you better”, you snap back, walking ahead of him towards the door.

the party is high in security but you make it through without a hassle. you had gone through the files seokmin had sent on the people attending and memorized everyone’s name, face, job, and even what they eat for dinner. you had to know everything in order to blend in. you step out of the car and mingyu offers you his hand to hold onto. you smile and take it because you do have to act. you put on your friendly face and enter the party, your eyes scanning the crowd. you spot a few people you recognise from the files you’d read last night, the connections forming in your head. just then mingyu sees someone and whispers that’ll he’ll be back, parting ways with you and you’re left alone.

you take this chance to mingle with the other women that you spot in a corner – who were all your new neighbors. this was a good time to introduce yourself, so you walk towards them and smile.

“hello!”, you say brightly and they turn around to look at you. one of them seems to recognize you and smiles.

“hi! you’re new to the area, right? i saw you moving in the other say”, she says.

“yes, i just moved here with my husband”, you explain as a waiter comes by, offering you drinks on a shiny tray. you take one and so do they.

“where’s your husband?”, one of them asks.

“oh, he’s just talking so an acquaintance over there”, you say, looking back as you nudge your head in mingyu's direction.

“what does he do?”, another one asks excitedly upon spotting mingyu in the crowd. you already knew what they were thinking at the way they were looking at him.

“he’s a doctor, he works in the ER”, you tell.

“oh you poor thing. he must be working late often”, she adds and just then you feel a hand wrap around your waist and the whiff of cologne in the air.

“hello ladies, i don’t think i’ve introduced myself. i’m mingyu, nice to meet you”, he says and all the ladies smiles, shamelessly checking him out. but like you cared.

“your wife was just telling us that you work at the ER, it must be tiring, coming home late every day. i’d hate if my husband came late every day”, one of the women says in mock pity.

but mingyu only smirks. “i may come home late, but i always make it up to you in bed, don’t i baby”, he says, looking at you and you almost choke on your drink.

you clear your throat, changing the topic, and all the ladies giggle. after you finally manage to separate from them, you walk around, assessing the situation.

“i can see a lot of people from soyeon’s side”, you say and mingyu agrees. ”jihyo’s here too”, he adds. she was the it woman in business right now and she was rising up the ranks quickly. “jihyo is definitely going to be at the auction”, you add. “should i get friendly with her?”, you ask and mingyu thinks for a few seconds before answering.

“be careful, if you approach her suddenly she might be wary”, he says softly. “you’re not drinking?” you ask, noticing how his glass has gone untouched. “gotta drive us back, so no, i won’t be drinking tonight”. of course, you had forgotten about that. at least he had some manners, unlike seungcheol.

after managing to gather enough intel and make some connections, you and mingyu decide to retire for the night. you both walk out hand in hand and just then your stomach growls. you were hungry, you hadn’t eaten anything there, not wanting to get distracted and also maybe drinking that glass of champagne on an empty stomach wasn’t such a good idea.

“hungry? we can grab something on the way”, mingyu prompts.

you see a mcdonalds’ drive-thru on the way back and tell mingyu to stop by there. “you don’t want real food?”, mingyu asks. “what do you mean, this is real food”, you declare.

“do you eat this often?”, he asks.

“that is none of your business, just get me some nuggets, fries, and a mcflurry”, you say.

he doesn’t get anything, saying he’ll make himself something at home and you don’t complain. you offer him a nugget and some fries but he declines, just driving as he tells you to not spill anything as you munch on the nuggets.

“i’m sure i can make better nuggets than that”, mingyu finally speaks.

“good for you mingyu, i don’t care”, you say, plopping the last bite of nugget into your mouth.

“yeah i’m sure you’ll start caring when i make you breakfast tomorrow and then you’ll never want to eat anything else, only something i’ve cooked”, he boasts.

“is that so? you’re going to spoil me, looking forward to it”,you add, going back to your mcflurry.

the next morning, mingyu does in fact get up early and makes breakfast for the both of you. it would be a lie to say that it wasn’t good, it was actually the best thing you had eaten in a while. over the course of the next week and the days building up to the auction, you attend a few more events together, getting to know more people and making connections. you make yourself friendly with the neighboring women and go shopping together. with all the new intel gathered each time, you pass it over to seokmin.

mingyu and you stop by the safehouse again to collect the invitation to the auction that jeonghan finally got and to update seungcheol on the mission’s progress. you both had somewhat managed to get along…well, almost. if mingyu didn’t make some snarky comment or say something to get on your nerves once in a while it would be better, but he should just be grateful he was alive right now. the urge to strangle mingyu was immense.

“what’s the progress?”, seungcheol asks.

“it’s good. we know for a fact that jihyo is attending the auction and maybe some people from soyeon’s team might attend on her behalf”, mingyu tells.

“im glad you guys seem to be getting along”, seungcheol tells, surprised.

“barely, i need to tell him to shut up and not spew stupid stuff, it really gets on my nerves. and please tell him to stop walking around the house shirtless. it’s damaging to my eyes ”, you complain.

“i didn’t even do anything, i’m just looking out for her well-being, she has some really peculiar habits and also it’s hot? and it’s literally my house? i can do whatever i want”, mingyu defends.

“excuse me?”, you cut him

“you heard her mingyu”, seungcheol directs your words to him. and just then seokmin and jeonghan enter.

“here’s the auction invitation, keep it safe”, he says, handing it to mingyu.

“here’s how the painting looks. it’s called the great fields done by the 18th-century artist lily lee. it’s been hidden away from the public eye for twenty eyes and it’s supposed to be one of her best paintings. it’s worth billions from what i know”, seokmin explains as he shows us a picture of the painting. it was pretty indeed but it was weird why it had been hidden away for so long.

“i already have someone working on the knock-off for the painting”, he adds.

“it better be a damn good knock-off”, seungcheol warns, raising his eyebrows.

“it will be. the guy i asked will get it down to every detail and even mimic each brushstroke. the historians wouldn’t even be able to tell a difference”, seokmin assures.

“good. now y/n, i have a small task for you, it would be great if you can complete it by tonight. it’s for a high-priority client and i’ll pay you extra”, seungcheol says.

“sure, what do i need to do?”

and that’s how you were now on the balcony of a 7th-floor apartment, trying to break in by unlocking the window. the guy you had to kill was a traitor. he took money from innocent people and then threatened them. he was getting in the way of business for the client so he had to go…forever. you opened the window and jumped in, landing soundlessly on your feet as you crouched down, scanning the room. you didn’t like to drag things out so you were going to make this quick.

you hear the hiss of a shallow breath and you quickly realize you’re not alone. someone else is here. you turn around and hide in the corner, peeking out and that’s when a man comes lunging at you with a knife. you dodge and grab his arm, twisting it as you push him against the wall, the knife falling from his hands as you bang his head against the wall. he grunts in pain and falls to the floor and you quickly move to locate the target, who’s heard all the commotion and is coming downstairs. he sees you and his eyes widen as he turns around and starts to run back upstairs. you run after him, placing your foot in the door before he can close and lock it. you push the door with all your strength, willing it to open and he stumbles backward. you waste no time in getting out your gun and shooting him in the chest. the silencer on your gun made sure no sound was heard as he fell to the ground with a thud, clutching his chest and gasping for air as blood oozed out of the wound, staining the wooden floor crimson red.

but just then, something hits you on the back of your head with a sudden force and you clutch your head in pain, falling to your knees as you try to look up. you grit your teeth and get up, dodging the other attack but your head is still ringing from the hit. you see how the man grabs the near-empty wine bottle and smashes it against the wall, creating a sharp glass shard, almost like a dagger. you get up as he attacks, swiftly trying to move out of the way. unfortunately, you end up tripping on the carpet that folded over and you miss the way his other hand lunges out, and the sharp glass shard pierces into your skin, just over your waist as it drags along your lower abdomen, digging into your flesh. you hiss in pain and raise your gun, aiming at his leg as you shoot him and he yells out in pain and falls down. after you torture him a little and find intel on him and who sent him before putting a bullet straight through his head.

fifteen minutes later, you kick his body, adjusting the position and plant information in the room and his phone to look like this was done by his employees who were tired of his threats and doing all the dirty work for him. you climb out the window and use the window ledges to climb down. you discard your coat in your bag and cover yourself with another coat, adjusting your outfit before walking out of the alleyway and onto the sidewalk. you walk straight ahead, not looking back. the dull pain of the stab starting to sting as you walk as you clutch your coat tightly around you.

you reach back home, ignoring mingyu in the kitchen as you go straight to your room, the door slamming unintentionally behind you.

“y/n?”, mingyu calls out. you ignore him and go to the bathroom and locking the door, sitting down against the bathtub as you lift your shirt up to access the wound. it was a deep cut no doubt, thankfully no vital organs had been hit. you don’t know if you should say that you were lucky or if the bastard just had terrible aim. but the cut was messy and well bloody.

“are you ignoring me now?”, you hear mingyu shout out. he knocks on the bathroom door.

“y/n what happened?”, he asks, a sudden shift in his tone.

“nothing i’m fine mingyu, i can’t use the bathroom in peace?”, you counter.

“stop lying, i saw the drops of blood trailing to your room. open the door now”, he demands.

you sigh. why did he have to be so aware of his surroundings. talk about occupational hazards.

“i’m fine mingyu, stop overreacting”, you say, not hearing a reply, thinking he must’ve left.

after a minute, you hear the door lock rattle and unlock, mingyu pushing the door open and once his eyes land on you they darken.

“what the fuck, mingyu? i could have been naked, you can’t just barge in like that”, you say, annoyed and shocked.

“i can if it’s an emergency and did you forget i have the keys baby, this is my house so my rules”, he counters as he walks over to you and sees you cover the wound with your hand. not that it helps because your hand is all bloody too.

“shit baby, you’re bleeding bad”, he tells, kneeling down so he could match your height so he can acess the wound, seeing the blood ooze out from the side of your palm as you pressed against the cut, trying to put some pressure on it.

you glare at him at the mention of that stupid nickname. “i told you not to call me that and i don’t need your help”, you grit out, pushing his hand away when he moves to help you.

“you either take my help like a good girl or you can shut up, your choice sweetheart”, he says, staring you down.

and before you can even protest or say anything, he’s lifting you off the edge of the bathtub and sitting you down on the countertop beside the sink.

“are you deaf? i said i can manage on my own, i don’t need your help mingyu”, you say, trying to move but the movement causes pain to shoot up through your left side, making you let out a soft whimper of pain.

mingyu wastes no time in fetching the medical kit and his hand is already moving to lift you shirt so he can see the wound. you side-eye him as you lift the shirt, bunching it at your ribs.

“you’re so annoying”, you mumble as he assesses the wound.

“you should look at yourself in the mirror”, he says, making you lean back a bit so he could see the cut fully. you hiss in pain when the disinfectant comes in contact with your skin, biting your lip as it burns. this was the one thing you could never get used to.

“ow, just make sure there are no tiny glass pieces”, you mumble and he snaps his head up. “glass?”, he asks and your nod confirms his suspicions. he takes his time, making sure no tiny shards of glass are left as he cleans your wound. you close your eyes as he cleans the cut and wipes away all the blood, but your heavy breathing wasn’t helping, making a little blood seep out every time you took a breath in and out.

“relax baby”, he coos, his hands resting on your thighs as he looks at you, standing between your legs as he discards another piece of bloody cotton to the side.

“i would if you just left me alone”, you snap out.

he rolls his eyes. “you’re so stubborn, it’s infuriating”, he says, leaning closer

“i could say the same thing about you, you’re so fucking irritating”, you answer back.

“i really don’t know why you’re acting like an idiot when i’m trying to help you”

“i never asked for your help did i, mingyu?”

“so what? i’m doing a favor and being nice”

“by helping me when i said i didn’t want your help”, you emphasise, as you move up to sit up straighter, not realizing how close you had ended up getting to him.

“just stay still”, he demands and you don’t bother talking back this time as he cleans up the cut.

“whoever did this, i’ll kill him”, he mutters as he wraps a gauze around your waist to cover the cut.

“already did”, you confirm and wince a little as he tightens the gauze.

“there, you’re all set”, he says once he’s done, looking at you, and he’s still so close. your gaze flickers down to his lips before flickering to the side. maybe a part of you hated him because of how attractive you found him…god. you didn’t want to make things unnecessarily complicated. it was easier to hate him than admit he had an effect on you.

you’re walking back home after just killing someone (yet another side assingment seungcheol put you on) when you notice a car following you from behind. shit. did they place someone to guard the house? you had to think quickly and shake off the tail otherwise things would get complicated. but then the car speeds up and honks, the window opening, and to your horror, it’s mingyu. what the hell was he doing here?

“what are you doing here?”, you nearly shout. “were you stalking me?” 

“i’ll explain later, but get in”, mingyu says.

“i can get home myself thank you. i need to stop by somewhere too”, you say, which was a lie. you just didn’t want to listen to him given you weren’t playing house right now.

“it’s going to rain”, he adds, as you start walking and he follows you with the car.

“it’s not going to rain mingyu”, you say, walking ahead, ignoring him.

and not even a minute later, you feel the first few drops of rain fall on you. dammit.

“see, i told you it was going to rain”, he says.

“i have an umbrella, i’ll manage, just go”, you tell, annoyed that he was right.

you pretend to look in your bag because, of course, you don’t have a fucking umbrella. the rain starts to pour down heavier and if you don’t make a choice now, you were going to get drenched.

“i know you don’t have an umbrella, y/n, so stop being stubborn and get in the fucking car”, he yells louder, getting impatient.

you stop and look at him. “did you just yell at me?”, you ask, narrowing your eyes at him.

he rolls his eyes and sighs. “you’re so stubborn god, what are you going to lose by getting in the damn car. you’re already getting soaked,” he adds.

“ask me nicely”, is all you say as you stare back at him, challenging him.

“y/n get in the car because it’s raining”, he says giving you a fake smile too.

“you didn’t say please”, you add and he sighs, gripping the steering wheel harder.

“y/n please get in the car”, he repeats and you shoot him a small satisfied smile as you open the door and get in the car.

“okay now care to explain why you were following me?”, you tell.

“care to explain why you’re so damn stubborn?”, he counters.

“i am not stubborn, stop being an ass and just tell me why you were following me”, you say.

“i’m the ass? like you weren’t acting like one by not getting in the car”, he says making you scoff.

“fuck you, mingyu”, you sneer, looking out the window as the rain poured harder. the rest of the car ride is silent but you’re glad. if you had to talk to him for another minute right now you’d end up strangling him on the spot.

the rest of the few weeks goes by with you going to a few more events to socialize and familiarize yourselves with the environment, the people and also gather valuable information and intel. mingyu and you seem to play the husband-wife role pretty convincingly. you both come back home late that night but you barely manage to sleep. since you were up early, you decide to hit the gym. one of the perks of this house was that it had a fully equipped gym room, courtesy of mingyu of course. 

when you enter the room, you quickly realise you’re not alone and mingyu was there too. great. you were almost going to exit but you catch yourself. you didn’t do anything wrong, so why run? you walk in to see mingyu doing some pull-ups. his back was to you but you’re sure he noticed your presence - of course he did. you watch as he does a few more pull-ups, the muscles on his back and arms flexing with each move.

“stop ogling me”, mingyu’s voice floats in the room, breaking the silence.

“im not ogling you, gross”, you scoff, disgusted. “i thought seungcheol told you to stop walking around shirtless”, you add, giving him a look.

“relax, baby, i’ll put on a shirt later, i know you’re enjoying the view”, he smiles back as he jumps down and turns to face you. asshole.

“yeah, right”

“you were literally ogling me right now”, he deadpans.

“I WAS NOT! stop calling it that. i was just assessing where i need to strike first in order to kill you, you know, for research purposes”, you snap back, only for him to smirk back at you.

“yeah? i’ll choose to believe that little lie for now but i’d like to see you try”, he provokes, walking closer to you.

“oh yeah? i’d love to. the moment this operation is done, i’ll be coming for you, so you better watch your back”, you tell, playing along as you cross your arms across your chest.

“hm, whatever you say, baby”, he says, stepping closer until he’s towering over you. you look up at him and stare back. not that pet name again. you told him countless times not to call you that, it was infuriating, but he just didn’t get it, did he? he needed to be taught a lesson. in a blink of an eye, you grab your knife which you kept concealed and grab mingyu’s arm, swinging him so his back hits the wall with a thud, the cold metal of the knife to his neck.

“if you call me baby one more time, i swear i will actually strangle and kill you”, you threaten, staring right up at mingyu. mingyu’s surprised and amused. it would be a lie to say he didn’t find you hot right now.

“always carry a knife around with you?”, he prompts, raising his eyebrow.

you smile, leaning closer to him as you whisper in his ear. “it’s my favorite one, it’ll slice your neck and you wouldn’t even know it until you’re choking and gasping on the floor”, you tell.

“yeah, baby? i can’t wait to see you try”, he whispers back, his hands grabbing your waist, spinning you, his other hand reaching up to hold both your hands up by the wrist, pinning you to the wall. you try to move but his grip was solid.

“so, how are you going to kill me now?”, he mocks, pushing you against the wall, his body pressing against yours. he looks at you, his nose almost brushing against yours.

“i could maybe snap your neck right now or still slice your neck, your choice”, you say, blinking up at him innocently.

“yeah? care to show me how?”, and so you do, bringing your leg up to knee him in the shin, swiftly wrapping your arm around his shoulder as you kick his feet, making him lose his balance. you push him down and knock him to the ground and he falls on his back. he’s lucky he lands on the foam mattress that was on the side and you waste no time in bending down and straddling him, holding your knife to his neck, and adding a little pressure this time for fun.

“any last words?”, you ask and he just smiles up at you.

“i’ll spare you for now because we have a mission to complete”, you add, getting up as you push off him but he grabs you, flipping you over in the blink of an eye so that he’s hovering over you now.

“i take it you want me to stab you anyway?”, you ask, the knife still strong in your grip.

“why do you hate me so much?”, he asks, looking down at you, his body caging yours.

“you really want to know?”,

“im so curious”, he tells lowly. 

“because you’re so fucking cocky about everything and too full of yourself”, you tell, looking up at him. “and you’re an idiot who only thinks he’s handsome and just everything about you is infuriating”, you spit.

“really? i think you forgot to add the part where you have a small crush on me?”, he adds with a smirk and you’ve had enough. you place your hands on his chest and push him off you, sitting up.

“that’s the biggest lie i’ve ever heard”, you say.

“i just know it baby…oops i mean, y/n”, he says, getting up to fetch his bottle of water as he walks to the side.

“but you did just call me handsome”, he points out as he takes a sip of water.

“i did not”, you grit out. “and i do not have a crush on you. if you were the last man on earth i would gladly die single”, you grit out.

“lies, you spew such lies, y/n”, he says, laughing.

the next morning you see mingyu in the kitchen and he smiles, fucking smiles at you.

“i was expecting you to sneak into my room last night and-“ “slit your throat? oh yeah i was so tempted but i thought that would be too painful”, you tell innocently.

“or you’re just scared to do it”, he says.

“i think you forget i’m a trained assassin. i know more than 20 ways to kill a man so you should be careful. you should start by hoping i didn’t poison the coffee you’re drinking right now”, you say before turning and walking away.

you hear him chuckle but it fades away after a few seconds. “wait…you didn’t really spike my coffee right…y/n…”, mingyu asks and you smirk to yourself, not giving him an answer as you make your way back to your room. 1 for y/n, 0 for mingyu.

things are starting to get serious now. it’s two days before the big event and you have a meeting at the safehouse with seungcheol, dokyeom, dino and vernon, who are all going to help you in pulling this off by working behind the scenes. seokmin told you that he’ll get you the knock-off painting in a van that evening and dino would help assist you while vernon be there to hack the security systems and cameras when needed.

the plan was that you’d leave to the auction and watch around. you’d have to make a few bids too, so you’d blend in and seungcheol had given you the money so you were free to bid on anything you liked. then there was a 45-minute break between and it was in that break that you had to steal the painting without getting caught. dino would be waiting down in a van, pretending he was a driver and he’d take off with the painting. the only thing left was pulling this off. with the level of security that this event was going to have, you needed to do everything right to pull this off. you were excited.

it's finally d-day. you’re getting ready in your room, due to leave in 15 minutes. you spent the entire day figuring out what to wear. it was a posh event, so you had to wear something pretty, something that would make heads turn, something that would make me look like you fit in there - something exquisite. you decided to go buy a dress earlier because you didn’t have anything fancy to wear with you, since you’d left most of those types of dresses back home, only bringing essentials along when you moved in with mingyu for the time being. you ended up buying a pretty sweet and head turning dress, something fancy in your favourite color too. it was a maroon, satin dress, which went all the way down to the floor. there was a slit for the leg that stopped just short of your thigh. the highlight of the dress was the back – it was backless, with a criss-cross strap that had to be tied. the only problem, you couldn’t seem to reach back to tie it tight enough that it wouldn't unravel during the night. 

you wore your heels - white glitter ones to contrast the red dress. you checked your makeup in the mirror one last time and tried to tie the strings on your back again but you couldn’t seem to get the crisscross pattern right and you were struggling to tie it up. just then you hear a knock on your door.

