#YOOOOOOOOO THIS ENDED UP SO LONG

[unclenegan]

negan’s  season  12  -  14  arc.      negan  was  missing    /    absent  for  all  of  season  twelve  &  thirteen,  returning  in  fourteen.  let  me  paint  you  a  picture.  we’re  in  the  season  eleven  finale.  mary  winchester  has  just  been  brought  back  from  the  dead  and  the  boys  make  a  phonecall  to  their  uncle,  who    (  with  the  help  of  his  savior  army  )    had  been  helping  in  their  fight  against  the  darkness.  they  tell  him  there’s  something  he’s  gotta  see.  he’s  heading  to  the  bunker  when  arthur  ketch  runs  him  off  the  road.  some  of  his  men  are  killed  in  the  scuffle,  loyal  to  the  end  and  after  it  becomes  clear  negan  won’t  be  going  anywhere  quietly,  his  throat  is  slit  to  contain  him.  he  then  enters  his  prisoner  arc  by  being  placed  in  a  secure  unit  separate  from  the  base  that  the  boys  later  take  out,  held  in  captivity  for  his  many,  many  crimes.

it’s  important  to  note  that  somewhere  in  the  middle  of  s12  or  s13,  another  enemy  known  as  alpha  has  revealed  herself.  once  an  ordinary  mom  name  dee,  dee  came  to  survive  a  possession  when  a  hunter  saved  her.  unfortunately,  dee    (  like  nick  with  lucifer  )    found  herself  addicted  to  the  power  that  came  with  being  a  vessel  and  sought  out  more,  allowing  temporary  possessions  just  for  the  high.  each  possession  chipped  away  a  piece  of  her  soul  until  there  wasn’t  one  left.  she  eventually  found  a  way  to  encase  demons  within  her  via  some  form  of  anti-possession  tattoo,  essentially  allowing  her  to  trap  them  within,  their  power  in  her  control  rather  than  her  control  in  their  power.  during  this  time,  alpha  murdered  her  husband  in  front  of  their  daughter,  lydia,  for  trying  to  intervene.  she  then  began  to  live  a  very  dark  life,  luring  in  people  just  as  twisted  as  her  to  form  the  whisperers.

his  location  is  eventually  disclosed  in  season  thirteen,  the  thing,  by  ketch  as  a  sign  of  good  faith  while  trying  to  earn  their  trust.  while  dean    &    ketch  head  to  the  apocalypse  world,  sam    &    castiel  follow  his  instructions,  only  to  find  an  empty  cell.  somebody  else  has  already  let  negan  out.  

we  don’t  actually  see  negan  again  until  the  season  fourteen  premiere,  when  it  is  revealed  he  is  working  with  michael.  it  is  the  ultimate  betrayal,  given  that  michael  is  possessing  dean’s  body  and  we  spend  the  next  few  episodes  thinking  he  truly  has  turned  on  them.  he  appears  to  be  in  a  relationship  with  alpha,  who  has  'allowed'  michael  to  recruit  the  whisperers  in  his  search  for  an  army  after  being  promised  more  power.  i  think  a  lot  of  harsh  words  are  exchanged  during  this  phase  between  negan  and  team  freewill.  from  their  perspective  and  the  viewer’s  perspective,  he  has  finally  become  full  monster,  turning  his  back  on  his  own  people.  big  yikes.

fast  forward  to  the  spear.  during  their  confrontation  with  michael,  negan  stands  with  the  archangel  rather  than  his  nephews.  he  witnesses  dean  almost  killing  michael  and,  in  turn,  michael  repossessing  dean.  in  this  scene,  we  see  him  look  momentarily  unnerved,  but  it  doesn’t  last  long.  him  and  alpha  eventually  flee,  presumably  still  loyal  to  michael.  at  the  end  of  this  episode,  we  learn  negan  is  secretly  communicating  with  lydia,  who  alpha  believes  to  be  dead  by  his  hand.  he  is  protecting  her  by  staying  close  to  the  enemy.  it  is  revealed  in  a  flashback  that  somebody  close,  i’m  thinking  mary    (  extra  funny  because  he  thought  she  was  rip  )    or  castiel,  was  the  one  to  release  negan  when  they  realised  they  needed  help  with  alpha.  they  had  been  aware  he  was  being  held  prisoner  all  along,  but  kept  it  quiet,  believing  the  world  was  safer  with  him  behind  bars  because  let’s  be  honest    …    he  got  a  little  fucking  psycho  there  for  a  while!  this  is  not  me  painting  them  as  a  bad  guy  in  any  way  because,  truly,  he  needed  the  time  out.  negan  sends  lydia  to  sam,  but  orders  her  not  to  tell  them  of  his  involvement.  instead,  she  tells  them  negan  tried  to  kill  her  and  she  escaped.  they  allow  her  to  remain  at  the  bunker.  

fast  forward  again  to  ouroboros.  negan,  alpha    &    a  handful  of  whisperers  are  present  when  michael  arrives  at  the  bunker,  now  possessing  rowena.  lydia  is  still  at  the  bunker,  under  team  freewill’s  protection.  as  michael  is  mid  grand  speech,  negan  finally  reveals  himself  as  a  double  agent,  having  never  truly  been  one  of  his  soldiers  or  a  whisperer,  but  in  fact,  always  a  winchester  by  suddenly  beheading  alpha  right  there  in  front  of  everyone.  sorry  for  the  trauma,  lydia.  the  whisperers  in  response  turn  to  him  as  their  new  leader  and,  using  this  in  his  favour,  he  takes  back  his  place  next  to  sam    &    dean,  ready  to  fight  michael    …    who  jack  then  kills.  negan  then  shoots  the  remaining  whisperers  present,  deciding  they  can  never  be  trusted.  they’re  too  far  gone.

there’s  a  lot  of  rebuilding  to  be  made  after  this.  negan  has  broken  a  lot  of  trust,  even  if  he  believes  he  did  what  was  necessary  to  take  down  alpha  and  remain  close  to  michael,  listening  in  on  his  plans  in  the  hopes  he  could  save  dean.  it’s  super  important  to  note  that  in  negan’s  opinion,  alpha  was  just  as  big  a  threat  to  the  world  as  a  vengeful  archangel.  he  knows  this  because  a  part  of  him  saw  himself  in  her,  despite  not  wanting  to  admit  it.  she  was  a  human  made  into  a  monster  by  the  supernatural    &    that  meant  he  knew  exactly  what  she  was  capable  of.  how  far  she  would  go.  he’d  also  began  to  see  lydia  like  a  daughter.  at  this  point,  he  reveals  how  long  he  was  held  prisoner;  how  the  surviving  saviors  not  slaughtered  by  the  british  men  of  letters  disbanded  in  their  leader’s  absence,  abandoning  the  sanctuary  which  had  become  overrun  by  a  vampire  nest  instead.  the  only  thing  he  doesn’t  reveal  is  who  played  a  role  in  keeping  him  prisoner    (  i  am  very  open  to  officially  plotting  this  with  someone    /    it  does  not  have  to  be  specific  to  mary  or  castiel  )    before  letting  him  out  because,  in  truth,  he’s  starting  to  understand  why.  they  merely  exchange  a  knowing  look  in  silence  before  he  leaves.  end  scene.

[skynapple]

Spoilers for Xavier: 21 Days!

It's been a while folks but I'm back with the essays.

Mentions: spoilers for Xavier's completed myth and anecdotes as well. Read at your own risk below!!

I. Initial Thoughts

FIRST OF ALL

akskdkjshHhwhLWKJEKWH;ksjdSg;kdhdga

NEXT OF ALL

This card is so beautifully written for so many reasons. I am literally,,, going insane already.

YOOOOOOOOO OK SO LIKE

A. Xavier has been holding back a long time

It's so clear Xavier has been holding back, holding on for SO long. But he's also?? So freaking scared.

BUT THIS RIGHT HERE.

He holds soooo much for that girl who died in his arms; that girl who loved him so much and it was too late before he realized. And now he knows deeply that the roles feel reversed and he's terrified.

B. Contrary to Popular Belief; MC Has A Right To Be A Lil Confused

I don't think they show enough that MC still does fear losing him, and it's so obvious she's so curious about him, and wants to feel closer, but she DOES feel that wall he's built to protect his identity.

I groan a lot at how flippant and distant MC is, almost seemingly constantly rejecting Xavier's affection.

But Idk if you had a coworker who was scarily good at his job, also militant, gone for god knows how long, who knows where, and then was weirdly affectionate but then when you ask him like idk what his favorite color is he gets all "that's classified" which ok hasn't actually happened but it FEELS like it has.

He's always misdirecting anything super deep with her so yeah it goes without saying but she has every right to think that maybe he's trying to keep things professional so why wouldn't she always want to keep things professional even if she wants more?

But now he's actually being really honest. He's telling her things he's held on to for centuries (not that she knows that LOL) and you can literally see the relief in his eyes (and major props to the VA for conveying this cause my godddd it literally sounds like Xavier is TREMBLING??). And she still feels the need to clarify, hey is this real or are you lost in the moment?

Because honestly, I do feel MC does want this and has for so long. Her little "sneaky kiss" was her way of trying to say that like, what took you so long? and yes, because she does want it, she needs to be sure that he's being for real.

And props for Xavier for not wanting a three-peat of what happened with her past versions and all the miscommunication. He's done with that. He's putting his foot down to get what he wants.

C. Xavier Finally Being Honest With Himself

And for a former prince who literally gave up everything for her, he has never once allowed himself to convey just how deeply he does want her, and how much he really actually needs her and wants this with her.

I gotta hand it to @rose-tinted-kalopsia for saying this, too, cause like, this really is him accepting the whole of the past, and all of him, and saying like, "no, it's been like this all along, and I'm done hiding from the past versions, screw that, screw this, I'm getting my happy ending with you."

Cause for all of his sneaking in bits of lore (i freaking died!)

I KNOW IT'S A JAB AT HER PAST SELF I JUST KNOW IT. YOU JUST KNOW HE TENSED A LITTLE BIT AT THE ELOPE LINE.

THAT ARGUMENT HIT TOO CLOSE TO HOME.

They didn't elope because of communication issues!

He did leave and break ties with his family and she couldn't possibly know or remember that (It literally slips out and is not part of the script and you know he feels guilty about it but even that feeling and maybe mixed emotions - not anger but idk maybe a lot of THICK mixed emotions about it; none of which are regret! but STILL) like he has never been able to say it out loud and he does, he DOES. He FINALLY DOES.

So now there's a lot of the table.

D. The Spilled Cherries But It's Not What You Think

It's messy, my god how could it not be. Even the spilled cherries is like.... it's more of like "this is a mess, we're a mess, this relationship is all over the place" and the bowl gets knocked over, cause this whole situation has really literally tipped their bowl over. It's all out on the floor.

All her emotions of feeling that wall that she references a Lot™️ in all their cards, she finally breaks through and gets him to be honest with himself and with her

They actually kinda did sort of have a real genuine argument and maybe it's the first time he felt that way with her and i think honest to god he panicked a little bit - and I think that's why he says "that was normal" to her like, he has to reassure himself that's kinda normal?

good god the cooking!! he really has to wrestle with the fact that there are things he just can't do well all the time and he puts the work in to actually learn and he's semi-decent now! like maybe this man isn't about to make chicken fricassee anytime soon, but he can make some stews and simple dishes. So even that emotion of "i'm learning i'm trying to be better" is out

Their actual physical connection - she's finally stopped pressing him away, and has dropped the denial that she wants it too, but I think mentally she's a bit tired so that bowl toppling over is like, nah man I'm done with this rollercoaster too

They really do have so much synergy. Like who bought the cherries in the first place? She did, because she knows they're his favorite

The shadows merging like- his whole tearing in their earlier conversation "Do you think our shadows look like there's?" they don't specify what they were looking at out the window but it was probably a couple passing by, maybe sharing intimate proximity and a kiss and honestly that's helped tip the bowl too

the cherries being like- almost a metaphor of all these factors; all the times they've had so many, many, many miscommunication issues but it's all gone and said and done now (maybe not ALL but many of their issues)

So I'm really excited to see how it all goes moving forward.

This does not even capture half of my entire breakdown over this card but that's a majority of my brain dump.

What was your favorite moment in the card? Comment below!

[pastafossa]

“I will not have you without the darkness that hides within you. I will not let you have me without the madness that makes me. If our demons cannot dance, neither can we.”

-Nikita Gill

Okay I randomly found this and it has such gigantic TRT vibes!

Also how are you doing? I hope you are doing a bit better!💗

YOOOOOOOOO that's TRT 100%! 😭 I love love LOVE that quote, and yeah, it fits - both of their darker sides, their demons tangled together just like they are. Definitely going into my quotes folder, thank you! And I'm doing a little better! Mom's doing well enough that her PT person signed off on her being good as long as she's doing her stretches, although she still can't be alone and needs some help getting around, so I'm still in caretaker mode. As for how I'm doing missing my old kitty, like people promised me, it did wind up helping me by bringing his ashes home even if it was really, really hard to go into the vet hospital and ask for them bless the receptionist for being so nice when i started crying in the lobby while trying to tell her what i was there to pick up. He's beside my bed on the end table for now, since he always slept next to my pillow. I still miss him so, so badly and the grief is really raw - I don't know if it ever won't be - but it's slowly getting easier to manage. So I'm getting by! Ironically the snow storm's helped cause I like snow, and it's also given me something to focus on, and I've been playing a little BG3 every night for an hour or so to take my mind off it even when the snow can't.

[panoffrying]

okok so ummmmm ,,, this took me a while to write down bc i fucking SUCK at writing down my thoughts in actually coherent ways so i hope this all makes sense:

i think sozo's sorta the black sheep where he comes from . a lot of stuff abt ants is usually abt how BRUTAL they are toward other ant colonies , literally ripping each other apart an kidnapping babies n shit . so i think sozo's colony was sort of like that—very warrior-oriented with not much space for anything else . then there was sozo , who didn't have Any interest in fighting or anything to do with battle , instead WAY more interested in fungi an stuff

in his colony (and in others) fungi r generally treated as life-threatening pests , since EVERY ant ever knows tha horrifying tale of cordyceps an how they'll rip apart a colony from tha inside out n whatnot . most of sozo's colony just thinks his fascination with fungi is simply a childhood phase , that he'll get over it n realize how dangerous they are , but he doesn't because it's NOT A PHASE , MOM !!!!!!!! he wants to be a MYCOLOGIST , not a WARRIOR !!!!!!

(his colony is also in silk cradle . i forgot to mention that so i'm putting that here)

so sozo ends up leaving his home as a young adult after growing up as a social outcast , wanting to pursue his own dreams instead of just listening to whatever his queen wanted . he eventually Does become a mycologist an one day , ends up at shamura's grand temple to add his knowledge of fungi to their great library , which is when they first officially meet each other . at first it's a fairly generic follower meeting his god type thing , but after a while of talking their conversations slowly get more casual an they begin regarding each other as friends , an then eventually Close friends . maybe they could've become more if sozo hadn't gone off to anura , discovered those mushroomos, and ,,, well . you know what happens to him .

eventually shamura forgets about sozo (since this all takes place After narinder's betrayal) but they occasionally get a strange , yearning feeling ,,, like someone used to come to them everyday to talk about ,,, something. they can't quite remember what , though ...

it's only after the lamb takes over , when shamura is indoctrinated and sozo gets brought back from the dead (then promptly goes through rehab) that they meet again . shamura doesn't quite recall sozo an he only vaguely remembers them , but they still like to hang out together , especially as shamura's head injury slowly stabilizes into something more manageable for them . shamura likes to hear him talk abt his studies , and sozo likes having an attentive audience . they're really good friends who also maybe wanna kiss (but shamura isn't willing to unpack THOSE emotions yet bc they have weird feelings abt romantic relationships after that whole fiasco with their ex a few millennia ago but sssshhhhhh)

anyway that's abt it :3 i'm just realizing it kinda dipped into sozura toward the end there but ehhhhh that's still TECHNICALLY a sozo headcanon if u squint so

SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO ANSWER THIS MY LIFE GOT A BIT CHAOTIC BUT YOOOOOOOOO OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH EEEEEEE I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS!

It’s very different from other sozo headcanons and I like that a lot. I like to imagine for your headcanons sozonius is literally like hiccup from how to train your dragon lmao. To be fair he might know some self defense based on how he was raised.

I like the idea that sozonius colony was in silk cradle in which I have it in my headcanons that after Narinders banishment silk cradle becomes the most dangerous land of war, just killing without thinking. God bless Sozonius for making it through their bro💀🙏

AND YOU KNOW ME IM ALWAYS A SUCKER FOR THAT SOZURA FOOD. I really like the idea of sozonius meeting Shamura before sozonius went to Anura. THE BUGS ARE BESTIES a bishop and a mortal ant.

Bro my heart of thinking of Shamura remembering sozo in random moments and wondering where he is, then having to be explained to that Sozonius went missing years ago, before forgetting him again AGH MY SOUL!!! THE POTENTIAL HERE

I ADORE THIS SO MUCH THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME ABOUT YOUR HEADCANONS! Seeing this stuff inspires me and I love being able to interact with yall💜

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (06/08/23)

"huh why is zom ep4 here wasn't that last week's?" yeah but it got delayed to monday. "oh ok. what about ep5 of it then?" it got delayed for a week, unfortunately they seem to be having production issues 😔 also FINALLY after months of waiting they added gokurakugai on M+ so got to read that

green - new series/new to me

Anime

Pokemon Horizons Ep16

the conclusion of this mini arc and the final member of the starter owner trio AND dot's first battle. it was a nice episode, looked better than the average one, tho not as much as I expected it would from what mega said but my fault for getting my hopes too high. dot finally told riko she's gurumin too (since riko is a damn fool) so it's good that's out of the way now too. ALSO they revealed some more villains, including 2 girls and both their designs and voices are great so looking forward to when it's their turn to hound the protags

Atelier Ryza Ep6

yooooooooo she said the thing anyway it's crazy for me to think that we're already halfway through the season, time's fucked up this episode marked the building of the hideout and the first little act of the story so we should be getting some more adventuring and such for the rest of this, dunno if they'll cover the whole game but we'll see, doubt they'd do a S2 but could be wrong

Zom 100 Ep4

well on ep 1 I said I the show looked great but I was worried about the studio being able to keep it up since they're new, and then ep 4 got delayed a day and now ep 5 got delayed to next week so that's... worrying, hopefully doesn't become a constant thing. tho despite the delay ep 4 still looked as good, but we'll see how it is for ep 5. as for the ep itself it was nice, nothing really impressive other than the explosion near the start, I'm just waiting for the foreign girl to show up up and them all to get together and start traveling. also also, saw some spoilers for the newest chap of the manga and it's very HUH, hope that the next chap shows it didn't really happen, or something happened after the cut cause otherwise it'd be very weird and make it hard to keep motivated to keep watching

Manga

Gokurakugai Ch1 - 10

I've been waiting for this got get added to M+ since damn march 1st!!! it got picked up for viz so I was like "oh should be on m+ soon enough" but apparently not smh. coulda've read it on viz but that'd require some work arounds and I was lazy + thinking it wouldn't take that long.

but ANYWAY this series. yet another exorcist series in the ever growing sea of them, tho that's not the reason why I decided to start reading it. it's cause the designs slap and the art's extremely good, but what pushed me over the edge was this incredible qt. anyway it's good tho, wasn't expecting much but was plesantly surprised. started off just being a monster of the week thing introducing the charas and world but it just ended the first lil arc and it was good. seems like next up will be a training arc (?), tho waiting til next month for the next chap is gonna be rough.

Blooming Love Ch10

I said p early on that for a romance series this was moving p fast but I didn't expect them to be at this stage already. since there's not really other plot points to follow and whatnot idk what they could do next, so maybe it could end soon, but we'll see

Kill Blue Ch16

what the hell???? is it getting axed?? it's very weird for this to be happening out of nowhere like this when a big part of the plot was to find a way to revert his age again. guess we'll have to wait for the next chap to really have an idea but no jump next week so gonna be a hard wait

Spy x Family Ch86

it was quite the long arc (2nd longest after the ship?) but now it's over. it was good overall, had been a while since some twilight action, a lot of neat stuff happened but it doesn't feel like it moved the main plot forward, we'll see how the aftermath for it goes tho

Tenmaku Cinema Ch17

tenmaku has been good, as usual, just a shame that it's on the way to getting axed, they're already almost done with filming so just like 3-5 more chaps should be enough to finish? it's a shame readers didn't like it more, I think it's really good (helped a lot by it being a veteran duo) but oh well, I'll enjoy it while it lasts

Blue Box Ch112

very good chap, not only has it been a while since hina was around but she came back "recovered" from being rejected only to find out about them dating and going back to hurting all over again, this needed to happen sooner or later but I'm glad it was sooner. totally expecting her to date kyo tho but it's prob gonna be a bit til that (tho I could also see ayame dating him since the author has been teasing that for a bit)

My Hero Academia Ch396

you know a chap was good when you get to the end thinking it was too short and wanting more, had been looking forward to this fight, wondering how the hell he was even gonna do it but this is really cool. hype for the rest of it, also predicting that he's gonna take AFO down with him cause there's no way he'll live past this lol

Akane-banashi Ch73

I can't believe how right my prediction from months ago was... I jinxed my poor akane (tho I said hikaru would get 96 and akane 93 but close enough). great chap tho, the last few pages hit really hard too. hang in there akane I believe in you

[kulaiyin]

(content: xenohydro side quest, world 1 finale, world 2 beginning, simulated universe world 3)

(picture unrelated) wrapping up world 1 and heading towards world 2! 

excited to jump into a new world! ╰(*°▽°*)╯

mitosis... 

GETTEM LAMINA!!!!! DON’T LET THIS GUY BOSS U AROUND

XENOHYDRO REAL?! this quest chain (?) was fun... i ended up letting both lamina and the xenohydro go, because i can understand the urge of a living curio to be free... lamina’s story also made me emo. i didn’t manage to find her again after this quest, but i hope she’s living her best life! 

after the quest, i smugly ran straight for where capote and lamina used to stand around and found capote in one of those coffee rooms

to my surprise, he was very humbled by the experience?! i’m glad that he’s reflecting on himself! usually i kinda feel bad for my choice in these side quests, but i like this ending! 👍 

BACK TO BELOBOG... SO WE CAN GET OUT OF BELOBOG!

i took these screenshots weeks ago but... happy pride (❤´艸｀❤)

OH?! THIS IS SO ANCIENT CHINESE DRAMA... 

THEM... this whole sequence was so menacing...

i honestly didn’t expect blade to be “evil,” i thought he was just an edgy emo guy... wait, no, i guess the thing that surprised me the most was the fact that he could smile like that 😱

not the coffee cups 

my phone graphics are CRYONG

during the dan heng nightmare cutscene, i also got a texture error with the sword. after rewatching it online, i realized it was supposed to have a shattered effect, but for me it had some pink stripes just like above! ∑( 口 || 

h-hang in there, phone...

WELT IS COMING ?!!?!?!?!?!? 😳😳😳

MY PHONE POOPED AT THIS PART, THE HOLOGRAMS KEPT GLITCHING BUT KAFKA YOOOOOOOO

the moms are FIGHTING

i'm so curious to see what our destination would have been... but it’s ok, the docking location for xianzhou luofu looks REALLY COOL! 

REALLY DIDN’T EXPECT THE XIANZHOU LUOFU FIRST LOCATION TO BE A BARGE

COOOOOOOOOL!!!!!! COLORFUL

march 7th’s Droppings

KYAAAAAAAA SPACE CHINA LOOKS COOL!!!!

at this point, i hit trailblazer level 35 and got my 10 standard warp passes! (bites nails) WE’RE HITTING PITY, LET’S SEE THE GOODS...!

sampo goes for a 散步

HAPPY TO HAVE HIM! regrettably i haven’t had much opportunity to build/use him since i got him, but it’s nice to fill out the 4-star roster! 💪 only missing sushang and tingyun!

(definitely thinking of throwing pulls on the luocha banner... WANT SUSHANG)

... AND I GOT BRONYA’S E1 YOOOOOOOOO!!!

after reviewing what it does, it seems really good?! now using her skill doesn’t hurt that much anymore! 👀

... REALLY WANT TO GET SEELE TO MATCH WITH HER GF but maybe i will get her on a rerun _(:з)∠)_ i have guaranteed after losing 50/50 to E0 bronya, but i don’t have enough to hit pity... 

march u are so funny (genuine)

XIANZHOU LUOFU IS SOOOOO BEAUTIFUL i love how distinct the architecture is and how there are colorful ribbons in the sky as clouds... ✨ 

(but also please excuse my poop graphics...)

bro has two tails

my phone HATES THIS AREA LOOOOL BUT OMG YUKONG 😳

the holograms and screens glitch like crazy so i regrettably was a bit distracted during this scene... later on i found out that it’s purposefully like that o(￣┰￣*)ゞ

i didn’t expect yukong to have such a high position! ... and to outright reject us akjdlawjl luckily jing yuan is here to our rescue...

(by the way, i genuinely thought yukong was tingyun’s mom or something when i saw the initial character lineup... maybe i’m a fool... THERE ARE A LOT OF FOXIANS HERE) 

oh she lesbiab... i appreciate this npc... 🙏🥺

SIMULATED UNIVERSE WORLD 3... DEFEATED!!!!! i was using preservation buffs and basically it was a cockroach fight with gepard ALKJDALW i can’t even tell you how long it the boss battle took...

yeah... 

i don’t think this is my first time i attempted SU3 (i’m pretty sure nanook sabatoged my first run lol) but i love the fact that we get to use CURIOS...! with curios and blessings, there’s a lot of potential for silly builds...

[lorensonebraincell]

okay first things first i still can't believe we synced up and used the same motif, except in a different way nOT YOU LITERALLY BEING LIKE home is not where the heart is WHEN I USED THE OPPOSITE IN A HEARTFELT APOLOGY HAHAHA

but yes it makes me so proud to see you using motifs and i can alr tell this is going to be such a YUMMY motif also the worldbuilding?? RAHHHH so delicious and so detailed the star 1116 and star 1117 is such a good idea i'm HOOKED (me pretending idk what the reason is 🙈)

"what in the stars is a human doing here" HAHAHAH

also trust wooyoung to yap his way onto your nerves during the first meeting i can't get over the descriptions of his yapping abilities :')) JONGHO OBVIOUSLY A HUMAN BECAUSE HE STINKS LIKE ONE HELP

i love how we were literally talking about how woo is so e2l coded and you've already done it before but here we naturally have this fic as e2l HAHAHAHA I LOVE THE BEEF YN HAS WITH HIM AND YEO AND JONGHO ARE JUST LIKE LET'S KEEP HIM PLS PLS PLS WE CAN MAKE HIM OUR SERVANT I LOVE THEIR DYNAMICS

and the concept of the original race and their ageing process :O the thing about going back to babies and vanishing into stardust :O

ALSO BABES. IDEK WHAT YOU WERE WORRYING ABOUT BECAUSE HELLO?? THE PLOT EXECUTION??? THE PACING?? THE EXPLANATION OF THE LORE AND THE COMPLICATION??? bro the GOOSEBUMPS I GOT WHEN THEY GOT THE MESSAGE FROM 1118 SAYING NOT TO SAVE 1117 I AM LITERALLY STILL GETTING GOOSEBUMPS

i love the exploration of human nature in the convo that woo and yn have when they're talking about finding a new home, not leaving people behind, how human nature is selfish but woo likes to think not everyone is like that. like it's honestly such an interesting concept to think about human nature from somebody's perspective who doesn't know what human nature is and you did that really well

HELP NOT WOO HOLDING YOUR HAND INSTEAD OF LETTING YOUR MURDER MITTENS TOUCH HIS FOREHEAD HE'S SOOO OBVIOUS HE'S A SIMPPPPPP HE'S IN LAURRVV

'his voice was lost to the stars' aww why is that so heart-wrenching and emotional in its own way like it's meant to be a cute touching scene ???

'resulting in a 'tear' in space' okay here we go again i can feel my brain shutting down already HAHAHAHAHA OOOOH BUT THE WHOLE SCENE WHERE THEY'RE BEING CHASED AND THEY'RE RAPIDLY APPROACHING THE RED ZONE IT'S PLAYING OUT LIKE A STAR WARS MOVIE IN MY HEAD (EVEN THOUGH I'VE NEVER WATCHED IT) BUT LIKE I CAN HEAR ALL THE SPACESHIPS GOING ZOOOOOMMMM AND THE WEAPONS GOING PEW PEW PEW

OKAY OKAY HOLD UP IT'S ALL HAPPENING ALL OVER AGAIN. THE TIME LOOP THING IS HAPPENING OMGGGG /YOUR/ SPACESHIP BEING THE ONE TO HIT YOUR OWN SPACESHIP YOOOOOOOOO IT'S HAPPENING IT'S HAPPENING LADIES AND GENTS BUCKLE UP CAUSE IT'S HAPPPEERRNNIIANGNDGNSGG YOOO THIS IS SO CLEVER DELIBERATELY HITTING YOUR OWN SPACESHIP TO GO PAST THE RED ZONE YOOOOO YUMI THE QUEEN OF TIME TRAVEL STRIKES AGAIN

sorry idk why but them coming across a literal person just hovering in space - as important as this dude is - is just so funny HAHAHHA YO IS THE FLOATING NEXI CHOI SAN ??? OR INSPIRED?? THE TEARDROP STONE ETCHED UNDER THE EYE IS ANSWER SAN

ALSO NOT JONGHO AND WOO IMMEDIATELY BEING LIKE okay yall can go talk to this glowing thing have fun we'll man the spaceship bye darlings :D

bro also you pulled off this temporal nexus form magical figure dude's speech so well like it literally feels so realistic like i'm in the presence of a god with the way it speaks and phrases its sentences and the whole conversation just. wow. i'm speechless. i'm actually speechless like the characterisation and its reasoning and the emotions it evokes is just WOW.

oh and DAMN the alternative timeline where woo explains how saving 1117 to become 1118 triggers the end? girl you're actually so big brain like megamind braincells holy moly

AND THEN. THE LONG AWAITED FULL CIRCLE BACK TO THE MOTIF BUT WITH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. UGH that whole paragraph of reader discovering what it ACTUALLY means for home to be where the heart is WAS BEAUTIFUL. BEAUTIFULLY DESCRIBED. AND YOU ARE MY HEART, JUNG WOOYOUNG STOPPPP I'M GONNA SOB

YUNHO CAMEOOOOOOO and not wooyoung waving like he's a CELEBRITY when yun calls him out for being an unregistered human PLEASE

oh ooooh the ending that i didn't get a chance to read before you posted eee !!!! i love that we finally get a look at what star 1116 looks like and it seems SO BEAUTIFUL and also the humans mostly staying at home bc they're too old is literally me except it's my choice HAHAHA and omg her mother wearing her neurons as a crown over her head SLAYYYYY QUEEEENNNN

she arrested me sir :D AHAHHAHA

AND YAYYYYY READER FINDING HOME IN JUNG WOOYOUNG <333 MY HEART IS SO FULL RN 

babes as always you did SUCH a good job fleshing out the plot and pacing all the revelations. like the best thing about bouncing ideas with you is coming up with the most insane ideas and just /knowing/ that you'll do it so much justice that i could never do AND HERE YOU ARE. DOING IT MORE THAN THE JUSTICE IT DESERVES i'm so so proud of you babes and i can't wait for you to start on the next wip <333

Star 1117

human!wooyoung x alienoid!reader

space apocalypse au

genres and warnings: fluff, angst, slow burn, bittersweet i hope, bits of hurt/comfort, alien yeosang and human jongho scs, coachella yun cameos, violence warnings

wc: 26k

synopsis: on your mission to save your home star 1116, and to find the last planet in the temporal nexus galaxy called star 1117, you arrest the human from earth- jung wooyoung. you find that he's been receiving cryptic messages from your galaxy, ones that make you question your purpose. together, you uncover secrets and take big risks to find the truth about the galaxy and star 1117's existence while wooyoung teaches you the true meaning of 'home'.

manager-nim: @eightmakesonebraincell ("or just die bro" "yeah it's not that hard" - famous last words from loren and yumi) (disclaimer: ^said in the context of the fic)

Home is not where the heart is.

