#I’m also really glad he didn’t give up his strings or his destiny | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

wordsablaze · 4 years ago

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13/13 - goat string of fate

A Dozen Denials Soulmate-identifiers exist to make things easier unless you’re Jaskier, who’s equally as deep in love as he is in denial. But there’s only so many excuses you can make to avoid the truth… (aka jaskier’s soulmate is definitely a witcher, just not the one he first assumes)

A/N: what we've all been waiting for... undeniable red string of fate, but with goats for eskel's sake ;) @alllthequeenshorses @eskel-loves-lilbleater

previous chapter

“If life could give me one blessing, it would be to take you off my hands!”

Jaskier’s heart breaks.

He knows that Geralt isn’t lying because the words don’t show up on his skin and he knows that Geralt isn’t just saying that for the sake of it because his pulse is as steady as ever under his wrist and he knows that Geralt isn’t thinking with a clouded mind because he can’t feel any intense emotions at the back of his mind.

The only logical conclusion to make is that Geralt really means it.

“See you round,” he says, even though he’s not sure he will.

It’s nowhere near the first time he’s had his heart broken but somehow this time hurts so much more than every other time, probably something to do with the fact that he’s leaving his very soulmate behind as he walks away with blurred vision and wobbly steps.

He doesn’t walk very far, though; he just can’t bring himself to.

There is a building on fire.

And there is a witcher trying to help.

Nobody asked him to help and yet he runs into the building because he can hear the panicked heartbeats of four humans inside.

He hands over a frightened child to their mother and runs back in.

He hands over a man to his grateful sister and runs back in.

He hands over a crying girl to her father and runs back in.

There’s one more racing heartbeat inside the building but he can’t find it, it doesn’t belong to anyone he can see, and even though he tries his best because he can’t let anyone die - he just can’t - he has no choice but to leave when the roof caves in and smoke fills the air.

It’s only once he can breathe again that he realises the heartbeat has followed him out.

The last person wasn’t in the fire after all; they’re under his skin.

Jaskier doesn’t get the rest of the story from the others in the end.

He wants to - he’s a bard so of course he wants to - but he knows that his own story having just found such a bitter end means that he won’t do the dragon hunt any justice so he leaves its tale to the dwarves.

He’s tired and he kind of wants to cry and he doesn’t know which way he’s meant to go so he doesn’t even try to subtly follow the others back down the mountain. Instead, he walks and walks and walks and hopes he doesn’t fall to his death.

And he doesn’t. But he does stumble over nothing in particular and end up rolling over himself until he hits a tree, gasping for breath and curling around his lute because he doesn’t have any other source of comfort.

The last thought he manages before he drifts off - read: passes out - is that he’s incredibly glad his lute hasn't broken the same way his heart has.

There is a funeral.

And there is a witcher trying to mourn.

But there is something giddy in the back of his throat and something bright behind his eyes and something exciting at his fingertips and he cannot focus his emotions.

There is a fight.

And there is a witcher trying to concentrate.

But there is a puzzle in his lungs and a question on the tip of his tongue and a mystery in his every bone and he cannot tell if he knows what move to make next.

There is a festival.

And there is a witcher watching quietly.

But there is a heavy grief in his stomach and a heavy doubt inside his mind and a heavy pain within his blood and he has no idea why his body is telling him to be upset.

Jaskier wakes to the taste of oranges.

For some reason, it just makes him want to cry.

“We are not dying on some godsforsaken mountain,” Jaskier mutters to his lute but also to himself because if he is to die, it will not be at the hands of heartbreak.

A lot easier said than done, though, because he ends up lost. Horribly lost. So lost that he wonders if someone had moved him while he was sleeping because there’s no way he could end up so clueless when he’d been pretty close to their original path the day before.

And he’s not unfit but he must have bruised himself more than he can tell while tumbling because he doesn’t get further than the duration of half a dozen ballads before both his muscles and his lungs force him to stop and rest in danger of retiring altogether.

Still, he keeps going. He can’t find anything edible but he hangs onto the taste of oranges from his stolen dream as he pushes forwards, begrudgingly thanking Destiny for giving him at least that from his soulmate.

There is a town with a contract.

And there is a witcher who almost regrets accepting it.

The monster is easy enough to defeat, nothing that takes more than a day. No, the monster isn’t the reason he chooses to disappear for almost a month afterwards - that would be the mirror.

Or more specifically, what he sees in the mirror: one of his eyes is the wrong colour.

He thinks he’s delirious at first but one potion and two hours’ worth of meditating later, his eyes are still inexplicably mismatched.

His left eye is the colour of the sky. The colour of the ocean. The colour of a privilege that he was never allowed to have. And he’s read just about enough poetry to know how that means he has a soulmate out there somewhere.

All that does is drown him in a blue hue of guilt.

Jaskier has just started playing his third song on the lute when something crashes into his legs.

He yelps, springing to his feet and almost tripping over whatever it is that’d crashed into him, which turns out to be a goat. A goat, of all things.

“Right, well, if you could not do that whole attacking thing again, that’d be great. You have rather pointy horns,” Jaskier huffs, settling on the rock once again.

To its credit, the goat seems to listen, munching on grass instead of stepping on his toes as Jaskier starts playing again. Confused but not entirely against the company, he continues singing about whatever comes to mind until the sky begins to darken and the air turns cold.

He sighs, putting the lute away and gently reaching out to stroke the goat, smiling when it doesn’t just headbutt him and bleats happily before settling in his lap. “At least you seem to want to stick around,” he mumbles.

Too tired to find anywhere more sheltered, Jaskier pulls his doublet tighter around himself and hugs his new best friend as tightly as he dares. For a moment, the goat lifts its head and stares at him and he fears he’s about to have his eye poked out, but then it just burps and settles again.

This time, he falls asleep laughing.

There is a hearth.

And there is a witcher sat beside three other witchers.

And despite the warmth of the fire and the warmth of his family, he is cold.

He is colder than he ever is, colder than when he is submerged underwater during a fight or when he is caught unawares in a storm or when he is kicked out of a tavern because he brings down the mood.

There is no explanation for why he is cold because he is home and he is safe and he should be warm but for some reason, he is not.

He is rarely warm.

And if he is warm, he doesn’t understand why.

There is no explanation for why he is warm when passing ruins he’s never seen before or when camping in the middle of nowhere just to be away from people or when being told the last copy of the book he’d been looking for was just sold to someone else.

Eventually, he gets used to the confusion, pulls on a cloak, and moves on.

Jaskier is probably losing a few of his marbles.

With nothing better to do, he follows the goat as it travels along a seemingly random path to find nothing in particular, stopping every so often to munch on something or the other.

“I can’t believe I’m following a goat,” he mutters to himself as he brushes grass off his arms, “and it’s not even a cute little baby- what’s a baby goat called? Hmm, I should really know that… Or should I? It’s not like I’ve met any farmers lately. Or anyone, for who am I meant to meet atop a mountain? Well, a goat, apparently.”

Said goat bleats at him as if asking him to hurry up.

“Yes yes, I’m hurrying. Some of us don’t eat grass, you know? Oh, but how would you know when all you can think about is the next patch of moss you’re going to eat? Is that what life is to be, travelling from patch to patch and-? Hey, that could be a wonderful name. I dub thee Patchy, my dearest goat friend,” Jaskier declares, grinning.

Patchy bleats again and headbutts his shin but it’s okay because it doesn’t hurt in the slightest and he only wobbles a little bit.

“I’m taking that as your approval!”

There is a woman.

And there is a witcher lying in bed next to her.

They are both tired and not quite awake and she is gently running her nails along his arms because she has never seen anyone with so many scars.

He is waiting for her to fall asleep but she sits up and frowns, pointing out the words that have appeared on his skin: but I didn’t take any honey.

She must be able to tell he’s just as confused as she is because she gives him a funny look but doesn’t pry, though he leaves in the dead of night while she’s still asleep to avoid any chances of her asking questions.

But the words keep appearing and he ends up with plenty of his own questions anyway.

When he’s mending his armour: it doesn’t even hurt anymore; when he’s hunting: I love you more than I love getting drunk; when he’s brushing his horse: I assure you I have a perfectly good explanation; when he’s buying new gloves: I’m afraid I don’t know you; when he’s stitching up a wound: of course I was given permission to be here.

And on and on and on.

He wonders if this person is even human at times because they seem to lie more in a week than he even talks in a month.

Jaskier is exhausted.

“Hey, Patchy, it’s been lovely to know you but I think the time has come to part ways because I simply cannot take another step,” he mutters, leaning against the closest tree and sliding to the floor.

Patchy leaps into his lap with an oddly angry bleat.

Jaskier shrugs, ripping up a bit of grass and letting her eat it off his hand before sighing. “I fear it is indeed my fate to perish here. Perhaps life does grant blessings after all, hmm?”

His stomach rumbles and Patchy seems to take offence, startling and jerking sideways, the goat’s horns catching on his sleeve and causing a panic that leads to a large tear in his doublet and a mercifully smaller tear in his skin.

Still, he winces, pressing a hand onto the cut and half-heartedly glaring at Patchy. “Really? You’re lucky the material is red anyway, you menace.”

He regrets his words when the goat stands, spins on the spot, and makes a strange noise before sprinting away. Somehow, that abrupt departure stings far more than his actual injury.

There is an ocean.

And there is a witcher who has never been to the coast for a good reason, and still hasn’t.

He doesn’t belong in this scene, he’s borrowing it from someone else without even knowing how, but he can’t look away from the waves as they brush over the sand and over his toes before retreating once more.

There is a cane.

And there is a witcher who has never suffered this kind of punishment, and still hasn’t.

Although the injuries are not his and the crime - if it even exists - has nothing to do with him, he can’t escape the burning pain and the sharp throbbing as someone makes sure the wood meets its mark, again and again.

There is a cat.

And there is a witcher who has never been able to see one up close, and still hasn’t.

He’s not the one touching the tiny ball of fluff that curls up in his palms, he seems to be experiencing someone else’s amazement, but the feeling of soft fur and quiet purring stays with him for no less than a week.

Jaskier is ready to give up.

He truly has no idea where he is or how he’s meant to get back to flat land. The berries he’d found in the morning have done very little to provide him with energy and he’s about to declare himself as food for the wolves or something when he hears bleating.

“Patchy!”

And it is.

The goat barrels into him hard enough to knock him over but he’s too busy trying to hug his horned friend to care. He’s also too busy hugging his horned friend to notice that he’s being watched. That is, until someone clears their throat.

He freezes, looking up.

There’s a very long moment in which his heart drops about a mile into his stomach as he catches sight of a wolf medallion but then he sees the amber eyes and the spiked armour and the hesitant smile and his lungs remember how to work once again.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” Jaskier says, grinning.

The witcher frowns at that, glancing over him in clear concern. Before he can reply, Jaskier looks away to tug his sleeve out of Patchy’s mouth and winces as he pulls on the not quite scab that had developed over the goat-inflicted wound.

“Oh, is he yours?” the witcher asks after a minute, and gods is his voice deep enough to sink into forever.

Jaskier blinks, pulling himself back to the matter at hand before he spirals into a daydream and shaking his head. “I didn’t even know he was a he, to be honest. Thank you for that, by the way, at least I can sing him a more accurate song of gratitude now.”

The witcher chuckles and steps to the side, revealing another, smaller goat that immediately bounds over and settles on his leg; Jaskier has never been so innocently afraid to accidentally move in his life.

“She’s called Lil Bleater,” the witcher says, promptly cursing when said goat starts nibbling on the sleeve Jaskier had just saved from being eaten by Patchy.

“It’s not like I was planning on wearing this doublet again anyway,” Jaskier says, but he still feels incredibly guilty for letting such fine tailoring end up as food for a pair of goats.

Eskel has never been so confused.

He feels like he recognises this stranger from somewhere but he can’t place it, the knowledge is almost like smoke slipping between his fingers before he can grasp it properly.

“It looks like it’s seen better days anyway,” he says, immediately regretting it when the other man blinks at him.

But then he laughs - perhaps the nicest laugh Eskel has ever had the pleasure of hearing - and holds out a hand, amusement sparkling in his eyes. Eskel leans forwards to shake his hand but Lil Bleater chooses that moment to get up and charge at him so he steps back and picks her up instead, offering the man an apologetic look.

“Not to worry, my hand will live a little longer without the honour of yours in it. I’m Jaskier, and you have my eternal gratitude for appearing out of nowhere when I was about a day away from forgetting what other people’s voices sound like,” the man says sincerely.

“Jaskier?” Eskel echoes.

He knows Geralt has mentioned this bard in the past and he’d have to be living under a rock not to know of him at all, what with the songs that are sung his way whenever he ventures into more populated towns, but he can’t fathom why someone so famous would be spending his time with a mountain goat.

Jaskier grins up at him. “Ah, so you’ve heard of me! I wish I could say the same but I don’t believe we’ve met before?”

Eskel shakes his head. “I, uh, I don’t do… crowds.”

“You and every other witcher, it seems,” Jaskier says, but he doesn’t sound like he’s trying to insult anyone. If anything, he seems almost sad.

“The crowds seem more like your style, bardling. What are you doing up here?”

The bard opens his mouth to say something before closing it again, then sighs. “I got lost and ended up following a goat until I got even more lost?”

Eskel chuckles, then puts Lil Bleater back on the ground before leaning down and offering Jaskier his hand because it feels odd to continue the conversation while he’s still sitting down. This time, the goats don’t get in the way and he manages to pull them both upright.

Jaskier gets about five seconds of being upright before he keels over.

Everything hurts.

The world blurs around him.

His knees hit the floor with a dull thud.

Everything really hurts.

There’s something under his skin.

His body is on fire.

Everything hurts so very much and he has no idea what’s happening and the sky has disappeared altogether and there’s water rushing past his ears and he’s in so much pain and he’s going to die without even having learnt this gorgeous witcher’s name and he can’t feel his hands at all and it’s way too dark and-

“Breathe, Jaskier!”

He already is.

Or maybe he’s not.

He unclenches his jaw and gasps desperately.

“That’s it, just breathe, you’re okay.”

But he’s not.

Or maybe he will be.

He groans and reluctantly peels open his eyes.

“I’ve got you,” the witcher murmurs, and he has; his arms are practically cradled around Jaskier and the two of them are kneeling in a tangle of limbs on the ground.

Jaskier exhales.

“You’re not going to die, I promise. And my name’s Eskel,” the witcher whispers, at which point Jaskier mortifyingly realises he must have been panicking out loud.

Slowly, Jaskier uncurls his limbs.

He stretches his fingers out from where they’d been squeezed into fists and waits for a moment before accepting that whatever the blinding pain had been is over before looking up, intending to thank Eskel.

But Eskel gasps before he can say anything.

And Jaskier immediately panics again, wondering what could possibly be wrong. He doesn’t need to ask though, because Eskel lifts a hand to ever so lightly tracing his finger down the right side of Jaskier’s face and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what he can see.

“No no no no no,” Jaskier breathes frantically, “this cannot be happening.”

He pulls himself out of Eskel’s arms and shakes his head but his gaze lands on his hands as he uses them to balance and his breath hitches. Without wasting a second, he shrugs off his doublet and rolls his sleeves up, eyes widening at the sight of silvery scars he’s never earned, silvery scars he’d once had and once lost.

“No, I- I already know my- Geralt was- is- no, no, no no no no, wait. Wait. This can’t be right, it can’t- it- you can’t- I mean, we can’t be- nope, no no...” Jaskier’s words can’t seem to form themselves properly as he struggles to breathe.

Eskel has no idea what’s happening.

Except he does.

There’s only really one explanation for why the marks that had suddenly revealed themselves on Jaskier’s skin are an exact copy of his own scars, there’s only really one explanation for why the colour of Jaskier’s eyes had seemed so familiar, and there’s only really explanation for why he feels like someone has cast igni inside his heart.

Unfortunately, Jaskier doesn’t seem to like that one explanation.

He waits, though. He waits until Jaskier remembers how to inhale and exhale properly before offering the bard a small smile. “I’m sorry.”

Surprisingly, Jaskier looks confused at that. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” he repeats, “I don’t blame you for preferring, uh, Geralt. Or anyone else, for that matter. I wouldn’t want to be stuck with me either.”

Even more surprisingly, Jaskier shuffles closer and punches his arm with a surprising amount of strength, his confusion having been entirely replaced by anger. “I don’t know what in Melitele’s name you think you mean by that but I demand that you stop… thinking it. I’m not- I- I just thought- I’ve spent years, so many years, thinking that I knew and I- I don’t know… I can’t-”

He cuts himself off, his chin wobbling, and Eskel has the inexplicable urge to hug him.

So he does.

Jaskier stiffens for half a second before he seems to forget that he has bones and all but melts into the embrace, burying his head into the crook of Eskel’s neck and throwing his arms around him as if his life depends on it.

Eskel has never felt so pleasantly warm in his life.

He wraps his arms around Jaskier in return and pulls him close, pretending that he can’t hear the sobs the bard is trying so hard to stifle and marvelling at the fact that he gets to hold his soulmate in his arms at all.

His soulmate.

He’d never thought he’d actually get to meet them.

“I’m sorry,” Jaskier mumbles eventually.

Eskel pulls back only enough to frown, brushing the tears away from under Jaskier’s eyes before tilting his head to the left. “You have nothing to apologise for.”

Jaskier feels like a fool.

He leans into Eskel’s soft touch for a moment before cupping the witcher’s face in his hands. “I’m sorry I never looked for you. I’m sorry I didn’t realise I was wrong. I’m sorry I almost just insulted you. I’m sorry for wasting so much time. I’m just so, so sorry.”

Eskel shrugs. “You didn’t know and I don’t blame you. It’s not your fault. I… I knew and I didn’t try so perhaps I ought to be the one apologising to you.”

But Jaskier did know.

To some extent, at least.

He’s known for long enough that not everything was adding up and he’d ignored it, he’d done nothing about it because he’d been terrified of losing Geralt, of losing his soulmate, of losing a life he’s loved, and it turns out he’s been losing everything he didn’t even know he could have had instead.

“I’m sorry,” Jaskier mumbles again, letting his forehead fall against Eskel’s as he closes his eyes.

“How does getting to the nearest inn sound?” Eskel offers.

Jaskier laughs and meets Eskel’s eyes, nodding. “Sounds like a plan I can’t argue with.”

“We’ll start with getting you to a proper bed and then go from there.”

He tries to resist that, he really does, but Jaskier simply cannot stop himself from smirking and raising an eyebrow. “Straight to bed, darling? Aren’t you even going to buy me a drink first?”

The endearingly sheepish look on Eskel’s face is almost worth all the pain.

“Though you really should buy me a drink first, for one reason or the other; I am a little dizzy still,” Jaskier mutters, having forgotten all about that because of the unprecedented pain.

Eskel curses.

Before Jaskier can even process the emotional whiplash, Eskel has lifted him to his feet and turned around, dropping to one knee. “Let’s go.”

Jaskier blinks. “Are you asking me to… climb on your back?”

Eskel turns to look at him with half a smile. “I really don’t think you’re capable of walking more than a mile more without collapsing, Jaskier.”

Well, that’s probably true. He grabs his lute and swings that onto his own back before looping his arms around Eskel’s neck, his legs locking around the witcher’s waist as he stands up effortlessly.

Eskel smiles as Jaskier settles on his back as if he were born to do so.

Which, quite possibly, he sort of was.

He smells like the comfort Eskel gets from when the dreams he borrows are good ones and it feels impossible that he gets to experience it in person. But it’s very much not impossible because Jaskier is a steady weight around his waist and on his shoulder and against his neck.

It’s a little overwhelming.

“So you’re the one who was dreaming of a succubus then?” Jaskier asks out of the blue.

Eskel stops walking for a second, narrowly avoids accidentally kicking Lil Bleater, and clears his throat. “Dreaming? No. No, that’s not quite how we spent the night.”

There’s a moment of silence before Jaskier laughs brightly. Eskel can feel the way his shoulders shake with the force of his amusement and it’s almost a miracle that neither of them overbalance.

“You’ll have to elaborate on that at some point, it’s going to make a great song!”

“You want to write songs about the succubi I’ve met?” Eskel asks, confused. Surely the bard could have asked Geralt about them over the years, it’s not like witchers can afford to designate who takes care of which creatures or anything.

But Jaskier snorts, pokes Eskel’s cheek, and shakes his head. “No, I- I want to write songs about… about my soulmate.”

That feels like a confession and Eskel is honoured to have received it. He hums in acknowledgement and gently squeezes one of Jaskier’s legs. “Not to worry, we have all the time in the world.”

“We do?” Jaskier asks.

Shuffling the bard’s weight a little bit, Eskel lifts his right hand so Jaskier can see his wrist and more specifically, the ouroboros etched into it. He hears Jaskier gasp before there are gentle fingers around his arm that almost make him shiver, a warm finger tracing the symbol over and over until Eskel hears quiet sniffling.

It takes a while for Jaskier to exhale softly and give Eskel’s hand back to him, after which he goes back to supporting his weight more evenly. He has plenty of his own questions but he figures it’s best to leave them for later, when they’ve both recovered from the shock.

The town comes into view sooner than expected, or perhaps Eskel had just been unknowingly pushing himself to walk faster because he can feel the way Jaskier’s grip has slowly relaxed to the point where he’s practically just draped over him like a very strange sort of cloak.

As much as he doesn’t want to let go of Jaskier, he has to when they get to the stables. Both goats are more than happy to be secured near Scorpion, who huffs at Jaskier just hard enough to send him stumbling into Eskel’s side with a small yelp.

“I’ve got you,” Eskel chuckles.

Jaskier grins.

“That you have,” he agrees, “but have you got a room?”

Nodding, Eskel leads them both back to the inn. But instead of going up the stairs, he guides Jaskier to the table in the corner. “Stay here, I’m going to get some food.”

Jaskier blinks, used to this scenario playing out the other way around. Eskel is gone before he can even think of replying so he just yawns and waits, shuffling over when the witcher returns because if he doesn’t lean against someone, he’s probably going to fall into his meal.

Eskel pauses for a second before sliding into the seat beside him, placing two bowls of stew in front of them. “I know you’re tired but you really should eat.”

“How ever will I repay such kindness?” Jaskier mumbles before following Eskel’s instructions.

Jaskier is immensely grateful that Eskel doesn’t mind being leaned on because almost counterintuitively, eating only makes him want to fall asleep even more. By the time they’re both finished, he can barely keep his eyes open.

“Almost there,” Eskel says, at which point he realises they’re now halfway up the stairs.

Yawning again, Jaskier keeps a tight hold of Eskel’s arm as they get to his room, thrown off when they stop by the door instead of somewhere more suitable for sleeping. “What’s wrong?” he asks, frowning.

Eskel places the lute Jaskier apparently hadn’t been strong enough to carry himself down before gesturing around vaguely. “I didn’t know anyone would be staying with me so…”

Jaskier laughs, throwing his head back. He has no idea what compels him to do so but he cups Eskel’s confused face in his hands and places a soft kiss on his nose. “Eskel, darling, you are literally my soulmate. I think we’ll be alright sharing a bed.”

He can actually feel the way Eskel smiles under his hands and can’t help grinning back, but then his knees decide to buckle for no apparent reason - aside from the general exhaustion and probably clumsy bruises, of course - and Eskel is once again the only thing keeping him upright.

He’s not entirely sure what the sequence of events is after that but he doesn’t care to puzzle over it because he ends up with his head on an actual pillow and Eskel’s arms around him and he’s never felt so comfortable and safe and content in his life.

“Don’t leave without me,” Jaskier mumbles even as he can feel himself drifting off, only slightly embarrassed at being so obvious about it.

Eskel hums quietly and brushes the pad of his thumb over Jaskier’s cheek before moving his hair away from his forehead, smiling softly as their eyes meet. “I would never even think of it,” he promises.

And somehow, despite everything else in his life that’s somehow gone wrong and fallen apart and proven that perhaps he shouldn’t be so blindly trusting of what he thinks may be the truth even if he has plenty of reasons to believe otherwise, Jaskier can't bring himself to doubt the witcher’s words even in the slightest.

If there’s one thing he knows, it’s that Eskel has always been his destiny.

i apologise if this finale was a little messy because i was indecisive and couldn't choose just one pov but i am so hyped to have finished !!! i hope this ending was worth all the chaos <3

thanks for reading! masterlist | witcher blog: @itsjaskier

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themonkeycabal · 4 years ago

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WandaVision Episode 9 Spoilers

I can't believe we're already at the finale.

This has been better than I expected, though I didn't have any particular expectations one way or the other. I had hoped it would be bonkers, and it's had its moments, but I didn't expect it to be breaking my heart. I'm glad Wanda (and Elizabeth Olsen) got this moment to shine. It was very well done, and it's been nice to have fun with a Marvel property again. It's been a little while.

My wishlist for this episode is simply that somebody, anybody punch Acting Director Dick square in the face. And also that Jimmy Woo arrests him. A lot.

Other than that, I don't know what to expect, or how they wrap this up in 30 minutes.

Previously on: Wanda finally earned the name Scarlet Witch after Agatha made her relive the worst moments of her life. Harsh, Agatha. Vision uttered a line that launched a thousand gif sets. And Hayward revealed his genius masterplan which is a reactivated Vision, devoid of color and powered by the energy bleeding from Wanda's hex. I'm sure that will go swimmingly for him.

Let's see how this all ends.

Agatha still has magical tethers around Billy and Tommy's necks, which obviously Wanda doesn't like. Agatha gives the boys a tug, knocking them back, and Wanda lets loose, walloping Agatha. The boys are now free, but Wanda tells them to go to their room. They object, she insists, Tommy grabs Billy and they zoom off. Wanda hits Agatha again with a hex, but Agatha sort of collects it into a little glowy ball in her hand. Oops.

"I take power from the undeserving. It's kinda my thing."

Wanda notices her hand turning gray and gnarly — the look of somebody about to be magically mummified. Agatha hits her with a hex and taunts her some more.

"You're clearly in over your little, red head, so why don't you surrender your magic to someone who knows what to do with it?" Agatha, you're pushing your luck. "I'll let you keep this pathetic corner of the world all to yourself. What do you say?"

Wanda says she will throw a car right at your face, Agatha. I laughed. Didn't see that coming, did you? Knocked Agatha right out of her boots.

As Wanda is investigating, Director Dick's white Vision floats down behind her. He's creepy looking.

Wanda walks over to him, staring at him. "Is it really you?"

He puts his hands on her face, all gentle like, but it's a lie. He starts to squeeze. "And I was told you were powerful."

Gross, AD Dick. I hope you get stepped on by Ant-Man when he's being Giant-Man.

Sitcom World Vision (hereafter just plain old Vision) makes a timely reappearance, and takes out Not!Vision. He wants to know where the boys are, Wanda assures him they're safe, and she apologizes for everything and that she should have told him what was happening, "the moment I realized what I'd done". Poor Wanda. He tells her it's alright. She says she can fix it. Not!Vision climbs out of the burning remains of a camper.

Agatha reappears to note the awkwardness of the situation. She asks Wanda who she's going to choose, the ex or the boyfriend. What happens when Wanda hits you with more power than you can contain, Agatha?

Wanda tells Vision "this is our home." He agrees, "then let's fight for it." I hope for the best for you two crazy kids! Marvel has a dicey record on happy endings, though. Sorry!

Vision takes off towards Not!Vision again. Agatha flies off, too, and Wanda follows.

Across the street Monica is pounding on a window, calling for Wanda. Fietro, lounging with a guitar in his … stoner den?, tells her nobody can hear her. Can we talk about how Monica's SWORD uniform looks like ST:Next Gen unis? I can't stop seeing it and it's distracting. Anyway, she tries to escape, but, Fietro is still all fast and stuff, so she's thwarted.

In the sky, Vision and Not!Vision battle. Not!Vision says Wanda must be neutralized and Vision must be destroyed. Hmm. Not!Vision tries to rip out the stone in Vision's forehead but Vision goes intangible. More fighting with intangibleness. It's pretty cool.