“y/n are you ready? we have to leave in five minutes”, mingyu says from outside.

“okay!”

and five minutes later, you’ve given up, groaning as you bring your arms down, knocking your arm on the table in the process. “ouch”, you say in frustration and mingyu knocks on your door again.

“y/n? are you okay?”, he asks again, opening the door slightly. you get up to open the door and mingyu looks at you. you watch as his eyes rake all over your body as checks you out. you stare back at his face and he’s still staring at you, his eyes moving over every part of your body. you ask him something but he doesn’t reply, still staring, devouring you with his eyes as he takes you in. 

“finished eye fucking me?”, you ask, annoyed, bringing his attention back to you. he looks at you and smirks. “i wasn’t done but i can continue later”, he teases.

“whatever, can you help me tie my dress in the back? i just can’t seem to reach it”, you ask him and he stands up straighter and you realize this wasn’t the sort of question or help he was expecting you to ask.

“sure”, is all he says and you turn around, holding your hair up so mingyu could tie your dress.

“you have to crisscross it and then tie it”, you explain, looking at his reflection in the mirror in front of you.

as he ties your dress, his fingers rub your bare back occasionally, sending sparks all over you body. he pulls back the threads to make them tight. you watch from the mirror as he tries his best to carefully tie it. he looked…so fucking good tonight. the suit was tailor made for him, making him look crisp and sharp. you’d have to painfully admit that he did indeed look hot tonight but you catch yourself and swat those thoughts and any other intruding thoughts away immediately. you’re about to move a bit forward when he pulls back again, securing the knot, and then his eyes find yours in the mirror reflection.

“you look gorgeous”, he whispers against your ear, making a shiver run down your spine.

“i know, thanks for the confirmation though”, you say, not willing to be swayed by his comment and how much he seemed to be affecting you right now.

“let’s go steal a painting”, you say with a smirk.

you drive to the event, and somehow mingyu managed to snag a limo to the event. don’t ask how, it was probably seungcheol’s doing but now you’re driving there. you put your in-ears on for further communication with mingyu and the others on the mission. woozi had designed it so it look like an ear cuff, making it look less suspicious on you. mingyu’s was transparent in the front, so it blended in.

“relax”, mingyu says after a few minutes of silence in the car as he sits opposite you.

“i am relaxed”

“you look tense”

“i’ve stolen plenty of stuff before so this is a piece of cake”, you tell.

“we got this”, he assures.

you reach the venue and get down, mingyu offering you his hand as you step out of the car. you take it and you automatically wrap your arm around his as you both walk in together. you stand behind a few people, all waiting to move inside and everyone is holding the same invitation you are holding. when it’s finally your turn, mingyu shows the person your invites and after scanning it for a few seconds he hands it back to us, telling us to enjoy our time here. you’re handed a number picket from the counter the moment you enter, for you to make bids.

the auction starts in an hour since people are still coming. most of the vvip and vip guests coming later for security reasons. you walk to the hall and scan the crowd for anyone you know or can recognize. mingyu does too. you agree to split up and scan the hall so it would be faster, mingyu going left while you go right. after you’ve confirmed who’s coming and who’s yet to come, cross checking with the guest list that you’ve memorized that jeonghan managed to get his hands on. there were still a few guests and vips left to arrive. all the vvips or vips who did arrive were on the other side of the hall, with higher security. jihyo hadn’t arrived yet and you couldn't see anyone from soyeon’s team either. but you did spot hwasa; she had multiple businesses and was a trendsetter. anything she touched, ate or wore was sold out, she was that good, and everyone loved her. it was going to be interesting to see what she bids for here.

after gathering all the information you needed, you’re turning around when a man bumps into you. 

“oh, im so sorry”, he says, turning around.

“it’s no problem”, you say, putting your hand up. he looks at you again, shamelessly checking you out and you roll your eyes as you turn to walk away again, but he grabs your hand.

“wait, i don’t think i’ve seen you around, are you new here?”, he asks, hopeful, but you had no interest in entertaining him.

“yeah, i just moved here”, you say, quickly, pulling you hand out of his grip. “i have to go”, you add.

“see you at the auction? which number are you, i’ll try to sit at your table”, he asks, getting desperate.

“that’s all right, im fine”, you say again, trying your best to be nice. 

“come on, don’t be shy”, he adds with a chuckle. “girls are usually falling all over me”, he adds, maybe not liking how you were not falling for his tricks.

“can’t let beautiful women like yourself be alone at an event like this, can i? which table will you be seated at? i can show you around if you like”, he asks again and now you’re really starting to get irritated. you would have knocked him out by now if this was any other circumstance but you hold back, not wanting to cause a scene or mess anything up.

you’re about to say something when you feel a warm hand encircle your waist and from the smell of the cologne, you already know who it is – mingyu.

“there you are baby, i was looking for you”, he says sweetly, kissing your cheek as he pulls you closer to him. there’s a hint of possessiveness in his voice as he looks at the man who was talking to you.

“who’s this?”, mingyu asks, looking at you, his grip getting tighter around your waist.

“oh i’m sorry i just bumped into her and was apologizing”, the man fills in.

“i see. next time i suggest you watch where you’re going”, mingyu tells, glaring at the guy as he pulls you away, telling you that he wanted you to meet someone.

as you walk, you notice a few heads turn and people look at you but you just ignore it and walk like you belong there. you hear mingyu faintly curse under his breath.

“what?”, you ask

“you shouldn’t have worn that baby, everyone is staring at you”, he grits out lowly, jealousy evident in his voice.

“excuse me? are you sure you’re not the one staring? it doesn’t matter to me, as long as we steal the painting and get the job done”, you say, lifting your dress up slightly as you walk up the stairs to the auction hall.

“that idiot is following us”, he adds, spotting him from his peripheral vision.

“well, that’s annoying, we don’t need him tailing us. should i knock him out and throw him somewhere?”, you ask as you walk, smiling at a few people who welcome us at the top of the stairs.

“i’d have knocked him out myself if i had to but that’s a risky move for now”, he says. we reach the upper floor and mingyu holds your hand as he leads me to the left side of the hall, where there are fewer people. mingyu’s back faces the people as you look ahead.

“is he still looking at us?”, mingyu asks, his back facing the man who was still following you.

 “yeah but what do we-“, you’re cut off by mingyu’s hand tilting your chin as he leans in to kiss you, his lips pressed against yours. he pulls away ever so slightly as he looks at you.

“mingyu-", he kisses you again, this time moving his lips against yours and your move my lips too, kissing him back. he pulls away a few seconds later.

“what are you doing?”, you finish your sentence, shocked.

“now look, he’ll be trying to find a new target to woo”, he tells and you look, seeing the man already talking to another group of women, hoping to find a different date.

“worked like a charm”, he says, with a satisfied smirk. and that’s when the action of what mingyu just did hits you, but you decide not to say anything, not wanting to yell at him or draw any more attention to yourself. you’d give him hell about this later.

the auction is about to begin and you find a table to the front, and sit down. you mentally make a note of where a few other vips are sitting and scan the crowd. you spot jihyo in the front, surrounded by a few bodyguards who are off to the side.

“good evening ladies and gentlemen! welcome to the annual auction hosted by the national museum of culture and arts. we are pleased to have you all here. we will be starting the auction and the rules are simple – the highest bidder wins, so have fun. we would also like to mention that part of the funds collected from the auction will be put aside to aid in cultural growth and in preserving national treasures and artifacts. we will also be partnering with Vision to offer scholarships to five students. your contributions will be deeply appreciated.", the host welcomes and explains.

"and the most anticipated part of the night, the beautiful painting ‘the great fields of sorrow’  by lily lee will be unveiled to the public after 20 years. you do not want to miss this, it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we are so glad you are all here to witness history in the making. now, let us begin”, the host announces, gleefully.

the auction begins and the first few bids go by fast, people bidding left, right, and center. but it’s towards the end that the most valuable artifacts and paintings start coming out. you have your eye on this one painting, you’d seen it in the auction catalog earlier and you were determined to get it. the moment the painting comes up to be bid, you grab the picket from mingyu and raise you hand, making a bid.

“what are you doing?”, mingyu asks.

“bidding?”, you tell like it wasn’t obvious to mingyu right now.

a few more people bid on the painting but you bid again, raising the bid higher and higher each time. but some women keeps bidding along as well and you weren’t going to lose this. you raise you hand, making the bid higher and now it’s just you and the other woman raising hands as you both try to outbid each other.

“what are you doing? drop it”, mingyu says next to you.

“no, that painting’s mine”, you grit out, raising your hand again to raise the bid. anyone could be able to feel the tension in the room right now.

“y/n, we don’t have that much money to spend, are you crazy?”, he asks, turning towards me.

"i don’t care, i want that”, you tell, raising your hand to make another bid, raising the price impossibly high. people who were bored and had no interest in the auction were suddenly watching us carefully, eager to see who would finally win the bid.

the lady falters, wondering if she should raise the bid and no one else raises their hand to make another bid. you smile to yourself.

“going once”, the man says, hoping the lady would change her mind and raise the bid.

“going twice….and sold”, he declares, the wooden hammer hitting the wooden plate and you’re smiling in victory.

“i won”, you tell mingyu.

“yeah and you better be explaining to seungcheol why his assets suddenly depleted” mingyu tells.

“at least seungcheol would let me have it, unlike you, sitting here and complaining, it’s so annoying”, you add, clicking your tongue.

“you’re the annoying one”, he says without missing a beat and you kick his leg from under the table, giving him a fake smile. “shut up and don’t get on my nerves”, you tell through gritted teeth, making a few heads turn. you clear your throat and sip on your champagne, smiling at the few people who turn to look at you.

that was the last bid and the auction had now ended. people start getting up to either grab a drink and talk or to go make arrangements to collect their paintings or artifacts that they just bought. this was indeed a good way you could sneak the real painting out. you quickly intercom with dino and you coordinate with him, vernon listening in too so he’d know which cameras to hack and take down.

“we should go, we have only 45 minutes before the painting is revealed”, you tell, getting up and walking out to the outer hall. there is music playing and someone is singing. the host announces that people can dance if they like and a few people do, couples peppered across the floor as they dance and sway together. you steer right away from the crowd and start moving downstairs when mingyu grabs your hand, blocking your path.

“care to dance?”, he asks.

“no i don’t dance”, you tell but mingyu ignores you and holds your hand as he guides you to the hall where the crowd was, choosing a quiet corner and pulling you closer to him, his hand resting on your waist as his other hand is intertwined in yours.

“mingyu i said i don’t want to dance”, you tell, slightly annoyed.

“i know, but i do”, he says and you find yourself moving closer to him as your rest your other hand on his shoulder, trying not to bump into the person behind you. you both sway to the soft music that plays and mingyu locks eyes with you, a small smile playing on his face and you don't realise how close you've gravitated towards him.

“we’re wasting time, let’s go”, you tell after two minutes.

“a little fun never hurt, you need to learn to let loose a little, sweetheart”, he tells, looking at you and you don’t miss the way his gaze flickers down to your lips.

“but you really should have worn something else”, he whispers near your ear. “i’m starting to get jealous at the way all the other guys are starting at you."

"it's a pretty sweet outfit isn't it”, you say softly and the the corner of his mouth lifts into a faint smile.

“hm let’s go”, he says, pecking your cheek as he intertwines his hand in yours. you walk down together and walk towards the restrooms. when the path looks clear, you take a detour to the staff room, which would give you access to the basement and other private areas of the building. jeonghan had given you copies of the access key too, so you could now slip into any room you liked without having to break any alarms.

you’d already memorized the layout of the room and knew exactly where the safe room would be located.

“you brought a gun right?”, you ask.

“what do you think baby, of course, i did”, he answers raising his brow. it was hidden using a chip that emitted waves and would not be picked up by any electronic scanner, which is how it got sneaked in successfully. another one of woozi’s genius creations. you reach the safe room but there were two guards up ahead.

“vernon, can you hack the walkie-talkies? tell the guards to move to the upper level”, you ask.

“on it”, vernon responds immediately and in two minutes the guards start walking away and turning around the corner.

you run up and unlock the door using the key card, opening the door and quickly shutting it behind you. you unlock another door and finally head inside the safe room, where the painting and other treasures were stored.

the painting is easy to find, it’s kept in a bulletproof glass box but that’s when you realise something is wrong.

the painting is bigger. it’s not the same size seokmin had told you. you panic because this would now hold you back and you had to think on your feet to figure something out quickly.

“what the fuck?”, you tell. “how are we supposed to discreetly steal this huge painting?”, you almost yell at mingyu who’s looking at you, confused as well.

“i don’t know, we just take it and walk out”,

“and let everyone know we stole it, mingyu? that’s just genius. why don’t we just announce it to the whole world then”, you yell back, annoyed.

“i thought seokmin told us it was going to be smaller? this isn’t the same size he mentioned”, you tell, running a hand through your hair.

“i think he forgot to add one digit in the dimensions”, mingyu tells and you mentally face-palm yourself.

“so now what do you want me to do?”

“i don’t know just take it and we place the decoy and leave”

“the decoy isn’t even the same fucking size mingyu”, you yell, getting impatient.

“fuck”, he curses under his breath. “let’s just take the painting and go”,

“how do i just take it, mingyu? do you want me to shove this painting up my ass and leave? how the hell are we going to walk out with it? didn’t you tell dino was waiting down in the van? how can we possibly walk with this huge painting all the way to the basement and give it to dino without anyone seeing us and not put the knock-off.”, you tell, getting more and more impatient with each passing second.

“jesus, y/n im trying to figure it out so please calm down”, mingyu snaps back.

“is everything okay?”, vernon’s voice fills your ear.

“wait guys, seokmin just told me that he has the proper decoy size in the van downstairs”, vernon tells after a few minutes of silence.

“wait what do you mean?”, you ask.

“he just told me saying he put the correct decoy painting size in the van, and that he realized he’d messed up the dimensions and got it remade. he said his printer had ran out of ink and missed printing one digit”, vernon explains calmly.

“then send it in, we have like 20 minutes before the painting gets showcased!”, you yell at vernon.

“dino’s on his way with it, just hold on”, vernon assures, going back to intercom with dino.

meanwhile, you and mingyu try to figure out how to unlock the box. the box had a passcode and three wrong tries and it would alarm the security, so you had to be careful. woozi had given you a decoder which mingyu had hidden outside and you grabbed on the way to the safe room. mingyu attaches the decoder and you watch as the numbers scramble, trying to decode the pin and unlock the box.

“what’s taking so long”, you groan, clicking your tongue.

“y/n calm down. we’re fine”, mingyu says as he locks eyes with you.

“if seokmin hadn’t realized we’d have been fucked over big time mingyu, do you understand? we could have gotten caught. do you understand how big of a fucking problem that could have been? and you’re acting all high and mighty asking me to just take this painting and go like it won’t be so fucking obvious that it’s not the same painting. and dino needs to hurry up because there are only ten minutes left, and we need to take this and transport it all before they come in to take the painting out to display, so we’re short on-", you’re cut off by mingyu’s hands cupping your cheek as you feel his soft lips on yours, again.

“you really need to shut up sometimes”, he mumbles against your lips. maybe it was because you were in the heat of the moment, but you kiss mingyu back, grabbing him by his tie to pull him closer, closing the gap between you both.

“guys?”, vernon’s voice fills my ear through the in the ear but you both ignore him. “dino’s almost there”, he adds but none of you bother to reply, too busy kissing each other.

the safe door opens and closes in silence and dino steps into the room. (it had a anti slam and quiet door so it would be discreet and safe) 

“i hope i’m not interrupting something?”, dino asks, making you break away from the kiss and the look on dino’s face is mischievous.

“n-no"." shit.

"did you get the proper knock off? hurry up we have to be out of here in ten minutes”, you tell, pushing mingyu off you and walking up to the box, which had successfully unlocked.

dino handles the real painting carefully, wearing a pair of cloth gloves before taking out the painting from the box with care and placing it on the wearable rack, and replacing it with the knockoff that he streathly managed to bring here; courtesy to vernon for hacking the camera footage and security walkie talkies. if you were asked to play spot the difference between the real painting and the fake one, you wouldn’t have been able to guess shit, the fake one was just that good. dino quickly covers the real painting in a satin white cloth and you quickly walk out. dino disguised as one of the staff and security members, so it would look like he was just taking the painting you had just bought to your car so you could take it home. thankfully the painting you bid on and bought was around the same size too and you bring it along as you leave. no one gives you any suspicious looks as you leave and you walk out with confidence, your arms locked in mingyu's as you both walk together.

you make it back up to the upper level and back to the hall before you take the elevator to the basement. dino loads the painting into the van and he and vernon take off. mingyu and you bounce as well, getting in the limo and telling your driver to take you back home, making the excuse that you weren't feeling to well when someone approached you, asking why you weren’t staying back to see the painting that was going to be revealed shortly.

as soon as you get in the car, you kick off your heels, relief flooding through your feet as you sit. you let out a big sigh and take the chance to open the bottle of champagne that’s in the car, pouring yourself a glass and mingyu one too, offering him the glass.

“to successfully stealing a painting”, you say, raising the glass to make a toast and he smiles. you down the glass in one shot, the adrenaline still pumping in your veins. placing the glass down, you look at mingyu, who’s still watching you. 

“what?”, you ask mingyu, who looking at you like he wants something.

“nothing, you’re just…gorgeous”, he says.

“you flatter me too much, mingyu”, you say, getting up to move, picking up your dress slightly as you move to sit on his lap, straddling him. his hands find your waist immediately, pulling you closer against him as your hands rest on his shoulders. his hand cups your cheek as he leans forward to kiss you, moving his lips against yours, slow and long, kissing you like he’s been craving this all along. he deepens the kiss, biting your lower lip teasingly, making you let out a soft moan, your mind too fuzzy to care about what you were doing right now.

“fuck, you’ve been wanting this, haven’t you?”, he groans, kissing your jawline.

“i know you wore this dress on purpose baby, to rile me up”, he says and you kiss him in response and he kisses you back, this time with more vigor and passion.

“maybe”, is all you can say as mingyu’s lips are on yours again.

“i’ve been dreaming about this for so long, to kiss you, to have you”, he groans as he kisses your neck, your eyes fluttering shut at the sensation. your hands busy themselves with loosening his tie and undoing the first few buttons of his shirt.

“look at you, i thought you hated me baby”, he mumbles against your neck.

“i still do”, you tell, your voice coming out breathy and soft as he leaves a trail of kisses along your collarbone, his hands roaming your body, his touch sending shivers and sparks throughout your body.

“what if dino tells on us”, you realise, whispering softly as he continues to leave soft kisses on your neck. 

“you’re worried about that baby? worried he’ll run his mouth and tell everyone you were kissing me? the person you claimed you hated?”, he teases, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth.

he kisses you again, trailing more kisses to your jawline before his hand reaches over to cup your cheek as he pulls you in, capturing your lips with his again, making butterflies erupt in your stomach. you kiss him back, and somehow you couldn’t seem to get enough, getting dizzy on how he feels and tastes. he was driving you crazy. he pulls you closer against him, his grip on your waist tightening with each kiss and you start to lose track of how long you’ve been at it, making out. thank god for the partition between the driver and you was tinted. the car finally comes to a halt in and mingyu breaks away. “we’re home”.

and just like that, mingyu guides you home and wastes no time in kissing you again once you’re behind closed doors, guiding you to his room while he never breaks away, kissing you breathlessly.

the next morning, you wake up tangled in mingyu’s arms and the events of last night come crashing onto you. you turn around to face mingyu and he lazily pulls you closer to him, nuzzling his face in the crook of your neck.

“go back to sleep”, he mumbles and you push away a few stray hairs from his face.

“you’re so lazy”, you say, as you move to get out of his arms, but he tightens his grip, not letting you leave.

“don’t make me slit your throat mingyu, let me go”. you say teasingly, poking his arm and he finally loosens up. just then the doorbell rings. you get up and take a peek, seeing seungkwan standing outside. you open the door but the expression on his face tells you that something is wrong.

“what’s wrong?”, you ask, as he steps in.

“dino- he- the painting…dino is…”, seungkwans stutters out, making no sense.

“what happened?” you ask again, putting your hands on seungkwan’s shoulders to try and calm him down.

