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soobadnoonecanstopher · 4 years ago

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Touch it for Real, Part 9

Genre: Humor / Fluff / Angst / (Eventual) Smut 18+

Warnings: OMG they were roommates / slice of life / slow burn / mutual pining / crude humor / cursing / virgin!baek / idiots to lovers / unresolved sexual tension

Characters: Baekhyun X You/Female Reader

Description: You teach Baekhyun how to date. (Basically the Get You Alone M/V)

A/N: DO NOT YELL AT ME! It is going to be okay.

Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7 , Part 8 , Part 9 , Part 10

You had a secret.

For such an abstract and shapeless thing you could sure feel it sitting in there.

It was pulsing.

Your secret felt like a splinter lodged just under a single taste bud that sat in the center of your tongue. You could feel your white blood cells attacking it, trying their best to push it up and push it out, but still it clung tight with its sharp barbs lodged within your cell walls. You brushed your tongue against your teeth.

The secret did not budge.

What you knew about them though, was that secrets did not like to stay hidden forever.

Your fork slipped and clanked noisily against the ceramic plate and the bright orange carrot ball rolled across the smooth white surface nearly sliding over the edge onto the white linen. Whoever decided that your steamed vegetables needed to be shaped into spheres simply for aesthetics should be forced to come out here and explain how you were supposed to spear one of these things while also avoiding the risk of it shooting across the table and hitting your date in the face.

Ben turned out to be very nice. If you were into tall, handsome, clean-looking, and responsible guys who drove their own cars and also had things like health insurance and retirement plans. When you first saw him, you were struck by the firmness you felt when he shook your hand and smiled brightly at you. He had all of his teeth and a head full of hair. He was definitely walking around on his real legs too. He looked like the kind of guy who didn’t let the clean laundry sit in the dryer for longer than a day and changed out his toothbrush every three months. You couldn't see a single fault.

You were trying your best to make a good first impression.

Really, you were.

Well, while also keeping an eye on Baekhyun who sat beside you with his focus down on his plate as he sliced his food into bite sized bits. His control of the fork and knife felt so careful and so exacting, it neared obsession. He had not ordered the steamed vegetables. None of his food rolled.

Across from him, looking just as cute in person as her online dating profile pictures conveyed, was Mia.

Mia was fine.

She was fine.

You didn't want to get into it.

Her clothes were fine. They were exactly the kinds of clothes you had expected she would wear.

Her hair was fine.

She actually had a hairstyle that reminded you of one of the characters in an anime you watched with Baekhyun once and you wondered about the upkeep costs of that particular shade of blue that streaked through her hair. You wondered if she had to switch to blue towels and blue pillow cases or if everything in her house was just stained forever.

Baekhyun’s cheeks blushed when he shook her hand and his smile was bashful, if not a bit tight when she complimented his glasses. Your mind briefly considered the plush, expensive white towels you both owned at home and a flash of horror overcame you for a split second when you imagined those towels streaked with a blue stain from the shower.

He bought those glasses at a store. Anyone can go to the store and buy glasses. Did such a superficial compliment really warrant such a deep shade of pink on his cheeks?

You took a sip of your glass of wine and the sweet, cool liquid had a tart aftertaste that lingered on your taste buds long after you swallowed and you stabbed roughly at the runaway carrot again, impaling it with the prongs of your fork.

Finally.

“I got it,” you said out loud to yourself with a wide smile and you held your prize up in front of your face for a second. Long enough for your eyes to drift across your table to meet Ben’s and you caught the soft amused chuckle that puffed from his nose.

You’d already gotten through the backstory. Starting with the curious question from Mia about how you and Baekhyun got to know each other and you took a quick glance toward Ben as Baekhyun explained that you and he had been roommates for a couple of years. You caught the slight smile on Ben’s lips as he looked down into his water glass and you wondered if he was pleased that he already knew the answer to this question as you had been quick to tell him this important detail about your life as you chatted with him during the last week or so.

Mia on the other hand simply let her eyes drift over from Baekhyun’s face to land on yours for a moment and you offered a disarming smile by way of explanation. Not that either of you had any explaining to do. You could live with whoever you wanted to live with. It took her ten seconds to return your smile, although you didn't quite believe it, or believe that she was done with her curiosities about this topic.

You couldn't really blame her although you’d given her nothing to be suspicious about. Not in the last 20 minutes since you’d all arrived and nibbled on shared appetizers, at least.

Hell, you hadn’t even touched him all day. From before you both arrived at this fancy restaurant and just relinquished your coats to some stranger simply because she held a hand out and sported a severe enough hairdo and manic look in her eyes that was too frightening to question. From the morning when you woke up and wandered into your kitchen to make toast for one and you ignored the sound of his feet shuffling in, half-asleep to grab a yogurt from the fridge. You hadn’t even helped him style his hair; which looked stunning, by the way, with the waves and the faded brown color that absolutely looked like something the perfect boyfriend would let you play with as he laid on your lap. He hadn’t even asked for your help picking out his outfit. He’d simply done it all on his own and waited for you by the front door wearing those jeans and smelling like that familiar scent that he bought for your date with him weeks back.

When had this all become so awkward? You’d never been afraid to touch Baekhyun before but now, well, the touches hadn’t ever concealed quite so much meaning before.

By the time the entrees arrived the conversations had moved on to hobbies and interests.

Ben was a movie buff, and his favorites were mostly mainstream blockbusters of the Marvel Superhero variety. He enjoyed many of the genres of films you’d mostly seen just the previews of. His top ten contained a bit more horror than you were comfortable with. One in particular, a prolific film based on a Steven King novel, had been the kind of psychologically terrifying film that made your chest rattle and you had spent most of the second half of that movie with your face buried in Baekhyun’s arm begging him to just describe to you what was happening and to tell you when the scary parts were over.

When he asked you what your favorite movie was you hesitated for a moment before pulling the movie Forrest Gump out of basically thin air. Yes you had enjoyed the movie. Yes it was something you’d seen more than once and if it was on television right now you would sit down and watch it from start to finish and you would enjoy it. It was a respectable favorite to have. It was the kind of favorite movie you would not be embarrassed to show to your grandmother.

But it wasn’t actually your favorite and you could feel the burden of Baekhyun’s eyes as he turned his head to look at your face when you said it.

Something about naming, out loud with your own lips — the light and fun, mindless guilty pleasure of the film that was actually your favorite movie that you’d watched hundreds of times and returned to watch again and again every time you felt even a little bit upset; something about saying it out loud to this table of people with countless of hours of media consumption under their belts and opinions about things like prolific directors, production companies, hefty CGI budgets, and overused, tired tropes that absolutely should be dropped in 2021, well it just felt too vulnerable for you to say out loud.

You swallowed a sip of your wine and refused to turn your head to look at Baekhyun until you heard the sound of his throat swallowing the ice water he sipped.

When Mia changed the topic to Anime you felt Baekhyun come alive beside you and Ben slinked back in his seat a little as the two of them got to talking about something that was highly anticipated and was slated to be released next year. Rumors about artists and directors with names you could not know flew easily from their lips and Mia mentioned the name of one previous work that you recognized.

In fact you had watched the entire thing last year with Baekhyun and you remembered talking excitedly about it with Mia during one of your early text conversations.

Your face lit up and you happily joined in, excited to finally know what in the world they were talking about when you accidentally let something slip when you reminded her of what she had said about the anime before. Luckily you stopped yourself before you could admit that you had actually been the one she had been chatting with at the time.

Still, she caught it. She was very quick and sharp and you watched her face as she registered that you’d referenced something that only Baekhyun should know about. Had you just fucked up?

“Ahh, we,” you raised your index finger and waved it lightly toward where Baekhyun had stiffened up in his seat beside you, “he told me about what you said.”

There was a moment when her eyes widened and she looked at Baekhyun briefly before returning her focus to you.

“He...told you about me?” She lifted a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, straightened her back and leaned forward with her forearms rested in front of her plate on the table. Her off-the-shoulders number dipped when she leaned in and you caught a bit of black lace and the bunch up of her impressive bosom.

She smiled a coy smile aimed across the table.

You followed the smile and your eyes reached Baekhyun. He’d been hit with the smile and had been too stunned to return it. Instead, he lifted a hand and rubbed it over the back of his neck twice before reaching the same hand forward to grab the ice water he’d been sipping all night as he pulled in a mouthful and puffed his cheeks before covering his lips with his flattened palm and swallowing noisily.

“I also mentioned you to my friend,” Mia said not quietly enough for it to be just for him and you dropped your eyes down to the half finished chicken on your plate.

She was fine. Mia was fine. She’d done absolutely nothing wrong. She was nice and she was probably a good person, but you kind of wanted her to die.

“So,” Ben interjected suddenly and you looked across the table at him as you tried to conceal the surprise on your face to find him sitting there.

You noticed he was done with his food and his plate had already been cleared away by the super attentive waitstaff.

The negligence of your own date weighed heavily on you and you angled your chest forward to face him directly for whatever questions he had for you.

He was pointing toward Baekhyun and Mia with his extended finger and raised eyebrows.

“You two work in computers?” It was a work question. He’d gathered this much from the brief introductions everyone had given and while you had failed to offer any insight as to what you did for a living, Baekhyun and Mia had both mentioned computers.

“He’s a software engineer, and I’m a programmer. Similar but not the same,” Mia explained. You weren't sure of any of the details or of how they were different. You hadn’t really put much thought into it. You knew Baekhyun worked the magic with the keyboard and could fix anything that you happened to break.

“I’m in advertising. Just got scouted by Comma Entertainment and I’ve accepted.” Ben had a hand raised to his chest and his eyebrows were up. This seemed important to him and you let your lips form into an impressed O shape as you raised your eyebrows. His tone and the way he said the name of his new employer seemed to warrant the excited reaction.

You weren't familiar at all with his industry but you knew how to react like you knew what he was talking about. He certainly seemed impressed by himself. Who were you to discourage his enthusiasm.

“You’ve heard of it?” You sold it too well. Baekhyun had leaned close to you and whispered an aside question and you shot him a tense look with your eyes as a warning, but you quickly pushed your smile wide for Ben who was, deservedly, very excited about his new position.

“Of course, who doesn’t know Comma for advertising. That’s a very big deal. Is that why you were so busy last week? We hardly got to talk.”

Your subject change was so slick. If you hadn’t been the one to do it, you’d have been impressed by it. The disappointed pout on your face sold it well.

“Actually I was at the bank a lot last week. It was so weird. I had a few accounts that seemed to be hacked but then it turned out to be nothing. Had to change all my passwords though, so that was annoying.”

“That sucks. They didn't take anything did they?” Mia spoke up from beside Ben; concern written all over her face.

“No. Whoever did it just seemed to access purchase histories mostly. Some loser of a hacker. Didn't even get any money.” Ben’s lips pulled wide and he was laughing with his head thrown back at his perceived victory over the hacker that had been messing around in his bank records.

“You can learn a remarkable amount of information about a person’s bad habits from their bank history, Ben. Sure utilities and rent; that’s boring. You can find out how often someone gets hammered at bars. How many of those bars are also strip clubs. How many maxed out credit cards they make minimum payments on each month just to keep their head above water. Their gambling losses and the motel rooms they book in the bad part of town…”

Baekhyun was speaking up beside you. You turned and you looked at his profile as he spoke so candidly and with what you could only describe as a certain smugness on his voice.

The only reason he’d stopped talking was to catch his breath. It was the most he had spoken all night and you honestly felt taken aback by the suddenness of his words and more, the topic he spoke on. It felt weirdly pointed. It just felt so detailed; almost accusatory.

“What?” You hissed the question; focused it hard and as under your breath as possible to the man seated beside you.

His lips closed up before his eyes turned to look at you and you caught a quick blink of his eyes that preceded a softening of his features that had no business looking that confrontational in the first place.

“I’m not saying any of that stuff applies to Ben.” Baekhyun lifted a slim dismissive hand to wave toward your date. “It’s just an example. For all we know Ben’s only weakness is eating fried chicken every day.”

Ben’s lips were pulled into a thin line on his face and his jaw unclenched when you looked back at him. Then he was smiling at you and it was bright and convincing. You smiled back at him and shook your head at your wacky roommate’s antics.

“Actually it’s pizza. You caught me buddy, I’m a hardcore pizza addict. Every night.”

“Well, not tonight.” Baekhyun shrugged with an odd smile landing on his lips.

Ben’s tight smile flattened and the two men seemed to be staring at each other for longer than you thought was polite for a shared first double-date.

“So what is it that you do?” It was Mia who ultimately broke the tension and you looked across the table into her eyes. She had a pleasant smile on her face and was still chewing on a piece of bread, clearly unbothered by the strange standoff that had just been going on between the two men at this table.

Surely you weren't the only one to notice how odd it had been. Had you just imagined the tightness in Baekhyun’s fist that laid over his thigh and the hard glare in Ben’s eyes?

With Mia’s question though, you felt your own lips pull closed and your eyes danced around the table to the other curious parties who also were now looking at you to answer the question.

You’d prepared well for this date. You’d made sure Baekhyun had the detailed first date topics, questions and answers for perfect small talk, even the section on table etiquette. You’d made sure he knew you’d be here to steer the conversations toward topics he was comfortable discussing and you’d even set up a safety signal he would use if he wanted to bail and just go home.

You’d planned it all out, down to the detailed progression of the evening and how at the end someone might even suggest going together for drinks. And should one of the dates wish to split off, it would be completely okay as long as the corresponding person felt comfortable. You’d even promised that under no circumstances would you abandon Baekhyun to do this on his own if he didn't want to. Not even at the behest of Ben, your date.

They were looking at you and you'd gone quiet. You’d been so busy preparing for this date that it never occurred to you that you were also actively involved and that someone might possibly ask a question about you and your work.

Your work. Well…

“Uhh...I don't really do anything worth mentioning.”

You felt it. It was a warmth that had pooled in the skin around your nose. Your cheeks felt warm and you felt just insignificant enough for it to take your undeserved confidence and throw it out the window.

Ben and Mia were watching you. You pulled your bottom lip in between your teeth and bit down on the dry chapped skin on the surface.

“Nothing?” Ben said and his eyes were wide with a look of confusion on his face.

