#Or if we're lucky the new chapter

[sunsetdew0101]

I have a new appreciation for all the writers out there.

Writing a chapter which, for the most of it, it's a filler, but you want it to be interesting and also give some information necessary about characters details, past, and/or personality... Let's just say my levels of stress are increasing 🤣😂😭

But don't worry, you'll have you chapter

[embrosegraves]

𝔻𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝔻𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕌𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣

Oscar Piastri x Horner!Reader Oscar finds that having a crush having less than platonic feelings for your boss's only adult daughter is apparently free real estate for some of F1's biggest gossips

Warnings: As per, explicit language and grammatical errors.

dates on tweets don't exist, right? they're all just fake??

series masterlist | previous part | next part

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oscarpiastri A week full of sim training, rage rooms and relaxation before going home for a p1 on the podium (hopefully) (max let me have this i beg) tagged: redbullracing, yn.horner

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logansargeant did I not tell you rage rooms were the coolest ever -> oscarpiasrti yeah yeah keep bragging 🙄 -> logansargeant well since you gave me permission-

fan38 at least its a controlled environment to deal with your emotions -> yn.horner thank FUCK i convinced him to do this instead of what Ruben wanted -> rubenholtt what was wrong with egging and tp-ing her house? -> yn.horner uhh everything???

maxverstappen1 I'm not gonna go easy on you just because you grew up 10 minutes from the track -> oscarpiastri BOOOOO 🍅🍅🍅

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user358 make him wear them!!

oscarpiastri The glasses are NOT the issue and you know it. -> yn.horner What you think I don't look good with facial hair? -> oscarpiastri Hey don't put words in my mouth -> oscarpiastri I just wasn't expecting you to pick up looking like THAT

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redbullracing The face of a man that snagged P2 AT HIS HOME RACE, channelled his inner Elle Woods ("What, like it's hard?") and then proceeded to not elaborate any further tagged: oscarpiastri

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oscarpiastri What can I say, I'm just built diff 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ -> liked by author

danielricciardo We stand on business here -> oscarpiastri And that's on what? -> yn.horner PERIODTTTTTT

user325 AND NOT A SINGLE DISQUAL IN SIGHT -> danielricciardo 😢😢 -> user325 sorry Danny -> danielricciardo 😒🫶

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yn.horner having matching plushies always helps me feel better when i'm away from home

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oscarpiastri what names have you chosen for yours? assuming that whoever they match with has named theirs -> yn.horner their names are confidential i'm afraid -> oscarpiastri boooooo no fun :(

user549 wish my boyfriend did this for me -> user550 babe, we're literally on our way to go buy jellycats -> user549 ok and???

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if you see this, know that you WILL be getting the next update after the Imola GP i promise.

I've been in a really odd spot in my life where I haven't been very motivated to do any writing (or even just creating in general) for long burst of time, which means that any requests I have been sent previously have been sitting in my drafts half finished because I cannot for the life of me find any inspiration to write anything.

I count myself lucky that I had enough motivation and energy to start pre-planning for the rest of this series. If you take a look at the series masterlist you'll notice that there are numbers next to the current chapters and beyond. I've decided that the entire series is going to be 14 chapters in total with a bonus chapter for Oscar and Y/n's shenanigans at the end of the 2024 season.

I can't thank everyone enough for being so incredibly patient with me as I try to work through this writing slump. Slowly but surely I will start uploading fic reqs again

-- Embrose xx

[cryptidghostgirl]

Make You Wish Chapter Four -- Vox

Pairing: Alastor x Reader

Warnings: I don't think there are any for this chapter? Correct me if I am wrong.

Word Count: 1,225

Previous Part: Chapter Three -- A Reunion

Master Lists 

Hazbin Hotel Master List 

Make You Wish Master List

A/N I wasn't planning on posting this until tomorrow, but it seems to have some rather excited fans so here is chapter four (and the fourth thing I'm publishing today. We're very done for the day. I am tried and have actual work to do.) Also guys, I'm screaming. I accidentally deleted the whole things right before I was gonna post it. Thankfully I had a draft from when it was almost done save but like, god that sucked.

On the screen was Vox, seated behind a desk.

"Top of the hour and we're discussing a certain has-been how has been spotted cavorting around town after a seven year absence." Vox was saying, a poorly drawn image of Alastor displayed on the screen to his left.

Y/n saw Alastor's ear twitch with irritation.

"Yeah." she sighed, folding her arms across her chest, "Vox has gone kinda crazy since you left. I told you, things got tough."

"Did anybody miss him? Did anybody notice? More on tonight's program." Vox said through the TV, shuffling a stack of papers.

Alastor changed the channel with another flick of his finger.

"Hun, don't worry yourself with it." Y/n advised, "He's still gonna be there tomorrow."

The new channel showed a talk-show set up, Vox-2-Nite, where Vox was both host and guest.

"So, the old Radio Demon is back in town." host Vox was saying to himself as guest.

"Why is he hanging around?" guest Vox asked, taking a sip from a mug that had 'fuck Alastor' written on the side.

"Al." Y/n warned, sensing her friends irritation growing.

"What does that mean for your family?" Host Vox asked before Alastor changed the channel again.

Vox was on the screen again, before a bright red curtain.

"Well, handily, I've got good news." he was saying theatrically, "He's a loser, a fossil, and I don't mean to sound hostel-"

Alastor changed the channel again. This time to one of Vox's mega church broadcasts. Vox stood in the center of the screen wearing a pope's hat with an inverted cross on it.

"But the demon is a coward!" he announced, his words matching the previous channels sentiments perfectly.

"Jesus, V." Y/n asked, eyes wide, "How many channels are you running this on?"

"You can take that as gospel. Pulling my viewers? Impossible. I'm visual, he's barely audible."

"Y/n." Alastor hummed, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

"Yeah?"

"You wont mind if I handle this quickly. We can have our little chat after, I promise. It wont take more than a moment."

"I don't know, Al..." Y/n sighed, crossing her arms and tapping her foot slightly, "This isn't good for you, letting him get under your skin like this."

Alastor changed the channel again. A cooking show appeared and Vox was standing before the oven, singing along to the music playing in the background.

"But he should've stayed away! While he hid in radio, we pivoted to video!"

Vox on screen turned to the oven as he sang, opening it and pulling out a deer's head on a plate. Y/n bristled at the site, her horns growing just the tiniest bit longer, her teeth just the smallest bit sharper.

"And now his medium is getting bloody rare!"

"Al?" Y/n asked sharply.

"Yes, darling?"

"I lied." Y/n turned to face him, "He took this shit musical. Rip him a new one."

"Oh!" Millie exclaimed, excitedly grabbing onto Moxxie's arm, "We're gonna get a show!"

Alastor's grin widened at Y/n's words, if that was even possible. He stuck his hand out to the side, his microphone materializing in his grasp.

"Lucky for me, I've got the best voice this side of the divide on my side." he noted, shooting Y/n a look.

Her eyes flashed red.

"You flatter me."

Alastor brought his microphone to his mouth, suddenly exceedingly calm. The imps present in the room watched in shock as his ears flattened along his head.

"Salutations, good to be back on the air!" he announced into the device, "Yes I know it's been a while since someone with style treated hell to a broadcast. Sinners rejoice!"

Vox's brow furrowed on the TV screen as he inched up close to the camera.

"What a dated voice." Vox shot back, clearly listening to Alastor's broadcast on the set of his cooking show.

"Instead of a clout chasing, mediocre, video podcast." Alastor continued, not showing any sign he had noticed the TV demon's insult, "Is Vox insecure, pursuing allure? Flitting between this fad and that, is nothing working?"

"Ignore his chirping!" Vox commanded from the TV.

Y/n laughed and, turning to face Alastor, realized the man held a hand out to her. With a smile, she took it and he spun her into his arms as he spoke. The music echoed through the office as Alastor raised the volume on the TV once again.

"Every day he's got a new format."

Alastor spun Y/n back out again as the pair began dancing.

"You're looking at the future!" Vox yelled back, "He's the shit that comes before that!"

As Alastor spun Y/n back into his arms, she laid one of her hands on top of his holding the microphone and pulled it closer to her face.

"Is Vox as strong as he purports, or is it based on his support?" she sang in a clear voice, Blitzo, Millie, and Moxxie's eyes widening with recognition at the sound, "He'd be powerless without the other Vees."

"That's true!" Alastor noted, pulling the microphone back to himself as Y/n let go of his hand and he spun her back out again.

"It can't be..." Moxxie muttered under his breath.

"Holy shit!" Millie cut him off, excitement creeping into her voice, "There's no way, Y/n is the guest star?"

"The fuck are you two talking about?" Blitzo asked, turning to Millie and Moxxie as they watched the couple continue to dance.

"Well, Sir," Moxxie began, fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket, "back before the Radio Demon went missing, he used to bring guests onto the show on occasion. There was one guest he never named during his broadcasts however. She mostly just sang songs and chatted with him but, she sounded an awful lot like Y/n did just now."

"You don't say." Blitzo hummed, his arms crossed as he turned back to Y/n and Alastor, "So much for little miss 'oh, my life has been so boring. You'd probably just fall asleep if I started talking about it!' She is so gonna get it later."

Alastor let go of Y/n's hand and leaned into the microphone, beginning to sing as well, using the music emanating from the TV as a base.

"And here's the sugar on the cream: he asked me to join his team!"

"Hold on!" Vox yelled.

"I said no and now he's pissy, that's the tea!" Alastor finished, ignoring the demon once again.

"You old timey prick!" Vox exclaimed, his face glitching slightly as Y/n wandered back over to Alastor.

She leaned an elbow on his shoulder, tilting her head to the side in amusement as they watched Vox struggle.

"I'll show you suffering!"

"Aww, the TV is buffering." Y/n said, leaning into the microphone, her voice dripping with sickly sweet pity.

"I'll destroy yoo-o-u-u" Vox exclaimed as his technical difficulties seemed to grow worse.

Alastor and Y/n exchanged a wicked pair of smiles as the TV flickered out. Shadows crept from the edges of the room, encircling their feet. Alastor held an arm out to Y/n once again which she took with a smile. In a flash of darkness, they were gone.

"What the fuck was that?" Loona asked, stalking into the room.

----

Next Part -> Chapter Five -- The Conversation

[sonamytrash]

Midnight

Underground Virgin!Levi x Virgin!Femreader

MDNI

Warnings: y/n used, Childhood friends to lovers, fluff, smut, puberty mentioned, masturbation mentioned, fingering, sex, mentions of abuse, mentions of rape, mentions of prostitution, characters ages aren't mentioned, but it's suggested they're both in their late teens, of age when writing but could be interpreted as underage? Virgin levi, virgin reader.

Note: Kind of wanted to write something about Levi losing his virginity and give him the blessing of something in his life that wasn't all bad. Reader and Levi have grown up together. Feelings have blossomed, and desires have been ignited over the years. The underground is a tough place to live with sex and violence everywhere. There's no smut in the first chapter, but it is heavily suggestive. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

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

In a world where the sun never shines, where the only light comes from flickering Street lights, candles, and the occasional spark from a fire, three souls found solace together in front of a fire. The underground city was a maze of dimly lit tunnels, cramped living quarters, and a constant struggle for survival. You had grown up together, survived together, and lived together in this harsh, unforgiving environment.

Your landlord was a cruel and greedy man, having come to you the with news that he wanted his rent earlier than usual, probably because he owed someone else the money or had pissed his own money up the wall. You couldn't afford to be out on the streets again. It wasn't hard to find a crook to rent a small apartment to three teenagers. But his terms were unreasonable.

Desperation and stress hung heavy in the air. You were usually the type to try and remain cheery, strong, and resilient, but these sorts of situations made you anxious. Finding money down here was hard enough, but being given less time to find it was so much more stressful. "I-I don't know what we're going to do," you stammered. "There has to be some way to make the money quickly." Furlan said thoughtfully as he tried to reassure you, but even his words sounded hollow. It really wasn't much time to get the money together.

You were always aware of the easiest way for a girl to make money down here. Selling your body to some piece of shit man to use for pleasure. It was quick and easy cash that much was true. If you were lucky enough to get paid, that is. The attempt to make any money that way came with many risks. Most women down here lived in fear of getting raped, abused, and even killed before the added risk of being a working girl. Having grown up with Levi and Furlan, they had kept you safe. Currently, you worked a part-time job at the morgue, which didn't pay well but allowed you to learn and study to some extent. But in recent years, since hitting puberty and developing into a young woman, the pressure had been more intense, men often offering plenty of money for the opportunity to have their way with you. Although this sort of interaction would result in being beaten to a pulp by Levi, he would die before he allowed you to have to resort to sex work. And you were grateful for that. The thought of having to resort to prostitution, a common but desperate measure, filled you with dread.

Levi, said nothing. He just stared at the floor, his jaw tightening with anger. You glanced at him, concerned. "Levi, if we need the money I can-" You asked softly, stopping when you saw him look up at you, his eyes burning with a fierce protectiveness. "I'm not going to let you do that," he said, his voice steady and unyielding.

You frowned. "It will guarantee us the money."

"Y/N" He said sternly. "I won't let you go out there and sell yourself for us to survive. I'll find another way. I promise." You looked into his eyes, searching for any hint of uncertainty, but found none. There was only determination.

You nod in response, feeling reassured for now by his words. "I've got to go out. I'll be back around midnight, okay?" He states. Again, this wasn't uncommon. You worried about him and where he was going but even if you asked he wouldn't have told you. Criminal and immoral are the exact words that he himself would've used to describe his work, he was probably going to go and find some quick and easy job, guaranteed to pay but always carried so many risks. Furlan smiles gently at you as he follows Levi out of the door.

Having had a bath and tidied up a little. You toss and turn in bed for hours, lost in your own thoughts. You knew Levi would keep you safe to an extent, but nothing was guaranteed down here. Even if you didn't end up in a brothel, there was nothing stopping anyone from breaking into the apartment you shared now while the boys were gone, you could he kidnapped, raped and murdered any night, or day for that matter. You shudder at the thought. You wanted as much of your life to be in your own hands and control as possible. It wasn't like you wanted to stay a virgin forever, while still being young, you were old by the standards of the underground, which made you laugh. You wanted your first time to be something you choose, not something taken from you. You had desires and thoughts late at night like this when you were alone. Always of your stoic companion. You weren't sure when your feelings towards him became romantic, but it frightened you. He was difficult to read, but you were sure that there could be something there. And if there wasn't? Well, you were sure you could convince yourself that you would be satisfied to just be by his side in whatever capacity the universe will allow. Maybe you would be fortunate enough to be born as a princess in the next life, and he would be your Prince charming. You roll your eyes and laugh at the thought. A girl could dream, and your fantasy of prince's, pretty dresses and castles, however impossible it was did help you to fall asleep for a few hours before you were abruptly awoken by the sound of Levi and Furlan returning. You could recognise the sound of Furlans footsteps retiring to his small room at the end of the corridor. It sounded like Levi was still in the living room. You sit up in bed and light a candle.

Levi walks over to your door, having noticed the light emitting from beneath. A heavy sigh escapes him, his eyes carrying a look of exhaustion. As he knocks on your door just once, his voice is soft.

"Can I come in?"

You respond with a sleepy yes, and Levi pauses for a moment before he comes into the room. His eyes shift to your bed, and he realizes that you're only wearing a tank top and underwear. He doesn't let his eyes roam over you for more than a second, trying to focus on something else in the room before speaking up, sounding worried:

"Are you alright? Why aren't you sleeping?"

You smile. "I was, and I wasn't, I fell asleep not long ago, but I heard you come home. Is everything okay?" You ask him concerned.

Levi nods as he sits down on the edge of your bed.

"Yeah, everything is fine. Sorry if I woke you up. You should get back to sleep." He smiles softly, something only you and you alone are ever lucky enough to see. You gently tug his arm. "Stay, just for a little longer." A blush creeping across your cheeks. This was a bold move for you. Maybe you were still slightly delirious from having just woken up.

Levi looks down at your hand as it lays on his arm. A slight blush creeps up on his cheeks as he looks up at you again. Your messy hair, dreary eyes, and smile are just too cute. He doesn't know what he would do without you. He hates that he can't find a way to get you all out of this cesspit. You're like the moon that continues to shine on the darkest night. He's already resided himself to do anything to keep you safe and by his side. He feels guilty that this sight of you is making his cock twitch. The years have been kind to you and you're such a beautiful young woman now, each and every night his hand is tightly gripped around his cock at the thought of you. Seeing you like this, the covers barely covering your panties and your nipples visible through your tank top is all the more fuel for his desires. But he knows how it is for girls down here, he saw what life was like for his mother, he sees it daily in the streets. He would never dream of treating you with anything but the respect you deserve. Not only that, but the thought of jeopardising the relationship that you have now should he tell you how he feels, loosing you would really plummet his life into eternal darkness.

He reaches out and gently tucks a strand of hair behind your ear. "I guess I can stay for a little bit." He says softly. "Since you're such a brat if you don't get your own way." He teases.

You pout playfully at him, he chuckles as he shifts a bit closer to you, now sitting next to you with his arm around your shoulder, you nestle into his chest. A slight blush appears on his cheeks, which he immediately hides by turning his face away from you. "You're not still worrying about the money, are you? Is that why you're acting so needy?." He asks quietly

You shake your head. "Not anymore, I know it won't come to that." He nods, relieved that it isn't worrying you any longer. He's pulled from his thoughts when you speak up again. "I'm grateful. I know what I want for myself. And it's thanks to you that I'm able to make my own choices." You lift your head to meet his gaze, your face painted with a furious blush. "I'm ready to make my own choices."

Levi chuckles. "Well, you're spoilt for choice if that's the case." He says, trying to ignore the pang of jealously he can feel in the pit of his stomach.

You shake your head  "That's not what I mean, Vi." You nervously bring your palm to his cheek. "I want to be with someone I trust, someone I love."

Levi stares at you. Blushing slightly at your words. You have grown into a young woman who's a lot braver than he gives you credit for. A small smile forms on his face, but he's still hesitant to say all the things he wants to.

Levi tries to keep his usual cool exterior "A-Are...Are you saying what I think you're saying right now?"

You nod nervously. Averting your gaze, you have said enough for someone as intuitive as Levi to piece together. The seconds seem to last forever, but he finally gives you his response with a soft and gentle tone:

"I... I want that, too."

[hobicakess]

PLAYING DANGEROUS | (one)

summary: It's been almost three years since Jack in the box was caught, and no one could make him talk. No one knew his story, and what drove him to become the monster he was today. That is until you're assigned your first story. What makes you so lucky?

rating: 18+ (I'm not your mother you're in control of what you consume)

pairings: Journalist!Reader x Criminal!JungHoseok x CEO!Kim Namjoon x Detective!MinYoongi.

warnings: warnings: no thoroughly edited, EW Ai , character death (nothing to cry about), black/plus sized coded reader, talks of murder, talks of torture, corporate evilness, violence, Mc reads hobi to filth, yandere characters, possessive/obsessive behavior, short hair namjoon (yes that's a warning), one maknae introduction, maknae helping cause chaos, cigarettes, Yoonie is an angry kitty this chapter, bratty mc, mc is kinda a bitch (a bad one at that), unhinged serial killer hobi (joker vibes tbh) , yoongi hates his job, namjoon loves his job (he gets to piss you off everyday) SMUT— nothing too crazy , choking, sub mc , missionary, mating press , man handling (yummy)

a/n: HEYYY omg this took me so long to write and it's just a little over 2k words... LMAO I suck i know, but we're getting there I pinkie promise. I really hope you all enjoy this and constructive criticism is welcome!!

TAGLIST: @sumzysworld @bbgniecyy @paramedicnerd004 @heartsbr0ken @grltwin @superbbananananana @secfir @darkuni63 @thisladysperspective @p34rluv @secfir @sarcastic-cookie @coffeedepressionsoup @ot7nem @italiekim @cynicalbitch666 @jalexd @whenthebeatdrop-beatdrop

2 MONTHS BEFORE JACKS ESCAPE

Kim multimedia station.

The place of business was always busy and there was never not anything to be done, Endless reports and stories in need of being written, the podcast teams always chattering about the hottest topics.

KMMs was a journalist's dream — your dream.

You were a known face around the company both online and in person. A pretty foreigner who was damn good at her job and that made you favored by the late CEO Kim. You were always hand picked by him to attend press conferences in his favor. He treated you kindly, allowing you into a large world of business pulling strings to get you the best stories helping you— a once broke freshly graduated English major climbing up in the world of reporting.

It's only been three months since CEO Kim passed away and the company was changing fast. You were grateful that you weren't a part of the many that were fired and replaced by new faces and AI, and you were now noticing how low the viewers were on podcasts, social media and blogs.

KMM was dying out very slowly and that meant you might go away with it. You were dedicated to your work, and the company that helped you become the person you were today.

And you were willing to do anything to not be forgotten.

Sleeping was not on the agenda right now.

A quick double tap to a cell phone showed an awfully bright screen reading 4:40 am. You had been lying in your bed mind racing while staring at your wall for the past hour and a half.

Jack in the box.

Rolling out the tangled bedsheets and arms you pull on a large T-shirt that'd been discarded a long with the other items of clothing on the floor shuffling towards the desk in the corner of your room. Laptop already open from your previous research when you pull out a pack of cigarettes from your drawer before plunging deep into the web. Your mouse clicks every site as your pen moved furiously taking in all the information you can about said serial killer.

“On May 14th, 2018 Serial Killer Jack In The Box was finally caught after a murdering spree in Seoul. The killings of ordinary outgoing individuals taken with a quick swipe of a knife and a long torture method.”

"Before his kills Jack likes to taunt his victim. He ironically sends them a Jack in the box to let them know they're next. The next few days said victim lives in constant fear, looking over their shoulder, leading the mostly known outgoing victim to slowly isolate themselves from loved ones in fear of them being hurt, eventually this leads to insomnia and in some cases hallucinations and histera. Then Jack disappears for a while making them think they're finally okay and he's gone until he wasn't."

The scoff that left your lips echoed through the quiet room, breathing out the nicotine smoke from your Cancer stick.

So Jack was an antisocial loser and took out his lack of social skills on people who could.

"No one knows of Jack's real identity. Police have reported that the man has lived many lives and has owned many faces for the past 11 years. Reporters have tried their hardest for the past 4 years to get a one on one interview with the man but unfortunately he refuses to talk only resorting to violence."

A reporter says he went for a handshake and left with two missing fingers.

Another says he watched the man bang his head on the wall hard enough to bleed when he asked the murderer's real name.

A broken arm??

“Fuck” you huff flicking the ash at the butt of your cigarette. You stare at the mugshot photos supplied at the end of the article. Dark wide eyes, shaggy black hair falling over his forehead, the piercings sticking from the bridge of his nose eyebrow and top lip.

The look definitely screams psycho but…. he was kinda hot. It took everything in you not to go and click the endless fanfiction that you stumbled upon.

A pair of warm lips press onto your shoulder causing you to jump. Turning to look over your shoulder at the shirtless sight of Kim Namjoon.

“We have to be up in four hours, baby, come back to bed.”

You hum into his embrace with a pout stubbing out the cigarette into the pink ashtray beside your computer. “Did you know Jack went through eight lawyers? Until one day he randomly called Kim Seokjin. That high profile guy from the law firm we're partnered with? they must know each other”

Though Namjoons attention was not on the words that were leaving your mouth. Hands wander all over your body while placing kisses on your neck, and cheeks.

“He literally bit the finger of the last reporter clean off. Like do you know how much force you have to put into that? I think he reads too much gothic liter—”

Cutting you off with a quick grab of your jaw turning your head to connect his plump lips to own. Pulling away with a cheeky dimpled smirk, “I’m not sure how I feel about you talking about another man.”

“Well you shouldn't feel any type of way because you aren't MY man.”

You squeal when you're lifted up from your chair and throw over a broad shoulder. He huffs when he throws you onto the memory foam comforter, your (his) shirt lifting up your thighs exposing your bare cunt. Immediately his big body was hovering over you as he slightly pressed his body weight onto you.

“Get off you dick” pushing and smacking his tan shoulders but that did nothing for you at this moment. “Well I'm trying to put it in you.”

He bullies your legs up over his shoulders as he taps his hard piece against the wetness between your thighs. “If something happens to me during this case I swear” choking on your words as he slowly but surely presses his thick head into your cunt.

“Fuck — may the man himself strike me down.”

Hand reaching to grip your throat smashing your lips together. Luckily your mind left the thoughts of the serial killer , the only thing on your mind right now was Namjoon and his ridiculously large cockm

It wasn't weird for you to obsess over your assignments to the point where it was all you thought about. Everyone does that.

Though this one you couldn't seem to finesse your way out of. Without the help of the late Kim you'd have to pull your own strings to get what you wanted and now that Namjoon was in charge he loved making your life harder.

“Y/n.”

Your head snaps up from your laptop hand stalling from moving on your notepad face to face with gorgeously pale Detective Min Yoongi.

“Yoonie” you smile, motioning for him to sit in front of you. He looked different from when you last saw him all the months ago, more tired and cat- like you guessed it was from the heavy responsibilities that came with the position as Chief of Seouls police department

“Did you just call to look at me?”

“Sorry it's just been . . a while” you push the large Iced Americano towards him as a peace offering. He gladly accepted it with an amused raise of an eyebrow, “You know I just wait for your call.”

“The phone works both ways” you internally wince , you sounded like an estranged father talking to his child.

“What do you want?” A frown spread across your face and lips, shutting your laptop. “I can't call an old friend for a friendly coffee date.”

You waited for his answer as he took his time generously drinking from his plastic cup. With a smack of his lips he sat the cup down leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest.

“You only call me ‘Yoonie’ when you want something” eyes scanning over the scatter of papers and notes taking up your side of the table.

“This must be serious”

Hands going to clasp under your chin you sigh, cutting the bullshit. “Three years ago you were the lead investigator on the Jack in the box case which brought you from rookie detective to Chief of police.”

“I was wondering if you could help old friend out tell me what you know about-”

“No.” He cuts you off with little to no thought.

“No? Why not? This isn't our first rodeo Min”

There were plenty of times Yoongi helped you with stories without a second thought. He'd give you case files, witnesses, and anything you needed but why not now?

“Anybody but him”

You scoffed at him, irritation rising in your body. “I need this story not anyone else.”

“Well I can't help you, princess.”

“That's bullshit!” Your voice raises causing a couple people around you to turn their attention towards the two of you. He stood up, chair scraping the floor, slamming a few dollars on the table. “Call me if you need anything else.”

Turning on his heel he leaves you sitting there in your slowly growing rage. You quickly hopped from your seat chasing after him, managing to catch up with his long strides. “Yoongi slow down dammit”

He twirls around grabbing onto you by your arm, “Who gave you this story.

“Namjoon he-” you whine as his grip tightens on your arm as his eyes slit. The angry red scar on his face makes his angry stare look even more intimidating. “You don't understand how dangerous Jack is. Just because he's behind bars doesn't mean he won't have people on the outside that will whack you for being a nosy reporter.”

He softens his hold, lifting his hand to rub your cold cheek. “If something happens to you. . .” He shakes his head letting you go.

“Sit this one out Y/N I don't want to see you in our precinct mortuary.” with that he walks away disappearing into the crowd.

You sniff doing the walk of shame back to the Café sitting back in your seat with your head in your hands

Detective Min Yoongi.

“Excuse me Ma’am” the blonde barista came over holding a box of blueberry doughnuts which happened to be your favorite. “It's on the house.. everyone saw your fight with your boyfriend, manager said this might help cheer you up.”

“Oh! Thank you but he wasn't my boyfriend, just a work colleague.” You tried to defend yourself but the sympathy in his eyes only grew so you accepted the treat with another thank you. “What is your name? I've never seen you here before.”

A soft brightens his pretty face, eyes scrunching slightly adding to the prettiness of his face. “Park Jimin, Ma’am.”

MEANWHILE

The buzz of the electrically wired door opening didn't alert the man that stayed deep in the corner of his cell. “Long time no see.”

“Why now?” the visitor asks, “After all this time you choose now.”

He giggled, the haunting sound bouncing off the walls. “Did you bring what I asked for”

The visitor threw the pictures and the box of cigarettes into the cell. “Answer my question.”

“It's been three longgg years.” He finally answered, moving from his corner to pick up the photos. “Tell me is she this gorgeous in person?”

“Just for her?”

“And I need to stretch my legs” he laughs louder this time the high pitched sound echoed even through the thick steel door that kept him locked in tight.

Jack was ready to play more games

©hobicakesss , please don't repost or steal my work. don't be a loser

[cinnablu3]

Beautiful stranger - Stranger danger

masterlist

'You got this Y/n." Walking out of the train station heading for the sidewalks as cars pass by, she takes a deep breath before turning around and approaches the male. "Hey um Inumaki right..?" The male eyes widened slightly but nod, 'He nodded at me!' She smiles gaining some confidence as she fixes her posture, "You go to the jujutsu school in Tokyo right ?" He nods his head, "Salmon." She tilts her head. "Salmon?" Before another word, a black car pulls close to them. "Inumaki we're here, you can stop your complaints now." A window rolls down a feminine voice speaks as You look at the car in the passenger seat it is a girl with green hair and purple glasses. 'she looks like Mai' she thinks to herself. "Salmon." Inumaki said before going inside the car as The girl in glasses scoffs getting more annoyed. "About time? You shouldn't have gotten lost then your lucky Ichiji was willing to drive this far!" Y/n looks confused. "You understand him?" She blurts out as the green haired female nods with a grin taking in her appearance, "Your uniform.. are you the student kyoto was missing?" The girl asked, "If you're a student from the sister school we can give you a ride, named Maki, let's talk in the car more yeah?" Y/n fidgets a bit. "You won't kidnap me right?" Maki chuckles. "No, now get in, we'll take you with your Kyoto friends."

AuthorNote: expect another post later in the day or next day with multi characters anyways new chapter is finally out (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)

Taglist: @shutingstar @megumisdivinedogs @yapperalert @walllflowerrrsss @tomikixd

[azzo0]

Pickpocket

Summary: You've successfully managed to pickpocket a fortune. While you're fantasising about the things you could do with so much money, you're dragged away by the royal guards to face the wrath of Prince Katsuki.

Pairing: Bakugo x f!reader

A/N: I wanted to complete the story within this chapter, but it got too long. See you in the next chapter!

Part 1; Part 3

You opened the coin bag you had pickpocketed from the mysteriously covered stranger, your jaw dropping to the floor when you saw it was filled to the brim with gold coins. It looked like you had just stolen someone's life savings.

Your parents and siblings knew that apart from the hunts you went on and did not make much from, you often went out to pickpocket, something you often got scoldings for. But the few extra silvers that you managed to get lightened the weight on your parents' shoulders to some extent. It was usually just a few coppers and silvers you stole. How were you going to explain this fortune you pickpocketed? 

While you were in the middle of counting the coins, your youngest brother decided to come into your room, gaping at the gold on your desk, "Y/n, what is that?! Did you just hunt a super rare creature or something?"

"You know the only thing available in these forests is rabbits and birds or deer if we're lucky," a mischievous glint flashed in your eyes, "I pickpocketed this."

"You're unbelievable," He shook his head, picking up a coin, which you snatched, "With that much gold, we'll be able to eat three times a day, buy a horse and a carriage, new clothes and a whole castle!"

You smiled at the youngest. It wasn't enough to tend to all his dreams, but it still made you happy knowing you could at least feed your family and get a few needed household items. However, your fantasies were short-lived when you heard a series of heavy knocks on the front door.