“dino, he got intercepted by another gang and they’re holding the painting and dino hostage”, seungkwan spills out.

fuck.

after hearing that you waste no time in going back to the safe house with mingyu.

“how’d they contact you? how did they know we were going to be there”, you ask seungcheol. with him are joshua, vernon, seokmin, and hoshi.

“we’re not sure”, seokmin says.

“but what i’m sure of is either they had a tail on you or you told them our location”, seungcheol says, looking at you straight in the eye.

“what the fuck are you implying?”, mingyu defends immediately.

“no i would never do that seungcheol and you know that”, you tell, staring him down.

“how can you even say that”, mingyu adds.

“because they want you in exchange for returning the painting and dino back safely y/n”, seungcheol tells and you pause, trying to process what he just said.

“what?”, is all you can say after a few seconds of silence.

“that’s what they negotiated with seungkwan”, seungcheol tells. “and if you two had responded to vernon then we could have maybe sorted this out earlier. there was no response from the both of you after last night”, seungcheol adds, looking between you and mingyu. you gulp, hoping he can’t possibly guess what you and mingyu were up to last night.

“here are the terms of negotiation”, seungkwan adds, sliding over a piece of paper to you.

if you want to get back your precious painting and friend, do the following. tell anyone or try to pull anything funny, otherwise the only thing you’ll be getting in return is your friend’s dead limp body and a police raid. so, follow the instructions carefully

1)    we want the girl in exchange for the painting and your friend

2)    come to the abandoned warehouse by the paddy fields tonight at 8:00pm

3)    the girl comes alone and that’s it. once she comes, we’ll have the painting and your friend released.

4)    no guns, or weapons, and don’t try or even think to act smart in any way unless you want to be responsible for your friend’s death.

the letter was signed off with a stamp of the gang seal, which you faintly recognized for some reason.

“i’ll go”, is all you say because it doesn’t look like you have any other option right now. you didn’t care about the painting but you did care about dino and you had to make sure he’d come back safe.

“there’s no way in hell she’s going alone”, mingyu interjects, cleary upset.

“mingyu, stop it”, you yell at him. who was he to tell you what to do?

“mingyu stop putting your emotions into the mission, we have a problem, and i’m going to deal with it accordingly, or else im putting you out”, seungcheol says.

“what is wrong with you? you’re just going to let them have y/n?”, mingyu asks, getting up, frustrated, running a hard through his already messy hair.

after a few more arguments, things start getting heated between seungcheol and mingyu, seokmin pulls him away from the room and you manage to finish the rest of the conversation with seungcheol. back home, mingyu’s still tense and he hits the gym to try and take off some of his anger and frustration.

you don’t know why he was acting like this to be honest. you could manage perfectly well on your own, it wasn’t like you were going to die or anything. he seemed to be making a big deal about this and it was getting on your nerves. you’re in your room and you can hear the sound and impact of mingyu’s punches on the boxing bag through the walls. what the fuck was he so worked up for? you try ignore the sound and get back to getting ready for tonight.

you know they said no weapons but you weren’t going to go in blind. your pants had a secret pocket where you could hide my small knife easily and it was undetectable. you decide to carry a few more, concealing them in secret pockets so no one would even know. you had everything planned and you weren't going to let the person who took dino off so easily. just then you hear mingyu’s footsteps as he leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. you ignore him, getting up and checking the time. you had to leave in five minutes if you were going to make it there in time. you look at mingyu’s who’s studying you closely.

“what mingyu? stop staring it’s annoying”, you tell, breaking the silence, walking towards the door so you can leave, but he blocks your path.

“you’re not fucking going anywhere y/n”, he grits out.

“what the fuck? who are you to tell me what to do? i know what i’m doing okay and you need to chill out”, you say, trying to push past him but he doesn’t let you.

“mingyu move, im getting late”, you say in a stern voice.

“i’m coming with you then”, he hisses, grabbing you as he pushes you against the wall.

“no you’re fucking not, stay out of this mingyu, it’s none of your business”

“it is because it involves you”, he says, without missing a beat, leaning closer.

“mingyu, don’t let what happened last night make you all soft for me okay, whatever happened just happened. don’t try to use that to determine what our relationship is now”, you say, trying to sound stern but your voice falters a bit when his hands dig into your waist tighter. he crashes his lips into yours, and the kiss is hot and heavy and angry. your lips move on their own, kissing him back, grabbing his arms for support.

“just promise me you’ll come back to me…alive”, mingyu mumbles against your lips.

“are you doubting me?", you scoff but he ignores the threat.

“and the first thing you’re going to do when you come back and see me is that you’re going to kiss me”, he demands.

“that’s so cheesy and cliché”, you tell, rolling your eyes.

“i’m not taking no for an answer”

“fine oh my god, you’re so stupid”, you mumble, kissing him one last time as he lets you go.

you reach the abandoned warehouse on time, with two minutes to spare. you look around but see no one around, the place dark and deserted. you decide to wait and stand outside to see if anyone shows up. after two minutes of waiting, you hear a rustle in the grass, standing alert, only to see a stray dog appear, but it had something in its mouth. the dog drops the things it was holding in front of your and runs off without warning. you carefully bend down to pick up the things, seeing a piece of paper and a black face cover that was meant to cover you entire face.

put on the mask on and be a good girl and wait

you crush the paper and scan your surroundings one more time before putting the mask on. after a few seconds, you realize the mask is laced with something, something strong and it’s too late because you’re already getting dizzy. your hand slips down as you fail to remove the mask and your knees give in as you fall to the ground, unconscious.

you wake up with the mask still over your head and groan, shaking your head, trying to get rid of the dizziness that’s was still lingering.

“she’s awake”, you hear someone say, immediately getting alert. 

“call boss”, another voice adds.

you try to move but your hands are bound together tightly with a rope that’s painfully cutting into your wrists. you can faintly make out the light in the room, it must have been dimly lit. you hear a door open and footsteps, as they come closer to you and suddenly, the mask over your face is harshly yanked out. you close your eyes shut at the sudden intrusion of light and look around, trying to gather your surroundings as your eyes adjust to the light. you manage to look up, seeing a figure looming over you. 

“hi there pretty girl, remember me?”, he asks menacingly. you blink your eyes as you scan his face, trying to remember who but you don’t.

“who the fuck are you?”, you lash out.

he clicks his tongue in response. “i’m disappointed, i thought you’d remember me after what you did, that’s a shame. but no worries, we still have time”, he says, one of his men dragging a chair and he takes a seat in front of you, leaning forward to get a better look at you, at your state.

“look at you. you’re supposed to be highly skilled right? but here you are, tied up for me to play with. i’m excited”, he tells laughing, a grin forming on his face.

“fuck off, where’s dino”, you spit out and you see the flash of anger that courses through him.

he grabs your face harshly, making you look at him, his hand gripping your jaw.

“behave or else i’ll get angry and slice up your friend. you don’t want that do you?”, he warns, putting pressure on your jaw as he squeezes your cheeks tighter. you squirm in his grip and he finally lets you go, your head hitting the wall in the process.

“where is he?”, you ask again, breathing hard. “i kept up my end of the deal”, you grit out.

“oh i will tell you where he is, but i just want to have a little fun with you before that happens”, he says, a glint in his eyes. he gets up and walks away, saying something to the other men in the room which you don’t quite catch.

that night, you’re alone, only with one guy, whom you assume was supposed to keep an eye on you. you try wriggle out of the rope, and even though it burns, you brush the pain away as the rope digs into your wrist. you smile to yourself once your wrists are free. people really had to learn how to tie secure knots really. you stealthily get up while the guard is pathetically snoring. you roll your eyes and get up, stretching and grabbing a stone from the floor as you walk towards him. he opens his eyes just as you stand in front of him and he doesn’t get the chance to speak as you crash the stone into his skull and he falls to the ground, unconscious. you knocked him hard enough to knock him out but not kill him. you’re eyes have been trained to see in the dark and you make your way across the room, putting your ear to the door to hear for any voices or signs of life. your hands encloses on the doorknob and you slowly turn it, opening it and peeking out. the coast is clear and you step out and, your footsteps silent as you make your way to the end of the hall. the place abandoned so debris and dust was everywhere. after a few steps you faint voices coming towards you and you still against the wall, peeking your ear out to pick up on the conversation.

“how much do you think seungcheol would pay to have her back? i think he’s her most valuable asset”, the voice says, which you recognise as the boss’s voice. “hm let’s see if he wants the painting or her”, another voice chimes in and you furrow your brows. first of all you didn’t need seungcheol protecting you and secondly you were getting pissed at these thugs. you move your foot and knock into something on the floor. 

“what was that?”, you hear the voice ask. you mentally curse and get ready to strike, coming out of the shadows and landing a kick right in the chest of one of the thugs. he falls to the ground with a grunt and loud thud. 

“oh my, i see you seem to have escaped”, the boss man tells, looking at you, chuckling. 

“where’s dino”, you ask, gripping the broken pipe you picked up on your way.

“I think it would be wise to drop that and not do anything stupid, unless you want your friend chopped up in pieces, i’ll glady do it and you know it”, he says, raisng a brow at you. 

you study his face and you can tell he would. you’d dealt with enough people in the years you’d taken up this job to be able to read people like a book and this guy was not fooling around when he said he would indeed chop up dino. you grit your teeth as you drop the pipe and it rattles as it hits the ground, echoing in the empty hallway.

“good girl”, he tells condescendingly, smirking, satisfied. “now let’s get you back”, he adds, and this time you’re cuffed in chains, but you’d figure a way to get out. 

two days go by and this boss guy is nowhere to be seen. you can tell he’s trying to weaken you by starving you but you could handle this. you’ve been through worse honestly. it’s the third night now and you’re getting impatient and a little tired of this waiting game.

“where the hell is your boss? did i scare him off? ask him to come here right now”, you demand

“he’s busy”, the guard tells, not even bothering to look at you, dismissing you completely.

“busy doing what? chickening out? tell him to come here right now”, you yell and probably because you kept belittling his ‘boss’, you hear him send another man to give the message. and sure enough, a few hours later the boss man comes walking in.

“i hear you were causing a ruckus”, he tells.

“where’s dino”, you demand.

“don’t worry about him. i’d worry about you because”, he says, getting down on one knee to come at eye level with me. “i’m going to take my time killing you slowly”, he says.

“yeah i’d rather enjoy killing you first”, you say.

“you really don’t recognize me, do you? stupid girl”, he spits out.

“uncuff her”, he says, getting up.

“boss but-“

“DO IT”, he shouts, the men cowering and one of them immediately scrambles down to undo the chain on you. as soon as you get free, you leap up, swaying your foot as you kick him down.

“why the fuck should i know who you are”, you say, reaching in your concealed pocket for a knife, but only feeling an empty space instead. there was no knife.

the boss chuckles and looks at you, laughing as he gets up, dusting himself off.

“looking for your precious knives? i thought i said not to bring anything. you thought you could fool me? i think not” he tells, smirking.

“how”, you whisper.

“you’re not the only one who has tricks up their sleeve”, he says in sing song voice, making you narrow your eyes at him.

“i’ve dedicated my whole life to this moment, to seeing you and killing you and you have the audacity to not even remember me”, he sneers, coming closer.

“cloud 9 enterprises, does that name ring a bell?”, he asks, stalking closer to you.

you wrack your brain. cloud 9 enterprises. that name was familiar and that case was famous too. the owner was supposedly making drugs, and disguising them as medication to sell, making people addicted and in plenty of bad ways too. lots of people died, innocent children and adults died because of those drugs he had disguised as a harmless medication. and you remember because you were the one sent to kill him. you look at the man’s face, looking at his features that somehow resemble the man you killed and it hits you.

“you’re his son”, you say.

“bingo”, he says smiling before landing a punch to your gut, making you fall down. “did you know i watched you kill him. i was hiding under his desk as i saw you slit his throat. can you imagine what that does to a child?”, he spits out. “after that day i’ve sworn i would get my revenge and now that i have you, it feels good”, he explains. he kicks you again but you dodge, swinging your leg and tripping him. you kick him again but his men come forward, grabbing you by the arms, holding you back. you thrash in their hold as he gets up. you knee one of the men and get loose but a few more men come forward and hold you down as, pushing you to your knees. he holds his hand out and someone gives him something – a syringe.

“this is a special concoction i made, just for you. i can’t wait to see how long you can last”, he chuckles coming forward and stabbing the syringe in your arm. the stab of the needle is sharp as he pushes the contents of the syringe inside your arm. you thrash even more, angry and they finally let you go. you yell out in frustration and try to land a punch but you miss.

“fuck you, i’ll kill you with my own hands”, you snap out, getting up and looking at him but your vision was playing tricks on you. you shake your head in an attempt to regain yourself and grab a metal stick that was thrown off to the side and jump to hit him, but you miss again. you groan in frustration.

“what did you do”, you shout as you get up, regaining you balance.

“you’ll die a slow painful death, as your organs and body start shutting down. you’ll probably last 36 hours or 48 hours if you manage to pull through”, he tells with a smile, stepping forward and you move to grab his arm, but before you can do anything you feel a sharp piecring pain in your abdomen and he looks at you and smiles as he pushes the knife furthur into you, stabbing you. you whine and yelp as he roughly pulls the knife out.

“how does it feel?”, he asks as you headbut him, not giving up yet. he groans as he pushes you off him, your back hitting the wall as you slump against it. he looks at you angry but chuckles as he looks at your state as he wipes his bloody nose with a cloth. you vaguely hear him say something like “dispose of the body where nobody can find it” and you hear dino’s name too but he’s already out the door.

you try to sit up and stop the bleeding, covering the torn flesh with your palms, and applying pressure to stop the bleeding. you’d managed to tear a part of your long sleeve shirt and use that to tie up the wound, putting the knot tight to somehow slow down the bleeding. you try to move and locate an escape route. there is a window but it’s too high up with no way for you to get to it unless you managed to move the stack of old wooden boxes. but in your state, you don’t think you could.

you don’t know when you fell asleep, it was probably the effect of whatever the drug he had injected you with. you sit awake, pain shooting through your abdomen in the process. the cloth you tied around is now soaked in blood and it’s starting to pool next to you. your hand is heavy as your try to lift it up and tear off your other sleeve to wrap it around the area.

in the far distance, gunshots can be heard and an angry and determined man is making his way into the hideout. “where the hell is she?”, mingyu shouts, the gun digging into the skull of a man who’s on his knees, his hands cuffed behind his back. his henchmen are all knocked out and scattered on the floor.

“she’s probably half dead by now”, he says, smiling, showing no remorse. this riles up mingyu even more and he pulls the man up and smashes him against the wall, his hand closing around his neck.

“what did you do?”, he asks, putting pressure on the man’s neck as dino stands behind him with jun.

he only half laughs as he starts to choke. “go find out yourself”, he mumbles and mingyu throws him to the ground and points his gun at him, shooting him point blank in the head, twice.

“mingyu! seungcheol wanted him alive”, jun rasps out, seeing his limp body.

“he was going to kill him any way i just did him a favor”, mingyu tells, only earning a look of disapproval from jun. “i’ll explain it to him”, mingyu adds.

mingyu searches the entire building, looking for you, until he stumbles across a room that’s been locked from the outside, and something familiar glints in the corner – knives, your knives. mingyu grabs a broken-off stone from the side and uses it to break open the lock, hammering down on it till it breaks. the door swings open and he spots you slumped on the floor in the far corner of the room.

“y/n”, he shouts as he rushes towards you and kneels down in front of you.  “fuck fuck fuck”, he mumbles as he sees the blood pooling on the side.

your body stirs awake again at the familiar scent of cologne and you open your eyes. mingyu? were you hallucinating? was this a side effect of the drug?

“mingyu?”, you ask, not sure if this was real.

“y/n, hey, it’s okay, im here now”, he says hurridely, pulling you onto his lap and you yelp in pain.

“shit sorry, but we need to get you out of here”, he explains.

“what are you doing here?”, you ask stupidly.

“i’m here for you, y/n. you didn’t come back and we got another threat and i knew something was wrong. fuck, i should have come earlier”, he explains.

“w-what about dino?”, you muster out with whatever strength you had.

“he’s here and he’s okay. we have the painting too. the van is down, i just need to get you out”, he says.

he tries to carefully scoop you in his arms but you whimper in pain again.

“i’m sorry but we’re almost there okay”, he assures, carrying you out. the jerks from the way he was running caused pain and you whined as he kept saying we were almost there. you hear dino’s faint voice as he opens the back of the van and mingyu rushes inside, gently laying you down on his lap.

“drive drive go!”, mingyu shouts, getting anxious.

“she’s hurt. badly”, dino adds.

“we should’ve brought wonwoo along, dammit. call him and ask him what to do to stop the bleeding”, mingyu commands.

“he-he injected something in me, some drug. said it would stop my organs and body functions within 36 hours”, you mumble out and mingyu’s face pales.

“how long as it been?”

“i don’t-maybe 24 hours”, you mumblr out, your memory hazy.

“here, wonwoo’s on the line”, dino says, holding out the phone so mingyu can speak on speakerphone.

“wonwoo, she’s bleeding out, she’s already lost a lot of blood, what do i do”, mingyu asks helplessly.

“just apply pressure to the wound and get her here”, he says, stern.

“fuck and he injected something in her, supposed to stop a person’s organs and body functions within 36 hours”, mingyu adds. “you can stop that right”, mingyu asks desperately and the line is silent for a few seconds.

“i don’t know it depends on how long it’s been-“

“24 hours”

“get her here, i’ll see what i can do”, wonwoo says, and the line drops.

he keeps talking to you so you can be conscious but after a ten minutes, you eyes start to close, and your body falters. your head starts to spiral and you get dizzy, seeing two mingyu’s above you.

“why are there two of you”, you ask no one in particular, starting to get delirious.

migyu’s pressure on your wound falters and you shrivel up in pain, the burning pain getting too much.

“it hurts, everything h-hurts”, you cry out softly and mingyu wishes he could do something to help ease the pain.

“i know baby you’re going to be okay, it’s going to be okay”, he says, panic evident in his eyes.

“hey hey y/n, don’t-“ mingyu pleads looking at you.

“mingyu”, dino says but he ignores him.

“y/n look at me”, he pleads, pulling you into him. your grip on his shirt loosens slowly and mingyu notices the way your hand falls down.

“fuck no no no, stay with me baby, i’m right here”, he pleads, almost crying but all you see is black as you lose consciousness.

(you were recovering in mingyu’s house since you couldn’t risk going to the hospital with an unknown drug in your system, it would cause a red siren everywhere and bring unwanted attention)

wonwoo tried his best to help save you but you were still lying unconscious after ten days. most of the drug had been flushed out of your system but it was taking some time for your body to recover from its effects.

“go get some rest mingyu”, wonwoo says as he walks in, seeing mingyu beside your bed.

“i need to be here when she wakes up”, mingyu says, his eyes red and his face tired from the lack of sleep.

“she’ll wake up, right?”, he asks for the tenth time today, hope reflecting in his tired eyes.

“i can’t make promises like that mingyu, it depends on the way her body is recovering”, wonwoo tells.

“this is all seungcheol’s fault”, mingyu declares, suddenly seeing red.

“where the fuck is he, he didn’t even come to see her once.”, mingyu adds, getting up.

“mingyu, you need to calm down.”

mingyu ignores wonwoo and shoves him to the side as he leaves for the safehouse in search of seungcheol.

“WHERE’S SEUNGCHEOL”, mingyu yells as he enters, causing seungkwan and vernon to jump and turn around.

“mingyu-"

“where the fuck is seungcheol?”, mingyu asks again, angry.

mingyu stalks ahead and bursts open the door to seungcheol’s office.

“this is all your fault”, mingyu says as seungcheol stands up from his desk and walks out a few steps before mingyu grabs seungcheol by the collar of his shirt.

“if you hadn’t sent y/n alone like i said, she’d be okay, she’d be okay”, mingyu spits out, seething in anger. “did you even go see her, do you know what he did?”, he adds.

“i know what happened and it’s unfortunate”, is all seungcheol says, making mingyu even more upset. in blinding anger, mingyu brings his hand up and lands a punch to seungcheol.

jeonghan runs in. “what-“, he asks but stops upon seeing the scene in front of him.

“im only letting this off because we got the painting”, seungcheol says, wiping his busted lip.

“fuck you, i bet you don’t even care if she dies”, mingyu spits stepping front again but jeonghan blocks him.

“she’ll live, she’s a fighter”, seungcheol tells before seungkwan comes along and he and jeonghan guide mingyu out.

that night mingyu is back home, laying next to your bed as wonwoo administers another round of IV.

“her wound is healing but slowly. it’s still a good sign that her body is functioning and working. otherwise, she would have gotten another infection if the drug had really affected her”, wonwoo says, hoping to bring some sort of relief to mingyu.

