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sulphuryasecretcloset · 4 years ago

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What if... Part2

(Amazed and honoured at the reception of this one! So very happy y’all enjoyed this little AU that I was NOT going to write xD And thank you for the reblogs and comments, you wonderful people you! <3

For the record, I still blame you @phrenic-a and @mountevey And I see you encouraging them @novembermurray ! )

What if Dulsissia hadn’t died, what if she had grabbed Corin and fled? What if she met Davarax? What if...

Part 1

Part 2

She’s lost her mind. Dulsissa has thought this very thought many times during these last three months, but stars above; she really must have lost her mind now.

The Mandalorian, Davarax, is a complete stranger. She doesn’t know anything about him, only some fragments about his children that she has a feeling are real but might as well not be. And here she is holding her son’s hand and following this man to his ship, fully prepared to board it with him and go some place she has no idea where is to stay with a people she has no clue who are.

“This is your ship?” Corin asks with slight disbelief when they come to a halt in front of it.

Like Davarax’ armor, the ship has seen better days.

Embarrassed by her son’s words, Dulsissia gives Corin’s hand a warning squeeze and sends him a stern look that makes him shrink a little and shuffle his feet.

-Think it, don’t speak it, she’s told him countless times. His honesty will cost him one day.

Davarax snorts an amused laugh, saunters forward to reach out and place an affectionate hand to the ship’s hull. He pets it a couple of times like it’s a living creature. “She might not be the fanciest, but..” The helmet turns to look back at Corin. “I can promise you, Corin, you won’t find a better ship in the Galaxy. The Razor Crest is tough, fast and loyal. Treat her right and she’ll look after you.”

The disdain in Corin’s eyes is replaced with awe. “Really?” He whispers.

“Really.” Davarax confirms, giving the ship a final pat before lowering his arm to press a button on his vambrace. There is a click and a hum and the ship opens a side door, lowering a ramp for them to enter. “Let’s go.”

Dulsissia smiles a little as she follows Davarax inside and how Corin now is pulling eagerly at her hand to make her hurry up. A magical ship is irresistible to a little boy, while she tries hard to ignore the scorch marks she sees on the hull and the ominous weapons attached to it.

Inside, the ship is a lot roomier than she expected it to be. The cargo area makes for a great playground for Corin. The sleeping quarters are narrow, but she doesn’t require much space and Corin even less so. The cockpit is fascinating, she’s never been in one before.

And neither has Corin.

“Baby, no.” Dulsissia reaches out to pull Corin away when he walks right up to the control panel after Davarax has found his place in the pilot seat and watches with utmost amazement as he starts flipping switches and pushing buttons to bring the ship to life. “Come here. Don’t bother Davarax.”

“It’s okay.” Davarax reassures her. He glances over at the boy. “You want to help, young sir?”

Corin nods, too overwhelmed to talk.

“Flip that one.” Davarax points at a tiny switch and Corin instantly reaches out and flips it. “Good job. And now press that button.” He lifts the boy up so he can reach the button in the ceiling.

Dulsissia bites her lower lip to keep from getting too emotional as she watches her son eagerly obey instructions and soaking up every bit of encouragement and praise from the Mandalorian, starved for both after all the years his father gave him none. It hurts to watch how such simple kindness from a man stuns Corin but it is also so good to see her son this happy. Maybe she didn’t lose her mind when she decided to go with Darvarax, maybe it was the one good choice she’s made since deciding to leave Macero? She hopes.

“Okay, ad’ika.” Davarax says. “The Razor Crest is awake. Time for you to get in your seat.” He nudges Corin, who reluctantly wanders over to the one seat left after his mother claimed the one behind Davarax. He climbs, with a little difficulty, up on it, and settles. A tiny boy in a big seat.

Dulsissia moves over to buckle him in and frowns. He’s too small. It won’t keep him safe at all.

Without looking over at them, Davarax makes some final adjustments on his panel. “Next to the seat. On the left. There’s this box he can sit on. I use that when I bring Din or Barthor along.”

Dulsissia blinks. It’s not something she’d picture a mercenary to have on his ship. But a peek down the side does indeed reveal a box and once Corin is sitting on that, he gets a better view, to his delight, and the belts actually fit him instead of choking him, to her relief.

The ship takes off and sets course for the darkness above. Dulsissia is not sorry to leave this place.

Now all she has to worry about is what Nevarro is like and how the Mandalorians will react to Davarax bringing home a stray and her offspring. She wonders if the other Mandalorians are like Davarax, if she will get to meet his children and most important of all; will Corin like it there?

The journey to Nevarro will take two standard days. It’s strange how two days on a small ship with her husband or her friends would have driven her insane, but the hours on board the Razor Crest feel safe and almost enjoyable as Davarax’ patience with her son’s continued craving for his attention and praise.

Every time her boy butts into whatever the Mandalorian is doing, calls for him to look at what he is doing instead, Dulsissia feels a stab of dread, waiting to hear the sharp annoyance that would always follow his attempts to reach his father, but every time Davarax replies with mild amusement and eternal patience. He even brings Corin along to ‘help’ with some repairs in the cargo area and leaves her to just rest or whatever she feels like doing.

With there being no place for the man to run off with her child, it’s not like he’ll jump into space with him, and a growing trust in Davarax, Dulsissia ends up sitting in the cockpit like an idiot and having no clue what to do. It’s been almost five years since she didn’t spend every second of her day hovering over Corin.

After what feels like a small eternity of just sitting there, listening to the muffled voices from the cargo hold, Dulsissia notices her reflection in the transparisteel and slowly lifts a hand to her blond locks. Oh, she looks a mess. No wonder Davarax had decided she needed help; she looks like a wookiee.

When Davarax and Corin returns to the cockpit, she has eased the final hairpin into place and her sweet boy lights up at the sight of her. He runs over, places his hands on her knees and looks up at her with a smile so bright it makes her smile as well. “Wow. You look really pretty, mommy.”

Davarax ruffles Corin’s hair as he walks by him on the way to the pilot seat. “She always does, ad’ika.”

Her face burns for some reason. Dulsissia pulls Corin up to sit on her lap and she changes the topic. “What does that mean? You keep calling him that.”

“It’s from my language. Mando’a.” Davarax replies, fidgeting with something on the panel to see if the repairs were successful. “It’s what we call our youngsters.”

Smiling, oddly pleased with the answer, Dulsissia looks down and sees Corin has gotten oil on his face and starts the battle of wiping it away while he tries to squirm free.

It’s not just Corin who gets to learn new things. On the second day, while her boy sleeps, Dulsissia takes out the blade Davarax had given her and tests the weight and feel of it. Wearing a dress restricts the movement of her legs a bit, so she’ll need to have a good idea of how to use her arms. Make the most of what she can use.

She feels stupid, waving the blade around, pretending to stab an invisible opponent, but Dulsissia gets so into it that she’s entirely unprepared for a hand suddenly gripping her wrist.

Startled, she flinches and almost drops the knife.

“Not like that.” Davarax’ voice says from behind her. She hadn’t heard him approach.

His gloved hand slides over her pale one and helps her turn the blade so she holds it in a reverse grip instead.

“Like this. It will give you more options during an attack and more power. More power to do more damage. Plus,” Davarax steps closer and slides his other arm loosely around her waist in a slight mimicry of how those men had grabbed her, “you can do this.”

The hand on hers adds a little pressure and makes her lower her arm in a careful swing until the blade goes by her thigh and the tip comes to a halt against the front of his thigh.

“And when the blade is in, you twist.” His voice is so calm. And so close. If not for the helmet, she suspects she’d feel his words on her neck. “Understand?”

Dulsissia gives a quick little nod. Her eyes probably as big as Corin’s tend to get around this man.

“Good.” Davarax lets her go and circles to stand in front of her. “Now, if someone approaches you from the front, what you should do is-”

She still feels silly, waving the blade around and Davarax letting her practice on him when he could disarm her without even looking her way, but at the end of that first session; Dulsissia knows where to aim and how to do as much damage as possible.

Also, when the Mandalorian hands out praise, she can’t blame her son for wanting more because she realizes that she hasn’t heard too much of that in her own lifetime either and it feels really, really good to finally think she’s not hopeless at least.

When they land on Nevarro, Dulsissia can’t help but to feel nervous again. She picks up Corin, who allows it with a resigned sigh, and holds him close while following Davarax off the ship. The journey has been another respite before facing her difficult situation, but it’s over now.

Time to find out what will be next for her and her baby.

Davarax leads her through the dusty city, Dulsissia places a protective hand on Corin’s head and shields him from seeing leers and sneers sent their way, and they finally reach a door that brings them underground to the hidden Covert of the Mandalorians.

It’s dark below and it takes a while for Dulsissia’s eyes to adjust so she doesn’t see them until she’s walking right by the other Mandalorians, who stand there, staring at her with emotionless t-visors.

Flinching with a startled sound, she jumps forward and nearly bumps into Davarax’ back.

“They won’t harm you.” Davarax says, not turning around or even slowing his walk. “You’re safe.”

Looking around as they walk, Dulsissia hopes he is right, because there are quite an amount of armored people there and they aren’t exactly rolling out a welcoming committee. “If you say so.”

In the depths of the tunnels, they approach what appears to be the seat of power, judging by the decorations and respectful behaviour of the ones there.

They have taken one step inside the room, it appears to some kind of a forge, when Davarax stops and Dulsissia follows his example. “Stay here.” He says. “Only speak when spoken to.”

She then watches in silence as he steps forward and walks over to kneel down in front of the forge where a Mandalorian in a golden armor and a fur cloak is working on something. Minutes pass and Dulsissia has to hoist Corin a couple of times as the boy really is getting heavy, but they all wait for what has to be the leader of the Mandalorians to finish whatever they are working on.

Finally the one in the golden helmet puts the hammer down, lingers and walks over to where Davarax is kneeling. “Did you complete your mission?”

Davarax reaches into the pocket of his belt, fishes out a handful of valuables and places them on the ground as an offering.

The leader looks at what he has brought, gives a thoughtful nod and then shifts her attention to Dulsissia. “And you have brought something else to the Covert as well.”

“They need a place to stay. Somewhere safe.”

“A foundling is always welcome.” The leader replies in a neutral voice. “This other one does not look like a warrior.”

“She has the makings of one.” Davarax counters in an equally neutral voice. “She will be my responsibility. Both of them.”

“Very well.” The leader says, but she does not sound pleased. “This is the way.”

“This is the way.” Davarax echoes. He gets up and walks out of the room, only pausing to give Dulsissia’s arm a light touch to signal her to follow him. She does.

Once they are at a certain distance from the room and the leader, Dulsissia hoists Corin, who she suspects is too scared by these new surroundings to say anything, and voices her thoughts. “She doesn’t want me here.”

Davarax does his little trademark huff of a laugh. “Don’t worry about it.”

Dulsissia sighs and hoists Corin a little again. Her arms are burning. She does not expect Davarax to come to an abrupt halt, forcing her to stop as well, and turn around to hold out his arms.

“Give him to me.”

Dulsissia clutches Corin a little closer and stares at him with surprise at his betrayal.

His helmet tilts a little and Davarax is the one to sigh. “Just until I can show you your room.”

She hesitates for several seconds. What convinces her is Corin pushing away from her and reaching out to him, and only then does Dulsissia hand her son over to the Mandalorian and awkwardly wraps her arms around herself instead.

Corin quickly settles on Davarax’ arm and looks around with bright, curious eyes from his new and taller perch.

The Mandalorian reaches out his free hand and gently touches by her shoulder. “Come.” He says, not unkindly. “Let me show you where you’ll stay.”

The door slides open. Stepping inside, Davarax following her with Corin, Dulsissia looks around and finds it small and modest but far cleaner and inviting than some of the inns she and her son have stayed at during these last weeks. There are no windows, but there is a light in the ceiling.

There are two beds, a rickety looking table and some hooks in the wall to hang clothing on.

“It’s not much, I know.” Davarax sounds a bit awkward. “But it will be yours.” Dulsissia looks over at him with a grateful smile. “It’s wonderful. Thank you.”

Davarax turns sideways and points at the door they can see across the hallway. “That’s me. If you need anything.” He puts Corin down on his own two feet and lets him run over to climb into the closest bed and start jumping on it.

“Corin, baby, no.” Dulsissia says, meeting the defiant look he sends her way with a stern look of her own and feels a smug sense of victory when the boy sits down with an annoyed huff. She can then turn her attention back to Davarax. “You have done so much for us already. How can I ever repay you?”

He seems surprised by her words and it takes a second before he shakes his head. “There is nothing to repay. You don’t owe me anything. Neither does your boy. I just want you two to be safe.”

Dulsissia has to turn away to hide her eyes flooding with tears. She’d given up on there being decent people in the Galaxy and then she had to stumble across the most noble of them all?

“I’ll, uh, give you some time to settle in. Get some rest.” Davarax mumbles, backing out of the room. “I’ll be back later. I’ll see if I can get you some spare clothes. I know there are some for Corin. And then I’ll show you two around. Sounds good?”

“Will you show me the training room?” Corin asks with badly hidden hope.

“Absolutely, young sir.” Davarax replies with a bow that has Corin giggle with delight.

When the door slides shut behind the Mandalorian, Dulsissia walks over to sit next to her sweet boy and combs her fingers through his thick, dark hair. “We are going to stay here for a while, baby. Okay?”

Corin nods eagerly and gives her another gap-toothed smile. “Yeah! Dav’rax gonna show me where he trains to fight bad guys. Maybe he can teach me too?”

“We’ll see.” Dulsissia replies, unwilling to make any promises on behalf of the man. While she’d prefer her son to never see battle in his lifetime, she’s not stupid. Once she chose to leave Seswenna, she condemned them both to an existence where they both will have to learn to defend themselves.

She and Corin explore the room, discover there is a barely visible door on the western wall that leads to what has to be the Galaxy’s tiniest refresher room, and they play-fight over who gets which bed, but in the end there isn’t all that much to do but wait for Davarax to return.

When there finally is a knock on the door, both Dulsissia and Corin eagerly jump to their feet and is equally pleased to see the now almost familiar Mandalorian. Dulsissia is fairly certain she’d be able to recognize his helmet and armor in a sea of others at this point.

Davarax holds out a small pile of clothes. “This will at least give you something to change into.”

Accepting the gift, Dulsissia manages another smile, despite once again feeling the bite of humiliation. She thinks about the gorgeous dresses she used to wear. The adorable outfits she had made for Corin. She’ll probably be the first Motti to ever use second-hand clothing… Then she snaps out of it and clutches the clothes close with a sense of appreciation instead. “Thank you.”

“And you, ad’ika, are you ready to check out your new home?” Davarax asks Corin.

“Yes, sir!” Corin replies, back straight and eagerness barely contained.

The Covert, as she understands it is called, is a complicated network of hallways and tunnels. It used to be the old sewers of Neverro, Davarax explains and Dulsissia tries not to shudder. At least Macero won’t think to look for them here.

The other Mandalorians are still staring quietly at her, but the ones Davarax introduces her to give her a polite nod at least. They don’t seem hostile, but they aren’t exactly brimming with hospitality either. Dulsissia suspects that maybe they don’t get too many visitors in their underground home.

She minds her manners, tries to not offend anyone and considering that none of them draw their frankly intimidating blasters says she might not be doing the worst job of it. Dulsissia used to be so very good at socializing. She was the queen of all the balls back on Seswenna. Now she’s only hoping not to offend.

“And I saved the best for last.” Davarax says with the excitement she usually hears from her son. He stops by a door, turns to face her and lets his hand over over the button to open. “My kids.”

Dulsissia has just enough time to feel both surprise and nervousness and then the door slides open.

Lined up in a neat row, clearly having been given firm instructions to be followed when Davarax brought her and her son, four children stand in the middle of what looks like a training room and stare at the new arrivals.

The one of the left has to be Paz. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was sixteen, not eleven. He’s a lot taller than the others, but lacks the lankiness that would usually follow such an early height growth. He has the powerful bones to carry the height, but a child’s face. Paz’ dark hair is cut entirely short except for the unruly spikes on top, his mouth is a thin, disapproving line and his big hands are clenched. Next to him, barely reaching his team-mate’s shoulder, is the one that has to be Barthor. He has curly, dark hair that is getting a bit long, scarecrow shoulders and sharp eyes that are locked on Dulsissia like he’s seeing her with a crosshair on her forehead. Next to him is definitely Raga. Like Barthor, she’s small and skinny, but she has the most amazing hair Dulsissia has ever seen. It is a wild mess, but the volume and the curls are stunning. Too bad the glare behind the mane warns her that she’ll get her fingers bit off if she so much as tries to touch it. And then, half hidden behind Raga, is the one Davarax keeps referring to as ‘little Din’. He’s not especially small for his age, but he appears to be a lot more timid than the others. He is very cute, though, with silky dark hair and soulful eyes.

Davarax walks over and starts introducing each child. Dulsissia is pleased to hear she’s guessed right about their identities and gives a brief curtsy. “Pleased to meet you. I am Dulsissia.”

Silence.

Davarax reaches out and pokes a finger at Paz’ head. “Hey.”

Paz’ nose twitches, like a hound about to bare its teeth, then he reluctantly steps forward until he stands in front of her and he reaches out a hand. “I’m honoured to meet you.”

Trying to hold back an amused smile and failing to a certain degree, Dulsissia takes his hand and he shakes hers with a stern look on his little face, trying so hard to act like an adult. She has to stop herself from hugging him. It’s so cute.

Barthor gives her a nod, which is good enough for her but gets an annoyed sigh from Davarax. Raga moves forward, Din following her like a tail, and she seems more interested in something behind Dulsissia.

What… Oh. Right.

Dulsissia reaches back and ushers Corin out from his hiding place. “This is Corin. Say hello Corin.”

“Hello.” He says in a tiny voice, looking from one to the other and probably feeling like prey. She doesn’t blame him. He hasn’t really played with other children before. Macero didn’t think it would be good for him to mix with others. And these ones are already being trained to be warriors.

Paz frowns and crossed his arms. “Are you going to take the Creed?”

Corin blinks. “I…”

“They are going to stay with us. That’s all you need to focus on, Paz.” Davarax replies.

“Is he going to train with us?” Barthor asks, his eyes still too sharp for someone so young.

“We haven’t decided that yet.” Davarax says and glances over at Dulsissia.

“He should play with us.” Raga says, her lip curling in something that could be a smile but is mostly a flash of teeth. When Corin shuffles to partially hide behind Dulsissia’s leg, Raga doesn’t move but her eyes move with him.

“He is going to play with you.” Davarax says and stalks forward until he’s standing next to Raga, towering over her. “And you’re all going to be nice to him. Understand?”

The girl scowls up at him. “I’m always nice.”

“No, you’re not.” Barthor scoffs.

Raga’s mess of a hair bounces as she snaps her gaze over at him and he shuffles over to partially hide behind the still stern-looking Paz.

“She’s going to be nice to my son,” Dulsissia says, her voice sweet and her eyes not, “because he has a mother who will have words with everyone who isn’t nice to him.”

Raga shifts her scowl over to Dulsissia, scans her, scowls harder, but when Dulsissia doesn’t give her an inch, she sighs and her little body relaxes. “Fiiiiine.”

And while all of this is happening, little Din silently watches Corin from his hiding place and Corin curiously looks back at him from his.

“I told them to behave.” Davarax grouses as he’s bringing her to where she can find food for herself and Corin.

Laughing, Dulsissia glances down at where her son is walking next to her, holding on to her hand and looking around with curiosity, not fear. “I think it went well.”

“No, you don’t understand.” Davarax sighs and there is actual sadness to the sound. “The others call them lost causes. Troublemakers. I know they are difficult, that their manners aren’t like Corin’s, but.. They are good kids. They really are. I wanted you to see that.”

Dulsissia reaches out and places her hand on his upper arm where there is no armor. And she speaks the truth. “I did see that.”

Davarax comes to an abrupt halt, she does the same, and despite the t-visor she can feel the look of surprise on his face.

“You… did?” There is a fragile hope in his voice that doesn’t match his rough exterior.

Dulsissia nods and smiles. “It’s like you said, Paz watches over the others like they were ‘his’ children. He did not hesitate to protect Barthor from Raga. Barthor, who would not let Raga lie and trick my son. Raga, who didn’t care that my son was an outsider and just saw him as someone to play with. And sweet little Din who despite his fear wanted so much to say hello. I think he and Corin will get along so well. And…” She hesitates, looks down at her son but finds him distracted by staring at something down the hallway and has no excuse not to say what else she saw. Dulsissia looks back up at Davarax, who is waiting for her to finish. “And I saw just how much those children love you.”

Davarax stares at her.

“You are the world, the entire Galaxy to them.” Dulsissia says, remembering the look of pure adoration and love in their eyes as he mildly chastised them for acting like tree monkeys in front of their visitors. She doubts he understands how important his role is to these children. How their happiness hangs on his words. How they will do anything for his approval. “My parents ruled our house with an iron fist. But these children? They don’t obey you because they have to or because they fear you. They do it because they love you. Because you see them.”

He shivers and the only reason she knows is because her hand is still on his arm.

“Dulcy, I…” Davarax reaches up and covers her hand with his.

“I know bad men, Davarax. I know monsters pretending to be men. But you?” Dulsissia looks over at how his hand is holding on to hers, so gently despite the strength she knows he must be capable of. “You are a good man. You are the kind of man I wish Corin had for a father.”

Davarax takes a step closer, is suddenly very close and the muscles in his arm tighten under her palm. “Is he the one you are running from?”

Dulsissia tenses up and looks down at her son. Corin is still caught up in whatever he’s staring at.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Davarax says ever so softly. “I just want to help you.”

“I know.” Dulsissia whispers. She doesn’t want to say Macero’s name. It’s stupid, but she fears if she does; it might summon him. “That is what makes you a good man.”

A light touch to her chin and Davarax’ other hand lifts her face to look up at him and there is a slight smile in his voice when he speaks. “I’m not ‘that’ good.”

Dulsissia giggles. She hasn’t giggled in years. And her face flushes.

“I’m hungry.” Corin declares.

Davarax jumps back a step and Dulsissia jumps in place and they both look down at the little boy like guilty teenagers.

“I-I’m sorry, baby. We’ll get you something to eat now.” Dulsissia stammers, her face heating up even more.

“Food. Yes. This way.” Davarax clears his throat and gestures for them to follow him.

They enter the room where food is stored, Davarax shows them where the fires are so she can cook if she feels like it and basically where all the other necessities of the Covert are.

By the time the tour comes to an end by the door to their room, Corin is exhausted and Dulsissia knows she won’t struggle finding sleep either. Still, she’s almost a little reluctant to part ways with Davarax when he pauses outside their door.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” She asks.

“I was hoping that you might want to bring Corin by training.” Davarax says. “He can observe for a while. Maybe try some exercises. Training is the best way for the children to burn off their energy and learn skills as the city above is not safe for them.”

Dulsissia nods. “I will bring him.” She hesitates, knowing he must be tired of hearing her say it but still has to; “Thank you.”

Davarax shakes his head, reaches out and gingerly tucks a golden lock behind her ear. “No thanks required.” He backs up a step, nods and spins around to march over to his door. He keeps pressing the button to his room so the door opens and shuts twice before he can actually get inside.

Late at night, curled up on her side in her bed, looking over at the barely visible silhouette of her son’s back in the other bed, Dulsissia knows she made the best decision ever by coming here.

#the mandalorian his son and the storm trooper #Dulsissia Motti #Davarax #Baby Corin #Fearsome Four #Mandorin AU

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staytiny-present · 4 years ago

Text

Ateez Presents: Alice in Wonderland

Rating: T

warnings: some blood and violence (nondescript), swear words, gets kinda angsty, mentions of anxiety

disclaimer: hi so first of all i just want to apologize about the wait,, i’ve been super crazy busy with school lately (and will continue to be but i’m trying not to think about that) so i’ve struggled to find time for both writing and my assignments BUT i’m nothing if not irresponsible so i’ve gladly taken more time to write this than write any of my other essays. also i am... so sorry this is??? so long i got so carried away,,, i hope y’all like long reads bc you are in for it with this one, but anyway! rules for disney au requests can be found here! enjoy and let me know what you think!! xo

Starring~

Kim Hongjoong as the White Rabbit

he was the reason you fell in the first place

you found it incredibly odd that such a cute boy in a waistcoat and glasses would have rabbit ears, and even stranger that he could fit inside a rabbit hole

you would have asked him about it, but he ran away before you could

and you tried to catch up to him to ask but he was just too fast

the rabbit hole he went down was too long and dark for you to see through, which is why you leaned down so far to see where he had gone

that’s when you fell

hongjoong knew it was his fault too,, he should never have gone to the surface or caught your attention

he really didn’t mean to

but he had to

hongjoong was an expert at going down rabbit holes, but for most everyone else there was a lot of falling

he already felt guilty, but hearing your screams and cries the long way down made his heart wrench

leaving yeosang alone at the door - who was yawning and questioning if hongjoong was right - he waited below as you fell

wincing each time you bumped into a cupboard or a bookshelf, bounced off of a bed, or were hit by a flying book

you knew bruises would bloom all over when you landed

if you landed it seemed

you felt sick as you fell and sicker as you dreaded what kind of landing you would face

your nonexistent breath left you once again when you finally did land

right on top of hongjoong - the boy you followed who was waiting to catch you

the force of your landing knocked hongjoong’s glasses off of his face as you both fell to the marble floor beneath you

you groaned and scrambled to get off of the boy, apologies leaving your mouth faster than you could comprehend

the entire time hongjoong looking at you in shock and awe

why,,, why in wonderland were you apologizing to him?

he made you fall

he’s the reason for your bruises

he was the reason you were stuck now

he did this

he was roused out of his thoughts when he heard yeosang quietly calling his name, and he turned around to see he was waving in your direction

realizing the sudden urgency he grabbed your hand and pulled you up off the floor

“don’t apologize alice i’ll be fine, but we need to go”

alice? “i’m not-“

you would have told him he didn’t have the right person because no you weren’t alice and you didn’t know one

but you noticed his glasses were missing

not missing but on the floor, a crack almost straight through one of the circle lenses

you bent down to pick them up and inspect

“i’m so sorry about your glasses sir”

you didn’t know if you should be calling him sir, but it sounded better than ‘rabbit boy’

hongjoong, who hadn’t noticed his glasses came off, touched his face

he was about to speak again when you?? lifted them back to his face??? and placed them gently on the bridge of his nose????

blood rushed to his face and lit it on fire, a stark contrast to his white hair and white ears

however you thought you had done something wrong and began apologizing again

he wanted to reassure you but yeosang’s quiet voice brought him back to the reality of things again

it startled you how abruptly hongjoong’s ears stood at attention, most of the color draining out of his face

“alice”

hongjoong took hold of your hand, and he would have turned red again had it not been for the urgency of the situation

“we have to leave this place”

your brain felt like mush as all of your thoughts swam past each other

i don’t even know what this place is, you thought, i’ve never seen such a strange place except in stories

and why does he keep calling me alice?

“what do you mean and why do you-”

a loud ringing cut you off before you could ask the curious boy anything, and hongjoong pulled a pocket watch out of his red coat

his eyes widened and his ears stood up straighter if that was possible

“oh dear, i’m late!”

he took your hand once again and led you to a door that couldn’t have been higher than your knee

hongjoong shoved a vial in your hand and on the label you saw that it read ‘drink me’

“it’s dangerous out there for you, alice, so please go with yeosang”

and you were confused because you couldn’t see anyone else around

it wasn’t until you looked down that you saw there was in fact another person with you, and he stood tall enough to fit through the small door next to you

if anything this only confused you more but hongjoong kept talking telling you to follow yeosang and to do what he tells you if you want to stay safe

but then he took hold of you by your shoulders and leaned in and said something so cryptically gentle

“all will be revealed soon. i promise”

your stomach erupted into butterflies at the strange boy in front of you

and honestly your mind was running a mile a minute trying to figure what was going on

and you can’t ask him because before you can even blink he’s hesitantly letting go of you and goddamnit he’s running again

there’s a normal-sized door on the other side of the room that he pulls out a key for, and the lock clicks once he’s gone

Kang Yeosang as the Dormouse

yeosang is tired

he never got his afternoon nap because hongjoong was so sure that this alice was the one

he was excited for the hatter’s party this afternoon and his eyes drooped at the thought of being able to relax with the boys

he doesn’t really want to do this but he trusts hongjoong

if he’s sure you were the right alice then he knew how important it was to keep you safe, and he was going to give his all to protect you

he’s waiting for you to drink from the vial but you... aren’t

because you are still. confused.

you have tons of questions that you want to ask like WHAT is going on and WHY are you so small and was that boy really a rabbit and what was his name and why did he give me this and

but yeosang is like what are you waiting for? you gotta drink it do what it says

and you still have questions because wHY DID HE SAY I WAS IN DANGER, but he also said to do whatever yeosang told you to stay safe

and none of this makes any sense to you, so who were you to not do what he says

so you drink from the vial

it’s fucking nasty

at first it was great, but the after taste made your eyes water and your throat burn

you started coughing, and when you stopped you noticed that yeosang was a lot closer to you than he was before

in fact, he and the door were suddenly much bigger than they had been a moment ago

until it hit you that whatever was in the vial had shrunk you

you don’t have any time to question it because yeosang is pulling out a key like the one hongjoong had so he can open the door for you and

holy shit

what you see is beautiful in every way

the sky was a brilliant blue with clouds like pillows and warm sunlight

the pathway you found yourself on was made of rocks and cobblestones with vibrant grass surrounding it

there had to have been millions of different flowers and plant species that towered over you when they wouldn’t normally

the flowers were like trees and the trees were like mountains

it was incredible seeing it from such a small perspective, but it truly made all the difference

you thought about how this must have been yeosang’s norm, and you noticed that like hongjoong he had animal ears as well

the boy next to you had mouse ears, and they bounced with his hair as he walked

at yeosang’s level, you also noticed that he had a sword that would be about the size of a toothpick at your normal size

his coat was similar to hongjoong’s too, only his was blue instead of hongjoong’s red one

he was... elegant, and he walked with an air of grace surrounding him

you couldn’t help but think that at this level you could tell he was cute too and it involuntarily brought a small smile to your lips

you were so in awe by everything and completely distracted by him that you could hardly hear what yeosang was telling you

he snapped his fingers in front of your face to get you to focus

“please focus alice, i’m trying to keep you alive”

you finally ask WHO is alice but yeosang only shakes his head at you because wow you don’t even know

when in reality, why should you?

so yeosang repeats what he was saying

“always follow the path, alice. don’t eat anything anyone gives you. if you see red run, and if you see cards hide”

and you’re only left with more questions as you’re both walking because what the hell do you mean cards, and why did i drink what that rabbit boy gave me

and yeosang just kind of sighs and says “fine don’t eat anything else” but he doesn’t really elaborate on what he meant by cards

and he doesn’t get the chance to because there’s suddenly a rustling coming from the distance and heavy footsteps

they’re getting louder and faster as time does by and yeosang is like SHIT he already knows you’re here

and you ask him who he’s talking about but he doesn’t say anything,, he only grabs your hand and starts running into the forest of flower trees and tall grass

which is off the path, so yeosang is already breaking his own rule

but you’re sick of not knowing what’s going on, so you plant your feet into the dirt below you and demand your questions be answered

and yeosang knows you don’t know what’s after you, but he does

he knows how dangerous it is to stop for even a moment so he’s like wHAt come on we have to go!

but you finally ask “what’s going on? what’s after us?”