Outside Westview, AD Dick is feeling cocky as he watches both Visions on tracking monitors. I loathe him so much. Jimmy Woo is brought in handcuffed by a pair of SWORD goons. I'm sorry, who the f is SWORD? Like, they have arrest powers now? Dick says "hey, it's my favorite member of the Bureau." New wishlist: everybody gets to take turns punching AD Dick in the face.

Dick asks his minion to reconfirm mission objectives while Jimmy listens carefully, mentally noting each and every violation of federal law and the Sokovia Accords.

The minion says she can't get through to not!Vision, his system is overloaded. A cellphone rings on a desk nearby and Jimmy eyes it, then tells Hayward that he'll never be able to cover up these shenanigans.

While Dick is busy boasting and the SWORD goons are doing everything but paying attention to their prisoner (in my head all the SWORD goons applied to SHIELD but Maria Hill laughed at each and every one of their applications and then called Pepper to laugh some more and then texted choice bits to May tagging them "RE: LOL"), Jimmy eases over and grabs the phone.

"Wanda canceled her show,” Dick says with the sort of confidence only an enormous prick can muster, “so there's no footage proving there was ever more than one Vision."

Jimmy points out that that is dumb, because there is other footage, from SWORD HQ and stuff, and probably evidence of tampering. He casually sits on a table, shaking his head, like he's just so disappointed (i'm hoping he's somehow managed to use the phone to record the monolog-ing) .

Dick is still too far up his own ass to notice Jimmy being sneaky. "No one's going to care once I've eliminated Wanda Maximoff. They'll believe that the Vision that emerges from the Westview rubble is the one she illegally tried to bring back to life."

Wait, bringing him back to life is illegal? You're full of shit, Dick. And also, an extremely terrible person, who will destroy a whole town for … something? A Vision weapon? Who are you fighting, Dick? BTW, I award him no sympathy points for surviving in the post-Snap world. So if he's been scarred by that or whatever, I don't care. Trauma doesn't excuse murdery megalomania. As has been said before: Cool motive, still murder. I hope Vision intangibles him into a lamp post that gets peed on every day by a parade of small dogs.

"They'll thank me for recovering such a valuable asset. You could be part of that victory, Jimmy. If only you had a little more … vision" says the smug prick who is asking for it. And by it I mean something both terrible and humiliating to happen to him asap.

Jimmy fake laughs back. "That's a good one, Hayward. Okay, I'm convinced. The trouble is my friends at Quantico will probably have something to say about your plan. When they arrive. Inside the hour." heh.

Oh, poor Dick doesn't like being mocked back. He tells his brain-dead goons to remove Jimmy. The goons throw Jimmy into a … stack of hay? In a fenced in cage thing? As you have on your pop-up military facility. Where he sets to work removing his handcuffs with a clip he also stole, because Jimmy Woo is cool like that. Close Up Magic! See the things you can learn from criminals. "Flourish" lol.

He calls his friends at Quantico. "I was hoping you could get here … inside the hour?"

Back in Westview. Wanda is looking for Agatha while the town goes about its business. Weirdo delivery guy drives by "Don't shoot. I'm just the messenger. ha ha."

Then she gets hit in the back by a purple hex. Ouch. She has hit the pavement hard kind of a lot in this episode already. That hurts, my dudes, I know this from personal falling down experience. Wanda's hand, by the way, is still looking ashy and not very healthy.

Agatha taunts her from a rooftop. "Did you know there's an entire chapter devoted to you in the Darkhold." How could she know that, Agatha? Also, boo the Darkhold. That bit of nastiness led to the Framework, and I'm still a little scarred by that myself. "That's the book of the damned," says the witch standing in front of a billboard for "Squeaky Shine" lol.

Agatha produces the Darkhold and recites from it, "The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven, nor need for incantation." Wanda insists she isn't a witch, nobody taught her magic.

Agatha continues, "Your power exceeds that of the Sorcerer Supreme" Steven Strange will like that. Not much. He's so twitchy about things like that. "It's your destiny to destroy the world." Always with the destinies. FREE WILL FOREVAH!

Wanda insists she's not the Scarlet Witch thingy. Agatha says "oh really?" and uses her mojo on Emma Caulfield. Hi Emma Caulfield! She seems to be 'awake' and introduces herself to Wanda (who knew her as Dottie) "My name is Sarah. I have a daughter, she's 8, maybe she could be friends with your boys. If you like that storyline. Or the school bully, even. Really anything, if you could just let her out of her room. If I could just hold her." Wow, ouch.

Speaking of free will or the lack of, Wanda accuses Agatha of doing this, but Agatha says "She's your meat puppet. I just cut her strings." Poor Wanda. And now Agatha wakes up the whole town, who all head towards Wanda.

And we cut to Fietro's den of manchildness. Monica asks what that place is, but come on Monica, it's clearly a den of manchildness. Fietro is making himself a smoothie and explaining the purpose of a mancave — chillaxing.

Monica ignores him and rifles through his bills and whatnot. She finds a headshot of Fietro with the name "Ralph Bohner" underneath. Because, people just keep their headshots lying around willynilly. Wait, are we saying Ralph is an actor? Lol.

Fietro meanwhile is planning for a Steven Segal marathon — my dad and I watched all of those movies and for the life of me I could not tell you why. We didn't *like* them. I mean, mostly we laughed, but still. Why?

Anyway, Monica is trying to solve the mystery of Fietro. It's not Agatha's house (obviously) it's Fietro's (Ralph). He's an ass and asks if she wants to fight some more, so she flips him over her shoulder and pins him down, trying to figure out how Agatha is controlling him. With her new glowy eyes, she notices the bead necklace he's wearing sparkles in a magically way. She rips it off and Fietro becomes Ralph.

Elsewhere the Visions are still battling in the sky and the boys are watching from their bedroom. They lose sight of dad, but Billy gets a vision of mom in trouble in the town square. He and Tommy run off.

The townsfolk are confused and scared. Wanda tells them they're all going to be fine. "When you let us sleep, we have your nightmares." Ouch. Wanda insists she kept them safe. Wanda, sweetie, you're very far in over your head.

"You feel, you feel at peace," she tells them, kind of hoping that works. It doesn’t. "We feel your pain." "Your grief is poisoning us." "Please let us go." This is an awful thing to do to Wanda, Marvel!

It escalates with all those voices begging her to free them and she screams, grabbing her head, and when she does that, red light appears around the throats of the townies, silencing them, choking them. Wanda realizes and puts her glowy hands up "stop, stop, I'm sorry", releasing them all.

"If you won't let us go, let us die." Wanda promises to let them go. Agatha wonders what's stopping her from actually doing it.

"Heroes don't torture people." Agatha's a very sink-or-swim kind of teacher.

That does the trick and Wanda throws her arms back and yells to the sky, releasing her power up at the hex surrounding the town. "Go, all of you. Now, go." The people run and the town flickers through the eras and the barrier starts to fall.

Outside, Director Dick tells his morons "this is it, we're going in!"

The Visions keep on battling, but as the barrier falls, Vision starts to falter himself. I was afraid of that.

The Morons roll in with their big trucks and big guns because … reasons. I have a very low opinion of SWORD. Maria Rambeau's agency deserves better than this shitshow.

Vision falls and it looks like bits of him are chipping off. He hits the ground hard, he gets up, but he's glitching, too, falling apart as Wanda takes down her spell. He reaches for her. The boys appear now, too, screaming for mom, but they seem to be flickering as well, flying apart in pixelly pieces. Poor Wanda.

Agatha says "Now do you see? You tied your family to this twisted world and now one can't exist without the other." This is terrible. "Save Westview or save your family." TERRIBLE.

Wanda pulls the hex into herself again, recreating the barrier. The kids and Vision recover and run to her. Outside, as the hex closes, Jimmy Woo is, yet again, left to stare at the barrier, cut off from the fun inside. Poor guy, lol. But, his FBI buddies are arriving, so at least he won't get lonely.

Agatha throws a hex at Wanda and Wanda throws up a shield to protect her family. Which Agatha starts to draw towards herself like the magic vampire she is. Greedy Agatha. Wanda's arms are all gray. And SWORD rolls into town square, because that's what this confrontation needed — these dipshits.

Anyway, the Family stands ready to face Director Dick and his morons, in a quality recreation of the Incredibles family pose. "Listen boys, your mother and I never really prepared you for this," dad says. Because your boys are like three days old, Vision, it's okay. "But you were born for it," Wanda assures them very fiercely. Get 'em, sister!

As they square off, Vision's like "oh crap, it's the other me, back in a mo'" and flies off to tackle Not!Vision who's trying to sneak up behind them.

They destroy the town library and Vision wants to know why Not!Vision gotta be like that. "My programming directive is to destroy the Vision."

Ha ha, says Vision, a loophole. "But, I'm not the true Vision, only a conditional Vision."

Hmmm, says Not!Vision, and they stop fighting, "I request elaboration". Hey, Vision, move into Not!Vision's body and you can be true Vision again! Problem solved, my work here is done.

Back to the street where we find Dick and his Morons and Agatha who is not making this situation at all better. The morons point their guns at Agatha who magics them up off the ground like thirty feet in the air, "Same story, different century. There will always be torches and pitchforks for ladies like us, Wanda." I'm not going to say you're wrong, Agatha, and God knows these SWORD morons are morons, but you're also a pain in the ass. So …

Anyway, then Agatha drops them and Wanda reaches out to catch them. But once caught, she does let them drop the last five or six feet. They'll be fine, but also they deserved it, so I laughed.

"Boys, handle the military. Mommy will be right back." They're my new favorite family.

Wanda flies up to tangle with Agatha and Agatha is super ready except … Wanda throws a curveball and disappears. Suck it Agatha.

Down on the ground the SWORD morons continue to cover themselves in glory and point their guns at CHILDREN. I don't care if they're powered children, you know what I'd like, I'd like if one of the morons would just be like "um, but … they're kids and how about no? I'm going to get Jimmy Woo! He'll know what to do. Don't try and stop me!" That doesn't happen.

Billy freezes the soldiers in place and Tommy super speeds by and steals their guns and hats. AD Dick, being the absolutely loathsome, vile, lower-than-a-maggot, piece of shit that he is, gets out of his humvee and shoots at the CHILDREN.

Monica, who has just arrived to the party, runs and throws herself between Dick and the boys, taking the bullets meant for them. Her new powers render her sort of … I don't even know. Not quite intangible, but she kind of looks like a ballistics gel dummy and the bullets go through her but they slow down a lot as they pass and then just sort of fall on the ground. Dick, crossing the line into pure evil, fires again, the bullet misses Monica and heads towards Billy, who just raises his hand and stops it with his power then he grins at Monica.

"Nice tricks," she tells him.

"I like yours, too," he says.

Dick tries to fire AGAIN! But he's out of bullets. He only had four? Or maybe his gun jammed. Anyway, like the brave man he is, he runs to the humvee, gets in, reverses at speed, stops and looks like he's going to put it in gear and drive at them because the dude is unhinged. But! Lo! It's Darcy and the funnel cake truck, that is apparently built like a tank, though come to think of it, it probably was an armored vehicle in the real world.

Anyway, she t-bones Dick's vehicle, thwarting his evility for the moment. "Have fun in prison." Lol

Back to the Visions. They're having a philosophical debate. "You are familiar with the thought experiment "The Ship of Theseus" in the field of identity metaphysics," Vision prompts Not!Vision.

"Naturally." And Not!Vision helpfully spells it out for us. "The ship of Theseus is in a museum. Over time its planks of wood rot and are replaced with new planks. When no original planks remain, is it still the ship of Theseus?"

Vision presses his advantage, "Secondly. If those removed planks are restored and reassembled, free of the rot, is that the ship of Theseus?"

To sum up, neither is the true Vision, both are the true Vision.

"But I do not have the mind stone," says not!Vision.

"And I do not have one single ounce of original material," replies Vision. "Perhaps the rot is the memories. The wear and tear are the voyages. The wood touched by Theseus himself."

Not!Vision says he doesn't have the memories, though, but Vision insists he does, the data is still there, hidden. Not!Vision says nah, Vision must be the true Vision because he believes himself to be. But, Vision says that's not true anymore, he plays the reverse card, "upon meeting you, I have been disabused of that notion." This is the most philosophy nerd game of 'not it' ever.

Vision continues to try to get at Not!Vision's memories. "As a carbon-based synthazoid, your memory storage is not so easily wiped. May I?" Not!Vision allows Vision to touch the glowy bit where the memory stone used to be, and Not!Vision is flooded with Vision's memories. Not!Vision's eyes go … normal, I guess you'd say, no longer robot-like and glowy.

"I am Vision" he says and flies off. It was a lot to take in, I guess. He needs a little me-time.

I guess we're going to have to go back to calling Vision Sitcom!Vision, anyway, he goes outside and the boys run over to him and there's hugging and stuff.

Agatha stalks them from the rooftop, but it seems she might have forgotten Wanda for a second, because Wanda appears behind her and does that thing she does where she makes you see your worst fear. Enjoy that, Agatha!

Agatha sees herself bound to the stake in the woods again. Her coven dead. Wanda is there in the vision, too. "You see the difference between you and me, is that you did this on purpose."

The coven rise from the dead and shuffle to her while Agatha begs for it to stop. But, then Agatha gets control of herself, I guess, and the undead mummy witches start saying Wanda's name and pointing at her. You're just no fun at all, Agatha.

Now the coven ties Wanda to the stake. "You can't win, Wanda. Power isn't your problem; it's knowledge." That is, actually, very true. Wanda's Scarlet Witch headpiece appears on her all magical-like, marking her as the Scarlet Witch of myth, I suppose.

"Give me your power, and I will correct the flaws in your original spell. And you and your family and the people of Westview can all live together in peace."

If Agatha is so smart, why doesn't she just take Wanda's power, hmm?

"And no one will ever have to feel this pain again. Not even you," Agatha tries cajoling, but that was the wrong tack to take. Wanda gives her the head tilt of imminent ass-kicking, and her powers explode outward, flinging way the weird creepy coven of zombie mummies. Then Wanda knocks them both back into Westview.

She starts hammering Agatha with her powers. "Take it, I don't want it." Vision tries to fly up to help her, but she blocks him with a spell.

Witch fight in the clouds. Every time Wanda misses Agatha, her hexes hit the shield. Outside Jimmy Woo looks on, concerned.

"There's more," Agatha says, "I want it all." Wanda's looking a little mummified, but she's still flinging hexes left and right while Agatha cackles evilly. Eventually Wanda runs out of steam and just sort of hovers there.

"About our deal. Once case, a spell can never be changed." You're terrible, Agatha. Very cruel. "This world will always be broken. Just. Like. You." Low, Agatha. Lower than dirt

Agatha gathers herself and tries to hit out at Wanda with all that yummy power but it just fizzles. Nothing happens. Oh noes, Agatha, what's wrong?

Wanda starts looking like her normal self again and behind her glows a giant rune. Oh, dear, Agatha, you taught Wanda something. When she was missing Agatha and hitting the shield all those times, she was actually casting runes. LOL to you.

The sky is angry and red and stormy. Monica, Vision, and the boys look on.

"In a given space," Wanda says, "only the witch who cast them [runes] can use her magic. Thanks for the lesson, but, I don't need you to tell me who I am."

The Scarlet Witch headpiece reappears and now Agatha has her a fright. I like you Agatha, you're rotten in fun way, but you took it too far, sister. Wanda takes her power back with prejudice and she is transformed into the Scarlet Witch. Updated version of the classic costume. Nice, I like it.

"Oh god," Agatha gasps, "You don't know what you've done." Wanda drops her on the ground more gently than she deserved.

Agatha asks if Wanda's going to lock her up somewhere. And Wanda says, yeah, here in lovely Westview. "I'll give you the role you chose; the nosy neighbor."

"You have no idea what you've unleashed. You're gonna need me." "If I do, I know where to find you." lol

And Wanda turns Agatha back into Agnes. "Hiya, hon. Say, that some kind of getup you're wearing. Did I leave the oven on, or is that just you, hot stuff."

Wanda says goodbye and walks over to her family, kissing her boys.

Vision says their dream home has turned into a fixer-upper. "I know you'll set everything right. Just not for us."

"No," Wanda agrees because Marvel likes to hurt us all. "Not for us."

Monica kind of bounces on her toes, trying to get Wanda's attention, but probably also not entirely wanting Wanda's attention. Wanda gives her a hesitant nod as she and Vision leave with the boys.

The field around town starts to shrink, the circus turns back into the SWORD base.

They get home and tuck the boys into bed.

"Big day today," Vision says. "Your mother and I … are very proud of you both."

"Very proud," Wanda agrees. "You know, a family is forever. We could never truly leave each other, even if we tried. You know that right?"

They kiss their boys goodnight. Outside the window, the field flickers and fails. "Boys, thanks for choosing me to be your mom."

The town of Westview returns to its sad old self, street by street. Wanda turns out the lights in their home.

But, Vision turns one back on. "Oh, I read somewhere, that it's bad luck to say goodbye in the dark." "No, you didn't." You guys are killing me.

Why did this have to be so good and sad?

And finally the collapsing field reaches their street, they watch it coming.

"Wanda, I know we can't stay like this, but before I go, I feel I must know, what am I?"

She touches his face. "You, Vision, are the piece of the mind stone that lives in me. You are a body of wires and blood and bone that I created. You are my sadness and my hope, but mostly you're my love." Stupid show, my screen went blurry there for a second.

Vision cries a bit, they both are a little astonished by the tear.

"I have been a voice with no body, a body but not human. And now, a memory, made real. Who knows what I might be next." Aww, Vision, I love you.

Here comes the field.

"We have said goodbye before, so it stands to reason—" "We'll say hello again." STUPID SHOW why do you have to make me feel things?

The field collapses and everything is stripped back into nothing. "So long, darling." And Wanda stands in the empty lot, in the foundations of the home that never was.

She walks away again. Poor Wanda. And back into town. The people look at her, they don't seem happy. I don't know why she chose to do that, she does have a car. Ah, she's going to talk to Monica.

"They'll never know what you sacrificed for them," Monica says. "It wouldn't change how they see me," Wanda tells her. "And you? You don't … you don't hate me?" "Given the chance, and given your power, I'd bring my mom back. You know I would." "I'm sorry, for all the pain I caused."

Wanda promises to figure out her power and then files off. The End.

Heartbreaking. Good, but heartbreaking.

Mid-credits scene. Jimmy Woo is large and in charge. He's setting up the incident response in town, ordering folks around (in his good natured way).

Jimmy spots his friend. "Monica!" "Authority looks good on you, Jimmy." "Where's Darcy?" "Something about ‘debriefs are for the weak’?" lol "But we can thank her for that."

And down the street AD Dick is being arrested. Nobody punched him in the face. I'm sad. Darcy came closest, I guess. What with hitting him with the very large truck. It will have to do.

Monica is summoned to the theater by another agent. Hmm nobody there. The agent follows. "I was sent by an old friend of your mother's." And the agent is a Skrull. "He heard you'd been grounded. He'd like to meet with you."

"Where?"

The Skrull points up.

What was Fury's Skrull buddy's name? I don't recall. I didn't actually like the Captain Marvel movie. I felt like they told it backwards, and also they should have just cast a younger actor to play young Nick Fury. That bugged me. And I wanted more of Annette Benning’s character. Anyway … I guess we know where we’ll see Monica again.

Well, that was fun. Like I said, I'm not sure what I expected from this series, just that it be some degree of fun, I guess. But it was much better than whatever I had half-envisaged. AND SADDER, MARVEL.

Thank goodness for the multi-verse. I'm sure we'll see some version of the boys again. And also Not!Vision, who is probably also Vision at this point, knocking around the world, trying to find himself. Talk about identity crisis. I feel you, brother. Stay safe, get plenty of whatever passes for rest for you!

See you guys in a couple of weeks for Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I WANT NO TEARS FROM THAT ONE! Unless it's tears of laughter.

ETA: FOR THE SECOND POST CREDITS SCENE THAT I MISSED. Stupid Marvel hiding things from me. Thank you, @beelzebufo

Mountains, a mountain lake, a place I’d like to be right now. Wanda sits on the porch of her lonely little cabin. The tea kettle whistles and she goes inside. There’s a rattling and whispering from the other room, where the astral projection(?) of the Scarlet Witch reads the Darkhold and her children call for her. I don’t know, Wanda, seems dicey, that’s not a very nice book.

FOR REAL THE END THIS TIME

#wandavision #wandavision spoilers #wandavision liveblog #long post

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iam93percentstardust · 4 years ago

Note

hey! i hope you’re having an amazing day. this is just me popping in your inbox to say that’s youre one of my favourite writers and you got me really interested in winteriron (honestly one of the cutest ships) are there any fics/authors ii could reccomend?

Hi there! Thank you so much! I love this ship so much, they’ve got such potential for both fluff and angst. They really are one of my favorite ships to write and I’m glad I was able to write so much for them this year. I certainly do have plenty of recs for you, starting with my favorite authors:

@riotwritesthings: started writing last year, I highly recommend just about everything Riot writes but especially Road Hazards, Melt into Me (Your Words are My Own), and When is a bed not a bed? (When you’re not in it)

@hddnone: so many stories and all so good! Has nearly 100 Winteriron works on ao3 and you will not regret reading any of them, though fair warning that some of them are Team Cap Critical. Especially recommend Honey Pot, You’ve Got Mail, and A Bit(e) of Danger

@monobuu: mostly an artist but sometimes writes stories as well. i recommend Ravioli, Invincible Summer, and Meet the Fam

@tisfan and @27dragons: can’t make a Winteriron rec list without including the both of them. They work together a lot but you should definitely take a look at their own stuff as well. I recommend Safe and (the) Sound, Kiss Me Thru the Phone, and Stark, Naked

@ad1thi: currently taking a bit of a hiatus and working on non-Marvel works but I love everything Adi writes, particularly her entire Bollywood but Make it Gay series, which isn’t always Winteriron but wonderful nonetheless. I recommend the Greek Gods AU, 1000 Lives (For You), and we’re connected

@the-winter-writer: lots of smut and all absolutely fantastic! I like Precious Treasure, Winter Wings, and Instinct

@rayshippouuchiha: definitely an iconic writer for this fandom. Really great if you’re looking for genderbends. Writes a lot of absolutely incredible fics and not just for Winteriron but my personal favorites are The (Not So) Great Pretender, Fearful Symmetry, and The Mistletoe Kiss Polka

Finely Honed (jaqen_hgar): once again very iconic. you’ve probably read at least one of their works even if didn’t know. I recommend Shameless, Today’s Forecast, and Practice Makes Perfect

@lovelyirony: mostly writes ficlets here on tumblr and a multishipper (I don’t know why I’m saying that like it’s a bad thing, I’m a multishipper), also a fan of Sharon Carter and that’s the thing that made me follow her so you know

@amethystinawrites: I only recently started working their works but I’m loving everything I’ve come across so far. I recommend Tech Support and I Won’t Hold My Breath

AvocadoLove: also writes a lot of Stony and Stuckony, which I love a lot, but for their Winteriron works, I recommend Amalgam and Dead Man’s Switch

Dracusfyre: another one I’m new to. I literally just started reading their works today so I don’t have any recs for them yet but one of my friends loves them so I’m going to go with you should definitely take a look at their works

Eirlyssa: has some anti-Team Cap works so keep an eye out for that if that’s not your thing but writes very good Winteriron. I recommend Guide Me Home (Guide My Heart) and Always (I’ll Be There)

@imposter-human: one of the first MCU blogs I ever followed! I recommend childhood memories, speak my language, and lost in translation

As for specific works I like:

Four Strings and Second Chances by Vashoth

It was reluctance to let one of his finest inventions ever out of his grasp that made him take a couple days over a week to send the arm to Pepper’s office. But all things considered, Tony figured that sending finest prosthetic that had ever come into existence--literally grasping an olive branch--was one of the classiest gifts he’d ever given. He’d included a note and everything. ‘Barnes,

Can help with installation. Or not. Up to you. --Stark'

Who is the Mechanic? by @akira-of-the-twilight

The Asset watched as his handlers brought in a stranger—a man with a metal object stuck to his chest that was hooked to a car battery.

The handlers shoved the man onto the stool where many who had operated on the Asset’s arm in the past had sat before.

“Asset,” one handler said, “meet the Mechanic. He will be responsible for the upkeep of your arm. Should anything malfunction, kill him.”

The Asset eyed the Mechanic. The Mechanic was glassy-eyed and unresponsive.

He’d probably be dead in a week.

The Fix by SleepsWithCoyotes

Right, because Tony...Tony fixes things. He remembers thinking that, not for the first time.

Paths are Made by Walking by @potrix-the-queerschlaeger

The road to recovery is long, winding and a different one for every person walking it. Bucky chooses to help himself the only way he knows how; by doing what he does best.

Or, alternatively; the one in which Tony is a mess and accidentally kick-starts Bucky’s protective mother hen instincts.

The Evidence by StrivingArtist

Didn’t notice. Right. Sure. Two brilliant minds, two super spies, and a god didn’t notice when the chattiest man they knew stopped making sound. They just seemed happier than before. Brighter and more cheerful than before. They just seemed like they were more comfortable with him around when he was stone silent.

Fuck it.

He knew they noticed.

And he knew they liked him better this way.

Shadowed Hearts and Winter Souls by NotEvenCloseToStraight

The mid-1800s and Antonio Carbonell Stark is caught in a scandal with his lover. Desperate for a chance to escape the trouble and his own broken heart, Tony accepts a proposal from a mysterious Russian heiress and flees the country.

Natalia Romanova is in trouble of her own and has enough secrets to make Tony's head spin but somehow they settle into a fake marriage and calm day-to-day together, and everything works... until her half brother comes home and their life is disrupted again.

James is somber and silent, brutal and nearly broken and scarred, a soldier of the resistance. His heart is cold and gaze like ice, but his hands are hot and lips are warm and Tony finds himself ignoring the blood on James's palms and the shadows in his soldier’s eyes, and falling in love.

When danger lands at their doorstep, Natalia and Tony have to pack up and leave, running away in the middle of the night and leaving their men behind.

The distance between Tony and James gets longer every day, and Natalia has been keeping a secret for that can’t be hidden much longer. With no place to call home and a thousand miles between them and the men they love, what are Tony and Natalia supposed to do?

Puppy Love by Reioka

Bucky is learning to become a person again. When some guy starts crying all over Natasha's dog, he decides he's doing better than he originally thought.

Describe Your Perfect Date by ali_aliska

After getting turned down by Bucky, Tony decides it’s time to move on from his massive crush. He tries online dating—Pepper’s idea, not his—but the only thing worse than getting rejected is getting rejected and finding out your soulmate-level match is Clint Barton, all in the same day.

Clint, of course, does not let opportunities like this go to waste, but he’s driving Tony nuts for a good cause, he swears.

Bucky’s just trying to do the right thing and fails spectacularly, but it all works out in the end.

Rocket Science by marsmaywonder and orbingarrow

Sleep-deprived and under-caffeinated, grad student Tony falls asleep in a conveniently empty classroom and wakes up in the middle of Bruce’s Physics 101 course. After seeing a groggy Tony fumble a simple question, actual-student Bucky offers to tutor him. In a moment of “oh no; he’s cute” panic, Tony takes him up on it. Now, in addition to his already complicated life, Tony has to figure out the answer to the incredibly messy question: “How do you look like you’re failing the class, when you literally wrote the book?”

What’s Good for the Goose by Taste_is_Sweet

For this nonny prompt at the Imagine Tony and Bucky comm on Tumblr:

"A soulmate AU where an immortal goose shows up one day to lead you to your soulmate, the challenge is surviving the goose." (Full prompt in notes.)