“you really love her don’t you”, wonwoo adds as he observes the way mingyu holds your hand.

“i should’ve insisted she doesn’t go alone, but she said she’d come back”, mingyu says defeated.

“if she doesn’t respond in another week, we’ll have to really do something then”, wonwoo tells, and by the way mingyu’s jaw clenches, he doesn’t like the sound of that.

mingyu stays by your bed that night, falling asleep and holding your hand.

you’re dreaming, someone is chasing you. you’ve been running for so long and you’re getting tired. you don’t even know where you’re running, you’re just running and running, hoping to find something.

mingyu stirs awake when he senses your grip on his hand tightening and he’s super alert.

“y/n?”, he asks softly.

someone is calling out to you. you can’t figure out where it’s coming from but you hear the sweet voice calling out my name again. you run towards the voice.

“y/n”, mingyu calls out again as he looks at you, trying to see if you can hear or understand him.

you’re running and running, trying to follow the voice and you vaguely make out a figure standing in front of you. the man stands out with his arms open as he calls out your name one last time and your eyes flutter open.

mingyu lets out a small gasp.

“mingyu”, you try to say, but no voice follows and you close your eyes again.

mingyu wastes no time in calling wonwoo, telling him the news and soon wonwoo is at the house.

“just keep an eye on her”, wonwoo explains saying he'll be back in the morning for a checkup.

in the morning, you wake up, a bit hazy but conscious. what woke you up was the pain and something cold and when you look down you realize your bandage had bled out, probably from sleeping on your side. you try to sit up but your arms give out, and your eyes close. you hear the faint steps of mingyu walking in and he says your name, rushing up to you. he gently sits down next to you, the bed dipping. 

“you’re awake, you’re awake”, he says, his hands fumlbing for his phone as he dials wonwoo. you slowly manage to turn and face him, blinking up at him in a daze. he looks down and see’s your bandage that’s bled out.

“im just going to change your bandage okay y/n”, he says to you and you weakly nod. he helps you sit up, lifting your shirt up ever so slightly so he can take off the soiled bandage and replace it. he gently cleans the wound with a wet cloth and you slightly hiss at the pain, your hands clawing at the bedsheet. you take a moment to look at mingyu as he carefully tends to my wound. the way his hair falls over his face, the way the light bounces off him, the way his brows are furrowed in concentration, the way his hands are gentle so that he doesn’t hurt you.

“mingyu”, you say softly and he looks up worried and surprised. this is the first time you talked.

“do you want something? water? or are you hungry? i made some rice porridge earlier i can just-“

“thank you”, you weakly say and try to smile at him, and at this, he crumbles. he gently moves his hands to envelope you as he slowly pulls you into him for a hug.

“i thought i’d lost you there”, mingyu admits softly and you can hear the fear in his voice.

“i’m a fighter”, you mumble out and he laughs.

“‘im just glad you’re awake now. i thought- i was really preparing myself for the worst”, he says, pulling away to look at you. his hand cups you cheek, his thumb gently caressing my cheek. you lean into his touch and rest your head on his chest.

over the next few days, mingyu makes sure you’re comfortable and okay. he’s always checking up on you and you start to feel better. you’re able to get up and walk a little and your wound is healing too. you’re in less pain and wonwoo is impressed and satisfied with the way you’ve been healing. 

“where’s dino? i hope he’s okay, i never got to see him afterward”, you say later one night. “do you want me to call them over?”, mingyu asks and you nod eagerly. 

you walk over to mingyu and sit down next to him on the couch, looking up at him as you lean against his arm and suddenly you remember - you owed him a kiss when you came back. you sit up a bit and mingyu seems to have caught you staring.

“what?”, he asks, looking at you lovingly. “did you want something?”, he adds.

you simply move so that you’re straddling his lap and before mingyu can say anything, you’re kissing him. he kisses you back a few seconds later and his hands rest on your waist. he moves his lips against yours and his hand tilts your jaw closer to him. your hands wrap around his neck as you tangle your fingers in his hair and mingyu lets out a soft groan as he pulls away.

“fuck. i missed that. i missed you”, he mumbles against your lips.

“i promised you a kiss when i came back right”. you say and he smiles.

“you remembered”

“a little too late if i have to say”

“i’m glad you’re back baby, i missed you so much”, he says again, leaning forward to kiss you again, chasing after your lips. his lips are soft against yours, but the way he’s kissing you is like he hasn’t seen you in years. he kisses you with yearning and emotion, with a sort of urgency. his hand grips your waist tighter but you let out a small yelp since the pain is still there as the wound was still healing and his grip softens.

“shit sorry”, he says, looking to make sure you was okay, only to kiss him back, wanting to get lost in the feeling of his lips on yours. you’re too busy to notice that wonwoo opened the door and the rest of the boys walked in on you both kissing.

“y/n i got your favorite-“ seungkwan starts but stops dead in his tracks upon catching you both.

you pull away and turn your head around to see seungkwan’s mouth hanging open before he smacks a hand over his mouth in shock. dino just gives you a small shy smile and smiles when you smile back at him. you’re about to move off when mingyu pulls you in for one last kiss, just to tease you as you whack his arm and he pulls away chuckling.

wonwoo looks at us as he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “i thought i said no strenuous activities for y/n”, he says, looking straight at mingyu.

“she started it”, mingyu says, throwing you in the fire as he gently slides you off him.

“what no! i–“, you start but falter, the words crumbling.

hoshi is immediately by your side, asking you if you’re okay and what happened before he starts pestering you for more details about how mingyu and you started liking each other because in his knowlege you hated him so now he need to know all the gossip and details.

after a few more months, you’re all healed but wonwoo still makes you do a checkup once every month, to make sure you were healing okay and that there were no leftover effects of the drug in your body.

2 years later

“baby i told you not to wear that fuck”, mingyu groans in your ear as he pulls you into a tiny room to hide from the security guards looking for you both.

“concentrate, we still need to get the gold bars”, you say, adjusting his tie as he pushes you into the wall.

“you look so fucking hot i told you that you’d get in trouble if you wore that”, he says, whispering against your ear.

after you healed and got back in the field, you and mingyu had been on countless missions together. this time you had to steal some gold bars from a corrupt politician, and once again to build connections and friends, you had to pose as a married couple. so here you were.

“my wife likes to be a brat sometimes”, he mumbles before pecking your lips.

“watch it, im not your wife”, you say, poking his arm.

“not yet, but i can change that”, he says, giving you a wink.

you stare up at him tilting your head to the side. “are you proposing to me, mingyu?”, you ask.

“maybe”, he says with a goofy smile as he leans in to close the gap between you with a kiss.

and yes, you did successfully steal the gold bars and you maybe tortured the corrupt politician a little, but everyone needs to have a little fun right?

— taglist

@daisycheols @naaaaafla @slytherinshua @weird-bookworm @idubiluv @qaramu @n4mj00nvq @itsveronicaxxx @joshuaahong @fallingforshua29 @frankenstein852 @lvlystars @fairyhaos @rubywonu @aaniag @junniesoleilkth @m1ngyuc0re @wheeboo @hyunyin @minhui896 @fancypoisonapple @raggedypansexual @k-ajla12 @asyre @ilovesungjun @jyiiscool @tis-niki @foxinnie8 @nobraincellmode @ne0c0r3 @nishloves

[scremogirl]

✪⁂✫彡𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐓✵ミ★✥

𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬

Yandere! Childhood friend x Hyper aware! Reader

Slight⚠︎︎warning. The reader is slightlllyyy narcissistic, you gotta squint to see it. Like always check the end for a note. Enjoy!

It wasn’t more than a day that you you two weren’t together. From third grade all the way to your senior year in high school; he was always there. To think it all started from simply sharing your colored pencils.

Micah was your best friend, you’ve done everything together. All your first were together too. Your first kiss for example.

“I-I don’t know about this Micah, just don’t want things to be weird after this,” you hesitated.

“It’s fineee, I promise. Besides, you're my best friend; nothing could ever be weird between us,” you cringed a little at the fact that your first kiss was calling you his best friend. Not that it wasn’t true, it just wasn't as romantic as middle school you thought a first kiss would be. Your first date.

You held your head in your hands staring at the floor and heaved a big sigh. Your date had just stood you up. This wasn’t the first time this happened either, guys would ask you out and then just end up flaking. When you tried to talk to him earlier in the day he was sporting a big bruise on his jaw and cussed you out. You weren’t gonna let that slide tho, so when you called Micah to come help he hurley apologized and scurried off.

“I promise it’s not you beautiful, besides, he doesn’t know what he’s missing,” it goes silent for a bit before he perks up with a loud gasp.

“I know! How about we go see the movie together? He still let you keep the tickets right?”

You even had your first together. I mean, if that isn't true friendship I don’t know what is. So, why is it starting to feel not so friendly between you two anymore? He’s been acting a little weird as of late. He’s been more handsy lately; arm always around your shoulder or waist. He’s always been like this, and you guys did have sex once, but… this is different. His grip is a little tighter and his hands fall a little lower. He comes up behind you while you stand at the vending machine down the hall from the cafeteria, burying his face in your neck. When you told him to stop because you’re in school and people will start thinking things about you two, he just shrugs and says, “Nothing that they haven’t seen before,” with a dismissive wave of his hand. He even tried to kiss you yesterday when you left his house from a sleepover, claiming that it would keep you safe on your journey home (which is literally and I mean literally, right next door).

You’re not dumb. You know he likes you. In love with you. Everyone knows that. You know that he was the one that beat up your crush. You know why he wanted to have all his firsts with you. You noticed all the panties going missing every time he would visit. You noticed all your chewed pens and leftover food being taken out of the trash. You noticed his hard-on every time you’d wear a low-cut shirt or too short of a skirt. You noticed the box of your stuff tucked away under his bed when you dropped your pen whilst you were over-studying. You saw the photo album pushed into the corner of his basement. You saw the bloody rags and knives in the bathroom cabinet. You saw the way he would look at you when he thought you weren’t paying attention. You liked the attention and the way he made you feel. But, you just couldn’t bring yourself to actually pursue him. He was your best friend and that was that. It’s not that you weren’t open to the idea of the two of you getting together, you were practically made for each other. Courtesy of him studying your insides ;) and outs. It's just the fact you know if you have him the time of day, you wouldn’t have time for anything else. Completely suffocated by his overwhelming love and attention.

That leads you to now. This is the first date you’ve been on since that incident in the beginning of your high school career. You met him in your psych class, thankfully one of the only ones you and Micah don’t share. Sure, you’ve had a couple one one-night stands and summer flings but as it denotes, they were all short-lived. This guy was different, he was sweet, funny, and paid attention when you talked; the whole package. But of course, this wouldn’t last long either. Prom was supposed to be the most exciting night for a senior. A big party with all your friends, dancing, laughing, the whole nine yards. That was until you saw your date tongue fucking another girl when you came back from getting the punch he requested. You sighed. Taking note of the not-so-discreetly placed $100 dollar bill in his suit's pocket. Of course. Just then you feel a tap on your shoulder. As you turn around you see him in all his glory. A y’all figure with his hair slicked back, one strategically placed string in the front. The dark blue suit perfectly matched your dress no matter how much you insisted that it was inappropriate because of your date. Green eyes peering down into yours with a mock of pity and astonishment. The scar on his cheek barley noticeable. He got it in an accident he had when you two were younger. He would always try to make you kiss it better, saying that it eased the pain from literally ages ago.

Micah.

“How about you and I go grab some dinner instead, hm?” The drive to the diner is silent. You two stuck out like a sore thumb in the cozy setting of the mom-and-pop shop. They’ve come to recognize you both. Ms. Dané, one of the owners of the shop would always question why you two weren’t together yet as her husband would chastise her for being so bold. Though, you could see it in his eyes just how curious he was.

You pull up to the mountain you two discovered on one of your long car rides to nowhere last summer. You spent most of it building a comfy place for the two of you to have your deep and emotional conversations. As you sit on the hill, looking down at the city and taking a bite of your burger, he turns to you. Before he could speak to you, you held up your hand effectively stopping him.

“I know,” he looks at you with wide eyes full of confusion. You take a handful of fries this time, chew, and swallow again before speaking.

“I don’t need you to lie to me.”

“He wasn’t good for you anyways,” he abruptly replies, it came out harsher than he attended it too.

“Besides, what kind of a guy would ask a girl out and then kiss another one a day later?” He huffs out an irritated laugh.

“That’s not what I meant, Michael,” the use of his full name struck a bit of fear in his heart. And pleasure to his pants.

“I know it was you,” he tries to speak but you put your fingers to his lips. Chewing on your burger and taking a sip of your soda to help push it down. The time it takes you to respond kills him, he tapping his leg and picking at the scar on his cheek anticipation. A habit he’s always had when he’s nervous or anxious.

“You know what I mean. I saw the money in his pocket,” He doesn’t wait for an explanation or care how you found out it was him. He pushes his food to the side before climbing over your outstretched legs. You’ve taken your heels off at his point, too uncomfortable to be walking up a mountain with. Micah insisted on carrying you anyways, saying that your dress was too expensive to get dirty but he gravel mud.

“I can’t stand the thought of someone else being by your side. I’m the one who's been here for you throughout everything. I'm the one who laughs with you when you're happy, cries with you when you're sad, and calms you down when you're mad. Not him. Not your parents. Not anyone. It’s always been you and me. Ever since the third grade you’ve been the one I wanted. I love (Y/n), nothing and no one can change that,” at this point his hands have a firm grip on your shoulders. Knees firmly planted into the hard ground beside you, surely his nice pants are fitted and scuffed but right now he couldn't care less. He stares deep into your eyes waiting for you to say something; anything.

For what seems like the millionth time you sighed since you met him, your gaze drops from your half-eaten burger to his frantic ones.

“Okay, Micah,” you say rubbing your thumb along the scar on his cheek. whose whole demeanor suddenly changes, this is the happiest you’ve ever seen him. Well since that day *if you know what I mean ^*. This time he grabs your food and pushes it away. You're a little sad, you wanted to finish the rest of that. You had no time to think, however, as he lays you down in the makeshift fort you’ve created. He lowers his head down, placing kisses on the column of your neck. He makes his way up to behind your ear, smelling his favorite of your perfumes. In his delusion, he can’t help to think that you wanted him to kiss you here. Placing it there to entice him in all the ways he wants you to. He rubs his cock against you, trying to get as much friction as he can. Even though it’s dark out and his suit is even darker, but the fairly lights strings up in the tiny fort help you see the pre-cum staining the front of the soft, thin material of his pants.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that. I promise this’ll be even better than the first. He could never compare to how I’m gonna make you feel,” he runs his hands up your waist, kissing the corner of your lips.

“Besides,” he starts. Eyes lowering down to your dress that has now risen to just above your lace panties

“I’m the only one who gets to see you full and dripping with cum”.

I don’t think I’m gonna turn Micah the into a full OC. If you liked it however, maybe I’ll make a couple headcanons or something. For the most part this was just a one shot. Again make sure to go check out my friends twist on the idea. ^the at is mentioned in the note above. Bye loves!

-Love, Sos❤️

[nocturnesmoon]

Your guard dog

Tags: mild dark content(?), gender-neutral reader, random little story of the day that I'll probably never turn into a fledged out fic cuz I have too many projects, but it's on the list-

Simon has always been an honest man.

It's something he prides himself in. He may be tall, dark, terrifying to most around him, but he would rather have something horrible happen to him, than outright lie on purpose, especially to you.

When you first met, it went how it usually goes for people that are unfortunate enough to be in his presence. You were polite, as much as anyone else, not too interested in the big off-putting soldier that lurks in the back of the room.

Simon had never thought that you would stick around, nor did he expect that your tipping point would be an innocent birthday gift. You had been so enamoured by the fact he had actually listened to the things you said, and observed your actions, enough to give you probably the most accurate gift you've received in a long time.

One thing led to another, and years later the two of you find yourselves in a committed relationship.

There are a lot of things you can say about Simon. A common denominator is that he really has never knowingly lied to you. A feat you find impressive, gathered from earlier partners. He has his secrets, things in his past that he wishes to keep buried still, but he never lies to you.

Whenever you ask, he answers.

It's how it's always been.

The fact doesn't change when he then does things in secret. If you ask where he's been, he'll answer you honestly, if you ask what he's been doing he answers honestly, whether you like the answer or not.

He's always been good to you that way. If he ever catches a whiff of jealousy from you, he waits for you to come to him. You'll ask about his doings, he'll answer you accordingly, calmly, and quench whatever feelings pile up in your head. He knows he never has to stress about it, because all his actions are in servitude to you.

Whenever he goes on deployment, he knows how you miss him, how you wish you could be there with him, though it'd be dangerous for you. So he brings you things back, things of his loyalty, things that you would want and cherish, (Ignoring the fact that you'd cherish practically anything he gives you.)

When he's home he's even more devoted to you. Follows you around like a pup in need of attention, a pup that transforms into a fierce guard dog the moment you leave the house. Even if he tells you that his job is dangerous, you never fully get why he's so protective of you, like someone was going to take you away when he looks the other way. In many ways you don't mind it, it pays off having a big threatening soldier at your back to keep creeps away.

As nice as it is to have him though, he's not always there, and despite how you trust him, you don't like the dark look in his eyes whenever you tell him about an encounter you had with some creepy person trying to hit on you.

Once when you were idly cuddling on the couch, one rainy Saturday, you had playfully asked if he would ever kill for you. You hadn't expected a serious answer, maybe you had even expected him to scold you for asking such a question, given his job and having to deal with death in his life in that way. You hadn't expected for him to say yes so determinedly, a little too sure of it.

It's not the first time you've noticed odd behaviour from him. His overprotective nature can get a bit overbearing at times, he doesn't want you near any remotely dangerous object, occasionally he'll even get pissy about you using kitchen knives. God forbid you do accidentally hurt yourself on some object he told you not to use, with a grumpy attitude he'll patch you up, scolding you mildly, and the next time you go to use the same object it's mysteriously vanished or out of reach for you.

He has his own little policy for you as well, any and all problems you face, you come to him with. You found it nice, finally having such a tentative partner that listened so carefully. You hadn't expected that he was going to make most of your problems disappear on top of that. It was simple things at first. The coffee machine broke, he removes it and gifts you a new one. There's a thing at work you find frustrating, well the task is soon gone mysteriously. Even with himself, he does a thing that's your pet peeve, he changes it, makes the problem disappear.

It starts out small, and then it gets a bit weirder. You have an argument with a family member? The next time you see them they apologize profusely, and the matter is dropped, though they seem rattled. You think your neighbour is rude? Well look at that, they're moving out very, very soon.

You don't truly start to question it, before you notice the co-worker you complained about, disappeared without notice.

You try to hint at it to Simon, to subtly ask him if he had a finger in it. His answer is what terrifies you more, "careful what you ask of me, darling." You should be careful what questions you ask him what you tell him, because Simon is an honest man. You ask, he answers.

It makes you revaluate what you let him know, you start keeping minor problems to yourself, things or people that annoy you are reserved for your mind. He notices of course, he understands his darling is nervous of his actions, but he needs you to understand what he is doing, he is doing for you.

He starts figuring out your problems behind your back. You don't even need to tell him anymore, he will always know. There isn't anywhere you could go where he wouldn't reach you, where he wouldn't keep you safe and protected. You're his, just as he's yours.

Your true breaking point comes when the police shows up at your work place. They question you about the co-worker that had left work, not long after having an argument with you. You learn that this person hasn't been seen by anyone for several months.

You stomp home, knowing Simon is the only person that could've had anything to do with it. Your questions are met by a dark chuckle, he isn't even taking his own actions serious, not the way you're framing them. You plead with him to stop, to keep his work and your life completely separate.

His answer leaves you with nothing, "I can't promise you that darling, I'm doing this for you. You're mine."

Your only choice is to adapt, you don't ask the questions because you won't like the answers.

And when he goes out late at night without a word, coming back in the morning with blood on his hands, you wash it off gently, and bite your tongue.

Reminder that requests are open if you've got an idea you want written.

Likes, comments, and reblogs are always appreciated, love ya<3

[kennysboxergf]

write smt for niko where reader has nails on and she’s just scratching nikos head and he falls asleep on her and is in awn of him please and thank u

Acrylics ~ Niko Omilana

Ok alright so first of all my apologies i started writing this and then it took a mind of its own and ran away from me so im so sorry if this isnt exactly what you wanted 💔

—

Your fingers worked at Niko’s scalp as he lay in your lap. You felt as he sank deeper and deeper into your embrace and as his muscles relaxed under your new acrylic nails. You looked over at him and found only peace and relaxation in his expression, despite that you couldn’t help as your earlier conversation echoed in your head.