“bandersnatch”

his words were simple, but his voice and his gaze were dark and knowing

you don’t know what a bandersnatch is, but just the way he said it chilled you to your core

so you let him keep leading you through the forest of flowers

and as you’re running you can’t help but think... is the ground getting less firm?

you knew it was a weird thought, but you could have sworn it was getting harder to run let alone walk

like the earth was changing to slow you down, to stop you,,, like it wanted you to get caught

you almost completely disregarded the thought figuring you were going mad when yeosang nearly fell over, which is something you didn’t expect because he had been so light on his feet before

he stopped then and unsheathed his sword

there was a small part of you that thought he was going to kill you or hand you over to whatever was chasing you, but the bigger part knew he was going to stay behind

it wasn’t a comforting thought, especially because you didn’t know what was chasing you

yeosang turned toward you again

“go, and please listen to what I told you”

“no what? what are you-”

“alice please, find the path again, don’t talk to strangers, don’t eat anything, and please please don’t stop and smell the roses”

in any other circumstance, you would have thought he was joking with his phrasing

but then again you were currently running for your life

it was the ominous way he said it that made you want to listen to him

your moment of hesitation made yeosang practically push you in the opposite direction

“go! run!”

it was enough to knock you back to your senses, and you turned and ran through the garden forest

the ground didn’t get any better as you ran, and you found yourself stumbling almost every other step

the further you went the more the flowers around you seemed to get closer to you

you could have sworn they were whispering to each other as you went, but that was impossible

they loomed over you like they were trying to close in and trap you, just like the earth was doing

branches were in your way, stems closing in and thorns tearing into your clothes and your skin

like the flowers were reaching out to grab you

you could feel the blood pricking at your cuts, and your legs screamed at you to stop running

but you couldn’t,,, you would be caught

you ran and ran as best as you could until finally, finally, you were free from the flower forest

you found yourself in an actual forest this time, the woods and the trees blocking out almost any sunlight from illuminating the world around you

but there was just enough for you to see the dirt path before you

you were quick to get back on it, and now that you were you let yourself slow down to breathe

your limbs were heavy and you were so tired, and now you were more banged up than before

you shivered, and you didn’t know if it was because of the chilly air or your own fear

there was mist in the air as well, so you could only see so far ahead of you

you continued on the path slowly

as you walked though you heard a soft noise

you think you’re mistaken because it sounds like laughter so you ignore it at first

but then it becomes more pronounced, more distinct, and you know there is someone laughing

it’s not sinister though,, it honestly sounds kind of genuine

melodic even

you’re about to pass under a large tree branch when out of nowhere - quite literally - a boy appears as if part of the mist

Jeong Yunho as the Cheshire Cat

the first thing you notice about the boy is that he has cat ears and a cat tail

the second thing you notice - and maybe it’s just because of how small you are - is just how big he is

he takes up the entire branch he’s laying on and even hangs off of it a bit

the final thing you notice is the huge grin on his face, a big toothy smile

it doesn’t feel mischievous though,, in fact it’s even kind of infectious

without even meaning to, you start smiling as well

and somehow, it immediately makes you feel less tired

it seems like it makes the boy smile even brighter if that’s possible

he leans his head on his hand as his tail swings back and forth lazily off the branch

“huh, where might you be off to stranger?”

you’re well aware that yeosang told you quite specifically not to talk to strangers

you’re prepared to just keep walking, but you find yourself really wanting to stop and talk to this weird cat-boy

so you hesitate trying to think about what you should do

he simply smiles at you though

“cat got your tongue?”

and then he’s laughing at his own joke like it was the funniest thing he’s ever heard

and god his laughter is infectious too

when you finally gather your bearings you tell him you’re not supposed to be talking to strangers, that you need to keep following the path

“where to?”

you.... don’t have an answer

truly you don’t know, and yeosang never told you where to go

the crippling thought of being completely and utterly lost makes you stop again, “i... i don’t know”

yunho sees your mood change, the downcast and dejected look that ghosts over your face as you look down

and yunho just can’t have that

he thinks i gotta turn that frown upside down NOW

so he starts leaning forward off of the branch, and you’re worried because stop oh god you’re gonna fall!

but yunho just keeps going and keeps going and... keeps going

until he’s off of the branch, but he’s still floating above the ground

and you think this place just keeps getting weirder

yunho floats over to you so you finally get to see him up close

he really is huge, and you know it’s not just because you’re tiny

his eyes are giant and slit like a cat’s too, and they seem to change between yellow and green and blue

truth be told, he looks inviting with his fluffy sweater and his soft hair and his nice smile

the longer you’re together, you feel you can trust this boy

yunho speaks again, his voice softer than it was before

“don’t hesitate. people get lost when they doubt, so don’t. know you are going the right way, even if you don’t have any direction. then you’ll never be lost”

while it doesn’t make the most sense, it does make you feel better

you smile at him again softly and thank him genuinely

and yunho smiles even bigger because that’s exactly what he wanted - you to smile

“my name is yunho” he says before he decides he’s going to mess with you

so with a smirk, he disappears again into the mist

and it shocks you enough to have you turning every which way to see where tf he went, and you keep thinking goddamnit i’m alone again

but yunho reappears back on the same branch as before, only he’s hanging upside down from it

he almost reaches the ground because he’s so tall

but now that he’s back, you introduce yourself

yunho has kind of a lazy smile on his face and he’s like huh

because yunho’s not dumb, he’s everywhere so of course he’s heard whispers of a newcomer in wonderland

a new and promising alice

that rabbit hongjoong was practically hysterical about it when he passed in the wood hours ago, along with the constant “i’m late i’m late i’m late”

so yunho’s smile changes now to a bit more mischievous, and the switch is noticeable

there’s a glint in his big eyes and a twitch in his ears and an almost smirk that makes you feel the air has changed

the warmth is still there, that didn’t change, but now your chills are back, and you know they’re not from cold or a breeze or the mist

you’re about to bid him farewell when yunho continues

he knows a place where people could help you to not hesitate if you just keep following the path

ironically you’re still hesitant, only this time it’s because you really don’t want to be alone

but yunho quickly adds that he could be your guide along the path

and his kind and warm smile is back, gone any of the questionable mischief

in return it makes you feel warm again and all of the doubt washes away

you accept, and yunho’s cheshire grin grows until he's disappearing and reappearing right next to you

side by side he holds his hand out to urge your forward, and you begin again on the path - you walking and yunho hovering

it seems as though the huge cat boy gets smaller, like he was shrinking himself to your level

and you kind of appreciate it a lot because it feels more normal somehow despite how he’s literally floating

so you continue on the path through the woods talking amongst yourselves a bit

you explain to yunho how you got to this strange place and what’s happened so far

and yunho finds you have come across the rabbit and the mouse

so he’s like ahh you’re the one hongjoong was going on about but you’re like huh who’s that

and yunho tells you that the boy you fell on was hongjoong, the white rabbit who is an advisor at the palace

and you don’t really ask about the palace, but you’re still kinda reflective and repentant like “...i feel bad for falling on him. i broke his glasses”

yunho just wants to laugh because what a silly alice,,, with the way hongjoong was talking about you he’s not mad in the slightest

the entire time you’re walking together (more or less) you can’t help but think how nice this is because this is the first person since coming to this place that’s actually talking to you without a sense of urgency

it’s refreshing since both hongjoong and yeosang made it quite clear to you that you had to fear for your life if you wanted to live

yunho is just letting you live

you don’t get much out of yunho in terms of backstory or such

he does tell you a bit about how this place works, like how the food works and why yeosang was so adamant about you not eating anything

that little mouse always had a habit of making things sound like the end of the world

he also shares with you some little anecdotes from his life like when he stole hongjoong’s pocket watch one day and the boy nearly gave himself a heart attack

but finally, you reach the end of the wood and into a more open area of land

but unlike when you first entered the door with yeosang and saw color and vibrancy and beauty and something so wonderful

this was anything but, almost the complete opposite

the land was dirty and gray with hardly a flower growing out of it

gone were the brilliant blue sky and fluffy white clouds and comforting sunlight, now replaced with a completely overcast sky

as far as the eye could see, there was nothing particularly wonderful about any of it

you ask what happened, and for the first time since meeting him, you see yunho’s smile falter

he simply keeps moving ahead, saying you were almost there

you don’t talk anymore after that until you reach your destination

when you finally stop, you’ve reached a rather strange house with a bright windmill at the top

attached to the house is a tall hedge wall that disappears behind it, a wooden gate on either side

there was more grass here and there and some flowers, yet while it wasn’t a lot you couldn’t help but think that there were more flowers here than anywhere else in this land

it all looked... very out of place

yunho’s smile is back on his face as he watches you, opening the wooden gate for you both to enter behind the house

inside the walls was nothing at all like it was outside

you hadn’t heard it outside, but inside you can hear music that seemingly comes from nowhere

the back of the house was painted in stripes - pink and purple and blue and black and yellow with just about any bright color to match

looking closer the paint even looks wet still, like someone is constantly painting over it

the ground is cobblestone and grass, perhaps the greenest grass you’ve ever seen, even greener than when you first arrived with yeosang

in the center of the area is a loooong table with all sorts of chairs surrounding it

the table was littered with teacups and dishes and food and tea

in fact, there was tea everywhere

the delicious scent of the scones and the warmth of the tea makes your stomach growl and honestly, it catches everyone’s attention

because you’re not alone anymore,, sitting at the head of the table is a boy with a top hat and crazy eyes

on the left is another boy with rabbit ears, only his are brown and not nearly as well kept as hongjoong’s were

the color of his eyes reminds you of yunho’s but his pupils are so dilated and they’re so shifty

honestly, the boy himself is really twitchy

you’re surprised to see that on the right sitting on top of a stack of books is yeosang

his blue coat was gone, instead wearing a pink one with the buttons undone

the boys are all ecstatic to see yunho, all nearly shouting about how he’s just in time for the hatter’s unbirthday party

there’s a chorus of “ no way it’s MY unbirthday too!” that arises and it just serves to confuse you

but that mischievous smile is back on yunho’s face as he floats over to one of the seats

“yeah, i brought a guest”

Park Seonghwa as the Mad Hatter

at the head of the table, seonghwa’s crazy eyes widen a bit

they... they never get guests

and for his unbirthday party no less

he feels it calls for even more celebration

at the sight of you though yeosang is like “i thought i told you not to talk to strangers” and you’re like “WELL YOU KNOW HIM”

there’s really no winning with that boy geez

however, yeosang did tell seonghwa and mingi about hongjoong’s attempt at finding another alice

he expressed his suspicion, but he’s also starting to come around to the idea that you are the one

if you made it through the flowers and out of the woods, you’re doing better than most

and because of that, seonghwa comes ricocheting onto the table and walks across it to come meet you

he’s saying something like come and join our festivities, i’m sure it’s your unbirthday too alice

so he grabs your hand and leads drags you back across the table so you can sit next to him

you’re tired of being tiny

but walking on the table means there are dishes and cups and tea and food getting everywhere and breaking and lowkey you’re kinda afraid because that seems really dangerous

but hatter seonghwa does this all the time so he’s got it perfected

besides, he’ll have a ball cleaning it all up later and that’s not a joke

cleaning up after a tea party just means they can have another one soon!

so he sits you down next to him on the same side as the other rabbit boy and immediately starts dishing up some food and tea

but you’re kinda confused and ask umm what’s an unbirthday

you can practically hear a record scratch because all of them stop really abruptly to look at you and they’re like YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT AN UNBIRTHDAY IS??

seonghwa tries to explain it but he’s just so in shock that you don’t know he can’t practically word

he waves past you at the hare mingi to explain it instead because truly how could you not know what an unbirthday is?

so mingi explains it in his twitchy way, saying there’s only 1 birthday but 364 unbirthdays

he ends up getting extremely distracted by his spoon, his eyes getting impossibly bigger and pupils dilating even more than you thought they could

but you do understand now, and you happily tell them that it is in fact your unbirthday too

and suddenly they’re all clapping for you and digging back into their treats

the music starts up again at that too, and you’re almost sure it’s the teapots that are producing it

and you all have a nice unbirthday party for all of you :)

the hatter and the hare formally introduce themselves to you, park seonghwa and song mingi at your service

and they’re both shaking your hands at the same time but it makes you giggle

seonghwa with his red eyes and lovely smile says “welcome to wonderland”

he notices your torn clothes and it makes him pout a bit

he ends up taking off his scarf so you can wrap up in it if you’d like, since the scarf was big enough to be a blanket at your size

that alone made your heart skip a beat, but the sweet smile on his face warmed you even more than his scarf did

truly, this is the most welcome you’ve felt since getting here

seonghwa talks to you a lot and asks you questions, but it never feels overbearing

“what brings you here on this golden afternoon?” he asks

but he also asks you “why is a raven like a writing desk?”

he also tells a very sad story about a walrus, a carpenter, and some curious oysters

but he and the other boys are very polite and trying to get to know you

while you’re talking though you ask quite innocently “hatter why do they call you mad?”

the music gets quieter as he gets a faraway look in his eyes

it puts a bit of a damper on everyone, but before you can apologize he answers

“most everyone’s mad here, my dear” he says softly

“i was never good at cards, and the hand i’ve been dealt has been rather... much”

and you don’t know exactly what he means by that but he only stares off into space, reflective

seonghwa doesn’t like thinking about his past because it makes him sad, and he doesn’t like being sad

tea parties and unbirthdays are supposed to be happy occasions, but once he starts thinking about it it’s hard for him to stop

the other boys know this, so they explain to you what’s going on

he used to be a trusted advisor of the white queen, but then the red queen took over and never treated him the same

he was still an advisor for a while, but he could only take so much until he was finally dismissed for madness

“anyone who spends five minutes with that wicked man will surely end up going mad”

“i don’t know how hongjoong does it”

“all of us call him the queen of hearts because we’re sure he doesn’t have one”

this makes seonghwa laugh, and he starts returning to normal

you lean forward to try and grab his hand as best you can, and he appreciates the gesture

honestly, he thought you were the sweetest person he’d ever met, and he had only just met you

but he always liked to think he was an excellent judge of character

so the tea party continues on pleasantly

until

there’s some harsh knocking on seonghwa’s front door

and once again the nonexistent music stops completely, and it’s dead quiet except for the knocking

everyone knows exactly who it is except for you, but then again why should you?

seonghwa and mingi share a look with their identical yet completely different crazy eyes, but they look like they know exactly what they’re going to do

so seonghwa gets up and goes to his front door all while yeosang is fiddling with his sword, yunho is phasing in and out of thin air, and mingi is shaking and pulling on his ears

but you’re still sitting there with a half-drunk cup of tea and a cake that’s calling your name, but you know now’s not the time

after a while there are loud voices coming from inside seonghwa’s house, and that’s when suddenly things spring into action

yeosang stands from his stack of books and takes a cake from a dish that has the words ‘eat me’ painted in dainty cursive - just like the vial from earlier

you stare in awe as yeosang grows in height and stature until he’s around the same size as the other boys, no longer the size of a mouse

yunho disappears in a cloud of mist towards the house, and you can only assume he’s going to do something in there

mingi though is stuffing some of the food and treats and tea in a pack before, on shaky legs, he’s going toward you

damn he was huge too, but again that could just be because you’re still fucking tiny

he holds his hand out for you to take and before you can ask what’s going on, there is commotion going on inside of the house

you can hear extra voices besides seonghwa, one of them being yunho like you thought, and yeosang runs into the house with his sword drawn

mingi takes your hand then and half leads half drags you out of the hatter’s backyard

out of the colorful walls and beautiful scenery and back into the dark overcast of the world beyond you

Song Mingi as the March Hare

because mingi’s a rabbit too he’s so fucking fast so you can hardly keep up

and mingi knows this, so he hoists you up on his shoulder and starts running even faster than he had before

he knew you would only slow you guys down if you stayed on the ground, and you would have gotten caught for sure

but you still don’t know why you would’ve gotten caught, why you’re still running

so you ask mingi

you finally want your questions fucking answered

“what is going on? tell me the truth”

sweet mingi sees the fire in your eyes and the hears harshness of your voice and a few things come to mind

first, he knows your anger isn’t directed at him he’s just there, but it scares the shit out of him because holy fuck you’re scary when you’re angry

lowkey it’s also kinda attractive but you didn’t hear that from me

the second thing is that that fire is exactly what makes you alice

that fire is exactly what is going to save them

he continues running for a few minutes so he knows there’s enough distance between you and seonghwa’s house

when he starts to slow down you can tell that he’s not even tired, but he’s still going at a brisk pace

but when he does and because mingi is a sweetie, he tells you what the deal is

he tells you more about the red queen and how he’s not the true ruler of wonderland

his entire army is made up of playing cards, but only the heart cards - another reason he’s called the queen of hearts

mingi also tells you that the true ruler is the white queen, but his crown was stolen by the queen of hearts

there’s a prophecy that everyone in wonderland knows, telling of an outsider who will stumble into wonderland in their time of need and help them reclaim their kingdom

the hero, alice, would be the one to defeat the red queen and return the kingdom to its rightful ruler

and it’s their belief that that hero is you

mingi explains that every once in a while hongjoong will go up to your world to find a potential alice, but all of them have failed

he doesn’t tell you why none of them succeeded, and it makes you feel uneasy

but now, with you continuing to prove yourself and having survived this long, everyone is starting to believe that you are the one who will save them

and holy shit that’s a lot for you to take in

you literally came here by accident trying to ask a strange boy a question

you did not sign up for this, nor are you prepared to defeat a tyrant ruler

but mingi keeps talking because, you guessed it, the red queen knows you’re there

that’s why you have had to run so much, because if the red queen finds you, he’s gonna have you killed

and fuck if that ain’t more pressure

it’s lucky that the red queen doesn’t know what you look like or else you’d be dead by now

but then mingi just stops and looks at you on his shoulder and is like..... do you want to go back to your normal size?

and you’re kind of confused because it came out of nowhere

but also of course you want to get bigger, you’ve been tired of it for so long how do you get bigger?

mingi decides then that it wouldn’t hurt to slow down a bit more, so he picks you off of his shoulder and to the ground

and out of his pack he takes out one of the cakes he took, and it’s similar to the one yeosang ate to get bigger

the treat says ‘eat me’ on it too, and he hands it to you and tells you not to eat it all, only a bite

so you do, and unlike the disgusting vial from earlier the cake is almost sickeningly sweet

it felt like that single bite of cake rose in your stomach, and it continued rising until you were back to your original size

once you’re big again you can see that mingi is still tall, and you’re sure yunho is just as big too, maybe even bigger

you thank him because while being small was cool and all for a while and you could see all that cool stuff, you much prefer being your normal size

you give the cake back to mingi and your hands brush, and you take his eyes widening as you had done something wrong so you apologize

but in reality, mingi is malfunctioning and his ears are twitching and he’s shaking again and his eyes are shifty and he really wishes he could pull on his ears but also he doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of you

so with shaking hands he puts the cake away and continues walking pretty fast-paced and tells you that you have to keep going

you ask him where as you adjust seonghwa’s scarf around your neck - since it was finally small enough to be a scarf - because really where could you be going?

“i’m taking you to the white queen”

and you freak out a little because oh shit i’m about to meet royalty there’s even more pressure

you keep on the dirt path until you come to a fork in the road, a wooden pole with numerous signs giving directions

the ones closer to the ground said things like “this way” “that way” and “yonder” and you wondered who could have put those there

the one on the top-right though had a large red heart painted on it

the one to the left of it had been broken off

mingi led you in the direction of the broken sign

“the white queen’s castle is this way, we just have to keep following the path”

you both continue talking a bit more, and mingi is kinda just telling you about what the white queen is like

but much like before, you are stopped by the sound of heavy footsteps in the distance

and mingi’s eyes widen again and his pupils are so small

and he’s like fUCK they found us already

so mingi grabs your hand and you start running again along the path

and you keep running until the guards are gaining pretty damn close

they’re close enough for you to see that yeah, those guards are cards except for the one in the front

you don’t stop running, but mingi has to shout to tell you that you have to keep following the path to get to the white queen’s castle and that you are going to have to do it alone

before you can ask or stop him, mingi is letting go of your hand and running off the path, shouting at the guards to catch their attention

and for the most part it works, you see most of the card guards veer off the path to follow the march hare when you glance behind you

but there is still one guard chasing you

the one in the front who wasn’t actually a card

so you’re running as fast as you can to escape this one guy while also trying to get to the white queen’s castle

you think you can see something off in the distance but you’re not too sure

and you can’t figure it out just yet because the guard, atop a beautiful black horse, catches up to you

Choi Jongho as the Captain

once he reaches you, he grabs your arm to lift you onto his horse, but you end up falling to the ground instead and get dragged oof

and because of this the boy gets off the horse and stands in front of you

the boy wasn’t necessarily super tall, but wow this kid is buff

while you now know why these guys are chasing you, you still end up asking rather fearfully fUCK who are you why do you keep chasing me please don’t kill me

“silence, you are in the presence of choi jongho, captain of the red queen’s guard”

honestly? he’s kinda scary, and you’re worried he’s going to smite you right then and there

but that sweet boy is still human so he’s seeing you and how afraid you are of him and shit are these feelings?

but jongho is still the captain of the guard so he can’t just?? not do his job???

so he starts questioning you like “state your business, alice”

he shouldn’t be questioning you though, and he knows the queen would have his head if he knew he didn’t just take you in

literally, not figuratively

but he really just doesn’t want to do anything he’ll regret

but you’re there thinking fuck i know about the prophecy and it probably is me it’s talking about but i can’t let this captain kid know that

“i don’t know who this alice person is or why everyone keeps calling me that, but man i just want to go home :(”

now look, jongho knows you’re not telling the whole truth

he and hongjoong know everyone in wonderland, and he’s never seen you before

but he knows your distress is real,,, he’s seen it many times before

you also seem quite genuine about wanting to get out of here and goddamnit jongho’s HEART is ACHING and he’s having a goddamn change of heart about his loyalties fuck fuck fuck

so jongho sheathes his sword which is a good sign, but you don’t feel brave enough to get up

and jongho, stoic as ever, is like yep you’re alice alright, but you say you’re here by accident?

“yes, i was following the rabbit”

“the rabbit? hongjoong?”

“YEs him!”

and jongho has a lot of respect for hongjoong,,, the guy’s the red queen’s advisor, the most trusted one along with jongho

yet hongjoong still fights for wonderland and wonderland only

jongho honestly looks up to hongjoong because of that

it’s not about loyalty to the ruler, it’s about loyalty to wonderland

which is why hongjoong is so adamant about finding the alice of the prophecy, so they can restore the kingdom of wonderland to what it is supposed to be

under the rule of the white queen

and because jongho respects hongjoong so much and since he’s so sure you are alice

he is willing to help you

jongho holds his hand out for you to help you up and you see tattooed on the back of it is a big red heart, and you can’t help but think it makes him look like he’s... branded

you’re hesitant to take his hand because just a moment ago you were afraid he was going to kill you

but jongho sees this so he says “relax i’m not going to kill you,, in fact, i’m gonna help you”

so you take his hand and he lifts you up and wow he’s strong but you ask him why you should believe him

and truth be told you shouldn’t because his armor alone is enough to tell you where his loyalties lie

but jongho says “look i’m willing to let you go if you really are the alice from the prophecy” and then he asks you if you are planning on defeating the queen of hearts

the fact that he was calling the queen that told you all you needed to know about his loyalties

while you’re not fond of the idea of defeating someone, you’re pretty resigned to your fate

so you tell him yes

and jongho tells you he’s going to let you go

you’re confused again though so you ask why are you letting me go are you not the queen’s captain?

and jongho’s like yeah ok i know i’m supposed to be loyal and i am loyal just not to the red queen

“i’m loyal to one thing and that’s wonderland”

jongho tells you that wonderland doesn’t stand a chance if the red queen continues to rule, that the people of wonderland deserve better and that better comes from the white queen

you see now where he stands and realize no he’s not bad and he’s not disloyal

he just has a strong moral compass, and you respect that

jongho tells you he would escort you to the white queen’s castle, but he still has to keep up appearances so he has to let you go on your own

because jongho knows damn well that if he “fails” or the red queen figures out his allegiance is changing, he dies

so he’s gonna ride back to catch up to his card guards while you keep following the path because you’re almost there

he probably tenderly places his hand on your shoulder and is like “stay outta trouble” or some shit honestly

but anyway jongho gets back on his horse to leave and you thank him

because from the bottom of your heart you really mean it, and you’re thankful for him for sparing your life and being so caring about wonderland

and jongho ends up blushing a bit because you’re just really sweet he hopes you win

he tells you “thank you for saving us” even though nothing has happened yet, but you’re there to save them now

so jongho leaves to find his card guards while you once again start along the path

and jongho was telling the truth, the white queen’s castle isn’t that far away so you get there pretty soon

and you’re still. so. tired.

you’re almost exhausted and your clothes are still torn and you’re still covered in cuts and bruises that scream the longer you move

so when you see the tall white walls and the gate to the white queen’s castle you nearly cry

when you’re through the gate - which, unlike the red queen, has tall white chess pieces on guard - you fall to the ground and finally let yourself relax because you finally feel safe

you finally made it

as you’re laying down with your eyes closed on the hard ground in front of the castle, you hear a nice voice above you

“welcome to my home, alice”

Choi San as the White Queen

holy shit it’s an angel

not an angel no, a god

those are your first thoughts when you open your eyes and see the ethereal man in front of you

clad in all white with a gentle glow around him, no one needed to tell you that this man was the white queen

he held his elegant hand out for you to take

san doing princess hands hnNNG BYE

“my name is choi san, alice. i’ve been expecting you”

his words are warm and fluid, and you don’t feel nearly as tired

san too can’t help but think about how tired you must be from your journey, and his eyes are tinged with sadness as he realizes you’re hurt

he’s so warm and inviting and welcoming that your body moves on its own

you take his hand, and he gently helps you up before leading you inside the castle

the castle is regal with white marble pillars and a white tile floor that practically looks like glass

there are so many floor-to-ceiling windows that let in natural light and makes everything look so beautiful

san leads you to the kitchens and it too is almost completely white with larges windows and

...

what’s mingi doing here?

when mingi sees you though he’s like NICE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE lmao

he looks like he’s cooking but also it’s hard to tell because he keeps throwing stuff around

but san just glides over to one of the tables to work on his own project and beckons you to join him

you have to duck a couple of times because mingi is throwing something that looks like food but you can’t be too sure

you dip your finger into a bowl on the counter and tell mingi it needs more salt

but i digress

you go over to san while he’s working on something and watch him like :))) watcha doing?

and san simply smiles, thinking

you, alice, were here in front of him

you were to be their savior

and wow you were cute too

he keeps working and doesn’t really say anything, but you see he’s putting a lot of weird ingredients together to make some sort of concoction

and you know he’s gonna make you ingest this and you can’t help but think fuck these ingredients are gonna be so gross but also i’ve eaten a bunch of gross stuff today so what’s one more thing

so once it’s done san smiles and holds out a spoon for you

“this will heal your wounds, just blow on it because it’s hot”

and you’re like yeah sure thing and do it before drinking from the spoon

ironically, it’s one of the best tasting things you’ve had all day

which doesn’t sound right

but anyway

it starts working immediately, and you can feel your cuts and wounds close up and your bruises are soothed which tells you that they are going away

and you’re pleasantly surprised and thank him. “i feel so much better!”

