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nanaminokanojo · 4 years ago

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BLOOM | Sukuna X You | Part 1/3

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His hair was the color of cherry blossoms, that's the first thing you noticed. It was the softest shade of pink, easy on the eyes, reminding you of the tendrils of filtered rays of the sun lightly touching the edges of clouds very early in the morning. Or your favorite angora wool sweater.

The man stole your attention from the book you were reading when you chanced a look from your periphery just to check who sat on the stool beside your usual spot on the bar – the seat at the very end by the wall. Your planned glance turned into a furtive stare at the sight of him from his candy-floss-hued hair, the rippling muscles hidden under his white oxford shirt and the array of tattoos that peeked through his neatly folded sleeves. And boy, since when did men smell like vanilla and spring while also exuding such a virile scent?

A smile tugged at the corners of your mouth at the thought, internally shaking your head at your behavior. You should not be staring at people, and though you weren't exactly ogling him, you were still observing him enough to associate him with your favorite article of winter clothing.

"Hey. The usual for you?" you heard Maki, the bar owner, ask, giving you the idea that the man was a regular. How you haven't spotted him before was a mystery.

If it was already hard concentrating on the novel you were reading, you've completely forgotten about it when you heard him say, "Make that single-malt." It's either the gates of hell opened at the sudden heat you felt on your skin at the sound of his voice or the gates of heaven did with how delicious it sounded in your ear, thick like honey and deep with a distinct ring to it. It got you wondering what his mother craved for when she was pregnant with him, and your brain said, "Greek gods," when you lifted your eyes from the current page you were reading and briefly exchanged looks with him as he shifted his line of vision from Maki to you.

You turned your eyes back to your book, making it seem like you were just absently looking about, but in reality, it took herculean effort to wrench your gaze from him. In that brief meeting of your eyes, the features of his face registered in your head like a bar code scanner, etching itself in your mind like a white-hot brand. He wasn't shockingly handsome, but he was beautiful in his own right with those intense eyes that reminded you of drowning pools and the rugged yet refined planes of his face. It was as if an artist painted him in passionate anger, slowly fell in love with the piece and began redefining his features with gentler strokes.

You turned the page of your book despite not getting any reading done. Well, it has been the case for a considerable amount of minutes now, but you tried anyway, furiously staring down at the new page but not comprehending anything. Your eyes kept scanning the same sentence over and over again but it was not sinking in at all.

"Excuse me, miss," that deep voice you've already developed a strange affection for assaulted your senses again, making your head snap up to the direction it was coming from. Hell, you think you'll do its owner's bidding just hearing it at the rate you were going, reacting automatically as if you were programmed with a voice prompt or something.

You were about to look at him but Maki caught your attention as she pushed the smoothie you ordered towards you, placing it precisely in front of you on the hardwood surface with her fingers. She arched a brow at you, causing you to stiffen on your seat.

You've been coming to the quiet little bar since you grew old enough to drink. In fact, you considered it your regular watering hole, going there whenever you can even in the day as it doubled as a gastro-pub. You've already come to know the staff who reserved the spot for you every single time you told them you were coming, particularly the tough but very lovable Maki. She's basically a friend now, and you knew you were acting off if she was giving you odd looks.

"Thanks, Maki," you said just in time, even managing to smile. She just shook her head at you before walking away to tend to another client.

"I have to know what book you are reading," the person beside you said just as you began sipping on your drink, which, you've noted, was a cherry blossom tea smoothie that reminded you of him.

You let go of the straw between your lips, swallowing hard. Turning your attention to him, you found him sitting sideways, chin propped on the heel of his palm as he regarded you. "Huh?" was all you could manage to say to him.

A slow, crooked smile etched itself across his mouth, the action appearing sensuous with the gradual way his expressions changed. "That book," he said for your benefit. "May I know what it is about?"

You just blinked, still questioning yourself if he was addressing you.

"If you're that engrossed about it, it must be great," he said. "Mind telling me the title?"

"Book?" you asked dumbly. He was really frying your brain.

He pointed at the book you were holding with his lips, protruding them slightly before smiling again. Jesus, you loved the way he smiled. The gesture didn't belong there when you've already thought he was the smirking, grinning-devil type. It was too soft a gesture, but then again his hair was shell-pink – a contradiction to his stridently brawny features.

"Oh." Despite yourself, you found yourself chuckling. "I'm sorry, I was distracted."

"Not by the book, I hope."

You looked away, smiling to yourself as you closed the object in question and slid it over to him. When you looked at him, you were surprised to see him actually reading the synopsis at the back, interest flickering in his dark eyes. You were already expecting him to just read the title, probably the author, too, thinking he was just flirting with you judging by his last words. But he was actually reading it.

"It's about an architect," he stated. "He must be mind-blowingly awesome if you're too transfixed on his story."

"No, Howard Roark is mostly a recalcitrant bastard who breaks rules here and there, doesn't cooperate or collaborate and is stone-faced about most anything."

"But it's what you like about him," he supplied.

You nodded. "He’s a breath of fresh air in a world governed by stuffy archaic principles. The spring to a long, stagnant winter of conformity. I'm in love with him." Noticing the look of amusement on his face, you were quick to add, "What?"

"Nothing." His smile didn't waver though. "Are you an architect, too?"

"Too?" you repeated with inflection then tilted your head. "Ah, you're an architect, huh?"

"Guilty."

"Any projects of note?" you asked, tilting your head in wonder when he seemed flustered. "What is it?"

He shook his head slowly. "You're very straightforward."

At that, you grinned. "Should I take you out to dinner before I get that information?" You sipped leisurely at your smoothie, glad that you throw him off as much as he flusters you.

"You don't have to," he found himself answering anyway. "But I work for a firm, so they get most of the credit. We built that new hotel at Shinjuku."

"Eh? Didn't pin you for a baroque kind of guy."

"You know..." He was all ears now judging by how he leaned closer to you. He leveled his expression to yours then. "So, what kind of guy did you think I am?"

There it is, you thought, the smirk you've been waiting for. Without giving it much thought, you said, "The Howard Roark type, of course."

***

"You seriously don't remember, do you?"

It wasn't that you didn't. You simply had no idea how you got home, considering how you ended up all smashed after enjoying too many margaritas after your smoothie. You seriously just didn't know certain things. You didn't know what happened after you reached your limit. And out of all the things you know you should not have missed, you didn't know his name.

You were sitting on the kitchen counter, nursing a headache, trying to fill in every bit of information your friends were trying to leech out of you in your addled state. You've been expecting it - the great inquisition - especially after you returned in a state lesser than they've been expecting, unconscious, according to the collective stories of your roommates, when you told them you were just stepping out to get some reading done. And on a school night, no less. Very atypical of you indeed.

"What should I be remembering?" you responded to Ieiri. You weren't exactly fond of her worrisome nature although you knew she was just watching your back especially since she has been rather disapproving of your escapades with these guys you somewhat dated back then. You appreciated it, but it didn't mean you liked it.

"Oh, I don't know, Y/N. Strawberry blond? Tats? Drives a Jeep? Ring any bells?" she said, jogging your memory. "He came knocking at two in the morning, carrying you in his arms. I mean he was hot according to Satoru, but do you even know the guy?"

“Cherry blossom,” you absently corrected the color Ieiri mentioned.

“Huh?”

“Him, I remember.” You smiled at the thought, not hiding your delight from them. You were sure they were just annoyed that they weren't in on the action since Satoru, your other friend and roommate, who seem nonexistent recently, was the one who interacted with the man you met and supposedly brought you back to the house you rented with all of them. And Satoru doesn't know basic decorum to actually ask what the man’s name was. "Howard."

"Howard?" Suguru, another one of your friends who was in the literature department as you were, asked. "Howard Roark?" He knew the reference, obviously. You forced him to read the book before it even became one of your study materials.

You nodded enthusiastically. "He's an architect."

"He didn't look like a 'Howard,' apparently," Ieiri said.

"That name is from her favorite book," Suguru supplied, his dark eyes shifting to you as he tucked some stray strands of his long, raven locks which were currently tied in a half-up. "So your guy's an architect, too."

"That, but he isn't 'my guy' and I don't know what his name is."

He grinned then. "If you're openly calling him by the name of the character you claim to be in love with, I'm assuming..."

"No!" Ieiri gasped.

You laughed despite the action making your head hurt. You were still hungover after all, but you didn't mind, not when you knew you had a good night. Probably a great night to allow yourself to be hammered like you have been. You only ever drank to your fill when the company is great and when you were in a jovial mood.

"It's nothing like that. He just feels like spring time. Looks like it, too." You waved your hands in front of you for emphasis. Still, your expressions said otherwise.

You weren't in love with the man because you didn't believe in mushy things like love at first sight, but you knew you liked him, just that you weren't getting your hopes up cause there's a chance you might not see him ever again, assuming your meeting was something transient like the blossoms his hair made you think of. Even if he was a regular at Maki's, if your schedules didn't coincide with one another, it would not be easy to meet. You've been coming to the same bar for years and yet, you've only ever seen him that time. You never really know.

But then, you got your answer pretty quickly.

From: Satoru

See you at 7 tomorrow night. Same place.

That’s how Satoru's message read, sent late the previous night. You almost forgot about the agreement you’ve had with him to get unlimited barbecue after sleeping the rest of the day but you made it out just in time. It was something you did with all three of your friends as a way to bond with them individually.

You glanced at the clock on your phone, feeling the stares of the restaurant staff on you. Well, you’ve been there for more than an hour waiting for him. One hour and thirteen minutes to be precise. All you’ve ordered so far was a glass of lemonade and you were able to finish that in the first half hour, sitting on a table for two when evidently, you were alone. All your texts were ignored and your calls were always being redirected to voicemail.

“Where the fuck are you, Gojo Satoru?” you asked him in one of your messages, hissing low into your phone just so the other diners would not be offended by your words. You got a message another twenty minutes later, the sound of your phone almost making you jump from your seat. However, when you looked at it, it was from an unknown number.

You were about to check the message when one of the waitresses came to your table, pad and pen on the ready. She’s always the one who served you whenever you and your friends would go there for a dose of beef and pork fat, and she has always been nice to you.

“Not to be nosy but I think your friend isn’t coming.”

You nodded, grimacing. “Tell me about it.”

“The boss has been giving you the stink eye, too.”

Looking over the counter, you saw the elderly man really looking at you. He looked away when you met his eyes, muttering to himself. You knew how the owner could get, but you simply loved going there since their food is good and the service is just the same. You smiled ruefully at the woman before you. “I’ll have a sukiyaki set and warm sake, please. Thank you.”

“Would that be all?”

“Yeah.”

“Coming right up.” She flashed you a bright smile before disappearing into the back rooms.

You almost forgot the message you saw earlier, but then, your phone lit up again with that familiar tone. The new message was from the same number.

From: Unknown

How are you?

From: Unknown

I hope you’re okay.

You frowned, not having the slightest clue as to who could be texting you.

From: You

Who is this?

Your order came but there was no response from the mystery texter or Satoru. You felt pathetic looking at your phone every once in a while as you ate and drank. Normally, you wouldn’t even have given anybody, including your best friends, the time of the day, making you wait for longer than an hour without as much as a message. You don’t ever wait for people over the agreed meeting time. You hated it with passion. And you were already thinking of ways to make Satoru pay.

You were about to eat a mouthful of beef when you heard the chair across you being dragged back. Your eyes flicked to the direction, and to your utter shock, you almost dropped your chopsticks if it weren’t for the hand that reached out and held onto your hand, securing the utensils.

Once again, you were sitting on your usual spot at the bar, eyes clashing with those intense ones owned by the pink-haired guy who apparently drove a charcoal grey Jeep and reminded you of spring, the same one who drove you home the other night.

“Careful,” he said, his scent assaulting your senses.

A lump formed in your throat, making you unable to form proper words, so you settled for putting down the chopsticks. You folded your hands together on your lap, recovering from your consternation before you finally looked at him, unable to help it but grin. He looked different that day, more laid back in a white baseball cap mussing his candy-floss hair down, a loose-fitting shirt in the same hue and jeans. He looked so fresh, you felt the air around you cool down considerably.

“How did you…” you hesitated and shook you head. “Hello.”

He broke into that crooked smile. “Crazy how the moment you sent the message, I saw you through the glass walls while I drove past.”

You opened your mouth to say something, but closed it again, not quite knowing how to react to it when suddenly, the first part of his statement registered in your mind. “Wait, message?” You picked up your phone, showing him the messages. “This is you?”

He nodded slowly. “Looks like you’re doing great.” He regarded the bottle of sake on the table. “I had to get your number to check up on you. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Y-yeah, I mean, no, not at all. Thank you by the way.” You chuckled, saving his number and naming him Spring God in your contacts. “I wasn’t really expecting you to bring me home.”

“I got your address from your driving license.” He grinned then. “I thought of taking you back to my place, but I didn’t know how that would sit with you.”

Who says chivalry was dead? “I’m sorry for acting crazy, if I did anyway." You chuckled. "I don't remember…and for having to bring me all the way to the house.”

“It’s fine. It was lovely meeting Satoru.”

At that, your face flushed red. You winced. “I’m sorry for whatever he did while I was out of it.” He could be crazy at times, and you wouldn't be surprised if he did something untoward.

He shook his head, letting out a slight chuckle. “He was very nice to me, don’t worry.” He furrowed his brows then. “I also got your name. Y/N. I don’t know if you forgot to tell me or you just didn’t trust me enough, but I’d like to think it’s the former since you didn’t seem to think twice about getting wasted with me like you did.”

You deliberately didn’t tell him your name, but he was making it sound a little nicer. It wasn’t really something you planned on doing again, meeting him, but somehow, he found you. You shook you head, coming clean. “If you put it that way, okay, but really, I thought it was better if you didn’t know.”

“Hmm. Why is that?”

You found it endearing that he tilted his head a bit to the side when he asked the question. Your lips curled upwards at the corner. “I just never thought I’d meet you again.”

“That would be unfortunate.”

You laughed awkwardly at his remark. “I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”

“I’m not offended.”

“Okay.”

You requested for another order of barbecue for him. He declined but you insisted. “Come on. My treat for your act of kindness.” You snickered. “Besides, my supposed date bailed.”

“Date?”

Sighing, you said, “Well, not really. Satoru. We agreed to meet here over an hour ago but he hasn’t been answering my messages or calls. Something probably came up.”

He eyed you thoughtfully. “If you don't mind me asking, is he your...?"

"My what?"

"Your boyfriend…maybe."

You chuckled at the thought, but then you realized you didn't even know his name. "I don't really tell strangers about things like that," you teased.

“Okay, but I thought we’re past being strangers.” He smirked then and you swore you felt your stomach flip.

“We’re in the getting-to-know-each-other phase,” you told him with a laugh, acceding. "Since I didn't tell you my name, I didn't expect you to tell me yours. Plus I didn't ask, so may I have yours?"

"Sukuna," he said. "Ryomen Sukuna."

"Su-ku-na," you repeated, liking the feel of the syllables as they rolled out of your tongue. Finally, the person you've gotten so fond of in just a short time had a name. You didn't know what his name meant but it seemed to match him well regardless of how arbitrary it was to his person. You couldn't think of any better name though. "I like your name. It's pretty." You smiled brightly at him then. "And no, Satoru is not my boyfriend."

Ryomen Sukuna was an absolute puzzle to you. How he could look so badass and pretty much intimidating with his strapping physique and inked skin – throw in the multiple piercings on his left ear which you were noticing or the first time – while also pulling off all these adorable little actuations was a quandary to you. Tall, solidly built men like him should not be reminding you of soft, cute things, but the moment he blinked in confusion, you knew you couldn't get enough of it.

"Nobody ever said that about my name, but thanks," he returned in that deep voice after a moment's pause. And was that a dusting of roses over his cheeks? The surprises you were getting from this man was endless. He really was such a breath of fresh air, so far from the usual stereotypes.

Your face seemed to be perpetually pulled into a smile whenever you were around him, and you didn't think you were doing a good job suppressing the urge to be beaming like an idiot around him. "So, anyway, what made you think that blue-eyed idiot is my boyfriend?" you asked, changing the topic.

"Well, he was a bit hostile at first when he took you from me, making me explain things but then started apologizing after. He told me you could be a handful when inebriated..." He let his voice trail off as if letting you chew on his words.

"You agree with him." It wasn't a question.

"Yes." Sukuna pretended to frown. "He also calls you 'his princess'."

You threw your head back, covering your eyes momentarily in embarrassment. "Now I wish you met Ieiri and Suguru instead," proceeding to explain that the nickname was something akin to what a father would call his precious daughter.

"He was rather intimidating, but I guess he's just looking out for you."

"He's still not off the hook for standing me up," you quipped, "But you finding him intimidating is funny."

"Why?"

You scoffed, gesturing over to him. "I think you can snap him in two if you wished, too."

"He was scary," Sukuna insisted.

"He's harmless...most of the time, but yeah, he’s rather protective. That’s one of my dads for you."

He laughed then. "There's nothing scarier than a fiercely protective friend…or a doting father. I can't muscle my way out of that for sure."

"Ah, then you'll find Ieiri scarier."

The night pretty much went well and ended on a good note. Sukuna did most of the talking for the rest of the night. You learned he was six years older than you at twenty nine, one of the head architects at the firm he worked for, has a love-hate relationship with his job cause he wants to draw portraits instead, was a delinquent when he was younger but got away with things cause he was a straight-A student, loved dogs so much that he cries when they die in movies, was closer to his mom, got his tattoos on a sudden whim, and was pretty much a sweet, charming genuine person which contrasted his appearance. What you see isn't what you get. That just isn't how it worked with him.

You loved it when he talked. It was rather entertaining as he had a way of telling stories which made you feel like you were actually there when it happened. Eventually, you forgot the reason why you were at the restaurant in the first place. It was as if you went there for the purpose of meeting Sukuna himself. Satoru was all but forgotten as you dissolved into carefree laughter and playful banters, and you felt at ease and more like yourself around him, pretty much like when you were with your three favorite people in the world.

“It’s not really that funny,” Sukuna told you, watching you laugh heartily at that one episode in his freshmen year when he made a mistake of going on a date with the wrong girl who happened to have the same name as his supposed date. You continued to laugh as if he didn’t say anything.

“It’s just crazy that both of them were there at the same time. I mean, what were the odds?”

He parked by the sidewalk in front of your house, killing the engine. “That’s the reason why I have never agreed to a single blind date ever again.” He pulled the key out of the ignition, glancing at the direction of your house. “We’re here.”

Your laughter died down when you followed the direction of his gaze. The lights were off except for the one lighting up the porch of the house you shared with your friends. You returned your gaze to him then. “Thanks for driving me home. Again.”

“I enjoyed your company. It’s the least I can do.”

You smiled warmly at him, reaching over to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek when he suddenly turned his head a fraction towards you. That minute change made your lips end up against his instead. He was surprised at first and remained immobile against you, but when you pulled away, he chased you back, connecting your mouths, his lips feeling soft and warm yet emitting that air of dominance as it coaxed yours to move in sync with his. You were kissing him back in no time, but you immediately caught yourself and withdrew, utterly flustered.

Your heart thudded heavily as he held you in his intense gaze, his tongue slowly running over his lower lip, making you even more mentally incapacitated. It made you want to just pull him back to you and covet those lips with yours again. You snapped out of it though. You already knew he was capable of hot-wiring and hijacking your brain.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” you told him when you were able to form words again.

Sukuna looked at you from under his lashes, smiling slightly. “I’m not.”

Taken aback, you chuckled nervously. “No?”

He shook his head, reached over and ruffled your hair a bit. “Go inside. It’s late.” You nodded and disembarked from the car while he leaned on the steering wheel, watching you. You were already on the pavement, about to close the door, when he spoke again. “Can I come see you again?”

“Sure,” you said without thinking. “Good night, Sukuna.” Man, you just loved saying his name.

“Bye, Y/N. Good night.”

He drove away while you made your way towards your doorstep. Your fingers flew to your lips once you were standing on your porch, smiling to yourself at the realization of having kissed him. Shaking your head, you fished for the keys from your pocket and entered the house, not quite remembering how you got to your room, but you slept that night with pleasant dreams of running your fingers through pink locks of hair.

***

"I'm really sorry. Something came up and my phone died."

You acceded. It wasn’t as if Satoru did something so big. You went to the outdoor kiosks near the parking lot by the football grounds to catch up on some reading while Satoru ate and told you bits of his past few days, since he got held up at their family estate. Having such a traditional, high-ranking family in the country sure had its downsides, and you weren't about to make him even more agitated than he already was. He had it difficult, you knew that, and you weren’t about to be petty over him not coming to your supposed bonding time. He may be happy-go-lucky but you felt tension simmering just under the surface when you squeezed his hand in assurance.

Suguru and Ieiri followed shortly after Satoru fetched you from class, also surprised to see him there. "So, you finally decided to show up," the former said.

"Don't ask," Satoru said.

"Wasn't planning to," Suguru scoffed, his attention shifting to you. “What are you working on anyway?” he asked, flipping the file you were reading haphazardly to peer through the contents.

“I’m making an analysis report on ‘The Romantic Manifesto’.” you answered, looking up from the notes you were writing when your eyes suddenly strayed over his shoulder. You almost did a double-take, glancing at Suguru before returning your line of vision at the spot beyond where he sat.

“It’s due…” your voice trailed off when you realized just what, or rather who, you were looking at. You weren’t so sure whether what you were seeing was real or a mirage, a very familiar, specific and detailed one, but then, you figured it was the former when the person smirked and cocked his head to the side, beckoning you over to where he leaned against his grey Jeep as he raised a cup of what looked like cherry blossom tea.

Suguru arched a brow at you, looking behind him but not really noticing the object of your distraction. “Hey, you okay?”

Ieiri followed the direction of your gaze and nudged you when she saw who you were looking at. "Is that your Howard? Damn, girl. He’s sizzling."

You nodded, but at that same moment, you rose from the table without any explanation, your feet immediately leading you towards the outdoor carpark. When you were within earshot, you said, “What are you doing here?”

You stopped a few feet from him, glancing behind you to where the others had already turned their heads to follow the path you took, flashing you shit-eating grins. It wouldn’t surprise you anymore if they had pieced together who the person was before you. They claimed to be your ‘parents’ but acted like children at times.

“I brought you tea.” Sukuna walked towards you, standing so close that you forgot how to breathe for a few seconds as you inhaled his scent and took in his appearance, looking immaculate in a plain white shirt and faded jeans, but your brain only seemed to register those lips and the memory of how they felt against yours.

You shook your head, snapping out of your trance, mentally cursing at yourself. “Hi.” You exhaled loudly, trying hard not to smile like an idiot while you absently twirled your hair on your finger, suddenly seeing the world through a pinkish filter. "How do you keep finding me?"

Sukuna's smile dropped. “Did I come at an inconvenient time?” he asked gently, trying hard not to sound miffed, but he obviously was taken aback by your words.

“No.” You shook your head, placing a hand over your forehead. You finally smiled at him, letting out a choked snicker. “No, Sukuna. It’s good to see you. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting to see you here. And you didn't really tell me you were coming.”

He grinned at you then but he still appeared unsure, placing a hand behind his neck. “Right.”

You flashed him a helpless look. “Please don’t look at me like that. I’m just really surprised.”

“Hmm." He moved closer to you, wrapping your hand around the transparent disposable cup. His proximity was affecting you in ways you couldn't admit out loud. "Are you happy to see me, too?"

"Too? So, you're happy to see me?"

"Always."

That's it. You're done for. Trying to avoid his intense gaze and escaping his scrutiny, you glanced over your shoulder to find everyone on your table observing you blatantly. Satoru raised a thumb at you while Ieiri was giggling with Suguru.

"Are those your friends?" Sukuna commented, his minty breath fanning against the side of your face which made you turn a little too quickly to face him again only to be confronted by his face leaning towards yours, mere centimeters away.

“Y-yeah.” You leaned a bit backwards but he moved forward. “That they are.” You stepped backwards again, nearly faltering on your feet, but you immediately gained your balance when he grabbed you by the arm, steadying you.

"Are you alright?" Sukuna asked, looking at you with concern written all over his face which morphed into wonder when you said, "Yeah, you're just overwhelming."

"Huh?"

"I can't think properly when I'm around you," you stated casually, your expressions not giving anything away as per usual. You arched a brow at him when he did the same. "You hot-wire my brain."

"I know what you mean." He smirked despite his confusion. "Is that good or bad?"

You eyed him thoughtfully, biting on your lower lip. "Good for you, bad for me. You can probably tell me to eat dirt and I'd do it in a heartbeat."

He chuckled, looking at you tenderly. "You're too honest."

"To a fault," you agreed, "Suguru tells me all the time. Wanna meet them?"

He ruffled your hair. "Sure."

***

While you weren't exactly expecting to see Sukuna again after the night you met, he became of constant presence around you. You have gone out with him several times over the course of two months. He was a busy person and you also had your priorities, but he always makes you feel special whenever you two would be out and about, behaving like such a gentleman opening and closing doors for you, naturally shifting closer to traffic while you walked, bringing an extra jacket in case you felt cold or a larger umbrella so you don't get wet, bringing you your favorite tea whenever he could.

He picked you up from school for lunch twice, making the most of the hour, and one time, you brought him lunch at work when he suddenly canceled on you, saying he was swamped with work. He sounded really upset so you decided to go to him instead. You brought Suguru with you as a buffer, but Sukuna's colleagues still teased him. He was different in the office – gruff and strict which fitted him more – but he still beamed at you happily when you brought him food, not caring who saw.

Apart from the brief phone calls, you two never really texted. It wasn't really your thing and he didn't like it either, so it could go days on end without you saying anything to each other, but when you do get a chance to speak, it would always be like picking up on where you've left off. He has only ever sent you two messages. One to remind you to take good care of yourself because he was going to be away for a while and another one a week later asking if you wanted to go out with him that coming Friday night.

"Your timing's off," you told him over the phone. You really wanted to say yes, but, "Ieiri, the boys and I are going out that night. Gang tradition."

"Some other time then?"

"Sure."

You hung up after a few more exchanges of words, getting started on reading some notes when Ieiri entered the kitchen. "Was that Howard?"

"Yeah. He's inviting me to go out on Friday, but I already said yes to clubbing with you guys."

She grinned cheekily, wrapping an arm around you as she poked you on the cheek. At times, it feels like Satoru was rubbing off on her. "Are you sure you don't want to ditch us for the hot architect?"

"Hot architect –" You snickered. "Did you just say that?"

"I was supposed to say 'sugar daddy,' literally and figuratively. Sugar and his cotton candy hair. Get it?"

You narrowed your eyes at her, shaking your head. It was supposed to be amusing, but when Ieiri says it, it just sounds weird. "Can I read in peace now?"

She left you alone, but laughed at your expense.

Friday couldn't have rolled around fast enough and you headed out with your friends at the club owned by a friend of yours, prepared to party in a pair of tight-fitting jeans, a crop top and your hair hanging about in wavy layers. You were already expecting the place to be cramped as hell given the day of the week so much so that Suguru had to hold onto you tightly so as not to lose you when you entered until you found the area you had reserved for the night. It was for good measure too since the place was drenched in purple, blue and green laser lights which were disorienting at first. And so, your night began as such.

You were in the middle of dancing, only pausing when you had to down your nth shot for the night when your eyes suddenly strayed to the bar area at the elevated part of the club adjacent to the the leather seats. You looked away but returned your gaze towards said direction when you realized this very familiar guy was looking at you. He was watching you as you danced and let loose, a ghost of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

You craned your neck, looking back and thinking the guy looked a lot like Sukuna, but then he couldn’t be. He was engaged elsewhere, still you continued to ogle him until you were pretty sure it wasn’t the same person. But the longer you looked, the more it was being proven to you that it was him.

That lopsided smile drew itself across his lips, seeing as how you were doubting yourself about his identity. There was no mistaking that look on his face, the way his dark eyes seemed to sparkle whenever he smiled even if the action didn't belong there.

“Sukuna?” you mouthed his name and he nodded, motioning for you to come over with his head. It had been a solid ten days since you last saw him, and for some reason, your heart raced at the thought of seeing him there.

Without saying a word to the people you were with, you squeezed yourself through the crowd, your feet carrying to the upstairs bar, to Sukuna. It took you a while to traverse the space between you, and when you finally stood before him, all you could do was smile up at him, taking in the soft look about him as he regarded you which were at odds to those fiery eyes that had the capability to turn into bright orbs of light when he beamed down at you.

“Hello, Y/N. Once again, fate has brought you to me,” he said rather dramatically, a smirk drawing itself across his pretty mouth.

Laughter escaped your throat, unable to say anything when you realized that you actually missed him, missed looking at him. Unable to help it, you stood on your toes and reached out to touch his hair, the action surprising the both of you. He eyed you, his expressions that of a half-smile and a look of confusion while you retracted your hands as quickly as you felt his soft locks with your fingertips, wincing at the realization of what you were doing.

At that, he laughed heartily, stealing your hand and pressing it over the side of his head. “Go ahead. I don’t mind you touching me,” he told you, staring into your eyes that you felt like all the air in the room was gone.

You blinked at him, processing what he said and joined in his mirth. “You're here!” You shook your head when it dawned to you that you were stating the obvious. “I’m sorry. How are you, Sukuna?”

“Pink?” he offered and chuckled at his own joke which made your face heat up. “Kidding. I’m great. I missed you these past days. How are you?”

“You did?” You felt your insides melting at his statement, made worse when he nodded to confirm it. “I’m fine. Great. Where have you disappeared to anyway?”

He snickered a your question. “Madrid.”

Your jaw dropped. “As in Spain?”

He nodded. “Had to do something there.”

“Uh-huh.” His words were rather obscure, but you didn’t want to encroach on his private life.

“What are the odds that we’re at the same club?”

“The owner is a friend,” you answered, smiling awkwardly as you glanced at the direction of your friends on the dance floor. You saw all of them looking at you. Suguru winked at you, giving you the thumbs up, making you laugh at his silliness.

“The gang’s all here, I see.”

“What?” You faced Sukuna, finding him leaning close beside you against the metal balustrade. Just then, a waiter passed by holding a whole tray of shots, and before you could duck, he grabbed you by the waist so that you were leaning against him with no quantifiable space between your bodies. Your eyes widened in shock and you froze, your thoughts clouded by the familiar smell of rain in a bamboo forest during Maytime. “T-thanks…”

He hummed in response to your gratitude, but he didn’t let you go. “I didn’t know you enjoyed places like this, too.”

“Why is that?” you asked, feigning ignorance to how close you two were.

"I never pinned you for the party animal type. I kinda developed a fondness for that quiet, nerdy girl sitting at the corner of the pub."

"Not exactly. I prefer Maki's place to be honest but coming here once in a while doesn't hurt. Especially with those three." You frowned slightly at him then as you thought of something. “So, why didn’t you approach me?” You motioned towards the dancefloor. “I'm sure the three-headed monster won't mind if you joined us. You alone?”

“Yes, sweetheart, but aren't you supposed to be hanging out with them?" You grabbed his arm before he could refuse you and started leading him towards where the others were.

However, he had other plans in mind. Again, he hooked an arm around your waist until your back was leaning against him. You eyed him sideways, startled by his actions, but unable to counteract it anyway as you’re just stunned speechless all the while. “You can go back to them, Y/N, but I don’t think I should go with you.”

You turned around, gently easing away from his hold. “Why not? They already know you, and they like you.”

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a party pooper.” He leaned towards you, tilting his head to the side while his lower lip slightly jutted out.

"What are you talking about?” You rolled your eyes at him then snickered.

He eyed you seriously then. “Just in case this is a friends-only affair?”

“Satoru already ruined that by bringing his girls into the mix.” You laughed at him when you saw him hesitate. “Come on, Sukuna. Join us. For me?” You showed him your best impression of puppy-dog eyes. “Pretty please?”

When you saw that he wasn’t budging, you changed your argument. “Fine. Dance with me then.” You didn’t give him any time to contradict you as you took him by the hand and dragged him to the dancefloor.

He was just standing still, looking uncomfortable as you started to groove to the beat, so you took his arms and started moving them until he was moving on his own, finally breaking into that smile. He looked too awkward that you wanted to laugh but decided against it, simply raising your hands and feeling the music.

“Aren’t you having fun?” you asked him as you were bobbing your head to the bass.

“I am!” he answered above the music.

“You don’t look like you’re having fun. Are you shy?” You chuckled openly at that.

“No.”

“You don’t dance?”

“I can dance.”

You giggled. “Then show me what you’ve got!”

Without a warning, he started moving in sync with you, taking your hands in his and finally letting loose in such a graceful manner as you both got into the beat and started waving and swaying against one another, his hands slowly running at your sides in sensual rhythms that got you reeling in excitement. You almost forgot that you were with other people as you danced with him. It was fun and it felt good to be that carefree, not minding your friends, drinks flowing in nonstop.

Soon, the group you’ve left joined you and Sukuna. They all greeted him excitedly while the boys exchanged high-fives with him as they were dancing. Satoru and the two girls who were with him also joined in and somewhere along that, Suguru offered everyone cigarettes, and you gladly took one when you saw Sukuna taking one as well. You didn’t really smoke on a regular basis but you didn’t exactly shy away from the so-called cancer sticks.

After taking another shot, you pulled Sukuna out of the dancefloor, hollering at the others as you raised your cigarette, signaling where you were going in case they wanted to come with. You made your way to the smoking area at the veranda situated at the back of the building with the older male in tow. You were pretty much buzzed, calming down from the high you had while dancing, grinning wide as the cool night air met you, making your lungs expand as you breathed in.

Sukuna watched you as he took his place against the banister, following him shortly as you produced a lighter from your pocket, something that you always carried just in case.

“You smoke?” he asked, toying with his own battered stick, twirling it around his long fingers.

“Sometimes,” you admitted, watching his reaction. “And you?”

“Not really.”

“You took one anyway.” You wedged the item in question between your lips and raised the lighter, but before you could light it, it was pulled out from your mouth and the next thing you knew, Sukuna was kissing you, his lips pressed against yours as he pulled you closer by the hips which he seemed to have a fixation for since you came up to him. It was a soft yet urgent kiss that cajoled you to respond, and not long after, your lips were submissive clouds moving to the will of the wind that was his luscious mouth.

Like the first time you felt his lips against yours, electricity ran through your body as if he was touching you elsewhere apart from your mouth. It was driving you off the edge of sanity, and you knew you’d probably jump off a cliff for the male. He grinned at your dazed state when your eyes met after he finally pulled away, showing you the cigarette that was supposed to be between your lips before he unceremoniously laid claim to them.

“You’re going to ruin your lips by smoking. I’m keeping this,” he told you.

You were too mesmerized with the tingling feeling in your mouth while your eyes stayed glued to his as you blinked slowly, your mind and heart racing at a thousand miles per second. “W-why would you do that?” you stammered, feeling your throat go so dry that you had to drag the words out.

“Apart from the fact that it’s terribly unhealthy, it ruins your sense of smell and taste.” He waved the cigarette in front of you before shoving it into the pocket of his jeans. “Scientific fact.”

You couldn’t quite process what he was saying. You were asking why he kissed you, but he misunderstood. “Are you going to taser me with your lips every single time I’m about to smoke?”

“Taser…” He chuckled and narrowed his eyes at you. “I might just if it means these dangerous things don’t touch your pretty mouth.”

“What the –” You didn’t know if you would be scandalized by what he said or if you were going to laugh. The latter won and you tittered. “That’s a good one.”