You’ve always thought that it was a very human thing to think of the ‘heart’ as anything but the organ that it was. The heart’s only function was supposed to be to pump blood into your body and keep you running. But often, it was romanticised as a repository that stored human emotions in all their hideous glory. That was human nature in its nutshell which eventually doomed your forefathers, resulting in a bitterness that etched itself on the strands of their genes of which you carried generations worth of despite your half-human nature. 

The bitterness was justifiable. Your great-grandfather did not know that when he left his home, the planet Earth, he would get lost in the endless expanse of space and never find his way back. You often wondered if the humans ever even looked for him but you wouldn’t be surprised if they hadn’t. Somehow, he ended up receiving help from the Nexi and ended up on a planet just like his homeland and died trying to find his way back.

It was him who introduced that saying- home is where the heart is. You often read his journals and found it strange how he described everything that was close to his heart- the family he had left behind, a ‘cat’ which was supposed to be some strange, harmless feline creature that often dwelled in the homes with humans, and a lot of other things that made little to no sense but often sparked curiosity in you. He had left his heart back on the planet Earth and he died trying to find his way back. Perhaps, his home was where his heart was. But to you…

Home was Star 1116, the land where your parents gave birth to you and the land where they were never accepted. The planet that resembled the Earth that had been their home had their forefathers never left in search of finding something similar. Home was the land that had raised you with its magnificent, tall, iridescent mountains and deep, dark valleys that glowed from within when it met the golden gleaming soil that lit up your planet. Home was a location- the place where you took your first steps and found out what it meant to be half human- dangerous yet protected. Home was the place they told you to leave because they were scared of what you could do, even though you looked just like them. You had a human heart, which was an insult, not a compliment, even though your father insisted that it was the latter.

Your heart was inside your body. Your home was tem-nex units away, so far that you could not even see it anymore. Your home was not where your heart was.

“Any more reminiscing and you will find that you can blast lasers through your eyes too.”

“Yeah. I’m getting tired of her sighing. It sounds awful,” Yeosang said but you ignored him, shooting a glare at Jongho who shielded himself as if you really were going to blast lasers from your eyes.

“You’ll be the first to know if I do,” you told him, tossing your grandfather’s drawing of his cat on the desk where it landed between a pile of journals. “Any update on our target’s location?”

“Just a few tem-nex units away now,” Jongho said, adjusting his vision glasses. “Wanna place bets? I have a feeling it’s one of our old human friends in a dusty old spaceship running away from the Nexi.”

“I have a feeling that it’s just a poor rock and our systems need a big software update,” Yeosang sounded tired even though all he had done recently was lay limp on his couch. 

“I’m with Yeosang on this one,” you went towards him and he raised his hand to share a fistbump but you just pulled him up, earning a startled yelp from him. “Go check the exhaust outlets and our guns. If it’s a rock we need ammo to blast it. And I’m tired of hearing your tired voice when all you’ve done is rot the last few days.”

“Nothing’s fun anymore,” Yeosang pouted, collecting himself. “Our exhaust outlets are fine, our ammo is all loaded. We still have no clue about Star 1117’s location or purpose. I’m just making the same old mandatory assessments and I’ll come back right here and lie down just like before-”

Your pupils must have contracted in warning because he raised his hands in surrender before scurrying off. Jongho’s low giggles echoed in the control room and you took your seat back, sharing a grin with the human. It was always fun to bully the oldest in the room, especially to Jongho who was the youngest and the only human aboard.

You were both in the middle of checking if all the buttons on the panel of your rather old spaceship were working, with you making a few quick repairs, when Yeosang’s hasty footsteps caught your attention. He took a few deep breaths before he knocked on the metal wall to get Jongho’s attention.

“Is our radar not working?”

“It is,” Jongho confirmed, “What’s wrong?”

“I can spot a spaceship not far from our current location- unidentified,” Yeosang said and Jongho frowned, checking the radar. He looked at you and you touched the panel, allowing the silver, branch-like neurons to extend from your fingertips and read the device, trying to assess any damage but detecting none. 

“Radar’s fine. Are you telling us that it might be an unregistered spaceship?” You asked. 

All the spaceships in your galaxy, the Temporal Nexus, were supposed to bear a location tracking device and if in the rare instance that a spaceship did not have one, it was never a good sign.

“Come, check it out,” Yeosang urged and the two of you uncertainly got up, following him towards the back of your ship to the window. Indeed, you could spot the outline of a rusty old spaceship in the distance and Jongho lent you his glasses so you could zoom in and take a closer look.

It was definitely not a Nexi spaceship, yet it was in Nexi territory, far from where humans had ever dared to roam. The only time humans had attempted to cross over was how your great grandfather made it to Star 1116, which led to a lot of complications with the planet Earth and its humans and eventually, the Temporal Nexus Accords were penned. The crux of it was that both Nexi and humans would follow these rules and regulations for harmony in space- harmony was a funny way to put it when the humans knew that they could easily be outmatched. 

“It can’t be a human, right?” Yeosang asked, his glinting silver eyes indicating that he felt threatened. “It must be someone fooling around. Should we take a look or let it go?”

“It’s still an unidentified spaceship,” you reminded him. “We’re literally space patrol, Yeosang. We can’t let it go.”

“You know it was just an excuse to kick us out of Star 1116 because we were snooping around,” Jongho scoffed and you rolled your eyes- somehow, you were still more butthurt about it than the human himself. “But yes, we should take a look.”

“Alright, steer closer. Yeosang- you and me, dome, now. Get the guns.”

While Yeosang went to the storage, you hurried behind Jongho back towards the control room and pressed the button at the far end to get access to the ladder that led you to the observation dome. You made room for Yeosang and Jongho passed you binoculars. Crouching on all fours, you narrowed your eyes in focus as you peeked through the lens, muttering curses when you found how tinted the viewscreen was. There were human alphabets inscribed on the spaceship which confirmed your suspicions.

“Anything ring a bell?” Yeosang asked as he crouched down next to you, taking the binoculars from you. Yeosang was referring to the ships on the watchlist that you had been monitoring for a while now. 

“Nothing. You?”

“I don’t see anyone inside. What are the chances that it’s abandoned?”

“Only one way to find out,” you smirked and Yeosang shook his head. 

As Jongho decreased the speed when your spaceships got closer, you noticed something odd- almost like a few lights flickering inside the spaceship from what you could grasp, considering the heavily tinted viewscreen. You wondered what that was for. Yeosang warned Jongho to take care of the oxygen levels as he pressed the button on the glass dome, opening it and activating the manual shield just in time-

You got your answer in the form of a rocket colliding with your spaceship which rattled you despite the shield. You gripped at the shaft tightly, allowing yourself just a moment before joining Yeosang outside and asking him to lift the shield so you could prepare for the offensive. Yeosang passed you the revolver and you wrapped your hand around the hilt, a grim smile starting to spread on your lips as you allowed the neuron extensions from the tip of your nails to grow and slide inside the gun to wrap themselves around the bullets. 

While Yeosang provided cover, shooting any rocket that came in your range, you fired and shut your eyes, waiting for the bullet to hit the exterior. As soon as you felt the collision inside you thanks to the neurons, you let the bullets sink into the spaceship so you could read it.

There was a single human on the spaceship, as young as you. Strangely, the fear factor the human was displaying was less than the aliens you had caught on patrol, which was commendable. Perhaps, the human was a fool and had no idea what he had gotten himself into- you may be half-human but that did not mean you were going to pity the intruder. 

“He’s going to run out of ammo soon,” you opened your eyes, switching your weapon and helping Yeosang, shooting bullet after bullet that disintegrated the man-made ammunition in a mere blink. “I wonder how much he brought to have lasted this long- he’s so far from planet Earth.”

“I guess you’ll ask him soon,” Yeosang fired at the last rocket and snickered. You started making your way towards the ladder, preparing to gain access to the human’s spaceship and making sure to keep your revolver with you. Perhaps, the human would like seeing that in your hand.

When Jongho stopped the ship, you opened the hatch on your spaceship to access the ladder so the two of you could walk across to the other. You started knocking on the entry hatch once you reached the human’s spaceship but you didn’t get a response. You placed your hand on the surface and spoke, making sure your voice would be heard inside the vehicle.

“You can either open and welcome us, or we will welcome you. You won’t like that.”

A few moments later, the hatch opened with a loud shudder, allowing you both inside. You waited until it shut before walking forward, observing your surroundings which weren’t much, just equipment, until you heard a shuffle. 

And then came in front of you a man, a human man who felt as familiar as Jongho whom you had spent all your life with, yet so different. Even though he looked at you with a sort of surprised glare, dark tendrils of his hair covering his furrowed brows, his presence had a warm quality about it and you wondered if it was a human thing- you had definitely felt it with the humans around you. Some of them.

He stood his ground, defenceless and squaring his shoulders with every passing second. “Welcome to my humble abode. I’m Jung Wooyoung, at your service.”

Yeosang raised a brow and looked at you- you were far too busy identifying the possible layers within that delicate voice. Your lips parted as if to say something but you couldn’t produce a single sound at the moment so Yeosang decided to take over.

“What in the stars is a human doing here alone?” His voice boomed in the room as he asked. “You’ve violated just about a handful of the Temporal Nexus Accords. Do you have any idea what that means?”

“Well,” he shrugged. “It’s not like I can go back. I’m wanted on Earth too.”

“And you thought it was a good idea to roam around? You’re almost out of food and you just ran out of ammunition-”

“But it looks like I haven’t run out of luck,” he breathed, collecting himself with a wink in your direction which threw you off. “What do you usually do with people like me?”

“Escort them to the station for judgement.”

“Yikes,” he said. “I have so many questions but I’ll hold back.”

You spotted the nervous shift from one leg to another as he put his hands in the pockets of his black trousers. He was obviously considering all his options which frankly were quite limited. He had just about two choices- get escorted to the station or face execution right here.

“How did you make it so far?” You asked, frowning deeply. “Even the Nexi find it hard to avoid the patrol when they try to reach human territory.”

“Let’s say I possess a special set of skills,” he grinned wickedly. “Stealth, for starters.”

“I don’t quite believe that,” Yeosang commented.

“Well, your ship did not catch mine on radar, did it?” Wooyoung asked and Yeosang confirmed that it hadn’t. “Also, when you’re running from two groups of species, you find that there is no better fuel to reach the victory line than desperation.”

“Why are the humans after you-”

“What do you mean by victory line?” Yeosang asked at the same time and you both exchanged glances- this sure was an odd individual. You urged Yeosang to continue. 

“How far did you want to travel with such limited supplies?”

“Not that limited,” Wooyoung began to argue but you raised a hand in the air, making him raise both his hands in mock surrender. “Alright, I’m doomed anyway. Go ahead. Finish your job.”

“Why are you here, and why are the humans after you?” You asked, stepping towards him. “Answer properly this time.”

“I’m looking for someone.”

“In space?” You looked at Yeosang, knowing that the human wasn’t telling the whole truth. “And so far away from your home?”

“Yes, and I’m not sure if that someone is still… well, alive, in one form or another. But I needed to check a few things for myself,” he said in all seriousness. 

“You’re looking for a human? Did your human get lost in space?” Yeosang asked.

“Not my human,” Wooyoung let out a frustrated sigh. “It’s complicated, but I’m not sure if it’s a human or an alien I’m looking for. Could definitely be one of the humans from the group  that got lost around here a few decades ago- a descendant of them. I don’t think they got ‘lost’, by the way, but maybe that’s just me.”

You licked your lips in thought, trying not to look at the very bewildered Yeosang but you both knew that the humans he was talking about must be your ancestors and the group of them. “What’s it to you, then? Who are you to try to find them?”

“Again, I’m not trying to find them, they must be dead by now, but I’m curious to investigate. I was obviously a fool for taking matters into my own hands, but they didn’t take me seriously, the people back on Earth,” he admitted. “And when I started looking into the matter, they tried to get rid of me. Subtly. But I’ve always been known to possess maniacal qualities, and here we are.”

You grimaced at that, “So you’re an idiot. Yeosang, take him.”

“Wait,” Wooyoung snatched his hand away before Yeosang could grab him. “Let me grab my things.”

“You won’t need them,” you told him. “You should have stayed back on Earth. You might have lived longer.” 

With that, Yeosang strapped the vitals regulator watch on Wooyoung and you started to leave the ship, wanting to go back to the comfort of your own ship as soon as possible.

“You’re a human, aren’t you?” Wooyoung asked and you stopped in your tracks, turning back to meet his eyes as a deadly silence overtook. “He’s an alien, this one, even though he looks human, but you… You must be human.”

“I’m an alien,” you glared at him, the neurons from your fingertips branching like claws to prove your point. “And it would do you good to shut your mouth.”

However, you weren’t sure if your words triggered him or if he just had a mouth on him- was it a human thing? Jongho was talkative but a different type- cracking random jokes.

But this man?

He was getting on your nerves. You had to admit that his lung capacity was admirable considering the long string of sentences he sprouted as soon as he entered your spaceship. You caught a few words- something about a ‘cool’ spaceship, some technical stuff that to your horror, Yeosang was happy to provide his input for, and then something about his own rusty old spaceships and how ‘humans could never’.

“Oh, now that’s a human if I’ve ever seen one,” Wooyoung clapped his hands as soon as he saw Jongho. 

“How can you tell?” Yeosang asked. “I thought I looked like a human too.”

“Nah, you’re too pretty,” Wooyoung waved a hand in dismissal and you blinked. “It’s the sheer… presence of him. You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh, I know what you mean,” Jongho started chuckling after he recovered from the initial surprise of seeing a human on board- a human that was not a resident of one of the 1117 planets in this galaxy. 

“I don’t know what you both mean,” Yeosang almost pouted.

“Come closer,” Wooyoung called and you watched in horror as Yeosang obeyed, the three of them huddling close to each other. “This human- the warmth, the smell-”

“You’re telling me you could tell I’m human because I stink like one?”

While your crew burst into giggles, afraid to laugh properly in fear you would react aggressively- which you seldom did but you made sure the fear factor was a constant- Wooyoung started profusely explaining that he didn’t mean it like that but there was something about humans that smelt and felt like home to him. He did not comment on how you had admitted that you were human too. 

“Oh, you humans and your associations with the word home,” you spat, getting morbid flashbacks of the time your father tried to explain how association worked and failed. “Lock him in the cell- he’s too talkative.”

“Hey!” Wooyoung yelled at you but Yeosang reluctantly patted his back, telling him the cell wasn’t that bad, just a room where he could take his final rest before being presented in the station for his execution, which did nothing to help the human. Meanwhile, Jongho started going through Wooyoung’s things and you joined him, finding a few strange food wrappers and pens, a compass that made you smile in awe because it looked very much like the one you possessed, a bundle of notes and folders, an odd device that you set aside for the time being, and then his own journal.

You held the journal in your hands and allowed yourself to look at his memories associated with it, shutting your eyes and watching the images that flashed in your mind-

Grass. More vibrant than the grass on Star 1116, decorated by little colourful flowers that you had always heard of but never seen. The laughter of a woman and the laughter of kids, spreading warmth through your chest. Large bodies of water, as blue as the sky, welcoming you in its cool embrace. 

And then… anger and confusion. Screaming and shouting- your face suddenly felt wet. Were those tears? You hear incoherent yelling and loud thumps of things as they smashed against each other. You felt terror consume every fibre of your being and you felt out of breath- you were running. Soon after followed a sense of dread before guilt consumed you-

“Captain- hey, y/n,” Jongho cautiously shook your arm, bringing you back to reality. “You good?”

You retracted the neurons and set the journal aside, realising your face was wet. “He knows about Star 1116.”

Jongho pursed his lips in thought. “Is that really something we should worry about?”

“He knows our ancestors made it to Star 1116,” you added for clarification. “He mentioned that he didn’t think they got lost in space like everyone claimed they did.”

“Ah… that complicates things, doesn’t it?” 

“Are we sure the station wouldn’t have caught his spaceship on their system?” You asked, moving towards the control panel which was displaying normal readings. 

“What are you thinking?” Yeosang’s voice interjected as he entered the room. 

“I need to have a talk with Wooyoung,” you said, looking at your partners. “He intended to find Star 1116 and the humans living there and collect some evidence regarding them.”

“Well… he’s found them,” Jongho raised his hand. “I think his mission was successful in that case.”

“Half successful, and he might not know that Star 1116 is a habitable planet for humans. He might be thinking you’re from Earth.”

“One way to find out,” you stifled a devilish grin.

“Don’t go all kitty claws on him,” Yeosang warned with a chuckle and you hissed at him- he always used that phrase, having heard your father call you that when you were younger and more reckless with the alien traits that you inherited from your mother. 

You told him that you would not need to do that. He was here on a mission and this was the perfect opportunity to use that to gain a possible ally. You took a closer look at his navigation equipment before going to your room to rest, taking the strange device that looked like a radio with you- you didn’t want the boys seeing you get emotional again-

And talking about emotions- why did the human’s overwhelming feelings cause your heart to clench in pain? Why did it bring tears to your eyes? You didn’t despise human emotions- you thought they were beautiful in their own strange way but never did you think you would be able to relate to them on an intrinsic level. Perhaps, it was the human in you. No matter how much you tried to repress it, it would always remind you that it was a part of you, integrating with your Nexi gene as one.

But you soon found out that there were other forms of emotions that involved tears, and not just the embarrassing ‘crying’ you had almost done earlier.

There were tears rolling down the cheeks of both the human and the alien in your crew as they laughed their lungs out. You had heard a bunch of inhumane noises in your sleep which prompted you to wake up and take a look, but the last thing you expected was-

“Are you having a fucking party here?” You grimaced at the sight of the three boys in a circle with half eaten food in between, noticing a bunch of new dishes that you hadn’t seen in a while, the fragrant scent of it filling your nose and almost calming you. Wooyoung looked at your disgusted expression and only laughed harder.

“This one was supposed to be in the cell,” you pointed at Wooyoung as you looked at Yeosang and Jongho in question. “What is going on?”

“He was complaining about being hungry and when he offered to make us food, we decided to check how good a cook he was,” Jongho answered. “Surprisingly good, turns out. You should have seen him in the kitchen, y/n.”

“Since the station hasn’t sent a message yet, that means they haven’t figured out that we have a human aboard. We could use him as our servant,” Yeosang’s eyes gleamed with mischievous hope.

“That’s what you think of me?” Wooyoung smacked his biceps, looking hurt. “I thought we were friends!”

“No one is becoming friends with anyone here,” you clapped, prompting the boys to start cleaning up. “Don’t make me call the station myself, Jung Wooyoung.”

“Aren’t you a boomer,” he clicked his tongue.

“A boomer?” You asked, wondering what that meant. 

“A true boomer,” Wooyoung grinned, passing you a tray of food he had kept for you. “Basically means you don’t know how to have fun.”

“I’m not here to have fun,” you grimaced at the word and he pressed the tray into your hands before resuming tidying the floor, leaving you standing awkwardly in the middle. Yeosang caught your eye and urged you to sit and try the food and you reluctantly obeyed-

And immediately thought of home.

Home, when your grandfather and grandmother were alive and cooked the human dishes for you- the dishes that they had learned from their parents. You could taste the familiar spices that your grandmother loved in the broth Wooyoung made, the scent immediately transporting you to one of your happier memories when you didn’t have to worry about being an anomaly and could enjoy simple moments with your family. You looked at Jongho who was smiling knowingly- he could definitely understand what you were feeling right now.

“I can’t eat this,” you looked at Jongho.

“It’s okay, Captain,” he chuckled. “It’s just like our grandparents made for us, yeah? Go on, have a taste of the vegetables too.”

You hesitated but reluctantly took a spoonful of the vegetables with rice, a sense of dread washing over you but Yeosang’s hand on your back calmed you and you realised that maybe, the feelings of dread were present because you were scared to accept that there was a human on board who was making you acknowledge the human parts in you through food, of all things. 

That’s what you disliked about being human- that you were so easily swayed.

Wooyoung watched you cautiously from a corner while he absently sweeped the floor with a broom- he hadn’t expected you to react that way and it was surprising to see the group of you interact. If you weren’t fully human, he wondered why you weren’t as hostile towards Jongho as you were to him.

You finished your food before you knew it, and though it annoyed you that Wooyoung was proudly grinning, you decided to give it a rest for now and focus on the more important matters. 

“What is this device?” You placed the black rectangular, almost hollow box on the table and Wooyoung pursed his lips, tossing the broom in the corner and joining your crew on the table. 

“What do you think it is?”

“A broken radio?” You asked, opening its back to show how it had no batteries. “I can’t read it.”

“And what would you mean by that, sweetheart?” Wooyoung asked and once again, you had to repress the anger bubbling in your throat at the term while Jongho and Yeosang shifted uncomfortably in their positions.

“I can read memories and emotions or feelings associated with objects, and I can’t read this,” you clarified for him. “And I want you to tell me why unless you want me to read you.”

“That’s… strange, actually,” Yeosang cocked his head, taking the device from you. “Are you sure you can’t read it?”

“I’m sure,” you confirmed, looking at Wooyoung. “So?”

Wooyoung’s hesitation was palpable. You narrowed your eyes in suspicion. “Don’t even think about lying,” you told him, the neurons protracting from your fingernails making him jump a little.

“Whoa, put your murder mittens away,” Wooyoung shielded himself with his hands raised between you. “You probably can’t read because it’s what it looks like- a broken radio. It has no deeper meaning-”

“Everything has a deeper meaning,” you glared at him. “You wouldn’t bring a broken radio to space, for starters. Have you been getting some sort of a signal?”

When he didn’t answer, you knew what you had to do. You looked at Yeosang who nodded and came in front of Wooyoung. “If you really want to get somewhere with her, you better cooperate.”

“I would, but I don’t know if I can trust her- you guys with the information I have,” he admitted, sounding serious. “I do receive signals sometimes, but they don’t really make sense. I’ve been able to trace them, though, and it looks like they come from around here.”

“An alien sending signals to a human on earth?” Jongho looked at Yeosang. “Doesn’t sound implausible. What for, though?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Wooyoung shrugged. “It’s mostly gibberish- I can’t make sense of it.”

“Did you at least note them down?” Jongho asked.

“Yeah, in a notepad- it should be in my bag,” Wooyoung said, getting up and grabbing his bag from the couch, shuffling through it while you made eye contact with your crew, all three of you as sceptical as the other.

“It’s not here?” Wooyoung looked at you. 

“Everything that belongs to you is in that bag,” you said. 

“We didn’t touch it,” Yeosang said, and the boys raised their hands in surrender.

“Did you drop it?” Wooyoung looked incredulous.

“I’m not that clumsy,” you got up, snatching his bag and looking through it yourself but finding no signs of a notepad. You shot him a dirty look. “You left it behind on purpose, didn’t you?”

“That thing?” Wooyoung pointed his finger outside, the veins on his neck and arms popping out in anger. “It contains everything I worked for. It’s the reason why I risked my life to come here, and you’re telling me that we left it behind because you were in a rush?”

“So it’s my fault now?” You scoffed in disbelief. “You could have mentioned you needed to get your little notepad when we were transporting you!”

“Well, I obviously did not want someone to see the contents of it!” 

“Guys!” Jongho butted between you two, making you both sit down on the couch. “It’s okay. Wooyoung, just allow y/n to look into your head so she can copy everything that was on the notepad here for you. Simple! No biggie!”

“I won’t let her do that,” Wooyoung folded his arms. “That’s invading my privacy.”

“You’re invading our privacy by being here too,” you commented. 

“Then throw me outside,” he simply said and you groaned loudly. Yeosang stifled a smile- he had never seen you so riled up and he made a mental note to thank the human later.

“Please, cooperate,” Yeosang requested gently. “She knows the importance of privacy and will do her best to not snoop around in your mind and only look through the contents of the notes. Right, Captain?”

You nodded. You opened your mouth to add that you couldn’t help it if the person you were reading unintentionally pushed a memory your way but Yeosang knowingly ignored you and continued. “Wooyoung, if we think the message you’ve been receiving is important, we might not deliver you to the station at all. You sound like an excellent navigator and… we kind of need that.”

“We don’t need that-”

“Oh, shut up,” Yeosang waved a hand and you pouted. “You can take your time thinking about it- we don’t have to do that now. But we will have no choice but to report you to the station if we can’t find some common ground.”

“Between death and joining you, there’s not much of a choice here, is there?” Wooyoung asked grimly and you almost felt sorry for the human. “Okay, go ahead. I’ll write what I remember from the notes, but you can help me fill the gaps.”

“Wonderful,” Yeosang clapped. “Let’s scatter now.”

—--------------------------

You had to admit, you felt a little sorry for reacting that way towards the human who, like he had said, really had no choice but to cooperate or face death.

Or perhaps, it was the Wooyoung being human and sneaky and making you feel guilty on purpose. You wouldn’t put past humans to do that- sure, you were the daughter of one and a friend of another, but you had seen your fair share of humans hiding behind the excuse of their ugly nature.

However, your guilt solidified when you found the man diligently scribbling in a new notebook with a jug of coffee by his side. You shook your head at the sight- what was with humans and their addiction to caffeine? But you supposed you couldn’t complain- whatever kept the human running and made your job easier. 

You sensed Wooyoung’s body getting tense when he sensed your presence and you knocked on the door right at that time, pretending you hadn’t been standing there for a solid few minutes. He nodded and you entered, sitting down next to him.

“What are you writing?”

“Anything about navigation that I can recall from the top of my head,” he showed you the notes and you made an impressed face. 

“Are humans on Earth that advanced in space navigation already?”

“As of recently, yes, but not many, and they usually keep it to themselves,” Wooyoung told you. “They’re afraid the government and the space councils will exploit their services.”

“Sounds like our government,” you scoffed.

“I guess we do have something in common then,” he grinned. “I was one of the few who kept my research to myself, but I also made the mistake of snooping around and finding things I shouldn’t have learned.”

“You said something about the group of humans who got lost in space,” you asked, shifting on the couch so you were facing him. “Do you remember their names?”

Wooyoung narrowed his eyes slightly. “Those humans settled on Star 1116. Jongho’s one of them, right? A descendant of them?”

You nodded and he wowed at that, taking a few moments to let that information sink in. “And what about you?”

“I’m one of them too,” you admitted. No harm in him knowing. “My mother is a Nexi, though. My father was the grandson of one of the humans who got lost- but why do you believe they didn’t get lost?”

“I heard the superiors talking about how their spy network failed to achieve results,” he sighed and you felt your heart sink. “The plan was  to pretend to get lost and settle on one of the planets in the Temporal Nexus so they would keep reporting back to Earth with their findings.”

“Did they?” You asked, unconsciously holding your breath.

“I guess they felt welcomed enough that they stopped very soon, and my people never looked for them in fear that their secrets had been exposed. The Temporal Nexus Accords happened right after so the humans on Earth had to pretend they had no knowledge of those humans in space and thought they died.”

You fell silent, staring at the rings on Wooyoung’s fingers while you processed that.

Your great grandfather and great grandmother were spies. If anyone were to find that out now… 

“They must have lived well,” Wooyoung said gently with a smile. “I won’t tell anyone, if you’re worried about that. I’d say Jongho, at least, deserves to know the truth though.”

“Thank you,” you said. “I’ll tell Jongho soon. They lived well, but after they had kids and our grandparents were old enough to have their own, the Nexi started discriminating. It got a little messier afterwards, but we’re still here. Just… kind of outcasted.”

“The Nexi are just like humans then. It’s such a human thing to discriminate among races, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t blame them,” you scoffed. “They will have a field day if they learn that they were right about humans all along.”

“But who’s gonna tell them?” Wooyoung pretended to zip his mouth. You smiled at that and he smiled back. “Did you come to read… me?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” you said and he resigned into the couch. “It won’t hurt.”

“That’s not what I’m worrying about, but okay,” he urged you to start and you raised your palms in the air, letting the neuron extensions protrude from your fingernails. Wooyoung watched in awe as the silver steel-like branches curled around each other in an intricate pattern. 

“I’ll touch your forehead and close my eyes when I read,” you felt the need to tell him. “I will try not to look into your private memories but I can’t control what you send me, and unless you have a good mental fortitude I will only see what you show me.”

“Interesting,” he said, gulping when you scooted forward. You locked eyes with him, finding it almost endearing how his mismatched yet beautiful eyes widened when you gently placed your palms on his temples, letting the neurons extend and entangle with his hair to stick on his scalp.

“Ah… that tickles a bit,” Wooyoung muttered and you stifled a smile. “Do I close my eyes too?”

“You don’t have to,” you answered and shut yours. “Think of your notepad, now. I’ll have a general look before I start noting down.”

“Got it,” he said, shutting his eyes to focus.

You saw the notepad, as clear as day, and the last place he recalled using it was the control room in his spaceship. You relaxed when you realised he had indeed been telling the truth. You then saw the navigational reading and glimpses of incomprehensible messages- incomprehensible to him. 

You were about to draw back but you saw a montage of his memories in the spaceship- you felt the loneliness that he had felt being alone in space for so long- a few months and no human or alien contact. You felt a bit of dread as he wondered if he made a wrong decision leaving the Earth in the manner that he did- stealing information and sneaking past them. You felt his will to live fluctuate when it started to feel like he was on a wild goose chase. 