--

“How do you do anything with those knives on your fingers?” is the question that pops you out of the book you were reading. You close it shut, knowing this conversation was not going to just disappear, when Niko wanted to know something he usually found out.

“What do you mean knives?” you ask, pretending to not understand the joke so he would drop it.

Of course, he didn’t drop it.

“I mean those long pointy things you’ve stuck onto your already long, pointy, nails” he answered, vaguely gesturing towards your hand with his. 

“My acrylics?” you asked back with a dead-pan look on your face.

“Nuh-uh” came the answer as he shook his head, “acrylic is a type of paint. You have literal murder weapons stuck to the end of your fingers” he finished with an accusatory point at your hands. 

You smiled simply in his direction before extending one long finger (+ nail) in his direction. You bent it towards yourself in a beckoning motion, willing him to come closer. He did so, albeit hesitantly. 

When he approached the couch you were settled on you grabbed onto his shirt and tugged him down. He fell (ungraciously) onto the couch right next to you with an oomph. When he settled he looked at you with a mix between a glare and a confused head tilt. You simply shrugged because you had no idea why you had done that either.

He opened his mouth as if to complain but you quickly shut him up with a finger on his lips. Once again he looked down at the finger in confusion but you didn’t utter a word, just rearranged his tall man limbs into your lap. He went quite easily, but as soon as the two of you were comfortable he opened his big mouth again.

“Your murder knives are stabbing me, y/n” he said once more with a trace of a pout on his lips.

You moved your hand from where it was resting on his stomach up to his scalp. You felt him tense as your nails first trailed through his curls. You muttered a soothing “don’t worry baby, these murder knives can do a lot more than just kill men.”

Well maybe that wasn’t too soothing but he did go from deep freeze rigid to just tense so it was a win you guessed.

And all of that led you to where you were right now. With his head in your lap as your fingers worked into his hair. He was actively just melting into you, his whole body relaxing. You smiled at his behaviour as his eyes fluttered shut.

After a couple of minutes of massaging you heard soft noises coming from your boyfriend. Small gasps and quiet moans of pleasure echoed in the room. He didn’t seem to notice as his head lay still, eyes shut and mouth slightly open.

You stop your motions and he jerks back into reality, his eyes open as he looks at you. 

“Baby, I’ll pay for your nails for the rest of the year if you just keep going right now” he promised quietly.

You chuckled but started with your motions once more, his eyes fell shut again. “No more murder knives?” You tease.

His head starts to shake before he realises he can’t do that with you massaging him. So he just mutters a simple “nothing that makes me feel this nice can be used for murder I take my words back” 

“Ok,” you respond but then continue after a pause, “but you can’t take back the words about paying for my nails” you warn him.

He smiles, “of course.”

—

as always requests are open and please come by and say hi <3

[mickittotheman]

hello ☺️ number 19 for the prompt game please

19. playing with their hands when nervous

Ian likes to fidget. 

The stupid fucker can’t keep still at the best of times, but once he’s hyped up he’s even more insufferable than usual.

It’s one thing when he’s all happy and excited and shit. He’ll tangle and untangle the strings of his jackets and hoodies and shoelaces. He’ll wave his hands around in big gestures. He’ll fiddle with whatever he can get his fucking hands on, including Mickey’s knives, on the rare occasion Mickey leaves them in his reach. He’ll drum out upbeat little tunes with his fingers on countertops and tabletops, on rumpled sheets and dusty concrete floors, on his own skin or on Mickey’s.

It’s different when he’s anxious. He does a lot of the same shit, but like, the evil version. His tapping fingers lack their usual rhythm, turn erratic and loud instead. He’ll be less careful with whatever he’s fiddling with. He’s nicked himself on Mickey’s knives one time too many. He’ll tie knots so tight he can’t get them undone, which only serves to pique his frustration even more. He’ll wrap the strings around his fingers till his skin goes white and red and raw. 

All that shit is annoying, but whatever. Ian puts up with Mickey’s annoyingass habits all the time. Puts up with far fucking worse. Mickey can deal.

This, though, this is where Mickey draws the line.

“Will you fucking stop it?”

“Huh?” Ian glances at Mickey, wide eyed, startled. They're in the dugouts, sprawled out with their backs propped up against the low wall, killing time until they’re ready for round two. Or round three, technically speaking. Whatever.

Mickey reaches out to slap Ian’s hand away from his mouth. “Stop gnawing on your fucking fingers, you freak.”

Ian flushes a bit. Lowers both hands down to his lap. Grips them tight, like he’s trying to keep them in place. “Sorry. Just kinda on edge today.”

“No shit,” Mickey huffs. There’s some shit going on with Ian’s family. There’s always some shit going on with Ian’s family, though, so it’s not that big a deal. Plus, Ian has midterms and ROTC and goddamn Linda breathing down his neck.

Not that Mickey gives a shit.

He sniffs. Swipes at his nose. Peeks over at Ian again. Ian’s keeping his paws outta his mouth, but he’s picking at his fingers instead. There’s already blood welling up on at least two of his nail beds. “Jesus fucking christ,” Mickey mutters, rolling his eyes. He shoves his own hand against Ian’s and leaves it. “There.”

“Uh.” Ian blinks at their hands. Blinks at Mickey. 

Mickey rolls his eyes again. “You wanna fuck up a hand so bad, use mine. I ain’t letting your fingers up my ass if you’ve got open fucking wounds.”

Ian blinks again.

Mickey looks away. Uses his other hand to fumble for his smokes.

Ian takes his hand carefully. Cautiously. He trails his fingertips over Mickey’s skin softly. Mickey shudders. His fingers twitch. He doesn't pull away.

By the time he’s done with his cigarette, Ian’s lost any inhibitions about playing with Mickey’s hand. He’s rubbing at it and squinting at it and gawking at it like it’s the most fascinating thing he’s ever held. Inspecting every winkle, every scar, every pale blue vein. Tugging and twisting and bending Mickey’s fingers. Digging his thumb into the meaty parts of his palm, tracing the lines there with his index finger. “How about you stop squeezing my hand and start squeezing something else instead, huh?”

Ian eagerly complies, earlier nerves miraculously gone.

Mickey hadn’t realized at the time what a huge fucking can of worms he’d opened that night. Hadn’t realized that Ian would seize every opportunity going forward to grab at his hands and use them as his own personal fucking stress ball. His hands quickly become Ian’s favorite thing to fidget with, surpassing strings and knives and everything fucking else.

Years and years and years down the line, Mickey’s hands get a new accessory for Ian to fiddle with: a ring to rub at and spin and press soft, sappy kisses to.

Whatever. Mickey can deal.

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 40

PREV

The Winter Banquet.

Where the Spring Championship announcements happen for Collegiate Exy. A formal event meant to allow the ERC to showcase how their stars weren’t just brutes on the court. Look at how beautiful and handsome they all were. Look at how they danced together. Look at the smiles and laughter and-

Wait.

No.

Put that down.

Who had the great idea to put the Jackals next to the Terrapins? Things have been tense between the teams since the Captain of the Terrapins stole the Captain of the Jackal’s date during the Fall Banquet!

I thought we all agreed that there would never be any more steak knives! What was the point of paying for all the pre-cut tenderloins if we’re just going to give them steak knives?! 

Really gotta find an intern to pin this fiasco on.

Oh great the Foxes are leaving! Did we even get a picture of Kevin Day in his suit? Fuck it’s going to be a two intern firing kind of day isn’t it.

Someone get an eye on the Ravens before they try and grab some hapless idiot and sacrifice him to revive Riko Moriyama. If there’s even one more damn tabloid with a blurry photo of ‘Riko Moriyama’ to prove that his death was faked then heads will roll.

Honestly, the biopic that some Edgar Allan Film student is making about him seems pretty interesting. The ERC just wishes people would stop taking pics of the ‘lead actor’ and sending it to tabloids as proof that the King hadn’t died.

Fuck, the Foxes left before we got any decent pictures.

Well just great.

You’d think that after all these years of the Foxes leaving early they’d have learned that getting pictures as they arrive is the most important thing. 

Oh thank god it looks like the Trojans are starting to mediate the fight. You can always count on good ol’ Jeremy.

Fuck.

A Raven got too close to Jean Moreau and now Jeremy Knox has punched a Backliner. Great. The Trojans have formed ranks around Moreau but the kid’s just too damn tall. Someone has hit him in the head with an especially saucy meatball, he’s not injured, just confused. The Trojans are acting like it’s a gunshot he just took to the head.

The refreshment table just seemed to collapse in on itself and god wasn’t that just an allegory for this entire damn evening.

Anita Flores sighs as she watches yet another banquet go down in a riot. Honestly, she doesn’t know why they think these will end up differently. She finds herself often missing when she used to coordinate banquets for football teams.

She sighs and thinks about her least favorite interns.

Alex had been getting a bit too cocky lately. He’d make a good sacrifice.

***

(Three hours earlier)

The Palmetto State Foxes were on their way to the Winter Banquet. From what FF understood it was categorically always a 90% chance of a shitshow. Honestly FF was surprised that the percentage was that low.

There was a general tenseness in the air surrounding it that went beyond the Banquet’s propensity to become a fight. 

This year the Winter Banquet was going to be held up at the Binghamton Bearcat’s stadium. The nation knew the story from the news and FF knew the story from both that and from the Foxes themselves who were there at the time in bits and pieces.

Captain Neil had been kidnapped from this stadium and then he’d been tortured. FF hadn’t even been on the team when it had happened and he was anxious about Captain Neil going anywhere near the stadium.

“He was just…he was just gone.” Matt had said, “Neil was gone and Kevin said that he was probably dead when Andrew got back with his phone.” He continued as the two of them sat up late in the living room of the dorm one night back in early October.

“I thought Andrew was going to kill me y’know.” Kevin had said bottle in hand as FF tried to help him up the stairs because apparently he would 100% guarantee vomit if he was in the nausea box. “I thought that maybe I deserved it, since I didn’t help Neil. I just let him walk to his death.” He said and despite assurances that he wouldn’t puke FF’s shoes did not make it through that journey unscathed.

“We called…we called everywhere.” Nicky had stared up at the ceiling of his hospital room, “Andrew was adamant that he was still alive even though Kevin kept saying he was dead and that dead was the nicest thing he could hope for. I thought that was a terrible thing to say.” Nicky curled up closer to him.

“I told you, Andrew dragged me like I was nothing to get to Neil. I don’t think he even noticed the guns.” Wymack said to Abby as the two sat on the back porch during Aras’ going away party. “His eyes were on Neil.” he gestures towards where Andrew was watching Captain Neil wrestle with Matt.

“He looked like shit.” Aaron had said unable to stomach a diagram of different degrees of burn in his medical book. “At least he was alive.” He adds.

“A hero.” Andrew’s voice had been what could be considered teasing from Andrew, “Someone who looks like her.” he had said touching Captain Neil’s burn scars as they drove away from the stadium after coming back to pick FF up.

Captain Neil had come to him the day before they were set to drive out, “Take me somewhere no one will find me for an hour.” FF hadn’t quite understood what Captain Neil meant, he never hid anywhere. People just failed to realize where he was.

“Ok.” he says instead of trying to explain because being unnoticed means no one hid codes from him.

The roof of the Library wasn’t that much different from the roof of the Tower, only that it was taller and bigger. Captain Neil had shut his phone off after texting something, likely to Andrew, and then put it into his pocket.

FF settled on the roof, sat with his back against a heating vent to stay warm. Captain Neil settled next to him and they sat in silence. It felt like back at the start of this where Captain Neil and Andrew would come find him and just sit in silence. 

It was nice. He had missed-

“They act like the stadium is the thing that kidnapped me.” Captain Neil says.

Oh okay, quiet time is over apparently.

FF doesn’t say anything, figuring that nothing he could say right now would be the right thing and maybe Captain Neil just needs to talk through some stuff.

“That stadium is where I thought I’d have my last good memory.” Captain Neil explains, “I’m not scared of it and yet Andrew’s acting like I’ll die if I’m left alone for more than 2 seconds while we’re there. Every time we go there they all act like the most important thing in the world is that I get on that bus at the end of the night.” Captain Neil explains.

FF does remember how Andrew had grabbed Captain Neil after their October game up in Binghamton. How Captain Neil had complained bitterly but had gone after looking at Andrew.

“He’s dead!” Captain Neil exclaimed and FF couldn’t help but look over at the entrance and hoped no one heard them. “He’s dead! I watched him get shot! He can’t kidnap me again!” Captain Neil continued to yell and FF couldn’t help but worry that they’d be heard below, or worse bother a student trying to study below.

FF reached out and touched Captain Neil’s arm and bright blue eyes turned to him, “We’re on a library. Don’t yell.” FF said and Captain Neil looked at him incredulously.

Then he laughed. He laughed and laughed and FF was worried that he’d gone and broken his Captain.

He suddenly felt bad about his own bout of hysterical laughter a while back.

“Thanks Smith.” Captain Neil had said with a smile.

They had sat up there until it was dark and Andrew had started calling FF’s phone and Captain Neil took the call to say he was coming back.

Now they’re on the bus, dressed nicely, and on their way up to Binghamton’s stadium. Captain Neil and Andrew are hidden in the far back of the bus with Andrew looking far more like a watchdog than anything else the closer they got to their destination.

Captain Neil had seemed largely resigned to this treatment at this point. Eventually they were at the stadium and shown to their seats. They were sat across from the Trojans and it seemed like the rest of the team was quite pleased with that.

“Smith!” Captain Jeremy Knox is smiling at him, “Nice to see you again bud, nice name change too.” he says.

“It’s nice to see you too, Captain Jeremy.” FF says and doesn’t notice how Captain Neil’s head whips around to look at him.

“You two know each other?” Nicky asks looking between the two of them with excitement.

“Of course! We offered Smith a spot at the USC Trojans.” Captain Jeremy says and FF feels his stomach cramp at the memory.

That had been terrifying.

Coach Rheman and Captain Jeremy wanted to sit down to make their offer with his parents. He was still 17 and unable to sign anything legal without their permission. He’d tried to decline and move past them and Captain Jeremy had put the final nail in the coffin at the time for any thought that he could go to college on the power of his apparent Exy capabilities.

“I saw in your file that you have brothers! USC always gives a second look at student applicants who already have siblings in the university. You could go to school with your brothers!” he had smiled brightly like he wasn’t issuing FF one of the most terrifying threats he’d ever heard in his entire life.

He had given the firmest ‘No thank you, I’m not interested in playing Exy in college.’ he could and was running to his Grandma’s to breath into a bag for twenty minutes.

“I see you changed your mind about playing Exy in college.” Captain Jeremy said with the same smile that still feels like a threat.

“Coach Wymack and Captain Dan were convincing.” he says and looks to see if there’s any way he can move further away from Captain Jeremy’s attention.

“Can I ask what convinced you to be a Fox?” Captain Jeremy asks, “I’m always trying to see what support we should be offering. I found out last year that we missed out on Andrew because we didn’t offer spots to Aaron or Nicky. I thought since you had brothers that’d be the thing that got you.” Captain Jeremy leans across the table but stops when he notices the Foxes all tense. “Whoa, what’s up?” he asks.

Jean Moreau sighs from next to Captain Jeremy, “Not everyone wants to go to college with their family, Jeremy.” Jean says, “Did it not cross your mind that he changed his entire name?” he asks with a raised brow.

Jeremy blinks, “Oh,” he looks at FF, “I guess that wasn’t the right thing to offer.” he says leaning back in his chair.

“I guess I should thank you for offering that?” Nicky says wryly before turning to look at FF, “You look better in orange anyways.” he says.

“Thank you Nicky.” FF returns loyally.

The banquet gets started shortly afterwards. Food is served. The bar is opened. People are talking. FF finds himself relaxing the longer the conversations around him go on. Matt is talking with a backliner on the Trojan line named Todd in good cheer. Captain Neil, Kevin, and Jean are all talking about the latest updates with Ichirou in French with the occasional gesture towards FF. Jean Moreau looks at him with a raised eyebrow but gives him a single nod when Captain Neil explains what happened.

Jeremy is chatting with Jack and even Jack was finding it hard to maintain his usual level of rudeness in the face of such unbridled positive energy. Nicky was talking with Katelyn and Alvarez. Aaron was chatting with a fellow med student college athlete who was an offensive dealer. 

It was shaping up to be a good night.

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

[needle-noggins]

Time for Vol. 5: Meryl's very bad no good horrible day

Even though she saved the day by shooting Legato, breaking the craziest stand-off while also scared shitless. I love my wife. She can hold so much complexity in her. Now let's get into it:

First, a moment from Vash:

Our boy is in utter agony here, and the thought of Meryl is what keeps him going. Obviously she's in danger and needs rescuing, but come on. He's enduring this pain for her. He can't quit, for her. Yeah, this is par for the course for our anime jesus figure, but come on. Let me have this.

Quick moment of Meryl seeing Vash's feathers for the first time and she's terrified. It's interesting how Wolfwood and Meryl are both so deeply terrified of Vash, but Wolfwood saw a lot more up front at Jeunora Rock and from a distance. Meryl, on the other hand, is trapped. I also think Wolfwood processes it completely differently because he also sees himself as a monster, so to him it's recognition of the self through the other (deragatory). For Meryl, it's just all traumatic. She's just a 23 year old woman and she didn't ask for this.

I think these panels above explain my question from earlier - Meryl is definitely seeing Vash's flashbacks to July here. She sees the black hole gate, the destruction, and the angel arm; I'm not sure if she knows about the part with Knives, but based on some really helpful people on my earlier post today, I think she reveals that she saw that too (oof). I'm not sure what she's seeing in the bottom panel of page 95, though. If someone could explain, I would be super appreciative.

Like I said, she's just a normal person. What was it that someone said to Vash earlier, that he's endured more pain than any person possibly could live with? And now Meryl feels some of that - a lot of it, perhaps, considering that July was so traumatic to Vash that he lost his memory of it. Someone else pointed it out wonderfully that while Fifth Moon was Knives controlling Vash, July was 100% Vash aiming to kill Knives and everyone else was an unlucky casualty of Vash's fear and anger. Meryl sees what Vash is capable of - and that he has killed scores of people - not just second-hand through circumstance, but in actuality.

ANGEL MODE GO CRAZY GO STUPID! GORE GORE GORE!

I mean, Vash doesn't have great control of his power anyway, between hardly ever using it and feeling intense emotion that affects it. Thank god he doesn't use the angel arm here, but holy shit? Meryl just saw what that thing is capable of, and Wolfwood saw it in real time, and he's yelling at Meryl to escape but she's trapped underneath him. After she was also trapped in an elevator, and the elevator fell, and holy shit if i were her I would need extensive therapy to go into an elevator ever again, never mind all of Vash. And then as Vash's angel arm powers down it morphs again into this ungodly homunculus of body parts like it's fucking Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist (*Trigun predates FMA, to be clear) and he is apologizing profusely, knowing how terrifying it is and he has no control over what's happening with his body.

Huh. Between that and how Knives keeps assaulting him, that's a pretty painful running theme.

Thankfully, as Elendira takes the spotlight (my other wife) (she can do no wrong, I love her dearly), I think it gives Vash some time to cool down long enough to go back to "normal". And then he holds a dying Hoppered's hand, showing compassion to a man who tried to kill him but then re-experienced the horrors of July with him, showing that Vash still cares that despite how terrifying and destructive he can be when he loses it. And Meryl watches on.

[patdkoala]

The Odds in Our Favor

Pairing: Finnick Odair x female reader

Warnings: smut no plot, dom!Finnick, pet names (Honey), overstimulation, Gale older brother

I was sharpening my knives like always when my brother walked into my room.

"Gale, I thought I told you to knock before you enter a room. What if I had a guy in here?"

"Then I would have to kill him," He said as he picked up one of the knives I finished earlier.

"I'm not a child anymore. You don't have to protect me," I said as he frowned.

"No, but you'll always be my little sister," He said as I smiled and then set down my knives. I slipped them back into their leather case as Gale sat down next to me.

"You don't have to fight, you know," He said as I rolled my eyes.

Gale has been trying to get me to forfeit the games for days now leading up to them.

I won the games three years ago. Two years before Katniss.

I then got told I have to fight in the games again. I thought the whole point of being a victor is that I don't have to fight again but I guess I was wrong. I am fighting tomorrow morning. I might die tomorrow morning.

"I should get some sleep. I've got a big day tomorrow. Good night, big brother," I said as we stood and hugged. He held the back of my head close like how one might hold a baby.

Gale left my room and I cleaned up. I want my room to look nice for when I'm gone so Gale doesn't have any trouble going through my things.

When I was finished, I just stood there and stared at my room and all it had to offer. Someone else is going to move in soon and they are going to take down my pictures and put their own up.