“Well, not nothing.” You were not completely unemployed. You had been quite impressive before. You’d been working with the best publicists of an entertainment company and had been in charge of crafting and perfecting the asset sheets of many of your company's highest profile artists. You’d been the best at it and at one time had been highly sought out for your expertise. You had a way with it. You could work some real magic. You could make a dud of a raw potato sound like a five star course in a Michelin star restaurant. Losing your position in the spring of 2020 had really been a huge blow to your confidence. You looked back at how far you had fallen. Boring data entry jobs to make ends meet. Taking on weird side gigs so you could afford tiny luxuries like your favorite scented lotion or the name brand tampons instead of the store brand.

“I do have a job.” You added lamely. “It’s just not at all interesting.”

Ben dropped his eyes from yours and Mia shrugged her shoulders and stabbed a carrot ball expertly on the first try.

“Yeah but what is it?” Mia said as she chewed daintily. The heat in your cheeks spread and you let your eyes wander away from hers over the various dinner items that covered this table.

Beside you, Baekhyun’s movement caught your eye and you turned to see him place an elbow on the table in front of him and he leaned forward.

“She’s a dating coach. She’s really good at it, but much too modest when she talks about herself.”

Oh no. He wasn't about to spill the beans was he? This was definitely not something in the approved list of first date dinner topics. Wasn't this topic too incriminating? Wouldn't Mia put two and two together and figure out that you had been coaching Baekhyun all along? Also, wasn't this new profession of yours too brand new to start talking about so freely like this? What the hell was he doing?

“A dating coach? What’s that?”

Strangely, Mia didn't seem to be looking at Baekhyun with wheels turning and sirens blaring. She was looking at you with her mouth empty and hung open with a look of genuine interest in her eyes.

“Do you like, feed them what to say in an earpiece?” Ben was speaking up from the other side of Mia and you laughed at the absurdity of such a silly rom-com movie cliche.

“Well no. I’m not a pickup artist. I am a dating coach. Think about it like a sports coach. I am teaching my clients the skills to play the game. Skills to overcome dating anxiety, or I’m teaching them to identity and move away from self-sabotaging behaviors, limiting beliefs, or preconceptions that are detrimental to a healthy relationship.

I have clients that don't even know where to begin. My goal is to strategize with them and place them effectively within the dating scene so they stand the best chance. It’s incredibly hard to be objective about your own love life, but I provide an outside viewpoint. I step in and intervene when I see something that isn't in line with their relationship goals or the vision they have for dating.

I’m not teaching manipulation or just telling them what to say. There are no love spells to make someone fall in love with you. I’m changing the way they believe in themselves so they can present themselves to someone else in the absolute best way to begin a real relationship with someone.”

You’d been leaning in as you spoke animatedly with your hands. You felt the genuine excitement building with your words. You were surprised at how much of your previous profession’s language applied to this new exciting endeavor you were embarking on, but there really were tons of overlapping similarities between the two fields. The explanations just poured out of you.

You hadn’t said any of this out loud before to anyone but the more you talked about it, the more elated you felt about what you were doing with your life. With how much you had been helping Baekhyun and how much progress you had seen in just one day of helping your clients — Baekhyun’s friends Minseok and Sehun. Sehun had finally, finally sent you his first selfie that wasn’t taken from his lap after you’d sent him many examples of good selfies taken from different angles. Minseok was already halfway through the materials you’d sent him to study and had been working hard on identifying and changing the self-defeating language he’d used in his rough draft dating profile.

“She has an app.” Baekhyun piped up from beside you. He’d leaned back in his chair as you spoke.

Both Ben and Mia’s faces mirrored each other’s. Their eyes were wide and their mouths hung in amazement and you quickly closed up your own mouth and grabbed anxiously at your wine glass, feeling a little bit embarrassed about having talked so much. You couldn't resist the chance to smash their misconceptions about what your goals actually were with helping your clients. None of these people were unlovable. They were all worthy of finding someone and you were going to give it your all to help them see their own value.

“Not at all interesting?” Mia spoke up, “that’s super interesting. That’s really, really cool. Can—Can I have your contact info? I have a friend that would be interested in your services.”

“You have an app too? This is something we could advertise online. It would do extremely well on certain kinds of reddit forums and definitely in most online gaming communities.” Even Ben sounded excited, if not a bit overly judgmental, and you heard a quiet, but hostile scoff next to you.

You ticked your head toward the sound but did not turn to look at him. You knew that scoff well enough to hear the annoyance in his voice at whatever he thought Ben might be insinuating about online gamers and the connection to the incels that haunted the forums of reddit.

“I think it’s a bit premature to think about online advertising. I’m still only one person.”

Ben smiled and shrugged off your quick dismissal of his idea to partner up and advertise your business to the desperately lonely and pathetic gamers of the world. Hell, the more you thought about it, the less inappropriate Baekhyun’s annoyance was. Ben could use some coaching on choosing less insulting words.

Thankfully the dinner was over and the check had been taken care of. You looked away from the palpable awkwardness that slapped you across the face when Baekhyun waved away Ben’s card and paid for the entire bill with his own.

“You can get me next time, buddy.” He definitely said this word sarcastically. It was out of line and you simply could not find the right moment to pinch his leg under the table to get him to behave himself in a discrete enough way that would not get you caught by the other two people at this table.

You let it slide simply because you had no way to stop it. He was ignoring the way you waved your finger frantically at him down by your calf. You knew he could see you in his peripherals.

No, Baekhyun. Stop that. Be nice. Your hand was saying. He wouldn't even look at it.

The dinner was over and the movie was starting soon. You’d picked a restaurant that was close enough to the theatre that you could walk.

You paired off. It was far from natural. You actually caught Baekhyun’s eyes as you stepped quickly and walked ahead of him, falling into step beside Ben and you left behind Baekhyun and Mia to bring up the rear. It took every ounce of self control not to turn around and look behind you to see how closely they walked to each other. To see if Baekhyun kept his hands shoved securely in his pockets or if he swung his arms at his side as he walked, inching a hand closer and closer to Mia’s swinging hand in the hopes of a back of the hand brush of his warm skin against hers.

Your steps must have stalled. You’d reached the theatre and you looked up to locate Ben, only to find him at the box office purchasing four tickets for the movie you’d all agreed to watch days ago. For the life of you, you couldn't remember what you were seeing. You merely followed where you were led and found yourself seated in a center row of a movie house sandwiched between Ben and Baekhyun. You noticed the center armrests had been lifted when you arrived and simply did not bother to lower them since everyone was too full from dinner for any movie snacks or drinks.

The house was mostly empty and then lights dimmed as the movie began. You searched your brain and nearly pulled out your phone to check your chat logs for the name of the film but decided against shining a tiny bright light in a dark room.

The movie began and you were quickly drawn into the narrative. It was a dark film and as the soundtrack began to take on more sinister sounding tones you recognized that your heart was racing and you were feeling the tension all over your body. It was not a gorey horror film, but it was leaning more toward the psychological suspense thriller genre. Not really something you watched much of.

To your left, Ben sat completely still; focused only on the movie screen. He looked so calm and nearly unaffected by the terrifying things happening on the screen. He occasionally shifted in his seat but did not react to the jump scare that flashed before your eyes and made you flinch hard in your seat. You’d reached the point in the film when the main characters were in genuine danger and you began to wonder if anyone would make it out of this movie alive. Was this one of those films where everyone was doomed?

It happened again, another jump, another loud shocking sound and another noise startled you and you dove to your right, hiding your face in the warm shoulder of the man sitting beside you.

The realization was instantaneous. The second you felt the warmth of his arm, and the smell of him hit your nose, you pulled your head up and you straightened out your spine, mumbling a quiet apology to Baekhyun for using his arm to hide behind as you removed any and all contact points you had with his body. You angled your hips and your knees away from him and even went so far as to stick your hands well under your own thighs and keep them there so you didn't grab for him again. You had been doing so well by not touching him at all today. Why did it have to be a scary movie?

Things grew more frantic on the screen. You held your breath and tried your best to keep from reacting as much as you could. How long was this movie? How much longer did you have to endure this? You should have paid more attention to the details of this part of the date. This was your own fault. You were acting like a big baby because you couldn't handle a little frightening scenes in a movie.

It was coming again. You could feel it building. You closed your eyes and terrible sounds were erupting all over. You would just not look. You could make it through if you just didn't look. With your eyes closed the sounds felt louder than ever and when you thought you couldn't take it anymore you considered committing the enormous sin of getting up during the climax of the movie to use the bathroom just so you didn't have to sit through this anymore.

There was a shift beside you then. You felt warm fingers inching down your forearm, traveling the path your hand took that led below your thigh and someone was reaching for your hand and pulling it out from where you’d been sitting on it. Someone to your right was gripping your hand with his own warm hand and you opened your eyes to look down between the hidden space between your hip and Baekhyun’s hip. There, you saw the grip of his hand that wrapped securely around yours.

He squeezed down once and you followed the length of him up to catch a glimpse of the side of his face. He was looking up at the screen. His eyes were open and he did not flinch at all. He was so still aside from the occasional movement of his lips when he moistened them with his tongue.

You could handle this if he lent you a little bit of his strength like this. Your eyes returned to the screen but your mind wandered back down to the secure comfort you felt in his hand.

You felt your own secret throb.

It made you flinch just a little bit and Baekhyun’s hand shifted then. He moved, lifting the tight grip for a moment and you wondered if he was done, would he take his hand back and leave you cold and afraid again? The lift was for the shift of his fingers and you felt the push of each digit between yours. He pushed his fingers between yours; interlocking your hands together with his and his thumb moved lightly over your own thumb, brushing comforting strokes again and again through the loud and scary and shocking scenes that played over that screen.

This time the racing you felt in your chest had nothing to do with the scary movie. He was touching you. He was holding your hand in secret. It felt forbidden with his date sitting right beside him like she was and with your date seated right beside you like he was. All of your attention was down on the slow pressure you felt from his thumb as it traced the shape of your own thumb down from the very bottom up to the tip, around again. The simple up and down had a slow and sensual rhythm to it. When he lifted his hand his thumb moved and you held your breath to feel that same very slow touching trace the outline of the palm of your hand again and again. He drew absentminded shapes into your skin with the pointed tip of his thumb and your eyes drifted closed as the longing grew within you. He followed the paths of the creases in your skin like a palm reader. He did not even need light to see them, he simply felt them and traced along the paths.

You let him.

You felt bewitched.

You loved him.

The credits rolled on the screen and the lights switched on. The change was abrupt. You were taken by surprise and shocked by it like you were from the jump scares in the film.

His warmth left you. His wandering light touch, his deliberate and careful exploration of the lines that made up the palm of your hand vanished.

Everyone was standing and everyone was walking out of the theatre house and your mind felt clouded and dazed but you followed where their steps led and you found yourself standing outside of the exit doors with the three other people who you entered with.

Baekhyun stood beside Mia and Ben occupied the space of the sidewalk square that you also stood inside.

It was the end of a night. You felt an overwhelming urge for this evening to be done so you could go home and shower and maybe eat something sweet and distracting and maybe made out of chocolate.

“Well this was fun,” it was your own voice that ultimately called it.

Mia had been looking at Baekhyun who had been looking down at his own feet as he lightly tapped his foot on the concrete below. Three taps.

Tap, tap, tap.

You felt a jolt of realization. Baekhyun had just tapped his foot thrice on the floor below him well within your sight and you recognized what that meant. He was feeling done. He was done with all of this exhausting socializing and being out in public with so many people around and he wanted to go home now. This was him asking you for help now as he wasn't sure how to end the date but wanted it to be over.

“What about...grabbing some drinks, maybe...” Mia was talking only to Baekhyun as she looked at him, “if you aren't too tired.”

“Hey Baek, isn’t your grandmother coming over early tomorrow? Do you still have to get ready for that?” You interjected suddenly and Baekhyun looked up into your face with his mouth open and you watched his eyes move slowly over your face as he recognized what you were doing. You were giving him an out. Mia had asked him to go for drinks and you were giving him an excuse, should he need it.

You both knew his grandma came every other Sunday. You both vividly remembered the wonderful visit you had at the beginning of the week with her and she wasn’t due to arrive again until next Sunday.

He could simply correct you if he really did want to go with her. He could call you a dummy and tell you that you had the wrong week again and playfully tap you on the head to jog your brain back into functioning the right way as he often did when you got something mixed up.

“Oh, yeah she is,” Baekhyun grabbed your convenient reminder from the air and smiled a rueful smile directed at Mia. His smile widened with the wince on his face, “that’s too bad.” He added and Mia took it well.

She smiled and nodded her head and there were well wishes for a safe trip home all around as you all parted ways.

Ben said he would text you later. Baekhyun told Mia the same and you waited until they both walked away to follow Baekhyun back to his car for the quiet ride home.

The silence was heavy, but it was comfortable.

Baekhyun didn't speak at all and you could tell by the way he carried himself that he was tired. He wasn’t normally an extroverted person and found it very draining to carry on a full conversation with friends he knew well. Strangers like he had been with tonight, well, you could see the fatigue in his movements and you knew he needed something warm to drink and maybe some comfort with a familiar favorite tv show to zone out in front of.

You handled it better. You were used to having to go out of your home occasionally and you even enjoyed socializing with your coworkers on the few days you went in to the office for work. You felt a bit drained but mostly you were preoccupied with watching how he was handling it and you were also burning with curiosity to know how Baekhyun felt about the whole thing.

He’d wandered into the living room and he found the sofa. You followed him close behind and grabbed the remote, flipping to a familiar and funny cartoon that you often saw him playing in the background as he worked on things. He didn't usually watch it that closely but it was comforting enough to stay on and keep his mind occupied for a while.

You didn't speak. Everything you had to ask him could wait. Even the scolding you had for him about how he acted toward Ben could also wait. You’d let the man breathe a little first.

You busied yourself in the kitchen making two cups of hot tea and when you returned you found his head leaning against the back of the couch with his eyes still glued to the screen. He had a passive smile on his face and he reacted positively to the wacky scenarios the characters found themselves in. He would occasionally speak out loud, speaking along with a funny line he knew by heart and you found it impossible to resist saying the follow up joke. You knew this show as well as he did.

He accepted the tea with a smile and had a few sips and you set your mug on the coffee table in favorable of the comfortable side of the sofa, the side with the pillows that allowed you to rest your head comfortably as you watched the big tv.

You were feeling pretty good. Baekhyun had now officially gone on his first date with a real girl who wasn’t you and he’d had a nice time. You could see from where you laid your head down how relaxed his face was as he giggled at the show.