And then you felt just the briefest moment of acceptance when he noted down how long he had to live with the amount of food he had left on the spaceship. He was mostly relying on supplements but he wasn’t sure how long that would keep him healthy.

Before you could draw back, he pushed one memory in focus- the reason he cooked for all of you tonight. He was grateful to be alive and he needed the food more than you- more for the joy of cooking for himself and for others, for the act of simply eating with company, no matter who it was.

When you opened your eyes, you found that you were just as breathless as him. You didn’t know if he had intentionally pushed that memory into focus but it was enough. 

“Well,” you retracted one hand away, keeping the other at its original position. “Might be a little uncomfortable but we should start writing now. You can help me fill in what I don’t understand, is that okay?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” he adjusted himself so the notebook was between you two on the couch now. You rested your elbow against the cushion so it wouldn’t hurt. “Shall we begin?”

It took you about an hour of filling in the gaps but thankfully, Wooyoung had done most of the work. The navigation section was finished soon and then you moved to the messages he received from the radio which you realised were in one of the Nexi codes. It required a series of messages to be arranged in a specific numerical pattern to decode it. Thankfully, Jongho had the right device for it so you intended to let him handle that department.

While writing the notes, you learned about his time at the space centre on Earth. Wooyoung seemed to be a talkative person and you listened to his story about how he and a few other astronauts and space scientists always disagreed with the government which ultimately controlled their operations. Apparently, the humans were always on the lookout for a number of things- a planet like Earth, for starters. The secret to stop ageing or extend the age cycle.

“Why would they want to extend their miserable lives?” You grimaced when you heard that. 

“Sometimes, the little things are enough to want to live a little longer, I suppose,” Wooyoung mused, taking the pen from you and finishing a string of messages for you before handing it back. “There’s a race of you that has an unusual cycle, isn’t that so?”

“The Original Nexi,” you told him. “A few descendants of them still live though they are scattered and stay low. They don’t age like we do- after a certain age, I suppose around sixty, they start ageing backwards. They get to be young again but the fun ends there. They’re back to being babies and then one day, they turn into stardust and scatter in the atmosphere.”

“How poetic,” Wooyoung scratched his chin. “I suppose it has its pros and cons.”

“More cons,” you commented. “No one wants to take care of you by the time you become a baby for the second time.”

“Yeah, I bet that’s a sight,” he snickered, asking you to skip an irrelevant section and you started on the last page. “Look at that. We’re almost done.”

“Thank you for cooperating,” you meant it. “Your navigational skills… they’re quite impressive. I might just have a place for you on this ship. Depends on your behaviour though.”

“You are on your worst behaviour, I want it just like that~” Wooyoung started singing and you smiled- his voice really was pretty. 

“You seem to like that song.”

Silence filled the room and you finished writing the last sentence, shutting the notebook and turning to him, finding him surprised.

“How did you know?”

Oh. You had made a mistake.

“What did you see?” Wooyoung asked again, and this time, involuntarily you saw more memories and you shut your eyes because of the intensity of those memories-

Wooyoung’s voice. He was singing the song in a small room with the lyrics on the screen, loud background music blasting in that space along with the sound of uproarious laughter, the bass of the music in synchronisation with his heartbeat. Bright, colourful kaleidoscopes of lights danced with their bodies, swaying around one another. You felt joy, in its pure and raw form, and then-

You were transported to another memory associated with that song- back in the spaceship as he sang it alone, his voice the only thing echoing off the walls with only the dim white light to accompany him. There was no joy anymore- just yearning for something that was not and might never be.

“Get out of my head, y/n,” Wooyoung gently wrapped his hand around your hand that was still placed on his temple. You opened your eyes in surprise at the contact, blinking a few times to let your vision adjust. His words finally registered inside you and you looked into his eyes.

He wasn’t angry. He simply looked tired and perhaps, he knew exactly what memories you had seen. You retracted the neurons from his scalp and now that it was just your fingers tangled in his hair, you unconsciously caressed the soft strands. He moved your hand away softly, placing it in your lap and looking at the joined hands for just a moment before he pulled away.

“I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“I know,” he nodded in understanding. “It’s okay.”

You nodded, realising you were still leaning into him. Taking a deep breath, you picked the notebook and got up.

“The notes will be with Jongho- he can decode the message,” you told him. “You can rest now.”

“Can I ask you something?” Wooyoung looked at you expectantly. You raised a brow and he took that as a sign to continue. “Do you only read the memories or are you able to feel the emotions or feelings associated with the memory too?”

Your silence was enough for him. He nodded in understanding, having gotten his answer.

As you made your way back to your room, you wished you could have told him that this was the first time you felt human emotions in such depth, in such an unfiltered and almost vulnerable way. Such innocent, humane feelings that almost made you forget that alien blood ran through your veins.

—---------------------------

While none of you had officially announced Wooyoung’s position as a navigator in the crew, he seemed to take on that role naturally. He made home in the control room with Jongho and they learned a lot from each other- Jongho about navigation and what it was like to be a human on Earth, and Wooyoung about the Temporal Nexus Galaxy and what it was like to be a human among the Nexi.

However, the more interesting part was how he managed to make Yeosang warm up to him. Yeosang wasn’t one to talk a lot and none of you in the crew were very physically affectionate, yet it seemed like Wooyoung had claimed the man as his target. He was always clinging to him- holding his hand, clutching his arms as he rubbed his cheek against him, casual pats and ruffling of hair (of which Jongho was also a target), hugs of all and every kind, and smooches. What was funnier was how Yeosang claimed to dislike all of that yet you would find him smiling to himself afterwards. 

Whatever it was, Wooyoung had a magnetic personality and everyone’s eyes followed him, as did yours. You were often in your designated corner with your journals and equipment, making calls to the station to send daily reports, sending messages to anyone who would want to hear your theory about Star 1117 and possibly help you in any way while not reporting you to the authorities. It was hard to be in the same room as Wooyoung and not look at him and lean towards him, you were finding. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t try to be as physically affectionate with you as the rest, or not include you in whatever stupid debate they decided to have for the sake of passing time- he was simply hesitant to touch you because he wasn’t sure if you could read him without your neuron extensions- or ‘murder mitten’, as he referred to them. Kitty claws was not the only term thrown around now.

Jongho’s device had successfully decoded the message but you were all waiting for the next signal as there were still missing parts. The radio was kept in the middle of the room so anyone could hear it if it woke up. Meanwhile, you shared your knowledge about Star 1117, the planet that could not be found. 

In the Temporal Nexus Galaxy, there were exactly 1117 stars or planets in the beginning, as marked by the Original Nexi, the first aliens born out of the celestial matter when the galaxy came into being. While the 1117th planet was never located, it was historically and scientifically accurate information that your galaxy had 1117 cycles. Each complete orbit of the planets around the core marked by the presence of a single sun- almost like the sun in the solar system- caused one planet to disintegrate into celestial matter. 

Wooyoung shared his knowledge of your galaxy and you found out that the humans were also aware that the only remaining planets in your galaxy were Star 1116, which was your home, and Star 1117. Star 1117 existed but it could not be located no matter how much the authorities and everyone else tried- there was too much clutter in the galaxy, they claimed. 

All the planets that finished their cycle disintegrated into rocks and stars. Some of the rocks the aliens made habitable when there weren’t enough planets to accommodate them, while some aliens resorted to pods and spaceships as their home. The further you went to explore in the Temporal Nexus, the harder it got to navigate and find your way back which was why a lot of the explorers who tried to locate Star 1117 or its byproduct (in case they were wrong about Star 1117 still being whole) never returned.

You were just discussing the myths surrounding the star while you ate lunch- Wooyoung was also the designated chef now, and you had to admit that part of the reason you were okay with his presence in the spaceship was because of the food he made for you all and not just because you had delayed your decision until you could properly decode the message. 

“I personally think Star 1117 was the first planet to die and our home is actually Star 1 instead of 1116 and they’re all wrong about the number of cycles that has passed. It’s a reverse order,” Yeosang said. “This, or there’s no Star 1117 in the first place.”

“Yeah, the Space Council could have easily modified the data,” Jongho nodded.

“But I read them,” you said, referring to the council members that you had secretly read. “They don’t think that’s true.”

“Maybe they’re made to think that that’s the truth,” Yeosang pointed out and you shrugged.

“Maybe Star 1117 isn’t a planet like your other planets in this galaxy,” Wooyoung added casually while munching on a potato stick. “Maybe it’s just an ugly old rock and you all think that it has to be a planet like Star 1116.”

“Well, I hope the authorities are looking into that possibility because the current cycle is ending soon. That means there won’t be a habitable planet for humans,” you said, looking at Jongho- while you were part alien, you functioned more like a human and couldn’t just travel in space without a certain amount of oxygen, just like Jongho. “And that also means that we will lose our home.”

Yeosang passed a tight-lipped smile at that- you all had family who lived in Star 1116 and refused to leave even though they were aware that this planet would soon disintegrate. They wanted to live there until the last possible moment before making a decision- die with the planet or move to a space pod. They were too old to do anything to save their home so you were using this opportunity to try to save it for them, along with your crew. While the government did not allow such missions for the common people, you were carrying it out secretly. You would be labelled criminals if you interfered with their mission.

“That’s a shame. I’ve heard Star 1116 is a very beautiful planet,” Wooyoung said and you all nodded- it really was the most beautiful planet to ever exist in that galaxy. “What do you plan to do about it?”

“Honestly, we have no idea, we’re just trying to find more information on when the cycle will end so we have a clue about how much time we have instead of waiting for the government to announce that we have numbered days,” Jongho said. 

He was about to continue when you heard static and you almost thought it was one of your own radios until Wooyoung got up and brought his radio back to the table, the four of you huddling closer to watch the messages appear.

“Pass me a pen,” you asked Yeosang who obeyed and you gave it to Wooyoung who had already opened the notebook to write down the message. It was mumbo jumbo to the three of you but all the colour seemed to leave Jongho’s face when Wooyoung finished writing the message.

“What’s wrong?” Yeosang asked, patting his cheek to make him come back to his senses.

“Uh, let me confirm the message,” he mumbled weakly and you rushed to get his decoding device. He thanked you and started to insert the message in the device while already knowing the final version since he had played with this device enough to not need it anymore. When he typed the decoded message, he looked at all three of you before setting it in the middle of the table.

“‘I am 1118,’” Wooyoung read the message, frowning. “‘Do not save 1117.’”

Silence filled the room as the message hung in the air over your heads, your hands getting clammier with each passing second. You looked at Yeosang who looked just as lost and then at Wooyoung who was checking his readings again as if making sure that he hadn’t made a mistake.

“There is no Star 1118,” you said what everyone was thinking out loud. “Isn’t that right? Wooyoung?”

“I’ve never heard of Star 1118,” he admitted in all seriousness. “Star 1117 has always been the focus of attention, right?”

“Yes,” you nodded. “But someone from Star 1118 is sending you a message and telling you not to save Star 1117? Is that what it is?”

“There can’t be a Star 1118,” Yeosang frowned. “We can’t even locate 1117. I think if there were two missing planets, we would have found at least one, right?”

“Unless the government is hiding something?” Wooyoung suggested. “Wouldn’t put it past them.”

“Yeah, he might be right,” Jongho agreed with Wooyoung. “But I think we should start with locating where this message came from. That would certainly make things easier.”

“I suggest an infiltration of your space council to find information because it looks like you’ve had no luck so far,” Wooyoung raised his hand while looking at you, asking if everyone was in.

��That’s too risky-”

“But you can read the aliens, right?” Wooyoung interrupted and you folded your arms. “You can read objects. You can read their data- all we have to do is sneak past them,” he said, folding his sleeves with a smug face. “And I happen to be a pro at that, as you already know.”

A jab, but also an attempt to smoothen the rocky beginning of your relationship. You scoffed in answer, knowing all too well what he was talking about from the bits you had seen from his journal. “We’ll be labelled space criminals. They would do anything to find us and have us tried in court.”

“Well, from what I’ve heard, you’re all space criminals anyway,” he shrugged. “You’ll only be living up to that title. Besides, don’t you want to save your home?”

“You will help us save our home?” 

“If I can be of help,” he nodded. “I came here to find Star 1117 too. We have the same goal, right? Find Star 1117 and save your galaxy. You get to save your home, and I get to rub this in my government's face and… clear the name of my friends who got caught in this mess without me.”

“Didn’t catch that sob story when I read you,” you told him and Yeosang snorted, resulting in all of you sharing a laugh, the room echoing with nervousness, anticipation and excitement-

And hope. You met Wooyoung’s eyes and he nodded earnestly, his smile making your heart feel warm, a feeling you had forgotten.

You smiled back this time.

—--------------------------

“Wooyoung, I swear to the all one thousand, one hundred and seventeen stars, if you don’t move your knee right now-”

“I’m trying,” he hissed, smacking your back and you let out a horrified gasp at his audacity. “I can’t move it- bear with it.”

“It’s digging into my calf and it hurts,” you sighed. 

“Whose genius idea was it to sneak through the vents again?” Wooyoung asked and that shut you up.

It took you all just about two days to form an elaborate plan that would involve Yeosang getting access inside the Space Council building to present the monthly report physically with the excuse of meeting up with his cousin who worked there. When he called his cousin, the poor guy was quite surprised since they weren’t on friendly- or any terms, per se. He did complain about the strictness of the Space Council and how visitors weren’t usually allowed, but since Yeosang’s parents were ex-employees of the Council, it helped his case and his request to visit was almost immediately approved.

That left Jongho in charge of camouflaging the spaceship and he contacted a few of his friends who happened to be mechanics and had some spare technology that they could share with him. They were sceptical about why the human needed camouflage- it definitely raised suspicion, but Jongho had always been good at shutting people up with money so the mechanics were more than happy to help him out, thanking him for helping their declining business. 

You and Wooyoung, of course, had to be the ones to sneak in. You were hesitant to take the human with you- his vitals weren’t the problem since he was wearing the watch just like you which ensured your vitals remained normal. The problem was the risk of taking an unregistered human inside the very space that made sure all humans were registered in their data. 

Plus, Wooyoung’s claim that he could ‘watch out’ while you read their data wasn’t very helpful- you weren’t sure if he would be able to get you out of a tight spot if you got caught. He claimed to be good with guns so you reluctantly loaded him with as many weapons as possible and when you were almost sure he wouldn’t be a liability, if not a help either, you agreed to let him accompany you.

He was good at sneaking in. He had studied Jongho’s inventory of machines and tools and taken anything he thought was useful. While Yeosang entered from the main door, the two of you turned on the camouflage on Jongho’s illegally obtained wristwatch and took access inside the building through the backdoor while another alien entered. Before you could be scanned, Wooyoung pointed at the vents and you squeezed yourself into the tight space, crawling on all fours with Jongho’s voice guiding your directions. 

“Can you both fight later?” Jongho huffed. “Take a left and then jump down- you’ll land in a storage room. I can’t guarantee that it will be empty, so make sure your camouflage is working and you’re silent when you land.”

“Got it,” the two of you muttered in unison and you angrily tucked your hair back before leading the way again, having Wooyoung follow behind you. You paused before it was time to jump down, extending your neurons to read the room and after finding no signs of life for now, you landed softly with a thud, signalling Wooyoung to come down as well.

“That’s convenient,” Wooyoung pointed at your fingernails. “Can they act as a weapon?”

“Haven’t tried that yet but I suppose I’ll be forced to, soon,” you pointedly looked at him and he stuck his tongue out before Jongho asked you to find your way to the storage room that was across the hall. Wooyoung opened the door just a fraction and you pushed him with your elbow to take a peek.

“No one outside?”

“Doesn’t look like it,” you whispered. 

“Well, that’s what your kitty claws are for. Go ahead,” he said and you sat down on the floor, extending the neurons once again and finding a few men who seemed to be on duty, stationed in front of the rooms that were on either side of this room. You got up and moved away to talk to Jongho.

“Is there no other way?”

“None,” Jongho sighed. “Should I ask Yeosang to do something about it?”

“No, I have a sacrificial lamb right here,” you smirked dangerously at Wooyoung, who pointed at himself with wide eyes and furiously shook his head.

Moments later, he was carrying a bunch of folders and going out of the storage room as if he belonged there. You watched from the crack in the door as he pretended to look at the room number and went just a few steps ahead before dropping everything to the floor.

“Curse the stars,” he huffed angrily. “I’m gonna be late and my boss will kill me.”

One of the guards came into your vision, looking at Wooyoung with narrowed eyes. “Who’s your boss again?”

“Just the angriest one here- no need for names, am I right?” He shook his head and the guard seemed to buy that for the moment. “Asked to get some files,” Wooyoung started gathering them and the guard bent down to help. Wooyoung looked back, meeting eyes with you for just a second before looking at the second guard. “Would you help? I need to grab another bundle from the storage.”

The second guard hesitantly joined the first, grunting as he bent down. Your heart seemed to be beating between your ears as Wooyoung came back inside the room.

“What do you say I knock them out?” 

“Just keep yapping- I’ll make it,” you told him and he signed okay, grabbing another box of files and going back outside. You heard the three talk among themselves and you mustered all the courage before making a dash across the hall, turning the knob-

To find it locked. It would need an identification card to open it, and you didn’t have enough time for Jongho to do his thing. Panicking, you looked at Wooyoung who visibly swallowed and you made a neck-slicing motion.

“Now who’s that?” The second guard spotted you and that was all Wooyoung needed to take out his gun from the jacket and smack the guard’s head with the butt of the gun. The other guard punched him in the stomach with such force that Wooyoung doubled up as he let out a weak exhale-

And before you knew it, the neurons were extending from your fingernails and slashing at the guards while forming a protective barrier around Wooyoung at the same time. Wooyoung yelled an ‘I’m okay!’ which finally made you stop- not after having inflicted enough cuts on the guards to make them clutch at themselves in pain. 

Wooyoung looked at you, half-impressed and half-horrified. You decided to make sense of it later and said, “We should probably… shut them in the storage.”

“Yeah… why don’t you use your murder mittens for that too?” 

You scowled at him but did exactly that and Wooyoung smacked them hard enough to knock them unconscious though you were pretty sure it was petty revenge. He dusted his hands and looked proudly at you afterwards, catching you stifling a grin. He raised a brow and you finally let out a laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

“If you have both had your fun,” Jongho’s voice interrupted though he sounded amused- while he couldn’t see what was happening, the audio was enough. “Yeosang’s almost done and you’re still doing god knows what.”

“Sorry, Wooyoung’s having too much fun,” you put the blame on the human and moved along, ignoring the earfull that Jongho started to give Wooyoung. You used the identification card of one of the guards to open the door, finding yourself in the recent archives section of the control room- you didn’t need to tap into the alien parts to hear the chatter from the main room that leaked into this one.

“I’ll keep watch, you can start,” Wooyoung said and you nodded, wasting no time and shutting your eyes, letting the neurons branch out and touch everything in your surroundings- the shelf where hundreds of files were stacked, the numerous hard disks along with paper notes, the walls that contained memories of the people who had touched it recently, the floor where the employees must have walked a million times-

And where Wooyoung stood, and you almost thought your eyes were open when you saw him watching you in awe while staying alert. Despite not wanting to read him without his consent anymore, you saw the brief flash of what was playing in his head right now-

The sight of you slashing at the guards to protect him.

You pushed that scene and the feelings associated with it aside and let the neurons store every bit of information that they could until you started losing your breath and feeling faint- a sign that you couldn’t take it anymore. You thought you heard Wooyoung call your name before you retracted the neurons and rested your back against the wall, catching your breath.

“Too much?” He asked and you nodded, wiping your forehead. 

“We’re done, Jongho,” you said and he hummed in response, letting Yeosang know so he could leave as well. 

“Good job everyone,” Jongho said as you all started to make your way back out. “I’ll serve you all drinks tonight. And maybe sing for you.”

—--------------------------

If you thought Jongho was a good singer, he certainly had competition now. 

Sure, Jongho could move stars with his voice. You always joked that perhaps Jongho was an alien and his voice was his alien characteristic because there was no way a human could sound so powerful and mesmerising.

But perhaps, it was a human thing to sound so captivating, to sing like you intended to break the heart of the listeners and heal it again, to have your voice flow like the honey aliens only heard stories of- something they could describe and perhaps create association with yet only dream of having. Perhaps, it was a human thing to possess a voice that could make you feel like you were floating among the stars as one.

Or maybe… it was just Wooyoung. 

And just you, feeling all of that and more.

You tried reasoning with yourself- you had been hearing Jongho sing since he could speak so it probably didn’t sound so special to you anymore because you were used to it. If you could experience his singing for the first time again, you were sure you would be as blown away as the other person- as Wooyoung was.

But when Wooyoung sang in a voice so soft and mellow, you could feel your heart melt and you felt the sudden urge to sit out on the deck of the spaceship, in the hollow silence of the space and watch the stars.

“No way he’s the same person who sounds like an animal when he talks, right?”

You exhaled in relief when Yeosang said that but you were sure his drunken heart wasn’t as moved as yours was. 

And it didn’t help when Wooyoung locked eyes with you as he sang about the human emotions of longing, sadness, happiness and love. Of sorrow and bitterness, of peace and hope. 

You had been fine for the most part of the night- after returning to the spaceship, the boys started to prepare a meal while you passed out on the couch, surprising Wooyoung who was told that you were just taking a power nap to recover your energy. They woke you up when the table was set and while you ate, you told them that you were still processing the information you had absorbed and nothing you could process so far was relevant. While Yeosang told you all about his ‘adventures’ and how wonderful an actor he is, the room filled with overlapping chatter and laughter with the tinkling sound of your glasses as you drank. 

And now that the humans had been singing for a while, you silently excused yourself with a smile on your face that had been plastered on your face since you woke up. You exited the spaceship and laid down on the deck to watch the endless expanse of the universe. With your hands resting on top of your beating heart, you let your chest rise and fall in synchrony with the glimmering of the stars around you. 

You could hear your own breaths but Wooyoung’s voice still seemed to be ringing in your head and you found yourself smiling again. You recalled when your grandfather had told you stories of his father and his time on Earth- how humans used to sing at gatherings around fire while they ate candies or drank warm beverages. You had never experienced that but you always thought they might have looked strange doing that, until tonight when Jongho and Wooyoung started singing and Yeosang started clapping along- perhaps, this was what it was like to be truly human. To enjoy the little moments in life and make the most of them.

“Now that’s one way to stargaze.”

You almost jumped, letting out a startled sigh and Wooyoung grinned at that. “Can I join you?” 

“Uh, sure,” you patted the space next to you and he settled down, watching you for a moment before he assumed a similar lying position next to you.

“It’s beautiful,” Wooyoung sighed dreamily. “The stars.”

“Sometimes I wonder which of these stars were planets where we lived,” you said. “I think a lot of people here must look and wonder which one of them is their home.”

“It’s a shame how the cycles here work, but isn’t it somewhat relieving to know that the place that was once your home is now all around you? In the form of celestial matter.”

You turned your face sideways to look at him. “Is it though? To know that you have no home anymore?”

“But home is where the heart is,” he smiled, looking at you.

“Do humans still use that phrase on Earth?”

“We’ve always been using it,” he said. “Where did you hear it?”

“From my great grandfather.”

“He’s still alive?” 

“No,” you chuckled. “I have his journals. He missed planet Earth a lot but he said that home is where the heart is and his heart was here with his family. It never made sense to me, though.”

Wooyoung shifted his body to lay down sideways so he could look at you as you talked. “And why is that?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. “Home is a place, not an emotion or a feeling. My home is under the shade of the tree near my house where I grew up.”

“That’s where your heart is,” he told you.

“No, my heart is here,” you patted your chest. “It’s pumping blood.”

“My dear y/n,” he pinched your nose and if you had been sober, you would have smacked him. “Heart is an organ, yes, but it’s also a feeling. You leave a piece of your heart everywhere- back home, with your friends, with the people you lose. It is what makes you a whole person.”

“Still does not make sense to me,” you pouted.

“It will, one day,” he assured you, a knowing look on his face.

“What was your home like?” You asked after a few moments passed.

Wooyoung took a deep breath, folding his arms, his hair beginning to fall sideways slowly. You turned to face him too, unable to resist the urge to tuck them back. He didn’t comment on it, knowing it would remind you of the distance you were always consciously creating. “My home was near the sea- you have it here too, don’t you?”

“Something like that,” you told him, recalling the human sea you had seen flashes of from your great grandfather’s journal. 

“My home was the place where I spent my whole life, where my parents were,” he said and you noted how there was something sad about the way he smiled. “My home is with the friends I left behind, and even though my workplace started resembling a prison… that place is also my home.”

“Was it hard to leave home, knowing you might never go back?”

“Well, I didn’t think too much about it, I trust my navigational skills,” he said and you rolled your eyes. “But yeah. It started feeling like a mistake until I met you guys.”

You nodded- you knew all too well what he was talking about, having felt his loneliness firsthand. “Don’t you want to see your home again?”

“Maybe I’ll go back, but… I think I have a home here with you guys too,” he said cautiously and your brows furrowed as you tried to unravel its meanings. “Don’t you feel like you have a home here too? With the boys?”

You fell silent, pondering over that. “Will you show me your home, Wooyoung?”

“How- oh, with your kitty claws?” 

“I call them neurons, but yes,” you locked eyes with him. “I’ve always wanted to see what Earth looked like from my great grandfather’s mind. His journal doesn’t really give much.”

“What do you want to see?”

“Everything special about planet Earth, and… cats.”

“Cats?” Wooyoung frowned. “I thought you had them here? Yeosang called your neurons kitty claws?”

“It’s just a phrase we adopted from the description of cats and feline creatures we have in his journals,” you told him and he clapped, saying a long ‘ah’ in realisation.

“What about dogs?”

“We have something like that here, but I’d like to see that too,” you smiled.

“Okay, there’s so much to see- do you want to see now?” Wooyoung asked and you shook your head. 

“I’m still processing the information I got from the Space Council. Maybe some other day.”

“Sure, whenever,” Wooyoung said and you watched him for a few moments, the silence surprisingly comfortable.

“Did I scare you earlier?” You finally asked the question that had been weighing on your mind since you came back. “When I attacked the guards?”

Wooyoung stifled a smile. “I think I was more surprised that you went all murder-mode to protect me rather than being scared,” he confessed, “but I won’t lie. It was a little scary.”

You bit your lips, feeling something like guilt wrapping around your heart. Wooyoung inched his hand closer, looking at you for permission before holding your hand and caressing it.

“You don’t scare me,” he admitted, “I don’t care if you are capable of slitting throats with your nails or neurons or whatever they are. I saw how frightened you looked when the guards attacked me. I can’t get that out of my head.”

Now that was new. “Why can’t you get it out of your head?”

“You and your questions,” Wooyoung laughed, bringing your hand closer to inspect. “Hey, your hands look pretty normal. Like human hands. Where do the neurons even come from?”

You showed him by protracting them just a fraction and he wowed, taking both your hands and examining the skin around your nails when they retracted. “Pretty seamless, huh? Can you produce them out of your feet too?”

“Yeah, Yeosang had a wonderful time having me try that,” you laughed at the memory. “I can, but I don’t for obvious reasons.”

“You would look like a frog if you did,” Wooyoung told you.

“What’s a frog?”

“I’ll show you when it’s time, but… I’m scared you won’t like it.”

You narrowed your eyes at him and when he started describing a frog, he finally earned the long due smack, your laughter ringing in the space while Jongho and Yeosang watched from the window.

“Didn’t realise she could laugh like that,” Jongho wiped a fake tear from his eye.

“She laughs with us too,” Yeosang said.

“Oh, you wouldn’t understand,” Jongho waved a hand in dismissal. “Her laugh sounds different.”

“Really?” Yeosang looked at Jongho. “Sounds the same to me.”

“It’s a human thing,” Jongho smiled and Yeosang shook his head at that, knowing all too well what he was talking about.

—---------------------------

“We have a big fucking problem, guys.”

All three heads turned dramatically in succession and you looked away, suddenly feeling overwhelmed.

“Did you finish processing already?” Jongho asked and you nodded, slumping down on the couch next to Yeosang who had been pretending to take a nap. The younger two, who had been playing some board game that Wooyoung had been teaching the boys, rolled their chairs in front of you and you nervously fiddled with the sleeves of your black shirt.

“Yeah, I sped things up and… do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

The boys exchanged glances and everyone agreed on the good news first. You took a deep breath, “The Space Council has identified all of us and are sending out ‘wanted’ posters. They know we stole information and they’ve put a bounty on us.”

“That’s the good news?” Yeosang looked just about as horrified as the rest of them. You let out a short laugh.

“Congrats on officially being labelled space criminals now, I guess?” You offered and Jongho groaned loudly, muttering something about how his parents were going to kill him, bounty or not. “Now, the bad news?”

“Go ahead,” Jongho muttered, folding his arms in bitter resignation.

“Well, I don’t know how bad it is but they have secrets that they’ve hidden so well that even I couldn’t read them,” you started and Yeosang whistled at that. “I kept hitting a dead end whenever I came across something related to Star 1117, and there’s absolutely no way of locating the planet- not that they know of, or if they do know, they’re hiding it a bit too well.” 

“So was our attempt futile after all?” Wooyoung asked.

“Not really- it means that they do know a lot about Star 1117- at least the higher-ups. They’re just hiding it from everyone else.”

“Why are they keeping it to themselves? Do they want to keep Star 1117 all for themselves when the time comes?” Jongho questioned. “Do they not want the rest of us finding out?”

“Or maybe they don’t really know a lot and are just as clueless as us,” Yeosang offered. “Did you find something about how to locate it?”

“I think radio waves are our best option, so Wooyoung’s radio will have to do. I have something that can help with that, so let’s just track whoever is sending us that message and get answers from them?” You suggested.

“Sounds like a plan. We’re already working on using the radio as a navigational device so let us know what needs to be done next,” Yeosang agreed.

“Sure. There’s also something strange I came across,” you added, “but I don’t know if it’s of any value.”

“Let’s hear it anyway,” Jongho leaned forward in anticipation.

“You know the stories about the first aliens in this galaxy? The Original Nexi who are supposedly the first aliens in this galaxy?” 

“Yeah, that bloodline still exists, right?” Jongho asked, having recalled hearing rumours about them. “The Original Nexi who are born, grow up until a certain age and then start ageing backwards until they die?” 

“The humans would love to hear their secrets by the way,” Wooyoung looked both ashamed and proud of his people at that moment.