and san’s beautiful fucking smile never leaves and he says of course alice it’s the least i can do

he tells you then that he’ll lead you somewhere in the castle for you to get fresh clothes since yours are ruined

you keep the hatter’s scarf with you even after you change because you find it quite comforting

but once all of that is through and you’re all rested, san takes you to the throne room

you see mingi and yeosang and seonghwa and yunho there too, and they all look so happy to see you

but once you’re there and standing before a humble white throne

san finally offers his proposal

“alice, there is a prophecy that tells of a hero who will come to our land to save us. they are meant to defeat the red queen and help us reclaim the throne so the rightful ruler can reign. i am certain that you are this hero. everything about you fits that of the prophecy. i have no right to ask this of you, alice, but will you fight for us? will you help us to take back our kingdom?”

hearing it out loud, being asked, suddenly makes this feel so real

you roughly already heard the prophecy from mingi, so at least you saw this coming

but you don’t feel like you can decline in front of all these people who are counting on you

more importantly, you don’t want to

you know you really are the only chance of these people getting their kingdom back, and from all you’ve seen and been through, you do care about wonderland

you know the people care about wonderland too, and whether you help them or not, they are going to fight

so why not help them?

so you accept

you say that you will help them to defeat the red queen, you just need to know what to do

before san can say anything else the throne room erupts into cheers and applause because finally, finally, they have a chance to have their kingdom back

san holds his hand out to quiet everyone down

he tells you that you will have to infiltrate the red queen’s palace somehow and find him - he explains to you what has to happen

all the while though you can’t help but think how in the world am i supposed to do this???

you express this concern to him once he’s finished and he’s quick to reassure you

“you won’t be alone, dear alice, i promise you”

and you want to ask but then you remember

hongjoong, the boy who found you and started all of this, is one of the queens advisors

jongho, the fiercely loyal and branded boy, should be right there with him

they will be there

yeosang offers to go too and help fight which is super sweet because man that boy is fearless for such a small mouse, even though he was the size of a normal person still

even the other boys look like they would volunteer in a heartbeat so you wouldn’t be alone

and you feel incredibly grateful for each of them

you find yourself in a room preparing for your imminent battle soon after everyone was dismissed from the throne room

san knocks on the door not long after

all the while you are sitting on the bed with anxiety eating at you as the reality sets in even further

you were about to battle someone without a clue what would happen in the end, and that was terrifying

but sweet san is there to encourage and reassure you that while it will be hard and you will be tested, you are strong and capable

you can do this

and he says something like what yunho said before

“if you doubt yourself, you’ll lose yourself”

he really does help you to calm down,,, his voice is so soothing and he himself is so nice and caring

so you say “thank you, your majesty”

but he shakes his head fondly and says “please, call me san”

but his smile falls for a moment as he looks intently into your eyes,, and it’s so different from how you’ve ever seen him so you’re slightly worried

“you don’t have to do this,, i won’t force you... if you wish to go home, you can. you have a choice”

the thought had crossed your mind multiple times

you did want to go home

but you wanted to help them more

you gently take san’s hand from his lap and squeeze it

“i’m going to do this. i promise”

he looks at you, and you think your eyes are playing tricks when you see his gloss over

you can’t dwell on it because he lifts your hand to give it a kiss, and that alone told you everything

when the time came you were hesitant to leave the white queen’s castle, and san was hesitant to let you leave as well

but you both knew you had to do this

so on horseback, looking back one last time past the gates at all of the people you’ve met and bonded with, you finally made your journey to the red queen’s palace

you were lucky not to have too many problems along the way, but sneaking in was...

scary

the palace was looming and red and black, and you could have sworn even the moat was blood red

you hoped to all things it wasn’t blood

you would have asked yeosang, but you lost him once he went back to his mouse size

all the while as you’re sneaking into the palace and stalking down the halls, you are taking his advice to heart about the color red and cards

but you couldn’t remember,,, did he say run if you see red and hide if you see cards? or did he say hide if you see red and run if you see cards?

you don’t have enough time to figure it out when you see the card guards coming right down the hall toward you

you make the fatal mistake of running

their uniform pounding footsteps flood your senses as they catch up in no time

a card guard takes hold of each of your arms and begin dragging you away

your fear spikes as they bring you all the way to red queen’s throne room

if san’s castle was light and comforting, the red queen’s is red and menacing

the windows are stained glass, not letting in nearly as much light

there’s a wide staircase leading up to a looming red and gold throne, and you think that it too looks like the color of blood

but when you look up, your blood runs cold

Jung Wooyoung as the Queen of Hearts

standing in front of his throne is the red queen himself, waiting for you

this is it, you think,, no... you know this is it

you’re caught infiltrating the queen of hearts’ palace,, he will have your head

your heart feels like it’s going to beat out of your chest

you have to think fast

wooyoung has his hands on his hips, golden crown and black robe making him look absolutely regal in his red suit

to his left is the card captain jongho, his branded hand clutching his sword, and his eyes giving away more emotion than he means

to his right is the white rabbit hongjoong, his white waistcoat covered in red hearts, and his ears standing up at attention, eyes wide and skin drained looking as if he wasn’t even breathing

all eyes were on you

and despite the fear coursing through you, you don’t back down

you vaguely wonder where yeosang could be when suddenly, the queen makes the first move

wooyoung takes the few stairs down to you, and you can see up close that his handsome face is fuming red with anger

the card guards let go of you and back away so the queen’s wrath can be fully directed at you

“who are you and what are you doing sneaking around my castle?”

his voice is loud and carries throughout the entire room

you nearly flinch back but you force yourself not to

but... hang on

he asked who you were

does... does he not know that you are the alice?

from your peripheral vision, you can see hongjoong’s eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and jongho takes his hand away from his sword in surprise

but then you remembered

mingi said the queen didn’t know what you looked like so he didn’t know it was you, and you were determined to keep it that way

you force any shock from your face so you can appear as stoic as possible

“please forgive me, your majesty-”

“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK WHEN YOU WEREN’T ASKED TO”

he goes on about how disrespectful it is already to be snooping around another person’s home, but to talk out of turn like that is another level entirely

he ends up whipping around to hongjoong with murder in his eyes and a shout that rattles through you

“OFF WITH THEIR HEAD”

you’re immediately filled with panic

you see hongjoong shaking looking like he wanted to step forward and say something, but he can’t without risking wooyoung finding out the truth about him

even jongho looks like he wants to intervene, but as the queen’s captain he can’t

you briefly think about where yeosang might be as you wrack your brain for what to do

little do you know he’s just about to come down there and fight the queen himself when you, in a split second, decide what to do

you take a chance

“i’m here for the queen’s unbirthday!” you say as the guards take your arms again, starting to pull you out of the throne room

the room goes silent then

you hope to all things that today of all days wasn’t the queen’s actual birthday

the change in wooyoung’s mood is immediate

the furrow in his brow is gone, raising instead as a large and open-mouthed smile forms on his face

the red in his face fades into what you could almost mistake as a faint blush

“ahhh my unbirthday how sweet how did you know?” he asks excitedly, and even rather bashfully

“i heard it was today, your majesty. there has been much talk about your party”

you’re chuckling kind of hesitantly to diffuse the tension in the room, and it kinda works because wooyoung is letting out quite loud but genuine laughs in return

“why of course you did! my parties are always the best!”

hongjoong behind him: FUCK I HAVE TO PLAN AN ENTIRE PARTY THAT WAS DUE LAST MONTH

lowkey though he’s really relieved about it though because, you know, it means wooyoung’s not gonna kill you yet

but before hongjoong can sneak out to plan a fucking party and invite almost all of wonderland, wooyoung is turning around to talk to him

“rabbit when will my spectacular party be taking place?”

and hongjoong legit wants to die, like he’s actually considering getting beheaded so he wouldn’t have to do this

but despite his nerves and the twitch in his ears and the fidget of his hands he answers “just after tea time your majesty” which should be an hour or two which gives him time to get the party set up outside and invite almost all of wonderland

and wooyoung simply claps his hands none the wiser because even though it was just brought up he believes his party has been planned since the beginning of time basically

he shoos the guards away from you because unhand them NOW they are an honored guest!

he also waves off hongjoong and the other advisors in the room to leave so they can fucking plan and dismisses most of the guards too

it’s only him, you, jongho, yeosang (secretly heheh), and a few card guards left in the throne room now

and somehow the room feels brighter, as if the amount of light and color in the room changes based on the queen’s mood (which you wouldn’t have been surprised about)

wooyoung steps forward to take your hand sheesh what’s up with everyone and wanting to hold your hand and apologizes for his guards’ incompetence (even though the guards are under him)

and so he gently orders (not asks) you to join him for tea time since you’ve come all this way

but then he’s like no, oh no no no we have got to get you into something more suitable

so he tells a guard to escort you to get some new clothes while jongho escorts the queen for tea

you’re in red robes now and it feels... like a brand

it’s comfortable and all and you look nice and feel elegant

but it feels like the heart on jongho’s hand and the hearts on hongjoong’s waistcoat

in a way, it feels like you’re trapped now

but anyway you join wooyoung for tea

and wooyoung is much happier seeing you in red and he tells you that there’s a dress code inside the castle walls and for his parties

red and black

no white

gold is reserved for the queen

and since you are like a guest in the castle, wooyoung acts like you’re his personal guest, like he invited you himself because he likes you

so along with the new outfit, wooyoung also gives you a bouquet of red roses

only... the red is painted on

you take notice of this and are like “... you paint the roses red?”

and wooyoung once again loses his temper and is like WHO’S BEEN PAINTING MY ROSES RED FIND THEM AT ONCE AND OFF WITH THEIR HEAD

and jesus you freak out kinda because of his booming voice and fragile temper like shit it’s SCARY

and jongho’s in the back like fuck fuck fuck

wooyoung lowkey notices your shock and fear and calms down because whoops,, don’t want to seem crazy in front of my cute guest

but he is crazy dude like very very fragile

anyway you dine and have tea and you have to sit next to wooyoung because he wants to be close to the cute guest

and you’re pretty antsy next to him you just try your best not to show it

he asks you a bunch of questions like what’s your name where are you from simple questions

but he also asks like what do you think of the color red, do you like playing cards, what do you think about large dangerous animals, kinda weirder questions like that

and honestly it’s a lot for you to process and keep up with but also wooyoung’s kinda talking more anyway

because the red queen is very talkative and loud and somewhat egocentric, but also he really is trying to keep the conversation going and get to know you as best he can

one of the other advisors ends up coming in and is like i’m here to collect this person’s present for you your majesty

and you’re sitting there like sHIT I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING

but then wooyoung just kinda waves them off rather annoyed because why are you bothering us? clearly this person is my present ;))))

which... is a problem for a few reasons

first off, you’re like whoa ok umm what have i gotten myself into with this guy

but also you’re like well he’s cute so it’s not the worst thing that could happen, which sucks because i’m supposed to dethrone this guy

but then everyone else in the room who knows the queen and knows what he’s like know that... he doesn’t do that

the red queen wooyoung loves presents and gifts and getting things from other people

never once has he said someone didn’t have to give him a present

jongho is standing in the corner watching this unfold and thinking oh no,,, he really likes them

but same though you’re fucking great

and you can sort of see jongho just looking sick to his stomach and you’re like,, what’s that about

but anyway tea time ends eventually and it’s time to fucking party

honestly for only 1-2 hours to plan everything get everything set up and invite everyone, hongjoong did a fantastic job

because he has experience lmao this isn’t the first time something like this has happened,, this ain’t his first rodeo

but yeah there’s a bunch of people already at the party and a bunch of people lined up outside the gates to get in still

wooyoung comes out with you on his arm and jongho trailing behind you

and you’re like shit this is weird and uncomfortable i look like i’m his date when in reality i have to defeat him

lmao awkward

yeosang acts like he wasn’t just sneaking around the castle and joins the party, along with the hatter, the hare, and the cat

they’re all dressed exceptionally nicer than when you saw them before, but they don’t look comfortable at all

gone are the mismatched suits, soft sweaters, and noble coats, replaced with uniform red and black suits

you almost don’t even recognize seonghwa without his top hat

they all look miserable until they see you

at first they’re like,, fuck dID THEY BETRAY US for a hot minute

but hongjoong, who has seen the whole thing, is quick to let them know that this is all part of some plan

hopefully

which it is, you’re just making it up as you go along

some of the party’s festivities include the giving of presents (of course), the eating of cake, croquet, etc.

really you can obviously tell that no one likes the red queen, but they’re forced to come or else it’s disloyalty you know?

you don’t stay by wooyoung’s side the entire time, nor does he make you even though he wants you to and thinks you should want to

but because of that you are able to talk to the other boys

yeosang is still small but he has a cake with his name on it when you say go

mingi’s nerves are on high alert because holy shit we’re doing this we might die but at least we’ll die for a good cause

yunho is there to reassure you all and help ease your nerves with his nice smiles and melodic laughter and just him in general

seonghwa with his crazy red eyes is uncharacteristically quiet

the only thing he says to anyone is

“the dove is out of its cage”

and you’re like what and the other boys are like what but hongjoong is like oH

jongho has been hovering as well and the boys are suspicious about him but hongjoong explains to them that they can trust him, that his allegiance is changing as well and he doesn’t agree with the queen’s politics

something you already knew hehe

anyway hongjoong asks seonghwa when the dove will be returning to its cage and he just says very soon and suddenly hongjoong’s nerves are through the roof

because the dove is the white queen

san is on his way to wooyoung’s castle right now

and no one else knows that until san is literally at the gates of the castle trying to get in

and it’s a lot more chaotic now because there are a bunch of card guards shuffling to the gates and jongho has to go too since he’s the captain

and so when jongho comes back he’s got san with him striding in quite elegantly dressed in all white, completely unarmed

and wooyoung’s head feels like it’s going to explode because goddAMNIT I BANISHED YOU YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED HERE AND IF YOU’RE GONNA COME AT LEAST FOLLOW THE DRESS CODE

but san is unbothered, simply smiling as if wooyoung wasn’t about to threaten to chop his head off

wooyoung flat out asks what the hell san is doing there

to which he replies with “i was invited”

and wooyoung is like ahaha no i make it extremely clear to my advisors never to invite you because you’re not allowed here

and san’s just like “huh... well then what’s this?” and pulls out an extravagant invitation, the same one everyone else got

wooyoung’s eyes widen in fury and he whips around to hongjoong because who else would it be i guess but he literally looks like he’s gonna murder hongjoong then and there

but before anything else can be said, san keeps going

“before you go around pointing fingers, woo, you should know that your time here is coming to an end”

wooyoung simply laughs, “hA you and what army? i don’t see any of your chess pieces around”

he snaps and all of the card guards are surrounding them, jongho included

and he also brings you closer because yeah he really does like you and he can’t have himself be threatened or anything in front of you

he has to be powerful because he is powerful and he wants to show off

“you see, san, i never liked chess. i much prefer cards,, they’re much more reliable”

the guards are grabbing san by the arms ready to take him away to be executed and literally everyone’s like !!!! FUCK THE QUEEN OUR ONLY HOPE IS ABOUT TO DIE WHERE’S ALICE WHEN YOU NEED THEM

hongjoong is literally looking back and forth between you and san like ?!?!?!?!?! IF YOU’RE GONNA DO SOMETHING NOW IS THE TIME

but san is still smiling. he’s not afraid

“i didn’t mean me”

you think that if there was ever a cue to spring into action, that was it

you get a hand on wooyoung’s sword and pull it out, immediately pointing it at him

everyone is completely silent

for once, so is wooyoung

he says your name, the first time anyone in this wonderland has said your name

and for whatever reason, it makes you feel terrible

“you know the prophecy, wooyoung, and you know the laws of this land”

he can hardly hear san’s words, only focusing on you

you have his weapon, his vorpal sword

if anything, that’s yours now

but he doesn’t want to think about what san is implying

wooyoung turns around to san again and waves for his guards to stand down

he walks toward san until they’re inches apart staring into each other’s eyes

“fine. i’ll show you the crown is mine”

so the red queen’s unbirthday party turns into a challenge

the laws of wonderland state that if the ruler is ever challenged to a duel for the crown, they are obligated to accept so they can either prove they are worthy of the crown or that someone else is

the rules are a bit fuzzy since you are the one fighting wooyoung for san, but i guess it’s allowed since wooyoung probably didn’t win the challenge himself at the beginning of his reign

but i digress, literally almost all of wonderland is crowding around a circle for you and wooyoung to duke it out for the crown

he takes jongho’s sword since you took his

for a while, it’s wooyoung who is winning because you don’t have the most experience with a sword

but after a while, you get used to it and wooyoung’s fighting style (which is very inconsistent on purpose) that it becomes close

everyone is watching in awe because first it was like shit you aren’t doing too great that means wooyoung’s gonna win fuck time to pass away

BUT THEN WHEN YOU START DOING BETTER THEY’RE LIKE OH SHIT WE HAVE A CHANCE CMON KEEP GOING

and yeah for a while it’s really close until finally, FINALLY YOU DISARM WOOYOUNG AND KNOCK HIM TO THE GROUND

AND EVERYONE AGAIN IS ABSOLUTELY SILENT BECAUSE HOLY SHIT DID WE JUST WIN?

YES THEY FUCKING DID

sorry i just got really excited ok? you did it!

everyone unloyal to the red queen erupts in cheers and applause and utter happiness

but wooyoung, on the ground in front of you, has one last question

“who are you really?”

“i’m not sure. i’ve changed so much since this morning. but they’ve all been calling me alice”

wooyoung’s eyes widen in horror as he realizes his fate

this really is the prophecy

alice has come to defeat him and steal his throne and his crown

and they succeeded

he has lost

he expects you to just slice his throat right then and there, but you don’t

instead, you stick the sword into the grass beneath you

you never agreed to kill anybody, nor would san want you to

wooyoung saw it as a chance he would never get back, so he took it

he scrambled back a bit and whistled, a very loud and shrill sound that came out of his mouth

suddenly everyone around you is in chaos, trying to run away and shouting because they know what is coming

you don’t, but you find the sudden loud pounding footsteps oddly familiar

you look over to the other boys and make eye contact with yeosang, and you can’t hear him over all of the shouting but you can just make out the word coming from his lips

“bandersnatch”

your stomach drops

that’s what you were running from when you first got to wonderland, and you were about to come face to face with it

the footsteps get louder and louder until they stop, and right in front of you stands wooyoung’s bandersnatch breathing heavily and awaiting his orders

even san is kind of scared because he’s seen what wooyoung’s “pet” can do

but when you see it... it almost looks like a pet

the best way you could think to describe it at the moment was a cross between a cat, a dog, and a bear

as inappropriate as it was, you thought it was kinda cute what the hell

but again, i digress

wooyoung, who is still on the ground, shouts at the bandersnatch and points to you, “GET ALICE”

the animal in front of you digs its foot into the ground multiple times like it’s about to charge

everyone watching the scene is filled with fear

and you

just

walk up to it

and bop it

on the nose

almost immediately it cowers backwards and shrinks in on itself like it was ashamed it had done something wrong

everyone else: shocked pikachu face

because what??? the hell?? that WORKED????

but you just get even closer to the bandersnatch and see that he really is like a pet,,, he’s really not scary

you start to scratch him behind the ear and he definitely likes that

you turn again to face san and wooyoung just like :/ yeah, what about it?

wooyoung is at a complete loss of words, absolutely mortified

damn, that usually works

but now wooyoung really lost and is really defeated officially

after the confusion passes though the crowd is once again cheering and happy because NOW they did it

san walks forward between you and wooyoung, and the celebration quiets down because omg it looks like the RIGHTFUL QUEEN is about to say something

san announces to everyone that wooyoung will stand trial for his crimes and receive a fair sentence despite everything, and that if anyone so pleases, they don’t have to see the same fate as him

meaning whoever would like can renounce their loyalty to wooyoung right now and not be punished

the first one to do so is jongho

he unsheathes the dagger at his hip, and while most everyone believes he’s about to attack san

you know better

rather, jongho holds it tight to his chest and takes a knee

he bows his head before the white queen and says “i serve the crown, your majesty. i serve the rightful ruler of wonderland”

hongjoong steps forward then too and bends the knee, since he is wooyoung’s advisor

everyone is watching in absolute awe because that is wooyoung’s left and right,,, they never expected those two to be disloyal to him

but they serve wonderland, not wooyoung

wooyoung is feeling mf betrayed dude

that’s the example most everyone else who was loyal to the red queen needs before they renounce themselves as well,, all so they can serve the white queen

and you are just... astonished

you did it

you really helped them to reclaim their throne and their land

you fulfilled the prophecy

you can go home

that realization hits you harder than you thought it would, and you are honestly kind of disappointed to go

at the arrival of his chess piece guards, san orders them and his new guards to take wooyoung away so he can stand trial

not before taking the crown from his head, and it practically transforms before your eyes to white gold

wooyoung gives you one last betrayed look before he’s gone from sight

while everyone is talking and celebrating and rejoicing san turns to see you looking very forlorn, and he knows exactly why

he approaches you, followed closely by the other boys

because all of the other boys have been so impacted by you that they just... have to be by you again and talk to you

but they all see that you are kinda down and are like :(((( why??? we won thanks to you!!! this is a happy moment!!!

but you just look at all of them, all of these boys that have impacted you just as much

and you say “i can go home now”

and suddenly they all remember

they all jump at the opportunity to tell you NO YOU DON’T YOU CAN STAY HERE WITH US AND BE HAPPY

but you can’t, as tempting as it is

you have a life in your world, and while you know you can just pick up and leave it

should you?

san sees the decision in your eyes and tells the boys “they can’t, though. they must go home”

and finally, finally, he says your name

not alice. you

the boys still want to protest, but they can see it in both of your eyes,, they know what’s going on

so they all come to terms with the fact that you are leaving

but before you do, you make sure to share some words with each of them individually

you know, just so they can fall in love with you even more hehehehe

you look at all of them and say “i want to thank all of you, from the bottom of my heart

“jongho, thank you for sparing my life,, i’m so proud of what you’ve become

“mingi, thank you for being so sweet and taking the time to tell me things, and for putting your own life in danger when you didn’t have to

“seonghwa, thank you for being the best mad person i’ve ever met, and i hope you don’t stop being the same kind, pleasant, mannerful, strange, and mad person you showed me

“yunho, thank you for always being able to put a smile on my face,, you truly helped me to not feel doubtful, and i know i will never be lost because of you

“yeosang, thank you for doing everything in your power to make sure i’m safe,,, you are the bravest person and mouse i have ever met, no one will ever come as close

“hongjoong, thank you for finding me. if it wasn’t for you i would have never found this wonderful place with all you wonderful people,, i am happy you are safe and turned out to be right”

the boys are all borderline crying now because you’re just so amazing,, they all love you so much, even in the short time you’ve known them

but finally, you turn back to san

you’re prepared to bow, getting on one knee and saying “my queen” because that is truly how you see him now

but san simply smiles and tells you to stand, that as long as you are here and san is ruling, you never have to bow to anyone or fear anyone

and you just smile back and say thank you

san laughs because he should be the one thanking you

he leads you and the boys inside the palace so you can go home

which makes you kind of confused because huh how does that work

san explains “wooyoung was always afraid of the prophecy, so he made sure the only door to your world was locked and sealed away for no one to find”

so he leads you all to said door, and it’s huge

there are gold gears and locks all over it, and it stands taller than anyone of you

san takes his crown off and places it in the center of the door, as if it acted as a key

and the gears begin to turn and bars unlock until finally, the door opens

looking through it, it’s a bit distorted because it’s kinda like a portal that’ll take you back to your world

and san extends his hand toward the door so you can go, and everyone is looking at you teary-eyed and expectant

you take one last long look at each of them to memorize everything that has happened

and so, looking back with a look that screamed the promise of return, you walk through

69 notes · View notes

luke-patterson-owns-my-soul · 4 years ago

Text

Unsaid Emily

Title: Unsaid Emily - Charlie x Reader

Words: 4,698

Summary: Y/N is one of the songwriters working on Julie and the Phantoms and cowrote Unsaid Emily. When she has to work with Charlie, sparks fly.

Requested: Only by my idiot brain

TW: None

Author’s notes: I mean no offence to the writers of Unsaid Emily, but I needed it to be this way. Also, I know Charlie just got his car, but it fit my timeline. I hope you like it.

Credit: @nikascott

Receiving the call from Netflix to write a song for a kids’ TV show about a ghost band, you were hesitant, but your friend Dan talked you into it. You had written as a duo before – you wrote lyrics while he conjured up what you personally considered the most beautiful melodies – but this job was just for you.

The brief you’d been given by the show runners didn’t give much away. A song for a runaway son to perform for his estranged mother after his death. The only other information given was that his mother’s name is Emily. Usually, you like vague briefs such as this, but without knowing more, you struggle.

After speaking to one of the showrunners, you’re invited to meet the writers for more information, so you drive down to where the legendary Kenny Ortega is putting the cast through their paces at a band bootcamp. You’ve worked with Kenny before, so when you arrive, he welcomes you with a smile and a hug before the two of you disappear to discuss the song you’re struggling with.

“Why don’t I introduce you to Charlie who’s playing Luke. He’s had intensive discussions with the writers and myself about his character and may have some insight on what kind of things Luke would want to say to his mom.” Kenny suggests rather than only speaking to the writers.

“That would be great, but only if you can spare him for a few minutes.”

“It’s not a problem. Hey, come and grab some lunch with me, I’ll introduce you, and then you can get the information you need.” You loved Kenny and wanted to write the best possible song for his show you could. Standing, you grab your bag before following him out and over to catering.

As soon as Kenny enters the large room, he’s called out to and waved at. With a wide smile, he responds to everyone as the two of you grab some food and sit at an empty table. While you eat, you discuss the show, and Kenny’s hopes for it.

“It may be aimed at a younger demographic, but I want it to appeal to all ages.” He stated as you’re joined by a group of kids so good looking, they can only be the cast. “Hey guys, this is Y/N. She’s one of the songwriters we’ve commissioned. Charlie, once you’ve finished up with lunch, could you spare her ten minutes to chat with her about Luke?” The cast members all say hi before returning to their food. It’s clear to you they’re all creating friendships as they laugh together. But Charlie isn’t getting involved as he looks at you. You can’t help but stare at the actor as his hazel eyes lock onto yours, a small smile on his face as he nods.

“Sure, no problem.” He smiles wider and you almost choke on your food. Kenny looks over at you, a strange smile on his face.

:: ::

“Hi, you needed to talk to me?” Charlie moves along the table once everyone has left to get back to work. You look over at him, noticing how young he looks. From what Kenny’s told you about the cast, you’re not much older than him, but with his short hair and boyish smile, he looks a lot younger than he is.

“Hey, yeah. I just want some insight into the character of Luke.”

“Which song are you writing?” He asks, genuinely interested. He leans his chin on his hand waiting for you to answer.

“The one he writes for his mom after he runs away.”

“Oh, wow. Tough break.” You can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, I guess.”

You pull a notebook out of you bag and open it to a page where you’d scribbled some questions about the character.

For half an hour, the two of you sit, chatting about the show, about Charlie’s character, and by the time you finish up, you’re pretty satisfied that you can head home and make the song work. After thanking Charlie for his time, you pack your notebook away, ready to go out to your car and drive home.

“Do you fancy coming and watching a rehearsal before you leave?” He asks, rubbing at the back of his neck with his hand. You really shouldn’t, you need to get back home to start working, but you’re intrigued by him. Throughout your talk, you were impressed with the passion he has for both music and acting, but more than anything, the character he’s going to be portraying.

“Sure, but I can’t stay long. I have a song to write for you.” You grin as you follow him out of catering and into the rehearsal space. Immediately, Kenny calls you over where he’s sat with the young girl playing the lead role. She’s listening to a piece of music you don’t recognize.

“All good?” He asks when you join him.

“Great. I should be able to get a rough cut over to you by the end of the week. Is that okay?”

“Fabulous, I look forward to hearing what you come up with. Ready to see these amazing kids rock out before you go?”

“Am I ever.”

“Guys, let’s run through Now or Never.” Kenny calls out. Charlie and his bandmates grab their instruments while the young girl you now know as Madison turns the music off and leaves the stage area.

As the three guys rock out, you can’t help but watch Charlie. He’s a natural lead singer who commands the stage, even in rehearsal, and you know his fanbase is going to explode once the show airs. You take note of his singing range, mentally adding it to the notes you made earlier.

“Kenny, you’re onto a winner with this show,” you tell the director as the song ends. “I’m gonna head out and get started. I’ll let you know once we have something for you.”

Kenny hugs you before turning his attention back to the actors and starts directing them to lead into another track as you exit the room. As you reach your car, you hear footsteps behind you.

“Y/N, are you leaving?” You turn to see Charlie standing behind you.

“I have a song to write, the final one y’all need if I might add.” You smile at him, pulling your keys out of your bag.

“I can’t wait to hear it.”

“Well, I better make it a great track then, huh?” Your words made Charlie grin widely again and you couldn’t help but think how beautiful it was.

“You’re the only one to ask about the characters, so I have no doubt it’ll be amazing.”

His words didn’t surprise you. You were a bit of a method songwriter, needing to get into the correct headspace when writing emotional songs.

“Let’s hope I don’t disappoint.” You bit at your lip as the ever-familiar seed of doubt began to grow in your mind. It happened every time, but you always managed to ignore it.