“I mean it, Y/N.”

Boldness engulfed your whole thought process as you stepped closer to him, looking straight into his eyes. “And if I insist on it? Placing dangerous things in my pretty mouth? What are you going to do then?”

He, too, leaned forward, eyes flicking to your lips. “Then I guess I just have to keep your mouth too busy to even think about smoking again,” he whispered to you, his breath hitting your lips.

You smirked at him then. “I guess I just have to make sure you aren’t around if I do feel like smoking.”

He pouted. You burst out laughing.

You reached over and pinched both of his cheeks. “You’re so adorable.”

Sukuna swatted your hands away, but smiled nonetheless. "You're the only one who says I'm adorable."

"You are. You just don't know it."

“Okay then. If you say so.” He tucked a stray strand of hair behind your ear then, your skin tingling where he touched you. “Are you busy tomorrow?”

“Not really.”

“Good. I wanna do something for you.”

You eyed him questioningly. “Hmm. What?”

“That’s a surprise.”

It was already around two in the morning when everyone had the unanimous decision to leave the club which was still packed. You, too, were getting tired especially after Ieiri ended up hammered and Satoru was emptying his guts through his mouth. Suguru was a bit drunk, too, but he was trying his best to help you take care of them. Sukuna had been very nice all night, even helping you load Satoru and Ieiri into the backseat of Suguru’s car.

“Would you like me to drive you home?” he asked you after shutting the door to the backseat.

“No, I’m gonna be fine. Besides, I can’t just leave Suguru to deal with them both.” You motioned to his Jeep. “You should go ahead, too.”

Sukuna grimaced as he nodded. “I guess that would be for the best. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay. You take good care now.”

“You, too, sweetheart.” He stepped forward and pulled you against him, hugging you, enveloping you in his warmth and that scent you loved profusely. “It’s really great seeing you tonight.”

You returned the gesture, smiling up at him as you tried to compose yourself. “It’s great seeing you, too.” You stood on your toes and pecked him on the cheek before giving him a gentle shove towards the car. “See you, Sukuna.”

He waved at you then boarded the car. You watched as it disappeared down the street before turning away to enter the club to get Suguru who was left to settle the bills. You found him seated on one of the couches, finding your way easily since the crowd thinned a bit.

“You okay, dude?” you asked when you reached him. He was pale and he looked like he was going to throw up anytime. “Do you need to go to the restroom?”

He shook his head. “Just get me out of here.”

You chuckled, leading him faster out of the club. You sat him down on passenger side and soothed his back, asking after him again as you started the engine. He said he was fine, laughing when he caught a glimpse of the two who were already passed out on the backseat with Satoru lying on Ieiri’s lap while her head was lolling limply to the side.

The drive was rather short without much cars on the road, but Suguru was still able to squeeze in a conversation, and of all the topics he could broach, it had to be about Sukuna.

“I thought Sukuna will be driving you home,” he began, glancing at you.

“He offered, but I can’t just leave you.”

“That would have been okay.” He glanced at the rearview mirror then, checking on the two, you could only guess. He could be such a mother hen at times. “I think he’s cool.”

“Mhmm.”

“And he’s really good-looking,” Suguru threw in with a chuckle. “Just date already.”

You chuckled. “Why don’t you date him instead?”

“Don’t you want to try it out with him?”

“He hasn’t even asked me to date him.”

“Yeah, but he already kissed you –”

“How did you know about that?” you demanded, mortified. Your cheeks were heating up again at the memory of it.

“Well, you’re in a public place.” He laughed. “So, it’s bound to end in dating anyway.”

“Not necessarily.” You turned sideways to look at him. “He’s older after all, not that I see the age gap as a problem. But you know, he might just be passing time.”

“He obviously likes you. If you date him, it’s a win-win situation. You like him, too, you just don’t know it.”

You scoffed. “How can you say that?”

He blew a raspberry. Typical Suguru behavior. “You can be yourself around him. You’re all smiley face around him, too. I saw you. You can’t lie to me.”

“Really now?”

“Yeah. You look your best that way. And don’t ever think you are just a pastime. I’ll kill him if he treats you as such.” He smiled knowingly at you. “Besides, you should date properly. Enough with your flings with stupid boys in campus.”

“Okay, dad.” You sighed, trying to contain your excitement. “I do like him though. He’s so nice to me.”

Suguru reached over patting you on the shoulder. “Ah! My daughter is a grown-woman.”

You swatted at his hand, laughing at his antics.

-end of part 1-

If you're curious who Howard Roark is, he's one of my fave literary characters from Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead." He's excellently made. That's it.

Can architect!sukuna please call me "sweetheart," too?

If you want to be included in the tag list, please DM me :) I'll be posting every week (or I'll try to anyway). Someone remind me to post the next chapters please?

Additional notes are available in the masterlist, particularly on the reasons why I wrote some things the way I did. I don't know what I'm trying to prove there, but haha!

Thank you so much for reading. Likes, comments and reblogs are deeply appreciated! Hope you enjoyed it.

PHOTO/IMAGE/GIF/FANART SOURCES FULLY CREDITED TO THE RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

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igotbulletproof-insomnia · 4 years ago

Text

Adopting Bangtan 05

01, 02, 03, 04

Jung Hoseok, age 10

For Jungkook’s sixth birthday, you take all of the boys to a water park. You let them run loose to play on the slides and in the pools while you float along the lazy river with a web novel and a whole lot of sun. Every half hour or so, the boys will come find you and take turns floating with you, from Namjoon reading over your shoulder, to Yoongi lounging away from his brothers, to Seokjin rambling on about his friends at school, to Jungkook telling you the adventures his toys have been on (and reminding you about all the toys he still wants). You even let Namjoon convince you to go down several of the slides, and hold Jungkook when he’s afraid to go down one of the bigger slides for small children.

He’s grown a lot since he came to you almost two years ago and has become an endearingly clingy child. All of the boys are, if you pay enough attention. It’s in the way Namjoon calls when you’re even a little bit late coming home, or Yoongi waits for you to return no matter how late it gets. It’s how Seokjin sneaks into your bed some nights after what you know were nightmares but he’ll never admit to it. It’s how each boy does their best to take care of you in the smallest of ways, and take care of each other when you are too sick or exhausted or -- regretfully -- busy to do it yourself. It was how they each say “I love you,” like a promise or a question or a reminder, and it breaks your heart sometimes, because you know they are afraid you will drop them off somewhere or just up and leave and they won’t see you again. Which is why every so often during the day, you send Seokjin funny twitter posts, and keep up your silly emoji war with Namjoon. You remind Yoongi that he still isn’t allowed to drink coffee for breakfast and don’t he dare buy Jungkook any more snacks.

It’s also why you let the boys drag you over to the giant family slide where you hold Jungkook tight in your lap and sit in the absolute worse position for splashing and you ride that slide a dozen times because the kids are grinning and cheering and so genuinely happy that you’ll drown if it’s what they want.

… You hope that’s not what they want.

"I'm hungry,” Jungkook tugs at your hand after the most recent ride. You check the time on your watch, surprised to see that it’s nearing dinner time.

“Okay, boys,” you announce, “you have two choices, and Kookie’s choice counts twice because it’s his birthday. We can eat here and I’ll let you complain about your stomach aches tomorrow, or we can order from Ahjusshi’s. Which one?”

“Here!” They all chorus. You knew that they would, but you wanted to at least give them the choice. You sigh because you know it’s going to be Jungkook and Seokjin who complain the most tonight, but you also aren’t going to stop them from having fun.

“Okay, Namjoon, Seokjin, you two go find us a table. I’ll take Yoongi and Kookie to go order.” Immediately the boys run off, Kookie’s little feet making pitter-patter noises because he refused to wear the shoes the park provided. They were probably lost somewhere and you just wasted a fair bit of money paying extra for them in the first place.

Twenty minutes later, you pass a child sitting alone on your way to get refills. It’s not like you hadn’t noticed the kid before now. He’s been wiping at his face, head swivelling around as if he is searching for someone. He holds the remains of a candy bar in his fist and a drink cup sits abandoned in front of him. You have been acutely aware of the child. He looks like he could be somewhere around Namjoon or Yoongi’s ages, and you are very sternly talking yourself out of investigating. Maybe you can find another parent to talk to him? Better yet, find a park staff who can page the young boy’s parents. It’s actually a good plan, a solid plan, the plan of a recovering impulsive child adopter.

Wow, that sounds bad, even in your mind.

Naturally, your plan takes a hit when you return to your table to find Jungkook sitting in Seokjin’s lap, Namjoon and Yoongi gone.

“Where…?” You begin to ask, just for Seokjin to point to the table with the lost boy. You’re suddenly hit with the thought that maybe you aren’t the serial child adopter, but your first two knuckleheads might be. You also get the feeling that things are not going to go at all the way that you planned.

“He looked lonely. Kookie was going to go over and give him a cookie,” -- the kid giggles at his own joke, -- “but Yoongi and Joonie told him to stay here while they went to see what’s wrong with him instead.” You nod and put down the drink caddy. Tell Seokjin to keep watching the baby and join the boys at the table with the lost kid.

“... and when I opened my eyes, she was gone,” the kid was explaining. “I thought she maybe got lost, but… I don’t know anymore. That was hours ago.” He looks at the bright blue watch on his wrist.

“Do you know what time that was?” You ask. The kid seems to shrink in on himself, suddenly shy. Or maybe scared. He’s a smart kid, if he’s afraid of strangers. It was more than you could say about Namjoon sometimes. After a long moment, in which Yoongi reaches over to hug your waist and Namjoon asks after the drink he asked for, the kid shrugs.

“I don’t know,” he says. “My watch is broken. But I think I remember when you and the really little one over there got… a cake? I remember thinking it was pretty and I was starting to get hungry again…”

“Are you hungry now?” the kid nods his head slowly and you sigh. “Yoongi-ah. Take this and go get your friend something to eat. What’s your name, kid?” You bought Jungkook the cake shortly after lunch time. If the kid had been sitting here this long waiting for his mother to show up… You mentally shiver at the thought of abandoning a child at a crowded water park. Literally anything could have happened, people these days were creeps. This poor child could have been kidnapped or murdered, or drowned. He could have been sold into a human trafficking ring, anything.

“Jung Hoseok,” the kid tells you, barely audible. You reach your hand out to him and try to use the gentlest smile you could muster. Tomorrow, you’ll have to visit the precinct again to tell them about yet another abandoned child. You’ll offer to take him in until the parents are located at the very least, probably indefinitely, like with Jungkook and Yoongi. You’ll take Hoseok shopping and figure out sleeping arrangements and consider accepting that job that will take you across town and maybe even force you to move house altogether, but will ultimately pay more money, which you certainly need. However, tonight you will take the kid home and get him showered and comfortable enough to wear Seokjin's pajamas and tuck him in with the other boys when they pile up in the living room for their birthday sleepover. With the way Namjoon has already taken to the kid (no surprise there) and Seokjin has started fussing, you know there will be few problems getting him settled into your family.

06, 07

#bangtan #bts #BTS ARMY #Jung Hoseok #J-hope #j hope fanfic #hoseok scenarios #bts scenarios #kid bts #cross posted on ao3 #DarkBalance #still have zero regrets #collecting strays

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isabellitah · 4 years ago

Text

🤍 HARGREEVES x SIBLING

Title : ...well then

Pairing : none but this focuses on your relationship with Ben 🤍

Warning : curse words and verbally abusive Reginald

they’re all young here- like, around the age wherein they stopped that bank robbery

no one knows why but their father suddenly started berating all of them for anything and everything under the sun

“Number One, how incompentent must you be to be unable to lead the Umbrella Academy?!”

“Number Two, are knives all you know- can you not speak properly?!”

“Number Three, your power is extraordinary yet incredibly useless as it seems you don’t know when to use them!”

“Number Four, stop being a coward and use your power for what it was meant to be!”

“Number Five, you are not ready to jump to the future. You do not understand the depth of time travelling!”

“Number Eight, if you can’t make something as simple as a water tornado on the pond, how do you expect to be good enough to stand with the others?!”

The worst one off was Ben...

“Number Six, stop looking down! Look straight ahead, have I instilled no manners in you?!”

“Use your powers, Number Six!”

“Stop being afraid of your powers. That fear is all in your head!”

“Don’t be so pathetic!”

And the insults went on and on and on. Every single one of the siblings (minus Vanya who was practicing the violin in her room) wanted to stand up for their brother but was too scared of their father.

They can all see Number Si- no, Ben retreating deeper and deeper into his insecurities and fears the more Reginald listed them out for the entire yard to hear.

Let’s make something clear here, no one’s seen Number Eight mad. Sure she threw a tantrum here and there but those were minor and easily fixed with candy. But the moment Reginald opened his mouth, “Were your siblings in danger and you’re their last hope, they’re as good as dead, Number Six!” and Ben’s whimper and choked sob echoed throughout the silent yard, Eightie spoke up, “Can I say a bad word?”

The sibling closest to her, Ben, was thrown off to say the least. Rubbing his slightly teary eyes with the back of his hand he asked, “I- uh... what?” His eyes darted between his youngest sister and their father. ‘What is she up to?’

“cAn I SAY A BAD WORD?!” your sudden increase in volume startled everyone including Reginald, who immediately regained his composure, but too late, Five saw him. Startled, Ben replied, “uhmm... oka-”

“YOU MOTHERFUCKING BITCH!”

Although they were all born at the exact same time, Number Eight was sheltered compared to the rest of the siblings for the sole reason that her siblings did their best to protect her from their father’s wrath. What they never considered was protecting their father from their sister’s wrath.

Klaus’ eyes widened and he felt a twitch at the corner of his mouth until a grin formed as he watched you torpedo pond water towards your father right at his abdomen. Said father was yelling something but couldn’t be heard as your torpedo blasted him some houses away until you all heard a distinct plop! and splash! carry out.

Luther was torn between helping their father and berating you.

Diego was smiling like a loon.

Allison looked shocked yet you can see the amusement in her eyes.

Five was smiling happily.

And Ben was hugging you while you were shocked because you have never ever before made something so big and powerful. And to think, your first successful water torpedo was tested on your father himself! Ha!

Klaus found himself very happy to be sober- at least he got to remember the day Reginald Hargreeves got dunked into a pool by a girl nearly half his size. Ah yes, if being sober was rewarded this handsomely, he’d be fine with being sober.

“... Well then.”

Everyone’s faces dropped. They forgot Pogo was there with them. Pogo seeing their tensed forms, shook his head and started the journey inside. Without looking back, he called for them, “I’d hurry inside before he comes back. Master Hargreeves probably won’t show himself for the remainder of the day. However, be prepared for harder training tomorrow. Especially you, Number Eight. Now that he knows what you’re capable of, he will exploit it.” and with that said, Pogo shut the door behind him.

All was silent until, “Best day ever. Thank you for that, Eightie. Never knew you were a spitfire.”

Confused on if you should take that as a compliment or insult, you turn to look at Klaus while still in Ben’s arms, “uhh, thank you?” You flashed him a smile that reminded him of sunshine and the feeling of being high- light.

You were in Ben’s room on his bed just cuddling into his side as he read a book. You were content just being glued to his side and hearing his calm heartbeat in the silence of the room.

“Thank you... for standing up for me,”

“You would’ve done it for me.”

Placing his book down, his thumb in between the pages to mark where he last stopped reading, he turned his head to you, “How are you so sure, Tee?”

“Because I trust you,”

Ben was shocked to say the least. You had that much trust in him? He knew you loved all your siblings. You say so everyday. They, including him, love you too. But to think you trust him that much?

Noticing his silence you continued, “and because we love one another. But if ever none of you are there to defend or protect me, that’s okay too. I’ll protect all of us to the best of my abilities. Y’know why, Ben?”

“...why, Tee?”

“Because we’re family.”

One of Ben’s worst insecurities popped up, “But... we’re not.”

You tilted your face upwards to look at him, confused, “What do you mean?” He looked away with a sad look in his eyes, “We’re not family... we’re all adopted by a billionaire because our mothers were bribed with money.”

You frowned for a while before looking back towards his door, gaining your initial position, “Family by bond is stronger than that of blood, Ben... And I don’t care what anyone says. You’re my family and I love you, okay? I’ll always be here for you, even when I’m not around, okay?”

Ben smiled softly at the ceiling of his room, tears slowly gathering in his eyes. Tears of happiness. Of relief. To hear it being said out loud and by someone else brought him such relief and it made him feel light. Like the weight of the world left him.

“Yeah, okay... I love you too, Eightie.”

You looked at him with an amused smirk, one all of your siblings seem to have, “I know.” and quickly looked at a random part of his room.

Ben smirked, placed his book on top of his bedside drawer, placed an arm behind his head, and stroked a hand through your hair.

And just like that, Ben’s insecurities slowly eased with your words and actions. While you, well you just discovered the strength of your power. And you’re currently having a nice nap.

Outside Ben’s door was Allison listening in with a smile, Diego with a disgusted look, and Luther with a contemplating look. Five was leaning against the wall looking at the three while Vanya was, again, with mom. And Klaus was... somewhere.

“Awww that was so-”

“D-disgusting.”

“Oh shut up, Diego-”

“N-no you sh-shut up-p, Nu-number O-”

“Don’t you dare call me Number One!”

“Wha-whatchu g-gonna do a-about it, huh?

“We-”

“Nu-number One. Number-er O-one. Numbe-”

“Shu-”

“Will you two quit it?! If Tee wakes up because of your incessant banter, I will drop you both in the middle of nowhere.”

Although intimidated, both brothers snorted at Five, “C-can you e-even carry Luther-er?”

“Yeah- hey!”

“What? I-it’s true.”

“Well-”

And just like that, Five jumped with the two leaving Allison outside Ben’s door, bewildered.

“Hey!”

“F-Five! Y-you can’t j-just leave us h-here!”

With a sarcastic smile, “watch me.” he left his two eldest brothers on the sidewalk a few houses away from their own.

Sighing, they both started the journey to their house. They should’ve known he’d go through with his threat- this wasn’t the first time he’s done this.

“Wait a minute,”

“W-what?”

“What’s incessant?”

“I don’t know?”

“Five mentioned our bantering was incessant, what does that mean?”

“In-interesting?”

“Hmm... Nah, doesn’t sound right.”

And so, on the way home, both brothers filled the silence between them by trying to guess the meaning of the word incessant.

Hearing a semi-soft argument happening near you caused you to wake up a tad disorientated. However, you didn’t move from your position as you were quite comfortable cuddling with Ben while his hand stroked your hair. Listening into the conversation, you deduced that Klaus was in the room wanting to join in the cuddling.

“Klaus, no.”

“But, Benny!”

“No 🤍”

“Oh come on-”

“No, Klaus, you cannot sleep on my b-”

“It’s fine, Be-”

“YAY” without hearing you finish your sentence, Klaus hopped onto the space behind you, right by the wall- squishing you between Ben and himself. He immediately turned to his side, wrapped his arms around your waist and shoved his face to the back of your neck.

“Oof” you were shocked by the speed of his actions but giggled nonetheless.

Ben, on the other hand, was no impressed, “Why, Eightie.” He asked exasperated.

“You love me, Benny.”

“In your dreams.”

“Oh believe me, you do not want to be in my dreams.”

“Nasty, Klausy.”

“Ew, dude. That’s- ugh- tmi”

“You suggeste-”

Not wanting to hear an argument between them, you cut Klaus’ sentence off, “Night Klausy. Night Ben,”

“Night Eightie,”

“Night Tee.”

“Love you guys,” with that mumbled, you felt yourself drift off to sleep with a smile. But not before hearing them mumble it back to you.

You didn’t see it, but just hearing you tell them that you love them brought a sincere smile to their faces, and a light warm feeling to their hearts.

Plop

Reginald Hargreeves was not having a good day.

First, Number Seven’s powers continued to become stronger even while in isolation and this proved to be troublesome. Then the rest of the little brats didn’t show competency during today’s training. And now- now he was soaking wet walking towards his own house. People were looking at him- the eccentric billionaire walking home soaking wet- how humiliating.

Ah yes, Reginald Hargreeves was definitely not having a good day at all.

#tua #the umbrella academy #tua x reader #luther hargreeves x reader #diego hargreeves x reader #allison hargreeves x reader #klaus hargreeves x reader #number five x reader #five hargreeves x reader #ben hargreeves x reader #vanya hargreeves x reader #hargreeves x reader

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doctorreids · 4 years ago

Text

folklore - spencer reid x reader

CHAPTER EIGHT - august

previous chapter | next chapter

word count - 1.7k

a/n - see @ the end !

warnings: slight sexual content, nothing explicit though.

“i never needed anything more, whispers of ‘are you sure?’ ‘never have i ever before.’”

The glare of headlights filtered through his car as he drove down the main street, few cars passed. Red and green lights mixed together as he reached each stoplight.

The reality of what he was about to do hit him, just 20 minutes from her apartment he thought about turning back.

The ‘what if’s’ swirled around in his head. What if he wasn’t good enough? What if he truly hadn’t changed and he was just kidding himself? What if she was better off without him?

He would be lying if that last thought didn’t make tears pool in his eyes.

The late-night drive, however, did remind him of August's past. When he pulled up outside her apartment when they had the rare week off and told her to get in. Alex Blake had kindly given them the use of her beach-side Hampton’s summer home. The five-hour drive stretched well into the night.

He could remember her laughter in the passenger seat and her soft snores as they travelled down the highway. Talking nonsense and playing ‘I spy’ to pass the time before the sun began to set, the sky turning from blue into a purple-pink sky with red hues.

Before she drifted to sleep she turned towards him and whispered, “Red sky at night shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning shepherd’s warning.”

The memory made him smile.

It also made him wonder if this was worth it. If he was too late.

…

“So you’re telling me you’ve never played ‘Never Have I Ever’?” She giggled.

“Nope.” Popping the ‘p’, he shrugged.

Pulling herself onto his lap, she peered up at him.

“Well then,” she sighed comically, “guess I’m just going to have to take your Never Have I Ever virginity! Pass me the wine.”

Tipsy and thinking nothing of it, he passed her the wine.

Hours passed and the questions got dirtier and dirtier. No longer did he blush or feel awkward at her suggestive comments, he made them himself.

They were both slurring, roaring with laughter at times. He had never felt more whole.

“Awk, Spencer, pick your jaw up from the floor.” She straddled him, her finger traced along his jawline.

He smiled up at her before pressing his lips to hers. His hands rested on her hips, she was fully pressed into his chest. She toyed with the buttons on his shirts as he kissed her neck.

He could not describe the utter state of bliss he was in; all he could feel, see, and hear was her. Her soft whimpers at his touch, her soft butterfly kisses on his chest, her bright eyes staring back at him, so full of love and adoration. He never wanted that feeling to end. He had never felt braver as he slipped off her top, placing kisses down her stomach and her thighs, watching her body react to his touch and the soft gasps that escaped her lips. He was on a high that he believed would never end, her touch was like ecstasy, he was filled with complete euphoria.

Whispered ‘I love you’s’ passed between them, he finally knew how it felt to be a teenager falling in love for the first time. She was his true first love. She was the kiss under the bleachers that he never got. She was the prom date he had waited for. He felt 13 years younger with her - shy, bashful and unsure.

The universe and all its questions had all its answers when he was with her.

“august slipped away into a moment in time, cause it was never mine, and I can see us twisted in bedsheets, august sipped away like a bottle of wine.”

The memory of the past August made him smile. They spent the day on the beach, reading and Y/N pulling him into the water despite his protests of it being too cold. They cooked together, showered together, and spent every other moment with each other. If he thought hard enough he could still remember the smells of the local Italian restaurant, the smell of each bottle of red, white and rose wine they drank. He could recall every word that was said.

“I love you.”

“The earth has rotated roughly 212.9 times in the seven months we’ve been together.”

“Not a more accurate figure, no?”

“I’m not a calculator, my love.”

He laughs audibly at the memory. He took so much for granted; how she would listen to his ramblings about everything and anything, especially things she didn’t understand. She would listen so intently, her eyes following his every word and gesture, and she would try her best to talk about astrophysics or whatever his chosen topic was in her own vocabulary, in a way she could understand.

She thought his mind was amazing, he thought her mind was too.

She was patient. She was kind. She was kind.

The memories don’t feel like they are his. They are only a slippery slope into madness. Tempting him back to the days of curling up on his sofa clutching some novel that reminds him of her.

His copy of Pride and Prejudice is now completely worn as he finds himself reading it over and over, remembering the sound of her voice of one summer afternoon in which she read it to him.

He had it memorised cover to cover but he couldn’t bring himself to read it aloud, only her voice could gently relay one of the greatest love stories of all time. A story he had hoped they would rival.

Maybe it was too big of fantasy to maintain hope but without hope, he was lost.

He didn’t feel as though he owned the memory of the past August. Almost as though he was out of his own body, watching it happen. Watching things be so perfect and then watching them fall apart. It was a vicious cycle.

“your back beneath the sun, wishin’ I could write my name on it.”

The morning sun flooded the room as he rolled over to face her. The thin white curtains did little to keep the light out. He couldn’t figure out what time it was and he couldn’t be bothered to look at the small alarm clock beside him.

Her back faced away from him, soft snores came from her mouth. He traced his finger all so gently along the lace of her nightdress to the base of her neck, along the straps and soft cotton material. The sun illuminated her skin, an angelic halo encircling her.

Not even Michelangelo could paint something so heavenly.

Each time he looked at her he felt winded. He was not one to dwell on luck, he focused rather on what was guaranteed and soundproof, but he knew he was so lucky to call her ‘his’. To be able to hold her, to watch each sunrise and sunset with her, was everything to him.

It was at this moment he decided on their future - the girl before him was the woman he knew he was going to marry. Someday, he promised himself.

“I can practically feel you burning holes into my back, Spence.’ Her laugh cracked with sleep as she turned to face him.

They lay there for a few moments holding each other’s gaze, irises swimming with love. He grabbed her waist, a soft muffled hum as she rested her hand on his chest.

“I can also hear you thinking. Penny for your thoughts?” Her voice was gentle.

He hummed.

“I think you can hear my aching head rather than my thoughts, sweetheart.”

“Aw, does poor Doctor Reid have a sore head?” She teased.

Lifting her head with his index finger, he said, “Now, what did I say about calling me Doctor Reid.”

“Ah, yes. How could I possibly forget! At least one of us can remember last night with some degree of clarity.”

He laughed, “I just have a hangover, I remember everything. Not like you on some of your girl’s nights with Garcia.”

Pulling her pillow from underneath her, she hit him with it.

“You promised you wouldn’t speak of that!” She groaned.

“And you promised you wouldn’t call me unless…” He trailed off.

He wished he could stay there forever as their laughter mixed together.

…

There are moments after laughing, those deep belly laughs, where silence fell upon them both and she would look at him with that mischievous look in her eye and he would fall over and over again. It was pure, unadulterated joy as they caught their breath.

These are the moments he wishes more than anything that he could live once more.

The empty passenger seat reminds him of the silence of their apartments as they grew further apart. It reminds him when she would sit there and stare out the window without as much of a glance towards him. It also reminds him of the drive home from their august trip. She was glowing, happily chewing on a piece of candy or eating the Cheetos they’d specifically bought for JJ and claiming she would buy more packs when they got back. (She never did.)

Time seemed to slow as each stop light turned red. The drive extended by a few extra minutes. More time to psych himself out. To tell himself to turn around. To remind himself that she wasn’t his to lose.

She was her own person, it was the reason he loved her so. She couldn’t be owned by anyone. In another way, neither could he. Maybe it’s why they clicked together like missing pieces of a puzzle. It’s a possibility why they fell apart so quickly, those pieces must have gotten lost somewhere along the way.

He no longer felt the anxiousness of before, determination surged through his veins. Each red light he stopped at reminded him of each mistake, each time he missed the cracks and signs. This time, he promises himself, he would be better.

He took the next right, knowing that she was 10 minutes away.

He was 10 minutes away from either making the best or worst decision of his life.

600 seconds away from his heart’s home.

799.

798…

a/n: hi guys!! sorry for the long wait - results week was very weird for me, and i had to get my grades reassessed and that was another week before i found them out too (which i went up to 2A*s and an A which was way more than what i originally got) which was amazing! i’ve just been going through a rough patch mentally and i’ve been busy sorting out university etc. i feel as though i owe you all an apology for not updating as often - this chapter just took it out of me but i’m looking to update at least weekly or maybe twice a week!! thank u for all the support it means so much <3

taglist: @itsfangirlmendes @toosassy2handle @supernatural-strangerthings-1980 @rexorangecouny @myheartbelongsintz @toizerdecker @baddestbau @haylaansmi @hess016 @blameitonthenight21

#spencer #reid #dr spencer reid #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid/reader #spencer reid/you #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid series #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfiction #reidxfolklore

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crashingmeteorz · 4 years ago

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the moon, the ocean, and everything in between (a yuaangtara au)

a beautiful, wholesome, and all-consuming idea submitted by the ever big-brained @earringsokka for my 100 Followers Celebration!

yue lives, obviously, and escapes the north with the gaang. in this au she is a waterbender, as a sort of au of an au (the northern master).

nothing happens really, between the three of them during the war. aang has a crush on katara, yue has a crush on katara, and katara has a crush on both of them, so obviously it’s a little complicated for a trio of young teenagers to figure out. plus, the age difference between aang and yue is such that they wouldn’t really consider it until they’re older (similar to how i view zukaang).

but years pass, and hey, they’re older. katara is helping her father rebuild the southern water tribe, yue is traveling the world learning all about spiritual matters, and aang is doing his avatar thing. aang often visits the south pole, and katara often joins him on adventures, sometimes stopping and staying with yue. yue and aang will meet often and grow close over the years, discussing the spirit world and its intricacies. they rarely get to see each other all at the same time, but when a matter at the north pole calls the world’s attention, it’s only natural that all three of them should go.

yue is hesitant - she hasn’t been home in years, she had left her father only an apologetic letter in her stead, and doesn’t know how she’ll be received. but aang and katara tell her it’s the upcoming winter solstice that has them worried - the spirits have been restless and no one knows why. yue has become something of a master of spirits and their workings, and besides, no one would know the north pole spirits better than the girl chosen by the moon. yue agrees to go, once again willing to sacrifice her potential happiness to save her people.

the journey there, however is strange. they’re in the early to mid-20s, and, you know, beautiful. yue has a calmness and sense of purpose that makes her practically glow. katara is confident and joyous - another waterbender has been born to the south pole recently! and aang is pleased and content - much of the fire nation citizen unrest still exists, of course, but it’s been calmed considerably. things are looking up for these three. and they all can’t help but notice how lovely happiness looks on each other.

while katara sleeps, warm and content on appa’s back beneath a blanket, yue fiddles with her dress. she imagines a vicious return, the ghosts of her past no longer haunting her but becoming real, and angry, and hurt. aang notices her troubles and asks her what’s wrong.

“i left the north for such selfish reasons,” yue whispers. “do i even deserve to return?” aang watches her anxious expression, and it reminds him so much of the boy who ran away from his people years ago. he does not tell her not to worry, he does not tell her she is being silly, he does not invalidate her.

aang takes yue’s hand and says “where would you be if you stayed? miserable and trapped? what good would you have been to you people then?” he squeezes yue’s hand, and, impulsively, wipes her tears away with his free hand. she leans into the tenderness of the touch.

“you’re coming back now because it’s the right thing to do. you know that. they’ll be grateful for it, too,” aang tells her gently. yue feels relief pool over her, up her spine and down her limbs until her face is hot with it. she’s definitely not blushing at how strong aang’s arms are when he hugs her. that’s not a factor here, no way.

katara wakes up while they’re mid-hug, and, wanting hugs too, joins them without hesitation. she barely has her eyes open, just gravitates towards their warm bodies. yue’s pretty sure it’s not the relief anymore, that has her feeling so warm and fuzzy.

things are somehow stranger and yet more joyous after that. there’s a tension in the air but it isn’t uncomfortable. aang makes yue laugh like no one ever has - she can’t believe they spent so much time discussing spirits and world politics when he could’ve been doing impressions of master pakku instead. katara brushes yue’s hair out of nowhere, often producing a comb mid-sentence. there’s so much history between katara and aang, and yet yue feels like she’s exactly where she’s supposed to be, fitting between them neatly, like a missing puzzle piece.

when they arrive in the north yue is welcomed with open arms, and her father is teary-eyed and apologetic. it’s better than she could have ever hoped. aang and katara watch the reunion a little ways away, and when yue catches their eyes, they look so proud of her. she thinks her heart will burst from how much love it’s holding.

(it doesn’t).

aang and yue work together to resolve the spirit business, aang escorting yue into the spirit world with him and katara keeping them both safe in the physical world. the spirits are restless because they are afraid, because zhao has left them feeling vulnerable. aang and yue reassure the spirits, and return to katara.

chief arnook asks yue to stay, and she agrees. she wants to continue her role as the moon spirit’s charge, she wants to protect and preserve the north while progressing it socially. “how does chief yue sound?” her father asks her after she gives a passionate speech about all her plans for their tribe. “it sounds wonderful,” yue says.

but leaving aang and katara feels like an impossible task. “well, i’m the avatar, and katara’s going to be chief of the south one day,” aang says (“aang, we haven’t voted on that yet.” “then how come everyone introduces me as chief katara’s boyfriend, huh?” “i think sokka started that to mess with you.” “oh. well, joke’s on him, i love it!”). “we’ll have to see each other. for diplomatic reasons, of course,” he argues.

“i suppose,” yue agrees wistfully, not quite catching aang’s drift. “aang’s right,” katara says, “what if we need your help at the air temples! they’re very spiritual places, you know, and they have lovely views.” “yeah,” aang says, “or what if we need your help restoring the spirituality of the fire nation! i mean, it’s hot in the summer but they have amazing beaches. really great, um, spirity beaches.”

“so, vacations?” yue asks in confusion. aang and katara try very hard not to look at their adorable girlfriend like she’s an idiot. “oh!” yue says realizing. “oh, ah, spirity. vacations. very important. yes, i agree. as, um, respective, representatives, of, our, uh-”

“you get the picture,” katara says, kissing yue on the cheek, causing her to blush furiously. “so, next spiritual meeting in a month?” aang asks, kissing her other cheek, and yue, future chief of the northern water tribe, spiritually enlightened princess, master waterbender, thinks she’s gonna die, right here, in the spirit oasis. she doesn’t even mind.

i focused more on yue and aang’s interactions, since i have two whole posts dedicated to yue and katara lol. i love this ship so. much. it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. yue and katara representing the moon and ocean is incredible, but then aang being the bridge between the worlds??? beautiful. perfection. ben, you’re a master of romance.

and that concludes my 100 Followers Celebration event! thank you again to those who participated, and to each of my lovely followers! i have had so much fun these past few months and i hope to bring you more content you’ll enjoy in the future.

love always, candy.

#the moon the ocean and everything in between #100 follower celebration #have i mentioned how much i love this?#because it’s so lovely and wholesome and i want it to be REAL #yue #katara #aang #arnook #yuaangtara #atla #avatar the last airbender #my stuff #my fanfic

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skelebonecentral · 4 years ago

Text

Hothouse Rose Chapter 3

you meet the boys. well, most of them

words under cut

It’s less than five minutes, and you’ve managed to find your class ring from high school, showing Papyrus all the icons on it, when someone calls, “PAPYRUS, DEAR!”