We all have soulmates, and every soulmate pair shares an animal guide. The Guide is there to lead you to your One True Love, and they represent the aspects of the psyche that you both share. They appear when you're about to meet your soulmate, and often materialize in moments of great personal crisis, offering hope and support. There are stories upon stories about how someone's Guide appeared to lead them to their One True, or how the barest glimpse of their Guide eased their hearts and gave them hope in the midst of despair. The newly-rescued almost always attribute their Guide with giving them the strength and courage to hang on.

Animal Guides are ephemeral, ethereal, and elusive. They are, most often, no more than a warm presence or flicker out of the corner of one's eye. They are incarnate symbols of perseverance, optimism and hope. Foretellers of happiness, and the grand destiny of love.

Except for geese. Geese are assholes.

and so, we unfold by TheKitteh

Senbazuru. Thousand Cranes.

An ancient Japanese legend that promises anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods. Some stories believe you are granted happiness and eternal good luck, instead of just one wish, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury.

Bucky’s not big on believing in any legends, not after all that has happened. He just wants to create something for a change, not destroy.

He needs to prove himself that he can be trusted to handle something delicate. He doesn’t need a promise of a wish come true. He just,- needs to do this for himself.

He doesn’t need noticing how sad, tired Stark looks. Doesn’t need to want to do something for the man, when he can barely do anything for himself. --- Tony simply goes through days and motions. He deals with the Avengers, with R&;D, with the rewritten Accords. All of it, it’s nothing new really. He just wants to get things done.

What’s new is seeing Barnes hunched over the coffee table, one step away from ripping a glossy magazine apart in the middle of the night.

And why the hell Barnes keeps looking at him during the days after like he’s a puzzle to be solved?

Welcome to the Winteriron fandom! We’ve got a lot of incredible authors and artists both and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

#alle answers #winteriron #fic recs #have a great day as well!#hold-our-destiny

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phoenix-downer · 4 years ago

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Fate’s Thread

For SoKai Week Day 6 - Connection AND Fate.

~2150 words. Love Epiphany, Crushes, Pining, Mutual Pining, Soulmates, Red String of Fate.

“A red string of fate connects everyone to their soulmate.”

The words were from an old legend from Radiant Garden. Kairi didn’t really pay them any mind as a child because she didn’t really think about such things back then, and the legend of the paopu fruit rapidly replaced the legend of the red string of fate in her young mind after she arrived on Destiny Islands. Something about the legend of the paopu fruit appealed to her more; perhaps the element of personal choice. Her grandmother had once said to her, “Soulmates are made, not born,” and the legend of the paopu fruit was much more in line with that.

Still, as the years passed and she grew older, there were some nights when she wondered, was there someone she was meant to be with? Was fate working behind the scenes and controlling her destiny?

The morning after her fourteenth birthday party, she lay in her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest and trying to get the strange thoughts she’d been having about Sora lately out of her mind. Why had she felt so weird around him lately? Especially last night. She could hardly talk to him without the words getting caught in her throat and her face getting hot.

It wasn’t like he had changed; he was the same dork as ever, the same lazy bum. Kairi was taller than him by about an inch now, because he was “a late bloomer,” as her mother put it. The other girls on the island were fawning over various boys now, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t those guys who made her feel all flustered when they walked in the room.

No, it was Sora. And if he hadn’t really changed… then it meant she had.

That was the first time she remembered feeling a slight tugging on her pinkie, but then it was gone.

The next time she felt a similar tugging was when she was playing toss on the Play Island with everyone. They were trying to keep the ball off the sand for as long as possible so they could beat their old record.

“Here, catch!” Sora called, a big grin on his face as he looked at her. Something about the way he smiled made her brain shut off for a few seconds, and by then it was too late. The ball had fallen to the sand, and everyone was groaning loudly.

“Kairi, really?!” Wakka said as Tidus shook his head. “We were only two away from our old record!”

She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. “Sorry, guys. I guess I got a little distracted.”

She looked at Sora again, and he said, “Hey, no big deal! We can just try again.”

It was then that she felt the tugging once more. “Huh? she said softly as she cupped her pinkie in her other hand.

Then it was over. Weird.

She picked up the ball again. “Alright everyone, are you ready?”

“Ready!”

After that, the tugging got more and more frequent. It was never painful or anything, but she did notice it. During school, after school, on the Play Island, sometimes even at home… any time Sora was around, it usually happened at least once.

“Mom?” she asked one afternoon after school. She was doing her math homework at the kitchen table, and her mom was preparing dinner.

“Yes, sweetheart? What is it?”

“I think I like Sora.”

Her mother paused a moment from chopping the carrots to give her a smile. “Oh really?”

“You don’t… seem all that surprised.”

“Well, to be honest, I’m not.”

“Who told you?” Kairi asked, the blood draining from her face. If her mother of all people knew, then the entire town might know by now.

“No one. Just a mother’s instinct… and observational skills.”

Kairi felt her face getting hot again, and she set her pencil down and hid beneath her hands. “If you know, who else might have figured it out?” she moaned.

“Relax, sweetheart, your secret’s safe with me. And trust me, Sora’s clueless. I told you that boys lag behind girls on these sorts of things, remember? They usually hit their growth spurts later, and girls aren’t really on their minds until they start going through puberty themselves—”

Kairi covered her ears. ��I know, I know, please don’t give me the talk again or even mention the p-word.”

It was bad enough dealing with all the weird changes her body had been going through lately. She felt awkward and gangly, and her moods were all over the place. But she absolutely did not want to hear about the kinds of changes boys went through because it just made her all flustered and giggly and embarrassed.

Her mom had joined her at the kitchen table, and she gently pried her hands off of her ears.

“It’s okay. I know all of this is awkward and scary, but it won’t last forever. Someday you’ll feel comfortable in your own skin again.”

“I will?” Kairi said, not really believing it. Her mother was so beautiful and confident, and so were the other ladies of Destiny Islands. Kairi felt so different from them that she didn’t think she’d ever reach their level.

“Yes, you will. And someday, I suspect Sora might wake up and realize you’ve had a massive crush on him for years.”

“Mother!”

Her mom smiled mischievously and squeezed her hand. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. But if it makes you feel any better, I also think that someday, he might wake up and realize he’s had a massive crush on you for years too.”

Kairi pretended to bury her nose in her math homework again after that, but she couldn’t get her mom’s words out of her mind. Was it possible Sora liked her too?

She felt the tugging on her pinkie again. That was the first time she’d felt it without him around. Was it because she was thinking of him? Or was he thinking of her?

That thought made it entirely impossible to focus on her homework, so she set it to the side for now and helped her mother finish making dinner.

“You know what you can do to help with the embarrassment when you’re around Sora?” her mom said as she handed her a potato to peel.

“What?”

“Just talk to him. The more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll be around him again. And tease him, too. Not anything mean or rude, just playful banter. It’ll help get your mind off of your embarrassment, and he’ll understand you’re just messing with him. It’s what guys do with their friends to bond with them.”

“That’s true, he and Riku tease each other all the time. All the guys do.”

“Exactly. Throw in a little good-natured teasing and be willing to take it too, and you’ll be golden.”

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Sometimes everything changes in the blink of an eye. That was what Sora’s dad had told him, but he didn’t believe it until he experienced it for himself.

One day, he was waiting by the docks to see if anyone was gonna show up so they could paddle to the Play Island. It was finally the weekend, and they could ignore school for a full day before they’d need to start even thinking about homework.

Then Kairi arrived, and it was like the world had gone wonky.

“Hey, Sora!”

“Hey, Kairi—”

When he looked up and saw her, the pieces of grass he’d been fiddling with dropped from his hands. Who was this person and what had happened to the old Kairi?

“Like it?” she said as she ran her fingers through her now-short hair. “I got it cut earlier today.”

“Oh, um, yeah, it looks great—”

More than great. It looked awesome. He hadn’t realized how good she would look with short hair because she hadn’t had it this short since they were kids.

“I mean, you look good with any hairstyle, but um, short is—”

He winced. Man, why was he having such a hard time talking today?

“My mom took me shopping too, that’s where I got this outfit!” Kairi said as she twirled around for him. She wore a white tank top and a purple skort, and they looked good on her.

“Well?” she asked in a singsong voice, her face inches away from his. “What do you think?”

His heart was racing, his mouth was dry, his palms were sweaty, his face was flushing, and his stomach was doing flips, but he tried his best to form a coherent sentence.

“Um, you look great—”

She leaned back and smiled triumphantly. “Thank you.”

Riku and Tidus and Wakka and Selphie arrived right around then, and Sora was glad he could get a few moments to pull it together. He wasn’t really sure where Kairi’s newfound boldness had come from, but he… he liked it.

His blush got worse, and a part of him wanted to sink into the ground or jump overboard into the water. What was all this weird stuff he was feeling? He felt this strange tugging in his pinkie too. What was that all about?

Then someone said something that made her laugh, and Sora grinned as she brought her hand to his mouth and giggled. She was really cute, and he always liked seeing her smile.

Oh no. Oh no. He liked her. He liked Kairi. That was the only explanation. It had been slowly creeping up on him for months and months, and it had just slammed into him like one of Wakka’s blitzballs.

Crap, he couldn’t let her see how flustered she was making him. She’d think he was lame or silly or a huge dork. And there was no way she liked him too. He was the resident lazy bum and they were just friends. They’d always been friends, and she couldn’t possibly want anything more than that, right?

But then she looked his way. “What are you doing all by yourself Sora?” she called, tilting her head with a twinkle in her eye. “Come talk to us!”

Seeing her smile and beckon to him, he felt his worries dissipate a little. Yeah, he’d need time to think all this weird confusing stuff over, but for now he wanted to be around her as much as possible.

There was that tugging in his pinkie again. Huh. Maybe… maybe it had something to do with her.

Well, whatever the reason, he’d sort that out later too. He shrugged and joined them, and before long things felt fine. No, better than ever. He saw Kairi in a new light now, and it was like the whole world had transformed along with her.

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“Kairi, are you ready for this?” Naminé asked, pressing her fingers together.

Kairi nodded and leaned back against the examination chair. “I’m sure. If there’s even a chance we can find a clue in my heart that might help us find Sora, I want to search for it.”

She fiddled with her pinkie finger. She hadn’t felt any tugs on it since Sora had disappeared, but that didn’t mean he was gone for good.

“I’m sure you know this already Naminé, because you can see the connections between hearts, but I think Sora and I are connected somehow. Part of it’s because of the paopu fruit, and I know that made our connection stronger than ever. But there’s an older connection too. It’s fainter, but it’s been there for a long time now. That’s why I think searching my heart might lead to a clue.”

“I think so too,” Naminé said. “Maybe that connection is what brought you to Destiny Islands in the first place. It’s worth checking out.”

She nodded again. “Yeah. And maybe… maybe that connection will lead me back to him.”

“If anyone can find him, you can. Best of luck, Kairi.”

Kairi said her final round of goodbyes to everyone, and then it was time to sleep, to dream. She had to chase the connection back, back, back to where it began.

She had to find out how fate had brought her and Sora together. Then, maybe then, she’d find him and bring him home.

Whether soulmates were made or born, she still wasn’t entirely sure. But if the scary man from her childhood nightmares could tamper with her fate… then maybe she could tamper with it, too. Fix it and make sure Sora came home like he was supposed to. Something felt wrong, something felt off about his disappearance, like the entire universe had gotten knocked off track. It was up to her to right things, to bring the greatest protector and defender the worlds had ever known home.

That was the promise she’d made to Sora, and those were her final thoughts before she slipped off to sleep.

Whatever the future might have in store, she would find him.

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A/N: The final scene in this story was inspired by Melody of Memory and my musings about how Sora and Kairi might be connected. I’m curious about why Kairi’s getting her memories from before back now of all times, and it tied in to the themes for today.

Thanks for reading!

#sokai #sokaiweek #sokaiweek2020 #sora #kairi #kingdom hearts #kh fanfiction #phoenix writes #phoenix downer #love epiphany #crushes #pining #mutual pining #soulmates #red string of fate #general teenage awkwardness #long post

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ullmus · 4 years ago

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---- THE TRAINING GROUND CLEANUP.

@futuresking, continued from here!

THE BLUEHAIRED had approached. She appeared to holding a broom, and Alm wonders if she was intent to clean up the training grounds all by herself. Why was no-one besides him around to help? Clair would certainly call the circumstances boorish. Leaving a lady to clean up everyone else’s mess while everyone else saunters off to do something else? Unspeakable. Alm felt bad to leave Lucina here to her own devices - even if she didn’t mind cleaning up the training grounds. With the mess, it’d take longer for her to do all herself. Perhaps it’d take her hours to get done. So he had asked, without hesitation, “Can I help you?”. A earnest expression blossomed. His smile held no signs of resignation, he was willing to use his strength to clean up the mess made here without strings attached. Farm work, as it turns out, made him capable of heavy lifting.

As she gets closer, Alm notices the shades of blue in both her eyes. One seemed brighter than the other, and what was with the... brand ( that was a brand, right...? ) in her left eye? It reminded him of his brand in a way, except his was on the left hand and not in the eye. Alm wonders if she’s ever gotten comments about it and decides to not to comment on it as well. He knew all too well about being a child of fate, and how heavy his destiny is compared to everyone else’s. His Duma’s brand lead towards the merciful rest of the War Father, but it also brought up various complications in his young life. He was always destined to be the next emperor of Rigel, even if he considered himself the least fitting person to rule ever.

Celica knew, didn’t she? About what her royalty entailed for her? Alm didn’t, not until his father’s last request sprung out from his lips.

Her smile is polite, laced with warmth - much like his own. She had been nothing but civil to him, thus far, even though they were considered strangers. Alm could respect that. Alm much preferred people who well-mannered. He could deal with disrespectful people easily enough, sure, but Alm was a man of mercy. Believe or not, Alm doesn’t like using his sword to deal with problems when a respectful conversation could take place instead. He would raise his sword if nothing else could be done. It seems that Alm would not need to raise his sword against Lucina. She comments on the state of the ground, and Alm takes his eyes off of her for a moment to survey the damage done. …she really wasn’t kidding. Wooden weapons scattered the paces. Broken. Someone could easily get a splinter here if not careful. If training dummies were accessed as well, they were also scattered about. Gods, someone could trip.

She thanks him for his help, and Alm brushes off any potential debt-owing by a wave of the left hand. He wasn’t doing this for her respect, love, money or whatever else favor. He was doing this because he feels this is the correct thing to do. ❝ Oh, sure! I’ve got nothing else to do right now, anyway. I’d be glad to help you out. Besides, it’d be a bit unfair for you to do this all by yourself! ❞

Before any work gets done, however, she asks his name. He feels it only natural to respond after she gives hers. Lucina... what a nice name. Alm thinks it fits her. ❝ It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lucina. I’m Ablein Alm Rudolf II, of Rigel. You’re free to call me Alm, if you want! ❞ The future Valentian king extends his left hand, to meet her calloused one. ( How many fights has she been in? )

He worries for her.

#[ hey hope you don't mind if i continue this #[ i wanna see two falchion-swinging kINGS ]#[ …and lucina's reaction to walhart's descendent ]#[ alm vc: so my name is alm and- ]#[ lucina vc: HECK. ]#✧ ic | ❛ serving you & yours. ❜#✧ support | ❛ lucina. ❜#✧ thread | ❛ the training ground cleanup. ❜

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aliceslantern · 4 years ago

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Give/Take, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic, chapter 9

Ienzo has been too busy since the war to be overwhelmed by the past. But with little progress to be made in his work with Kairi, old nightmares start to invade.

Riku is a glorified housesitter. Lonely and faced with no choice but to wait for a way to find his friends, he eagerly accepts when Ienzo asks him to help do repairs around the castle. Before long, the two strike up an unlikely friendship, united by their dark pasts and their attempts to be better people.

But just as they begin to consider something more... Kairi wakes up.

Ienzoku (Ienzo/Riku), post-Melody of Memory, slow burn. Updates Thursdays until it's done.

Chapter summary: On different worlds, Ienzo and Riku write each other letters.

Read it on FF.net/on AO3

---

Ienzo,

Sorry for the radio silence over the past few days, but things have literally been so insane I haven’t had a minute to myself to write this note. My mom is barely letting me out of her sight--not that I can blame her. She goes between being outraged to dropping everything and hugging me. She wants to know everything, and I’m trying to tell her as much as I can, but still editing the most… incriminating parts until she’s ready. You understand. Even when I was home before we never got into it.

I haven’t even really had time to enjoy being home. I’ve had to see family, friends, and they all want to know where I’ve disappeared to. People all over town, too, want to know what happened and where I went. A lot of people assumed that I’d gotten myself killed.

Including my parents. That was, and still is, the hardest thing I’ve had to accept. Starting to grieve someone and just beginning to make progress only to learn they’re alive… I feel so guilty. Now I wish I’d gone back home during Kairi’s year of sleep, even for a little while.

I’ll tell you more about what happened, but I just wanted to… start to get a status update. “Any news?” How are you? How have you been? What are you and the guys up to?

Write soon,

Riku

Dear Riku,

Thanks for your text. Of course I understand how overwhelming everything must be, and this was an unusual homecoming. I just hope it’s been more joyful than bittersweet, though I fear it’s the latter. I’m hoping this transition becomes less of a traumatic one for you. And even if it is… well. I am an impartial ear.

Correction--a somewhat impartial ear. I will yell at, and/or make fun of, anyone who gives you grief.

Do tell me about Sora and Kairi. Things must be dazzling for Sora especially--I can only imagine what sort of journey he’s gone through, and I’m probably wrong. Hopefully the three of you get to spend some time together, just relaxing and being friends. It’s the least of what you deserve.

I, on the other hand, don’t have much worth reporting. I’m continuing to work with Aeleus and Dilan on the repairs, helping Even with his various little experiments. I’m trying to figure out where I would be most helpful, but that has been somewhat difficult. I’m sure you can sympathize. It’s finally starting to get warm again here.

If I ever quit faffing about and find something worth writing about I’ll let you know…

Yours,

Ienzo

---

Ienzo,

Ha ha. For some reason I don’t believe you’ve been as lazy as you said you’ve been. Though part of me hopes you have. You deserve a little rest too.

On the topic of rest…

Right after I got your letter the puppet strings that have been keeping me awake since I got home snapped. I fell asleep on the living room couch and didn’t wake up for thirty-six hours. Mom was hysterical; she thought something was really wrong with me and took me to the doctor (which, considering how long it’s been since I’ve been home for any length of time, was my pediatrician. Awkward.). But the doctor just said what I told her, that I just needed to sleep . And sleep, and sleep… maybe it’s my turn to sleep for a year. Ha ha.

Yeah, yeah. Spare me your lectures. I’ve been so wired that even when I tried, I couldn’t sleep.

Sora and Kairi are doing as okay as they can. Of the three of us, I think Kairi’s bounced back the quickest. She’s already talking about re-enrolling in school to catch up. Considering she’s the mayor’s daughter, it made the news when she got back. She’s like a celebrity, though because she’s Kairi and she’s perfect, she’s got it under control. I mean that with no sarcasm whatsoever.

Sora…

As you can probably tell by me skirting around the subject, Sora… isn’t completely okay. Physically, he’s fine. Healthy. But it’s… between the Keyblade War, and what he experienced alone while we were all, very briefly, dead (which, remind me to tell you about that if I haven’t, because it is a trip.). He’s been ALONE for so long. I’ve never seen him so shaken, and he’s so quiet . Talk to him and he tries to be all smiles, of course, but a few of us were at the beach and instead of being all up in the middle of it like he usually is, he was sitting aside… alone. Kairi’s been trying to gently pry, but he keeps saying he’s okay. A tired act I think all of us know well by now. Honestly, I’m not sure what to do. What kind of therapist here would get what he’s gone through, anyway? The most we can do is be there, and keep on top of him, and hope he heals and processes over time. Makes me feel like a shitty best friend, but the emotional stuff was never my forte.

Sleepily yours,

Riku

---

My sleepyhead,

Hopefully by the time you get this you’re actually conscious. You had a long ordeal. Physically, emotionally, of course you’re exhausted. I hope you’re actually listening to it instead of pushing through. Been there. Done that. It is not worth it. You’re probably also still growing, believe it or not. The human male keeps growing and developing until twenty-five, and unless my knowledge of Destiny Island’s time stream is way off, you’re not exactly there yet.

I’m glad Kairi is doing well, and taking all of that in stride. If it were me I would’ve thrown in the towel long ago. I think school would be good. A taste of normalcy. You three deserve to get back to your lives… whatever that means. Or at least rest a while before finding greener pastures elsewhere.

It’s disheartening, but not surprising, that Sora feels the way he does. Like I said, I can only imagine what he might have gone through. Though I don’t like it when you say you’re a shitty friend when I watched you struggle to save your friends for a literal year. You’re too hard on yourself, Riku. Being there, after everything else you did for him, is enough. Make sure to take time for yourself too. Though if Sora’s condition deteriorates, do let me know. I’ll see if I have any sort of psychological resource which might help him more than just a standard therapist with no notion of the greater World outside. Hopefully he’ll start to feel more himself once he settles back down.

This… very brief death occurrence you were referring to intrigues me. What was all that about? Fortunately it seems to not have stuck, but regardless, I felt my heart jump into my throat when I read it.

The others have been asking after you, Ansem especially. He says to “send his regards” and I promise it’s friendlier than it sounds.

I wonder, do you have sea salt ice cream where you are? It’s the height of summer and Scrooge McDuck is out. None of my cohorts here are willing to share. It’s been war.

Craving sea salt,

Ienzo

---

To the insatiable sweet tooth--

No, as a matter of fact, we do not have that particular sea salt ice cream here. If we want it, we have to go off-world. There are other, more native flavors which you might like, like dragon fruit or star fruit. (It’s mostly fruit. Sorry, we’re islanders.)

Sora seems to be doing a little bit better. Roxas, Xion, and them came to visit, which seemed to brighten his spirits, or at least distract him. Sometimes he still stares off into the distance and he’s not quite as chatty. This is going to take a long time.

As for the death thing… well, part of why Sora disappeared was because he went back in time to save us after the dark prophecy was fulfilled and the Demon Tide killed us… apparently. Even I can’t keep it all straight in my head, and it happened to me. He changed the flow of time to save us, and “abusing” the power of waking to save Kairi was the final straw. I… don’t like thinking about it much. It makes me feel sick.

Mundane life feels weird. I do chores around the house, and I mow lawns for some pocket change. Can you imagine it? The magic would make it easy, but it also unsettles people, so I do it with a mower. I had to go to social services to get an ID and we waited in line for two. Hours. I almost went insane. But at least it no longer has the awful picture it did when I started high school.

Speaking of, mom wants me to re-enroll right away, and dad wants me to do night school and speed through a general high school degree. I’m not sure how I feel about it, honestly. Kairi and Sora are excited, and I think it’ll be good for them. Maybe I’ll take a year, or do it online, or something. Though I’m sad to say my computer literacy isn’t nearly as good as yours.

How are you feeling in the castle? It must be summer for you guys there, too, though I imagine there aren’t beaches or anything. I didn’t see any. Do you have any summer activities? Or do you just sit in the library with a moldering old paperback all day?

Gainfully employed,

Riku

---

Dear Riku,

Thank you for satisfying my curiosity about that experience. I knew time travel was a factor in Sora’s disappearance--but I didn’t think it went like that for all of you. Terrifying. Awful.

A fantastic way to start a correspondence.

To answer the question… no, there are no “beaches” in terms of ocean beaches, but when I was a boy Radiant Garden did have springs on the far edges of town, as well as public pools. I was not allowed to go to them much--Even was rather neurotic--but yes, they do exist. Did exist. The restoration committee has it on their very, very long list. The paths down to the springs probably need some maintenance.

That is to say, when not in the lab I am sweating and thinking of cooler days. Though I know this might feel borderline chilly for you. Indifference to temperature is one of the few things on my waning list of what I miss from being a Nobody.

I’m glad you have some way to fill your days… that, and the idea of you working outside appeals to me. I imagine it must bore you.

I don’t spend ALL of my days in the library. Just most of them, lately, as am still trying to get this place even the slightest bit organized. If I had the resources I’d digitize everything. It’d make life so much easier. But I am one person with one computer and there are thousands upon thousands of books here. As a boy I used to have the fantasy of reading all of them before I turned eighteen. But, alas, that has not happened, and some of the texts are too boring, or in another language, or are too fragile to be handled. I clearly had very interesting ideas of leisure.

I still have not been able to get my hands on any decent ice cream.

Unsatisfied,

Ienzo

---

Ienzo,

I wanted to talk about this earlier but I had to get things settled in terms of my room. (Long story. Not a fun story.) Would you ever consider visiting? I could come get you. My parents are okay with it. In fact, they for some reason link you with me coming home, which I guess is true. You did help us get the clue Kairi needed. Either way, you’ve already made a good impression.

(If it’s not clear, I miss you.)

I can take you to a real beach. Show you around, not that there’s a whole lot to see. A change of scenery might be nice. Sora and Kairi want to hang out, too. Sora says hi.

If you’re busy, of course, I can come to you. But I know you’ve been there a long time, and there’s not always good memory there.

No pressure. Let me know.

Riku

---

Riku,

I think you may be on the right track with a change of scenery. I’m afraid what little wit I had left me, and when I was explaining to the others I’d like to visit, it became clear very quickly that our relationship is more than surface level. For that, I’m sorry.

However… the more I think about it, the more appealing it is. Even doing nothing--with you--is better than sitting here doing nothing by myself.

That is to say I miss you too.

I can be ready whenever is most convenient. I’m sorry for making you come all this way, though.

Ienzo

---

Ienzo,

Please, the flight will give me a few hours’ of peace and quiet. It’s been great spending all this time with friends and family, but… I feel kind of suffocated sometimes. Besides, I better keep my piloting skills in tip-top shape. Sora’s mad that I’m better at it than him. What can I say, it’s one of my many natural talents. Along with gardening, apparently.

Bring light clothes; it’s HOT here. And sunscreen. I mean it.

Looking forward to seeing you, and talking to you, in person.

Yours, Riku

#give/take #ienzoku #ienzo/riku #ienzo #riku #ienzo is trans

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themysteryofwriting · 5 years ago

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Soulmates Don’t Have to Romantic Chapter 2- Logan

link to chapter 1 here

Word Count: 1711

Well apparently destiny liked having her meet Soulmates on the first day of school. Rachel and Virgil had compared schedules first chance they could. They were glad to see they shared a lunch so they could hang out during lunch. Before lunch though, Rachel had a math class while Virgil had a study hall.

“We can meet up in the library,” Rachel suggested. “You can head there during your study hall and we can meet up there before heading to class.”

Virgil nodded, smiling at Ray, “Sounds good to me lavender.”

Rachel giggled a bit, rolling her eyes slightly. “Yeah, yeah Purple.”

The two shared a few classes but not more than the normal amount of classes that students would share. The school tried to make sure that soulmates didn’t share all their classes for some reason, Rachel wasn’t sure why exactly. Probably thought students wouldn’t learn anything if they had their soulmate in all their classes or something. Which honestly Rachel thought was stupid. Virgil and her had always been able to focus just fine despite sharing classes. But schools could be stupid sometimes. Even though her and Virgil were platonic soulmates and not romantic soulmates they thought that they would get distracted in class and not, you know, do what they always did and help the other with the material. But despite that, the two headed to their classes.

Before too long, it was already time for her math class. Rachel waved goodbye to Virgil as she walked into her math class and sat down just as the bell rang. Fortunately it was the first day, so it mainly meant listening to the teacher’s introductions and what to expect in the class. Rachel had started to zone out a bit when she felt a tingle from her wrist. She glanced down and realized it was her strings. More specifically her Indigo and Purple strings. Had Virgil met Indigo? Then maybe Indigo was one of his red strings?

Just as she thought that she felt a tug on her wrist. Really now? Couldn’t her soul string wait just a bit longer? The teacher was still lecturing and she really didn’t want to interrupt class.