"I'll go see who it is." You went to see who it was to find your father had already answered the door. You froze when you saw five hulking royal guards talking to your father. You didn't need to step forward and talk to them to know this was about you.

Who was the person you pickpocketed? Perhaps a noble or someone close to the royal family? Sweat rolled down your neck when one of the guards caught your eye. He matched in past your father, squinting at your face, "Oi, she's the one we're looking for!"

"Me? What could I have possibly done?" You innocently batted your eyelashes. 

"Don't pretend like you don't know why. You stole from the prince." The guard spat. 

"Y/n? Is this true?" Your father asked. Your face drained of colour. That person you stole from was the prince? You even insulted him! God, you were in a shit ton of trouble. 

"I found the coins!" One of the guards exclaimed from behind you, coming out of your room with your brother, hitting the guards back with closed fists to give the money back. 

"Stay off, brat. This is not yours. It belongs to the royal family." The guard kicked your brother in the gut, sending him flying away. You growled at him, pouncing at him with a fist ready.

"Don't you dare touch him!" You yelled, swinging your fist at his face. Before the punch could land, another guard kicked you in the side, sending you crashing into a wall. 

"Now you're in trouble not only for stealing but also for trying to harm a royal guard," One of the guards took you by the arm, pulling you to your feet, "Prince Katsuki will see to you personally."

"Like I give a rat's ass!" You spat, thrashing as the guard held your hands behind you. Another guard tried getting your legs to stop flailing but got his jaw bruised instead. Your family was huddled together in a corner, timidly watching you try to pry away from the guards. 

"Get off me!" You yelled as you got dragged away and got tied onto a horse with your mouth and hands tied so the guards wouldn't have to listen to your constant yelling and complaints. 

Once at the ginormous castle, two guards held you by your arms, dragging you inside. You shuddered when you felt the cold from the marble floor travel up your spine. You must've lost your shoes when the guards yanked you around. 

"Mind your manners when in the presence of the prince." One of the guards said, his fingers digging into the flesh of your arms. You shot him a glare, trying to free your arm from his grip. What was the point of bruising your arms when your hands were already tied behind you? 

The doors to the throne hall were opened, and the guards dragged you inside, forcing you to your knees so you were bowing low. When they let your head lift from the floor, you dared to look up. 

There he was, Prince Katsuki, sitting on the prince's chair beside the King's and Queen's throne, blood-red eyes mindlessly boring into you. All that you heard about the prince was true-- stunning crimson eyes, spiky ash-blonde hair, and flawless skin. Behind his lethal beauty was evident rage and fury.

Bakugo could see your gaze wavering between the floor and him as you tried to keep that sassy and brave front. Your hair was in a mess, and your clothes were dirty from being pushed and kicked around. He told his guards not to use force, and here you were, looking like you fell into a wrestling pit. The guards standing behind you didn't look any better, with scratches and bruises on their faces. 

"Your Royal Highness," One of the guards behind you said, "This woman not only stole from you but also put up a fight with us."

"Care to explain?" Bakugo rasped.

"Your guard kicked my ten-year-old brother in the stomach. Was I supposed to stand and watch?" You snarled at the prince, your teeth bared. Bakugo's eyes shifted to the guards, demanding an answer. 

"Y-Your Highness, the child was clinging to my back and-"

"So you kicked him." Bakugo cut him off, standing up and coming down the steps that lead to the thrones, stopping in front of you, "Get out, all of you. I'll deal with you later."

"But, Your High-"

"Now."

You gulped once the guards were gone, and although you hated them, you wished they'd stay since being alone with the prince made you feel like you were going to get slaughtered like a lamb. You held his gaze from your position on the floor, not letting your fear slip through your eyes. 

"Stand." He ordered.

"Are one-word sentences all you know to speak, princeling?" You smiled at him with sickly sweet poison. "I really like it on the floor. It's comfortable."

You let out a gasp when he suddenly pulled you to your feet, the fabric of your shirt balled in his fist, his maroon eyes dangerously close, "Watch who you're talkin' to, sweetheart," he growled, his voice reverberating in his chest, "I could throw you in prison forever, and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it."

"Must be fun being a spoiled prince, eh." Bakugo looked down at your devilish grin. Weren't you afraid of him one bit? Prison was the place every little thief like you went to, but something about you stirred amusement and another mysterious feeling deep within him. It wasn't every day he got to see a brat like you roast a prince right at his face and take on five guards at once.

"Besides," you went on. "I'm going to go to prison anyway. I might as well strut in there with a show." 

"You have some nerve speaking to me like that," He scowled, letting your shirt go, "You ain't going to prison." 

"Huh?" 

"Yer servin' three months at the castle." He said. "And if I find you snooping around and stealing, I'm chopping your ugly fingers off." 

"I'm not scrubbing your dishes and sweeping your damn floors." You scoffed. "Throw me in prison instead."

"Does that pretty little mouth of yours ever shut up, or does it have a fucking answer to everything?" Bakugo glared at you. You had some guts rejecting his orders like he was some commoner you'd known all your life. 

"I'm not working at the castle, and that's final." You said firmly. 

A hint of fear flashed in your eyes when Bakugo bared his teeth at you, approaching you with slow strides. You kept backing away until your back was pressed into the doors behind you, your chest tightening when you saw his hand rest on the hilt of the sword dangling from his side. 

He lowered his head to your level, roughly grabbing your chin and making you look into his eyes. When you tried to shift to the side, he put an elbow on the door, trapping you. Looking into his deep red eyes, you felt your heartbeat quicken, knots forming in your stomach. 

"I'm the one who decides what your punishment is. Do not forget that," he purred into your ear. You almost shivered. His voice was supposed to be scaring you, not making your heart race, "Either you work here for three months or get your hands cut off."

He pulled away, smirking down at you satisfyingly. He could tell you were flustered as you glared daggers at him, "Am I clear?"

Your gaze shifted down to the floor, "Yes."

He called for the servants to take you to the servant quarters and get the filth cleaned off you. You sat in an unnecessarily big tub filled with warm water as the other servants scrubbed your body raw. You blankly let them, still trying to process what on earth had just happened. After your bath, you were forced into a night suit that would have been considered low quality for the royals and nobles, but it was more expensive than anything you ever owned. 

"What kind of punishment is this?" You muttered, lying on the comfortable bed in your new room. 

It was a very big punishment.

It all started going down from the moment you woke up. The head maid scolded you for not waking up early enough and rushed you into the kitchen, where you got yelled at by the chef for not washing the dishes quickly enough.

"What are you even good at?!" He yelled, pushing you aside when you somehow managed to burn the stew he made. All you were supposed to do was stand and watch it.

"I'm good at hunting." You mumbled.

"Too bad you're not here for hunting," He gave you a sour look as he diced up the ingredients to remake the stew. 

After the dishes were done, you were handed a mop and a bucket to sweep the great hall. You took a deep breath, stepping into the thankfully empty great hall. It was just mopping the floor. You wouldn't mess this up, right?

As you mopped the floor, you tried convincing yourself this was better than rotting in the prison for who knows how long. You just wanted to go back to bed and let your poor back rest, but it was still only the afternoon. Sighing, you stepped towards the water bucket to dip the mop inside, accidentally knocking the bucket in the process. You deadpanned, tears forming in your eyes. This castle brought nothing but bad luck. 

You cringed when the soapy water soaked into the long red carpet that led up to the King's and Queen's thrones. You turned around in horror when you heard the doors to the great hall open, slipping and falling to your ass. The fact that it was the prince that opened the doors only made things worse. 

"Are you okay there?" A red-haired man asked, stepping forward. 

"M' fine." You mumbled, slipping down again when you tried standing again. 

"Looks like someone's having a great time," The prince snickered. If he wasn't a prince you'd have slapped him in the face to wipe away that mean smirk. You scowled at him, stopping when you saw a hand in front of your face. It was the red-haired man looking down at you with a warm grin. You noticed he had interesting sharp teeth. You put your hand in his, letting him hoist you up.

He inspected your face for a second and then looked at Bakugo, raising an eyebrow. You were the very same girl Kirishima saw bump into Bakugo yesterday. He was sure Bakugo said that you were a pickpocket, then what were you doing here in the servant's attire?

"Go get someone else to clean it since you clearly can't," Bakugo ordered. You clenched your jaw at him, grabbing a fistful of your dress. Why did he have to be so mean and harsh with his words? You would have loved to hit his head with the mop but knew better than to give in to your intrusive thoughts. You stormed past him and got some rags to clean up the mess you made.

Once Kirishima was sure you were out of earshot, he turned to Bakugo, "Why is she here, prince?" 

"Serving three months in the castle for stealing, hurting five guards and being a brat," Bakugo replied in a matter-of-fact tone. 

"Couldn't you have put her to prison instead?"

"Tch, are you trying to tell me what to do?" 

"No, my prince." 

Bakugo sighed, turning his back to Kirishima, eyes plastered to the floor, "Her family has been struggling with basic necessities," he said after a moment of silence. "I learnt that her father had a fabric business before the war started, but his shop burnt down during the war. He hasn't been working ever since."

Kirishima blinked at Bakugo, baffled he had delved so deep into someone's background. "A lot of people are still suffering even though it's been years." He said.

"Yeah," Bakugo agreed. "She lives in a pretty shitty neighbourhood, too, now."

"Is there something that can be done to help?" Kirishima asked.

"I've already done what I could." Bakugo grunted, "They ain't gotta worry about rations. I talked to Father about it, and he agreed to send monthly rations to the entire neighbourhood."

"That's nice," Kirishima smiled. He had a feeling you not only stole Bakugo's money at the weekend market yesterday but also accidentally stole his heart.

Tags: @colouringfrogssittinginleaves @zaiban2989

[kataang-week]

Trick or Treat, Kataangers!🎃

Katara and Aang sprites from Distant Horizon. Graphic created by Mod Belle @itsmoonpeaches.

🦇What is Kataang Halloween?

Kataang Halloween is a one-time, three-day mini-event hosted and created by @kataang-week on Tumblr for the first time this year. (However, there is potential for it to happen again in the future.) Kataang Halloween celebrates Kataang with a Halloween theme. All prompts were chosen by the mod team.

🦇Cool, when is it?

Kataang Halloween starts on Thursday, October 31, 2024, and ends on Saturday, November 2, 2024.

🦇What are the prompts?

In honor of Halloween, we're using lucky number 13! There are 13 prompts for each adventure.

"Trick" prompt list:

Old Spirits

Family Secrets

Altered State

Moonlight

Teeth

Demon Claws

The Deep

Offerings

Inner Palace

Lost

Grotto

Cliff Edge

Poison

"Treat" prompt list:

Taffy

Candied Haws

Lanterns

Mid-Autumn

Mooncake

Crunchy Leaves

Warm Drinks

Pumpkins

Chrysanthemum

Sharing

Toadstools

Apple Picking

Paint

🦇So how does this work?

Choose your own adventure! You can take inspiration from the Trick prompts, Treat prompts, or both! Feel free to mix and match prompts to create spooky and/or sweet Kataang content.

Anything you can think of counts as content as long as you fill one or multiple prompts at a time. Fanfics, fanart, gifsets, metas, edits, playlists, moodboards, music, etc.—the sky's the limit.

🦇What are the rules?

Please create your own original pieces. We do not accept AI-made fanworks.

We only accept new works created for Kataang Halloween, not works that are retroactively said to be created for Kataang Halloween. However, you may create something that fills a Kataang Halloween prompt for an ongoing work like a chapter fic or an ongoing series. See this ask for more information.

We accept all range of works. However, bear in mind that this is an all-ages event. If your work contains themes or imagery that may be intended for older audiences, tag and warn people thoroughly. Works with adult content must have an all-ages appropriate preview.

Do not repost other people's works. Reblog their original post if one exists.

If a creator/author/artist has requested you to post their work for them, remember to credit the original and link back to their page.

Be respectful in your fanworks and to others participating or enjoying the event.

🦇How should I tag my work?

The easiest way for us to find your work so we can reblog it to this blog is by using the tag “kataang halloween”. Using “kataang” and “kataangtag” also help. You must tag one of the three in your first five tags otherwise it doesn’t appear in the search. It is also helpful to tag us directly with @kataang-week.

Sometimes even properly tagged posts may not appear when we search the tags, so if you do not see your content reblogged, please let us know.

Once we’ve reblogged it to this blog we add our own tags (a prompt tag and a user tag) for easy organization. This means we can find all the work for one prompt or all the work from one user in one easy click (this also means that if you have changed your username since participating last year you need to let us know so we can update your tag!).

🦇Can I post my stuff other places online too?

Of course you can! However, we won’t be able to reblog anything that isn’t a Tumblr post.

For those of you who will be posting your works on AO3, feel free to add your fic to our Kataang Halloween AO3 collection.

🦇What if I have late submissions for Kataang Week 2024?

While we will not reblog any late submissions for Kataang Week 2024 during the Kataang Halloween event, late submissions for Kataang Week 2024 will still be accepted up until Kataang Week 2025, so don’t be shy and don’t worry about giving the world more Kataang content 💖 We always welcome it!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to submit an ask to the Kataang Week blog. See you on Halloween, Kataangers!

🦇Who are the mods?

@airbender-dacyon AKA Mod Dan: A Kataang fanfic writer who prefers fluff, but also loves some drama and angst. Mod Dan started writing Kataang stories in 2013 and has helped organize Kataang Week since 2016.

@penguinsledder AKA Mod Atarah: A writer, gif maker, and musician–she enjoys fluffy young adult Kataang and all the ways they complement and parallel each other. She first joined Tumblr for Kataang Week 10 years ago, and started helping out with writing posts and making banners as a mod since 2016!

@itsmoonpeaches AKA Mod Belle: An avid Kataanger with a penchant for angst and mild violence who likes writing. Mod Belle has been a mod since 2021 and helps write posts and social media.

@chocomd AKA Mod Celes: Fanfic writer who adores Kataang for their fun and flirty side but also their bond forged through grief and loss. Mod Celes joined in 2023 and helps with a little bit of everything - whatever needs to be done!

[lucysarah-c]

—

A little sneak peak from the Arranged marriage Omegaverse Alpha! Levi x Omega! Reader fic I've been working on!

Let me know what you think as I had been writing some chapters and so far this is one of my favourite scenes.

—

The pressure that his fingers applied to the bridge of his nose was so strong that the pain of it overcame the migraine. Strong footsteps echoed in the corridors as cadets moved aside to make way. Since the Scouts were almost wiped out, more and more people had been joining their ranks, and Levi was not enjoying the crowded halls.

"The day I decide to call all this shit off, I'd like to see them surviving without me," Levi thought, clenching his teeth. The stress was taking a toll on him lately. The military was expanding so much, particularly the Scouts, and they simply lacked soldiers in higher positions to handle everything from mundane tasks like organizing lines to making highly important decisions regarding the Marley issue.

Swinging the door of his chambers open, his eyes fell on her. She was looking out of the window, book in hand and cat on lap, dying of boredom as if she were either waiting for rescue or for her death. His grimace was a mix of empathy and annoyance. He had insisted at least five times that she could help in the kitchen, sew uniforms, or work in the laundry room. All his proposals had fallen on deaf ears. Yes, he pitied her, closed up in his office all day and night with nothing better to do. But her privileged upbringing, which made her repulse the idea of helping with anything related to housework, rubbed him the wrong way.

And the horrendous day he was having, having to listen to all of Zeke’s demands from the other side of the damn world, was simply not helping. Slamming the door shut made her turn and look at him.

"Pack your stuff, we're moving," he spat out, already moving to his room to gather the few belongings he actually had. He threw the black trousers of his uniform out of the drawers onto the bed to pack them, regretting the decision as soon as he saw his immaculate, perfectly washed trousers covered in cat hair.

"Moving? Moving where?" Y/N jumped from her place at the window and followed him, excited. Her eyes shone brightly, feeling her prayers had been answered.

Eyes shut as tight as his clenched teeth, he took a deep breath in and out. He was fond of animals, and the white Persian cat was lovely, but the fur was something he wasn’t getting used to easily, and it just added to his day.

"Where are we moving?" she insisted, not sensing his lack of patience. "Are we finally moving to the Capital facility?"

Levi, trying to find any remaining good mood inside him, turned to his side and raised an eyebrow. "No," he said, "To the south."

The excitement dropped substantially, and she frowned at him. "We ARE in the south."

That made Levi quickly realize this was not going to be a quick and easy conversation. "No, we are in Wall Rose."

"I'm not moving to Shiganshina," she said, arms crossed, eyebrows drawn together, and her voice raising.

Levi sighed as he folded one uniform. "Lucky for you," he said, each word dripping with his remaining patience, "we're not going there."

"Then… where?"

Levi knew he should have delivered the news more gently, but he had no time to spare and no energy left to deal with her lately. "South, we're setting up a camp next to the coast. Construction has already taken place, so we'll have a room. Pack your stuff; we're leaving by horse to arrive sooner and organize everything. The luggage will be taken by carts that will probably take a week to reach."

"What?—NO!" she quickly complained, her voice filled more with tears than anger. "I don't want to go to the end of the shitty world!"

"The soldiers from Marley are already arriving, and we need to be there to make sure everything evolves as planned—"

"Aren't you listening to me?!" She screamed loudly enough for Levi to close his eyes at how it reverberated in his ears, only fueling his headache. "I'm NOT moving there. We will be in the middle of nowhere; there’s no communication with the walls. I want to be closer to my friends and family, not there."

The air began to fill with her scent, demanding she wasn’t submitting. Challenging him, and Levi felt how each breath he took through his nose was tinged with it. He had no good temper left, and her insistence on asserting dominance was the final straw. Her even daring to assert dominance over him. Her, the omega the government had saddled him with.

Turning to his right, his piercing eyes locked onto her. "Don’t," Levi ordered, his own pheromones mixing with hers and warning her. The stare of a high-breed alpha, his own body warning her that fighting with him was a bad idea. Maybe it was because he had been hearing demands from Marley soldiers and allies all day long, people challenging his authority. But Levi wasn’t going to allow an omega to step on his dominance. He had been, in his opinion, more than good and patient with her—probably more than any other alpha would have been. He wasn’t one to use his stare to force omegas to do what he wanted, but he was having none of it.

Lips trembling, fists clenching, deep frown, and her eyes struggling to keep eye contact. Fighting against her own biology, she could feel how each fiber of her body trembled in trying to maintain the resistance. Eventually, she couldn’t keep it up and looked to the side, breaking the stare and lowering her head in submission.

A long sigh left his nose as his demand withdrew once she ceased the claim. “Pack your stuff,” he ordered, lowering his voice sensing that the rebellion was over.

But it hardly was. “I’m not going. I’ll move in with my parents. I’m not going to some rotten, muddy camp in the middle of nowhere.”

Levi shook his head. “You’re coming because that’s the arrangement between your parents and the military board. So pack, and that's the end of the deal.”

“No! I don’t want to go, I’m not going to pack!”

“NO! NO! NO! NO!”

Her complaints echoed in his head as the headache pounded against his skull, his teeth clenching so hard he was even showing them. “ENOUGH!” His hand slammed against the drawer, the loudness of it ceasing all noise. The room fell silent, and the scared cat ran to hide under the bed.

Levi finally turned to fully face her. “We are going to do this whether you like it or not,” his voice harsh and leaving no room for interruptions. “It can be the easy way or the hard way.”

Raising his hand in the air, showing three fingers. “I have a meeting, and in three hours I’ll come back and pick you up. Either you pack and get ready for when I return, or you don’t pack and not only will you be in a shitty, muddy camp at the end of the world stuck with me, but you’ll do it without any of your fancy stuff. And I warn you, there are no stores there.”

As he left the room with the same urgency he came in, he said, “You choose!”

But as the door was slamming shut, a cadet interrupted him. “Ehm… Captain?” The tremble in the kid’s voice indicated he sensed the environment was not conducive to another demand. “Commander Hange needs a signature?”

“Fuck off!”

[weasleyreidstyles]

Serendipity

chapter nine

summary: it was only meant to be a purely transactional relationship. he would help her strengthen her abilities in return for her getting his friends out of his father's nasty path. he didn't mean to fall for her, but loving her was the easiest thing in his dark world.

no use of y/n, but your general nickname is Meadow. all characters are aged up to be over 18.

pairings: mattheo riddle x fem!ravenclaw reader; platonic!slytherins x fem!reader; platonic!golden trio x fem!reader

warning(s): mentions of drugging (love potion) and brief mentions of poisoning (like right at the end)

series masterlist; previous part; next part

The library is your sanctuary. A place you can go to ease your mind and satiate your need for more knowledge. Usually you're not disturbed while your here, but Mattheo seemed to find a new joy in persistently annoying you.

You had been completing an essay for Defence that Snape wanted to be completely for two days time, when the calm air around you changed with the announcement of his chaotic presence.

"I thought you had Quidditch practice." you say, not taking your eyes off of your parchment as he takes the empty seat beside you, thigh brushing your's.

"Finished ten minutes ago. I got bored." he says noncommittally. His hand has found it's way to your thigh, tracing barely-there patterns with the tips of his fingers. You tense on instinct before relaxing almost instantaneously.

"Don't you have friends for that?" you snark as you spare him a single glance before you continue working.

"I'm offended that you think we aren't friends, sweetheart." he says with feigned outrage.

"Friends don't do what we do, Matt." you whisper. If it weren't for his already close proximity, he probably would not have heard you. His hand begins tracing firmer patterns, tracing longing lines of comfort.

"No, I suppose they don't." he muses with the ghost of a smile. He's tracing your figure with inquisitive eyes, now a honeyed brown in the sunlight reflecting in the windows.

"Do you want something?" you ask, turning your head to face him, your breath hitching in your throat at just how close he was to you – his lips a fraction of movement away from your's. "We're in public," you say, with a breatheless stammer.

"I'm starting to find that I don't care where we are, anymore." he says just as quietly, eyes flickering between your mouth and fluttering eyes. "What have you done to me?"

"I haven't done anything." you snicker, your nose brushing imperceptibly against his, gaze landing intently on his plush lips.

"We're lucky your favoured spot is so closed off between the shelves, Meadow." he mumbles, his voice dropping to that low rasp you've come to appreciate over the months. "Because that means I can do this, with little consequence."

He kisses you then. Hard and passionate and with entirely too much feeling for something that wasn't supposed to be anymore than a transactional friendship to help out a mutual friend.

~∞~

Much to your delight, Mattheo stayed with you a little longer before the feeling of his quidditch gear, still dirtied from practice, became too much to comfortably bare. He left with a lingering peck to your cheek, something entirely too affectionate for you to properly process.

Not ten minutes later, your solitude was once again interrupted.

"What the hell is going on between you and Riddle?" Ginny's hissing whisper filled the quiet atmosphere, who landed in Mattheo's previously occupied seat with venomous grace.

"Nothing." you say with furrowed brows, lowing the book you were scouring for Siphon lore, to your lap. As far as you knew, Ginny was only aware of your tutor sessions with Mattheo.

But all these weeks of lies and deceit was bound to blow up in your face sooner or later, you just weren't planning on the most ferocious of your friends to figure it out first.

"Don't bullshit me." she snapped, keeping her voice low. "The tutoring sessions? The continued trips to the Room of Requirement? It's so bloody obvious, Meadow."

"I swear. Nothing is going on between me and Riddle." His name felt foreign on your tongue – he hadn't been 'Riddle' to you in months. Ginny only gave you a look that screamed her disbelief in you.

"Right and it wasn't him I saw leaving this little nook about ten minutes ago?"

"How's Dean?" you ask, swiftly averting the subject off of you. She sighs tiredly at your denial and relaxes into the cosy sofa, a contemplative look on her freckled face.

"I think we're over. The relationship is done and dead. We weren't compatible at all." she sounds resolute, but you could tell that she felt the pain of heartbreak. She leans her head on your shoulder and accepts the hug that you wrap her in. "I just wanted to feel something. I've pined for Harry for practically six years but-"

"I know. I know." you comfort her, quietly soothing her as she leans further into your embrace. Ron's younger sister had been a stellar part of your life for as long as you could remember. Her infatuation with your best friend was what prompted a friendship – at first she had been jealous of the attention Harry gave to you but when you confessed that you had a crush on a fellow Ravenclaw, she admitted to liking Harry and you sought to help her in any way you could. Of course the one thing you couldn't remedy was Harry's blatent obliviousness to his surroundings.

"I wouldn't be angry if there was something going on between you and Riddle, by the way." you hear her mumble into your neck. Your eyes involuntarily close with guilt.

You needed to tell someone you could trust in your circle of friends. It had been knawing away at you all this time.

The guilt.

"If you trust Nott and Parkinson as much as you do, and you're willing to be in Riddle's presence, then I trust your judgement." she says, sitting up with red rimmed eyes to look at you. She squeezes the hand that isn't still wrapped around her and that's all it takes for your resolve to crumble.

"Promise you won't freak out." you mumble and she looks at you weirdly before she agrees. With a deep breath, you do what Mattheo had been teaching you, and wordlessly you enter Ginny's mind. You can see the moment she realises what you're doing, but she doesn't flinch away like you expect; she watches you in awe instead.

He's been teaching me to better control my Legillimens abilities. You tell her cautiously. You can feel her disbelief and her curiosity at your words so you continue speaking to her wordlessly.

I've been teaching myself since the end of fourth year when He returned. Theo found out during one of our first patrols last year and that's really how I became better friends with him and Pansy too. Now that- Now that you-know-who is back they- Theo told me that he was going to have Mattheo teach me to do it defensively and keep my mind locked from enemies. In return, I'm going to help them all.

"How are you going to do that?" she says, her whisper so quiet you could barely hear her.

"I don't know, Ginny." you sigh. "With Harry so suspicious of Malfoy, I don't know how I'll convince him that they're on our side."

"Fuck what he thinks." she says, squeezing your hand again. "What your doing could help not only the Order, but it could save them, too. Have you thought about going to Dumbledore?"

"I have but-" you pause, hesitant to share the most vital piece of information you know.

"But what? Is there something else?" she asks, her curious tone edging to something else.

"There is. But you must promise not to tell a soul. Only me and Matt– only me and Riddle know about it. But I think Dumbledore knows– and Remus was acting strange when I asked him for help about it over Christmas."

She motions you to carry on and you know she'll keep her promise because she practically screams it at you mentally.

"I'm a siphon." you say and when Ginny goes to speak you swiftly interrupt her. "I know it sounds bizarre but it's true. Remember when Katie was cursed? I somehow absorbed some of that dark magic and fainted as a result. Mattheo figured it out first and we've been using the tutor sessions as a rouse to research about it."

"Siphons are rare. I don't think I've heard anything other than bedtime stories my mum used to read us when we were little. They're folklore." she says, awed. You sigh and throw your head back against the top of the sofa and groan in frustration.

"We keep getting the same information over and over again. It's incredibly annoying." you admit and you snap your head up when Ginny begins snickering. "What?"

"And how do you alleviate that frustration, Meadow?" she smirks, "A tumble in the Come and Go Room? How scandalous!"

You gape at her, but that only makes her laugh harder; the distant sound of Madame Pince shushing the two of you doesnt help either. "For Rowena's sake Ginny! Stop laughing!" you say but her laughter is infectious and you can't help but join.

"Hey I don't blame you, he's far too attractive for his own good."

Tell me about it. You say with a grumble and she lets out a loud snort that promptly ends with the two of you being kicked out of the sanctuary of the library.

"Your secret is safe with me, Meadow. I promise."

Somehow, admitting your greatest secret to someone lifted a giant weight from your shoulders. Perhaps having someone like Ginny in your corner was a good thing.

~∞~

The Ravenclaw Tower holds an abundance of the best rooms in the whole castle; from the tall ceilings of the common room with constellations painted like glittering sparkles, to a miniature astronomy tower that over looked the Black Lake and the mountainous highlands that surround the castle grounds.

Or maybe you're just biased.

Your dorm room is another place of solace for you. It's a little different to the library, however. Your dorm is place where you find peace and serenity away from the troubles of schoolwork and the stress of keeping up with your friends' woes. Hardly ever are you disrupted once the door to your room is closed off to the outside world, only the occasional murmur of conversation from girls passes by to get to their dorms interrupts the quiet atmosphere.

You needed a break from everything. Harry had somehow managed to go from Professor Slughorn's favourite student to his most failured prodigy after asking him about Horcruxes as per Dumbledore's instruction; Hermione believed that the library had actually failed her when she (and you) had no such luck finding any information about them and Ron appeared to be so wrapped up in his relationship that you rarely saw him outside of lessons and meal times.

It was at times like this that you yearned for Mattheo's presence which scared you half to death. He had been attentive with you as of lately, no longer was he grueling and rough with his Legillimens lessons and he made an effort to help you search for books in the library to aid in your research for your siphon abilities. You hadn't told him about Ginny, but you had a feeling that he just knew somehow that she was now aware of the arrangement.

He had a knack for always knowing everything.

You did feel a little bad, since it was Ron's birthday and you always spent it (and each of your respective birthdays) with the Golden Trio. This year your friendships with them seemed distant and awkward, like the thread holding you altogether was strained and fraying. But when you got a frantic knock on your door to find Harry supporting the intoxicated redhead you call your best friend, you let them in with no hesitation.

"What the hell is wrong with him? Did he have too much to drink? It's not even gone lunchtime." you say frantically as you and Harry turn to watch Ron stare into space with starry eyes.

"The cauldron cakes," Harry muttered tiredly, scraping a hand through his unruly hair, "the ones from Romilda-"

"Romilda? Did you say Romilda, Harry? Where is she?" Ron turned his gaze to you, his eyes wide and unseeing. "Meadow! You're a girl. You must know her, can you introduce me? I love her."

"Merlin's beard." you say incredulously, mouth agape. "He ate the spiked chocolates, didn't he?"

Harry only nodded. "He ate them like ten minutes ago. I don't know what to do."

"Well you're the Potions master, Potter." you say with a grimaced smile and he only glares at you in response. You shake your head. "You'll have to take him to see Professor Slughorn or Madame Pomfrey for an antidote. Better to have someone who knows Potions inside-out to help."

"Okay. Okay yeah– good." Harry stutters as he drags Ron towards your door. "Are you coming?"

"Oh– no I'm doing some research. Or trying to, at least. Still not one mention of Horcruxes in anything I've read." you say as you stand at the threshold of your door. "But tell him I'm never letting him live this down once he's all cured."

An hour later, you eat your words as Ginny bursts into your room with tears streaking down her face. Because someone had poisoned her brother; if not for Harry's quick thinking, he would be dead.

~∞~

a little bit of a short chapter, mostly because its only a filler before shit kicks off 😃😃

more soft matty for you all xxx

taglist:

@camille-1019 @lovelyygirl8 @xluansstuff @babeylover @thejadeazalea @undercover-smutlover @adhxmoony @dreamingofonceuponatime @thepassionatereader @urmomsgayforme5 @aphroditeisamilf @devotedlycrookeddonut @purplegirls-posts @nofacenonamelikekira @foxboyapologist @lafrone @lovely-maryj @nromanovaswife @leeknows-wife @dracygf @wildlyobserving @ravenclawprincess33 @melllinaa @vellicora @lantsovheiress @emiliahoward @stunkbiggu @vcosette @prongsprincessworld @mattiesgirl @rachmmb @x-kermit-x @sun-fiower-seed @cas-planet @certaindreampost @weirdowithnobeardo @mikalovesicecream @sunasbbie @rainy-darling @faeriepigeons @lovely-blackinnon @topguncultleader @gimalo135 @elsafromcabinsix @moonlightreader649 @blueshome @nopedefe @spencerreidsthings @navs-bhat @agent-tempest @magimtz23 @y0urm0m12 @sbrn0905 @leona-hawthorne

[hollyhomburg]

Before I Leave You (Pt.66)

(Omegaverse au, Mafia au, Bts x Reader)

Summary: Wolves always go for the throat, whether they’re cornered or hunting.