“IN HERE, CHARM!” Papy calls back, and you turn to see a skeleton in a leotard and bright pink leather boots looking in. Well, his leotard also had a huge hole cut in the center, showing his ribs and the sheet of toned ecto-flesh that matched his boots to a T. Other than that, he looked like he and Papyrus had pulled lots out of the same gene pool for sure. He looked more like Papyrus than even Sans did.

“Ah! And this must be Y/N,” he came into the room and gently took your hand, bowing and kissing it in one go, “My name is Charm, and I’m so elated to finally meet you.”

You’re a little shocked, still, but clear your throat, “Y-yeah, it’s nice to meet you, too.”

There’s a bit of a shift to your right, and you see someone who looks like a more awake and confident version of Sans looking forlornly at your soot-covered sheets, “Oh, this poor satin is ruined…” As Charm backs away, they look up and run over, “Sweetheart, you’re even more gorgeous than I imagined! I’m Boa, Papyrus’ cousin, and oooh, you’re going to be a dream to make clothes for! I’ve never had a human model before and this is going to be amazing!”

He was wearing a bright blue button-down shirt that had been tailored with a very snatched waist and open shoulders, as well as a matching feather boa (ah, his namesake maybe?) around his shoulders, echoing the color of the upside-down hearts that were his eye lights. His pants were red denim capris, and a purple pillbox hat sporting three feathers sat jauntily on top of his skull.

“BOA, AS MUCH AS I LOVE THE IDEA OF MY DATEMATE IN LOVELY HANDMADE CLOTHES, THEY’RE HAVING A CRISIS AT THE MOMENT, SO MAYBE LATER?” Papyrus gently pulls his cousin away and you just smile. Thank stars for Papyrus.

“Oh, right, sorry.” Boa bops himself on the skull gently and sticks out a sparkling baby-blue tongue. It reminds you of how you found out about skeleton’s making ectoplasm bodies, from Papyrus doing the same thing when you laughed about a candy turning your tongue orange. He’d grinned and showed you his, that it was orange all the time, and you were amazed.

Papyrus gathers his cousins close to his ‘talking corner’ where he’d spoken on the phone, “ALRIGHT. THE GAMEPLAN THUS FAR IS THAT BOA HELPS ME FIGURE OUT WHAT FABRIC THINGS CAN BE SALVAGED AND I’LL DEAL WITH THE OTHER OBJECTS SINCE I’M USED TO UNDYNE’S HOUSE CATCHING FIRE ALL THE TIME. CHARM, YOU TAKE Y/N OUTSIDE SO THEY DON’T GET OVERWHELMED WITH THE LOSS AND MAYBE GET TO KNOW THEM? THEY’RE YOUR HOUSEMATE NOW, TOO, SO IT’S A GOOD IDEA!”

“And does that mean I get a turn to be one on one with Y/n later?” Boa asked, and Papyrus nodded, “Alright, that works for me!”

Charm chuckled, then separated from them and offered you his hand, letting you notice the sleeve of his outfit was tied by a band to his middle finger, “Alright, dear, let me take you to the yard and we’ll find a sitting place to talk a bit.”

“There’s a stump in the backyard, kind of a good seat along with the one deck chair…if it’s still there,” you offer, and he nods, steering you out of the collapsed side wall and to the back, letting you take the stump and he perches on the edge of the smoke-smelling chair since one arm has melted slightly, being made of plastic.

“Alright, Y/n, you already know I’m Papyrus’ cousin, and I know you’re his datemate, but we’re otherwise strangers. Let’s change that. Twenty questions?” Charm asked and you snort a bit.

“Sure. Why not? I’ll go first. What do you do for work?”

He smiled, “I’m a masseuse, I work at the massage parlor in the shops across from campus. Of course, that’s only since I came here, but it’s good work. What about you? What paid the rent here?” He crossed one leg over the other at the knee, using his hands to hold that leg steady. He sat straight as a board, just like Papyrus did.

“Well, I work for the main library. I mostly check in returns, make sure they’re not damaged, that kind of thing. I started off as a part timer, but last semester they hired me full time and I’m really liking it.” You had to call in to work, too. But that was tomorrow. “Okay, how are you finding the town? Is it anything like Snowdin? I know that’s where Papyrus comes from, I guess you do, too?”

Charm nodded, “Well, we’re from very different backgrounds, but no, it’s not like home at all. So many humans, so much isolation from other people. It’s very different up here. But I do like it. All the space, all the life and light and sound. It’s exciting. Now, I want to know,” he grinned as he tilted his head a bit, “What’s University like? I’ve never been, but humans seem to think it’s a very exciting time of self discovery. Is it rumor or truth?”

Finally getting used to the smell of smoke, you laugh without coughing now, “Ah, well, that depends on who’s talking. For me, it’s been more about discovering other people. I spent most of my childhood just being with my family since I was an awkward kid, so I’m making friends…though it’s ended up mostly making monster friends. Humans are weird, even to other humans.”

Humming a bit, Charm seems to consider it, then asks, “And your love life? That’s the thing about university I’m curious about. Well, human love in general is fascinating to me.”

You blush, feeling awkward now, “Uh…I didn’t date, before Papyrus. So um…I don’t have one? Never have?”

He blinks, then sighs, one hand being slapped over his sockets “Oh stars, no wonder he had to call me to ask if you could move in. You’re both hermit crabs all closed up in shells. Good grief.”

A spark of irritation ignites in your chest, “Well, that and he’s a polite person. You don’t just throw someone into a home and say ‘okay they live here now’ without asking the other people who live there. That would be horrid and incredibly insulting to everyone. A breach of privacy.”

Charm winces, nodding, “I didn’t think about it that way. Privacy wasn’t a big thing in my home, my brother and I just brought people in as we saw fit but…that’s no excuse for upsetting you. I’m sorry.”

Oh, you hadn’t meant to get an apology about it. “N-no, I…I got mad for no reason. I guess it’s the stress, you’re fine, Charm. I just am very private, about most everything, so it sort of panics me to think I’d have to suddenly…without warning deal with another person I didn’t know. I can understand why one of you didn’t want to let me in and I’m kind of scared to go if we’re honest.”

Something in his expression shifted, and Charm smiled warmly as he settled into a more basic sitting position, putting his leg down as he cooed, “Oh, human, I’m very sorry for overstepping then. It’s still so new for me, I forget people keep their walls up out of self-protection. You deserve to be comfortable, and there’s no need to be frightened. I won’t be snooping in your room or things once we get you home, and neither will Boa or my brother. Or Boa’s brother, now that I think about it, since he’s just as private. Our own little hermit, Sweet-pea is.”

“His name is Sweet-pea?” you smile a little, “All of you have such unique names, I really like them.”

Charm gets a bit of his confident glow back, “Oh, yes, thank you. They’re nicknames, actually, since we either didn’t like or didn’t want to use our real ones. Sans and Papyrus are the only ones going by legal names in our house.” He laughs a bit, sounding very much like Papyrus, if softer than normal.

“That’s cool. I knew a lot of kids that didn’t go by their full name, or went by middle names or something. It’s pretty common, especially if there’s more than one kid with the same name in a class.”

His sockets crinkle, “Well, that’s something I didn’t know. It’s rather fun talking to you, you know? I see how you charmed my cousin so completely now.”

You just blush. So many compliments…

---

“Papyrus, really, there’s nothing to be done! Alphys might be able to fix the computer, and we can dry the books, but I don’t know about the rest of this stuff. We’d have to call a professional conservator.” Boa frowned. “Human furniture isn’t made to hold up against water and soot like monster manufactured stuff.”

“I KNOW BUT…I JUST FEEL LIKE I FAILED THEM.” Papyrus slumps as he drops the ruined sweater he’d been holding. “AFTER SAYING I’D HELP, AND I HAVE TO TELL THEM IT’S USELESS.”

Boa sighed and touched his arm gently, “But you did help. You got them out there with Charm, away from this mess and all the soot and grime that could hurt their human body, and you called in the only expert you knew.” Seeing that Papyrus was crying, he moved in front, holding both Papyrus’ hands, “I know it hurts, but remember, they love you and trust you to make good choices for them. They wouldn’t have asked you to be with them during this time otherwise!”

He just nodded, “I’M JUST KIND OF OVERWHELMED WITH EVERYTHING. IT’S JUST SO SAD THEY’VE LOST SO MUCH, AND I DON’T KNOW IF THEY’RE GOING TO LIKE IT AT OUR HOUSE. I’M SCARED WHIP MIGHT SCARE THEM OFF, OR…”

Boa quirked his mouth, finishing the sentence, “Or any of the rest of us with our predilection toward pleasure. Because you’re both shy little virgins despite our best efforts on trying to help!”

“BOA!”

“No, it’s true!” Boa grinned, purposefully taking this thread to get Papyrus away from being sad, “We’re all about being sexy scary skeletons! Oh, look at me!” He took a sensual pose and pouted, “Aren’t I terrifying being an inch shorter than your human and covered in feathers! Look at my very obvious boner that’s always there because I’m so sexy! Are you looking, Papyrus?” He’s teasing, expression bright as he tries not to giggle, and Papryus groans and covers his face from blushing.

“BOA, I GET IT. I’M A NERVOUS NELLIE, ESPECIALLY COMPARED TO ALL OF YOU, BUT THEY’RE VERY IMPORTANT TO ME! ALSO YOU’RE LUCKY I CAN FEEL YOUR INTENT OR I’D THINK YOU WERE HURT BY WHAT I SAID.”

Stopping his posturing, Boa waltzed back to his side and let his laughter out, “Oh, Papyrus, I’m sorry. I know reading people isn’t as easy for you as other monsters, but I had to make you smile. I did do that, didn’t I?”

He’s peeking around Papyrus’ hands, but beams as they’re lowered and a put-upon grin is on the taller skeleton’s face, “YOU DID AND I’M MAD ABOUT IT!”

“That’s my good cousin. Now, we’ll find someone reputable to help with this, but in the meantime, let’s pack everything that’s in one piece up carefully and get Y/n back to our house,” eye lights sparkling, Boa sets about doing just that, pulling various cardboard boxes out of his inventory and carefully placing things inside. “And of course we’re going to pay for the cleaning and such. Poor Y/n is still paying for school, after all. I remember how expensive that proposition was, and that was in the Underground!”

“I DO AGREE, BUT REMEMBER THAT JUST BECAUSE READER ISN’T RICH DOESN’T MEAN THEY’RE HELPLESS. HUMAN ECONOMICS ARE VERY STRANGE, BUT THEY LIKE TRYING TO MAKE IT ON THEIR OWN. I ALREADY HAD THAT TALKING TO, SO I’M GIVING YOU THE SHORT VERISON. THEY SEE US BUYING THEIR EVERY WHIM AS DEGRADING AND INFANTILIZING. SO DON’T,” Papyrus cringed internally thinking about the dressing down he got when the gold exchange finally came in. His idea of pampering was your idea of pity and it did NOT go over well. Your first fight, actually, and he was so glad you forgave him for the misstep when he explained where he was coming from. He didn’t try to buy everything for you, just gifts for special occasions, and you bought your own everything.

Boa blinked a bit, then nodded, “Oh, of course. I can understand that mindset. But…but they will let us help them a little, right? They at least have to buy new clothes…” His eyes lit up brighter, “Oh, that can be my turn! Charm got them this couple of hours and I get to take them shopping. I won’t!” he saw Papyrus’ mouth opening, “I won’t buy everything for them, but I will convince them to let us go halvesies as my welcome home present for them. That’s fair, right?”

“I…SUPPOSE SO, YES. OKAY.” Papyrus looked around the room, where he and y/n had spent so much time, where he’d first asked them to date, and felt incredibly down. Now it was just the memories left, the place stolen from them in moments. “JUST ASK THEIR PERMISSION FIRST. ABOUT PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING.”

Boa took his hand and smiled, “Certainly. Now let’s go get your datemate.”

Boa eagerly ran out and giggled when he saw what was happening.

Charm was carefully massaging you as you sat on the deck chair, skilled hands having already turned you to putty as he worked out all your stress.

“I SEE YOU TWO GOT ALONG WELL,” Papyrus is very glad someone was helping you relax, and you did look much happier. “CHARM, THANK YOU FOR HELPING. WE’VE GOT WHAT WE’RE GOING TO SEND FOR CLEANING PACKED UP, AND WE’LL HAVE SOMEONE REVIEW THE FURNITURE ONCE WE DO SOME RESEARCH.” He then turned to you, as you opened your eyes, looking half asleep, “I’M AFRAID WE CAN’T LET YOU HAVE ANY OF THE CLOTHES, THOUGH. THEY’RE ALL WET AND/OR COVERED IN SOOT.”

A flash of worry, and Boa stepped up, “But! I thought maybe me and you could go shopping to get you things to hold you over. And I could buy some of it as your welcome home present~” He grins, and you relax a little.

“Aren’t you a fabrics expert? You aren’t going to like what I buy. I’m not fashionable. If it doesn’t have a fun picture or saying on it, I usually don’t buy it.”

Hands in the air like a surrendering general, Boa nodded, “It’s true, I make fashion, sew it together every day, but Y/n, dear, you’re Papyrus’ datemate, and I would rather you be comfy than stylish. Besides, how will I know what you like to wear if I don’t see what you pick yourself? Comfort is just as important as appearance, you know!”

“Human fashion doesn’t work that way, but I’m glad you think so,” you reluctantly leave your position of bliss and get up, brushing off your clothes. “Papy, are you sure you don’t want to come with me?”

“I’D LOVE TO, BUT CHARM AND I ARE GOING TO HEAD HOME AND GET YOUR ROOM READY FOR YOU. WE’VE GOT SOME STORED FURNITURE TO PUT BACK TOGETHER AND A DEEP CLEAN OF THE ROOM AND ALL COMMUNAL SPACES TO DO!” He did come over and nuzzle his teeth to your forehead gently, “BUT I TRUST BOA TO TAKE CARE OF YOU, AND I’LL BE A PHONE CALL AWAY IF YOU NEED ME, ALRIGHT?”

“Okay. You take care and don’t overdo yourself. I want you being safe more than I want a new room,” you did worry when he started doing projects. He was strong, but you weren’t sure where his limit was and preferred being cautious about it.

“I PROMISE! CHARM IS GOING TO HELP ME, RIGHT?” He looks to his cousin, who nods happily.

“I do love a good furniture assembly. Now, you two behave and I’ll see you both when you come home.” He gave you a squeeze, then did the same to Boa before heading to the front yard.

Sighing, you motioned for Boa to follow you to the street. Both you and Papyrus had been too upset last night to drive, so your car was still sitting in the driveway, undamaged. It was a nice little thing, navy blue Taurus with a few years on it, and you sank with a sigh into the familiar seat.

“Oooh, your car is so sweet! A little sedan, so family friendly. I love it.” Boa slipped into the passenger seat and clicked his belt on happily. “Nice choice, very forward thinking.”

“What? This was one of my Aunt’s car. She gifted it to me so I could drive around school.”

“Oh.” Boa blinked, then shrugged, “Still, if you and Papy do have kids, you have the room.”

“Boa!” You blushed, glad you’d only started the engine and not pulled out onto the street, “What is with you and Charm saying all these things about my relationship with Papyrus! We’re dating, we’re not anywhere close to thinking about children!”

Boa seemed to realize something and looked horrified, “Oh stars, I’m sorry! Kids are all people I knew thought about in relationships and I didn’t realize! It was different here! I’m sorry!” His voice got small, nervous, “It’s just so different here, and I don’t know what’s appropriate outside the house yet since most of the others think like that, too. I really don’t mean to overstep.”

Steadying breaths in and out, and you shook it off, “It’s okay. There’s going to be culture differences, I get that, and I’m going to try and be understanding.” You finally got started down the road, heading to the local Poplar, a big box store and your preferred shopping experience. “So, the goal of relationships underground was more about kids than love?”

“Oh, well…kind of? Short term ones were, anyway,” Boa thinks for a moment. “There was just this pervasive idea that the end goal of any relationship was to have kids. Not that there were many kids even so, but it was still a big deal and the whole town would help raise the cutie, but…love was more reserved for older folks who were done giving their all to increase the population.”

You blinked a bit. Papyrus had told you, early on, that the Underground was way too crowded by the time Frisk set them all free. The Capitol was overflowing into the other areas of the underground, and there were worries about what would happen when everywhere was full. But? Well, you weren’t exactly in a place to call out the hypocrisies in a different society than your own. “Huh. Interesting. I’m not good at conversation, so you tell me whether you want me to talk about how humans do things now or if you want more questions on your end of things.”

He giggled, and it sounded utterly adorable, “Well, I’d like to know about humans. Your relationships aren’t all about babies?”

“Oh heck no. Most folks my age would rather jump off a bridge than have kids willingly,” you snort. “I mean, outside of a marriage, having a kid would be really hard and upsetting. You don’t have the money, you don’t have a partner to support you and the kid, you don’t have two families worth of folks who’d maybe watch the kid while you work…nah, we mostly have kids as an obligation after marriage because it’s EXPECTED that you have them.”

The silence in the passenger seat makes you look over once you’re at a stop light and Boa looks grey from how much color his skull has lost.

“Boa? Did I go too ham on you? Is…is it that shocking?” you didn’t think about it, just spouting out what you thought and your view on the subject.

He just nodded, “I…first the implication that people are having children against their will is terrifying, secondly, what….how do…is the community unsupportive of people who are single but have children?”

“Kind of, yeah. Most of those people are either divorced, or had kids before they were married, and most of them are women.” You sigh, “Society up here tends to look down on women if they do anything, but especially if you aren’t ‘pure’ or whatever and have kids out of marriage. For some reason that I never understood, the idea that a woman had sex with someone without getting married to them first is scandalous and her having a child she can’t support is seen as just punishment. I don’t get it. Not at all.”

You pull into the parking lot and park in a far slot, turning to Boa. He’s shaking, the rattling of his bones very audible. “I’m sorry if this is hard for you to learn, but I just want to make that clear to you so you can know when some human says something nasty about that subject. It’s evil, it’s messed up, and I hate it, but it’s how things are on the surface right this moment. I hope it changes soon.”

Boa sniffles, then unbuckles his belt and hugs you tight. He doesn’t speak, not for a long time, but he does hold you and you can’t fault him. Stars, coming from a world where kids were supported by everyone to a world where people genuinely didn’t care if a child was well cared for or not must be horrible. Poor guy.

After a while, he calms down and finally talks, “No wonder Sans has kept us all close to the house. I’m kind of glad my brother isn’t out here exposed to that kind of warped thinking.” He searches your face for a moment, then sighs, “But you’re good. You genuinely love Papyrus, I can tell. Thank stars he found someone whose mind isn’t full of such negativity.”

Letting him go takes some doing, since you don’t want to, but you manage it, “I know. With how much he likes platonic cuddling, people could have really hurt him if he wasn’t just such a ray of sunshine. I’m very lucky to have him, too.”

Boa nodded, then opened his door, “Okay, enough culture shock for today! Now we focus on you and your wonderful new wardrobe. Or at least a week’s worth of clothes? I’m sure between Papyrus, Sans, Charm, and I, we can find a good conservator and get your things fixed and cleaned by then.”

That works for you, and you get out and lock the door behind you. The two of you walk into the shop and Boa looks eager now, all gloom gone and his bones gleaming white again. “OH, Y/n, there are so many options! They’re all a little conservative for my taste but they’re sure to work for you.”

Laughing, you nod and get to work. Clothes shopping is always tedious for you, but you at least know that comfy shirts are one size and dress shirts are a different one, at least at this store. Your everyday shirts are your basic graphic t’s, or maybe a colorful gradient of your favorite hues, and your dressy outfits consist of black pants or slacks and a fancy shirt. You went through the wracks of clothes, choosing seven comfy shirts, seven casual shirts, and three fancy ones. Then you went to the bottoms, picking out four pairs of jeans, black dress pants, and a pair of black slacks. Boa didn’t say much, just watching you, occasionally humming.

Then you got some more sleepwear, since MTT pajamas were nice but couldn’t be worn every night for the whole of your stay with the skeletons. So, you got some warm pajamas, and some cool ones. Four of each kind. All of them had pants because you were going to be living in a house with other people, thus you had to wear pants at all times in case others entered your space without warning. No flashing people.

But as you turned and headed toward the check out, Boa grabbed your arm, “Whoa! Human, where are you going? You didn’t even try any of them on to see if they fit right!”

“I…don’t care?” you were confused. You’d always bought clothes this way. “Trying on clothes just makes me feel bad, and I’d rather do it in my own home. I can bring them back for better sizes if they don’t fit.”

His eye lights widened, mouth ajar. Then he got a very stern look on his face, “I’m sorry, but as a tailor I can’t allow you to settle for bad fits. We’re going to the changing room, and you’re going to show me what you have there. I’ll tell you if it’s good or not, and we’ll make the exchange here. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right the first time!”

A man in an aisle across from you yelled, “Hey, monster tart! Leave them alone!”

You yelled back without even thinking, “Fuck off, asshat, that’s my roommate!”

He glared at you, then turned away and left you alone. Boa looked sort of deflated, though, and you had to ask, “Hey, are you okay? I’m sorry he called you names.”

“Oh, no…with what you told me about humans, he’s entirely correct but…it did hurt to feel how much he hated me. Um…” He was fidgeting with his feathers, wrapping them tighter around his neck.

“Let’s get to the changing rooms, okay?” you smile. It was worth you being a little self-conscious if it made up for this horrible interruption of your time with Boa.

He nodded, working up a smile again, and taking you back to the changing rooms.

It took a long time, putting on each of your outfits and coming out to show Boa. You knew what size you usually wore, but he still had to peruse your clothes in a circle before he agreed that any given item was probably the best ‘off the rack’ fit you were going to get. You did have to wave him off when he asked about your underthings.

“Nope! I’ll buy them after I send you to the car. I’m not letting you see those.”

“Huh? But foundation garments are important to fit! I’m guessing you have your best set on since you were on a date before the fire bu-“

“Boa! Personal space rules!”

“Oh. Oh right, you have those here,” he looked very frustrated, but sighed, “Okay. I’m going to be understanding of the ‘cultural difference’ too, and let you keep your foundations private even if I don’t understand why. You humored me, so I’ll do the same. I’m sorry I hit a nerve again.”

“Okay. Apology accepted.” You felt like that Jurassic Park guy fending off raptors, even if it was just Boa. “Okay. Here are my keys, go wait for me. Feel free to turn on the radio or air conditioning or whatever you need while you wait.”

Taking the keys, he suddenly seemed in awe, “Oh…oh wow, you really trust me! A car is a big investment and you gave me your keys!” He giggled and took off, waving at you as he went. Seems that little gesture was enough to brighten him back up fully.

Taking a deep breath, you turn back and go to pick up some packs of underwear and sportswear. Even if you did want to keep these garments private, it felt weirdly empty without the colorful skeleton next to you.

Boa was bopping along to some bubblegum pop when you get back to the car. You put your bags in the trunk, which he dutifully pops for you, and then come back to the front and get in the driver’s seat.

“I really didn’t meant to step on your toes at any point, Y/n,” he looked sheepish as you started the engine, “but I want to thank you so much for defending me. Papyrus really has chosen a wonderful person, if you’d stand up to someone else when we’re barely acquainted.”

“That’s just being decent, Boa. I shouldn’t need thanks for doing the right thing, but I do appreciate you helping me with my clothes so I feel like we’re even.” You couldn’t have the endless thanks. It made you squirm, someone praising you for something that just came automatically. Papyrus had learned not to go overboard quickly, and you really hoped Boa would, too.

“Alright, but I hope you don’t mind me talking you up to my brother when we get home.” Boa looked out the window and sighed, “As different as things are, I really want Sweet-pea to see the surface. Um, that’s his name, my brother.”

“Charm told me about him. He’s a homebody, right?”

Boa nodded, “He had a pretty bad relationship that made him…reclusive. I try to get him to go out, but the porch is about the limit at this point. And not even the front porch either…”

“Well, if he’s half as good a person as you are, then I’m sure I’ll adore him,” you might as well encourage him, after all. He was a fascinating little skeleton, and his energy really made you happy. That and just how vibrant he was. That cute little blue star painted on his right cheek and the little jewel you saw (glued?) on the front of his neck vertebra were adorable. “Now, you’re going to direct me to the house?”

“Oh! Yes. Here let me look, I’m a visual direction giver.”

The neighborhood the skeletons lived in was full of ostentatious mansions. It used to be part of the Greek life in the university, but had fallen out of grace and now was owned by the richer folks around town or had been turned into high end apartments. You marvelled at the nice gated carpark that your new home had, as well as the white columns and dark grey roof contrasting with the bright red brick. You could see faded areas above the door, where the Greek letters of the former owners resided, but if you squinted, it looked a bit like a sideways skull-and-crossbones. You liked that.

“We’re back, everyone!” Boa called, and there was a sudden surge of magic that left you tingling.

You were used to this by now. “Hi, Sans,” you smile as you look to your right, and there he is, standing right next to you looking exhausted. Well, more than usual.

“heya, pal.” He looked you over for a moment, then hugged you tight. “sorry, just felt like it. was still worried sick all last night.”

You hug him back and feel warm inside, “Sans, you know I appreciate that you care about me so much, but I don’t want you hurting yourself doing it. Remember, you are allowed to relax.”

“you taking Dr. Kevin’s job?”

“No. I am not your therapist, you dork,” You still kissed the top of his skull though, since he was hiding his face in your shoulder. “I’m your friend.”

“yeah, okay.”

Patting his back for a bit, he finally let go, “okay, I’ll stop monopolizing the human, as my bro is sure to say if I don’t stop.”

“I’d also say it!” Boa had his hands on his hips, looking smugly at Sans, “But it was just too cute to see you actually showing an emotion other than tired.”

“I’M COMING!” Came Papyrus’ voice from the staircase further back in the large entry hall you were standing in. There were beautiful wooden designs in the floor, lovely geometric patterns of squares and diamonds and other shapes, and a small Moroccan style chandelier above made of white smoked glass and gold scrollwork. The golden wood of the floor was matched by the slightly curved staircase that led up to the second floor (where you assumed the beds were) and where your dear Papyrus was currently bounding down.

Your giggles bounced off the high white walls as he spun you, making you glad you slipped off your shoes while looking about, “I MISSED YOU!”

“You just saw me a couple of hours ago!”

“THAT FELT LIKE FOREVER WHEN I’M SO EAGER FOR YOU TO SEE HOW CHARM AND I HAVE SET UP YOUR ROOM!”

Charm was at the top of the stairs, smiling as he leaned over, “Boa, did you make sure they did good picking out their new clothes?”

“I did! I made them try everything on first, but they wouldn’t let me help with foundation garments!” Boa gestured helplessly at you as Papyrus set you down, looking confused.

“Before you even ask, he means underthings,” you might as well warn them.

Sans, who was in the corner, turned bright navy blue all over his skull, and you grinned, “That’s how I reacted when he tried to help pick them out.”

Charm just smiled wider, “Oh, Y/n, so shy but so lovely. Has Papyrus even seen your ‘foundations’?”

“I DON’T THINK THAT’S APPROPRIATE!” the mentioned skeleton clears his ‘throat’ loudly and then pulls you toward the stairs, even grabbing the bags of your clothes with one hand, “SO, LET'S GO SEE YOUR NEW ROOM INSTEAD!”

Up the stairs you go as Boa and Charm laugh, and you hug Papyrus when he stops in front of the last door on the left of the corridor, “Hey, at least I know why you were going stir crazy when they first got here now.”

“YES, WELL, SMALL BLESSINGS.” He gave your head a pat and gestured to the door, “LET’S TAKE A LOOK?”

“Yes, let’s,” you let go and open the door, gasping.

The room itself is a nice size, though you realize it was probably meant for two students to share, but you get it to yourself, with the full bed sitting low on the floor and covered in a swirling rainbow sheet set. The walls were a soft yellow that felt like an early summer morning, and the floor was covered in a mocha carpet that felt so nice under your feet. “Papyrus, this is wonderful.”

“I TRIED TO MAKE IT NICE FOR YOU,” he points at the bed, but you’re guessing he means the mattress, “WE HAD THAT IN CASE FRISK’S HUMAN MOM WANTED TO STAY WHEN WE HAVE A SLEEPOVER. BUT WE NEVER USED IT AT THE OLD HOUSE SO WE BROUGHT IT HERE AND…WELL, IT WORKED OUT. CHARM AND BOA HAD ALREADY BOUGHT THE SHEETS BY THE TIME I GOT HERE, AND THE REST OF THE FURNITURE,” being a lovely cherry wood wardrobe that matched the bed frame, chest of drawers, and bedside table, “WAS IN OUR HOUSE FOREVER AND I DON’T KNOW WHY. THE WARDROBE HAD A BUNCH OF OLD LAB COATS, SO I GUESS IT WAS SANS’ AT SOME POINT? BUT IT’S ALL CLEAN AND SHINED NOW.”

It didn’t strike you as likely that these classy, rather old-fashioned pieces would be something Sans owned, but why else would there be lab coats in it? But you didn’t mind either way. “This is amazing! I’m just…” You throw up your hands dramatically, “Look at it! It’s so beautiful and perfect and…and oh my gosh this is my room.” You start sniffling and put your hands over your mouth. You hate how emotional you are about this, all of this, but it was to be expected, wasn’t it? Losing your home only to gain a beautiful room in your boyfriend’s house and at least two new…friends? Would Charm and Boa count as friends yet? You weren’t sure but you did like both of them quite a bit.

Carefully, Papyrus lifted you up and set you on the bed, using his softest voice as he gets on his knees in front of you and holds your hands, “Just let out anything you need to, love. I was so happy to put all this together for you, and knowing I get to see you every morning now is so exciting. I know you need your space to process, because stars knows I would, so I’ll let you put your things away. I do have to go to work for a bit, but I will be back by six tonight.”

“Okay,” You give him a kiss, giggling wetly, “I just have so many emotions right now, but I’ll sort them out while I put my stuff away.”

A cry of outrage from downstairs, “THEY TRICKED ME INTO LETTING THEM BUY EVERYTHING!!!” and you laugh.

“DID YOU REALLY?” Papyrus looked at you as he got up.

“It wasn’t intentional, but yes.” You grin, “He had to leave before I bought the private stuff! I didn’t even think about Boa’s offer until just now.”

Papy scoffs, but he smiles, “YOU’RE CHEEKY, YOU ARE. BUT IT’S ONE OF THE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU. ONE OF QUITE A LOT!” Stepping to the door, he sighs wistfully, “ALRIGHT. I’LL GO NOW, BUT WE’LL CELEBRATE YOUR HOMECOMING WITH A GOOD DINNER TONIGHT. I LOVE YOU!”

“Love you, too!” you call as he walks out, and you wipe your eyes before taking the bags of your clothes and starting the process of ripping off tags.

You don’t know what to do now. You’re done putting your clothes away, you feel a little more emotionally stable, but you don’t want to leave your room. So here you are, sitting on the carpet, staring out the window on the back wall (though it’s the front of the house so…?)

There’s a knock on your door, and being used to Sans, you ask, “Who’s there?”

“maya”

That’s a new voice. Kind of soft like Sans’, more in his range than Papyrus’, but lighter and slightly higher. “Maya who?”

“maya come in and meet my new housemate?”

“Okay.” You look at the door as it opens, and are interested when it’s someone that looks like Sans but seems to be wearing a dancer’s outfit under a pimp coat. He’s got a black tanktop on that’s cropped just under his ribs, with a bright blue heart in the middle of it, purple ecto down to the wings of his hips, which stick out over his tight black capris. He chuckles and his sockets even crinkle a little as he smiles.

“heya. I’m charm’s older brother. name’s sugar.”

“Sugar and Charm…you two sound like a breakfast cereal.” He snorts and covers his mouth, laughing a little.

“I mean, mornings aren’t really my things, but midnight snacks are good for me. so you’re the human that has little innocent papyrus all flustered all the time, right? heh, it’s pretty cute. Gives my bro lots to work with on learning how things work around humans, so I have to thank you.” Sugar gestures a little, “can I come in?”

“Oh, yeah, sit anywhere. I spent hours with your brother earlier, you’re more than welcome.” You still don’t feel quite like this is actually YOUR room, even if you know it is objectively. It’ll take a while to set in, so you don’t feel intruded on.

“yeah, he told me you two had a good chat. Also told me you were one of the most tense people he’s ever massaged,” Sugar plopped onto the floor next to you, his purple jacket with blue fur trim flaring out around him, the heeled boots matching said fur clicking as he put the bottoms together, “but I can get that. you’ve been through a lot.”

“Yeah…I really appreciated him doing that massage for me. It helped me not be teary while I was out buying clothes with Boa. Nobody wants to cry in public,” you shrug, and Sugar nods.

“hehe, you’re right. and boa’s going to get you back for not letting him spoil you on that. dunno how, but he’s going to do something extravagant to get you to accept his gesture of friendship,” He’s amused, you can tell by the glitter in his purple heart eye lights. Sans gets the same glitter when he’s about to tell a horrible pun just to make Papyrus react.

“Oh, I don’t doubt it from that outrage I heard earlier. But I do hope he realizes he can be my friend without gifts?” You look at Sugar and he nods.

“yeah, but that’s one of his love languages, gift giving. Me, I’m a cuddler, but he likes seeing his friends and family get happy about cool presents,” Sugar leaned on his hands in front of him, “so, what about you, y/n? what do you do to show folks you care?”

Thinking, you giggle, “Well, I guess Boa and I have gift giving in common, but I also like to just say it. Papyrus and I have been saying ‘I love you’ since before we were even dating. Yeah, he said it first, but I think he’d probably have stopped if I hadn’t kept going. It’s just so easy to say, when you believe it.”

“ah, a vocal one. That’s good. other than my brother, nobody else is really verbal with their feelings. That’ll be nice, hearing you and pap being so cute.” He chuckled, “ah, well, I also heard you like languages. How many are you fluent in?”

“oh,” you blush, “uh…I just started my language classes last semester, so just the one. I really would like to have at least five that I can read and understand, even if I can’t speak well or maybe write it if it’s something like Thai or Mandarin.”

“That’s a pretty cool goal,” Sugar thought about it. “so what do you plan to do with that job wise?”

“I want to translate, maybe for children’s books? Some of my favorites growing up came from Germany originally and I’d love to find something great and bring it to other people,” the thought of your career dream makes you perk up more. “What about you, Sugar? I know Charm is a massage person, but what do you do for work?”

He blinked, then laughed, “Oh, I’m an entertainer. I dance mostly, but I don’t think you’d like it.”

“Why not?” you think seeing one of the skeletons dancing would be a great time. You always thought watching Sans or Papyrus move was just fascinating.

“well,” he smirked a bit, “you enjoy strip clubs?”

You felt how big your eyes became as the heat burned your face, “Oh god no!”

He laughs, “See? It pays nice, since I found a reputable place, and I feel good about what I do, but for someone as sheltered as you, I figured you’d not like it.” Getting up, he sighs, “but it’s no harm done, sweetie. I just wanted to introduce myself and say I was glad we’re able to help you out when you’re down.” With a wave and a grin, he flounces out of the room, and you blink in mild shock.

Were….were you sheltered? You hadn’t thought so, you thought you were okay and reactions like yours were normal, but you supposed you could be wrong. Thinking back to what Boa had told you, you start to wonder.

Well, time to go see if you can borrow some of Papyrus’ text books. Thankfully, you were both taking Spanish right now, so even your language text book could be borrowed. You wanted to at least know you could put your hands on it when needed.

You’d gotten the idea an hour after Sugar left, when you were bored of pondering your state of sheltered-or-not, and now you opened your door and scurried over to Papyrus’ room. It was always spotless, or it had been the times you’d been over before the Sans incident. It was weird, realizing you hadn’t been back to his house since then.