“I’m sure you won’t. Hey, I was wondering if you’d let me hear it before you send it to Kenny.” That did surprise you. You’d been hired by Netflix, yet the lead actor was asking you to share something with him first.

“Er… I’m not sure if I’m allowed. I mean, what if they don’t like it and don’t use it?”

“Oh, right. Okay. Anyway, it was nice to meet you.” He held out his hand for you to shake. When your hand was in his, he lifted it and placed a soft kiss against your knuckles. A flicker of heat shot up your arm and your eyes shot to lock onto his. Judging by how wide they were, he’d felt it too. Eventually, you withdrew your hand from his, even though you didn’t particularly want to.

“You too. Good luck with the show.” Unlocking your car, you climbed in, and started the engine. With one last look at Charlie as you pulled the door closed, you forced yourself to pull out of the parking lot and drive away.

:: ::

|@charles_gillespie started following you

You stared at the notification on your Instagram account. It had been two days since your trip to meet up with Kenny and the cast – well, Charlie in particular – and you’d been working hard on the song. Intrigued, you clicked onto his profile and scrolled through his photos. He clearly loved the outdoors and spent a lot of time hiking or camping. You can’t help but smile when you see photos of him with his family and friends.

You follow him back and put your phone down to pick your guitar back up to continue working.

|@charles_Gillespie sent you a message

Hey

The app indicated Charlie was typing, then he wasn’t, then typing again, but no message came through. Shrugging, you put your phone back down and continued working. You had a title, a melody, and had almost finished the lyrics. It was full of emotion and if asked, you’d totally admit you had cried more than once while writing it.

How’s the song coming? Another message from Charlie. It made you smile, but you needed to finish working. You turned your phone off and focused.

Finally, the song was finished. All you needed to do was to record a rough cut to send over to Kenny and the writer so they could see if it needed any amendments before sending over the final version along with the chords and lyrics. You head into the tiny studio you have set up in your apartment and record the song. It takes three takes for you to get through it without crying, but once you do, you send it straight over and stop working for the night.

Turning your phone back on, it buzzes insanely with a slew of notifications. Friends checking up on you, your parents inviting you to dinner, an email from Kenny telling you they love the rough cut and asking you to send a cleaner copy tomorrow, and a couple of messages from Charlie on Instagram. Now you’re able to respond properly, you open the app.

Sorry if I’m disturbing you.

I hope the song’s going well.

Hey, sorry. I turned my phone off while I was finishing up. Kenny has the rough cut, so I’m about to chill out and watch a movie. Hope all is well at bootcamp.

You worry the message you reply with is overly formal, but it’s too late as it’s showing as being seen. You busy yourself making some food and picking out a movie to watch. Settling on your couch to watch the first To All the Boys movie, your phone begins to buzz.

Charlie 👅🍀

Instagram video

With a slightly trembling finger, you accept the call and soon Charlie’s face fills half of your screen.

“Hey, Y/N.” he smiles brightly at you.

“Hey.” You’re a little confused about why he’s calling you, but you decide to go with it.

“Kenny played me the rough cut of Unsaid Emily. I just wanted to tell you it’s beautiful and I can’t wait to sing it.”

“Thanks, I’m glad everyone seems to like it.”

“Y/N, we didn’t just like it, we all loved it. So many people were crying when they heard it.”

“I would apologize, but my mom taught me not to tell lies.” His laugh burst out of the speaker on your phone.

“Don’t, it’s great. It’s gonna be a great addition to the show.”

You grab the remote for the TV to turn the volume down as the film you’d picked to watch was starting.

“Hey, what movie are you watching?” he asks when you apologize for the interruption.

“Oh, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” You can’t help but notice he scrunches up his face, and you also can’t help but notice how adorable it looks. “What was that face for?”

“I didn’t think you’d be a chick flick kinda girl…”

“Oh, I don’t watch it for the story.” You can’t help but laugh as he tries to work out what you mean.

“What’s the point of watching it then?”

“Because Noah Centineo��s pretty to look at.” You don’t add the fact he’s not as pretty as Charlie. It’s not exactly something you can admit on a first Instagram video call – not that you’re expecting there to be more.

“I’m not going to disagree, but is he prettier than me?” You laugh and roll your eyes at him.

“I’m not going to answer that question on the grounds that I barely know you.”

“I can see you blushing, Y/N. I think you think I’m prettier, but don’t want to admit it to my face.” He’s full on laughing now and you can’t help but join in.

“Carry on teasing me, I’ll end this call.” You threaten, making his eyes widen slightly.

“I’m sorry. So, tell me about yourself?” You see him getting comfortable on what looks like a bed. He’s soon lying sideways on the screen in front of you. You decide to mimic him, propping your phone against a glass candle holder on the table next to you. You lie on your side facing both your phone and the TV.

“What do you want to know?”

“Well, for starters, how old are you?”

“I’m twenty-five. You?”

“Twenty-one.”

For two hours, the two of you throw questions back and forth as the movie comes to an end without you noticing.

“Do you think you’ll come to set?” He asks you, surprising you.

“I think it’s doubtful. Once I record a cleaner version of Unsaid Emily, my job’s done. I’m not needed anymore.”

“Oh…” Did you detect a hint of disappointment in his voice? No, you didn’t.

“Well, this has been fun, Charles Jeffrey Gillespie, but I have an appointment in the morning, and I really need to get some sleep.” You sit up, take hold of your phone, and walk out of the lounge to your bedroom.

“Taking me to bed, already? Haven’t even had to buy you dinner.” Charlie jokes, making you roll your eyes at him. “Okay. Maybe we can do this again? Bootcamp lasts for a while longer yet, then we’re going to film in Vancouver.”

“That would be great. And thanks again for being nice about the song.” You both say your goodbyes and once the call has ended, you collapse back on to your bed, unsure exactly what has happened.

:: ::

It’s been three months since you had Unsaid Emily accepted by the show, and in that time you and Charlie have video called on Instagram a few times, but you’re both crazy busy. You’re working on a score for a videogame while he’s finished up with bootcamp and has relocated to Vancouver to start filming. The entire time, neither of you suggested meeting up even though you both lived in L.A.

You’re just leaving your parent’s home when your phone rings in your bag. Not recognizing the number on screen, you debate not answering it, but brush your thumb across the screen anyway.

“Hello?”

“Y/N? It’s Kenny. Are you okay to talk?”

“Hi Kenny, I’ve always got time for you.” You hear him laugh down the phone. “What can I do for you Mr. Ortega?”

“I was wondering, because you did such a great job with Unsaid Emily, if you’d like to come on set to watch it being filmed? See how we’ve adapted it?” Well, that wasn’t what you expected to hear.

“I’d love to. When do you film?”

“The day after tomorrow. I’m sorry it’s all so last minute, but I’ve been busy.”

“I can just about manage it. I’ll book a flight when I get back home, then I’ll message you for directions to the studio.”

“Sounds great. See you soon, and I really think you’ll love what we’ve done with the song.” You reassure him you will and end the call and get into your car to drive home.

After juggling a few things around, you’re able to book a flight to Vancouver for the next afternoon. When You message Kenny, he reassures you there’ll be a car waiting for you. You decide to book a hotel for two nights and a flight back the next day. You’ve never been to a TV set, and don’t know how long these things take. As you pack an overnight bag, you realize you’re excited, not only about seeing your work come to life, but seeing Charlie again, in the flesh.

:: ::

Arriving in Vancouver, you walked through the airport and out into the arrivals lounge, looking for the driver Kenny had sent to pick you up. You were able to bypass having to wait for your luggage thanks to only having a small carry-on bag so made it through the crowds pretty quickly. When you emerged, you saw a row of drivers holding signs, but none had your name on. Deciding to find somewhere to sit and call Kenny, you move past the drivers in black suits. Directly in front of you is Charlie wearing a wide grin.

“Hey you. Moonlighting as a chauffeur to make ends meet?” You tease as you approach him. He surprises you by pulling you into a hug.

“It’s weird not seeing your face on a small screen.” He jokes as he leads you outside, taking your bag from you. You can’t help but notice he’s been working out and his biceps are looking impressive. Well, you knew he had anyway thanks to his constant posting on Instagram, and from your video calls, but seeing it up close makes your mouth go dry.

“I’ve had to put make-up on. No filters in real life, Gillespie.” He rolled his eyes at you as he unlocked his car, an orange Nissan Juke.

“Some car there…” You struggle to hold in a laugh and his mock hurt look.

“Look, it may not be pretty, but it’s great for camping and heading out of town to go hiking.” He was almost pouting when he finished speaking.

“Okay, okay. I give in.” you climb into the car. “Why aren’t you on set?”

“I wasn’t needed for a couple of hours, so I offered to come and meet you. I have to be back once you’re checked in at your hotel. Sorry it’s a bit of a rush.”

“Don’t worry about it. I can go out sightseeing while you’re working hard.” You grin at him. “I’ve never been to Vancouver, or Canada, before.”

“You’ve clearly lived a very sheltered life.” He’s teasing so you just stick your tongue out at him before turning your attention out of the window as Charlie maneuvered the car out of the parking lot. “Have you even left California?” Again with the teasing.

“Not only have I left the state, but I’ve also even left the country.”

“That’s cool, where did you go?”

“I studied in London for a year, then I backpacked around Europe for another, before coming home and becoming a functioning member of society.”

“That’s actually pretty awesome. I’d love to do that, just travel around for a year and get to see so many amazing places.” There’s a look in his eyes you recognize. Wanderlust.

Before long, Charlie’s pulling up outside your hotel and helping you out of the car.

“I would make sure you get checked in okay, but I need to jet. I’m sorry, shall we meet up later, I can introduce you to the rest of the cast.”

“That would be great. Message me so I know when to be ready and where to meet y’all.” He agrees, places a soft kiss against your cheek and gets back into the car. You watch him drive away before going to check in.

:: ::

When you took the job of writing a song for a TV show, you never expected to find yourself out to dinner with the cast of said show, watching them do karaoke. All of them have included you, which made you feel as if you’re part of their circle, despite their many in jokes and stories from set. Madison greeted you like an old friend, telling you she’d head a lot about you from Charlie. That surprised you because you hardly knew him beyond the few video calls you’d had.

“He talks about you all the time, and Owen says he can hear his side of the conversations. He teases him about it all the time.” You stare at her, confused.

“That’s crazy. We hardly know each other.”

“Doesn’t stop feelings from happening.” She laughs at you, before dragging you up to perform with her.

The entire evening is a blast, but you all have to call it a night early thanks to their early call to set. You plan to call an uber back to your hotel, but Charlie insists on making sure you get back safe. As you say goodbye to the others, Madison give you a look you don’t even attempt to try and decipher.

“Thanks for tonight, I had a great time. You’re lucky you guys are so close.” You tell Charlie as your uber moves through the dark streets.

“Yeah, they’re great and we’re like a family. I know it sounds corny and cliché, but it’s the truth. I think that’s why Kenny set up bootcamp. It makes going to work so much easier.”

Silence falls over you, but it’s a comfortable one, and all too soon, you’re pulling up outside your hotel.

“Thanks for making sure I got back safe.” You say as you get ready to climb out of the car. Charlie surprises you by following you. “Oh, you don’t need to see me inside, I’m a big girl.”

“I know, but my mom would kill me if I didn’t. I was taught to make sure pretty girls got home safe.” You laugh but are filled with warmth at him calling you pretty.

“I bet you use that line on all the girls.” You give him a nudge with your shoulder which makes him laugh.

“Not really.” He holds out his elbow for you to tuck your hand through as he walks into the building.

Once you’re outside your room, you turn to face him and thank him for inviting you out again.

“It was a pleasure. I just hope you had a good time.”

“I really did. I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

“Yeah, see you.”

:: ::

The following morning, you’re up at what feels like the crack of dawn. You’re regretting the shots you had the night before as you climb into an uber to head over to the studio. The closer you get, the more excited you become. You’ve seen your songs brought to life on screen before, but you’ve never been there for the filming.

As you climb out of your car, you hear someone call out your name. You turn to see Madison and her dad walking toward you.

“Hey Y/N. How are you feeling after last night?” She asks, giggling slightly. You’re more than a little jealous of the fact she’s a minor and is unable to drink any alcohol.

“A bit delicate, but nothing a strong coffee won’t cure.” You smile as she introduces you to her dad as the three of you walk inside. They stay with you as you’re signed in and given a visitor’s pass.

“What do you know about this scene you’re watching today?” Madison asks you as you follow her through the hallways.

“Not a lot if I’m honest. I know a little background to the song and Luke as a character, but nothing else.”

“Woah, you’re in for a treat. I hope you didn’t wear any eye make-up.” Mr. Reyes laughs at his daughter’s words as you reach the catering tent. The aroma of coffee is calling you. “Well, I’ll see you soon, I’m first in hair and make-up.” The young girl gives you a tight hug and leaves you to fuel your need for caffeine.

By the time you’ve finished your drink, and a bagel, the tent is filling up around you. You spot Kenny entering and he makes a beeline for you.

“Y/N, it’s so good to see you again.”

“Thanks for having me. I’m honored to be invited. I know this is a bit unusual.”

“Honey, you don’t need to thank me. It was this guy’s idea.” He stepped aside to reveal Charlie, in full Luke costume.

“Oh…”

:: ::

Standing next to Kenny, you’re silent as the opening bars to your song start to play. A lump has already gathered in your throat as you watch Charlie as Luke singing to his mother who can’t see him. You knew it was an emotional song, but hearing it sung live and in context of the show, you can’t quite believe it’s yours.

You know they have some scenes to film that will be cut into the scene, but you can’t help being mesmerized by the tone of Charlie’s voice as he sings a song of regret.

You feel tears pricking at your eyes as rounds a corner of the set, belting out the final pre chorus, the rasp to his voice, and tears flowing down his face. Kenny takes a look at you and grabs hold of your hand, giving it a squeeze.

“You did good.” He compliments you. Wiping at your eyes, hoping your mascara isn’t running, you shake your head.

“No, that was all him.” Once filming’s over, you make an excuse to Kenny and head outside for some fresh air. You’re feeling overwhelmed and in awe of what they’ve done with your song.

“Are you okay?” Charlie’s voice is soft as he walks up to stand next to you.

“I’m fine, just a bit overwhelmed. I never expected it to… to be that good.” You realize you could have offended him and begin to stumble over your words. “Not that I mean… you’ve got an amazing voice, and you injected so much hurt and pain into the song. It sounded better than I ever imagined it to.”

You feel like a bumbling idiot and turn away from Charlie so he can’t see the embarrassment on your face. He moves to stand directly in front of you, using his hand to gently lift your chin so you have nowhere else to look but directly into his eyes.

“If the song wasn’t right, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I just did, so it’s all on you too.” It feels as if his hazel eyes are looking deep into your soul.

“Thank you.” You finally accept a compliment, making him smile. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Why did you ask for me to be here today?”

“Because the moment I heard the rough cut of Unsaid Emily I felt it was only right you be here. There something in your lyrics and melody that will truly have an affect on the audience, and I felt you needed to see that for yourself.” He suddenly let go of you and looked away.

“Why do I feel like there’s an ‘and’ coming?”

“And… the moment I heard that rough cut, I needed to know more about you. That’s why I followed you on Insta and started the video calls. I needed to know you.”

You don’t know what to say, not that there’s time for you to. Charlie looks back at you, places his hands on your waits, and bends his head to capture your lips in a soft kiss. It’s quick, but gets your pulse racing. He pulls away, slowly.

“Is Noah Centineo still prettier than me?”

You laugh before crushing your lips against is again, this time not so softly.

‘

Tags: @dream-a-little-bigger-x @xplrreylo

If you’d like to be tagged, just drop me a message.

#charlie gillespie #fic #imagine #charlie x reader #real person fic #Mich writes fic

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spaceskam · 4 years ago

Note

14 maria deluca

i’m sorry this took so long, I am indeed a distaster

tags: friends with benefits, fluff (mostly), pre-relationship, POV Maria DeLuca

14. Casual [ao3]

It started out as a good idea.

Maria needed an outlet and Kyle needed a distraction. It was fitting, honestly, because they both worked weird schedules. It wasn’t anything serious, just something they did when they needed to blow off some steam. One of them would go to the other’s after a long shift at work, they’d hook up at three or so in the morning, and then they’d make a respectable walk of shame at around six.

It was only when it became rather recurring and they started running into issues of keeping it a secret between them that the good idea part seemed to fade.

“Okay, so, maybe we should talk,” Kyle said one morning as they both laid in his bed, his questionably expensive sheets draped over them. They’d caught their breath already and the sweat on their skin was drying. Maria, personally, felt nice and floaty still.

“About what?” she asked.

Kyle shifted onto his side and looked down at her, gaze warm and welcoming in a way that made her heart beat a little faster. That was all new. She still wasn’t quite sure how to handle that feeling. That or the fluttery feeling she got whenever she showed up at his door smelling like alcohol and sweat and he looked at her like he’d be willing to lick the ground she walked on.

“Rosa is coming home soon,” Kyle said, “And she’s gonna be staying with me. New environment, a non-alien environment. No offense.”

“None taken,” Maria said as she moved to prop herself up on her elbows.

She’d gone to see Rosa a few times in rehab, but things between them were still a little off and none of it was made better by Isobel monopolizing Rosa’s visiting hours. Maria was hoping to fix that after she came back home. They were best friends at one point and she knew they could figure out a way to get that back, even if times had changed and they now had nearly a decade of age difference. The alien thing was just a fork in the already bumpy road.

But Maria was looking forward to putting in the extra effort.

“I’m not exactly sure how to navigate this with her in the house,” Kyle said.

“I mean, I don’t mind coming over when she’s here. I want to start hanging out with her more, two birds, one stone,” Maria said. Kyle made a face. A small one, but a face nonetheless. “Okay, then you can come to mine.”

“Then she’s going to ask where I was.”

Maria searched his face, trying to find anything that would give away whatever he was thinking. Kyle was usually pretty good at saying what was on his mind all the way up until he was sure it was going to get a negative response.

“Oh. So… you want to stop.”

“I don’t want to,” Kyle insisted, sitting up a bit more, “I just don’t know how else we can keep going without her noticing something is up.”

“I mean, we’re all adults here, it’s fine if she knows.”

“Yeah, but she’s my little-big sister and your friend and I’m her sister’s ex, that’s weird, right? If she knows about our sex life? Like, honestly, I don’t want to stop, I have a lot of fun with you, but you don’t think she’d think it’s gross or awkward or something?” Kyle said. Maria huffed a laugh, tilting her head as she sat up completely alongside him.

“Do you really think she’s going to care? After seeing her big-little sister dating one of the guys that literally covered up her murder, I don’t think me and you are going to be that big of an issue,” Maria said. Her tone was colder than intended, but she couldn’t help it when bringing up the topic of Rosa’s murder.

God, that still pissed her off to an unmatched degree.

“I just don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable around me or in her own house,” Kyle said, a little pout on his ridiculously handsome features.

Sometimes, when she let herself think too much, Maria couldn’t fathom why Kyle was interested in her of all people. He had a good, stable job and had the face of a fucking god. It wasn’t even that she thought low of herself, it just didn’t make sense that he would settle for anyone in this town. And yet, here he was, trying to think of a way to make his sister feel welcome in his home.

How perfect could he get?

“I know her pretty well, I think,” Maria said. And she did. She felt like she knew Rosa better than she knew most people. Granted, there was a possibility some of it wasn’t as accurate as she would like it to be, but time causes a lot of fuck ups. “And I don’t think she’d be uncomfortable. I mean, she might make fun of us and make it awkward for us, but for the most part, I’d think she’d be fine.”

Kyle bit down on his lip hesitantly.

“Are you positive?” he wondered.

“If it would make it easier, I can talk to her about it,” Maria offered. That didn’t seem to bring him any kind of solace. “Or we can not tell her anything and just act normal? Like this is totally casual and not worthy of a discussion?”

“Casual,” Kyle repeated, nodding his head. Maria didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing to hear. “Right. Um. Okay. What if we go somewhere in between?”

“What the hell is in between?”

“Okay,” Kyle said, shifting towards her with so much enthusiasm that the sheets shifted and she got a very distracting glimpse of the length of his torso down to his upper thigh, “What if we just tell her that we’ve been hanging out more? Like, as friends. No details necessary.”

Maria searched his face, feeling almost guilty at the way he seemed so convinced that was a great idea. Rosa was going to see right through it and she was going to call them out immediately. But, if that’s what he wanted, she would do it.

“Okay. I’ll tell her that we’re just hanging out.”

“Okay, cool,” Kyle said, shoulders dropping with relief. He then blinked at her twice before throwing himself back onto her, pushing them both back into the mattress.

Maria laughed as he did so, smiled as he kissed her again, enjoyed every second as he fit himself on top of her effortlessly.

It was definitely worth trying to come up with something to tell Rosa.

Or. That was going to work well in theory.

It’d been two weeks since Rosa had started staying with Kyle, two weeks since Maria was hanging out with her more whenever she could. She and Kyle decided not to risk anything sketchy, but they’d both been getting a little antsy and, truthfully, phone sex just wasn’t cutting it when the real thing was right there.

So, Maria found herself at 3:30 AM standing on Kyle’s porch and tapping her foot against the ground. The plan was she was going to be quiet, slip into his bedroom, get their fix, and slip out before Rosa woke up.

But, when Kyle opened the door with wide eyes and a tilted head, she knew something was up.

“She’s still awake,” Kyle whispered. Maria couldn’t even find it in herself to be shocked. She was more annoyed that she had been so blindsided by horny brain that she forgot Rosa was borderline nocturnal.

“Do you want me to leave?” Maria whispered back.

“Well, I already opened the door, so‒”

“You’re going to let bugs in and I’m not killing any of them, I’m just going to push them into your bedroom!” Rosa called, “Just tell Maria to come in!”

“I guess you’re coming in,” Kyle said.

Maria took a deep breath and tried not to feel weird about it as she stepped inside. Kyle, however, had apparently never learned to hide any of his facial expressions and his disappointment was written clear across his face. Maria carefully swatted his stomach and headed into the living room.

“Hey!” Maria said, reaching out to give Rosa a hug where she was sitting on the couch. She had a bowl of popcorn in her lap and her eyes were trained on the gory scene in front of her, but she still managed to give Maria a hug.

“Hey, how was work?” Rosa asked, glancing over at her just to show she was paying attention before looking back to the TV.

“Fine. Didn’t have to throw anyone out and I got tipped pretty well, so I can’t complain,” Maria said, her eyes following Kyle as he went to sit on the other side of Rosa.

“That’s good. Kyle over here didn’t even save a life this evening, so I’m glad one of you did something productive,” she said. Kyle glared at her like he was personally offended.

“The fact that we didn’t have any extremely pressing surgeries tonight is a good thing,” Kyle said. Rosa shrugged.

Maria found herself laughing quietly at their casual bickering. It was a weird, yet welcome change. She had gotten so used to hearing it from Liz and Rosa that it was strange hearing it from someone else, but it was also a new way to see Kyle. Maria quite liked each new version of him she saw.

Still, they lapsed into silence as they watched the movie. Maria had no idea what the plot was or what was even happening, she just knew there was a lot of screaming and a lot of blood splatter, and Rosa seemed invested. So Maria tried to get equally invested, but she produced a less than stellar performance.

Instead, she found herself glancing behind Rosa’s head to look at Kyle. Half the time he was already looking at her. The idea that he couldn’t stop looking at her had her shifting in her seat and feeling a bit warm. She wanted him more than her logical brain could even make sense of and she didn’t know how to feel that not even Rosa’s presence and her movie of choice could turn her off.

What the hell was Kyle doing to her?

“Oh my God,” Rosa said suddenly, groaning and grumbling in Spanish as she leaned forward to grab the remote. Maria jumped, eyes wide as if she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t. But she hadn’t. All she did was look at Kyle. That wasn’t illegal. Still, Rosa shut the movie off. “Can you guys stop eye-fucking over my head? I’m going to vomit.”

“What are you talking about?” Kyle asked, but his face gave it away. He was the worst liar Maria had ever seen.

That made him all the more endearing.

“I know y’all are seeing each other or whatever the fuck,” Rosa said, pushing off the couch and putting the bowl on the table, “I don’t care, by the way, but I’d rather you never make me sit through that ever again. That was disgusting.”

“We didn’t even do anything,” Maria defended. Rosa rolled her eyes.

“I know you well enough to know what you do when you’re flirting and you’re totally flirting with my brother right in front of my eyes,” Rosa said. Kyle took a sharp breath in. “So gross. I’m going to my room and playing my music loudly. Call me when you’re not waiting for me to go to sleep so you can bang like I’m a child.”

Rosa saluted and walked to the guest bedroom. Sure enough, loud music started coming from her room and Maria let out a disbelieving laugh. She didn’t have enough time to turn to Kyle before her phone alerted her of a message.

Rosa<3: It’d be a lot less gross if I wasn’t related to him, but at least he isn’t ugly and he’s also a doctor. So gross but also good job, proud of you, make him buy us a yacht once he pays of his student loans

Maria laughed, a bit of weight lifted off her chest. She didn’t really think Rosa would mind, but Kyle’s nerves about it had rubbed off on her. She looked up to let him know that she was all for it and saw Kyle still staring straight forward, lips parted in shock.

“Hey,” Maria said, eyebrows pulling together as she slid closer. She put her hand on his shoulder. “You okay? She doesn’t mind, like, she’s not mad or anything.”

“That’s the first time she’s called me her brother to my face,” Kyle said, turning his head, “She’s never said I was her brother.”

Maria smiled softly, “Well, you are.”

“Yeah, but… she never says it. I don’t know, I feel like that was some kind of milestone or something. Like I should celebrate,” Kyle said, huffing a laugh. Maria shook her head fondly and slid her hand across his shoulder blades.

“I know a couple of ways we can celebrate.”

“I was kinda thinking of grabbing a beer with Alex, but that’s good too,” Kyle said honestly. Maria laughed and tugged him closer. She felt his breath on her lips and wondered how the hell she went two whole weeks without it.

“You can do both.”

“I like your thinking,” Kyle murmured, and then he was on her, leaning in and kissing her as it’d been forever. And it sort of had been.

Kyle didn’t break the kiss as he shifted around and grabbed her thighs, lifting her off the couch. Maria gasped softly in response, but she held onto him and let him take her to his bedroom. Rosa’s music was still clear despite it being muted by his bedroom door closing.

They fell back onto his bed, pulling each other closer and closer and it seemed impossible to get enough. Even as they started stripping and touching and things heated, none of it seemed like it would be satisfying enough. She wanted to do this for hours. Days. Weeks.

And suddenly it didn’t feel so casual anymore.

And, for some reason, Maria didn’t even mind.

#maria/kyle #maria/kyle fic #maria deluca #kyle valenti #roswell new mexico #my fic #title tuesday

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because-of-a-friend · 4 years ago

Text

Falling Flowers |7|

MASTERLIST

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: None for this chapter

Summary: Glimpses of each other’s lives, a goal to reach, someone to save, someone to find, and too many questions to accomplish any of it

So a the request of @meloncandykatie and other anons, I am finishing this series the whole way through! I think it’s getting a little more lighthearted since the boys are finding each other, so hopefully for y’all’s sake there won’t be too much angst left lol. Either way, enjoy this chapter!

Seungcheol, Jeonghan, Joshua, Mingyu, Seungkwan, and Vernon all pull together on the rope. The tiny tree they’re pulling back looks like it might snap under their strength. There’s a large rock balanced on the top of it.

“Isn’t this dangerous? I mean couldn’t we seriously injure him or something?” Jeonghan asks, his voice straining from the effort of pulling on the rope.

“It’s just a dream, it’s not like we could actually hurt him,” Seungcheol responds, his hands slipping a little. “Besides, we have to reach him somehow.” He takes a moment to double check the aim of their little tree catapult. “Ok everyone, on three, alright?”

Everyone calls back their understanding.

“Ok then, one!”

“In hopes this doesn’t harm him,” Mingyu’s sarcasm does nothing to ease the tension.

“Two!”

“I wish we had stayed in the field,” Seungkwan whines.

“Three!” they all let go at Seungcheol’s last call.

The rock flies. Its trajectory sending it straight towards Seokmin.

“Oh my god, it’s actually going to work!” Joshua exclaims in disbelief.

They let out a breath of relief too soon. Right when the rock reaches “Seokmin’s Circle” as Seungcheol has named the impenetrable area around Seokmin, it explodes, little pieces of rock glittering as they fall to the ground.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” Seungcheol sighs, another one of his many attempts to grab Seokmin’s attention failed. “Well back to the drawing board,” he says, ignoring the groans of the others.

*****

Somewhere else, Soonyoung and Minghao are still in the studio, also suffering fruitless attempts. Their attempts to escape the studio have lead them nowhere. Soonyoung gets frustrated easily. Minghao tries to calm him down, but honestly, he’s annoyed by now too. It’s truly a puzzle. The studio has no doors or windows. There are two walls of mirrors but no other defining features to the room.

Soonyoung and Minghao’s nightly routine becomes appearing in the studio, walking around aimlessly, then giving up and staring at the ceiling for the rest of the night.

“Soonyoung?” Minghao asks tiredly one night as he counts the yellow spots on the ceiling.

“Yeah, Hao?” Soonyoung responds.

“Do you ever struggle with seeing the bright side of things?”