She tried to stay sitting but it must have been clear what was going on because the teacher sighed. “Ms. Summers?”

“Yes Mr. Smith,” Rachel asked, pretending like she didn’t know exactly why he had called her.

“If you are having a soul string emergency you can leave, no one is going to stop you from meeting one of your soulmates,” Mr.Smith said, “You’re not going to be missing anything too important today anyways.”

Rachel nodded and quickly gathered her stuff, trying to ignore the string for just a bit longer, before following it where it was tugging her. She realized it was tugging her towards the library where she agreed that she would meet up with Virgil. Fortunately no teachers tried to stop her as her string continued pulling her to the library.

She made it to the library and quickly opened the door so she didn’t run into it as she continued following the string, which had been slowly shifting to her lavender color. She soon came upon a table with Virgil and a boy who was literally sitting on his hand to ignore the tugging. “I should have done that,” Rachel sighed as she approached the two.

The boy sitting with Virgil turned around in confusion as Virgil looked down at his wrist. “Oh that’s kinda weird.”

Rachel however was focusing more on the boy in front of her. Glancing between Virgil and him, it seemed Virgil was the taller of the two, though she was sure he was still taller than her. While Virgil had the emo vibe, he had more of a nerd vibe He had a pair of glasses and was dressed somewhat formally, wearing a polo shirt and a tie. What caught Rachel’s eyes the most were his striking deep blue eyes. Eyes nearly the same color as his string.

“I assume you must be Rachel then,” Indigo asked her. “Virgil was just wondering if we were also soulmates.”

“Well apparently we are, I actually got a bit called out by Mr.Smith because I didn’t want to leave class,” Rachel said with a nervous grin.

That made Indigo smile a bit. “Well it is certainly nice to meet you Rachel, I am Logan Berry.”

“So I have to ask, did sitting on your hand really work?”

“Nope,” Virgil called. “If you had shown up any later he would have started getting tugged as well.

Logan glared slightly at Virgil but it was clear he didn’t mean it.

“Sooo if I remember right, you two are romantic soulmates right,” Rachel asked the two.

Virgil nodded as Logan had a look of surprise on his face. “How did you-”

“Virgil and I have known each other for a year, during that year we’ve noticed that minus our strings, our other strings always have pointed in the same direction, which led me to the conclusion that Indigo, which is the color of your string for me, must be one of Virgil’s red strings.”

“All of your strings really point in the same direction,” Logan asked.

Rachel and Virgil nodded, both showing their wrists. Logan, after a moment of hesitation, held his wrist up as well, showcasing his strings. Two red strings, one clearly leading to Virgil, as well as a green, a blue, a yellow, and Ray’s lavender string. It was clear that the other red, green, blue, and yellow were going in the same direction as Ray’s and Virgil’s.

“So it still seems like we all have the same soulmates,” Rachel said with a smile.

“So how annoyed did your teacher get,” Virgil asked, grinning at her.

“I think he would have pushed me out himself if I had waited any longer to leave.”

Virgil quietly cackled at that.

“How exactly did you and Virgil meet,” Logan asked curious.

“On the way to class on the first day of school when my string started tugging me in a different direction. We quite literally ran into each other when our strings pulled us together. I don’t know if me forgetting to ask Virgil’s name and calling him purple or the fact that we were heading to the same class was worse.”

“Purple is the color of my soul string,” Virgil said in explanation, “So that started the soul string color nicknames.”

“You would be Indigo,” Rachel said without hesitating, “Well at least for me, that’s the color of your string.”

“That’s an adequate nickname,” Logan said as the bell rang.

“Hey Lo, what lunch do you have,” Virgil asked.

“This is actually my lunch,” Logan said.

Rachel beamed at him. “It’s ours as well, we can eat lunch together!”

“I suppose that will be adequate,” Logan said. But even Logan’s formal words couldn’t hide the smile that had begun to form on his face.

Because of that he didn’t complain as Rachel dragged him and Virgil to the cafeteria to get lunch.

And so, their duo became a trio. Though sometimes Rachel left them alone so the two romantic soulmates could have some time together...only to get chewed out later cause screw romantic vs platonic she was their soulmate as well.

A couple months after meeting Logan, Rachel decided to surprise the two. Ever since they met Logan, Rachel had discovered how much Logan enjoyed space. If his rants on space, or more specifically Pluto, didn’t give it away, some of the books he read definitely gave it away.

So, with a bit of help from her parents, who fully supported her hanging out with her soulmates, platonic or not, she bought the three of them tickets for the planetarium and told them to meet up at her house on the day of.

“Ray you know I love you, but why do we have to wear blindfolds,” Virgil groaned.

“Cause it’s a surprise~”

“But the blindfolds aren’t necessary are they,” Logan asked hesitantly.

“You guys trust me don’t you?”

The boys both groaned before putting the blindfolds on as Rachel led them both to the car which would lead them to their destination.

Once they got there, Rachel helped them out of the car and grinned. “Alright, you two ready?”

“As ready as we can be considering you didn’t tell us anything,” Virgil muttered.

“You can take off your blindfolds now~”

The two took off their blindfolds and Logan audible gasped, especially after Rachel pulled out their tickets.

“Ray you didn’t!”

“I did, got us all tickets for the show tonight. Thought you would like it.”

“Alright,” Virgil said with a slight smile, “This is a good surprise.”

Rachel jumped a bit in surprise when Logan literally hugged her. “Thank you Ray!!”

He let go of the hug and jumped up and down, flapping his hands a bit as he did it in excitement.

“I guess this means I chose right,” Rachel said with a grin.

Logan nodded, with a giant grin on his face.

Virgil chuckled. “Well let’s head inside then.”

Rachel nodded, leading the two inside.

Both Rachel and Virgil would admit even after the date, the best thing was the excited look on Logan’s face.

Which ended up giving Virgil an idea for something to give him. He immediately started working on it as soon as they got back, which Ray knew considering he kept messaging Ray for advice. He finished it within a week.

Rachel was with them when he gave it to Logan at school. “Hey Lo,” he said. ‘Yes Virgil?”

“I made you something,” Virgil said with a smile. “What is it?”

Virgil handed the box to Logan and Logan opened it to see a tie with a space design on it.

Logan had a look of awe on his face as he opened it.

“You don’t have to wear it or anything if you don’t want to.”

“No I’m gonna wear it!!”

Just as Logan said that, he swapped his tie for the one Virgil had made him and smiled at Virgil. “Thank you,” he said with the biggest grin on his face. And so their duo had grown to a trio.

#analogical #virgil x logan #virgil sanders #logan sanders #sanders sides oc #ray #soulmate au #soulmate strings #sanders sides soulmate au

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homenum-revelio-hq · 5 years ago

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Welcome (again) to the Order of the Phoenix, Karli!

You have been accepted for the role of non-biography character REGULUS BLACK with the faceclaim of Timothée Chalamet! I really enjoyed how you had him craft himself into a foil/compensation for Sirius and I loved all the tangles you created to drag him to the Horcrux, and through its aftermath. I’m so excited to see everything that he’s going to bring to this roleplay and thrilled to get to watch you challenge yourself with such a different character! He’s going to be a mess, and it’s going to be so much fun!

Please take a look at the new member checklist and send in your account within 24 hours! Thank you for joining the fight against Voldemort!

OUT OF CHARACTER:

NAME: Karli

AGE: 29

TIMEZONE: CST

ACTIVITY LEVEL: Normal level I’ve been showing - quarantine allows a lot of time for admining and writing.

ANYTHING ELSE: None!

CHARACTER DETAILS:

NAME: Regulus Arcturus Black

AGE: December 29, 1960 | Age 21

GENDER, PRONOUNS, and SEXUALITY: Cis-male. He/Him. Regulus doesn’t have an answer to the question of sexuality. He’s never really thought about it because he’s never needed to think about it. Being the only true heir to the Black family fortune, paired with Sirius’ betrayal of the family, Regulus knew his duty from the very first time his brother mentioned the name James Potter. Regulus would find an acceptable witch - or perhaps be paired with one - and they would have a family together to continue the bloodline. Of course, that never happened and now the world thinks him dead. He’s not really interested in exploring with anyone at the moment - but his eyes are more prone to wander now that he’s allowed to let them. If I were to put a label on him, he’s very likely pansexual without knowing it.

BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

HOUSE ALUMNI: Slytherin

ANY CHANGES: N/A

CHARACTER BACKGROUND:

PERSONALITY:

While Regulus had always been good at magic, there was very little he was great at. An average wizard in most subjects, he managed several O.W.L.S, but no outstandings. That was okay with him - people generally knew what to expect when it came to Regulus Black. Everything except his passion for Divination. While he was never a very surprising bloke, that came as a shock to everyone - including himself. Thirteen and looking for something to believe in - something other than the words spouted at him by the older Slytherins or his parents, something other than the growing war on the outside and the whispered name of a Dark Lord - Divination might’ve found Regulus just at the right time. Or, perhaps, that had always been his destiny.

Other than his love for a subject that most look down on, Regulus was fairly consistent. He’d joined the Slytherin Quidditch Team because his parents expected him to get involved and meet respectable friends - and that was fun enough. There wasn’t the same sort of passion for Quidditch as he had for Divination, but he had made the team as Seeker, which meant he was good enough. Always striving for that semblance of pride from someone else would be something that eventually led him down the path that was supposed to kill him. At a tender age of fourteen, however, he wasn’t thinking about any of this. He’d just needed more acceptance in his life.

Ever since Sirius abandoned him for shinier friends, Regulus has been a cynic. That’s the case, even now. He believes the magical world is ending because of Voldemort - and it’s the only reason he defected. Not because he doesn’t believe, in part, some of the rhetoric that his master is spewing - not because he wants to be brave and noble. In the end, he wants magic to survive.

Regulus is cunning. Perhaps that was what pulled him away from his brother, all those years ago. Sorted into rival houses, it left only one final string on the rope tying them together. While he may not have the most intelligence of anyone in a room, Regulus notices things. He’s observant. He was able to learn about Horcruxes - discover about the Dark Lord’s life - and find one… all without his master knowing.

While his heart seems cold, there’s still something left inside of it. He cares about his brother - his family - and many other things, even if he doesn’t show it. He seems apathetic about most things to most people, but there’s part of him that wants to be more than who he is. There’s part of him that wants things to be better between him and Sirius, especially, but there’s little left in him that believes that can happen. He’d come to the Order for a reason, however - and that means not everything is lost. He might be on his last strand of it, but there’s still just a tiny bit of hope left.

Regulus will never be the life of the party, nor does he want to be. He’s fairly quiet, preferring to weigh his words before speaking them. There is power in words, he knows, and he doesn’t want to give his power away without conscience thought. He is bigoted, however, and therefore will likely push back against the wrong things with the wrong people, especially now that he’s surrounded by all these bleeding hearts.

Since his near-death at the lake, things have been sporadic for him. Once consistent and stable, Regulus’ magic has become erratic and hard to control. He also can sense things that may or may not be true. He believes in it, though. After all, Divination is all about the unexplainable.

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF FAMILY: (tw: violence, suicidal ideation)

The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black have never been known for their gentle, warm souls. Orion and Walburga weren’t any different - but Regulus had Sirius. His older brother got them both into trouble more often than not, but also always took the blame. The anger his parents felt were directed at him over Regulus, something that came with the fact that Sirius wasn’t actually Walburga’s son. Still, with Sirius, it felt safe. And that was enough for them. It didn’t matter if they had different mothers (something both were forbidden to ever talk about outside the home, though it was brought up a lot with thinly-veiled threats) because blood was blood. Family was family.

Regulus himself didn’t have a bad relationship with either Orion or Walburga, though he wouldn’t say it was really a good one, either. It was just… a relationship. Their version of normalcy. Walburga’s shrieks of disgust at the way the magical world was moving and their father tuning out into himself to not have to listen to the wife that had been arranged for him wasn’t exactly pleasant - but that was normal for Regulus and he thought nothing about it.

It wasn’t until Sirius went to Hogwarts that things began to change. At the tender age of ten, without his brother there as a distraction, he heard more of what his parents said. They were able to convince him of all their viewpoints. Muggles were dangerous, Muggleborns were magic-stealers, half-breeds were brought up to kill people like him. There was still an idea of what if behind the words - Sirius’ voice in his head, as his brother always beat to his own drum - but it was easier to believe the two people raising him when it was just him on his own. Regulus had always been quieter, more introspective than his brother. With Sirius off at school, there was less trouble - less arguing and destruction. And, because of this, his parents were proud of him, it seemed.

When he joined Sirius at school and was sorted into Slytherin, Regulus let out a breath of relief. The year before, Sirius had stopped writing home. He had found friends, Regulus knew. People who did not fit in with the Black family lifestyle. There was James Potter - new money, a blood traitor, and apparently… the brother Sirius really loved. Then Lupin and Pettigrew, of course. A group of misfits who didn’t deserve who Sirius could’ve been.

So when Slytherin came… Regulus was glad for it. He could be who his parents wanted without restraint. Sirius had chosen to leave him for a life beyond what they were supposed to be. If there wasn’t any room left in his brother’s heart for him, Regulus had to find another way to fit in. But Slytherin was hard - and, with it, came a life of responsibility. The farther Sirius got away from Regulus, the more he leaned into the blood supremacy rhetoric. In order to survive in House Salazar, he had to believe these things. And Sirius stopped trying to teach him differently long ago.

When his brother ran away - to James Potter’s house, no less - Regulus wasn’t surprised. Sirius’ actions had been leading up to this and he was done being disappointed in the person who once filled his whole life. What did surprise him, however, was the discovery that pushed Sirius to abandon the family. The argument between his brother and their parents was a loud, shocking one full of family revelations. The thing that Walburga held over him - the mother who didn’t want him - turned darker than even Regulus had expected.

Sirius’ biological mother was dead. By Walburga’s own hand. It was enough to make his brother leave without a goodbye and Regulus watched from his bedroom window with Kreacher next to him, a steely expression on his face, as Sirius walked out of their lives forever. Perhaps blood wasn’t blood and family wasn’t family, after all.

After Sirius officially left them, it was all over for Regulus. Any inkling of an idea that he could be something else was gone. Sirius got to be whoever he wanted to be, leaving Regulus to be everything they were supposed to be. Regulus kneeled by the Dark Lord’s side prior to his 7th year at Hogwarts and, upon his graduation, was granted the Mark. It was an honor - he would serve the family and bring respect to the Black family name.

But, as the war continued, he saw the truth behind what the Dark Lord wanted. He didn’t care about making the world a better place where wix could rule over those lesser than them. He only cared about power and, with that, came destruction. Regulus, who had always liked Divination, could see what the future held with Lord Voldemort in control of the world. It wasn’t just the Muggle world which would hurt - it was the Wizarding World, too. Magical humanity wouldn’t be able to survive under the Dark Lord’s rule. And that possibility was more frightening than even himself dying in the war. He consulted his tarot cards and believed that the magical world was coming to an end.

Regulus began looking for ways to take down Lord Voldemort - the existence of magic depended on it. It came in the form of Horcruxes. The word - simple, muttered under the breath of the Dark Lord where Regulus shouldn’t have heard - sparked a desire for knowledge in Regulus. He learned of their meaning - and how they were made. He spent months diving into as much of the life of his master as he could find. Tom Marvolo Riddle. Lord Voldemort. And discovered the cave.

The trip would be his last. He knew it - the fortunes had told it. He brought Kreacher along because Kreacher was the only thing he trusted (even if he was supposed to hate house elves, Kreacher he loved; Kreacher was his only friend). He was ready to die - not for some noble, Gryffindor reason. He just… was ready to not exist anymore. The knowledge of only him knowing about these Horcruxes had weighed on him. He didn’t want to be part of the Dark Lord’s cause anymore, but he didn’t want to be in charge of his take down, either. There was no longer Sirius to let him know it would be alright. It wouldn’t be alright.

The Dark Lord would never die and the world would end. Regulus didn’t want to see it happen.

But, if Regulus could go out with a final fuck you to the one person that gave him the Mark that destroyed his life, he would. He drank the potion (Sirius was there, in front of him, why was he there?) and crawled into the water to drink (the hands, pulling him under, he can still feel them now.)

He’d told Kreacher to take the locket and to leave him. It was the only order his old confidant defied. As Regulus choked on the water, felt himself drift amongst the dead bodies in the lake, ready to become one of him, hands moved around him. House elf magic was different - and Kreacher got him out.

Regulus woke up in an abandoned flat outside a Muggle town. It had all the necessities, but looked overturned - as though the occupants had left England in a hurry, likely to escape from the war. Kreacher was gone (perhaps dead or at least punished by his own hand), but next to Regulus was his wand and the locket. A Horcrux. A piece of the Dark Lord’s soul. He read about his own disappearance in a stolen Daily Prophet, listened to them talk about him being a possible casualty of war on the Wireless. His family would be grieving, but he would be safe. For all anyone knew, he was dead - and he intended to keep it that way.

He survived on stolen food from the Muggle community and kept his head down for a year, the piece of soul forever with him. He didn’t have a plan because his plan had been to die. Not to mention - the effects of nearly dying in a lake full of dead, magical bodies had taken its toll. Regulus, who had always been a steady spell-caster (never great, never bad, just steady), was now sporadic. Sometimes, he could cast a charm more powerful than he’d ever been able to before - other times, it would barely be a wisp of energy.

And then there was the sensing. Having always enjoyed the art of Divination, Regulus knew that some magic wasn’t as well known as others. But, now, it was like he could sense things he hadn’t been able to before. The darkness before an attack - the feeling of trauma. The problem was… half the time, this didn’t turn out to be real. He’d feel a chill down his spine, preparing for more attacks in the paper - and nothing came. It was hard to manage. Nothing was the truth anymore. He wasn’t himself anymore. He’d been brought back from the dead, but some of the dead had come with him.

There was no telling what made him write to Sirius on the date of his death, one year later - but there was something that made him believe that now was the right time. He was a walking deck of tarot cards now and he had to listen to his own senses. He packed up the Horcrux, kept his wand tight, and followed his brother into the Order of the Phoenix.

OCCUPATION: Being “dead,” Regulus does not work. Even prior to death, he didn’t really have a job. He lived with his parents at the time and worked for the Dark Lord. Being so young and just out of Hogwarts, he might’ve considered looking into the Ministry of Magic for work, had he not discovered about the Horcruxes. Until his mishap with the inferi, he was a very consistent and steady spell-caster. Not amazing or really excelling at any one thing, but steady. Had he had the chance to seek employment, he might’ve considered the International Magical Office of Law.

ROLE WITHIN THE ORDER/THOUGHTS ABOUT THE ORDER:

Regulus wants to end the war. That’s all. The Order is just a means to the end - as he feels they’re the only ones that might even come close to taking the Dark Lord down. That being said, he doesn’t really care who wins - he just knows who he wants to lose. This whole thing didn’t come from some big epiphany or a change of heart about Muggles and mudbloods… he just believes that Lord Voldemort is going to make the entire magical world crash and burn. Regulus wants to save magical humanity and he thinks that, if Voldemort wins, that’s the end of life, as his cards foretold.

For the past year, he’s been isolated on his own with this locket he knows to be a Horcrux. He doesn’t know what to do about it, how to find the others he assumes there to be, or how to destroy it. Sirius has admittedly come to his mind several times since his death, but the idea of finding his estranged brother, who he hasn’t seen since he was sixteen, was too hard to really consider until recently. As the war continued and Voldemort gained more and more power (the Daily Prophet comes in handy for something!), Regulus knew he had to push himself forward. And thus the letter to Sirius. Does he believe in the Order’s cause? Not really. Does he believe anyone else could take this secretive information and actually do something with it? No. The Order is the only hope for humanity - so he’ll put his energy into it if he has to.

SURVIVAL:

The only reason Regulus hasn’t died yet is because a majority of the population thinks he already has. If the Dark Lord were to discover that one of his youngest members to ever have been given the Dark Mark had betrayed him, Regulus would very likely be at the top of Voldemort’s Most Want to Kill List (Regulus assumes his old master has one of these somewhere, anyway). As it is, Voldemort is none-the-wiser to the betrayal. Regulus doesn’t know whether the Dark Lord has discovered his note left over in the basin with the fake locket yet - but it’s only a matter of time.

For the last year, Regulus survived by using magic to steal food from unsuspecting Muggle communities and living in the abandoned home where Kreacher deposited him. Regulus has never been built much for camping, but survival is survival. He’s not ashamed of using his magic against the Muggles - they’re just Muggles! - and doesn’t ever intend on paying them back. His life is more important, after all.

Now that he’s back with the Order, his survival will depend on them keeping their mouths shut about him being alive - and taking the information he has seriously. He doesn’t like relying on others this much - especially the rag-tag team of misfits his brother loves so much - but he doesn’t have much of a choice. He can’t find these Horcruxes on his own and he needs the Order, just as much as they needed his information about how to truly take down the Dark Lord. He’ll survive by staying at the McKinnon Farm, most likely. If they’ll have him.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Sirius Black. The thing about Sirius that a lot of people don’t know is that there was love there, once. In fact, Sirius used to be the person Regulus felt most at ease with. They played together when they were young. He was the person Regulus looked most up to, as a child. But then Sirius had to go off to Hogwarts and find a new family. The farther Sirius got away from Regulus and the Black family, the more Regulus felt he needed to push opposite. As Sirius rebelled, Regulus became the son his parents always wanted. While Sirius got to be whoever he wanted with friends who would accept him, Regulus needed to prove to those around him that he was worthy. In Regulus’ mind, his older brother abandoned him to become something Regulus would never have the ability to be. Sirius is selfish. Perhaps, however, Regulus does have more of his brother in him than he originally thought. After all, defying the Dark Lord and faking his own death is a bigger act of rebellion than Sirius ever pulled off. Now that they’re back in each other’s lives, it’s bound to be rocky. But just because things aren’t good doesn’t mean the love is gone.

Caradoc Dearborn. When it comes to this “Inner Circle” thing (Regulus would like to point out that the Dark Lord, too, has one of those), he’d prefer to do business mainly with Caradoc. The man is a pureblood, for one - but he’s also straight-forward and doesn’t play games. Regulus doesn’t have to worry about the meaning behind Dearborn’s words like he does with Edgar Bones. What he says is what he means - and that’s something that makes Regulus feel more secure.

Lydia Avery & Cordelia Greengrass. If there’s anyone more surprising to have been fighting against the Dark Lord, it’s these two. Regulus knows them from growing up in their world - Lydia seems too nice to play it risky, while Regulus always assumed Cordelia was the perfect pureblood princess. Then again, he was the perfect pureblood prince… so perhaps things have changed. They seem relatively new to this whole thing - just like him - and there’s comfort in that.

Other purebloods from high society. Regulus can’t believe how many people he knows are fighting for this cause when they would’ve been safe no matter who won (if the world didn’t end, at least). However, the Order is full of familiar faces of his old life. Isla, Ryland, Branwen, Archibald, Emma, and even more Regulus recognizes! While it’s more than he would’ve ever assumed, he feels he has someone to talk to, at least.

Maurice Creevey. There’s not much to do when keeping your head down for a year and playing dead - but the Wireless helps. It’s something he listened to practically all day, every day, and so he’s stumbled upon more radio stations he never would’ve listened to a year ago. Maurice’s is one of them. It’s hidden - he’d discovered the first password from listening in on the neighbors - but interesting. While Regulus can’t agree with a majority of the rhetoric (really, it’s so radical, which only proves the point that Muggleborns are a problem!), he’s still listening. It’s made him think. And that’s something.

The Marauders. The group of his brother’s idiotic friends who took Sirius away from him. Now that they’re one down - James Potter had been the worst of them, too! - they’re a bit less unbearable. But what’s this about Lupin being a fucking werewolf? And then there’s Pettigrew… Regulus knows a secret about him. Sirius really knows how to pick them!

Peter Pettigrew. Speaking of Peter, Regulus knows something about him that Peter likely wouldn’t want spread. They’d both been under those masks a year ago, after all. He doesn’t know if the Dark Lord has granted Pettigrew with a Mark like he had Regulus, but it is clear now that Peter has been betraying the Order for years. Despite contrary belief, Peter actually isn’t stupid - he’s managed to spy for this long, after all! - but Regulus also knows that Peter knows Regulus is aware of his secret. Regulus doesn’t plan on telling the Order about the betrayal. So long as Peter doesn’t fuck up their chances at taking down the Dark Lord.

Severus Snape. Regulus doesn’t know what Severus is playing at. Has he truly defected to the Order’s side or is he like Peter and taking them all for a ride? Regulus doesn’t really care to find out - unless Severus plans on telling of Regulus’ own betrayal to the Dark Lord. He’d like to stay dead and therefore safe. He’s not above taking action if he means his own survival - or the survival of the Wizarding World - is at stake.

Andromeda Tonks. Along with Sirius, Andromeda is the other blasted-off member of his family from Regulus’ generation. In Regulus’ opinion, Andromeda was stupid. She wasn’t like Sirius - she could’ve had it all! And, yet, she’d thrown it away for a mudblood! It’s not like she was his favorite cousin when she was around, but he didn’t not like her either. It feels weird having her back. He’d spent most of his life with her off the tapestry, disowned by the family. He remembers more of his life without Andromeda than with her. Like Sirius, he’s not surprised she decided to help the cause. They always had the most bleeding hearts in the family.

Emmeline Vance. It’s been over a year since Regulus has been able to have access to a real healer. He’s glad Emmeline is working with the Order simply because he does need help. The side-effects of dying for a few minutes and inhaling all that magic has really done a number on him. He’d tried to fix it himself, but he’s not well-versed in healing spells, and probably did more harm to himself than good. He hopes Emmeline can help put him back together.

OOC EXPLORATION:

SHIPS/ANTI-SHIPS: Chemistry! I don’t plan much on shipping with Regulus, but am 100% open to something happening with any of the characters if a bit of chemistry comes up!

WHAT PRIVILEGES AND BIASES DOES YOUR CHARACTER HAVE?

Regulus didn’t have a lot of true friends at Hogwarts. He had his housemates and he was readily accepted as a Black family member in the House of Slytherin. But being in Slytherin also had rules. You fit in or you were out. It was kill or be killed. So Regulus adapted. While Sirius was able to find loving friends and become his true self in Gryffindor, thus leaving Regulus behind, Regulus had Slytherin. And that meant leaning even more into everything they’d learned from their parents. The rhetoric of pureblood is best had always been ingrained in his mind but, come Hogwarts, it became a lifestyle.

Regulus truly believes it, too. He’s bound to use the word mudblood in the presence of the Order and doesn’t always understand why people are so touchy about it. He doesn’t trust werewolves or goblins - he believes house elves are meant to be servants (even if one of his best confidants was one). Being a pureblood from a wealthy, high society family means he’s always been incredibly privileged. He grew up with money and class and never wanted for much (other than unconditional love, particularly from his brother). If the war were to have ended while he was in school, Regulus would’ve been safe.

However it didn’t end and he’s no longer safe. The biggest obstacle for him now is that he’d betrayed the Dark Lord. Even his family name can’t protect him. His privilege is gone. However, he still lives by all the biases he’s ever learned. He will judge the half-breeds in the Order. He will be condescending and confused by muggleborns who can perform magic well. He will look at his bloodline like it’s better. He won’t agree with having the werewolves in the woods and probably feel very weird around all the muggleborns at the farm. While he’s lost a lot of his privilege in the world of Voldemort, that doesn’t mean general society feels the same. He’s a cis, white, pureblooded male.

If he hadn’t pissed off the Dark Lord, he would’ve been golden.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? This is the roleplay I created 8 months ago and I just cannot believe how AMAZING it’s turned out. I never expected HR to get as far as it did. I love the players, the plots that we’ve all created together, and everything about this rpg. Now that James is dead, I’d like to challenge myself by playing a character I’ve never played before. I wanted someone completely opposite of James - and Regulus came to my mind because he can really fuck some shit up and bring something new to the plot.