His new room was set up just like his old one, about the same size, too, and you found his bookshelf easily. It was right against the wall opposite the door, after all. So you sat on his floor and started looking at the last lesson you remembered.

You were immersed in your studies, curiously glancing at future lessons, when a deep, gravelly voice said, “well well well, we got ourselves a little mouse in papyrus’ room.”

A squeak came out of your mouth, and when you looked up you did not feel reassured. Yes, it was a skeleton, like you’d been expecting, but he was so different than any you’d met before. His teeth were sharp, every one of them, and one was replaced with gold. A huge red dog collar hung around his neck, gold spikes all over, and he wore the tattered remains of a white muscle shirt around his chest. His most obvious features was the thick red ecto that spilled over the top of his black denim shorts and out the bottoms in hefty red thighs tapering off at the knee.

“Y-you’re one of his cousins, right? I’m Y/n,” it wasn’t supposed to come out so nervous, but this guy looked like he could crush you in fifty different ways.

His grin turned a little more into a smirk, “thought so. Name’s spice, sweet cheeks.” He came in and sat himself on Papyrus’ bed. “now, what exactly are ya doin’ in here with these books?”

“Mine are damaged from the fire, so I was looking over our lessons,” why did he make you feel like you’d done something horrible just by the look on his face?

“oh. yeah, forgot about that. heh, well, ain’t that cute?” He had his elbows on his knees, hands hanging between them as he leaned over to look at you, “really are a little bookworm, huh? sansy said you’re the one who got pap to go to school in the first place. wonder how that happened?”

“I really don’t know, but he seemed interested before I talked about what I do at school.” You didn’t like how his eye lights were analyzing every move you made, or maybe they were roaming over you, you didn’t know.

“yeah, sounds about right.” he leans back a bit, scratching at his cheekbone. “sugar said you an’ pap are peas in a pod, all shy’n shit about sex.”

“SHHH!!!” you are instantly on edge, looking at the wide open door and the skeleton who seems to have no boundaries.

He laughs hard, “Oh! Oh he was right! hahaha, oh shit, you’re turnin’ into’a tomato!”

Covering your face, you feel the fluster turning into tears because you can’t handle it, to the point you don’t notice when Spice stopped laughing and went quiet.

“hey, human. hey, you okay?”

You shook your head, and he groaned, “shit, I fucked it up. I was just tryin’ ta tease ya, an’ then I go and make ya upset. Geeze, no wonder I can’t get a date. ‘m sorry, okay? please don’t be upset or pap and sansy’ll probably dust me. wait, that’s manipulative, shit!”

He got up and ran out, and you heard a door shut down the hall. It took you a few moments to contain your fluster, but you finished your cry and gathered up the textbooks. You’d do your studying in your own room now until Papyrus got home.

Still, you’d now met four out of six of Papyrus’ cousins. And you remembered that one of them had voted against you staying. Was that Spice? Or was it one of the two you hadn’t met?

#undertale fic #reader x papyrus #underlust #lustswap #lustfell

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yetremains · 4 years ago

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“...”

“Well damn, alright.” Yang downed the rest of her tea quickly, before gasping for a breath as she shoved her cup away.

“Lightning round, lets go!”

chocolate: when was your first kiss?

“It was in my young teen years, 15 I think. I’d been dating that individual for a couple weeks before they abruptly decided to kiss me then and there. We’d been dancing around the subject for a while. It wasn’t spicy or romantic, merely spur of the moment. Was sweet though. The year after that we had broke up and remained friends for a while until we lost contact.”

french vanilla: how old are you?

“You shouldn’t ask someone their age when they been through shit. Too god damn old is the best answer if you must know. I’m older than 28, trust me. Don’t let looks fool you. But hey, I’m getting even older come December 25th!”

cotton candy: three places you want to travel to?

“Do places long gone count? Can I say Home? Nah probably not. So three places let’s see... Japan, China, Romania. The actual places not whatever anything makes them out to be.”

strawberry: a language you wish you could speak?

“I know a damn lot of languages actually. Sometimes it’s hard to think of the right words to say because of this, knowing so many. It’s one reason I’m so odd with my way of speaking. However, I would not mind learning some dead languages. If that doesn’t count, then... Persian?”

coffee: favorite cosmetic brands?

“Ah hell. I mean, I’m not much of a cosmetic expert here. I work with whatever I really need for a music show or for just every day. I could say L’Oreal because I’m worth it joke but that seems in bad taste. If I was using cosmetics just for the enjoyment or to look special, I just try and get whatever works for me.”

mint chocolate chip: indoors or outdoors?

“Answered this one~!”

cookie dough: do you play any instruments?

“Plenty. I’ve decided to learn a few different ones so I can mix together my own music needs of demands arise for it. But I really enjoy stringed instruments or wind instruments. I carry a small harmonica or Ryūteki in my packs.”

rocky road: favorite songs at the moment?

“Not easy to give an answer for, I’ve got a really broad taste. But I’m thinking something with a heavier beat at the moment-”

butter pecan: favorite songs for life?

“Oh come on this makes it harder. As I said, broad taste. I can find enjoyment in many kinds of music and lyrics. Can’t exactly answer a favorite song for life here.”

cheesecake: what’s your zodiac sign?

“Which zodiac are we talking here? There are a lot out there. But the first one into my head is Capricorn. I am on the 25th of December.”

toasted coconut: the beach or the pool?

“As nice as the ocean can be, fuck the ocean. I’ll enjoy the coast line just fine but you won’t catch me swimming that far out in it. There is damn good reason why I don’t like the ocean much anymore. I’ll relax in a pool or a lake or river, thank you.”

chocolate chip: what’s your most popular post?

“Good question. I’ve made a few social media posts that exploded. But that’s probably not fair considering the music I do. I think my most popular is from years ago when I spray painted a statue of a certain someone to look like a baboon.”

bubblegum: books or movies?

“Both! Why choose? I enjoy both quite a bit. and besides, Books can always be there no matter what. And can hold so much valuable information depending what you are reading.”

pistachio: manga or anime?

“... Both again? But I prefer novels. This is more a guilty pleasure.”

salted caramel: favorite movies?

“I can’t remember the last movie I watched, if I’m honest, let alone a favorite movie.”

birthday cake: favorite books?

“Hmmm. Hard one. I enjoy the collected works of Edgar Allen Poe? There is Shōgun. The Mark of Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, Bram Stoker Dracula... There’s several.”

moose tracks: favorites for manga?

“Not exactly applicable, I don’t remember the name of any I like when I was young.”

orange sherbet: favorites for anime?

“The same as above. Wow I am old... I should really get in touch with these things again.”

peanut butter: favorite academic subject?

“Hah, I loved science and history. A damn lot really. I’ve used both to really help my self along and it’s come in handy. My need for knowledge had me spend a lot of time researching.”

black raspberry: do you have any pets?

“I’ve not had any pets since I was a rookie. Never had the time to truly care for one, and now with a hectic life, I’m not gonna do that to an animal.”

mango: when and why did you start your blog?

“Suppose just to exist and have something to do between pit stops.”

mocha: ideal weather conditions?

“It is torn between two for me. A nice warm day, clear, maybe with a gentle breeze. Some clouds above, and calm. That’s the ideal outing day... But, I suppose due to my birthday, I can enjoy a soft snow coming down,some snow on the ground, watching through a window with tea in hand while bundled up and warm. Much prefer clear day though.”

black cherry: four words that describe you?

“Now that’s just not fair. Let me think... Loyal, Determined, Caring, Protective.”

neapolitan: things that stress you out?

“Being reminded of my failings and those I’ve lost... the people I’ve hurt... Thinking about friends I wish I was closer too but too fearful to be that close. Hm. I can also be stressed out by far too much stimulation for my brain at once that it can spin my gears way too quickly.”

raspberry truffle: favorite kind of music?

“Again, broad tastes. But depending on my mood or feelings, it changes what my favorite kind of music can be. But I will always enjoy something gentle and calming.”

chocolate marshmallow: favorite brands of candy?

“I’ve always been partial to chocolates, or cream items.”

toffee: a card game that you’re good at?

“Ever hear of a game called Egyptian Rat Race? Also known as Egyptian Rat Screw, dunno why of course. I learned this game when I was a kid. 52 card deck, deal to each player until the deck is entirely used and everyone has a pile face down. Starting to the left of the dealer players pull the top card off their pile and place it face-up in the middle. If the card played is a number card, the next player puts down a card, too. This continues around the table until somebody puts down a face card or an Ace. When a face card or an ace is played, the next person in the sequence must play another face card or an ace in order for play to continue.If the next person in the sequence does not play a face card or an ace within their allotted chance, the person who played the last face card or an ace wins the round and the whole pile goes to them. The winner begins the next round of play.“

lemon custard: do you eat breakfast?

“Uh... Admittedly not often. With my metabolism problem I absolutely should, considering the demanding needs. I just can’t always bring my self to do so, the will for it isn’t there. I do snack though.”

dark chocolate: turn ons?

“Ooohh boy... Now this one has me turning a bit red here. I mean there is biting and tight holds, the usual stuff. But... I’m not gonna list a lot here, a turn on can be blindfolding me if I trust my partner enough.”

fudge: turn offs?

“Being an asshole, for one.”

peach: how do you relax?

“A nice cup of tea, maybe some soft music, and let my mind unwind a little. That’s if I’m alone. Otherwise a gentle conversation with a friend about small things... Once upon a time long ago I would have said long hugs or cuddling. Not an option these days.”

praline: a popular book you haven’t read yet?

“I’ve not read The Golden Compass, that has been on my to do list.”

superman: do you like sweaters?

“Weird how this one is with sweaters... but yeah I can enjoy sweaters in the right weather. They can be soft and warm, comfy. Great for cold days.”

cherry: do you drink tea or coffee?

“I drink both actually. But if I have the option for a good tea I’m going to take it without hesitation. Yet the spark of energy from Coffee can’t be denied.”

dulce de leche: an instrument you wish you could play?

“Without a doubt, Taisho-goto. Have you seen one of those? It’s so intricate and amazing, and can sound wonderful. It can be used to play all sorts of things. Fascinates me that the item was half inspired by a typewriter.”

blackberry: have you ever laughed so hard you cried?

“Oh a few times actually. It’s been a good long while now since I’ve gone that far, but it’s come close. But once upon a time this has happened!”

ginger: a new feature you wish tumblr could have?

“To Become A Functioning Website.”

blueberry lemon: favorite blogs?

“Now that’s just kissing and telling...” (( I’d also have to tag and dont wanna spam. ))

almond: favorite mean girls quote?

“Oddly specific, but... Variations of ‘One time she punched me in the face. It was awesome.’. “

butterscotch: what color are your nails right now?

“Uh, natural and colorless? I’ve not painted my nails in a while.”

cinnamon: have you ever been confessed to?

“I have yes.”

blue moon: have you ever had a crush on someone?

“Again, yes. We’re not gonna go into this can of worms.”

cappuccino crunch: do you take naps?

“Sometimes. There comes the occasion when one does get exhausted and needs a damn nap.”

mint: the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?

“Get way too flustered and accidentally admit I liked someone.”

brownie batter: do you like sushi?

“Completely! You say we’re going to get Sushi and you have my full attention.”

key lime: where do you want to be right now?

“Home unfortunately.”

red velvet: do you wear prescription glasses?

“Nope! I’m thankful for that, but one day I have no doubt that’s going to change.”

green tea: favorite flavors of ice cream?

“Mochi green tea, chocolate chip mint, red bean, Strawberry shortcake... Gelato raspberry or orange cream.”

#About Yang #Headcanon #(( THERE I DID IT. ALL THE ICE CREAMS ))#(( this was exhausting on the hands and brain i died. ))#(( but also did my best ))

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puckinghell · 6 years ago

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All In | Brock Boeser

Summary: You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, or well, between being Brock’s friend and being more than that, and one camping trip might be exactly what you need to decide officially where you stand. Words: 3.3k Note: listened to “in betweenin” by AUSTN while writing this

Technically you’d known this was a bad idea the second he’d brought it up. But then he’d stared at you with those bright blue eyes of him and pouted his bottom lip, mumbled a “ah, come on, babe” and suddenly you found yourself packing a bag filled mostly with mosquito spray and leaping into his car, Coolie panting into your ear with excitement.

There’s a few things that make going camping with Brock such a bad idea, and you have the list solidly memorized.

You hate bugs, and forests have a lot of bugs.

It’s really busy at work and your home is a pig sty and you have a lot of things to do that do not include hanging out in a tent with your best friend.

You have no idea how to even set up a tent.

Spending a whole weekend with only Brock and his dog – who you love dearly, but that’s not the point – is probably not gonna do massive favors for your enormous crush on him.

Point 1 becomes a problem the second you step out of the car. You’re happy to be out, because although it was lots of fun to listen to Brock chatting and then singing along to country songs in the most ridiculous way, your ass hurts from being cooped up in his Range Rover for so long, and you’re pretty sure there’s dog drool on your shoulder because Coolie kept trying to climb into the front seat.

But then you hear the annoying buzz of mosquitos in your ear and it takes everything in you to not just jump back in and drive home.

Point 2 is easily pushed to the back of your mind because, well, your boss is an asshole anyway, and nobody really sees your house except you and Brock, and Brock’s apartment back in Vancouver is twenty times worse, so he’s not allowed to judge.

Point 3 turns out not to be such a big problem at all, because the second Brock has the car unloaded, he sends you a grin.

“I have a feeling I’m on my own with this tent situation, here, aren’t I?”

“Ah, and they said hockey players aren’t smart!” you tease, dropping down onto the floor where Coolie is laying chewing on a stick. “How about I’ll be here for mental support?”

So that leaves point 4.

You stare at your best friend as he meticulously sets up the tent. It’s clear that he’s done this a million times before; you know that, because you’ve been camping with him before. But it’s never been just him. It’s always been everyone in your friend group, and although you’ve always been the closest to him, it’s a little weird to be alone with him now.

Mostly because you have no idea why. Why didn’t he just invite the others? Why did he even invite you? After what happened last summer, you weren’t sure you would ever see him again.

Minnesota, especially the part where you’re from, is hardly the most exciting place in the world, and the town’s residents always find a way to entertain themselves, may it be with country fairs or horse races or firework shows for no reason at all. Summer is your favorite season because it means everyone gets outside, enjoys the rays of sun warming up the dirt on the ground, enjoys the wind through the wheat fields. It also means Brock comes home.

You’ve known him for years; when he left for Vancouver, you were his biggest supporter, the loudest voice telling him he needed to go. But you’d be lying if you said it hadn’t broken your heart in two to see him leave.

See, it was always supposed to be him. You’d expected it, and in a way, everyone had expected it. Best friends since childhood, when you tried skating and fell, and Brock helped you up and brought you to his parents to get your bloody knee patched up. Spending summers together throwing footballs and swimming in the lake; best friends in high school even though he fell in with the popular crowd, being everyone’s favorite athlete, and you were simply another girl who was seen most often with her nose buried in the books. He had even been your first kiss, nervous glances and the sweet taste of cotton candy on your lips as he’d kissed you on top of the ferris wheel at the country fair when you’d been 15.

“They’re gonna get married one day,” your mom had joked when you’d been 7, and she’d repeated that joke every 4th of July BBQ party when Brock pushed you on the swing, or pushed you into the pool, or pushed your limits until you yelled at him.

And then he’d left.

Suddenly there was no more joking talk of marriage, no more Brock to hold your hand through scary situation or laugh at you for being a wimp, no more best friend.

Except during the summers. During summer, for a few months, he was yours again. And it was so easy to pretend nothing had changed.

“Hey, kiddo,” he’d say as he barged into your back yard, his familiar ‘everything is fine, I’m here’-smile that you’d gotten so used to. You’d growl at him to stop calling you that, and then you hugged him, and everything would be fine again.

Until he left. Again.

It was a routine; you knew what to expect every year and you liked it that way. You no longer expected him to be your happily ever after, but you knew for sure he was going to be part of it. He was going to be in your life forever.

Except, well, then he kissed you.

It had been just a year ago, right before he left to go back to Vancouver. In fact, it was his last night in Minnesota and he’d opted to spend it with you in his back yard, instead of going out to the bar with all your other friends. You hadn’t wanted to go with them cause it had been only a week since your boyfriend –or, technically, ex boyfriend – had broken up with you and you were still not happy about it.

Although you also couldn’t say you were really sad. It was weird, and you’d decided the best way to deal with it was to just not think about it.

You sat watching the fire, nursing a now lukewarm beer, and Brock had gone to get some new, colder beers. There was something burning in your chest that had been there for a few days, that you hadn’t quite been able to put a finger on, hadn’t quite been able to place.

Your ex had broken up with you because he didn’t “want to compete with someone who’s already the center of your world”. You hadn’t even really known what he’d meant by that.

“Hey,” a familiar voice mumbled behind you and you felt one warm hand on your shoulder, at the same time something cold pressed into your back.

You yelped and turned around, and Brock laughed, easily and melodic, before handing you the beer. The fire was casting shadows on his face and it made him look almost ethereal, made his blue eyes shine and his cheekbones sharper, a blue baseball cap covering his golden locks, and he’d never looked more beautiful than he did in that moment.

That’s when you realized. You were in love with your best friend.

“I’m gonna miss you, you know,” Brock said, sitting down next to you; a little too close, the outside of his thigh touching yours, and even through the layers of your jeans and his sweatpants, your skin tingled.

Fuck.

“Yeah, me too,” you managed to bring out.

“You’re sad,” Brock noticed, frowning, and then he softly said: “That guy is an asshole.” He reached out and brushed some hair away from your face, even though it wasn’t really in your face, definitely not enough to bother you.

You bit your lip. Your ex hadn’t been an asshole, he’d simply been observant, more observant than you. He’d known your heart was Brock’s before you’d even realized you wanted to give it to him.

“It’s fine,” you told your best friend – just your best friend, you reminded yourself – and you smiled at him weakly. “I guess I’m just not, you know, the kinda girl guys want to be with long term.”

You’d said it in a way to explain the breakup to Brock, because you couldn’t very well tell him the truth, but all it earned you was a strangled noise from the back of Brock’s throat as he growled: “That’s bullshit” and then suddenly he leaned in and his lips were pressed against yours. He tasted like beer and smelled like forest and dirt roads and laundry detergent and you were pretty sure your heart was swimming in your stomach, and nothing had ever felt like that; nothing with your ex, nothing with Jimmy in high school, or Matt in college.

You knew, then, that you’d been right from the beginning. It had always been Brock.

Except the next day he’d left for Vancouver and neither of you had ever mentioned the kiss again. Your friendship continued through texts and calls and Facetime, and when the Canucks came to play the Wild you’d made the drive with his family to cheer him on, and he’d hugged you, but it had been like all the times before.

Like he was your best friend.

This summer, you were nervous for him to get home, but then he’d walked into your back yard with a grin and said: “Hey, kiddo.” And that’s how you knew nothing was going to change.

He was never going to be yours, and that’s okay, you could learn how to deal with that.

Except, well. Staring at the lines in his stomach as he wipes his face with his shirt is not really dealing with it, and neither is the way you forget how to speak when he finally turns to you.

“Tent is done. Wanna head to the boat?” He doesn’t even wait for your answer; he knows you better than anyone, knows you’ve always loved the water more than you love being on land, something about the calm steadiness of the waves calming you down. The lake is your favorite place and his dad never really uses the boat anymore, so Brock kinda has a duty to give it some exercise.

“Come, Coolie,” he calls for the dog as he picks up the cooler and starts towards the dock, and you follow him.

The day is just like they always are in summer, except with a few less people. Nobody is yelling at you to change the music, it’s just Brock quietly humming along. He lets you drive the boat for a while, while he excitedly talks about all the parts of the engine he’s going to replace – as if you know what any of that means – and the beers in the cooler don’t go nearly as fast with just two people, but fast enough that your head is spinning when you get back to shore.

Or maybe that’s because there’s little droplets of water dripping from Brock’s hair onto his back, and the muscles are rippling deliciously under his skin as he skillfully parks the boat back on the dock, the orange evening skies bringing a golden glow to his hair.

Coolie jumps out of the boat and trots towards the tent, and Brock takes your hand to help you out the boat. It rocks a little as you step onto the edge and you flinch, reaching for him in a reflex and grabbing his shoulder.

He laughs quietly. “Relax, I’ve got you,” he mumbles, as he puts his hands around your waists and lifts you from the boat onto the safety of the dock.

There’s no reason for the butterflies in your stomach, absolutely none, and that thought makes you a little sick.

“I’ll start the fire,” you tell him. “You get the stuff from the boat.”

Because God knows you need a little space to breathe if you’re going to make it through tonight.

It’s strangely comfortable and nice to be out in nature with just Brock, even despite all the nerves in your stomach and those awful mosquitos in your ear, and you could very easily get used to this, which is exactly why you need to get away. But it’s only a few minutes before Brock joins you, raising an eyebrow at your pathetic attempt of a fire pit.

“What are you doing?” he asks, laughing quietly to himself. “I know you can do better than that, babe, come on now.”

And he really shouldn’t be calling you babe because the reason the fire isn’t working is because you can’t bloody focus, and now he’s here and it’s going to be so much worse.

“Let me do it,” he says, as you throw down a block of wood in frustration. “You feed Coolie.”

The dog’s tail wags at the mention of food and you huff in annoyance before starting on your new task. It’s extra annoying when you come back in less than five minutes and Brock has the fire burning.

He’s sitting cross legged on the floor, poking the fire with a stick, and he grins up at you as you join him.

“You’re losing your outdoorsy touch,” he teases. “It’s clear I’ve been gone for a while.”

He’s been gone for 7 months and 2 weeks, since Christmas, but you bite your lip and stay silent, because it’s probably a tad weird that you know that.

Brock shifts, then, and suddenly his arm is lightly touching your side, his knee pressed into your thigh.

“You’ve been a bit quiet today,” he hums, and you feel yourself tense.

Damn, you thought you’d been hiding it well.

“You okay?”

“Fine.” The answer comes too quickly, your voice too unsteady, and Brock notices it, cocking one eyebrow.

“You know you can tell me stuff, right?” he pushes. “Is it work, stressing you out? Your mom being nosey again? Is it me, should I not have taken you here?” The last part comes out a little shaky and there’s a genuine worry in his eyes, and suddenly, you can’t take it anymore. It’s like everything that’s been building up comes washing out, adrenaline coursing through your body as you jump up.

“You know what, no, you shouldn’t have.” Your words are harsh and you can see how hard they hit Brock, because his body literally recoils away from you, color draining from his cheeks. “Why did you, Brock?”

“Because I want to spend time with my best friend, who I haven’t seen for months,” he answers defensively.

“Bullshit,” you bite. “Why didn’t you invite anyone else, then? We do this every year, and it’s never just the two of us. Why now?”

Coolie lifts his head at the loud tone of voice and seems to quickly decide this is not a situation he wishes to be part of, retreating into the tent.

You can’t blame him. You kinda wish you could follow the dog.

Something darkens Brock’s eyes as he speaks, this time. “You know why, Y/N.”

“Except I really don’t!” You throw your hands up in exasperation. “What are we, Brock?”

This is it. The part where it gets messy, where you’re going to say everything you haven’t before. Because you can’t keep doing this, can’t keep feeling like this. Like you’re being torn apart, stuck between being his friend and wanting to be more.

“Because all I know is that we’re more than friends, but less than lovers.” Tears are pushing at the back of your eyes as you speak and you can taste something bitter at the back of your tongue.

Brock is standing, now, and he takes one step closer to you, his arm outreached but not quite close enough to actually touch you.

“What do you want us to be?” His voice is soft, eyes gentle, and now you really feel like crying. Could he not just for once be less than perfect? Actually yell at you? Make it easier for you, to give him the ultimatum you’re about to give him?

“I feel like I’m caught in these feelings that I have for you. That I’ve had for such a long time,” you whisper, stepping back from him. “And when I’m with you, I feel on top of the world. I don’t know what you want from me but I know I can’t keep doing this.” You take a deep breath.

“I can’t keep being your friend that you kinda flirt with, that you kinda treat like more than a friend but only sometimes. Because I’m so freaking in love with you, Brock, and it hurts. So…”

There it goes. Everything you’ve known. It could be gone after this sentence.

“So I’m drawing the line in the sand. I can’t pretend I don’t want you, so you can love me or leave me, but we’ve gotta be all or nothing. I can’t be in between.”

Brock blinks, once, than speaks; the world fall from his lips surprisingly easy.

“I love you.”

Okay, now you’re confused. “Huh?”

He laughs and the sound rings through your ears; you’re not sure if you’re dreaming, when he steps closer and carefully takes your hand to lace his fingers through yours.

“Y/N,” he says slowly, as if he’s trying to talk to a kid with a temper tantrum, “I love you. I’ve always loved you. You were the one that didn’t come to say goodbye last summer, so I thought you were mad at me for the kiss.”

Oh.

“I was just nervous, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do,” you whisper, your eyes falling to the ground because you can feel your cheeks heat up in shame and you can’t quite force yourself to face him.

“I only dropped it cause I thought that’s what you wanted me to do,” Brock says, lifting one finger to your chin to force you to look up at him. The second your eyes lock with his, you feel yourself getting lost. “You say we’re all or nothing, but that was never really the choice for me. I’ve never been in between.” He shrugs, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “I’ve always been all in, kiddo. Sometimes I think I’ve been all in since the moment I met you.”

You can’t stop yourself. “Don’t call me kiddo.”

He laughs and suddenly you’re laughing too; everything seems silly, now, and you can hear your mother’s voice in your head.

They’re gonna get married one day, you know.

“You really want this.” It’s not a question, because you know Brock wouldn’t lie to you and you can read the truth in his eyes.

“So, no kiddo. How about baby?” Brock wonders out loud. “Would that suit you better?”

“Maybe.”

“Pumpkin? Sweetheart? Honey? Doll? Muffin?”

You pull a face. “Eww, don’t you dare.”

Brock smiles. “Hey, can I kiss you now?”

A happy sigh falls from your lips. “I thought you’d never ask.” And then his lips are against yours and everything falls into place, just like you always knew they would.

“You all in?” he mumbles against your lips, just as you’re about to get lost in his touch, and it’s that same question he asks four years later when you’re wearing a white dress and he’s wearing his best suit and all your loved ones are standing around you in a circle as you dance, your face pressed into the crook of his neck as you try to hide the fact you literally haven’t stopped smiling since the ceremony.

“You all in, Mrs. Boeser?” he mumbles against the side of your head, and you smile.

“Always.”

#brock boeser #vancouver canucks #nhl one shot #nhl imagine #hockey imagine #brock boeser imagine #brock boeser one shot #vancouver canucks imagine #vancouver canucks one shot

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mistymins · 7 years ago

Text

no day but today

“ White Day - a special day in several east asian countries. taking place one month after valentine’s day, on this occasion, men gift women with candy. ”

➢ Jungkook x Reader

➢ genre/au: fluff oneshot + college!au + shy boy jungkook

➢ word count: 3.9k

⇢ playlist inspiration

The thumping of his heart continued to grow apparent to the point where the resounding beats quietly rang in his ears. In Jungkook’s palm, a little red box perched. Slightly curling his fingers inwards, he feels the tips brush against the material, visualizing a delicate red rose. His hopes hinging on one simple box of chocolates. The young man, lightly berates himself: get a hold of yourself! He whispers in a lowly voice. Jungkook knew that if he couldn’t ready himself now—standing in front of the mirror where his confidence lay in disarray—the courage that lighted the path before him would remain dim. He wanted, or rather, needed to show her his cool side yet so far, even pretending that the mirror was her figure keenly awaiting his words to be uttered to her, Jungkook still crumbled under embarrassment and flushed cheeks.

He shook his head and resumed his mini rehearsal, pressing on, though barely avoiding his gaze of the mirror as he instead imagined how her eyes would look the moment he extends his arms, the precious gift nestled in his hands. “N-Noona, I’d like to—I’d like to give you…” a flash of her smile and it was over, just like that. “Damn it, I can’t do this. I’m too nervous!” he brought a hand to cover his mouth, trying to constrict the rising heat that’s to overtake his cheeks again.

~ ~

Emerging from a room tainted with lectures, scribbled down notes, and mentions of significant figures derived from a textbook’s pages, it was no wonder you took a moment to stretch out your arms once you were able to get away from it all.

Strolling, you were only reminded of another matter.

A box of chocolates here, a basket of sweets there, and pink and white teddy bears to match was the theme of the day as you roamed the halls towards the building’s exit. You pursed your lips as it was inevitable to avoid—if it weren’t a girl’s boyfriend showering her with gifts then it was a girl being asked out by their not-so-secret admirers; and depending on their reaction, you could tell whether it would be a success or not. Not like you cared…you were just very observant today, that was all.

A nudge against your arm. Bestfriend pulling back your attention. And somehow, you could already decode the meaning behind that taunting smirk. “So any guys come to profess their love for you yet.” She says.

You scoff, trying to repel her away before she could get a chance to tease you further, “No, why do you wanna know? I told you already that I’m not looking to date anybody.”

“Uh huh, sure Y/N.”

It was enough to spot all of the ambience of love frolicking in the air but to actually hear about it as well? You sighed, can I just go home already? There was no doubt that a fragment of yourself can’t help but feel caged and left like a black a sheep to the masses who were currently having their heart adorned; the only consolation was that maybe doing laundry and spring cleaning could ease your mind away from the subject matter.

“Hey what about that dude, though? The freshman from our Humanities class, you’ve hung out a couple times. Nothing blooming between you two?”

You turn your head to her, blinking twice. “Oh uh, Jungkook?” He was a guy younger than you by three years, one of the newest addition to the school while you were already rolling on with your third year at the university. You two wound up becoming familiar with each other after he joined the after school club; he was still confused on the layout of the school then, and as it happened, you became more of a tour guide from then on, sort of taking him under your wing, like a mentor/mentee relationship.

You saw him every day after school, and at first, he hung low and inconspicuous behind the other club members during discussions. This made him all the more obvious to you, of course. So you approached him first and he unraveled bit by bit. He had a quirky way of carrying himself, always laughing and messing around from then on…he was handsome, you admit, anyone who’s seen him would have that deduction, but you weren’t sure about him…

You smiled, “He’s nice but—oh. It’s raining.”

Drizzling but not pouring; it wasn’t terribly bad that you couldn’t brave walking home in such weather. You drew out your umbrella, swinging it over your shoulder, and reassured your best friend that a little rainfall wasn’t going dissuade you from taking the route to the apartment, even as she tries to convince you with her red car.

“Noona!”

A familiar voice; upon looking over your shoulder, you were able to put a face behind that same voice. The tall and lean younger man who you’d mentioned just a minute ago, appearing like this as if he he’d heard you speaking about him.

“Would you like to walk home together?” he asks.

~ ~

Tapping your fingers on the hilt of the umbrella, you snuck a glance at a silent Jungkook. He appeared to be swirling in his own thoughts, staring at the ground in which he walked on, the look of a rigid face splashed across his features. It’s been a little while since you’ve both strolled side by side and left the vicinity of the school and even when the silence felt constricting—prompting you to bring to light some sort of topic—it was back to silence immediately afterwards. Why is he barely talking? It wasn’t your intention to intensify the elevating awkwardness, it’s his fault, you thought.

You looked up at him, hesitantly starting to speak again, feigning a natural voice, “Jungkook, did you get your hair cut? Sorry, I noticed just now. But it looks really nice.”

“Oh, uh, you think so?” he laughed, a breathy one, as if he couldn’t quite voice his own voice, running his fingers through brown locks. “Thanks, I wanted to change the way it was, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to look okay.”

“Are you kidding me? I think it really fits you. You know what I think, I think it makes you look a little bit older.” You nudged him playfully, and raised an eyebrow. “I bet you already got girls staring at you, huh?”

“Maybe not the right ones.”

The smile from your antic dissipates, noting just now, the way his brown eyes stared against your image in conjunction with his words, an act that you were sure was deliberate for it felt palpable, even for the second that it lasted. Surely, he wasn’t referring to…without a thought you looked away, unsettled on what he was basing his words on. But there was no way, it was most likely that you were just being presumptuous. Probably some girl he met, you were sure.

All of this “white day” frenzy was getting to your head anyway.

Jungkook is just a friend. So maybe you’ve mutually covered each other in both classes and the after school club, shared some laughs, ate lunch together in some situations, but he was basically your dongsaeng, someone you obligated yourself to look after even though he was your friend. You couldn’t look at him like that. Yet, you found yourself wondering…

Were you truly expecting something?

“So um, how’s track practice?” you stammered, trying quickly change the subject. “I heard you were the fastest on the team.”

He scratched the back of his head again, something you noticed he often did when he contemplated his words. “Yeah, that’s what a lot of them say.” He says. You both turn the corner to the street where your apartment lay. “Noona, I know you talked a lot about that art contest at school so I was wondering If you’d…”

“If I turned in a submission?” you raised your brows, meanwhile, he still has yet to stare at you for the second time in the duration you’ve both walked. You chuckled. “I did. My piece ended up not placing a spot in the top three. I tried not to expect too much, but I have to admit, I was still…” Ah. you waved your hands to dismiss the idea. “well, it’s all done and over with. I don’t think my art would’ve made it anyway.”

“That’s not true!” he blurts. You stared at him with widening eyes, lips parting. “you make incredible artwork. Your choice of color palette is always amazing and I wish I could handle the strokes of a pencil that well.” His voice had a subtle waver hidden in them, and then he held his lips firmly like an “M” sound, quivering. “I just…all I wanted to say is–!”

He distanced himself a little bit, still walking side by side with you. “you’re really good. So don’t say that about what you make…Because I really enjoy them.” He says lowly.

Now you were the one counting the steps you make, watching as you step over the pools of rain water, thinking that his words were actually—really sweet. And you couldn’t stop yourself from the temptation of conceiving the expression he held just then, such genuineness that’s making you claustrophobic from holding your arms so close to yourself.

You laughed, but it sounded like a pretty obvious way of hiding your embarrassment, your eyes elsewhere, “You sound like my biggest fan.”

The walkway that led to the entrance of your apartment’s lobby was now a few feet away.

~ ~ ~

God, she was beautiful. Proud, he patted himself on the back for pulling through with the first step in operation get-yourself-out-of-the-friendzone; he could barely contain the elation of having her walk right beside him but now, how to progress. Jungkook admitted internally that he didn’t expect to be successful in gaining her all to himself and now he was desperately skimming through the recesses of his mind on how he could manage to complete all the stages.

He was a bit jittery and his stomach swarmed with butterflies, not wanting to talk for fear of uttering something completely humiliating but maybe he had overdone the no talking part. Now he had wondered if his behavior was starting to make her think of him in a weird light. Not to mention…Ah! What’s the matter with you? he wanted to slap himself silly; he knew it, he knew he was going to lose his cool and start stammering. Coming off rather blatantly direct about his opinions on her artwork. So much for trying to sound natural.

Furthermore, Jungkook had the little red box stored in his backpack, he made sure to take out books and such to avoid depressions on it and on the sweets tucked in it. It was just a matter of finding the right time to confess to her, to finally lay everything out on the table for her to see…

But what time was the right time in the first place? Jungkook knew he needed to just get on with it; they were rapidly approaching her apartment, what could be worse than the window of opportunity shutting in his face when it lay in front of him.

I’m just gonna do it..!