The words hang in the air. Minghao’s not even sure why he asked. It was just an idea that had been floating around in his head recently. He always concentrates on the bad. How he and Soonyoung can’t get out of there. How they may never find the others. How if they can’t find the others, everything is lost.

“I guess so,” Soonyoung finally answers, his voice carrying the weight of the thoughts clouding his mind.

“Soonyoung?” Minghao asks one last time.

“Yeah, Hao?” Soonyoung feels like he’s slipping away, he must be waking up.

“We have each other,” are the last words Minghao gets out before they slip from the dream world and wake up.

Soonyoung decides that he’ll try to think of things in a better light after what Minghao said to him. Minghao decides to try as well.

In their waking moments, they both mull over what Minghao said. “Do you ever struggle with seeing the bright side of things?”

…

“We have each other.”

Soonyoung holds the words close to his heart, Minghao is right. They have each other.

Minghao tries to find strength in himself, he and Soonyoung can find a way out. If they have each other, they can do anything.

When he appears in the studio again, he immediately notices the change.

Instead of a wall of mirrors, there’s a giant window overlooking the night sky.

Soonyoung is already there. He’s staring out at the stars.

“I guess you were right, Hao,” he says as he sighs happily. “We just needed to look on the brighter side of things.”

Minghao sits with him for a while. They just look up at the stars through the window.

Then there comes a time when they both silently stand, and head towards the window together. They quickly find a latch and push the glass forward.

Minghao looks back at the studio one last time as they step into the outside world.

The chains that once bound them are suddenly there, once again intact.

But they’re laying lifeless on the floor. They look almost… pathetic, useless.

Minghao steps away, leaving as he looks one last time at the room they were trapped in for so long, Soonyoung pulling him forward by the hand.

They are linked once again.

But this time it’s a bond created by choice not force.

*****

Seokmin has always had trouble being fully present.

When he should be looking at the full picture he only concentrates on details, and when he needs to look at details, he can only look at the full picture.

His mind isn’t always helpful to him. It tends to wander, never letting him fully grasp what he needs.

Seokmin’s mind is fully possessed with the idea of saving the planets. He doesn’t realize they’re just a representation of the people who actually need his help. He has to leave the planets behind in order to get to them. But he’s convinced it has to do with the planets themselves. If he can save them, he can save everyone else.

His mind is only looking at the bigger picture. He isn’t noticing the little details.

Like all of the other boys’ attempts to reach him.

In the corner of his eye.

“He hasn’t responded to anything any of you have done?” Soonyoung asks, barely breathing as Seungkwan hugs him tightly, overly excited to see him and Minghao again.

“No,” Seungcheol shakes his head, “it’s like we’re invisible. I don’t have the slightest idea of how to reach him.”

They all turn together to look at Seokmin. He’s still staring endlessly up at the eleven planets up in the sky. His hands are clenched and his jaw is locked, stress is seeping out of him.

“The planets that are all grouped together must be us, right?” Mingyu suddenly asks out of the blue.

“Is that… important… right now?” Joshua asks trying to sound as kind as possible.

“Maybe he has a point,” Soonyoung intervenes. “Do you think they follow our lead?”

“Who knows,” Seungcheol shrugs. “But at this point, I’m ready to try anything.”

“Should we… try to spell something?” Seungkwan asks.

“There’s definitely not enough of us for that,” Jeonghan says with the same strained voice Joshua had.

“We could just try making a line first,” Seungcheol states. Without waiting for an answer, he begins to line the other boys up, grabbing them one by one and dragging them into position.

“It doesn’t look like it’s working,” Mingyu says, glaring at the planets.

“We literally just lined up, wait just a second,” Seungcheol says. “And stop glaring at them like you have mind powers that will move them.”

The boys wait a minute, then two, then five, then ten. Nothing changes. The planets stay as they are until the time comes for them to come crashing together and the dream to end.

The next night, Seungcheol already has new plans to try. He barely begins to talk to the other before he is interrupted.

“Hyung wait,” Mingyu says as Seungcheol is speaking.

“What is it, Gyu?” Seungcheol asks.

“Look,” he simply states as he stares upwards. The other boys immediately follow his gaze.

Some of the planets… their planets are in a line.

They all simultaneously turn their heads to look at Seokmin.

He’s noticed too.

Instead of looking wildly around at all of the planets as usual, he’s staring at the ones in a line, a confused look on his face.

They’ve broken his pattern. He’s been set off his track.

Maybe it’s enough.

Maybe now he can notice.

The movement.

In the corner of his eye.

Seokmin begins to wonder, as he stares at the eight planets that have suddenly aligned, if this is all a hoax meant to distract him. Or if maybe, he hasn’t been looking at what he’s supposed to be looking at. He finally cranes his head downward instead of looking up constantly. He feels his neck strain from the movement after being so stiff for so long.

He also has half a moment where he thinks “Hey this is a dream; I shouldn’t be having neck pain!” But he puts this thought aside for a different time, believing there are probably more pressing matters hand.

Seokmin finally tears his attention away from the sky, looking towards the environment in front of him. The desert isn’t necessarily pretty. The plant life is scarce, it’s mostly brown, and the smell of dirt is overwhelming.

Seokmin begins to think he made a mistake by look away from the planets, maybe there really is nothing here but them.

But then something flutters in front of his face.

At first, he thinks it’s a butterfly, he pulls his face back to try and get a better look at it. It’s not a butterfly, it’s a flower petal. It flies off to the left of his face. He turns slowly to follow it.

It’s like his feet are made of cement. It feels as though it’s taking him years just to turn. Not only that, but the world seems to warp around him, as if he’s being transported to a different one right in that moment.

He begins to hear them, strange, distant, muffled calls of his name reaching his ears.

His eyes focus only on the flower petal as he turns.

When he’s done a full 180, his eyes finally leave it. He looks past the flower petal to see what he’s facing now. It’s eight of the boys. They’re all staring at him as if surprised.

“Well geez, if I had known just standing in a line was going to do it, I would have never suggested that shouting contest we had,” Seokmin hears Seungcheol say before he wakes up.

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artnerd1123 · 4 years ago

Text

Among Us: CR3WM8TS

Beneath the Waves ——————————————

It’s not just the humans who do the exploring. Especially when their ships are so easy to poke around in...

Among Us archive/askblog Fic chapters post

——————————————

at long last!!! we have the introduction of a very special guest! and by that, i mean the one member of the crew who has yet to appear LKSJDF. that’s right, it’s nubnub’s debut! hope y’all enjoy :D

and big big shoutout to @vaaloirr for proofreading this for me!!!!!! y’all should check hir out, ze’s rlly rad :>

###~###~###

SHIP SYSTEM LOG REPLAY: TIMESTAMP [HR:MIN:SEC]: 01:27:02 AFTER ARRIVAL

System setting: DOCKED [STORAGE AND VENT MONITORING]

Location: SECTOR G Ship Status: DOCKED AT [PLANET 326-OCE-894 - SECTOR G] Course: N/A Systems:

Supplies: [ONE] CRATES SHORT

Storage Chutes: CLEAR

Vents: CLEAR

…

Supplies: [ONE] CRATES SHORT

Storage Chutes: MATERIAL BUILDUP DETECTED

Vents: CLEAR

…

Supplies: [ONE] CRATES SHORT

Storage Chutes: CLEAR

Vents: CLEAR

###~###~###

Today was a better day. A simple statement, with much behind it. A better day implied much. It needed a reason. Something to set it apart from the others in a positive manner. To those who cared, it all boiled down to the sky’s sudden roaring. That meant whatever was living above the water might be leaving a gift instead of pain.

The first time it happened, everyone had fled to the deep. The sky was not meant to roar. When it did, it could mean many things. None of them were positive. It could mean death- the large beaked horrors that flew about above the waves were merciless with their soft-bodied kind. It could mean fire raining from above- rare, yes, but it had taken one too many of them for their liking. It could mean horrible flashes of light- the huge crackles of terrifying light leaving those too close to the surface charred and twitching. This time, they expected no different. The seas were always one to change. But danger never had. So when the roaring died down to bring a myriad of different noises, different lights cast into the water and towards the sky, no one was sure what to think. Many wanted to move out of the area. There was more reef, sure. Plenty far away from whatever was scuttling around on the coral. Some wanted to wait in the deep, confident the sky’s beasts would finish off beings that tried to live on the surface. An idiotic choice, with them around. And still others… well. They were a curious species, after all. It was only a matter of time before they found out the strangers had something useful.

###~###~###

The sky finished roaring not too long ago. The water surrounding the coral island seemed to have settled. But all was not as it appeared. Just out of sight, a quartet of scarlet eyes quietly watched the goings-on of the strange house. They guessed that’s what it was- in the handful of months the strangers had been here, the multicolored figures always seemed to retreat inside. There was all manner of things stored in there. They hadn’t gotten a good look, of course- their curiosity wouldn’t lead them headfirst into danger- but peeks in the windows showed plenty of shiny metals and blinking lights. Not to mention they’d sometimes take the top of their shiny coverings off. It was a shock to see that for the first time. But their rainbow of smooth coverings just made them all the more intriguing. It seemed to factor into their very social fabric! The strangers were fascinating to watch. Fascinating to hear, too. The strangers’ voices carried over in the sea salt breeze, making the creature’s smaller set of ears flick forwards. They had to wait until they heard the right thing to head inside. The sounds these strangers made were in some sort of odd, squeaking tongue. Like the delphiins, if a bit deeper in pitch. It didn’t take too long of observing to realize it was a language. Didn’t take too long for those of their people who remained to try and understand it. The creature was certainly doing their best. It took a lot of work, a lot of watching, and a lot of listening. They were getting the hang of it well enough, so they thought. But observation wasn’t what the hidden swimmer was here for today. They eased a bit closer, their large pink back tentacles holding tight to the side of the coral island. Their back claws scraped lightly against the webbed rock, front paws flexing impatiently. Peeking around the side of the strangers’ house, they spotted plenty of them moving about outside. That might’ve been a problem. The sight of them swarming about large capsules, though, put their mind at ease. Ah, yes. The strangers brought each other containers from far away. They didn’t seem to hunt or farm at all, or sit out in the sun long enough to survive, so they needed sustenance from their brethren. Fair enough. Their first set of eyes trailed wishfully after the multicolored swarm and their capsule. The other set strayed to the place it emerged from. It was some sort of house that flew- they’d heard it roar in and out of the sky plenty of times. They also knew that’s where the capsules were kept. Their mind wandered briefly back to the time- a few weeks after the strangers appeared- that their friends and themself managed to knock one of the capsules into the sea. Oh, how they’d feasted on all the food inside… The months after were just full of finding the best ways to get at them. And, of course, how to recognize which capsules had food, and which ones had more strange metal objects. They’d never have to worry about food again, so long as these strangers were around. Of course, there was still the matter of getting the capsules in the first place. Which was easier said than done. They’d been careful to keep track of what colors they saw as the strangers scurried past. In previous trips, their friends had been able to steal an unused covering to sneak around the ship. They noticed the strangers got rather distressed if they saw more than three of the same color walking around during a drop off. They got nervous if there were two, if the other flying house was absent. They’d all whisper about some “eemposster,” and then the creature and their friends would have to lay low for awhile. The bad thing about a drop off like this is that you didn’t know which suits would be in the house. From the looks of it, the creature would be hard pressed to find an unused color. So, waiting on plan B it is. As worried as the strangers were about those “eemposters,” they didn’t seem to guard their flying house after removing their capsules. They had no reason to, they supposed. They had what they wanted. The creature ducked under the waves, tentacles pulling them along the rocks and coral. Their brown fur and bright teal accents kept them relatively well hidden, though the business of unloading capsules did the job better. They popped the top of their head out once they reached the back of the flying house. One pair of ears flicked forwards, they listened carefully to the strangers’ conversation. One of them- a green one with a star shaped marking- was busy talking with another- a bright blue one with a similar star mark. They were leaders, if their observations were right. The green one was gesturing to the flying house, saying something about ‘crayts’ and ‘dun unlohding.’ The blue one seemed pleased by this. As did the creature. Those words- ‘dun unlohding’- was the all clear they’d been waiting for. Turning their attention to the flying house, the creature approached it carefully. There would be a hatch somewhere they could get in… they just needed to remember where it- aha! There, near the water- a hatch surrounded in yellow and black stripes. They chirped to themself excitedly, suckers glowing in satisfaction. They darted closer, eyes fixed on their prize. Once they were under the hatch, they carefully reached a pair of tentacles up towards it. They made sure their suckers had a nice grip on the metal before drawing their body up too. They studied the hatch carefully, their remaining tentacles helping anchor them to the metal surface. It was closed tight, a squarish pattern locking the sides together. Fortunately, this flying house seemed a bit old. The doors weren’t as tightly sealed as they usually were. The creature stuck the tips of their claws in the crack, wiggling and scraping at it until they had a good purchase. Grip established, they carefully braced themself against the side. And yanked. The resulting screech of stubbornly moving metal made them cringe, but there was no shout of confusion from back on the island. They squinted as they yanked again, metal groaning in protest. But it gave away soon enough. It always did. They grabbed the edges of the hatch with their tentacles once it was open enough, holding it so they could squeeze inside. These were the times they were glad their body was so malleable. A dark, dirty metal tunnel yawned before them. They chittered again as their claws hit the floor, proud of themself for sneaking in. Of course, their pride faded the second their tentacles let go of the hatch sides. It shut with a rather loud slam. They didn’t manage to clamp their mouth shut before a surprised shriek slipped out. They slapped their front paws over their mouth, curling into an anxious ball. Had anyone heard them??? Was it over??? They sat silent in the dark for a couple minutes. Waiting. Nervous. … when nothing happened, they let the tension leave their body. Ok. It was ok. They’d just. Move a little quicker this time. Turning their back to the hatch, they started crawling up the tunnel. The dark was no problem- they could see just fine. Not to mention the soft teal glow of their suckers and short horns. It made the whole place feel like a sea cave… if a bit stranger to move in. After all, there was no water up here. They reached another hatch soon enough- it was outlined with the same yellow and black stripes, some red squiggles above it like a label. They weren’t even gonna try to decipher what it said. But they knew it was their way in. They were more cautious with this next hatch, squeezing through carefully and slowly easing the sides back together. It still gave a louder thunk than they preferred, but it was leagues quieter than the last time. Hatch troubles taken care of, they let their gaze trail to the room around them. It was a tall one, with plenty of large capsules sitting around. Some of them even sat on top of each other. The thought of all the food inside was already making their mouth water, tongues lolling out of their mouth… … They shook themself out of it. Focus!!! They scolded themself. They still had to find a food capsule. They took a moment to tuck their tentacles into their back- no need to leave them out to hit things in such a cramped space- before slinking towards the nearest capsule. It was large. Too large to get out of the hatch, unfortunately. But they gave it a sniff anyway, hoping there’d be something worth snagging. The scent of iron and copper greeted them. They curled up their lip with an unhappy chirp. No, not that one. They moved on to another one a little closer to the entryway, tail flicking eagerly.

The process of sniffing and poking at capsules continued for longer than the creature would’ve liked. All the food was better hidden for some reason- it was frustrating. Eventually, though, they rooted out a small capsule that smelled absolutely tantalizing. They stood over it gleefully, claws twitching in eagerness. If it wasn’t foolish, they’d rip it open and chow down right this very moment. However, this wasn’t their home. And they didn’t know how long the strangers would stay away. So they grabbed the capsule, digging their claws through the steel outside to gain a hold. Their tentacles slithered out of their back, lifting their body off the ground as they held the capsule protectively. From there, they picked their way across the room and back to the hatch. It was a little harder to get it open this time. Not necessarily because they couldn’t use their front paws- that was fine- but rather they had to use another set of tentacles to do so. As strong as they were, the slimmer ones on their arms had no suckers to help hang on. But they managed in the end. It was a straight shot back down to the other hatch once they were through. They’d figured out the one in the other room, so this? This was a cinch.

The only signals that anything was amiss was a metallic thunk as the hatch closed, and quiet ripples as the creature disappeared under the waves.

###~###~###

SHIP SYSTEM REALTIME LOG: System setting: DOCKED [STORAGE AND VENT MONITORING]

Location: SECTOR G Ship Status: DOCKED AT [PLANET 326-OCE-894 - SECTOR G] Course: N/A Systems:

Supplies: ERROR - RELOADING…

Storage Chutes: CLEAR

Vents: CLEAR

...

Supplies: ERROR - RELOADING…

Storage Chutes: BLOCKAGE DETECTED - PLEASE EMPTY

Vents: CLEAR

…

Supplies: [TWO] CRATES SHORT

Storage Chutes: CLEAR

Vents: CLEAR

#au:c #cr3wm8ts #among us oc #nubnub among us #groud among us #(bc they do make a brief appearance)#uhh ask to tag #theres nothing super bad i jus know nub might seem a bit unnerving or smth idk LSDKJF #n e way #i hope u guys like...#i had... fun with this...#and now nub is around :>#yey #arty writes

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flokive · 5 years ago

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weather boy - cth

description: fratboy!cal au with a LOT of vine references // part two of a 4 part series: a year in the life of calum and his roommate. part one is right here writers note: don’t really have a lot to say actually, i just really really really hope you all like it!! xx wordcount: 1965

warnings: none really, just a lot of pining over each other and some drinking?

winter

It's nearly 12 am when Calum finally walked into the living room, wearing only his pajama trousers, with a big grin on his face. You took a quick glance at his torso as he stretched with a soft yawn and plumped next to you on the couch. Your cheeks turning a soft pink when you feel the warmth radiating off of his body. His familiar scent greeting your nostrils, making you want to nuzzle your face in his neck and never leave. It took you some willpower to not go right ahead and press your lips on his, letting your fingers run through his hair. Your thoughts get interrupted by Calum’s sleepy voice.

"God, Gilmore. Is there ANYthing better than pussy?” You let out a big sigh, put down your book, and looked your brown-haired friend in his eyes. "A really good book." You tried to keep a stern and serious face but the moment Calum recognized the words, his face lit up and he started to laugh, causing you to fail in keeping your stern look. “God, woman. Do you ever, not, speak in vine references?” You shook your head and laughed, quickly patted Calum’s leg, and continued reading your book as Calum turned on the tv. Both of you enjoying each others company and your Saturday morning.

When you walked in your living room after a long day of studying and hoping for some peace and quiet, you stumbled upon your roommate and some random girl making out on your couch. The very couch you wanted to claim for the rest of the night to watch Gilmore Girls and eat pizza. You growled and dropped your heavy book bag, startling the two lovebirds.

“Fuck.. this shit. I’m out.” You huffed angrily and stormed out of the apartment, tears started to form in your eyes.

“Hey! Babe, wait up!” Calum yelled as he ran after you, getting a hold of your wrist, making you stop in your tracks. “I’m sorry,” he breathed, “I didn’t know you would be home so soon.” He apologized softly, tugging your arm to try and get you to turn around. You blinked furiously, trying to get your eyes back to normal before facing your roommate. Apparently, you didn’t quite succeed because when Calum got a good look at your face, his eyebrows knotted and a sad expression showed in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He whispered softly, cupping your face, his eyes tried to meet yours. “Nothing.” You said flatly, trying to avoid looking into his eyes. “Look at me,” Calum demanded, holding your face a little bit tighter, and you had no choice but to finally meet his gaze. Tears formed in your eyes when you thought back at the moment you saw him sitting there, with another strange girl.

“Hey…” his voice was soft in your eyes, making you tear up even more. “Talk to me, petal.” You shook your head, clearly not wanting to talk about what made you tear up. “Just,” you spoke softly, barely audible. “Just leave me alone, Calum.” You tried to pry loose from his grab, he let you. “Just, you have a guest to entertain. I’ll be fine.” Calum opened his mouth to say something in return but you just shook your head, turned on the back of your heels, and walked away from your roommate. Leaving him speechless and confused. He couldn’t really figure out what he had done to make you feel sad.

As badly as he wanted to follow you, pull you close and comfort you, he knew you didn’t. So he left, walked back to the apartment, only to find the blonde girl he didn’t know the name of waiting for him, wearing a very short dress, leaving nothing to the imagination. Trying to get the image of you crying out of his head, the took off his shirt and guided the blonde to his bedroom. When the girl finally left the apartment, he was regretting the decision to take the girl back to your apartment in the first place. She had only been a distraction, to get his feelings out of the way, knowing they’d probably stay unrequited. Something that had obviously failed when he saw your face again the morning after.

As a few days go by, the two of you haven’t really spoken a word about what happened. You kinda went back to how things were, just having fun as friends and nothing more, really. All though, you noticed, there clearly were less girls staying over in the apartment than before.

*Please, help, this girl just won’t LEAVE!*

Calum texted you, your grunt muffled by your cushion. You have been lying awake all night, partly because of the noise Calum made when he came home drunk, again, with some random girl, again. Partly because you’ve been crying in your bed all night, thinking about Calum. About the other girl now laying in his bed, probably nuzzled against his broad chest, sulking up his fragrance, feeling his soft touch all over her body. Obviously, the feelings you had for your roommate never really faded away since the last time you saw Calum together with a girl.

Your phone buzzed again, an awkward, pouty faced selfie lit up your screen, a text reading ‘pretty please’ arriving soon after. You huffed in annoyance as you stand up, bitter thoughts that he only needed you when you needed to scare away some chick, swirled around in your brain. With your sweatpants in your hands, you looked in the mirror, hanging on your bedroom door. Looking at your reflection, you saw yourself standing there, your legs bare and your ass barely covered up by one of Calums t-shirts you snatched out of the fresh laundry a few weeks ago.

A devilish smile appeared on your face, thinking about how Calum’s face would change if you were to walk into his room, barely covered, wearing his favorite shirt. You threw your sweats back on your bed and decided to change your casual underwear to some lacey panties. “Go big or go home, Gilmore.” you whispered to your self as you took one last glance in the mirror.

"I didn’t get no sleep ‘cause of y’all! You’re never getting sleep ‘cause of me!” You yelled, barging into the Calum room, beating on some pans, startling your roommate, and the girl laying next to him. “The fuck…” Calum starts but quickly trailed off when he sees you wearing his old Led Zeppelin tee. His eyes traveled up and down your body, lingering, maybe too long, on your exposed ass when you raised your arms to bang on the pans. He never really noticed your bare legs, the way your body looked, hidden away under his t-shirt. His… t-shirt. He slowly licked his lips at the thought of you wearing more, and less, of what’s actually his.

“What the fuck?!” A shriek next to him made Calum peel his eyes away from your ass, looking at the girl next to him. “Aren’t you going to do something about this?!” The blonde girl screamed, frantically pointing at your crazy roommate. He shrugged, the girl exclaimed some profanity’s and quickly got up, gathered her stuff and ran out of the apartment.

“Good one..” Calum breathed shakily, still checking you out. You gave him a weak smile, dropped the pans on his bed, and walked out of his room, giving a little bit more sway in the way you walked than you did before.

“Damn Gilmore,” Calum whispered as you closed the door to your own bedroom, “damn, you look good in my shirt.”

It’s the first time you came along to a frat party together with Calum. When you entered the big, white fraternity house, you immediately spotted the heads of Calums friends and eventually also Calum’s brown curls. You greeted them with a shy smile, gave Calum a tight hug, and looked around you, watching the boys and girls dancing on tables and playing games like beer pong.

“Just, grow a fucking pair dude and talk to her.” You heard Calum tell someone. You shifted your attention back to your roommate’s friends and saw that he was talking to Kyle. “What the fuck is up Kyle..” Calum stated jokingly, making you smile. Kyle said something you couldn’t quite understand, but joined Calum anyway.

“No what did you say, what the fuck dude.” Calum started laughing and joined you in yelling the last line. “Step the fuck up KYLE!!” The boy shook his head at the sight of the two on you and mumbled something like, “you really are perfect for each other,” as he stumbled away, getting another drink before stepping up to the girl they were talking about.

“Well,” you laughed and took a sip of the drink Calum just made you, “the pep talk worked. Look!” You pointed at the couple, now kissing against the stairwell. “Of course it worked, doll.” Calum slurred, he took another gulp of his beer as he casually slung his arm around your shoulder and pulled you close. The heath crept up your neck and cheeks as Calum casually brushed his lips against your ears, slowly swaying his hips against yours on the rhythm of the music.

Roses pumped out of the many speakers surrounding the two of you, empty bottles of beers were scattered around the room, people danced on tabletops and you never wanted to leave the arms of your roommate. A new red cup got pushed in your hands by Calum, him still holding you close as the song transitioned to Filthy by Justin Timberlake. Calums laugh ringed in your ears as he recognized the tune and quickly turned you around so the two of you were dancing face to face.

He quickly downed his beer, you’ve lost count how many had been drinking. He began dancing in robot-like movements, quickly changing to sexier dance moves as the song progressed. “All my haters gon' say it's fake. I guess I got my swagger back.” A devilish grin appeared on his face. “I said, put your filthy hands all over me.” His index finger beckoned you to come closer. “Baby, don't you mind if I do. Exactly what you like times two. Got me singin', ooh, ooh’.” His lips found your earlobes again, the words he sang gave you goosebumps everywhere on your body.

As the music swelled, the alcohol took more control of your body and you found yourself grinding with Calum. His hands lay on your exposed hips and his face was buried in your hair, your mind wandered to the things that could happen if the two of you were to continue dancing like this. Your left hand met his neck, your fingers intertwined with his hair, your right hand swayed with you to the music. The two of you danced like you didn’t have a care in the world, the two of you completely living in the moment.

The filthy song changed into Kill The Lights and the moment the two of you had, stopped as quickly as it started. A lot of whoo’s echoed in the packed living room as Calum’s friends joined you again, holding new, freshly made drinks. You quickly stepped back, letting go of the man’s neck and accepted the drink. The vodka slightly burned your throat as you gulped it down, trying to drown out what just happened. The alcohol made you looser, made you lose your carefully built wall to protect you against everything and everyone. The wall you build to keep the feelings you’ve been building up all these weeks, in a dark corner of your mind, trying to not give in and finally accepting that you really were falling in love with your roommate.

taglist: @ashtonsos - @another-lonely-heart - @calmlftv - @cthofficial - @easierlftv - @kingcals - @lonely-hearts - @spicycal

want to be added to my taglist? let me know

#calum hood #calum hood au #calum hood fic #calum hood fanfiction #5sos #5 seconds of summer #5sos au #5sos fic #5sos fanfic #5 seconds of summer au #5 seconds of summer fic #5 seconds of summer fanfic #fratboy!cal #weatherboy cth #flo writes

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nahimjustfeelingit-writes · 5 years ago

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Soulmate

Werewolf Erik Imprints on OC.

I don’t know what to do with this but I decided to post because it’s been sitting in my google drive for about a month now and I know Halloween is in two days so if you want you can read what I have written thus far. I may or may not finish with all the other things I have to complete.

Warnings: Fluff, slight humor, mentions of smut.

Theme: Halloween, supernatural, College

It was the middle of the Fall Semester at Florida A&M. The weather wasn’t too bad, around 80 degrees during the afternoon and dropping to as low as 72 in the evening. Currently, Erik was studying for his upcoming Advanced Physics midterm. The Kappa Alpha Psi house was relatively quiet and this gave him the perfect opportunity to study before his brothers came in to disturb him. Erik took his blue highlighter, highlighting a passage before recapping it. He flipped to the next page, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses to read. As much as he loved physics and engineering his mind just wasn’t there. It was the middle of October now and his focus on knowledge wasn’t as interesting as he’d hoped for. This time of the year wasn’t always the best for him ever since he was twenty years old. That’s when his life changed.

“Thermodynamics and heat transfer.”

He read the topic while rubbing his sleepy eyes, AirMax covered feet tapping the floor to help him stay alert.

“Fuck, I can’t read this shit right now.”

Erik angrily closes his book, sliding it away from him, causing his calculus materials to fall over onto his desk. He leans back in his reclining desk chair, eyes to the swirling ceiling fan within his room. It wasn’t like he didn’t get the information, he knew it like the back of his hand. He just needed a distraction from her.

People on campus called her Poison Ivy; she was a lot to handle and Erik hadn’t noticed that until yesterday when something that he didn’t expect to happen, happened.

Ivy Crow. She was a journalism major. Ivy wrote for the school news column and she was also an activist on campus. Sometimes her protests didn’t go so well and other times her podcasts could piss people off but that’s who she was. You couldn’t miss her on campus with her goth aesthetic and camcorder in hand. Ivy was now Erik’s weakness. He needed to talk to someone about this, and the only person he could think of was his friend Trevor. Erik rises from his seat, grabbing his cross-body bag, shooting Trevor a quick text before exiting his bedroom.

He instructed for Trevor to meet him at the library in the ancient literature section since no one went there anyway. Erik made it there before Trevor, looking about him with sharp eyes to be sure that no one was around. He paced, impatient and antsy. He hadn’t seen Ivy all day. His body couldn’t stand it. This overpowering desire for her made him hungry as well. If he was hungry for regular food now he was afraid of what he would be hungry for at midnight…

“Erik? What’s going on I had to skip out of class.”

Trevor was a programming major, tall, skin like midnight, one eye blue and the other brown. Girls swooned over him.

“My bad man, I got a problem.”

Trevor grabs Erik by the shoulder, pulling him further into the aisle of books. It was dustier back against the window.

Trevor lowers his voice, “Is it a Lycanthrope thing?”

Erik hated when Trevor refers to it as that. He kisses his teeth, letting out a sigh of frustration.

“Why can’t you just say Werewolf?!” Erik argues.