You stretched and you felt his warm thigh with your foot. This sofa was long enough for you to stretch out completely and you only barely reached where he sat at the other side. You wiggled your toes, unable to resist the light messing with him that you often gave in to and his hand reached down to grab ahold of your foot, which he held in place as he paid attention to the tv.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket and you sat up a little bit to pull it out.

You saw a text message from Ben.

From the preview you got the idea of what kind of text message the man would be sending you an hour after your first, and apparently your last date with him.

-Hey you seem like a super cool girl, but...

The preview showed you enough to know that he was dumping you before you’d even gotten anything started with him.

You opened the text. Your curiosity outweighed your sense of self preservation.

-...but whatever’s going on between you and your roommate, well it doesn’t really seem like there’s much room for me. I just don't think I can start something knowing I’ve already lost. Thanks for inviting me tonight. The movie was fun. Good luck with everything. - Ben

You felt the sting.

You couldn't help it. You’d spent all evening watching Baekhyun interact with Mia with every ounce of your self control devoted to not letting your jealousy show at all. At one point you’d been so damn engrossed in them that you forgot Ben was even there. What an unfair and shitty situation to have put him in. You quickly keyed out an apology for your crappy date etiquette and thanked him for going out with you tonight.

You couldn't even blame him for anything. He had been sweet and he had tried his best to be the perfect gentleman. What had you expected?

You sent the last message you would ever send to Ben and tossed your phone roughly toward the coffee table. It bounced but landed in the middle.

The racket called Baekhyun’s attention and he turned to look at you with his eyebrows raised in question.

“Ben just rejected me.”

Somehow saying this out loud to Baekhyun felt better than hiding it from him. It felt less miserable than keeping it inside of yourself and letting yourself suffer the sting of the rejection alone.

Baekhyun’s lips pulled into a small frown and he took out his cell phone from his pocket and tossed it roughly on the coffee table beside yours. It took a similar bounce and your eyes widened in surprise at the sudden gesture.

“No way, not Mia too,” you said in genuine fear and Baekhyun shook his head with his shrug still well in place.

“Nah, I just can't lay down with my phone in my pocket,” he said as he wiggled on the sofa trying to get comfortable, “though in hindsight I can see how you would think that, sorry. Mia hasn’t texted yet.”

He was wiggling, finding no comfort in all the positions he tried and you caught his wandering eyes for a second as you lightly tapped a hand over your belly.

This…

This would be fine. This was something you both did sometimes. Baekhyun said your belly was warm and comfy and made the best noises and he liked to use you as a pillow when he was just too tired to go to his own bed.

He moved right away at your invitation and you let your legs part around his chest as he laid his head down right on top of you. He turned his head to face the tv and didn't even squirm too much before he sighed out loud. His arms laid on either side of your waist and you felt the constriction as he lightly squeezed around you.

You really hadn’t gotten to touch him all day. Your fingers found their way into his hair and you felt a low moan from the back of his throat travel though your body as you raked your nails down the back of his head to his nape.

“Peanut,” you said softly, feeling every little bit of the annoying little tickle of that stupid secret sitting inside of you.

You could feel the heaviness of his body as he gave in and relaxed his muscles on you. You felt every breath he took and they seemed to be changing as you played with his hair and he gave in to the relaxing comfort you offered him.

“Hmm?” He replied after a long while. You angled your face and could see that his eyes were closed.

“How was the date? Was it nice?”

You had so many hopes for him. You were trying your best to ignore the pangs of your own selfish jealousy and get past it all to get to something good for him. Something that would make him understand how incredible he was. How beautiful he was inside and out and how precious of a human being he was.

“Mhmm, I liked it.” He said softly and he shifted and you felt him tighten his hold around your waist briefly before he relaxed again.

“Did you really? Do you think you liked Mia?” You kept your voice strong. You did not allow your fears to overcome your voice. You were okay with this if he was okay.

He did not answer right away. You’d stopped playing with his hair and you kept your hand rested over his head. He was so warm. He was so lovely.

“Do you want me to like Mia?”

No.

Mia would be so good to him.

You did not answer. Your answer would have been no. It would have been selfish. You’d just been dumped by your date, how dare his date have gone so well. You’d both been on the same date. You could still see the way she looked at him. She found him just as lovely as you did.

You felt a thickness at the back of your throat and you swallowed it down.

“I’m trying, Bug. She’s very nice to talk to. Do you think I should like her?”

Was this because of his mistrust of people? Was this his shyness about letting someone he didn't know very well in close?

You couldn't respond. You did not trust yourself to do the right thing.

“You should go rest if you’re sleepy,” you said, you know, like a coward.

It took him a few minutes of laying on top of you before he realized that you were right and he would be much more comfortable in his own bed. He nodded and pushed up with his arms, and his eyes stayed closed and his head stayed hung down as his feet shuffled and he made his way into his bedroom, leaving his door open you merely heard the loud sound of him plopping down on his bed.

You were stuck where he left you.

Stuck in about as crappy a mood as you’d ever found yourself.

You hated everything about this. You hated how much you loved him and you hated how receptive he was to the idea of dating Mia. You hated how she looked at him and giggled at his small jokes and you hated HATED the way his cheeks blushed and the shy smiles he gave her when she talked to him.

You laid there and you stewed in your mood for longer than was good for you and the only thing that made your it up was the simultaneous buzzing that brought both of your cell phones to life on the coffee table.

You reached for yours. It’s as your dating coach app. Baekhyun had received a new message from Mia. The feelings that surged through you were taking over your sense of what was good and what was right and what was proper behavior for someone like you to participate in.

You swiped to read the message.

-Hi Baekhyun. Sorry I couldn't wait until tomorrow to text you. I had an amazing time tonight and I was wondering if you would like to meet up tomorrow after your Grandmother’s visit for coffee? I have something I’d like to ask you.

You felt as if your body was on fire.

You could feel it deep inside your chest, deeper still inside your belly where his head had been resting moments before. You felt it in the palm of your hand where his thumb had traced the patterns of lines there. You felt it in your lips that he had kissed and in your tongue ached inside of your mouth from your stupid secret.

You reached for your phone. You opened the app for the power he’d given only to you and you responded to her message as if you were Baekhyun.

-Hi, Yeah, that sounds fine. I’ll meet you at 1pm.

Your hands moved on their own. You moved to the internal commands of your app and you deleted both of the messages from the chat history. When you picked up his phone you saw the notification for Mia’s message vanish before your eyes and when you unlocked it and accessed his chat log, there was no sign of the unimaginable and unforgivable sin you had just committed against him.

Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4 , Part 5 , Part 6 , Part 7 , Part 8 , Part 9 , Part 10

Tag list: @j-pping @blahblahblah-boo @his-mochi-cheeks @amyeonzing@littleflowercrown13 @baekinmylife @insta1010 @nana-banana @f4ncyvelvet@bbhbeth @totallynerdstuff @byunbabybaek @maijinki @bbyunz@theclawofaraven @kingkushdealer @uhobob @baekswifey @punchmebaekhyun @xlxbaekhyuneex

#baekhyun #baekhyun fanfic #exo #exo fanfic #exo fic #baekhyun fic #baekhyun ff #exo ff #baekhyun scenario #baekhyun chaptered #baekhyun fluff #baekhyun angst #baekhyun smut

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azurevi · 4 years ago

Text

on land where we can touch the moon (1/?)

Ok, so this is a really random idea, but it’s basically The Little Mermaid with Azul. And I wish I could excuse myself by saying that I was drunk writing this, but really I was just rushing it because I’ve been sitting on it for far too long. Anyways, enjoy!

Pairing : Azul / genderneutral reader

Characters : Grim, Ace and Deuce

Warnings/Triggers : none

Word count : 3,371

PART2 PART 3

“Isn’t this great,” you made a show of strolling along the railing, the beer in your hand threatening to spill. “The salty sea air, the wind blowing in your face. Perfect day to be at sea!”

“Yes, well-” Jack paused mid-sentence to lean over the side. He sounded as though he was retching. “It is indeed a favourable weather, your royal highness- urk!”

“Now, what did I say about formalities, Jack?”

“You said, and I quote, ‘Call me by my first name, if only for today. It’s a direct order.’”

You went up to soothe his back. When he pulled his head up, his eyes were glossy and cheeks purple. “It’s inappropriate for you to see me in this state, your majesty,”

“So you’re defying my orders now? And on my birthday, no less?”

“That man is all work and no fun,” Ace commented bitterly. He and Deuce were on the opposite side of the ship, holding their respective mugs of beer.

“That’s what makes him the knight commander,” Deuce said.

“A knight commander who’s seasick, huh?”

“Shut up, both of you!“

You chortled blatantly, chest light and hair spraying in the wind.

"Fireball Attack!”

There was a sharp yell, and Grim’s fur was all up in your face before you knew it.

“Hey, hey! Someone’s in a good mood!” You cradled him in your arms. His fur was fluffy and sticking up in the air in all directions.

While you were entertaining your attention-starved familiar, your personal knights had managed to get into yet another fistfight. Jack, the poor commander, was cornered on the edge of the ship, his golden, distinguished pin somehow threatening to slip off in his fingers.

“If I drop my badge, I swear on my wage you’re getting extra morning training and night patrols for the next whole year-!”

He gagged slightly before turning sharply, elbowing Ace in the process. His arm jolted, and the badge escaped his firm pinch, glistening in the air. Time seemed to slow as it made its way downwards, all the while the knights’ mouths grew rounder and rounder.

It plummeted right into the sea, made an insignificant plop and continued sinking quietly, slowly, until the sea muted the screams on deck and the light dwindled.

“We should really stay away, Rory,”

“Quit being a chicken,”

Lovett was falling behind. Rory had insisted that they visit this deeper and lesser known part of the ocean due to a half-hearted dare. And Rory, headstrong that she was, would never back down from a challenge.

“Haven’t you heard? Deep where the light doesn’t reach lives the evil Sea Merchant! A force to be reckoned with! It’s-”

Lovett swivelled swiftly. He was pretty sure something had just swam past from behind.

“Oh, for the love of Poseidon, please don’t eat me for I’m just a standard merman!”

“Will you zip?” Rory was already a few feets ahead. Lovett continued to mumble prayers as he flapped his tail harder.

There was almost no light now, but they could still make out the outlines of rocks and corals. It was uncanny how there was nary a sign of life, not even a lanternfish.

“What’s- what’s the dare anyways?”

“To steal something from the evil Sea Merchant’s collection,”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Lovett gasped. He had yet to notice how they’d swam into a forest of seaweeds. Some clung to their tails as they swam by and tickled their sides.

Something strong and somewhat slimy wrapped around Lovett’s arm. Presuming that it was just another irritating weed, he swung his arm back and forth. It only seemed to grow tighter.

“Great seas, what-” he turned to inspect. “Oh- oh- ten-TENTACLE!”

Rory sprinted around at the scream. “Holy-” she murmured, speechless and shocked to the core.

Wrapped around Lovett’s elbow was no doubt a tentacle lined with suckers. For a while, it didn’t seem to be moving, but then Lovett was yanked away like lightning.

“Lovett!”

The first thought that came to his mind was that he was going to be eaten. That was until he was met with a frowning face. One under silver messy hair. Then his eyes traveled down the seemingly countless slithering tentacles that stretched out from the man, and he was trembling in fear again.

“Please-! Don’t eat me! I have the least nutritional diet!”

The man didn’t answer. Instead, he squinted at Lovett for an agonizingly long time before finally letting him loose. Lovett squirmed and backed away. The area where he had been held had become swollen red.

“Lovett?” Rory had just gotten into the scene. Lovett didn’t wait a second to break into a run, but Rory caught him by his elbow where it was still hurting.

“We gotta run, Rory-”

‘Huh. What, it’s just Ashengrotto? Have you forgotten about him already?“

Lovett whimpered when Rory advanced on the man. He narrowed his gaze behind a neat pair of glasses. Lovett half expected Rory to be squeezed to death on the spot.

"You’re lurking down here now? How lame. And I see that you still got those hideous fingers of yours,” Rory gestured at his tentacles. “You seriously don’t remember him, Lovett? You have shit memories. Does Azul Ashengrotto from college ring a bell?”

It took Lovett a long, long time to get it. “That’s right, you’re Azul! Man, how you’ve changed- wait, are you the Sea Merchant?”

There was nothing that could rival the bitterness in Azul’s voice. “Pleased to see you again, Lovett,”

“Is it easier to prey on fishes down here? Or are you just that insecure about yourself?” Rory paid no mind to their conversation.

“… It’s none of your business,”

“It actually is. You see, knowing that an ink-blasting octopus lives in the same water as I do is really unnerving-”

“Then make your leave.”

Rory’s smug look faltered.

“Why should I? You don’t even own this part of the ocean-”

“Oh? Who are these friends of yours, Azul?”

A singsong voice once again interrupted Rory. She turned on her spot, only to find herself face to face with a grinning face.

“Eek-!”

“Oh! If this isn’t Rory~ how kind of you to visit us!”

Lovett backed away quietly. He wasn’t going to stay for anymore of this horror. When two hands slammed onto his shoulders, he shrieked a key higher than any other that’s been sung by opera singers.

“Where do you think you’re going?” a far more stern and solid voice asked. It was one of those voices you hear in persuading commercials.

It was the Leech brothers, in their long, slender eel forms.

Lovett thought that was it. This was his doom. He was either going to get eaten alive or squeezed to his demise. He should never have agreed to come here. And now he was going to die. He didn’t even get to experience life-

“It’s fine, Jade, Floyd,” Azul said calmly. The hands on Lovett’s shoulders retreated, and Rory rushed towards him hastily and pulled him up and up until they were out of the seaweeds.

“I can’t believe you let them off that easily!” Floyd complained, pouting hard. “We could’ve had some fun with them first, and yet you decided to play good guy?”

Azul didn’t reply. The three of them travelled between rocks and reefs, and while Azul seemed to be in search of something, the twins were merely accompanying.

“I believe he has his reasons,” Jade said, pausing in anticipation. When Azul didn’t soothe his curiosity, he sighed and decided to drop the topic.

Azul rummaged through the swaying weeds and peeked into the slits of the rocks. Nothing seemed to have piqued his interest. Then they swam even further away from where they’d started and reached a sunken ship.

While almost the entirety of the hull had rotten away the structure of the ship still remained intact. Anemones and sponges had claimed the pieces of wood. Tiny shrimps traveled freely between poles and debrises.

Jade and Floyd followed tightly like bodyguards. They were at least mildly worried after the encounter with Rory and Lovett. They could still recall vividly how notorious Rory was and what a relief that they never had to meet again.