“Yeah, so,” you continued. “I think the first aliens are from Star 1117- that’s what I read in one of the files. That must mean the planet exists. If we can find one of the Original Nexi descendants who are alive today, we might be able to get some information about Star 1117. Maybe some of them even live there and we just haven’t been able to find them. Maybe that is why they’re trying so hard to hide the planet.”

“Woah,” Jongho exhaled deeply. “Now that’s news.”

“Yeah,” you sighed, a sombre silence taking over while all of you collected your thoughts. You decided to break the silence and give them a heads-up. “Since we’ll be wanted criminals now, let’s cut all contact with the station and destroy any tracking devices on this spaceship. Jongho, I trust you can take care of that?”

Jongho nodded and you continued. “Yeosang, please make sure our families are safe when they go to investigate- make sure they know that it might get messy so they can defend themselves if need be, okay?”

“I’ll let our friends know too- especially people we’ve been in contact with recently,” he said in a grim voice and you agreed, the realisation that you would all be in danger soon washing over you with a crash and you involuntarily shivered. Yeosang patted your back. You glanced at Wooyoung who had an unreadable expression on his face.

“We’ll do everything we can,” Wooyoung assured you and you nodded in answer. “Let’s speed up our radio navigation first.”

You agreed and got up, moving towards the control panel with Jongho, and Wooyoung looked at Yeosang, wiggling his brows.

“I guess my role is still chef?”

Yeosang chuckled. “You can keep doing whatever you’ve been doing. Kind of like an anchor, don’t you think?” 

Wooyoung was pretty pleased to hear that, immediately cheering up at Yeosang’s acknowledgement of his role as an ‘anchor’ when he had previously been referred to things like ‘maid’, ‘comic relief’ and worse. He disappeared into the kitchen knowing he didn’t have a lot of time before he would be called to help with the navigation.

And it was about an hour later that the smell of meat prompted everyone to drop what they were doing and join Wooyoung at the table. The meal was mostly silent, all of you feeling spent now that there was a threat hanging over your heads. Wooyoung could feel the palpable stress in the air but let you all have a moment to yourselves. After clearing the table, he was called to help with the navigation and he worked in harmony with Jongho and you, the hours passing by in a blink and sleep forgotten until-

“A signal!” Wooyoung shouted, making you and Yeosang get up with surprised grunts from your half-asleep state while Jongho high-fived him. 

“And, it’s gone- but it was there,” Jongho quickly input the readings into the radar and got a location. “Just a few tem-nex units away, should take us a few days.”

“Brilliant,” you felt hopeful all of a sudden, laughing in relief as you looked at Wooyoung in gratitude. He smiled in return, hand on his chest as he nodded. Yeosang clapped dramatically when Jongho started to yawn, making the two giggle and you got up, looking at the time.

“I think we should set our route and get some sleep, all of us. It was a long day,” you said and everyone agreed, Jongho immediately taking his place on the couch, pushing Yeosang away with little kicks.

“Go to your own room and get some sleep,” he said. “I’ll sleep here in case something fishy happens.”

“Alright, geez,” Yeosang rubbed his thighs, the youngest smiling as he swaddled the blanket. Yeosang saluted you and Wooyoung mockingly before going to his room.

“Want a drink, Captain?” Wooyoung offered and you gave him the side-eye. 

“Shouldn’t you go to sleep?”

“The adrenaline will take some time to wear off,” he explained and you shrugged. “I’d really like to take the drinks outside this time, and I could do with some company, unless you’re too tired?”

You decided to join- you could do with a drink and some company too, you reckoned. It had been a stressful few hours and your nap hadn’t helped at all- you kept thinking about whether you had been too reckless and doomed your friends and family by infiltrating the council and stealing top secret information. Sure, it could be justified- the government was all but dooming the people with the way they were handling things. If this really was the 1116th cycle, they had done little to nothing to prevent an apocalypse and the people were still in the dark about the ensuing damage which could be anywhere from just Star 1116’s collapse to the whole Temporal Nexus galaxy swallowing itself.

And you had never felt so worthless. You were merely a speck of dust in this vast galaxy and everything that you were doing to save it looked like it was all in vain.

“Cheer up, eh?” Wooyoung said as he clinked his bottle with yours. “It will be okay. We’ll be fine.”

You had to admit, you were rather impressed by his ability to read the room or the emotions of someone. He did it better than you could with your neurons and that was saying something. 

“I just feel like I’m going in circles. It’s not the first time we’ve received a signal that indicated that we might be close to Star 1117, but it’s the first time I’ve felt hope. I don’t know what I will do if it turns out to be nothing.”

Wooyoung hummed in thought. “If it turns out to be nothing, you’ll try again, just like you have for so long now. You won’t give up.”

“I know I won’t give up,” you nodded. “I want to do anything to make sure Star 1116 stays like it is, even if… even if I can’t ever go live there again.”

And perhaps, it was that possibility that had been weighing you down all along- what if you were chasing after something you shouldn’t and risking your chance of ever going back home? What if your last memory of Star 1116 would be when you got drafted as space patrol?

You recalled that day- just another morning with you munching on some snacks while you worked at the office with Yeosang and Jongho. The three of you had always been a unit even in the Space Centre in Star 1116. Your unit was the one in charge of detecting foreign matter around your planet but you were always abusing your power- since you had access to a lot of devices and archives, you were conducting your own research about Star 1117 which almost everyone was aware of. It wasn’t something you did secretly anyway.

But even though you saw it coming, the notice that your unit was transferred to Space Patrol still made your heart sink. You went to the superiors to have them change it- Jongho and Yeosang shouldn’t be dragged into something that you insisted on doing, but the two were already there trying to do the same for you. The three of you laughed like fools afterwards as you processed what this meant-

That you were on to something and the Space Centre did not want you snooping around anymore. That was how you ended up harbouring spite for the Space Council and continuing your mission in secret. It had been a long and lonely journey for the three of you but at least you had each other. And with Wooyoung’s addition to the crew… 

Things had definitely changed for the better.

“I can understand,” Wooyoung smiled wistfully. “I didn’t exactly leave Earth on good terms either. It was quite a similar situation as yours- I would have been imprisoned for trying to expose state secrets if I had stayed any longer, so I just decided to sneak away and collect evidence about their dealings with Star 1116 and their plans for Star 1117. I feel sorry for the people I left behind- they must be dealing with my mess.”

You recalled hearing about his friends earlier- he seemed to worry about them a lot. “Do you want to go back… once you collect your evidence?”

Wooyoung shook his head. “Do you think I’ve been doing my job ever since I met you?”

“Well, I didn’t stop you from doing what you needed to do,” you muttered and he laughed.

“Look… there’s no way I’m going to go back to Earth and tell them that you exist. You’re the evidence I was trying to find, and… I’d rather keep you all to myself.”

“Jung Wooyoung,” you warned but he only took a few chugs of his beer in response. You crossed your legs, shifting to face him.

“I understand how much home means to a person, and I wouldn’t want to be someone who prevents you from going home and clearing the name of your friends. Please, I already feel guilty as it is…”

“Look, I came here to find out if the humans that got lost here were still communicating with my people back on Earth, right?” Wooyoung began. “Turns out those humans had morals after all, from what you told me. They never betrayed the aliens here and lived in harmony with the rest of the aliens here. They made a home here. Isn’t that beautiful?”

“And what about Star 1117?” You asked and Wooyoung’s lips tightened in a smile. “What have you been trying to find about Star 1117?”

“Well, you know why they sent your great grandfather and his group to the Temporal Nexus. Humans have always been in search of anything they can get their hands on; they're greedy like that. Be it slowing the ageing process or finding another planet that they can make their home. After all, Earth will collapse one day. In the solar system, they haven’t had much luck so they’ve always been secretly exploring other galaxies.”

“Is that such a bad thing?” You asked. “We’re the same. Our planet collapses and we go live on another.”

“But you take everyone with you, don’t you?” Wooyoung asked grimly and you frowned in confusion. “You do not leave your people to die, do you?”

You shook your head in denial and when he sighed, you had your answer. 

“Are humans that selfish?” 

Wooyoung stretched his arms, a melancholic smile plastered on his face. “Sometimes. Not all of them, I like to believe. It’s just the power that makes them lose their morals.”

“I guess it’s the same here then,” you shrugged. “The Space Council does not want us finding any information on Star 1117.”

“I have a feeling that they have a good reason for that. Let’s hope I’m right,” he settled the empty bottle on the deck. Yours was still half full and in your hands. You watched Wooyoung trace shapes on the surface of the deck, his dark hair falling down on his forehead. 

“Will you show me your home?” 

Wooyoung looked up at you in surprise. “Now?”

“I feel like this is the moment that I should read you,” you answered in all honesty and he looked a little confused but agreed anyway. You scooted closer and raised your hands in front of him. He awkwardly raised his own, intertwining them with yours before he realised-

“Oh, the forehead, right?” He was about to pull his hands away when you let the neurons extend and wrap around his hands, effectively binding them to yours and Wooyoung raised a brow in response, speechless for once. You stifled a smile and let the neurons wrap along the bulge of veins in his arms, the silver branches sneaking under his sleeves and taking shape along his collarbones before appearing on his neck.

When you felt Wooyoung stiffen just a fraction, you stopped, the neurons curling around his neck. You couldn’t help but notice how beautiful he looked with the silver branches on him, and it awoke a spark deep inside you. You almost felt breathless, as did he, before you asked him the one question that would make or break this moment.

“Did I scare you?”

Wooyoung looked at you for a few moments too long, watching your pupils contract and dilate in anticipation, silver like the extension of you around him. And he asked himself-

Was he scared of you? Did the idea of being so exposed to you make him want to cower away? Did he not like the way you had him trapped under you? Did he not appreciate that you were still asking for permission? 

Weren’t you only human too? Figuring out these unfamiliar feelings just like he was? 

Wooyoung decided to take a leap of faith in you and tightened his hold around your hands in answer- you had read him for a long time when he was first brought in your spaceship but that was a wholly different experience from this moment. This was so much more intimate with darkness enveloping the space, the stars twinkling like an endless glimmer around you, and the shift in your relationship now that you had warmed up to each other. 

A different way than he had warmed up to the boys, he noticed. 

“I’m not scared,” he caressed your hands in answer. “I told you before- you don’t scare me, y/n.”

You smiled in response and let the curled branches extend along his temples, wrapping around his head like a crown. You wished he could see himself in that moment, but you shut your eyes as he pushed his memories to you.

Earth. 

So different from the Earth that you had seen in your great grandfather’s memories. There was more architecture- tall greyscale buildings that threatened to touch the sky. Where was the green grass? Why did the sky no longer seem as blue as it had in the Earth that you had seen?

Suddenly, you saw exactly that- a sky of fluffy clouds with rays of sun emerging through it and painting the lush fields of grass yellow. You saw the flowers that you always loved- the same roses and daisies from your memories. There was the sound of water in the distance- waves. It had to be waves. There was the sound of a woman calling Wooyoung’s name and you looked into the distance at the small cottage. Someone zoomed past you and you twirled around again, taking a scared step back as you saw a little ball of black fur-

A cat.

A startled laugh left your lips as the cat rubbed its soft body on your bare legs. You picked it up and kissed the top of its head before running towards the smell of food- Wooyoung’s food- no, his mother’s food. The person he learned to cook from, the taste that he carried in his hands. 

The scene shifted yet again and this time, your legs were submerged in water and you looked around in confusion- why was the water falling from the sky? You craned your neck upwards to find that it was not the sky where the water was coming from but the top of a mountain, the stream crashing against deep brown rocks just like the one you sat on, a green carpet around it- moss, it was called. You had a stick in your hand and before you could figure out what to do with it, you felt two taps on your shoulders. You turned around to see a child who had a stick just like yours with a tiny creature lodged in it, threatening to fall on the ground. Scared, you cupped your hands and let the creature take refuge in your palm. You watched it carefully, the dark green bulge of its throat rising and falling in quick successions, and its tiny, webbed feet-

A frog. 

You were laughing as the frog jumped out of your palm and landed on the rock near you, joining its own little gang of friends. You washed your hands with the cool water and splashed it on the children around you.

This was what it was like to be a kid on Earth. 

You opened your eyes and saw Wooyoung smiling widely. He grinned before he asked, “Did you see it?”

“I did,” you pouted. “And I do not look like a frog, Wooyoung. Shame on you.”

Wooyoung laughed loudly, squeezing your hands subconsciously. “What else did you see?”

“Well, I saw a cat, thank you very much for that,” you smiled. “I could smell food- your mother cooked for you, right? It smells just like your food.”

“Really?” He seemed pleased to hear that.

“Exactly like that,” you confirmed. “And… I saw tall buildings. What was that?”

“That was the city where I lived before I came here, where I moved to after I grew up.”

“It looked… void of life,” you told him and he agreed. “Earth has changed.”

“We call it ‘modernised’,” he shrugged. “But yeah. Earth has changed, and so have its people.”

“Do you want to see my home someday?” You asked, beginning to retract your neurons and he shivered slightly. “It’s not much, but it’s definitely something like the Earth that my great grandfather left behind. And I wish I could show you like you showed me, but… you can see it in person.”

“You’d take me to Star 1116?” He asked in surprise.

“Yeah, well, don’t think I’m doing it for you,” You started and he scoffed. “It looks like we’ll have to go anyway- at least to warn the people if things don’t work out.”

“Well,” Wooyoung kept his hands intertwined with yours even after your neurons were fully retracted. “I’m not one to give false hope but let’s not give up and stay optimistic about this, okay?”

You nodded and looked at his hands that fit so well with yours, and you found yourself thinking how truly incredible it was to be this fascinated by such a simple thing as your hands in someone else’s. And that led you to think about how much you had changed since you met the human from Earth.

Wooyoung seemed to have noticed that you were deep in thought and he leaned down a bit to enter your vision, gently asking, “What are you thinking?”

You looked at his deep brown eyes that glinted with mischief and curiosity as he held your gaze. You let your eyes travel along the slope of his nose, pausing at his parted lips that were starting to curve into a smirk.

“I’m thinking you’re too close,” you muttered, pushing him back but he only pulled you closer which induced a startled gasp from you. 

You sucked in your breath just as quickly when he caressed your knuckles with his thumb before planting a kiss on both your hands. He then proceeded to look at you, his gaze almost darkening.

“Too close?” He asked, almost as a challenge. You were too surprised to answer, an unfamiliar but pleasant feeling pooling in your stomach. 

“Let go of my hands before I chop your hands into pieces,” you warned and he immediately let go, raising his hands in surrender and he would have thought that you were serious were it not for the laugh that you let out afterwards.

“And you said I don’t scare you?” You scoffed. “Try harder, Wooyoung.”

“Hey,” he scoffed back in utter disbelief. “You played dirty. I cherish my hands, okay? If you shred my hands into pieces I can’t do this-”

He grabbed your wrist and pulled you close- a bit too close, so that your faces were mere centimetres apart. Your eyes widened in surprise and when his initial surprise wore off, he tilted his head a bit, his eyes scanning your face and looking for any signs of apprehension. Upon finding none, he proceeded to cup your face with his other hand.

“If you hurt my hands, I can’t hold you like this, can I?” He whispered.

“Wooyoung-” you began but he shook his head, planting a chaste kiss on your forehead and grinning cheekily afterwards, making you smile shyly. 

“I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” he said, letting go and scooting away this time. “Don’t go all kitty claws on me please-”

This time, you decided to show him just what Yeosang had meant when he called your hands kitty claws. If it was the planet Earth, or even Star 1116, his shrieks and laughter would have woken creatures from their deep slumber.

But since it was just your spaceship, it only made Jongho and Yeosang grunt in their sleep and his voice was lost to the stars.

—------------------------

“This is insanity,” you managed to say, your breaths quickening with every second as you monitored the radar, watching not one, not two, but three patrol spaceships enter the range of your spaceship, quickly covering the distance behind you.

“We’re running away, right?” Jongho asked but didn’t wait for the answer, pressing a button and activating the speed boost, though that did nothing to calm you. You climbed up to the dome to take a look at your surroundings, zooming through the glasses that all of you had on since you spotted a spaceship following you. 

A number of things had happened in the last few days which led you to this point, so close to finding out the source of the signal Wooyoung had been receiving on his radio. Your names were circulated among all the residents of the Temporal Nexus with a significant bounty on your head, and even Wooyoung’s face was plastered on the ‘wanted’ posters. That prompted you all to cut contact with everyone including your family and acquaintances, though Yeosang had sent a warning to the families and assured them that you would be okay. However, the anxiety that came with the possibility that you all might not ever be able to go back home gnawed at all of you.

For now, there were more important matters. Jongho worked on camouflaging the spaceship as best as possible while the rest of you worked on tracing the signal to the most accurate location, finding yourself in unfamiliar territories. The Temporal Nexus was a vast galaxy and your spaceship was well-equipped so it allowed you to cover a great amount of distance in a short amount of time but there were some spaces in the galaxy that were considered ‘red zones’ or unsafe, to put it simply. These spaces were usually considered to be a hotspot for mysterious, unexplainable spatial activity and it was thought to be the points where a planet may have completed its orbit in time, resulting in a ‘tear’ in space. To the naked eye, it would seem like a mass of vividly coloured gases with little electrical sparks emerging from it. All the residents of the Temporal Nexus knew to avoid it-

But the residents of Temporal Nexus weren’t nosy like you were. And how could you ignore it when the signal was coming right from that point? It was only a matter of time before the Space Patrol around the red zones would detect your spaceship and be on your tail-

And here you were. Just a few hundred tem-nex units away from the red zone, from the source of your signal, the Space Patrol quickly catching up, the boys preparing to attack while you monitored the situation- it was just an excuse to take a breather and think where did it all start going so wrong. If you got arrested now, it would be the end.

“Captain?” Jongho called. “We’re closing up on the red zone. What do we do?”

“We can’t steer around it, can we?” You asked grimly, climbing down and going to look at the map that highlighted all the red zones in the galaxy- there were about eight red zones in your proximity alone and the only clear path was your way back which was now crowded with space patrols.

“Not really- I don’t think we can lose them,” Jongho took a deep breath.

“I say we keep going,” Wooyoung said. He had been monitoring the radio which started malfunctioning as soon as you entered the range of the red zone. “We’re getting signals from there- all the messages we got are from that mass,” he pointed at the blue cloud of gas not far from you now. 

“It’s dangerous,” Yeosang shook his head. “There’s no telling what could happen once we enter that mass.”

“Only one way to find out,” Wooyoung’s lip curved in a smirk. “I have a feeling there’s a reason the space patrol is hell bent on catching us before we reach the red zone, and it’s not our safety.”

“Makes sense,” Jongho agreed. “There have been instances of people trying to get to one of the red zones but never have the space patrol been so active in trying to stop them. Usually one ship is enough.” 

“We are wanted criminals,” you reminded them. “They have a reason.”

“And what’s the reason?” Wooyoung asked. “That you almost found out information about Star 1117’s location? And now you’re going to the red zone? Hell, if I had to say, it would look like you’re on the right path.”

Yeosang exchanged glances with you- Wooyoung was on to something. It made sense- if you had tried stealing information about any other thing, perhaps the Space Council wouldn’t have reacted so brashly. 

“Alright, forwards we go,” you announced and Jongho nodded, immediately going back to steering the spaceship. “But if at any point we feel like it’s dangerous, we’re going back, space patrol or not.”

“Got it,” Jongho grinned, speeding up the ship once again. You went back to the dome to activate the shield, deciding not to go on the offensive for as long as you could manage- you didn’t want more charges added to your criminal record.

For a few moments, all of you focused on your tasks- Yeosang blasting any rocket that came your way, Jongho focusing on entering the red zone while Wooyoung assisted him, monitoring the radio. You gave directions from the dome, silently praying that this mission would not be a futile one when you heard the familiar static noise from the broken radio. 

Immediately, all of you were hovering around Wooyoung and watching the radio try to display a message on its screen but failing to. It looked like something was disrupting its signals.

“It has to be because we’re near, right?” Wooyoung looked up at you and you nodded. 

“Keep following the source- I’m going to try and get readings from outside,” you told them but before you could move and anyone else could verbally stop you, Wooyoung grabbed your wrist.

“Don’t go outside. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m only opening the dome,” you told him gently, your heart clutching at the sight of worry in his eyes- for you. “I’ll be right here.”

Wooyoung hesitantly let you go and you gave him a small smile before going back up and opening the dome, taking a little peek out. You rested your palms on the surface of the exterior and let the neurons spread around the spaceship so you could read the air and the surroundings- it didn’t always work but sometimes when there was something foreign in the air, you could read it.

“We’re entering the red zone in front of us in about two minutes, Captain,” Jongho warned. “You sure you want to be out?” 

“I’ll be fine- it’s not dangerous,” you assured him but still shut the dome halfway in case you would have to retreat in an emergency.

However, nothing could have prepared you for what happened next. 

Jongho announced that you were going to enter the zone in about thirty seconds and Yeosang positioned himself beside you with his gun. The two of you were covering the back of the spaceship when the air around you turned foggy, indicating that you were in the red zone’s range. You were just trying to get a reading when you saw something from the corner of your eye-

“Jongho!” You warned but it was too late- another spaceship came out of nowhere from within the red zone and hit the back of your spaceship so that Jongho lost control of the steering. The impact of the collision made your spaceship swerve dangerously to the left, making it spin. Yeosang lost his footing and unceremoniously landed down, shouting in warning and you retracted your neurons just in time to draw your hands back before the domed window fell back in its place. You would have fallen in a painful position but Yeosang managed to catch you just in time, though the rocking of your spaceship still made your head bang against the ladder rather painfully.

“I got it!” Jongho shouted and managed to stabilise the ship, and the gasp that he let out when he finally got a clear view outside made you wonder if something had gone wrong-

But Wooyoung looked just as speechless. Yeosang helped you up, making sure you were okay before you two joined them to look at the scene outside-

It was the same pitch black darkness of the space, void of any stars but surrounded by the blue masses of gas. And right at the centre was a small, glowing thing- it was too far to make out its shape but it looked like a rock from afar.

“Are we inside the red zone?” You asked in confusion.

“We crossed it, and now we’re inside the space surrounded by the red zones,” Jongho settled back in his seat in surprise. 

“And we’re getting a proper signal- look,” Wooyoung managed to add amidst the confusion of the situation, pointing at Jongho’s device that you had used to track the signal from Wooyoung’s radio. 

“There’s no one following us anymore” Yeosang went to check from the dome as if he couldn’t believe the radar readings. “We’re alone here.”

“Did you see the ship that crashed with ours?” You asked and Yeosang shook his head in denial. “Damage report?”

“Minor, nothing to be worried about for now,” Jongho assured. “So? Do we inspect that? Why is it glowing like that?”

You looked at the luminous thing in the middle of the space- this couldn’t be Star 1117, right? It was too small to be a planet. Was Yeosang right then? Was this just a byproduct rock or mass of the star that was once a planet?

“Before we go,” you began, a suspicion gnawing at you. “Let me read the collision real quick. There’s something odd about the spaceship that collided with ours.”

“Right? We didn’t detect it on the radar,” Jongho said. 

“That might have been because of whatever was messing with the radio signals?” Wooyoung suggested but you weren’t sure. You went back to climb the ladder that led to the dome and this time, you sat outside on the surface while you protracted the neurons to read.

And what you saw made cold wash all over you- you must have let out a surprised sound because Yeosang was outside with you, his eyes filled with worry.

“It can’t be,” you shook your head. Nothing made sense anymore. 

“What is it?” Yeosang asked. “Tell me.”

“It was our spaceship,” you told him and he frowned in confusion. “I saw our spaceship- this exact one.”

“That’s impossible,” Yeosang shook his head. “Maybe you’re wrong?”

“I’ve never been wrong,” a grim realisation started to dawn on you and you beckoned him to follow you down. “It wasn’t detected on our radar because it’s our spaceship. And it must have crashed with ours to bring us here, to this point.”

“Are you thinking… duplicates? Time travel?” Jongho looked at you in disbelief. “I could call you crazy if we weren’t here right now, but… you know those are just theories, right?”

“You can choose not to believe me,” you said, understanding his point, “But I know what I saw.”

“Time travel in the Temporal Nexus, huh?” Wooyoung scratched his chin in thought. “Isn’t that what Temporal Nexus means in the first place? A point where different timelines intersect?”

“That refers to the points in our galaxy when the cycle of one planet comes to a completion right when the cycle of another planet begins,” Yeosang said, his eyes narrowing in thought. “Unless…”

“Unless your Space Council decided that’s what you all should know?” Wooyoung smiled knowingly. “Just like they didn’t tell you about that thing? About the red zones? About Star 1117? About Star 1118?”

“Let’s just… inspect that first before we start drawing conclusions,” Jongho said weakly and you all agreed, taking a seat next to the two. You sat next to Wooyoung and looked at him- could he be right?

He seemed to understand exactly what you were feeling, and when he slid his hand in yours, you didn’t draw away. You held it and squeezed it back. You needed that.

And it seemed like he needed that more when you started getting closer to the luminous form and realised that it looked more like a person than a rock or a star.

“Am I… going crazy?” Jongho asked, pressing the side of his glasses to zoom in, “or is that a literal fucking person hovering in the middle of space?”

“Are you sure that’s our source?” Yeosang sounded doubtful as he looked at Wooyoung who was beyond speechless, for once. You checked for him and sure enough, you were on the right path.

“Stop the spaceship,” you said when you saw the figure move and Jongho immediately did. The figure- person- turned around and all of you wowed and cursed under your breaths. 

“That’s just… an Original Nexi, right?” Yeosang stood up to get a better view, prompting Jongho to continue approaching the figure. “Apart from the… glowing part.”

It sure looked like one- it had the characteristic androgynous appearance of one, with a stone etched under one eye like a teardrop. Jongho stopped the spaceship and looked at you.

“Are we inviting them in or are you going out?”

“No way that thing steps inside,” Yeosang shivered involuntarily. “I don’t want my spaceship glowing and sticking out like a sore thumb.”

“I’m pretty sure the glowing isn’t contagious,” Jongho laughed. “But he’s right. It’s better if the two of you go out. We humans can chill and watch, right, Wooyoung?”

“Right,” he sank lower in his seat. “You’re on your own, sweethearts.”

Yeosang scowled at the human before extending his hand for you. 

“Don’t even try to read that thing,” Wooyoung warned in a low voice. You pursed your lips in answer before you joined Yeosang, exiting the spaceship from the dome and climbing down at the shaft that Jongho had opened for you to stand on. 

You were now facing the figure, standing tall and powerful- there was no way this was just one of the Original Nexi- this person and everything about their presence was making you want to sink to your knees. 

“Ah… how many times have we crossed paths now?” Its voice, smooth as silk, sounded inside you. Startled, you looked at Yeosang who was just as shocked, if not more.

“I don’t think we have crossed paths…” you narrowed your eyes as the person smiled knowingly. “Who are you?”

“I take it you got the message, then? It must be our first time meeting,” the person sighed as if the weight of the world was crushing it down. You noticed how up close, the glow from its skin wasn’t as obvious- perhaps, you were engulfed in it now. 

“Who are you?” Yeosang asked. “And how are you here, like this?”

“Who do you think?” It asked, positioning itself so it looked like it was perched on an invisible surface. “You are looking for Star 1118, right?”

“And how do you know that?” You asked. This time, there was no apprehension in your voice but simply curiosity and wonder. 

“Because I am the one you have been looking for,” the smile on its lips was so sad that it made you want to cry. “I am the one you saved and the one you let go of. I am the beginning and the end of this Temporal Nexus- I am Temporal Nexus, in its truest form. I am what you call Star 1117, and what you will call Star 1118 if you make the mistake of saving me.”

This time, your knees did go weak and Yeosang let out a gasp, utterly astounded. The person just watched you both with eyes that were both apologetic and full of resentment.

“Star 1117… is a person?” You breathed. 

“Not really,” Star 1117 shrugged, the golden long hair flowing like a halo around its figure. “Just one of my forms. Just one of my names.”

“I don’t understand,” you said, turning to look at Jongho and Wooyoung who were listening in to your conversation from inside, both equally dumbfounded.

“Sweet child of the Nexi,” Star 1117 began. “I am the Temporal Nexus. I am all the stars in this galaxy and their cycle. I am the Original Nexi, the very first, and all of you are my descendants. At this moment, I am Star 1117- Star 1116’s cycle is almost complete and as a cycle comes to completion, I start assuming the next form. This is my final form, for the final cycle- there are no planets anymore- not after 1116.”

You did not know for how long you simply watched the person’s figure shimmer as if it was also a mass of gas- perhaps, if you touched it, your hand would pass right through its form. You and Yeosang stood in shock, trying to process your thoughts.

Star 1117 was a person, not a planet. This being was the core of the Temporal Nexus.

“If you are the Temporal Nexus,” Yeosang began, glancing at you for a moment before continuing, “you must be the past and the present. Isn’t the last cycle supposed to be the 1117th?”

“As the fates have intended, yes,” Star 1117 nodded. “And you’re out here to change that. In fact, you do. You find a way to save me and have the Temporal Nexus live its 1118th cycle. But that is where everything goes wrong,” the person smiled in a melancholic manner. “The Temporal Nexus is supposed to die with its intended last cycle. If you try to change the design of the universe, the universe finds a way to retaliate.”

“‘Do not save 1118’,” you quoted. “Why?”

“Because you triggered not only the end of the Temporal Nexus but the end of the galaxies surrounding me!” Star 1117’s voice boomed this time, making you clutch Yeosang’s hand. “The solar system is next- it will swallow in on itself, before its intended time. There will only be an end and no beginnings anymore.”

“That’s impossible,” you shook your head in disbelief. “You sent a message- to not save 1118. That means you were alive.”

“Oh, I was alive long enough to find a way to make things right,” Star 1117 smirked. “The human in your spaceship- it is he who sent my message. It is him who crashed into your spaceship just now so you made it here- it is him who gave us another chance to make things right and not make selfish decisions.”

You turned to look at Wooyoung who had an incredulous look on his face as he pointed at himself. You turned back to the Original Nexi.

“How?” Yeosang asked.

“In the time when I’m 1118, I’m weak and I fall,” Star 1117 admitted grimly. “The human who never made it to Star 1117 and never met any of you found my weak form. With his help, we formed the last link to the past and here we are. He does not remember because it is not him- it is the person who crashed his spaceship in yours. His origin and conclusion will remain to be unknown until you make a decision- save me, which will lead me to the human on Earth, or let me go, which will take us to a new path- perhaps, one where the world doesn’t end like that.”

“It was our spaceship that crashed into us,” you said.

“And I always wondered how he came to possess it,” Star 1117 sighed. “I hope you make the decision that leads to that moment in this timeline.”