“Whatever, is this what I’m here for?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you shift and get lost somewhere you weren’t supposed to be? Remember I saved your ass from nearly dying when you landed in a trap with silver near fucking New Orleans.”

Erik could still feel the scars from that on his back. If it wasn’t for Trevor, Erik would probably be dead. His back was scarred badly from that, deep gashes diagonally across his back.

“No, I haven’t shifted in two days.”

“Two days? Why?”

Erik looks down at his sneakers, “Some weird shit happened to me…”

Trevor waited for Erik to speak. He figured Trevor would know more since he’d been a werewolf since birth. It was a family curse.

“So, I was on my way to my calculus class when a rally was going on. You know, that rally about making sure ‘blackface’ doesn’t happen for Halloween this year.”

Two Days Ago:

“Catch you later, bro. You know we got that party before the hazing process.”

Erik shoulders his backpack, flashing his sexy dimples, “Y’all niggas partying before the hazing? That’s some new shit.”

His fellow Kappa brother shrugs before wrapping his arm around a random chicks shoulder, “Gotta warm them, boys, up first before the fun begins.”

He shared the Kappa hand sign with his brothers before walking away towards his class. He already missed a few for his own selfish reasons so he couldn’t afford to miss another. As Erik walked he noticed a large group of students- mostly black students crowd around a gothic chick and her protest friends, holding up signs reading “BAND BLACKFACE” Erik never really invested his time into these protests because he felt like they wouldn’t change anything but the sound of her loud voice brought his eyes to her.

And that’s what did it.

He felt as if he was gravitationally pulled towards her while glowing heat filled his veins. The class suddenly became secondary. On second thought, everything became secondary to him at that moment. He couldn’t explain it but the overpowering feeling made him want to stand there and watch her. Erik had a deep need and desire to support this girl and even protect her if someone went against what she had to say. His knees buckled, Erik stumbling a little and catching strange looks from some of the students. A few white students at Florida A&M looked frustrated with her words and that made Erik’s inner wolf growl. His eyes even turned golden without his control. He blinked, afraid that someone would notice.

“NO BLACK FACE FOR HALLOWEEN!!! It’s just as disrespectful as dressing up as an Indian!”

“She needs to shut up. She’s such a freak.”

Erik caught that and the person was on the other side of the crowd. He growls, his mind confused but his actions uncontrollable.

“She just needs some dick. She’s embarrassing us, black girls. I mean, none of these white people care about that. They wouldn’t even be dumb enough to try that.”

He felt deep disgust and rage from those words. He didn’t even know the girl and he hated the way those girls talked about her. He decided to look at her again, just focus on her to make him feel better. She talked with a sense of power, her movements confident and no care in the world that people saw her being a goth or that they thought she was a “freak of nature.”

Without being able to explain it himself, Erik walked through the crowd and towards her direction, standing at her feet while she stood on the top steps in front of the main student services building. Erik looked at her like she was a goddess. Before he could stop himself, he climbed those stairs, taking his place next to her, clapping his hands loudly and cheering her on.

Ivy pauses mid-speech with the megaphone pressed to her lips, eyeing Erik bizarrely.

“Aye! Don’t tell her to calm down she preaching the truth right now!” Erik yells down at a group of snickering students who clearly still lived like they were high schoolers. They had a long way to go.

“If you are not angry, you are not paying attention!” At this point, he was yelling out anything to support Ivy. What he thought he was doing the right way he was only pissing her off. Erik didn’t know a thing about Ivy and how she hated when people disrupted her protests, especially when it was a guy who didn’t even know she existed.

Erik snatches a sign from one of Ivy’s friends, holding it up proudly.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ivy finally speaks, not realizing the megaphone was still pressed to her mouth.

Erik lowers the sign, flashing a charming smile at her. He looked her over with an impressive eye before putting his hand out for her to shake.

“I’m Erik.”

Ivy looks from his hand to his face, “Ivy.”

Erik awkwardly lowers his hand, “You’re a fucking badass, Ivy.”

She blinks with sass, “really?”

She didn’t by that. This entire situation was strange.

“Yeah…”Erik felt that same heat in his blood. This girl, Ivy, was driving him crazy.

“Fuck these people, you can tell me about it I’ll listen.”

She laughs, pretty smile with lips colored blood red. The spiked choker around her neck along with the spikes in her ears made her look dangerous. Little did she know, Erik was even more dangerous.

“The less I care, the happier I am.”

She looked down at the steps, a frappe tossed at her feet with the liquid staining her platform doc martens. Erik looked down as well, eyebrows creasing with anger.

“It’s okay, Erik. I look at people sometimes and think...really? That’s the sperm that won.” Ivy simply shakes her head, lowering her megaphone. The crowd began to scatter and Ivy turns away from Erik, talking to her friends and instructing them to pack up and meet her for podcast talk.

Erik was compelled to help as well, grabbing posters and stacking them neatly. Not only did Ivy give him a strange look but her friends did as well.

“Are you feeling well, frat boy?” She placed the back of her hand to his forehead, Erik almost losing his control if it wasn’t for his impressive already controlled nature. He was a beast of the night, he had to keep it together.

“Maybe we should reintroduce ourselves,” she held out her hand covered in silver rings. Luckily, Erik was in his human form.

“I’m Ivy Crow, I run on caffeine, sarcasm, and inappropriate thoughts.”

Erik smiles, shaking her hand and enjoying the warmth. Since when did a chick make him delirious?

“I’m Erik Stevens. Kappa, science wiz, irresistibly handsome.”

“That you are,” Ivy had eyes she could see Erik was clearly a looker.

“So you like what you see then?”

Ivy shrugs, looking away, “Don’t get your hopes up, Erik.”

“Why? I mean, a girl like you can use a guy like me in your life.”

Ivy raises a single brow, “I see, you’re one of those niggas who think by flashing a smile and flirting with me you’ll get some pussy?”

“Nah, I mean…”

“No need. I know what this is about,” Ivy turns away with a pained expression, grabbing her bag to leave. Erik was bothered by that rejection, following her down the steps.

“Aye? What the hell did I do?”

Ivy turns to him, a glare on her face, “My middle finger salutes you right now.”

Erik felt like his world was crashing down around him. Ivy being upset with him couldn’t happen.

“Why are you mad right now? We were starting off cool.”

“I may not be the girl that everyone wants but at least I’m not the girl that everyone’s had.”

Erik understood then. She thought that he was implying that she needed him in her life to feel accepted because of who she was.

“Look,” Erik lets out a calming breath, “can we start over? I’m not the type of guy you think I am. I’m not tryna get to know you for the wrong reasons, Ivy.”

Ivy looked distant for a second until her shoulders relaxed. She folded her arms across her chest, eyeing Erik cautiously.

“I’m sorry,” Ivy pinches the bridge of her nose, “I just have a history of fuck-ups with guys.”

Ivy starts walking, motioning for Erik to follow along. He does, the pain in his chest subsiding.

“It’s just...you come out of fucking nowhere and you help me at my rally? It’s so fucking confusing.”

Erik was still confused.

“I’m confused too believe it or not.”

He needed to figure out what was going on, maybe it’s a werewolf thing. It is getting closer and closer to Halloween. Maybe he’s just having a strong sexual craving and he could see that in Ivy as well. It could be that Erik needed to fuck Ivy before a shift to sedate him.

“I don’t know you well, Erik, and I’m not good with people.”

Erik wasn’t either, he preferred to be a loner.

“I guess that makes two of us, Ivy Crow.”

“Ew, people,” Ivy cringes, causing Erik to laugh.

“Uh, is it cool if I have your number?”

Erik needed to communicate with her when she wasn’t around. In under twenty minutes he felt like he needed to hear from her.

“Sure, frat boy, I feel like you’ve earned it.”

Ivy pulls out her cell, followed by Erik, both of them exchanging numbers.

“Cool. I can hit you up later, right?”

Ivy simply shrugs, “that’s if my fingers aren’t preoccupied, frat boy.”

That sexual innuendo made the burning desire within him growl. His inner wolf wanted badly to spring free. What was it about this girl that had him weak in the knees and ten times more aware? Her scent was unique, very sweet smelling like berries. It made his mouth water.

“Listen, I'd love to chat but I have a podcast later that will more than likely stir shit up on campus.”

Ivy backs away, Erik’s eyes scanning from her white crop top with the word “Salem” down to her tight black jeans that hugged her generous curves down to her Doc Martens.

“I’ll make sure to tune in, Baby girl, what time?”

Ivy looks at him strangely, “1:00”

Erik gives her a farewell smile, never turning to leave as he watched her disappear. He stood there until her smell was gone, a heavyweight lifted from him only to be filled with emptiness. He missed her a lot for some reason.

That night in bed, Erik was in a cold sweat, growling like his other half and tossing. What was happening to him? He needed answers and quick. The next couple of days were going to be challenging.

Present:

“You’ve imprinted on Ivy Crow.”

Trevor didn’t hold back information. He laid it out for Erik.

“Imprinted? I thought that shit only happened in Twilight.”

Trevor gave Erik an annoyed look, “You’ve been a Werewolf for about seven years and you don’t know what imprinting is?”

Erik shrugs, “that’s what I have you for Trevor. You’re my Werewolf brother and my teacher.”

“Erik,” Trevor gave Erik a pointed look, “This is some serious shit, bro. You have to know everything about your Lycanthrope self or the enemies out there will hold that against you. You don’t want the enemies to know more about you than you, correct?”

Trevor did have a point, and Erik knew that. He was still trying to get over the fact that he was turned into a Lycan/ Werewolf when he was twenty years of age.

“Aight, I’ll take it more seriously. All that other shit like silver, Mercury, angel blades to the heart…”

Erik lets out a deep sigh, “I already know about that shit.”

“Well, do you know about our origin? Why New Orleans is generally not safe for our kind? How there are vampire and witch covens there and we all equally hate each other? How imprinting can be a good and bad thing?”

Erik didn’t know everything, and it pissed him off that Trevor rubbed that shit in his face.

“You want your ass beat now or later?”

Trevor laughs, “nigga, you keep forgetting I’m stronger than you?”

Erik bumps shoulder with him as he walks past, finally done with this conversation.

“We can meet up later tonight to discuss this imprinting situation. For the time being, try not to hound the girl, Erik. You don’t want to scare her away when you’re bound to her.”

That word, bound, wasn’t something he was prepared for. He was already bound to being a werewolf for the rest of his life. What if Ivy despises him to the point where she doesn’t want anything to do with him? What if she falls in love with someone else? All of those things scared him.

Ivy’s POV:

“What are you going to be for Halloween this year, Ivy?”

Ivy slips into a pair of dark turquoise high waist jeans, turning sideways to admire her outfit as a whole. She had on a black corset top with a layered silver necklace around her neck with multiple crosses on it. Her head was covered in a wig that would remind you of Uma Thurman’s hair in Pulp fiction, lips painted a glittery black and eyes Smokey.

“Probably something DIY, maybe a corpse bride.”

Her friend, Treasure; the complete opposite of her, sat on her bed, painting her toes white. She dressed like Cher from Clueless, long curly hair in two space buns. She was ginger with freckles on her face.

“I’m gonna be a Powerpuff Girl.”

Ivy chuckles, “Which one?”

“Bubbles.”

“I knew it.”

Ivy grabs her coffin-shaped crossbody bag along with her Creative Writing books before her phone goes off for the fifth time. She knew exactly who it was, he was getting on her last nerve.

Erik: Why aren’t you answering my texts, beautiful?

She locks her phone, putting it away.

“Ready?”

Treasure gives her a strange look.

“What’s up with you?”

Ivy shakes her head, “Just trying to prepare myself for yet another day of biting my tongue whenever Miss Petty Ass Bitch decides to piss me off. It’s not my fault I know more about your own class than you do. They just hire anyone these days.”

“You know she just does that Ivy because of your reputation around here,” Treasure reminds her, “Everyone is intimidated. Remember, they call you Poison Ivy.”

Ivy’s face lit up, a pretty smile on her glittery black lips.

“You know what, I just might have my Halloween costume in mind.”

Erik’s POV

He waited outside of Creative Writing.

How did he find out about her class? He practically threatened one of her guy friends and supposedly her fellow band member to give him the information. The second he did that, Erik did a late enrollment for the course. Luckily, it could look good for his master's degree. Looking from one end of the hall to the other, his nostrils flared, her smell growing closer and closer. He closed his eyes, the veins in his neck protruding from holding on control. His backpack went down to cover his crotch, dick hard for the first time in two days. The more she drew closer the more his heartbeat increased and his skin reddened from heat.

“Erik?” Ivy spoke with agitation.

His eyes snapped open from her sing-song voice, “Wassup, Baby girl?”

“It’s Ivy.”

“Well, I like calling you Baby girl,” he teases, earning a strange look from her.

“Stop calling me that or I will pour all of this hot ass coffee down your pants.”

He snapped his mouth shut, choosing to simply admire her. She tried looking at her phone but the scorching hot gaze he gave her made her look at him with annoyance.

“Can I ask you a question?”

Erik smirks at her, walking over to be face to face with his gothic princess.

“What you wanna know?” He shoulders his bag, giving her his sexiest stare but it clearly didn’t change anything.

“Why do you insist on texting me ten times a fucking day?”

“Why do you insist on ignoring me? Forreal, you got a whole ass attitude, Miss Ivy. A nigga tryna get to know you and you ignoring me? Ima tell you this now, I don’t like being ignored.”

“I do a thing called what I want.” She reminded him.

“You don’t like a nigga to be all sweet with you, huh?”

Ivy picks at her nails, “I’m not built for a soft ass needy man, I talk back and I do not listen.”

Erik’s dark eyes burned into hers. She didn’t fight it, looking at him with an equal amount of strength.

“I don’t like your type. You walk around here like you own the place and then you think you can have any girl you want? I’m not just any girl.”

Ivy picks a piece of imaginary cotton from Erik’s letterman jacket.

“You are a mean girl,” he smiles down at her, “Don't get your hopes up though I’m not going anywhere. I like em fiery, you like em dominant. That’s cool, I’m that.”

“I’m not mean, just brutally honest. It’s not my fault truth hurts. Want a bandaid?”

“As long as it’s from you I’ll take all that shit, Baby girl.”

Ivy regrets giving him her number. She didn’t actually think he would try anything with her since she definitely wasn’t going to open her legs for him.

“Ivy? Did you hear me?”

She wasn’t paying him any mind, the class was filling up and she needed to take her seat.

“There is no need to repeat yourself, I ignored you just fine the first time.”

He stood rooted to the spot, watching her disappear into that classroom. Her words literally slapped him. This is what he feared honestly. Erik couldn’t wait to meet up with Trevor so he could figure out how to work around this imprinting thing. Ivy was a lot to handle. Erik wasn’t going to back down by any means but damn, he didn’t expect a real challenge.

Erik finally walks into the class, finding a seat just behind Ivy a row above hers. She had all her things neatly stacked in front of her, eyes focused ahead. Erik whispered “excuse me” to a girl on his right as he took his seat. He decided to just bring his Macbook instead of things to write with. This was an easy course for him, he’d already taken a similar one during his undergraduate education.

“Good morning, Everyone,” a woman who looked to be in her late thirties spoke, fuchsia and purple polka-dotted blouse with a black pencil skirt. Her thin blonde hair was pulled into a tight French roll, old stocking with tears in them and a pair of heels that looked like something his grandmother would wear. God rest her soul.

“Can I help you, sir?” She yells to the back row. Erik knew she was referring to him.

“I’m a late enrollee.” His husky voice caught the eyes of nearly all the women in that room except for Ivy who chewed on the end of her pen.

“Name?” She asked with an authoritative tone.

“Erik Stevens.”

“I’m Professor Pettee, Why creative writing so late in the semester?”

Erik strokes his goatee, “Miss Ivy here gave me some inspiration since she’s a Journalism major and all.”

He could hear her clicking and unclicking her pen angrily.

“Ivy Crow?” She looked at Ivy with a sarcastic smirk, “she’s your inspiration? Well,” Miss Pettee turns on her heel, “She’s inspirational alright.”

Tiny snickers scattered the class.

“What is this fucking high school?!” Erik blurts out with rage. Ivy turns to him then with wide eyes.

“Excuse me?” Miss Pettee hadn’t expected that.

“I’m referring to the snickering. What y’all fifth graders or some shit?”

The entire lecture hall was silent, all eyes on Erik.

“What a ruckus,” Miss Pettee laughs nervously, “Are you finished, Mr. Stevens? I do have a class to teach.”

Erik sat back in his chair, motioning for her to continue. As soon as Miss Pettee’s back turned, Erik noticed Ivy staring up at him with a smoldering rage. The smile on his face turned into a blank expression. He was really getting under her skin.

“Fuck You.” She mouthed to him before turning back in her seat to pay attention. This was going to be interesting.

#erik killmonger #killmonger #black panther killmonger #werewolves #college #halloween #fluff #eye-raq

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dreamcatcherfication · 5 years ago

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The Queens of London Part 2 - Rolling in the Deep End

Part two of my “Queens of London” series. The more I write this, the more I feel like I’m writing a Spy AU. That’s not what I intended, but I guess it could work out. Anyway, I’m trying to get at least one fic out everyday for the time being. I feel like I have enough time and y’all deserve some content. (I can’t promise good content, but I try).

Writing Masterpost

Please send in prompts and asks, I’m happy to write for everyone (trust me, I’ve got plenty of time). Word Count: 2042

Prompts | More Prompts | The Trifecta of Prompts

Summary: When Katherine Howard received a strange invitation from a group of women known as “The Queens”, she had no idea what to think. The last thing she expected was to be thrown into the center of a dangerous conspiracy against some douchebag named Henry. But by now Kat’s learned that she really has no idea what to expect anymore.

Part 1

The entire table sat in silence, the majority of the women staring at Kat. The teen had her eyes pointed downwards, too terrified to make eye contact with anyone else. The realization that she was in way over her head was sudden and jarring, and it made her sick to her stomach. Should have just stuck with the ramen, she kept chanting in her head. “So,” Boleyn awkwardly piped up. “You got anything for us Brandon?”

Kat felt immediately wrong when Anne called her that, so she spoke up, “Actually, you can just call me Kat,” before she could think of anything else. The queens looked a little taken aback by her young voice but they said nothing.

It was Cleves who nodded and explained, “Well you probably should know why we wanted you here tonight. We’re actually a little surprised you actually showed up, especially with how you never show your face in public. We had no idea you looked so,” she stumbled around for the right word, “young.”

Okay, that explains a lot, Kat thought. If none of them know what Katherine Brandon looks like, then they don’t know that I’m not her. That’s lucky. It was Aragon who spoke up next. Her voice was stern but her eyes didn’t hold any of the anger Kat was so used to seeing in adults. “You read the letter, so you must know what Henry’s been doing.”

Trying to keep a stutter out of her voice, Kat said, “Please remind me.”

The women all seemed vaguely confused, but they obliged. “Henry Tudor, one of the most well known politicians in London today,” Catherine Parr started. It struck Kat in that moment, of course it would be someone like Henry Tudor they were talking about, not some backstreet gang member Henry she’d been expecting. “He’s been screwing us all over with his puppeteering -”

“Ooh cool simile,” Anne said as she tilted her head towards Cathy.

“That’s not a simile,” Cathy deadpanned. She continued, “But Henry has been practically controlling the entirety of Parliament. He’s unlawfully put restrictions on Aragon’s company, he’s been making it absolute hell for Jane to do her charity work, and so much more. Not to mention his dabbling in the Black Market and the assassinations we suspect him of taking part in. We tend to stay away from all that, but I know the Black Market’s your specialty Kat. And we all have our personal beef with him.”

Nodding along, Kat hid her surprise at the mention to the Black Market. She was supposed to have connections to the Black Market? Oh, she was a lot deeper in than she thought. “That’s why we’re going to take him down.”

“What?” The word slipped out of Kat’s mouth before she could close it.

“He’s done some horrible things,” Jane spoke firmly, “and that’s unforgivable. He’s got everyone under his thumb. Unless we can get cold hard evidence to convict him, he’s always going to win. That’s why all of us need to work together. So Kat, are you in?”

Later, Kat would ask herself What was I meant to do? when Jane gave her that hopeful smile. She had always looked up to the woman, reading about her in free newspapers. To have her directly asking for help, Kat almost instantaneously said, “Of course!” The enthusiasm was a direct contrast to her actual nervousness, and the change was enough to offset the other women.

“Right,” spoke the woman with the slick ponytail. She shot a glance at Boleyn but the other woman only shrugged. “Well we’ve been devising a plan for a while, but it’s taken this long to assemble the whole team. Now that we’ve got you, Kat, we can finally get started.”

“Yes, I think it would be best if you went with Jane and Joan so they can give you a rundown of our previous meetings while the rest of us discuss our future plans,” Aragon stated offhandedly, giving a pointed glance to the millionaire. Jane stood up, followed by Joan and stuck out for Kat to take. Hesitantly, Kat slipped her hand into the woman’s grip and allowed herself to be led out of the room. As Joan closed the door behind them, Kat could almost feel the eyes of the seven remaining women on her back.

After the three girls left the room, the remaining seven were quiet. No one knew what to say after the awkward introduction they shared with Katherine Brandon. “Okay, it can’t just be who thinks she’s way too young, right?” Anne broke the silence, looking expectantly at the others.

Maggie nodded in agreement, elbowing Bessie in the side to get her to nod along. “Well looks can be deceiving,” Bessie shrugged and went back to tapping her fingers on the table.

Someone clicked their tongue, and everyone turned their attention to Anna. The designer was looking down at the table with a concentrated look on her face. “I can’t help but feel a little off about all this. Brandon’s supposed to be one of the most ruthless competitors in the Black Market, but Kat looks like she couldn’t hurt a fly.”

“It doesn’t matter how she looks, right now we have to trust her,” Cathy cut in. “If we’re going to take down Henry, we need everyone we can get. And that includes Kat.” Slowly, everyone mumbled out varying forms of agreement.

Maria shifted in her seat. “We’re going to have Jane watch her, aren’t we?”

“You make it sound like we’re stalking her,” Maggie retorted.

“But Maria is right,” Aragon sighed. “We need her, like Cathy said, but we can’t leave her alone. Not until she proves herself. Anytime she’s around one of us, we’ll have Jane there.”

“But we can’t stalk her?” Anne asked, toeing the line between disappointment and understanding.

“No, we won’t cross that line.”

There was a silent consensus amongst the group as they all settled back into their seats. They had faith that Jane and Joan would be able to get a good reading on Kat. After all, Jane was wonderful at getting someone’s true personality to shine, and Joan was perfect for analyzing that personality. It was what made them such a good duo.

The light squeeze of her hand reminded Kat who she was with. “Jane Seymour,” she couldn’t help but mutter in awe.

Jane had a nice smile, one she wasn’t afraid to flash in Kat’s direction. “Based on what the other queens told you during the meeting, I’m sure you already have a pretty good idea of what’s going on here.” Kat swallowed thickly and nodded, not taking her eyes off Jane. She was sure Joan was standing behind her, likely watching her every move, but Kat was transfixed. For so long, she had fantasized Jane Seymour looking up from her phone on early morning walks and smiling at her as she sang. And now, here she was, having a conversation with the woman.

“Right, then let’s get into the specifics of it,” came Joan’s voice from behind Kat. The teen whipped around to face Joan, but the lady had already started circling Kat to stand next to Jane. They were an interesting duo in Kat’s eyes. The kind, charitable millionaire and the protective… assistant? Sister? Kat didn’t know how the two of them were related, and she made a mental note to look it up the next time she had a chance.

It was Jane who continued the conversation then. “We’re going to go undercover -”

“Like a spy?” Kat asked.

“Like a spy,” Jane replied giddily, “and get the evidence we need to get Henry sentenced to jail. He’s got this party in a few days time that we’re going to go to. We’ve been invited -”

“Under the pretense of keeping up appearances of course,” Joan cut in.

“To his party, and we’re going to use it as a cover to break into his secret rooms. There we’ll hopefully be able to find documents linking him to all his illegal activities. The drug deals, assassinations, anything that’ll get him arrested.”

Kat frowned and stared at the floor. “Then why do you need me?”

Joan smiled, the grin carrying the same energy as Jane’s. “You’re the most important part Brandon.” It didn’t escape her notice the way Kat cringed at the name. “No one knows your face. You’ll be able to disappear without anyone noticing to grab our evidence.”

Gulping, Kat tried to keep herself calm as she realized how much worse everything was getting for her. “Okay. Then what’s everyone else doing?”

“Joan and the other ladies,” Jane paused, then added, “Maria, Bessie, and Maggie,” for clarification. “They run the operation from here. They plan, tell us the latest updates, they’re our backup squad.” Kat nodded along, making mental notes to the best of her ability. “Aragon is a big name, everybody knows who she is, so she serves as our distraction. Get all the attention on herself, nobody notices you sneaking around. Anne does basically the same thing, except she also gets information from the partygoers. With how silly she asks, you’d be surprised how cunning she can be. Anna provides the looks for everyone so that we can blend in. It’s a high class party with rich, influential people, we need to look the part. And Cathy, ever the journalist, snoops around. She takes note of every little thing she sees and hears in case it could possibly come in handy. I’ve seen her carry four blank notebooks at a time in order to record everything.”

It was a lot of information Jane had willingly shared with Kat, and the teen did her best to take it all in. She repeated it in her mind in order not to forget what she had learned. “What about you?”

“Isn’t that one obvious?” Jane laughed lightly, “I’m the one with the invitations. Henry doesn’t like the other queens, but he won’t make a scene if I invite them all. He’s too prideful to tell me I can’t bring them.”

Joan furrowed her eyebrows and leaned forward, inspecting Kat. “It is quite lucky that you’re so small, you’ll slip right by.” Kat figured it wasn’t meant to be offensive, but she was suddenly self conscious about her size compared to all the other queens. How am I supposed to compete? She thought, when they’re all fully grown women and I’m an anxious, growth stunted teenager?

The two women didn’t seem to notice (or if they did, they made no comment) her internal turmoil. Jane patted Kat on the back and led her towards the door. Joan held the door open and gave a small, but genuine smile. “The meeting’s over already?” Kat asked in confusion. She felt as if she’d just arrived.

“These things tend to be pretty quick. Besides, we only called a meeting to get you informed. We’ll meet back here at the same time tomorrow night so you can get to know everyone and we can prepare for the party,” Jane explained.

Stepping out the door, Kat turned around to face Jane and Joan who were both still inside the building. “I won’t tell anyone about this, I promise. And I’ll be back tomorrow.” After learning how much their plan hinged on her, Kat felt she had the duty to at least try and help them. For some reason, she had gotten the note to meet them, and if they were going to take down a crooked politician who apparently has a lot of beef with them… Kat was going to do her best to help. If that meant becoming some modern version of a spy, then so be it. (Secretly, Kat liked the idea of getting to be her own version of James Bond. She’d have to come up with a cool intro, like his.)

With one last glance, the two women inside the building shut the door and left Kat to make her way home in the dark night. Once the door was shut, Jane turned to Joan. “Did you get the same feeling I got?”

“And so much more,” Joan nodded. “We need to tell the others. They’re gonna want to know about this.”

#six the musical fanfiction #six the musical fanfic #six the musical fic #six fanfiction #six fanfic #The Queens of London #part two #can I tag this as a spy au?#sure why not #spy au #sorry if Joan seems mean in this #she's not #she's just protective #and perceptive #Joan on the keys - protective and perceptive #that's a good slogan #I hope this is good ladies in waiting content #there's more of them later on #im trying my best

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sloanerisette · 4 years ago

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Jyoumi Challenge Day #27: Anniversary

Whew, this one is kind of late but still made it in time! I’ve been rewatching 02, and Mimi being in Odaiba for the anniversary had me wanting to do something a little different than just a traditional anniversary bit. I hope y’all enjoy!

---

“Can you believe that its already been three years?” Mimi asked as the two sat in the small fast food restaurant, looking out at the street and the people walking by while eating.

“Yes and no,” Joe shrugged, grabbing a fry to chew away at it for a moment, before he looked at her, “Yes because, well, we’re older now, but no because it does sort of feel like things have gone by so quickly.”

The group had arranged a memorial in a few days at the Fuji TV Station, to commemorate the defeat of Myotismon and the loss of so many friends, but Mimi had made sure to visit earlier to get a little extra time with her friends.

Plus, August first was the anniversary of the day they went to the Digital World for the first time, and for Mimi that day had come to hold significance for a lot of reasons.

“It feels like we’ve grown up so much since then…” she mused, pursing her lips as she absently dragged some fries through ketchup.

“You have, for sure,” Joe nodded, offering his girlfriend a warm smile.

“Oh? Well, that makes sense, you did fall for my womanly charms, after all,” Mimi said, flipping her hair and resting her chin on her palm, a sly, flirtatious grin, following with a wink.

Of course, that did it in an instant, and she was elated with his reaction: one leaving him bright red and flustered.

“I-I-I— I mean, I meant that—”

Each time he knew she was messing around, but each time he also couldn’t stop his brain from just about shutting down.

She placed her hand on his, patting it gently to calm him down.

“…I meant that you really grew up and matured during your time in the Digital World…” he sighed, shaking his head.

“You are the sweetest. You grew up, too. Into such a brave, caring guy,” she nodded.

Making him flush from complimenting him to no end was even better than making him flush from teasing him. Both, though, were her some of her favorite things to do.

“You know what one of my favorite things about today?”