If anything, Azul seemed frustrated. His tentacles worked individually, shoving aside inconvenience hastily just like his hands. It was as though he’d lost something priced and valued.

“Let’s split up, alright? Treasure hunt’s no fun if we’re just following one another,” Floyd said as he rounded a corner and out of sight. Jade hesitantly stayed behind as well, leaving Azul to his own.

He’d been here so many times that he’d lost count. There was always something new and from the land somewhere between the ruins. But this time, it seemed to have become just another bland, boring place without any aesthetic value.

That was until something flickered in the corner of his eyes. It was so weak that it would’ve gone unnoticed by, say, Jade and Floyd, but Azul had always been delicate in treasure hunting. Nothing ever slipped his sight.

It looked like a badge. A golden brimmed badge with two crossed swords in the middle, and at the bottom carved two grand words - 'Knight Commander’.

“Oh, what’s that you’ve got there?”

“Ahh!"

Azul spoke up finally in a long time. The brothers had at some point started following him again.

"Looks like a badge,”

“Bet it sank just a few hours ago. It looks very intact,”

“Yeah,” Azul flipped it between his fingers, eyes tracing in fascination. “It’s not everyday you see something like this,”

His mood seemed to have lightened after this discovery. He was gratified. It’d been a while since he last found anything worthy enough to add to his collection of trinkets from ashore. It put a smile to his face just remembering his towering shelves of tiny valuables.

Azul owned a secret grotto that even the Leech brothers knew nothing of. He’d made sure that it was known only to him.

It was where he stored all the human objects he’d found undersea. Things like a trident but with four tips or a shallow, handled bowl. There were items as big as a golden pot and others as small as a hairclip. Everywhere he turned they were shimmering and singing about the unknown world outside the water, where mermaids had legs and walked instead of swimming, where they could dance instead of just swaying and flapping tails. Where they could go so many different places - forests and deserts, mountains and caves - many more than what the ocean held.

And they could reach the moon. The ageless, pensive moon that Azul could only wish to caress. But no matter how hard he stretched, it was only in his dreams where the moon would come down in all its glory, close enough to blind his eyes.

He needed to reach it. There was no other way. It was the single entity in the world that knew all the truths and lies, all the corruptions and praises. He had to see it, then he would get the answers - the truth he’d always hungered for.

Muffled rumbles snapped him out of his intensity. When he looked up from under the grotto, he’d thought he was hallucinating.

The usually azure (and rather bland, may he add) current was now painted with red- no, yellow- purple- it was changing with every muted clap. It might have as well been the end of the world with its bizarreness. However, there was something else stirring in Azul’s heart aside from confusion.

Curiosity. A haste force that was tingling in all his eight tentacles, as if there was no way to rid of the sensation except to swim towards the source.

It was wrong on so many levels. He’d been taught by teachers, friends and his parents that to go beyond the water was basically pleading to be killed. Humans are nothing but greedy, spineless, nasty fish-eaters who are incapable of emotions, that’s what everyone said.

Was that really the case, though? As Azul surveyed his collections, he found it harder by second to believe in the lore. How would they explain all these sparkling and antique cosmetics? How could a world that made so many wonderful things be bad?

And so he pushed aside all doubts that were chaining his limbs and flew towards the surface.

The moment he broke the fabric of water and chill air entered his ears, he was taken back by the sight before him.

A colossal wooden ship was sailing right above. Behind it, lights and fire burnt themselves in the sky then fell into the water dimly. There were singing and whooping aboard where he couldn’t see. The grandness of it all was so deafening that Azul failed to hear the voice of reason in his head as he neared the boat.

There was an opening at the side of the ship. Azul carefully stuck his head up so he wouldn’t be seen. At least not without squinting.

There were about five people dancing and hollering, some holding drinks in their hands while the others blowing into their snarfblats with reddened cheeks.

“Encore! Encore!” a red-haired guy yelled. Then there was an airy laugh in response. Azul turned sharply towards where it came from.

Azul was… awestruck, to say the least. You were grinning from eye to eye, which were diminished into slits. As you laughed on, Azul felt his chest lighten little by little. It was one of those laughs that pulled you closer and assured you that the world around was but a facade. He could listen to your laugh for the rest of his life and he’d never be distressed again.

“Alright, but can we first reveal the massive unknown that’s been standing here for the past hours? You know I can see it right?” you asked with confidence, and this confidence was just humble enough not to be arrogant.

“As you wish, mademoiselle,” another man with dark blue hair bowed with a flourish, then approached the object in question which was covered with a drape. He was at least tipsy with his wavering and unsteady steps.

“Presenting-!” he hollered before yanking the drape off. Surprisingly it was a golden statue made to resemble you.

You recoiled in mild distaste, but your smile remained. Azul pondered about how you still managed to radiate a cheerfulness despite your negative reaction.

It also occurred to him that it was made in gold. Out of all his collectibles there was rarely even a gold necklace. You must have a reputation for someone to make you such a big deal.

“Well, here’s your birthday present, milady,” the tipsy man was throwing names spontaneously now. The red-haired had to drag him away from the railing several times. You had all resumed singing and dancing. Azul was so captivated by your figure that he didn’t even notice the fireworks dying down.

You and a dark-skinned man were leaning right next him now. What looked like a cat but with flame shaped ears and a devil’s tail started sniffing in the vicinity. Azul was having a hard time staying out of its way and eavesdropping on your conversation.

“You sure you don’t want some?” you raised your mug to his face, which he declined respectfully.

“I’d prefer to stay sober,” he said. “You know, I don’t wish to spoil your birthday, but the king’s being more pressing than ever,”

“Yeah? About what?”

He stared at you for a moment before answering, as if he was trying to look pass your display.

“About marriage, of course,”

You didn’t answer. Though the corners of your lips were still raised in the aftermath of all the previous hypes, you were obviously unhappy to be there. Azul wished the man would shut up and bring your smile back instead.

“It’s not just the King, your highness. The whole kingdom wants to see you happily settled down with the right person,”

“Jack-” you took a deep, deep breath. “It’s not something that can come quicker just because you’re anxious. I have to find the right person-”

“I understand…” Jack mumbled under his breath. He didn’t look like he understood at all.

“- and they’re out there somewhere. I’m sure. I just haven’t found them yet,” you turned and dangled your arms over the railing. Azul quietly swam under your hands. He could probably touch your fingertips if he stretched hard enough.

“When I see them, it’s gonna hit me. Like bam! Like lightning-”

As if hearing your prayer the sky cracked open with a loud cry and grew darker still. The other men scattered out hurriedly, looking as though they’d never drunk anything.

“Hurricane coming in! Stand fast, secure the rigging!”

It all happened so fast. The wind was so strong that Azul could almost feel himself being blown away. The sky rumbled again and lightning started a rapid fire where it’d striked. He noticed a rock looming just ahead, but no one on board seemed to have noticed it.

He should probably go. It’s the safest under the sea. The sky couldn’t hurt a hair of his. But then he heard your screams of commands, and suddenly he was a brave knight willing to give up his life for the princette.

You weren’t on the ship when he neared. Instead, you were already secured on a piece of log, as well as the other men. He exhaled a relieved sigh, but it didn’t last as he heard cries from the ship.

“Ah! Get away you nasty fire- help!” cried a high-pitched voice.

“Oh no, Grim!” you gasped. Without a second thought, you let loose of the log and rushed towards the burning ship. The broken ship gave you better access as you hopped on, but the moment you’d secured your familiar, the ship roared and you tripped and fell.

“Look out!” Azul yelled out futilely. The ship ran straight into the rock and BOOM, everything was set ablaze. Azul dodged between dropping debrises mindlessly as he roamed around in search of you.

When nothing was found above, he dived back into the water and there you were - sinking into the water, growing darker and darker by second. He was next to you in a blink - thanks to his fast-moving tentacles.

Your group had already gone out of sight when he emerged again, but to his best luck there was a piece of land just near, and he raced there like he was going to lose his own life if he was too late. It was only when you were pulled up on the dryland that he could soothe his pounding heartbeat.

He was bewildered at the fact that he could breathe on land just as well as he did under water. Aside from the sand that had started sticking to his tentacles the moment they touched, nothing seemed to be out of place.

“Hey,” he’d never rescued a drowning human before. He didn’t even know what drowning was.

“Are you dead?” he slapped your cheek lightly. Your chest didn’t seem to be heaving, and your lips were as pale as snow.

“Hey-”

“Blergh!” Your head jerked up and suddenly you were coughing up water. Azul squeaked before scurrying over to hide behind a rock.

Your head was drooping back and forth as you held yourself up with wobbly arms. Then you started turning around and locked eyes with Azul’s as he peeked out tentatively.

Oh, it’s bad. This is very bad.

“Who-” you started to stand, and at the same time Azul began to reach for the water stealthily so you wouldn’t notice. He knew he’d be screwed if he was spotted.

“Y/N!” someone cried from far away, and you turned to look. The split second was just enough for him to crawl back into the water and out of sight.

The water washed the sand off him quickly, erasing all the evidence that he’d been out there violating one of the strictest rules under the sea, but despite all, he found himself already missing the crisp air above.

If any, he’d grown more fond of the unknown world that you lived in.

#twst x reader #twisted wonderland imagines #azul ashengrotto x reader #twst #twisted wonderland #sie writes

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wonhuis · 5 years ago

Note

oh! do you have a project or an exam soon? also what are you studying? and thank you! napping is everything, usually i sleep bad at night bc nightmares and stuff so a good nap always help. indeed! my i is one of the most artistics mvs they have imo, highlight is really beautiful as well, speaking of perf unit songs ofc. what are your fav vocal/hip hop unit songs? wow! i totally get you, when they perform jun and hanni's expressions are my favs, they know how to intensify a choreo 1/2 🍰-sss

ahh s coups, he startled me. at first i though he was a goofy nice guy and then when svt debuted and *heart emoji*. from his sweet smile to the way he always try to keep them together. i love this interview he gave a year or two ago, he said he always take into consideration what is better for seventeen and then what the company might want. Even though sometimes they need to follow a schedule he'll always try to benefit his members 2/3 srry this is taking way to long!! 🍰-sss

ok this is the last one! s coups improved a lot with his dancing skill. he's really hardworking and i appreciate that a lot, also he took care of his knee to be able to keep up with the others. i hope he's resting and taking care of his health in general. btw i watched the fancam you told me, so mesmerizing! going svt has a lot of episodes now, so i understand it takes time >.

ok this was all sooooo cute i love seeing people talk excitedly about things they love 😭😭😭 so don’t worry about the lenght of it!! (esp bc i myself also ramble a lot lmao)

i study web systems! also graphic design! first is college, second is just a course. and i have a college work due friday and also an exam in like two weeks or something but uhhhhh too lazy to study lmao do you study anything? or work? or have a hobby?

and omg that sucks so much :( but i totally get you! i used to have nightmares all the time too or insomnia, that’s why i always changed the night for the day you know, like i’d be awake at night and then sleep the whole day bc i felt safer. also i’ve been sleeping listening to music since a kid bc otherwise i’ll be just too anxious to sleep :/ but i’m really sorry for this, it’s really tiring and painful not getting to sleep bc of stuff like that, so i hope you can find something that helps you eventually!

oh my fave vocal unit song is my overall fave svt song lmao it’s don’t listen in secret!! also for hh unit i absolutely LOVE the diamond edge version of lotto, but i also love space, trauma and lean on me. what about you??

but god i love seungcheol, it was SO cute reading all this, such a pure love makes my cold dead heart warm 😔😔💕 he’s really such an amazing dude, he deserves the whole workd and i absolutely love how a lot of cheol stans i know here on tumblr are really soft and full of love for him???? it’s really so adorable u guys are so cute!!!!!!

that fancam is everything to me honestly, i love it!! i have a lot of things on it that i could talk about, mingyu is cute, the part where wonwoo is dancing with joshua he’s cute, jun??/?? did that, also shining diamond is one of my fave songs, i love that fancam kdjankjsd

and ohhhh, i’ve been asking for the classy sexy concept for the longest time, so i was really happy about fear!! i’m also a big fan of vixx and i was REALLY pleased about how much fear reminded me of their aesthetic in general. the classy sexy concept is my fave thing in kpop honestly (vixx in general since chained up, adtoy, amazing bad lady, some things monsta x released like beautiful, stuff like that) so i’m just really happy now and i don’t really know another concept/aesthetic i would like lmao i also like dark/horror ones (also vixx LMAO and dreamcatcher) but idk if svt would be willing to do that rip what about you?? OH OH OH, i’d love a retro concept?? like lady from exid, something that reminds me of the 90s, or maybe some disco stuff like platonic love from snuper, or even really funky stuff like giddy up from the boyz

#i really dislike trophouse and mainstream edm like dwc and thanks so i dont want anything like that anymore lmao #there's also a trend with bgs now where the songs have too much noise and beat drops that i really dislike #hopefully svt won't go there lmao #i didn't rlly like getting closer at first but i enjoy it now so it's all good #🍰 sss #sss19 #long post #long text #anon #asks

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books-and-dragons · 6 years ago

Note

Request: Ren using his Third Eye for things that it probably wasn't meant for. His team may or may not approve depending on those things. Try something with that? Thank you if you decide to do it!

i’m so sorry this took me so long to finish!! ahh, but here it is, hope you don’t mind if i decided to hurt our boy a little in the process, of course ;)

A New Perspective

Third-eye was useful for finding what Joker needed most in that moment. It came to him as second instinct. Saved them from attack, let them stay undetected, uncovered hidden treasures.

What Akira never expected, was that it was just as useful a tool outside of the Metaverse.Would’ve been nice to figure that one out a few months ago.

Dull artificial lights lit the rickety old attic, casting shadows over cobwebbed corners and dusty beams. The occasional-flickers of the lighting didn’t seem to bother the occupants of the room, who were all laughing and chattering over a tall tower of wooden blocks.

Weekly game night for the Phantom Thieves was tradition, ever since their first change of heart, when Ryuji, Ann, and Akira had spent the whole night prior to their supposed ‘deadline’ playing stupid card games online together. Only these days, they all collected at Leblanc, and slept over in the attic, rather than share a game room online from their own houses.

They took turns to bring games and snacks, it was different every week.

This time, it was Ryuji and Ann on snack duty. Homemade cookies and brownies from the collaborative efforts of Ryuji and his Mom, and an assortment of store-bought cupcakes and bags of Jagariko as well as other processed snacks surrounded the group. They were all sat staring up at a tower of jenga blocks, brought by Makoto.