“The decision to let you go?” You scoffed. “We will have no home- what about all of the Nexi? Aren’t they your children? Do you not care for them?”

“I do. But I have lived long enough, and I have seen what happens if you try to save your galaxy. Do not make the mistakes you have made so many times now,” Star 1117 almost pleaded. “Do not save me. Save yourselves.”

“I will save my home and the people who matter to me,” you said through gritted teeth. Yeosang put a warning hand on your shoulder but you shook it off. “You are the Temporal Nexus. You can’t die like this- you can’t take away my world- our world,” you motioned at the boys inside the spaceship. “I will find a way to save you and the galaxy.”

With that, you turned on your heels, not waiting for Yeosang. You were far too overwhelmed to think or care. 

“There is no other way. You have tried everything. You have failed every time.”

Star 1117’s words were lost to space. Yeosang stood awkwardly, wanting to follow you inside but having too many questions of his own to do that. He turned to the being. 

“If you are the Original Nexi, does that not mean that you grow old and young like your descendants?”

“I did, in the beginning, when I was young. When I was Star 1,” Star 1117 smiled. “After a certain time, when I started approaching my end, I got stuck in this miserable state, unable to age and unable to do anything but exist and die a little with each cycle,” the star raised its hand, proving that indeed, there was a translucence to its body indicating the weariness that dripped from its voice in a physical form. “Your people- the Space Council- they protected me and tried to help me, but to no avail. They realise that there is no answer to this. Some things are meant to die at their time, Kang Yeosang. Tell your friends that I have suffered enough for this world.”

—-------------------------------

You must be human, you thought, because you couldn’t stop crying.

Ever since the conversation with Star 1117, you had been overwhelmed to no end. You came back to the spaceship and shut yourself in your room. You knew the boys let you have your space for a while but it was Jongho who came to knock on your door first. 

“Captain? You alright in there?”

You didn’t respond though you were pretty sure he could hear your sniffles. He continued. “I’m not exiting the red zone until you’re out, okay? Until I have your orders. Take your time, I understand.”

You muttered a thank you and that was enough for Jongho. It was Yeosang who came next to check on you.

“All that talk about not being as emotional as a human. Tsk tsk. Look at you,” Yeosang said, attempting to lighten the mood. You did let out a dark chuckle though that only made you cry some more. 

“Come on. Tell me what’s got you crying so much.”

“I just need a few minutes,” you told him. “I’m sorry for being a mess.”

“It’s okay- just… come to us if it’s too much, okay? You’re not alone.”

You knew that. You were not alone, however, you had never felt more lonely. And you were starting to realise why-

You had subconsciously read Star 1117. While Star 1117 had been making all those claims, your neurons protracted just a fraction. The luminous light around you was a part of the being after all-

And all you got to read was pain. Extreme pain- not the physical kind, but the one that weighed on your soul. You felt utter loneliness- one that crushed you like nothing else. You felt the urge to cease existing but also felt helplessness like nothing else. No wonder Star 1117 had sounded so weary. You couldn’t imagine being in its place.

But then… what about your home? What about your people? What guarantee was there that you could all make it safely out of the Temporal Nexus when the last cycle comes to a conclusion? You had only one purpose in life ever since you understood how your home would die in your lifetime- and that was to prevent it. If you could not stop the unavoidable, you would have liked to have found a new home-

But there would be no home in the Temporal Nexus anymore. This spaceship was not a home. Space pods were not home- besides, you would have to find a place in another galaxy. What if you were never welcomed anywhere anymore? What if your family and friends refused to leave this galaxy?

You must have stopped crying a while ago, staring endlessly at the plain ceiling when a knock sounded. You had no energy to hum a response. The door clicked open and someone peeked in.

“I’m coming in,” Wooyoung announced, sitting next to you on the floor in a similar crouching position, your backs against the wall.

“Drink some water- please,” Wooyoung requested and you finally spared him a glance, taking the water bottle and drinking a few gulps.

The water from Star 1116. That was your home.

“Did you finally process all of it?” Wooyoung asked.

“I don’t know what to do,” you told him, “I’m so lost.”

“You read Star 1117, didn’t you?” Wooyoung asked gently, already knowing the answer. He couldn’t help but slide closer when you nodded with an absolutely heartbreaking expression, tears in your eyes. He intertwined his hand with yours and let you rest your head on his shoulder- he could tell you were tired but he needed to tell you something too.

He told you that he went outside to have a conversation with Star 1117, and he told you what he learned from it- specifically about Star 1118 and Wooyoung’s role in all of this.

“The Temporal Nexus is the point where the past, the present and the future meet,” Wooyoung explained, his voice uncharacteristically soft. “In the past, there was an alien girl who was half-human but had beef with her own human counterpart. Her name was y/n-”

“Wooyoung-” you warned though the two of you shared a chuckle over that. 

“She was the captain of her little crew, with Jongho the human driver, and Yeosang the pretty alien… fighter? Engineer? What even is his role?”

“We don’t have roles, we just… make do with what we can do,” you shook your head. “But carry on.”

“Right. So, the Captain learns that Star 1116’s cycle is about to end, and that Star 1117 is not a planet but a being by infiltrating into the Space Council- this time through the main door, not the vents,” Wooyoung laughed. “She learns about how the Space Council have also been trying to find a solution to save their home but are closer to giving up than to finding answers. Together- because that time you don’t become a space criminal- you find a way to prolong Star 1117’s cycle by concentrating the energy of all the red zones scattered out in the galaxy and transferring it to the last cycle.”

“That makes sense,” you nodded. “Red zones are energy byproducts of the previous planets.”

“Right? Star 1117 reluctantly agrees, and you all succeed- Star 1116’s cycle prolongs and leaks to Star 1117’s. The original last cycle, the 1117th, was supposed to be a shorter one since it’s just the galaxy ending itself before it reaches the 1118th cycle. But this time, the 1118th cycle begins. You all realise that you made a grave mistake and that the galaxy will eat itself like it was supposed to, but since it requires more energy to do that now, it will swallow the neighbouring galaxies and possibly trigger the end.”

You took a deep breath. “I triggered the end.”

“Not you alone, but basically… yeah. It suits you, doesn’t it?” Wooyoung chuckled, letting go of your hand to wrap his arm around your shoulders and caress your arms assuringly. 

“Not helping,” you muttered.

“Well,” Wooyoung huffed in resignation. “You try to make things right. You get this spaceship to Star 1117 and get it on board- its form is weakened by then and it is Star 1118 by that time. You set the destination to Earth, knowing someone on Earth would have figured out that their solar system was going to collapse soon and would do anything to change things. You leave the poor Star alone and go to save your family and friends.”

“And Star 1118 makes it to you?”

“Somehow, yes,” Wooyoung nodded. “I have always studied the Temporal Nexus deeply, so when I receive signals on my radio- yes, the radio I have now- I go to investigate the source and find your spaceship underwater near my hometown. With the help of my friends and the Space Centre on Earth, I recover that ship and find an ethereal being inside- Star 1118. Since the being is the Temporal Nexus- the past, the present, and the future of your galaxy- it finds traces of itself on me from another time.”

“Oh heavens,” you raised your head up to look at him. “It’s a time loop, isn’t it?”

“More romantic than that. We were meant to meet, y/n,” he smiled widely, pinching your nose but you were too surprised to react. “Star 1118 sets the loop into motion- or rather, propels it forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards. Jung Wooyoung now has one mission- to find the tear in space that will transport him to that moment to warn you-”

“The spaceship that collided with us,” you breathed, understanding how it worked. “It must have taken a few attempts.”

“Hence why it is a loop,” Wooyoung nodded. “However, Jung Wooyoung also did something else, which was quite genius of him if I have to say.”

“And what’s that?”

“Jung Wooyoung and Star 1118 worked together to send messages to my radio, which prompted the present me to make different decisions. And here we are,” he concluded with a dramatic sigh. “Things have changed. You can still make the same decisions and it might lead to a time where Star 1118 is not able to go to Earth to warn Jung Wooyoung. That would be the end. Or…”

“Or I could let it be,” you shrugged away from Wooyoung’s arm and buried your face in your hands. 

“I think you already know, but Star 1117 has suffered a lot,” Wooyoung said, and you were once again amazed by how gently he talked to you despite knowing what you had done- what you might do. “It suffered alone for 1117 cycles. You put an end to its sufferings and you might find a new home. A better one.”

“My home is Star 1116,” you said, though the words started to sound like a weight over your heart now. “Not everyone can let go of their home.”

“I thought you understood by now that home is where the heart is,” Wooyoung said and you looked at him to find him smiling. “Where’s your heart, y/n?”

Like the soft embrace of a mother, you felt the answer wrap around the physical organ that was your heart- the answer that was a feeling, an emotion- and not strictly a human one at all. You didn’t have to be human to understand that your heart belonged to the people around you- to your family because they were yours, to Jongho and Yeosang who were your friends, and to Wooyoung- the human who had to be your saving grace. 

Home was also the house and the land where you grew up, but it was not the location or the building that made it a part of your heart- it was the things that you associated with home. Your alien mother, your human father. Their parents who had once lived there, whose memory clung to the walls and was etched in the frames that sat on the mantle. Home was the lake next to your house but what made it a part of your heart was the memories of splashing water on Jongho and Yeosang, and the memories of your parents teaching you how to swim.

Home was where the heart was. And as long as you had the pieces of your heart next to you, you would be home.

“Did you find the answer?” Wooyoung cupped your face to wipe the tears that left your eyes, smiling knowingly. You smiled back, clutching his hands that were caressing your cheeks.

“Home is where the heart is,” you told him, your voice wet with emotions. “And you are my heart, Jung Wooyoung.”

Wooyoung’s eyes curved like moons as his smile grew wider. He nodded, the two of you sharing a laugh. You couldn’t help but notice how beautiful this piece of your heart was. You leaned forward to rest your hands on his neck, surprising him a bit. His hands went to rest on your waist and you pecked his lips, looking at him shyly before pecking them again, unable to look at him any longer so you closed the distance between you two as you hugged him. He let out a laugh of disbelief before he relaxed, burying his nose in the crook of your neck and hugging you back just as tightly, rocking your bodies slightly.

“I found a home with you too,” he whispered. “Thank you.”

You nodded, your heart filling with foreign emotions- like a pleasant tickle to your heart. Perhaps, this was what it felt like to give your heart to someone.

—-----------------------------------

Everything was happening too soon for your liking, but with the help of your friends, you were coming to terms with the fact that you could not save the Temporal Nexus Galaxy- that there was nothing that could be done and the best decision you could make was to let Star 1117 go. 

You stayed in the red zone for a whole day after your talk with Wooyoung. Exiting the red zone would mean confronting the Space Patrol and you had to make a decision before that. Jongho and Yeosang were coping by studying about time loops and talking to Star 1117 about how it worked and if there was any possibility that could work- if Star 1117 was all the past, present and the future of the Temporal Nexus, it would know if any of the decisions the residents of its galaxy made led to a hopeful future. But there was none. 

After exhausting every possibility, they finally came to talk to you and let you know that they had made their decisions- they were going to get their families out of Star 1116 and find a new home. They were also aware that some of their families and acquaintances might choose to stay and disintegrate with the planet, with their home. Now they were just waiting for you to make your decision.

And it was a little conversation with Jongho that made you wonder just what you had been so bitter about.

You joined him by the window as he stared at the blue masses of energy around the spaceship. He smiled to acknowledge your presence before saying, “Wouldn’t it be so good if we could just go back to the past and relive our childhood?”

You smiled back- your childhood really was a fond memory, something you kept very close to your heart. “How young are we talking?”

“Hmm… good question. What would you say is your happiest memory on Star 1116?”

“Honestly? Probably the time when I showed you and Yeosang that I finally learned to swim. We had a little fight afterwards about whose technique was better,” you said and he grinned at that. 

“What do you think? Would you like to go back to the past?”  

You pursed your lips in thought. Sure, your past was a golden memory and saying that you missed that time and wanted to go back wasn’t supposed to hold literal meaning, but if you were offered to go back, would you?

“What about you?” You asked.

Jongho exhaled, putting his hands in his pockets. “I wouldn’t. I like where I am now. I’m still with you and Yeosang. Nothing has changed.”

You nodded- your answer was the same. 

“And I will continue to be where the two of you are,” Jongho added. “Create more happy memories. Hell, maybe we’ll look back to this moment one day, right?”

You nodded slowly. Wooyoung had changed your perspective a lot and you were finally starting to understand Jongho.

“I might even visit Earth and see what the hype is about,” Jongho suggested and you chuckled. “Maybe we can all go to drop Wooyoung. He’s slowly taking over the spaceship. Next thing we know we’ll be calling him captain and he’ll be slaving us.”

“Right? Maybe we can chuck him into that mass and see where he lands,” you pointed at the red zone in front of you, sharing a laugh with Jongho. 

“You know, I thought about it a lot, why in all the timelines that exist, according to Star 1117, you- we keep making the same decision- trying to save the galaxy. Do you know what’s the only difference this time and why we all are seriously considering letting things be?”

“Wooyoung?”

“Yes,” Jongho confirmed. “This is the only timeline known to Star 1117 where he makes a different decision and ends up being a part of the crew. Makes you think about how the butterfly effect works, right?” He ruminated. “In all the timelines, we made different decisions that led us to the same outcome- apocalypse. Things are very different now, and this might be our last chance at making sure we do not trigger the apocalypse.”

“I know,” you folded your arms around you, hugging yourself. “We can’t be the only factor triggering the apocalypse though, right? What if we make the right decisions this time but we still end up losing everything?”

“Well… only one way to find out- if we make the right decisions now,” Jongho looked at you, hope in his eyes. “So. Did you make a decision?”

“I think you know,” you looked wistfully into the space around you. “Let’s go say goodbye to our home.”

Jongho smiled proudly at you. “Star 1117 told me that you were very bitter and hellbent on saving the galaxy in all the timelines. It’s good to see you smile like this, Captain. You seem almost human.”

“I am human,” you said casually but for Jongho, it was the first time hearing you acknowledge your human lineage and he put a hand over his mouth dramatically to stifle a gasp. You only rolled your eyes in response, spotting Wooyoung from the corner of your eye who simply passed you both a cheeky smile and waved before disappearing into the kitchen. You recalled just how adamant you had been about not accepting that you were human too. 

But being human didn’t sound so bad anymore.

And with that decision, you said your goodbye to Star 1117. The being did not thank you for making the right decision. It simply curled in on itself and weeped, the tears escaping its eyelids and evaporating into the air like glitter. You felt the being’s exhaustion and sadness as though it was tangible and that only made you more sure about what you had to do.

Right as you exited the red-zone territory, there was a spaceship waiting for you. It signalled for you to stop and a person stepped out, displaying their Space Council id and demanding to enter your ship. For a moment, you were scared of the consequences of your action- were you going to be arrested now? Would you not get to say goodbye to your home? But when the person made an okay sign, a collective sigh of relief passed and Yeosang pressed the button to open the door for them.

The tall figure clad in a black striped suit with a waistcoat entered, looking around your spaceship with curiosity. You noticed silver extensions on one of his hands, kind of like your neurons except they almost looked like an accessory. The other hand was covered in a black glove and you wondered why.

“Greetings,” he smiled. “I’m Jeong Yunho from the Space Council. It’s good to finally meet you, y/n.”

“Me?” You frowned. “Do I know you?”

“You don’t,” he shrugged, “but I do. From multiple timelines. I’ve been on your case since the very first timeline, working with Star 1117 to find a solution that does not involve exterminating you because Star 1117 insisted that while you and your friends may be its doom, you could also be its saviour.”

You suddenly felt dizzy at his admission.

“Maybe one day I’ll tell you about my adventures chasing your crew,” Yunho chuckled. “But for now… I’d like to accompany you to Star 1116 and make sure you stay on the right track. You will need me if you want to go home because I have not yet lifted your criminal charges. And… you have an unregistered human aboard,” Yunho glanced at Wooyoung who waved his hand awkwardly. “We have a lot to do, folks.”

You scanned his figure with suspicion, your neurons extracting subconsciously wanting to get a reading from him. He noticed that.

“If it helps,” he began. “I’m one of the Original Nexi. There’s a group of us that work in the Space Council solely for the sake of protecting Star 1117.”

“You’re letting Star 1117 die, though,” Yeosang commented in your stead and you silently thanked him. That had been on the tip of your tongue too.

“The Temporal Nexus is called temporal for a reason, isn’t it?” He retorted. “To protect the essence of Star 1117 and this galaxy is to protect its heart- its residents. But I think you all already understand that by now.”

The knowing smile he passed you made you want to ask more questions but he interrupted with clapping and barking orders- you were apparently short on time now and needed to inform the residents of Star 1116 and the rest of the galaxy as soon as possible so everyone could make the big decisions and they could initiate their final operation- to leave the galaxy for good.

And it was no surprise that it was Wooyoung who got the Original Nexi to talk and open up. While Jongho set the spaceship on auto towards Star 1116, the three of you watched from a corner, huddled next to each other. Not too far on the table sat Wooyoung with a warm meal for Yunho, learning anything and everything about the Original Nexi and Yunho himself, learning about his experience with your crew in the different timelines and more. You didn’t even realise that you were biting your nails with narrowed eyes full of scepticism until Wooyoung looked around for you and laughed at the sight of the three of you.

“I guess I’m relaxed because it is actually our first meeting- we haven’t met in any other timeline,” Wooyoung grinned. “Not that I would have known if we had anyway. Right?”

“Right,” Yunho grinned back, shaking his head at the three of you. “Just a reminder that we were friends in some timeline and enemies in the other.”

“Yeah, I think I can understand why,” Yeosang muttered, looking pointedly at Wooyoung. 

“How are you able to remember the timelines?” Jongho asked his first question in a while.

“These,” Yunho raised both his hands and shared a look with you. “We’re quite similar, but I’m able to look into different timelines too.”

You made an impressed face and the blinkers lit up, indicating that you were reaching Star 1116’s territory. Jongho went to steer the spaceship himself and Yunho joined him, striking up a conversation having noticed the equipment on the dashboard. While the two talked, Wooyoung joined you and Yeosang, resting his hand on your knee and squeezing it to make sure you were okay. You nodded in response and pointed at the screen, your heart filling with warmth at the sight of the star.

“We’re home.”

Home. As soon as you could see the lush green fields that surrounded your house, you were on your feet and making your way to the screen, eager to step out. You would have to land at the Space Centre where you previously worked and Yunho made sure you could pass through every security check without any inconvenience. Wooyoung stood next to you and you told him all about the Space Centre and your time as a unit there. 

Wooyoung’s eyes were filled with awe, his mouth parted in surprise as you all stepped out of the spaceship. The view from the screen had been good, yes, but nothing compared to stepping inside that picture, and for Wooyoung who was a human from Earth… you wondered if that was what your great grandparents and their team must have felt when they first landed on Star 1116.

“It’s like Earth, you were right,” Wooyoung nodded, almost jumping when a few will-o’-the-wisps circled his figure and fluttered away. Jongho giggled at his reaction and smacked his back.

“Like Earth but prettier, right?” He said. “That’s what I keep hearing.”

“No, you heard that right,” Wooyoung agreed. “Our grass looks dull compared to this- how is it so vibrant?”

“Wait till you see the lakes,” you told him, knowing that was probably the most surprising part from the memories of your great grandfather. 

“We should show him the cave too!” Yeosang joined you both. “It’s a nice spot to bury him- no one would know. He’ll be dust along with the planet-”

“And he would never make it past the tarantulas that protect the cave,” Jongho chuckled darkly and Wooyoung decided he felt safer with Yunho, falling in step with him while the Nexi shook his head in amusement at the interaction. 

“You should have chucked me in the red zone,” Wooyoung folded his arms and you snickered until you realised that he must have heard that bit from your conversation with Jongho. You exchanged a glance with the youngest who pointed at you, transferring all the blame. Wooyoung’s pout deepened and you took a deep breath.

“Boys, I’m going to steal this one for a while,” you went towards Wooyoung and hooked your arm around his, your crew hooting in appreciation and suggestively wiggling their brows, Yeosang going as far as pretending to gag. You asked Yunho if it was fine and he assured that it was, asking all of you to meet up back at the Space Centre in a few hours. You intertwined your hand with Wooyoung’s.

“What would you like to see first?”

“Hmm…” Wooyoung took a while to think, his eyes scanning everything in sight the further you walked away from the Space Centre, looking at the passersby with curiosity- you couldn’t blame him. The residents of Star 1116 looked far from human in their appearance- from looking almost human like Yeosang to having iridescent coloured skin or accessories like horns or wings.

“Show me your favourite places- all of them,” Wooyoung looked at you, kissing your temple. “Show me the shade of the tree near your house where you grew up, the lake… the places from the journals that you talked about- everything.”

“Would you like to meet my family too?” You asked hesitantly, not sure if the human would be up to it but his warm smile erased any doubts in your heart.

“I would love to.”

“My mother will love you,” you laughed. “My father can be a little… hard to please.”

“Well, I know just how to win his heart,” he winked at you and you accepted the challenge.

You showed him all your favourite places, keeping your house for the last. You walked around the streets without a care in the world for the first time in a while, making him try some local delicacies and showing him the animals unique to Star 1116- it was more of a surprise to him to find that the things you called ‘dogs’ here were more spiky than furry and he told you that you were missing out on the joy of hugging a dog. You grimaced- hugging a dog here would create pokes in your skin unless you had scales or a protective barrier like most of the aliens here.

You took him to one of the bigger lakes in the area and he was utterly fascinated by the way he could see almost every creature inside the lake thanks to the glowing properties of the soil under the lake. He experimentally dipped his hand inside the water, feeling the coolness of the lake quite like Earth’s but somehow feeling more at ease- it always unsettled him when he was near a water body on Earth and could only imagine what was prowling inside. He looked around, noticing the little things that made Star 1116 so beautiful- mountains made of smooth, patterned rocks. Trees with leaves of multiple colours, unaffected by the season and with little gems dangling from the tips of its branches where flowers would have been. The strange birds with their unusually elongated bodies that flew in the sky. The sky that was dark and the ground that he stood on that lit the planet.

It was truly a magnificent sight, and Wooyoung could understand why you- why everyone was reluctant to let go of their home.

Lastly, you walked to your house and you pointed at all the places on the way which had some memory associated with them. You told him about how the humans lived in a little community here- most of them were too old to leave their home. Some of them rarely came home, opting to explore the space instead- like you. Then you told him about your family- your mother was a crime scene investigator and your father was a medical researcher. Wooyoung was impressed to hear that and told you he would love to hear more about that.

When you reached the little cottage by the lake, you paused and took a deep breath, taking in everything. It was still the same- the wooden exterior looking worn out, the smell of wet mud filling your nose, the sound of children in the distance. You pointed at the house.

“That’s me.”

Wooyoung nodded, giving your hand a squeeze to tell you that he was ready. You walked towards the door and pressed your thumb on the lock, the door clicking open and then you heard the familiar footsteps of your mother approach you. Her face lit up at the sight of you and then she paused when she saw your hand in Wooyoung’s. She scanned him with curiosity. You looked back and forth between the two- it would only be a moment until your mother would realise that Wooyoung was not a human. And Wooyoung-

You could tell why he looked surprised- your mother wore her neuron extensions like a crown over her head at all times. Apart from her striking copper hair, she looked very much like you. 

Your mother smiled knowingly at the two of you before spreading her arms and you grinned, walking right in her embrace and melting into it. 

“Well done, love,” she whispered. “I heard about what happened with the Space Council and Star 1117. You did so well.”

“I’m sorry,” you told her, knowing that she didn’t need your words to hear what you were sorry about, nor did she need to read you. She simply knew what you meant. She always did.

“No need for that,” she drew back with a kiss to your forehead. “I see you have a guest.”

“Yes, this is-”

“A human,” your father completed that for you, clad in a mismatched outfit which was indication that he had been holed up in his room with some research again. Wooyoung finally bowed at your parents. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jung Wooyoung… from Earth.”

“And what are you doing here with my daughter?” Your father inquired. You may have rolled your eyes if this was any other situation but your mother let you know that she had also heard about Wooyung’s role in the recent events. Relaxing a bit, you let Wooyoung handle the situation.

“She arrested me, sir.”

The room was silent for a moment before your mother snorted, ending up with all of you laughing and you shook your head at Wooyoung- you had never told him about how your parents met but it was something similar. Your father welcomed him with a pat and kissed the top of your head before steering him to the lounge, eager to hear the stories from Earth. 

And just like that, the house became a home with Wooyoung and your mother cooking together while they chatted, your father and you catching up with each other. Not too long after, the doorbell rang and in came Jongho and Yeosang, claiming to have ‘smelt’ Wooyoung’s cooking all the way to their house. They definitely didn’t get a message from your mother to join them.

You had about half an hour left until you had to go to the Space Centre. Your heart felt full watching all the people you loved gathered and Wooyoung fitting right in as if he had always been a part of this little unit. He caught you watching him with a smile on your face and raised his brows in question. You signalled that you were going outside and once he joined you, you asked if he wanted to sit by the lake.

“I’ve been soaking up all the memories of today,” you told him, showing the neurons on your fingertips shaped like nails. “I don’t think I can ever forget today’s events.”

“I did well, right?” He smiled proudly when you nodded in response. “Well, I’ve always been everyone’s favourite even back on Earth.”

You made a face at that and he scoffed. “Read me if you don’t believe me.”

“I do believe you- you have a way of charming people,” you admitted and he grinned. You showed him the spot next to some big rocks where you used to sit when you needed space. 

“This is probably my favourite spot on the whole planet,” you told him, flattening your hands on the ground once you sat, reliving the memories of this place in quick flashes. 

“I can see why,” Wooyoung looked around. With your home on the back and the view of the mountains in the front, he thought he could stay here forever.

“Yunho told me that Star 1116 will die soon, but the galaxy itself won’t end soon- it will take some time and if we’re lucky, it won’t happen in our lifetime,” you sighed deeply. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad. We will still need to find a new home. We can’t make one in the Temporal Nexus anymore.”

“Well… if you hadn’t told me that Star 1116 was your home, I would have assumed the spaceship was,” he said and you raised a brow. “It has such a homey feel to it. We can take all our time to explore the other galaxies and find a new home.”

“We?” 

“You don’t think I’m going back to Earth just like that, do you?” Wooyoung tsk-ed. “Not without you, at least.”

“Really?” You made a face. “I thought I’d be getting rid of you soon-”

Wooyoung leaned forward right when you turned, your noses brushing and your heart fluttering. Wooyoung’s gaze fell on your lips and a little smirk creeped on his own lips. 

“I know why you have your kitty claws out, sweetheart,” he tilted his head just a fraction and you instinctively gulped. “You’ve been saving all the memories of this place- with me this time.”

Well. He wasn’t wrong. Your lack of response was an answer to him and he fully smirked as he drew back. 

You wanted to tell him that you brought him here to make one final memory of this place. You curled your fingers around his hand and when your eyes met, it was like he understood your intentions. He took your other hand and pulled you over him so that you settled on his lap.

You trailed the pointy tips of your neurons along his temple and his spine, making him shiver. He loved it when you watched him with fascination and teased him experimentally as if you were afraid of his reaction. However, he welcomed every little thing you did to him. He let you cup his face and when you kissed him, he groaned in relief before kissing you back, one hand supporting him up while the other curling in your hair. You moved your lips along his in synchronisation and you loved the way he held you.

You drew back once you were out of breath, sharing a grin- this was your first proper kiss. You rested your hands on his shoulders and he lay down on the ground, eliciting a surprised sound from your mouth at the new position. Before you could comment on it, he cupped your face and brought you in for another kiss, the other hand going to rest on your waist. It was slow and sensual, not a care for time or any other thing. Just you, Wooyoung and your favourite spot in the Temporal Nexus. 

When you broke apart and settled down next to him in his arms, you watched the stars together and you showed him one that glowed with a very familiar golden tint.

“That must be Star 1117.”

Wooyoung agreed, absently caressing your arm. You looked at him, finding him deep in thought. You scratched his chin like you had seen him do to the black cat from his home and he smiled at that.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking… will you watch the stars with me every night from now on?”

You kissed his cheek in response.“Only if I get to sleep in your arms- you are my home, Jung Wooyoung.”

[frodo-with-glasses]

More Reading Thoughts

Shelob’s Lair

Ohoho, here we go, spider time >:-D

Tolkien spends. A LONG time. Describing how horrible this tunnel is. Right when you think he’s gonna run out of words? He doesn’t. There’s PAGES more.

Of COURSE it’s Sam who bumps against Frodo and grabs his hand!! Of course it is! My boy’s main love language is Physical Touch, how could he not??

“They struggled on, still hand in hand.” Heeheehee 8-D

tolkien-feels was right, this is fantastic

I wonder exactly how long they went before they actually stopped holding hands?? Tolkien doesn’t mention it. You just have to….assume they let go at some point. I’m going to assume it was later rather than sooner.

Sam!! Reminds Frodo!! Of the Vial!!! This is why we need Sam!!!!

“Then holding the star aloft and the bright sword advanced, Frodo, hobbit of the Shire, walked steadily down to meet the eyes.” YOOOOOOOOOOOO—

Dude it’s just Frodo walking towards a giant spider but DANG if it isn’t described in the most METAL way possible

“Stars and glory! But the Elves would make a song of that, if they ever heard of it.” Same, Sam!

Okay so. I’m noticing a Theme here of “Frodo Running Towards Danger”.

In a larger sense, that’s the entire plot of the book; Frodo is headed to Mordor, the very camp of the Enemy, to destroy the Ring.

But also, last chapter, we had him running towards Minas Morgul like a zombie, as if he was mind-controlled…

Just now, we had him approaching Shelob, but that was a moment of bravery, when he was in his right mind…

And now, as Sam puts it, “his master was in a fey mood, running heedlessly to meet” the red eyes in the tower at the head of the pass.

I dunno what point I’m trying to make with this, but it’s Interesting.

YOOOOOOOOO SAM SUPLEXED GOLLUM 8-O

AND THEN BEAT HIM WITH THE CANE LIKE A TRUANT CHILD UNTIL THE CANE BROKE!!! HAHAHAHAHA GO OFF, SAM!

You just know he was waiting to do that, all that pent-up anger, you just KNOW—

“[Sam] spun round, and rushed wildly up the path, calling and calling his master’s name. He was too late. So far Gollum’s plot had succeeded.” Oh dip.

The Choices of Master Samwise

“Frodo was lying face upward on the ground and the monster was bending over him…” Eeeeeeeheehee nOPE—

*mumble-sings* And if the devil doesn’t like it he can sit ooon a tack— *smash-cut to Shelob landing on Sting*

I love how the Vial just. Makes the hobbits speak Elvish randomly.