Tags: Blood, Guns, violence, near death experiences, everyone lives nobody dies...but someone does die this chapter, horror, non-lethal injury, talks of death and dying, a bit of body horror, Trans! tae, Tae is briefly dead named in this, implied/referenced intimate partner violence, flashbacks, brief suicidality.

W/c: 8.3k

A/N: ahhhhhh <3 we're finally ready for this part of the story <3 i wonder what your guys reactions will be, i'm really glad i decided to split this chapter into two peices! it's much cleaner this way. don't be 🥲 too mad at me.

Previous part - Masterlist - First part

(Four years prior, Hoseok)

Today is the day that Hoseok will meet his future pack, he just doesn’t know it yet.

It always feels like a bit of betrayal but the worst and best days of your life often come close together. Maybe just for contrast. A bit of good in the bad. A slice of cake in a feast of raw meat.

This starts as just another bad day in a long stretch of shitty days. The kind of days were anxiety bubbles up and how afraid you are is all you can think about. Taking one breath and then another like just staying alive means you're guaranteed to get better.

The only place to go from rock bottom is up, and hoseok's sneakers are firmly on the concrete, standing outside of the record store in the rain with no place to go.

Hoseok has been afraid for a long time. He can't really remember even if he thinks hard, the last morning he woke up not afraid.

What hoseok really needs is a day off, but he really can't fucking afford it. He can't afford anything- certainly not a one-bedroom apartment on his own. If he's really really lucky maybe he'll be able to find a closet room somewhere that will cost almost his whole paycheck. Because after today-

After today, Jung Hoseok will be homeless, packless, and alone. His pack dropped the news on him last night…or well ex-pack.

He doesn’t expect that he’ll be moving into the pack's house on this rainy day, he doesn't expect that by the end of the week, he won't be worrying about where his next meal will come from because Jin will be there with it ready. Jimin sometimes too.

He won't be worrying about where he'll sleep because the bed in their spare room that smells like tae tae tae will be his. He'll roll around in it when the door is closed, shy about it because Hoseok has never liked other alpha's scents so much before. And when he comes home and Jungkook has made a nest in it, it will feel like a bit of an impossible silver lining, a bit too much- to have an omega making him a nest, making something special just for him

It takes three weeks for Namjoon to make him a house key for himself. After he gets left outside in a very similar storm to this. The doctor will touch his cheek, thumbing at the dimples that they share. how special is it that each smile gets cradled like a crescent moon? the heavens have left imprints on both of their skin. Freckles for stars and dimples for moon's.

"I don't want you to get sick pup."

"People don't get sick from wet heads anymore hyung."

"They don't. But I want to keep you dry and comfortable in my den. i know you still want to look for apartments but...what if you didn't?"

But neither the weather nor Hoseok knows to prepare for good news. Right now the heavens open up and release its deluge, thick rain the way that only happens at the start of summer. Worms and other wriggly things crawl their way out of their holes to find a good spot to die next to Hoseok's shoes. Worn fancy sneakers that his pack-omega had gotten him a few months ago for their anniversary. They're the nicest thing he's ever owned.

His ex-pack omega.

It's hard to rewire your brain, especially for alpha's. Hoseok is a lone wolf. He hasn't been without a pack in so long, it feels weird to not have someone to call, someone he needs to trail after and cling to. He checks his phone but he doesn't have a single notification from them.

He doesn't have a single notification from anyone.

Hoseok is glad he doesn't feel his instincts as keenly as other alphas do. Otherwise, he might be inclined to gnash his teeth at the people who pass by him on their way to work, umbrellas almost bumping him, perceiving even closeness as a threat. So vulnerable without a pack (lone alphas are always the first to starve in winter).

Hoseok shivers even though its summer, he's soaked to the bone after a few minutes.

He has a key to the record store. He could go inside. Granted- he should be inside already. Opening up shop, making coffee, and letting the place warm up. But standing out in the rain feels too much like penance.

Hoseok likes the rain. The smell of it. The way it makes the whole world ache and go still. He feels every drop on his dark hair, soaking through his thin hoodie. It's cleansing almost, letting the rain soak him through.

(The end of relationships is always hard, let alone the end of abusive relationships, they’re downright terrible).

Hoseok keeps replaying their words in his head, with every slosh of a nearby car, every honk of a taxi. The stoplight red and green bleeding onto the wet concrete. Yellow flashing in contrast with hoseok's dark memories.

“You’re welcome to stay here until the lease runs out, but the four of us need to move back home. You understand Hobi don’t you? We’re just omega’s- we’re just girls- and we think this could be a clean break for all of us. We just don't want to lead you on any longer.”

The worst part is that Hobi had sort of known, had sort of already realized what was happening. he’d seen it in their looks; distant and despondent. Their touches that did not linger longer than necessary, cheeks turned as he comes in for a kiss. The phone calls hushed in the other room that cut off abruptly when he entered.

The lease on their apartment ends today. The place has already been professionally deep cleaned and Hoseok's things are packed in his car in plastic bins. He has 6 of them to his name.

He doesn’t have a place to go yet, he might just sneak into the back room at the record store and sleep there until he figures something out. Hoseok drove to work early because he didn't have another place to go.

This version of Hoseok is not the one you know, this version of Hobi is 23 and hopeless, can’t think about moving back in with his parents a city away, with nothing but a rusted-out Corolla that barely gets him to work let alone through the 200-mile trip. It will die on him in about 6 months and Namjoon will be thankful that Hoseok no longer is driving around in a deathtrap.

He hadn’t even gotten this job by himself, his pack omega- his ex-girlfriend had gotten him this job almost 4 months ago after his last one didn’t pan out. Temporary work for temporary people.

Nothing feels like his. Not his body and certainly not this job.

Hoseok hasn’t smoked in months, but something that feels an awful lot like self-disgust worms under his skin and he can’t resist. Not today of all days. Smoking is something that he doesn’t indulge in often, and hasn’t indulged in since… becoming an alpha to someone. But he guesses it doesn’t matter now without anyone to complain that they don’t like the smell.

The cigarette mixes with the smell of petrichor and Hoseok’s own acidic scent. The smell of a terrified alpha draws him more than a few looks but he pays them no mind. He's thankful for his soaking face, at least the rain keeps out the tears. Cool and soothing against his face.

Hoseok just wants- Hoseok just wants to call them. To talk to someone.

Ending relationships is always like this. You want to keep being good, keep being what they want, but that’s impossible. You can’t act or behave right and dupe someone into loving you. Sometimes the love just isn’t there. (A smaller shyer voice says it was never love at all, you can't possess love, only be given it and Hoseok feels like a cast aside possession. Love and abuse cannot coexist).

Hoseok should have known. He keeps replaying the moments in his head. He’d seen them exchanging knowing looks when they thought he wasn’t looking.He thought he was just being paranoid, until yesterday morning when they’d taken him aside.

“You knew this had to end one day Hoseok" "You knew one day we'd move on." "As much as we appreciate what you’ve done for us, we think it’s time for us to move on.”

“What do you mean? I thought we were leaving next week, you really left me with only a day to find a place to go?”

“We’re sorry Hoseok, your last rut was just too much to deal with. We think it's best if we just stay on our own. It's a clean break this way.”

"Wait, please- I love you."

"We know. We're sorry."

Hoseok is too much for anyone to deal with. He doesn’t call his friends (he hasn’t met up with any of them or returned their texts in months thanks to several pointed words from his pack omega). He doesn’t go inside yet because he deserves the rain. He sits out front of the record store, smoking a cigarette that will probably end up killing him down the line, and thinks Good.

He tells himself the irritation in his eyes is just because of the cigarette smoke blowing in his face, even though he knows it's not. He's not even inhaling right because his breaths come all hitched and pathetic. Anyone would be sad if their relationship of several years had ended. Anyone would be devastated.

Hoseok checks his phone again. Nothing.

Most people on the crowded street ignore him. Though the thick throng of people going about their business, probably going to work at their 9 to 5 jobs that pay enough to afford apartments and packmates. Hoseok is the one soul that stands stationary.

Until one, someone a few feet back stops, tipping their face through their hood to look at him. The only other person without an umbrella.

Hoseok knows his face and his name. It’s just Min Yoongi- his coworker and sort of friend who's coming in for his shift. Hoseok doesn't love Yoongi yet but they're sort of friends already. They might be better friends if Hoseok could get over his admiration and jealousy.

Yoongi has this way of quietly taking care of the people around him. He picks up Hoseok's jacket when it slides off the hook at work, asks him if he wants coffee and even pays for it when he goes to the coffee shop next door. He compliments Hoseok's music tastes when it's his turn to play something, he gives Hoseok the aux frequently in a way that feels a little bit like flirting.

The only two good things about Hoseok's job are the music and Min Yoongi.

He even laughs at Hoseok's shitty jokes when they're stacking new inventory saying cryptic things like "they can't be worse than my omega's jokes."

That's why Hoseok's jealous. Yoongi gets packmates, five of them who make him lunch even when he's only got a four-hour shift. that often linger outside to walk him home or pick him up in their shiney not new not old cars.

(Yoongi's packmates certainly have better things to do than send Yoongi to work with a second packed lunch. "Jin-hyung caught a glimpse of you through the doorway, the only thing that he hates more than Namjoon's snoring is skinny Alpha's.")

Min Yoongi has that look that people do when they're well-loved by packmates. Hair ruffled and neck dotted with bruises that might as well be mating bites for a beta. Beta's don't mate, but these ones certainly keep him close. He wears their scents like a shield. Sometimes so thick that Hoseok can't even smell any of his chocolate scent.

Right now, staring at Yoongi a few paces into the street, all Hoseok can smell is the rain.

When Hoseok had been introduced to him it had felt strange just by virtue of Yoongi's sub gender. A beta? Working somewhere so normal? Weren’t beta's supposed to be like- financial advisors or assistants to the president or something? Betas are supposed to have more important jobs than pushing vinyl and bumping Hoseok's shoulder playfully.

(Hoseok hasn’t seen it yet, the way that the owner hands over little white baggies to people who come in looking hungry for a high that cigarettes or alcohol can’t fix. Hoseok hasn’t yet realized that the record store isn't just a record store. This is just one front business of many that the family has organized across this city and the country for distribution of some of his most precious inventory). Yoongi has worked her for the last year, takes calls in the back for the family. The owner only bows to him when Hoseok's not around.

They only hired hoseok for tax purposes. Having three employees looks less suspicious than just two.

The beta looks concerned, and Hoseok knows he can’t hide the fact that he’s been crying as the beta steps up and pushes Hoseok back under the awning. Out of the rain and into the warmth of the doorway. This kind of movement would make any alpha snap, but not Hoseok. Hoseok just tucks his chin down and starts to cry.

“Oh Hoseok.” Hobi sniffles, and wipes his runny nose on his sleeve. Yoongi's hand curls against his throat, chocolate scent spiking to soothe. “You’re soaking wet."

Yoongi grabs his wrist and Hoseok almost keens at the gentle touch. Whole body shaking, shoulders curling in Yoongi's direction. Yoongi’s lips press into a thin line and then tugs him inside.

~-~

(Now, You)

You hold your breath. Still peering around the corner, watching and waiting for the man to spot you.

But he doesn't, after a breath where his soft footsteps echo, you wait, but nothing happens. You peak back around the corner.

You absorb and catalog the details as fast as you can; the black ski mask, covered by one of those traditional Korean masks, wooden with red lacquer. This one is a little different than the one that Jimin had; not twisted with thick eyebrows in a snarl. This one is white with red splotches on the cheeks, like a ghost sent down from above to rob you of your humanity.

The bulletproof vest stops at the collarbones. The gun itself is a black generic model. The long end is extra bulbous with something that might be an attached silencer. His hands covered in black nitrile gloves, leathery at first glance. There is a knife at his waist along with a barrage of other small things; rope and a knife, duct tape and handcuffs. His heavy boots look steel toed and reinforced.

The man (because it is a man you realize; tall, maybe taller than Namjoon) trains his gun at the landing on the top of the stairs. Pointing it in the direction of Hobi, Tae, and Jin’s hushed voices.

Hobi giggles and it sounds so bright. Echoing off the walls and filling the house with his musical laughter.

There is a phone cord tangled in your hands, long and white. You grip it tight.

This man might be silent but you’re quieter as you slide your bare feet across the smooth floors. Your strides are so quiet. You take one step and then another until you're behind the man, mirroring him.

You remember when Yoongi redid the floors, it was one of the few things that he did right away; before the pack came to live here (to love here). It took him weeks and weeks of sanding before he got them to his liking. Days more of brown dark stain that colored his hands ruddy until the soft matte finish stuck. Every pass with the belt sander and dirty rag a movement of love, a meditation for it.

Yoongi made every inch of this house with the same loving intent; to make it a home for all of you. a place to be safe and nurse your wounds and hearts. You won’t let it become a grave. You won’t let this person stay here and ruin it.

Most people get it wrong; In order to kill it is not a matter of elegance or effort. There is no such thing as a perfect kill either. Emotionless and analytic isn't enough and being justified only gets you halfway. There is no way to do it cleanly. People die just as they live, messy and hopeful and dirty.

Murder isn't a matter or wanting or wishing, It’s a matter of rage.

It’s always been this way. Rage has been chewing a hole through you from the moment that you pulled the trigger with Geumjae. From the moment you said ‘I do’. Rage that these violent things have been done to you, that they continue to happen, that you can’t just get away from all the hurt and trauma.

Rage has eaten you clean through to the bone. Rage has made you skinny and starving, rage has made you timid and fragile. But now you're the hungry one. Right now, only three words run through your head;

How dare she.

How dare she send this man into your house. How dare she point a gun at the upstairs, in the general direction of your nest and your packmates. The altar at which you so desperately cling to, for sweet dreams and sweeter worship (There is no deity above the god of love, not even death. Death cannot take the love from your chest, someone dying does not make you stop loving them).

How dare she even think about hurting the people you love.

There is no courage, no bravery, no thought in your head about how stupid it might be as you step closer behind the man. You are not a trained assassin. You’re just an omega.

The adrenaline rush is an old friend, a thrall both intoxicating and unnerving. Your heart beats loud in your ears. You grip the phone cord in your hands and take a quiet steadying breath. He doesn't see you, he doesn't hear you, he doesn't know that you're behind him.

Wolves always go for the throat, whether they’re cornered or hunting.

The assassin’s foot ascends the bottom step. You don’t let him get to the second before you’re moving, hurtling forward. Footsteps no longer light. Your hands go over the man’s shoulders. The cord no more than a white flash across his vision before you draw it tight across his neck.

The pain and panic are instant as you’re suddenly tethered to a six-foot-four assassin and struggling to stay on your feet as he stumbles back. You’re pulled off your feet and down the stairs, but you keep it as tight as you can and you don’t let go. Fighting to keep your makeshift garrote tight as he scrambles to get his fingers around where it digs into his skin. Spluttering loud.

The hard wire digs, cutting easily through plastic and then your skin as he tries to pull you off. You don’t let go until he backs you into the entryway wall and slams you against it with a dizzying clang of bone and body hitting something solid. Your head narrowly avoids one of the hooks that the pack hangs their coats on. An inch to the left and he'd have impaled your skull on it. An inch to the left and you'd be dead.

A single inch.

His head slams into your face, and you feel something in your nose pop, flooding your mouth with blood so thick you choke.

He slams you against the wall once, twice, and then a third time until your grip goes slack and slippery with blood. It knocks the breath out of you, and he finally throws you off. You both fall to the ground like stones. Both of you gasp and struggle for breath. At least one of your ribs it broken, but because of the adrenaline you can't even feel it.

When the man lifts his black gloves to his throat, they come away glossy with blood.

(It’s crazy how you never notice the change from the day to day, one day you are begging for a reason to hold on, a reason to live, and the next you’re fighting tooth and nail to keep going. Just about gnawing your own arm off to get out. To survive and live to see another day. Another sunrise.)

By that time the air has returned to your lungs it’s enough for you to scream. “Jin! Jin! There’s someone in the house there’s-”

You try and inhale through your nose and blood makes you choke. You push at the floor with your hands, struggling to stand, fingers slippery and tacky with your blood.

The man tries to scramble up the stairs but you latch onto his legs and make him drop. Doing everything in your power to keep him from going up to them, to your packmates. Hugging his ankle to your chest to slow him down (the same way you’ve hugged Namjoon’s arm and Yoongi’s, the way you held Hobi in the nest on the couch just a few shattered days ago).

The man turns the gun on you, pointing it to your head, you flinch, waiting for the shot-

and open them as He heaves a frustrated roar before he wheels away and turns, aiming at the top of the stairs instead of right in your face.

You could have died right then. could have and should have, but you didn’t. Your brain is too messy with adrenaline right now to make sense of it.

Why didn't he shoot?

The gun goes off, a bullet whizzing by Jin’s head. His face, scared, on the stairs flashes ever briefly. Ducking for cover just in time. The doorframe explodes in a cacophony of dark wood splitters. The doorknob sparks and bursts into a million pieces with another shot. metal clanking against the ceiling, the walls, down the stairs.

One second, you’re holding onto his heavy leather boot, and the next it’s colliding with your face and you’re out like a light.

Getting hit in your face is always such a disorientating experience. You’d never gotten used to it, even with Geumjae. Granted it’s hard to get used to the stomach-churning low vision feeling of weightlessness, like vertigo only worse.

"Hobi! don't- jesus fucking christ-"

You’re not quite sure what happens next only that you can’t see for a moment after the boot hits your face, and you take big breaths through your mouth. Blood, you taste blood. And then your vision comes back. Black spots and all and there’s Hobi’s face in front of you. No assassin, just him, helping you up from the floor. You're not on the steps anymore but at the bottom of them.

“The kitchen, the kitchen," Blood rushes over your bottom lip. Hoseok wipes it away, inhaling a jagged breath. "He’s-”

He pushes at your shoulders. “The car- get to the car.” It feels impossible. This can be happening in your house. Are you about to have a shoot-out in the street? On your quiet cul-de-sac? But then, in the corner of your vision dark movement.

You tug Hobi’s head down the second that the gun goes off- probably saving his life, definitely saving it as the bullet tears through the banister and ends in a hollow thump in the wall. he may not have shot you but he has no quams shooting at Jin and Hobi. The bullets hit the wall- Maybe 6 inches above your bent heads. Too close, close enough that Hobi trembles in your hold. And he rips something- a piece of the doorway, out of his arm with a wince before he covers your body with his own.

The volley of gunshots are so loud, so vicious as they blow things apart, tearing holes through Yoongi’s coat, the doorway, the banister, and the narrow stairway rungs. Pieces of wood hit your curled forms. Hobi shoves your head down when you try to look.

There is wetness, hot, something hot on your hands, your neck, you know it’s blood before you look. You think it’s from you until the Gunsmoke clears and you realize- fingers skimming across hoseok's forehead, a gash above his eyebrow.

A bullet graze by his hairline thats bleeding profusely. head wounds always bleed a ridiculous amount.

There are more bullets behind you but it’s just Jin returning fire.

Jin’s got Tae behind him. Her face ashy and pink from the shower and panic, her mid-length dark hair such a tangle, cowering behind his back. Jin's gun is so much louder without the silencer. Did he bring one upstairs? Or did he get it from Jimin’s stash?

Jin nearly drags Tae to the three of you, and she clings to you. Your hand finds her face. Fingers are red and bloody smudging against her cheek, blink and you're back there a million moments in the past; dotting red blush across her cheeks with a brush- your fingers- kissing it into place with your lips- painting a line of maroon across her eyelids to bring out the lighter flecks in her eyes- Watching her twirl in a red dress. Pressing your red lips against hers in a quiet dark moment in the library room. With her in Hobi's red car- Everything red.

If it starts with red, maybe it's fitting that it ends in red too.

Jin doesn’t give you time to reminisce. Pushing her shoulder down hard. His bare chest splattered with splinters from the door. Covered in wood fragments that stick to his black sweatpants and damp feet. Shouting, “All of you get down!”

You follow your pack omega’s words. Hobi and Tae With their damn alpha instincts blanket you as Jin fires again. The shots are so much louder in the small space. Another shot, another thunder strike. tae grips your wrist tight, your hands.

When you look down, they look mutilated. you can see bone in one place, deep gashes across the centre of your palms.

Your ears ring and you can't make sense of anything over the noise. Jin returns every bang with a boom of his own, bright flashes lighting up the dark staircase. Casing after casing tinkling down to the floor, rolling across the floorboards

But then, for a second- the gunfire goes quiet.

The house creeks and the three of you hold your breath. Jin's still half-concealed. The air heavy and clouded with gunsmoke and the smell of blood.

Hobi tentatively gets onto his knees and then stands when he doesn't immediately get shot at. You make a small noise in your throat, the loudest that you dare, but he’s looking after Jin, standing in the darkness, hackles raising his angry scent of burning sugar acrid in your nose. His hand slides out of yours, your blood on his palms.

And then you hear the rush of boots, echoing in the living room, near your nest- you’d never unmade it after you and Hobi fucked there. You'd been too busy taking care of Jimin. Hoseok bears his teeth.

Hobi turns, sliding out of your hands quicker than you can grab him. Quicker than you can tell him that he’s being dumb, that he’s being suicidal.

“Not my girlfriend! You asshole!”

The world is a dizzying cacophony of gunpowder, pain, bullets, and shouting. Jin yells Hoseok’s name. But the alpha heads after the assassin regardless of your cries. Jin narrowly keeps him from running headlong into no mans land. the open area by the door that would leave Hoseok a sitting duck.

Tae’s standing up on unsteady legs as you all spill out of the stairs into the narrow hall. Out from her hiding place cowering behind the banister. Your attention isn’t on her it’s on Hobi. Neither you nor Jin are looking at her. You’re running after him on shaky legs. Jin holds you both back, trying to corrall you. The air is cloudy with Gunsmoke, hazy and heavy. Her eyes are wide and pretty like dark marbles as she watches Hobi.

They’re just as pretty when the gun presses to the back of her head.

Everyone turns and goes still. The man has Tae in his arms, hand in her hair making her neck arch. The gun pressed to her jaw. Finger on the trigger.

Her body trembles and she doesn’t turn, frozen still in fear a shallow whine building in her throat.Jin has the gun trained on the man faster than you can make to step in Tae’s direction. But it’s no use.

He must have gone around, run through the livingroom through your pantry. A similar path that you took to surprise him. He must know the floor plan of the house, must have studied it to prevent situations like this. You have no upper hand here with tae in his arms.

Tae’s mouth is buttony and parted, but it settles into a resigned line.

Jin’s never been a good enough shot- not for one like this, even barely 10 feet away. He might hit Tae. Shaky, Jin takes his finger off the trigger and stoops down to put the gun on the floor. His other hand is up, already surrendering when the man jerks Tae's head back by her hair. Rougher than he needs to be.

“Don’t shoot her, please don’t shoot- please.”

The man juts his chin at the gun on the floor. “Kick it away now, be a good omega.” Jin grits his teeth but does as he says.

The man’s voice is rough as gravel. Dignified, but with no obvious accent. Not the quiet cadence that you’ve come to expect from the family. Neither posh nor lowbrow. Something in between. Flat and monotone. You're sure that you've never heard his voice before.

“I have to admit, your file said you’d be resistant, but it said nothing about you being dumb as fuck and a poor shot to boot.”

Jin licks his lips and bares his teeth, “Put that gun back in my hand and then say it again.” The masked man cocks his head to the side and then shrugs as if Jin's fury doesn't mean anything to him.

But He’s bleeding, it trails down to the floor so the words can't be genuine. It's a small wound, a graze on his right thigh. Red bright and hot that drips in onto the floor from his pant leg.

His hand tightens in Tae’s hair. “Line up against the wall. Now. Or I’ll blow her brains out in front of you."

You move first, eyes trained on Tae. But he snaps, eyes unreadable behind that mask, “No- not you. I’m not here to kill you.”

He tosses something to Jin and he catches it. Handcuffs that jingle and clink. Your foot hits an errant bullet with a similar tinkle. “Handcuff Jin to the stairs Hoseok.”

Your names, he knows your names. Your mind races over every detail, every moment trying to piece together a way to get out of this. a way to save them.

“Why are you doing this?” Hobi’s trembling, shaking. “Did Jimin-”

“Jiminie did nothing.” The man croons dragging the barrel of the gun down Tae’s cheek leaving a dark smudge in its wake. It's red on her face, the barrel must still be hot, your blood crusty around her lips.

“Honestly though, you should know he was a shit assassin. Truly piss poor even by industry standards. They always threw him the easiest kills."

The three of you are quiet, if he was hoping to elicit a reaction or more of a fight You don’t give him the satisfaction. Although jin grits his teeth, gnashing anger and an omega's feral instinct to protect their pups.

You step forward hands open, barely two steps from Tae. If you can just get to her maybe you can-

“Please- please don’t kill them."

He cocks his head at you, and you can hear the grin in his voice. “Oh no, you misunderstand me I’m not going to do any of it.”

He taps Tae’s head once again with the gun and Tae starts to truly struggle. You tremble in fury and horror as you realize what he means with a sickening lurch in your stomach.

“This is how it’s going to work Y/n” You still at the sound of your name. “Taehyung here is going to shoot Jin and Hoseok. And then once we’re sure they’re good and dead, I’ll kill her.” He tosses you another pair of handcuffs, these ones are meant for you.

You take one step closer; Jin's gun is between your feet now. But you couldn't pick it up or else he'd shoot Tae. Time, you just need a minute to figure out what to do. How to get them out of this.

Yourself now, that's a different story. If you where in Tae's position you'd turn your face to the side and bite the mans hand.

“And what about me then? If they're all dead what’s to stop me from fighting?” he seems to consider it only briefly, the gun in his hand tilting so that you can see the dark oval where the bullet will come out, where it will rocket through Tae's skull and take all the little worlds she dreams of, all her poems and words and make them nothing.

“You think you're so precious? I’ll just kill you.” he says it like it's nothing. like you're nothing. He nods to the others, appealing to them and not you. “What do you want? All four of you to die? Or just three? What will hurt Namjoon the least? Do you think Yoongi will survive loosing his mate? What do you think Jinnie?”

You think of Yoongi's mating mark, the spot on his hip where your small curved semi-circles sit. You think of them turning black- a brand of a dead mate. You think of Hobi's eyes opening and never closing again. You think of Jungkook nesting without Jin and you. Of Namjoon holding out his hand and having no one to take it without Jin there.

You won't let any of this happen.

The others shoot each other unsure glances but you shake your head. you shake your head because earlier on the step, the man didn't take the easy shot, the easy kill.

If he really had orders to kill you, he would have done it then.

you step forward and shake your head. “I don’t believe you. I know your orders are to take me. That’s what all of this is about isn’t it?” The man doesn’t drop his weapon. Just presses it tighter to Tae’s jaw.

“Handcuff Jin now Hobi. Or else I’ll-”

You see the darkness settle in Jin’s eyes and before you know it he's turning to you, eyes flat. Endless in their darkness, the way they might if-

You don't let yourself consider it. You won't let it get to that point.

“Pup-”

You guess it does make sense, having you kill each other as opposed to the assassin doing the dirty work and implicating Moonbyul. If you really are on that ‘no kill list’ like Yoongi said at the hospital, having you take out each other is the only logical course of action. Once Tae kills Jin and Hobi, she'll be free game. This is the only way retribution won’t fall back on her. This is so similar to what she tried and failed to do with Jimin and Jin. This is a second attempt.

Only-

Only this time, you have a bargaining chip.

You step forward, in front of Hobi and Jin, blocking them from his line of sight. Barely a pace in front of Tae, but from the way he tightens his grip on her you know that you can go no further.

“You can take me; I’ll go with you. Willingly.”

Jin makes a noise in his throat and tries to move, but dares not when the man tightens his grip on Tae’s hair hard enough to rip a bit of it out.

“That’s what she wants, isn’t it? If you just let them live I’ll go with you.”

The man is silent for a second. Hobi trembles and so does Jin. For a second, you truly think that he’s going to take the bait.

But the mask is directed towards the floor, then back up at you. “Those aren’t my orders.” His finger is on the trigger so close to Tae’s head. “Now cuff him, I don’t want Jinnie getting any ideas.”

Hobi’s hands are shaking as he unwillingly shackles Jin to the steps as slowly as he can. He's buying time too. Every second and every heartbeat is precious. Both ends loop around a single rung and click closed. The rung itself is a little loose from a bullet that blew it apart near the bottom, it’s got to be the loosest one. Hobi turns, and you see the pre-meditation in his eyes; he chose that one so that Jin could still get free if he tried hard enough.

Everyone is trying. Everyone is defiant. The quirk of Jin's eyes as he settles, staring with rage at the man, his voice a quiet croon when he says what might very well be the last words he ever speaks.

“Tae you can close your eyes honey, it’s okay.”

"No I can't" She struggles harder against his hold, but it only gets her part of her hair pulled out with how rough the man jerks her, tears clouding her vision. "I can't- don't- please-"

Tae's soul has always been butterfly soft and flower tender. She's not made for this. She's not made for murder or pain or anything that lacks softness. She's never been a killer; Jimin was always that side of their coin. Saint and sinner.

Your body goes cold and for a second, you think you just might pass out, especially when Hoseok grips your wrist. One final squeeze in what can only be goodbye before he steps away and in front of jin. Hair puffed up. Jin is lowering his eyes and no no no.

No.

Tae is staring at you, eyes wide and scared, but you watch in total powerlessness as her eyebrows lower. You see the moment Tae thinks it. Eyes meeting yours, lips mouthing something that you can’t read. Maybe I’m sorry no.

I love you. Sorry.

The truth is that Jimin drilled this with her years ago before she left for college and he couldn’t follow. When Jimin first realized that for the first time in their lives she’d be without him as a constant protector. Delicate delicate Tae with her delicate pink soul. So vulnerable to the world and all its wickedness.

Tae didn't confront him about it until the nightmares were waking him up regularly. They were simple nightmares back then; images of Tae hurt and mugged. Tae beaten and left in an alleyway. Tae stalked through the night. Simple, but enough to keep him awake. Enough to torture him in his wakon hours as well as the nighttime.

If Jimin saw her now he'd pull the heavens down and demand something truly awful in exchange. He'd take one of the knives from the kitchen and gut him from belly button to addams apple. He'd eviscerate him- and Namjoon might help.

Hut there is no one here to do any of that, there is only Tae in the man's hold.

“What are you so scared of?” She’d asked one morning, trailing endless patterns on his chest in an effort to soothe him back to sleep.

“Something happening to you while I’m not there, mostly.”

“Would it make you feel better? If you taught me the basics?”

Jimin's pause is telling, more telling are his eyes, hopeful when he looks up at Tae. “Yes, it would.”

It’s been years and years since Jimin Tae have bothered to drill any self-defense sequences it at all. Since he stopped asking her to refresh the basics with him once a year just to make sure. Jimin never thought that Tae would have to use those skills. Like with most things, you just sort of hope you don't have to fight.

But Tae knows you did fight. It's written all over your bloody face and your bloody hands, tightened to fists by your side. If you fought tooth and nail to save them she should fight too.