There were so many gaps already made, and more than a few close calls that could have ended in someone being a victim to the falling blocks, but so far nobody had slipped up.

“Dude, come on, just choose one already.” Ryuji groaned, narrowing his gaze towards the direction of Yusuke, who’d been staring at the tower of blocks for 5 minutes now.

As Ryuji’s words went by ignored, Makoto sighed. “Aesthetic doesn’t matter Yusuke, someone else will change it during their turn anyway.”

Yusuke made a choking sound in the back of his throat, tearing his sights away from the wooden tower to Makoto’s form, scandalised. “There are aesthetics to be found, even in the momentary intervals! To think you would argue otherwise….”

“Get over it and go, Inari.”

Yusuke huffed, but didn’t engage in further debate, instead redirecting his attentions to the game. His eyes swept over the structure once more, fixating on the gaps and the brickwork, before his gaze settled. He paused,then nodded to himself, assured, and reached down to the very bottom of the tower.

The response was immediate.

“Yusuke- I know I said to hurry up- but no! Not that one! Are you crazy?!”

“If you pull that one it’s gonna fall!”

“Yusuke no!”

“I’m gonna get hit!”

The tower rested on 3 blocks, securing the whole thing. Yusuke was reaching for the right block. The tower would be balancing on only 2 blocks, so much more sensitive to movement than it had been in any precious rounds.

Ann buried her head in Makoto’s shoulder, “I can’t watch!”

Yusuke kneedled forward, fingertips gently pressing the wooden block out. Slowly….carefully….

“W-wait, was that a wobble?! Did the tower just wobble?!” Ryuji stared up at the tower, eyes wide in horror.

Halfway….three quarters…..

“No way….is he gonna do it?”

Just a fraction more….

“Shit, how ?”

It was out,lying on the floor just centimetres from the tower.

Nobody moved, staring up at the tower from where it stood, balancing on an imbalanced basis of blocks. They awaited the crash, the rough tumble of bricks clattering to the floor, securing Yusuke’s failure.

It never came.

Unphased, Yusuke carefully reached around the grabbed the wooden block, all eyes on him as he placed it on the top of the tower, neatly slotted into place. With a satisfied smile, he leant back, bringing his hands up to frame the image.

“Perfect, the use of counterbalancing against the layers higher up. Quite the dramatic image.”

The thieves all stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Symmetry….you’ve fucked the game…for symmetry ?!” Ann gaped, “There’s no way someone can get a block out without knocking the tower over!”

At that, Ryuji glanced over at Akira, an amused glint in his eye, “Well dude, it’s your turn!”

Akira glanced up at the tower of wooden blocks, staring down at him. The slightest movement could send it crumbling down from its precarious base. The lighting bounced off its walls, illuminating it in the artificial orange glow, mocking Akira of its impending victory over him.

He narrowed his eyes.

“Bring it.”

Slowly, he crept forward, bringing his weight forward onto his knees and he gazed at each individual row, some blocks were chipped, others weathered with age, and assumedly from the damp confinements of a closet. There was no notable wobble, no gap of weakness clear to Akira in its structure. He leaned forward, taking in as much detail as he could; that’s all he had to do, this would be possible, he just had to-

Focus .

Everything around him faded to unnoteworthy, blurred mess. A jigsaw of pieces he didn’t want to fit together— not worth his time or his attention. All he saw was wooden blocks, and the bright illumination of velvet blue.

A single block, isolated and perfectly outlined itself to him,glinting in the lighting far beyond what could be provided by a cheap, attic light bulb. It almost glittered, the shine of a new treasure, a map, or any other available good Joker was able to take advantage of. He knew it the minute his gaze was compelled towards it— this block wouldn’t just protect him from elimination, it would secure his victory.

By the time his turn was over, only the middle block would remain as the base of the entire tower.

Carefully, he drew himself down, resting on his forearms as he gazed at the block, teasing his bottom lip between his teeth as he did so. Just because it was possible, did not mean it would be easy; Yusuke had guaranteed as much. He would have to exercise caution, extreme amounts. Stealth and patience were a necessity.

Perhaps the others began talking and hushing concerns as his fingertips drew closer to the block, perhaps they questioned him, but it was all muffled in the background. It didn’t demand his attention, not right now.

Fingers brushed against solid wood, and for a moment Akira made out the flash of scarlet red covering them, seamless and perfect, created exactly for him. Then, he began to gently push at the block.

He felt it.

Every tremble of the tower, every creak in the floor, at a fraction of a moment’s notice the block would flash to a colourless warning and the pressure upon it would be laid to rest for a moment, allowing the templing of tower walls to once again become settled, before his theft would resume. The air was stagnant, he daren’t breathe. All he could see was that block, his victory, and the sealed fate of his foes.

And then, there was nothing atop the block.

Swiftly, it was seized in his hands, swept into the air before anyone could do anything to change it. The tower carefully righted itself, rebalanced upon the precarious base of a single, middle block. A line of blue glistened atop the tower, directly in line with the block upon the bottom.

He daren’t breathe as we drew himself upright, leaning over the tower on the balls of his feet, both hands on the block as he slowly lowered it down, and down.

There was no movement, no creaks of the floorboard that signalled intervention by his foes, no tremble of wooden blocks that would seal his own fate.

The block in his hands brushed against other wooden layers, until hands slowly withdrew, leaving it lying innocently atop—h is crowning victory.

He felt his lips pull into an amused smirk, eyes glinting behind reflective lenses, as he slowly lowered himself back to the floor and gazed up at his mastery. Around him, his narrowed vision faded, colours flooded the room, there was an absence of velveteen blues and shadowed corners.

Akira blinked, gazing down at his hands in astonishment, as the cheers of his friends and exclamations of amazement filled the room.

“That was amazing, Akira!”

“I thought you were crushed for sure!”

“Wha-how….”

“Such focus, such a delicate touch and the grace ….truly inspiring.”

“Ha, let’s see you beat that Ryuji!”

“Dude , why’d I sit next to ya again?”

Akira’s own confusion fizzled as his attention was diverted to Ryuji, who was running one hand through bleached hair, a frown on his face as he stared up at the tower.

“Trust you to do somethin’ that’s normally impossible.” Ryuji smiled, shaking his head, before drawing himself up into a kneel, his left leg bearing the least of his weight as he narrowed his eyes.

“How do you think he’s gonna pull this one off?”

“No way, one move and that thing comes crumbling down! You saw Akira, how careful he had to be- it’s gonna be way more delicate now!”

Slowly, everyone on the other end of the circle crawled backwards, just as they had done with Akira, as their eyes remained fixated on the higher half of blocks, blocks that could fall upon them at any moment. Akira drew himself closer to Ryuji, ready to pull the other boy back if the blocks came tumbling down. It never hurt much, but it hurt more than you expected it would.

Slowly, Ryuji reached forward and poked at a block in the middle, in line with the one that held the tower’s foundation and with the block that sat atop of the structure, Akira’s crowning moment. It was a smart strategy, and shouldn’t change the weight distribution too much.

However, Ryuji wasn’t as delicate as Akira. He was stronger and more physically powerful, and the tower was much too precarious as it was, Akira had sealed the other boy’s fate before Ryuji had even taken his turn.

And, undoubtedly, the tower began to wobble.

It was small at first, and Ryuji withdrew as he waited for the tower to right itself again, leaning back as if ready to crawl away if need be.

When there was no given signs of collapse, Ryuji sighed in relief, and leaned forward again, one finger gently pressing against the wood, but it was much too reluctant to budge. The tower had already begun swaying, this time more intensely so as Ryuji applied more pressure.

Akira saw it before anyone else.

For a moment, his focused gaze flashed blue, illuminating the whole tower, and that was all it took for Akira to lunge forward, and pull Ryuji away, drawing them back in line with Yusuke and the others on their side of the circle.

Just a second later, the tower gave way.

Loud clatters filled the room, echoing off dusty walls, and the heavy wooden blocks came crashing down onto the attic floor, right where Ryuji and Akira had been just moments before. What had once been a tower of triumph, albeit a mess from teenagers trying to build atop it, was now a disorganised pile of blocks on the floor.

Akira knelt upright, Ryuji following suit, as they all stared at the heap before them.

“Well, we all saw that coming.” Ann sighed, as Makoto turned around, reaching for the bed which had the jenga box lying on it, empty and barren. She opened the lid and turned to the others.

“Yes, but you have to admit, Akira really pulled it off. It’s quite impressive.” She grinned, before lying the box on the floor, and starting to pick up the blocks. Taking the hint, the other teens followed suit, collecting them and organising them into near stacks they could slip into the box, a system they established long ago.

“Yeah, that was impressive, how’d you even know to check there?” Ann tilted her head, as she took a stack from Ryuji, slipping it into the box, “We all thought you were gonna lose.”

Akira shrugged, pushing up his glasses to hide from the confused cloud in his eyes.

How had he known?

Looking back, he can remember it vividly, almost in too much detail, but he could only recall the tower. That block.

He could never recall being so attuned, so….so….

Focused.

The block he was holding clattered to the ground. Luckily, the clattering sound of blocks was just about all that filled the room at that given moment, so nobody noticed. Akira grabbed it back from where it had fallen, adding it to another stack for the box.

It made sense, now that he thought about it.

He’d used third eye.

The so-called ‘thief’s tool’ granted to him by Igor had been a long time favourite, it was always perfect for finding targets, looting treasures, and keeping his teammates safe. He was never given a clear function for it, but it always came to him whenever he needed it, and it only ever showed him what he most needed in that moment. It had saved the lives of the Phantom Thieves more times than he cared to count (also made them a lot more money than he was ever able to count).

He supposed, if he thought about it, it made sense.

Getting that wooden block in jenga had been, in that moment, a really important thing to him.

Saving Ryuji from imminent block-related danger was a key moment for him.

What didn’t make sense, was that he’d used third-eye, albeit accidentally, outside of the metaverse.

Admittedly, Igor had never specified where it could and couldn’t be used, but for months Akira had just assumed it was a metaverse-only thing. Figuring out it worked in the real world was just as great as it was irritating.

He could’ve been using third-eye for months, and he never did.

All that time, wasted.

As he continued to put the blocks away, laughing with the others as Ryuji ruffled his already-messy hair and teased about how Akira had set Ryuji up, the curiosity about the potential for third-eye lingered.

Maybe it would be worth trying it again sometime.

Akira yawned as he ran a hand through his hair, toying with the screen of his phone as he walked.

It had been a slow school day, classes just reiterating what they’d gone through on Saturday, and he’d had a late night hanging out with the others at their sleepover. Not to mention that didn’t even cover dealing with the rumours that seemed to follow him around Shujin, nor how the police seemed to linger on the corners of Shujin. His stomach churned by the thought alone.

He really wanted nothing more than to go to Leblanc and have a long nap. However, Takemi had asked for his help, and he could far from refuse- especially as she was in the perfecting stages of her medicine; what was one afternoon of his time anyway? He’d sleep tonight.

The train station was just as packed as it always was after school, countless Shujin uniforms milling on the corners of the station, chattering over drinks from the vending machine, or already making their way through the ticket barrier to the trains.

Akira sighed, moving to the side away from the crowds as he went to open his bag. Morgana peered up at him, head tilted.

“My railcard.” Akira whispered, waiting for Morgana to shift and let him acces his wallet- either that or the cat would get it for him. It depended on where the wallet was.

But instead of moving like he normally did, Morgana gave him what looked to be the cat version of a frown. “It’s not in here, Haru gave us all a lift to school this morning- remember?”

Akira could’ve sworn out loud. Now he remembered.

Just like he remembered he’d forgotten to switch his wallet from his regular bag to his school bag, which he normally did every Monday morning.

Maybe he was more tired than he thought.

Staring over at the ticket barriers, he knew he had two options.

Option one: he could walk. It was far from preferable, and would take hours to travel such a distance back to Yongen- he’d certainly not be able to help Takemi out with her drugs trials today. There was no way he could ask for somebody to pick him up, just so much as thinking of disrupting Sojiro’s day make sickening guilt pool in his stomach.

Which only left him with option two; he’d have to slip past the barrier.

It wouldn’t be easy, there was a guard watching at all times, one slip-up and he’d be in trouble- even worse considering his record.

As he zipped shut his bag, muttering reassurances to a skeptical Morgana as he did so, his gaze was fixated on the ticket ques. He went for the one furthest from the guard.

Now, all he had to do was pay attention, and wait for his moment.

His eyes lit up, a smirk spreading across his lips. Flashes of the previous night danced across his vision.

No.

All he had to do was focus .

Pulling on the familiar sense of tuning everything out, fixating on a point, he almost felt the domino mask paint across his gaze. Around him everything dimmed, even the ticket barriers, and for a moment Akira worried it wouldn’t work. Sure, he’d have a chance of managing this himself, but the third-eye would drastically increase his chances of success.

And then, a brilliant flash of blue lit up the ticket barrier, gone in five seconds, and Akira knew he had his way through.

He remained focused. The next person went, no blue. And the next, no blue. His stomach began to churn- what if the person in front of him wasn’t going to work? Did he need to be further ahead? Further behind?

All worry faded as he saw a small strike of blue in the right hand of the person in front of him, their railcard . He didn’t revel in the hope, and wasted no opportunity. As the doors swung open for the student, the gate flashed blue, and Akira swept through right in time with the student before him.

The barrier closed behind him.

Nobody said a word.

As colour once again flooded the train station, the glint of success in his eyes didn’t fade.

The homely aroma of coffee and curry soothed Akira’s senses as he stared down at the chessboard, one finger gently tracing the rim of his coffee cup as he did so.

Gloved fingers moved one white bishop confidently into the place of a black rook, stealing it for their own.

Akira drew his eyes up to meet glinting crimson ones, which had a satisfied smile to match.

Goro Akechi placed the rook to the side, among several other pieces- most of them pawns, but there were a few key pieces in there— certainly more than Akira had stolen of Akechi’s white pieces.

With a small smile of his own, Akira moved his knight unto Akechi’s bishop, making the smooth switch of pieces.

“You’re improving,” Akechi noted, staring down at the board, “How are those lessons with the Shogi player going- you’re still continuing them, right?”

Akira nodded, “Right,” Akechi’s fingertips hovered atop the board, moving between pieces. “The lessons are good, I’m still learning which pieces are best when you reach the opposing end of the board.”