For a moment I thought “laid his head upon Frodo’s breast and to his mouth” meant that Sam was trying to give him ye olde CPR and no, Writer Brain, he’s just trying to tell if he’s breathing, stop it—

“Frodo, Mr. Frodo! Don’t leave me here alone! It’s your Sam calling. Don’t go where I can’t follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodo! O wake up, Frodo, me dear, me dear. Wake up!” nnnnnnnggg TT-TT

I am. just. gutted.

Like I know how the story ends but his grief here is so raw and excruciating.

This is how a man who lost all his closest friends in a war writes someone losing his closest friend in a war. I just…..

*ugly sobbing noises*

(Is it a little wish-fulfillment fantasy of Tolkien’s that Sam gets to rescue his “dead” friend from some dark secret place and bring him back alive?? Perhaps. But it’s okay, we’ll let him have that.)

I like how Sam speed-runs the five stages of grief here. Denial: checking vital signs and calling his name. Bargaining: “don’t do where I can’t follow”. Anger: running around hitting things and yelling at rocks. Depression: literally sits down and passes out from grief for a second.

Which, by the way, that last thing?? Huge mood.

Sam talking to Frodo while he’s unresponsive, asking his permission to take his things, “do you understand, Mr. Frodo?”, just like you’d talk to a gravestone. Tolkien, you can take my heart out of the blender now.

“He knelt and held Frodo’s hand and could not release it.” !!!!!! HEY???

First of all, ow. Secondly, Physical Touch. Thirdly, yo that’s exactly what I drew in the Rivendell flashback in the “I love him whether or no” comic—

Am I psychic or do I just remember details from this book that I don’t remember remembering??

Tolkien basically said “if Sam has his way, he’d hunt Gollum all across Middle Earth and kill him dead for this” and that’s hilarious to me.

Who is. Who is the other voice talking to Sam here. It doesn’t sound exactly like Sam does when he’s debating with himself. Doesn’t have his Sam-isms. Tolkien even puts it in separate quotations. I. Hhuuueehh??

Just this whole thing:

I SAID TAKE IT OUT OF THE BLENDER, NOT PULVERIZE IT INTO A PULP—

But also the stupid little writer-brain in me sees the forehead kiss and goes 8-D

Sam making plans to come back and bury Frodo, if he can, just gets me. Gosh, can you imagine how horrible it would’ve been if that had actually played out?? How much of Frodo’s body would have decomposed by the time Sam could get back??? What stage would it be in—the bloated purplish stage, the moldy rancid maggot-infested rotting stage, the dried-out sunken skin clinging to bones stage?? Can you imagine how disgusting and heart-rending the work would be just to carry what’s left of him to somewhere he could be buried?? Dead bodies smell bad, man!! It makes you wanna be sick! And it’s worse because that rotting hunk of meat in front of you used to be somebody you love, but now it actively makes you want to throw up, so now your heart hurts in addition to your stomach. Imagine poor soft-hearted Sam having to handle that alone. It would just be unbearable. Thanks for sparing us that, Tolkien. And you’re welcome to all the rest of you for that lovely mental image.

“But slowly, as if the weight became less, or new strength grew in him, he raised his head, and then with a great effort got to his feet and found that he could walk and bear his burden.” *resists making another spiritual warfare parallel*

You know, for all Sam’s talk of making the wrong choices, it really did work out the best that it possibly could. If he’d stayed by Frodo, they both would have gotten captured, and then the Enemy would definitely have the Ring. Sam stayed out of sight just long enough to keep the Mission online. That’s a worthy contribution in and of itself.

SAM PUT ON THE RING 8-O !!!!!!! I’d forgotten about that!!

Sam being grimly amused at the orcs’ descriptions of him as a big, string Elf-warrior is just. The Best.

(Okay wait now I wanna see Sam in the Modern AU playing an Elf Fighter in D&D—)

“This fellow isn’t dead!” Great! The worst best news ever!!

“Don’t trust your head, Samwise, it is not the best part of you.” STOP! CALLING YOURSELF!! STUPID!!!

Okay well if his brain is good then his heart is amazing, which means there is a part of him better than his brain by comparison, so he’s not WRONG, but he’s also not RIGHT.

Sam charges the door of the orc-tower. It slams in his face. He whacks against it and gives himself a concussion. Mood.

Last words of the chapter: “He was out in the darkness. Frodo was alive but taken by the Enemy.” 8-C 8-C 8-C

*looks at the next page*

“The Return of the King”

…….

oh.

come.

OOOONNNNNN!!!

FRICK!!! TOLKIEN WITH YOUR CLIFFHANGERS! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN STRANGLE YOU!!!

*peeks at the next page*

First word: “Pippin…”

HAHAHAHA NOOOOOOHOHOHOHO AAAAAAAGGGHH *goes bouncing off the walls and tearing things up and crying into the book*

Your gonna make me sit through a dozen more chapters before Sam rescues Frodo??? REALLY???? I’m gonna be biting my nails for weeks! This is my bromance!! THESE ARE MY BOYS!! You can’t DO this to me!!!

……..

Screw it.

The Tower of Cirith Ungol

Yes I know this is halfway through Return of the King, yes I know I’m reading out of order, no I do not care, I won’t be able to SLEEP tonight if I don’t do this, so shush X’-D

(Okay side note from later but it is. Fascinating to me. How much of this chapter I remember. Like, word for word, I’m getting deja vu for entire paragraphs at a time. I must have been paying a LOT of attention to this chapter, or read it again and again and again, until entire phrases of the dialogue and narration were burned into my brain. This was probably Baby’s First Bromance Awakening and Hurt/Comfort Fic and honestly my fixation on it says a whole darn lot about who I’ve become today.)

(Y’know what, I bet this isn’t even the first time I’ve skipped ahead to the rescue. I probably did it the first time I read this book too. And you know what, Baby Me?? Same. You go. Ten years later, we’re doing the same thing, can’t judge. X’-D)

And of course the first thing Tolkien does is tie the story back to what’s going on at the same time in Merry and Pippin’s stories, which I skipped to get here. Thanks, Tolkien. I’ll understand that later.

But yeah Frodo and Sam think Merry and Pippin might be dead, and Merry and Pippin are also worrying that Frodo and Sam might be dead, and remember when these guys were all in the Shire sitting in comfy chairs by the fire and launching a conspiracy??, and uhhhhh ouch.

“His love for Frodo rose above all other thoughts, and forgetting his peril he cried aloud: ‘I’m coming, Mr. Frodo!’” *sobbing* HECK YEAH YOU ARE—

Gotta love Tolkien’s ability to describe cool nature things like spiders and volcanoes in ways that make it seem like they’re intrinsically wicked, freakish bastardizations of the natural order.

“Well, come on somebody! Tell Captain Shagrat that the great Elf-warrior has called, with his elf-sword too!” He’s doing this to hype himself up, you just know it.

“…when there came from high above a dreadful choking shriek.” Uh-oh.

“Yes! The Elf-warrior is loose! I’m coming. Just you show me the way up, or I’ll skin you!” He did it again!!

(I think Tolkien just thought this was funny. Which it really is! Sam, the short, round hobbit, the exact opposite of everything you’d imagine when you think of an elf-warrior. Hilarious.)

Sam: “Ha! There’s nobody left alive in the place!”

Also Sam: ‘0.0,

Also Sam: “NOBODY LEFT ALIVE??”

Also Sam: “OH SHOOT OH NO OH FRICK I JUST HEARD SOME HORRID NOISE EARLIER WHAT IF THAT WAS FRODO WHAT IF THEY KILLED HIM OH NO”

But he goes up anyway. I love Sam. I’m so glad he didn’t actually get up there just to see a dead body.

Also Writer Brain is just buzzing with all this angst.

Evil destroys evil. There’s that motif of Tolkien’s.

And this song, right here, is why in my fic “Roll Initiative!”, Sam is a Bard.

An orc comes out. He yells at some unseen “dung-hill rat”, because he thought it was Frodo who was doing the singing. Oh, thinks Sam, oh oh oh, a little blaze of hope, he’s somewhere close, he’s alive!! And then the ladder comes out, and up goes the orc, and suddenly there’s a way up!! There’s a path! Sam can work with a path! Maybe he can make it! But he’s gotta be careful, he can’t just rush in all willy-nilly, and right when he’s thinking that there’s a WHIP-CRACK and what I can only assume is a yelp of pain in a very familiar voice and Sam is like OH THAT’S IT, IT IS ON and he charges up that ladder completely ready to throw hands with whoever and whatever it is he finds up there because NOBODY HURTS FRODO WITHOUT HIM HAVING SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT IT and have I mentioned that I love this chapter??

SAM!! CUT OFF!! THE ORC’S ARM!!! Specifically the one holding the whip! GO! FREAKING! OFF!!!

He didn’t really kill the orc on purpose. He just kinda. Tripped. And fell down the ladder. That’s amazing.

“Sam gave no more thought to it. He ran to the figure huddled on the floor. It was Frodo.”

It was Frodo.

IT WAS FRODO.

IT. WAS. FRODO.

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAHAHAHA *rolls on the floor in laughter and tears*

I LOVE THOSE THREE LITTLE WORDS!!!

I LOVE MY BOYS!!!!

GOOD JOB SAM

“‘Frodo! Mr. Frodo, my dear!’ cried Sam, tears almost blinding him. ‘It’s Sam, I’ve come!’ He half lifted his master and hugged him to his breast.” OF. COURSE. HE DID.

PHYSICAL TOUCH MY DUUUUUUDES

I LOVE IT WHEN I’M RIGHT

I have no more words anymore, I’m not coherent, I’m just soaking this up, I—mmmph

And Frodo leans in and shuts his eyes I just ahahahahaha leave me alone I can die happy now

"Sam felt that he could sit like that in endless happiness" ME!! TOO!! SAM!!!

MORE FOREHEAD KISSES AHAHAHA

“He stood up, and it looked to Sam as if he was clothed in flame: his naked skin was scarlet in the light of the lamp above.” Oh I remember this so vividly. It’s such a striking mental image. Time to bust out the color pencils again—

Baby Me did not like the part where Frodo yells at Sam because of the Ring. Present Me is LIVING FOR IT. The angst!! The heartache!! The immediate way that Frodo realizes what he’s done and is stricken with remorse and starts apologizing! The way Sam can only sit on his knees, defeated and betrayed, as tears stream down his face! The way both of them realize at once what a horrible burden this is on Frodo’s mind and the terrible things it’s doing to him and they can’t help it but they mourn it together and HECK YEAH THEM’S GOOD SOUP—

“You lent me Sting, if you’ll remember…” No, no he doesn’t remember, Sam, he was literally unconscious.

“The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own.” Okay so this is the closest thing to the “evil cannot create” quote that’s often misattributed to Tolkien. Definitely a theme in his work, but never more clearly stated than this, I think.

“Not until you’ve had a mouthful, Sam, I won’t budge. … The whole thing is quite hopeless, so there’s no good worrying about tomorrow. It probably won’t come.” You ever heard of optimistic nihilism?? This. This is it.

“We’re probably going to die anyway, so you might as well eat something.” “That’s the most depressing—” “Eat.”

The psychic barrier of the Watchers at the gate is very cool. I have nothing much to say about it, just that it's a really neat bit of magic.

Aaaaand they’re out! Nice!! Now I can actually go to sleep LOLOL

[otemporanerys]

SpecReqs Recs!

This year, I took part in the Spectre Requisitions @spectre-requisitions-exchange Rare Pair exchange! While I can’t reveal which fic(s) I wrote (yet), there is SO MUCH GOOD SHIT, FRIENDS (full collection here). So I thought I’d throw together a few of my faves from the first day of frantic reading.

Mass Effect Trilogy

Hearts and Stars - James/Ashley, 4.1k, Mature

Five times James and Ashley sleep together and one time they don't.

I adored this fic so much: friends-to-lovers who keep having casual hookups, but it genuinely does feel like a friendship. There’s helping each other through rough times, getting wistful at weddings, all the good stuff. Vega is so sweet in this.

The Incident with the Elevator - Kaidan/Miranda, 4.9k, General

Oh no, they're stranded. In an elevator together. For hours. No choice but to...get to know each other.

Doesn’t go where you’d think sadly. Really nice rapport-building between Kaidan and Miranda, who I sneakily really love together.

Slivers of Time - Female Shepard/Wrex, 8.9k, Mature *

Shepard was alive, dammit, and Wrex would do whatever it took to bring her home. A look backwards at Shepard's recovery, life, and happiness after the Reapers were defeated - as seen by an old krogan.

Yooooooooo this fic is so perfectly bittersweet - also GREAT supporting turns from Zaeed and Jack. The ending is *chef’s kiss* (The M is mainly for violence, apologies Wrexfuckers.)

Stay - Samara/Nihlus, 14.2k, Explicit

While hunting down her daughter, Samara encounters a Spectre who has killed an innocent. The Spectre flees into the wilderness, and the pursuit ends up being more than either of them bargained for.

SCREAMING, CRYING, YELLING. It’s not only the Samara/Nihlus hatesex you always never knew you wanted, but it’s part horror, part devastating character study, part unlikely connection between lonely, broken souls. Run, don’t walk.

To Catch a Thief - Samantha/Kasumi, 3.3k, Mature *

Samantha Traynor is rather stuck on the enigmatic "Master Thief" working alongside her on her latest project for the Alliance. But can she catch the thief for herself?

Cute, hot, EXCELLENT Samantha. I need a Leverage-style TV show of this yesterday.

Mass Effect Andromeda

Be Kind, Rewind - Peebee/Female Ryder, 2.6k, Teen

In a quiet moment, Ryder and Peebee share memories of their respective childhoods.

I’m not as big into MEA as some, but I think Peebee’s romance is way underrated and this really captures their energy. Very sweet melding, but with an edge of playfulness.

I would also like to give a quick shout-out to my gift fics (thank you nonnies):

Fly Along With Me, I Can’t Quite Make It Alone: Kaidan/Garrus, 5.3k, Explicit

“I quit C-Sec today, Kaidan. I’m going to Omega.” He pauses and looks Kaidan square in the eye. “You could come with me.”

Takes One to Know One: Female Shepard/Aria, 7.5k, Teen

“Nice to see you, too,” Aria drawled. “Even if it took you entirely too long.”

“I believe she told you to fuck off,” the bartender said in a mild tone.

Shepard rather wanted both of them to fuck off.

“Humor me, Shepard,” Aria said coolly. “You owe me that much.”

Thanks to the hard work the mods put into making this exchange happen, and to the other participants for creating so much brilliant fic and art - please go forth and comment/kudos!

(* In the interests of full disclosure, I do know who wrote these, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re good)

[atherix]

🫂 💭 ⚠️ and💡(hehe) for either the Rapunzel au or the Parent trap au... if not a carrot on a stick, i WILL throw breadcrumbs :]

-🍂

Hehehehehe

🫂 (I have no idea if this is a rectangle or an emoji I can't see but-) "Have you, or will you, confer with anyone over the writing?"

for Rapunzel- I basically scream at @stitchthesewords every time I get a new thought and talk to them a lot about my ideas while trying to avoid giving away everything lol. In fact they were the first person to hear about the Rapunzel idea when I very jokingly suggested it, and then they ended up getting me invested jhkgfldkgfdkj As for Parent Trap I don't think I've talked about it at length with anyone except you, actually, lol :) I think I jokingly suggested it on tumblr and you came into my inbox like "what if it wasn't a joke >:3" and then I got brainworms <3

💭"Is there a line or scene you can see clearly already?"

Rapunzel AU- Scar being in the Elven kingdom for the first time, walking around and just so happy because everyone here looks like him, with the obscenely long hair (there's a story there I can't talk about due to spoilers lmao) with elaborate hairstyles and the pointed ears and just jfdjkk for once feeling like he might be somewhere he could belong?? just. Such an excited mans- Parent Trap AU- the moment Grum and Jrum realize what they've caused, AKA when they find out Scar and Tubbo left and Mumbo is suffering because of it, because Mumbo was happy and by chasing (seemingly unsuccessfully, at this point) the past they've cost an entire future where their dad could've been happy </3 Just Grum, finding out Grian doesn't plan to stay (and he and Mumbo are reworking custody arrangements now that both kids know and they know the other kid) and finding out Scar left as well and now Mumbo is all alone again.... yes <3

⚠️ "If you had to select five tags for it, right now, what would they be?"

Rapunzel AU- "Fantasy" "Slow Burn" (but not nearly as slow burn as Midnight don't worry-) "Enemies to Friends to Lovers" (bandit and a prince and a prince's bodyguard come on) "Mutual Pining" (Prince and his bodyguard let's gooo) aaaaaand hmmmmmm.. I'm very bad at tags. "Happy Ending" I guess? Parent Trap AU- "Modern Fantasy" (it's a modern world set in a minecraft-like setting and Scar is still an Elf because you can pry Elf Scar from my cold dead hands <3 He is forever an Elf to me now deal with it <3) "Repairing Relationships" "Mutual Pining" "Miscommunication" "Everyone Needs a Hug" "Eventual Happy Ending"

💡 What inspired you to want to write it?

Rapunzel AU- Well to be HONEST I don't even know. Maybe I looked at Tangled and thought "wouldn't it have been fun if Rapunzel had been the thief instead" and just. It's not even based on Tangled tho so idk?? I just suggested it to Stitch one day and the moment the words "thief Rapunzel" were uttered they went DO IT. So. Here we are <3 Parent Trap AU- I. I don't remember. I always end up with some kind of Parent Trap AU in my fandoms tho ngl. I guess I was eying the Grumbot Twins and then looked at Tubbo as well and went "okay but. If they're ALL dads..... and they all communicate like they can't.... huh...." And then I went to tumblr like "heeeyyyyyyy" and then you came to me like "yooooooooo" and now I'm in so deep-

[quiveringdeer]

YOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I WANT MORE!!!!!

I'm sorry it took me this long to read this Sights 😩🙏🏽 As always, it's such a well written piece!! Blows my mind how much lore you fit into such a tiny package!

The "Pairs" thing, inspired. And the way you describe soulmates finding eachother as someone just going on what everyone says it's like- and then the moment it happens for us. It was really neat to me.

Ugh the mobile readmore won't drop for me to try and copy paste piece I liked for more worthy commentary so now I gotta rely on my shitty memory even though I literally JUST read it. Okay so.

Having a list but then considering maybe let's add ice cream as a treat? Valid and my life. Welp actually I almost never make a list. Still valid.

That poor lil jar of pasta sauce and disgruntled employee. Good on reader for offering to come back and help, wonder if they'll remember that after this heartache. But pasta, bread and ice cream are crucial heartbreak fillers!! So we must!

The grey in Asa's hair always got me like:

I loved the way you likened his eyes to the way beetle wings shine. Just incorporating the insect references like it's easy! Gosh you're so imaginative! 🧡

The way he just steels his expression and walks away! Like bitch no you get back here Sir!! 😤

When he grabs reader and says to forget this my brain made me sing aloud the lyrics from Phantom of the Opera:

forget me, forget all of this

(Who is this monster, this murdering beast?)

Leave me alone, forget all you've seen

--the way it fits though!

But damn, that ending hurted. But not as much as getting carved up and hung on a wall. Ooo the implications of what might happen if you hurt your soulmate. So curious what pieces of lore you'll go with. Can they feel eachother's emotions now? Will Asa feel that heartbreak? For someone who always seems to have impeccable control over EVERYTHING, that would suck major dino balls. If they can't feel emotional pain would they feel when the other is in physical pain? Cause damn that would definitely be interesting considering his proclivities 👀 I'm sooo curious about your outline thoughts for part 2!! Did you already post it and I missed it? if you haven't, feel free to rant in my dms anytime!!! 🥰🙏🏽

🩸BLOODFEST🩸

Week 1

Prompts: Fire. Wound(s). Suburbs. Bondage

Keywords: Acrid. Malignant

Au Courant

(Part 1)

Asa Emory x AFAB Reader

Summary: Meeting your soulmate doesn’t quite go as you’d hoped.

Warnings: Soulmate AU, angst

~ Aeons ago, I answered this ask and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. So, here’s a fic ~

~~

Ding.

The automatic bell above the door chimes as you enter. The grocery store bustles with activity, people fresh from work hurrying to finish their shopping before returning to their sleepy suburbs. It’s barely-controlled chaos.

Retrieving a basket, you check the post-it note list in your pocket. Just a few things.

Aisle 3 first.

You’re slower than the rest as you scan the shelves, eyes unfocusing at random, the different brands of aluminum foil failing to hold your attention. Your mind is elsewhere.

Shelly found her soulmate today.

You knew the moment she walked into the office this morning. The sparkling eyes, the lovesick grin, they way she seemed to float with each step; it’s a look you’ve seen on others before. So, so many others.

Try as you might, you had not been able to avoid her for long. Pairs, as they’re called, could never keep it to themselves for long, seemingly intent on torturing you with their newfound wholeness.

They’d met on the train. She’d been running late and had to take a later line than usual. It was fate, she said. They never would have met otherwise.

Blah, blah, blah. You wanted to puke.

Everyone in your office had found their soulmate, one way or another. Everyone but you. Shelly was the last, the only coworker to whom you could relate. Now, you’re alone in more ways than one.

It would happen, they all told you. One day, your eyes would meet theirs and you would feel it: That spark, that final puzzle piece snapping into place, that pure feeling of absolute plenitude. It’s not something you could comprehend until you felt it, they said.

They’d meant to help, to give you hope, but their words only served to deepen the wounds of isolation. The malignant ache of loneliness festers a little more every year you go without meeting your other half. You’ve almost resigned yourself to a life of solitude.

It has been known to happen. Some unfortunate people go their whole lives without meeting their soulmate. It’s heart wrenching to see them out and about, a single, lonely figure in a sea of Pairs.

Would you be one of them?

Hastily, you shake your head, coming back to yourself and swallowing the acrid tang of self pity creeping up your throat. You slink to the next aisle over. A quick glance at your sticky note prompts you to retrieve a jar of pasta sauce. Bread is next.

You round the corner, eyes on your list. Bread, waffles, maybe you should get some ice cream—

You run headfirst into a solid chest, the impact so jarring you drop your basket. The glass jar of pasta sauce shatters, marinara splattering all over your shoes and the other’s scuffed boots. Strong hands seize your upper arms to keep you from toppling backward.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry—

The words die on your tongue when you meet the dark eyes of the man with whom you collided. His expression is one of cold fury. It chills you to the bone, freezes your soul, invokes a terror so deep in your mind you cannot draw breath. Then….

Click.

Your eyes widen. Fear dissipates instantly, replaced with unequivocal certainty. A spark ignites within you, warms your heart, sends a thrill racing up your spine.

It’s like that final puzzle piece snapping into place. No terror, only perfect completion.

Wholeness.

Now, you understand. Now, you see.

You stare in stunned silence at one another, his now shocked expression mirroring yours. A tremulous exhale spills from your lips. The grip on your arms tightens.

You take him in, as much as you can while keeping your gaze locked with his. He’s tall and broad-shouldered. “Powerful” is the first word that comes to mind. His strong jaw is peppered with stubble, the barest hints of gray flecking it and his brown hair. With your eyes, you trace the thin, white scars littering his face: One through his eyebrow, one through his lips, more slashed across his cheek and the bridge of his nose. His eyes…. His eyes are so dark—black?—and they glitter like beetle’s wings.

You inhale, part your lips to say something, to break the tense silence, but then his expression changes. His brows furrow, his lips press into a thin line. The cold scowl returns.

He releases your arms like you’ve burned him. Stepping away from you, he spins on his heel and quickly strides away. Incredulous, you watch the back of his jean jacket as he retreats, acutely aware of the knowing looks your exchange has garnered.

“Hey! Hey, wait!” you call, slipping a little in pasta sauce as you hurry after him. You pass a disgruntled employee and murmur an apology, you’ll help clean it up, you promise, you just need one moment….

The door chimes again as the man—your soulmate—all but flees to the parking lot. You pursue, half-jogging to catch up

“Stop! Please, why are you—

He turns to face you so fast you barely register what’s happening. A palm returns to your upper arm, another wrapping around your throat as he seizes you, spins, and shoves you up against the nearest vehicle. The noisy thud as your back collides with steel disturbs the muted hustle of post-work suburbia.

You gasp, equal parts shocked and impressed by the show of speed. You’re bewildered by your feelings, heart thudding in your chest, face hot. He just slammed you into a car and you’re blushing for chirst’s sake.

His own expression is pinched, strained. His voice, so pleasantly deep and rough, is terse as he speaks through his teeth, “You do not want to go down this road with me.”

You blink, your frenzied mind racing to process his words. “I…yes, I do. You’re—

“Forget this happened. Forget. It.” You flinch like he cut you, his words stinging like alcohol in a wound. You shake your head.

“…How?” you whisper. Your eyes burn. There’s no way you could ever, ever forget him now, not in any sense of the word. You’re connected on the deepest level, your very souls entwined. How could he say something like this? How could he want this? Does he not feel this bond like you do?

His jaw clenches. He pushes you away, not hard enough to make you fall, but firmly enough to make a point. Keys jingle as he retrieves them from his pocket. They rattle against the truck door—the one he’d pushed you against—until the lock clicks. He doesn’t look back as he slides into the driver’s seat, slams the door. The engine roars to life.

You watch, frozen to the spot, adrenaline and distress thrumming under your skin as the vehicle pulls away. It ambles through the parking lot, makes a left turn onto the street, disappears into traffic.

Your eyes burn.

Slowly, like your arm weighs a ton, you reach up to touch your cheek. It’s wet. You’re crying, you realize.

A new wound opens up, settles into your chest next to the loneliness:

Heartbreak.

[artcupcakes]

TIUR UWYSKDK YOUR FIC!! ART!!!!

DESTROYED BRUHHH

Yes I can already see a lot of improvement in this new fic you wro— YOU USED THE *fist slam PROPER NOUN THING!!!

You worked on your parsing a lil bit, I can see that! I don’t know if you meant it but the contrast between blue screens and “golden light” is metaphorical too?? YEAH I LOVE METAPHORS

“His” no I’m dead op I’m deaaaddd. I use “his” one single time in my fic, that is, when Dallas is being pulled away in that flashback sequence.

“A Mastermind controlling the Controller,” very potent. Hits hard. I like.

In-character internal dialogue: Bain sometimes uses the same word in a different way in a single sentence. Makes a bunch of jokes about gold, too.

OHHH READING BETWEEN THE LINES. Feelings of uselessness, self-depreciation, the works. “For treating him like something valuable,” mirrors stuff that they steal!

(Ch. 3 of my fic says ‘it made him feel important, like he mattered.’ What do they say about great minds, op??)

“RELEARN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIVING AND SURVIVING” 👏 STANDINNG OVATION FOR THIS LINE YEAH SAY IT LOUDER

Yooo Bain never thought they’d be meeting like this;; he wanted it to go down differently but he’s stuck with this insteAD

So I see a small grammar thingy here.

“It’s” = “it is” while “Its” = akin to “his” or “hers.” If it is a name you’re referring to, it’s “(Name)’s.”

Unless the name ends in the letter S, then just add an apostrophe to show possession/ownership. “Dallas’ medic bag.” (Pronounced ‘Dallas-is,’ kinda stupid)

The use of the one curse word (that I avoid typing) is,, VERY in-character. Bain says that one a bunch, also the one that starts with S. He says the F-bomb on two occasions only. How do I know? ..uhhhhh

MEDIC IS A GOOD NOUN. But also WAIT he learns into his touch? Oh and you use both “protect” and “tumultuous” two times, might want to try “keep” and “conflicting” as substitutes???

HE TELLS HIS NAVIGATOR. WAAAAAAAA

See the word “visions?” It should be “vision’s,” because “his vision is blurry.” No apostrophe suggests that he’s a seer and his visions are fuzzy. Maybe whitehouse should be White House? it’s a building like Taj Mahal, but proper nouns are capitalized? Idk actually I’m just speaking from memory here

HIS PARTNER!!! Mmmmm unlabeled is a juicy word hheeee

A SOFTER ALTERNATIVE!!! DUDE I— YOOOOOOOOO

“All the world's money and yet what Bain wants is forever out of reach,” CLAP CLAP CLAP money can’t buy you happiness, homie!! FAVORITE LINE best summary yeha.

Next line you switch to a ripple metaphor instead? It’s a little jarring and such because you already had something going! The pond?? You didn’t mention a pond yet,, not to say that the metaphors AREN’T good, just that they would be better separate!

I will give you my all, is that a reference to the song? YES there was this thing I wrote before, where Bain gets betrayed by his partner in my friend’s AU. Quote: “he gave him his all, but his all wasn’t enough.”

The tunneling mental vision;; THE FOCUS is like AAAhhhhh it hurts so much,, possessive promouns hhhehhhhuurrttsss but GOOD yeah ANGST

ONly thing that could make it better is that he doesn’t want to burden Dallas with a love confession cus he knows that he’s dying. Wouldn’t that be cruel?

HAHAHAHA *maniacal laughter* KEEP IT UP OP I love getting emotionally demolished

Oh boy this is a long one, so buckle in for the responses under the cut!

Hey I can learn from critiques >;3

Also yes "His" >:). Bain has always been a bit possessive of his crew, so why not bump that shit up.

Also so glad you the little in between the line stuff ^u^

I would say in my defense that I have ADHD and it causes my head to get think farther ahead from what I'm typing(I've spelt 'the' as 'teh' to give an example of this word scrambling) and also it was 3am.

But I edited this shit afterwards. Also that doesn't explain my misuse of comma's later. So I aint got no excuses. XD

But hey apparently I also just don't use hyphens as I should as pointed out by my friend and Beta, so I'm still learning stuff. An example of this was me realizing that I forget spacing a lot. Such as gun smoke being gunsmoke(like the tv show) or each other as eachother.

So I'm still getting the hang of writing with a lot more revision and editing. This is the "first" time I got critique on writing I cared about. (First being the feed backing I'm getting from both this fic and The Revenant Mastermind).

My mom(An English Teacher) tried her best; sadly I'm my daddy's daughter. But I try and that's all that matters lmao

Your avoidances of cursing, whether it be for professional reasons or do to personal taste, is admirable. Like damn that's a lot of self control.

Yeah proper nouns are capitalized, hence why I capitalized Roles, Skills, and other such things in reference to characters such as Medic, Controller, and Mastermind. I guess I just missed that one. Oh well at least it's just the White House and nothing important XD

Partner is vague word I love. Also it has yeehaw energy!

He's so close yet so far from what he want's, like a lot of things in his life. How could I not write that line about the money.

Oh god I never even thought about metaphor set ups, payoffs, and consistency. FUCK! ...Time to go back to one of my almost finished WIPs. Damn.