Tae has written fight scenes like this before. If she survives the press of the gun to the back of her head, she’s gonna have one hell of a personal experience to pull from for her book. The content will be endless.

She seems to swell in the space, alpha shoulders settling back. Her mouth is moving, mouthing words her eyes on you. Just in case this is the last thing she ever does.

I’m sorry, I love you.

“Be a good boy and pick up the gun Tae.” Tae bends down, syrupy slow. Intentional with her every movement. One heartbeat. Another. Tae's fingers are maybe an inch from the gun when everything goes haywire.

When she's about halfway bent she uses her momentum to hurl her body back, slamming her head into the gun and then into the man’s face. Cracking the mask and from the sound of it, the man’s nose. Tae's almost knocks herself out with the force of her own head colliding with the man’s face.

She turns, she’s not finished, not even close. She might be a woman but she’s an alpha too. Alphas always always fight to protect their pack. She turns and swings.

And drives her elbow as hard as she can between the alpha’s legs.

Hobi can’t stop his flinch. That has to hurt.

The assassin’s gun goes flying, skittering across the dark floor and under the bookcase and Hobi ends up lunging for it. You go after it too but you end up holding Tae instead, crumpling to the floor without anything to hold her up. She’s holding the back of her head, eyes watering.

The traditional mask lyes in pieces around you, shatered by the force of tae's headbut. The man clutches his nose, features still covered by the ski mast. Growling out- "Bitch- fucking bitch! I'll kill you. I'll fucking kill all of you-"

Jin struggles yanking his cuffed hands down as hard as he can- in another minute he might get loose, but not quick enough as Hobi finds the gun and raises it. The bullet hits the molding beside your pantry, missing the man by inches as he dives away to safety. A lucky shot by any standard, let alone for a beginner. Hobi shoots off after him. knocking into the wall before he's up and chasing it.

“Are you okay, Tae, Tae- look up at me.” Tae is clutching the back of her head. Blinking rabidly. That fucking hurt even if it was worth it.

“I’m fine just-” She leans over your legs and vomits, retching loud and horrible. Concussion- she must have given herself a concussion. Namjoon told you months ago how to read the signs of them shortly after the first time Jungkook ever had a seizure in front of you.

You hold her shoulders, watching Jin try and break himself free, yanking his wrists hard enough that it has to hurt. Moving to try and help him.

And then Hobi makes a noise in the other room, a pained ghasp, A thump and then-

Tae is already up and running, stumbling into the wall. You glance at Jin. "Go- just go" Jin grinds out. But Tae has longer legs than you do even concussed.

By the kitchen, Hobi slips on a fallen tangerine. (You remember then, Yoongi clearing the table with a brush of his hands for Jimin, tossing a whole bowl of them onto the floor. Where they've stayed since then) they're fighting, the man must have managed to disarm Hobi somehow because the gun sits under one of the chairs. Both of them are fighting just beside the dining room table. Part of it splintered and broken where someone broke it.

They're grappling on the floor now. Pushing against each other trying to gain the upper hand. you've watched the alpha's wrestle before- small disputes to settle and reaffirm the hierarchy, but you've never seen hobi move like this. You watch the man grasp at his waist reaching for the knife. His hands so slick with his own blood that it clatters to the floor. Hobi may not be trained but he's a fighter too. Gnashing his teeth and growling. Reaching up into the shallow gash at the mans throat and digging in his fingers.

And then he’s got Hobi on the ground and his hands around your alpha's throat. Tae tries to get him off but he backhands her, sending her sprawling to the ground and clutching her cheek. Too dizzy to stand. Big hands that squeeze and squeeze and squeeze Hobi's narrow throat. Spit at the corner of his lips turning frothy as hoseok tries to breathe and can't.

“I didn’t come this far to get killed by a bunch of family rejects; 11 years and 1458 kills later and I will not die. Just give up already- I didn’t come this far to-”

Hobi’s face is turning purple, hands scrabbling, pushing against his face trying to get him off unsuccessfully. Dying there on the floor. Hobi is going to die right there if you don't do anything.

Jin is shouting from the other room and there is a frying pan in the kitchen. On the countertop that you snatch on your way past, winding up for it before you swing it with all your might at the man's head and-

At the end of the day, it’s hard to say exactly what kills him. Whether it's you or Tae who wields the killing blow. It’s more of a group effort between you and her.

Tae has read countless books that described love as some gentle force, but this love has not made her gentle. Tae cannot sit there on the floor and watch Hobi die. She'd do anything to protect him and the pack. She’d kill people like Minnie did, would lie just as Jin had, would have sacrificed anything- even herself just like Yoongi.

Love had always been giving in Tae's mind, and she would give countless sins and untold violence, to have this not be the last day with you and the pack.

The gun is just sitting there under the chair. tae hardly has to lean over to get it. (If she makes it out of this alive, she swears to himself that she'll finally start taking those kickboxing classes that Jungkook teaches.) Tae lifts the gun at the same moment that your hand descends with the frying pan.

Tae turns, points, aims, and fires. She doesn’t even think twice about it. The trigger goes down as easily as breathing.

Getting shot in the throat definitely distracts him enough, definitely makes him let go of Hobi, clutching at his own throat instead of his. blood rushing over his hand and down onto hobi's face. So much that it almost splashes.

And then the frying pan hits his head with a hollow final thud.

There is a placid terror in things like this, a quiet as things go and come. The thumping, the sobbing breaths you let out, the descent of your hand, beating out your terror on the body below, a vessel for all of your fear.

The handle of the frying pan is thick and heavy in your hands. You bring it down on the man’s head, the curved edge of the cast iron connects with the plate of his skull with a hollow thud. One second, he's clutching at his blown-apart throat, and the next he goes limp, blood and brain matter splatters loud and heavy along the floor. Falling on top of Hobi like a lead weight.

Hobi's brown eyes are bloodshot and red in his mouth, heaving one big breath that sends the room spinning. Sends vertigo into his veins and panic-running adrenaline. You lift your arms up again and hit him, descending again and again.

His body is still, so still. His chest gives one open shudder and then goes truly quiet. Frozen in time. You are covered in blood, in your mouth, on your hair, on the ceiling. More and more splatters as your hand goes up and then down in an endless loop.

Dark cotton soaks, matted with blood and brain matter, blurry from your tears. A bit of it hits your face, wet and stinky. People never tell you how horrible it smells when people die.

You don’t stop hitting the man, even when it's clear he's dead. Even when you glare down at him through the tears in your eyes and see half a face staring up at you. An eyeball rolls across the floor.

There are arms around you pulling you off of him eventually. Dry warm arms, big and heavenly. One wrist dangles with a pair of handcuffs as Jin yanks you back from the man. The body.

“Pup- It’s done, pup- he's gone- Stop.”

There is blood all over you. On your face, on your hands, around the frying pan. Tae too, sitting just beside you. Half of her body splattered. Hobi's soaked with it and still struggling to breathe. But both of them, the three of them are alive.

“It’s over pup.” Jin sounds like he might be crying. Tae definitely is.

Hobi puts his head between his knees, gasping for every breath but still breathing. Tae's got him in his lap. Holding on to him as he splutters. face so soaked with blood he can't open his eyes without blinking rapidly.

It’s anything but over you think as you let go of the handle of the frying pan.

It clatters to the ground with a bloody and final thunk.

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Notes:

if the beginning of the chapter feels weird/different in terms of narration that is because it was mostly written 3+ years ago and my writing style has changed alot! kinda crazy! hopefully people will just attribute it to hoseok's internal monologue. it might be meandering but i kept reminding myself that this is hoseok at his lowest you know?

One thing i want you guys to realize is that the m/c may not be smart, but holy fuck can she take a beating and still get up.

Gun shoot outs are uniquely hard to write because like, just bang and it's done right? idk why part of this writing just felt so tedious usually i love writing stuff like this :(

hobi calls the m/c his girlfriend 🥺 did you guys notice???? he's such a cute pup charecter.

i have more notes for this chapter BUT i can't share them until the next one is out because it involves hobi's secret.

i hope you guys see like- how good the m/c actually is at the crime and thinking on her feet shit- i think that this chapter above all others shows her street smarts. she knows to keep the guy talking and distracted- i think it compliments her similarities to jimin and jin like. the trio of them are very capable people you know? vs hobi who just headlong rushes the assassin and fucks shit up. i'm not saying it's his fault- he does the best that he can in this chapter.

I'm trying to pull from my actual knowledge of how guns work but fun fact, silencers are still fucking loud, like still so loud that you need ear protection. and even blank bullets can still cause serious injury at close range.

I'm again at the stage where i can't tell if the gun shooting scene is clunky and too predictable or if it's actually as creepy as i've made it out to be.

This is one of those situations- the bargaining for each others lives, that i've actually never had to handle. it's actually pretty unusual for me to write about things that i haven't experienced in some way shape or form.

i've only written a few scenes in my life that have made me wonder like "huh- i wonder if people might actually think that i've seen a dead body, been around a dead body, or killed someone before?" and ngl, the scene with the assassin dying is one that makes me wonder that... i promise i just have a scarily vivid imagination.

[rollinouttahere-writes]

Lucky Break Chapter 5

Yandere Straw Hats x Fem!Reader

4.6k words

Beginning / Previous / Next

A partial night of rest did little for you. Your head was still killing you, and the dreamless, fleeting sleep did nothing to aid in jogging your far away memories. 

Nami was kind enough to let you stay in her boat for the rest of night, and you were still on it this morning. You didn't feel confident in your ability to cross boats again now that the wind had picked up and the waters were slightly rougher. The last thing you wanted was to fall into the ocean again right after getting a change of clothes. 

You watched with mild amusement as Nami and Luffy bickered about the Grand Line. Well, Nami was bickering. Luffy was dismissing everything. 

“How do you expect to so much as make it into the Grand Line as you are? You have no supplies, no ship, and only two people. You're even more insane than I thought you were if you think that's a good idea.” Nami returned her attention to the map in her hands, muttering under her breath about pirates being a nuisance.

Luffy shoved the rest of the apple he was eating into his mouth, core and all. Cyanide poisoning be damned. He did appear to at least be taking her words into consideration, which was an improvement. “Yeah, we're going to have to get some meat before we go.” 

You snort at the exasperated look Nami shoots him. Of course that was what he was hung up on. Luffy cooked his head to the side, “And what do you mean I only have two people? There's four of us.”

“I am not a part of your crew, this is just a temporary alliance. I'm not about to sail into the Grand Line with anybody, much less someone as in over their head as you are.” Nami pointed at you, “And Lucky doesn't count. She doesn't even remember her name, what are you expecting her to do?”

“What's that got to do with anything? She doesn't need to remember her name to be my crewmate.”

“She's got a gaping head wound! She needs to see a doctor, not get dragged into the most dangerous place on the planet by a delusional captain!” Nami picked up and chucked an apple at his head. An extremely ineffective attack given that he just opened his mouth and ate it whole like some sort of snake-person.

“Maybe we'll find a doctor on the next island, and then she’ll be good to go.” Luffy perked up, “Are we getting close to one yet? I want to get some food.”

The navigator's eyes flitted back down to the map. She still looked annoyed but answered his question, “Yes, we should be at the Gecko Islands soon.”

Luffy cheered and whirled around on his perch to stare into the distance. You followed his gaze and saw a speck of an island in the distance. Being on solid ground again sounded lovely. The unsteadiness of being on a constantly rocking boat felt extremely unnatural to you. Based on that, you felt safe in assuming that you had never spent a prolonged period of time at sea before this. 

And of course, you were looking forward to the possibility of seeing a doctor and having your injury inspected and cared for by a professional. Zoro definitely needed to see a doctor, too, what with his stab wound. 

Though, as you glanced at him, he appeared to be entirely unbothered. The only thing that even hinted at what had happened was the hole and bloodstain in his shirt. Other than that, he seemed fine. Shit, maybe he can sleep off stab wounds. If only you could do the same for your injury.

Luffy kicked his legs in excitement as the island drew closer. “We can get supplies here, and maybe even a new ship! Oh! We might even get some new crewmates! We're going to need a cook before we get to the Grand Line. And a musician.”

Having a cook around made sense, though you were more than a little baffled at him prioritizing a musician over a doctor. Well, whatever. He’s the captain, not you. He can recruit whoever he wants, and you’re sure that he will. Especially considering how much he’s been brushing off Nami stating that she isn’t a part of the crew.

The two boats hit sand as you finally make it to the island. You’re at some empty beach far away from the docks. Nami insisted that this would be for the best considering that her ship has Buggy’s jolly roger plastered over the sail. You jump off the ship and help pull them further onto the beach to prevent them from drifting away.

Being on solid land feels just as good as you had expected. The sand has a give to it, of course, but it isn’t constantly rocking back and forth. You stretch as you scan your surroundings. The beach is boxed in by cliffs, with a manmade walkway leading into a lightly packed forest that helps to hide your ships further. Someone would have to go out of their way to find you guys here.

“The village isn’t far from here, right?” Luffy was looking around excitedly, no doubt eager for a chance to stretch his legs. You were, too. The island appears to be normal and peaceful. It’ll be nice to explore a town without a bunch of pirates in it… you guys notwithstanding, of course. 

“Yes, it shouldn’t take long to get there,” Nami answered passively while scrutinizing the map in her hands. “I wonder where we could find a ship.”

“We’ll worry about that later. Let’s find a place to eat first!” Luffy was actively drooling as he spoke. You’re not sure how anyone can be so hungry after eating what you’re pretty sure was in the ballpark of twenty apples, but you aren’t about to try and get between him and food.

Nami pushed him out of her face harshly, “Would you stop talking about food for five seconds?!”

Your attention was drawn away from them as you saw movement up on the cliffs. You squint and see several bushes rustling from what you’re assuming is some local wildlife. Zoro unsheaths a sword behind you and steps forward.

“Careful… I think we have company.”

That catches everyone’s attention. Nami tenses and steps back while scanning the forest herself, while Luffy is visibly excited about whoever could possibly be here. To you, Zoro seems to be over reacting. It’s more than likely just some animals running around, you’re not sure why he’s instantly jumping to this being an ambush or something.

Then someone starts shooting at Luffy’s feet. Perhaps Zoro was onto something. He scrambles to get out of the way while Zoro rushes forward to help. Before you even have a chance to react, Nami grabs you by the collar of your shirt and drags you back to the boat before shoving you into it and climbing in beside you to take cover. You cough and gasp as she releases your shirt.

The attack stops, so you and Nami peer over the side of the ship to see what’s going on. Luffy and Zoro appear to be fine, thankfully, but now a bunch of flags are popping out of the bushes. All of them have the same jolly roger on them. Ah. So much for you thinking that this island was pirate-free. You just hope none of them have any weird-ass super powers to contend with.

This display does nothing to intimidate Luffy, who by all accounts seems to be having a grand time watching this. A boy suddenly emerges from behind a tree, looking extremely pleased with himself. Some of the tension leaves your body as you are distracted by the fact that this kid has the longest damn nose you’ve ever seen. You didn’t think that was physically possible. You shake your head, reminding yourself that now is not the time to be getting distracted by appearances.

Long-nose crosses his arms and puffs out his chest proudly. “I am Captain Usopp! Leader of the pirates who reign over this village! I’ll have you know that everyone here fears me as much as they sing my praise! Which is a lot!” He gestures behind himself with a dramatic flare, “Go ahead and forget about attacking this village, it’s under my control! Me and my eighty million subordinates won’t let you get far!”

Eighty… Eighty million? You and Nami share a sideways glance at each other. That seems… a touch far fetched. The island doesn’t appear big enough to hold even one million people, much less eighty million plus the villagers. Now that you think about it, It’s odd that he didn’t name drop his crew. He just called them “the pirates”. You let out a sigh and slump against the boat, relieved that this appears to just be some display rather than a real threat. Nami pinches the bridge of her nose, looking annoyed more than anything, and Zoro puts his sword away with a huff.

Luffy, meanwhile, is star-struck. 

“If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable!” Nami calls out to him.

Usopp gasps, stumbling back in shock, “How did you know?!”

Nami rolls her eyes, “And now you’re admitting to it this easily? You’re terrible at this.” She climbs back out of the boat, and you’re quick to follow suit. You glance up the cliff to see Usopp beating himself up for failing miserably at his intimidation attempt. 

He whips back around to face all of you again, trying desperately to save face. “Well, maybe I was exaggerating a little bit, but I can assure you that I do have some very powerful men at my disposal!” He points at a cluster of bushes not far from him. Unlike the rest of the flags, the ones coming out of the bushes were moving, implying the presence of at least a few people. 

Still, those bushes weren’t particularly huge. You can’t imagine that there were that many people hiding in them. You squint, “What? Like three people?”

The literal second you say this, precisely three people spring out of the bushes looking aghast at your accurate prediction. These “powerful men” looked to be a bunch of kindergarteners, who screamed in terror and ran away immediately while Usopp yelled after them not to leave him here alone. Another impressive victory under your sword-belt, you suppose.

Luffy looks at you in awe, “How did you know?”

All you offer him is a simple shrug and say, “Lucky guess?”

Nami sifts through the sand and pulls out some tiny pellets. She examines them with absolutely no sense of urgency. “Huh. I’ve never seen a pirate captain use a slingshot before.”

Usopp gasps and clutches his chest in offense, “What’s that supposed to mean? Don’t insult me!” He pulls a slingshot from his bag and takes aim at her. Nami stares at him blankly. “I have a lot of pride in my weapon! So much so that people call me ‘Proud Usopp’!”

You’ll give him this much: he doesn’t abandon the bit easily. You call out to him, “By people, do you mean yourself?”

Now Nami’s comment didn’t seem all that bad to him. Usopp changed positions to aim at you instead, “Many people call me that! In fact, they call me ‘Proud Usopp’ more than ‘Captain Usopp’ because they’re that impressed by my pride!” He pulls the leather pad holding another pellet back further. “Behold! You’re about to see that my slingshot skills can put a pistol to shame!”

Given how many other things he’s lied about or exaggerated greatly, you aren’t scared. The pellets that he shot at Luffy had some oomph to them, sure, but comparing them to bullets fired from a gun seems excessive. Getting pelted by some pellets is hardly going to be the worst injury you’ve endured.

Before Usopp can decide if he really wants to fire at you or not, Luffy steps in front of you with the brim of his hat pulled down over his eyes. His voice drops to a surprisingly low tone as he addresses Usopp seriously for the first time, “Now that you’ve drawn your “pistol”, you’ve put your life on the line.”

Both you and Usopp gawk at Luffy. Usopp was clearly scared by the sudden mood shift, and even you felt a chill run down your spine. You’re so used to seeing Luffy be carefree and goofy that hearing him openly threaten someone in a genuinely intimidating fashion has completely thrown you for a loop. On top of that, you feel confused. Nothing about this scenario feels heavy enough to warrant this kind of a response.

“You don’t use those to threaten people.” Luffy makes a show of loudly cracking his knuckles while maintaining intense eye contact with Usopp, who is now looking like he’s really regretting his previous actions.

Zoro grinned and stepped forward, just barely unsheathing a sword, “You’re dealing with real pirates now… Are you prepared for that?”

This is escalating quickly. You lean over to Nami and whisper, “Should we stop them?” 

Nami did not share your concern. She examined her nails, barely even sparing you a glance, “No. He’ll lose his nerve before it gets to that.”

For a long, tense moment, there is silence as Usopp is stared down by Luffy and Zoro. Then, just as Nami predicted, he caved. The pellet slipped out of the slingshot and onto the ground. Usopp fell to his knees immediately after, looking thoroughly shaken up from the exchange. His hand clutched his chest as he muttered about how much scarier the words of real pirates are.

Mercifully, the tension dissipated instantly. Luffy dropped the disconcertingly serious look from his face and laughed loudly. “I stole that from Shanks! Your dad is Yassop, right?”

Usopp reels back at that question. “You know Shanks?! Wait- You know my dad?!” He clambers forward, but he isn’t paying attention and tumbles right over the side of the cliff. He rolls the whole way down, landing ass-first at the bottom. You wince, swearing that you felt some of that. The fall does little to deter Usopp, who quickly gets to his feet and stumbles closer to Luffy. “Yassop is my dad, but how did you know that?”

Luffy opens his mouth to answer, then stops abruptly. “I’ll tell you, but you have to take us to the nearest place to get food first.”

The deal was immediately accepted by Usopp, who nodded eagerly, “There’s a tavern not far from here, I’ll show you the way!”

Luffy followed close behind, cheering at the promise of food. How he intended to pay for it, you weren’t entirely sure, but who were you to ruin his excitement? No one else seemed concerned about the financials of this meal, so you suppose you shouldn’t be either.

Zoro casually trails behind Usopp and Luffy, while you and Nami were at the back. You two walked in silence while you mulled over something. This wasn’t the first time you’d heard the name Shanks. You can recall hearing the name thrown around while Luffy was duking it out with the clown-guy… Bucky? Boogie? You shake your head. That doesn’t matter.

Was Shanks someone important? Or was he coming up a lot purely through a series of coincidences? The name wasn’t ringing any bells for you, but given that you couldn’t remember your own name, that really wasn’t saying much. There’s only one way to find out the truth about him.

“Hey, Nami?” You wait for her to glance your way, acknowledging your inquiring tone. “Who’s Shanks?”

Her eyes widened, “You don’t know who Shanks is?”

You raise a hand and tap near your head wound, only to flinch at the pang of pain that shot through your head from that action. Oh, that was stupid. 

Nami sighs, “You really don’t remember anything if you don’t even recognize his name.” Her face turns to a sneer, “He’s some bigshot pirate that’s worked his way up to being an emperor.”

The answer only served to confuse you more. “Emperor? What does piracy have to do with being one of those?”

“It’s just a title, he isn’t a literal emperor.” She waves her hand dismissively, “Don’t think about it too much. The less you know about pirates, the better.”

Aren’t you kind of a pirate now? At least by association. Not to mention that you’re traveling with two of them. Something tells you that Nami wouldn’t care for you pointing that out, so you continue to walk beside her in silence.

A large wooden sign with the words “Syrup Village” is sticking out of the ground once you’ve walked through the small forest. The village itself was small and quaint, possessing a sort of rustic charm that made it feel homey even if you've never been here before. Unlike Orange Town, this place was clearly populated. The local villagers milled about, going about their daily routines. It was a pleasant change of pace. 

Usopp beckoned all of you into a small tavern. There weren't any customers inside, just an elderly man sitting behind a counter, and what sounds like a small staff in the kitchen. 

“I have a lot of influence here. Go on and take a seat, I can handle the rest.” Usopp hurried over to the old man and started giving him some spiel about how you guys were a part of his crew, and thus, deserved only the best. The old man didn't even look up from his newspaper, but was nodding along anyway.

Nami picked out a booth for you all to sit at. Zoro slid in next to her, while you sat at the bench across from them. You glanced over to see Luffy sticking his head into the kitchen, apparently having not listened when Usopp insisted on handling everything. He was demanding an obscene amount of food, more than you thought all of you could reasonably eat in a week, much less one sitting.

As soon as he was done ordering enough food to make it feel like its own lunch rush, he bounded over to your booth and plopped onto the bench next to you, visibly elated. Usopp joined a moment later, dragging over a chair so he could sit at the head of the table. 

“So, how do you know my dad?” Usopp was staring at Luffy expectantly. 

Luffy perked up, “Oh, right. He was a part of Shanks’ crew, I saw him a lot growing up.”

Usopp's jaw dropped. “He's a part of Shanks’ crew?!” He kicked his legs under the table, a dreamy look on his face, “So that's where he's been.”

You quirked a brow at that statement. He didn't know where his own dad was? Did they never see each other? Or at least talk once in a while? You're surprised he doesn't look more bitter about it. You think that you would be if you were him. 

There's a pang in your head, and your eyes go fuzzy for a moment. It's a sharp pain right behind your eyes. You put your face in your hands and massage your temples, trying to will away the pain and cloudy vision. 

You're startled slightly when you feel someone lightly kick you under the table. You pull your face from your hands only to find Zoro staring at you questioningly from across the table. 

“Everything alright?” His face was casual, so much so that it could be mistaken for disinterested, but it felt like his eyes were staring into you.

“I'm fine, I'm just… hungry.” Complaining about a headache felt childish, so you kept it to yourself. These people are being needlessly kind to you, you don't want to start annoying them and risk making them change their mind. 

Zoro stares at you hard, and you get the impression that he doesn't believe you. He sighs and brings a pint of beer up to his mouth, “Well you better eat something quickly before Luffy gets it all.”

Hang on. You look at the table and finally take notice of the drinks and plates of food on it. When did these get here? You thought you only had your head in your hands for a few seconds… how did you not even hear the dishes being set down?

You really need to see a doctor. 

A plate of food and some water are slid to you by Zoro, who apparently thought you were taking too long to make a move. You mutter a quiet thanks and gulp down some water before digging into the food. Hopefully having something of substance in your stomach would make you feel better. 

Something was tickling at the back of your mind, but not clearly enough for you to make anything of it. The faintest whisper of a voice and a bizarre feeling of empty loneliness hung over you despite being surrounded by people. The responsible thing to do would be to focus on the essence of a memory that was trapped beneath the surface of your mind, begging to come forth. You should be trying to bring it to the front and realize it for what it was. But… apparently the person you're supposed to be isn't one for responsibility. You shove more food into your mouth and push the thought down. That memory didn't feel very pleasant. You try to focus on what’s going on around you instead of that.

The table is lively, unlike your foggy mind. Luffy is happily recounting childhood memories of Yassop while Usopp hangs onto every word of it, completely rapt in the stories. Luffy is also choking down an obscene amount of food at a cornering rate. You're not sure he's even chewing any of it given how fast he keeps going back for more. No wonder Zoro was insistent on you eating sooner rather than later. Another minute of hesitation and you would have been shit out of luck.

Nami finishes the rest of her drink and levels Usopp with a stare, “Say, you wouldn't happen to know where we could get a ship around these parts, would you?”

“A ship?” Usopp hums in thought for a moment, then stiffens up. “I wouldn't know anything about where to get one of those. This is a small village. We don't even have many ships passing through, much less up for grabs.”

“What about the people living in that mansion up on the hill?” Zoro nodded his head in the direction of it. The large home was in clear view from where all of you were seated. “Surely someone in a house like that has at least a few caravels at their disposal. Maybe more.”

Dishes clatter on the table as Usopp abruptly stands up and slams his hands down. “You can't go there!” His shout and sudden mood change startles everyone. Just as quickly as he became upset, his face dropped into a more bashful look. “Oh, would you look at the time! I have very important business to tend to, bye!” And with that, he sprinted out of the building, only reappearing briefly as he sped past the window. 

What was that all about?

Nami sighed sharply. “What's got him so worked up? He ran out of here so fast that I just barely managed to grab this,” she held up a small, leather wallet. 

“Nami!” You attempted to scold her, but the smug look on her face told you that your words meant nothing. 

“What? He said he'd take care of everything, and that includes paying the bill. I'm just ensuring that he keeps his word, that's all.” Nami barely even glances at you before opening it up and counting the money. Based on the way her face contorts, you're guessing that it isn't as much as she was hoping for. 

Luffy didn't appear to be even slightly concerned about that. He was happily licking the plates clean. Including yours, which was a little weird, but whatever. Not gonna ruin your day. 

When you hear the door to the tavern open again, you don't think much of it. It's not until some little kids storm up to your table wielding wooden toy swords that you decide to pay attention. It dawns on you that these are the same kids you scared away earlier at the beach.

“W-What did you do with our captain?!” The boy with green hair asks the question as if he is already assuming the worst. All of the kids are shaking like chihuahuas while trying to act tough. 

“Man, I'm full! That was some really good meat!” Luffy flopped against your shoulder heavily, having apparently finally satiated his massive appetite. The boys stared at him in abject horror.

“Your captain?” Zoro's once neutral face curled up into a surprisingly sinister grin. He leaned forward, making the children almost trip over each other to back away. “We ate him.”

The children grew deathly pale, screamed, then promptly fainted into a heap on the floor. 

“Zoro!” You kept switching between looking at the incapacitated children and the swordsman. “Why would you say that?!” 

All that he does is chuckle, looking awfully proud of himself for terrorizing some little kids. Luffy is laughing loudly at the whole spectacle, and Nami is staring at both of them incredulously but also not doing anything about it. You huff and climb over Luffy to check on the boys. While they do look horrified, even in their unconscious state, they appear to be fine physically speaking. You glare at Zoro, “That was mean.”

Your attempt at scolding is once again entirely ineffective. He waves his hand dismissively and downs the rest of his pint, “It was just a joke. If they want to be pirates then they should be able to handle it.”

“They’re little kids. They probably want to be something different every week.” There will definitely be a change next week after having a run in with what they believe to be cannibalistic pirates. You crouch down beside them, shaking one of them gently in hopes of waking him up. He starts to stir and cracks open his eyes behind his glasses. He blinks a couple of times, then focuses on you. For a moment, he stares at you dully. Then his eyes snap open wide and he yelps as he scrambles backwards.

“Calm down! I’m not going to hurt you,” you hold up your hands like you’re dealing with a scared animal.

This does nothing to quell his fears. He tries to get to his feet quickly, and you don’t have a chance to warn him before he cracks his head on the table he clearly didn’t realize he was under. Once again, he falls to the floor unconscious.

“Oh, shit!” You curse and scramble over to him, wanting to check and make sure he isn’t now suffering the same kind of brain damage you’ve got. You lift him up to get a better look at his head, when you hear dramatic gasps.

“She’s got Tamanegi! They’re going to eat him next!” The other boys have woken up and are back to hysterics.

“NO! No one is getting eaten!” You glare at your crew that is doing nothing to help and is instead laughing at the absurdity of the situation. “Would one of you help me here?!”

Zoro laughs loudly at your demand, “No, it looks like you’ve got it covered.”

You can’t believe these are the people you’re stuck with.

[seospicybin]

PROFESSIONAL COURTESY.

PART II

Felix x reader. (s)

Chapters: Prologue / Part I

Synopsis: Discovering that his new boss is someone he had one night stand with, Felix struggles to separate work life and personal business. And at times, finding himself mixing those two as he works under your dominance. (16,9k words)

Author's note: Please enjoy this one too and don't be shy to leave feedbacks 🙂

Felix is getting better at keeping his work and personal life separated.

When he clocks into work, he naturally adjusts himself to the environment. He knows it's all about business with you and all he needs to do is do his job right, there's no space for him to be emotional in here.

However, there are times when he can't help but get a little personal and that's because he finds you the most attractive when you are focused on work, you have this little crease formed between your eyebrows and your lower lip slightly jutting out, and sometimes, you have your index and middle fingers pressed against your temple as you read something.

Felix has the trick for it, he'll just quietly admire you through the glass wall from his desk and then think about what he's going to do later with you.

He consoles himself with that thought whenever he can't do certain things to you in the office, going home with you and executing one of his ideas to you.

Today, he's thinking of kissing you against the kitchen island in your apartment and if he's lucky, he plans on getting you on it and—

"He wants to see you," Yoon shatters his daydream with her brooding eyes.

Felix drops the pen he's been twirling in his fingers to his desk, "Who?"

"Who else?" Yoon annoyingly asks, not answering his question.

"Mr. Kang?" He guesses since she is his assistant. He gets up from his chair because, despite Yoon's sluggish way of delivering a message, it seems important.

Yoon disappears to the pantry as he keeps walking toward Mr. Kang's office, he knocks on his door even though it's wide open just to be polite.