PLOT DROP IDEAS: Mostly, the biggest thing for Regulus is that he’s bringing up the fact that the Order can’t win without defeating the Horcruxes - which I think has a lot of potential for missions and other events and plot drops! I also can’t wait to explore the people in his family he’s coming back to! Sirius and Andromeda both thought he was dead for the past year. And then there are all the people he grew up with. I’m super excited for it all! I’d give some other plot drop ideas, but I think that’ll spoil some admin things we have planned, huzzah!

ANYTHING ELSE? N/A

EXTRA FOR NON-BIO CHARACTERS:

PAST:

Regulus life used to be able to be defined in two parts: before Sirius and after Sirius. His brother, who had once been his best and only friend, had found something different, leaving Regulus behind to become the person their parents always wanted. While Sirius rebelled against the pureblood rhetoric of the Black family, Regulus leaned into it. He had to in order to survive in Slytherin. Sirius left them - and Regulus became the perfect pureblood son to be the heir of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. Then he took the Dark Mark. And, soon, his life became before the Dark Lord and after the Dark Lord. While Regulus truly did believe most of what his master preached, he also believed that a world ruled by Voldemort meant the end of magical humanity. Ever passionate about Divination, Regulus consulted his tarot cards, his crystal ball, his tea leaves… and all he saw was destruction. The death of himself - the death of the Wizarding World. His rebellion wasn’t like Sirius’ - it wasn’t loud or brash or dramatic. It came with the knowledge of a Horcrux and where to find it. He wanted Voldemort to lose because he wanted the world to survive. When he went to the lake, he never expected to come out alive. He’d thought death had been his destiny. But Kreacher had defied him - saved him - and left him with the world believing him dead, a Horcrux around his neck.

PRESENT:

There have been times in the past year where Regulus thought about reaching out to Sirius, but he wasn’t ready - something kept him away. It wasn’t until his cards told him now was the time that he wrote the letter, explaining to his brother that he was alive and had crucial information for the Order. Regulus knows what this means for him. He could’ve stayed dead for the remainder of the war - perhaps gotten out of the country. But where would that leave the Wizarding World? He wants magic to survive - and therefore he must work with the Order of the Phoenix. While he doesn’t really believe in their cause, he does believe that the organization is the only thing that possibly has a chance at stopping Voldemort. He has knowledge on how to do so - now they just need to listen. It doesn’t matter if the side-effects of his near-death in the lake (the bursts of magic, the sense of something surrounding them) makes him less stable than he’s ever been - what matters is that only he knows the truth about how to take down the Dark Lord. The Order may not trust Regulus, but he knows that there will be no humanity left without him.

FC CHOICES: Timothée Chalamet (alt: Tyler Young, Logan Lerman)

#homenumaccepted #marauders era rp #harry potter rp #harry potter roleplay #marauders era rpg

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dusky-dancing · 5 years ago

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Downtime

Summary: The night before their biggest day yet, Sora and Kairi get some well-deserved time together. The night, and the town, is theirs for the taking. May contain KH3 spoilers.

Rating: K+

Genre: Romance

Length: ~2500 words

For SoKai Week, Day 2: Perfect Date

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Kairi waited beside the purple train outside of Yen Sid's tower, taking in the unobstructed night sky. Add a few seagull caws and crashing waves, and it would be identical to that of Destiny Islands.

The seven Guardians had reunited, and the biggest day of their lives lay ahead. They only had one night. One single night to themselves amidst the chaos that ensued around them. More importantly, it was more time than they'd gotten together in over a year.

Approaching footsteps drew her attention from the sky. He walked slowly, hesitantly. He was nervous, though it brought her some sense of comfort at the same time. Her own nerves likely showed as well.

She smiled and folded her hands, "Managed to get away?"

Sora stopped just within arms' reach, scratching his head. "Uh - course!" He pulled the gummi-phone out of his pocket and promptly switched it off, "Off the grid, as promised."

He'd changed his attire, which she was grateful for. She grew tired of seeing him covered in enchanted clothing made for battle. Instead, he only wore a simple sweater, jacket, and dress pants. Even in such casual attire, he still looked charming. She'd donned a more casual evening dress herself, and she hoped it lived up.

She giggled and held a hand out, "Shall we, then?"

A weight lifted off of her shoulders as soon as the train door closed behind them. The ride started with a jolt, but smoothed out after departing from Yen Sid's tower. She and Sora breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. For a moment, they sat silently across from one another, taking in the brief moment of peace they had.

It was nice to break away.

"So," Sora began, "we've got a whole night. What comes to mind first?"

Kairi didn't even have to think for long. "Food," she giggled, "I don't know about you, but I'm ready for a nice warm, home-cooked meal."

Sora's growling stomach told her that he felt the same. He laughed, "Guess I didn't even have to answer."

The walk from the station to the food district was brief, but each moment alone with him seemed to stretch forever. Not that Kairi complained, there was just so much she wanted to say that she didn't know where to begin.

They finally seated themselves outside of the Bistro. Almost right away, a waiter approached and handed them both menus.

"The dinner special tonight is Cassoulet," he spoke very politely, "and what would we like to drink?"

"Something warm sounds nice," Sora said, "hot green tea?" He looked to Kairi.

"We'll share a pot," she smiled, "honey on the side, please."

The waiter nodded, bowing himself out to give them time to decide. The night air was chilly, but nearby torches kept an aura of warmth around the outside dining area.

"I don't even know what half of these things are," Sora said as he scanned the menu.

Kairi laughed, "I thought you said you knew the chef."

"I do," Sora scratched his head, "but I only helped him with little things. Never knew how complicated the recipes really were."

Half of it was written in a language she couldn't even understand. Luckily, the waiter returned with their tea and a small basket of warm bread to hold them over.

"Have we decided?" he asked.

"Yes, I think I'll have the Rat..a...too...ille," Kairi pointed to the item when she was sure she'd failed to pronounce it correctly. All she knew was the plate looked delicious

Sora closed the menu and handed it back to him, "Bring me your favorite. I trust your taste more than mine. "

He bowed once more as he returned inside. Finally, they got a longer moment to themselves. Kairi just hoped that no one would walk by and recognize them. Sora grabbed a piece of bread and broke it in two.

Extending the larger half to Kairi, he said, "To our friends, old and new."

Kairi took it. "To reunions, and new beginnings."

The bread warmed her mouth instantaneously. The outside was crunchy, but the inside was soft enough to melt.

Soon, their food arrived. Sora ate quickly, but Kairi savored every warm, flavor-filled bite. Throughout her training, she only ever ate food on the go. She missed sitting down to actually enjoy a meal.

She looked up, only to see Sora with tomato sauce all over his chin. A giggle escaped from her before she could stop herself.

"What's so funny?" he said with a mouth full, "something on my face?"

"Mhm," she nodded, "but it's okay, see?" With that, she ran a finger across her place and wiped it on her chin. "How do I look?"

Sora stifled more laughter and stroked his chin, "Hmm, wasn't enough to make me laugh like you did. You need more." Before she could pull away, he used his thumb to add more sauce to her cheek.

"Hey!"

He leaned back snorting in his chair, "Now that's funny!"

Kairi considered flinging another spoonful of sauce at him, until the waiter approached again and asked, "Do we need more napkins?" From his restrained tone, she got the underlying message, please stop the food fight.

"No, thank you," Kairi said.

He nodded, "I'll bring your check. There's no rush."

Once he was out of earshot, Sora leaned in, "That means there is a rush," he smirked.

"Sorry," Kairi said, "guess we're too used to our friends."

At her last words, Sora's smile dropped for a moment. He just stared forward, lost in thought.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, "I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's not you, I was just," Sora paused, staring at his hands, "for our friends, I hope I'll be strong enough."

Kairi touched his arm, bringing his attention back. "Don't think about that right now, Sora. Tonight, it's just you and me," she smiled.

He covered her hand with his own, "You're right. Sorry."

The torches around them snuffed out, and the cold night air overtook them. Sora's eyes went wide for a moment, but there didn't seem to be an immediate threat around them.

Kairi glanced around. The tree branches stayed motionless, so it couldn't have been wind. Behind a nearby building, however, she noticed the smallest white feathered tail sticking out from behind. She giggled.

"What is it?" Sora asked.

She nodded her head in the direction, "I think we've been followed."

A smirk grew on Sora's face, and Kairi knew he'd figured out the source as well. "Donald," he grumbled.

The duck had put out the torches. She suspected it wasn't so much an attempt to sabotage their night, but to force them closer together. In a way, it was thoughtful and sweet, impossible to be mad about. The question was whether or not Sora pieced it together as well. Her eyes went to the comfy-looking jacket resting on the back of Sora's chair.

"Want me to give him a hard time?" Kairi asked.

Sora shook his head, "I have an idea."

Without staring in their spy's direction long enough to arouse suspicion, Sora reached into his pockets and placed munny on the table. He counted enough for the meal and a generous sorry-for-the-trouble tip, then scooted his chair back.

"Ready to bolt?" he had that mischievous smile on his face, the same as whenever he and Riku would prank each other. They may never be allowed back at the restaurant, but Kairi didn't care.

She nodded.

In a whisper, he counted down, "Three, two...one!"

They dashed out of their seats and took off towards the alleyways. Sora knew the streets far better than she did, so he grabbed her hand and guided her through the maze of buildings.

"Think we lost them?" Kairi glanced behind as Sora led her around another corner.

They ended up in a secluded back-alleyway. On one side was a large commercial building, like a restaurant or a shop. The backs of residential homes lined the other.

"I think so," Sora panted, "that was fun."

Kairi nodded as she caught her breath, glancing a smile at him.

Once her adrenaline faded, she noticed the music coming from inside. Strings and wind instruments harmonized and played around each other. The song was upbeat, like something one would hear in a tavern at the busiest hour.

They faced the back entrance, and it didn't take much stealth to open the door unnoticed under all of the commotion. Inside, several people danced and twirled as bards performed on a side stage. She didn't spot any posters or signs for an event.

As they peered in, the clap of webbed feet echoed closer to their hiding spot. To their advantage, Donald wasn't exactly stealthy.

"Ah phooey! Where'd they go?" Donald cried.

"I dunno," Goofy's voice chimed in. So he was an accomplice to this as well. "Maybe we should, you know, leave them alone for a bit?"

Donald huffed, and his footsteps grew closer to their alleyway. Kairi gave Sora a smirk, and without a word, pulled him inside of the dance hall along with her.

"Ah! Kairi, what are you-"

"Just dance with me and blend in," she winked.

She skipped her way into the group. Sora stood dumbfounded for a moment, but eventually caught up with her. Kairi never thought she'd get the opportunity, and she wasn't going to waste this moment. Grabbing his arm, she pulled it around her waist as she reached for his other hand. To her surprise, he didn't need anymore guiding. He secured his hand around her and led them into the dancing circle straight away. No one seemed to notice the sudden guests who'd snuck in the back.

He pulled her along, and she followed with little resistance. As they moved around the circle with the other dancing pairs, he also spun her around himself. The sensation was dizzying at first, but her body quickly warmed up. It was a nice contrast to the cold outside.

Sora loosened his hand around her, signalling a change in pace. She stepped away and spun in the direction he guided her. Her dress flew around her, and in that moment she was glad she'd changed up her attire as well.

"You're pretty good," he smiled brightly.

"Speak for yourself," she laughed.

"You know," he said, "Donald and Goofy have probably moved on by now."

"Oh, right," she'd forgotten what lead them inside in the first place, "we could probably stop if we wanted."

His expression fell for a moment, and guilt weighed over her for such a suggestion.

"But, you know, we should probably keep going, just in case," she smiled.

A few extra minutes of dancing turned into a couple of hours. Through fast or slow song, Kairi could never gain the strength to pull away or stop. Only once her feet begged for a break did they eventually take their leave and make their way back to the main streets. They laughed as they walked, still full of energy.

The sun had long since set, and Kairi ached for the little time they had left.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"The night's a little chilly."

Sora finally took his jacket off and placed it around her shoulders. A delayed response to Donald's hint, but Kairi was grateful regardless. She grabbed the edges from inside and pulled it around her, allowing the empty sleeves to sway at her side.

"Anything else you wanna do?" she walked slowly, not ready to return to the sorcerer's tower - to reality.

Sora stopped and stared up at the town's large clock tower. He seemed almost hypnotized by it.

"Yeah, one more thing."

Together, they walked at an easy pace towards the tower, no longer concerned with outrunning any potential onlookers. Minutes later, they sat together atop the station tower, looking on the lights of the town from above. Even at night, the view was spectacular.

"It's beautiful," Kairi leaned back as her feet dangled, "how did you know about this?"

"I don't know," he said, "just a feeling I got."

She looked to the sky. It was even more beautiful than the view from Yen Sid's tower, not even obscured by trees. A few minutes of silent appreciation passed before Sora spoke again.

"Hey, Kairi?"

"Mhm?"

He cupped his hand over hers, "Thank you."

She glanced down, surprised, "What for?"

"Ever since this whole journey started, this was all I wanted," he turned his gaze back to the town, "to just have fun in another world with you."

"Oh," she didn't know how else to respond. Her face suddenly felt warmer against the cold air. "Well I told you, I'm with you wherever you go."

"That doesn't count. I wanted to sit next to you, laugh with you," he paused, hesitant to go any further, "every time I went to another world, I always ended up wishing you'd been there too, you know?"

She looked down at their hands touching, "I'm sorry."

His eyes darted back up to her, "No, no! I wasn't- I didn't mean-" He stopped himself, "it wasn't your fault."

Words kept escaping her. There was so much she wanted to say, but couldn't. She hoped a gentle smile would communicate enough. "Once this is over, maybe we can revisit the worlds together." She turned her hand over and curled her fingers into the spaces between his.

He returned a smile that outshone hers, "I'd like that."

As much as she wished she could stop time, the night had to come to an end, and they'd need their sleep. After a reluctant climb down from the tower and another train ride, they were back at Yen Sid's tower.

Before entering her chambers, she turned to Sora, pushed herself onto her toes and kissed him on the cheek. It was brief, but warm. His face flushed red as his hand instinctively shot up to his cheek.

"Thank you," she said, "this was all I wanted too, the most magical night I could have asked for."

-------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, down the hallway, a curious Goofy ducked back into his chambers and closed the door. He covered his mouth to stop himself from yelping at the sight.

"What is it now?" Donald grunted.

"Oh nothing," he waved it off, "sorry you lost track of them earlier."

"It was you who lost them, you big palooka!"

He shrugged, "Maybe next time."

In truth, he knew Sora wouldn't need their help the moment he saw them dancing. The hard part was leading Donald down the wrong trails to keep him from noticing.

#kingdom hearts #kh fanfiction #sokaiweek2019 #sokaiweek #sokai #sora #kairi #Kingdom Hearts FanFic #kh3 spoilers #my writing #dusky writing #long post

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dalgonachan · 6 years ago

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Puppets of Fate

pairing: Wonwoo x reader genre: angst with a happy ending warnings: none prompt: red string of fate au; you and Wonwoo aren't soulmates, but who cares if it's true love? word count: 1550

Everyone knows about the red string of fate. Its rules were simple: two people predestined to be partners for life were bound by the string. The idea of soulmates was something you were never really fond of, especially since it was a norm that soulmates were supposed to be romantically involved. The string dangling from your finger felt like chains shackling you to a person you weren't willing to be with. You loathed the way fate played with people and people weren't pleased with your attitude towards fate. They would tell you how unfair it would be for your soulmate if you rejected them because apparently, it was seen as taboo for doing so equated as a grave offense to the laws of fate. The way you saw it, choosing destiny over personal happiness was more unfair.

You and Wonwoo have been together for a couple of years now and both of you have zero regrets neglecting the red string. He found it pointless to spend life chasing after the person at the other end. Besides, it wasn't like he was the type of person who had time to do that. He was always busy promoting with Seventeen, so he barely went on breaks to catch up on his own life.

It's been a few months since you last bonded with Wonwoo due to his hectic schedule. He and his members just came back from their Asia tour, which meant they were given a few weeks worth of rest. To you, this meant you could finally spend time with your beloved boyfriend again because heaven knows how bored and lonely you've gotten.

At first, he didn't seem to find the idea of ice skating appealing to his introvert preferences. You managed to convince him, though, saying you wanted to try something you've never done together. That brings you two to the nearest skating rink with your wallets crying from the expensive fee of the unlimited time package.

Since neither of you was an experienced skater, you wobbled your first steps into the rink and straightaway slipped on your bottoms. Your attempts to stand back up were futile since you ended up landing on all fours, slipping further away into the ice. Wonwoo laughed at you as he crawled his way to the nearest side of the rink for him to grab onto the railings. You did the same and by the time you were standing side by side again, you erupted into laughter.

"Oh my god, my cheeks and stomach hurt!" You say in between breaths.

"Mine too," he says, clutching his side.

"I wasn't expecting to get the hang of it at the first try, but I also wasn't expecting to fail so badly." You were now gasping for air, cold white fog escaping your lips with every breath.

"You were really funny." A wide grin spread across Wonwoo's face as he chuckled.

You scoffed, hitting him playfully. "Shut up! Let's try that again!"

"Be careful not to fall this time." He teased.

Ignoring what he said, you held his hand and once again tried learning how to skate. It did take quite some time to master, but at least you and Wonwoo got to move across the ice. By the time you could manage going faster, the both of you raced laps around the rink, trying to get ahead of each other.

You were having so much fun that you failed to notice the length of the thread hanging from your pinky getting shorter with each passing second. It wasn't until Wonwoo reached the side of the rink opposite from you that you decided to catch your breath.

"Excuse me?" A boy about your age approached you. He had a bright smile on his face albeit his timidity. "Hello, my name's Dae Minjun. It's nice to finally meet you."

You tilted your head to one side as you looked at him in confusion. To be polite, you returned the best smile you could muster to put on.

"I'm (L/n) (Y/n). It's nice to meet you, too." You said, extending your hand to shake his.

Upon doing so, that's when it all started to make sense. Your eyes traced the red string peeking out from the wrist of your gloves connecting all the way to Minjun's pinky. Noticing your realization, his smile grew even brighter that his eyes twinkled.

"We're soulmates. Amazing, isn't it? Who would have thought the divine intervention of fate would lead us to each other on this day?" The way he spoke so innocently made you feel really bad about how you were going to have to break the truth to him. Just in time, Wonwoo arrived at your side, his eyes scanning you and Minjun. He didn't say a word, but you felt his arm wrap around you, tugging you closer to him.

"Um... Wonwoo-ah, this is Minjun, my soulmate." You said, uttering your words as carefully as possible. "Minjun, this is Wonwoo. He's my boyfriend."

"Hello," Wonwoo greeted with an amiable smile.

The joy on Minjun's face dropped and so did your heart. It made you feel a little guilty to see his crestfallen expression. So this is why you were always warned about the unfairness of rejecting your soulmate. Who wouldn't be disappointed after years of waiting to know whom you were destined to be with, only to find out they didn't want to be with you?

"But... we're bound by fate." He was obviously having a hard time accepting this.

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just that this relationship I have with Wonwoo was built by both of our efforts and I don't think I'll ever be willing to just throw it all away to follow destiny." You explained the best way you could, all the while hoping you hadn't completely crushed this boy's heart. "We could be friends if you'd like. After all, soulmates don't necessarily have to be romantic partners all the time."

You could tell Minjun clearly wasn't comfortable with the whole idea by how he winced when you suggested becoming friends instead.

"I-I have to go. It was really nice getting to know you, though." Minjun shook hands with you and Wonwoo one last time before fleeing to the skating rink's exit, the thread stretching longer again.

Shame and pity were all you felt as you watched him hurriedly leave like he wanted to immediately disappear from your sights. You were certain he was embarrassed for being so hopeful and excited, only to be turned down by his own soulmate.

"I think I've had enough ice skating for today." You sigh, making your way to the rink's exit with Wonwoo following closely behind.

During the walk back to your house, a storm of mixed emotions was brewing inside you. Neither you or Wonwoo had spoken since you left the rink and the tension between you was only getting thicker. You were conflicted and he could tell by the look on your face. He wanted to comfort you and tell you that what you did was right, but the authority to confirm that was not his. It had to come from you.

"We're breaking the laws of the red string, aren't we?" He finally spoke up, eliminating the suffocating atmosphere. "The both of us together in love: it's unfair to fate."

"No." You instantly responded as a look of resentment crossed your face. "It's fate that's unfair for getting to decide who gets to be with who. It invalidates the right to freedom of choice."

All your life, you've been staying true to what you believed in and you weren't so keen on giving it up all because of the encounter with Minjun. This was what always made you feel confident about being with Wonwoo. It was what made you strongly decide to pursue personal happiness over destiny. With your thoughts recollected, you knew nothing better than to stand firm on your ground.

You quickened your pace to stand before Wonwoo, abruptly stopping him in his tracks. His cold brown eyes gazed into yours with curiosity as you intertwined your fingers together.

"I want to be with you, Jeon Wonwoo. It's you I love and I'm not letting some string tied around my finger dictate whom I get to spend the rest of my life with." You say while fighting back tears before kissing him on the lips.

If being with someone you weren't fated to be with was taboo, then how could anyone explain how right it felt for Wonwoo's lips to kiss you back? Or the way shivers went down your spine as his palms cupped your cheeks? Or how he tasted made your lips tingle after every kiss?

And most of all, how he himself made you feel so genuinely loved and happy that you definitely held him in a very special place in your heart.

"I'm glad our relationship still matters to you," Wonwoo mumbled, pressing his forehead against yours. "For a second, I thought you were going to change your mind and give up on us."

"I would never." You reassured, stroking your fingers against his cheek. "Us together is indeed unfair to fate, but I could never exchange it for anything else. We might as well bend the rules for our love."

#seventeenimagine #seventeen scenarios #seventeen angst #seventeen wonwoo #svt wonwoo #svt #jeonwonwoo #wonwoo #red string au #red string of fate #seventeen x reader #wonwoo x reader #angst #kpop imagines #genderneutral #seventeen #wonwoo imagines

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xxscarletxrosexx · 5 years ago

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Chapter 4: Ma Douce Mère

Fanfic | Deviantart

A/N: Happy belated birthday to me~ I hope you enjoy my version of the (half) big reveal!~

I actually planned to post this last weekend before my birthday, but my plans had piled up. I had a birthday celebration to prep for, then the party the next day. The day after that, I had to say goodbye to a family member. And the day after that, I was asked to work on my remote job for the whole day. Then midterms began on the day of my birthday...I'm v busy, but I'm glad my me-time was spent writing this chapter two weeks ago, but with some time in between I was able to clean up the chapter with the addition of the newest episode Kwami Buster incorporated into this chapter.

DeviantArt: XxScarletxRosexX Tumblr: XxScarletxRosexX Instagram: XxScarlyliciousxX Fanfiction: XxScarletxRosexX

Summary:

It is far from coincidences that these miraculous jewels ended in Marinette’s and Adrien’s possession. Their kwamis claim that they have been specifically chosen as the sole protectors against evil. But when an akuma returns a forgotten past, it unravels an unforeseen destiny of their Miraculous predecessors’ lives. Their decisions, from this moment forward, could possibly alter the true meaning of their existences and their destinies.

In Chat's safe arms, time moved at an incredibly slow pace, almost as if they had accomplished freezing time completely. Despite Marinette's mourning and sniffling state echoing through the night, Paris was very peaceful. Chat Noir moved the hand patting her back, to smooth through her glossy ultramarine hair. He leaned towards the crown of hair and gently pressed his lips against them.

Marinette felt his sweet gesture and smiled to herself. Her eyes fluttered to a close as she melted against his chest and began to calm down. She kept her arms wrapped around Chat Noir's waist until she was finally able to recollect her composure. She felt painfully embarrassed to have revealed this ugly and vulnerable side of herself to Chat Noir, but she was also grateful that it was Chat who was able to help comfort and relieve her from this burden. She lifted her head off his chest and with a gentle voice, she said, "Thank you, Chat. I really appreciate it."

Chat's usual playful demeanor was replaced with an unusually soft expression. His eyes, the color of emeralds, were slightly squinted, the slight lift of his mask suggested his eyebrows were raised, and his lip was gently tugged to the side. It was so bizarre to see this sentimental side of him. It was almost captivating. Marinette felt her cheeks blossom with warmth when Chat interrupted her thoughts. "It's no problem, Marinette." Chat had sat Marinette down on her foldable beach chair while he sat crouched by her feet.

"I'm sorry," the dark-haired woman apologized, "I didn't mean to cry in front of you."

"Don't worry about it," Chat comforted, "I'm just glad to see you feeling better after that."

Marinette smiled sheepishly before continuing, "We were talking about Ladybug before I rudely interrupted…"

Chat swatted his hand in front of his face to signal that he hadn't taken any offense, "It's fine-" Suddenly his body grew tense when his ears heard something from the distance. Before Marinette could continue the conversation, Chat scooped her in his arms and jumped from her balcony and into a nearby building. Seconds later, a familiar sound of a metallic string wrapped around the beach chair where Marinette had once sat on. Within seconds, the beach chair was sliced into minced pieces.

"Chat Noir, surrender your Miraculous and I'll let you and Marinette free," a familiar mezzo-soprano voice commanded. A metallic string encircled the chimney that Chat Noir and Marinette were standing on. Moments later, a dark figure launched from the ground and landed in front of them.

Marinette's expression drained of color as she recognized the dark silhouette standing before them. The moon glowed behind her back, but city lights on the other side of the bridge dimly lit a tall, slim body in a red spandex one-suit and black polka-dots, pale face with icy, faded blue eyes, and hair colored like the ocean on a starless evening separated into two long pigtails that swayed against her thighs.

"Hello, sweetie."

"Mom?!" the navy-haired teenager gasped.

"Mom?" Chat Noir echoed, glancing from Marinette's horrified expression to the figure.

"That's Ladybug, to you!" she hurled her yo-yo forward, encircling Marinette and Chat Noir like a lasso.

Chat Noir prepped his escape by crouching to a squat. Without taking his eyes off from the new Ladybug Miraculous holder, he instructed Marinette, "Hold tight, it looks like we're in for a game of cat and mouse."

Marinette wrapped her arms around the dark feline's neck when she had heard the familiar whizzing sound of her yoyo being yanked towards the center. But before the metallic wires could catch them, Chat Noir and Marinette were launched in the air and traveled from roof house to roof house.

"This is a catastrophe!" Marinette sighed as she nestled her forehead against Chat Noir's neck.

"Furreal," Chat responded. "Who knew your mom completely transformed when she used the Ladybug Miraculous."

"It doesn't make any sense," Marinette sighed frustratingly, "why would Hawkmoth suddenly give it to her?"

"You think she's still influenced by him?" Chat wondered.

The navy-haired teenager, lifted her head to search over his shoulder for any signs of her mother's pursuit. To her vexation, her mother was no-where in sight-a familiar pattern that Lucky Chance had. "We need to go down-now, Chat Noir!"

"Are we safe?" He asked while jumping off a rail, landed on the cobblestone street, and had set her feet to the ground.

Marinette responded by shaking her head. Lucky Chance had won previously because Chat Noir and Ladybug had ran away from her.

Ladybug had decided that the Seine would provide enough space between them, and would give them time to catch their breath. However, Lucky Chance was already on the bridge of the Seine, waiting for them. Before Ladybug had the opportunity to stop him, Chat Noir had used his Cataclysm and dove straight towards her. Lucky Chance was one step ahead, using her die as a smoke bomb and engulfing her and Chat Noir. Ladybug had used her yo-yo as a propeller to clear the smoke, in hopes to buy her partner time to recollect himself and find their opponent. But instead, Lucky Chance had stood victorious with her hand around Chat Noir's neck. He was unconscious with several trails of blood seeping from his forehead and his right hand that once held his cataclysm powers were gone. Chat Noir was hit by his own Cataclysm once before and had ended up winded of air due to Miraculer's, Sabrina's akumatized alter ego, attack. But it was never this violent or bloody, and to see Chat Noir that badly wounded had scared her as Ladybug and traumatized her as Marinette.