Her feet came to a halt and so did Jungkook’s and he gulped as she turned, fully facing him to where Jungkook could no longer satisfy his itch to turn away from embarrassment. He was going to reiterate this several times because it was true: she looked lovely, as if she became a piece among the aesthetics of the pattering rain. Jungkook tightly grasped the umbrella, he could hear his heart beating against his chest, his throat clambering for air, but at the same time, he had wondered if this was all very evident to her. If she noticed how beat red he suspected his face to appear at this moment.

“So.” She says, pursing her lips. There was a brief awkward silence that let Jungkook wonder if she had been waiting for something. He needed to take this chance now. A window of opportunity… “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, then.”

Jungkook, you idiot…!

“Ah, yeah. Tomorrow, can’t wait.” He hesitates. Jungkook gripped the hilt even firmer, expecting her to walk away first but it was quite the opposite. He turned his back and began his way, almost involuntarily but he’d given in to the fear. ‘Can’t wait’? he face palmed Way to sound to like a creeper, ya dummy!

He sighed, he knew he messed up, he knew that all that practicing in the mirror and money spent on the bag of sweets, the result he wanted from all that would not come to fruition now. The feelings for her he bottled up since he’s noticed his heart reacting differently to her presence—three months after school began—would remain in its container. She would never get to hear his confession. He actually let that happen?

Would he even be okay just being her “dongsaeng”, her “friend”? Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows at the thought. He needed to let her know, even if he was rejected, he wasn’t going to allow his future self to discontentedly look back at this with regret. At least she’ll know.

Jungkook dashed back to the complex, hoping that he hadn’t already missed his opportunity and he was right. Her back stared at him from the space between them and he gasped with eagerness and anxiety. The box, I gotta give it to her. He unhooked his backpack’s straps off his shoulders, his hands alternating between the umbrella and his backpack as he frequently looked up to see if she’d gone. Impatience started to arise, realizing that it was taking too long in this brief span of time, Jungkook tossed the umbrella to the side, paying the rain that continuously soaked him no mind.

By the time, he swiped the box from the depths of his backpack, she had already gotten wind of Jungkook, the tilt of her head like a signal to him that relayed the very fact that she was now thinking. He approached her with soft steps as if every foot forward was intense enough to push her away. He slowly came to a red light that was her and took a second to let the moment sink in.

Two people. A love struck boy, drenched by rain, who held his own heart in his hand. And the crucial love interest he had penned down in his story book. What sort of thoughts conjured in her mind at this moment? He was so very curious that the situation felt daunting, but nevertheless, he took the box of chocolates and presented it to her on a palm. This moment, this moment was his.

Jungkook took a deep breathe, “Ever since the start. I’ve been dependent on you. It always felt like you knew a lot of things but then again, I’m still just a kid when I think about it.” He said, feeling his breathe hitching up. Staring at her for such a long duration wasn’t good for his heart. His voice shook to his discontent.

“But I don’t want you to see me in just that way. I want to be…someone you could come to depend on in the future.” He alludes.

“You probably know where I’m getting at but I’m still a bit afraid to come out and admit it.” He laughed as he stated so. Looking down and away for a second he soon returned a determined gaze. “So I’ll just say this, even if you know and don’t feel the same way, I won’t give you a hard time. I won’t even ask you again. But if by chance you do, even though I’m not experienced in this stuff, I’ll love—I mean, I’ll give you the best of me. Not as your dongsaeng but as Jungkook.”

~ ~

He’s confessing to me, he’s confessing to me…? Listening to him say the words that he did, firmly gazing at you the way he did—standing in the rain like a casanova as a box of chocolates waited in his hands to be accepted into yours—a tinge of emotion sparked inside of you. And you didn’t know what it was or how to describe it, only that you were confused.

You didn’t know how to react either and you only thought of how oblivious you must’ve been throughout this year, deliberating now, suddenly, how long ago he developed these feelings for you, and what this meant for you both.

“I—um…” you uttered yet you couldn’t muster up the courage to look at him, only the box of chocolates you shyly took from his fingers. He really got these for me…? For white day? You gulped.

“Jungkook, you—” you gasped as you finally glanced back at him. He was drenched. You’d been worrying so much on how to respond while he stood unsheltered from the rain. The funny thing was, he probably would’ve remained there, awaiting your answer if you hadn’t done him the favor.

Without a moment to lose, you swiftly extended the umbrella above his head, blushing. “I’m sorry Jungkook! I’m so sorry, that was really dumb of me!”

“It’s okay, noona. I didn’t melt.” he chuckles.

~ ~

This wasn’t okay! You screamed internally. Due to the fact that the boy who just confessed his feelings for you now sat on the couch of your apartment living room, possibly stripping his shirt off—although, you were to blame for telling him to do so—while you rummaged for a towel and clothing that worked well enough for him.

Returning to Jungkook, you furrowed your eyebrows, “I told you to take your shirt off.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to feel weird or anything.” He says, eyes plastered elsewhere.

You approached him and laid the folded clothes on the coffee table, “Jungkook, I don’t want you catching a cold.”

“Hm, what if I’m the one who feels weird then?” he contests.

Rolling your eyes, you placed a hand on your hips, “Just take off the shirt…!”

He gave a resigned fine and you darted your gaze away as he pulled his white shirt over his head, placing it on an empty spot on the table. You sighed, seriously this guy…

As for the two towels in your possession, you wasted not a second further and draped one over him, observing how Jungkook quickly nestled under it. For the other…you blushed as he seems to be caught unawares when you veiled it over his dampen hair as you stood opposite him.

“H-Hey!” he fidgets as you place your fingers on the overlaid towel.

“Shh! This is just because I owe you, okay?” to your surprise, Jungkook nodded when you didn’t expect otherwise for him to give in submissively.

You proceeded to delicately massage the dry towel against his hair and for a while, you both remained as you were, no utterance of speech, allowing this situation to play out as it is.

He could’ve done this himself, you thought. So why did you offer to do it for him in the first place? Sigh, your mind drifted to the point of no return, that confession of his painting the white canvas of your mind. You thought how some of the things he said made a lot of sense to you, how he didn’t expect you to reciprocate right away—how he said he would do his best to treat you right even if he felt incompetent…

It was an incredibly mature oration.

Without your consent, your heart starts to register a flicker of emotion that you wanted to deny feeling. This was Jungkook, after all. This wasn’t some guy you’ve been fawning over or thought about in secret, this was your friend, moreover, this was your dongsaeng. But this also entails that you know him better than any guy in school so maybe, if it was going to be him, just maybe…

You gasped, as if you’d forgotten how to breathe suddenly when Jungkook softly brushes his fingers over your wrist, enveloping the skin there with his touch. You swallowed and firmed your lips.

Head tilted, Jungkook delved into your eyes with his.

You blink twice, “D-Dummy, why are you looking at me like that…” you stammered.

He body language hinted at words he wanted to say but buried the urge back down, regressing and staring at the ground once again, “Sorry! I was just—sorry.”

He’s so nervous, you thought. The way he tucked back into a corner that was his mind reminded you of the times he sat at the back of the club meetings, trying to remain as invisible as he could. Like a shy puppy…If you could imagine what he must be feeling, then all of that must be an understatement to his actual emotions; a fire he was trying to repress.

You smiled unknowingly just pondering about the details. But through those little specks of detail, there was something you came to realize, you cared for this person in front of you in a form different than any you knew or were close with. You cherished being there for him, being proud of him, guiding him and it never occurred that you would be capable of caring this much. Just from that, he taught you something.

Everything feels so sudden at this moment because you couldn’t pinpoint these feelings that were knocking faintly in your chest. However, and you mused, maybe it wouldn’t hurt that much to try and define them…

You closed your eyes momentarily, a deep and silent sigh leaving you.

“Let’s go out.” You say like a mumble and he widens his eyes as if it elatedly said really?! ,making you pull the towel over his face. “I-I don’t mean it like that! I mean, let’s go somewhere for lunch or something. The two of us maybe, wherever you want to go…”

You folded your arms, blushing but trying to mask it under a guise as you fold back the towel over his forehead, “And if you’re thinking that you know what I’m trying to get at here, then, it’s because you’re right…” you confess.

Jungkook lowered his head, then silence, he doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t even move a muscle, and you start to wonder if you’ve said something wrong or worded your sentence weird. Before long, with his gaze still down and away, he slowly rises to measure his distance from you, and as both of you stood face to face now, you could only speculate what his intention was.

“Thank you, noona!” Jungkook exclaims as he bowed in a way that was meant for a company’s CEO.

“Jungkook, that’s too formal…” you sighed, taking in hand the curled up towel just where Jungkook previously sat; your feet began to approach him. He blinked as you smiled a smile that he was able to vividly see, though knowing his eyes struggled to maintain its hold. “it’s ok for you to be lenient once in a while, we’ll get to learn a lot more of each other after all.”

He grasps the towel in hand as you chuckle. “Now put this back on, you’re half naked.”

#sfwbangtan #thebtsnetwork #btswritersguild #jungkook x reader #jungkook fic #jungkook scenarios #bts fluff #bts fic #bts scenario #jungkook fluff #jeon jungkook

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modernart2012 · 7 years ago

Text

Grave Robbing for Fun and Profit (Mostly Profit)

@sumigakure Halloween Event 2017

Bonus Prompt: Grave Robbing

Word Count: 14170

On AO3

Summary: Aka - Kagami may have lost the battle, but he will win the War.

Takes place in the same Universe as You remind me of (Home). Consider this the sequel that also ate my brain

Kagami bursts into the room, panicking at a decent Level 7. “Profess - FIRE GOD’S FLAMING BALLS MY EYES!” He recoils trying to erase what he had just seen from his retinas, but then remembers who is following just behind him. “MINION NO!!!! DON’T COME IN!!!!” Trying to cover his eyes and block Orochimaru’s eyes simultaneously was pretty hard, especially since Kagami isn’t precisely sure where Orochimaru is.

Orochimaru pauses behind him somewhere, unfazed, “Kagami, I am best friends with Jiraiya. I have undoubtedly seen and heard worse.”

Kagami doesn’t think that’s a valid defense. “No! Bad! Minors shouldn’t be exposed to these sorts of R rated things!” He bops Orochimaru on the nose like a particularly misbehaved puppy, and gets a startled look for his efforts. He’s going to regret that when his coffee is exchanged for decaf pumpkin spice - a vile monstrosity on all parts - tomorrow. Today. Whenever the next most convenient time/place was. Whatever, live fast die young and all that. Then he whirls back around to his cousin and his … actually what are they? Dating? Boyfriends? Lovers? Is this the right time to ask if they’ve DTR’d? Wait, that isn’t the point, “Why were you doing that sort of thing in a place where anyone could just walk in on you?!”

Cousin Madara makes a high pitched whine of horror and abject humiliation, and Professor Senju simply quirks an Eyebrow of Doom at them. “This is my private residence. The door was locked.” Kagami wants to frown disappointedly at Professor Senju - they’d known each other how many years now? A locked door means nothing.

Orochimaru calls over from the bookshelf, “Kagami picked the lock.”

Cousin Madara groans harder, covering his face with his hands. Tough luck, but it really didn’t do anything for his disheveled hair and half-unbuttoned shirt. Or Professor Senju’s missing shirt. Which, good job Cousin Madara, Professor Senju is fit. Would this be the time to send a Subtle and Discreet Thumbs Up? “Is there a particular reason you broke into my home at … 8:16 pm on a Saturday, Kagami?”

Oh. Oh yeah. “I,” Orochimaru interrupts with a pointed cough, “- I mean we - fixed the issue with the Reanimation technique.” Both Cousin Madara and Professor Senju blanch simultaneously. Kagami hadn’t known either of them could go any paler. “Wait, no, we made it work on a dead dog. There are no supernatural zombies this time.”

“This time?” Orochimaru perks up, interest piqued. Oh, Fire God’s balls.

“NO. BAD MINION. NO SUPERNATURAL ZOMBIES FOR YOU.” Maybe Kagami should invest in a spray bottle. Properly training and socializing one’s minion is hard work. How did Professor Senju ever get him trained? He catches Orochimaru glaring at him with calculation in his eyes, turns his head and sees the exact same look on Professor Senju, as if both are contemplating the best way for him to die. He resolves to work on his death glare. Clearly that’s what he’s been doing wrong this whole time.

“And this couldn’t have been a text message why?” Ah, there’s that throbbing vein in Professor Senju’s forehead. Kagami’s old friend.

“Well, see, that’s a long story….”

500,000 ryo, two favors of his choice, a house, and a left kidney (extraction pending) was the final pot that Cousin Izuna won. Plus a second date with Tōka Senju, though that might have been incidental to the actual bet if the way he was walking funny was anything to judge by. Kagami wonders where he had gone so wrong, to lose out on that much stuff. Did no one pity the young and their student debt? Cousin Izuna didn’t need that stuff, he had a job that paid well. Except the date with the Senju lady, he’d been starry-eyed long enough over her. Kagami is still holding out hope on a double wedding - tensions are still rampant with the Senju, so having a two-for-one wedding would limit the amount of dead bodies created. Unless it was Uncle Setsuna, in which case, fuck Uncle Setsuna.

Cousin Hikaku is unimpressed. “Kagami. Please stop clutching my leg and crying in public. You’re scaring the children.” Kagami looks over at where Orochimaru and his friends are staring at him impassively over various forms of ice cream.

Kagami considers for a moment, “They are minors.” Genius minors that were revolutionizing their chosen fields of study, but still minors. It still wasn’t enough to stop him from flopping pathetically over Cousin Hikaku’s lap. He had no shame, and Hikaku was the best for cuddling.

Jiraiya blusters around his mint chocolate chip mouthful, “We’re 16, not idiots!” Tsunade ducks his wildly gesticulating spoon, calmly sipping at her milkshake.

Orochimaru eyes Jiraiya skeptically, “Are we absolutely sure about this.” When Jiraiya chokes on his ice cream in his haste to disabuse Orochimaru of the statement, neither he nor Tsunade made a move to help.

“Aren’t you studying to be a doctor?” Kagami asks Tsunade distractedly. He didn’t know people could actually turn that color. Maybe he should take pictures? Jiraiya might want to know, he is a writer and he needs descriptions.

“The Medic’s Oath only applies to those who are your patients. Jiraiya is not.” Over the sound of Jiraiya coughing, Tsunade adds, “Besides, he’s coughing. He can breathe.” With a move that spoke of years of practice, she punches his breathing back into normal pattern. “Are you finished having your pity party over losing one portion of the betting pool? I want to know so I can decide if I need to get another milkshake or not.”

Kagami slumps over. “No, I’m done.” The youth were so jaded and cynical these days! Where were their hearts? Their sympathy for their fellow struggling humans?

Cousin Hikaku decides that he’s going to be nice for a moment and scritches Kagami’s head like he did when they were little. Long suffering and patient. “There there, Kagami.” It felt good where his hair was still growing back in after having it burned off by Cousin Madara - who knew Cousin Madara had such excellent aim even without being able to see? Luckily he had been in a hospital already.

“What’s the big deal about having debts anyways?” Orochimaru asks. Jiraiya and Tsunade nod, because genius and young meant that they had caboodles of money falling out of the sky into their laps for their achievements. “You just have to make something and patent it and you get money for it and pay off the debt.”

“Says the Baby Experimental and Theoretical Magician Who’s Already Famous for Their Experimental Magic, the Kabillion-times Awarded Writer Renowned Throughout the Elemental Nations and Has People Falling Over Themselves to Buy Their Books, and the Medic Who’s Already Revolutionized the Medical Field Plus Invented New Magical Technology.” Kagami accuses. “The most groundbreaking thing I’ve worked on is already owned! By the military. A little to the left Cousin Hikaku, ah, right there. Perfect.”

“It’s kind of scary, but you really can hear the capitals,” Tsunade muses. Orochimaru nods once in agreement. Jiraiya looks intrigued.

“You know, this is giving me all sorts of ideas for my next novel,” Jiraiya comments over the edge of his notebook. “Kagami, would you say you’re feeling pampered and well-cared for?” He thinks for a moment, “Actually, would you say that you’d call Mr. Hikaku ‘Big Brother’ or ‘Master’ in this situation? Or is this more ‘Peon/Servant’ like?”

Tsunade and Orochimaru exchange speaking looks, then Tsunade punches Jiraiya in the head. Kagami blinks blankly. Come to think of it, what kind of books did Jiraiya even write?

“It doesn’t matter, the project is a dud for want of control of the subject.” Kagami groans into Hikaku thigh. They’re very comfortable, unlike Cousin Mikoto who apparently has never heard of skipping leg day and has thighs that could crush a man’s skull. Then the Idea hits him. “Wait! THAT’S IT! I just need to invent and patent a fool-proof control seal, then when the Man wants it I can name my price!” He grabs Orochimaru, “COME MINION! LET US AWAY!” He’s a good Mentor, so he makes sure Orochimaru has his ice cream cone and napkins before he drags him away. Rule One of Minion Keeping: Take Care of Thy Minion.

As he dashes out of the ice cream parlor, he faintly hears: “Hey, Mr. Hikaku, how much is the minimum amount to place a bet in the betting pool?”

“Tsunade-hime, no.” Jiraiya moans in despair.

“Tsunade yes.” Kagami feels the fingers of the Lady of Death wrap around his coffin and shivers, but Experimental Magic waits for no man and he forges on.

Kagami pauses as he hears a stomach growl. “Minion, why didn’t you say you were hungry?! This is unacceptable. Professor, I’m pressgang-ing your kitchen. Come along Baby Snake.” He marches confidently out of the room, because his cousin’s whatever’s house was his house too and all that.

Cousin Madara splutters, “Kagami you can’t just tell people you’re taking over their kitchen.” Because Cousin Madara didn’t do the same regularly. The hypocrite. Besides, Kagami needs to know how Professor Senju keeps his kitchen before he gives Cousin Madara his blessing. Kitchens tell you a lot about a person, after all, and it wouldn’t do to have a kitchen heathen in the family.

Professor Senju looks at his - whatever - in askance, “Is that the only issue you with that?”

Cousin Madara shrugs, “It’s Kagami,” as if that explained everything. Which, maybe it did but that’s because he’s sensible and everyone else around him is slightly insane.

Orochimaru seems to concur, “We had ice cream for breakfast yesterday because Kagami said he needed to eat his feels and it’s proven to be good for mental health.” Still he gets up and follows Kagami like a good minion, and receives a piece of candy for good behavior. Cousin Madara and Professor Senju trail behind looking perturbed. Whatever, they just don’t get his genius.

He sets the dishes in the sink to cleaning as he pokes around for ingredients, because 1) eww, who wants to have to do dishes on date night?, 2) he’s pretty sure he’s going to need that spatula because Orochimaru likes eggs, and 3) it take less than a thought, so why not. “Professor Senju, where do you keep the rice?” Omelette rice was simple and tasty, but he’d been practicing making egg curry rice balls and he needed guinea pigs to taste it before unleashing it on the unsuspecting masses that was the grad student lunch-luck. He was going to beat out that asshole Inuzuka in the Medical Pharmacology department if it was the last thing he did in graduate school. Choices choices.

Professor Senju ignores him in favor of asking, “Is this like the House Thing?” Oooh, fresh tomatoes. Curry it is.

Cousin Madara nods while Orochimaru looks up from where he’s perched on the counter petting his snake, “What House Thing?” Then he pauses and corrects, “I don’t want to know if it’s something kinky.” Kagami passes him another candy. Good behavior must be rewarded. Cousin Madara makes a dying noise and collapses into a chair.

“That doesn’t matter, you heard Tsunade make a outrageous bet and didn’t think twice about your course of action?” Professor Senju asks while pinching the bridge of his nose. He’s somehow managed to procure a shirt, boooo.

Orochimaru speaks around his mouthful of candy. “To be fair, Tsunade is usually wrong.” She usually is - there was a reason all the local bookies were fighting over if it were fair to tell people what she had bet on. It tended to drive up business, but people tended to win more, so it’s pretty much an even split as to opinions.

“Before we go any further, do we really need to know anything that transpired in the last 24 hours?” Cousin Madara sounds pained. Maybe he’s eaten something that doesn’t agree with him? Kagami isn’t surprised, the man likes his spice with extra spice and that’s not easy on the stomach.

Kagami sets the rice to cook and pulls out the first of the (frankly lacking) vegetables to be chopped. “Well, yes, mostly because I’m pretty sure the military and international police are hunting for us.” At least one, possibly two, but that wasn’t important, really.

Kagami is pretty sure Cousin Madara is praying for a lightning bolt to kill him dead right now. Someone really ought to keep an eye on that, praying to die is probably a sign of depression and/or suicidal thoughts.

“Kagami, why are we breaking into the Restricted Archives.” Orochimaru nods and smiles at the librarian at the desk, because he’s somehow gotten in good with them and Kagami would like to note it’s entirely suspect because his minion routinely fails Socialization 101 so him being in good with anyone is questionable.

“We’re not breaking in.” Kagami protested as he scanned his universal access card that he had copied from the Dean’s Office. “We have an appropriate pass and everything! And it’s broad daylight!” Nothing illicit happened in broad daylight.

“A pass the administration doesn’t know you have and that I would stake my third undergraduate degree on you having obtained through less than legitimate means,” Orochimaru points out. Kagami pretends to not notice as Orochimaru subtly picks his pocket and clones the pass on his phone. Of course his minion wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to have access to knowledge!

“Baby Snake, have I ever led you astray?” Kagami leads the way down the long aisles of books, looking for the shelves with the advanced and forbidden sealing techniques. There was some book about mind control seals, something from the heyday of sealing in Uzu no Kuni. Kagami had seen it before, back when he had been packmule-ing texts for Professor Senju.

He walks confidently down the corridor to the rotunda where the shelves started.Forbidden fire magics, forbidden earth magics, forbidden water magics (oooh, Kagami would have to remember that there is a text on torture methods, that one’s new), forbidden air magics, forbidden nature transformations, forbidden bukijutsu (weren’t all bukijutsu forbidden?). They should be getting close, sealing was usually hidden deeper in the vault of libraries, where the wards were older, stronger, and more sensitive to intruders trying to forcibly break through.

“Kagami, you regularly get lost. Do you really want me to answer that?”

Kagami swears the quality of minion has gone down since his day. That’s it, Orochimaru gets to re-calibrate the micro pipettes, no wet bench experiments for him. “Ah, here we go.” Finally the right shelf. A quick perusal of the titles gained nothing significant, so Kagami takes the most promising titles and then dumped the less promising ones on Orochimaru. “To the research tables!”

Four hours of scribbling notes and painstakingly copying seal matrix elements later, they had exhausted the texts they had claimed and started in on round two. Upside, Kagami is pretty sure he could pass any pop quiz Professor Uzumaki gives on sealing and it’s theory in that moment; downside is that he’s running low on candy to bribe the minion with. He stares moodily at the latest betrayal: the right text (finally!) but one written in code. “If this ends up being a puzzle like in Full Metal Alchemist, I’m going to invent time travel just to go back in time to punch the author,” Kagami informs Orochimaru.

At the blank look he gets in response, he fears the worst. Then, “Wouldn’t you rather use time travel for something … more humanitarian? Like, ending wars before they started?”

“And jeopardize my own existence? I think not.” Honestly, did Orochimaru think he was born yesterday? Kagami has a healthy appreciation of the Grandfather Paradox. What if he were to end up with multiple Uncle Setsunas? He’d have to go to jail for pre-mediated multiple homicide, no matter that he’d be doing the world a service. Objectively, it’s not worth it.

Orochimaru considers Kagami thoughtfully before nodding, “Fair enough.” Then, with slightly too much magic, he twisted air and lightning-flavored-fire together and the air was awash with books flipping through their pages madly, pausing open on certain pages. A second twist, this time water via a snake hand seal and the blank loose leaf surrounding them began to fill with information. As soon as the information from each paused upon page was noted, and the rest of the book checked for relevance, the books returned to their places on the shelves.

Kagami had to admit it was a neat use of magic, but also, “Are you trying to blow us all up? Air and fire together is liable to cause an inferno! Channeling water through a primarily earth magic hand seal? It could have exploded the entirety of the University! Where would you get such an idea from anyways?” He keeps thwacking Orochimaru over the head until he steps out of range.

Orochimaru rubs the back of his head where Kagami had whacked him petulantly, “Professor Sarutobi’s done it before.”

“Professor Sarutobi has practiced in a controlled environment, with more hand seals until he could do his spell with only a few hand signs, and not just experimented on the fly. And don’t try to tell me that you didn’t just make up those spells just now.” At least Orochimaru has the sense to look guilty. “Seriously! You’re a genius, did you not think that through at all? Just… don’t do it again. Get the notes and let’s see what we have.”

What they have is a hot mess. Not even the fun kind of hot mess. Time for trial and error then. “Grab your tablet, we’re going to have to test seal matrices.” Thank the Four for Professor Uzumaki developing a seal and ward prediction app. Draw in your proposed seal or ward, and it would spit out what it would do. No more explosions in the Sealing and Wards department! The only downside is the drawing - Kagami isn’t in the Sealing and Ward department for a reason. Glancing over at Orochimaru’s chicken scratch, it’s clear that there is a good reason he isn’t either. It was going to be a long day.

“Actually, wouldn’t it just be easier to scry for the right elements?” Orochimaru, that sly bastard. “I mean, we should have enough moon-harvested water around, and we have a thrice-mirrored bowl?” Kagami waits patiently for the answer to become obvious - there’s a good reason they can’t use scrying here and it would compute in 3, 2, 1 … “Oh, the symbols.”

“Exactly. Premontionary and Clairvoyant magic is a lost magic for a reason, and it isn’t because we can’t do it. We just can’t focus in on when or what we want to see.” Kagami chews his lower lip in concentration; the whorls of the external enclosing planes had to be precise for energy direction. Would an earth based element as a part of the directory pathways help or hinder the process? Air elements wouldn’t be right, they weren’t look for knowledge, they wanted mind control which was as opposite of knowledge that they could get, but water’s malleability conflicts with earth and it’d become a muddled mess.

It was an unfortunate shortcoming, but the application wouldn’t, or rather couldn’t tell you where you went wrong. Just that the seal didn’t work, or that the energy pathways ruptured, or memorably, with one frustrated scribble, death and destruction to the bonds between molecules. From that point, things rapidly devolve as their eyes begin to blur with strain. They had created a 13th brand new variant of explosive seals - really, they’re easier to make than anyone wants the average person to believe - when the latest seal matrix is announced to probably have mind control properties. Kagami nearly drops the tablet in shock. “Holy Fire God’s blessed ashes. We did it!”

Orochimaru catches the tablet when Kagami finally finishes fumbling it around. “It only says ‘probably’, though.”

Kagami doesn’t stop dancing in celebration, “It’s good enough for a test! To the graveyard!” He moonwalks to the door and is halfway down the hallway before realizing. “Wait! Save that seal,and the rest, and print out like seven copies of each on seal paper. Plus the Reanimation seal! Let’s test the lot!”

It wasn’t a long trek to the graveyard, but they’d stopped to pick up lunch and snacks, plus water bottles and a bag because who knows how long it’d take to get through all of these seals. Proper hydration and feed was the undisputed key to excellent research, everyone knew that. It was also around lunchtime and research did not wait for growling stomachs.

Then they realized that it was an exotic pet cemetery and no one really needed a tiger on the loose on the off chance that the seal failed to work and had to go to the opposite end of town for the regular pet cemetery attached to the regular human graveyard way in the back.

“This one seems promising!” The headstone read “Spot”, and that was a normal pet name. Easy enough, really. Probably a dog, maybe a rabbit if someone had a rabbit with a spot -

“It’s a cat.” Orochimaru boggles from where he’s prized off the top of the casket. “This is ‘Spot’?”

“Now now, minion, we can’t judge people on their naming sense. Afterall, ‘Spot’ is a human name too.” And he had always wondered what had happened that Uncle Tajima had agreed to that name. Aunt Akane really must have put the fear of the Four into him….

Kagami shakes himself out of his spiral of thinking when he hears the crunching of gravel. “Quick, hide,” he hisses at Orochimaru, then scrambles into the bushes. Grave robbing is a crime still, no matter that this is in the name of Experimental and Theoretical Magic, and Kagami would like to not go to jail, thank you.

Two figures in dark cloaks trudge up the path carrying flowers. Small Lords of Ash and Smoke, please let them not pause at the dug up grave please let them not pause at the dug up grave pleasepleaseplease - The figures stop in front of the dug up grave. Fuck the Water God’s sacred duck.

“What’s happened to Madara?” The tall one with the face cloth cries, part horror and part vengeance-will-be-mine. He drops to his knees in the mess, sifting through the dirt and grass pensively. After a long moment, “They can’t have left too long ago, Hidan. The soil is still freshly overturned.”

Kagami and Orochimaru exchange looks and in an unparalleled instance of reading each other’s minds sprang into action simultaneously. Orochimaru sprints in the opposite direction while Kagami leaps out and blows the strongest fire spell he can muster into the face of the two men.

That should take care of that - “Flame of the Fire God!” A scythe rips through the fire ball, closely followed by the bare-faced man, Hidan, who looks remarkably undamaged for having taken a fire ball point blank.

Kagami makes the executive decision to run. He’s halfway back to his car, dodging sweeps of the scythe and vaulting over headstones, to where he hopes Orochimaru has gotten in and started the engine, when he feels a solid thwack to his skull and the world goes dark.

Cousin Madara groans from where he’s watching tomatoes stew down on the stove, poking at the mass warily, “Every time I think this can’t possibly get any worse, it does. First with the breaking and entering, then the grave robbing, and now kidnappers.” He points the wooden spoon that’s been stirring the sauce in Kagami’s face. “You are never allowed out without supervision again. Ever.”

Kagami pouts, “Excuse you, but you’re not the boss of me.” He sticks his tongue out for added effect.

Professor Senju had pulled out a cooling compress around the time they got to the graveyard, and lifted the corner that was just over his eyes. “You did say ‘Hidan’ correct? Was he by chance with a man named Kazuku?”

Orochimaru perks up from where he’s been patiently shelling field peas, “Do you know them Professor?”

Professor Senju pauses, then states baldly, “Kazuku tried to kill me and Brother once.”

He replaces the cloth just in time to miss Cousin Madara whirls around, “When was this?!” Tomato sauce flies off the spoon as Cousin Madara gesticulates frantically. Kagami really hopes it won’t stain the pale Iron blue Professor Senju had painted his kitchen. Even if it was mostly for show.

Then the thought occurs to him, “Ah, to be fair, they were more like jacks-of-all-trade rather than just kidnappers? They did ransoms, sacrifices, assassinations, bounty hunting, serial killing/mass murder - what’s the difference by the way? - plus or minus some contract killing, but that could be the same as assassination. And odds jobs, as long as they paid.”

It’s like a record had jumped and scratched. Professor Senju and Cousin Madara exchange a Look, and how sweet, they’re at the stage where they could hold entire conversations with their eyes! Practically married! “And how did you come by this information?” Professor Senju queries calmly and carefully.

Orochimaru answers from where he’s digging his snake out of the pea shells, “Oh, we talked to them.”

Contrary to what the movies would have you believe, getting knocked unconscious tended to be traumatic and leave one with a ringing in the ears and a throbbing in the skull. Unfortunately, the lack of light in what appeared to be a car trunk meant Orochimaru wasn’t able to check him from concussion, and the lack of room meant neither of them could risk a small flame to see either. As it was, someone had disabled the emergency escape latch in the trunk so rolling out and getting to a medical facility was completely out of the question. Or so Orochimaru tells him, Kagami is a little too nauseous to check for himself. The bouncing of the car tells him they’re not on asphalt, more likely gravel or one of the many forest roads that are covered in rocks and tree roots. Either one is not a good sign - neither of those are features of roads anywhere near the University.

Telling Orochimaru that would do no good; Frightening the Minion is Not to Be Borne. So instead Kagami announces with as much dignity as he can muster laying on his side curled into the fetal position. “I think I am going to vomit.”

The car comes to a screeching halt. “Oh, fucking no you don’t! I just got the Chariot of Fucking Destruction detailed!” Ah, the dulcet tones of yelling. They don’t help Kagami’s swimming head, or the building roiling of his gut.

Which is how Kagami projectile vomits all over Scythe Dude when he yanks open the trunk. He flops over the rear bumper and moans pitifully. He wants ice like burning and the cloud-blanket Cousin Izuna had knit him that felt like a hug when he snuggles in. And his mom to pet his head like she did when he was little. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

Apparently so, because he gets hoisted up into a fireman carry by Mr. Strong Arms and - Holy Fire God he has muscles. ”Do your workouts work out?” He squeezes the bit of bicep he can reach, and pokes at the trapezius on his other side. The robe gets in the way a bit, but thank the Four for partial nudists!

Orochimaru follows sedately behind. “I apologize in advance for Kagami.”

The Veil-Face nods sympathetically, “I as well; Hidan always uses too much force.”

Orochimaru extends a pale hand, “Orochimaru. I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you but - ”

“Kazuku. Don’t worry about it, we’re consummate professionals. We will ensure that this is as painless as possible so you are inclined to leave a positive review about your experience.” The handshake they exchange is firm and cordial. Kagami thinks he needs to set up a module on Kidnapping 101. This is most probably not the proper thing to do when kidnapped. Professor Senju never had to give him that lesson; he can’t even trawl through Professor Senju’s archives for help. He moans, he doesn’t want to have to create a new Power Point, they take forever and what does he even say? If the University finds another incident of suspicious search history….

“Oi! If you puke on me again I’m sacrificing you to Jashin-sama!” Hidan barks over his shoulder, apparently concerned by the pitiful sounds Kagami is making.

Kagami thinks about it for a moment, over the murmur of conversation Orochimaru and Kazuku discussing … immortality and magic natures, or something like that? … before going for broke, “Who’s Jashin-sama?”

He takes Kazuku’s, “Lady of Death preserve me in eternal life,” at face value. There’s only a select few people who would ever call on the Lady of Death and only the movies would have you believe they’re all crazy, much more likely he’s a follower of the Lady of Death. Weird, but much more plausible. Immortality was myth and legend, and not even a Lost Art myth or legend; at least those had some evidence towards being real and replicable.

“Jashin-sama is a great and benevolent God, heathen! Take a page from this wretched soul and listen to the word of Jashin! Maybe you’ll be saved!” Hidan crouches to let Kagami down at the base of a tree, and then gestures at Orochimaru to get himself over there too. Then he starts rummaging through his pockets, apparently that cloak had a lot, and deep ones too. Kagami’s impressed, he’ll have to ask after the make and model and get himself one. It seemed useful, like a lab coat only socially acceptable to wear outside of lab.

Kazuku sighs heavily, before stating blandly, “If either of you have people willing to pay ransoms for your safe return, and/or pay for repairs to Spot’s grave, speak now.”

Orochimaru eyes Kagami speculatively, before taking the proffered call phone and dialing. “Professor Sarutobi? I’ve been kidnapped. So has Kagami. Yes, Kagami Uchiha. Please comply with our kidnappers requests.” Orochimaru listens intently, nodding to whatever Hiruzen says, before handing the phone back to Kazuku.

Kagami can feel the disappointment from Hiruzen already. He’d bet last night’s authentic Uzu ramen that he’s going to be lectured at the next faculty meeting. He’ll have to bring a discreet snack, Hiruzen tended towards long-winded and unnecessarily complicated explanations and lectures that were probably best delivered in vernacular rather than high-brow concepts and metaphors. Where he even picked up that tendency was anyone’s guess, Professor Senju was concise and to the point and definitely was not a dick about things like Hiruzen. Maybe if he threw a glove to issue a challenge? Kagami could take Hiruzen in hand-to-hand combat. He only had nitrile gloves though, did that even count?