It was odd, Akira thought, he always found he talked more in Akechi’s presence. Odder yet, he didn’t really hate the change.

“Hm, I’m not as understanding of Shogi as I am chess, but piece selection changes depending on your strategy,” Akechi’s eyes narrowed, fixated on Akira’s Queen piece for a moment, “If you’re an aggressive player, bishops and rooks are the better pieces to use as they have an advantage in mobility, although I must say the generals are quite underrated pieces.”

Finally, he made his move, white knight directly in front of black pawn.

Akira frowned, Akechi had to have some other play at hand. His hand drew away from tracing the rim of his cup, toying at his hair thoughtfully.

“I think people overuse the King” Akira eyed the knight, eyeline dancing between the various pieces on the board. “Just because he has full range, doesn’t mean he’s mobile. The name and role in the game illusions people.”

His other bishop, directly in line with the white knight.

“I agree, people are too illusioned by titles and the respective representations.” Akechi raised the cup to his lips, pausing to gaze at Akira over the rim, “Although, I suppose we’re straying from the topic of Shogi now.”

Akira stared down at the board, trying to hide the small smile, as he reached out and made his move. Black bishop for white knight.

He chanced a look back up, meeting Akechi’s gaze, but was suddenly overcome with the feeling he had made a fatal error.

Akechi was smirking.

Barely breaking eye-contact to watch his pieces on the board, Akechi struck. From the other side of the board, a white rook knocked down his final bishop, and sat directly in line with the Queen- if only Akechi had Akira’s King.

The same King, that was in direct danger from one of Akechi’s bishops.

He was in a bind. He knew it, and Akechi knew it.

He stared down at the board.

He did still have one more hand to play….

Focus.

The soothing aroma of Leblanc faded to the background, Akechi now a shaded figure watching his moves, there was only Akira and the chessboard.

For a moment Akira frowned at the uncoloured figure the King’s piece held, providing no hope of escaping it’s fate. He would have to allow Akechi to steal his King, and then protect his Queen at all costs.

The stark blue of a pawn drew his eye.

It loomed over the shoulder of the white bishop, perfectly, diagonally behind. In the perfect location remove the threat from the board.

Light flooded his vision once again, as Akira reached for the black pawn. He watched Akechi’s smirk out the corner of his eye, and couldn’t help but repress the grin of satisfaction as the older boy’s expression fell in realisation of the piece he’d overlooked.

The white bishop joined Akira’s collection of stolen pieces.

“I suppose pawns are also overlooked pieces.” Akira commented lightly, before focusing again on the board, as Akechi studied for his next move.

Shibuya was bustling with activity, even despite the dark clouds looming overhead, crowds of people shuffled in and out of shops, conversing over crepes on a local street corner. Akira had other business to attend to.

Lightly, he fingered through the thick wad of cash he’d received from Iwai the other day, after trading in their wares from the most recent Mementos trip. It was a shame most of that money was about to be blown on new equipment, weapon upgrades, and medicines, and hopefully some more food for Morgana if he had the cash to spare/the dry food Sojiro had been buying was getting repetitive, apparently.

Slipping his wallet back into his pocket, Akira braced himself to rejoin Shibuya traffic. Resisting the urge to massage his temples, in some bleak attempt to ease the splitting headache that had been making itself known since lunch, he focused on the side alley ahead that would lead directly into Untouchable.

Around him, everyone was so immersed in their own tasks, some pushy mothers barging past slow-walking students, people so distracted with their phones they hardly noticed the degree of people having to overtake them. Ques extended into the pathway of busy workers, who were forced to utter apologies under their breath as they pushed past. Never had Akira been more grateful to get past it all and duck into the side alley.

Wading through the cloud of smoke guarding the slip street (courtesy of two chatting businessmen), Akira resisted the urge to cough and walked on past, heading straight for the quiet airsoft shop.

The air conditioning hit him like a welcoming embrace, the silence even more so. There was nobody else in store, aside from the grumpy store owner who’d noticed him the second he’d entered. Heslowly put his magazine aside as Akira walked to the counter, meeting him with a steady gaze.

“So, what’re you here for this time?” Iwai quirked an eyebrow, noting the lack of junk the teen had on his person.

“The usual, some upgrades, and some light shopping.” Akira shrugged, ready to pull out the team’s model guns for Iwai to modify.

The man chuckled, shaking his head, “It’s never ‘light’ shopping with you kid, ya come in here and take half my best stuff with ya- you know the ritual, hand over them guns and I’ll see what I can do.”

Without hesitation, Akira pulled out the collection gun he’d been keeping in his bag. For the sake of today’s trip- Morgana had given it a miss, so he’d have more room in his bag.

Iwai barely took a glance in the bag before nodding; he knew what Akira carried by now, turning in his seat to reach some equipment beside the desk. Akira left him to it, wandering into the shop.

Reaching the aisles with their basic weapons, Akira felt himself having to pull his Shujin jacket tighter around his body for the little warmth it provided him with. Odd, Akira never usually found the Airsoft shop to be so cold- had Iwai turned up the air conditioning? It wouldn’t make much sense, considering it’d become late Autumn.

After what felt like hours of shopping later, Akira turned up to the counter and piled his chosen items onto the surface. Iwai sighed, used to such behaviour by now, as he sat the guns on the side next to them, back in the bag.

“Only had the tools to update the Tommy and the Grenade Launcher. Threw in some stuff for maintenance too, you must be running low,” Running the gear through the till, Iwai chuckled and shook his head, “Y’know, I may as well just give ya vouchers for this place or somethin’, you spend that much of the money I pay for that junk in here.”

Akira tilted his head, “You can do that?”

“Nah, you think this place looks like it has enough business to spend time on vouchers?” Akira supposed he had a point there, the Airsoft shop was a peaceful retreat from the busy hubbub of the main streets of Shibuya, but that didn’t mean it was great for business.

Akira watched in silence as the last few items were scanned, and placed in the usual shopping bag- no logo on it, to avoid suspicion. As if mechanically, he handed over the cash he’d pre-counted before getting to the counter, plus a bit more to cover the upgrades.

All in all, he definitely had enough for the last few errands of the day. That was a relief. Sometimes it pays to use his own savings.

He ignored the furious rack of shivers as he unfolded his arms from where they’d been inside the jacket and grabbed the bags. Iwai stopped putting the cash into the till to stare at him.

Akira tried to ignore the urge to hide from such an intense gaze, waiting for Iwai to say whatever it was that was bugging him. Akira could definitely say that whatever he’d expected from Iwai, it wasn’t this .

“Kid, is everythin’ alright?”

What?

Numbly, Akira nodded, “I-I um yeah, everything’s fine- I’m fine- why’d you ask?”

The urge to go look at himself in a mirror, check his uniform, anything , hit him like a bullet train. He hadn’t run into any trouble on the way here, there were no visible marks from the Metaverse, Akira had no idea what Iwai could be seeing that he himself wasn’t.

If anything, Iwai stared even harder, “Look, it might not be my business, but you’re lookin’ pale, and ya haven’t stopped shiverin’ since you got here.”

“Well yeah, but that’s just cos the air conditioning’s on higher.” Akira argued, toying with the seam of a bag.

“Kid, the air con isn’t any different than usual.”

It wasn’t? Well, that was a shock to him. Maybe he’s just feeling it more because of the headache.

Iwai’s stare was penetrating, he didn’t move from where he sat, but Akira felt he couldn’t move from under it, “I dunno, maybe I’m imaginin’ it- just take care of yourself, got it?”

There was a moment’s pause. Akira tried not to throw an arm over his stomach or curl in on it as he nodded, already making his way towards the door before he could be scrutinised anymore. Before he let himself be pinned down by that stare for much longer.

“Of course, I always do- see you tomorrow night!”

The jingle of the door was cut off as the door closed behind him, and Akira breathed a sigh of relief. Slowly making his way out of the alley (the smokers were gone, that’s something). He cursed the slight tremble in his legs- fatigue making itself more and more apparent by the minute. He didn’t have time to stop, he still had at least 3 more shops to visit before nightfall.

Bracing himself, he stepped out into the busy street, heading straight for the convenience store. The air was stifling, so many busy bodies around him, pressing into him, pushing him in a thousand different directions, his feet stumbling over themselves. The frigid chill of Untouchable was so much more preferable to the airless atmosphere of the crowded Shibuya street. His brain was screaming at him, his knees shaking as he tried to muster the strength to get closer to the store- but it was too much. He felt his vision go blurry, and maybe he fell to his knees— he didn’t know— but the next moment, he was in another side alley.

At least he was away from the crowds.

An illuminating green light came from one of the stores. Protein Lovers , his mind dully supplied.

He blinked, trying to pull himself up from the ground he had collapsed on. It was then he became aware of another presence, one with their hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. He turned and met their gaze— an unfamiliar hazel greeted him.

An adult woman crouched by his side, certainly old enough to have children, a small bag from the convenience store hung over one arm as she slowly helped him stand.

“Take it easy, you had a tough fall back there.” She soothed, one hand on his back as Akira stared at her, confused.

“W-who are you?” He blinked at her, pulling himself upright as best he could given the weariness.

“Honda Chun-yan,” The woman offered a small smile. “I saw you collapse in the middle of the street, and thought it’d be best to drag you here before you got trampled over.”

Akira tried not to frown at the realisation of what had happened. “Thank you, I’ll be more aware in the future. I-” A striking panic suddenly struck him, “My bags! I’m sorry, but my shopping-”

“Is right beside you, untouched, and I didn’t even glance inside.” She assured, and sure enough at Akira’s feet the black bags were sat waiting to be picked up again. Despite the tremor in his arms, Akira reached down and grabbed at them. “Um, are you sure that it’s such a good idea to-”

“It’s okay, ma’am, it must have just been the humidity, I’ll be okay.” The lie came off his tongue as smooth as his negotiation tactics. He saw her doubt, her concern, but she brushed it off and glanced down at her watch— as expected.

“If you’re sure….I’d recommend going home though, I’m heading to the station now- I can assist you?” The genuinity of her statement sent his stomach rolling— like it hadn’t been feeling bad enough before.

“It’s okay, really I feel much better already.” The woman once again checked her watch, glanced at Akira, then checked her watch again, before turning to the direction of the main street again.

“Okay…just take care. Don’t want to pass out again!” Akira forced himself to laugh at her statement, which seemed to reassure her, and before long she’d disappeared into the crowds of people.

His grip on the bags tightened. That had been close. Too close.

He neared the main street, glancing up and down carefully,looking for the best way to get to the store without having another ‘episode’.

Third eye had helped him before now, always showed him what he needed most, so if what he needed was to get to the convenience store….

Shibuya faded to grey, even the flashy neon green in his peripherals dimmed to a monotone. The bustling crowd all a sea of empty greys and whites and blacks, no flash of blue to show him a clear path. Instead, there were visions of brilliant blue, bright and drawing his attention to their large buildings. All familiar, and not at all what he had planned on third-eye drawing him to.

Big Bang Burger, the cafe, the crepe shop….

Akira let colour flood his vision again and stormed off into the crowd immediately, resolute to find his own way to the store.

His stomach rolled.

Joker wasn’t sure how fun Palaces were supposed to be, but Sae Nijima’s Palace was definitely the most fun the thieves have all had in awhile.

Even Crow, who at first had seemed to shocked and hesitant about the other thieves’ joking around and spending time on harmless gambles, had tried his hand at it once or twice.

Robbing shadows was so much more rewarding inside a casino, and if they’d become sidetracked once or twice learning how to play cards or roulette in the first gambling hall, well, none of them were complaining.

But the slots room, this posed a whole new range of opportunity.

Of course, Joker and the thieves had first obtained the chips necessary to advance to the next floor— nothing some hacking on Oracle’s part, and some luck on Joker’s, couldn’t do. They’d cleared the whole slots rooms of shadows, and had stolen enough chips from the pockets of cognitions to let them happily gamble for the next half an hour, at least.

At first, Joker had been happy to watch his friends gamble away their chips, and occasionally win some back. Their difference in strategy was intriguing.

Skull, who lost countless chips on the higher-stakes slots, but would win back at least 10x the amount that Fox would, over at the lower-cost, lower-win slots. Panther and Oracle were happy to join Skull with gambling by the higher-stakes. Noir was happy to go between low and medium risk, with financial intrigue, as Queen tried her hand at them all- moving on from one slot the second she won from it.

Crow had been happy to watch the chaos unfold with Joker, but eventually the stark red mask turned to face him, as Joker returned the favour.

“Why don’t you try, leader?” Crow tilted his head, with a curious glance towards the slots, “After all, you had quite the luck back at the big-win slot earlier.”

Joker shot him a glance, “I could ask you the same, there’s plenty of slot.”

“I suppose we’re both characters who prefer to observe.” Crow shot him a smile, “How about we both give these slots a try?”

Joker could admit he was curious. He’d been paying attention to the chips rewards earlier. and there were some very useful items available if he managed to win enough in the slots (the somas especially were something he had his eye on).

A deviant smirk struck Joker’s face, “It’s a deal.”

Crow had no sooner made his way to the slots when Joker stared at the machines, gaze intent, focused .

The buzzing lights faded, bright colours of the slots and polished golden decor all dimmed to the all-too-familiar monochromatic scene, unworthy of his attention.

Slots were machines that ran on a system, so many plays and then one would win. It was a method commonly known of by this point by even the most foolish of gamblers, and yet that never served as a deterrent to playing.

4 slots glistened the bright velveteen blue. 4 slots held a win on their next play.

Joker adjusted his gloves, walking past the bright slots of the low-stakes. The soft ‘clack’ of his heels was audible even on the floors of the casino slots, as he pulled out some spare slots and walked past Queen, at the medium stakes, progressing onwards to take the slot next to Skull, who shot him a wide grin in greeting.

Slowly, Joker inserted each chip, revelling in the small chime that came with each one. Faintly, he was aware of a few of his teammates watching with curiosity, but instead focused on the bright buttons of the slots machine.

He watched the slot spin, dragging on for too long to grant instant gratification, making him wait just long enough that, under typical circumstances, he’d begin to second-guess his own judgement. But Joker didn’t regret his decision, not when he knew where the slots would land.

He heard the stunned outcries from his teammates, cheers from Skull as he swung an arm around his shoulder and brought him tightly to his side. More voices joined the fray, Crow, Fox, Queen, everyone coming to see what the loud fuss was about.

They found Joker sitting with more chips than they had time to gamble.

He smirked.

There were 3 more high-stakes slots ready to beat yet.