"Hey, are you still awake?" Finnick asked outside my door. I opened it and there he was standing there in nothing but some sweatpants and the necklace that he's always wearing.

"Yeah, I was just about to lie and tell everyone that I'm going to bed but I was just going to stare off in the distance," I said as he smiled his cheeky grin at me.

"Wanna be together tonight? I don't really feel like being alone," He said as I nodded and then walked over towards him at the door.

"Where are we going?" He asked as I looked up at him. He is much taller than I am.

"Uhm, your room? Why?"

"Oh, well. I walked all the way over here so I just assumed that we would hang out here." He then looked around the room. "But now that I see it, it looks like a dead person lives here. Which is ironic since you are very much alive," He said as he looked at the framed picture of me with my older brother.

"I mean, I'm practically dead," I said under my breath.

"No, you're not!" Finnick yelled as he grabbed me by the arm to get my attention. "I will protect you in there, I promise you," He then realized that he was holding onto my arm for too long and a bit too tight.

"Okay, I believe you."

"We can stay here," I said but instead he loosened his grip on my arm but didn't let go.

"No, we can go to my room. I don't think I can stand being in such a sad room any longer," He said as I nodded and followed him out in the hall and past the main room of the bunker we were staying in.

"Where are you taking my little sister?" Gale asked as Finnick and I walked past Gale and Katniss.

"Don't worry about it, Gale," I said as Finnick held my hand and pulled me towards his room.

I closed the door behind us.

Finnick went and sat down on his bed. I looked around the room.

A little messy, but somehow still tidy, Dirty clothes are scattered on the floor, and pictures of who I assume are family.

"Want to watch something? I wonder what is going on at the capitol not that they have decided to kill a bunch of us off again for sport," He said as he turned it on.

"Finnick Odair and that (Y/N) Hawthorne have got something magical going on don't they?" Ceasar asked his guest as she smiled. "Oh, certainly. They are just the cutest. I hope they make it far in the games tomorrow so we can see that relationship develop," She said as I just stood there watching them talk about us.

"Let's just hope he taps that soon-"

Finnick turned off the tv.

"Maybe we can just talk," He said as I smiled at him and then sat down next to him. "About what?"

"I don't know. We can talk about anything. We are all about to die right?" He said as I smiled.

"Okay. What are you going to do if you win?" I asked as I got on my tummy and rested my head on my hands.

"I don't know. Maybe get a nice home and settle down. I kind of missed out on that when my girlfriend dumped me after the first Hunger Games that I won," He said as I laughed.

"So, your plans are lame."

"What are your plans?" He asked as I crossed my arms.

"Well, not if but when I win I'm hoping to get laid," I laughed out as his tight crossed arms became loose.

"You're a virgin?" He asked as I rolled my eyes.

"Dude, I won the Hunger Games at 17 years old and then went into hiding from the Capitol with my brother, Gale. He had Katniss and Katniss had Peeta. I didn't want anyone to know I exist because I thought that would keep me safe. Turns out, they found me anyway, and now here I am about to die."

"So, yes. You are a virgin."

"What are you asking me, Finnick?"

"Have you ever even kissed anyone?"

"I kissed Katniss on a dare and then Peeta shortly after."

"But have you-"

"Fucked anyone? No," I said as I rolled over and lay on my back staring at the ceiling.

"Would you like to? Before we die?"

"What makes you think we are both going to die?" I asked as I now crossed my arms to match him except his arms weren't crossed any longer. They were draped across his chest and he was staring at me so intensely.

"We are fighting alongside Katniss Everdeen. We are absolutely dying," He laughed uncomfortably.

"Well then I might as well live a little before the end of the world," I said as I looked at Finnick and he was crawling on the bed closer to me. Soon enough he was on top of me.

"Kiss me Finny," I moaned as he smirked and removed my shirt over my head.

"Anything for you, Honey."

He kissed me all over my face, neck, chest, and tummy.

He held me by my back as I moaned out from his touch.

He then made his way to my pants and took them off of me. He kissed my inner thigh and I tugged on his hair pulling his face closer to where I needed him most.

"Is this where you need me, honey?" He asked as all I could do was nod. I was so infatuated with him that my body lost control.

He ate me out as I groaned, moaned more, and tugged at his hair. He smiled at me because he knew what he was doing and loved its effect on me.

We moved slightly so that he had a better grip on my ass and I was more comfortable with laying on my back.

He stopped once he felt me close to my release. I whined as he got on top of me.

"Hush," He demanded as I smirked at his dominance.

He took off his last remaining bits of clothing before pushing himself inside of me. We both moaned at the sudden feeling.

He moved with such force at first but then slowed down when he felt that it was too much for me.

"Please, I need to cum," I said as he held my legs around him and then he moved even harder and quicker than before.

We were both so close to coming that he flipped us so that when we came, I was on top.

I lay next to him and he held me.

I felt so safe in that moment that I wasn't worried about dying anymore. Whatever the games have for me, I know the odds will be in my favor. ;)

[lauralot89]

It is as if I had passed through some long nightmare, and had just awakened to see the beautiful sunshine and feel the fresh air of the morning around me.

Foreshadowing is a narrative device

But I need not be watched; I am well enough to be left alone.

Foreshadowing is a narrative device

although the boughs or bats or something napped almost angrily against the window-panes.

in my head I'm picturing the "Ha ha...yes!" panel from the Onion, but now it's a bat with angry eyebrows and it's going "HOW DARE"

Suddenly the door was burst open, and in rushed my patient, with his face distorted with passion. I was thunderstruck, for such a thing as a patient getting of his own accord into the Superintendent's study is almost unknown.

well honey, maybe you shouldn't have encouraged him by letting him deliberately escape. now you've given him confidence

He had a dinner-knife in his hand

wow psychiatric facilities used to be shit. just give them knives. what could possibly go wrong

He was too quick and too strong for me

When the attendants rushed in, and we turned our attention to him, his employment positively sickened me. He was lying on his belly on the floor licking up, like a dog, the blood which had fallen from my wounded wrist.

Why are you so judgemental, what did you want him to do, lie supine and tilt his head backward?

Happily Van Helsing has not summoned me, so I need not forego my sleep; to-night I could not well do without it.

Foreshadowing is a narrative device

(Sent to Carfax, Sussex, as no county given; delivered late by twenty-two hours.)

GREAT WORK, VAN HELSING. You could have told him before you left, you know.

as Dr. Van Helsing said he would be

wait but you just said earlier that no one was coming and it was unnecessary. When did Van Helsing tell you this?

She was startled and a little frightened, and cried out: "What is that?"

there was a ridiculously long period once at my parents' house, like at least a year, where this female cardinal would repeatedly hit herself against the windows for twenty minute intervals or so and somehow not die. Anyway, if Mrs. Westerna were ever there she'd die immediately of bird harassment

The window blind blew back with the wind that rushed in, and in the aperture of the broken panes there was the head of a great, gaunt grey wolf.

Dracula: *was once a military leader*

Dracula: *his genius plan is taking an animal and yeeting it through the window*

Amongst other things, she clutched the wreath of flowers that Dr. Van Helsing insisted on my wearing round my neck, and tore it away from me

Damn it, lady, again?! (Yes I know she's dying)

The time did not seem long, but very, very awful, till I recovered consciousness again.

So did he go ahead and bite her while her mother's body had her pinned, or was it just awful because she was lying there with her mom's corpse on her

The door flew open for an instant and closed again.

Dracula haven't you already established enough ambiance

They all four lay helpless on the floor, breathing heavily. The decanter of sherry was on the table half full, but there was a queer, acrid smell about. I was suspicious, and examined the decanter. It smelt of laudanum, and looking on the sideboard, I found that the bottle which mother's doctor uses for her—oh! did use—was empty.

Okay I guess he didn't bite yet, because if he had, why bother to drug the maids, he's already got what he came for

The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim.

Wait, so he's in her room right? As mist? Watching her write? And doing nothing about it?

Dracula: Huh, she just wrote a bunch of pages after her mom died and all the staff was drugged. And then she hid it in her clothing. Eh, probably nothing. Not going to worry about it.

Letter, Mina Harker to Lucy Westenra. (Unopened by her.)

STEP ASIDE ERNEST HEMINGWAY, this is the new saddest story ever

My dearest Lucy,���It seems an age since I heard from you, or indeed since I wrote.

'My dears, I want to drink your health and prosperity; and may every blessing attend you both. I know you both from children, and have, with love and pride, seen you grow up. Now I want you to make your home here with me. I have left to me neither chick nor child; all are gone, and in my will I have left you everything.' I cried, Lucy dear, as Jonathan and the old man clasped hands. Our evening was a very, very happy one.

Lucy's Corpse: Well, I'm glad you're having fun! (Yes I know she's not dead)

How is your dear mother getting on?

When are you to be married, and where, and who is to perform the ceremony, and what are you to wear, and is it to be a public or a private wedding? Tell me all about it, dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests you which will not be dear to me.

as you love me, and he loves me, and I love you with all the moods and tenses of the verb, I send you simply his 'love' instead.

THEY COULD HAVE HAD A FOURSOME DRACULA AND YOU RUINED IT

[kendrene]

Ava rubs sweat out of her eyes with the heel of a hand.

The weather forecast had projected a lovely 25 degrees celsius for the day, but they’ve been walking for what feels like hours, and the breeze from the lake doesn’t reach this deep in the woods. It’s stifling among the trees, and still, and hot as Adriel’s armpit. Ew.

“Where is it that we’re going again?”

“You’ll see.”

Beatrice lobs the reply over one shoulder without breaking step. She’s still somehow keeping to the same ground-eating pace she’d set for them earlier that morning, unfazed by the heat and the gradient of the trail, looking like she could walk on till dusk. Ava wouldn’t put it past her.

“Please…” Her calves are burning, and the muscles in her thighs scream with every step. “Can we not… stop… for a minute?” Forever?

“It’s close by.” Beatrice turns to face her, but continues walking, so that now she’s walking backwards up a forested hill while Ava feels like dying. “I promise.”

“I don’t know if I believe you.” Ava pants, scrambling after her. “You said it wasn’t far at the trailhead, and we’ve been climbing for years.”

“Actually we’ve been on the trail for—” Beatrice tilts her head back, peering at a gap between secular firs and the smear of clear sky there. “— two and a half hours.”

“How do you—” A sudden wind picks up, shaking through the trees, and Ava is blinded by a spear of sunlight. The sun’s position. Of fucking course.

“Do you guys have nun scouts in the OCS or something? Where did you learn that sort of thing?”

“No. And the Girl Scouts. I was… My parents made me join as soon as it was feasible. The names change, but Girl Scouts operate everywhere. They thought it would be an easy way for me to make friends.”

“Made you?” Ava frowns. “That doesn’t sound like fun.”

“It was one of the few things that I liked growing up, actually. It gave me a sense of structure. Direction. Of… family, I guess.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

A strange sort of silence falls between them, awkward and quiet and sad. Ava kicks at a loose rock, sends it tumbling into some bushes, and thinks really hard on the best way to break it.

“Hey, Bea?”

“Yeah?”

“Are we there yet?”

Beatrice groans.

*** Their destination, once they get to it, is very disappointing.

“This is it?” Ava meanders to the center of the clearing, gestures. “I expected, I don’t know, something.”

“Like what?”

Bea sets her rucksack on the ground, and starts pulling out equipment.

“I don’t know! An alpine peak? A waterfall? Treasure?”

“Well, we got knives, protein bars and a water bottle. Sorry but—” Bea upends the rucksack, now empty, and shakes it. “No treasure.”

“We got— Wait, are we going to train?”

“Yes.”

“You made me walk two hours out of town to train.”

“Also yes.”

“But we could have done that by the lake!”

Beatrice shakes her head.

“No. Not for what I have in mind today. Having you run on water is a risk we had to take, but this? We can’t chance some tourist walking by.”

Okay. Bea’s making it sound cool. Ava admits she’s intrigued.

“Alrighty then. What are you doing?”

“Well, we know you can phase through stationary objects. I want you to try and see whether you can focus enough to replicate that through a moving one.” Something catches the light in Bea’s hands and when Ava looks down she’s holding a knife.

“Uhm. You want me to try and phase through one of your knives? Edgy.”

“Ah ah.” A flick of the wrist and the knife vanishes behind Bea’s back. Ava claps. She can’t help herself; it always looks like magic. “No, we’re not using live weapons.”

“Then what?” There’s rocks on the ground Beatrice could throw, although between being hit by a rock and stabbed by a knife, Ava’s not sure what she’d pick.

“We’re gonna use these.” Bea holds up what look like several colored sticks, roughly shaped like actual throwing knives. “They’re rubber, so even if they hit you it shouldn’t hurt too much.”

Shouldn’t? Too much?

“Gee, thanks.”

“Come on,” Bea moves to face her. “If you make it by the end of the day, we can have ice cream for dinner.”

“I’ll eat my way through your tips.” Ava grins, the ache of the hike forgotten at the prospect. “I’m so gonna get it first try. Just watch.”

*** She doesn’t get it first try.

Or second.

Or tenth.

“I think we should call it a day.” Beatrice says, after the piece of neon pink rubber has bounced off of Ava’s chest again. The sun is well past its zenith, and the sky has acquired the burnished hue of afternoon. “We can try again later this week.” Ava pouts. “I’ll still get you ice cream, if you’d like.”

“Really?” Ava grabs the water bottle Bea is holding out to her, and drains about half of it in one gulp. “Even if this was a complete failure?”

“It wasn’t. You did dodge a few of the knives.”

True.

They gather up their stuff quickly, shadows stretching blue across the grass, and Ava is scanning the ground for any stray projectiles when Bea calls out.

“Ava!” She yells from the edge of the clearing. “Look sharp.”

Something suspiciously bright flies towards her, hits her squarely on the nose. Hard.

“Ow!”

“Oh God, oh no.” Bea is by her side in a flash, an arm around her shoulders. “I’m so sorry, I thought if I tried catching you by surprise maybe the Halo…”

“My nose.” Ava has both hands cupped around it, and it’s throbbing something fierce. “I think it’s broken.”

“Let me see.” Bea grabs her chin, ever so gently, and with her free hand pulls hers away. “Yeah,” she admits, brows knitting in worry. “It looks broken.” As though to confirm the prognosis, the Halo burns in Ava’s back, sharp and blistering. In the middle of her face, a bone reknits itself, cartilage snaps into place. Ava winces.

“I’m so so sorry.” Bea has let her go, and is pawing through the rucksack for something to clean her face with. “We’re never doing this again. I should have known, it was such a stupid idea. I don’t know why I thought—” She stammers on, so fast that the words pile on top of one another, and Ava has a hard time keeping up.

Ava’s hand bears down on both of Beatrice’s, stilling them. She grins at her through the blood.

“It’s okay.” She scrunches her nose, experimentally. “I’m okay, see? No harm done.”

“But—”

“No buts. It wasn’t a stupid idea. We will take another stab at it, just like you said.”

“Ava.” Beatrice says her name pointedly, voice stuck between fond and exasperated.

“What? That was a really good pun. My sense of humor—”

“—is a cut below the rest.”

“Ouch.” Ava presses a hand to her heart, faux dramatic. “That hurts more than the broken nose.”

“Doubt it.”

Neither of them can stop smiling on the way home.

[misfitwashere]

Political Violence

Reflections from the 1920s and 1930s

Timothy Snyder

Jul 14, 2024

What to make of the assassination attempt?

I am sharing a few thoughts about where we are, based on assassinations during the interwar period, the 1920s and 1930s.  It is distant enough that perhaps we can attend to the examples without too much emotion, and yet close enough to be useful.

We learn that violence that starts on one corner of the far right often ricochets.  We find that the important threshold is the enabling of the violence.  And we realize is what we do afterwards that counts the most.

None of this makes the outcome of a horrid act completely predictable.  But it does help us to see how some things that will predictably be said might be unhelpful and untrue. 

Some of Donald Trump’s supporters, including one right-radical senator and one right-radical congressman, were quick to blame the Democrats.  (This is also, of course, Moscow’s line).

Their reasoning might seem intuitive, and clearly did seem intuitive to many people. If a radical-right politician such as Donald Trump is the victim of an assassination attempt, should we not presume that the perpetrator is on the radical left?

No, we should not.

That sort of presumption, based on us-and-them thinking, is dangerous.  It begins a chain of thinking that can lead to more violence.  We are the victims, and they are the aggressors.  We have been hurt, so it must have been them.  No one thinking this way ever asks about the violence on one’s own side. 

And this way of thinking is also very often erroneous.  The history of the far right tells a different story, one in which violence often refracts within and around a political movement that endorses it.

This afternoon I passed by the Austrian parliament, where the chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss, was assassinated ninety years ago.  Dollfuss had introduced political violence into the political system, and was very much ruling from the far right.  And he died by political violence nonetheless, by the hand of people who found him not radical enough.

In March 1933, Dollfuss dissolved the Austrian parliament, bringing electoral democracy to an end.  He transformed his political party (and a few other groups, and a right-wing paramilitary) into a new Fatherland Front.  The Fatherland Front government crushed the Left with armed force.  Dollfuss began to build a regime on the model of Italian fascism, defined in Christian nationalist terms.  That was not enough for the most extreme elements of the Austrian right. In July 1934 a group of Nazis dressed as policemen made their way into the parliament, shot Dollfuss, and let him bleed to death.

Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany a few weeks earlier than Dollfuss in Austria.  He too crushed the Left, grouping socialists and communists as “Marxists” and placing them in concentration camps.  He represented the extreme right in German politics.  On the streets, Hitler’s cause was pushed forward by the violent SA (Sturmabteilung), led by Ernst Röhm. Hitler’s rise to the office of chancellor was enabled by conservatives and militarists.  They believed, wrongly, that Hitler’s violent rhetoric would serve their interests.  In the “Night of the Long Knives,” Hitler had Röhm and many of his men assassinated, along with others who had helped bring him to power.

A drastic case of right-wing murderousness in the interwar period was among the various elements of the Romanian far right.  The twists and turns here would take too long to describe. In brief: the fascists who themselves glorified violence were attacked by others on the far right.

To be sure, not all would-be assassins of the period were on the right.  A German carpenter tried to kill Hitler.  A marble worker threw a bomb at Mussolini’s car. 

And the general point about how violence, once authorized, can turn in an unexpected direction, also applies to the far left of the 1920s and 1930s.  A number of Josef Stalin’s fellow Bolsheviks, who endorsed and applied political violence to come to power between 1917 and 1922, were then killed in the name of that revolution in the 1930s. 

That, if anything, just confirms the general point.  We might be tempted to think that violence against one side must come from the other side.  But the bloody genie, once unleashed, often stays close to home.  Those who have made violence normal are especially vulnerable, because they will always have colleagues or followers who think they have not gone far enough.

Of course, not all right-wing assassins killed their fellow right-wingers.  Eligiusz Niewiadomski murdered the centrist Polish president in December 1922.  Niewiadomski seems to have been an unstable personality, whose dreadful beliefs were brought towards action by the media around him. 

As far as we can tell right now, the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump was a registered Republican gun enthusiast.  As more details emerge, the image will clarify.  Assassins are individuals, and their motivations can sometimes be surprising or turn out to be obscure and debatable.

At this point, it is just worth noting that it would not be surprising if the man who tried to assassinate Trump was, like Trump, a right-wing radical.  That would be typical of the United States, where most terrorist acts come from the far right.  It would also be historically normal.  Trump, like extreme-right-wing politicians in the past, has legitimated violence. 

Nothing in recent American political life resembles Trump’s call for “Second-Amendment people” to kill Hillary Clinton, his mockery of Paul Pelosi after an attempted murder, his belittling of Gretchen Whitmer after a kidnapping attempt, the stochastic violence he directs against critics to intimidate them and against his fellow Republicans to keep them in line, the brutal language of his rallies since 2016, his vocal admiration for leaders known to be mass killers, and his violent attempt to overthrow constitutional rule in January 2021.

What matters more than the action, though, is the reaction.  We should all condemn political violence.  We should all proclaim that this next election will be settled by the number of votes, rather than by threats, coups, beatings, or murders.  The media should not spread messages of hatred and baseless conspiratorial thinking.

And we should all be aware of the temptations of martyrdom.

Whatever actually happens in an act of political violence, there will be someone, somewhere, who claims that victimhood means innocence, and that innocence justifies more violence by hands that remain ever blameless.  This sort of logic is already all over the internet.  That move was made in all the fascist cases.  When the German Nazis took over Austria in 1938, they raised a monument to their martyrs.  The Romanian fascists killed to avenge theirs. 

Trump is of similar mind: he refers to the convicted criminals who stormed the White House as “martyrs” and makes them part of his rallies.  He constantly refers to himself as a victim.