“I’m pretty sure I do,” he laughed softly.

“Oh yeah, then what is it?” she asked, squeezing his hand.

“It was our first night in the Digital World. Together.”

“And we were both so terrified. And miserable,” she sighed, opting to take a large bite of her burger so as to not worry about all of that horrible, restless night.

“I mean, I wasn’t terrified,” he said with a huff, looking out of the window and scratching his cheek.

Of course he was, but he had tried to be strong for Mimi that night. He didn’t want all of that to be seen as some kind of… farce.

“Its ok that you were,” she said with a slight frown, “We were all scared that night. Plus the most important part was that you were there to help comfort me.”

“R-Really?” he asked, his head whipping back to look at her. The very notion of his question and surprise left her laughing.

“Of course. Even if you did bug me about that first aid bag, it still helped me feel better. Probably the only reason I was able to sleep that night.”

It helped his chest and throat feel less tight, and he exhaled softly.

“I mean, it was your duty to carry the bag…” he said, tapping his chin in thought.

Mimi stuck her tongue out at him, “Here I am trying to reminisce and you’re blaming me for that stupid bag!” she said, now pouting.

The way that his thoughtful expression turned into a small, cheeky grin though left her bewildered.

“Oh my gosh, this is a first,” she laughed, “You made a joke!”

Joe started laughing, too, placing his hand over his stomach and trying to stifle his laughter as best he could so as to not pull too much attention to their table.

“I’ve made jokes before! I make plenty of them! You can just ask Gomamon,” he told her with a simple nod. Granted, it was usually from him being on the receiving end of Gomamon’s own riffing.

“If you say so, sweetie,” she cooed sweetly and teasingly.

With smiles on their faces, they continued to eat, enjoying having each other around when that was such a rare occasion now. Something to be treasured and cherished when they were able to have each other close. Thanks to the Digimon Emperor, it was hard to get the Digital Gates working right, the things being fickle and opening and closing on what seemed like a whim. Bringing Mimi out to Odaiba for the three year anniversary was a stroke of luck that none of them— least of all Joe— took for granted.

Lunch was finished, and the two went to walk through Odaiba, enjoying an activity that they hadn’t done for so long now, and were glad to be able to do, even with as mundane as it was.

“What was your favorite time there?” she asked curiously as they crossed the street to head into a park.

“Well, that is pretty tough, what with all the times we had to fight dangerous and evil monsters…” he mused. Mimi playfully swatted at his arm, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, yes, I was wondering if you preferred to fight Etemon, Myotismon, or MetalSeadramon,” she said, leading to the two laughing. To the both of them, it felt so strange, to be talking about Digimon and the Digital World, while still being able to be a normal couple, even if they were anything but.

And that wasn’t even counting the fact that she was cool, calm, and composed, compared to him being tall, gangly, and, well, a dork.

Thinking on that, though, and how she had cooed and complimented him near endlessly whenever he brought it up, left him realizing how lucky he was.

She nudged his side with their arms, looking up at him, “Well? Which was it?” she asked.

“Honestly? I really did enjoy that time we went to Gennai’s house. It felt… normal,” he paused, “As normal as it can be visiting an old man in an alternate world, of course. I mean, that was our first normal night there. We had a huge meal, nice futons to rest on… it was nice.”

“That dinner was really nice,” she nodded, Joe looking to her.

“What about you?”

She smiled sheepishly, “Well…”

He tilted his head curiously, “Well?”

“I… really liked when we went to go find our friends.”

Joe seemed confused, “Really? Even with as stressed as we were?” he asked with a chuckle.

“I mean, I felt safe… well, once MetalEtemon was gone, of course. Ugh, I can’t believe we had to deal with him twice,” she sighed.

“No kidding.”

“It just… felt like we had come so far. You and me. You know, from that first night,” she nodded, “We went from being scared kids who didn’t want to be there to kids who grew up and had to find friends to help save the world.”

The sounds of cicadas droned on and on as Mimi fell silent. Joe looked down at her, worried, giving her hand a light squeeze.

“You ok?” he finally asked, voice soft and shaky. Mimi nodded.

“Mhm. I just… this day feels so important, you know? Everything changed. I know that the big day was when we defeated Myotismon, but we wouldn’t have gotten there in the first place if we weren’t all there at camp.”

Joe smiled softly, “We really did grow up, huh?”

“More than we probably wanted to,” she grinned, a soft laugh bubbling from her.

Their walk through the park had led them to a spot by the water, where the rebuilt Big Sight was visible off in the distance.

“…Kind of wild that after all this time, now there’s some new kids leading the charge to save the Digital World,” Joe said, staring out at the site of such a major event in his relatively short life.

“It lets us relax more,” she said, already expecting Joe’s reaction, and her lips turned upwards as she saw the completely, utterly exasperated look on his face.

“Relax? You do know who you’re talking to, right?” he asked, looking at her. Mimi wasted no time and leaning up to give him a quick kiss.

“My favorite person?”

That exasperated look faded as quickly as it showed up just because of that one simple gesture.

“”I don’t regret a single moment of any of this,” he told her.

“Me, either. No matter how hard it is. We got to meet our best friends, we got to meet each other again after so long. We wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for this day.”

The thought had occurred to Joe a few times— how they wouldn’t be here if not for the Digital World— but the way Mimi put it had him understanding the gravity and the importance this day held for her. For all of them.

For the two of them, specifically.

She took his hands in hers, squeezing them tight, “I know its not our actual anniversary, but… happy anniversary?”

“Happy anniversary,” he said back, leaning down to give her a kiss on the forehead.

She was so ecstatic, the pink tinge on her cheeks matching her hair, smiling wide.

“By the way,” she said suddenly.

“…Yeah?” he asked, tone clearly wary.

“Dinner tonight? Yolei wants to hear all about our story so we’re getting sushi.”

“Hearing you talk about all of our old times together? Sounds perfect.”

#jyoumi challenge #digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #jyoumi #joe kido #jyou kido #mimi tachikawa #kido jyou #tachikawa mimi

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mainly-kpop · 5 years ago

Text

Gotta be trippin'

Word count: 2737

Warnings: none to report I don't think. Some cursing I guess?

Summary: instead of the regular entering a game story, what happens when her favourite character comes out said game?

A.N: Can I just take a moment to thank y’all for 500 followers wow. I never thought I’d get this far but here we are, As always I hope y’all stick by me and watch me grow <3

Ask box is always open, come talk to me. ask me things, tell me things, confide in me. Lets make friends :)

Banner by @lightupmyass/@ot7-hoes

‘KOOKIE DON’T RUN THERE, HE’S RIGHT THERE!’ She screamed at the monitor, her character long dead and caught. Jungkook screamed down the microphone, no words, just screaming as his character bolts to the other side of the room. He sat for a moment, catching his breath, she dared not look at the screen. It wasn’t her character anymore, but she also couldn’t stand the tension. She didn’t know why she played these games, being the biggest pussy in the world, it didn’t really make sense. Tension and jump scares were her kryptonite, being the main reason she got no sleep at night.

‘Okay, I think I’M-OH MY HOLY FUCK HE’S RIGHT BEHIND ME- and he ripped my legs off, cool. Great.’ He screamed and whined, she sighed, thank fuck that was over for now. Jungkook said the dangerous words, the words that promised she would be up all night.

‘One more game?’ She sighed, clicking her character and locking in. He just laughed on the other side, picking his usual too.

‘I really don’t know why you pick him all the time, he’s so fucking clumsy. He’s always knocking into something or sneezing, I mean what fucking game character actually sneezes!’ He whined, sneaking through the same room they had done three times already. She picked up a couple items she could throw, to distract the bad guys.

‘Don’t be rude, I love him. You’re character isn’t much better, he may be graceful but he’s still just as tall!’ Namjoon was her chosen character, tall, lanky and very clumsy. The characters in this game were awkwardly normal, doing things that usually weren’t programed into normal stealth games. Namjoon would sneeze or stub his toe, would fart in fear, most of the time giving away his position. Jin however wasn’t all that much better, screaming when a rat scurried past him or a tree brushed against a window. His hair sticking up over most of the hiding spots. They were realistically dumb characters, that’s what made the game so fun yet difficult. There was better characters, ones built specifically for stealth. Their stats showing drastically better than the chosen two characters, but where was the fun in that?

‘Don’t you dare bad mouth Jin, you take it back you spineless bastard.’ She gasped in mock hurt, scootching her character right beside him. Just as expected, her character sneezed giving away their position getting them both killed.

‘You’re a dick, you know that?’ He sighed, logging out of the game, throwing the controller away. A rage quit, real mature.

‘Hey what can I say, it’s a gift.’ She replied, logging out too, saying a quick goodbye. She sank into her warm bedsheets, sighing contently, at least she might actually get some sleep tonight.

A bright light shone the expanse of her small room, from outside you would see it three streets over. She winced in her sleep, rolling over whining, the light dimmed as she went to crack her eyes open. Smiling contently, she snuggled back into the pillow of her bed, falling asleep almost instantly. He looked over her sleeping form, tilting his head to the left. She let out a particularly loud snore, he shrieked in fright, covering his mouth instantly. How did he get here? It doesn’t make sense, he’s somewhere he didn’t know. He was just in a beaten down library, no?

Alarm blaring she moaned, a loud, sleep filled grumble, slapping her hand all over her bedside table. Finally grabbing her phone she turned the incessant ringing off. She whined, realising Jungkook would be over soon to grab her for classes. Laying in bed for another 20 minutes scrolling through her phone, she finally pulled her sleep deprived body out of bed. Grabbing a random shirt from the drying rack and some jeans that were lying on the floor, she sighed grabbing her bag pack. Shoving a slice of gum in her mouth she slipped out the front door, climbing into Jungkooks car. Jungkook scrunched his nose up, she smelt ripe, could she not tell she was smelly? He threw a can of deodorant at her, raising his eyebrow waiting, for the love of God please use it.

‘Didn’t you wear those jeans yesterday?’ He sighed, looking her up and down in disgust. She rolled her eyes, throwing the can of deodorant in the back, pulling down the sun visor to look in the mirror. Raking a hand through her hair, she brushed out the kinks, folding it back up and sinking in the seat.

‘I mean probably, but whose paying attention to anything in university? Everyone is just trying to get through the day without a nap.’ He sighed, why was he friends with the biggest mess on campus?

‘Besides, you wore that shirt yesterday, and dropped some sauce down it.’ She pointed out, letting him know, they were friends because they’re on the same level. Both disgusting, hardly functioning college students, trying to learn something. Something more than how to live on ramen for a year.

‘Don’t attack me like that, that hurt my soul.’ She rolled her eyes, smacking him before they pulled up to the school.

‘Right, out my car you slob, time to learn.’ He grabbed his bag pack from the back seat, climbing out the car and locking it. She bid good day to him, promising to meet at his car when they were done. She only had a half day today and he finished classes an hour after her. Realistically, that would give her time to go to the library, study up. However, she was 100% just going to the canteen to nap on a table after eating her weight in bad food.

He sighed a breath of relief as she left the house, holding back just in case she wasn’t gone yet. Waiting a couple minutes, he pushed the closet door open, stepping into the middle of the room. Did she take the jeans that were on the floor? God this girl needed to do some washing. He walked about for a while, not really knowing what to do, usually something would have happened by now, but this seemed quiet. There was no creaking floorboards, no ominous footsteps. Nothing. It was just a peaceful two story house, two bedroom, one bathroom, messy ass house. The bed looked comfortable, that was also strange, usually sheets were ripped and worn, smelt of mould and damp. This bed was soft, smelt like fabric softener, unmade, but comfortable.

‘A little nap couldn’t hurt right?’ laying his head down on the pillow he closed his eyes softly, this outfit really wasn’t sleep compatible, he would change later, after his short nap. Five minutes, maximum.

‘Thanks for dropping me home Kook, we playing tonight?’ She questioned, one leg out the car.

‘Sure, some new skins and stuff came out for Jin, so I’ll check them out first before we play. I think Namjoon got something too, an update or something? Hopefully he doesn’t sneeze and roll anymore.’ She smacked his arm as he laughed, running his hand through his hair.

‘Don’t insult my man Jungkook, or I’ll make him roll and sneeze at you again.’ Closing the door behind her, she ran up her path. Throwing her bag by the door, she sighed. Thank god this day was over. ‘I need a nap.’ She thought out loud, trudging back to her bedroom. Jeans weren’t exactly sleep material, so she undid the button, walking out of them with every step she took.

‘AGH! WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!’ It startled him out of his sleep, flailing around on the bed trying to stand in a defensive position.

‘WHY DON’T YOU HAVE PANTS ON!?’ He yelped back, horror written all over his face.

‘YOU DON’T ASK THE QUESTIONS HERE, I DO. WHO ARE YOU?!’ She tried to arm herself with the nearest thing, being her clock that hasn’t worked for 3 years. It was cute, slowly becoming more decorative than functional. He took a breath, calming himself down.

‘I’m Kim Namjoon, nice to meet you.’ He spoke calmly, trying to keep his eyes on her and not the VERY small panties she was wearing. She smiled, holding back a laugh, every serious second that passed she couldn’t hold it any longer. A loud, hearty laugh escaped her lips, catching Namjoon off guard. He tilted his head slightly to the right, trying to figure out what in hell was so funny.

‘Sorry, really I’m- HA. No sorry, I don’t know what to say, it’s a good cosplay though! I’m impressed.’ His frown only deepened, heavily confused, what the fuck is cosplay?

‘What is-‘

‘I told you, I ask the questions not you. How did you get in here?’ He thought about it, now she was asking he had no idea. Honestly one minute he was in a beaten down library, next he was staring over her snoring body as she slept.

‘Okay, you took too long I’m calling the cops.’ She sighed, grabbing her phone off her bedside table, running down the hall trying to dial the 3 numbers. He was faster, clumsily he grabbed her waist, throwing them both to the ground.

‘Please don’t call the police, we don’t know what’s happening yet!’ He scream whispered, genuine fear of something bad happening.

‘I know exactly what I’m going to say, okay hear me out.’ He climbed off her body, sitting on his knees ready to listen. ‘I’m going to say “hello, officer, some FUCKING CRAZY DUDE BROKE INTO MY HOUSE” how does that sound?’ He furrowed his eyebrows, tapping his chin in thought.

‘I mean, generally, it doesn’t sound too bad. Quite convincing, you sound a little... Hmm, how do I put this nicely, erratic! You sound fucking erratic.’ She tipped her head, now she was sitting closer to him, she could see the resemblance to the character. It was creepy actually, and she could commend the art in any other situation.

‘To be Frank, Mr. Namjoon, I don’t care how I sound, for me, right now, it’s the truth. Unless you can explain yourself that is?’ He sighed rolling his eyes, he might as well say, at this point it’s not like she would actually believe him.

‘I was in an old beaten down library, smelled like dust and was damp. The books were old, worn and falling apart, I could hear creaking above me but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, I hid, like I always do because I’m a pussy. Anyways, I went to stand up, pulled a book off the shelf, fell to the ground, and boom here I am. One bright light, and a short fall later. I know you don’t believe me, but that’s what happened.’ He dusted off his trousers, standing up off the floor, reaching his hand out for her to take. Slipping her hand hesitantly in his, she stood, bodies flushed together. She awkwardly cleared her throat, taking a step back.

‘I need to sleep, this is insanity.’ She sighed, slinking past him into her bedroom. She still wasn’t wearing pants, she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. Ignoring it as much as she could, climbing into the warm embrace of her bed.

‘It’s only 4pm...’ Namjoon pointed out, frown deep set on his face. She sighed rolling over in the bed to face him.

‘I know, so could you turn the light off and close the blinds? At least it will help me pretend it’s like midnight?’ He rolled his eyes, a sarcastic laugh slipping through his lips. He stood in utter disbelief for a moment before doing as he was told.

‘Fine, I’ll just sit in this chair, and wait.’ She waved her hand in his general direction a small “yeah whatever” being the last thing leaving her mouth. He sighed slumping down into the chair, well he might as well try to get some rest too...

She snored herself awake the next morning, looking around hazily wondering why she was awake. The man across the room rolled his eyes at her, straightening out his posture from leaning on the door frame.

‘You sleep like a log, I totally beat up and killed a rabid dog last night and you didn’t even stir.’ Her eyes bulged out her head, leaping out of the bed and to the window she looked out. Mr Stevensons dog next door was a bit... Hyper to say the least, but not rabid!

‘YOU KILLED A DOG!?’ She yelped, looking all over the yard for the evidence. He laughed from the doorway, stepping forward.

‘No, but I did stub my toe really hard off your bed. Jolted it and everything, let out a scream of pain and you, just snored louder to cover it. Thanks for that.’ He sighed, lying down on her bed, the lumpy chair in the corner really not doing wonders for his back.

‘You can’t joke like that, Christ. Anyways, I believe you.’ His eyebrows shot up his forehead, he wasn’t even sure he believed himself. ‘I know, hard to believe, but not as hard to believe as your story. However, I have decided to trust you, now how do we get you back in the game?’ He frowned, he didn’t want to go back. How was he supposed to tell her he didn’t want to go back to fighting monsters, didn’t want to go back to the fear of dying every 5 minutes. He wasn’t cut out for this life, he didn’t want it. She watched him curiously, he was cute. She always found the character cute, but she didn’t want him to go back, she wanted to learn about him. About what he remembers from the game, if he had his own memories other than just dying over and over. She wanted to know him.

‘You don’t want to go back, do you?’ He shook his head coyly, she sighed, kind of relieved kind of stressed. She couldn’t really just throw this guy onto the streets, slumping back down into her pillow she thought of a game plan. He had almost fallen asleep before she shot up, speaking again.

‘Okay, you can stay here. You’re not freeloading though, so you can wipe that happiness off your face right now. You need to get a job, or go to college or something. This house is already paid for but if I have to feed another mouth, you’ll be paying too.’ He nodded, he could do that.

‘I still can’t believe you didn’t send him back.’ Jungkook spoke, throwing mini hula hoops into her mouth. Two months had passed, Namjoon proving to be a massive help. More than she had anticipated. He wasn’t scared of spiders, easily scooping them up and getting rid of them. He liked playing games, especially the ones he came out of, telling Jungkook all the secrets helping him advance faster. Him and Jungkook had become nerd friends, always talking about comics and games. He had taken up a job teaching kids self defence, showing them how to get rid of bad guys. ‘But only if you’re attacked first kids!’

‘Thought you hated his character anyways? He’s so much more helpful in this world than that one.’ She jolted a finger towards the TV, catching the next hula hoop easily.

‘I mean yeah, but now the character has no personality, it’s boring.’ She rolled her eyes, the front door closing. Jungkooks attention diverted, throwing the crisp right at her eye.

‘Jungkook what the-‘ it was so obvious who Jungkook favoured now, clearly he had a new best friend.

‘Oh hey dude! How are you? How was work? Any kids kick you in the knee caps again?’ He fired questions at her roommate, causing a startled look to bubble it’s way over his features. He looked at her in mild panic and shock before sinking into a seat.

‘Na, thankfully that hasn’t happened again. It was okay today though, we had a new trainee, he’s a good bit older than the other trainees though.’ Jungkook and her cocked an eyebrow at each other.

‘How much older? What’s his name?’ Namjoon pulled his eyebrows together, grabbing some snacks from Jungkooks lap.

‘He’s definitely older than me, I think he said his name was Jin?’ She choked on her spit, Jungkook following suit. That had to be a coincidence, right?

#bts #bangtan #bts one shot #requests open #bts fluff #bts imagine #bts reactions #bts namjoon #talking requests #kim namjoon #namjoon x reader #jungkook #jeon jungkook #bts jungkook

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notgonnarememberthis · 5 years ago

Text

A Dance With Death - Chapter 4

I bounced back and forth with what I should post today, the finale of Elementary. It’s been a wild ride that I honestly don’t intend on getting off of for a while. I’ll still be sticking around while friends finish the series as they’re still way back in season 4. In the mean time I thought it’d only be fitting to match an end with another end. This is the final chapter of A Dance With Death!! This fic has been so much fun to write as I got the grant to write Watson a little out of character. It’s truly been a blast and I hope y’all stick around to see what else I got coming.

Sherlock wakes to something rough colliding with his head. His eyes snap open to a furious Kitty lingering over him with a newspaper in one hand. Two more blinks revealed a concerned, but also angry Harper standing in the background. He narrows his eyes at the two girls sitting up.

“You let her leave?” Kitty nearly shouts. “Are you out of your mind?”

“I’m not sure I could’ve made her stay if I tried.” He tries for sarcasm which Harper seems to agree with, but Kitty is less amused.

“You do remember someone is trying to kill her right? That you prevented two attempts on her life?” Regret fills his body as he runs his hands over his face. He had risked her life for his comfort. Rather stupid of him. He considers calling Detective Bell but he really can’t risk another probation from work. Last time he and Kitty almost killed each other in their boredom. He grabs the closest shirt shrugging it on before muttering an apology to the two younger women. He left without an invitation for them to follow on the quest to find Watson.

He goes to her work first, unlikely that she’d go there. She’s not an unintelligent woman, surely she’d avoid there. The office building is closed down for today, police had been by earlier to collect Otis’s things, not exactly fans of lingering eyes. He can’t say he likes the nosy citizens that plague crime scenes either but it makes for a much more obvious atmosphere if she were to come here.

He takes his time scaling the stairs as the elevator is still out of service. He checks each floor carefully before finally reaching her level. He combs the area just for safekeeping. Nothing seems out of place other than the cover marking to empty window frame. He spies an open drawer that he doesn’t recall being that way before. He peeks slowly, making sure there was still nobody around as he did so.

The drawer seems to house a bunch of files from her previous interviews and articles over time. Yet they seem in disarray. Watson doesn’t strike him as an unorganized woman, not in the slightest. His guard slides up as he flicks on his flashlight. The file of McAllister appears to be missing from the marked ones. He pulls out his phone to take a photo when it starts chiming.

Watson’s number flashes across the screen much to his relief. He answers without hesitation holding the device to his ear. “Watson, good you’re still alive.” He tries not to let the emotion in his voice carry over.

“I know who’s trying to kill me.” The urgency in her voice makes him pick up his head.

“Are you alright?”

“Fine for now but you need to come quick. I’ll send you the location.”

He hangs up the phone allowing the quiet to rush over him again. He waits 3 beats and it announces the arrival of the message. He memorizes it quickly before deleting it. It would be a race to get to her first if the perpetrator was watching either of their phones.

He arrives at the location in record time barely glancing at the cabbie as he tosses him his pay. He doesn’t even knock as he barges into the suburban home. The walls hold frames of a family vaguely resembling Watson. If he had to guess, he’d say this is her brother’s home. Judging by the pile up of mail on the doorstep, the family is on holiday.

“Watson!” He shouts her name as not to get attacked by the woman lingering around the corner with, judging from her shadow, a child’s baseball bat in hand. She steps out with a soothed look on her face. Her hand abandons the bat and in that moment he’s not sure if she’s going to hug him or hit him. She appears to settle on neither, instead gesturing to the living room. “You said you knew who was trying to harm you?”

If she is disappointed by him jumping straight into business, she doesn’t show it. “I was still unnerved by McAllister’s interview. I knew he was lying but there was no way he could have taken the shots at my office or been able to access the elevator chute to cut the cable with his early onset Parkinson’s. So I did some digging,” She grabs her glasses off the table and settles back into the spot it looked like she was occupying prior to his arrival. “Initially it looked like stuff we already knew, his wife divorced him after he couldn’t pick up a job, he’s been shunned in the sports world for cheating, and he was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s two weeks ago.”

He settles in beside her glancing at her work, he notes privately that she hadn’t used orange highlighter which is an oddly pleasing detail that he stores in the back of his mind. However, he also notices that none of the papers laying out match the ones taken from her drawer. “We’ve already ruled out McAllister.” His tone is a mix of condescending and sympathetic. It’s clear the effort was there, however it looks more like effort wasted to him.

“We’ve ruled out a McAllister.” His head snaps to her so she continues explaining. “Meet Liam McAllister, son of Colm and Bella.” She lays a photo out of a cleanly shaven guy, appearing in his early twenties. The features are incredibly similar to the father’s, including the cold look in his eye. “He got an honorable discharge after his father was diagnosed and needed immediate financial and emotional assistance. Since his father lost his job, he had no assistance or insurance to care for his condition. He needed the discharge to come home to take care of him.”

“What about the wife?”

She lays out copies of phone records with a raised eyebrow. It’s a challenge and he can’t help the corners of his lips beginning to turn up. “The wife missed six calls from the husband, thirteen from her son. She clearly has no interest in helping.”

“So he comes after the woman who destroyed his family. That’s you.” Silence falls between the two of them, heavy and accusatory. Her eyes fall to the floor, any teasing nature had dissipated in that moment. For a brief second he watches the mask fall from the woman hardened by the nature of her job, her life. All the grief of the lives she’s destroyed weighs heavily on her shoulders, she’s just excellent at hiding it.

He’s not sure what possesses him to but he reaches forward, taking her hand in his. His fingers curl into hers like they’re meant to be there. Her eyes meet his and the vulnerability staring back at him is almost enough to knock the breath from his lungs. His other hand acts on it’s own brushing a fallen hair back from her face.

She leans into his touch, closing her eyes with a soft sigh. His thumb swipes over her cheekbone softly before he pulls away. She offers him a small smile at the comforting gesture. He’s almost foolish enough to fall into her touch once again.

“What a touching sight.” The two of them spring apart at the new voice announcing itself. The man from the photo stands in the doorway, the gun in his hand pointed towards the two of them. “Hands up,” He does as he says, nodding to Watson to do the same. All the while, he’s sizing up the items in the room that could potentially protect them, as well as any escape routes.

He steps around the couch grabbing a pillow off of the couch, his jaw tightens thinking about the family walking in on the scene. Perhaps two overexcited children, yearning for the feeling of their own bed stumbling upon the scene of their aunt and a strange man on the couch shot.

From the corner of his eye he can see the same thoughts racing through Watson’s mind. The look of absolute fear is enough to drive him into action. He waits until the man inevitably goes on a tirade because of course he does. The driving action in any of these situations is that the perpetrator has the absolute need to prove that he’s smarter than them. Truthfully it’s dreadfully annoying. Unless he’s doing it himself, the simple truth of it is that he is smarter than them.

Finally he makes the grand gesture with the gun, the perfect opportunity. He takes no more than two bounding steps, dropping his shoulder to drive into the man’s gut. He hears a shot go off, hopefully into the ceiling. Sherlock twists his wrist sending the gun skittering across the floor. He knows there’s not a chance he’s winning a hand to hand fight with a trained army man. He just needs enough time for Watson to get a hold of a phone to call the police.

Just as quickly as he’s tackled the man, Sherlock is flipped onto his back with a pained groan. He narrowly moves away from a punch to the nose, taking it to the cheek instead. He grunts trying to pull away from the grip, get an eye on Watson, anything. The man is too heavy to shake from him but so long as Liam’s attention is on him, Watson is safe.

The sound of glass shattering causes him to flinch away. The weight of Liam McAllister folds to the side revealing a wide eyed Watson standing over the two of them. From the look of the glass, he’d deduce that she struck him with the vase that once sat on the mantle. Her hands tremble as she stares at him. “Are you okay?” She asks, breathless. Liam is unconscious, that much he can tell so he nods jerkily.

He spies the red staining the once pink blouse and his heart drops to his stomach. He’s on his feet in an instance ignoring the pain that blossoms in his head. He presses his fingers to the wound on her hip, his eyes scanning her face for any signs of shock. She flinches away from his touch at first, of course she does.

“Sherlock, I’m okay.” She tries to tell him but he’s not listening. He needs to stop the bleeding. “Sherlock,” He needs to stop it all before he loses someone else. He’d so nearly lost Kitty, his brother, Irene… “Sherlock!” She grips his face forcing him to meet her eyes. “I’m okay. It’s just a scratch.”

He looks again with clearer eyes. Sure enough the blood seems to be less than he initially thought, the tear pattern revealing that it’d barely hit her. He drops his head letting out a relieved breath. He feels her forehead press to his, her fingers caressing his face until his breath slows and his heart rate falls back to his normal.

Even as the sirens pull up to the home they remain frozen in this spot, finding comfort in each other’s touch. It’s not until he hears Marcus come up to the door that he breaks away. His eyes never leave her even as they take her to the ambulance to stitch up her side. Not until she’s driven away by Marcus, per request of Sherlock himself.

He waits until all the cops have cleared the scene, until all people who lurked at the scene seemed to have lost interest. He slips back into the house long after the place had been cleaned. He scribbles a check leaving it on the table with an apologetic note for the damage to their property.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A week later he finds himself bouncing his leg waiting for Harper to leave Watson’s office. It’s not common that he actually waits for an appointment but he has an important question. He need not have her influenced by him barging in on another project. So instead he focuses his efforts trying to pick out who in the office is going to be fired next.

“She’s going to say yes, you know.” Kitty plops down beside him handing him a cup of coffee from the shop on the corner. He takes an experimental sip and deems it worthy, nodding her his thanks.

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t I?” She takes the seat across from him crossing her legs as she sits. “She enjoyed working with you, even a dunce could see it. Plus she’s good at it? Like naturally good at it. You don’t find those on a whim.”

“I’m aware.” He’d spent the first two years working in New York looking for an apprentice. Finding Kitty, well just like Watson she just sort of fell into his lap with a case of her own.

“You don’t need to ask her to start out right away. She can just be an irregular like Mason or Harlan.”