Listen, I Will Give You My All is technically a Bain song(Technically also a Cloaker song by that logic too but shhh). Also I Will Give You My All 2017 finally after forever dropped on Spotify so I got a little hyped.

The Good Angst PainTM

I kinda implied that he didn't want to confess his love do him dying, but I guess it didn't come across well. Big L on my end lmao.

Me and the boi's emotionally devastating each other with glee

But yeah! Thank you for the feedback! I appreciate it so much when people leave comments or kudos and stuff! Plus you're very nice and polite about your critiques. A rare combo indeed!

So I hope you have a love day ^u^

[teamsarawatshusband]

Word Of Honor - 1st watch insta thoughts - Episode 2

Here’s Episode 1

Okay, before I get started with the episode, thank you so much for your likes and kind words and explanations. Thanks @averageace​ for letting me know that ghosts aren't necessarily dead. And thanks @ pretty-much-obsessed for letting me know it's not xianxia but wuxia. K, no cultivators. Got it!

Oh, just for future reference: I love when you guys help me out in the comments with understanding stuff like this! As long as you don’t spoil the story, I'm super grateful for all the genre info and cultural insights <3

Anyway, here we go!

Episode 2:

Oooooh, it was smirky guy who stopped the whip. And everybody is watching. How embarrassing.

I kinda like purple girl. She's so feisty and sassy.

Ok, the kid wants to make friends with alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. He's in town to buy pastries for his mom, that's so cute. I need a shorter name for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Anyway, the kid gives him a bookmark like a key to where he lives. Alright.

So smirky guy really did recognize the fighting. Oh, Four Seasons Manor is a sect! Ok, ok. And that's their fighting style. Was smirky guy once a part of them? Still so mysterious.

The kids are singing about the 5 lakes. That seems to be important somehow.

K, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wants to hitch a boat ride. And the old man looks like the old guy who got the 7 nails last time, but he's probably not, i'm just bad with faces again.

Yooo, does alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy have so much silver? Yeah, I wouldn't trust him either, old man. Oh, smirky guy intervenes. And now the old boatman wants to do the ride.

Whoaaa, nice scenery with the water and the blossoms and the music. I wanna go there.

So, now he's at mirror lake manor. Was that the kid's place? I forgot.

Wow, that boatman is really something, shouting out his insults as alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is simply standing on the dock. Can't he be a bit nicer? LOOOOOL, yeah, so now he really dashed without paying, that's what you get for being rude.

But shame on tragic hero lord guy.You should always pay your debts. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Whoaaaaa, the blossom trees. I'm in love. Tragic hero lord guy flies over them in slo-mo.

And when it's not snowing, it's raining petals. Why is there a boat on dry land? Is that gonna be important?

Ooooh, fan fight! Must be smirky guy. Yusss! And now they're dancing.

Oh, and now smirky guy is being poetic. Dude, you sound like you’re crushing on him hard, man. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy isn't having any of it, lol.

There's two guys talking about war in the next scene. One of them is the dad and the other a son. Is that our kid from before? He seems older. I hate being bad with faces. Oh, he's not the kid. He's his older brother. And apparently there's one more brother even. I'm gonna get them all confused so much. Ugh

Tragic hero lord guy gets to stay in a woodshed. And likes it. I mean... whatever makes him happy, I guess.

Ooooh, back at the palace, I remember the helmets of the soldiers. And there's the guy who took tragic hero lord guy's job and... the other, like... boss guy. Maybe a king or an emperor. New at the job guy talks about... stuff. He's killed people. And seems proud of it. And now he's talking about a children's song. Oh wait, is that the song that alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy noticed earlier on? Oh, the song is connected to the glazed armor. Got it.

Ooooh, they sent a spy after tragic hero lord guy. So that's why he went into hiding.

Back in the woodshed, either the alcohol was bad, or tragic hero lord guy is having issues with the nails thing. His veins are moving and it looks disgusting tbh. And he's kinda... fuming. Literally. Looks like he's got a bad smell. And now he's... trying to meditate the smell away?

Oh, there's a fire outside.

Why?

Oh no, it's the red guys with the masks again. They're killing people.

Ooooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps into the fight, alright. OMG, I LOVE THAT TREE IN THE BACKGROUND!!! It's so pretty.

I want it.

Somebody is trying to sneak a kid out. Possibly our kid. Not sure. And the red guys are following them. Hmm.

Oh, a bird. Tragic hero lord guy calls it a sparrow and a spy from the window of heaven, which... okay, but it's definitely NOT a sparrow. Maybe it's just a not so good translation.

Aww man, and now my tree's on fire! :(((( Why can I never have nice things? :(

Now it's raining yellow paper thingies. They kinda look like those smiley potato chips thingies that you can get in the freezer section at the supermarket.

Oh, they're weapons from the red guys. And the guy who's trying to sneak the kid out... is that the boatman?

Oooh, tragic hero lord guy jumps in. If that WAS the boatman, then he's getting paid alright. Heh.

Ok, wth? Swords are not supposed to be that bendy. That does not look like a good sword. How are you gonna stab anybody with a wobbly, shaky weapon like that?

And smirky guy is sitting on the window sill watching the situation unfold like a supermodel waiting to be called onto the runway. Instead of... like... HELPING?! Wth?

And he's an alcoholic too? Hmm

K, that was a short stay, they're back on the boat

Eww, the red guys cut of somebody's arm. Wait, is that the dad from before? And the others are... the kid's brothers? Maybe? Oh, whoever they are, they're supposed to have the glazed armor, and the red masked guys want it. And they're gonna kill them all? That's brutal, man.

But if they ARE the kid’s brothers and they’re about to die, then at least I won’t get them confused, so there’s a plus side.

Anway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy, the boatman and the kid are in some dusty place. And the boatman is savage as fuck. He wants his money, lol. I like him.

Oh no, so much information. I'm so bad at this. So the kid is supposed to hide at 5 lakes, but doesn't want to. And somebody saved somebody, I have no idea. I wanna know if alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is gonna go meditate again, because it looks like he wants to.

And now the potato smileys are flying in again. Great. I'm never gonna unsee the potato thing now.

Anyway, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy who seriously NEEDS A NAME(!!!) is getting smelly again. And the kid wants to defend them all and instantly drops the sword. That does not look good.

So many red masked guys.

LOL, alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy needs 15 minutes. To smell better, maybe.

Wow, the old boatman is a good fighter, but he stands no chance. Are he and the kid really the ones supposed to fight, while tragic hero guy is being smelly and smirky guy is still chilling who knows where?

See the stinky fumes?

Whoa the kid is willing to sacrifice himself for alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy. Who is just as surprised as me. And if it weren't for somebody intervening, they'd both be dead. Who is it?

Yooooooooo, purple girl coming in to the rescue. Of course. Need a job well done, leave it to the woman.

Wow, she's so badass. And the kid and the boatman are helping too. Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy went back to meditating.

:O There were two nuts!!! I saw them!!! Is nuts guy one of the red masked guys?

Oh, NOW alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy is starting to fight. Probably smelled the nuts and got into it.

LOL, wth? Now that he's done fighting, he faints? And THAT's when smirky guy shows up? To catch him? And alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy wakes up again instantly to fight.

Lololol, wth? Smirky guy is like "Heh, you cute, let me wrap your sword around us." ;)

Maybe the wobbly bendy sword is a flirting technique and actually does serve a purpose.

He has really long fingers too.

Just saying.

Aww, would have been a cute moment if the boatman weren't deadly hit. And now he's smelly too. Wait, do smelly fumes mean doomed to die?

Ohh, he's gonna make him adopt the kid, isn't he?

Alcoholic tanned tragic hero lord guy drops a name, and says he's Zhou Xu. Is that his real name? Feels like smirky guy would probably recognize him if he gave his real name. But also maybe not. I know nothing. And smirky guy is mysterious as fuck. But I’ll take the name,because it’s shorter than the one I gave him.

Boatman is still a bit rude, threatening to curse Zhou Xu’s ancestors if he doesn't take care of the kid. Aren't they cursed already? Anyway, boatman can't know that.

Ok, old boatman has died and the kid is adopted. Cool, cool.

Oh, some fighter guys in nicely pleated skirts... who are they? Are they the guards of the manor? Are they there to help the kid? Whoever they are, they came too late and they set off fireworks.

Ok, smirky guy introduces himself. Wen Ke Xing. Oh boy, I hope I can remember that name.

Why is the kid dizzy? Did he get hurt?

Now they're discussing about the bread and nobody's willing to eat first while the kid is empty handed and very clearly hungry as hell. I feel so bad for him.

Why does smirky guy come across so snobby? I wanna like him.

Wow, they finally give the kid some food and now HE's refusing to eat it as well.

Purple girl is the only person actually getting fed tonight.

I mean, she deserves it. She fought the hardest.

Oooooh, smirky Wen Ke Xing guy is onto Zhou Xu lord guy. First stares him up and down while he's resting (lusting much?) and then flat out asks if he's in disguise.

Oh and the kid IS hurt. And smirky Ke Xing is the only one to realize too. He's redeeming himself. A little.

Zhou Xu lord guy doesn't want him to touch the kid though. Why?

Oooh, they're dancing again.

LOL, purple girl gets it. I saw that smile. I bet she's a shipper. What is the ship name? KeXu? ZhouXing? I literally had to scroll up and reread the names. We should just call them smirklord.

Okay, end of episode.

What did I learn? Names were dropped.  Zhou Xu lord guy has adopted the kid. Smirky guy is called Wen Ke Xing. He comes across a bit shady and pretentious and also flirty. Very flirty. But Purple girl is cool, and she trusts him so he must be kinda cool too. Still don't know who they really are and what they want. Like any of them. So far, I like the kid and purple girl best. I hope they all travel together to bring the kid to... wherever he's supposed to go.

Goals for future episodes: Find out who nut guy is. Learn the freaking names reliably. Find out people's connections to each other.

[justabstractthings]

Sleeping Scruffy (Fairy Tale!AU)

Pairing: Aizawa Shouta x Female! Reader

Warnings: Full on crack mode! 

Word Count: 2.9k

A/N: This was actually for the @bnhabookclub​ Provisional License Exam event, but I didn’t get to finish in time! Honestly, this is a full on crack mode that just came to mind when the prompts included Fairy Tale!AU. Here’s the masterlist for the event that you guys should go read because they are amazing! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!!!

Once upon a time in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a king and a queen. The king and the queen were having a party to celebrate their baby boy. 

“Am I the baby?”

“Do you want to tell the story? That’s what I thought. Now where was I?” 

“The baby boy.”

“Oh yes, they were celebrating their baby boy.”

The king and queen loved their child very much, so they invited the fairies to come and give gifts to the little prince. The first fairy-

“What’s the fairy’s name?”

“Um… what do you want it to be?”

“Auntie Kaya!”

“I think that’s perfect!”

The first fairy, Kayamuri, sashayed up to the prince and looked at his sleeping face. She can already see him growing up to be a handsome prince. So she thought, ‘A little more magic isn’t gonna hurt’. With a whip of her long back hair, she pointed down towards the sleeping baby, “I give you the gift of rugged good looks. Not many people may see it, but you’ll be able to pull off even the scruffiest of looks. You’ll definitely be a lady killer.” With a wink and a sprinkle of her fairy dust, she completed her gift. 

The next fairy-

“Nezu!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yep!”

The second fairy, Nezupal, stepped over to the royal crib. He placed his soft white paw on the baby. The baby merely looked at the fairy and went back to sleep. Nezupal stroked his chin and said, “I shall give him the gift of knowledge. A well-rounded education is the best form of revenge.” With that, he completed his gift and sadistically smiled with a tea cup in his little paw. 

Then suddenly darkness covered the entire room. A dark figure slammed the doors open with a loud bang! “YOOOOOOOOOO, what’s up, my party people?” He bellowed into the large room.

“It sounds like Uncle Yama! Is he the bad guy?”

“Sweetie, you gotta let me finish.”

“Sorry.”

The evil fairy, Yamazashi, appeared into the room with a sneer on his face. All of the guests cowered in fear of his powerful quirk. He smirked up at the throne where the king and queen looked fearfully at him. But his eyes were focused on the crib with three other fairies guarding it protectively.

“The biggest party in the whole kingdom and you didn’t send me an RSVP? That’s wack, yo!” 

“You are not welcome here,” said the king.

“Says who, King-miester? I get invited to ALL the hot parties in this kingdom!” He pushed the other fairies away and leaned over the crib. The child was awake, but did not shed a tear. The baby only looked at the evil fairy with disinterest. “This the kid? Well, he looks about ready to sleep.” An evil smile erupted under his thin mustache. “So, why don’t we make that permanent?”

“Please, no!” the queen cried.

“Because all of you fools didn’t invite me to the party of the century, I’m putting a curse on your prince. Before the end of his 18th birthday, I will let out the loudest yell that will spread throughout the whole kingdom and when he hears it, he will die!”

“Oh no!”

“Sweetheart, if you keep interrupting, we won’t be able to finish.”

“Sorry! Keep going!”

Yamazashi’s evil laughter echoed through the halls of the castle and with a loud bang, he disappeared! The king and queen were scared of what would happen to their baby boy. They didn’t know what to do. That is, until the last fairy coughed into his fist to grab the worried parents’ attention.

The third and final fairy, Allyagi-

“Hehe, that’s funny. I can’t see Uncle Might as a fairy.”

“I know, it’s kinda funny right?”

Allyagi never got to present his gift to the prince. With a sullen look, he floated towards the grieving parents who were protectively clutching their baby. “Unfortunately, my power is too weak against the evil fairy’s spell. This is the best that I can do. Even if Yamazashi’s voice is heard throughout the whole kingdom, the prince will not die. He will only be in a deep slumber until true love’s kiss breaks the spell.”

“Don’t give me that look. You wanted a fairy tale.”

“But kisses are icky.”

To keep the prince safe, the three fairies, Kayamuri, Nezupal, and Allyagi, devised a plan. They would disguise themselves as humans and raise the prince in an abandoned cabin in the woods. There, he would be safe and away from Yamazashi’s evil curse. It would be far enough that not even his mightiest yell could reach the prince’s ears. When the King and Queen agreed, they watched with sad eyes as their beloved prince disappeared into the night. 

Many years passed and the fairies kept their word. They raised the prince deep within the woods and kept him hidden from Yamazashi. 

“Wait! You never told me who the prince was. What’s his name?”

“Umm… his name… his name is…”

Briar Shouta. The fairies named the prince Briar Shouta. Unfortunately for Briar Shouta, the fairies were afraid that if he fell asleep, he would never wake up. So, he grew up with permanent bags under his eyes and a disheveled look from being so sleep deprived. Because of this, he did not look like a prince at all, so nobody recognized him.

Anyway, it was his 18th birthday, and it was a joyous occasion because Yamazashi’s curse had not been fulfilled. The fairies had a big surprise planned for his 18th birthday. 

“We’ll make him a cake!” Nezupal declared. “And maybe some tea to go with it.”

“I’ll make him the most dashing suit,” Kayamuri exclaimed. “Hopefully, it will distract the king and queen from his tired and unkempt appearance.”

“But we don’t know how to bake or sew,” Allyagi reasoned. “Especially not without magic. We don’t want Yamazashi to find out we’ve hidden him here.”

“Then we won’t use our magic!” Kayamuri was already picking out which material to use for the prince’s attire. 

“I’m sure it will be fine,” Nezupal assured Allyagi. 

While the three fairies were making their gifts, Briar Shouta was out in the woods, looking for a place to sleep. Even if it’s just for 5 minutes, he thought. Not caring where he was, he pulled out his yellow blanket and fell asleep. All he wanted was 5 minutes of sleep.

Then a stranger appeared in the woods. She was a very beautiful girl who wanted to explore the woods and read her book. The girl was minding her own business when she stumbled over something and fell on her face. It didn’t help that she had her nose buried in her book while she was walking. 

When she picked herself up, she noticed a man unconscious and wrapped in a bright yellow blanket. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” She asked. 

Briar Shouta glared at his interruption and noticed the girl trying to pull his blanket away from him. He flashed his red eyes which caused the girl to gasp and let go of his blanket. Briar Shouta glared at the girl and said, “Noisy.” He pulled his blanket closer to him and turned away from her.

“Hey, I was just trying to make sure you were okay,” the girl said. “Why are you sleeping in the middle of the woods anyway? You made me trip and I lost the page I was reading.” When the prince said nothing, the girl sighed and plopped herself down beside him.

“Why are you still here?” Briar Shouta asked when the girl scooted herself closer to him.

“I’m just here to make sure nobody else trips on you,” the girl said. “You can go back to sleep.”

Briar Shouta sighed and went back to sleep. The girl smiled down at the strange man and tried to find her page once again. Just a few minutes of peace for the two strangers. But what they didn’t know was that it was the start of a dream come true.

A-Anyway, it was time for the party.

“Wait, what? That doesn’t make sense. They just fell asleep. You didn’t tell me what happened next!”

“I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

So, it was time for the party. The fairies told Briar Shouta that he was actually the prince, and that since it was his 18th birthday, he was going back to his parents and getting married. Of course, the prince outright refused because it was totally illogical, but the fairies convinced him to go to the party anyway.

“Don’t you look handsome?” Kayamuri, the fairy, exclaimed when Prince Shouta came out dressed in his dark black suit. She was happy that he decided on tying his disheveled hair back. “You actually look human for once.”

“Yes, much different than the baggy clothes you like wearing everyday,” Nezupal agreed as he sipped his black tea.

“Very much like a prince, except for one last thing.” Allyagi twirled his fingers and a gold crown appeared out of thin air. He placed the crown on the prince’s head. 

Prince Shouta nodded and watched as Kayamuri, Nezupal, and Allyagi left his room. The prince never wanted the royal life. All he wanted to do was live in the secluded woods and sleep all day. And maybe meet the girl again. But mostly sleep.

Unfortunately, nobody told the prince to be careful of what he wished for. 

Suddenly, a loud cry echoed throughout the whole kingdom. Prince Shouta ran out of his room to the dinning hall. The yelling only got louder and louder as everyone silently waited for what they feared the most. The fairies surrounded the royal family, ready to fight and defend their kingdom.

But it was too late. 

He was here.

“YOOOOOOOOO, TIME TO BRING THE KINGDOM DOOOOOOOOOWN!!!!” The evil fairy appeared in a cloud of yellow smoke. Yamazashi slicked his long blonde hair back as everyone watched his every move. “Another party that I wasn’t invited to.”

Before anyone could attack or run, Yamazashi took a deep breath and let out the loudest yell anyone has ever heard. It spread throughout the whole kingdom. Everyone covered their ears but it wasn’t working. One by one, people dropped to the ground. 

The fairies watched as their worst fear had come true. Briar Shouta laid on the ground in front of their feet. Fast asleep.

“Just like another little prince.”

You smiled as your son’s little snores echoed through the dark and quiet room. You softly ran your hand through his tangled black hair. He let out a quiet whine as he clutched his All Might plushie closer to his chest. You leaned down and placed a soft kiss against his forehead as you pulled his Fat Gum blanket over his little body. 

As you slowly made your way through his messy bedroom, you carefully tiptoed around the many toys scattered around the floor. You successfully reached the door without so much as a stir from the little prince. After turning on the Hawks nightlight and making sure that your son was safe and snoring away, you slipped through the door and into the bright hallway.

You were met with your guests’ expectant stares. “What are you guys doing here?” you whispered with your hands planted on your hips. 

“Why am I the evil fairy?” Yamada quietly whined as you herded your guests back to the living room where you found your husband stretched out on the couch. 

“I have no complaints at all,” Kayama shrugged. “I make a lovely fairy that can make all the men in the kingdom swoon for her. No man or creature can resist my pleasure.” Kayama laughed haughtily as she gracefully sat on the lounge chair.

“It was just a fairy tale, Hizashi,” you reasoned as you nudged your husband off half of the couch. He groaned in annoyance but pushed himself up and decided to rest his weight on you instead. “Plus you would be such a great evil fairy.”

“Yeah! But Nemuri’s quirk can make people fall asleep in an instant. She’s practically an evil fairy,” Yamada continued to whine as he pointed accusingly at Kayama.

She merely rolled her eyes as she smirked down at Yamada’s distressed form. “Kid wanted me to be a good fairy, so that means I’m a good fairy. Deal with it, Hizashi. You’re THE evil fairy.”

“Sleeping Beauty?” Aizawa asked as he nuzzled further into you. 

“Your son asked for a fairy tale and it was the first one I could think of!” Aizawa shrugged as he watched his friends continue to bicker about your son’s choice of characters. 

Yamada snickered behind his hand as he slyly smirked at your sleepy husband. “At least I wasn’t the damsel in distress. Briar Shouta. Or should I say Sleeping Scruffy.” Aizawa scoffed and glared down at his loud friend as the room burst into quiet laughter, mindful of the little prince sleeping in the same house. Quips and jokes continued to be thrown in all directions until it was decidedly getting too late, especially for a school night. 

After exchanging around of farewells, you softly closed the front door. However, before you could even make your way back to your bedroom, you were met with your husband’s solid chest as he trapped you between him and the door. You were about to question him until you saw his unamused stare boring into you. You visibly gulped. This was not good.

Aizawa leaned down as you tried to look at anywhere but his intimidating eyes. With a soft touch, he grabbed your chin and forced your eyes on him. Nowhere left to escape. At times like these, you could never understand what Aizawa was thinking. Even after being married for years, Aizawa was a complicated man which made it difficult to read his intentions. You could only watch with baited breath as Aizawa raised his brow. “Briar Shouta?” 

You grinned sheepishly as your husband leaned back and stared at you expectantly. “What? I couldn’t think of anybody else for the part.”

Aizawa closed his eyes and let out a small chuckle. He grabbed your hand and pulled you towards the couch. You had to physically keep yourself from yelping when you were unceremoniously pushed onto the couch with Aizawa making himself comfortable on top of you.

You let out a huff as Aizawa nuzzled himself further into you like a cat. You ran a hand through his scalp until you heard him mumble something on your chest. “What was that?” 

Aizawa pulled his head up and rested his chin on your chest. “Where did you leave off?”

You tilted your head to the side. “From the fairy tale?” Aizawa nodded and buried his head back into your chest which prompted a light blush to rise on your cheeks. You sighed and continued to run your hand through Aizawa’s tangled black locks. 

All across the kingdom, everyone was fast asleep. The fairies looked worriedly at each other, unsure of what to do next. They flitted nervously until Allyagi remembered his gift to the prince when he was a baby.

“True love’s kiss!” he exclaimed.

“But where are we gonna find someone to kiss him?” Kayamuri asked. “If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been secluded in that forest for years.”

Nezupal cleared his throat and caught their attention. He smirked knowingly at them as he magically summoned a hot cup of tea.

“If you know something, just say it, Nezupal,” Kayamuri said as she glared down at his calm demeanor.

“While he was out in the woods, he met a girl, a princess actually. And he fell madly and deeply in love with her at first sight.”

“Hey! Stop laughing! I’m telling the story. Not you.”

“Sorry, dear.”

“Now, where was I?”

The fairies flew as fast as they could back to the woods. Luckily, they found the girl on her horse riding towards the sleeping kingdom. “What happened?” she asked.

“You’re Briar Shouta’s love! Come, he needs your help!” The fairies led her towards the castle. She jumped off her horse and sped into the castle. All she could think of was the boy she met in the woods. She climbed up many flights of stairs until the fairies stopped in front of a door. 

She slowly pushed the door open and her eyes fell on Briar Shouta’s sleeping form. She smiled softly as she recalled the times she spent with the prince. She made her way to his bed and ran a hand softly against his face. She admired his relaxed expression and his handsome features. His stubbled face. His scar right under his right eye. His furrowed brow. But what she loved the most about him was his eyes. So full of emotion and love. She wanted to see them again.

“Then what happened?” Aizawa’s rough voice pulled you out of your thoughts. 

“Then she kissed him.” 

You pulled Aizawa’s face up and pressed your lips against his rough ones. Your heart hammered against your chest as you felt your husband’s weight press against you like an anchor to keep you from floating away. Aizawa caged you in between his arms as you welcomed his warm presence. With arms wrapped around his broad shoulders, you let yourself relax and fall deeper into his embrace. 

When you separated, your heart continued to flutter under Aizawa’s heated gaze. You could never look away from his dark intimidating eyes. You smiled up at your husband and pulled him closer as you sighed against his lips.

“And they lived happily ever after.”

[smolbeandrabbles]

One Heart To Another - Vince Kovac x Reader (Tangle)

Main Series: The Honey / Back on Love (Also see: Chaser / Want to Want Me / Middle Distance Runner / Love The Way You Love Me )

Author’s Note: Yooooooooo! Starting the writing year here off with Vince? You betcha! This is a direct continuation of ‘Back on Love’. Literally, we gonna pick up where we left off. 

Disclaimer: Tangle & all associated characters nothing to do with me / lyrics not mine / you’ll see I put my banner back at the top so no gif disclaimers-! 

Premise: After two chance encounters leave you with questions and doubts, the only thing left to do is confront Vince about his past.

Words: 4247

Warnings: Tangle season 2/3 spoilers ahead! / swearing / mentions of sex

______ You can't keep a secret in a tell-all town this size I figured I'd see you around I didn't know what I'd do 'til now And I don't wanna impose or cause a scene But I'm gonna tell you what the last one told me

From one heart to another From one ex to the next lover I've felt that spell you're under That kiss underneath those covers When it's good, it don't get better He'll make it feel like it's forever But from one ex to the next lover He goes from one heart to another

Some take to drinkin' and some take to the words in red Some lay low, some get high Everybody's got their way to get by To fix what's broken inside And for him, it's goodbyes and taillights

You can't fix it (you can't fix it) You're gonna see it (you're gonna see it) He's addicted to the leaving

---

Ally blinked at you a couple of times, almost surprised that you knew her name – that he might even have told you that much. Seemed you were both as worried about this eventual conversation as each other. You swallowed hard, turning fully towards her, neither of you sure of what exactly to say next. Although she had called upon you, so clearly she had something to say… She took a breath and smiled gently, “I wondered if he might say anything.” In truth Vince hadn’t told you much about Ally other than she existed; but you knew enough about his two kids, Romeo and Gigi, even if you had yet to meet them. She’d barely said two sentences to you and yet you were instantly warming to her, “Vince said a little. I can’t say I ever expected to… meet you like this.” You took a step forward, smiling back, “It’s a pleasure.” Then stopped yourself, “Can I… say that?” She only laughed herself, “I suppose so. You’ve kinda been the talk of my neighbourhood for a little while… and not just because you’re an amazing architect.” Ally said it more because she’d clearly found out that’s who you were, not because she’d admired your work. You flushed; seemed like you were going to become Melbourne gossip. But with Vince’s reputation could you really be so surprised? “Oh- I-” “I just… It sounds like the two of you are happy. And I don’t want… I don’t want to mess that up for you. That’s not why I’m seeking you out, but… I saw you over here and I just… I have some things to say.” Happy? You thought for a moment. Were you? Were you happy with him? You supposed that may well have been one word for the way he made you feel, but it might not have been the one you chose. You would prefer comfortable… or hopeful, that you could perhaps build some kind of future together. You nodded slowly, “I guess I might have expected you would if we ever did meet. I’ll hear you out!” Afterall, you could take ex-wife spite with a pinch of salt if that’s what this was going to be. Only Ally didn’t look like the type, and she’d just said that wasn’t what this was. You believed her, you trusted her. Her next smile was a little awkward, “Maybe… maybe we shouldn’t do this here. Do you have time for a coffee?” Your eyebrow shot up, okay, that wasn’t just a few things to say – this was a whole conversation she wanted to have! You glanced at your watch, your call wasn’t until this evening, you still had plenty of time to kill, “Yeah, sure! That would actually be really nice..!” *** She threw her coat over the back of her chair as she sat opposite you, “Sorry, I don’t know how much you know of Melbourne, but this one is one of my favourite places to go. I hope it’s not out of your way?” You laughed, waving away Ally’s worry, “I’m still learning, it’s nice to add somewhere different to my list.” You also understood her wishes to be somewhere she found comfortable. This wasn’t going to be the easiest thing to talk about, even without the factor of you being Vince’s new girlfriend.

Ally didn’t have to do this. She didn’t have to subject herself to these thoughts ever again if she didn’t want to – sure, they could be intrusive, you understood that. But she didn’t have to bring them to you. It made you understand all at once the kind of person she was; doing this for you out of the goodness of her own heart. It gave you a sudden sense of tranquillity. Happiness for her – Vince didn’t deserve a heart like hers; you were almost glad that she was out of it. You knew about strings of messy love affairs and ‘love them and leave thems’ - you’d done enough of that in your life; whatever she had to tell you about Vince, you figured you could handle it.

She started with small talk, allowing yourselves to warm to each other as you talked about your work and your interests. You found it odd for Ally to start a conversation as if meeting a new friend, then wondered – almost aloud – if that was what you might become. You supposed in the back of your mind you’d always thought that you and her would have to become something if Vince was ever going to see his kids again. When Ally began to touch on Vince, however, her smile didn’t even falter, not once. And she shared with you good memories. Everything about her ex-husband she truly loved – and you could see that in her eyes. How much joy this reminiscing brought her – you damned him yourself for breaking her heart, for ever cheating on her in the first place. Even if without that, there wouldn’t be a you and him.

Then she paused, swallowing hard, faltering as she stared down at her empty coffee cup and fiddled with the sleeve of her cardigan. And you knew what was coming – everything Ally had really pulled you here to tell you. The warning. The Ex to the Next Girl. She started with Emily. Em. How she’d found out, how it ended. How Em broke it off with him first. How Ally had thought about fixing everything, about staying with him, for the kids as much as everything. But she couldn’t. It was all a little too much for her. And as you thought, many told her she deserved better. But Vince had been her everything for a very long time, and you could only imagine how difficult it had all been for her. By Ally’s smile, though, you could tell things were getting better. She went on to explain a few other aspects of Vince’s personality; flaws and quirks she thought you aught to be mindful of. But that not all of them were bad – not everything about Vince was bad. Once again affirming that she wasn’t here to tell you to run miles; because maybe he’d changed, maybe he would try this time. But she was here to make you aware, so that whatever the decision was, it was your own. So that you were never on the back foot in the relationship. Plain and simple, Ally wanted you to have all the knowledge, so that you had all the power.