Lucky Chance-or her mother, Sabine Dupain-Cheng-was uncharacteristically skilled. It was most likely the influence of the akuma that enhanced her tactical skills. But even so, the level of her tactical strategy, as Lucky Chance, had far exceeded that of an advanced learner or killer. It seemed as if the akuma had sharpened and enhanced the skill to a true and experienced tactician's level, just like what happened to Kagami and Armand D'Argencourt's fencing skills when they were akumatized to Riposte and Darkblade, respectively. However… her mother was never the tactical type… or was she?

"She'll be here any minute," Marinette announced, then taking their situation into their consideration, she turned to face him completely, "Chat Noir, do you trust me?"

Taken aback by her soft expression and determined eyes, Chat Noir found himself having difficulty to look away. "Of course, Marinette."

"Chat Noir, I need your miraculous," Marinette requested while raising an open palm to him.

Chat Noir placed his right paw on her pale palm and gently lowered her hand. "Marinette, she's after me, not you."

"That's precisely the point," Marinette insisted, "It's better I have it rather than you. That way she'll lose complete sight of you. There's no way my mom would hurt me."

"I don't know, Marinette," Chat Noir began, perplexed, "this is too risky. You're putting yourself in danger by involving yourself in this fight, especially with Ladybug's miraculous being worn by your mom. It's better if I stay and face her." He pats her head gently while looking into her cerulean eyes, "Please, let me protect you."

Chat Noir was about to lift his hand off her head when Marinette's hand grasped his hand and gently guided it down and in front of her. She looked at him, softly, sadly, pleadingly. She had let him protect her before, and she had almost lost him. It was her turn this time, "Please."

Marinette's pained expression had left a deep impression in Adrien, and he had felt no choice but to cave in to her wish. Marinette had never let him down before, never was the type of person to betray the people who were closest to her, and something inside him insisted to trust her risky request. He gently extended his left hand, gesturing her to lead the way.

Marinette had hurriedly dragged both of them to a narrow alley, where she instructed the feline hero to hide in the shadows and de-transform. While he adjusted himself in the darkness, Marinette turned her back against him.

"Claws off."

Marinette brought her left hand behind her back with her palm open. When she had felt the ring placed in her palm, she told him quietly, "What matters is your identity is safe, Chat. She must never know who you truly are."

"Marinette…" Adrien's hand raised towards her but slowly dropped it along with his the idea of enveloping her in his arms. "All you really need to do is turn around and you'll know who the real me is."

Marinette shook her head, her palm closed tightly on his ring, "It's better if I don't… I don't think Ladybug would appreciate it if you revealed your identity to me… I…," she shook her head at the thought, "I don't know what I would do if anything happens to you… again…" the last word faded into a soft whisper. With her free hand, she reached out to him. Just this once, she wanted to touch him. She wanted to feel the same warm hands that protected her and comforted her… just for affirmation. She wanted to know that he was alive and that he would be okay.

Adrien reached for her hand. It was all he could do. This girl, who was his first important friend at Francoise Dupont High School, slowly became more and more important to him. He trusted Marinette with so many things, especially with his miraculous in her hands.

Floating beside them, stood an uncharacteristically silent Plagg. He wasn't particularly tired since Adrien hadn't used his Cataclysm, but he wasn't in a good mood either. He knew Marinette must've been suffering for a number of days now. Losing Tikki had surprised him too-then again, it wasn't surprising. His human was to blame for his stupidity, especially with the unlucky nature that came along with holding the Cat miraculous. But Marinette will succeed. She wasn't picked as the current Ladybug, for nothing. And she proved it during Juleka's second akumatization when she had donned on the Cat miraculous and became Lady Noir. She always had it in her, it was just being clouded by Tikki's absence along with the miraculous earrings.

"Take care of her, Plagg," Adrien instructed softly. After exchanging a quick hug with Plagg resting against his cheek, he took several steps backward into the darkness to camouflage himself. He fell to a crouching position, with one leg resting to the ground. He trusted Marinette, but he never planned to abandon her.

After his quick hug against Adrien's cheek, Plagg floated above Marinette. He took Marinette's identity into consideration, on behalf of Tikki. He decided not to expose himself to her… not just yet. That would probably put Marinette in an uncomfortable position if she were to express familiarity with him while Adrien, who he knew was hiding in the shadows, was watching the both of them. Like his miraculous owner, he camouflaged himself in the shadows to prevent receiving attention.

Within the next several seconds Sabine Dupain-Cheng, as a young adult Ladybug, landed in front of her daughter. "Marinette, either tell me where Chat Noir is or hand over his miraculous."

"I don't understand," Marinette began, "why are you after Chat Noir and his miraculous? Are you still influenced by Hawkmoth's akuma? Why are you using the Ladybug miraculous?"

"Marinette," she raised her hand to her daughter, "I know there is a 30% probability you'd let Chat Noir escape with his miraculous, and 55% probability that you will ask him to give it to you. In both cases, it would lead me to a dead-end to looking for him and buy you both time."

"What are you talking about?" Marinette feigned accusation, "Why would you think Chat Noir would give me his miraculous?"

"Because you're my daughter," Ladybug answered confidently, "who do you think did you inherit your clever ideas from? Your father?"

Marinette stood before her, speechless and flabbergasted.

"If my memories weren't erased, I would still be Ladybug right now. But I see Master Fu had entrusted you with the Ladybug miraculous when I was decommissioned, mentally at least."

Marinette is Ladybug?! The blond model's eyes fell on Marinette's back. He couldn't believe his ears. Adrien cupped his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from gasping aloud. Feeling surprised was an understatement in this situation-perhaps overwhelmed. His mind wouldn't stop piecing Marinette and his Ladybug together. His educated guess during Ms. Mendeliev's scientific discovery was right on the mark.

"Me? Ladybug?" the teenage girl stammered, "No! What are you talking about mom?"

"Oh, Marinette…" Ladybug had her hands positioned at her waist while she looked down and shook her head, "you're very clumsy, often disheartened, unconfident around people and when making big decisions, and often act before you think. But…" she looked at her daughter, "you've always had a pure heart with good intentions. No matter what, you came back to see the just of things. That's why Master Fu chose you to be the next Ladybug. As much as I am proud to see you as my successor, sweetie, I am also heartbroken to see you walk the same path as I had."

Marinette stared into her mother's dark eyes, unsure how to respond to her praise.

"You recall that Nadia mentioned there was an absence of a Miraculous holder in the last twenty years, right Marinette?"

The navy-haired teenager's forehead formed creases as she recalled Nadia's announcement on the news when Alex's dad had found the rock that contained Feast. She swallowed, audibly.

In the distance within the shadows, Adrien was mirroring her reactions.

"A little over twenty years ago, Master Fu gave me the miraculous ladybug. I was your age. But those memories were erased because of a certain person's wish. No one remembers I was Ladybug, not even myself. That's why I need the miraculous to undo the wish." She extended her hand to her daughter, "I need the cat's miraculous, Marinette."

Marinette's brain was on hyperdrive. She couldn't think straight, nor was she sure if she could trust her mother with the miraculous, considering the destruction that was left behind in her wake. Instead, she decided to buy more time. Marinette insisted, "I don't have-"

"Don't be silly, sweetie," Ladybug retorted, "my memories as an akuma weren't erased. I know exactly who stood in front of me when I took off her earrings, Marinette. You went as far as to jump into the Seine to save Chat Noir from drowning."

"Mom," the navy-haired teenager's body shook, her hands clamped into a fist, and her eyes swam with tears threatening to crawl down, "how could you do something so cruel?"

"It's not cruel, sweetie. I had to make my act convincing," Ladybug explained, "I was being watched after all."

"But if you were going to use the miraculous ladybug afterwards and defeat Hawkmoth, then what was the point of putting on a show?"

"Defeat Hawkmoth? No, sweetie. Hawkmoth and I have a common goal."

Marinette staggered and stepped backward, "Common goal?"

Ladybug stepped forward, "I need the cat miraculous, Marinette."

While the exchanges took place, Plagg grew concerned for his miraculous owner. He flew down to Adrien and landed on his shoulder to offer him support. But with Adrien's growing agitation, Plagg tried to comfort him by nudging his head against his owner's cheek. When the black kwami felt the muscles in the model's cheeks become rigid, the cat kwami flew towards Adrien's mouth, hoping to keep Adrien silenced. "No, Adrien," the cat kwami whispered while putting his two tiny paws on the model's lips, but Adrien shook him off.

"Sorry, Plagg," Adrien apologized while gently pushing him away. Unable to listen to the conversation between Marinette and her mother any longer, Adrien hollered from the darkness, "Don't listen to her, Marinette! It's a trap!"

"Chat Noir?" Marinette gasped, looking over her shoulder, "What are you still doing here?! Get out!"

"I guess we found where the 15% probability would be," Ladybug commented before throwing her yo-yo the direction of the dark alley.

Marinette didn't think as she moved. She ran in front of the alley and shielded herself with her arms. Upon impact, an explosion of light emitted from the yo-yo, and despite her best efforts to protect herself, Marinette was blinded by a bright, white light while her ears screamed with a deafening high pitch roar. With her vision gradually improving, she saw her mother and a trail of afterimages quickly approaching her. The ringing in her ears grew dull and was quickly overlapped by reverbs of voices and hurried footsteps.

"Marinette!" Plagg cried out. Unable to restrain himself, he darted from Adrien's side and towards the dazed navy-haired teenager.

"Plagg!" Adrien hollered, unable to prevent his kwami from exposing himself to the danger before them.

"Marinette!"

Marinette thought she had heard her name being called at the end of a tunnel. Then, she recognized a dark outline of a small, black kwami float in front of her face.

The sudden presence of Plagg had caught Ladybug off guard and momentarily stopped her in her tracks.

"Marinette!" Transform already!" he quickly instructed.

"No!" Ladybug exclaimed while extending her arm towards her daughter.

"Right!" Marinette had closed her eyes to help herself readjust her equilibrium, and quickly slipped the ring on. Punching her hand forward, she cried, "Plagg, claws out!"

Adrien watched, dumbstruck, as Marinette's body was encapsulated by a green and black light. With a small twirl with her right hand punched to the air, she followed through with the same hand to wave across her face, where she donned on a black mask with a long braided ultramarine hair following in its wake. With her other free hand, she swiped through her hair where two black cat ears with green lining emerged. Switching to her right, her clothes were enveloped by a black and green one-suit. He recognized his partner in a heartbeat, despite it being a one-time event where Plagg and Tikki had switched miraculous owners. He couldn't forget. He would never forget.

#scarlywroteathing #miraculous ladybug #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #adrinette #marichat #sabine dupain cheng #fanfiction writer #fanfiction #miraculous ladybug fanfic

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twistednuns · 5 years ago

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December 2019

Maxim calling out of the blue, inviting me to the Mine concert later that month.

Stumbling upon great inspiration for plant-based buddha bowls.

@shitgothssay memes.

Zotter salted caramel chocolate.

Finding out about the fact that you can just add the letter A to some words to transform them into adjectives. Like aglitter or aglow and aglisten.

Ayurvedic Kapha tea with some black tea, honey and milk. Sonnentor Gute Laune tea. Green tea with toasted coconut.

Isana shower oil. Works wonders for dry skin. Such a smooth and creamy texture. Great for shaving, too.

Winning the pub quiz - again! I played with Maggie, Dennis, Daniel and Steffen (Team name: Three geese in a trenchcoat) and we won 178€. However, the best thing about this was when I finally solved the anagram after thinking about it for 10 minutes. It was Greta Thunberg! Winning is lovely, of course, but solving the anagram is already a personal win for me each time.

Tuesdays. Coming home early, sleeping it off.

Being super rested after a nap, cooking a huge pot of veggie stew and my ratatouille signature recipe, even preparing a batch of butter bean hummus and salad dressing. Listening to folk music, singing along, even dancing at some point. Standing there, peeling the potatos… Happy moment.

Signature manicure. Always. This time: bluish iridescent lilac with the obligatory black dot.

A personal realisation. I’ve been massively out of touch with myself. I’ve stopped journaling, stopped doing things for myself because they’re beneficial and not because they’re convenient and numb everything. And why is that a good thing? Well, only being at this point and realising what’s wrong with me makes it possible to do something against it. To come up a self-care plan. To make myself feel better.

Semi-deleting Facebook.

Spending time with Manu for the first time in three months. Watching a documentary about black holes and a cheesy Christmas movie. Ordering south Indian food, cuddling up in bed. Sometimes I don’t know why I keep isolation myself. Being around people can be really lovely and soothing if you can be yourself around them. It’s just that I often feel the presence of other living beings drains my energy.

The best massage I ever had. From now on I’ll always request Yaya as my massage therapist. She is SICK. Strong, merciless, forces me into weird poses and makes my back crack.

Also: the chocolate-filled mint hard candy they hand out at the massage studio. I used to hate mint-infused chocolate but somehow I think these are delicious. Perfect after-torture-treat.

Persimmons. Obsessed.

My eye colour in artificial light. A dark moss green with caramel-coloured speckles and a dark rim.

The National playing a 2-hour-long concert and including some of my favourite songs from the High Violet album. Fangirling with Anika.

The smell of cold. You know, that whiff of cool air you get when you’re sniffing a jacket that’s been hanging on the balcony for a few hours to air out.

Learning more about Claire Saffitz from this article - she likes arts and crafts, is a homebody and has degrees in history and literature! She basically enrolled in culinary school because she was bored after graduation. She’s an enigma of a quirky kind. Not brilliant and scattered, but determined and aimless. Not brave and rebellious, but anxious and creative. She hates change yet pursues it, wants order but trades in chaos. She’s loved because she hates stuff; performs well because she can’t perform. And above all, she’s aggressively regular—and something about this makes the crowd go wild.

Fresh laundry smell on my blankets and pillows. And my new gravity blanket. It weighs 11kg which feels crazy heavy when you carry it but the weight evenly distributes over the body when you’re lying down. Apparently the pressure triggers the release of stress hormones. So far I’m sleeping like a baby and I don’t seem to wake up or move much at night.

Stephanie Madewell. I love everything she writes, her blog is such a godsend of beautiful, important, eclectic ideas. One thing I especially like are her imaginary outfits.

Princess Margaret’s limerick contest with President Lyndon B. Johnson in The Crown. Pure comedy. “There was a young lady from Dallas / who used a dynamite stick as a phallus / they found her vagina in North Carolina / and her asshole in Buckingham Palace.”

Little pieces of string in the corners of a duvet cover. It’s the first time I’ve seen those. So practical for big blankets!

Mental health days. I needed this. So much. Mornings in bed, reading for hours. Drinking a whole pot of tea.

Partner yoga. Chanting the closing mantra together.

Making vegan energy balls for my brother. I adapted the recipe and made my own versions so I ended up with a batch of pistachio/cherry and mango/sesame.

Freaking out whenever I see a cute cat. Damn, I really need to spend more time with animals. My highlight: breakfast in bed, watching a video of an adorable cat giving birth. I cried. Yup.

Going swimming for the first time in, man, I don’t even know. Forever. I didn’t swim for a long time, maybe half an hour, but muscle memory kicked in immediately. Water is totally my element. And, as if it had been destiny: I chose the day they cut the hanging plants in the main hall and the guy gave me a variety of five different cuttings to take home!! He made me a very happy girl.

The ink blue sky right after sunset. / The morning after the full moon in Gemini (the moon still bright and huge, visible in the bluish-grey Western sky). / When the sun suddenly comes out after a very dark and gloomy morning.

Buying a new phone. The old one was broken beyond repair. I even got a nice cork protective case. How could I ever live without an uncracked screen? The battery now actually lasts for more than a day. Nice.

Odd bits of knowledge: A galanthophile is an enthusiastic collector and identifier of snowdrop (Galanthus) species and cultivars. (Wikipedia) // Scientists theorize the Universe might have cracks in it: long thin boundaries that formed as space cooled after the Big Bang. 95 billion lightyears long and a few femtometers thin, these wrinkles in space-time would hold enough energy to bend light and destroy entire planets. (PHD comics) // the word to bloviate (German meaning: schwafeln, langatmig vortragen) // In Japan we have three rituals: HANAMI, TSUKIMI, and YUKIMI. HANAMI is watching the flowers. TSUKIMI is watching the moon, YUKIMI is watching the snow. It’s a beautiful tradition when you invite people to watch with you. I remember them all. (Yoko Ono) // In linguistics, prosody is concerned with those elements of speech that are not individual phonetic segments (vowels and consonants) but are properties of syllables and larger units of speech, including linguistic functions such as intonation, tone, stress, and rhythm. Such elements are known as suprasegmentals. Prosody may reflect various features of the speaker or the utterance: the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance (statement, question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus. It may otherwise reflect other elements of language that may not be encoded by grammar or by choice of vocabulary. (Wikipedia) //

I know I mention this a lot but the first olfactory whiff of a freshly cut open passion fruit is one of the best smells I know.

When my breakfast tastes like a candy bar. Which it immediately does whenever I add almond butter and cocoa nibs to porridge.

Yoga at home on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I’m often too lazy to get out my yoga mat but whenever I do afterwards I’m always so glad I practiced. Also: going to yoga class despite being extremely stressed out. It actually helped me silence some of these tormenting thoughts in my head.

Cutting my own hair. It’s kinda ridiculous and layered but I love the new bounce.

Michael Nyman - Musique à grande vitesse x // feels like it makes my pulse quicker, it’s urging and forceful.

My adventures in psychedelia - an article about the therapeutic effect of psychoactive drugs. I’m going to get Michael Pollan’s book about the topic from the library next week. So interesting.

People who are still writing letters.

My pupils. I realised that some of them have become very fine people. Open, compassionate, motivated, interested, bright, polite. Like the students who attended our first school magazine meeting in their spare time - on the last school day before the Christmas holidays - and had all these amazing ideas. Victor, being able to hold a conversation like an adult. Marks cuddling that dog in front of the supermarket. My tenth-graders being really reasonable, managable, easy to talk to.

Liza Weil’s role as Shy Baldwin’s bass player in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It took me three episodes to recognize her.

A little embroidery set. I love keeping my hands busy when I’m watching movies.

Making vegan walnut lebkuchen and a very good batch of crisp bread in one go.

Roast apples with candied almonds and marzipan for Christmas dinner. Some buckwheat chocolate cookies. Actually helping out my mum in the kitchen.

Sitting at the piano with my brother, singing tunes from our childhood series, Disney songs, pop songs… We both had sore throats afterwards.

Visiting Sash’s parents over Christmas. Her mum cooked a pretty great lunch and we played board games.

Learning how to make a monkey fist knot.

Finding a new spot I like in my apartment. The chair right next to the window at the kitchen table. It’s nice and warm because you can sit beside the heater and while you have breakfast or browse through a cookbook you can see what’s going on outside.

Seeing the incredible gobelins at Kunsthalle / Fäden der Moderne exhibition. I loved the Le Corbusier ones.

Visiting Manu at his parents' place. Playing board games together, his mum feeding me with parsley potatoes and a weird _bird's milk_ dessert. Lying on the sofa, watching old movies. It's weirdly nice to be part of a normal family dynamic once in a while.

Andre saving my New Year’s Eve at the very last minute. Out of the blue he suggested a trip to Czech Republic right after midnight the day before. I was like… okay, let’s do this! So I met up with him and three people I had never met before in Regensburg and we drove to Český Krumlov, checked into our fancy hotel and walked down to the city centre. Czech food for dinner, a band playing at the city square. We climbed up to the castle for the turn of the year. This must have been the first year that started out with a proper New Year’s kiss. Afterwards we went to a weird music bar and - apparently - one of the best clubs in the country. I had a lot of fun. Even though getting Andre home was quite a challenge.

#things i love #personal #present perfect #december #2019 #december 2019

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loveseungs · 6 years ago

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irony p. ii

a/n: heck here it is i just love words dont i also note: tumblr is being BadTM and broke all links so if u want p 1 just pls search for it on my blog

↠ pairing: lee felix x reader ↠ word count: 13.07k ↠ warnings: female reader ↠ genre: fluff, angst, soulmate au ↠ part: one, two ↠ summary:

In a world where soulmates exist, love is still a gamble.

Bus rides home were usually filled with white noise and thoughts about work. But there was something about the steady pitter-patter of the rain and the hazy blur of life around you that lead you to plug in your earphones and listen to music.

It was tormenting. The catchiest beats were also the saddest ones, making your heart swell up at every relatable lyric. It was as if Spotify was playing with the strings of your heart, plucking them like an instrument every time a song about heartbreak came into your queue.

You were stuck in a state of paradox. The more you tried to forget, the more you tried to erase him who was in your heart, the more you remembered. You hated him because you knew that you couldn’t truly bring yourself to hate him.

Timing never seemed to be right with the two of you. If only you’d discovered that he was your destiny a few years later, maybe everything would have worked out, but since you found out a little bit too early, the problem then became you being too late to tell him.

A full year had already passed, and it felt like time was stretched. Graduation seemed so long ago after the ball started rolling on your career life. Once you moved to Busan and getting a great albeit stressful job, so many things just seemed to have happened. You convinced yourself of the fact that this was life now, and if this was all you were going to get, you were going to make it as spectacular as possible. Moving on from the mess that was Lee Felix was dealt and done with, however, it’d be a lie if you said you didn’t think about him every once in a while.

Twelve months ago, your arm was always covered in ink. The week you stopped talking to Felix, that’s when they started to appear. A thousand little messages written on your arm every single morning was what you had to wake up to. You’d seen your fair share of ‘I’m sorry’s and ‘I miss you’s, but you weren’t taking any of it. You knew that if you dared to reply once, even just once, you knew you’d just get hurt all over again—it was not something you were willing to risk, even if those annoying writings on your arm caused you to buy more long-sleeved shirts.

Gradually, their appearances lessened until the messages stopped altogether. Something about the absence of the all-too-familiar handwriting finally settled the fact that he was all but a memory that you were to leave in the past.

Occasionally, there were times that the memory of him would be jogged once again, like on this particular bus ride home. Truly, the blame was to be put on the meaningful lyrics and solemn melodies.

Chhhh. This was the part where you got off the bus and shook whatever bad vibes you were feeling out of your mind. This was not the time to feel sad. Not today, not today.

“Oh, you’re home already. How was work?” your grandma greeted from the kitchen, the sound of sizzling oil faintly echoing through the house.

“Shall I tell you over dinner?” You pursed your lips into a smile. “Or do you want to be spoiled? Just a hint, today was fantastic.”

“Well, if that doesn’t tickle my fancy. If you’re gonna start it off like that, sweetie, you might as well just tell me now,” she answered.

You entered the kitchen with a dramatic stride. You stopped for a second to pose, then you took a loud, deep breath. “Your grandkid made it, Nana. I, [L/N] [F/N], have been promoted to the Assistant Brand Manager of the department. Boss said I get a bonus on every third Friday of the month. Isn’t that something?”

“My, my. Won’t you treat your old woman out for dinner one of these days, since you’re now swimming in money? I’d love a steak, dear,” she smiled. “I’m only joking. I am so, so proud of you, darling! We need to celebrate! Come give me a hug!”

You wrapped your arms tightly around your grandmother. “Agh, I’m beyond elated! Shall we go somewhere special?”

“Would you care for some wine, perhaps? I’m cooking beef, so I think it would taste great. Set out the table outside, let’s enjoy the evening breeze. Let’s talk more about your promotion later. Who’s going to take your previous spot on the team?”

“I don’t know,” you admitted. “Boss said there were some very promising newcomers, and I can only hope they’ll be a good addition and not a downfall to our team. Did you know that our department is one of the most productive ones? Ever since the PR department waged war on us, our productivity rate has doubled in number.”

“Why would you want to wage war on other departments? Mustn’t you work together for the better of the company?”

“Yes!” you replied. “It’s mostly to see who can boost the company’s sales better. We usually compete when we do our weekly reports to the boss. I think Boss secretly knows about the Marketing-PR war because he hasn’t said a word about any of our shenanigans, even if we blatantly express our friendly rivalry. There’s a small scoreboard in the conference room to tally which department did better that week, and it’s updated by the secretary. Boss didn’t order it to be put there, but he hasn’t said anything about it either.”

“It sounds wonderful. That’s quite a great way to promote efficiency in the company,” your grandmother commented, plating the dishes she had prepared for dinner.

“I know! Rumor has it that Boss is planning a company outing where all the departments will go on a head-to-head competition. I don’t know the details, but my co-worker said that she heard it from the janitor who heard it from the secretary,” you went on, “anyway, I’ll save more of the talk for later. Where do you keep the candles? I’ll put some outside as I set the tables.”

“In the left-most wooden drawer—no, not that one. Yes, that one. Glad to hear that work is good for you, honey. Makes me very glad.”

How could you stop a smile from making its way to your face? When you stepped into work the next day, you wore a grin like an expensive article of clothing.

“Somebody’s cheerful today,” your co-worker, Yugyeom mentioned, looking up from his desk. “what’s with the happy demeanor, [Y/N]?”

“Can’t I revel in the fact that I’ve finally been promoted?” you answered, taking a seat at your desk.

“Come on. There must be something else that’s up. Did you get a boyfriend? Meet a soulmate? Win the lotto? Your smile’s so bright, I think I’m going to go blind.” He rolled his eyes.

“No! Gross, I don’t have time for things like that,” you huffed. Leaning in, you whispered, “Listen. There’s a newcomer that’s going to be added to our team. Apparently, he’s from the Daejeon branch of the company, and he’s being transferred here to the Busan office because apparently, he did very well. Do you realize what this means for us? If we get another good employee, we’ll have one more person to help tackle PR on the scoreboard.”

“Damn, girl! Talk about competitive!”

“You know you’re excited, too.”

“Okay, fine. I am. Let’s teach this newcomer to help us in the quest to out-produce PR.”

“Morning, guys,” a familiar voice greeted. You and Yugyeom stood up to bow to your superior.

“Morning, Chan,” you greeted back.

“Woah, no ‘Sir’ for you, huh, [Y/N]?” Yugyeom snickered.

You hit him playfully. “I’ve known Chan since high-school. He’s the one who told me not to call him ‘Sir’. Anyway, is it true that the newcomer’s a good one? Gosh, I can’t wait. This is like fresh meat for us, you know? Do you know his name?”

“How do you know he’s a guy?” Yugyeom asked, raising a brow.

“Heard it from the janitor. Swear the janitor knows everything. Need info? I can get it for you. The janitor makes a pretty good friend,” you explained. “Anyway, like I asked, Chan. Do you have info on him?”

“Actually, [Y/N], I don’t. The Chief of Staff has yet to introduce me to him, which is kind of surprising. But to be fair, I’ve been out on business trips lately, so I’m not all too shocked,” Chan explained. “I hope this person is what make him out to be. Oh, speak of the devil.”

“Hello, all. Good morning. As you know, I’m Mr. Park, Chief of Staff, and I’m here to bring to you the latest addition to your team. As some of you may have heard, he is from our Daejeon branch and is a very capable man. I hope you will all take care of him.”

Chan took one glance at you to make sure you were doing alright, but all he saw was your jaw suspended in the open air, eyes wide.

You felt everything and nothing all at once.

“Everyone, this is Lee Felix, and he will be in charge of product marketing.”

You slammed the door to the office pantry behind you, Chan following inside. As you finished downing an entire cup of coffee, you sputtered, “How could this have happened? Chan! You’re like, the only person who knows what happened between Felix and I during high-school and college!”

“I swear, I didn’t know!” Chan defended, handing you a glass of water to calm you down. “I’m just as shocked as you are, alright? Drink this.”

“Is the world seriously against me?” you grumbled, burying your face in your hands. “Just as things have been looking up, he walks back into my life just like that! Here! In Busan! Where I purposely went so that I could get away from him!”