“Aha! Found it!” Hidan bellows in triumph, breaking Kagami from his stupor. “Time to enlighten you heathens to the truth, to Jashin-sama!” He unfolds a small booklet, before straightening his spine to pronounce with gravity, “Tenet the first: Everything is destined for utter destruction.”

“Makes sense, the second law of thermodynamics.” At Hidan’s blank look, Kagami expands, “You know, entropy? Everything is in a constant state of decay, everything in the universe is on track to be completely destroyed? Everything tends towards destruction? It’s basic physics!”

Hidan looks conflicted, “Your heathen science has somehow found the truth, yet is still heathen and ought to be rejected.”

Kagami crosses his arms, “You can think of it that way, or you can think of it as science being the explanation for the Unknown Mysteries of the Universe. ‘A Search is what They have wrought for length, and depth, and wideness.’”

A series of thoughtful nods, then Hidan clears his throat. Kazuku reappears from between the trees, phone call over. Orochimaru asks him conversationally, “So, what is it that you do?”

Hidan continues, “Tenet the Second: To wreak Destruction upon everything is the highest calling. Anything less is a sin. Tenet the Third: Discard those who fear death, for there is nothing more holy than the end. Death is the absence of fear. Tenet the Fourth: Those who undergo the mystic rituals will find immortal life by the will of Jashin-sama.” He pauses, then, “Remember these tenets, because they will be the core of your life henceforth! You, once you have accepted Jashin-sama and the teachings of Jashinism, will live and die by these fundamental truths.”

Kazuku looks up from his notebook and calculator, apparently tabulating something, “We do a bit of this and that. Whatever pays most at the time, kidnapping, ransom, contract killing, bounty hunting. Odd jobs, as necessary. Keeps the bank account flush.”

Hidan spits, sidetracked, “Of fucking course, because this heathen piece of shit only worships money. He’s killed monks and destroyed temples for money. Blasphemous motherfucker, sold out his own country for a quick buck.”

Kagami would like to point out the obvious, but it might not be a good time. Considering that Hidan pulls out his scythe - which, on second look, is really impractical, given that it has three blades on the same side, meaning that unless one uses it in a primarily overhand chopping manner only one blade is ever going to do the cutting - and Kazuku is queuing up magic like it’s a Magic combat tournament championship. “Are you going to sacrifice me to your Jashin-sama? Without praying? Am I neighborly enough to qualify for killing, Hidan?”

And now would be the time to duck for cover. Because Kagami hasn’t heard that level of vitriol and barely leashed rage since the time someone made a sexist remark about women in front of Koharu. He’s willing to stake his life on the fact that they’re about to see a similar level of beat down, with the same exact sum number of witnesses: none. “Minion, move.” He pushes at Orochimaru’s shoulder with as much this-is-imperative-listen-to-me desperation as he can muster, because they are both in danger of dying and -

“Fucking rot in Hell.” Before Kagami can react- even think about shielding Orochimaru from what’s coming, because he’s too young to see something like murder - Kazuku’s neck is severed. Blood gushes forth, and then thousands of thin black threads that quickly attach Kazuku’s head with no other apparent damage beyond the new set of stitches to his throat. It is easily one of the most horrifying yet fascinating things Kagami has ever seen.

“Fire God’s Eternal Flame.” Kagami can’t stop replaying the scene he saw over and over and over in his head. Orochimaru is the only thing holding him upright; his bones have turned from jelly to water. There’s no way - Kazuku moves lightning quick, or must’ve, because the next thing Kagami can see is that Kazuku’s fist is through Hidan’s chest. Hidan only laughs maniacally.

“Like that sort of thing can kill me fuckwit.” The scythe swings down and slices through Kazuku’s arm for long enough that Hidan slides straight off the end of his arm. The gaping absence in the middle of his chest starts to close over before their eyes. Right. Immortality. Damnation of sulphur and ash.

Luckily, the duo seems well matched in terms of ability and wholly focused on trying to murderize each other. “Orochimaru. Tell me you got the keys?” Kagami whispers lowly as they stumble blindly through the woods. Every now and again the sound of a massive collision roars by, tinged with different magic types equally. Monsters, the both of them.

A cloud of dust and high-speed wind has them ducking behind one of the massive trees that Hi no Kuni is known for. It adds a new level to the ringing in his ears. Kagami wants to blame his still throbbing head, but he would swear that they’re not getting any farther from where the immortals are duking it out. “Come on Kagami, only 500 meters to the car, we can make it.” Orochimaru, such a good minion, being supportive… and supportive, given the fact that Kagami’s arm is around Orochimaru’s neck and the teen is half carrying him since his legs are failing to support him properly without assistance. Once Kagami got a chance, he was going to promote Orochimaru to Head Minion. Maybe Chief Lab Assistant. Definitely put him up for the “Best Minion Award” at the next departmental grad student meeting.

The crack of a twig that didn’t come from their footfalls first alerts them that there is something else out there that isn’t just them and the still clashing monsters wreaking havoc across the landscape. There were red laser dots flitting across the tree trunks, but that was probably a hallucination - Kagami really needs to get his head checked out. “Shit.” And Orochimaru is cursing. Since the last last time Kagami had ever heard a curse exit Orochimaru’s mouth was after he paralyzed his arms, he’s suitably alarmed.

Orochimaru picks up his pace, moving diagonally to flank the dancing dots. They’ve nearly gotten behind the shadowy figures gliding through the dappled shadows and dust clouds when a low and dangerous growl starts up behind them. “I would stop moving if I were you.”

“Would this person happen to have white hair? In a completely non-regulation ponytail? Scary, but nice scary? Younger than Kagami but Older than Orochimaru?”

“Uh, he had a wolf?” Really that was the most memorable thing about him. That thing was clearly suffering from gigantism, or whatever the canid version of Marfan’s Syndrome is. If it even was a regular canid and not some beast of myth and legend. Kagami got a hair sample. Just to be sure. Who knows, maybe Celestials and Spirits had DNA like normal mortal creatures. “Do you prefer vinegar and sugar rice, or just plain rice in your rice balls.”

“This explains why I got a phone call about someone who looks like an Uchiha cavorting with known criminals and fleeing from the military.” Cousin Madara looks conflicted, then passes the vinegar and sugar. Kagami would have to be sure to add extra spice to the curry to balance it out then.

“And you didn’t expect Kagami?” Thanks Professor Senju, Kagami’ll be sure to give him a rice ball with all the pickled plum. He didn’t get into trouble that often, and most of his family are employed in law enforcement.

“Look, you try meeting the Wild Hunt and not fleeing. I have things to achieve and they all start with no getting scooped by the Fair Folk and spending eternity hunting things down. Or being hunted. Or being eaten. ” Kagami grumbles, then floats over a mug of coffee. Going 24 hours without the nectar of the Gods is pushing it, okay. He needs his fix.

Cousin Madara makes a pinched face. Kagami adds a pinch of asafoetida, anise, and turmeric to the curry - indigestion and constipation is normally the cause of faces like that. “Sakumo Hatake isn’t Fae.” Shows what Cousin Madara knows.

Orochimaru protests, “He had a massive wolf! That’s not normal for humans.” What’s left unsaid is that it’s normal in the stories for Wild Hunt to have large predator companions. Like massive wolves. That thing was easily the size of a bear. Not a small bear either, like a bear on steroids. Some Princess Mononoke animal shit.

Kagami agrees, “Definitely a Heavenly Dog.” To add more garlic or more soy? He leans over to proffer a spoon to Professor Senju - whatever he says, the opposite. Unless he says it’s fine in which case both, plus chilies. Kagami’s sure he saw a dried Ghost Pepper in the spice cupboard…

“Fuzzy isn’t a Heavenly Dog.” the statement is bald and matter-of-fact, but what does Cousin Madara know? It’s amazingly clear Cousin Madara knows nothing. Then Cousin Madara stops to think, as if reviewing the conversation because something’s not adding up. “Why would you even think that the military was the Wild Hunt?”

Kagami is too busy trying to wrestle the soy sauce bottle away from Professor Senju’s control, Fire God’s Flame he was strong, so Orochimaru answers instead. “Immortals are a thing. Who knows what else is out there?” He pauses to consider, then, “But since you know the white-haired Fae, please apologize for us about the screaming. And running. And the fire. There was a lot of fire.” Oh look, Cousin Madara can look even more horrified. Kagami should take a picture for the databook.

Kagami would like to contend neither he nor Orochimaru screamed shrilly like small children. They scream like terrified grown adults, thank you very much. Even if the response is confused whining and pained distress on the part of the wolf and a startled look on the Fae’s.

Granted, Kagami’s automatic response is to punch the human-looking one in the face. It’s sloppy, and Kagami resolves to return to the dojo with Cousin Madara and Cousin Izuna because apparently just being in academia does not mean that he’s exempt from needing to throw punches.

Though, since it lands and has the Fae stumble back in surprise, Kagami will take it. He feels the cold-prickle-shhhh-shiver of Orochimaru’s magic, and ducks on instinct. He’s not surprised when a blast of fire flies over him, or the yelp of both Fae creatures as they scramble away from the flame. Idly, Kagami notes it’s blue, but then he’s too busy running in the opposite direction to note much more.

Neither he nor Orochimaru are concerned by stealth anymore; clearly the jig is up and was always up since, you know, Wild Hunt. There is but one choice, and only one: to go sprinting through the underbrush at top speed (or rather, at a fast stumble) and keep firing the most destructive magic they know at whomever crosses their path and dodging the magic sent their way, plus or minus Heavenly Dog. Heavenly Wolf. Whatever. It’s not like they need to worry about permanently hurting anyone they come across, since one group is immortal and the other is … immortal. Huh. Tonight has been wild on the things Kagami thought he knew for a fact. Maybe he should have Orochimaru research immortality for his senior thesis….

Orochimaru pulls them both into the boughs of a particularly ancient oak with a fancy twist of air magic, bringing them safely out of the reach of snapping wolf jaws. “We’re - ,” there’s a crackle of lightning and Kagami tackles Orochimaru flat to the wood as the bolt flies through where their heads had last been. “We’re not good, Four Almighty.”

Orochimaru snarls as lightning strikes the tree proper and shakes it violently. “Kagami, hold still.” He startles then feels the distinct feel of cold-prickle-shhh-shiver and his headache alleviating. Ooooh, healing magic. Magic fingers.Kagami could sigh with relief.

“When did you learn healing magic?”

“One of my closest friends is a prodigy healer. Where do you think?” Right, pissed off Orochimaru is snarky. Must remember. Kagami isn’t going to complain, because his head feels clearer than after a 4 coffee morning and it’s a minor miracle. He opens his mouth, only to be cut off, “No I will not be doing this regularly. Deal with your caffeine addiction like a normal person.” then Orochimaru launches into a complex series of hand seals and Kagami takes that as his cue to be cute and distracting.

“Hey~, Mr. Wild Hunt. Are you looking for little old me?” He calls innocently into the shadowy forest. “Wolfy?” Kagami almost misses the nearly silent exhale Wolfy breathes next to his ear, but does manage to stick his hand in Wolfy’s mouth just in time to feel it so it all works out anyways. He never knew that such a massive, powerful animal could look so startled, but then again, Kagami is also technically a member of an apex predator species and he’s definitely surprised to find his hand in a mouth unexpectedly. They make awkward eye contact, and carefully Kagami extracts his hand from Wolfy’s mouth. “Let’s never speak of this again,” he intones solemnly, and he’d swear Wolfy agrees.

The forest around them rings with the sound of spells and shouting, but the bubble around the two of them is uncomfortably silent. Kagami likes to think they’re each trying to figure out where to go from here, because what does one do after they stick their hand in someone else’s mouth without prior consent? Is there some protocol after removing one’s hand? He’s probably already missed his window to apologize, and now the situation is stuck.

Kagami’s about to ask how Wolfy’s finding the weather when he’s saved by Hidan and Kazuku bursting through the tree-line in a flurry of scythe and magic, swiftly followed by the Wild Hunt wielding guns and military-grade spells. It takes some creative dodging of what looks like a particularly well-executed evisceration magic, ducking of a three bladed scythe, and fleeing-for-his-life-ing of bullets - which, huh, Wild Hunt must have gone modern, who would’ve thunk it - to get away. For a given value of “get away”, since he’s muddy, covered in leaf litter, being chased by a massive wolf (though, Wolfy seems to be playing with Kagami and trying to eat Hidan and/or Kazuku, and that’s a small comfort really), the Wild Hunt (also aiming to kill Hidan and/or Kazaku, whomever’s more open), and Hidan and Kazuku (one of whom is bellowing about sacrificing Kagami to Jashin-sama to free him from his irrational fear of death, and the other of whom is hissing about Kagami being necessary for getting the ransom). This is also discounting the various tree roots, rocks, and …other things Kagami bolts over. The less noted about those the better.

He’s about to dart over a river-creek-moving body of water thing when he sees shapes surface from the middle of the river. Fire God’s Fury, weren’t Fae supposed to be unable to cross running water? Or was Kagami confusing them with the undead? In any case it didn’t matter, because Orochimaru finally finished his overly-complex set of hand seals and the world turned to smoke and ash and roaring flames as far as the eye could see.

Not that it seems to bother the water Fae. Kagami flails and backtracks back towards the chaos of the pursuing vanguard since he has no burning desire to experience the hospitality of the Fae now or ever. Running for so long has left him a little winded, but hey, there’s nothing like getting in a bit of adrenaline-fueled cardio in the afternoon. Plus the leaping, evading, sending spells blasting off in every which direction, and avoiding the general mayhem is easier said than done, even if the Wild Hunt are doing their level best not to hit him. Or hit Wolfy, who’s been following him like a cat playing with a mouse, and Kagami feels especially hunted - Wolfy seems to be herding him, but that can’t be right because wolves are not sheepdogs. Really, all the near-misses of nipping and circling is unnecessary. Can’t he just run for his life in peace? Is that too much to ask?

Apparently so, because he’s just ducked Hidan’s electrically-sparking scythe - no clue if that’s because it’s actually electric or simply electrically-conductive - and managed to stumble his way out of the firefight with minimal physical damage. His magic pools are running low- he’s not a monster like Cousin Madara or Professor Senju - but that’s okay because that will fix itself with enough time and rest. And then he rests his eyes on what is possibly the most horrific sight today. This time his shriek is shrill. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Orochimaru perks up from where he’s pinning a very twitchy white-haired Fae to the trunk of a tree. “Oh good, you’re here.” Still, he makes no move to release the Fae and Kagami curses whatever God decided that he needed a Minion like this.

The Fae makes desperate eye contact while trying to maintain the maximum amount of distance between himself and Orochimaru, “Please get him off of me.” That was clearly begging. An extremely powerful Fae is begging.

“But I haven’t finished seducing you.” Orochimaru purrs. Even worse then Kagami initially suspected. Wolfy begins to sidle away with a confused whine but stops and whines even harder, ears flat, clearly conflicted. Kagami is similarly conflicted, since on the one hand, this is horrifying beyond all reason and is completely inappropriate, yet on the other hand he wants to claw his eyes out and unsee this scene with prejudice. Unfortunately, there is only one correct answer.

“Four Almighty, this is sexual harassment. This is so much sexual harassment.” Kagami fists his hand in Orochimaru’s collar and pulls him off the Fae. “I’m so sorry about this, I promise he was raised better than this.” Then to Orochimaru as Kagami shakes him, “What in the Twelve Hells possessed you to think that was okay?” The Fae looks traumatized - Kagami hadn’t known you could traumatize ageless beings who hunted people down in various gruesome ways for fun; he really hoped there wouldn’t be a complaint lodged with HR at the University. Given his luck, there would be.

Orochimaru looks unrepentant, “But it worked! It bought just enough time for you to come without him messing with the seal.”

“That doesn’t make it better!” Then Orochimaru’s response processes, and then Kagami has to double check that he heard that correctly. Suspicion colors his tone, “What seal.” It does not escape his notice that the Fae and Wolfy are sidestepping away as if they’re both insane and liable to go bonkers at any moment. He can’t decide if that’s good or bad - on the one hand, they’re too insane for the Wild Hunt, on the other, they’re too insane for the Wild Hunt. Kagami clearly needs to rethink his life choices.

Orochimaru beams, “This one!” Then there’s a massive burst of magic and the world turns into a whirling light tunnel.

“There are so many things I want to say, I have no idea where to begin.” There is a distinct air of resignation to Professor Senju’s tone, and Cousin Madara preemptively left 15 minutes ago to get medicines to combat both of their growing headaches. “The idea that you’d encountered Fae, the fact you ran from the military - and incidentally caused an International Incident, by the by, it was on the news- of not one, but two different countries, the fact you,” He glares over his steepled fingers at Orochimaru, “thought sexual harassment was a viable path for a distraction, or that you used a seal for travel.”

“It worked!” Orochimaru throws his hands up in defeat, then stalks out of the kitchen. His snake remains curled happily on top of the still warm rice cooker, flicking it’s tongue out at intervals.

Kagami exchanges a Look with Professor Senju, before saying, “The department is doing a refresher course on sexual harassment in a week, I already signed him up.” He has a spoon whirl between the oil poaching eggs cooking sous vide to make sure they’re not sticking together, then fishes out the seaweed from the drawer. “And in all fairness, the seal did transport us elsewhere. Just not where we expected to go.” He tastes the rice, before adding a dash of sugar. “What’s this about the news?”

Professor Senju just groans.

The seal has some of its intended effect in that they’re transported from point A through space to point B. Though given that Point B ends up being smack into a tree several hundred feet above ground, it’s a mixed bag.

The nausea it causes isn’t ideal either. But hey! It worked! They’re not dead or lost to the space-time continuum! This is a win for Experimental and Theoretical Magic! With a little tweaking it’d be fine!

“Where were you aiming for?” Kagami asks in between retching. It’s a small comfort that Orochimaru is also retching and green.

“I was supposed to aim?” Right Orochimaru is no longer allowed to transport them anywhere.

“You didn’t pay attention in the lab meeting regarding the Teleportation seal?” If Kagami weren’t already alarmed he would be now. The lab meeting had only been preliminary, after all, and had only reviewed the basics of a Teleportation seal, or rather what remnants had been found and pieced together from ancient sealing treatises. That seal hadn’t been complete, and yet apparently Orochimaru tried to use it.

“I usually tune out the lab meetings.” And that explains a lot. Kagami knew Orochimaru couldn’t be taking such detailed notes, the slippery little worm.

Kagami really can’t wrap his brains around the fact Orochimaru used an unknown seal on live human subjects. “You could have killed us.” An unfinished seal, was a surefire way to die.Not to mention entirely unethical. Was this actually one of the Twelve Hells and Kagami just didn’t know? It might be, since everything due … left is scrub. Were any of the Twelve Hells scrub land?

Orochimaru winces as he twists onto his back. “I doubt I could get it to work again - Idon’t have enough magic left to try it again, and a few magic pathways ruptured in trying to get the seal to function.” Kagami winces at that proclamation. The only one of the two of them who had any clue how to do basic first aid was the one who was injured, with ruptured magic pathways, and Kagami has no clue where they are. It’s nearly nighttime, though, and Kagami has been forced through enough wilderness survival training camps/simulations/exercises by his relatives to be competent at navigating them via the stars.

He fishes through the pack that’s miraculously stayed with them, mostly intact. “Here, have a sandwich and water. It should help some. Slowly.” It would go a long way to dealing with magic replenishment, but not if it was just vomited back up again. Rule One and all that. He digs around some more and finds a bag of candy. Oh good, ginger flavored - great of anti-nausea. “Suck on this too.” Kagami popped a piece himself, for the ginger and the sugar content. Neither of them had eaten since breakfast, and it shows by the way his stomach growls. If he’s hungry then Orochimaru must be as well. Kagami takes a moment to peer over the edge of the branch they landed on.

It’s not too far down to the ground, not if he uses a few well placed bursts of air to slow his descent into something more manageable. There look to be some edible berries, and since Kagami has no clear idea of how long it will take them to get back to some form of civilization, it’d be best to gather some and save the snacks they had brought for if they ran out of edible foods. The act taxes his magic pools, but not noticeably enough given his magic’s already depleted state. At least he’s not completely exhausted like Kagami suspects Orochimaru is, no matter that the teen is trying to play it off like he’s got something left. Orochimaru isn’t finished growing, and so long as his body is in flux, so are his magic pools. They’ll even out eventually, and probably into the upper end of the spectrum, but for now they’re still developing.

There’s a glut of blackberries, but Kagami avoids them. Fae fruit are suspect, and he doesn’t need another set of Fae on their case at the moment. He whispers an old rhyme to appease them anyways, because who even knew what rules ruled interactions the Fair Folk anymore if they were going around with guns - gunmetal had iron in it, right? A few meters away he finds a large strawberry bush, the berries brilliant red and ripe. Good fortune, which Four know they need more of. He fills his two handkerchiefs, and the already emptied sandwich container before eating his own fill of the berries. He knows they’re a stopgap measure at best - the terrain is rugged, and there probably isn’t much by way of travel options beyond “on foot”. With that in mind he pulls up some dandelion greens, and nettle greens nestled in among the branches of the strawberry bush and eats a handful. Mmmm iron.

It’s only when he hears the low telltale hiss of an agitated snake does Kagami freeze. He knew he was forgetting something important; strawberry bushes attract snakes. Okay, that’s not necessarily true, but for all intents and purposes of this situation, Kagami is going to simplify into ‘strawberry bushes attract snakes’. Damnation of sulphur and ash.

“Hello little one.” And now Orochimaru is involved. Professor Senju and Hiruzen would gang up and kill him dead, reanimate him, then kill him dead again if their precious prodigy is even slightly injured; Kagami is afraid to think of what would occur if Orochimaru dies out here. “And what’s your name?” He’s cooing at a snake. A - Kagami checks the shape of the purple reptile’s head - probably venomous species of snake. Fire God’s flaming balls.

Kagami eyes where Orochimaru is petting the wild snake, then at the dandelion greens. He’s absolutely sure those are dandelion greens and not hallucinogenic, but he hasn’t been bitten by a snake - and snake species native to Hi no Kuni don’t have venom that cause hallucinations. His eyes drift skyward, only to be met by twilight still. So either he’s hallucinating realistically, or this is reality. Kagami will take the hallucination, thank you very much.

Orochimaru and the purple snake stare at Kagami judgmentally, which isn’t fair because hallucination snakes don’t get to be judgemental. “Why not?” And the snake speaks. Thanks brain.

“It’s not the little one, Kagami.” It knows his name. It knows his name. What. How. Why. Even Orochimaru looks surprised, so win for hallucination.

“Kagami.” That’s an alerting-warning tone if Kagami ever heard one, and he turns to look behind him, where Orochimaru’s eyes are fixed.

He makes eye contact with a massive black snake, one who’s easily as thick around as a tree trunk and could easily fit Kagami in it’s mouth if it chose to. And now it’s laughing. Why is it laughing. Kagami wasn’t built to deal with hallucination snakes laughing at him. Can he quit this adventure in favor of fleeing back to the University and Professor Senju’s lab? It was safe there, or at least it lacked hallucinogenic agents that weren’t properly labeled with warnings.

“Greetings, Honored One. This one calls himself Orochimaru, and this one Kagami. May we be honored with what you are called?” Pros of Orochimaru and his obsessive compulsive need to know everything- he’s got a surprisingly good grasp of the classic tales.

“This one is called Kuroda. The little one is called Manda. And I know your names human.” The tone is amused, and has an odd double timbre to it that echoes around Kagami’s skull, all the way back to the very recesses of his lizard-hindbrain.

It clicks faster for Kagami than Orochimaru, feat of feats. “You’re a telepathic Celestial Snake.”

“Indeed. You’re much faster on the uptake than most humans.” The last bit is tinged with idle curiosity-noted-respect. “You must have been well taught as a child. Rare these days.”

With good reason, because Celestial Snakes are currently thought to be tiny (comparatively to the massive snake in front of them) tree dwelling snakes in the coastal forests of Uzu no Kuni and a tiny part of Hi no Kuni that ate birds and other small creatures and prized for their rainbow scales. The whole telepathic and massive thing was supposed to be just legend; then again, Kagami’s met not one, but two, count ‘em two Immortals and more Fae than he can count in the last 24 hours so this doesn’t surprise him at all. Not even the slightest bit.

“Honored Kuroda, can we request your assistance? We are far from home and would like to go back.”

Kuroda raises himself up to squint down at Orochimaru, who is standing tall and composed before the Celestial Snake. “You are strange little human. Your soul is something cold, yet warm, deadly and safe to those you love, a thing that squeezes tight and sinks it’s fangs in deep and does not let go. A snake-souled little human if there ever was one.”

“I am honored by your words, Honored Kuroda of the Celestial Snakes.” Orochimaru bows neatly.

Kuroda continues as if Orochimaru had not spoken at all. “I think I shall have Manda stay with you to see what you become, snake-souled Orochimaru. He knows the way back to human civilization, and will lead you there. Travel well, little humans.” Kuroda must have deemed the conversation over, because he turned his huge body around the tree and disappeared into the encroaching twilight.

“You thought you hallucinated a snake.” Cousin Madara paused where he was shaking out pills from the bottle that proclaimed it to be ‘migraine strength!’ anti-headache medicine, then shook out two more apiece for himself and Professor Senju. Awwww, significant others taking care of each other. Reminds Kagami of his parents being lovey-dovey and taking care of one another.

“A massive Celestial Snake, yes.” He pauses in forming the rice ball, neatly packaging it in a strip of seaweed, before plating it before Orochimaru. A smaller rice ball with more egg and less curry is placed in front of Manda. “I’m not entirely sure it wasn’t a hallucination though.”

Orochimaru strokes Manda’s head, offended. “But Manda is real and took us to Yu no Kuni.”

“And how. I never heard Manda speak. For all I know he’s a normal snake.” Manda bares his fangs in an obvious threat display, affronted. Probably. In any case, Kagami gives him another rice ball.

Orochimaru rolls his eyes, “Kagami, he’s telepathic. He was talking to me the whole way. How else did we find that multi-terrain vehicle?”

“Luck? I had strawberries!”

Cousin Madara swipes some rice balls, and gives half to Professor Senju before digging in. “So what’s this about Yu no Kuni, and would it have anything to do with why half of its hot springs district is demolished.”

Kagami and Orochimaru share a Look. “The Hot Springs Destruction was entirely the fault of the Wild Hunt and the Yu no Kuni military. We just happened to be there.”

By dint of winning rock-paper-scissors, Orochimaru gets to drive when they stumble across the jeep. Or Manda leads them to the jeep. Whichever makes the most sense, since Kagami hasn’t heard a peep from the supposedly asshole snake. Kagami takes a minute to demonstrate how to hotwire the car, but after that it’s all Orochimaru. It’s not like anyone’s around to call them out on the fact that Orochimaru doesn’t have a learner’s permit, and there’s no one around to crash into or injure, both important when teaching a beginner driver. This is a proper, normal learning experience and Kagami is willing to let his Minion have it. Plus, it’s nighttime and this can count as his nighttime driving experience! It’s a three-for-one!

It’s also easier to navigate when he can stick his head out the roof and call out directions instead of having to keep pausing and rechecking directions. Though the point of that is rendered moot by Manda who is supposedly telling Orochimaru what to do - Kagami hasn’t heard a word out of the snake. At least so far, though, he and the snake are in agreement - they’re in western Hi no Kuni and headed to Yu no Kuni because that’s the closest site of civilization. Also, least likely to be suspicious of their lack of passports and the easiest way to reorient themselves into the direction of the University.

On top of it all, Kagami found a massive wad of cash in the glove compartment, and it’s more than enough for a swanky inn for the night, including baths, and dinner. He knows he has enough grime, leaf litter, and other associated muck on him that a bath would be glorious.

The moon and stars are bright and light their path, so they make good time. It’s a little past 1 am (according to the probably wrong car clock) when they finally pull into the hot springs district of Yu no Kuni. The town is still bustling with activity, so they blend in seamlessly, for a given value of seamless. Some people look at him scandalized, as if he’s done something terribly illegal by tromping through the town disheveled and dragging his younger companion (also bedraggled) behind him, but it’s usually people who look like tourists rather than residents of the town.

First things first, though. Kagami leads the way into a small clothing shop, since he’s fairly sure neither of their outfits can be salvaged. They’re going to need a first aid kit too, and then a hot meal and a bath. Actions one and two are completed quickly, and so is checking into a nice looking inn. The innkeep directs them to the baths, saying dinner will be delivered after they’ve had their fill of the mineral rich waters. “Ahhhh, there’s nothing like a bath,” Kagami sighs happily as he pushes open the door between the dressing room and the baths proper, towel tucked neatly around his hips. He cleans off dutifully at the provided showers and stools, scrubbing away the accumulated grime and dirt from his hair and skin, humming happily. It was such an underrated luxury, to be clean. Orochimaru, with his long hair, will take longer and Kagami leaves him to it.

The baths are sparsely populated at this time, with only a handful of other patrons lounging in the bath. The steam rising from the water occludes their faces, giving a nice hint of privacy, and Kagami gratefully slips into the hot water. The sounds of the night are muted, the laughter and noise of the crowd still on the streets dulled by the high walls surrounding the baths, the only discernable noise is … giggling? Kagami tries to tune it out, return to relaxing and letting the stress of the past day flow out of him, but the giggle rises in volume, and sounds…. Close?

His eyes fly open -who the fuck giggles late at night like a perverted child flipping through a skin mag when sane people are trying to relax? - and Kagami whirls to confront the hooligan, temper snapping. “Oi, knock it off, or by the Small Lords I’ll make you.”

His eyes meet Jiraiya’s startled (and guilty?) ones, then move to the notebook Jiraiya’s clearly been scribbling in, then the hole in the partition between the men’s and women’s baths. “Are you peeping?!” It’s just Kagami’s luck that the quiet murmurs around them fall silent just as he speaks. In the blink of a moment there’s chaos, screams of outrage and terror filling the space. Someone on the women’s side - someone with spectacular aim - lobs over a stool, then a tub, then a rock, and each misses Jiraiya by centimeters as he scrambles out of the space.

Orochimaru sighs from where he was just slipping into the bath. “By the Four and the Heavenly Courts, Jiraiya.” He gets up and rewraps his towel, disappearing into the misty after his erstwhile friend. Kagami decides it might be best to leave the area, since he knows that look on his Minion. Someone’s going to be eviscerated, and it’s still a 50-50 split on if it’s going to be verbal or physical. Getting viscera in his hair right after he just got clean is not a pleasant thought.

A massive stone splashes violently into the bath from across the barrier - someone on that side must have a terrifying temper - tossing Kagami about like a toy boat caught in the currents of the Nanako. He headbutts straight into a well developed pectoral, and he’s about to apologize, but - “Hey I know that bicep!” Just to be sure though he feels it up, and yup, he’s encountered that particular bicep before. Now, just where -?

That particular question is answered quickly when Kagami ends up pinned by the throat to the side of the bath. “Oi! Heathen, ready to be sacrificed the Jashin-sama?” Oh good. Immortal One, Hidan. And where one immortal is, there’s bound to be - ayup, Immortal Two, Kazuku. They both look terrible, a mess of stitched over wounds, bruises, scabbed over cuts and burns plus or minus what look like bullet holes.

There is only one recourse and that is to scream. Screaming in bath houses drew attention, and not of the good kind, and for good reason. No one wanted a pervert preying on someone in a bath. Hidan drops Kagami like he’s hotter than burning and starts quickly paddling away, but not quickly enough. One of the men at the other end stands, “Hey you! What were you doing?!” He’s built like a brick shithouse and is coming this way like a bull rampaging.

Kagami takes the quickly escalating altercation as an opportunity to go fishing around his toiletries tub, thanking whatever God is looking out for him that he stuck a few disintegration seals in there prophylactically. He’s just about to pick one out from the bottom when he hears Kazuku loom up behind him. “We meet again Kagami Uchiha.”

Sweet Flame of Heaven, could that man be any more menacing? Kagami turns rigidly, hoping that the Immortal won’t notice the crumpled wad of sealing paper in his fist, “Ah-hahaha, fancy meeting you here Kazuku! Are you enjoying your soak?” Please please let societal conventions trap him like it had Hidan.

Kazuku’s face veil hides any visible reaction beyond the narrowing of his eyes. “Better having found our missing ransom prisoner. I’m afraid I must insist you return.” Kazuku clamps a hand on Kagami’s shoulder, fingers digging in painfully. “We’re awaiting quite a sum of money in exchange for you. Pity no one specified ‘living’, though.” And there came the creep-factor. A+ Mr. Immortal.

Kagami pretends to mull it over as he rises to his feet. “Just out of curiosity, how much am I worth?”

Kazuku’s taken aback. “What?”

“How much am I worth? Like, how much money are you expecting to get for me? I’m not a prodigy like my Minion, I’m not famous or rich, and I’m not paid all that much so I’m not someone with a massive net worth or anything. I can’t imagine anyone I know having the money to pay a ransom, except Minion and he probably wouldn’t because I’m pretty sure he’s not all too fond of me and is probably lulling me into a false sense of security so that when he finally decides that I’m of some specific use, he can play up the ‘favorite Minion’ angle and get away with whatever he needs, probably something entirely unethical, immoral, and/or illegal. It’s a toss up at this point. Either that or he thinks I’m a hilarious bumbling fool and is humoring me for comedic effect. In any case, he wouldn’t pay a ryo for me; nor would Uncle Setsuna cause he’s an asshole. All in all, I’m really not sure that you could’ve asked for all that much money, so I have to ask, how much am I worth? And is all the hassle of kidnapping me really worth the pittance you’re going to get?” Kagami hopes his nervous sweat is taken instead to be water from the bath. He’s only got one shot at this, and keeping Kazuku on the back foot with his anxious babble is imperative.

“Aah- that is- Um, how should I say -,” Kazuku is frantically trying to think up something complimentary, and Kagami moves. The seal slaps down onto wet skin and adheres as Kagami forces magic through. Black veins scrawl out like a spiderweb of death over Kazuku’s silent scream of pain until they’ve covered the entirety of Kazuku in ink, and then with a underwhelming puff disintegrated into dust.

Kagami sets fire to the ashes just in case - Immortals. One more thing to add to the list of traumatic incidences of the week, but on the bright side he’s got another functioning seal to patent. This one is all his, too!

He trots towards the exit, hoping that Muscles McMuscley over there can keep Hidan occupied, but has no such luck when Hidan gets thrown across his path into the decorative stone wall. Experimental and Theoretical Magic holds that any result could be due to random chance, so repeated testing is necessary. Kagami looks at his spare seals, and goes for broke with a shrug. He’s already offed one person today, might as well go for broke and collect the set. Hidan puffs off without so much as a farewell, and Kagami immolates his ashes too. For symmetry, and poetic justice. Unfortunately, it does nothing to fix the damage caused to the bath from the violent response to Jiraiya peeping, but Kagami is not responsible for that in any way shape or form. Things are looking up, finally.

Almost immediately he has to reverse that opinion. The white-haired Fae is trapped in the entrance, Wolfy-less, by Orochimaru and Manda. The poor man - Kagami hopes the Fae is male, but really doesn’t want to go ask about gender and pronouns of the Fae since it’s really not his area of study - looks like he’s been through the wringer and then some, but also like he’s humoring Orochimaru who’s looking interested in all the worst ways; Kagami has to sympathize. A swift kick to Orochimaru’s butt fixes the situation nicely. “Minion! No sexual harassment in the the baths!”