Then she paused again, and it was all there in her hesitation that she had so much more to say. Something was stopping her – but you leant forward, needing to know it. Ally had come this far; you needed her to go the whole way. She could only shake her head: Ally knew about one affair, but she had found things that indicated Vince’d had others when clearing his stuff out. You raised an eyebrow; you weren’t sure Vince ever really gave a number before… he said he’d ‘cheated’, he hadn’t expressed this might have been multiple accounts. But looking at the way he was with you, you wouldn’t be surprised. They wouldn’t all have rejected his advances, they wouldn’t all have been given the ‘I have to earn you’ spiel in the same way as he’d given it to you. Amicable of him to keep chasing you, if he’d known it so easy, was your only thought. Ally bit her lips together; “Some of it I can’t talk about. It’s not my place. It’s his. But if he loves you. If he really means it and he loves you, Vince will come clean. You should give him that opportunity, because if he’s serious he’ll do it. I can’t promise that it’ll be easy. But if he does then it’s all down to you. But that honesty alone, trust me, is worth so much. Because that isn’t him. So, if he does it, it’s for you.”

“…I don’t know if I’m ready for what the answer could be…” You knotted your fingers together and stared at your hands for a moment; shaken a little at the anxiousness that was starting to set in across your shoulders. Ally reached across the table, and her hand upon yours squeezing gently had you raising your eyes back to her, “If he doesn’t then there’s only one thing to do, Y/N,” her smile was sympathetic, but her tone serious, “take this warning and run.” *** Vince didn’t return home for a few days. That was fine, sometimes it was like that. He still had his own place and, as this technically wasn’t really his house, there were days that he didn’t live here. It had never bothered you before; only now you had Ally’s words echoing in your head. Not that you thought he was cheating, but you could feel that whisper deep in the back of your head. At the same time, you were glad he wasn’t around so you could gather your thoughts, think about how exactly you were supposed to ask him about it. You figured you were going to have to mention Ally, but also weren’t sure what reaction that would get. And you weren’t sure that you wanted to leap at him with something as blunt as “So, how many times did you cheat on her?!”

You had picked up your phone a couple of time and hovered over the call button, and every time it lit up with a text from him you would thinking about it and stop yourself. No. This wasn’t a call, and certainly wasn’t a text conversation, this had to be a face-to-face confrontation. So you didn’t call him… you simply awaited his return to you.

 Meanwhile, you were still working around the city, and got pulled into a meeting with a property developer. Although work had come from your architect company, she had asked for you specifically and had your design in mind for the development. That was no problem, as you were free, your boss didn’t see the harm in sending you out. Manuel had called out to you before you left the office and asked if you needed back up, you simply shook your head and rolled your eyes at him, “I’ll phone if I need you to bail me though!” “Alright! I’ll be right here-!” He was a little blessing sometimes; you weren’t about to admit that to his face though. You thought he already probably knew.

When you met Nicky Barnham she was about what you expected, all business and fast paced talking about how many investors she had that had brought her this piece of land, and exactly what she wanted, and a budget she’d constructed. You nodded along, listening to what she was thinking. Seemed very ‘out of the box’… you wondered what the pièce de résistance was… Why she would bother asking for you specifically. You came with a price tag, even without it being a direct commission. Just so she could say it was designed by you? Right now it wasn’t the most exciting thing you’d ever heard of, and you could just as easy pass it on to an assistant or someone else in the firm if it didn’t pique your interest. You weren’t about to tell her that, of course.

She seemed to hold this air of confidence over you that you didn’t like. The way she watched you a little too closely, as if she was scrutinising everything about you: from the words you used and the way you spoke, to your attire, your drawing, your portfolio of experience on similar projects… your body. You found that one most odd. Because it wasn’t in a ‘I’m checking you out’ way – which you might find flattering, but a little inappropriate for a business meeting. But as if she were sizing you up, seeing what exactly you were working with. You tried your best to ignore it with a neutral expression; all you had to do was your job, then you could get out of here. Then eventually, she spoke up. Because finally she couldn’t resist the urge to ask the question. And you realised exactly why she was staring at you in such a way as it burst from her. “You’re the architect that’s with Vince Kovac, right?” Your stare back was very measured, and you chewed the inside of your lip for a second. Was that how she knew your name? Did this have nothing to do with your actual prowess as an architect? She was asking for none of your signatures because she didn’t know who you were. Not really. ‘Damn being the fucking talk of this town-!’ You placed your pencil down slowly, wondering exactly where this was about to head. “Yes.” You didn’t offer anything else than that. Your relationship wasn’t up for discussion. She wasn’t a friend. She wasn’t even an acquaintance. This was her first consultation with you; the personal details of your life were just that. Nicky leant forward, smirk forming on her lips, “Oh, the sex is just so great isn’t it? Now there is a man who knows what he’s doing… especially in the back of a car. And I saw the one you pulled up in; must be quite a thrill… or in that truck of his. And you’re tiny, so you must fit in the bed, or the back seat so easily… Someone tells me he practically lives with you. I’m not surprised. I wouldn’t let him out of that bed once I got him in it.” She tucked her hair behind her ear with a far-off look of remembrance, “Of course, it was just the once but… mmm… I could do that again.” You weren’t exactly sure what the correct response was – although 20 that were obviously highly inappropriate for the situation screamed their way across your head. You hoped that your face wasn’t reading all of them at once. You blinked, taking a breath to calm them all down. Personal is personal. But also, she could stop thinking about whatever mind blowing sex she got from Vince once, because he was yours now. And it was none of her business what you got up to with him – between the sheets or in the back seat. Your voice wasn’t exactly controlled though, and the anger boiled beneath the surface: “We haven’t had sex yet.” “Really?!” She was shocked, and obviously hadn’t read you at all, “You need to get on it girl, he’s not the kind of man to wait around forever, if you know what I mean. When he gets bored it’ll be onto the next one.” You very nearly snapped the pencil in two. Ally had said she knew about more affairs. And you got the feeling that one was now sitting across from you spilling details to lord over you that ‘yes, I’ve had sex with your boyfriend too!’… although now it was just ‘I’VE actually had sex with him. You haven’t.’ What did she expect, you to lean across the table, eyes bright, and start spilling every intimate detail with her? This wasn’t some girl gossip. This wasn’t you and your best friend in college where you used to lament about all the boys you were both chasing. She was barely even a client right now. What the hell is wrong with some people? You simply opted to nod, with your eyebrows raised. Yeah. So you’d heard.

The rest of the session passed with very little words, and when you’d gave the rough designs to Nicky, she smiled and shook your hand, and said she was looking forward to working with you, with a very pointed smirk. As soon as the door closed behind you you wiped your hands on your clothing and threw the file onto the seat beside you. Forgetting it almost immediately. You drove back blind, and were still barely seeing when you reached the office. Manuel craned his neck in curiosity as you entered. Anytime anyone asked for you, everyone always wanted to know where they’d heard of you and what signature twist they wanted, and what it was that meant your usual services were out of budget. He needn’t have bothered, you made a bee line for his desk. “How’d it go?” You dumped the folder, still staring off at nothing in particular, “She’s all yours.” “That bad, huh?” Manuel pulled it towards him, “Not gonna pass up a commission or a daft sketch from you though, I love working with your designs!” You barely managed a sarcastic laugh over your shoulder as you stalked back to your own space; “Knock yourself out!”

***

You were still working when Vince arrived home, glass of wine balanced on the arm of the couch as you stared at your laptop screen and the CAD design in front of you. Something still seemed off about it. Maybe you weren’t in the right mood for it… and you were about 3 or 4 glasses in… But you just wanted the thing done so you could actually get on with the evening you had planned. DVD lying forgotten on the coffee table in front of you. “BAAAABE?” Vince’s voice cut through your thoughts and you raised your eyes from your screen to the room, realising you now had another problem on your hands. Vince hadn’t been back since Nicky… hadn’t been back since Ally. You’d talked but… you wanted to talk. You looked back to the design and sighed in frustration; well, this wasn’t getting finished tonight. “Oh-! Here you are. How you doing? You been okay?” He swept through your living room, disappearing into the kitchen – whereupon you heard the fridge door open and a beer cracked. He ambled back through, pausing, eyebrow raised at your lack of answer, “Babe?” “Yeah, what?” “You… not talking to me or something?” It made you incredulous that he was able to stand there with a smug little smirk on his lips. But you had to keep level. If you lost it with him immediately then Vince would have already won. Your eyes trailed back to your laptop screen and you inclined your head towards it. You chewed your lip for a second, passing your fingers between each other, in an attempt to channel your thoughts. To him you were quite clearly upset, even if he didn’t understand why. You had let this man into your life, he practically lived with you. Vince had said, in earnest, looking at you like you were the only person in the world, so quiet and sincere that he had to earn you. And yet… all this? Did he simply say that to every woman he met? It was so easy to sit here and just believe that to be true. In the end you didn’t even choose your words as carefully as you wanted to. Perhaps needed to. You’d been given days to think, and instead you’d over thought it too much. “How many other woman are gonna tell me what a great lay you are?!” Vince lowered the bottle from his lips very slowly, eyebrow cocked, “…What?” You lowered the screen of your laptop just as slow, and turned to him; “You have ONE chance to come clean with me, now.” “Y/N, you’re not making sense…” He started towards you, “ONE chance Vince-! And I want the truth, I don’t-” He sat beside you taking your hands, “Who? Who have you been talking to?” “…Well, Em I knew about from you. A couple of days ago I got accosted by Nicky Barnham… I hope the list ends there. But I need to know. Who else is gonna come at me from the shadows? Vince if this is going to be a real relationship. If you want me to trust you, if you want to earn that trust. Then I need to know everything. Right now.” There was a pause of significance as his fingers repeatedly laced and unlaced with yours. Vince couldn’t meet your eyes even though you’d somewhere, somehow, found the strength to look at him. His eyes remained on his beer bottle for countless minutes before he sighed, almost in resignation. This was his moment – and his only moment – to come clean. Or the wrath that might be coming if he didn’t was what he’d have to face. Vince could only imagine how unforgiving you’d be. “There was one other.” “One?” “One. I promise.” You weren’t sure how much you could really count on his promises, but you would hear him out at least. “But it’s not… It’s not like Em or Nicky that… that was easy.” Your eyes narrowed at him, anything but impressed at his choice of language. But his blue eyes held yours, almost pleading you to see his side of the situation; whatever that was. “Her name is Tanya… but.” He delayed it again. The inevitable truth. “God, Y/N. It’s-” You almost wanted to scream at him to get on with it, but you stilled, and you held your tongue for a punchline you almost couldn’t imagine. “We have a daughter together. Her name is Ophelia.” Your eyes widened, and your hands pulled from his as you visibly recoiled from him across the couch. You knew the gasp was loud, you knew what your body language was saying. Vince hadn’t just had affairs; he’d had a child with someone else. Was this what Ally was referring to!? You could only imagine that it was. And that, by the way he was talking, Vince even had something to do with her life. Your throat burned and tears pricked at your eyes and fell before you’d even noticed their presence. After all he’d said. When he’d come clean before Vince had barely scratched the surface. Did he not trust you enough? Did he not want this enough? Did he not love you enough…? Was this the person he was always going to be? Was there simply no hope for your relationship, no matter what he told you and how sincerely he told you he’d work for you. Were you just gonna be another ‘great lay’ on Vince’s ever-growing list? Fuck that. You weren’t down to be chased and won like some trophy at the end of a game. Used for sex and excitement until that spark was just gone; another picked up after you just as easily. He’d never gotten you naked, but you had let him into your life. Parts of you you hadn’t let anyone see for a very long time, not since you’d last seriously dated. You weren’t just upset with him, you were hurting. And all you were measuring up was his lies. How much of what he’d told you could easily have been lies. You were deep into over thinking now. And you couldn’t handle it. You stood, hands to your head for a moment as you moved away from him. “I want you to go.”

It hung in the air even as he stood quickly, his attempt to rush to your side countered by your steps back and away from him, and this time you refused to look at his face. “What?” “Vince. Please, I need you to leave.” “Y/N.” His next attempt to take your hand had you yanking away from him, this time looking at his face as you pointed to your front door. “Please, if you care about me even a little you’ll go, right now. I need time, Vince. I can’t... this hurts! Can’t you see how much this hurts?!” “Please. We can talk about this.”

No. No. You need to go. “I can’t. I need you to leave.” “Y/N.” Your advance on him to shove him down the hallway was met with steps backwards, hands raised. Alright, I get it. But Vince kept looking at you even as you stalked him down the corridor; “Babe, we can fix this. You know that. We can talk about it.” “I’m not ready to talk about it. You need to wait for that.” YOU can’t fix this. He opened the door and took one step back onto the porch. You almost found it amicable that he was listening – that Vince wasn’t attempting to push you up against the wall, sweet talk you and kiss this all away. He knew it wouldn’t work. That would result in you screaming at him, clawing at his face and him losing you forever. Vince Kovac still couldn’t afford that.

But his blue eyes still begged you to let him back in, even as you shut the door in his face. You slid down the other side – head pounding from thinking, whooshing slightly from the glasses of wine. He didn’t call back, but you knew he didn’t leave right away either. Maybe Vince thought you’d change your mind, throw your door open and run to him and drag him back inside.

It didn’t happen, and eventually you heard his truck roll off the drive way. Only then did you stand, allowing yourself one sob before you wiped your eyes and trudged back through into the living room.

Your eyes fell upon the bottle of wine on the side, your half-finished glass. You couldn’t be sure, but you thought your heart might just be broken. You balanced your glass between your fingers and poured it full again.

Nothing good wine couldn’t fix…

---

Thank you for reading! First (published) fic of 2021! I’m not going to promise any consistency this year at all, but I’ll try my damnedest. 

[clean-bands-dirty-stories]

Love Doctor ~ L.M.

A/n: YOOOOOOOOO I kind of forgot about these movies LOL I had so much rewatching the first movie to get in the mood for this.

Request: “If you know the character well enough could you do a Leonard McCoy x male reader where the reader is constantly visiting medbay because he just constantly gets hurt and the nurses start to think “is here really hurt of is he just here to see McCoy” so they confront the reader and he’s like “n-no what are you talking about??” Nurses trying to get them together ensue” by @sheepfather​

Word Count: 3700+

Masterlist

They say that nothing compares to the wrath of a woman scorned.

Well, they hadn't met Y/n yet.

"Are you INSANE?"

Leonard "Bones" McCoy was a great doctor, and had long since been an even better friend to recently made Captain James T Kirk of the Enterprise. With all the titles and fancy stuff aside, Bones knew a thing or two about fear. He had watched everything taken from him when his wife, many years, divorced him and drained him of every penny she could. He had faced a threat from the future most recently who's goal was to wipe the solar system of any species other than his own. He had watched his long time friend almost die. A lot. Like, A LOT. So many times it wasn't even funny and he had almost strangled the man himself when everything settled again. He had faced death himself once or twice though and in the end everyone was safe so he let it be. The point was, he had faced and conquered fear. He should be able to handle it.

Watching Y/n storm up to him filled him with more fear than he had faced looking at even Death itself.

Y/n was stern faced and tense. "Hey there," Bones greeted, ready to get lectured.

Instead of yelling, Y/n did something Bones didn't expect. He took Bones in his arms, hugging him desperately. Bones felt his surprise fade and embarrassment take over. Not because he was one of those people who didn't believe in affection between friends or men, but because he had a gigantic crush on Y/n and the feeling of the man holding him made him feel like a teenager again. He was an idiot, honestly. Good god man, he was a grown adult!

Yet, when Y/n held him at arm's length, Bones was blushing. "You didn't even call me when you got back. I had to hear about your little adventure from the news! From Jim of all people!"

Bones flinched. He had been busy since he'd gotten back. It had only been a few days and there had been so much going on... He didn't think it would have upset Y/n this much. The men were friends, having met a while back through Bones' now ex wife actually. Before he was married to her, Y/n had been a friend of a friend to her. When they'd gotten divorced, Y/n was there for him. Ever since they'd stayed friends, but as time passed Bones has recognized his feelings for Y/n had been... different. Especially when he became friends with Jim, he realized that how he felt wasn't normal for two close friends. He'd never had the confidence to take a shot and as Y/n tried his hand with other women, Bones wrote it off and assumed his chanced were kaput.

The look in Y/n's eyes right now though spoke of panic. Care much more than just one friend to another. It was moments like this that let Bones dream. He tried to put his own feelings down. Y/n didn't have a lot of friends or family. Bones was one of the few people he still had left after a hard life that had left him almost entirely alone. Of course he'd be worried about losing one of those people.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "It's just been super busy-"

Y/n scoffed and rolled his eyes, cutting the other man off. "I hear you're allowed calls every once in a while." Bones gave him a confused look. "On the Enterprise, Bones! Come on- you're going back out there and if you're not going to tell me shit, then I'm going to demand you set up a call system so that every time you land you have me on the line dialing. I want it to be habit, do you understand?"

Bones couldn't hold back a smile. He tried to play it off as teasing, but his whole body felt warmer. "Oh come on, I'll be fine." His voice was soft.

"You better be." Y/n sighed, seeming to have calmed down. "Look, I just- I get it. Just let me know you're okay next time before I hear the news and go full panic mode, okay?"

Scoffing softly, Bones offered a, "Okay, mom."

Y/n smiled and the world got a little brighter. "You're an idiot." Then he turned and began to walk away. Bones watched, his smile coming in full steam now that he was alone.

Except... he wasn't. It was that second he remembered that there were other people in the Med Bay at that moment. Nurses mostly, but patients too. Every single pair of eyes was staring at him. All of them were amused and accusing. Knowing. Playful. He hardened immediately, scowling back at them. "Okay show's over, get back to work." He turned away and everyone smiled.

Idiots indeed.

-

"Are you insane?" This time it came from Bones and Y/n was on the receiving end.

Y/n wasn't going to take the lecture like Bones had though. "If you're going to be facing death all the damn time, I might as well be here to watch your back. I can't stand staying at home while y-" he cut off, stalling a second as his brain realigned. "As my two closest friends set off into the great space and throw their lives around like they mean nothing!"

Bones grunted in frustration. "Y/n, you're working as a mechanic."

"A damn good one too!" Y/n threw back. "I'm the King of repairs, and it seems you guys need someone like that on deck. You have the greatest captain, the best second in command-"

"A stretch," Bones grumbled.

"Amazing pilots and a mechanical genius who advanced beaming an insane amount. But even geniuses need help, and while he's a great mind, I'm great with my hands." Y/n rose said appendages, wiggling his fingers. "Plus it doesn't matter. Scotty was more than happy to have me on board and pushed for it himself. Went straight tot he Captain and everything. Jim was more than happy to have me aboard. That's it. I'm coming and you can't stop me."

A long, soft sigh escaped Bones then. "Fine, but if you get ANY injuries, you come to me directly do you understand? This stuff is dangerous."

Just then Y/n got a huge, shit eating grin on his face. "I was planning to, Doctor." Something about how he looked when he said it made Bones both nervous and excited. When they parted ways, Bones tried to not let the moment of seclusion allow his mind to wander too much.

-

"I just burned my hand," Y/n huffed impatiently. "Scotty needs me back, Bones. Just bandage it or something."

Bones tugged Y/n's hand closer by the wrist, glaring at him. "You're being too careless! My god Y/n sit still! You're whinier than Jim." That got Y/n to be quiet. Which in turn made Bones struggle not to laugh.  After all, who would want to be compared to Jim Kirk in whininess? Even though he really didn't complain all that often, Y/n and Bones had a running joke that he was secretly a nine year old girl. Simply because it bothered him.

In the moment of silence, Y/n got the opportunity to really look at Bones. He watched quietly as Bones carefully applied an oily cream that made the stinging pain go away. It was soothing and cold; a huge relief. The lapse of pain allowed him to take a second to admire the features of the man tending to him. The smile lines that were hidden because he liked to be grumpy and sassy, but which showed every time he even cracked the tiniest of smiles or smirks. The deep color of his brown eyes and how the concentrated with unbreakable focus. The line of his jaw, hard as his teeth locked together. He had a small scar above his left eyebrow. It was something he'd never seen before. Perhaps he'd gotten it more recently... The curve of his nose drew his eyes straight to his lips.

Only then did Bones finish, of course, and as he looked over Y/n tried to look casual and as if he hadn't been checking Bones out. Which he most definitely had been. "Will that be all, Doc?"

Rolling his eyes, Bones let Y/n's hand fall. "For now. Be more careful."

Y/n hopped down from the bed, grinning widely. "But then what excuse would I have to visit you?" He laughed afterward to play it off as a joke, but there was a false tone to it. A truth in his words overcame the chuckle, so Y/n headed out quickly. Unfortunately it left a rather speechless Bones alone before he could come up with something to reply, and a bunch of smirking nurses all looking at each other with looks that spelled trouble.

-

When Y/n came in limping, Bones thought it would be for something more real than tripping and falling down stairs. The injury had seemed legitimate until only a few hours later Y/n was spick and span- even though Bones hadn't done more than ice it for ten minutes.

When Y/n had come holding his arm and wincing every time someone touched it, Bones was there dutifully even though it was only from slamming it in a door. He wrapped it up and gave Y/n something to help the healing and pain. In a few days he was perfectly fine, even though Bones had expected a few weeks of soreness at the very least.

It got only more ridiculous from there. From smashed fingers and headaches and sore throats and itchy eyes and sore muscles, Y/n was coming into the Med Bay for help from Bones once every few days. It was a record. Even when there was nothing going on, Y/n found increasingly creative ways to get hurt and end up needing some kind of help and attention. Bones took the opportunity with only minimal griping about Y/n's carelessness. To be fair, he was probably trying very hard to enjoy Y/n's company rather than focus on the fact that Y/n was rarely if ever sick and had a habit of being very careful. In severe situations, he was always the one with the least amount of damage. It seemed that he was prone for small accidents and that his luck magically returned every time it counted. Not that anyone was complaining, but it was rather odd.

Or, more fittingly, obvious. Everyone but Bones was seeing right through Y/n. One day the nurses finally decided to intervene.

Nurse Avery began the casual prodding. "I'm sorry that Dr. McCoy wasn't available to help you today."

"It's fine," Y/n dismissed, even though he was obviously very disappointed.

Avery nodded. "You two seem to be very close," she continued. This time her overly casual tone was overlapped with a pointed look, but both only made Y/n confused.

"Well, we've been friends for years. Even before he and Jim were," Y/n offered.

The nurse nodded her head, but her smirk said that she knew something. Or had assumed something. Or that what Y/n had said fed some sort of theory maybe? Y/n wasn't sure. "And how many years have you been clumsy?"

That made Y/n nervous. It was an odd question to ask, unless they knew the real reason he was in here so often. But surely that wasn't possible. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what she means," Another nurse, Simon, teased. He rolled his eyes, an amused smile curving his parted lips. "If your blush had anything to say."

Nurse Amy giggled. They were both doing other things but it seemed their attention was on the conversation. Even Nurse Lyro spoke to them now as they treated a patient. "We never see you in here after a big battle. And we all know that you're one of very few that is careful enough not to get hurt during catastrophes, which is odd since you're normally in the middle of it and not hiding like the others."

Y/n's frown wiped the smiles off their faces. "It's because I'm a coward." The nurses exchanged looks with each other. They hadn't meant to upset him. "Are you done?" He looked up at Avery. "With my hand?"

"Yeah," she answered softly. Her own fingers had stilled, resting on top of and below his hand. It had been mostly to keep him in place, but now she let it drop. "Do you-?"

"Thank you for your help." Y/n stood off the table, offering the girl a small smile before leaving the Med Bay. Looks were exchanged between the nurses again.

What had that been about?

-

"Dr. McCoy?" Bones looked over to see Nurse Lyro. They continued when he looked over, giving them his attention. "Have you seen Y/n recently?"

Bones pursed his lips in a frown. "I haven't. Why?"

Lyro shrugged. "Well Avery tended his hand a few weeks ago and we haven't seen him in the Med Bay since, not even for a check up."

It had been three and a half weeks to be precise, and Bones was worried. After seeing Y/n every three or four days, Bones had come into a routine of leaving a looseness in his schedule that would allow him time to tend Y/n. Only a few times did something unpredictable interfere with it which is when the nurses usually took over like last time. But in the last almost month, Y/n hadn't been by even once. Bones saw him occasionally outside of work, but otherwise Y/n made him scarce and the doctor would be lying if he said he didn't miss his friend.

"I'll have to hunt him down once I'm off my shift and make sure he's taking care of himself." Bones gave a short laugh then. "He's probably focused on some project or something. We'll have him back in here in a bit."

Lyro grabbed Bones' shoulder to stop him from leaving. "Last time he was here, we were talking and he said something about being a coward. It seemed to upset him..." They sighed. "I just wanted to make sure our conversation wasn't what upset him."

That seemed to confuse Bones. "A coward?" Lyro shrugged. "Huh. Okay." They shared nods and then parted ways. Right when Bones' shift left, he headed straight for Y/n's room. He knocked on the door a few times before Y/n answered. When he did, the man seemed to be battling between happiness and hurt. It didn't make sense. "Hey Y/n."

"Hi." Y/n leaned against his door. "Do you... want to come in?"

"Sure yeah I'd like that." Y/n moved to open his door more and Bones came inside. When the door closed, Bones turned back so they faced each other. "The nurses wanted me to check on your burn. You haven't been by in a while."

Y/n showed his hand. It looked fine, if only minorly scarred. "It healed nicely. Everyone in the Med Bay is pretty great. It's awesome."

Bones nodded. "I'm glad to hear."

There was a long silence. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"Why did you say you were a coward?" It sort of slipped out, far from graceful. "You're always right there by Jim and Spock. You've even stepped in a few times for me, and no matter how crazy something is, you're always willing to do it if it saves someone. How could you think you're a coward?"

Y/n sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Jim is the brave one. He's always risking himself and protecting everyone. He's got all of our backs and cares a lot about what's right. Then there's Spock, and despite how much he tries to seem emotionless so he can appear in control, it's only because he's so smart that he hasn't gotten himself killed from how much he puts himself on the line to protect others. And you... Well, they'd both be super dead without you. Not just how great of a doctor you are either, but because you balance Jim's recklessness and Spock's focus on what's logical and such. You guys are like this unbreakable triangle of perfection where you all watch each other's back and without even one of you the other two would fail. I just... hide behind it. I do what I'm told and hide when I can. Do you know how many times each of your has stepped in when I was too scared to do it? How many times you guys have almost died because I hesitated or sat back or stopped functioning because I'm terrible in high stress situations? Scotty is the one who does all the important stuff. I just help him when he needs me to.He could probably do it without me, honestly. I just feel like the extra piece of an already completed puzzle."

It all came out soft and empty. Defeated. Bones rolled his eyes- he wasn't having any of this. "Do you know how many times Scotty has praised Jim for adding you to his team? You know a lot more about mechanics than he does, even though he's really smart about it. I've CAUGHT him just hitting things to get them to work. You might take more time and effort, but when you fix something it lasts longer than when Scotty does- even though he is better in a high stress situation or whatever." Bones scoffed. "If we're being real, no one is actually GOOD in those situations, some are just better than others. And even then, you know how many times Jim or Spock or I have had to clean up the messes of the other? You say we're like a perfect whatever, but half the time I want to strangle both of them and they each other. It's chaotic and we're all trying our best and because of you, we're doing a LOT better than we would be."

Y/n crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you know why I come by the Med Bay so often?"

"Why?" Bones asked, his tone tired as he expected some new reason why he was pathetic. Perhaps it was that he was too lazy to be careful, or that he was clumsy or easily distracted. Bones had arguments for all of those things.

Unfortunately that's not what Y/n said. "Because I'm in love with you." Bones was stunned into silence, processing what had just been told to him. "I only joined the crew because I hated being away from you. I hate flying and I hate space and confrontation makes me anxious. I'm terrible in combat and even worse at social interactions. I'm awkward and quiet and bad at carrying conversation, so instead of just asking you on a date like a normal person I joined the one place I didn't go, even though I graduated school for it. Do you know why I left?"

"No," Bones answered quietly.

"I was sixteen when I joined my very first crew. I was the head mechanic until one thing went wrong and I almost stranded the whole ship. In space. A very long time from help. Everyone said that I had taken a calculated risk in the face of a surprise attack from a planet that was supposed to be hosting us for a peace conference. I saved everyone or whatever." Y/n shook his head. "I used to be a prodigy. One of the youngest mechanics ever to join Star Fleet. And good at my job too. But I was too... I took too many risks. They rationalized that I was effective, but when I left no one asked about it."

Bones tried to remember any news about Y/n. Anything before he'd joined the Enterprise. "Why don't I know about any of this?"

Y/n chuckled darkly. "Because I was too impulsive and hard to control. I was bad with authority and didn't take anything seriously. Until it was almost too late. I was too young, and they'd taken a risk with letting me go to school and test- let alone join an actual ship. I almost got everyone killed because they took a chance. A chance they repeat, until Chekov. But that was years later and he was both dedicated and intelligent. Focused, and very aware if how important his job was. With me, they'd made a mistake, and they weren't about to let everyone know that."

"Is that why you're always so reserved?" Bones asked.

Nodding, Y/n leaned against the wall behind him. "My ego took a huge hit that day. I still haven;t really recovered." He scoffed at himself. "Now I can't even talk to you. We just hang out occasionally and you talk about your life and I listen. I support everyone, quietly. I can't even ask you out when I see you every other day or something. I just get distracted while I'm working then come to you with my newest injury and then I run away without ever saying anything with my tail between my legs. Like I'm eleven and afraid of cooties. It's pathetic."

Bones was still having a hard time wrapping his mind around this. "And why are you telling me now?"

"Well it's time I was honest. You've asked about my past loads of times, and it's not fair to keep bothering you without telling you why I'm always hovering. For once in my life I'm being both open AND level headed. So that you can see how pathetic I am and reject me officially so we can both move on."

"You're an idiot," Bones spat.

"Well yeah that's what I'm-" But he didn't finish that, because Bones grabbed his face and pulled him into a kiss, cutting him off. Y/n tensed but as Bones kept kissing him, he had no choice but to melt into him. What was he going to do? Push the other man away? I think the fuck not.

The kiss was earnest. Words that couldn't be found. Something that could only be explained in this way. Bones didn't give a single shit what Y/n had done in his past, or what he thought of himself now. To Bones, Y/n was... amazing, for some reason.

They parted, but Bones held onto him. "My best friend is James T Kirk and you think that you been a free spirit when you were sixteen was going to scare me away?"

Y/n did laugh at that. "You're not in love with Kirk though. You're just friends."

"But I am in love with you," Bones sassed rather firmly. "Got that?"

For a second, all of Y/n's insecurities slipped away from him, and he grinned. "Yeah. Got it."

"Good," Bones grumbled. Then he kissed him again and they got lost each other. The night had only just begun, and on the high of finally releasing all the pent up emotions they'd both been scrambling to keep under control, they finally took the opportunity to let it all go and make up for lost time. And boy did they.