"Oh, Felix, yes, come in!" Mr. Kang says with his glasses slumped down the bride of his nose.

"You're calling for me?" He asks as he comes toward his desk and waits for him to allow him to sit.

"Yes, please, sit down," he says, putting away a stack of files on the side of the desk.

Felix feels nervous because it seems serious, he knows he's not getting fired but it's serious, still. He clasps his hands together on his lap.

"I'll be quick," Mr. Kang says, putting down his glasses as they rest on his chest with the small chain securing them from falling, "You know I always want you to be in my team and I think it's the right time to start"

It comes as a surprise to him because he's slowly forgetting his true purpose of working in this company, he wants to be a journalist and now the opportunity presents itself to him and weirdly, he's not as ecstatic as he imagined he would be.

"Oh?" He simply responds.

"Do you still want to be a journalist?" Mr. Kang asks, stacking his arms on the desk.

"Yes, I do," he shortly replies, he should be happy that the climb to his dream job has come to an end.

It would be impossible for Mr. Kang to not notice his slight vexation, he smiles and starts talking about, "We're not going to start right away. I just need you to do one thing to see if you're ready for the job or not."

Not wanting to seem like he's being ungrateful or not happy with the news, Felix politely smiles before speaking, "I am truly honored with this opportunity but Mr. Kang, I'm still working as an assistant and I don't think I can do it with my current position..."

Mr. Kang is smart, he understands his concerns about taking this job, "Also, don't worry. I consulted with the chief beforehand and she agreed to it," he explains, addressing you as the chief like he always does.

"Really?" He hastily responds, slightly shocked to find out you knew about it before him.

"Yes and you fully have her support, you have nothing to worry about," he informs.

Honestly, he's happy about it but what stopping him is knowing that he's not going to work for you again and that makes him sad.

This is what he wants so knowing that you support this means something to him. He gets consoled by the fact that you have his back on this and he's ready for whatever he has to do to get this job.

"So, what's the one thing that I need to do?"

Mr. Kang smiles before shuffling a file in front of him and pulling it out, laying it in front of him, "I want you to write about this senior soccer club, I know their manager so you can tell me when you want an interview with them."

Felix scans through the papers to see just the important details about the subject of his interview, "Do I have a deadline?"

"Uhm... how about a week? Next Tuesday, you'll bring me the finished article."

Felix can't tell if he's negotiating or challenging him, he's not one to back down from a challenge, and he confidently agrees to it.

"Next Tuesday it is," he says with a smile and shakes his hand.

The happiest part of the day has finally come.

He can relax as he drives you home and once he gets in the elevator with you, he can step out of his professional self and into himself. He gently puts his hand on the small of your back after pressing the button on your floor.

"Want to order dinner now?" He asks, his one hand is occupied with your purse and coat.

"Yeah. I'm kind of hungry," you answer, not hesitate to place your hand on his hand that rests on your hips.

"French?"

You lightly shake your head, "I'm thinking Italian?"

"Italian sounds nice," he says, smiling before leaning in to peck your lips.

The best part of his day is when his lips finally meet yours and fulfill his need for the taste of your lips. He holds your jaw as he presses another kiss, longer than the previous one, and has the power to take the pressures of the day off of his shoulders.

After dinner, you refill the glasses with more wine and he's been dreaming about kissing you against that kitchen island from the moment he woke up from his sleep, it feels surreal to finally be able to do it for real.

He slips his arms under and around you, "Why didn't you tell me about it?"

You turn your head to the side, "About what?"

"That you support me to be a journalist," he says.

You put down the bottle of wine, "Well, I think it's great for your career. I don't see why I shouldn't support that."

He buries his nose in your neck and inhales the natural scent of your skin, he lets it intoxicate him as it gives him a sense of comfort.

For a second, he forgot about what he was about to say to you, "But I want to keep working as your assistant."

You refrain from sipping your wine and let out a chuckle, "Don't be silly! You can't be my assistant forever."

"Yes, I can," he disagrees and digs his nose further into your neck.

"Stop. That tickles!" You grumble, breaking away from his hold, and turn to face him.

Felix is more than happy to look at you and your beautiful face that endlessly fascinates him, he needs a moment to take it all in and to convince him that you are real.

"I want to stay close to you," he blurts out and he thinks it's coming from deep within him.

You slyly smile and rest your hands flat on his chest, "We're already close."

"Not close enough," he says with a head shake.

"How close then?"

He closes the gap between your bodies so that you can feel his body heat and his breath warmly brushes your lips.

"This close?" You lowly ask.

Felix slightly tilts his head to the side, teasing you by rubbing his lips against yours and letting it tantalize him more in return.

"This close," he mutters in his low voice then crashes his lips against yours.

Oh, to turn his fantasy into reality! He kisses you so passionately, letting his desires drive him and control him. His hands roam down your body, his hand trailing down your spine and eventually landing on your clothed ass, he cups that ample flesh through your tight skirt while continuously kissing you.

It's unfair that you can turn him on as if he were a light switch.

The other thing he wants to do to you is lift you and sit you on the kitchen island so he starts gripping each side of your waist and gathering his strength to—

The sound of your phone ringing interrupted the heating moment, he ignores it and hopes you do the same. He distracts you from it by holding the nape of your neck and keeps kissing you.

However, it's not enough to make the phone stops ringing and your hand gropes around the kitchen island to look for your phone.

He presses a haste kiss on your lips and whines, "Just leave it."

You laugh because he sounds cute whining with his deep voice, "At least, let me check who's calling."

He whines again yet gives in, letting you check your phone but he keeps you caged between his arms.

One glance at your phone screen and you hit the button to accept the call, "Sorry, I have to take this," you lowly mutter while breaking away from his hold.

Felix sighs and then pouts as you enter your bedroom to continue talking on the phone. He drinks his wine and spends the time to check the mail and packages on the side of the kitchen island.

He learns that you subscribed to a lot of magazines from fashion to finance and obviously, sports ones too. They are mostly bills and invitations to various events, then... there's the big bouquet of flowers. He can't find any cards inside but he finds them in between the pile of mails. He opens the card to find a handwritten message, congratulating you on the release of the annual issue, and on the bottom corner, he finds the initial of the sender. K.S which he believes stands for Kim Seungmin, only seeing his initials is enough to make Felix roll his eyes and scoff in disbelief.

Not long after, you return from the bedroom and walk up to him, picking up your glass of wine to have a long sip. He could have asked who called you or asked you about the flowers but he knows better that he should respect the boundaries.

"So how much time does Mr. Kang give you to write?"

"Oh, so you knew about it too?" He puts one hand against the kitchen island and places the other on your waist, wanting to keep you close to him. He doesn't need your explanation of how you knew, he knows the answer, and it's because you're his boss.

"He gave me a week," he tells you.

"You'd better go home and start working on it then," you say, putting your hand on him and holding it.

"I don't want to go home. We have to continue—"

"No. That's an order!" You firmly tell him.

"But we're not working right now," he grumbles like a fussy child.

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm your boss," you remark, coyly declaring your dominance over him with a piercing gaze and a confident smile.

Isn't that just the sexiest thing you ever did? Instead of feeling offended or intimidated, Felix finds you more alluring and he doesn't mind if he has to be on his knees and worship you all day, he would do that for you even without you asking him.

He swallows hard and takes the message like a good boy, "Yes. That's right."

You reach for the collar of his shirt and fix it for him, "As a professional courtesy, I wish you good luck," you say with a chaste kiss on his cheek.

Without saying anything, Felix obeys your words, collecting his things and getting ready to leave. If you want him to go home and start working on his writing, then that's what he's going to do.

In other words, he's simply obeying the words of his boss whether it's professionally or personally, or both.

-

It's official, Felix has no personal life.

Well, not exactly that, he works as usual and goes straight home to work on his article so he has no time for anything personal at the moment. Even in between work, he goes to Mr. Kang's office to consult about his article.

That's when Felix comes to a realization that you've been cutting him a lot of slack. He makes sure that when it comes to you, he does his job right.

"Got you a new cup of coffee," he says, placing the cup of coffee on your desk.

You swivel your chair to face him and put down the file you're reading, looking at the coffee then shot him an impressed smile.

"No sugar, two creams, and searing hot just the way you like it," he says with a smile.

"Thank you," you softly mutter as you wrap your hand around the cup.

Seeing that he brought you coffee unannounced and you're in the middle of work, and he's in your office, it's better if he leaves you to your work.

"I'll just leave you to continue working," he says, excusing himself to leave.

"No, stay," You order, gesturing for him to sit on the small sofa in your office as you get up from your chair, "Have a seat!"

He stops on his track and makes a turn to sit on the sofa, awkwardly sitting there, then watches you coming to sit across from him.

"So, how's the writing going?" You ask while getting yourself comfortable by crossing your legs together

For a second, he gets distracted by your exposed thigh and how your legs are crossed at the ankle, "It's going well," he simply answers.

"You did the interview yesterday, right?" You ask, then take a careful sip of your coffee.

"Yes. It surprises me that I had a delightful time interviewing them," he shares with a smile.

"Because they're elderly people?"

"No, it's not that," he immediately denies, "It's just refreshing to talk with them about their experiences, their passion..."

You suddenly let out a chuckle and say, "I wasn't serious with my question."

Felix can't believe that he gets to this point of being able to be playful with each other in the office, he allows himself to relax and well, be playful as well.

"Well, actually, that too," he jokingly says.

"How close are you to finish it?"

"I just need to do a few things but it's almost there," he calmly answers.

"So you're confident you'll finish it on time?" You ask with your face slightly turned serious.

"Yes," he confidently and seriously answers.

"That's great to hear," you respond with a soft smile.

You sit straighter on your seat then lean forward, and that makes him feel like you're putting all of your attention on him, "Maybe once you finished your article, we can do something to celebrate it," you say.

It sends a shiver down his spine and it's because he can't tell whether you're being professional or personal, either way, it makes him nervous.

There's a line that Felix knows he shouldn't cross and he oftentimes doesn't find it hard to resist the temptation to do it until today.

"I'll look forward to that," he manages to keep his calm.

"Better finish your article on time then," you say, slyly smiling at him.

He never thought that he'd be this scared to be in the same room with you, scared that he'd lose it and do as he pleases in this very room.

He shoots up from his seat and looks at you, "I'd better get back to my work," he says in one breath, not even waiting for your permission to leave the room.

-

Felix keeps his word to finish the article on time. He sent the finished article last night to Mr. Kang and he's been anxiously waiting for his call when he can just go to his office and ask about it.

When the phone rings, his first thought is that it's Mr. Kang and his heart skips a beat. He draws a long breath and then picks up the handle of the phone.

But instead of the call that he's been waiting for, it's the one call he doesn't expect to answer.

"It's Kim Seungmin," The caller says to him.

He knows it's his job to inform you but he finds it very hard to do, "Please, wait a minute!"

He calls your office and hopes that you don't pick up the call, but he sees through the glass wall that you're picking it up just now.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Kim Seungmin is on the line to talk to you," he informs with a sour expression.

"I'll take it," you shortly reply.

"He's on line two."

"Thank you, Felix," you mutter as you press the button to switch lines and accept his call.

Felix should be hanging up his phone by now but he hides behind his computer screen and quietly listens in on your conversation.

"Hey, sorry for calling you through the office."

"I was about to ask you that. You could have called my numbers."

"I called but it seems you were on the call with someone."

"Oh yeah, I was on a call with Suze."

"Suze, huh?"

"Just the usual rant about her brother," you say with a laugh and he hates how you can be so casual and comfortable talking to him about personal things like that.

"I kind of figured. Well, I'm calling you to ask about the dinner."

"What dinner?"

"Your family dinner, I got invited so I thought..."

"Oh, of course, they invited you first before telling me about it."

"It seems like it."

Felix smirks at that, knowing that he's been invited by your family and not you which means that the two of you are close but not that close, he reckons.

"Should I come or...? I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I can—"

"No, please. You'll be the only person I can tolerate there."

"Oh, great. I was thinking—"

The slap on the desk startles him and he hurriedly slams the phone down, forgetting that you might noticed that he's been eavesdropping.

"Mr. Kang is asking for you," Yoon says, greeting him with her usual brooding eyes through her thick glasses.

"Goodness, Yoon! You could have reached me through the phone," he scolds her while calming himself from almost getting caught listening in on your call.

"Well, your line has been busy and I'm impatient," she says, she stops lingering by his desk as usual and leaves without saying anything else.

This is what he's been waiting all day, a call from Mr. Kang and now he's got it so he should get himself to it. He comes to his office with his heart beating so fast that he thinks it's about to jump out of his chest at any moment.

"Come on in! I've been expecting you," Mr. Kang says with a welcoming smile.

Felix suddenly fills with hopefulness, he somehow gets the assurance that no matter what happens, he's going to be alright.

"I read your article as soon as I received it last night," Mr. Kang says, clasping his hands together in front of him.

From his expression, Felix can tell that he likes it or at least, he doesn't find it that bad, "And what do you think, sir?"

He smacks his lips together and nods, "I think you've done a wonderful job!"

Felix can finally let out a sigh of relief, he knows Mr. Kang will like it but knowing it for sure relieved him from the pressures that have been weighing on his chest.

"I'll have it published on the site tomorrow morning," he shares another great news.

"Published?" Felix asks in disbelief, thinking he misheard it.

"Yes," Mr. Kang excitedly answers, he then offers his hand at him and says, "Welcome to my team!"

Shaking his hand means that the climb is finally over but that also means he'll no longer be your assistant, his heart feels heavy about moving on to a new part of his career but it's necessary.

Felix takes a deep breath, takes Mr. Kang's hand, and then shakes it.

-

Felix feels bittersweet as he packs his stuff from the desk he's been working in for almost three years now. But he knows the bitter part is coming from knowing that he's not working under you anymore, at least, not directly.

The phone rings and shattering the melancholic moment for him, he immediately picks it up.

"Please come into my office!" You concisely say to the phone.

He doesn't need to answer but come into your office like you asked, "What can I help you with?" He asks as he stands in front of your desk, ready to take your orders.

"Oh, no. I'm not asking you to do things for me," you tell him, putting your files on a neat stack on your desk, "I only have a few things to say to you."

Somehow, hearing that makes him disappointed, he wants to do things for you before he can't do it anymore for you. "Okay," he meekly answers.

"Well, first, congratulations on your first article," you say, pushing the stack of files away to the side of the desk.

"Thank you," he gratefully mutters, "if you don't mind, I'd like to hear what do you think about it?"

You look up from the file you're holding, "I say it's a very well-written piece of writing. I think you did great on your first gig on the job."

You get around the desk and walk up to where you hang your coat to get your purse, "Which I also should congratulate you on that."

"Thank you again," he says with a smile.

"I promised you about doing something once you're finished with the article so..." you walk up to him and hand him your credit card, "Here, drinks are on me tonight."

That's not what Felix expected as something that you promised him but his disappointment doesn't stop.

"Unfortunately, I can't join the celebration. I have a family dinner to attend," you explain with an apologetic smile.

He's not upset about you not joining the celebration of his job promotion, but knowing that your ex-fiance will be there.

"Once again, congratulations and hope you enjoy your new role in the company," you say, keeping it formal and business with your courteous smile.

What did he expect though? He's working and he's in your office, you can't just run hug, or kiss each other.

"Thank you so much," Felix says and that's all he can say for now.

Honestly, he has something to ask you but not here, not now. He flashes you a grateful smile before turning around to leave your office but something keeps tugging in his chest and he needs to get it off.

Felix braves himself to just go with his gut and comes up to you, he gently places his hand on your elbow while using his body to shield this whole interaction.

"Hey, I know that we're still working and we're in the office but..." he pauses to breathe in and out while checking if you're comfortable with what he's doing.

"Can I take you on a ride this weekend?"

You remain quiet for a moment then a soft smile appears on your face, "I would love to."

Now he got his answer, he should be letting go of his hand on you but he insists on lingering there for a moment, seeing you eye to eye until it lessens the yearning in him.

When he lets go, he immediately takes a step back and raises your credit card, "Thank you for this. I'll make sure to have fun tonight."

Deep down, Felix knows he's excited for something else other than tonight.

-

The second Felix sees you coming out of the door, his heart palpation. He believes it's you and your radiant smile that makes you look stunning even though you're dressed in a plain white t-shirt and blue jeans.

He doesn't notice you've been carrying the jacket you borrowed from him in one hand until you come up to him.

"Have you been waiting long?" You ask.

He shakes his head and smiles, "Not long enough," he jokingly answers.

"I'm sorry. I had to take a phone call from my mom," you explain as you put on your jacket.

"That's okay. You're here now," he says, turning around to get a helmet for you.

You stand still as he helps you put the helmet on, he fixes your hair first, brushing it to the side but seeing your face this close and not kissing you feels wrong. Tempted, he holds your jaw and places a soft kiss on your lips, longer than he intended to.

When he pulls away, he sees your eyes are still closed so he allows himself to place a quick peck on your lips.

"I'm sorry. I can't help it," he apologizes.

You only respond with a low chuckle and tilt your head upward so he can clasp the straps of the helmet together for you.

Felix gets on his bike and puts on his leather gloves, then turns the key in the ignition until the engine roars to life. He revs it up a few times to get it warmed up then holds his stance to let you hop on the back of the bike.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

He puts his helmet on and pulls the visor down, before launching his bike towards the main road and rides on.

The weather is nice today, he plans on taking you on a slow ride out of the city through the scenic route. He stops at a few spots that offer breathtaking views and then stops at a diner to have a quick lunch.

On the road with you like this pulls him out of the harsh reality and into the life he dreamed where he can be with you without having to worry about what or where he is.

He remembers your hands were around his waist earlier but now, they're resting on his thighs again. He chuckles when he glances at it, and shifts his focus back on the road ahead of him.

In the afternoon, the weather takes a drastic turn as thick clouds cast dark shadows on a supposedly sunny day and not long after, the rain starts showering you together.

Since the rain is only getting harder and it's dangerous to keep riding, Felix stops at the first sighting of a neon sign that leads to someplace he can take shelter in.

What he doesn't expect is that "someplace" to be a motel, he cringes once he notices it but he already parked the bike and you already got off.

"Do you want to...?" He gives up on suggesting to check in to the motel, he alternates with a new idea, "I think there's a hotel not far from here—"

You hug yourself as your jacket is drenched and so are your jeans and shoes, "What's wrong with the motel?"

He takes your helmet from you and brushes his wet hair to the back, "Are you okay with it?"

"We can't keep riding in this weather," you simply answer, emphasizing that comfort comes second after safety.

The motel costs not even half of the cost of one day stay in a 5-star hotel you book in but for a motel, it's adequate. A bed, a TV, a working room heater, and complimentary packs of instant coffee.

You take the first turn to use the bathroom and come out wearing the t-shirt he bought from the souvenir shop downstairs that are two sizes too big for you because they only have one size available.

"That looks good on you," he sincerely compliments.

You shyly smile and sit on the bed next to him, "So what's for dinner?"

Felix scrunches his nose, embarrassed that he can't find anything decent except for some inconvenient store foods.

"Cup noodles and..." he brings the cup of instant coffee he made earlier, "Coffee."

You take it from him with both hands, using the heat to warm you up as you put your legs on the bed and cross it together.

"I don't know if you'll like it," he sheepishly says.

You take a careful sip and swallow it, doing it so calmly.

"How did it taste?"

"It's..." you pause for a second before continuing, "alright."

He can't help but laugh watching you befuddled by what you've just drank, "You don't have to keep drinking it."

"No, it's okay. It's not that bad," you assure him and take another sip of the coffee.

The night is getting late but the rain doesn't come to a stop, the constant raindrops pattering against the window somehow adding to the sentiment of the moment as he lays with you on the bed, sharing the thin blanket.

"This isn't what I planned for today," he groans as he stares at the ceiling.

"What was your plan?" You curiously ask.

"There's this nice restaurant with a nice view..." he doesn't continue his sentence but sighs.

"But this is nice too," you mutter as you snuggle close to his side.

Things didn't go as planned and Felix has been worried that you're not enjoying the trip as he wanted it to be, but knowing that you're enjoying this detour the same makes him feel relieved, he quietly smiles in triumph.

"And you know," you murmur, rubbing the tip of your nose against his cheek, "we can always make it better."

He'd be lying if he said this is not what he's been waiting to hear, you permit him to make things better.

"That's right," he agrees, putting his arm around you and pulling you closer. This way, he can look at your face and admire it, before slowly putting his lips on yours.

The truth is things will always be better when he's with you, either it's your smile, your hand that rests on his chest, or the warmth of your body against him. But it's the kiss, it's your kiss that makes things ten times better and reminds him of the purpose of his life.

He holds you tight as he deepens the kiss, one hand rests on the nape of your neck while the other grips your waist, steadily keeping you close to him.

But also, in a moment like this, something starts to gnaw inside him and force its way to come out. He slowly pulls away and tries to convey what's bothering him from the inside.

"I have to ask you something," he murmurs as his hand cups your cheek.

"Yes?"

He has arranged words in his head to say and opens his mouth but nothing comes out of it, "I think—"

The sound of the door being slammed shut startles both of you and Felix snaps his head in the direction of the door, turns out, the sound is coming from the next room as he can hear footsteps and also the TV being turned on as the noise drowning out the sounds of the rain.

Fuck, no! Things are just getting good and whoever stays in the next room decides to come back now, ruining the kiss, the moment, the tension building in the room, everything.

"Thin walls," you mutter, making it obvious that the two of you can't do certain things here without being heard by anyone in the next room.

"Yep," he bitterly answers, guessing that you're going to call it a night.

Instead of that, you get on top of him and kiss him deeply, "We just have to keep it quiet then," you easily resolve, planting your lips on him again.

That's an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do, not when your body makes him want to scream, letting the world know how heavenly your body is.

"Oh, you're so soft," he mutters into your neck as he runs his hand down your back as you sit straddling him.

You giggle as he roughly kisses your neck, you put your hands around his neck, letting him bury his head between your breasts which he's more than happy to do.

"You like them so much, mmh?" you murmur as you give his hair a quick ruffle.

With his mouth full of your breast, he can only nod in response.

"That's enough," you calmly order him to stop but he's too focused on enjoying himself.

You put your hands on his chest and gently push him away, forcing him to let go of your breasts. With his mouth gaping open, he looks at you in confusion.

"Lay on your back," you mutter right into his ear.

He slowly lets go of his hands on you and lowers himself onto the bed, laying on his back as you instructed. Soon after, you hover above him with your hands propped next to his head. You flash him a naughty smile before placing a passionate kiss on his lips.

"I'll take care of you tonight," you murmur with your warm breath brushing his lips as you speak along with a gentle caress on his freckled cheek.

That's a way to get him all hot and excited. Being naked on the bed with you is already enough for him and now you want to take care of him? This is too good to be true.

"I have a condom with me," he says, slowly getting up to reach for his jacket.

You push him down, so hard that it startles him, "I told you to lay back," you tell him again with a glare.

"Okay," he slightly stuttering as he lay back on the bed again.

Your eyes are staring into his eyes but your hand is gliding down his front and stops on his abdomen, trailing the outline of his abs with your fingers.

"We don't need that tonight," you tell him as your hand lowers to find his hardening length.

Knowing that you want to do it raw and added with the fact that he knows how good you feel around him without a layer of protection, those things tell him that it's not going to be easy for him.

"I need you to relax and just..." you pause as you start giving his cock slow, steady strokes, "...let me take good care of you."

Felix finds himself caught under your spell, repeatedly nodding and agreeing to whatever you say. You slyly smile as you're straddling him and begin to rub his cock between your folds, wetting it with your arousal.

"Oh, and one more thing," you suddenly add, getting him alerted when he's about to try to relax.

"What?" He asks with his voice turned hoarse.

Catching him off guard, you align his cock with your entrance and slide him in, making him groan at the overwhelming sensation.

You immediately cover his mouth with your hand, "Shh... keep it quiet, remember?"

This is your plan all along, making him struggle to stay quiet as some sort of entertainment for you but hey, as long as both sides gain something, there's nothing to lose here.

"How do I feel?" You ask, then remove your hand from his mouth.

He holds your hand close to his mouth and kisses your palm, "You're always good. Always," he emphasizes every word to you.

"Hmm... ah..." you let out low, breathy moans with your hands going all over.

Felix has the best view from under you, he can see his cock buried deep inside you and at the same time, watching you touch yourself. He joins in on the fun, using his hands to admire your soft, warm skin and touch you as much as he wants.

You take one of his hands, guiding him to where you want to touch him, down south to where you and him connected. From there, he needs no directions anymore, his fingers can easily locate your bundle of nerves and start circling on it.

"Oh, baby..." you moan and giggle at the same time with your head tilted upward.

After a moment, you look at him again and say, "I'm going to start moving, yeah?"

For support, you rest your hands on his chest and begin by slowly rolling your hips in a circular motion, making you feel his whole length inside you.

Felix realizes the danger he's in as he can feel how tightly you are wrapped around him, so hot and slippery. He keeps in mind that he needs to relax and stay quiet so he bites his lips to prevent him from making any noises.

The bed is fainty creaking as you rock your hips back and forth, making him feel the drag of his cock against your velvety walls in each movement. But with this steady pace, he's confident that he can hold it in long.

"You're so hard, so big inside me," you mutter to him while keeping your voice low and sultry.

You're using compliments now to get him off and strangely, it works on him as he tries so hard to do the opposite.

"And you're always tight for me," he compliments back, cupping your ass cheeks in his hands and kneading on them as he talks.

"You feel so good inside me," you praise him more with a rather sexy smirk on your face.

His brain is close to short-circuit, all he can do is return the compliments to you, "You feel so good inside me."

You slide your hand up and wrap your hand around his neck, "I don't think I'll ever find a more perfect cock to be inside me than yours."

With your hand on his neck, you can easily angle his head to make him look at you and ask, "Don't you think?"

"Yes, yes," he hastily replies as he feels your fingers pressing in around his neck.

With a sloppy kiss on his lips, you decide to let go of his neck only to change your position, you plant both feet on the mattress and put your hands behind you, propped against his thighs.

"This way you can see yourself slipping in and out of me," you tell him then proceed to show it to him by doing it.

Watching it and feeling it at the same time sends his mind into overdrive, he feels nothing but pleasure after pleasure, coming to him non-stop.

"Slow down, oh! Please!" He pleads while gripping your thighs so hard his fingers dug into the flesh

You hear his plea and abruptly stop moving, you get back to straddling him and leaning in as you softly ask, "Want to take a moment?"

"Yes, yeah," he breathlessly answers.

You hastily kiss his lips and hover above him again, "Okay."

Felix needs to calm down but he knows he can't waste the chance to be intimate with you, he pulls you by the neck so he can kiss you, hard and deep, taking as much taste of you as he could.

"I'm going to start moving again," You announce with a kiss on his cheek.

Felix thinks he's ready to go again but he believes it's mostly because he doesn't want to stop. There's a big chance that he'll be a moaning mess under you but does he mind though?

"Let's take it slow this time, yeah?" You sweetly mutter with a peck on his lips.

Your spell binds him stronger, all he wants to do is say yes to you and obey your words without question. It sounds easy to say but putting it into action is a different thing.

Keeping true to your words, you're moving at a slow pace, alternating between rocking your hips back and forth to roll your hips in circular motions. At times, you pull back just enough so you can take him deeper inside you.

"Argh!" He groans, finding it harder to keep quiet.

You grab his hands and place them on your waist, you keep moving while holding them, "You like that, mmh?"

His mouth is dry from constantly moaning so he nods instead.

"Mmh... You're getting bigger and bigger inside me," you say with a sly smirk.

"Oh, so fucking good..." you hum with eyes closed.

The way you're riding him and the way you're enjoying yourself riding him along with the sweet praises you utter in between, oh, he can't take it anymore.

"I'm going to cum," he blurts out with his hands gripping at your waist again, helplessly trying to stop you.

"Huh?" You ask in disbelief as you slow down and eventually stop moving, "Already?"

He hates to admit it but finds himself nodding, he can't lie when you can feel it inside you, how his cock throbs and pulsates with so much desire.

You hover with your face only inches away above him, "I'm so disappointed," you say.

Best believes Felix is also disappointed in himself for having such weak self-control, but what can he do? His body wants what it wants.

You bury your head in his neck and place soft kisses in there, "You can't cum yet, baby."

He takes a long, deep breath and looks at you through his half-shut eyes, "You're just too good," he explains with his deep, hoarse voice.

You catch his lips in a kiss and keep kissing him, your teeth playfully biting at his lower lip as a way to help him relax. When you pull away, you hold his face and take a second to admire the freckles dusted his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, it would take a lot of time to place a kiss on each freckle but it's a challenge you're willing to take.

"Can I continue now?"

Not sure he can hold back longer or even as long as the previous one, he stifles a nod in response to your question. What he knows for sure is he wants you, he wants you so bad.

You prop your hands against the mattress and stay hovering above him, "It's your fault for having such a good cock," you jokingly say with a kiss planted on his nose.

"I just want to keep fucking you," you say, starting to move your hips.

"And fucking you," you set a steady pace, pulsating your hips with intensity.

"And fucking you more," you continue, suddenly picking up the pace.

The previous stimulations are making him more sensitive than before and you become tighter, clenched around him and you're just so fucking sexy, fucking him with your breasts bouncing along to the movement and a blissful smile on your face.

"Oh, fuck," a profanity falls out of his mouth. He's really on the brink of climaxing.

There's no way he can get what he wants without asking, he ignores how pathetic he'll sound and asks you, "Can I cum?"

"No, not yet," you shortly reply.

"Please, let me cum!" He desperately begs, his eyes are fluttering shut and open, and he's holding on to the last shred of his sanity.

"Do you want to cum that much?"

"So much," he answers as much as he could.

You let out a light chuckle and kiss him as you lower yourself on him, you're probably seeing him like a needy baby and he doesn't mind at all.

You lean in and hold his gaze, "How about you finish it for us then?"

Did he hear that right? Are you letting him take control? Will he be able to handle it though? And so many thoughts are rushing through his head right now.

Not getting an answer from him, you kiss him to snap him out of his head, then ask, "Why am I not hearing anything?"

"Yes," he hastily replies before you change your mind. He puts his arms around you and rests his hands on the arch of your back, he allows himself to kiss you first before turning you over without pulling out of you.

Having you pinned underneath him doesn't change the fact that you still have him in your spell. Your body endlessly enticing him, the eyes you're giving him are seductive and you have that sweet yet devilish smile on your face, everything that makes you you is his weakness.

"Are you going to make me cum too?" You teasingly ask, tugging your finger between your teeth.

"I'll try," he manages to jokingly answer.

You softly chuckle and put your hand on his arm, feeling his bicep contract as you grip on it, "Let's see you try."

Now that he gets to do everything he wants, Felix can't decide what he should do first but he soon settles with a kiss, planting a kiss on every inch of skin he can land his lips on and eventually, makes a return to your lips again.

"I want you to do one more thing for me," you speak so low it's almost like a whisper.

His heart skips a beat and that's because he knows your request is never one that is easy to fulfill, possible but hard to achieve. Then again, your spell is still working on him and at this point, he's spellbound for life.

"You can tell me," he says to you with his fingers tenderly playing with your nipples.

You rest your hands on his shoulders and look at him with your eyes filled with wild glints, enchanting him to look back into your eyes.

"I want you to cum inside me," you casually say like it does not affect him whatsoever.

Felix feels a surge of electricity throughout his body, it makes him feel tingling inside and to his surprise, making him feel more alive. But his brain is processing your words slower than his body.