“Calm down, [Y/N]. Let’s sort this out. But you have to promise me that you won’t let your personal problems get in the way of professionality. I know you’re in shock, but let’s try not to let this get the best of you. Remember, PR’s been on the top of the leaderboard for two weeks straight, and we really need to step up our game,” the older boy spoke, rubbing your shoulder reassuringly. “We’ll try to fix this, yeah?”

“Dear goodness, I sure hope so,” you muttered, setting down the second empty paper cup as you looked at the office through the pantry blinds.

“I knew Felix had a job in marketing, but I didn’t know it was for our company, nevertheless did I expect him to end up here with us. I thought he got hired back in Seoul,” Chan commented, also watching the newcomer through the blinds.

“Right?” you sighed. “What on this good, green earth am I going to do know? I’m going to have to engage in conversation, you know?”

“Well, I suppose you can’t hide from him forever. After all, he… is your—”

“God, Chan. Don’t say it, please. Please don’t remind me,” you begged, shoulders going down in a slump.

Just like that, your joyful morning mood was dampened like the imminent grey clouds on a sunny June day, and now you were left with a situation you couldn’t run from.

A couple of days passed and you successfully avoided having to make any contact with Felix.

Surprisingly, things weren’t as bad as you had expected. You only had to do that obligatory bow when you greeted each other in the hallways, but that was it. You could not have it any other way.

“So… how’s stuff? You doing okay?” Chan asked one lunchbreak, grabbing his chopsticks from the lunch tray.

You gulped the rice in your mouth. “Could not be better. Can you believe it? One week went by without anything more than a couple of seconds of eye-contact and a bow.”

Yugyeom, who was sitting beside you, squinted his eyes. “Wait. Who are we talking about?”

“Uh,” you began, shooting a glance at Chan. “N-No one important, really. Just this person I met.”

“What, blind date outside of work?” he asked.

“No, I don’t have time for dates.”

Your co-worker gave you a goofy smile. “Aw, sucks for me, I just lost my shot.”

“Gross, Mr. Kim!” you laughed.

“I’m joking, I’m joking. Anyway, what’s your soulmate link?”

Great. The taboo question. It was cool, it was cool, you were chill, you were chill. “Oh, uh… why? What’s yours? Have you met your soulmate?”

“I’m a late bloomer, I guess. Lots of my friends have met their soulmates already, but my link says I’m still meeting my soulmate in… a couple of months. I’d show you the tattoo, but no one can see it anyway,” Yugyeom shared, taking a bite of his lunch. “How about you? I asked you first.”

“It’s a drawing link. Whatever’s drawn on my skin shows up on my soulmate’s or vice versa,” you said quietly, sipping your water. “But I’m not too hung up on the soulmate idea. Did you know that Chan’s real lucky? He scored a jackpot. Have you seen his girlfriend? She’s super nice. She and Chan are like the older siblings I never had.”

“Hey, but it was hard. You know, I had such a hard time with visual projects back in school before I met her. I had to keep asking my friends to tell me if my presentations looked good because really, I couldn’t tell. If I worked on them alone, they’d probably have the color scheme of ugly sweaters. So glad I can see color now, or else I probably would have a difficult time here in the company,” Chan chuckled at the thought. “By the way, she’s asking if you wanna come over some time for dinner. She misses hanging out with you, you know.”

“Oh for sure. How about this Saturday evening? I need to tell her about the recent news. Unnie’s gonna freak,” you asked Chan while you noted the schedule down on your phone.

“Hey, I thought you were gonna help me that evening with the project Boss assigned us?” Yugyeom piped up. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna cancel!”

“Relax, Mr. Kim. Let’s do that over lunch. No need to worry,” you told him.

Just then, you felt a gentle tap on your shoulder and you turned around hastily, wiping your mouth.

Standing there with a hand at the back of his head was He-Who-Shan’t-Be-Named.

“Uh… Ms. [L/N]?”

‘Ooh, never thought I’d hear my last name roll off his tongue. Whatever, that’s to be expected,’ you thought.

“Sorry to bother you during lunch, but I need you to look over some paperwork that you submitted. Some of it wasn’t completed,” the freckled boy announced, handing you a folder.

You raised a brow. “Have I not? I could have sworn that I checked over these twice. I never submit incomplete paperwork.”

“A-Ah, is that so? But look here, there’s a blank space.”

You scanned the papers in your hands thoroughly. Glancing beside you, you inquired, “Mr. Kim, I thought this section of the paperwork was your job?”

Yugyeom took the folder from you. “What’s this? I didn’t send you the complete copy?”

“No?”

“Sorry, Mr. Lee. This was a fault on my part. It’s true, Ms. [L/N] never submits incomplete paperwork. I’ll have these files ready by 13:30, after lunch. Apologies for the inconvenience,” Yugyeom apologized, bowing.

Felix sported a polite smile. “Oh, it’s alright. I’m so sorry for the confusion, Miss [L/N]. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Um, you’re welcome.”

Caw. Caw. Caw.

“Well, I’ll be on my way. Enjoy the rest of your lunch, Ms. [L/N], Mr. Kim, Sir Bang,” Felix bowed, dragging his legs towards the opposite direction.

When he was out of sight, you leaned in to whisper, “If that wasn’t the most awkward two minutes of my entire company experience! I was doing so well up until this moment. I told you it’s best if I don’t talk to him!”

“What’s up with you and Mr. Newbie? You two know each other?” Yugyeom pressed, letting his chin rest on his hand. “Oh my. Don’t tell me—he’s the guy you went on a blind date with!”

“Lower your volume!” you scolded. “And ew, no! I already told you, I don’t have time for blind dates.”

“So give me a good reason as to why you’re apparently avoiding him!”

Chan came to the rescue. “Oh, we all went to the same high-school. [Y/N] and Feli—Mr. Lee used to go to the same college. She’s just had some weird encounters with him, is all.”

You nodded as if to agree with your superior. “Yup. Although don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to let it affect my work. Professionalism is professionalism.”

“Oh, is that right? Mm, didn’t know that,” Yugyeom answered, “anyway, let’s head back to our department. Lunch break is ending and I gotta fix this paperwork.”

The conference room door closed slowly behind as you and Chan made your way out from the most recent meeting. People from PR gave you both a smirk before heading towards their department. You clutched your fists in frustration and bore holes into their backs while stomping to the opposite direction.

“Just because they’ve gotten a lead on the scoreboard makes them think they can act like that, huh,” you hissed, rolling your eyes. “I swear, I’m working overtime this week.”

Chan placed a hand on your shoulder and stopped you. “Calm down, it’s gonna be alright, okay? Besides, we should be happy that they’re doing good for the company. Don’t get me wrong, I hate their department with my guts, but it’s nice to see Boss smiling at the good reports. But here’s the catch. Next week, we’re having the company outing. I’ve yet to announce it to the department, so keep your mouth quiet. I received the e-mail this morning, and it’s going to be held in Jeju island. There’s going to be lots of activities. Boss thinks it’s a good investment to have a fun company outing to, quote unquote, ‘promote bonding in the workplace’.”

You gasped and pointed at Chan. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“We get to totally mow down PR in competition?”

“The prize is yet to be announced, and yes. We’re going to kill it. Of course, that means everyone in the department has to double-time this week so that we can enjoy the outing without thinking of work. How’s the project I assigned you doing?” Chan questioned.

From behind you, a voice spoke. “Uh, sorry to intrude, but I couldn’t help but overhear you two talking about the company outing. According to Secretary Bambam, each department is going to stay in separate guest houses. Do you need some help, Ms. [L/N]?” Yugyeom brought up, joining in on the conversation.

“Help? For what?” you asked, raising a brow.

Yugyeom put a hand to his mouth. “Don’t you have some kind of uncomfortable business with Mr. Lee, the newbie? I don’t know, I thought you’d be bothered.”

“Mr. Kim!” Chan boomed. “Don’t let [Y/N]’s personal matters affect how you interact with the people on our team. The least we need is division amongst ourselves. Where even did you get the information on the outing? You’re not supposed to know yet.”

“Why hide it? As I was making coffee in the staff room, Secretary Bambam offhandedly mentioned it to me,” Yugyeom answered, holding his clipboard.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be so bad,” you reassured the two boys, heading over to your desk. “Thank you for the offer, Mr. Kim.”

“This is so bad,” you grumbled, throwing different articles of clothing on your bed. There were all sorts of knick-knacks flying around your tiny room, scattered any place a knick-knack could be.

Just then, the door to your room opened and your grandma stepped in, raising her hands in surprise. “Woah, woah, woah! What’s going on in here? Your room looks like a jungle of clothes! I said pack for your trip, not unleash the beast, sweetie.”

You let out an exasperated groan as you shut the door of your closet. “Sorry, grandma. I’m just a little stressed thinking about the trip.”

“Come sit,” the older woman insisted, patting the empty spot on your bed beside her. “Tell me what’s wrong. To think this trip is supposed to be a celebration for the numerous victories your company has been making these past few months.”

“It’s not the company, grandma,” you admitted, taking a seat beside her. “It’s…it’s just that I have to deal with being stuck in a house with someone I wish I didn’t need to be with.”

“Hmm? That’s strange, I always thought you to be one of the more amiable people at work. Are you not friends with everybody?”

You sucked in your breath and prepared for what was about to come. “There’s this one guy. His name is Lee Felix… and… he’s… my soulmate.”

“Oh my.”

Right then and there, you decided that you could no longer keep up the bubbling vexations you buried deep in your chest. From the moment you met him until the very moment those years of friendship ended, you told her everything, not sparing a single important detail. By the time you finished up your story, your face was puffy and your eyes were red. The nighttime breeze howled quietly in the background, enveloping you in a chill.

“A-And recently, I thought I was doing okay, but he decided to take another stride back into my life. I mean, it’s all good at work, but it’s been so hard to focus lately and I don’t know why. I know I’m over him, and I’ve resigned to not thinking about soulmates or finding love or whatever. But every time I see that damned face of his, things come flooding into my mind,” you sniffled, blowing your nose. Your grandma rubbed soothing circles on your back, listening to every word that you spoke. “It doesn’t help that PR is doing better than Marketing lately, and I can’t help but think that maybe I’m slacking off a bit or something.”

“Oh, sweetheart. Here, drink some water,” your grandma began, “if you’ll let me, may I share what I think about your situation?”

“Go ahead, grandma. I’m so sorry for crying.”

“Sweetie, no, don’t do that. It’s okay to cry. But you know, I think the reason why you’ve become so competitive at work, the reason you’ve been under a lot of stress lately, the reason why you hold anger in your heart towards Felix despite saying that you’ve moved on from him, even the reason why you always apologize for crying—all those reasons are the same. From what I’ve been hearing, I think you need to re-examine what’s really in there,” she explained, pointing at your left chest where your heart was. “Ever since Felix, you’ve blamed yourself for everything. Because you knew you got hurt, you sorta… how should I say this… resigned yourself into thinking ‘I’m never going to get hurt like that again’. You made that mistake, and you’ve been beating yourself over it for these past few years.”

“I-I have?”

“Honey, I have to tell you. It’s okay to make mistakes. It’s okay,” your grandma said, pulling you into a hug. “And honestly, I think the person who needs forgiveness most now isn’t Felix, but you. Forgive yourself, [Y/N]. It’s alright that you stumbled along the way.”

Your face crumpled. It was true. You felt so… so raw in front of your grandmother who saw right through you, who saw right through your heart. Everything somewhat fell into place, and you realized the reason you were hurting. And it felt good, to have finally admitted what you were hiding deep down for so long.

“So… what do I do now, grandma?” you asked, voice coming out as a choke. “What now?”

“It’s your choice if you want to, at the very least, tolerate him or let him go. Whatever you choose, know that I’m proud of you for taking those steps. Now go pack, it’s getting late and you’re supposed to meet up with the team early tomorrow. Please bring a jacket.”

“I will,” you replied, watching your grandmother get up and head out of your room. “Hey grandma?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“Thank you.”

The sun was barely out, but you and your team were already outside the company building waiting for the van. The sounds of yawning and drowsy morning chatter filled the atmosphere.

Just before you left the house, your grandma left you some rice cakes on the table. A note saying ‘Eat well and enjoy <3’ came with it, helping you start your day off with a smile. As your team lined up to board the ferry, you bit into a rice cake, letting your teeth sink into the soft delicacy. Wow. It was beyond scrumptious.

The vicinity was getting a little bit warm as the sun began its ascent into the higher areas of the sky, causing you to remove the jacket you were wearing, As you tied the piece of clothing to your waist, you couldn’t help but notice a scribble on your left arm, just below your wrist.

‘Would you ever consider giving me one of your rice cakes? I’m so sorry, I saw you eating some and I haven’t had breakfast. It’s alright if you decide not to. I’ll wash off the ink with hand sanitizer.’

You jerked your head up, scanning the crowd for a certain someone. When your eyes landed on an all-too-familiar freckled boy, he reciprocated your stare with a sheepish smile.

You did a double-take. Should you forfeit your streak of barely having to interact with him or offer a rice cake to your hungry co-worker who would probably really need to eat something before leaving to engage in several tiring activities? Damn it, you knew he loved rice cakes.

Hesitantly, you shuffled over to Felix, who waved to you and bowed as you approached him. “Uh, good morning, Fe—Mr. Lee.”

“Hi, Miss [L/N]. Get my note?” the boy asked, pointing to your arm. Damn, you knew about his booming voice, but you’d forgotten just how deep his pitch was.

“The chicken scratch handwriting was quite hard to miss.”

“I’m sorry for using this particular means of communication. I just… I’m finding it a little difficult to talk to you, no offense.”

“None taken,” you answered, handing him a rice cake. “You’ll just really do anything for a rice cake, huh?”

In seconds, the poor rice cake was scarfed down. Felix wiped his mouth with his jacket sleeve. “I’m surprised you remember.”

“Like I’ll ever forget the reason half my lunch was always missing back in high-school,” you scoffed. “Here, you can have one more. I have more food in my bag anyway. Why’d you skip breakfast?”

‘Damn it, [Y/N]!’ you thought to yourself. ‘What the hell is up with you? I thought we agreed to just hand him a rice cake and leave?!’

“I live a bit far from here. I couldn’t miss the bus,” he answered, adjusting the neck pillow sitting comfortably on his shoulders. It was sort of endearing, how the neck pillow was themed to be a cute teddy bear design. Felix yawned. “And I didn’t sleep too well last night. Had to do some last-minute paperwork because somebody turned in their files late. Thank you so much, by the way. Your kindness will not be forgotten.”

“You’re welcome. And oh, I can imagine how awful that is. Late paperwork, I mean. I feel bad for nagging our co-workers to send me files, but in the end, it gets the job done, you know,” you replied, straightening your back. “Anyway, if that will be all, I’m just gonna—”

“Wait, don’t go!” Felix sputtered, grabbing a hold of your arm. He quickly released it, ears turning red. “A-Ah, sorry. I just wanted to ask you something about PR.”

“PR? Huh. Go shoot,” you mused, and you could still feel the burning spot where Felix’s hand collided with your arm.

“What’s up with this thing I hear about a Marketing-PR war?”

As you opened your mouth to speak, Chan interrupted you with a tap. “Hey, [Y/N], I need to borrow a pen.”

You fished for your trusty gel pen from your backpack and handed it to Chan, who began to look around and tick off boxes on his clipboard. Taking a peek at the clipboard, you saw that he was just doing a headcount.

“That’s our leader-nim, huh?” you teased, playfully giving Chan a nudge. He rolled his eyes.

“I’ll give your pen back later, I need it for a while. Go line up over there already, the van is leaving in ten minutes,” Chan answered, walking away.

Felix began to make his way to the spot that Chan had instructed you both to go to, and you followed right behind. As soon as he set his luggage down on the floor again, he turned to you. “So… Marketing-PR war?”

“Oh yeah,” you nodded, remembering. “It’s kind of a long story, but I guess it’s important to know the origins of the great Marketing-PR battle. I can tell you about it on the way, but only if you’re truly ready to hear the origins.”

“I mean sure. We’re spending a lot of time in the van anyway, so we have plenty of time to kill.” Felix suggested. “I’m so glad Boss booked the high-speed car ferry. A trip that would usually take five hours is cut down to two.”

“Good, good, sure. I only have so much downloaded drama on my phone to kill time. So anyway, since we have a lot to cover, I better start. It begins when Sir Park Jinyoung—not the CEO, the head of PR—gets one of Marketing’s most competent workers, Choi Youngjae.”

“Thank everything we’re here,” Yugyeom breathed, grabbing his duffle bag from the trunk. “I thought we’d never make it.”

“On the bright side, Mr. Lee finally knows the deep, dark past of Marketing and PR,” Chan mentioned, helping Yugyeom get his bags.

“Yeah, um, after we got interrupted like, ten times.” You rolled your eyes. “I could have told the whole story in one hour, but you kept cutting in and getting side-tracked. Did Mr. Lee have to know about the Ramen Incident?”

“Okay, fine, whatever. Let’s go settle in the guest house. Boss wants us to meet in the conference hall at 1:00 sharp. He’s going to brief everyone on the activities,” Chan retorted.

“Boss is here?” Felix questioned, tilting his head to the side.

“Yeah, he’s here to oversee the activities. Usually, he’d send the secretary, but since two entire departments are here, he came,” Yugyeom answered.

The four of you wheeled in your luggage into the cozy-looking cabin, which turned out to be more modern and restful that you’d expected. The inside was simple and minimalistic but sported a few home-esque touches. There were four bedrooms to be split between the team, but Chan had already assigned them. The girls would have the rooms upstairs while the guys would stay in the two downstairs. You were more than thankful to have a sensible roommate—her name was Jihyo and she was one of the more responsible ones on the marketing team.

“I’m relieved that we got here in one piece,” Jihyo commented, setting down her bags in the closet. “I’m surprised that Mr. Kim didn’t blow up the van.”

You chuckled. “Sometimes, I wonder how he’s even considered a grown man.”

“Right? Also, would you like some mosquito spray? I hear that it gets very bugsy outside,” she offered, holding up a bottle.

“How could I have scored such an awesome roomie? Thank you so much,” you grinned, spraying the product on your skin.

As soon as you both finished settling down, you made your way downstairs to meet the others. Once everyone was there, the Marketing team headed outside towards the conference hall, where your boss was waiting.

“Oh, nice. We made it first,” Chan mentioned, taking a seat on one of the plastic chairs.

You plopped down beside him. “Plus points to Marketing for being punctual.”

In a few seconds, a group of people started to pile into the venue one by one, and you recognized them as the terrible faces of PR. The engine of competitiveness was revving up as the minutes passed.

“Welcome to the long-awaited JYP company outing,” the one and only CEO boomed into the mic, “it’s nice to see that many of you were able to come.”

An applaud echoed throughout the hall.

“Anyhow, I’d not like to keep you here any longer. I’m sure that you are all famished by the travel and have not gotten the chance to eat a proper lunch yet. Worry not and let that be one of the driving forces for you all to give your best at the activities. The schedule is as follows: at 1:30 PM, the Relay Race will start. It will take around one to two hours, so I expect it to be over at around 3:00 PM. I will now announce the mechanics of the Race. Secretary Bambam, please flash the slides,” your Boss announced.

“Alright. You are now here,” he stated, pointing a laser at a spot on the screen. “Each team will go through a series of obstacles throughout the area. All these obstacles have been tailored to test your skills as employees, of course, as to not waste such a valuable opportunity to incorporate training and recreation. Some of these include creating a campaign for a product on the fly and trying to persuade me, who will act like a customer, to buy the said product. Each time you beat one obstacle better than the other team, you gain one point. Whoever gains the most points by the end of the Race gets quite the grand prize. At JYP, we don’t plan shabby company outings. At JYP, we allow our employees to have a chance at a fabulous prize, and this year, the winning department not only gets a delicious barbeque sponsored by our clients but also a bonus for next month’s paycheck.”

The entire hall erupted in cheer, everyone clearly enthused at the sound of the word ‘bonus’, which was just like an angelic choir.

“Right now, you all have a couple of minutes to plan out your strategies. Here are the list of ‘obstacles’ you will be facing, and I suggest you take time to assign your best people to the activities that they are most likely to do well at. At 1:30 sharp, Secretary Bambam will ring a bell and everyone should be off. Time starts now! Enjoy, everyone. See you at the finish line.”

You took one look at the screen in front and Chan was already motioning for your department to come and huddle.

“Alright, so for activity one, we need our most persuasive members. Ms. Park, Mr. Yang, I think you’d be most suited for that. Mr. Kim, I’m assigning you to face off in that dance battle,” Chan instructed.

“Are you kidding me?” Yugyeom shrieked. “Actually, you know what, sure. I’d rather do that than try to come up with a marketing scheme for Boss. Did you know I’ve won several awards for dancing in college? If I wasn’t in this company, I’d probably rocking the stag—”

“Not now! Anyway, Ms. Im, I’ll trust you to activity three. We all need to work together for activity four, then for the final activity—oh.”

Chan glanced at you, then glanced at Felix. You caught sight of that began to shake your head vigorously.

“Chan, whatever you’re thinking, NO.”

Your superior walked over to you and whispered, “[Y/N], we both know you and Felix can annihilate anyone in a three-legged race.”

“That was in high-school!” you defended, rubbing your palms together. “There’s no way—why is that activity even on the list?! Everyone knows the three-legged race is just so that people can poke fun at the contestants.”

“Think about PR winning that sweet, sweet bonus that we’re supposed to snag,” Chan tempted, etching a horrible image in your mind.

You did a double-take. “Fine, fine! But only because I hate PR’s guts more than I can humanely bear. Damn it.”

The score was currently tied, and it was down to the last obstacle: the dreaded three-legged race. ‘Of course this was how it was going to pan out,’ you thought to yourself, ‘because the universe hates me and loves to play with my life.’

While Yugyeom was busy bragging about his epic win at the dance show-off, you were bent down, tying a ribbon around your leg and Felix’s.

“Hey,” Felix began, clearing his throat. “Sorry you had to end up with me. I can tell you’re pretty bummed out.”

You whipped your head to him and your cheeks started to flush. “U-Uh, that isn’t it. It’s fine, really. Let’s just totally kill PR, alright?”

“You still got that three-legged race spirit in you?” he asked, stretching his arms. “Or has it withered away over the years?”

“I will never, ever give up my secret talent for three-legged races.”

“We’ll see about that. Wanna test it out? Let’s walk from here to there. No stumbling.”

You scoffed and nodded. In a few seconds, Felix found a way to snake his arms around your waist and a glare was quickly sent in his direction.

“What? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that this is the only way we can advance faster. Tried and tested, remember?” Felix piped up, adjusting his footing. “It’s how we beat that loser from Class B in high-school.”

“Alright already, let’s get this over with. Test from here to the water bottle?”

“Yup. One, two, three, go.”

Just like he said, the extra support from his grasp allowed for you both to move swiftly. It wasn’t long until you were able to reach the water bottle finish-line.

“See, told you.”

“Okay, contestants! Please make your way to the starting line now for the final battle, the tiebreaker!” Secretary Bambam announced over a microphone.

“How are you guys doing? You alright?” Chan’s voice came from behind you, causing you both to turn your heads in unison.

“Still got it, Sir Bang. The three-legged race has always been something me and Ms. [L/N] will always conquer with flying colors. Watch us win the department a bonus and a barbeque,” Felix grinned, giving Chan a thumbs-up.

“Can’t wait to see PR’s crushed faces. This is gonna be a breeze.” You saluted.

“Actually,” Chan started, leaning into a whisper. “You might wanna look over there. This is actually going to be quite close.”

Turning your head to the other side, you caught a glimpse of two familiar men. A gasp escaped your mouth.

“Wang and Tuan?!” you screamed, making Chan shoot you a look that said ‘shut-up’.

“What’s wrong with Wang and Tuan?” Felix questioned, head still turned in their direction.

You rubbed your temples in frustration. “Um, yes, you heard me. It just had to be the damned Wang and Tuan! They’re notorious for being one of the company’s most athletic individuals. We might as well surrender now because Mr. Tuan used to be in the track team back in the day and Mr. Wang once tried to match the speed of a moving car.”

“Hey, I used to be in Taekwondo! I have legs, Ms. [L/N]. Legs for days,” Felix replied.

“It’s indeed going to be a tough one, but we don’t know how well Mr. Wang and Mr. Tuan can run as a duo. For all we know, they’re amazing solo runners but terrible once their legs are tied together,” Chan encouraged.

“Nope.” You pointed at the two men who were jogging together in place. “Look at that coordination.”

“Okay, I hate to do this, but I know spite is the greatest motivator for you, [Y/N],” Chan started, balling his hands into a fist. “Remember when you were stressing over late paperwork the other day and wanted chocolate milk but found out there were none left in the staff room?”

“Yeah, and?”

“Wang took the last one,” Chan stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

“He didn’t.”

“Oh, but he did. When I went over to PR to hand in some files, I saw him sipping the last carton of chocolate milk.”

“That piece of scum,” you seethed, grabbing on to Felix’s waist. “That’s it, Felix. We’re taking them down.”

“Oh, we’re on first-name basis now?” the freckled boy asked innocently, putting his arm on your waist as well.

“This is war,” you declared, “we’re partners now. And today, we’re going to wipe off the dregs of society from this earth.”

Crackle. Crackle. A wave of heat kissed your face as a puff of smoke danced with the air. And the smell of charcoal was absolutely disgusting, but it was the single sweet reminder that everybody needed and deserved.

“Are we ready?” Yugyeom whispered, hiding behind your back.

“Let’s get cooking.”

Within seconds, the entirety of the Marketing team was scrambling to grab a hold of a piece of barbeque, hungry employees bustling left and right. After winning the competition, food was screaming to be devoured. It was three in the afternoon and nobody’d eaten lunch yet.

“Wait!” Chan cleared his throat. “Do we have drinks? I would like to make a toast.”

“Uh…” Jihyo drawled, eyeing the vicinity. “We have paper cups, but no drinks. Seriously? Who plans a barbeque with no drinks?”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll go to the store. I heard it’s not far from here,” you offered, shoving your hands in the pockets of your jacket.

“I’ll go with you in a second,” Chan answered, grabbing a paper cup, “but before we eat, to [Y/N] and Felix! The ones who trampled over PR during the tiebreak! Raise a glass!”

A cheer erupted from everyone’s mouths as empty paper cups were raised in the air to honor the victory that belonged to the team.

“Oh, can I come with? There’s a couple of things I wanna buy, too,” Yugyeom asked, walking towards you.

“You guys go ahead, I’ll save you some barbeque,” Felix suggested, waving. “Congrats to us. Go get the team some refreshing stuff!”

The three of you made your way out of the area and onto the streets, searching for a nearby grocery or convenience store.

After what seemed like miles of walking, your feet finally brought you in front of a small grocery. You didn’t hesitate to walk right in and pick up a basket.

The humble store consisted of a few shelves with worn-out paint lined up neatly in rows and holding all kinds of snacks and delights. The gentle whirring coming from the back lead you to a clear refrigerator with different drinks, and pretty soon, the metal basket in your hands was filled with several bottles. These were piled onto the counter along with a couple bags of chips, courtesy a snacky Yugyeom.

“What?” he said when you started to eye him judgingly, throwing the chip bags on the cashier tabletop. “It’s for my midnight cravings and the trip back home.”

You rolled your eyes, handing the cashier your credit card in exchange for your purchases. After getting your card back, the three of you headed back outside. Chan stopped in his tracks.

“Wait, so from here, did we take a left turn or a right turn? Right, right?”

“Pretty sure it was a left turn, Chan.”

“What?! You two are crazy, we came from straight ahead! I saw that sign with the cute cats earlier.”

“Okay, Mr. Kim, we’re trusting you.”

“Just drop the honorifics already. It’s alright.”

A minute passed… then two… then five…

“This isn’t the way that we came from.”