One can only hope that he does not escalate such rhetoric, or direct blame where it does not belong.  Doing so won’t help him win an election, but it will make further violence more likely.

[etherealyoungk]

—⟡ covert desires (teaser)

summary:  the mission is simple - infiltrate a high-stakes auction that the top leaders, businessmen, women, and politicians of the world attend every year and steal one of the most highly guarded and hidden-away paintings from the target’s collection. the only downside, you had to work with kim mingyu, whom you absolutely hated. and to make it even worse, you had to pretend to be his wife for this mission to work.

pairing: spy!mingyu x assasin!reader (fem!reader)

themes: spy au, mafia, enemies to lovers, fake marriage, mutual pining, spies, angst, fluff, killing

warnings: suggestive, kissing, use of curse words, weapons, guns, knives, violence, use of drugs/painkillers, blood, gore, killing, death

wordcount: 750 words for the teaser (17.8k full fic) link to full fic here!

a/n: i had so much fun writing this! please note that this is purely a work of fiction! 

i'll be posting the full fic when i hit 3.5k to celebrate! teaser under the cut!

you wipe the last of the blood off your hands and carefully move the body, manipulating the crime scene to make it look like it was a suicide. with a carefully crafted suicide scene, the police wouldn’t even blink an eye and just close the case as a suicide, not wanting to bother investigating further.

you just had to leave around the right clues and bait them. once they’d find it, they’d conclude the case without thinking any further and your job was done. you were sure no one would even miss the bastard that you had just sent to hell anyways. after scanning the room, you make sure everything is in place before exiting quietly and disappearing into the shadows. 

when you reach home to your apartment, you swiftly change out of your soiled and bloody clothes. the idiot decided had put up a fight, making things harder for himself really. you planned on killing him quietly, but the fight he put up was unnecessary and he wasn’t going to stand a chance against you regardless. you would have finished earlier and your clothes would have been significantly less bloody. sighing, you peel off the clothes and they fall to the floor in a heap as you step into the shower. the warm water offers some sort of relief and relaxation, your muscles relaxing under the hot water. wrapping a towel around yourself, you step out and hear the faint ring of your burner phone fill the room.

“hello?”, you say as you put the phone to your ear.

“did you get the job done?”, the voice on the other side asks.

“yes, you didn’t hire the best for no reason, did you?”, you scoff back, offended he’d have a sliver of doubt in your skills. 

“good. we have another urgent matter on hand and it has to be discussed in person. you know where to meet me”, the voice adds.

“i swear if it’s another-“

 “you’ll love this one, trust me”, the voice says, cutting you short and hanging up as you begin to say something. you curse under your breath; that idiot never had manners. you huff,  throwing the phone on the bed, changing into something comfortable before you crash into bed, too tired to complain or think about anything else. 

you were an assassin or a hired killer you could say. but you liked to call yourself an assassin - because let’s be real, it sounds cooler. you were trained, skilled, and good at what you did – which was killing people, bad people specifically. when you weren’t out hunting people down, you were working as a barista at a local cafe. it was somewhat therapeutic compared to your other occupation. but you had to if you wanted to survive in this world. if you wanted your life to have some semblance of normalcy. the world was a cruel place and somehow you ended up doing this for a living but hey, at least it paid well.

the next morning you’re sitting in the hall of seungcheol’s fancy office, or what you liked to call the safehouse. “you’re here! let me tell seungcheol”, dino says upon seeing you, flashing you a friendly smile. you give him a small smile as he retreats, making his way to look for seungcheol.

seungcheol walks in a few moments later, and his presence can be felt in the room immediately. no one messes with him – everyone knew that. he was the most feared man in the underground mafia and a threat to the government as well. his connections and dirt on powerful people ran too deep with secrets only he knew and used as leverage. hell, even the government would hire him to do their dirty work so he was practically untouchable.

“what’s this urgent matter that needs to be discussed in person?”, you ask, once he sits down opposite you.

“no hi?”, he prompts, raising his brow as he looks at you.

“no thank you for yesterday?”, you prod back, challenging him. you were really the only person seungcheol let speak to him like that. he’d pretty much raised you and he didn’t seem to mind, especially since you did most of his dirty work.

“we seem to have gotten ourselves another lucrative mission”, he starts off, treading carefuly with his words. “it’s something worth millions if not billions, so this is a really high-stakes operation.”, he tells, observing you. “and we’re getting paid handsomely for it and so will you if it goes well”, he says.

taglist: @daisycheols @naaaaafla @weird-bookworm @fairyhaos @icyminghao @kyeomyun @joshuaahong @idubiluv @slytherinshua @wheeboo

send an ask or drop a comment down below to be added to the taglist for this fic!

[annestie]

Whoops.

Summary: Tuk notices some 'bruises' on her big brother. She worries and brings it up while everyone is around. Cue the freak out.

Pairing: Ao'nung x Neteyam

Word Count: 5,708

Notes: I've finally finished Whoops.! I started this fic just over a year ago and I'm so happy for it to be finished. In celebration, I figured I would post it here to. Whoops. is 3 chapters long so I marked where each chapter begins.

Chapter 1

It’s a fairly peaceful afternoon for all of the Sullies. Their morning lessons had gone fine and without too much trouble, so now they were all relaxing in their marui while waiting for Neytiri to finish lunch. After lunch they would all be going their separate ways.

Neteyam had been promised to be taught how to hunt the Metkayina way by Ao’nung. It is quite different from how he uses his bow to fish. Ao’nung is meant to come by after lunch to pick him up.

Lo’ak had been tasked with helping some of elders in the village as a bit of a punishment for an earlier stunt. He had been caught going past the reef to see Payakan alone when he was explicitly told that he always needed to have someone with him.

Tsireya, Rotxo, and Kiri planned on exploring the ocean more and grabbing a few things for the Tsahìk while out.

Neytiri and Tuk were going to spend the rest of the day together. A mother-daughter day as Jake had once called it.

Meanwhile, Jake is going back to training to tame a tsurak. It had been a point of annoyance to him even after he was told that it sometimes took many days to even get on one, even longer to master riding it.

But for now, they’re all just relaxing before they have to return to their duties and promises.

Neytiri is carefully slicing some fruit for lunch while quietly chatting with Jake about how their days had gone so far and how they would be spending the rest of it. Meanwhile, Jake took to sharpening his blades. The knives they had were not made for fish and dulled easily which meant that they needed to be sharpened more often.

Lo’ak had agreed to repair a net for Tsireya. The Metkayina girl had promised to help out some of the elders around the village and she hadn’t time to do to fix it. Lo’ak, being the lovesick fool he is, happily agreed to repair it, knowing that he had the weaving skills of a child. Surprisingly though, the net didn’t look half bad.

Neteyam carefully weaves knots and shells into the new piece he’s crafting, a necklace. Specifically, one for Tuk as she had gotten quite a few shells from the beach and had nothing to do with them.

Tuk sits happily beside him sorting through her shells and picking the ones she wanted in her necklace. She sits mostly in silence as she concentrates all her energy on finding the ‘perfect’ shells. For a girl with as much energy as she has, it’s fascinating to see her so quiet and still. Neteyam smiles to himself at the sight of Tuk as he continues his work.

Next to Tuk sits Kiri, who offers her little sister some of her own collection of shells and beads. Kiri’s also weaving a piece. She needs a new armband as her old had begun feeling too tight. Her old armband is restricting her movements which isn’t particularly helpful when trying to flow with the water.

“Teyam?” Tuk’s voice stood out against the otherwise nearly silent marui. Neteyam immediately looks up from the necklace he’s weaving and to his little sister. “Are you hurt?” This attracts the attention of the other members of their family.

Neteyam doesn’t have the best history of asking for help. He would quite often downplay whatever injuries he had which made a hard-learned lesson when he collapsed in the middle of the forest because he refused help. But in this case, Neteyam wasn’t hurt, so he looks confused at his little sister.

“No? Why do you think that?” Neteyam asks her confused.

“You have bruises under your necklace.” Tuk said in a small voice, concerned for her big brother. “And it looks like someone bit you on your shoulder.” She points to Neteyam’s right shoulder which he had been trying his best to hide with his braids.

“What?” Neytiri is the first to speak. She gets up and walks over to the other side of the marui. She crouches in front of her son. Neteyam slowly backs away from his mother as she corners him against the wall.

She carefully brushes away his braids from Neteyam’s shoulder and just as Tuk said, there is a clear bite mark. Neytiri backs away from her son as she gasps. Jake has already made his way next to his mate and looks at his son worried. “Is someone hurting you?”

Neteyam looks away from his parents and covers his necklace and neck with his hands. He mumbles out a small no.

Jake turns his attention to his youngest daughter. “Tuk go outside for now.”

Tuk reluctantly leaves her big brother and sits outside their marui, waiting for them to finish their talk.

“Neteyam, who hurt you?” Neytiri asks gently, with a rage hidden behind her calm demeanor.

Lo’ak and Kiri sit just behind her not even trying to look like they aren’t eavesdropping. Kiri had put down her new armband onto the floor as she eyes Neteyam worriedly. The net is still in Lo’ak’s hands, but all his attention is now also directed at his brother.

Neteyam slouches in on himself, hiding behind his braids. “Mom it’s fine.” Neteyam says dismissively. He tries to make Neytiri drop the problem. Obviously, it doesn’t work and only makes her worry more.

“Son, it’s not fine if someone hurt you.” Jake said sternly becoming increasingly more protective over his son.

Neteyam moves his hands to moves to hide his now burning cheeks. “No one hurt me!” He insists.

Neytiri sighs as she realizes she would be getting no answers from Neteyam. “Let me see the bruises Tuk was talking about.” She says.

“No!” Neteyam quickly says as he moves to cover his neck once again. His very red cheeks and ears now very visible.

It made his parent’s hearts clench as they see their son embarrassed by being hurt. “It’s nothing to have shame about. You mother can help treat them.” Jake places a hand on Neteyam’s shoulder, but he flinches away from his touch.

Neteyam watches as his father eyes go wide and his expression turns to anger. “Dad-” Neteyam tries to defuse the situation from getting worse, although it seems Jake had already come to his own conclusions.

“Who is hurting you?” Jake says sternly using his military voice. “I want names.”

“Oh, great mother.” Neteyam curses out. “Someone is not hurting me!” Jake looks unconvinced by his eldest’s words.

Neteyam mumbles something out that Jake doesn’t catch which he frowns at. “What?”

“They’re not bruises.” Neteyam says once again louder. His hands still securely wrapped around his neck so they couldn’t see anything even if they wanted to.

“Tuk said that she saw bruises.” Neytiri cut in, the softness in her voice leaving as she got more worried about her son. Jake also eyed him incredulously, not believing Neteyam. “You don’t have to give names or even say how you got them. But please take off your necklace, I want to treat them.” Neytiri looks at her son with a soft smile on her face as if to reassure him.

“Mom just leave it.” Neteyam sounds almost desperate at this point. His tail flicked from side to side as his face seared with embarrassment of the situation.

“Let her help.” Kiri speaks out from behind their parents. “Please.” Her voice so small, yet so full of concern.

“Yeah bro.” Lo’ak agrees. Even he has an air of concern surrounding him. The last time Neteyam had been hurt and hid it was the time when he passed out. It was terrifying to him, at the time and even still, to see his brother looking fine one moment to the next where he collapsed to the ground without warning.

Neteyam couldn’t take the worry he’s causing his family, so he groans out in frustration before slowly taking his hands off of his neck. He quickly takes off his choker like ripping off a bandage, and there in full view to rest of his family is the ‘bruises’ Tuk talked about.

“They’re. Not. Bruises.” Neteyam stresses even more through his teeth.

The silence that follows in the marui is tense. The four other na’vi just stared at the hickeys on Neteyam’s neck with pure concentration. Jake lets out a “oh” as he finally understands what’s happening. Their gazes had softened now, and the only thing left is the shock present on their faces.

The awkward silence that settled on the room is interrupted by Lo’ak. “Bro?! What?!”

Neteyam silently prays to Eywa for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. The embarrassment of whole situation somehow getting worse with the looks his family is now giving.

“Son you’re feeling new-” Jake starts before swiftly getting cut off by his eldest.

“We are not having this talk.” Neteyam groans out as he drags his hands down his face. “I promise you I’m fine.”

“And the bite?” Neytiri, who had been silent, suddenly asks. Her eyes fixed the very clear bite that marked his shoulder.

“They got carried away.” Neteyam says not daring to look his mother in the eyes. “They didn’t mean to bite that hard.” He explained further when he notices the way her tail flicks from side to side in what seemed to be anger. She just hums in response which isn’t bad, but also not good.

As if Eywa had finally answered Neteyam’s prays, a new voice took all the attention off of him.

“Neteyam?” Ao’nung voice caused everyone to look to him. Neteyam feels so relieved, but the same time he fears even more that his parents will somehow connect the dots and start hunting down his boyfriend. “Is now a bad time?” Ao’nung asks confused by whatever is going on in their marui.

“No!” Neteyam says as he quickly puts his choker back on, once again hiding all the marks. He quickly gets up to leave. He didn’t want his parents to somehow connect the dots and start hunting down his boyfriend. “We’ll talk later. Ao’nung promised to teach me how to hunt in the way of the Metkayina.” He turns to look at his family as he stands next to Ao’nung.

“You should bring them by later when you come back.” Jake says obviously referring to the mystery person that had given him the marks. He’s giving him a look that says that it wasn’t up for debate whether he did or not, so Neteyam just nods his head, a tight smile on his face.

Once his father gives an approving nod back, Neteyam rushes his boyfriend and him out of the marui. He’s freaking out internally and it’s starting to show. Before Neteyam could even get more than a few steps away from his home, he hears someone already calling out them.

Neteyam slowly turns around to see Tuk impatiently waving him down from where she sits outside. Fuck Neteyam forgot about his little sister.

“Teyam, are you ok? Who hurt your shoulder and neck? Did mom help you?” Tuk’s question come pouring out of her mouth and Neteyam couldn��t help but feel bad for the worry he had caused her. She quickly gets up and stands in front of him, worry plaguing her face.

“I’m fine Tuk.” Neteyam reassures her. “Ao’nung promised to teach me how to hunt. When we come back, we’ll talk about it, alright?”

Next to him, Ao’nung just looks more confused but still hums and nods his head when he sees that Tuk has cheered up at Neteyam’s words. Neteyam silently turns to him mouthing, “I’ll tell you later,” as Tuk ran back into the Marui.

They walk in a somewhat comfortable silence with Ao’nung looking over to Neteyam every so often. Once they get far enough away from the Maruis on a more secluded part of the beach, Ao’nung finally turns to his partner.

“What was she talking about?” He asks the other boy curiously and even a little worried.

As they had gotten further and further from the village, Neteyam’s panic had started to show. His tail lashes from side to side erratically, his ears are flat to his head, and Neteyam even looks panicked as he turns to look at his boyfriend.

“They know about us.” Neteyam says as calmly as he can.

“What?” The Metkayina boy asks dumbly as if the words hadn’t fully registered.

“My family saw the…” Neteyam pauses before taking a deep breath. “…marks on my neck and shoulder.”

Ao’nung’s reaction is immediate. His concerned expression quickly turns to horror as he stares at Neteyam mouth agape. Ao’nung’s face fell even more as the entire situation registers. He lets out a shaky laugh that sounds a bit too much like a sob.

“Toruk Makto is going to kill me.”

Chapter 2

With the news having fully sunk in, Ao’nung’s panic has reached its peak. His mind coming up with different scenarios as Neteyam stands to the side, waiting for a chance to explain the entire situation. Though it’s a bit difficult with Ao’nung not stopping for even moment in his pacing.

Ao’nung nervously walks back and forth in a poor attempt to help calm his nerves. “Oh, great mother, your parents are probably hunting me right now.” He concludes after a moment “This is it! I’m going to die at the hands of your parents.” He cries.

Neteyam can’t help the small amount of amusement he gets from seeing his boyfriend like this. Though, his amusement is vastly overshadowed by the fact he is also very panicked. Not only for his boyfriend’s life, but also his.

Neteyam can’t imagine that his mother would be too happy they went against tradition and didn’t follow any of the courting rituals. Not those of the Omaticaya nor the Metkayina. He shudders at the thought of her or, Eywa forbid, Ronal finding out.

“Maybe they’ll just skin me. But that sounds worse than death.” Ao’nung mumbles out to himself. He suddenly stops his pacing. Ao’nung turns to Neteyam and looks him in the eyes. “Should I run?” He asks in a voice that can only be described as pure terror.

“No!” Neteyam says quickly in order to prevent his boyfriend from running off before he can fully explain what’s happening. He reaches out and holds onto Ao’nung’s wrist just to make sure. Neteyam jumps on the chance to explain and hurriedly tries to form an explanation. “They don’t know who gave me the marks…” Neteyam takes a deep breath before continuing. “…yet.” He awkwardly adds on as casual as he can.

“What does that mean?” Ao’nung cautiously prods Neteyam to continue.

“My dad wants to have whoever gave them to me over for dinner…” Neteyam pauses. He places his other hand reassuringly on Ao’nung’s shoulder as he watches the words settle in. “…and hopefully not your killing.” Neteyam says on as a comfort to Ao’nung and himself.

It does not help to settle any of their worries.

A new wave of panic sweeps over Ao’nung. “Hopefully?! How sure are you about that?!” Neteyam tries to give him a reassuring smile, but the other boy only seems to get more terrified. “I would prefer to still run.”

“I don’t think that would put you in my family’s favor.” Neteyam tries to lighten the mood. “Besides they probably won’t kill you, probably, at most they may injure you. Greatly. But the Tsahìk is your mother so you will heal in no time.” He jokes almost to reassure himself that everything would optimistically be fine.

Ao’nung sends him a look. “That doesn’t make me feel better!”

Neteyam let go of Ao’nung’s shoulder and opts hold the others hand tightly instead. He forms a small smile on his face, an attempt to comfort the Metkayina boy. “I’m sure they will like you. Though, Kiri and Lo’ak already don’t hold you in the highest respects, Tuk enjoys your company.” Neteyam tries to cheer his boyfriend up.

“She does?” Ao’nung asks, genuinely surprised.

“Yes. She would not stop talking about the armbands you made with her. It was very funny to watch her try and teach Lo’ak.” Neteyam says as he squeezes the others hand.

Ao’nung stays silent. Every word spoken grounding him, slowly helping his panic shrink. Ao’nung gently untangles their hands and wraps his arms around Neteyam while pulling him into a hug. Neteyam relaxes into the embrace. He rests his forehead onto the other boy’s shoulder.

“I think as long we do not inform my parents on the fact; we didn’t follow any of the traditional courting rituals, we will be fine. We also have to make it through dinner being polite.” Neteyam says.

Ao’nung hums before leaning down to rest his forehead against Neteyams. He closes his eyes and takes a moment to contemplate an answer before responding. “I don’t know if I can do that with your brother around.” He jokes.

Neteyam closes his eyes. He scoffs in a lighthearted way. “Then, we should at least enjoy our last moments of freedom. Before my parents skin the both of us for not following any courting tradition.” Neteyam chuckles slightly.

“We should spend the time together.” Ao’nung decides with Neteyam humming in agreement. “Any idea what we should do?” He asks.

Neteyam leans back to look the other in his eyes. “Didn’t you promise to teach me how to hunt?” He suggests.

Ao’nung opens his eyes and nods his head as he smiles. “I did.” He says while pulling his arms away from the other. “We should go now. At this time, the hunting grounds are empty.”

Neteyam quickly grabs one of Ao’nung’s hand with his own. “Well, let’s go! Quickly before we lose our freedom.” Neteyam laughs as he holds tighter onto the others hand. Ao’nung squeezes his hand back.

Chapter 3

The hunting grounds are empty when they arrive just as Ao’nung predicted. It leaves the two alone to hunt by themselves. Though, the young couple seems too focused on each other to actually hunt. Rather than actually hunting, they stay in knee deep water, messing around.

Neteyam bends down and pushes his hand through the water to splash Ao’nung in his face. The look of Ao’nung’s annoyed face sends Neteyam into a fit of laughs. Light, airy laughs that lighten the mood enough for both to forget about their impending doom.

Ao’nung simply rolls his eyes at Neteyam. With a huff, he wipes the water from his face.

“Shouldn’t you like that? Aren’t you Metkayina?” Neteyam asks in between his laughs.

“I’m going to throw a stick at you then ask why you didn’t enjoy it. You’re Omatikaya, aren’t you?” Ao’nung grumbles out.

Though his grumbling only seems to have the opposite effect as Neteyam doubles over, trying to desperately catch his breath through his laughs. Ao’nung shakes his head while discreetly using his tail to slash the other in the face.

Neteyam gasps as the water hits him. He quickly using his hand to wipe it off. “Hey!”