"Wh-what?" He stutters.

"You heard me," you coyly say, then your sly smile vanishes in a second as you ask, "Or do you want me to repeat my words?"

He knows the meaning of having you repeat your words to him and it's not good. His excitement is tinted with a slight fear now, but he's excited nonetheless.

"I heard you," he immediately says.

"That's a good boy," You mutter, the sly smile returns to your face as you slip your hand into his hair and softly give his scalp soft scratches, "Now, kiss me!"

He complies without complaint, lowering his mouth on you again and indulging himself with the taste of your lips, he patiently pries your mouth open with his tongue to slip in to get more taste of you.

Meanwhile, you part your legs wider and put them around his waist, crossing them by the ankles behind him, sending him launched deeper inside you.

"Oh, my fu—" he manages to stifle his breath, stopping himself from finishing cursing.

"Good, yeah?"

"Always," he hisses through his gritted teeth.

Felix can't decide where to look, he wants to see his cock going in and out of you but at the same time, he wants to see your face, how you're reacting to his performance and he ends up alternating between the two.

You take his hand, shoving his thumb into your mouth and sucking on it. He reckons you're doing it to prevent yourself from making noises.

He glances down to see his cock is slippery with both of your arousal then looks up to find you looking at him. Not just looking, you deeply look into his eyes with your innocent yet seductive eyes.

As he continuously thrusts into you, he bravely maintains eye contact with you and finds those eyes do more than just look, they're speaking so many words that the mouth can't say. They are filled with so much want, so much passion, they're provoking him and arousing him more and more.

"Are you going to cum for me?" You lowly ask.

"Yes."

"Going to fill me with your cum, yeah?"

He eagerly bobs his head in agreement, "Yes."

"Want to be filled with your hot cum," your voice is shaking as his body responds to your words by picking up the pace and he thrusts harder into you.

"You can't stop until you fill me full with your cum, mmh?" You grip the sides of your pillow as he thrusts even harder into you, sending your body forward with each thrust.

"You're so close, mmh?"

"Can I cum?" he asks with an overwhelmed groan.

"Now?" You calmly ask like you're not watching him struggling to keep it together.

"Please, let me cum!" He pleads, holding your waist so hard that his nails make crescent marks on the skin, "I can't hold it in. I need to cum."

Despite how tired he is, he keeps pushing himself to the limit, using all of his remaining strength to keep moving his hips and incessantly thrusting into you.

"Please..." he desperately begs with his eyes screwed shut.

You coil your hands around his arms and pull him closer, "Okay, baby, you can cum now."

With your permission, he can finally let himself go, thrusting into you and letting it take him to his release. He gets to the point that he stops caring about staying quiet, he wants to let you know how much he wants it by moaning and groaning to the pleasure that fills him to the brim.

With the way you keep clenching, sucking him deeper and deeper, it doesn't take long for him to finally come undone. Your legs are locked around his waist and you keep him close, not letting him pull away yet.

The feeling of filling you with his seed triggers something deep within him that makes him growl and it sounds nothing like a human with his deep voice, he hurriedly plants his mouth on your sternum to muffle his noises.

"Look at you cumming inside me," you murmur with your hands cradling his head in your chest and gently brushing his head.

"That's my good boy," you coo with a kiss on the top of his head.

-

The rain has turned into a light shower outside and the quiet in the room has been replaced with the echo of your giggles as Felix places ticklish kisses on your neck.

He's lying naked under the cover and cuddling on the bed with you, the things that he's not even dared to dream of ever happening but it happened, right here, in this moment with you.

"How are you—" you got cut off with a haste kiss on your lips to finish your words.

Felix shifts his attention to your breasts, taking them into his mouth in turn and twirling his slick tongue around your nipples, making them hard and wet.

"How are you still hard, mmh?" You try again as you put your hand in his dark locks and gently scratch his scalp.

What you're doing to him makes him purr like a kitten with his mouth latched to your breast, he closes his eyes and clings to your chest while his other gently kneading on the other.

In a tender moment like this, Felix sees for what you truly are: genuine, self-assured and you may seem aloof to many but you're very attentive, only if one knows to treat you right.

In this moment, he also feels like he can comfortably share things with you and vice versa.

Felix happens to have something he's been wanting to ask you, something that gnawing inside him and won't stop gnawing at him until he gets the answer.

"Can we keep doing this?" He asks.

The question catches you off guard, you stop playing with his hair and look at him, "You mean the sex or...?"

He realizes that his question lacks context, he chuckles and plants his elbow against the mattress, he uses his hand to prop his chin, "Since I'm no longer working under you, I figure that... you know, I'm afraid you'd find it uncomfortable to keep doing this," he sounds sad without he's intending to.

Felix knows that you value your privacy so much, he knows you're risking your family name by secretly going out with him like this and now that he's not directly working for you anymore, you would want to stop doing it as well.

"If that's what you want, I respect it. I'll respect your decision nonetheless," he quickly adds, not wanting to sound demanding or forcing anything on you.

"So... not just the sex?" You ask in confusion.

"Not just the sex," he answers, finding himself not able to look at you in the eyes.

Instead of answering, you stretch your arms out to the air and then drop them around his shoulders. You let out a delightful sigh and then smile at him.

"Well, first thing first, you're still working under me," you tell him with an eyebrow raise.

Felix grins and says, "That's fair."

"Second thing is unless one of us wants to stop doing this then I don't see why we should," you tell him.

"Do you want to stop?" He asks with his head beating out of control inside his chest, afraid of hearing the answer he doesn't want.

"No," you answer without a beat, "I like this."

Hearing you say something about this unnamed relationship makes him feel elated, moreover, he feels acknowledged and seen.

"You should worry more about getting the time to do this," you say.

"Why is that?" He asks in confusion.

"You're a journalist now. You'll do a lot of fieldwork, busy writing, and...'

"Nah. I don't. I don't think so," he doubtfully says, but he's confident that he can always make time for you.

Looking at his troubled expression, you let out a chuckle then continue talking, "The third and the last thing is... you will always be working under me," you mutter those words with a smirk on your face, knowing exactly what it does to him.

Those words aren't just words, they are a declaration of your dominance over him and it'll stay like that for the unforeseeable future. Felix doesn't mind being a submissive, he is in love with the idea of catering to your wants and needs, helping you to achieve things and the most important thing is he gets to stay close to you.

"Did that answer your question?" You ask while brushing his hair away from his forehead.

"Yes," he answers with a satisfied smile, boldly leaning in to place a long, lingering kiss on your lips.

"Do you have another question or do you want to try to make me cum for real this time?"

You were busy making him cum to focus on pleasing yourself and he was busy with himself trying not to cum fast, it's his turn to return the favor to you now. And let's say, he's determined to give you the utmost pleasure.

"I'll try harder this time."

"You'd better be."

-

If there's one thing he should learned by now is that you're right. You're always right.

Felix hardly comes to the office because he's busy doing his job on the field, covering various sports matches and events. He only comes to the office to attend meetings or when he needs to finish work by the nearing deadlines

He's well aware you're in there in your office, working and being your graceful self as always, but he barely has time to see you.

But today, he gets his chance. He purposely comes early to the office to borrow the office's laptop, there's hardly anyone in there except for the janitors sweeping the floor but just in case, he takes the longer route to the elevator and walks past your office.

At first, he doubts that you'd already come but the universe seems to hear his plea and decides to grant his wish, he enters your office and finds you standing behind your desk.

"You came early," he blurts out, still in disbelief that he finally meets you in person and not just a glimpse of you he sees through the window of your office.

You look over your shoulder and hang your jacket on the coat hanger before walking up to him, "You came early," you say back.

"I notice your new assistant isn't here yet," he says, pointing to his former desk right outside your office.

"She'll be here," you say, "after getting the copy of a book I want and my breakfast sandwich with a cup of searing hot coffee."

It feels like a distant memory that he used to be that person doing all sorts of errands for you, it's crazy that he's kind of missing it.

"Bookstores aren't open until 8 I'm afraid," he informs.

"Well, she only needs to find a bookstore that opens earlier than that," you say with a coy shrug.

Your cold act doesn't fool him, he knows you're actually a very warm person inside but then, he reminds himself that he's in the office now, therefore, he should act accordingly.

You're leaning against your desk and cross your arms together in front of you, "how are you?"

"Never been better," he says, now that he's seeing you looking as beautiful as always. He must say there's something that seems not right about you, he just can't tell what is it.

"Are you sure?"

He's busy figuring out what's different about you, "Huh?"

"You said 'never been better'. Are you sure?" You ask again, coming to close the gap between your bodies by a few steps.

Then he realizes that things are only better when he's with you, "Oh, sorry. I was wrong," he immediately takes back his previous answer.

You smile and take another step to close the gaping space between you and him, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah. I need to interview this new baseball player," he explains, sparing the details from you.

"On your bike?"

He gets it that you're not interested in where he's going, "Yes," he answers.

You take the final step and stop right in front of him, you place your hand on the lapel of his leather jacket, sighing as you feel the fabric under your touch.

Afraid that anyone may walk into the office and see this, Felix looks around in slight panic, but the office remains empty just as he saw it a moment ago.

"Mmh..." you hum as you place your other hand on his chest and look up at him.

In your eyes he can easily find the answer, they're not filled with fiery glints and mesmerize him the same, they're dim and rather sad.

"Are you okay?" He asks, sensing that something is bothering you.

You shake your head and weakly smile, "You can always make it better," you give him a cryptic answer.

To his surprise, you bring his head close and kiss him, long and lingering, making his heart rattle in his chest. Your kiss is always something you assured yourself doing, it's something that he knows for sure you wanted but this kiss somehow feels different.

The moment you break the kiss, he smiles and asks, "Did we just kiss in the office?"

"Well, consider that as a professional courtesy," you give him a witty answer.

"Can we do this professional courtesy once more?" He appeals with his sweet, bright smile.

"Sure," you answer with a coy shrug.

He holds your face and then slowly leans in to kiss you, softly yet intensely. At the same time, this kiss helps him recall what it reminded him of and it's of the kiss you shared in the hotel room, that night after the boxing match.

When he pulls away, he wonders what makes you seek solace in him. What bothers you? Who dares to make you sad this time?

"Are you okay?" He asks again, allowing himself to cup your face in his hand.

"I feel better now," you assure him with a smile.

If there's something to gain, there's something to lose as well. Felix is living his dream job right now but in return, he's losing and that is time with you. He can feel that this distance strained your relationship in a way that he no longer feels as close to you as he used to be.

All of a sudden, you get back to your formality and walk back to your desk, "You'd better be on your way then. You don't want to be late for the interview."

He has the feeling that you behave that way because there's a presence of another person in there, he looks out of the window of your office and sees that your assistant has come.

"Wow. She's good," Felix lowly mutters, watching her bringing your breakfast on a tray for you.

"Good morning, ma'am," your new assistant says as she enters the room.

She walks past him and serves your breakfast on your desk, she then fills your glass with a newly opened bottle of sparkling water.

"Your breakfast," she says, announcing that it's ready for you.

She nervously stands with her hands clasped in front of her, watching you reacting plainly to it as you take the cup of coffee in your hand.

Before it gets awkward, Felix excuses himself out of your office but before he reaches the door, he can hear you ask about the book.

"I couldn't find any open bookstores so I have someone to deliver it soon," she says.

"We have friends in so many publishing companies and you can't get a copy for me?"

"The release date for the book is today. I don't think it's possible to—"

Felix shuts the door before he can hear the rest of the conversation, he gets a shiver from remembering the first few days working for you. This job is not for the faint of the heart, and he's partly lucky because you cut him a lot of slack.

"She's not that good apparently," he mutters to himself.

However, Felix lingers by his old desk and waits until your new assistant comes out of your office, her face flushed and she keeps her head down as she walks to her desk.

"Can I help you?" She asks.

Felix glances at the name on her desk then slides his phone on the table at her, "So June, this is my friend's number, I believe he can help you to get the book she wanted," he says.

June's face lights up, she quickly copies the numbers on Felix's phone and inserts them into her phone.

"What do you want in return?" She asks, knowing exactly that this should be a fair trade.

Felix doesn't need to put on a charming smile for her, he leans and whispers, "I just need to look at her schedule."

She gives him a questioning look, probably wondering what his intention is but she can't say any of that to her savior, right? She turns the computer screen toward him and pretends to be busy on her phone.

Felix knows where to check your schedule, he skips past the weekdays to see if you have anything to do on this weekend but they're blocked with red.

"What's with this? Why it's—" He asks June, tapping the computer screen with his finger.

"She said she's going somewhere and not to be disturbed," June answers.

"Do you know where?"

"Nope."

"Did she mention anyone going with her...?" He tries to sound casual as he asks it, pretending to not care but secretly dying to know the answer.

"She only said she's leaving for a personal matter," June simply answers, turning her computer screen facing her.

Trade is completed, he got what he wanted in return but did not quite meet his expectations. He can simply go back to your office and ask about it but he's going to be late for the interview.

As Felix stomps his way out of the office, he gets reminded of something, he opens his phone to check if it's right and he is, next Sunday is your birthday.

-

Felix knows almost everyone working as the concierge in your apartment building, they let him in without questions, probably thinking he's still your assistant or simply because they trust him. He doesn't know exactly when will you get back from your trip but he knows it's today because tomorrow, you have an important meeting with a client.

That's right, he eventually found that that you went on a weekend trip with a few friends to celebrate your birthday, he knows it for sure after seeing Suze's Instagram page.

So his plan for today is to prepare a welcome and birthday party at once, you'll probably be too tired to party anyway so he only set a simple celebration and a birthday cake for you.

As for the gift, he struggles so much to find one for you because one, you have everything, two, even if you don't have it, you can easily buy it yourself and third, doesn't matter what the gift is, it's the thought that counts.

He reckons, a gift that comes from the heart would make an impression on you so he baked the birthday cake himself and even bought flowers, in case the cake is a disappointment.

Is this considered as crossing the line though? He stands by his words that he's doing it out of good intentions and he hopes you see that.

He prepares everything in the kitchen, setting the cake in the middle along with the plates and cutlery, he also brings a bottle of wine that you like.

Oh, it's so convenient to know everything you like and don't like!

He's busy choosing the glasses for the wine when he hears the front door open, he doesn't know why but he decides to wait in the kitchen and surprise you when you walk in.

"Thank you," you mutter to someone, he guesses it's the doorman who helps you with your things, "And thank you for the ride home."

Oh? You can't possibly be thanking your chauffeur, right? Since when they walk you to the door of your apartment though.

"Want to come in?

"No, that's okay. You must be tired. You should get in and get some rest," the other person says.

Felix can't really see who it is but he heard this voice before. Getting curious, he walks to the foyer and keeps himself hidden behind the wall, he peeks just enough to see who you're talking to.

"What about you? You took care of everything the whole weekend and now you gave me a lift home. Must be tiring."

"Well, it's your birthday and it's the least I can do for you."

It's when he steps into the light Felix can see who it is, he stands there watching the whole interaction with jealousy in his eyes.

"I had a wonderful time. Thank you so much," you tell him.

"I'm glad you liked it and you're very welcome," Seungmin says, he then places his hand on your cheek and gives it a gentle caress.

"Don't think about it too much and just rest."

You smile as he takes your hand in his, "I'll try."

"Have a lot of rest," Seungmin says.

You nod, "Once again, thank you for everything."

"Get in and get some rest, okay? Goodnight," he says.

"Goodnight," you say back, then lean in to place a soft kiss on his cheek.

You watch him leave through the door and close it after, turning around to walk further inside to find Felix there, standing behind the kitchen island with a scowl on his angelic face.

You drop your purse onto the sofa and walk up to him, "Why are you here?"

"Are you getting back together?" Felix asks with his jaws clenched.

"I told you not to question me about it again," you calmly say, crossing your arms together in front of you.

He wants an answer but you're giving him nothing but acting like you didn't just play with his feelings, saying that you broke the engagement but now he found you doing the complete opposite.

Are you getting back together with him?" Felix accidentally raises his voice at you.

Despite him losing it right in front of you, you remain calm and do that thing where you massage your temple with your fingers which means that you're upset, or worse, stressed about something.

"You know what, Felix," You pause to exhale air and then intensely look at him, "Why is it important for you to know?"

Felix may have overstepped but now that he's done it, he may as well jump with both feet.

"Because I like you," he simply answers and since a part of it is already out, he may as well let everything out.

"You may think because it was once my job but it's not. I care about you, I think about you all the time, I worry whether you have eaten or not because when you're busy, you always forget to eat. I know everything about you, what you like, what you don't like and things in between you can tolerate. You know so little about me and that's fine, but you should know that I like you," he runs out of breath at the end of the sentence.

Instead of piling in on those words, he lets them hang in the air and eventually make their way to you, and perhaps, you get what he meant by what he said.

"I like you and you should've known that by now," He says to you, his eyes intensely staring into your eyes with either disappointment or affection, or a mix of both.

You stay quiet despite all these words he said to you, revealing what has infected his chest other than his feelings for you, there is jealousy and resentment, making a nest in the pit of his heart.

"And you know what I've only realized just now?" He pauses to let out a chuckle in disbelief, "I love you."

This is not how Felix imagined himself saying those three words for you but there he is, emptying his heart into words and hoping that you'll return it. He waits and waits, but all he hears is nothing.

"I don't— I don't know why I even tried," he mutters to himself with a dry chuckle.

Felix grabs his things and walks out of the door, and since the love is not returned, he leaves with a gaping hole in his heart and things couldn't be worse than this.

-

What's a better way to forget his misery than burying himself in work? He's been doing that for a week now and it works alright, well, until he comes home and is left alone with this thought again.

Tonight, he has a baseball game to cover. He could have watched the game through the live broadcast but he wants to get away from the office, not giving a chance for him to meet you or be anywhere close to you.

Being in the crowd is where he needs to be, the loud cheers help him to drown out his thoughts so he can focus on watching the game.

He jots down the important points of the game and when it ends, he hurriedly joins the other journalists to the press room to get a chance to ask the players about today's game.

As he waits with the other journalists in the room, he checks his work emails, replying to the urgent ones. He's aggressively typing on his phone when suddenly someone stops next to his chair.

He looks up to see if it's someone he knows and it is, but the one he expects to meet.

"I think I know you," Seungmin says, looking dapper in his navy blue suit and striped silk tie.

Who dressed like that to a baseball game though? Then it hits him that the home team is the one he owned and it happens that he also owned the stadium. He is in the enemy's territory here. Fuck!

"I see you're a journalist now," he says with a delighted smile.

Felix awkwardly gets up from his chair because it seems rude to keep talking to him in his seat while Seungmin is standing.

"Yes. I am," he says with a courteous smile while thinking of something to say to him.

"Congratulations on the win!" He sincerely congratulates him because his home team won the game tonight.

"What did you think of the game?" Seungmin asks, genuinely curious about his opinions whether as a sports journalist or acquaintances.

"Excellent!" He shortly replies,

"I enjoyed the game from start to finish," he immediately adds after realizing that Seungmin may mistake his eagerness for sucking up to him.

Seungmin nods and smiles so are the other two people who he assumes to be his entourage and that's what he believes is sucking up to him.

Someone appears on the podium to announce that the representative players are going to come out soon.

"Guess I have to let you do your job," Seungmin says, offering his hand for a handshake, "I can't wait to read your review of the game."

Felix shakes his hand and smiles, having nothing to say to his kind face because he expects the opposite from him, he wants Seungmin to be mean or says something coarse to him so he can hate him more. But no, Seungmin has to be a decent man and makes Felix the bad guy here.

-

Well, it's his fault for wanting more work and now, he has to work on the weekends too.

Felix usually hates going to prestigious events but he's attending with Mr. Kang since his wife is going out of the town for a seminar so he ended up inviting Felix as his plus one. He gladly accepted the invitation because Mr. Kang will likely introduce him to some of his friends which he can safely assume consists of acclaimed writers and journalists.

More importantly, Felix needs the distraction.

It's been a month now and he's still got nothing from you, it seems like what he said to you that night leaves no impression on you, as if those words were... nothing.

It has been a month and it haunts him still, how those words trailing behind him, unanswered.

Whenever the thought of you appears in his head, he'll swallow the bitter aftertaste that comes with it and move on with his day.

"You're dressed impeccably for the occasion, Felix," Mr. Kang says once they meet just outside the building where the event is being held, "But something about you doesn't play the part here."

It must be his mood, Felix just can't hide the fact that he's not that enthusiastic to be here. It would be unfair to Mr. Kang if he came just to ruin the night so he reminds himself to, at least, enjoy the company he's with.

"I'm just nervous, I guess," he lies, adding a sheepish smile to assure him.

"Oh, yes, I hope there's nothing else other than the nerves," he says, hinting that he's still concerned, "What about we start with a drink, eh? For the nerves?"

Felix smiles again and nods, "Lead the way, sir!"

The night gradually gets better with every person he meets and is introduced to, and every drink he takes to help him loosen up. At least that's something he can enjoy here, free drinks.

Call it a hunch but Felix knows that something will eventually ruin his night and it's walking up the stage right now to give a speech. His enemy but doesn't feel like an enemy to him, Kim Seungmin.

"Apparently, he donated a million to the sports foundation," Mr. Kang whispers, applauding for him with the rest of the people in the room.

It shouldn't offend him in any way, Felix doesn't have a million to donate to start with but every time he hears anything Kim Seungmin does, he hates it.

"The chief is also here," Mr. Kang delightfully gasps, pointing at you who stands not far from the podium where Seungmin is giving his speech.

Felix hates it more when he finds you there cheering for him with a big smile on your face.

"Let's greet her. Come on!" Mr. Kang drags him to join him walking up to you to say hi.

His heart is pitter-patting inside his chest, it's not excitement, not fear either, it's from not knowing what your reaction would be when you see or is he going to hate knowing that you don't care at all?

"How delightful to meet you here!" Mr. Kang gasps as he places his hand on your elbow.

"Oh, Mr. Kang, you're here and you're with..." your words trail off as you set your eyes on him, "... with your protégé."

Mr. Kang laughs at that and Felix should be honored to hear that he's unofficially his protégé but he's holding himself back from vomiting words at you.

"Yes, my wife is going out of town so I had the pleasure to take Felix instead," he says, glancing at Felix.

Felix gulps air and tries to remain calm, but he can't stand seeing you looking alright and acting like that night didn't bother you as much as it does to him.

"Excuse me, I have to go to the restroom," He turns around and leaves. He knows it's rude but he just can't stand it having to face you and his feelings altogether.

Instead of the restroom, he makes a turn to the bar and orders more drinks for himself, trying to drown his sorrow in alcohol. The bitter aftertaste of it is nothing compared to the realization that the hatred Felix has is not for Seungmin, it's for himself.

The next thing he knows, Felix finds himself following you and the tail of your black dress that sweeps the carpeted floor as you make your way to the restroom. Obviously, he can't go inside so he waits by the hallway, rubbing his eyes as he keeps wanting to close them, mistaking it for drowsiness.

A few minutes later, you come out holding your purse in front of you and before you can even recognize him, he grabs you by the hand and takes you to the end of the hallway.

There's no hint of surprise on your face when you finally see that it's him taking you away from the party. Gosh! He would be lying if he didn't think of kissing you, he wants to so badly.

He licks his lips like it would help him diminish the urge to kiss you and exhale air, not forgetting to slowly let go of his hand around your forearm.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He blurts out when deep down he wants to say how much he missed you.

You dare to look back at him as you lean against the wall, "What do you want me to say?" You calmly ask back.

Honestly, he wants you to say those three words back to him but that's just something he can't force out of you, but he will be fine if you only sigh in response to it, anything would do.

Anything is better than this suffocating silence.

"Do I really mean nothing to you?" He tries not to sound hopeless as he says it but failed.

"I think you're drunk," you state a fact instead of giving him the answer he seeks.

Felix is aware that he can't get what he wants by pressuring you so he tries another way. He takes your hands and holds them in his, leaning in close until his forehead is pressed against yours.

"I just don't understand... you said you broke the engagement but why are you with him?"

"I told you to trust me and you didn't," you simply answer while holding his gaze.

"How can I trust you when you can't even answer a simple question like that?"

"You didn't even give me a chance to explain," you snap, losing yourself for a moment there.

He pulls away just enough to get a good look at your face, "When did I—"

You cut him off with a sharp remark, "Maybe I was wrong about you."

"Wh–what?" He stutters, sensing the conversation is going off track, "What did you mean by that?"

"It's okay, Felix. You don't have to understand," you mutter, turning your body to leave but Felix is quick to stop you from leaving.

He holds you by the shoulders and pins you against the wall, "Say something, please," he says with an exasperated sigh, "I don't want to give up on you."

From the way your shoulders relaxed, he can see that you're softening around him, you inhale air and look at him again, "Or you can just... give up."

You take her hands and get them off you, slowly, you let them go until they return to his side. With one last look at him, you turn away from him and leave.

Felix's heart sinks deeper the farther you walk away from him and instead of making it better, things only get worse from here.

-

A month later, on a peaceful Monday morning, the news of you acquiring Sports One spreads on the internet and it doesn't take long for everyone in the office knows about it.

There's one question everyone is dying to know why did you bother to acquire it when it's owned by your family? Welp, Felix can only wish these curious people a lot of luck in getting an answer from you. One person though is neither surprised nor curious about it and Felix wonders if he knew about it before anyone else.

"Mr. Kang, you seem to know something we don't know," he playfully says as Mr. Kang is using the computer on the desk across from him.

Mr. Kang doesn't say anything but lowers his glasses on the bridge of his nose and lets out a chuckle, "Well, The Chief always said she wants to own the company."

"Isn't it hers already from the very beginning?" Felix's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. He stops typing and pushes his chair away from his desk, getting a little space to breathe.

"You could say that..." Mr. Kang says without looking away from the computer, then swivels his chair to face him, "But she didn't have the full authority over the company."

"So we're under her control now?"

Mr. Kang bursts out a laugh, he takes off his glasses now and lets them hang around his neck, "Well, we have always been under her control," he states the existing fact there is.

"And you're okay with it?" Felix curiously asks.

"One thing that I know for sure is that she truly cares about the company," Mr. Kang answers without a beat.

"Why do you think she did it though?" Felix says, failing to not sound like he cares too much about it.

Mr. Kang rubs his eyes before putting his glasses back on, he flashes him a thin smile as he riffles through a stack of papers on the desk.

"People put more interest in the reason why she did it but no one says anything about how she did it on her own," he says, pausing to let out a low sigh, "She's going against her family... so I can't imagine how lonely it must be for her."

Despite the amount of information you've shared with him, Felix never really takes the time to sit and think about it. He always thinks highly of you and expects the same out of you he forgot that you're just a human with feelings and thoughts, you have your struggles, the only difference is you hide them too well, you keep them and face them yourself.

And what Felix did? He's too focused on his personal issue with you that he forgot to be the help you needed.

-

Besides the fact that he's tied up with work, Felix couldn't find a way to reach you since you've been absent from work for a few days now. He walks past your office this morning and it seems like you're not coming today too.

He understands that you have a lot of things to do now that you become the sole owner of the company and Mr. Kang is temporarily taking your role in the office to handle everything.

Since he only came to the office for one thing, he stops by his desk to grab his laptop and got ready to leave again to work outside of the office.

"Are you leaving?" His colleague asks from the next desk.

"Yeah, I have an interview at the hockey training," he vaguely answers while carefully placing his laptop inside his backpack.

"You're not coming to the auditorium then," he says, swiveling his chair from side to side.

He then zips his backpack and slings it on one shoulder, "Auditorium? Why?"

"Must be the chief coming with the official announcement," his colleague replies.

"Oh?" Felix stops moving altogether and without thinking, he puts his backpack down on his chair, immediately canceling his plan to leave the office.

To avoid the queue for the elevators, Felix and his colleague are going to the auditorium at the last minute but thankfully, he comes at the right time. He can hear your voice even before he enters and when he is finally inside, he sees you already taking the podium.

Gosh! He misses you so much that his heart leaps at the sight of you. Instead of getting a seat, he decides to stand on the side of the room and crosses his arms together in front of

"... make necessary changes for the better of the company," you pause talking to take a second to look at everyone in the room.

Felix knows you can't see him among hundreds or so people in the room but somehow, your eyes are looking in his direction and he feels seen. You suddenly look away and continue with your announcement.

"And so we've come to the last announcement," you continue, flipping the paper in front of you.

"As I'll be focusing and continuing my work to shape the management of our company, I've decided to step down from my current position as Editor in Chief of Sports One."

The announcement comes as shocking news and is greeted by a collective gasps. Maybe it's coming from the fact that people know you've been doing your job well and you stepped down from the job seems unnecessary, including to him.

"And I'm using this opportunity to announce that Mr. Lewis Kang will be taking my role as editor-in-chief of Sports One effective immediately," you further announce.

The other news comes as another surprise but not as shocking as your exit, everyone seems to be happy to hear about it and begin applauding.

The applause intensifies as Mr. Kang steps onto the stage, Felix joins in applauding him, he couldn't be happier to know that the right person has taken over the job. But he also can't deny that he feels a little sad that you will not be working in the office anymore.

He watches as you and Mr. Kang exchange a handshake and a smile, inaudibly muttering something to each other before taking his turn to speak on the podium.

His eyes follow you after, watching you getting off the stage and talking to your assistant. He so badly wants to talk to you but he knows that what he wants to say to you is personal, and he's at work now.

Felix finished his work as fast as he could, he's riding his bike and pushing the speed to its limits, it's unclear whether you're at home or not but it's worth a try. The concierge lets him in without questions and he's going straight into the elevator, then pushes the button to your floor.

As he stands right in front of the door of your apartment, a lot of things rushing through his head, but ultimately, how are you going to react knowing that it's him knocking on your door? The possibilities include you shut the door right to his face or you don't open the door for him at all.

Now that he has explored those possibilities in his head, he knocks on your door and gives it a few seconds before going for another try.

A moment later, he hears clicking sound from the other side of the door and the door slowly swinging open. From every reaction he pictured in his head, the one he's seeing now is not one of them.

Your eyes are glassy and both of your cheeks are wet with tears, you're crying. This is the first time he sees you crying which makes it a heartbreaking sight for him.

The first thing that gets to him is the urge to comfort you. Without thinking or second-guessing your reaction, he comes up to you and holds you.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He asks while holding you tightly.

His question only makes you cry harder into his chest and then hoarsely say, "I have no one."

He gently holds your jaw and tilts your head to make you look at him, "What is it?"

With teary eyes, you look at him and swallow air to calm yourself down, then say, "I have nothing now."

"No, no," he hurriedly denies, holding your face as he stares back into your glossy eyes, "You have me."

Despite your triumph, you get nothing in return but loneliness that haunts you still. His heart breaks into a million knowing that he takes part in what caused you this much sadness.

"You still have me. I'm here for you."

He pulls you closer, holds you tighter, and uses the back of his hand to wipe the tears off your cheeks, offering you everything in him just so he can stop the sadness from taking over you.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here for you," he regretfully says, his heart shaking and aches in his chest.

"I'm sorry," he says again even though he knows how many times he says it won't change the fact that he is partly responsible for this.

You press your hand to your eyes to stop the tears from flowing and then look up at him, "I'm not getting back together with him. He was just helping me with—"

"Shh..." he hushes you, then places his hands on each side of your face, "You don't have to explain. I know."

Everything that happened, especially the bad parts, he's putting it all behind him and takes this as a lesson as he moves forward.

"I love you," he steadfastly mutters and this time, he asks nothing in return, he's saying it for the sake of letting you know that from this moment on, he'll stay by your side.