“You know what? This is why we live in a technological world. Let me just Google Maps this,” Yugyeom scoffed, pulling out his phone. “Aaaaaand… it says my line was cut off because I forgot to pay the bill. Cool, cool. Chan?”

“I left my phone in the room earlier because I didn’t want it to be hurled around during the race,” Chan answered. “[Y/N], you?”

A trickle of sweat slipped down your forehead. “Phone’s been dead for over an hour. I used it to record Wang and Tuan’s devastated faces after the competition.”

“Um, excuse me,” Chan attempted, trying to ask an elderly lady for help. She waved him off, muttering something about dangerous strangers.

“Right, so we’re lost, no help, and completely foreign-looking streets. What could get worse?” Yugyeom mumbled all pessimistic.

The clouds rumbled above.

“Seriously?!” Chan breathed out, gesturing for you three to wait under the shade of the grocer’s storefront. “Situational irony? Isn’t this just fantastic?”

“Hold on,” you began, turning to the oldest of you three. “Chan, do you still have the pen I lent you earlier before you left? You said you needed to check attendance.”

“Oh yeah, as a matter of fact, I do,” he replied, fishing in his pocket for the said pen. “Here.”

You took it hastily, taking a deep breath before engaging in the one thing you had never thought you’d do in your lifetime. Flipping the cap open, you began to write down a couple of words on your arm.

“Hi, Felix. Please tell me when you see this. It’s really urgent. Chan, Yugyeom, and I are stranded in a grocery, phones dead. Could you come pick us up at XX Grocer with umbrellas?”

“What? How’s that supposed to help us? It’s not like the words will magically float off into cyberspace,” Yugyeom commented, confused.

Your cheeks began to feel warm. After casting a worried look to Chan, you shut your eyes and began to spill your secret.

“I-It’s…um… whatever I write on my arm will show up on Felix’s arm and vice versa,” you explained quietly, keeping your eyes fixated on your arms for any sign of response.

“Don’t tell me,” Yugyeom gasped, “he’s the one you’re soulmates with?!”

“She’s known since high-school,” Chan sighed, “but there are reasons as to why they’re not… you know. Together. [Y/N] doesn’t particularly like to talk about it.”

“No, it’s alright,” you waved it off, “I can tell you, just please don’t tell anyone. Um, actually, Felix and I used to be best friends, but some complicated things happened and we fought. After college, I went to Busan to try to start a new life, but in the end, I couldn’t escape him.”

“O-Oh, were you guys dating? Did he know you were here?” Yugyeom inquired, genuinely curious.

As the drops of rain started to pour around, you answered, “No, we never dated. And it’s all been purely coincidence. I didn’t know he was coming and neither did he. That’s why it was so difficult for us to interact when he first came.”

“Everything makes sense!” Yugyeom exclaimed, making an explosion gesture with his hands. “Wait, did he reply to your arm message?”

You looked down at you arm again and sure enough, the familiar chicken scratch writing appeared.

“I’ll be there in a bit. Stay dry! I’ll try to be as quick as possible.”

“Okay, good. We’re saved.” Chan let out a breath of relief.

In fifteen minutes, Felix was shuffling across the street towards you three, an umbrella in one hand and his phone in the other.

“Why’d you guys go so far? There was literally a convenience store right beside the place we’re staying at,” Felix questioned, unzipping his bag. “Here’s an extra umbrella.”

“Sir Bang—Chan… can I speak with you for a bit on the way home? There’s a bit of concern with one of the Marketing members and I need to discuss it with you,” Yugyeom piped up, grabbing the umbrella from Felix’s hands. “If you don’t mind, I’ll share this with Chan. It’s a personal matter.”

Chan didn’t even get a chance to object before he was pulled away by a swift Yugyeom, who began to babble about his concerns. You and Felix watched them mosey away, chattering about whatever was to be chattered about.

“Uh, let’s go?” Felix cleared his throat, holding the umbrella. You stepped in and began to walk back to the company outing’s venue.

For a while, all that could be heard was just the pitter-patter of the rain as you trudged on in silence. The quietness was so suffocating, you swear you could hear the cawing of a crow muffled beneath the sounds of the rain.

“Hey… you’re getting wet,” the freckled boy mentioned, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and pulling you closer to him. He dropped his hand quickly after, opening his mouth to speak. “Sorry if this makes you uncomfortable to be so near me, but I just don’t want you to get wet.”

You shook your head. “No, it’s okay. Thank you for being so considerate. And for picking us up.”

“It’s no problem, although this?” he said, riding up his jacket sleeve to expose the scribbles on his arm. “A message saying that you were stranded wasn’t exactly what I hoped your first ever arm message to me would be. I’ve been thinking about it lately, and I really wished you might’ve saved it to notify me that you brought rice cakes to work or something.”

A giggle escaped your lips as the thought entered your mind. “Well, sorry that an emergency message isn’t as cool as rice cakes. But now that you’ve expressed your sentiments, maybe I will bring rice cakes and use our connection to notify you.”

“I can’t believe you thought of contacting me that way. Couldn’t you have texted?”

“Well, Chan’s phone was left behind, Yugyeom hasn’t payed his bills, and mine’s dead. And even if mine wasn’t dead, I don’t have your number.”

“Ouch, you deleted my number after moving?”

“…I uh… got a new phone?”

“Nah, I’m just kidding you. It’s alright, I totally get it.”

Just as you arrived at the entrance of the recreation center, you halted your steps and turned to Felix.

For the first time in a very, very long time, you found the strength to look him in the eyes. “Uh… wait. I just wanted to tell you something.”

“Hm?” He turned to you as well, matching your stare. Why were your legs feeling wobbly? Your palms were starting to sweat as well, and you cursed yourself for it. Speaking to Felix properly and serious was something you found extremely difficult to do, but you decided to stop acting like he was a disease you didn’t want to catch.

With a deep breath, you began, “So… it kinda felt nice to be able to talk to you again. You know, not about work. Just…normally. I guess, what I wanted to say was, uh, well, is it okay if we restart? Be friends, maybe? I really hate this discomfort between us, and I think it would be better, even for work, if we got along.”

Silence enveloped the air once again, leaving the both of you in the company of the rain and the passing cars. Thoughts of Felix lashing out and angrily speaking back to you flashed in your head; suddenly, you wanted to scurry off and never see his face again. What if he called you out on all the horrible things you’d done to him in the past? You braced yourself for anger, for rejection.

But instead, the boy in front of you broke into a grin. He even chuckled a little, reaching out his hand.

“Well, in that case,” he spoke, “hi. I’m Lee Felix, it’s nice to meet you. You can call me Felix.”

You grabbed his hand and shook it. “Hey, Felix. I’m [L/N] [Y/N], but feel free to just stick with [Y/N]. Friends?”

“Sure. Friends.”

Months after declaring the newfound restart, the budding flower of friendship began its ascent into full bloom. Often times, you asked your grandmother to make you some extra rice cakes to bring to work, that of which you shared with Felix. Sure enough, you kept your promise of notifying him through a small doodle of a rice cake on your wrist. You could have sworn you saw his eyes light up every time he noticed what was on his wrist. There were even nights that you two would stay behind to work on projects together, bringing snacks and drinks to keep you guys powered throughout the extra hours. Productivity rate in your team increased due to you and Felix’s hard work, and this did not go by unnoticed.

As he was passing by Felix’s desk, Chan couldn’t help but notice that Felix’s usually busy computer screen was shut off and that his freckled junior was staring intently at something in his hands. One look over his shoulder and Chan couldn’t help but smile.

He cleared his throat. “What’s that?”

The poor boy almost leaped out of his seat. Shoving the object behind his back, Felix responded, “What’s what?”

Chan motioned to Felix’s hands. “Whatever’s behind you.”

A trickle of sweat dripped down Felix’s clammy fingers. “Just a photo.”

“Ooh, can I see?” Chan pressed on, already knowing exactly what it is the boy held.

“N-No, hyung.”

“Come on. Don’t make me pull the superior card.”

“Fine!” Felix revealed the photo to the man in front of him, ears turning crimson. “Look, I found our graduation picture while rummaging through some of my old stuff, okay? It’s just got me thinking, like…I didn’t realize how much I missed [Y/N] over time. It seems like forever since we graduated high-school, and I still remember how it felt being her best friend. Sometimes, when I see her laugh with Yugyeom, I’m reminded of the times I used to be able to make her laugh like that. I don’t know, I sorta miss it, um, a lot.”

“Hold up, are you jealous of Yugyeom?” Chan raised a brow.

Felix hesitated, turning away. “Don’t phrase it like that, please.”

“Felix,” Chan started, breaking into a grin. “Do you like [Y/N]?”

“Is that so weird?” Felix huffed, burying his face in his arms. “I mean like, she’s my soulmate. But more than that, she’s a friend I really, really treasure. Like, I’ve been thinking about it and it would really suck if she wasn’t in my life. So I kinda came to the conclusion that okay, fine. When I talk to her, it’s not as much so to ask for rice cakes but to actually converse with her. And that I um, do like her. But honestly, between you and me?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s a chance this whole ‘liking [Y/N]’ thing isn’t new news.”

Now Chan could only be relieved that his team members (namely you and Felix) were finally getting along well, but Yugyeom, on the other hand, would often sometimes send a wiggle of brows in your direction. Of course, this led you to throw crumpled balls of scratch paper at him, but deep down, you too were glad that the office became a more bearable workplace. You were more than thankful to have a good superior, good co-workers, and even a good boss.

On Tuesdays, you’d bring homemade lunch instead of buying from the office canteen. One fateful Tuesday noon, you stood up as soon as lunchbreak started and headed to the staff room to pick up your boxed lunch to heat it up in the microwave. On your way, you thought about handing some extra gimbap to Chan, Yugyeom, and Felix in gratefulness for being good to you. A smile made its way to your face as you entertained the thought, feeling appreciative and enthused that life had been looking up lately.

Just as you were about to open the door to the staff room, a familiar laugh rang in your eyes. Inside the room happened to be your freckled friend, smiling towards a female employee. You easily recognized her to be one of those PR scumbags, and once the realization hit that Felix was mingling with someone from that bloody department, your blood began to boil.

To make matters worse, you caught sight of him handing her what seemed to be a box—and that was all it took for you to storm into the staff room, take your lunch, and stomp outside in the direction of the canteen.

Once you got to your usual table, you plopped down in front of Yugyeom and hastily opened your lunch box.

“Woah there, tiger. What’s with the attitude?” Yugyeom asked, fiddling with his chopsticks. “Oh and by the way, Chan won’t be joining us. He’s in a meeting.”

“Felix is mingling with a girl from PR!” you huffed, stabbing a slice of gimbap and shoving it in your mouth. Between frustrated chews, you managed to sputter, “I’m so ticked off! He gave her a gift, or something!”

Yugyeom almost spit out his water. “What?! No way.”

“Yes way,” you nodded, wiping your mouth. “Saw them in the staff room being all friendly. I mean come on, ugh!”

“Hold on.” Yugyeom squinted his eyes. “Are you jealous?”

This time, it was your turn to almost spit out your water. “Excuse me? Yugyeom, you know how bad it is for someone to flirt with the enemy!”

“Yeah, but like, you sure you’re not just…I don’t know…pissed that Felix was flirting with someone who isn’t you?”

“The hell?” you hissed. “Felix does not flirt with me.”

Yugyeom sighed and rolled his eyes. “If that’s how you think, you are a lost cause, woman. When you write him notes or whatever on your wrist—which by the way, talk about cheesy!—his face lights up like a Christmas tree. And your banter as you do paperwork? Don’t get me started.”

“He gets excited because goodness knows Felix loves rice cakes more than anything. And office banter is nothing but what it is! What, I can’t argue about the better way to appeal to customers? What’s so romantic about different marketing topics? Seriously, do you know how un-sexy ‘Geographic Segmentation’ sounds? Anyway, I’m still upset that loverboy’s sucking up to PR. I mean, really?” you scoffed.

“Who’s sucking up to PR?” A deep voice came, startling you. When Felix took a seat next to you, you rolled your eyes and stood up. Petty, but absolutely necessary. You weren’t going to stand for anyone who mingled with PR. And just like that, you strut off towards your department, deciding that your table was the best place to eat lunch for now.

“I cannot even bear to see you guys sometimes,” Yugyeom exhaled, watching Felix try to comprehend what had just taken place in front of his eyes.

One entire week had passed since you started to act cold towards Felix, who had not a single clue what on earth was going on. Every time he tried to speak to you, you brushed it off with some lame excuse about having to think of the best way to brand the company’s latest product or that you were busy with paperwork.

“Chan, did I do something?” Felix questioned one Thursday, leaning on his superior’s desk. His face seemed to be clearly distraught by the furrowed eyebrows and pursed lips.

“Why? Did you do something?” Chan shot back, typing away at his laptop.

“I don’t know, man! [Y/N]’s been avoiding me like the plague. And she only does that if I do something wrong. Remember when I didn’t show up to our reunion in high-school? When you and the alumni hyungs wanted to hang at the amusement park but I didn’t go? Yeah, she wouldn’t talk to me because she was so upset,” Felix sighed, rubbing his temples. “This time, I don’t even know what’s up. And it sucks. I miss her rice cakes. It’s been a week.”

“Well, try to think of anything that you might’ve done to piss her off. Take her stapler? Send a late file?” Chan suggested, still not looking up from his screen.

“None of that! I swear, I blinked, and then she was mad. This is such bad timing because I want to ask her out for the holidays, and the break is starting soon. I don’t wanna end the year this way!” Felix whined, shoulders slumping.

“Thank me later,” Chan told him, raising his voice, “[Y/N]! Please come over here. There are some files to be looked over pronto!”

“Coming!” you replied, getting off your chair and walking to your superior’s table. But just as you came, he stood up and grabbed his clipboard.

“Actually, I have a meeting about now. But don’t worry, the file that needs to be looked over is—oh wow! Lee Felix.pdf is right here. Amazing. Love you both, see you at lunch!” With a grin, Chan sauntered off.

You folded your arms and tapped your shoes indignantly. “What, Felix?”

“I’m so sorry about Chan,” he apologized, rubbing his hands together. “But I do need to talk to you. Why have you been ignoring me?”

You rolled your eyes. “Oh, I don’t know, Felix. Maybe because someone was being all buddy-buddy last Wednesday with some girl from PR. I mean, are you even for real? How could you flirt with someone from PR?!”

“Wait… are you jealous?”

“Why does everybody automatically assume that I’m jealous?” you snapped. “The answer is no, you idiot! I’m angry because you were mingling with our rivals, our arch nemeses!”

When Felix remembers the events of last Wednesday, a laugh escapes his mouth. “W-What?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me. I clearly saw you being all generous and handing one of the PR girls a gift in the staff room. I have eyes, you know!”

“[Y/N]… no…” Felix started, trying to stifle more laughter. “I wasn’t flirting with her. That girl’s a family friend and I had to return a book that my mom borrowed from her mom. She told me that just because we’re family friends didn’t mean that her department would go easy on us. And I told her, ‘of course’, because I’m loyal to Marketing—I’m loyal to our team. Besides, I already have someone else in mind that I’d like to flirt with.”

You were taken aback. Somewhere deep in the crevices of your heart was a wave of relief mixed with disappointment, but you waved it off and let a giant smirk rest on your lips. “Woah, woah, woah, Lee Felix! Who’s the special someone?”

“Like I’d tell you, cheesebrain.”

“You suck.”

“No, not really. Anyway, you’re going back to Seoul for the break, right?”

“Oh yeah, why?”

“Wanna meet up on the 26th? I’m going home, too,” Felix invited.

“Oh shoot, yeah, sure! I’ll be sure to mark my schedule. I’m free that day anyway. What time to what time?”

“Just keep it flexible. I’ll text you or you know,” Felix motioned to his arm, “maybe I’ll write.”

“Just text me, I might accidentally wash it off.”

“See you then!”

The cold winter air was not the only thing that greeted you once you arrived back in Seoul, no. As soon as you set foot into the familiar gates of your home, your parents and relatives showered you with tight squeezes, slobbery kisses, and all sorts of questions. Were you eating properly? Did you have time to go Christmas shopping? How was work? Did you meet your soulmate yet? Was Busan better than Seoul, or Seoul better than Busan?

As much as you wanted to entertain your family with tales of Busan, settling in after a long travel sounded too good to pass. Once you spent an ample amount of time with them, you headed upstairs to your room.

Ah, your room. Upon opening the door, you took a whiff of the comforting scent of your original room, familiarity embracing you like an old friend. You flopped down on the fluffed-up sheets and could not resist a grin.

It was good to be home.

In a few hours, the grandfather clock in the living room would chime, signaling the start of a new day and the beginning of Christmas itself. But for now, you wanted nothing more but to put your mind at rest, leaving all thoughts of work behind at the doorstep. It was just you, your bed, and the chilly winter weather.

But someone—no, rather something—came to join your cozy trio, and it was right there in bright blue ink on your left wrist.

“Hey there. Get home safely?”

With a smile, you grabbed the gel pen in your bag and started to jot down a response.

“I thought you preferred text.”

“My head hurts and I don’t want to use my phone. I’m just resting in my room and hiding from my sisters, who won’t stop asking me about you.”

“Oh, so you’ve discussed me?”

“[Y/N], you never answered my first question.”

“Righty-o, Sir Lee. I did, indeed, come home fine with Grandma. It was fun to bring her home. The family’s stoked we’ve come.”

“Can I have permission to erase lines with wet wipes every few messages? My arm gets crowded. Also, please use a water-based pen. It makes it easier to wipe off.”

“Just text, then.”

“I deleted your number, too.”

“What the hell, Felix?”

“I’m kidding! See you on Kakao!”

“So, do I wear this sweater or this blouse? Kinda think the blouse is cute, but the sweater’s practical since the weather’s begging to freeze my butt,” you spoke into your laptop, which displayed a video of Chan furrowing his eyebrows as he took a look at your choices.

“You’re worrying too much. Just go with the sweater, it doesn’t make you look any less cute,” Chan snickered, “it’s so fun to watch my little [Y/N] put so much effort into this.”

Your cheeks flushed. “Just shut up and help me, Chan! Skirt, jeans, or leggings?”

“Skirt? Why would you even suggest a skirt? Damn, girl, you’re asking for frostbite at this point. Go with the leggings and make sure to wear leg warmers. Bring a thick coat, too.”

“Okay, mom. But are you sure this doesn’t make me look like a Christmas tree? Maybe a CHRISmas tree!”

Chan rolled his eyes and sighed. “It won’t be cute if your teeth are chattering and your skin begs to be kept warm. Just dress warmly. Hey, hey, what’s with the sigh?”

“Wait. Yo, yo, I just realized something. It’s just going to be me and Felix I think tomorrow. I-Is that a date or something? What if it is?!”

“Calm down. Did he say if it was or not?”

“I don’t know! He just said he was going to spend the day with me!”

A 480p-quality simper sat on Chan’s lips on the screen. “Are you scared because it might be a date or because he might just be asking you out as a friend?”

“I’m not SCARED, Chan! You know what, that’s honestly the least of my concerns!” you answered indignantly. “What if he stands me up? Remember the amusement park fiasco?”

“Relax, [Y/N]. He will NOT stand you up. Have you seen the way he’s been lately? Felix has been overtiming a lot, he’s always punctual and/or early for meetings, and he makes sure to go to all the places he’s assigned to. Whenever he can’t make it, he always messages a day or two in advance. I think that says something.”

“Okay, okay. You’re right. Anyway, I’m going to wash up and go to sleep. Thank you so much for taking the time to video chat me. I’m going to go now, merry Christmas! Say hi to unnie for me, please. Love you, bye.”

“Bye, [Y/N]! Good luck. Text me the details of it all! Merry Christmas. Love you too!”

Was it irregular to be having hands this clammy, to be having palms this sweaty? Felix pressed two fingers to his neck to check his pulse. Okay, great. It was good to know that he was still alive.

‘Agh! This is going to kill me! Please, please, please come soon,’ Felix thought, checking his phone for a new notification. Just in case, he rolled up his padded jacket’s sleeve and checked his arm. Both were devoid of any sign from you.

As if on cue, the freckled boy felt a tap on his back and there you were, bundled up in a cozy outfit. Holy. Crap. He had to fight the urge to squeeze you in his arms.

“H-Hey, [Y/N]. Glad you could make it.” Felix cleared his throat, offering his arm for you to hold. “Um, shall we? Have you eaten lunch?”

“Yeah, I have. You?”

“Same. Anyway, is there anywhere you want to go to?” Felix asked, starting to walk.

You squinted your eyes in thought. “Hmm… I don’t have anything particular in mind.”

“Alright, so it’s 2:45 now. I was thinking that maybe you wanna go to the old arcade? We can spend some time there, then maybe go around the area. Look at a museum if you want.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Laughter filled the air as you clutched your stomach, trying to stop yourself from giggling too much. At this point, you were borderline gasping for air with every guffaw. Felix was doing the same, and he had to hold onto your shoulder to keep himself from stumbling onto the concrete ground.

“I can’t believe you did that, Felix! We could have gotten kicked out of the museum, damn it!” you commented between laughs. “I’m so embarrassed by you now!”

“Not my fault that the little kid wanted to see me bust some dance moves. Yugyeom isn’t the only one in Marketing who can dance, you know,” Felix answered, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Whatever, you doofus. What’s next? It’s pretty dark already, so maybe dinner?” you asked, checking your watch.

Felix cleared his throat and his back started to stiffen. “Actually, I have a place in mind.”

You nodded and proceeded to hail a taxi from the waiting stand. Felix whispered something to the driver and you were off, silently sitting in the backseat.

“Where are we going?”

“Shhh, you’ll see,” was all Felix managed to reply before he looked out the window thoughtfully.

As soon as you arrived at the mystery place, Felix payed the cab driver and helped you get out. When you stepped out of the car, your eyes widened. You’d recognize this area anywhere.

For a little, silence was all that was shared between you two as you walked alongside the riverbank, the one place you knew had a special space for in your heart. Back then, this had been you and Felix’s favorite spot to go to after a tiring school day. And on one fateful December 26th, you were back, walking beside him once again.

The frigid wind left you to huddle a little closer than usual to Felix, who didn’t seem to mind. Gentle brushing of the hands led your fingers to intertwine with his, locking safely in his cozy yet sweaty palms; you could only hope he would not hear the erratic beating of your heart pounding against your ribcage with every passing second. This was happening, this was happening, this was happening—and oh dear, you didn’t dislike it.

A few minutes seemed like eternity with Lee Felix. But eternity wasn’t going to cut it for the scene that lay in front of you, the scene he had brought you to.

Sitting on the riverside was a small tent lit dimly by the soft glow of fairy lights, a sight you’d only managed to conjure up in your head once, long ago. But there it was, every bit of it as real as the warm feeling of Felix’s hands in yours.

Your lips parted. “F-Felix, is this…?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, leading you to the small tent and helping you take a seat inside. “Uh, there’s some soju in that cooler and some gimbap over there if you want. And japchae. Chopsticks are here.”

“When did you have the time to even prepare this? I swear, you’ve been with me all day,” you questioned, reaching for the chopsticks as Felix cracked open the plastic container of gimbap.

He smiled. “Oh, I called for help from people I know who’d never pass up the chance to aid in this surprise.”

You gasped. “Let me guess. Hyunjin? Jisung? Seungmin, Jeongin?”

He gave you thumbs-up. “My boys.”

“Our boys,” you corrected, shoving a piece of kimbap in your mouth.

A few gimbaps and bites of japchae later, you found yourselves in silence once again, sipping soju from little paper cups.

“So…I think this is the part where I start talking,” Felix began, wiping his mouth. He directed his gaze right at your eyes.

“I hope you liked the little surprise, [Y/N]. Even though… technically… it wasn’t my idea, but yours. Actually, the reason I brought you here was because it’s finally time for me to give something to you, very, very long overdue,” he continued, “when we were in highschool, I didn’t expect us to become friends. Frankly, I though that I annoyed you every time I talked to you at the 4419 bus stop. Remember when we first had a proper conversation? Man, after that, the ball just speeded downhill. Before I knew it, we were an inseparable duo. [Y/N] and Felix. Felix and [Y/N]. Hell, I remember getting poked fun at for it, and people were teasing me that I liked you. Which… honestly, I’ve come to realize…was true. I admit, they were right. It’s actually kind of weird, I’ve only known since recently that I caught some real, big feelings for you back then.”

Here Felix paused to take a sip of water before he went on. “I haven’t forgotten the first time I found out my soulmate link. Blue ink, wrist, all-caps: ‘STUDY’. When I found out that a girl from our school had a similar link, I almost freaked out. But honestly? I only started to flirt with her to um—wow, this is embarrassing—make you jealous. Childish, right? And after a while, ironically, it backfired. ‘Cause I started to like her. Anyway, fast forward, college, right? We all know what happened… then what happened after graduation. I lost you. My soulmate, but most importantly, my best friend. It was the worst because I lost you, and I could have avoided that,” he sighed, “and so here we are. Somehow, life has given us a second chance, and I don’t want to screw this up. So [Y/N], I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry that I did so many stupid things in the past, I’m sorry that I was an awful best friend, I’m sorry that I didn’t fight harder to keep you in my life. I’m sorry for hurting you.”

“Felix,” you piped up suddenly, “Look, I’m sorry too. I think it’s a failure on both parts because really, maybe if I wasn’t so selfish, we could have avoided the whole fight. I didn’t know you were willing to wait for me until, you know, then. I’ve blamed myself a lot for that, but I’ve come to realize that you know what? It’s alright to make mistakes, and I forgive myself for doing that. And if I can forgive myself, I can forgive you. When we decided to restart our friendship, honestly, I was more than relieved to hear you were on board for it as well. So, can we agree to put all our mistakes in the past?”

“Yes. I’d love that. Man, thank you so much, [Y/N], for giving me another chance. I, too, forgive you for everything. And I’m so glad that you’re back in my life.”

“Aw, come here,” you grinned, opening your arms for a hug. Felix wrapped his arms around you tightly, and for a while, that’s how you two stayed.

“Wait, I’m actually not done,” Felix announced, pulling away. As he opened his mouth to speak, his hands started to shake a little bit.

“Oh?” You tilted your head to the side, curious as to what the boy would say next.

“I can’t promise you that I won’t make any more mistakes in the future, but for what it’s worth, I’ve learned from the past. And if anything, anything, happens that causes me to stumble and hurt you, I’m willing to put up a fight to make it right. I can’t promise you that the future holds all flowers and sunshine, but if there’s one thing that I am absolutely, terribly sure of, it is that [Y/N]?”

“Mm?”

“I’m in love with you.”

All you could hear was the faint howling of the wind as you were rendered absolutely speechless. It took minutes to process the words Felix had just spoken, and when you managed to grasp the idea of it, all you could sputter out was, “Really?”

Felix nodded. “Yes. Really.”

“I’ve waited since third-year of highschool for you to say that,” you admitted, mustering all your strength not to smile. “So, can I…kiss you?”

“Yes, yes you can,” he answered, leaning in.

So, slowly, surely, you kissed him. You let the gentle caress of his lips speak for themselves as they locked with your own, causing your heart to beat fervently in your chest. It may have been short, chaste even, but one kiss was all it took for you to confirm the vehemence that had been lurking deep down in the crevices of your entire being.

“I’m sorry that this isn’t as grand as you’d hoped. I remember you told me that you wanted big sparks to fly when you met your soulmate,” Felix laughed nervously, taking the opportunity to rest his hand on top of yours.

You shook your head. “No, I’m glad that it’s you, and I’m glad that this is how it turned out.”

Perhaps if it had been another day in another place at another time, you’d say that loving Lee Felix was quite full of irony. But since you were here, at this specific moment on this specific day in this specific place at this specific time, you could truly and sincerely say that there was nothing ironic about it, that there was nothing paradoxical about loving Lee Felix.

There was only bliss. There was only certainty.

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