“Ah, no it’s fine, really we just bumped into one another -,” The Fae cuts himself off, then quickly does a double take at Orochimaru, then Kagami. “You’re the pair from the forest.”

“And you’re Wild Hunt.” Kagami hurriedly ducks into the pants and shirt he’d laid out. “How’s Wolfy? I know things are still awkward about the whole ‘mouth’ thing, but can you apologize for me? Wolfy was pretty cool when he wasn’t trying to eat me.”

“Wild Hunt? What mouth thing?” The Fae is perplexed, but shakes himself from it quickly. “Never mind that, you’re both wanted by the military. Stop!”

“Oh, would you look at the time. We’ve got things to do, place to be, we should catch up some other time! See ya!” Kagami flashes the Fae a peace sign, then exits the room. He’s halfway down the hall when he hears the thunder of many feet pounding across the wooden floors behind him. Kagami bolts out back onto the streets, which are still crowded, and ducks around groups carousing drunkenly in the streets. Thank the Four for tourist destinations, this would never work anywhere else.

He sees Orochimaru and Manda slip into the mouth of an alley, and follows. Just in time, as the mass of (uniformed! Since when do they have uniforms?!) people dash past. Some straggle behind, flashing badges and questioning drunks in the street. Orochimaru peers out, then starts digging through the pack. “Here, I think I can wrangle a disguise together, but you’re not going to like it.” Manda peeks out from where he’s acting like a hair tie for Orochimaru’s impromptu ponytail.

Kagami stares at the assorted items Orochimaru has pulled out, and has a sinking feeling.

“Does this explain the … outfits?” Cousin Madara asks around a bite of ice cream.

Kagami has to take offense, because they look great. Arresting even. “ You’re just angry you can’t pull something like this off.”

Orochimaru lays back and kicks a leg out like a pinup girl, crossed at the knee and everything, like it’s Exhibit A in their defense. Manda hisses, but Manda is biased and can be bought with egg yolk treats, so it might just be him begging for more food. Kagami obliges him either way.

“This still doesn’t explain the destruction of the hot springs.” Professor Senju prompts around a spoonful of coffee ice cream.

“The clothing - is- was rather integral to that. Still not our fault though, for want of us not doing much magic flinging.”Orochimaru shrugs.

“That’s not no magic flinging.”

“In all fairness, we only had one spell. Is that ‘no magic flinging’? No. But is it ‘town decimation level magic flinging’? Also no.” Cousin Madara opens his mouth, and Kagami slams on the coffee table, “THERE’S NO EVIDENCE BEYOND THE ANECDOTAL YOU CANNOT CONVICT US.”

“Why did you even buy this stuff?” Kagami would like to lodge a protest with whatever court will take it that he is only doing this under duress. Not that he thinks it’s wrong to crossdress, if that’s your thing - and dresses are really comfortable, even though this one is kinda clingy and short- but walking in heels. He is only wearing heels under extreme duress.

“Here, heat the stick bit of this earring.” Orochimaru hands him a pair of dangly earrings. Kagami eyes them, then Orochimaru’s unpierced ears.

“Minion no.”

“I’ve wanted pierced ears anyways. Think of it as teenage rebellion.” Putting it that way helps, especially the bit where Orochimaru has him shove hot metal through his ears. Kagami considers the studs left in the pack of earrings, but ultimately decides against it for want of a mirror and stability. Seriously, he’s standing still and wobbling like a newborn fawn.

Orochimaru pauses from where he’s sweeping on dramatic purple eyeshadow, lone bracelet sliding down his forearm, “Give me a minute, then we’ll sneak out.”

“Remember, the game plan is drunk. Just until we get to the outskirts of town.” He once overs their appearance in a puddle, then has the hike the top of his dress higher. The lack of straps wasn’t doing him any favors, especially given the fact that raising the top meant raising the hem, and there was no way to make it non-scandalous. He looks at Orochimaru’s much more conservative dress, with it’s sleeves and leggings, and calls shenanigans. “This was rigged, wasn’t it.”

Orochimaru links their arms at the elbow, then sniffs, “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” before they stumble out into the street. The soldiers give them a wide berth since two underage looking drunk girls is a recipe for a career ending headline should someone snap a badly staged photo, and Kagami gets a good look at their badges when he stumbles into one of the younger looking ones. Who knew Yu no Kuni had an active offensive military - last time he checked, they supposedly only had a defensive branch.

All things considered though, the disguises work well. Entirely too well, as they stumble “drunkenly” into the woods. It’s nearing dawn, and they’ve been traveling across the Elemental Nations for almost a full day, they’re Four knows how far from home, and there are crows. Too many moving to count, though Kagami does try, because that old rhyme hasn’t steered him wrong yet. Orochimaru starts poking at some half moss covered rock, then starts digging.

He stops counting when he feels a rush of magic - the size and quantity that makes people nervous when it’s not in a controlled environment. “Minion - “

Then he sees the dog. Wolf. Massive Canis Whateverus. “Fire God’s flames.”

Orochimaru looks proud, “The control seal works. Guess you have something to patent and sell for a lot of money to the military after all.” What. Right. What they set out to do. That thing. Somehow it feels tawdry, like it pales in comparison to the journey, but considering that had immortals and Fae and shooting and massive telepathic hallucination snakes and sky high heels… maybe it’s because it’s anticlimactic? Now whatever life lesson about messing with the forces of life and death, and the role of humans in the vastness of the cosmos, trying to take the easy way out, the value of thinking before acting - whatever he was supposed to be learning and internalizing - has become moot. He would have been successful even if they hadn’t been caught in the original graveyard, only with less property damage and displacement. Does that fact mean anything? Is it the journey, not the result that’s ultimately worth something, something better than financial stability and security? “Kagami, now is not the time for a meditative trance.”

“What? Oh. Right.” Kagami scrambles up behind Orochimaru on the back of the … let’s just call it a dog. “Time to head home?”

“Time to head home.” Poor Manda yawns and uncircles himself before draping himself like a particularly scaled scarf around Orochimaru’s shoulders. The eyeshadow - sharp like winged eyeliner, or whatever Cousin Mikoto likes to proclaim - and Manda match, for a given value of all purples match, and Kagami is struck by a wandering thought.

“Hey, Orochimaru - “

“Kagami. Duck.”

“What duck?” Kagami whirls about on the gently trotting Reanimated dog. Then he sees. “Oh.” And promptly ducks.

The flaming boulder is large, surprisingly so for Yu no Kuni, which according to legend (and famously) repurposed all its rocks for bathhouses. It still misses by a wide enough margin to be called a warning shot, though, which is a consternation best left for another time since the dog freaks out. It bounds into the town, leaping over buildings and landing neatly in streets as waves of magic buffet them - first an earthquake hemming them in on one side, a wall of fire bearing down on them from due north, a gust of hurricane force gales from above, and Kagami is just waiting for the tsunami of water as he hangs onto the patchy fur of their ride as it bounces around in what might generously be called evasive maneuvers. He tries not to think about the mass destruction such massive spellworks must be leaving, or that he’s still too low on magic to do anything about it. Also, considering that even a most basic shielding spell needs at least two other people (besides himself), he’s still up a creek about stopping the military from wrecking up their people and country’s main source of income. Kagami hopes they have good insurance.

He stops caring for things outside his gastrointestinal tract around the time they smash a tank - which is painted a completely different design than the Yu no Kuni uniforms, so it might a completely different group, fun - ,though, since he’d rather not given his minion blackmail leverage from puking all over him. Also Manda is in the way, probably would take offense at getting human digestion peristalsis’d all over him, and is still probably highly venomous besides. Kagami decides that focusing on breathing would probably be best and leaves the heavy duty stuff to Orochimaru. It’ll probably be more appreciated long term.

Maybe he should invest in an anti-motion sickness charm - it might be useful to have on hand, especially given recent events. “Oh, for the Air God’s sake,” Kagami vaguely makes out Orochimaru grumbling caustically, then his world goes black.

“In all fairness, you were projecting quite loudly according to Manda, and making you go to sleep saved us all the hassle of having to clean up vomit.” Orochimaru shrugs unrepentantly, “I’m not sure why you’re complaining, we got back to the University in one piece.”

“Doesn’t mean you couldn’t have asked. Also, there is no way you had enough magic to pull off the Reanimation, power the control seal, and knock me out.”

Professor Senju sighs, resigned, “Not if his current research project is magic storage in crystalline structures.” Orochimaru waves regally, showing off the stone bead bracelet he had pulled on around the time of their outfit change.

Kagami has never felt more betrayed in his life. “You are an awful awful person and I hope you get caught in shady business and end up in the weirdest situation you could ever hope to imagine,” he informs Orochimaru candidly. “And when that transpires, I will laugh in your face.”

Cousin Madara takes a hard swig of the brandy bottle Professor Senju had unearthed. “So this is how you ended up on the run from international law enforcement, the military of Hi no Kuni, and the military of Yu no Kuni. Yet you came here why?”

“Oh that’s easy. We need an alibi. And to patent the seals. Uh, plus we may have broken into the Registrar’s office.”

Omake:

“So, who all bet against Tsunade’s bet?” The show of hands was depressing. No one would have any reason to suspect that the regular goings on of a Friday night would make international headlines, much less cause International Incidents.

Hikaku read the bet slip.‘There will be wild adventures by persons in this pool that cause an international incident tonight.’ Innocuously phrased, yet almost prophetic.

“All in favor of banning Tsunade Senju or any proxies from betting in any future pools, raise your hand?” The show of hands was unanimous.

#sumigakure halloween event 2017 #bonus prompt: grave robbing #or: kagami and orochimaru have an adventure #madatobi #background #i have so many regrets #art writes

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s-asuke · 8 years ago

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SasuSaku Month 2017 - Day One - First Love

Take this heap of fluff and leave comments and stuff. Enjoy my "Sasuke comes back to Konoha every month or two, three when the push comes to shove" I just hate certain things about life but no time to mop, SasuSaku month is upon us, people. Thank you for reading!

The rosebuds mixed with the ones of the cherry blossom tree on the cracked ground. Sarada Uchiha, with her small, yet strong legs, climbed up a practice dummy that her mother had made for her. When she decided it is enough for today, she cleaned up the tools from the everlasting scent of dirt and grass, running silently into the house to wake her mother from a nap.

Their house was still freshly painted – sentiment of her mothers’ wish for renovation. Sarada’s baby pictures, along with the only one picture of her father that she possesed was perched upon the fireplace, unused by the heat of the late spring. The month of June was upon them – searing heats were to meet them soon. Her mother walks into the room soon enough – perhaps wakened by the unsettling sound of Sarada’s heart, beating like a drum (or maybe it was even Sakura’s own, since the woman and the girl both anticipated the same thing).

“Papa’s coming back tomorrow.” She declares that, chest puffed out, legs nervous and nearly dancing. She can’t hide her happiness. “Yes, he is!” The face of her lonely mother lights up with a foreign cheeriness, teeth white and cheeks flushed. Her long, pink hair is let down in a flowing mesh of tresses, challenging dust to taint it.

“Mama, I can’t wait! Maybe Papa could stay for a week this time! Huh? And maybe we could go to that candy shop together? I know that Papa dislikes sweets, but you don’t, and Boruto said that they have three new licorice flawors! Papa will maybe like the sour ones, hm?”

“Mm, we will see, darling. When Papa comes, the most important thing is to hug attack him, to show him how much we love him and how much we missed him!”

“Yeah! And that’s our best combi attack Mom!”

“Now, now. What about your newfound shuriken skills? Won’ t you show those to Dad?” Sakura muses with a proud smile, Sarada is already beaming at her mother’s kind face. “Of course! I certainly won’t miss a chance!”

The two fall in comfortable silence, Sakura starts sorting out the laundry at the edge of their living room, which is large, lit by a small chandelier whose bent pink crystals give a red hue to the room. Just being still like this – safe and sound at the edge of Konoha, where no one can harm them – no person can touch them, gives Sakura such peace of mind. And Sasuke’s return is due tomorrow night… She giggles just at the thought. “Mama… would you mind if I slept in yours and Papa’s bed tonight?”

“Of course not, sweetie. Mom loves it when you sleep next to her.”

“Mm! Okay! Can we have dinner now?” Her big, black eyes expectantly gleam at her through the glasses. “Just let Mama finish the laundry sorting and then we will, ‘kay?”

“Sure! I’ll help!” Her black hair bounces in the same way Sakura’s did when she was a genin, and her small hands take shape of Sasuke’s, their pinky’s having the same curve inwards (Sasuke once mentioned it was genetical, from the way that generations of Uchiha practiced holding shuriken and weapons). Sakura wants to gush at the similarities, loving how much her daughter resembles her father.

Under the watchful eye of a hawk and a nin- cat, they eat.

This day has to be absolute success for Sarada: everything has to be utter perfection when Papa comes home. Sakura knows it – indulges in her daughter’s requests – her happiness is calculated and quiet, never loud and rambunctious like her own. So they buy lots of fruit, meet Hinata and Himawari for tea, and afterwards buy tomatoes (So Papa can enjoy his lunch!). Sarada almost skips in excitement as they are guided back home by the light summer air. Sarada hopes that the beforementioned summer won’t forget to guide her Papa home, too.

The sunset is warm on their toes, the duo outside the gates of Konoha. Sarada is balancing her kunai in her hand – the ones Papa gifted her. She is brimming with excitement, and it’s so infectious, Sakura feels the Uchiha crest on her back itch slightly, even through just a premonition. The dark figure of her husband nears them – Sarada starts running before Sakura even notices him – her lover is lithe and strong as always, expecting his daughter to clash into him, already opening his arms as his little girl collides with him full force. Sakura didn’t see him for two months – yes, may seem like a short amount of time – but for her it’s like suffocation. She stalks over to the two people she loves most in this world, and Sasuke Uchiha holds only stars in his eyes for her.

A soft smile he gifts his daughter was still there, everpresent as he lets Sarada on the ground, yet lets her cling to the edge of his cloak. Melting at the presence of his family, Sasuke croaks, voice unused, “Sakura…” His arms strong around her as he crushes her, and it feels so nice and warm and good and Sakura feels loved, she feels worthy, not like a little housewife she has to be after she returns from the hospital. “Ah, Sasuke-kun… I missed you…” A wistful tone she’s using on him makes his heart clench, his daughter’s delighted smile gives him so much strength, he holds out his hand for his daughter to hold, all the while not letting go of his blushing wife.

Sarada starts excitedly rambling to her Papa, immediately after they enter Konoha, Sasuke’s eyes not caring for their surroundings. Sakura and Sarada’s hands, one in each of his are quick to satisfy his heart, which missed them dearly too.

His travels and missions are more than often unpleasant and scarce with people – no actual human contact – and all of a sudden he is in the bustling centre of Konohagakure, heading down familiar paths to a place which was the Uchiha district once, now only the home of the Uchiha family. The house at the edge of the mountains – surrounded by the trees, with the nearest neighbors close enough to be seen – but not to intrefere and peer unwantedly into the house. Sasuke is attentive to every word of his daughter, occasionally nodding or replying, all the while glancing at his patient wife and returning the softness of her smile with the soft onyx of his eyes. After they get into the house, his wife lighting the house, Sarada murmuring something about dinner, running towards the kitchen. Sasuke gently covers Sakura’s cheek with her hand, whispering in her lips, “I’m home.”

The kiss is soft and passionate, Sasuke doesn’t spend a second being separated from Sakura, his hands occupied by caressing her soft face, her own locking his head, engulfed by his now long, dark tresses. When his hand passes her collarbone, she gives a pliant sigh, which reminds him to pull away for them to catch breath. Sakura’s emerald pools gleam – she measures Sasuke’s rowdy mane with her figertips, giggling, “You need a haircut.”

“Hn,” he retaliates, as Sarada jumps out of the corner, strutting excitedly towards her parents, “The table’s made! You have to get it out of the oven Mama, since it’s too hot.” She pouts at a small defeat, reminding Sasuke of his younger self. “Oh! Of course sweetie! You shouldn’t have touched the oven in the first place!“They leave him in the hallway, dissapearing into the dining room. As he abandons his cloak, and senses the slight sting of the paint in his nose, seeing through the dim lights of the dining room, his lovely wife and his clever daughter bonding, Sakura lightly lecturing her about not playing with the shuriken when they were just about to have dinner. Sasuke enters, offers to sit inbetween his girls and all of a sudden, the peaceful music from the ancient gramophone (gift from Shino) starts playing as they begin to eat. Sasuke never thought that he would enjoy music so much as he eats. Sarada’s occasional questions along the lines of ‘Do you like it’ and 'Are you comfortable Papa?’ to which he all smiles slightly and nods. He is not yet tired – he will go to bed when Sakura does.

They finish the lunch with small talk – about how Sarada trains daily, her achievements, hopes and dreams, and Sarada skips to the yard, begging her father to come quick to watch her progress in shuriken training. As they are left alone, facing each other, Sasuke fathoms and places his happiness accordingly, eyes skating over Sakura’s exposed neck and beautiful belly, quick to settle upon her rosy cheeks and full, small lips. "Dear, I took a week off… so… how much will you be able to stay this time?” She is bashful, nearly shy – perhaps afraid of asking the wrong thing? Sasuke takes it to the heart – dislikes seeing his wife so tired, so… done.

“Good that you took off the week. I am wrapping up the… Ootsutsuki issue, so… I will stay this month.” Speaks it in his usual manner, his face relaxed but lips taut, unnoticeably biting the inside of his cheek for Sakura’s response. He does not expect the wave – no, tsunami of happiness that washes over her, rendering him breathless. Well, since she nearly choked him to death with that death grip around his neck. “Ah, really?” Failing in cover up her excitement, (with which he’s the most endeared with) she fixes up his hair which went a million different ways from the way she hugged him. “I can’t wait.”

He tells her of certain moments and difficulties, leaving out whether his feelings or some wounds. When Sakura decides their daughter has waited enough, she nudges Sasuke out, his legs a bit heavy, but still more than enough energy in them. Sarada is small but powerful, her young body carrying her easily towards the dummy, throwing multiple shuriken which collide with one another successfully, poised horizontally upon the dummy’s vital spots.

“You are doing very well.” Sasuke interrupts his daughter’s focus, face akin to a statue’s, but Sarada is never fooled by that. “Thank you!” Sasuke walks over to the dummies, collecting her shuriken and nodding his head towards a small pathway farther into the woods. “Let’s take a walk.”

What was once the powerful array of buildings that belonged to the Uchiha clan, now is a few lonely dirt roads that lead deep into the now small, all too young forest. Sarada is beaming next to him, feeling the importance of the silence and this opportunity. Sasuke is slightly disheartened by the lost memories, not allowing his daughter to doubt anything for a second. The docks are upon them – the same docks that twenty years ago Fugaku took Sasuke here to teach him the Katon jutsu. The water is slow and steady, and yet, if allowed, it would have the strength of a waterfall. Sasuke deems it appropriate for such a lesson.

“Mm. Dad? What are we doing here?”

“I am going to teach you some jutsu of our clan.” Just at the sentence, Sarada’s blush intensifies, becoming similar to the one Sakura sports. “Uh-huh! Which one?”

“It’s called Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu. The Great Fireball tehnique is the one which was passed in our clan for generations. Look.” Forming the seals unnaturally slow for him, and doing this jutsu that was so natural to him, he feels nearly at ease. The gargantuan fireball that forms from his chakra is heating up the chilly surface of the lake, causing it to damn near boil. He ends it as soon as he begun, simply by dissolving the chakra he built up in his chest, his awed daughter itching to try.

“I don’t expect you to get it right from the first try, even if it’s a smaller one, it simply means you need practice.”

“Mm! Don’t worry Dad, I will get it right straight away!” Sasuke is silent after seeing her tenacity, letting her do her own. She focuses, forehead creased, akin to the gesture his mother had a habit of doing, another jab to his heart. Soon replaced by immense sense of pride – his daughter, his hope – his dream, is so beautiful, loved and talented. He couldn’t be happier. His daughter weaves the signs – so much faster than he expected – and one wave of chakra later, there is a fireball, certainly not as big as his, but a formidable one certainly. She can’t blow the flames for a long time, and when she dissolves the built up chakra, she turns to him expectantly. Sasuke reveals his pride and his amazement like every other emotion – through his eyes.

Ruffling her black hair, gathering her easily in his arms he whispers, as if it’s a secret, “I am very proud of you.”

Giggling, she connects her thin arms on the width of his forehead, silently checking, “Is it enough for today, Papa?”

“Very well,” his heart doing a somersault when her legs relax on his shoulders and she kisses the back of his head, small hand caressing the eye which contains the Rinnegan. “Thank you for today Papa. I love spending time with you.” He hums, softening considerably, stiffening up when saying a small, “likewise”.

They are at peace, even if it’s dark and a slightly lonely night, but Sarada doesn’t even flinch at the tall shadows, her powerful Papa is with her. There is nothing that can ever happen with him nearby.

“You are Mama’s first love, right?” Sasuke is taken aback by the suddenness of this question. He answers it anyway.

“Yes.” Sarada is silent for a while, but Sasuke knows she is doing some heavy thinking.

“So that means that she is yours, too?"Sasuke frowns, answering immediately. "Yes, she is.” Interested to see where is this going, he questions Sarada. “Even through you are each other’s special first love, I want you to know that both you and Mama will always be my first love. You are my favorite people, in the entire world, and I love you the most.”

Picking Sarada up from his shoulders and settling her on the ground, just tens of meters before their house, he kisses Sarada’s forehead, and then tells her softly, “Mama may be my first love, but you are certainly sharing that place, because you are too precious to me.”

The lums above their heads were the only witnesses to the hug shared between the father and the daughter afterwards.

#ssm17 #ssm17d1 #sasusaku #day one first love #!!!#my writing

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feysunkyu · 3 years ago

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yujinfey:

[...]

he closes the distance between them. feels the gravity close between them, that rush, then the sweet, familiar feeling of sunkyu’s lips against his own. he lets his eyes fall shut, and this is the feeling in his chest, warm and right and.. home. yujin doesn’t think it’s a place anymore, he thinks that maybe it’s right here.

sunkyu in his arms, sunkyu pressed against his side, sunkyu’s mouth slotting perfectly when he seeks him out in the dark. he rises a bit up on his elbow from where he had slid down, and when he pulls back, he lets his eyes flutter open as their noses brush. like this, he can barely hear the fireworks, maybe even the rest of the world. just the fluttering of his own heart in his chest, the warmth that blooms inside him when he’s this close to him. just that familiar beat of home, home, home.

@feysunkyu

yujin’s response has him grinning a little. “you are always hot,” he allows, wiggling an arm behind them to pet yujin’s back magnanimously. the rest of yujin’s words, he lets settle like melting cotton candy, true and sweet. yujin’s the one who runs warmer between the them, but in a way that doesn’t make sunkyu feel entirely useless with his clumsy hands and poor circulation -- like when yujin runs too warm sunkyu could soak in some of it for him, keep it safe until the day, maybe, that yujin might feel cold too. a decent alternative for a bond, he thinks. a way to look after yujin without all of the risks that came with him.

“i think,” he says, cheeks burning faintly at how casually yujin just says some of these things, “that fireworks get you a little sappy, yujin-ah. but yes, if we could find more time to do things like this more often just because we want to, i’d like that.” his grin turns amused, fond, as he’s pulled into a half hug, half octopus’s grip. “just us,” he decides to agree, bumping his chin against the top of yujin’s head to make up for not being able to squeeze him back, unless he wanted them to lose balance and topple into the blanket. “okay, okay, i get it, no other octopi required.”

it wouldn’t be impossible-- no, it really isn’t. maybe he’ll take some time off of work, maybe even from his studies. experience the last two weeks of an actual summer break. that sounds nice. he thinks of how much time he spends away or preoccupied, which is really just another word for away, that if the world was a globe then he’s an observer watching it closely, adding spin whenever it slows dangerously. he’s not sure what he’s so afraid of seeing if he were to let it stop.

when he’s with yujin he finds it hard to remember at all. it even begins to feel acceptable that the world should settle beneath his feet and he regains his bearings to take in the state of it. maybe he’s tired of spinning.

maybe. maybe.

he’s idly aware of yujin calling his name-- he turns, a thought on the tip of his tongue, but it fizzles somewhere in the distance that yujin closes between them.

with practiced ease, sunkyu curls down to receive him, settling a hand lightly on yujin’s hip to tell him that he doesn’t have to strain too far up to brush their mouths together. it’s simple and it’s familiar, the way most things are with yujin, except maybe-- except maybe the night sky is familiar too, too familiar, reminding him of the sheet of stars they’d found themselves under just the week before, dipped in the aquamarine lights of his parents’ pool; reminding him of the constellations he’d asked yujin to name much earlier than that on their balcony. the feeling too is too familiar, in a way that sunkyu can’t place, because it hasn’t changed at all. it’s always been like this.

and yet-- now. now, the world slows, and an image threatens to become clear, and sunkyu has to pull away first before it does, flustered worse than he usually is by something so relatively innocent. it’s this question, why? this, but why has it always been like this? it’s this thing that’s been beating in his chest for a while now, the thing he’s not sure he wants yujin to hear, but if he turns away too quickly yujin might mistake it for discomfort so he stays where he is, meeting yujin’s gaze like he isn’t afraid of anything, fingers rubbing pensively over his hip. there are still fireworks crackling in the sky, but they’re distant sounds, muted with the rest of the world.

even his own voice feels like something he’s hearing from the other side of a glass wall when he murmurs, “can we head back early? i kind of wanna beat the crowd.” and maybe he wants more of the silence, the kind where he won’t even be able to hear himself think. he shifts -- he’s got an elbow bent by yujin’s too, allowing him to lean down and brush their noses together, feather light. “the window in our room faces the beach, doesn’t it? if there’s still more, we can watch it from bed instead of getting sand in weird places.”

he shoots him a little smile. it’s sincere, because it’s hard not to smile and mean it when he sees how content yujin looks, but it just needs a little more effort than usual. he hopes yujin doesn’t notice.

#* interactions.#* interaction: yujin.

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fearofaherobrine · 8 years ago

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Roleplay Server Log #142-143

“The derg, Steffan flirts with Flux, More Circus Repairs, Hyrule is Born”

[Sky] -In chat- I think the egg is hatching?? It's wiggling around and I've never seen a normal egg do that so..

[Deer] Fumbles around for a little bit before responding in chat- Doc's busy right now, but I can be there in a moment!- She rushes outside and heads for Mix's place

*Sky is standing infront of the egg in the pen with their horses. He'd been on his way home when the egg had started wiggling, so he'd stopped there. He looks unsure what to do about the egg, but very excited as Deer arrives

[Deer] - Sky, how long has it been moving?

[Sky] Not long, a bit before I sent that message, I think? I just sort of stopped the second it started.

[Deer] - CP says it normally only takes thema few minutes to actually hatch, so it should happen soon if he's correct...

[Sky] Yeah, but this one's been just sitting doing nothing for.. A long time, you know?

*Crckle. Crckle. The egg is gaining cracks

[Sky] I'm kinda nervous.

[Deer] Squees in excitement-

[Deer] - There's no need to be nervous Sky

*Crack

[Sky] Yeah.. I.. I guess so.

*A large crack spreads over the egg and a snout pokes out of it, breaking some shell chunks off. The snout has two white stripes on top.

[Deer] - Awww, here, let me help you little one- She carefully starts pulling bits of shell off

*The dragon wiggles out with the assistance, kicking its little legs around while sliding from the shell.

[Sky] ... Huh.

[Deer] - Er... It seems to be lacking wings...

[Sky] I think that's normal. A few didn't back home.. But this one reminds me of one... *He bends down and lets the baby dragon sniff his hand before licking it.

[Deer] - Reminds you of what Sky?

[Sky] We had another dragon like this but they had wings. Huge dragon, same little snout stripes.. *Sky picks the dragon up gently and pets it before offering it to Deer.

[Sky] You wanna pet them?

[Deer] - Sure- She reaches out and gently runs her hand down the baby's back- What will you name it?

[Sky] I.. Hm... Liz, I think. After the dragon they remind me of.

[Liz] ...Zzzzz..? *Tries to nibble on Deer's hand, despite it's complete lack of teeth.

[Deer] - Awwww, she's just the sweetest little thing

[Liz] Swwww...

[Sky] Smart, too.. Unless they're just... Copying sounds they like?

[Deer] - I don't know, I've only ever heard the other squeak

[Sky] Well, at home they were very smart, even this soon after birth.. So I wouldn't be too surprised...

*Liz tries to chomp down on Deer's hand, but it's a useless move without teeth.

[Deer] Laughs a little- Silly Lizz, people aren't for nomming, and that's very interesting Sky

[Liz] Ssssssskkk... *Mumbling around Deer's hand

[Sky] I was surprised when I found out it wasn't like that in other seeds and servers, y'know?

[Deer] - I'd bet, I think Endrea would be the closest to what you're used to

[Sky] Yeah, actually. She reminds me of the Elder, in a way. *Pets Liz and shakes his head a bit.

[Sky] Only barely though. So, what does Doc want us to do once they hatch? I'd like to keep Liz around though, after all I went through to try and get them to hatch before now.

[Deer] - I'm sure Doc will have no problem with that, and if you ever need something ender dragon related I'm sure Endrea will be more than willing to provide it

[Sky] Ah, I'm glad. *Smiles a bit while petting Liz

[Deer] - I'll leave you to it then. I'm sure Mix will be eager to meet the new arrival as well

[Sky] ! Oh! That reminds me, when you see Doc, can you tell them Mix wants them to stop by? Something about wanting Doc to check something for her.

[Deer] - Absolutely, be safe Sky, and keep this little one safe too

*Sky waves before moving to the shore

[Sky] Will do.

*Vwoop

[Flux] Is wandering Doc's house, looking at all the different paintings-

[Doc] Is bent over hir worktable. Xe's sorting out candy and rearranging pixels by hand. It's not nessesary to do it this way, but it's a zen activity.

[Flux] Spots Doc- Oh Doctor, hello

[Doc] Oh, hello Flux, doing a little exploring?

[Flux] - Yes, these things on the wall are so colorful

[Doc] Oh the paintings? Most of them are stock game items but there are a few done by people I know. The scribbly drawing on the wall over there was done by Endrea when she was little.

[Flux] - Endrea?

[Doc] She's, well she's kind of from Cp's seed? But it must be one that came later since you've never seen the End. She's a rather sweet big black dragon we raised from an egg.

[Flux] - The End, you mentioned it yesterday I believe. But you are correct, I have never seen it

[Doc] You'll get to meet her and her kids eventually. Next time we go visit Cp and Stevie probably.

[Flux] A soft expression crosses Flux's face at the mention of her wards names-

[Doc] Watches her - I'm glad to see they have someone from their past who cares for them so. Cp would never say it, but the loss of his father cut him very, very deeply.

[Flux] - I could feel it, I only wish I could have gotten to him sooner...

[Doc] I think seeing how he was when he came here would have only broken your heart Flux. His brother was terrified of him too.

[Flux] - Oh I saw, after he was initially removed...

[Doc] Shakes hir head. -Those were hard days. I got hurt a lot, we both did. And poor Lie...

[Flux] - What about her?

[Doc] He was... very disrespecful to her, at the least, a frightening oppressor at the worst. I was skeptical about the solution we eventually came too, but it all worked out in the end. TLOT turned him into a cat. It was a lesson in humility he desperately needed.

[Flux] - I see, well I'm glad then that you found them, and I'm impressed that you were able to shift him

[Doc] Oh it wasn't me, it was TLOT. I can make a new body for someone as long as it's big enough for their player skin to fit inside of it. But he.... he can mold people like clay, more easily if they're willing. I'm glad he's a good person, it's a frighting ability.

[Flux] - He has a strong connection to the magic then

[Doc] I think it's all he has left. Before he had a mate he needed people's actual fear or want of his company to keep from losing energy and slipping back into the cage that was his Nether.

[Flux] - I see...- Her stomach growls a little- Oh, that's new...

[Doc] Ah, are you hungry? Do you want me to make you something, or would you rather go out?

[Flux] - Hungry?

[Doc] Your organs need food. Minecraft has a hunger mechanic now, you have to eat to stay alive.

[Flux] - Oh, and what is eating out?

[Doc] grins- Getting someone else to cook .

[Flux] - Would it let me see more of the outside?

[Doc] Of course.

[Flux] - Then let us do that

[Doc] Okay, - Xe makes a cursory examination and finds several empty rooms and the sounds of TLOT and Steve being rather... busy - Let's just go.

[Flux] - Lead the way Doctor

[Doc] Takes her outside and starts down the path to the bar-

-There are a few children playing at the spawn and Doc stops for a moment to watch them-

[Flux] Observes everything around her, asking things about the tree's and stuff-

[gem] -is playing pool in the bar while aven is siting at the table closest to it with ben-

[Doc] Answers all her questions and waves over Tang for a moment to say hi to her-

[BEN] Is scarfing down a burger-

-A little paper airplane sails overhead and sticks in the ground-

[Doc] Waves to Steffan in his garden as they go by-

[Flux] Picks the plane up and turns it over in her hands-

[Enderbro] VOOP! - Hey you found my plane! Wow, you're pretty.

[Flux] - Thank you... What are you?

[Enderbro] Happy! - laugh snorts-

[Doc] That is true. Flux this is Enderbro. He's one of the Endermen I mentioned. Though much more chill then his bretheren.

[Enderbro] She's purple. My favorite color

[Flux] I see...- She looks back at the plane in her hands and pulses a little of her power into it, causing it to take off on it's own

[Enderbro] WOOOO! Cooking with redstone!

[Flux] - Redstone?

[Doc] It's an electrical rock, you can use it to make wries and power soruces for devices with moving parts.

[Enderbro] It also glows! - Is chasing the plane

[Flux] - How interesting...

[Doc] If you see any Endermen apart from him, don't look at their eyes. Okay?

[Flux] - I understand

[Enderbro] tps into the air to grab the plane and runs off to show Steffan

[Doc] It's okay, he's really too young to go to the bar.

[Flux] - Shall we continue?

[Doc] Sure, it's just that building there, it began as just a bar for brines, but everyone is welcome now, if they're old enough to drink, of course.

[Flux] - Old enough?

[Doc] You shouldn't give alcohol to little kids, it's really bad for them.

[Flux] - Alcohol?

[Doc] You'll see, come on in- holds the door for her-

[Flux] Enters the bar, taking in the interior-

[eddy and Edward] -run up to doc and flux and make little ender noises-

[Doc] Hello little ones!

[Flux] - And what are these?

[Doc] I forgot since they aren't natural Endermen these guys are safe to look at too. They were toys belonging to one of our brines. Some kind of magick brought them to life.

[Flux] - Magic?

[Doc] Yes, your specialty under a different name I think.

[aven] -sees doc- hello doc.

[Doc] Speaking of little ones, hello Aven! How are you feeling today?

[BEN] Belches-

[Doc] Indigestion BEN?

[BEN] - Nope, just good food

[Doc] Oh good, we need some of that. Sam, could you whip up something for our new friend Flux?

[Sam] Gives her a slow look, almost sensing what she is, before nodding in respect and vanishing into the kitchen.

[aven] I have been getting pains they seem to start and stop every few seconds.

[Flux] - That skeleton, obey's you?

[Doc] Do you think... it's time? why didn't you call me?

[Doc] What? Oh, just because I'm polite and he wants too. If I was rude he'd flip me off and ignore me entirely. He likes being the bartender apparently.