-

The bedsheets rustle as you squirming on the bed, your hands are interlaced with his and resting on your stomach as his mouth dives into your wetness.

Hearing your moans is like listening to his favorite song, he doesn't want it to stop so he continuously pleases you with his mouth, using his lips and tongue, alternating between sucking and licking to give you the utmost of pleasure.

"Baby oh..." you let out a broken moan as your waist is floating in the air.

He ignores it at first, thinking that you're simply reacting to him sucking on your clit.

"Baby," you whine again with your legs clamping his head in between.

Felix reluctantly lets go and looks up at you with his mouth glistening wet with your essence, checking if you're calling him to say something.

"You can take it slow, baby," You murmur as you slip your hand in his hair, "It's all yours."

It feels embarrassing that you called him out but what can he say? All he thinks about is pleasing you and he wants to do it well. Especially knowing that it's all his now and he can get as much taste as he wants.

He places a soft kiss on your inner thigh and crawls over you, then slowly putting his lips on your lips, ignoring that you can taste your arousal on him.

"How can I stop when you taste so good, mmh?" He mutters, along with a long peck on your lips.

You smile at him and it makes his heart burst, he can't help but try to catch the warmth of your smile with a haste kiss. You tug the hair on the back of his head and gently, pushing his head down.

"You can continue now," you tell him.

Oh, how he misses seeing this side of you that's bossy and confident, always telling him what to do because you know he'll do anything for you like a fool.

Felix is not afraid to say he's indeed a fool for you.

He enjoys pleasing you and he's just as pleased to know you're cumming against his mouth with your legs trembling around his shoulders. He looks up to see your mouth gaping open as a long moan escapes your mouth in one breath.

As you're slowly coming down from your high, Felix hovers above you and carefully lays himself on top of you, covering your face and neck with kisses.

The natural scent of your skin intoxicates him and gives him a sense of comfort that he can't find anywhere but there, in the crook of your neck.

"God! I missed you," He groans into your ear, letting you know how much this longing torment him.

You turn your head and capture his lips in yours, responding to his words with an eager kiss that shows how much you miss him too.

"Did you miss being inside me too?" You ask with a seductive smile.

"Oh, you have no idea!" He honestly answers with his eyes fluttering shut because he can't even picture how much he missed it, it's abundant.

"Why don't you put it in and show me how much you missed it, mmh?"

First of all, you don't have to ask for it and secondly, he'll show you alright. He crashes your lips on yours again, kisses that make you both breathless and dizzy from the lack of oxygen. He gasps for air the second he breaks the kiss.

Felix gives his throbbing cock a few pumps even though he knows how much it wants to be inside you right in this very second, he patiently takes time to tease your entrance, either with his fingers or the tip of his cock, getting you drenched in no time.

You keep arching your back at him, impatient to be filled with his length and at the same time, making him cannot wait another second to be inside you.

He aims his cock to your gushing hole and slowly pushes in, just the tip but it's only making him more impatient to push the rest of his length inside you. But he remains calm, fucking you with just the tip of his cock.

"How does it feel?" He asks you with his hands steadily keeping your legs open for him.

You look at him with innocent eyes that somehow only provoke him more, "I want more, baby."

"You want more?" He asks again with his hand tenderly rubbing your thigh.

"Yes," you innocently answer with a nod.

Since Felix wants more of you too, he gives you more of his length and looks at you again, "How about now?"

"More," you shortly reply.

"More?"

"Please..." you sweetly say, making his insides melt and arousing him at once.

He rushes to give you a kiss then says, "Your wish is my command."

Felix pushes the remaining length into you until he's buried to the hilt inside you. He bites his lips to muffle his grunt of pleasure.

"Oh, baby..." you breathlessly moan with your hands fisting the sheet underneath you as you take his whole length inside you.

He gives your thighs gentle rubs and looks down at you, "Always taking me well," he coos at you.

All of a sudden, you put your legs around his waist and pull him closer, at the same time, sending him launches deeper inside you.

You hold his chin as you place a soft kiss on his lips, "Make love to me."

You kiss him again, longer and tenderly, "Gently," you add.

Like he said, your wish is a command to him. Felix starts moving, thrusting into you at a painstakingly slow yet steady pace. His lips always latch on you, your lips, your neck, your chest, just anywhere where he can land a kiss on your soft skin.

For once, Felix doesn't want to make sex more than just a physical pursuit, he wants to make love to you like you wanted, showing you how much he loves you, cares for you, and how you'll always come first to him above everything else.

"You always feel good around me," he praises as you closes your eyes, overwhelmed with pleasure under him.

Unable to speak, you pull his head close so you can kiss him and for the rest of the night, letting him take control.

He presses his mouth to your ear and whispers, "Oh, you keep clenching around me, baby."

Your chest is heaving and your breathing is ragged, the moans spilled out of your mouth are incoherent and breathless. He knows he's doing well at getting you closer to your release so he keeps the pace and restlessly thrusts into you.

"So beautiful moaning for me like that," he coos, attentively brushing the hair out of your face.

Without stopping, he thrusts into you and lowers himself onto you to give you the closeness you seek. He kisses you and maintains eye contact with you as he once again speaks out his heart.

"I love you so much," he tells you.

From the way you keep clenching and your walls pulsating around him, he knows you're on the brink of climaxing. He kisses you hard and deep, before propping his hands against the mattress to give him the leverage he needs to keep thrusting.

"Close, mmh?"

You nod in response with your eyes fluttering shut and your hands gripping his shoulders.

"It's okay. You can let go," he tells you while picking up the pace of his thrusting.

Your moans turn into breathless cries, or that's what he think you're doing, just overwhelmed with pleasure that fills your body.

It takes a few more thrusts to get you to your release and Felix slows himself down, giving you time to relish yourself from the waves of pleasure washes over you. As he lowers his lips on you again, he finds you crying again.

Panic, he hurriedly holds you close, pulling the duvet to cover both of your bodies just in case the cold bothers you.

"Are you hurt?" His voice is heavy with concern, he's putting your hand away from your face so he can see you.

"Did I hurt you, baby?" He asks again with his hand checking every part of your body.

You shake your head with your eyes screwed shut and tears rolling down the side of your face, seeping into the pillow. It's a relief to know that he doesn't cause it but he's panicking still for not knowing why you suddenly cry.

"Don't cry, please?" He begs as he gently wipes your tears with his knuckles.

He hastily kisses you even though he can taste your tears and holds you tight, patiently waiting for you to calm down so you can tell him what made you cry this time.

"Felix," you croak as you brush your tears away with your palm.

He cradles the side of your head and looks at you with such loving, "Yes?"

You put your hand around his neck and hold his gaze, "Thank you for being here with me."

He catches your hand and kisses your knuckle, "I'll always be here for you," he assures you.

You exhale air and lick your lips before talking again, "And I know I'm late to say this but... I love you too."

To say that he's happy is an understatement, he's ecstatic, over the moon to hear you finally say those words back to him. His heart inflates and overflows with warm feelings, it would be a lie if you couldn't see hearts in his eyes as he looks at you.

"I love you so much," you say with a hand placed on his cheek and a smile on your face, making his dream come true all over again.

Knowing that his feelings are being reciprocated and Felix must say, things couldn't get any better than this.

-

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[uwupaige]

the nanny [paige bueckers] part 1

chapter one: snooze.

"shit, shit, shit." was all that could be heard from catherine's bedroom. the chirps of her alarm ringing bounced off of her cream colored walls, with the light of the morning sun, shining perfectly against them. that, and sound of her literally jumping out of her messy bed and making a run for her bathroom were all that filled her senses, not even a moment to bask in the morning glow.

she didn't have any time to. the alarm on her phone, titled, "leave now!" was currently screaming at her, and the girl was just barely making it out of bed.

this was probably catherine's third time being late for work this week, and it was only friday. working long nights at vynil, catherine was lucky to get in 4 hours of sleep. quickly brushing her teeth, catherine went to brush her hair into a  low ponytail. the girl was so relieved to find she had straightened her hair a few days prior. easy hair was what she called it. for weeks like this, when she worked both of her jobs back to back and didn't have time to style it every morning or night.

working two jobs could be a lot at times, but until she finished school, there was no way she would find a job that paid a livable wage. any and all positions she came across all wanted a masters degree and forty-three years experience. and school was already taking a long ass time, too. especially since she was one of the few teenagers that fell for the gap year trope. her gap year took about 2 and a half years, and now, she is just barely starting her bachelor's degree. those thoughts normally consumed her, though she tried to push them far down. all they would do is slow her down.

catherine's days all mushed together. work, school, work, and sleep, if that. however, she would often find the beauty in them. how lucky she was to have the middle of her day off and to herself. and on the rare off chance she was caught up on school work, she would be apple to sit on the porch of her apartment, doing whatever she wanted. a lot of the time, she would find herself daydreaming on that porch. what kind of life she would live if she was privileged in the way that other rich people are—

beep! beep! beep!

catherine's alarm sang to the girl once more from her room. only informing catherine that not only was she late, but now she was extremely late. she sighs, leaving her bathroom to grab her phone from her messy bed, that she decided would be okay to fix later, and turning it off as soon as possible. the sound of her alarm made her skin crawl and her eye twitch.

not bothering to put on any makeup at this point, catherine just grabbed her dented purse and the keys to her 2008, red honda civic, before kissing the top of her cats head goodbye, wiping off any grey furs that tried to leave with her, and ultimately rushing to her shift at 'snooze'.

˚✧.*

catherine tried her best to slip into the breakfast cafe, barely just missing the hostesses eye, but unfortunately, not missing the manager. she was almost to her locker, almost to the final stretch, when she heard the familiar voice of adam—the manager. a man in his forties, scruffy looking, not very tall, who had been there since he was in his twenties. but not only was he a manager, he was the one who made the schedule. so he definitely knew exactly when she was supposed to be strolling into work this morning. and it was not right now.

"kitty cat." came the singy-songy voice of her middle aged, out of shape, manager, adam, a clipboard firm in his hands as he walked through the break room, his sneakers squeaking horrible against the tile. catherine reluctantly looked up, meeting his odd smile. everyone who worked there—matter of fact, anyone who met him—knew his cheerfulness was just plain pretend. "did you sleep well? it looks like we're.." he pauses to look down at his new smart-watch, "twenty-seven minutes late today." he says, seriously dramatizing the twenty-seven.

"better than the 32 minutes on monday.. and yes, i slept great." catherine replied with whit and a smile as she shrugged off her purse and began to open her metal locker. scrolling through the numbers on her lock, adam continued on his speech he prepared for her the minute the clock striked 7:31 a.m. and she was declared late.

"you know, we have a strict policy—here at snooze—about tardiness, as we talked to you about earlier this week with your first two infractions."

catherine wanted to do nothing more than dramatically roll her eyes, huff and puff loudly and yell boring! in his face.

but alas, she bites her tongue. sorta.

"i understand, adam," catherine turns to the man, eye level with her, slight bitterness in her voice, "but there was only one table sat when i walked in, and julie was already serving them." catherine defended herself. yes, she was more than aware that her being this late was not acceptable, and wouldn't be accepted at all in many other fields. however, she would've been stuck with nothing to do until it was lunch hour. that is if she wasn't cut before then because they were so slow. "and, i told you when you hired me that i could only work the lunch shifts, because i work super late at vinyl." vinyl was the night club she bartended at. matter of fact, she had another shift there tonight. unfortunately, though, being a bartender doesn't pay the bills the way it used to. "and now this," she gestures to the both of them, "is an issue that we're having."

adam shifts the clipboard in his hands to rest between his armpit and torso, clasping his hands together dramatically in front of him. he looks down at the ground, as if to collect his thoughts, before loudly announcing, "i think that snooze a.m. eatery is not the best fit for you at the moment, and your role could be filled with someone more prompt. please understand that your shifts at this restaurant are here by extinct for the foreseeable future. your last check will be mailed."

thinking about that last conversation with her manager is still making catherine groan, even a couple hours later, as she helplessly scrolls on job sites. she'd been sitting on her small, light grey couch, scrolling on her laptop for at least half an hour, and nothing was peaking her interest. something was always wrong. perfect hours, horrible pay. or, the best pay she's ever seen, but she'd basically have to drop out. she was about to yell in frustration when her phone began to ring viciously into her earbuds. looking down, she saw it was an incoming call from her best friend. well— her only friend.

pulling her earbuds out by the cord from both her phone and her ears, catherine answered the phone call, immediately hitting speaker phone. "hi mama, what's up?" she spoke aloud, resting her phone on her knee as she kept scrolling.

"just read your text. how're you feeling?" the girl on the other end spoke. it sounded like she was in a car. she was probably on her way to her cute, corporate 10-6 job, which is what she so lovingly dubbed it.

catherine sighed, shaking her head even though no one could see. "like i need to find my own cute, corporate 10-6 job." she jokes, the girl on the line giggling with her. "molly, i don't know what to do. snooze worked out the best with my schedule, and with school. i'm at a loss." catherine confided in her. "nothings peaking my interest."

molly goes straight into problem solving mode, a trait catherine noticed about her when they met their first year of high school in club soccer. molly did work in HR, after all. so, problem solving was kind of her niche. "what aren't you liking about the jobs you're coming across right now?"

"the hours don't work, the pay is shitty, or a combination of both."

"hmm..." the girl on the other end hummed, catherine taking this as her thinking, and thinking deeply. "what about a clothing store? most close before 9, so it won't get in the way of your hours at the club."

"if you hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of a recession, and it's slow season for retail. no one's hiring." catherine responded. and if molly didn't know catherine the way she did, she would've been offended by her tone.

"then maybe you should finish school so you can get a cute, corporate 10-6 job like other people your age." molly replied without hesitation, matching, if not exceeding, her best friends energy.

catherine groans, "mo!" she sighs out a laugh, shuffling in her spot on her couch, going to take her blanket off, feeling a little toasty. molly's evil laughs are the only thing she can hear from the other end. "how embarrassing is it being a 23 year old college student, working two jobs, while everyone else your age is starting their careers, getting married, and having children?"

there's silence before molly speaks again, the sound of her blinker being the only audible noise for her phone to pick up, "like.. a seven outta ten embarrassing."

"you're the worst."

laughing once more, molly says, "hey, you were almost married if it makes you feel any better?"

"thinking about my cheating ex isn't exactly making me feel any better. all i ever see are posts of the two of them."

"social media is nefarious. none of what you're seeing is real," molly explains before she racks her brain for other possible jobs that catherine should consider looking at. "ever thought about childcare?" she loosely and hesitantly throws out the idea.

"jeez, is that what it's come to?"

"i think so, cat... i mean, maybe you could even go back to coaching soccer?"

catherine begins to search for childcare positions in her area through her job search engine. "that was volunteer work, babe.." catherine reminded as she scrolled. "woah. soo many people are hiring."

"mhm. a personal nanny is more affordable than daycare's nowadays. or just as much, but with better care." molly informs, catherine smiling at her best friend through the phone. she always admired how intelligent she was. molly was extremely book smart, the logical sense in catherine's life.

"oh, this one says, 'urgently looking for a nanny in Storrs," catherine reads, sounding enthusiastic at first, her tone then dropping, sighing. "must be flexible... they want two hours in the morning, school drop off and pick up, and evening care... until 11pm?!" she continued to read out loud to her best friend. she was about to click off, appalled at the thought, but luckily, molly interrupted her actions.

"well how much are they paying? if it's enough, you might not even need to work at the club anymore."

"dunno.." catherine mumbles as she scrolls down to the bottom of the description, her eye scanning to look for the hourly rate, and.. "0h, shit."

˚✧.*

"catherine sanchez.. sounds legit, right?"

"kk, you've gotta read their application first, bro."

paige sat at the dark grey couch of her brand new apartment, her daughter present on her lap, curled up against her side as she overheard her teammates begin to bicker at her marble kitchen counter, seated comfortably at her island stools.

"yo, where is that babysitter at, we've gotta go." azzi stressed, getting up from her spot at the island to begin her pace around the main area of the spacious apartment. they all had a game in a couple of hours, and they needed to leave, like yesterday.

"you'll live." kk responded, which just sparked another argument between the two.

the blonde just threw her head back against the sofa, eyes closed, looking for even a moment of calm. however, the bounce of the curly headed girl in her lap was making that nearly impossible. paige just held the girl closer to her and began to rub her back, hoping that would start to calm her. "will you both shut up and give me my phone back?" an annoyed paige interrupted the bickering with a plain voice, her eyes still closed, still searching for calm.

azzi rolls her eyes, grabbing the phone quickly from the girl beside her, walking it over to her best friend. she's about to hand it over to paige, but ultimately retreating the phone back into her possession, "only if you explain." azzi gestures towards both paige and her daughter. kk wasn't far behind her, soon taking the same stance as azzi, wanting answers as well.

opening her eyes and picking up her head, paige's face contorted as she sorta cringed at how serious her best friends were being. "you guys are acting like you didn't know."

"i thought she was with your parents?" kk inquired, quickly falling out of her stance with azzi, opting to slump onto the same couch paige and her daughter resided on, immediately reaching to take the little girl from paige's lap. kk was quietly throwing out baby babble to the 5 year old, instantly making her giggle. she was about to have a field day with this.

"my dad is, uh, trying to get back into work more seriously." the blonde explained as simply as possible for the two, "and he thinks i'm ready to take of her on my own, now..." paige sighs again, "but i can't be mad at him, you know."

"i mean, a little notice would've been a teeny bit helpful." kk spoke up from her baby babbling, but quickly returning.

"oh yeah. three days—so much preparation time." azzi agreed.

"i don't need notice to take care of my daughter. besides, they've spent enough time raising her... my dad's right." paige sighs, a hand running over her face.

azzi frowns for her, sitting down next to her. she hands paige her phone, "look," she says, softly, "someone finally applied." the girl did what she could to comfort her best friend, but to almost no avail. she made eye contact with kk, both sharing a concerned look. they were worried for their friend. when paige called them earlier that day for help, this isn't exactly what they expected. helping their friend find a nanny for her daughter, that is. "you're gonna find someone great to care for madison."

"amazing name choice, by the way," kk snorts, cutting in the middle of azzi's comfort speech. paige goes to fake punch her, kk just holding madison in front of her as the ultimate shield. "what's her middle name? paige?"

azzi unapologetically laughs at that, paige playfully shoving her.

"i was literally only 18," paige defends, and laugh following her words. she couldn't help but find their humor to be comforting.

madison moving in with paige was never the problem, it would never be a problem, but it all happened so fast. after paige got pregnant her senior year of high school, her dad and step mom wanted to take care of madison while paige was away at college. she was just beginning her career, her name out there. she had so much potential. they wanted to support her unconditionally, and believed this would be the best way.

however, they grew increasingly tired as the days went by. at the time, they were still in an understanding that paige would only be gone for those 4 years at uconn, then would return home to minnesota and be in madison's life. however, after paige made the decision to stay in connecticut for another year at uconn, her parents had a serious talk with her. she needed to step up. she could finally start providing for her daughter in ways she couldn't when she was 18. and she needed to do just that.

paige wanted to. more than anything.

nonetheless, she was still so scared. she gave birth to madison a couple days after graduation, managing to hide it from her whole school her senior year, only her family knowing. it wasn't long until paige was sent off to uconn though, having to say goodbye to her daughter for months at a time. it was really hard. all she would think about what madison. she called everyday, but it would never be the same as actually being there. when paige would come home for holidays or breaks, madison would be really nervous around her, hiding behind paige's dad or step mom. it wasn't until paige would go home for long summer breaks that madison would finally get used to her. and she always only called her paige, though. never mom.

and as for madison's dad? it's a topic of conversation that's not up for debate with paige.

"paige," azzi shakes paige out of her thoughts, paige blinking a few times to return to the moment.

"yeah?"

"read her application." azzi encourages once more, pointing at the phone in her hand, "she's the only one who's applied so far."

"because no one wants to work until midnight and then have to be up and back at 7 the next day," paige sighs. her basketball schedule was the only reason she needed the extra help. practice was at any time ever, and games were multiple times a week, going on for a hours.

"catherine sanchez..." paige reads before opening up her application.

moments later, the door bell is ringing.

they open it to reveal the last minute babysitter paige had hired for the night. grabbing their things quickly, and each kissing madison goodbye. they left, but not before paige could remind the babysitter to, "text me if anything. please."

part two!!

authors note!

yay first chapter! this was just a lot of needed backstory. chapter two is when the paige interactions begin ;)

also, if you want more frequent updates, my wattpad (@/money4martin) gets like 3 new chapters every week

thank you for reading!🩷

- mari 🫧

3k words.

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | (wolfstar x reader)

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Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 7.6 K Warnings: None Prompt: Time to wrap it all up, and perhaps receive one or two surprises. This IS a Wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. Proofread by lovely: @aremuslupinsimp

Chapter 42: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Wednesday, December 23rd

The art store was small, but filled with colours all around. Small little black cabinets with golden numbers on top behind the counter, and walls lined with different paint pots and colours, a wall with wooden frames and delicately separated boxes that held paint brushes of all different sizes and shapes and, by the bits you’d read, also materials. 

At the top of the cabinets there was a small display of colourful markers and pens and other things that you knew muggles used but you weren’t too familiar with. Apparently, they used stick glue instead of sticking spells to adhere stuff. You wondered how much of this stuff Sirius actually knew about and vowed to bring him to this place with you one day. 

And while you did appreciate art, thoroughly – you’d gone to multiple museums, both muggle and wizarding through your trips – you had no idea what the difference was between gouache and acrylic, or why the “Rembrandt” that claimed to be made out of oil, where much more expensive than the “Winsor & Newton” ones that claimed the same. It had to be because of the quality, right? 

“Good evening, may I help you?” a young man, probably in his late twenties asked as he approached you. He was dressed in rather formal clothes and had a pair of thin-rimmed golden glasses. You would have probably considered him attractive if you hadn’t been accustomed to Sirius’ dashing looks or Remus’ lovely smile. You really were lucky to be surrounded by handsome and pretty humans, you thought, thinking of the rest of your friends. 

You must have looked as lost as a Bowtruckle in the middle of New York since he looked like he would try to be overly polite. 

“I’m looking for a gift, my boyfriend loves to draw, but I’m… not really good with all the supplies and stuff, I was thinking perhaps a nice set of pencils and a sketchbook. I’ve been looking through the paints as well, but I don’t think he’s the kind to do the whole canvas thing, at least not while we’re in school.” 

“Well, does he colour his drawings?” 

You thought about it for a moment, what he’d shown you were mostly sketches done in pencil, though there were some with an underlayer of red and or blue. “I think he uses some for the base of the drawings.” 

“Does he overline them?” The expression you gave him when he asked made him clarify it. “After the pencil sketch is done, does he add a pen or marker to finish up the details?” 

Sirius did not do that, but you also thought how complicated it would be to do such a thing with a quill instead of the pens and trinkets the muggles had invented so you nodded in response. “Yeah… not that often but I’m sure he’d like something to be able to do it.” 

“All right, follow me,” he said as he motioned to one of the furthest walls. “This is where we keep all of our sketchbooks, the thicker the grammage the stronger pens and markers it will hold. Also, some can even hold watercolour, not sure if he’s into that too.” 

“Do you have like – a book on the basics of watercoloring? I feel like he might actually be interested in that.” 

“We do,” he said with a nod and moved to the other side of the store bringing you a few options. You picked one of them and then looked through the sketchbooks. There were different sizes and colours and the pages felt really different on most of them. Some were especially made for watercolours and some were for drawing. You took one with about 100 pages for watercolour and one with the same amount of pages but with a bit less grammage for sketches. 

They both had a black cover with golden elegant trims that you thought would definitely go with Sirius’ look, although one opened from the side, making it more of a panoramic view while the other one stayed horizontal. You handed them in to the guy and he took them to the counter as you continued looking around. You leaned into the watercolour section and started to look at all the different options available. 

“If this is the first time he’ll do watercolour, may I recommend you buy a set?” he asked politely as he showed you a small wooden case, when he opened it there were all sorts of small blocks with different colours on them. “These are my favourite brand, but really gentle with beginners, they also come with this interesting thing,” he added as he handed you a small brush with a clear section at the top. “It comes with water, you don’t have to dip your brush that often, really useful once you get the hang of it.” 

“You have more of those?” you asked and he nodded, showing you the different sizes of brush ends. After a while, and with a lot of his help, you ended up selecting about 5 different brushes and the colours that you’d fill the small wooden box with as well, which you thought was fantastic since you could fill it up with whatever colours you chose and not a set palette. 

“You’ll also take the marker set, the watercolour book and the sketchbooks, correct? Anything else?” 

“Uhh… Am I missing anything that he might need?

“Does he draw portraits or landscapes?” 

You thought back of the Remus drawing he’d shown you, and then of the one you had chosen not to see. “He draws portraits and anatomy studies. Though I’m sure I’ve seen him doodle other stuff too.” 

“He might like this book then,” he told you as he handed over another book. It was about proportions and hand drawing and a lot of very advanced-looking stuff, you smiled. 

“This one as well, please…” he was about to finish the bill when you stopped him, looking down through the glass display and pointing towards something, “Is that a penknife?” 

“Well, yes,” he replied, “Although sharpeners are used more often nowadays, some people still prefer them.” 

“I’d like one of those as well,” you added with a smile. 

“Excellent.” The man gave you your total and then handed every single thing in a thick paper bag. “You said it was for a gift, right?��� 

“Yes,” you nodded and he walked to the back of the shop, pulling a very elegant and sturdy black box, he eyed the bag as if calculating if everything would fit and then handed it over to you along with a black and gold ribbon with the name of the store repeated over and over. 

As he handed it over he pulled it back for a second and gave you a smile. “That young gentleman is very lucky to have you as a girlfriend.” 

“I think I’m just as lucky as he is,” you responded with a small smirk as you took the box. 

“Would you like me to call you a cab?” 

You thought about it for a second. Your house wasn’t that far, and with a short levitating spell you wouldn’t have to carry much stuff either, but the Knight Bus did mention they’d be very busy and you had been walking all day. “Yes, thank you.”

The man called for one and you waited inside the store until the cabbie arrived. You gave him your address and he took you straight there. You took the lift of your building, using your wand to unlock the secret –magical- floor your parents had purchased in London and waited. 

When the two, golden doors of the lift opened to your drawing room, you sighed. Leaning down to take off your shoes. “Mom? Dad?” 

No answer. “What time is it?” you whispered to yourself as you looked at the clock, quarter past ten? That art store surely has late closing times, you thought as you leaned back down to pull your bags up and drag them to your room. 

There was a note on the table along with what looked like a delightfully looking salad and steak. 

We’ll be home late, serve yourself. See you tomorrow darling.

You sighed and after placing the bags on the table, and using a warming spell on the food, you ate. Once you were done, the plate disappeared from the table and instead, a chocolate cake showed up. You smiled, at least they knew you liked sweets. You took a few bites from that and took it, along with your gifts, to your room. 

That’s when you remembered you had promised to tell your friends when you arrived here so you quickly scribbled a few notes. Sending your owl –Resse– back to the Potter’s and Barnaby –the family’s owl– to Beth. Then you took some Floo powder and leaned over the fire. 

“Tom?” You asked as you peeked through his chimney. 

“Sly sprite?” He asked as he leaned over. “I was starting to worry,” he said as he left a book on the side. “You got home, all right?” 

“Yeah!” you said with a smile. “And I got a bunch of good stuff at the store too, it was worth it.” 

“It better have been! Beth is home too, we stopped by hers first.” 

You chatted with Tom for a little while more and ended the call when you started to yawn and he followed right after. With that, you went for a quick and warm shower and then back to bed. 

Thursday, December 24th

There was a soft knock on the door, you stirred on your bed but didn’t wake and then there was another one. “Sweetheart? Breakfast’s ready, come eat.” 

“On my way,” you said as you sat on your bed and rubbed your eyes a couple of times. The day was bright, you’d forgotten to shut your windows at night and now you had the perfect view of the Thames through your window. You thought back to Hogwarts and how all the splendour of it had been made by magic, while the splendour of London had mostly been made by muggles. 

The high skyscrapers, the Ferris Wheel across the river, the towers, palaces and bridges, all muggle-made, and without magic, it was fascinating. You didn’t understand why wizards had so many prejudices against them –aside from the whole burning on steak part, muggles seemed to be quite incredible and determined people.  Perhaps you should have taken that muggle studies optative. 

“Sweetheart?” you heard your father’s voice, a bit more stern than your mother’s. 

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” you said as you shook your covers off and grabbed your wand from the nightstand. “As if they hadn’t been home hours after I got here,” you mumbled as you fished for a pair of slippers under your bed. 

By the time you got out of your room both your mom and dad were sitting on the living room table. Your mom was wearing a beautiful cocktail dress while your dad had a perfectly fitting black suit on with a small cape, draped elegantly behind his chair. You were still wearing a band shirt you had stolen from Sirius a while ago, and that you had been wearing under Remus’ jumper before the trip. “Lovely to see you,” you said with an awkward smile, “it’s been a while.” 

Your father looked up from his newspaper with a cup of coffee in his hand only for a second, nodded and then went back to read. Your mom gave you a sympathetic look and nodded for you to sit down. After a couple of minutes, your dad bent the newspaper and placed it on the side of the table.  

“We’ve heard plenty of your Hogwarts Adventures,” your father said looking at you. “You’ve been doing a masterful job at maintaining our house’s name relevant.”  

You frowned at that, that had never been your intention. 

“You were incredible in the broom race though you lost,” your father said. “And you’ve won two quidditch matches–” 

“That was a team effort…” you said, your voice growing smaller as his hand dismissed you. 

“You’ve kept your grades high and you’ve even entered the duelling club…”

“Not to mention her Theoretical Magic grades,” your mom added with a smile. 

“And you’re dating one of the Black kids.” 

You swallowed. You had mentioned in your letters that you and Sirius had gotten along now that you were in the same house, but you hadn’t specifically mentioned you were dating him.

“The disowned Black kid,” your father continued. 

You straightened a little, you had discussed with your dad the things that happened back in your vacations with the Blacks. It hadn’t been particularly nice talk, but you weren’t going to back down, his political means could not be worth more than his morals. And things had been rather tense between the two since then.

When two people had such intense ideological differences and desires, they were bound to clash against each other, especially when those ideologies juxtaposed against the other often, being only furthered by the fact that you were –at least on breaks– living under the same roof. 

Your priorities had been wildly different and you weren’t shy about letting him know, which caused your relationship to deteriorate quickly. Not to say you –or him– had been particularly rude to each other, but you were much colder. It was almost Christmas, and you didn’t want to start a fight with him, let alone over something that you were most definitely not going to yield on. 

“I think it’s all right. He might have been disowned by his family but he still stays in contact with some of the other Blacks like Alphard and the other disowned child… whatever her name is…” Andromeda, you thought as you tried to process the fact that he had just said it was fine. “Just try to avoid mentioning him in tomorrow’s dinner. I’m sure Walburga wouldn’t be particularly pleased.” 

“Tomorrow’s dinn– Walburga will be coming?” 

“Of course not, they have invited us to their Christmas dinner,” he said. “It’ll be hosted in Rosier Manor, I believe.” 

“Whose manor?” You asked, your breath going short along with your question. 

“Mr. Rosier,” your mom repeated. “All important wizards will be there.” 

“I’d rather skip Christmas altogether.” 