Akira pulled up his hood, stepping out into the bitter winter chill.

The chilling breeze was something of a relief to the bruises and cuts on his face and hands, hidden under covers of makeup. He’d had countless occasions of applying ice to his injuries, and yet the relief that accompanied the stinging pain was never expected to last, and never did.

Briefly Akira scanned up and down the alley of Yongen, milling with the locals he’d become so familiar with other his stay in the local town, not a sign of policeman nor silver briefcase in sight. He sighed in relief, ignoring the splitting pain across his ribs that resulted, and began to limp his way up the street. With every step he tried to apply more pressure, to make his gait seem more natural. He’d been such a good actor before a week ago….

There was a loud bang. A crash.

He saw them— tall, burling figures with merciless fists and pummeling kicks. The glint of a needle under dim lighting, the wave of sadistic laughter that always followed.

Akira flinched, stumbling backwards from the sound, as his right leg pushed back he felt it give way, searing pain flashing across his femur as he fell. He bit his lip to keep from crying out, the crash to the ground triggering more than a few of his injuries. Luckily, most of them were just breaks, nothing he’d worry about too much. Still, he pulled himself upright, crawling to the lamppost on the side of the street as fast as he could, shooting his gaze ahead, then behind.

The street was empty.

Nobody.

Faintly, he could feel his own hands shaking as they gripped to the steel, broken fingers and chafed wrists forgotten in his panic and paired with laboured breathing he was barely aware of. There was flooding warmth in his mouth— had he reopened the wound on his lip? None of that mattered, not when he remembered where he was.

He had to get up before someone walked along and spotted him. The last thing he was supposed to be doing right now was drawing attention to himself.

Gripping to the lampost, Akira drew himself up with shaking arms, trying to ignore how his legs trembled as they gained footing again. He hadn’t been up on his feet for so long since before all of that . All original plans of getting to Shibuya fled his mind, he wasn’t stupid, he needed to get his strength back first.

With one hand over his ribcage, Akira checked his breathing. Regulated, deep breaths— that’s what Takemi had said, nothing that puts too much demand on the ribs, especially in their first week or so of healing.

As his vision cleared, Akira chanced another look around.

There was no looming threat of interrogations, not even a sign of police to watch him or tail him. He must have imagined it….He blamed it on being cooped up inside for so long, anyone would react the same way.

Hesitantly, he let go of the steel post and started walking again. Faintly, he could feel his limp getting progressively worse rather than better, and wondered if he should’ve taken more painkillers before sneaking out of Leblanc.

As another wave of fresh air hit his face, he decided that it was worth it. Anything for this freedom; to get back into the sway of things, to his usual pattern.

He daren’t go see Takemi, not yet, but he could still get tools from the secondhand shop, could still shop for the basics at the supermarket and replenish their battle items. Maybe Untouchable would have to wait though.

He wasn’t sure how far he’d get into Shibuya with this limp and not be regarded as suspicious and worthy of note by the police.

He went to the supermarket first— start furthest away and work back. Plus, he needed some vital equipment here.

Pale foundation, concealer, setting powder, and colour corrector. Numerous concealing makeups piled into his basket, Akira wasn’t worried about the expense. He’d make up whatever he was taking out of Phantom Thief funds by working extra hours at his jobs. They always tipped well at Crossroads.

He also grabbed some sush, for Morgana, something to settle the cat’s undoubtable anger that Akira had left the cafe before he’s been advised to. And, hopefully, encouragement for the cat to keep his mouth shut about the whole trip.

He always grabbed some health-replenishers too, they weren’t the cheapest, but sometimes the expense was worth it for better flavour. Akira would swear it actually re-energised the team better than any soma did.

The bright lights burnt into the back of his eyelids, and the whole time Akira’s arms shook as he could swear he heard the echo of following footsteps trailing his every move. Never had he been more grateful to finally reach the counter.

He tried to pretend he didn’t notice how the employee eyed the bandage and butterfly tape on his face, and instead fixated on the reflective plate above the desk.

As far as he could tell, there was nobody else in the store.

Well, except the elderly couple by the fresh produce aisle, but he doubted they were the ones following him around the store.

He handed the cash over absentmindedly, pocketing his change before reaching for the bags. They were heavier than he’d expected.

He felt the sharp stings of protest as he heaved the bags off the counter, offering one apologetic glance before he sped for the exitas fast as his injuries allowed for. The moment the chill outside hit him, he felt a wave of relief, glad to be away from the heated embarrassment of struggling to do so much as lift a few bags off a counter.

Maybe these days of rest have affected him more than he’d anticipated. He wondered how willing Ryuji would be to go to Protein Lovers with him sometime soon. Probably not that much, unless Akira hid his injuries well enough.

He took a moment’s reprieve on the corner, bags by his feet, flexing his hands carefully and revelling in the slight sting it brought.

Absentmindedly, he wondered if anyone had noticed his absence or tried to contact him. He’d left his phone back in the attic, knowing Futaba would track him with it. He didn’t need them watching after him every second of the day. He was on his feet, wasn’t he?

Bracing himself, Akira gripped to the handles of the shopping bags again, ready to carry on and get to the secondhand store for his tools when he felt a gaze burn into his back.

Slipping his hands from the handles, he whipped his head around, spying for anyone that could be watching him. The streets were silent, only the background hubbub of store chatter to fill the gap. There was nobody.

Akira narrowed his gaze.

It couldn’t be right, someone was watching him, waiting for the perfect moment to take him in. Just like the glaring red of a surveillance camera, just like the hollow gaze of merciless policemen in pristine suits with bloodied fists. Akira knew when he was being watched.

Focus .

The attuned senses of the Metaverse welcomed him into its grip, the quiet streets of Yongen now deserted, desolate, everything the familiar muted monochrome he was so accustomed to by this point.

There was the occasional person on the street, but his third-eye picked up on none of them. It directed him around no corners, into no buildings, as if there had been nobody watching Akira this whole time.

Bright velveteen blue drew his gaze from the corner of his eye, and as he turned to view whatever it was, he felt his stomach churn.

Takemi’s clinic.

A poster, on the side wall, too far away to read— he’d have to get closer to the clinic to do so.

Slowly, Akira pulled his bags up again, hardly aware of the sharp twinges of pain it brought over the blood rushing in his ears. With each step, the poster grew more and more into view. The moment Akira read the words outlined in that same blue, he could have thrown up.

‘THERAPISTS OFFICE- SECOND FLOOR’

There was a number, also outlined in blue, goading him. Mocking him.

His makeup melted away, his bandages became undone. All those night terrors, the fear of being followed, being watched —

The blue faded in an instant, replaced with some colour Akira didn’t see— he was already gone. Around the corner, as far out of sight as he could manage, nowhere near where that poster and the door to Takemi’s office could stare him down so blatantly and see through the past year’s masks. His hands were trembling, and he wasn’t sure if it had anything to do with the weight of the bags anymore.

Deep breath in, deep breath out…..

His head spun as he tried to level himself.

Why would third eye show him that? Takemi’s office he understood, even if he was out running errands, he was still injured, but the poster? It had to be a mistake. Maybe there was someone who needed a change of heart, it could have been possible that it was a sign of his role within confidants— yes, that was probably it. He hadn’t seen a lot of them in a while now, maybe they’d been needing his support, he must have missed a lot while he was busy with Sae Nijima’s Palace and then the Takemi-ordered days of rest. He’d get back in contact with them as soon as he returned to Leblanc, organise meetups, not a second wasted.

He was fine.

He resisted the urge to try third-eye again, he wasn’t interested in misleading information about what he supposedly ‘needed’, not when he had bigger tasks his focus was owed to.

And with that, he resumed his walk to the second hand store, ignoring how the pain in his femur had spread up to his hip, the sores on his wrists threatening to open again. Nothing mattered except getting his job as leader of the Phantom Thieves done. Everything else could come second.

Even as his chest wracked with coughs, ribs stabbing him with pain, Akira assured the elderly store owner everything was okay, and he just developing the flu.

And if Akira knew the real implications that third-eye had been trying to tell him, then he’d hide it behind Joker’s mask as well.

#ask #request #JUNELUXRAY BIG FAVE and yeahhh hope this is okay!!#fic #p5 #persona 5 #writing #my fics

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jenowinkle · 7 years ago

Text

✨ Soft Bias Tag ✨

tagged by @neogot-my-back & @osakaprinceyutaa 💓💞💖 thank youwu mel & akky!!!

(1) Who's your bias?

!!!!!! NAKAMATOYOTA & JENO GOT JAMS !!!!!!

(2) What made you notice him?

yuta; asdfghjkl!! a whole japanese cutie (o;TωT)o who won't notice him?!? well,,, i usually like the foreign members in the group other than the maknae line,,,, ヽ•´з`•ノ he's also really good looking on top of being a really savage person so (◕‿◕✿）

jeno; my dearest bb who've i've loved and supported since smrookies?! the first one i took notice in in rookies!! (•̀ᴗ•́)و jeno is two years older than i was so i was pretty taken by his cute face back in smrookies!!! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ) but of course, after seeing his interactions and his behaviours,, i liked him even more!! (❁´‿`❁)

(3) What's your favorite thing about him?

yuta; how he's so korean despite being japanese; him speaking japanese; his character; hiS FACE; he's japanese; how cute he was in touch era (o;TωT)o; asdfghjkl nakayu is a man of many likable traits,,

jeno; THERE CAN NEVER ONLY BE ONE FAVORITE THING THAT I LIKE ABOUT HIM (,,•́ . •̀,,) this boy is the definition of my soulmate/lost sibling,,,,, there's so many things that's common between jen and i ( ´◔ ‸◔‘) asdfghjkl some of my friends even think i look a little like jeno at certain angles (probably because of our eyes) everything about him is just perfect and i love everything?? ( ≧Д≦)

(4) Who would initiate skinship more?

ME. if you're my friend irl (srishpai is my rl friend!!!), you'd know that i literally touch everyone and anyone,,, regardless of gender,, ['you know we've got to touch, man' -mARK LEEH] yuta would try to outdo me in skinship but nope!!! your girl here is touchy, especially towards people i love (´･ﻌ･`)

(5) Who would hog the blankets more?

yuta would probably BE the blanket and jeno would probably let me have the blankets,,, which would make me feel so guilty,,,

(6) Who would be more clingy?

both? i guess?

(7) Who would say 'I love you' first?

for yuta,,, we'd say it at the same time but for jen,, i'd say it first (he'd be such a cute blushing mess?? ahhh idk!!!)

(8) Who would be more easily flustered?

tbh,, for yuta i think we'd be pretty even!!! i don't get flustered easily so ( の •̀ ∀-)و for jen,,, i'd like to think him!!

(9) What cuddling position would you two have?

the guys being big spoons ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)3､`)

(10) Which colours remind you of them?

yuta; bright orange because of touch mv & because it's a warm and bright colour which represents his personality!!

jeno; pastel blue 💙 it's such a colour that represents him — calm, relaxing, soft vibes, aesthetically pleasing asdfghjkl!!!

(11) Which season would you like to spend with them?

winter!!! snow!!!!! hot choco!!!!!! warm hugs!!!!! (‘∀’●)♡

(12) Which would bake cookies and who would steal the batter?

yuta; i'd bake and he'd steal (●´・ω・)ノ

jeno; we'd bake together (uwu is this a scenario idea!) and have a playful fight with the batter

(13) Which one of you would make bad puns and how would the other react?

yuta; uRH me, i guess? depending on how bad the pun is, he'd probably either laugh or roll his eyes asgsjsl idk

jeno; hIM. LIKE. HE'LL UNINTENTIONALLY MAKE ALL KINDS OF BAD PUNS BECAUSE HE'S JUST FUNNY LIKE THAT TOOヾ(o◕ω ◕)ﾉ AND I'D LAUGH BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL SO BADLY GOOD

(14) Who would want to adopt 50 dogs and cats?

yuta; mE (◍ ˃̵͈̑ᴗ˂̵͈̑) idk afsgsk but yuta would probably be less keen on getting tHAT many animals zzz

jeno; BOTH! OF! US! ESPECIALLY CATS!!!! I LOVE CATS SO MUCH AND JEN DOES TOO AHH ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

(15) Which one of you would nearly burn down the kitchen trying to microwave a pop tart and who would come to the rescue?

yuta; the answers quite obvious, aight,,,, the vlive where hyuck got the paper on fire? yE,, I'LL LITERALLY BE SCREAMING AT HIM ( ≧Д≦)

jen; hM neither of us!!

(16) Who likes to lean over trail railings and who pulls them back?

ME FOR DAYS!! yuta & jeno would need to pull me back aha ( • ̀ω•́ )✧

(17) What would watching a horror film with them be like?

FUNNY!! i'm usually not fazed by horror and find it rather hilarious / amusing (◍ ˃̵͈̑ᴗ˂̵͈̑) yuta would probably act like a manly man but gets frightened when i jump scare him beep boop!! jeno and i would just be cuddling and ahhHHh

(18) Who would be the cheesy flirt and who would be the smooth flirt?

I'D BE THE CHEESY FLIRT!! JENO WOULD BE THE SMOOTH FLIRT!! YUTA IS BOTH!!!!

(19) Who is more competitive?

NAKAMOYU. for jeno, i'd feel like it depends!!!!

(20) Who would have to be given constant reminders (reminders to eat, don’t forget ur keys, etc.)?

aha,,,, me (´･ﻌ･`) but occasionally the boys too

(21) Who sends memes and who sends cute ‘i miss u texts at 3am?

EVERYONE WOULD SEND MEMES¡¡¡ ADSHKAL i'd think that jeno would send cute text late at night while we're talking,,, yuta would too, but only when he's feeling clingy!!!

tagging; @jaectizen @pashtelpudding @pinkishlips @velvetjeno @yutainpink @peachysofties @anctzen @dongsxcheng @camomileteasposts @jenoix @runjen

💗💖💕💘💞💓

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buckyscrystalqueen · 7 years ago

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Stepping Up Again: Part 7

Pairings: Chibs x Reader

Warnings: Swearing, angst, teenage pregnancy, so much angst

Word Count: 3,059

A/N: This series is a continuation of Stepping Up! Read that first if you haven’t! Hold onto your pants, though because this is gunna be a wild ride!

A/N 2: This is the part where y’al are gunna HATE ME!!!!

Stepping Up Masterlist Aesthetic by @ravenangel33

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So what are we going to do about the housing situation?” You asked Chibs as the two of you stood outside the hospital to smoke a cigarette. He sighed as he sat down on the top part of the bench and shrugged.