[BEN] - Wait what?! Why didn't you tell me!?

[aven] is it time? I thought it was just something that happening everything has just been going so fast

[BEN] Is starting to freak out a little- SHIT FUCK REALLY!? NOW!? WE ARE SO NOT PREPARED!

[Sam] Sets a plate down with a flourish for Flux, there's a steak, a potato with cheese and butter, some rolls with the same and several cooked carrots. He also clunks down a glass of iced tea.

[Flux] - Thank you- She pokes at the food a little

[Doc] Okay! Just relax! Lets not argue!

[Sam] Watches her confused and makes a motion of putting something in hir mouth and chewing it.

[gem] I knew I need to carry this -holds out a diaper and a blanket-

[Flux] Tries a bit of the potato and finds it enjoyable-

[Doc] First off, lets all just calm down. - Xe pulls out a bucket and washes hir gloves throughly.

[aven] the pain seems to be getting faster.

[Doc] Is copying the blanket and breaks out the table to make space in front of Aven before laying the blankets down and tucking them under her.

[Doc] Is a bit flustered. - typing- Lie! Can you come to the bar? Kinda quick-like?

[Lie] - Um... Sure?

This message has been removed.

-With a brief moment Lie manages to teleport herself to Doc using admin commands-

[Lie] - What is going on here?

[Doc] From everything I've read you just kinda... catch when it comes out.

[Lie] - Wait, Aven you're giving birth now?

[gem] -is doing her best to keep aven comfortable-

[aven] yes

[BEN] - What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck

[Doc] You're good right there BEN, just... stay there.

[Doc] Looks like we're doing this Lie. Can I have some healing and calming blooms sprinkled around just in case?

[Lie] - Absolutely- She spawns them around the small group

[Doc] Is kneeling on the floor in front of Aven, - Quick breaths and then push with everything you have Aven!

[aven] -grabs bens hand and squeezes with all her might-

[BEN] - FUCKING MAJORA!

[Doc] Eeesh...

[Doc] Is watching Aven and ready to make a diving catch for anything that comes out- Push Aven!

[Doc] Maybe give BEN some of your healing flowers for that hand Lie!

-a baby they pops into aven's arms and her stomach shrinks showing it was hers-

[Doc] What the?! - practically falls back on the floor in relief.

[Lie] - Well... That's new

[gem] woah!

[Sam] Eyesockets much larger then normal in utter shock.

[eddy and Edward] -are trying to get close see the baby-

[Doc] Mind of I just kinda, take a peek Aven?- Is crawling up on the seat next to her

[BEN] - Er, Aven? Hand?

[aven] -lets go of ben's hand and looks at baby-

[Doc] Gives the baby a once-over, listening to it's breathing and feeling for it's hearts. - And....it's a boy!

[aven] Then his name will be Hyrule.

[BEN] - WHY!?

[aven] because it's a good name for him.

[BEN] Whines loudly-

[aven] you can wine all you want but his name is hyrule.

[BEN] - No! I refuse!

[aven] why do you hate this name so much

[BEN] - Because

[aven] I need a better answer then because.

[BEN] Grumbles-

[aven] what?

[BEN] - Just because! I don't like it!

[aven] -pouts- but I think it's a very fitting name.

[BEN] Groans-

[aven] -tries to make the cutest face to make it hard for ben to say no-

[BEN] Is doing his best to ignore it-

[aven] -keeps making it so every time he would look back to check if she stopped it would still be there-

[BEN] - Nggggggggh

[aven] -while still making the face- please ben it's it a good name.

[BEN] - But whyyyyyyyyyyyy!?

[aven] because I think it would fit being that we are from legend of Zelda game and he looks so much like us. -still making the face-

[BEN] - Stop that

[aven] not until I convince you -endless cute face-

[BEN] - STAAAAAAAHP

[aven] no -cute face-

[BEN] - GAAAAaAH! Fine.

[aven] -stops making the face- Yay baby Hyrule it is.

[BEN] Grumbles-

[Doc] Is typing in the chat - AVEN HAD HER BABY! ALL IS WELL. THEY'RE NAMING THEIR NEW LITTLE BOY HYRULE.

[BEN] - WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT!?

[TLOT and Steve] in chat- WOOOO! Congratulations!

[CP] In chat- Don't fucking care asshole!

[aven] -groans-

[Lie] In chat- Congrats!

[Gk] chat- More rugrats?!

[Splender] Teleports right over- OMG A BABY!

[Herabrine] chat- GO AVEN!

[Enderbro]- chat - BABY!

[Splender] Is bouncing around the bar now-

[Doc] Splender? Did Ej and Sally go home?

[aven] -makes sure Hyrule has his diaper on-

[Splender] Freezes- I FORGOT I'M LOOKING AFTER THEM!- Teleports back to his place

[Doc] Facepalm-

[Sam] Gives Aven a large cake and BEN a bottle of whiskey.

[BEN] Immediately opens and starts chugging-

[hyrule] -is making baby babbles-

[Doc] That's a tiny little human. Are their heads supposed to be that big?

[Flux] Is still eating-

[aven] -tries to get the whisky from ben she wants some-

[BEN] - Um... I don't think that's a good idea Aven

[aven] -stops but pouts-

[Notch] in chat- Wait? What? The baby came? That's great! Sorry I had my hands full when you said it.

[CP] Is taking Stevie outside so he can practice with his sword-

[Flux] - Yes their heads are supposed to be that big Doctor

[Doc] Okay, just checking. Hey BEN? Before you get stupid drunk, I was wondering. Have any of the other pastas who have mates had offspring before?

[BEN] - Ummm, not that I'm aware of, although I think Bloody painter and his mate have been trying...

[Doc] What's their status? Are they both still alive? Or is it an incompatible anatomy issue, like one of them is inhuman?

[BEN] - Both are still alive, and both are human

-Player Notch fell from a high place-

[Doc] what the fuck?

[CP] Sniggers-

[Doc] types- Hey Notch, are you okay?

[Notch] typing back- Fuuuck. That hurt! I fell off the frigging roof. Thank goodness for respawn. I'm going to be hearing that bone crunch noise in my nightmares. - Is walking back out of the house since his last bed was the one in the workroom-

[Doc] That's odd BEN, is there some part of that equation I'm missing? What kind of pastas are they?

[eddy and Edward] -are playing with hyrule-

[BEN] - I dunno. Bloody painter paints with blood and his mate is Judge Angels, she decapitates people she perceives as guilty

[hyrule] -is giggling-

[Sam] Comes back over to look at the baby and make heart eyes at them.

[gem] -is watching them play-

[Doc] Hmm. Well then. I suppose I'll have to meet everyone eventually. I'll keep it in mind.

[Flux] Has finished her food- Doctor? What do I do now?

[Doc] Do? What do you mean? Apart from letting Sam clear the dishes away. I mean, you could tell hir thank you for the food. That would be nice.

[Flux] - Ah, well in that case, thank you

[Sam] Makes a rather plesant face for someone with just a skull and gives her an appreciative nod before clearing the counter.

[Doc] Checks on Aven. - Are you guys all set up at home already? Put the crib together and whatnot?

[BEN] - Er...

[Doc] Er? Is that a no?

[BEN] - Weeeeeeell

[Notch] Is already back to work and whistling merrily-

[gem] I already dealt with it I knew aven wouldn't feel up to it and ben would be to busy helping aven.

[BEN] Visibly relaxes a little-

[Doc] That was very nice of you Gem, I took a copy for emergencies and the directions on it looked difficult.

[Flux] Stretches and comes over to look at the baby a little-

[Doc] Hows your belly Flux? No more pain?

[Flux] - Much better Doctor, thank you

[aven] I am glad we have everything set then.

[Doc] You're welcome. You have to take care of yourself here. Eat at least twice a day, okay? The main part of my house is full of food if you need some in a pinch. Most of the ground and second floor rooms have food in the trunks.

[Flux] - I will keep that in mind

[Doc] Good Aven. I'm just glad the little bugger is healthy.

[Doc] I'm a little excited too since this might be the first baby between two creepypastas. I wonder if it was partially possible because you're both the same type. [Two Ben Drowneds]

[BEN] - Oh god, EJ's gonna tell Slender...

[Doc] Ej already knew remember? He sniffed out Aven's pregnancy the moment he saw her.

[BEN] - Yeah, but Slender still didn't know at that point!

[Doc] Just because the server can handle a Slender's emp field doen't mean I'm gonna let him come in. And she can't leave, so it's not that big of a deal. Is it?

[BEN] Is not listening and is freaking out-

[Doc] Grabs his shoulders- Just calm down. You're safe here, you know that!

[aven] I am still worried about hyrule i want him to stay safe.

[Doc] Of course Aven, you know the lengths I go to to protect this server and everyone in it.

[BEN] GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

[aven] ben calm down we are ok.

[Doc] Rips some of Lie's calming flowers from the floor and is trying to get BEN to hold them.

[BEN] - But... But... But...

[aven] -grabs bens arm- it's ok.

[Doc] Shhhh, it's okay. You'll be fine, I'm going to look after all three of you. Just like I have been.

[Lie] - Doc has never let us down

[Doc] Blushes- Thank you Lie. - Xe gives BEN a quick hug and immediatley regrets it because he smells bad.

[BEN] - Fuck, I don't know what to think right now...

[Doc] Spawns several magma creams and slips them into BEN's inventory while he's distracted. - Be proud of Aven. And get used to the idea of being called dad.

[BEN] Still freaking out-

[aven] -tries the pull ben closer so she can help him calm down-

[BEN] Snuggles into Aven-

[Doc] There you go- takes a screenshot- one happy little family.

[Lie] Smiles as she watches-

[gem] -picks up eddy and Edward she is so happy she starts to give them lots of kisses and hug-

[Flux] Stands back from the rest-

[Doc] Something the matter Flux?

[Flux] - No, why do you ask?

[Doc] You keep yourself apart, you're used to just watching things happen from afar aren't you?

[Flux] Nods-

[Doc] Well tough titty then - Xe grabs her in a hug and swings her around before putting her down. - You're in thick of it here, enjoy it!

[Flux] Becomes flustered and doesn't know what to do-

[Sweet Alex] Throws open the door to the bar and rushes in, in the commotion it got dark outside-

[Sweet Alex] AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[Doc] Chuckles and puts her down. - Hey maybe I'll find someone to hook you up with too. - winks-

[Flux] - Hook me up with?

[Lie] - Doc no

[Sweet Alex] Aven! Congratulations! I brought stuff! - Pulls out a bunch of jumpers, booties and little blankets-

[Doc] I'm just teasing! It wouldn't be hard though, you are a lovely woman, Flux. As graceful as the magick that made you.

[Flux] - Oh, uh, thank you...

[aven] thank you -takes them-

[Sweet Alex] Hyrule? What does it mean Aven?

-Doc tagged the baby when no one was looking-

[BEN] - FUCKER!

[Doc] Jumps- It's just for respawn reasons!

[aven] Hyrule is the name of the kingdom from the legend of Zelda games me and ben are from.

[Sweet Alex] It's a beautiful name, he's adorable. I bet he takes after his daddy in looks. - giggles sweetly-

[BEN] Blushes a little-

-Muffled cursing from outside and then a small scream-

[Enderbro] rushes inside as well with Steffan under one arm-

[Steffan] is swearing because there's an arrow in his left butt cheek.

[Sam] reaches over and pulls out the arrow with a 'pook'

[Steffan] Cusses more-

[Lie] - There are healing flowers everywhere, go ahead and pick some

[eddy and Edward] -climb out of gem's arms and run to enderbro to greet him-

[Enderbro] Has already put Steffan down and is leaning over the booth in front of Aven with his mouth open and staring- tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny

[Steffan] Thanks Lie- He reaches down to pick the flowers and catches sight of Flux and freezes. - hellllo.

[Enderbro] Little bros! - Grabs Eddy and Edward and snuggles them-

[Flux] - Hello, I don't believe we've met yet

[eddy and Edward] -hugs enderbro back-

[Steffan] tries to wipe his hands on his jeans before taking hers in what he thinks is a chavlrous manner. - Steffan Mojang, and you are?

[Flux] - My name is Flux

[Steffan] What a lovely name.... - Is making a stupid smitten face and doesn't realize it.

[Flux] Glances over at Doc, unsure what to do next-

[Doc] Is trying not to giggle- She's a spirit of magick Steffan

[Steffan] Eyebrow wiggle- Well she's certainly enchanted me.

[Flux] - Thank... You?

[Enderbro] Hyrule is so little, wiggles a finger at Eddy And Edward- Did you guys shrink him so he could play with you? Bad bros!

[eddy and Edward] -giggle and shake their head-

[Enderbro] Are you guys gonna be good and help Aven watch over the baby?

[Steffan] You're welcome, could I... get you a drink Ms. Flux?

[eddy and Edward] -shakes their heads yes-

[Flux] - A, drink?

[Steffan] To Sam - can I have a drink for the lovely lady and a beer for me please?

[Sam] Brings Flux a Lime daiquiri, and a beer

[Flux] - What... What is this?

[Doc] It's alcohol, like I was telling you about. Makes your head fuzzy, all warm and relaxed.

[Flux] - Are you sure it's... Safe?

[Doc] Sam will not spike your drink, I promise. The biggest risk is ending up with a headache from drinking too many. [The unspoken comment here is 'or wake up next to Steffan']

[Flux] Takes a sip and then makes a face- That... Is certainly an, interesting taste...

[Steffan] Sooo, what kind of seed produces lovely ladies like yourself?

[Flux] - The original which spawned a brine, I believe all of you here call him CP

[Steffan] Falters for a second hearing the name. - Well! Um. He certainly is a... strong brine. Lion of a man. Indeed. Are you... related to him in some way?

[Doc] She's kinda his mom!

[Steffan] Goes really pale, and takes a large gulp of his beer.

[Flux] - I'm not sure that's accurate... I was created for his NOTCH...

[Steffan] For a NOTCH... -is a bit scared- Pleasedon'tkickmyass

[Flux] - Why would I kick you?

[Steffan] I didn't know you had a husband, I'm very sorry. Let alone someone powerful enough to squish me like a silverfish.

[Flux] - I do not have a husband

[Steffan] But you said...?

[Flux] - My NOTCH recently died

[Steffan] Oh geeze.... I'm so sorry for your loss. Well this is still a good place to be in that case, surround yourself with nice people so you can have support and heal emotionally. I know what it's like to have your heart broken.

[Flux] - I had assumed he was dead long before now, I had not seen him in a very long time

[Steffan] Somehow that's worse- nursing his beer- not knowing, and then...

[Flux] - It confirmed my suspicions

[Lie] - Steffan, I noticed your garden has gotten a bit overgrown, do you need any help with it?

[aven] -is starting to fall a sleep leaning on ben-

[BEN] Carefully reaches over and takes Hyrule so Aven can sleep peacefully-

[aven] -has passed out fully and nuzzles ben in her sleep-

[Doc] Is just smiling at BEN and speaks quietly- did you ever think when you called Cp for help that you'd end up here, now, holding your newborn son only a little distance away from someone you once almost killed?

[Steffan] Please Lie, that would be very helpful!

[BEN] - Never...

[Lie] - When do you want me to come over then?

[Doc] For what it's worth, I'm proud of you.

[BEN] Grumbles- Whatever

[Steffan] Anytime would be great! My schedule is totally open!

[hyrule] -is griping ben's shirt-

[Lie] Well when it gets light out I can follow you back, okay?

[Steffan] That would be perfect. Lie? Did you help Herabrine with some trees, or did we get a new update? There's som eweird looking ones along the coast that seem to be growing out of the water from nuch deeper then the trees in the swamp usually are.

[Lie] - Yes, I did make some mangrove trees for her

[Steffan] I've been avoiding them, are they... dangerous?

[Lie] - No, not at all, perfectly safe. In fact they're good to fish around, the fish like to hide under their roots

[Steffan] Oh, thank goodness. The fishings been great since you guys planted all that kelp stuff. Still not sure how I feel about the little pinchy guys I fish up now and again though.

[Lie] - Yeah blame my mate for those

[Smile] Goes and drops a dead rabbit on Liu-

[Doc] You know, since I'm right here. I'm going to go check on Lj, he's just on the next chunk. I'll be back shortly.

[Doc] Leaves the bar and skirts around the library, using the light to avoid the mobs. The moonlight shines on the dark wood of the gate and xe swallows a bit before creakign it open and venturing into the woods. Trusting Lj's promise that xe wouldn't be turned around or away.

-The deeper Doc goes the more music can be heard-

[Doc] Creepy, but I guess better then dead silence... - it's strange to be in the woods at night and not hear the mobs groaning and clunking around.

-The front gates of the circus have been taken down and are laying on the ground just inside the premesis-

[Doc] Examines them for a moment and mutters softly, - well I guess if there are no gates, no one will feel trapped inside...

[LJ] Is on top of the ferris wheel replacing lights-

[Doc] Wanders around a bit to see whats been changed. -

-Some of the game stalls have been gutted and parts and pieces are scattered everywhere. Some too rusted and damaged to be reused-

[Doc] Is suprised the dismantled bits haven't despawned.

[LJ] Stretches his arm to grab a tool he needs-

[Doc] Is listening for any noise besides the music.

[LJ] Accidentally drops a wrench-

[Doc] Hears the clunk and zeros in on it like a curious cat.

[LJ] Starts climbing down so he can grab the tool again-

[Doc] Picks up the tool from the ground and looks up, squinting in the half-light

[LJ] Spots Doc and extends his arm making a "give it here" motion with his hand-

[Doc] Shifts and steps up on the airblocks with the wrench on the tip of hir snout like a dog with a treat. - Here you go.

[LJ] Takes it and starts climbing back up-

[Doc] Follows curiously. - You've been busy.

[LJ] - No shit, there's over three thousand bulbs on this thing alone that need to be tested and replaced

[Doc] I will help you if you want. I know it's a big job to do alone.

[LJ] - No thank you

[Doc] Not even if I took out the trash? I could make you a small lava pool to get rid of all the rusted stuff.

[LJ] - Why? I can just make it disapear

[Doc] Oh. - wilts a little- I didn't know that. Where does it go?

[LJ] - Hell if I know

[Doc] That in an of itself is interesting. Can you conjure anything?

[LJ] - No shit, where do you think all my candy comes from?

[Doc] Well I can spawn food too. But I'm limited to whats on the creative menu and whatever I've made on my own or copied from things I've seen.

[LJ] - There are other things, things mostly needed for restraining victims or are needed here in the circus

[Doc] Gulps- kinky. I have some nice news if you want to hear it.

[LJ] - What is it?

[Doc] Grins- BEN is now offically a daddy. Aven has named their little baby boy Hyrule.

[LJ] Bursts out laughing and can't stop-

[Doc] I thought you'd think that was funny. Aven says it's so when the baby cries in the night she can say 'BEN... Hyrule needs you!'

[LJ] Laughs even harder-

[Doc] Nice to know I can put some sparkle in your day. BEN was all eyeballs when I left. I think he's still in shock.

[LJ] Is sill laughing and falls off-

[Doc] Shit! - Zooms around and thunks down beside him, - are you okay!?

[LJ] Stiiiiiiiiiiiill laughing-

[Doc] Smiles warmly - I'll let him know you were happy for him. And I'll leave you to your work. - tiptoes back out of the circus. The sound of Lj still laughing causing hir to laugh as well.

#143 Mix Shards, Stevie with a Sword

[liu] -looks at the rabbit- would you like me to cook this up smile?

[Smile] Barks loudly and wags his tail, his coat is getting blood stained again-

[liu] take the rabbit then lets go -starts to head out of Jeff's room-

[Smile] Happily follows-

[liu] -heads into the kitchen of the castle and places the rabbit in one of the furnaces to cook-

[Deer] Walks in from the direction of the shrine- Oh, hello Liu

[liu] -looks up from the furnace- oh hello deer.

[Smile] Barks-

[Deer] Giggles- Yes hello to you too Smile

[liu] -pets smile- so have I missed anything while I have been busy taking care of smile?

[Deer] - Well, we have more dragons on the seed now... Oh, have you seen Doc?

[liu] no why?

[Deer] Mix wants to see them, but I currently can't find them

[liu] have you tried messaging though chat?

[Deer] - Oh... I, may have forgotten about that...

[liu] -pulls the rabbit out of the furnace- don't worry it happens to the best of us.

[Smile] Barks and jumps at Liu-

[liu] -hold out the rabbit for smile-

[Smile] Grabs it from Liu's hand and starts running around with it-

[Deer] - You know, he looks like he could use a bath...

[liu] yea but he is a big dog there is no way I could keep him still to wash him.

[Deer] - Good point, you'll need help

[liu] I have an idea to at least get him a little clean.

[Deer] - Oh?

[liu] hey smile do you want to go for a swim boy?

[Smile] Cocks head curiously-

[liu] come on smile lets go out come on. -start to try and lead smile to the bay-

[Smile] Barks and runs ahead-

[liu] -runs into the bay-

[Smile] Stops at the edge barking and sniffing the water-

[liu] -leans back so he is floating on the water looking up at the clouds-

[Smile] Barks some more and then whines as he sits-

[liu] come on smile a little water wouldn't hurt I am having fun.

[Smile] Lays down-

[liu] then I will just swim myself.

[Smile] Starts rolling in the mud-

[liu] you really like to be messy don't you smile.

[Smile] Rolls back over and barks happily, his wagging tail spraying mud everywhere-

[liu] -laughs at his antics-

[Doc] Crests up into sky and is suprised to fly into the morning light. Xe heads back to the bar and touches lightly on the roof.

[Deer] In chat- Love, are you there?

[Doc] Automatically closes hir eyes in pleasure at hir lovers words- I'm here.

[Deer] - Mix needs to see you, it sounded urgent...

[Doc] I have Flux with me, should I bring her or leave her with Lie?

[Deer] - It's your choice love

[Doc] Taps on the glass to get Lie's attention inside.

[Lie] Perks and looks at the glass- What is it Doc?

[Doc] It looks like Mix urgently needs me for something. Can you take care of Flux for a bit? Show her around and walk her home if need be?

[Lie] - Absolutely

[Doc] I'm off then, have fun guys. - Takes a bit of a leap off the roof and gallops on the air down the coast- Deerheart? Where is Mix?

[Deer] - Her home, do you want me to come along?

[Doc] Sure! I'll scoop you up if wait for me outside.

[Deer] - I'll be waiting

[Doc] Sweeps across the spawn with a gust of wind and sends the skeleton horses into a frenzy of whinnying. Xe stoops like a hawk and catches Deerheart in hir paws before hugging her close and doing a graceful spin over the top of the shrine. The sand swirls under hir as the desert shoots by below and xe lands lightly at the shore by Mix's house.

[Deer] - Oh, and Sky's egg hatched as well love

[Doc] Really? Lets ask to see it when the commotion is done. - bellows- Sky? Mix? Firebird? Flowey? Is anyone here?

*Vwoop

*Sky appears with a grunt, Liz is clinging to his back and peeking over his shoulder at them

[Sky] Yeah-- Are you here to see Mix?

[Doc] Aww cute baby dragon! Yes, Deerheart told me I was needed.

[Deer] Coos at Liz-

[Liz] Ix! *Snaps their toothless jaws at Deer playfully

[Sky] She keeps saying she feels something in her chest after what happened. She wanted you to take a look at it. I can take you down if you want? Or you can do that thing you did last time. *He offers his hand after a second, checking to make sure his gloves were on

[Doc] Sure. I'd prefer you tp us so we don't have to get all wet. - Xe shifts down, setting Deerheart lightly on the warm sand as xe shrinks. - Taking Sky's hand

[Deer] Takes Sky's hand-

[Deer] Boops Liz's nose real quick-

*Liz nips at Deer just before they teleport

*This time they end up in the library and Sky quickly pulls his hand from Deer. He makes sure they're all here before heading over and down the steps to the stone area just before the steps to the bedroom. Mix is sitting on the floor sorting Shards into piles and periodically touching her chest with a look of discomfort

[Doc] You needed me Mix? Do you need to be drained again?

[Deer] Follows Doc-

[Mix] Oh! No, I don't think so? But It.. I.. *She puffs her cheeks a bit and looks unsure how to put what she's feeling into Words

[Liz] Ix. *Bounces down from Sky to waddle over to Mix, plopping right into the collection of shards and messing the groupings up

[Deer] - Oh Liz....- Kneels down to start organizing the shards again

[Doc] Kneels down beside her, - Are you in pain? Or is is a mental thing? I get anxiety too, I'll understand.

[Mix] It's not pain.. Um... I can feel something like, stuck here. *She points at her chest, around where the light that had been inside winked out.

[Mix] It's been bugging me since that final surge. I wanted to make sure it's nothing serious, y-yknow?

[Doc] Do you think you have kind of shrapnel? Or something glitched into your player skin?

[Deer] Looks at Mix worriedly-

*Mix shrugs a bit and lowers her hand to her lap

[Mix] I don't know. I've never felt it before now. That spot usually doesn't have much sense to it.

*Liz gums a cold shard and looks up at Sky as he taps his foot a bit

[Deer] - Come on Liz, give that here- She gently tugs at the shard

[Doc] Do you mind if I have a look?

[Mix] Not really, just don't poke anything that doesn't need to be.

[Doc] Okay, I won't touch - Xe makes a bit of statick and opens it over Mix's chest to see what's inside.

*The usual things are inside, although where she pointed is an organ that glows dully. Although what is probably making her uncomfortable are what look like a chipped Diamond and shards of gold that are stuck to the organ in different spots

*Sky bends down to help Deer get the shard from Liz

[Doc] You have bits of gems stuck in a rather odd looking organ. Are you sure you don't want them removed?

[Mix] Um.. Just the.. Gems? I think. Pretty sure the organs normal. *Twiddles her thumbs nervously

[Doc] I can do that - Xe pulls out a pair of small tweezers and a soup bowl and reaches for the first shard with the tips.

*The only thing the shard does is, well, nothing. But the diamond close to it sparks rather suddenly at the tweezers.

[Doc] watches the little sparks, - how interesting. Did that hurt at all?

[Mix] Did what hurt?

[Doc] I guess that answers my question. There's a little interference here- xe lets a shard drop into the bowl and reaches for another -

[Deer] Finally gets the ice shard out of Liz's mouth-

[Doc] Have you been near any explosions since this became a problem?

[Mix] No? I've mostly stayed home to rest, I think this is my third time out of bed?

*Again, it's the diamond that sparks while the shard does nothing.

[Doc] Goes after one of the diamond bits-

[Liz] Mmmm... *wiggles toward another shard to nom on

*Almost immediately it goes from small zaps to a full out electric shock at the tweezers. It seems almost.. angry? If an object ever could be.

[Deer] Starts gathering the shards- Now now, shards are not for nomming

[Doc] Oh, feisty. Well I'm not one to be deterred by a bit of electricity!- pulls on the bit-

*Mix lets out a startled, and somewhat pained noise

[Deer] - Mix?

*The diamond just keeps pumping out electricity.

[Doc] Is working the bit loose - just hold on Mix! - Hir hair is standing up a bit more then usual. - Just don't touch me!

[Mix] That hurts--

*The diamond pops loose, and an errant bit of electricity jumps from the organ before the absence is filled over

[Doc] I guess so, it really put up a fight. - Is examining the bit

*It's still leaking electricity, and it almost seems to form a shape around it. The diamond is missing a chunk in the corner, but is otherwise unremarkable.

[Doc] I wonder if... well I need the rest of the bits to see- Xe goes after the remaining stuck shards with determination.

*Without the diamond, the golden shards are easy to pluck out, as they do not put up the fight that it did

[Doc] Finishes up and tries to get a better feel for the extraneous organ.

*The diamond is slowly ceasing it's sparking

*The organ seems natural, for all intents and purposes. Without all the things stuck to it, it seems to be doing better, now glowing a soft green color that is racing up Mix's spine slowly where her glowing scar used to be.

[Mix] What are you doing?

[Doc] Just looking, I'm curious as to what this thing is connected too. It's glowing, but that's nearly normal for brine bits.

[Mix] It uh... It's like a.. Mmm... Magic organ, I guess? It's just sort of there. I can't for the life of me remember if.. I was ever told the real name.

[Doc] Smiles- Your pineal gland is in the wrong place Mix, but it's also much larger then most, so it's all good.

[Mix] Pineal.. Gland?

[Doc] Probably not literally, but on humans it's a tiny vestigial organ in the front part of their brains. It's associated with psychic activity.

[Doc] Xe closes up the hole and regards the bowl full of bits. - Now the question is, how did you end up with these in your chest?

*Mix leans forward to look at them, only to jerk back, both in shock, and as a tiny shock jumps from the diamond

[Mix] It... can't be...

[Doc] Puts a hand over the bowl so the spark dosen't get to her- What is it?

[Mix] I think... But it can't be...

*She is very unsure, tapping her hands together before reaching to the bowl

[Mix] Can I.. hold it?

[Mix] To check something.

[Doc] Sure, they are yours Mix - xe holds the bowl out to her-

[Deer] Is watching with interest, having completely forgotten about getting the shards away from Liz-

*Mix very gently scoops the diamond out of the bowl first, and it stops it's sparking immediately

[Mix] ... Huh.. *She turns it over in her hands and rubs her fingers along the broken, missing half thoughtfully

[Doc] Do you know someone else who can pixel pick? - reffering to the missing pixels from the diamond

[Mix] No.. But.. I know who's this was.. And.. I have a good idea who's those were.

*She sets it down and carefully gathers up the gold shards, looking at them with a surprisingly sad expression

[Mix] My Herobrine and Notch. But.. It doesn't explain why they were.. In me. Last I saw these they were where they were supposed to be.

[Doc] Did they have that kind of armor or something?

[Doc] If you wanted to keep at least the gold inside you I could fashion it into a heart and put it back.

[Mix] No it... These were in their chests. It's worked kind of as a focal point for their power, I guess. I don't know, I never asked. *She sets the shards down and arranges them into a crude bar, although it's clear there are a lot of pieces missing. Mix taps her chest, dead center over where the organ is beneath

[Mix] Right there. They said mine would.. uh.. grow in eventually. Whatever that means.

[Doc] Softly - I'm sorry Mix. Is there anything I can do? I'm not sure what they meant by that. But I can make the bits into anything small you might want.

[Mix] Well first.. I.. I want to check. The signature is familiar enough but.. Could you trace this? And find the rest? *She lifts the diamond back up and regards it a bit.

[Mix] I don't want to do anything unless I know the other parts can't be found. That way I'm not.. Jumping to conclusions.

[Doc] I can try, I mean... where would they be? Somewhere on this server? Or wherever you came from?

[Mix] I don't know. These pieces are here, but that's because they were.. in me.

*Mix looks at Sky after a few seconds, eyes narrowing a bit

*Sky looks kind of guilty

[Mix] I'd think they... would be where my seed was? Or uh... Neighboring it, I think. *Looks back at Doc

[Doc] I'll need to talk to Cp, he's much better at navigating out there then I am. Do you care if I take them? I'll keep them safe.

[Mix] Yes! I... *She hesitates a bit before nodding

[Mix] I'll come with, I don't want to let them out of my sight. Plus, I feel a lot better now.

[Doc] Okay. Maybe we can just tp to him. I'll call him - chat- Cp are you busy?

[CP] - A little, why?

[Doc] You know that program you wrote to find the dragon eggs? I need it altered a little bit to track a pair of player signatures. A NOTCH and a brine specifically.

[CP] - Are we killing the NOTCH?

[Doc] Probably not, they're Mix's missing relatives.

[CP] - OH COME ON!

[Doc] Sighs - Give me strength...

[Mix] -in chat- If you hurt him I will end you.

[Sky] -Softly- The worst she'll do is like... Punch him, softly. Probably.

[CP] - Yeah.... Riiiiiiiight

[Flowey] -In chat- whatever happened, i had nothing to do with it, i swear

[Doc] Cp.... I'm coming to you out of respect for your abilities. Could you please just help without demanding a blood price?

[CP] - Again, I'm a little busy

[Doc] What are you doing?

[CP] - ... None of your damn business

[Doc] Grins- You're playing with Stevie aren't you?

[CP] - No

[Doc] Liar....

[CP] - Not lying this time Doc

[Doc] Fiiine. I'll bother you later then. - Sorry Mix. Cp is up to his eyeballs in something.

[Mix] Alright, that's... Fine, I guess.

*Liz scuffles several shards under their body and curls up happily

[CP] Sighs as he turns his full attention back onto Stevie who's hitting the wooden sword in his hand with his own now unbreakable one- Remember Stevie, don't just swing wildly...

[Stevie] - Yes brother!

This message has been removed.

[Doc] I'll work on him tomorrow Mix and I'll get back to you once I've badgered him into agreeing. For now though I'm going to take Deerheart home.

[Notch] finishes the last bit of the little house and wanders back toward the front door. Some noises get his attention and he creeps around the side of the house to peek around the corner.

[CP] Is holding a wooden sword while giving Stevie some basic instructions- Good, now try jabbing again

[Notch] Makes a little noise of suprise and smiles as he watches them

[Stevie] Is eagerly going at his brothers sword-

[Notch] Mumbles- Liar liar, Doc really does know you inside and out Cp. Heh.

[Stevie] Stumbles as he takes too big of a step forwards-

[CP] - Careful now, don't want to hurt yourself...

[Stevie] Spots Notch- Father!

[Notch] Waves sheepishly. - You two having fun?

[Stevie] - Uh huh! Brother's going over how to fight again with me!

[CP] Grumbles-

[Notch] Well your brother is a good teacher, I'm pretty sure he's the strongest fighter on this seed.

[Stevie] - Really?

[Notch] Well yes. Of course. The only creepypasta here I don't think he's beaten down is Splender, and despite his powers I doubt he'd be much in a swordfight.

[Stevie] - Woooooooow

[CP] Coughs a little- I think that's enough for today Stevie...

[Stevie] - Noooooo! I wanna keep going!

[Notch] I think you should trust your brother, you don't want to get tired and clumsy.

[Stevie] - But... But...- Huffs and crosses his arms while puffing out his cheeks

[Notch] No buts. To make the best use of a good teacher, you have to be a good student as well.

[Stevie] Continues to pout and sit on the ground-

[Notch] I'll just pick you up and take you inside the house myself if you act like that.

[Stevie] - No!

[Notch] No what? You think I can't?

[Stevie] Whines-

[Notch] Eyebrow raise- I think it's nap time if you're going to complain like that

[CP] Is just watching to see what will happen-

[Stevie] - NO! I'M NOT TIRED!

[Notch] But you're whining. That usually means tired with little kids.

[Stevie] - But I wanna continue practicing!

[Notch] Cp did you have something else to do? Or have you guys been at this for a while already?

[CP] Shrugs- I suppose we hadn't been at it too long...

[Notch] You know.... you could let him punch your bag for a bit. Kids love messy things.

[CP] Growls a little-

[Stevie] - Bag?

[Notch] Shrinks a little- what was that for?

[CP] - Just shut up- Starts walking away

[Notch] But Cp? - sighs sadly.

[Stevie] - Father? What bag?

[Notch] It's a special punching bar that.... well it's ful of liquid and it splatters on you when you punch it.

[Stevie] - Cool!

[Notch] Tell you what. So we don't make your brother mad by getting in his space, we'll go over to Doc's castle and use theirs. Is that okay?

[Stevie] - Okay!- He quickly stands up and takes Notch's hand

[Notch] Starts off down the long path to the shrine with Stevie beside him.

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