“I’m sorry, darling. This isn’t a matter of preferences. You will go and then we’ll let you do whatever you please for the rest of the break. Visit muggle London as much as you want or dally with your friends, I really don’t care as long as you maintain your composure during tomorrow’s dinner.”

Your leg was bouncing slightly under the table. “I don’t believe I will be welcomed in that house.” 

“You will be welcomed because you are my daughter and I’m me,” he said with an air of finality. “We need to present a strong family front, play your part and you’ll be rewarded.” 

“Right, my part,” you said bitterly. You wondered if your mother was playing her part too, they were in love, that wasn’t questionable, but sometimes it felt like she became nothing more than an addition to his recollection of what a perfect life should look like. Did he marry her because of the love he felt for her or because she’d look like a delightful trophy wife by his side on political dinners? Had she not been as beautiful as she was, had she not been well educated, would he have married her either way? 

You wondered, when had Silas become the man he is now? When did his greed for power become so intense he would sacrifice his morals to achieve it? When you were smaller, you thought they loved each other, even now, you saw when they looked at each other with those adoring eyes, but… there was a tale of sacrifice weaved in between their story, and with one party constantly bending to the other’s wishes, you weren’t sure you could still call it love. 

When devotion became toxic, was it still something that came from love, or had it become something else altogether? 

“Indeed darling, we ask for nothing more than one night. Then you will not be bothered, free to go wherever you want and with whomever you please. Does that sound like a fair deal?” 

You sighed and nodded, “One dinner.”

Your mother smiled at that, letting out a nervous breath and then reached for your hand. “Your clothes for tomorrow are already in your closet, I also got you some nice potions and make-up.” 

“Thanks, Mum,” you said with a short smile and looked at your food. It looked delicious, it was French toast with berries and fruit on top –probably there to appeal to your sweet tooth and convince you to go– but you didn’t feel hungry at all. Especially not at the thought of having to go to Rosier Manor. As if you didn’t see enough of Evan at school, now you had to go see him on the break as well, bIoody brilliant. “Breakfast was great,” you said as you stood up. Both of them decided to ignore your almost intact plate, “I’ll be in my room in case you need anything else, you know like me playing the role of the perfect child of the politician if your friends come around or whatever.”

Your mom gave you a reproachful look while your dad gave you an impassive one, you raised your eyebrows at the two of them, almost tauntingly before you turned around, walking back to your room and letting the door close behind you gently –it was not the inanimate objects fault that your parents were acting like pricks. 

You sat on your bed and took a deep breath before you saw a small owl by one of your windows, you let him in and took the rolled parchment from his feet before feeding him some water. 

Dear Vix, Hope this letter finds you all right, Sirius was moaning about you going along Beth and Tom and not inviting him to buy Christmas stuff it was draining! Now I was not going to write to you about it because he said he would punch me in the face but I had to write anyway since mum and dad wanted you to have our address so you could come here through floo anytime.  Hope you’re having a great time, Sirius and I went flying with Pete today (he lives a few houses from us, did we tell you?), and while it was nice not having to worry about Sirius distracting himself from snogging you, we missed you still.  Mum and Dad send greetings to your parents, hope you’re also having a blast.  Your bestest friend, James P.  PS. Mum sent this tea for you, she said she thinks you’d like it with how much sweet stuff you eat and stuff.  PS 2. Love you, but I bet you’re missing me more <– That was Sirius. 

James’ stupid letter made you chuckle, especially the last bit, as if it had been necessary to point out that Sirius had been the one to write it. You placed the letter into a small box in your bag and smiled as you walked to pick up some of the stuff you’d be giving your friends as their gifts.  

You picked up some wrapping paper and started wrapping all of their gifts, the owls would have to do a couple of trips to take them all to their place, but you’d make sure to leave them plenty of food throughout the night, so they could continue their trips and the presents would be at your friend’s beds in the morning. 

You had gone through most of the smaller gifts first, writing small, and neatly written Christmas cards on them. Then you went for the bigger ones, the books you’d gotten for Lily, some of the stuff for Mary and Marlene, James’ pack, and of course, Remus and Sirius’. 

It wasn’t until then, that you realised how overboard you had gone with your gifts. You’d gotten Remus so many books, both magical and muggle, that you almost felt guilty you hadn’t gotten Lily and James more stuff. And then you tried telling yourself it was because Remus would spend Christmas alone and he deserved at least a bit of happiness, you weren’t deliberately playing favourites. 

And then Sirius’ pile was clearly a mess, you had all the music you’d gotten, the shirts, the penknife that you wanted to engrave with his name (you were researching for the right spell to do it) and a bunch of other stuff for him. Besides, you still wanted to make the playlists, so before you finished packing the bigger boxes, you started testing the recorder. Now there wasn’t exactly a step by step guide on how to record music, but there was a small booklet that showed you how the thing worked and you spend the rest of the day figuring it out, listening to music and making a playlist for each of your friends. Using all the songs you thought they might like.

When you were done with that, you continued packing all the stuff. Deciding to send all the music back to the boys’ room at Hogwarts so they could leave it on Sirius’ stash. Well, all of them except for the David Bowie tape you had specifically gotten for Sirius and that would look great with his shirt and the rest of the gifts you’d gotten him. 

You went out to get some food at some point during the day, and there was another note from your parents telling you they were off at an event. Well, good riddance, you thought as you went back to your room with a sandwich in your hands. You picked one of the books you’d gotten for yourself and you spent almost the rest of the day reading it while jamming to one of the playlists you’d made. A copy of the one you’d made for Remus since you thought it went well with the book you’d chosen to read. 

You fell asleep before your parents got home, with the book still in your hands and the music playing softly in the background until the cassette ran out of tape and was softly ejected by the machine. The sound it made had been so soft it didn’t wake you at all. 

Thankfully, you had remembered to leave enough water and food for the owls, since they had spent all night doing trips back and forth to your house and your friends’. 

Friday, December 25th

You woke up by being pecked in the face by a very big and very angry owl. 

“Oi!” you complained. “What’s wrong with you?” The owl chirped and picked you again, this time on the ear. “Bitch,” you mumbled as you pushed him back lightly, only for him to pick you in the finger again. 

You gave him an upset look and he pulled back just a little, tilting his head towards the window, and the lack of food and refreshments. 

“Oh, so that’s why you’ve been attacking me non-stop?” you asked as you stood up from the bed, failing to see the pile of wrapped gifts at the end of it. The owl chirped in response, a scowl that you weren’t sure was his natural face shape or an actual scowl directed towards you. “I’m sorry,” you added, “Barnaby and Reese must have eaten them all. They did many trips last night, you know?” 

The owl chirped again, a little angry as he flew towards the window, as if saying «I too flew many trips last night» looking as indignant as a Towny Owl could. You added a few of the special snacks you kept for Reese just to keep him from biting you again. You looked at the name tag and realised who the owner of the owl had been. 

Eun-ji, Minho had told you about her, she was his family’s owl and apparently, the name meant something like “kind”. So much for a kind owl, you thought as you looked at her, gobbling up Reese’s treats. You leaned over when you noticed there was a small letter attached to his feet and took it in your hands before the owl flapped his wings and left. 

Merry Christmas Star Seeker,  Hope you’re having a great time. Thought of giving you a special thanks for that one time you –quite literally– pushed me towards my crush and got us to start a conversation, that, well, you know how great it ended!  Even for a Gryffindor, you’re really nice, so I thought of getting you something for you to get some more hate from your fellow Gryffindor, Eun-ji must have left the gift near your bed.

You turned to the side in the middle of reading and stood agape, there was not only a green and silver wrapped gift in what looked suspiciously like the shape of a snake, but there were also a bunch of other gifts wrapped in all sorts of colours. 

Anyway thanks for everything, hope you have fun and all. I’m looking forward to beating you all next time we play,   Love,  The one and only, and your favourite Slytherin, Minho Cha. 

You rolled your eyes at the last bit, it had been very Slytherin of him, but since you knew Minho, you also knew he was playing it off as a joke on his own house, which made a joke inside a joke and you thought it was actually kind of funny. 

You took a deep breath and walked over to your bed. There were all sorts of gifts prompted there and you decided to unwrap Minho’s first. There was a small, green snake plushie with a bow on it that had a small pendant with something written on it:  “From the snakes that love you dearly,” and then it had the names of all of your Slytherin friends: Minho, Comet, Nox, Reggie, and even some you weren’t expecting like Dorcas and Solacis. You thought it was an adorable little thing, even if –and you were certain of this– your friends would absolutely hate it. Well, not Lily, she’d also think it was adorable. 

And thinking of her, was that you picked the next gift, wrapped in pink and yellow paper, and with her a small dedicatory on the corner, you instantly knew it was from her, her neat and perfect handwriting being the dеad giveaway. You smile as you read her small dedication. She wished you a very, merry Christmas and promised to tell you everything about the train with James as soon as you saw each other in person. She wrote something along the lines of not being able to put it on paper, which made you laugh. 

When you opened the present you were thrilled, it was a small leather notebook, dark red with golden trims and your name on the cover. Not Vixen, not Starshine, or any of the other nicknames that you had come to own and love since you arrived at Hogwarts, but your name. You smiled as you traced your fingers over the letters. There was a pen on the side, golden and apparently of some interesting muggle technology that wasn’t that popular in the wizarding world. You thought it was fascinating. When you opened the notebook you realised there was something written, again in her handwriting. 

You’ve had more adventures this year than I’ve had in my lifetime. I think it’s time for you to start writing down some of them, in case you ever want to revisit them. If journaling is not your thing (which I feel like it would be because I know you), you can just use this notebook however you want. You know grocery lists, songs for mixtapes, your favourite lyrics, poems, quotes, Sirius’ doodles, your doodles,  dried flowers, stickers, whatever you want, it’s your space, and you may use it as you wish! Love, Lily

You thought the idea of having your own journal was brilliant, you always admired her for keeping hers so incredibly neat looking, and perhaps being able to let some of your feelings go on a blank page would be better than keeping them bottled up. You doubted you would be nearly as consistent as her, but you decided to add your first couple of words in there, detailing the gifts you’d gotten and the few you still had yet to open. 

You’d gotten a box of your favourite candies from Mary and some incredible quidditch trading cards from Marlene, but she had also added some makeup to her gift because if not you and James would have gotten the exact same thing and you were her favourite between the two. You got a spellbook and a muggle prank book from Tom “to further your career” according to him. There was a large, embossed book from Nina, which you discovered was an annotated version of one of your favourite books and a small set of runes from Sybil. You had gotten her a deck of cards and a book about premonitions. 

There were candies from Nox and a muggle book lantern from Neil Perry, you had both complained at some point about reading with your wand and you thought the solution he’d found was adorable. Peter had gotten you a book about canines, packed along with a small fox-themed bookmarker and a note that said “Thank you for not busting my make-out session and Merry Christmas.” He also added, “PS. maybe with this one you’ll be able to tame Pads.” Which had you wheezing with laughter for a while. 

It took at least a minute to go for the next gift, it was a small box that said to be handled carefully. You opened it according to the instructions. “Shut the fuck up!” you said the moment you realized what was inside. A small Felix Felicis vial. “Shut up, shut up, shut up,” you repeated over and over again. “How did he even get his hands on it?” 

You picked up the paper from behind it, there was a small note. 

Okay say it: aside from Sirius, I AM your favourite Marauder.  You might be wondering, “How the hell did James get his hands on this?”. Well dear, I must say, I have contacts.  AKA my parents are expert potioneers and I somehow convinced Mum to brew one and that’s how I got my hands on it.  Now, I could have given it to any of my friends but I get the feeling you might be needing some of this soon enough. You know, from things I’ve seen and such (please don’t waste it on a quidditch match, though). Anyway, I know you’ll use it well, hope you have a very Merry Christmas!  Your favourite marauder AND bestest friend,  Prongs. 

You chuckled when you finished reading and went back to look at the vial with incredulity. Brewing one of these potions was arduous work, and it took weeks, which meant James must have had convinced Effie to do it even before she’d met you. Never underestimate James Potter, you thought as you grabbed onto the vial and placed it around your neck with a chain, casting a disillusionment charm on it so it wouldn’t be so obvious you had it with you. You thought the gift was brilliant. 

After that, there were only 2 gifts left. You picked the one with a silver bow first. It was a square box, about 12” wide, and had been wrapped in the same paper as James’, which made you guess who it might be from. There were chocolates and a small letter on top, neatly closed and with your name written on the back with Sirius’ almost perfect calligraphy. There was also a paper covering something, but you picked the letter up first. 

You know, I tried writing a love letter, but James wouldn’t stop making ridiculous comments about it not being profound enough and I feared I’d end up writing something close to the painfully ridiculous letters he used to write to Lily so I had to stop myself.  Who would have thought it would be that hard to put thoughts into words? I suppose if I were like Remus it would come out much easier but, unfortunately, you’re stuck with me. Actually no, fortunately you’re stuck with me, I’m delightful.

You laughed, he’s not wrong. 

Anyway, I suppose what I wanted to express in those dreadful attempts of being a poet was that I’m incredibly thankful that you came to Hogwarts and that you came back to me. I’m grateful that you tolerate me and my moods and that you love me for who I am, flaws and all. I wasn’t sure I’d ever found that kind of love, one that I even doubted it existed, and yet you’re always there to tease and make me laugh and– I already sound like James, but you know what I mean. You always know what I mean.  As you see, I am far from a poet, but there is something I like to do and I thought that perhaps, you’d enjoy it more than this terrible love letter.  You know, you and Remus were the first to ever see a sketch from my book, and I was feeling all sorts of things after I offered, and yet, you were there, reassuring me and telling me I didn’t have to do it if I didn’t want to. You know Walburga, it wasn’t much of a choice for me, so it truly meant the world, and fed me the courage I needed to let you see that part of me. And when you two finally saw it and praised me for my skills, for what I did with my own hands… You make me so incredibly gleeful, it’s almost scary how much power you could hold over me. But frankly, I’ll let you hold it all you want.  All right, enough of the sappy stuff, Merry Christmas Starshine, you know you shine brighter than my own star. Hope you like your gift.  Love,  Sirius 

See the letter here

You read the letter a few more times, smiling at the little details and jokes Sirius had sprinkled all over. And then you pulled on the bit of tissue paper covering the very last thing in the box and when you finally saw its content you couldn’t help but swear again, “Son of a bitch!” you whispered. 

There were still some small pieces of paper over the small portrait, and you carefully brushed them out to be able to lift it from the box. The image was a hand-drawn portrait of you. You had a big smile and were looking at what would be the camera if it were an image. It looked like it might have been from one of the pictures from Marlene’s party although Sirius had changed the outfit, you were wearing an oversized sweater and his leather jacket. You could tell it was his because it had one of the enamel pins you had gotten him as a gift on the lapel. 

There were touches of colours in the strokes, not quite painting the drawing but rather giving it relatively bright edges that made it look special, unlike any other doodle. And of course, he had framed it, it was a simple yet elegant frame, dark oak and with small carved details on the sides. On the left bottom corner of the drawing, there was something written in French: 

À l'étoile la plus brillante.  Amour, 

And then, instead of his name, he signed with a small and elegant star doodle. You smiled again, it was one of the loveliest things you’d ever gotten, even if it was a portrait of yourself, the fact that Sirius had been the one to draw it, made it the most special of things. There were portraits upon portraits of you in your house, with magic that allowed you to move and smile, and even talk sometimes, but none of them held as much value as the frozen drawing Sirius had given you. 

Eventually, you placed it on your night table and picked up the last gift still sitting in your bed. His box was smaller than Sirius’, about the size of a book, which had you assumed he had gotten you something along the lines of that. 

You opened the book and found a small, pocket-sized book. It was a Sreath Bàrdachd, according to the golden script at the top. You hadn’t quite realised as you pulled it from the box, but it was handmade. You looked at it in shock as you flipped to the 50+ pages, all in carefully and methodically written cursive, his handwriting. 

Later you realised it was something between a book of poems and a compilation of quotes from different books. You admired the booklet for a few more minutes when you spotted that there was a small letter, still waiting for you inside the box. You pulled it off and broke the seal with a small sword letter opener Nox had given you as a gift. 

As you did, a small chain fell from the letter and you picked it up. It was small and dainty, just long enough to wrap around your wrist, which made you wonder how he’d guessed the size. The chain was simple, and it broke off into two different sections, one with a small crescent moon and then another one with a small star. It also had one small gemstone in between the bigger charms. You looked at it with a smile and held it in your hand as you read the letter. 

Hey there, Little Witch,  Hope you’re having an incredible Christmas. By the time you read this, you’ve probably seen the Sreath Bàrdachd, and knowing how clever you are, you probably already know what that could mean. Yes, It’s a book of poems, but also a bit more than that.  I knew Sirius was making you that incredible gift of his, and I didn’t want to fall behind. Prongs didn’t tell us what he got you but he seemed pretty confident he’d have the best gift of all. Did he?  Never mind, don’t tell me, it’s a silly competition. Either way, I thought you might like having one of these. Mum used to have one, which is why I know they exist. She told me a good friend gave it to her and she has kept it ever since then. I remembered borrowing it from her once when I was little, and she taught me how to carefully flip through the pages as she read to me. She also mentioned it was a silly girl’s thing but I thought it was amazing, and went on to make my own.  Although wonky and, with quotes from children’s books, she thought I was quite a mastermind for making it by myself. Of course, I put a lot more effort into the one you have with you now. Or perhaps the same effort but with better skills. If you’ve flipped through the pages, which I assume you have, since you’re incredibly curious, you’ve probably seen some familiar quotes.  There’s stuff from books we’ve both read and stuff that only I have read but that I thought you might like. Some of my favourite poems too, and some quotes from movies that only you’d be able to get. There are even lyrics from songs, some that we really like, some that Sirius has heard so many times that I already knew them by memory, and since the two of you like similar music, I assumed you’d know them too.  Also, there’s a small bracelet in the letter. I’ve cross-charmed it, in case you ever lose the Sreath Bàrdachd (I truly hope you never do), the gemstone will shine as you approach it. I’ve also added a few luck charms that, while they won’t keep you away from trouble –I don’t think anything could– they may give you some luck while navigating it.  Don’t hit me for saying that, you know it’s true.  Love,  Moony.  PS. Prongs told me about your little quarrel with Sirius on the platform, Sirius definitely misses you more.

See the letter here

By the time you finished Remus’ letter, you were smiling as brightly as you had when you read Sirius’. You were so lucky you had found such incredible people in Hogwarts. Your bedsheets filled with torn wrapping paper were a testament to that. You spend the rest of the afternoon listening to some more music and reading through the book Remus had made. 

He had been especially careful with his handwriting which you thought was adorable, and there were a lot of quotes from Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Grey. He had written in pencil –so you could erase it if you wanted, not that you would– that it was your fault he was obsessed with his writing now. Taking poems and quotations from both, the book aforementioned and The Ghost of Canterville. You hadn’t read the latter yet, but you were almost counting the days to go back to school and ask him to lend you his copy. 

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, and you had to leave the warm comfort of reading and listening to music in favour of changing into the clothes your mom had chosen for you. You sighed as the alarm clock you’d set earlier went off, and then went straight towards your closet. The dress she had picked was simple, yet elegant. It wasn’t a long dress like the one she’d probably wear, but a more youthful one with clever intricate details on the sleeves and a midi skirt.  

“Thank god it has sleeves,” you whispered to yourself as you pulled the edge of the sleeve of Sirius’ shirt up. While your skin looked almost smooth, the lighter (almost silvery) shapes where the new skin was growing over the gush Moony had made were pretty evident. You supposed makeup and a spell could make them less visible, at least for a while, but that would have probably taken you a lot more time to achieve. 

You plopped the black dress on, smoothing the sides as walking towards your vanity where your mum had left all the potions and make-up. You sighed, remembering how much more fun it had been to dress for the Gryffindor parties than it was to dress for this one. With the black dress and the pearls on your neck, you felt a lot more like you were about to walk into a funeral rather than a party. My own funeral, you thought with a laugh when you remembered whose house you’d actually be going to. 

You grabbed a pair of red, not-too-high heels, put them on, and took another look in the large mirror by the window. You looked lovely, at least there would be no complaints from your parents on that aspect. What they might complain about was the fact that you took a bag with an undetectable extension charm and filled it with a few of the books you’d gotten as a Christmas gift. You also took the journal Lily had given you and Remus’ Sreath Bàrdachd. And you weren’t sure who’d be attending that party but you sure hoped you’d be able to sneak into a corner and read a book rather than having to interact with some of the most disagreeable friends of your parents. 

“Sweetheart, are you ready?” your mom asked from the kitchen. 

“Yeah, coming,” you said as you grabbed a few more trinkets and dumped them in your bag, just in case. 

You were about to leave the room when you saw a small glistening thing in your bed and you went straight to grab it. It was the bracelet Remus had given you, and even if it took you a while to put it on, and you continued looking between your wrist and the door as you tried to get the clasp to do its job, you thought it was worth it. I could really use that extra luck. You thought. You accommodated the necklace Sirius had given you and that you never took off and then took off James’ potion and placed it on your bag since it might be safer there than around your neck. 

One last look in the mirror to make sure everything was in order and you walked out towards the living room. 

“You look delightful, darling,” your father said as he spotted you walking out of the room. 

You gave him a half shrug in response and then managed to mutter a “thanks” that you hoped didn’t sound as bitter as it felt. After another moment of silence, your mom grabbed her bag and finished clipping on one of her earrings. 

“We’ll take the floo?” you asked. 

Your father shook his head, “They’ve sent over a Portkey,” your mom explained and motioned to the table, there was a small, fancy-looking invitation right in the middle. 

“Nice,” you said as you used your wand to levitate the object and move it right in between your parents. Perhaps if it had been floo, you could have sneakily said James’ address instead of Evan’s and escaped the party altogether. Once there, your parents wouldn’t make a fuss about it in order to not make your insubordination evident. But of course, you weren’t that lucky, and you’d have to take the portkey and you’d have to go to the party. 

“In three,” your father said as he moved his hand towards the invitation, “two… one… go.” 

The three of you placed your hands on the invitation at the same time and you felt the very familiar pull on your lower back, in less than a second, the entire world distorted around you, and then, you weren’t in your house anymore.

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

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A/N: Aww that was so cute wasn't it? Now it's time to strap on, we're about to dive head-first into the darkest side of the story, and it's going to be fun and sad and just a rollercoaster of emotions in general. Love, Lils xx

Read more Marauders Fiction

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𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖗 𝕷𝖆𝖒𝖇 - 𝖍𝖍 𝖝 𝕸𝖆𝖑𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 - 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 Ⅰ : 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒂𝒔 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆

Prologue Chapter 3.5

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Lamb (noun) - a young sheep.

In biblical scriptures, the lamb is supposed to represent Christ as suffering and triumph. Lambs are also commonly referred to as sacrificial animals. But can also symbolize innocence, purity, and forgiveness.

The wind whirled gently, as the sun began to awaken. Signifying a new day, as all of the residents of heaven were already going on about their day. One without any hardships or disappointment, as bad days don't exist in heaven and there never will be. All the angels were up.

Except one.

Soft snores could be heard echoing throughout the luxurious bedroom, the white and light blue colored walls, with accented golden windows, you'd think it'd be a bit bright to sleep in this room. Well, not if you're as tired as Y/n.

Which you were, since you are him.

You nuzzled into the soft velvety pillow, as you continued to sleep. A small a bit of drool running down the corner of your mouth.

Ah, you lucky bitch, you know the sleep is good if you're drooling.

Skelly laid at the end of your bed, curled up against the head, as he also snored softly. A small snot bubble rising from his nose everytime he exhaled.

Sucks, you can't sleep forever.

"Y-.....w.....e....u.."

Your lamb ears flicked a bit, at the sound of your name being called but you simply shuffled your position on your bed, and resumed your sleep. 

"Y/n..."  you heard a familiar voice call.

"Nooo~ Alucard you can't put your hand there...hehehee." You chuckled almost drunkenly, in your sleep.

"Y/n, it's 8:30...we're already an hour behind schedule"

At this, you managed to crack one eye open. "Huh..?" You croaked out, tiredly. As you began to go over the information that had just been fed to you in your head.

'8:30....hour behind schedule'

Your eyes suddenly shot open, as you jolted up into a sitting position. Scaring the shit out of Skelly, as he fell to the ground at your fast movements.

  "8:30?!?!?" You screamed, leaping out of bed. "IMLATEIMLATEIMLATE-" you immediately, rushed to the bathroom to try and ready yourself.

"It's fucking 6:30...." you deadpanned, as you sat in front of your vanity, as multiple sets of hands began to do your make up and tame your wild hair.

"Blame it on yourself, for why we had to wake you up so early. Everytime we wake you up at 7 you somehow always manage to be late..also cursing? Prince Y/n, you know that's a sin right? Your sisters would go crazy" a feminine and graceful  voice said teasingly, it belong to your make up artist, named Miko. She was pastel purple and white Angel, she resembled a secretary bird. You remembered seeing one once, on your secret expeditions to earth. They were goregous, and so was Miko. Her attire was extravagant, it matched the heavenly color scheme of white, blue and gold, but added in some new colors. Which, you appreciated. Honestly you were getting sick, of all the white.

"Hmph, well so is lying.." you muttered, sarcastically.

"He got you there Miko.." a masculine voice chuckled. That voice belonged to your hair stylist, Elijah. He was an Angel that resembled his human self in his past life. Except his skin was now tinted a purple undertone, his pinkish hair was styled in twists, and his gold colored freckles littered his face. He still retained his New York styles street wear fashion, in heaven.  You would have thought he was human if he didn't have. heart shaped antennas sticking out of his head, as well as a halo and a pair of wings.

Miko rolled her eyes, "shut up, you wanna talk about sinning? How about your outfit? Girl, those colors are clashing with your eyes.." 

Elijah gasped dramatically, as he placed a hand on his chest. "Oh, you don't even wanna go there. Ms. Trashy blend" he snaps back.

"Excuse me? That blend was beautiful!"

"Girl please, all you ended up doing is making yourself look like a shitty Christmas tree"

" all because I used green and red?"

"You used the brightest red possible, I thought your ass was about to glow in the dark"

"Oh you-"

"Ladies, ladies" you finally butted in. "You're both ugly, let's quiet down"

They both went silent, glancing at each other before speaking up.

"Course you'd know about ugly y/n"

"Hey!" You huffed.

"Remember last year when he decided to get bangs?" Elijah snickered.

"Remember?! I cant forget it!" Miko replied, laughing. You crossed your arms, as you pouted.

"They weren't THAT bad"

"Honey, you looked like Will Byers from stranger things with that fuck ass little Bob of yours"

Miko bursted out laughing, holding her stomach as she stumbled back a bit. Elijah laughed along with her, as he leaned against her.  While you sat their, cheeks flushed in embarrassment with a pout on your face. Though you struggled to keep your pout, since that was pretty funny.

"Ugh whatever, whatever" you rolled your eyes playfully. "Just finish getting me ready, before I have you all sent into the firey pits of hell" you scoffed, pointing your nose up snobbishly. Exaggerating your voice in a British accent.

"Oh yes sir!"

"Of course, your majesty!"  They both played along, acting meek as they copied a British accent.

"Just don't hurt me your highness! I need my 15 shillings to feed my family!" Elijah cried, dramatically.

"Then work faster peasants, chop chop!" You huffed, clapping your hands to insinuate how 'serious' you were.

Soon enough, you were ready for the day, your hair styled, your makeup done, and Elijah was currently done firring your clothes.

"Does his majesty, find his wardrobe to his liking?" Miko asked, in her fake British accent.

"It is adequate ." You replied, before you dropped the act smiling sincerely. "I look great, thank you both." You reply.  "You both are like the greatest make up and hair stylist in heaven"

Miko rolls her eyes playfully, " We know, babe" she teased.

You sighed as you stood up, "Y'know you two don't have to go all out on me all the time. I barely leave the castle"

"And who's fault is that?" Elijah asked, giving you a knowing look. "If you weren't always trying to sneak down to hell, maybe Sera would actually let you out more". You frowned, groaning.

"Ugh! I know! But still, that doesn't give her the right to keep me couped up in here! What am I? Rapunzel?" You replied, sarcastically.

"I mean you got the naivety, ditziness, and stubborn attitude all you need to do is grow your hair out and run around barefoot." Miko says, as she began to pack away her make up kit.

"Har har har.." you scoffed, "I am not running around with my hooves out"

"What Miko is trying to say" Elijah butted in. "Is that we want to go all out on you, your our friend boo. You deserve it"

Miko hums, "Yeah, plus why does it matter? Ugh, don't tell me you're worried Adam is gonna call you gay again just cause you wear make up..."

You puffed out her cheeks, as your form stiffened. "No! Of course not! I don't care what Adam thinks! He's just some guy who didn't age out of his  frat boy jock stage. Which is weird...since he wasn't even alive when frats or jocks were a thing...but you get the point."

"Anyways we're heading out.." Elijah says, as he wraps an arm around Milo's neck. "We're meeting up with Molly for smoothies later.."

Your smile dropped, "smoothies? Ugh! Lucky! I wish I could go...but I have to do stupid royal stuff.." your crossed your arms. "Wait? Smoothies now? Isn't it a bit too early?"

Miko shrugged, "we're in heaven baby, it's never to late for smoothies". You rose a brow, narrowing your eyes.

"Elijah doesn't even have any sugar till past 12-" your eyes widened in realization. "Oh you assholes, you two are ditching me before Lia-!"

Just like that, your bedroom door, slammed open. Scaring Skelly, who was fast asleep on your window sill, causing him to fall once more. There stood another Angel, he had one giant golden eye, no mouth, and whispy purplish blue flame hair. He wore a fancy suit with a sweater vest, all in blue white and gold.

"Prince Y/n! You're late! Late late!" He called out, rushing over to you. Unfortunately for you, he was an inch or two taller than you.

"Good morning, Liam.." you spoke, flashing a nervous smile before glancing past him over towards Elijah and Miko. Your smile dropping, as you narrowed your eyes at them. As they both blew you kisses and waves before they rushed out the door.

You sighed, before turning to look back at the rambling Angel in front of you. "You have so many things to get done today, are you ready Prince Y/n?" he summoned a scroll into his hand.  Your shoulders dropped, you were truly getting tired of this routine. But you put on a brave face, as you nodded.

"Ready as I'll ever be ."

.- .-.. .-.. / .. -. .... .- -... .. - .- -. - ... / --- ..-. / - .... . / . .- .-. - .... / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / .-- --- .-. ... .... .. .--. / - .... . / -... . .- ... - / .- .-.. .-.. / .-- .... --- ... . / -. .- -- . ... / .... .- ...- . / -. --- - / -... . . -. / .-- .-. .. - - . -. / .. -. / - .... . / .-.. .- -- -... .----. ... / -... --- --- -.- / --- ..-. / .-.. .. ..-. . --..-- / - .... . / .-.. .- -- -... / .-- .... --- / .-- .- ... / ... .-.. .- .. -. / ..-. .-. --- -- / - .... . / -.-. .-. . .- - .. --- -. / --- ..-. / - .... . / .-- --- .-. .-.. -.. .-.-.- .-. . ...- . .-.. .- - .. --- -. / .---- ...-- ---... ---.

Little authors note here, y'all are free to interpret Y/ns lamb design in anyway you want. He can be a full on furry/ anthro creature  like Husk or Angel Dust. Or he could be like alastor and Charlie and just have animal characteristics like ears/hooves/ horns etc. but they maintain a relatively human appearance. It's up to y'all <33 it doesn't affect the story in anyway. I just mention Y/n has hooves cause he canonically does.