“Well Kerrianne bought up possibly movin’ in wit’ Tim ta give us more room. We could move Kellan in ta ‘er room on our side’a the ‘ouse which leaves the oth’a two rooms open for them an’ the nursery.” You nodded slowly as you yawned around your cigarette. “Luv, ye need ta go ‘ome an’ get some bloody rest.”

“I’m fine.” You looked over at him with a small smile and blinked your tired eyes a few times. You couldn’t help but huff a laugh as you took a long drag of your smoke. “OK, so I’m fucking tired. Whatever.” He nodded as he pat the top part of the bench beside him and held out his arm to welcome you into his embrace.

“‘ow ‘bout ye go ‘ome an’ take a nap. I’ll stay ‘ere wit’ the babes for a few hours, aye?” You nodded as you sat down and leaned into his side, letting your exhaustion start to seep its way into your bones. You let your head fall onto his shoulder as he squeezed your arm.

“Jesus… what the fuck happened?” He shook his head slowly as he took the last drag of his cigarette and flicked it out toward the road.

“I wish I’d an answ’a for ye, luv. But we’re goin’ ta be jus’ fine no matta wha’, ye ‘ear?” You nodded against his shoulder and finished your cigarette as you putted out of his grip.

“Alright, I’m gunna go say bye to Kels before I head out. See if she needs anything from the house.” He nodded as you stretched your arms over your head and laughed at the small pops and cracks you got in response.

“Ye’r gettin’…”

“Shut up, Filip.” You said with a laugh as you pushed his arm. You shook your head and took his hand on your way back into the hospital. With every step you took, you realized just how tired you really were. “God, you know what sounds great right now? A dip in the hot tub.”

“Mmm an’ Kellan’s a school. We’d ‘ave the ‘ouse to ourselves…” You moaned as you headed down the hallway toward Kelsi’s room.

“When was the last time we had an empty house? Ten years ago? Fif…” You words were cut off as a nurse raced past you and turned into Kelsi’s room. Your feet stumbled as the sounds of people talking over each other finally grabbed your attention and you took off at a run. “Kels?”

“Stay ou’ there!” Kerrianne yelled at you at the same moment Chibs grabbed you around the middle to keep you in the hallway. You grabbed at his arms as your eyes focused on your baby girl, who was currently having a massive seizure and being held down to the bed by a couple nurses. You were too in shock to even move or make a sound. Your mouth simple opened and closed soundlessly as your tired mind tried to wrap around what was going on.

“Filip.” You finally said as they rolled Kelsi’s still body onto her back and started CPR. “Filip, fix this!” He shook his head and squeezed you tighter as his tears fell on your shoulder. You didn’t even notice your own tears falling as you dug your nails into his arms when they shocked your baby girl. As Kerrianne looked for a heartbeat, Jax, who had been with baby Megan, slid around the corner and nearly collided with you and Chibs.

“What?” You shook your head as you let go of your husband’s arm with one hand so you could grab one of Jax’s. The three of you stood and watched in horror as the hospital staff fought to bring Kelsi back.

“I love you, mommy.” Kelsi’s last words to you before you went out for a cigarette echoed in your head as Kerrianne took a step back with tears in her eyes. “I love you so much.”

“Time… Time’a death… 11:27.”

“No!”

——

Numb. It was the only thing you were currently capable of feeling as you laid on the hospital bed with Kelsi’s cold body in your arms. Tears flowed like a river into her blonde hair as you brushed your fingers through it to get out all the little tangles. Jax hadn’t lasted a moment before shattering a picture frame in the hall and storming off. Chibs had pleaded with his daughter to save his other baby girl before collapsing in the hall way where he still was, sobbing into his hands. You didn’t know how you managed to convince your feet to move but you knew you needed to get to your daughter.

You had instantly started singing when you laid down next to her as you pulled off the leads and the IV’s that were now completely unnecessary but your heart wasn’t in it. It couldn’t be because it was almost like it knew you would never see your baby girl’s face again; knew that you would never hear her laughter in the mornings as she got dressed for school. Your baby girl, who was just an innocent bystander ripped from the world before her time. Your heart finally heated up with rage as you realized just who’s fault this whole situation was.

The fucking prospect; this was his fault. He was the one who knocked up your baby. He was the one who made your daughter run off. He was the asshole who got in the car accident that lead to your baby girl being in the hospital in the first place. It was his fucking fault Kelsi was dead.

“I want that fucking prick out of this fucking hospital.” You said loud enough that Chibs could hear you. “And he’s never going near that baby again.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had your arms wrapped around Kellan and Kerrianne’s shoulders tightly, as if they were going to disappear from your world if you didn’t as you stood amongst your SAMCRO family at Kelsi’s grave site a few plot spots down from Gemma and Thomas’s graves. Tears silently fell down your cheeks as you stared at your baby girl’s smiling face in the collage that Lyla and a couple of the croweaters had made for her memorial. Despite the fact that she had been gone for a whole week, you still felt that it wasn’t real.

“I can’t fucking believe he showed up here.” Happy growled behind you and beside Jax. Your, Jax and Chibs’ heads all whipped up and easily found Mike standing a few hundred yards away by a tree in all black. The rage you felt every time you even though his name boil in your veins as you glanced back at the Tacoma Killer.

“I want him dead. Painfully so.” Happy nodded his head once as you looked back at your daughter’s coffin and kissed your son’s head.

“Can I do it?” Kellan asked as you pretended to listen to the man who was saying a few words for your daughter’s service.

“No. Uncle Happy is gunna take care of that piece of shit.”

“Make ‘im suff’a.” Kerrianne said as she leaned her head on your shoulder and wiped at her tears. “Make ‘im pay for Kelsi.” You couldn’t even bring yourself to care that your children were actively planning murder in their heads and condoning murder as well, something that you usually would have put an end to immediately.

“I’ll take this one.” Jax said as they lowered his baby girl’s coffin into the ground. “I want his fucking blood on my hands.” You nodded your head as you turned around toward him and Chibs because you couldn’t bring yourself to see your daughter be buried.

“Make him pay, Jackson. Make him fucking pay for our baby.”

——

“Hi, sweet girl.” You said softly as you held two week old Megan to your partially bare chest in her NICU room two days after Kelsi’s funeral. You smiled at the tiny little girl in your arms as you rocked the two of you back and forth. “It’s mamaw. You are so beautiful, baby girl.” Megan let out a small, adorable cry as you brushed your pointer finger tip across the back her small head. “Shh… it’s OK, sweetheart. I got you.” You offered her your pointer finger and smiled with tears in your eyes as she grabbed it firmly.

“She’s lookin’ real good.” Kerrianne said as she checked monitors and glanced at Megan Kelsi Teller’s chart despite the fact that her niece wasn’t her patient. “No brain bleed, strong heartbeat but we’re still monitorin’ tha’ spot. She’s gettin’ enough oxygen. We’re gon’ redo the OAE test in a couple weeks ta check ‘er ‘earin’ again but Da’s right. She’s’a fight’a.” You nodded at your step-daughter as you brushed your thumb across across Megan’s fingers.

“She is.” You said solemnly as tears welled in your eyes. You swallowed them back and looked up at Kerrianne. “So what are we gunna do about feeding? I don’t like the idea of her on formula this young.”

“Well I was talkin’ ta ‘er doct’a t’day ‘bout tha’. We’ve a reserve of sorts from other women tha’ donate breastmilk… but there’s also the option’a tryin’ ta get ye ta induce as well.” You looked up at her with your eyebrows raised.

“Yea? Because nursing two kids through the night wasn’t enough, right?” Kerrianne blushed as she sat down on the chair just as Chibs came into the rom. You smirked and looked up at him. “So, how do you feel about my boobs growing again?” He looked at you with his eyebrow raised and hesitated in the door way as Kerrianne covered her face in embarrassment.

“Yer no’ gettin’ implants, m’luv.”

“An’ I’m done.” Kerrianne said as she got up to leave the room. “I’ll pick up Kellan from school on m’way ‘ome. Just let the doc know wha’ ye decide… an’ don’ tell me, please!” You giggled and nodded as your husband came in and took her chair.

“Breast feeding, baby.” You said as he sat down and immediately began pulling at the pink clothing cover he had on. “I don’t want Megs on formula this young…”

“Ahh…” He sighed as he sat back in his chair. “’s’yer call, m’luv. Ye know I’m in luv wit’ yer tits when they’re all full an’ swollen…”

“Filip…” You warned as you looked at him through your lashes.

“I’m jus’ sayin’ luv. Layin’ the facts down on the table.” You rolled your eyes at him as you looked back down at Megan. “She would’a wanted it tha’ way.” You nodded your head at him but kept your eyes on your granddaughter.

“I know she would…” You looked up quickly as a tear fell from your eye and sighed. “I hate this.”

“I know, luv. I do too.” You forced yourself to try and stay calm so you didn’t upset Megan as you looked back at Chibs.

“They wanted to know if we planned on adopting Megan as our daughter or just being legal guardians as grandparents. Something about her birth certificate.” Chibs sighed as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Shit… I’ve no idea, lass.” You sighed and looked down at Megan.

“If we don’t and we can’t find that little fucking tool, he can come for her…”

“We’ll adopt.” Chibs instantly growled. “He’s no’ goin’ near tha’ child.” You nodded your head in agreement as you ‘shh’ed’ him softly.

“Stay calm, my love. We’ll adopt. She can call us mom an’ da… but she will always know the truth about Kelsi.” He nodded his head and glanced up as the doctor came in to check on Megan to see if her ‘kangaroo care’ was helping the way she hoped. “Make ‘er tits, bigga. I approve.” He laughed as he got up from his chair.

“Filip, I swear to God.” You mumbled as you brushed your hand over Megan’s back. Your husband chuckled as he kissed your forehead and headed toward the door.

“She wan’s big tits. ‘uge tits!” You sighed and rolled your eyes as Megan’s doctor just laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kellan, it’s time for bed.” You said as you strolled into your son’s room, grabbing articles of clothing to toss in the hamper with each step. You sighed as you glanced up at your child, who was ignoring you. “Hey! What did I say?”

“Just one more video, mom.” Your head whipped up at the sound of tears in his voice and your brow furrowed.

“What are you watching, honey?” You walked over to his bed and dropped the handful of clothes in his over flowing hamper on the way. Your son tilted his iPad toward you and pulled out the cord for his headphones. You tripped over nothing and caught yourself on the edge of his bed as Kelsi’s laugh filled the room.

“It’s her vlog.” He said softly as you took his tablet from him.

“Is that the shit she was always recording?” You asked as you laid down beside him and watched your daughter talking to her phone in your hot tub.

“Yea. She posted them on YouTube all the time. I never used to follow her…” You glanced over at your son as the video came to an end and nodded as you passed him back his tablet.

“Text me the link so I can show your dad. And don’t stay up too late, OK?” He nodded his head as he laid back down in his bed and started the next video. As quickly as you could, you grabbed your son’s laundry so he wouldn’t see you cry. You somehow managed to make it to the laundry room off the kitchen before you burst into tears and nearly collapsed on the floor. Sobs wracked your body as you curled into yourself in front of the dryer.

“Why?” You sobbed as you shook your head against the tile. “She’s just a baby.”

“Luv?” You forced yourself to roll onto your back and you could see your husband’s heart shatter in his brown eyes. “Fuck… I know m’luv. ’s’ok…”

“No…” You sobbed as you shook your head. He nodded at you as he came over and picked you up off the floor. You wrapped your arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder, letting yourself really feel the loss of your daughter for the first time. As he laid you both down on your bed, you felt his own tears fall on your jaw as he shifted over you to find a comfortable spot.

“I want her back!” You sobbed as you fisted his shirt and kutte in your fists.

“I know, sweet’eart. Me too.” You nodded against his chest as he wrapped you in his arms and held you as tight as he could. You sobbed for hours, begging, screaming at, and pleading with God for him to bring Kelsi back. Your heart and soul ached as Chibs clung to you, trying to hold both of you together as best as he could as he let his own feelings finally come to the surface as well in the privacy of your bedroom.

“My baby…” You rasped repeatedly until you finally cried yourself to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You stood in the NICU, staring at three and a half month old Megan as she wiggled and cooed like the happiest baby in the world. You couldn’t help but notice the similarity between her and her mother and no matter how much it broke your heart, some how the little girl in the crib in front of you was putting it back together one obliterated piece at a time. But you knew without a shadow of a doubt in your mind that something was wrong with Megan. And in this situation, you hated that you were right.

“She’s complete ‘earin’ loss in ‘er left ear.” Kerrianne said somberly with tears in her eyes. “Bu’ the good news is she’s only moderate loss in ‘er right. So tha’s somethin’.”

“Jesus Christ.” Chibs mumbled as he sat back in his chair.

“So she’s deaf?” Kellan asked curiously.

“Yea buddy, in one ear, she is.” You said as you picked up Megan from the crib with a smile. “But no matter what she is our family and she is still perfect just the way she is, right?” Your son nodded as you laid Megan on your chest so that her right ear was closer to your mouth so she’d be able to hear you better. “Aren’t you, sweet thing?”

“But… if she can’t hear you, why talk to her?” You looked up at your son with a smile.

“She can ‘ear a lit’l bit out’a ‘er right ear, bud.” Kerrianne said as she sat down next to her brother. “But she can still feel the vibrations in mum’s chest when she speaks… an’ she can see yer facial expressions if ye talk ta ‘er.” Your daughter smiled at Kellan and grabbed his hand. “But mum’s right. She’s still perfect, aye?”

“Aye.” He said in agreement as he looked up at Megan. “Can… can I hold her before we go home?” Your smile grew as you took a step over to him.

“Be gentle.” Chibs said as he sat up a little protectively. You gave him a quick glance to shut him up as you helped guide your granddaughter to Kellan’s chest. You crouched down in front of him and hummed a laugh at how awkward he looked as Kerrianne took a photo for you.

“She is perfect.” He said softly as he let Megan hold onto his finger. You could see the wheels turning in his head as he moved his head to look at her left ear. He looked back at her right ear and nodded the slightest bit. “OK. We can go now.” You nodded your head as you carefully took Megan back as Chibs grabbed the carseat for you.

“Le’s get our girl ‘ome.” You looked up at him with tears in your eyes and a plethora of emotions in your heart.

#Chibs x Reader #Stepping Up Again #Stepping Up series

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