Ao’nung innocently glances around pretending to look for the source of the water. “How did that happen?” he feigns his innocent façade which Neteyam sees right through. But just as Neteyam opens his mouth to say something, more water hits him, courtesy of a certain tail.

“I splashed you once!” Neteyam shouts as he uses his arms to cover himself from the oncoming attacks.

Ao’nung couldn’t hold it in anymore and begun laughing. Neteyam dramatically scoffs at the other. But the Metkayina boy’s laughs don’t seem to stop, even when tries to compose himself.

Neteyams smirks as a new idea forms in his head. Before Ao’nung could notice Neteyam’s smirk, the Omatikaya boy quickly pounces on the other, knocking them both down into the water.

Ao’nung chuckles suddenly stop. His expression turning to one of surprise. An expression that Neteyam takes a little too much joy in.

Neteyam sits on his legs, pinning him down onto the sand and water below them.

“How are you so strong with such skinny arms and legs?” Ao’nung teases.

Neteyam pushes him back slightly with one of his hands in a playful way. “You ask me that every day.”

“And every day I am amazed.” Ao’nung grins at him.

Neteyam rolls his eyes before getting up off the other boy and standing. “Skxáwng.” He holds his hand out to help Ao’nung get up. Ao’nung happily takes it.

Their lesson, though it could hardly be called that, is done right as dinner is to begin. Rather unfortunately for them, they can’t hide forever.

As the two stand a few maruis down from his family’s, Neteyam takes hold of Ao’nung’s hand. “I am sure they will like you,” he says to Ao’nung.

“Are you saying that for me or you?” Ao’nung counters. However, Neteyam can tell he’s just as nervous.

Neteyam just sighs and grips Ao’nung’s hand tighter. He had never brought anyone home before. Ao’nung would the first person him or any of his siblings have brought home. With his parent’s reactions his morning, he can only pray to Eywa that it all goes well. Or at least doesn’t end with Ao’nung being chased out of the marui.

“Just be careful when you answer my mother. Now come, my family will be expecting us soon,” Neteyam avoids actually answering. They don’t need to worry more.

They walk with their hands intertwined around the bends of the paths. When they do finally reach the marui, Neteyam uses his free hand to knock against the outside, alerting his family of their presence. He only puts himself in the entrance at first.

“Hi,” Neteyam greets them, putting on the best front he can. He’s nervous and, taking a quick scan of the room, Kiri and Lo’ak can tell and are taking much delight in that. At least, judging by their poor attempts at hiding the snickering. Ignoring them, Neteyam pulls Ao’nung into view of his parents.

Jake immediately stands at seeing Neteyam and Ao’nung. Neytiri doing the same. “Is this…?” Jake asks, eying Ao’nung. He doesn’t finish his sentence but with the way Jake is glaring at Ao’nung, Neteyam understands just fine.

“Yes,” Neteyam confirms. He swallows down the nervousness bubbling up. He’s a warrior, he reminds himself, he can introduce his boyfriend to his parents. “This is Ao’nung, my boyfriend.”

Ao’nung lowers his head in a respect, bringing his hand to his forehead at the same time to sign the greeting. “Oel ngati kameie,” Ao’nung says respectfully.

Neteyam takes a second to look at his siblings who are now all gaping. They all do it in their own ways. Lo’ak’s is out of disgust for Ao’nung. If Neteyam wasn’t busy making sure the first official meeting between his parents and boyfriend didn’t end poorly, he would love to remind Lo’ak that he likes Tsireya who is, in fact, Ao’nung’s sibling.

Neytiri doesn’t say anything back for a moment, her eyes glaring daggers into Ao’nung to which Neteyam only prays harder. Ao’nung smiles back at her, though with how nervous he is, it comes out a little too forced.

Luckily for all of them, Jake steps in. “Well, it’s nice to meet you,” he says, sticking out his hand in a tradition human greeting. Neteyam internally panics at that because while he did coach Ao’nung on how to talk to his parents, he most definitely did not give a lesson on human greetings.

For a moment, all of them awkwardly stand there and stare at Jake’s hand, unsure of what to do. Until, Neytiri speaks up. “Ma’ Jake,” she says in that tone.

Without having to be told another word, Jake retracks his hand. Fumbling with it as he signs the traditional na’vi way. “Sorry, old habits,” Jake explains with a laugh.

Ao’nung lets out a few awkward chuckles as he tries to discretely look to Neteyam for help. Neteyam simply says, “It’s a human gesture to greet someone.”

“Oh,” Ao’nung says as if he understands.

Neteyam knows for sure that he has no idea. Especially with the way Ao’nung’s ears fold down slightly to his head and the awkward smile he gives to Jake, it’s clear, at least to Neteyam. It does make him smile that Ao’nung is trying so hard, though if that’s out of the good of his heart or the fear of his life, Neteyam’s not certain.  

“Dinner is ready,” Neytiri announces to the all of them. “Come in.”

Quickly, the young couple is ushered into the marui and seated next to Neteyam’s siblings. They sit close but not uncomfortably so. Just enough that every so often they brush arms as they move to grab things or gesture.

Neteyam has never felt more anxious walking into his own home. Sure, he’s had his share of getting in trouble but when he walked in then, Neteyam knew what was going to happen or, at least, could predict very well.  

It doesn’t help how this whole thing came to be either. Eywa. Just thinking about it makes Neteyam want to sink into the ground forever. His choker is still around his neck, hiding those stupid bruises. But, Neteyam finds the bite mark more embarrassing.

Which, he is still trying to desperately hide with his hair. As if he could preserve any mangled bit of what is left of his dignity. His dignity probably died the moment Tuk mentioned the bite and bruises.

“Neteyam?” Ao’nung calls his name, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Sorry, what did you say?” Neteyam asks.

“How long has-” Jakes makes a gesture to the couple with his hand, “-this been going on?” he asks.

“A few weeks,” Neteyam answers as Ao’nung nods along. Neteyam hasn’t been keeping track that closely but if he had to guess it’s probably much longer than a month at this point, not that he would admit that yet.

Neytiri hums at his answer, but not in a way that gives Neteyam any sense of comfort. “This is the first I’m hearing of this,” she says to them sharply as she hands both plates of food.

“We were going to tell you soon,” Neteyam says to hopefully soothe her. They had a half thought out plan on how and when they were going to tell their families, one that wouldn’t have taken place for another few weeks, which neither of their parents need to know.

Neytiri looks over the two of them, eying every part of them slowly. Seeing her do this, Ao’nung can now understand why Neteyam had warned him of Neytiri rather than Jake.  Neteyam watches the moment the realization comes into her mind. “You two have no courting bands,” she states.

“The Metkayina have different traditions mothers,” Neteyam says, hoping that Ao’nung continues since his own knowledge on the matter is lacking.

Ao’nung clears his throat. “Uh, yeah. We usually make and give courting bands when we are thinking of tsaheylu,” he explains.

“So, what you two have been doing is not for tsaheylu?”

Ao’nung and Neteyam blank, at a loss on how to approach or explain anything. Like how they’ve been dating much long than a couple weeks, and the thought of tsaheylu has crossed their minds quite often, and they have talked about tsaheylu a few more times than they care to admit, and how they have talked of making courting bands, and-

“Babe let’s start eating,” Jake tells her.  

If looks could kill, Jake would have been a dead man many years ago. However, Eywa and luck have always been on his side so with a huff, Neytiri goes back to plating and serving dinner to everyone, dropping the question. For now.

Nervously, Neteyam begins picking at his food. Praying that the hardest questions are out of the way, he turns to Ao’nung and smiles. Ao’nung hasn’t been chased out of the marui, a step in the right direction in Neteyam’s mind.

For a little bit, dinner goes smoothly. It’s too quiet and the only one really chatting is Tuk but smoothly. That is until the questions come back.

“Why Ao’nung?” Lo’ak asks as he lifts his head from his plate.

“Well, he’s helped so much and he’s kind when he wants to be and we have a lot in common,” Neteyam begins listing off reasons. “Does it matter though? I just like him.”

“Wow. So how long have you been together?”

Neteyam does not like where this is going. “A few weeks,” he says again.

“And how long have you been pinning for him?” Kiri takes over from Lo’ak in asking questions.

“Kiri,” Neteyam says in that older brother tone. He would not care to admit how long that had actually been. Kiri simply smirks at him. She knows him too well sometimes.

“Are you guys in love?” Tuk asks, so innocently. Her eyes looking over the two of them so hopeful and excited.

Ao’nung chokes. Once he regains a bit of composure, he answers her. “I do care for your brother, but it’s only been a few weeks and, um, you see- well-” Ao’nung continues rambling, trying to find the right words to explain without saying too much. “Neteyam,” he finally says after a moment.

“Tuk, we’re still getting to know each other. We care about the other, a lot. But we don’t know yet,” Neteyam explains to his youngest sister.

Tuk pouts, the answer obviously not what she wanted. “When will you know?”

Neteyam laughs, ruffling the top of her head. “I don’t know but you’ll be the first we tell when we do.”

Dinner continues like this. With Neteyam’s family hounding the couple with questions before it returns to almost silence and then repeating. The small breaks between the questions at least allow the two of them to eat.

“Ao’nung?” Jakes says to get the boys attention. The two of them internally prepare for the next round of questions.

“Yes?” Ao’nung answers, trying to stay as respectful as he can. It’s getting a bit tiring pretending he isn’t terrified of Neteyam’s parents.

“Do your parents know about you two?”

“Uh, they know I’m here, but we haven’t told them yet. We were planning on telling all of you soon,” Ao’nung says as he nervously smiles.

Jake hums at his answer, however he raises an eyebrow at the same time. “Have you completed your rite of passage? You have one, right?”

Ao’nung nods. “We do. It is usually completed near ones sixteenth birthday so mine is in the coming weeks,” he explains to Jake.

“What must you do?” Neytiri asks, her eyes trained on him. She looks at him intently, scrutinizing his every move.

Ao’nung clears his throat once more before delving into the intricacies of their rite of passage. As he does so, Ao’nung’s hand slowly creeps to Neteyam’s for reassurance.

Once Ao’nung is finished talking, Neytiri nods her head. “And you know Neteyam has completed his already?”

“Yes,” Ao’nung says. “He has told me before. It is quite impressive how young he and his siblings were,” he tells them.

“When you complete your rite of passage you will allowed to wed, correct?”

“Yes,” Ao’nung nervously answers, desperately holding onto Neteyam’s hand.

“Are you ready to be wed to my son?”

“Mother!” Neteyam finally steps in. “We are not getting married anytime soon.”

“So you do you wish to be married one day?”

This is when Lo’ak and Kiri start laughing. Practically cackling at the looks on Neteyam and Ao’nung’s faces.

“Why are you so focused on us getting married? It’s been weeks,” Neteyam asks her, desperately trying to control the blush making its way to his face.

“I need to know if he’s serious about you,” Neytiri says.

Neteyam opens his mouth to respond when Ao’nung beats him to it. “I am,” Ao’nung says seriously. “Your son is amazing. I’m not sure if we will get married but if we do, I could only be so lucky.”

Neytiri looks pleased at his answer. She gives Ao’nung a nod, her approval of him. To which, Neteyam and Ao’nung finally relaxes a little.

“Good answer, kid,” Jake tells him, giving Ao’nung a small smile and nod.

Dinner finally goes pleasantly after that. With the big question out of the way, the couple relaxes more, settling into the conversations. The conversations are mostly courteous besides a few comments.

“Ew,” Lo’ak says, scrunching his nose at Ao’nung and Neteyam.

Otherwise, dinner ends on a good note.

Ao’nung stands at the entrance of the marui, giving his final farewells to the family before leaving. When Tuk look to everyone and asks, “Wait, how did Ao’nung give Neteyam those bruises?”

“Ao’nung should go!” Neteyam says, grabbing Ao’nung and dragging him away. “I’ll walk him home.”

Neteyam stops a few maruis down after they leave his family’s, hoping they could get a moment alone before their truly had to end. Turning to Ao’nung, Neteyam smiles.

Ao’nung lazily rests his hands on Neteyam’s hips and he pulls him closer. “That went better than I thought it would.”

Neteyam simply hums in response, wrapping his arms around the others neck. “I really thought my mother was going to kill you.” Neteyam softly chuckles.

Ao’nung slowly leans forward to end their night with a kiss only to be interrupted by some very annoying shouting. Immediately both of them look towards the marui they had just left to see Lo’ak standing in the entrance with his arms crossed, looking a mix of angry and disgust. They hadn’t walked far enough after all.

“Hands!” Lo’ak yells at them. “Keep those slimy fish fingers higher!” he obviously shouts at Ao’nung.

“If only he knew where these hands have been,” Ao’nung whispers.

Neteyam shakes his head. “If you don’t want him to ban us from ever being alone again, then I say you pray to Eywa he never does,” Neteyam quietly tells him.

Pulling on Ao’nung’s necklace, Neteyam finally brings their lips together for that interrupted kiss. A quick, completely innocent kiss. One that is shared under the judging eyes of a sibling who has no qualms in fighting.

As Neteyam lets go of Ao’nung and leans back, he says, “You should definitely run now.”

Hope you liked it!

[namraniiart]

HARIN KIM (김하린)

trigger warning: references of s3xual assault

INFORMATION ♡

Harin Kim, 17 years old.

Greaser.

Korean Islander girly

She’s the mom friend, whys she so mother like? No matter your clique standing, she’s going to be super kind to you. Will act a bit meaner to the preps, just because of the rivalry. But really, shes super sweet. An INFJ. She also says a lot of random shit, her humor is very confusing.

Gorrilaz, Elvis, Kim Kyungho, and many more. She worships Sir Mix-Alot like he’s some sort of god (Nasty Dog 🤑)

Loves physical affection, cuddling her friends.

Has a huge fat crush on peanut romano

Has scars all over her neck (i just realized i forgot to draw them 💀)

Apologizes way too much.

BACKSTORY ♡

It was a cold December evening, when Harin woke up in a bus. It wasn’t a regular bus, it was cold, dingy, and smelled like s3men. She was confused, what the hell was this place?

She had been kidnapped at the age of 10 years old, and had been subjected to physical, mental, and s3xual abuse. Her tormentors had used knives to put scars on her neck.

QUOTES ♡

“Whose grandma is this?” - freak show

“Those will be saggy in a few years..” - freak show

“Damn! Damn! Damn!” - freak show

“I have been wanting for so long to just..unload on British people.” - insult, preps.

“Great, so now I can go on my rant. I’m about to make a fat joke. I forgot the fat joke.” - conversation

“Okay Jimmy, calm down.” - conversation

“It is Earth Day!” - conversation

“Im sexy..oh what was I talking about? Pedophiles!” - grooming.

“..Jimmys mom.. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO” - conversation.

“Im bleeding.” - fight, loss.

“Why are these men crying?” - fight, won.

“I was making a bagel earlier and out of nowhere i start having these uncontrollable spasms-“ -conversation.

“Did Elvis die?” - conversation.

“It’s like if Hitler and Stalin decided to do karaoke together..” - seeing gary’s halloween costume.

“You could be British.” - grooming.

[the-princess-of-loki]

Can't take it back

Pairing: Loki x fem!you

Warnings: None, this is pure fluff. A little bit of angst.

I inspired myself a little with "A Thousand Years", so if you want, here's a link for you to listen to it while reading.

Loki couldn’t take it anymore. He has waited for you for what seemed an eternity, only to find you already taken. By a mortal. A useless mortal that wouldn’t give you half of what he could. And now he was comforting you, hugging you in his arms as you cried your heart over a stupid human who didn’t see you as you should be seen. He couldn’t take it. He wanted to do it for you, but he couldn’t stand it anymore. He couldn’t see you like this. Thus, he stood up, making sure you wouldn’t fall from the sofa, and started to walk towards the door of your apartment.

“Loki? Where are you going?” You asked him with a broken voice. Loki took a deep breath before turning around to face you again. Your beautiful face covered in tears tore him apart.

“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t see you cry for a mortal that doesn’t deserve you,” Loki explained with the calmest voice he could manage.

“Please, don’t leave me now…” the way you pleaded him was like a million knives to his heart. “I need you.”

“No, you don’t!” Loki shouted and immediately regretted it, but he couldn’t take it back. “You need a friend.”

“You are my friend…” You said confused as you stood up and walked over to him. Loki’s throat felt dry.

“I’m not.”

Before he could think his actions through, Loki closed the distance between you two with just one large step. He cupped both your cheeks with his large hands and kissed your lips with passion. He enjoyed the sensation of your lips against his, taking great pleasure in the way your bodies seemed to respond in synchronisation. He enjoyed a good few minutes before he realised what he was doing. Loki pulled back immediately, sheer horror at what he did covered his whole face. He seemed even paler than he usually is. Without even saying goodbye, he left you alone in your apartment.

-0-

Loki had avoided you for the past weeks. He wasn’t sure if you wanted to see him, or if you just wanted to yell at him for what he had done. You have sent him some messages, asking him to go and see you, but Loki hasn’t dared to reply. You weren’t specific in your messages so he didn’t want to make any assumptions as regards your intentions.

Two weeks after that night, however, Loki received a text from one of your co-workers. You had told him before that he was your emergency contact at work. Your co-worker just told him you hadn’t gone to work earlier today and wondered if everything was okay. Immediately, Loki shifted into an eagle and flew over to your apartment. He didn’t bother knocking as he was too worried to care about formalities. Loki used his magic and opened your door without making a noise. When he was inside, he could see you laying on the sofa. He walked over to you and bent next to your face. Loki sighed, relieved, when he noticed you were only asleep. Nevertheless, he could notice your eyes swollen as they usually were when you had cried a lot. He couldn’t leave you just there when he knew you’d been crying. You didn’t give him much choice either, because you opened your eyes at that exact instant and looked at him.

“Loki…?” You asked, your beautiful voice hoarse. You looked at him confused and Loki’s heart started to beat wildly against his chest just to see your beautiful eyes looking back at him.

“Hello, darling,” Loki answered with a sense of awkwardness that he tried to hide with a charming smile of his. You reached your hand to his face, touching him slightly as if you were afraid he would disappear at your touch. “I am sorry I have irrupted into your flat like this. One of your co-workers sent me a message that you didn’t go to work today and I was worried about you.” You sat up straight on the sofa, stretching a little, before you looked at him again. Loki’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the sadness in your eyes.

“Well, you can see I’m still alive. You can go on ignoring me now.”

“Darling, I am sorry-”

“No. Don’t call me that. Your absence made it perfectly clear that I mean nothing to you,” You interrupted him and it was Loki’s time to look at you confused. 

“What? No. You mean more to me than anything else,” You scoffed, standing up. Loki stood up as well, still looking at you confused.

“Why did you leave me, then?” You asked him, not turning around to face him. However, Loki could hear in your voice that you were starting to cry again. He immediately took a step further and put his arms around you, hugging you tight against him. He kissed your hair as you trembled in his arms, still not facing him.

“I was afraid. I thought you hated me because…of what I did…” Loki replied in a whisper. He couldn’t even say the word ‘kiss’ out loud. It was too embarrassing for him. How could he, a god, give in to his impulses like that? He was still blaming himself for his weakness. You turned around in his arms, looking at him with determination. You tiptoed and kissed his lips softly.

“Hating you because of that? You’re much more important to me than a simple kiss…” Loki gulped his saliva, feeling his pale cheeks going a little pink.

“You don’t understand, darling. It wasn’t just a kiss…I…” Loki sighed, trying to gather the courage to mutter the words. “I am in love with you,” He finally muttered, forcing himself to look into your eyes.

“You…are?” you asked him, surprised. “Why didn’t you say anything before?” Loki sighed again.

“You have that relationship and I didn’t want to force my feelings into you when your heart is elsewhere…”

“My heart was always with you, Loki. I’ve never thought about the possibility of a handsome god like you falling for a human like me, so I didn’t even thought about it. But that man means nothing to me. You do.”

Before he could even react, you joined your lips with his again, this time not letting go. Loki kissed you back without a second thought, closing his eyes, hugging you tighter against him and moving his lips lovingly against yours. You both kissed for a long time, forgetting everything around you and just enjoying the pleasure of your lips together. The feeling of having you in his arms, safe and sound while he kissed you to his heart’s content, had Loki beaming. 

“I am…what you want?” Loki asked in a whisper, nuzzling your nose with his, still not opening his eyes for fear that he was dreaming and this was all an illusion. The irony wasn’t lost on him, to be honest.

“Look at me, Loki,” you asked him in a whisper and he immediately opened his eyes. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for you. You smiled sweetly at him as you caressed his now pink cheek. “You are more than everything that I want, that I could have even imagined. Loki, you are a dream come true.”

Loki beamed again and kissed you again. From that moment on, he wouldn’t let go of you. Ever again.