“You don’t like Harlan.”

She scoffs at that, feigning insult. “I don’t not like him. I just find his methods… questionable.” She takes a drink of her much too sugary coffee, gesturing with her free hand. “Besides, he did accuse me of stealing you away. He insulted my character first.”

He tries not to smile at her childish defense but he’s taught her well enough that she can see it in his gaze. “Who’s the other coffee for?” The question is innocent enough but he knows the answer isn’t Watson. It’s a near copy of her own caramel frappuccino sugar bomb, but instead of caramel chocolate and Kitty’s own is lacking the whipped cream topping.

“Watson.” He knew the defensive answer was coming. He raises an eyebrow, challenging her.

“That does not look like a skim milk latte.” He tilts his head at her. He has a sneaking suspicion but it’s not until Harper comes out, that he gets his confirmation. He stands up unceremoniously marching to her office. In the reflection of one of the office windows he spies Kitty passing the coffee to Harper with a shy smile on her face. He can’t help a small smile of his own gracing his face before he rounds the corner.

She’s focused on her laptop when he steps through the door, long dark hair pulled away from her face in a half updo with the rest draped over her shoulders. She notices him before he says a word, “Sherlock.” The warm smile she grants him does little to ease his nerves, “Why are you here? You’re not having issues prosecuting McAllister are you?” One of her hands drifts to the spot on her side, still sore from being scraped by the bullet.

“No. None of the sort.” She relaxes back into the chair again. “Rather I have a proposition for you.”

Her eyebrows raise in curiosity. The ghost of a flirty smile teases at her lips flustering him more than usual. “Oh really?” She leans back now, the chair spinning with the movement. She’s challenging him and part of him wants to give in. But he has more important matters to tend to.

“I want to work with you.” That catches her off guard, freezing in her spot.

“What?”

“I came to realize that working with you on the case was rewarding. I’d like your help on future cases, should you have me.”

“So I’d quit my job and become a detective with you?”

“Not quite. I have several contacts, irregulars, if you will. I contact them when I need they’re expertise. If you would permit, I’d like you to join my contacts.”

“Okay.” He shakes his head, unsure he’s heard her correctly.

“Excuse me?”

“I’ll join.” Once again she’s managed to surprise him. Normally his irregulars take a tad more convincing. “Is that all you were going to ask?” For a moment he considers a proposition of a different kind, an experiment.

“No, that was all.” He turns to exit, stopping the movement before looking back at her again. “We’ll speak soon Watson.”

“I hope so.”

And truth be told, he does too.

#joanlock #sherlock x joan #sherlock holmes x joan watson #elementary #elementary au #joan watson #sherlock holmes #a dance with death #kitty winters #fanfic #elementary cbs

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tattooednursewrites · 6 years ago

Text

Explosive

Masterlist

Summary: Tony and Bruce have an experiment go badly, but it gives you a push in the right direction.

Stephen Strange/Reader

Word Count: 1427

Warnings: Language

A/N: This is for Elle’s (@delicatelyherdreams) 1K Writing Challenge - but she’s since hit 2K - many congrats on doubling your milestone! My dialog prompt was “Well, that could’ve gone better.” / “No shit, Sherlock! You blew up my house!”

Hope y’all enjoy!

Explosive

Drying the last mug, you reached to set it on the shelf when the house shook. Fuck. Were you under attack? Who had found you? Touching the knives at your hips, you made sure they were secure, before grabbing your rifle and moving outside. Your jaw dropped when you saw the damage. The sunroom that was attached to the left side of your house was demolished. The sunroom that Tony had been using for his experiments. Shit.

“Tony?” you rushed over to the smoldering rubble. “Fuck. Tony, are you okay? Bruce?” You looked around for the cause of the explosion, but it didn’t seem you were under attack. “Tony, where are you, you ass! Bruce, please be okay.” You walked around, peering into what was left of the room. You knew Tony and Bruce had been working on something when you had brought them lunch a bit ago. You couldn’t help but be thankful that Stephen wasn’t around. He had left earlier, saying he’d return for dinner.

You looked out across the field, wondering if Clint had heard the explosion. Your house and the land it stood on abutted the land that made up Clint’s farm. You had known him and his wife for years, having worked with Clint for a while before you decided to retire… at least for the most part. When Clint was looking for a safe place for his family, it just made sense that he should settle them nearby. He knew if he was away, you’d take care of them.

That was also how you ended up getting mixed up with the Avengers and company. When Tony and Steve had come to you a few years back, looking for a place to lay low, you had welcomed them. Bruce followed not long after. After that you became like an Avengers’ halfway house. None of them ever seemed to stay long, but there always seemed to be a couple of them milling about. Tony and Bruce had even taken over your sunroom for research of some kind. Why they didn’t do said research in one of their many fancy labs, you had no idea. But you didn’t complain, that research was the reason Stephen Strange had come into your life.

***

Stephen had been in your kitchen looking for tea. You came in, and he had stopped and simply looked at you. After a few moments of silence, you had smirked at him. “Is there something I can help you with?”

He seemed to startle, blinking at you. “I was…” he held up a mug. “Tea?”

You smiled at him, introducing yourself, before putting on the kettle and pulling your selection down from the cabinet. “You’re welcome to anything here. There is cream and milk in the fridge, and honey and sugar are in the cabinet,” you gestured to where you grabbed the tea from. “The raspberry rose hibiscus is a favorite of mine, but unfortunately doesn’t have caffeine,” you rambled, blushing as you turned your attention back to the kettle.

“I’m Stephen, Dr. Stephen Strange,” he replied, moving towards the tea you had set out. “Sorry to impose, I’m just helping Tony with… a project of sorts.”

“It’s really not a problem,” you assured him with another smile, pouring water into the mug he had chosen. “Living alone all these years, I didn’t realize how much I missed the company. It can get a bit chaotic, but it’s nice.” You poured water into a mug for yourself and added a couple bags of tea, startling a bit when his cloak seemed to move on its own.

“It does that, you get used to it,” Stephen said when he noticed your surprise.

You giggled a bit as the cloak wrapped around your hand in the imitation of a handshake. “Well, how polite,” you grinned at the gesture before looking at Stephen. “Does it have a name?”

“It’s a cloak,” Stephen replied, deadpan. “The Cloak of Levitation, to be precise, but still, a cloak.”

“Cloak of Levitation? That’s a bit formal for every day, is it not?” you smirked, looking back to the cloak in question, that was still holding your hand. “How about Levy?” Stephen looked as if he was about to speak, but the cloak started moving your hand up and down excitedly, so you took that as a ‘yes’. “Well, it’s nice to make your acquaintance, Levy,” you grinned.

Stephen watched your interaction and you could have sworn you saw his lips twitch. “Yes, well… I guess that’s settled. This tea is quite good, by the way. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it,” you replied, smirking into your mug at his lack of argument about you naming his cloak. You settled at the table and gestured to the seat across from you. “So, what are you helping the science bros with?”

“Science bros? Please tell me they don’t call themselves that.”

You chuckled, grinning at him and raising an eyebrow. “Only sometimes. I think it’s cute.”

His eyes dropped to your lips and you felt your cheeks heat. “So, I hear you’ve retired. What did you do?”

“I could tell you, but…” you smirked at him. “I worked with SHIELD, like Nat and Clint. I wasn’t so good at following orders… never have been really. This life, helping out with little things here and there, it suits me better.”

Stephen nodded.

“So, Dr. Stephen Strange, what are you a doctor of?” you asked, regretting it immediately when you saw him wince.

“That’s… well…”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize…”

“No, it’s… I was a neurosurgeon. I was in a car accident. I, well, I couldn’t perform surgery anymore. Now I protect reality.”

“Wow. So, one super important job to another super important job. I’m glad you’re helping the science bros. They could use someone… well, let’s just say they don’t always think things through.”

***

Clint jogged up, bow in hand, looking between you and the destruction. “We getting attacked?”

“I don’t think so. I think they would’ve shown themselves. I can’t find Bruce or Tony. Last I saw they were…” you gestured to the wreckage that was your sunroom.

“Well, shit.”

“Yeah, that’s one way to put it,” you sighed. You heard a portal opening and turned, expecting Stephen. Your eyes widened as you saw Bruce and Tony with him.

Stephen strode to you, wrapping you in a tight embrace. “I’m glad you’re alright,” he whispered into your hair before squeezing you and steeping away. The cloak wrapped around your shoulder, pulling you into his side. You smiled up at Stephen when you saw his blush.

“Yeah, I’m glad you showed up when you did and were able to get us out of there, that could’ve been really bad,” Bruce said, looking at the damage.

Tony was staring at the house. He turned to you, a sheepish look on his face. “Well, that could’ve gone better…”

“No shit, Sherlock! You blew up my house!” you growled, stalking toward Tony. You felt Stephen grab your hand, gently tugging you back.

“And he’ll fix it,” Stephen replied, trying to calm you.

“I will?”

“You… we… will,” Bruce confirmed as you pulled against Stephen to get at Tony. “I promise. We’ll fix it. I’m so sorry.”

“I can help,” Clint volunteered, looking to you. “Or at least supervise, make sure they actually do.”

“And while they work on that,” Stephen murmured, drawing your attention. “How about you and I get out of here… just us.”

You felt yourself blush as you nodded. It would be impossible to hide your crush when it was just the two of you, but you didn’t mind the thought of that. “I’d like that. A lot.”

“Brilliant,” he said, smiling down at you. “You two have work to do. I’ll bring her back… well, we’ll see.” With that parting shot Stephen opened a portal and you were no longer in front of your house. You were on the porch of a little cottage that overlooked a gorgeous mountain range. “You didn’t seem like the beach type.”

You grinned, taking in your surroundings. “This is… it’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad you…”

You cut off his words, pulling him to you and kissing him. You felt the cloak wrap around you as Stephen got over his shock and kissed you back. You giggled against his lips when you felt a squeeze on your ass. “I think Levy is copping a feel.”

Stephen sighed. You felt the cloak release you and watched as it hid, almost bashfully, behind Stephen. He grinned at you. “Now then, where were we?”

#elles1kwritingchallenge #tattooednursewrites #marvel fanfiction #Dr. Strange #Stephen Strange/reader #stephen strange x reader #Stephen Strange/you #Stephen Strange x you #Dr. Strange/reader #stephen strange #cloak of levitation #clint barton #bruce banner #tony stark #science bros

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benjaminschreave · 7 years ago

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spotlight

a/n: sup y’all, water and I are back with another cowritten ficcccc. this is really just a follow up to the whole ~kiss~ thing with Ben and it was also written pretty rushed and late at night, so please excuse any typos or bad writing. (for those of you wondering who aran is, he will hopefully be introduced tomorrow evening in an additional fic) merry reading, you filthy animals <3 word count: 1949

—————

k i n g

—————

The king sat at his desk with a million papers and a pen at the ready. There was also his daily cup of coffee. He didn’t really need the caffeine with his strange love for paperwork, but drinking coffee became like breathing over the years and now it seemed ridiculous to sit at his desk without a cup of the dark liquid.

He was about to read over the first document when a knock came at the door. When he called out for the guard to come in, the latter bowed. “Secretary of State, Hiddleston, wishes to speak with you, Majesty.”

The king stopped himself from raising an eyebrow at the unexpected visit and simply nodded. “Have him come in.”

The guard left after another bow and soon after, the monarch’s oldest friend entered the room, arms folded behind his back. “Majesty.”

“Leif,” this time he didn’t bother stopping his eyebrow from quirking up, “any particular reason for such a visit?”

The secretary opened his mouth but then closed it again. Then he showed the magazine he’d been hiding behind his back. The cover showed none other than King Christoper himself. His interview with “Illéa Now” wasn’t supposed to come out until later that week, so the king stood up and walked over to read it with amusement. “You’ve come to show me how good I look?”

Leif had no reaction. Odd, that at least deserved an eye roll. Christopher didn’t dwell on it and read the headlines next to his face. His brows knit together as he read out loud, “Prince Ben might not be as prude as we thought?”

When he looked up at his secretary and Leif only gestured for him to keep reading, the king was quick to search for an article about his son, skipping over his own interview and the pictures of girls who would arrive at their doorsteps later that week.

“Prince Drowned In Alcohol Only To Be Saved By A Strange Girl Who Performs CPR With Too Much Tongue?”

The king clenched his jaw.

—————

w y a t t

—————

I pressed my lips together at the title of the article. I had to admit it was a wittier headline than anything I’d thought I’d read.

Some people were saying maybe Ben knew Rosie from before that night, that it wasn’t just a fling. Not exactly the news you want being spread across the country when 35 girls are flying to your home in the hopes of dating and (possibly) marrying you. Girls would either be salty with him—which would be understandable considering—or maybe they’d go for the ‘amnesia’ tactic.

Ben was bound to hate reading all the different takes on the event regardless of its effects on the Selection. Any royal or celebrity on the spotlight loathes when the spotlight is more of a myriad of presumptions. It was kind of ironic that Ben was barely having his first sort-of-scandal despite being the eldest.

The span between our media attention wasn’t that far apart though.

Standing up from my desk, I walked over to the wall of pictures and smiled a bit at the most recent. Hazel awkwardly looking away as James, one of our many new guests, talked with all the excitement in the world. I was still wondering if I should even try helping those two out, but considering my personal experiences, I wasn’t too sure I’d want Hazel anywhere near a royal in that way.

Eventually my eyes landed on some of the most dreadful pictures I’d taken at the beginning of the year. I couldn’t really take credit, however, since most had actually been taken by Ben with my camera, but the fact that I taught him how to use it made me somewhat responsible for their existence. They were probably some of the most embarrassing pictures I owned.

Apparently my drunken self was quite the life of a party and though I still wasn’t sure how I’d ended up doing karaoke with a bunch of frat boys, it was kind of fun to look back at Ben failing to take a selfie—the only part of his face on the picture being his eyes on a side corner—and me on my knees, singing at the top of my lungs as one of the other guys singing literally pretended to play a guitar. It seemed like...we were just normal guys.

I still held it against Ben for letting me do that. My aversion to magazines and interviews was technically his fault since I wouldn’t have been so annoyed by them all if I’d had my senses that night. After all, when you somehow end up breaking a crystal stand filled with drinks by accident, you obviously become a stray royal that’s just waiting to become of age to wreak havoc at bars. Sorry if I didn’t appreciate interviews the following month after that.

Still, it was one of those ‘once in a lifetime moments’ that maybe didn’t completely...suck and I’d needed the distraction that weekend. So I kept the pictures and eventually the wild prince singing at a club wasn’t that important. Same thing would happen with Ben, but I’d hoped he would wait until the Selection started to begin creating drama for himself.

Now he’d have to deal with it and the pictures that’d been taken, which weren’t exactly that fun to look back on.

—————

l a y l a

—————

Ben couldn’t hear me as I approached him from behind, his hand hovering over a book on a high shelf in the library. Deciding to reprieve him of his current oblivious state, I promptly smacked him on the back of the head with a magazine.

“Ow! What the—“ He turned around with a glare, though I didn’t give him a chance to continue.

“Nope, me first. What on earth is this?” I frowned, holding up only one of several tabloids revealing Ben and an unnamed girl kissing on the cover. The unfortunate headline above read “Playboy Prince? Selection in JEOPARDY”

Ben merely sighed and went back to grab his book, spinning on his heel to walk away from me. “It’s exactly what it looks like.”

I didn’t relent, following after his steps. “Really. So you’re going to run off with this redhead and abdicate the throne to start a carrot farm in Honduragua?”

We reached a table covered in various notes and documents while I was met with a strange look from my older brother. “Does it really say that?”

I rolled my eyes. Seriously? That’s what he’s concerned about? “No you idiot, but it does mention all the problems this could cause with the Selection.”

He sat down at that, jaw tightening as he focused on the papers in front of him. “I’m aware.”

I leaned one hand on the table in front of him, raising a skeptical brow. “Then? Why’d you do it? You’re smarter than that Ben, why would you—”

“I know, Layla.” His gaze was sharp when he glanced back up at me. “It was a mistake, okay? I’d appreciate it if you backed off a little and let me deal with it.” As he focused back on his book, I mused over the fact that of course it was a mistake. What I didn’t understand was why.

I pressed my lips together, taking the seat across from his. This wouldn’t be something I’d let go of quite yet.

So I stared at him.

And stared.

And stared and stared and stared until he finally brought his eyes up to meet mine with a frown.

“I can literally hear the wheels turning inside your head.”

I barely held back a snort at that. “I’m just curious to see how you’re going to deal with this.”

“How do you think?” His voice rose over the quiet of the library, a rare appearance of his temper.

At the sight of a couple of a maids glancing in our direction however, Ben leaned forward and hushed his tone. There’s the cautious brother I know so well.

“I’m going to apologize to Mom and Dad, and then try not to make any more stupid mistakes until the Selection starts. Best I can do.”

A beat as I took in his curt plan. “Wyatt rope you into it?”

He leaned back in his chair, running a tired hand over his face with a sigh. “I went willingly. It was a long day and I had a little too much to drink when that girl and her cousin came up to me.”

Another raised brow. “You didn’t even know her name?”

His features fell into a flat expression. “Yes, I did, but that’s besides the point.”

“Then what is the point?”

“You came up to me, Layla. What else do you want from me?” He was becoming more exasperated by the second and I felt guilt curl up in the pit of my stomach.

I wasn’t normally this difficult with Ben, but I needed to make sure this wasn’t a sudden change in character. It was becoming more obvious every second that it wasn’t.

Though I didn’t let my guilt show, instead leaning back into the chair and softening my expression a bit. “I’m just making sure you’re okay. And that you know where to go from here.”

He lifted a shoulder. “Uncharted territory. The media has always liked me up until now, but...” he shook his head, “for now I’m going to lay low. Pull a Clark Kent.” A corner of his mouth lifted into a half smile, sparking confusion from me, though I had the familiar feeling it was another inside joke between my two brothers.

“What?”

He laughed shortly at himself. “Nothing. But thanks for checking up on me, even if you have a funny way of showing it.” He gave a pointed look, making me shift in my seat and lift my chin slightly in defiance.

“It’s not funny.” Your face is funny.

He ripped a piece of paper out from a notebook. “Okay fine, how about aggressive?” Crumpling it up into a ball, he didn’t hesitate as he threw it directly at my forehead, hitting me with remarkable aim. It fell to the table in front of me, though I didn’t bother looking at it as I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I’m not aggressive.” Contradicting my point, I picked up the paper ball and threw it at his chest.

“Right, because you really proved your point right there,” he said with an annoying smirk.

I rolled my eyes and stood, realizing he would be perfectly fine. “I’ll come find you when you’re in a more appreciative mood.”

“Aw, come on, I’m appreciative. I love your violent comforting tactics.” A smile tugged at his lips and I quickly walked away, calling over my shoulder.

“Bye Benji.”

I intended to let him be, but before I turned a corner, I looked back in time to see him pick up the magazine I had left behind, any trace of a smile gone. He studied the cover with a growing frown, pressing his lips together and standing suddenly, the scrape of his chair echoing in the quiet of the library.

Walking over to a small trash bin, he threw the magazine inside with a little too much force, decidedly turning his back on it and sitting down to return to his work, though even from here I could see how tense his shoulders were.

I hesitated before turning around to leave him, debating on whether or not to go back and talk with him. You’ve bothered him enough for now, Layla. Let him be.

I just hoped letting him be wouldn’t turn out to be disastrous.

#selectionoc #//fics

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not-just-any-fangirl · 7 years ago

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Days Of Summer CH 8

A/N; Hey y’all! Ready for some fun dumb summer camp au? Cus we are!! Go shout some love at @hannah-nobody and feel free to drop by my inbox with song ideas/recs! I maaaaaaaaaaay have have Waving Through A Window on repeat for the last lmao whoops

Here’s the updated playlist!

Summer has arrived, and with it the start of the two month long music camp; Fairy Tail! Full of new songs, friends, and adventures, the campers learn things they never knew about themselves and one another. And just how easy it is to sneak booze and a full sized karaoke machine out into the middle of the woods.

Camp Rock!AU

Pairing: Nalu, Gajevy, Gruvia, others mentioned; Fairy Tail

Words: 4956

Rating: T

Parts: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five, Chapter Six, Chapter Seven, Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight: Warm Blood

And I can not control it

The way you're making me feel

And you have got me going

Spinning in circles 'round your warm blood

For the first time since arriving at camp, Natsu didn’t feel like a bundle of butterflies were trying to escape his gut. He was still pretty sure his friends were only being nice out of pity, but at least he was confident in the fact that they didn’t hate him. Well, Gray might still but Natsu was fine with that, seeing as the feeling was mutual.

Okay, so Natsu didn’t hate him, but Gray sure as fuck pissed him off.

“For the last time, it’d be way worse to have a monster live under the bed than to run across a monster in the woods.”

Natsu turned on his heel, walking backwards so he could more properly shout at Gray’s stupid opinions. “Honestly, a monster that lives under your bed could kill you at anytime! Just grab your ankle and bam! Monster late night snack.”

“If you can’t successfully run from something in the woods that’s your own fault for going out there.” Levy added, arm linked with Cana’s. “What are you going to do if it’s in your house? Move?”

Cana balked at Levy, clearly affronted by her side. “I can’t believe my bed mate could be so blind.”

“We don’t have to be bedmates, you know,” Cana waved off her wry comment, nose in the air as she continued to speak.

“Who said the monster under your bed is mean? Maybe they just want to be nice and dry. Now, a monster in the woods is a mean son of a bitch who wants to skin you and suck the marrow from your bones.”

“This is blatant mothman erasure and I will not stand for it.” Loke gasped, holding his phone to his chest, pausing in his texting to perform the dramatic action.

“We get it, you’re gay,” Cana rolled her eyes, sharing a cheeky grin with Juvia who at least had the courtesy to cover her snort with her hand. Natsu and Gray shared their own snigger at Loke’s offended gasp, hands placed on his hips while he lectured Cana.

“Firstly, a proper love of cryptids is LGBTQ culture, not just gay culture, and secondly,” Loke cocked an eyebrow, dragging his hand along his body as though he were showing off a trophy, “I’m bi, I don’t deny anyone the opportunity to get a piece of this.”

“I wish you would,” Gajeel grunted, face relaxed as he glared at innocent leaves caught in the light breeze along the path. Natsu threw his head back, howling. The rest of the group followed suit, Loke’s sputters drowned out by their raucous laughter.

“Juvia is deeply saddened to betray Gray, but she must agree with Natsu and Levy. How are we sure the wooded monster is the unkind one? Juvia would much rather face a beast in the wild than where she is supposed to be safe.” Juvia shuddered, arms wrapped around herself. Natsu couldn’t understand how she was even close to cold, long jeans and long sleeved black shirt with an ankle length fur-lined vest both confusing him and making him sweat just by looking at her.

“Juvia!” Gray gasped. Natsu blinked, chortling at his betrayed expression and Juvia’s following plea of forgiveness. Gajeel slung his arm over Juvia's shoulders, rolling his eyes at her squeak. Natsu grinned as he watched his cousin, the beast of a teenager looking as though he’d rather shove someone through a plane glass window before hugging them, when in actuality if you gave him a kitten he’d kill for you. Natsu would know. Lily is what made Gajeel give Juvia the spare bedroom all those years ago.

“I hope I get paired with someone cute,” Loke sighed. Natsu rolled his eyes at his friend’s comment, turning back to face the front and kicking a stray pebble.

“We know,” he groaned, falling back into the group between Levy and Gray. “You want someone to run away with into the night and live your rockstar dream. It’s all you’ve been talkin’ ‘bout since breakfast!”

Loke snorted, making a face at Natsu before turning back to his phone.

“I just hope I don’t get paired with someone I hate,” Gray said flatly. Natsu pulled down an eyelid at Gray’s pointed look, sneering at the pale boy’s middle finger in return.

“Feeling’s mutual, dickhead.”

“Oh be civil, you two twats,” Cana glared over Levy’s head, eerily reminding Natsu of Erza for a second. “Besides, despite as tight lipped as Mr. Only-Drummers-Are-Emo-Enough-For-Me has been about his second talent, I can guarantee you all it won’t be guitar. Boy has two left thumbs.”

“Oi, I'mma lefty.” Gajeel grunted, easily ignored by the group as they neared the surrounding crowd that swarmed the announcement board.

From his pretty average 5”7’ standpoint, Natsu couldn’t see over the heads of the crowd, but Gajeel most definitely could, and he had stopped dead in his tracks.

“What’s up metalhead?” Natsu turned back to ask.

“The photo.”

“What?”

“The application form photo. I didn’t think anyone else would see it.”

Natsu frowned, remembering taking his own photo. The form had said to include a photo of yourself that accurately describes you, but still showed your face. His own was just a photo of him standing against a white wall. It was pretty much the same as a passport photo, except he wasn’t looking at the camera.

“What’s wrong with your application photo?” Levy asked, leaving the group behind to say with Natsu and Gajeel.

Gajeel avoided looking at her. Instead, his eyes slid to Natsu, cringing as he revealed precisely what was wrong with it.

“The suit.”

Natsu’s chest swelled with joy.

“You fucking idiot.”

He ran towards the crowd, ignoring Gajeel’s groans of shame behind him. He pushed Gray out of the way- the other boy landing on his backside with a very satisfying thud- and shoved through the rest of the mass of bodies, desperate to get to the board and see his cousin’s embarrassment on show for all to see.

Once at the front, Natsu’s eyes went straight to the photo of his cousin. It wasn’t hard to miss. It was awful. Not only was Gajeel wearing the hideous white suit purchased for him by his father, but he also wore sunglasses and a fucking fedora. An honest-to-god white brimmed m’lady fedora. Natsu let out a howl of laughter, not caring about the people around him looking at him strangely. It wasn’t until after he’d gotten over his cousins wide-legged, rock signs in the air like he just didn’t care stance, that he realized that Gajeel has been paired with none other than Levy.

Oh ho ho, Gajeel was going to love that.

Natsu’s eyes slid over the rest of the announcement sheet, snorting over Gray’s own heavily eye-linered photo. The snort turned into a laugh when he noticed the moron was paired with Juvia.

It wasn’t until his eyes reached the bottom of the list that he found his own partner. His eyes fixed on her photo, all his laughter dying out.

Fuck.

Sitting next to his own photo was a candid of Lucy, smiling and reaching for the camera, obviously just discovering she was being photographed and unable to hide her laughter even as she reached for the person. Her eyes danced, clear and bright, her hair swirling around her as if the breeze had known just when to blow to make her golden hair catch the afternoon sun. She was so pretty. She was so good.

She was breathtaking.

Natsu’s fingers itched to grab his guitar and a notepad and find a little nook with a bean bag and an amp so he could lose himself in the music. The crowd milled and brushed against him, their own excited chatter swelling as they looked at their assigned partners.

“Juvia is so happy!”

“Aw fuck.”

Natsu turned at the familiar voices, Juvia latched onto Gray’s arm and swooning, Gray trying to lean away as respectfully as he could and looking as comfortable as Natsu would feel in a tutu and pointe shoes. And he’d know, considering all the things Juvia had managed to trick Natsu into when Gajeel absolutely refused. Two boys Natsu didn’t know were wailing beside them, Levy trying her best to console them with an apologetic smile.

“Levy why,” the dark haired one wailed. The ginger one was hugging her, kids around them casting the trio a wary look before pushing by, and Levy increasingly getting flustered by all the attention.

Natsu was saved from having to abandon the melody playing in the back of his head by Cana appearing from the ether and pushing herself between Levy and the taller boy, her arm slung carelessly over Levy’s shoulder and her grin lazy and purposefully relaxed.

“Now, now boys,” she cooed, “there’s enough of our little Levy to share. You’ll still have down time to steal her away from Gajeel to your hearts’ content.”

Natsu didn’t laugh. He was too busy wondering if Lucy had seen the announcement yet. What did she think? Had she asked to be switched yet? Natsu didn’t know if they were even allowed to do that, but he figured if there’d be an exemption it would be for Lucy to not have to deal with him for hours on end everyday.

“Natsu shouldn’t worry,” Juvia said from behind him, her hand comforting on his shoulder. “Juvia knows how silly that is to say, and she may have only known Lucy for a few days, but Juvia knows that Lucy enjoys spending time with her friends, and Natsu, Lucy has already decided you are her friend. Even if you doubt Juvia and the other’s thoughts on being more, please do not doubt your friendship with Bunny Girl.”

“That’s going to be a thing now, isn’t it?”

Natsu stiffened at the voice behind him, light and sweet and bouncy like a giggle was just begging to break free. Natsu had made her giggle at breakfast. A fuck ton. Or maybe she had just been laughing at him.

“Lucy!” Juvia exclaimed happily before a sudden shyness was stealing her voice pushing her to put Natsu between her and Lucy. Natsu cocked his head in confusion as he looked at his cousin’s best friend, seeing as how once Juvia had decided some one was her friend she lived up to her talent in musical theatre and the drama of the stage, as Juvia liked to put it. Natsu called it batshit crazy. He looked over his shoulder, avoiding Lucy’s warm grin as he realized who she was standing arm in arm with. Juvia cast him a kind smile before slipping away, murmuring to herself about finding her beloved once more.

“Yo, Mira. What’re you doing with Luce, shouldn’t ya be rounding up all the brats for a rave or something?” Natsu asked, relaxing at the familiar face.

“Natsu, you know Laxus and his friends are older than you.” Mira Jane smiled at him, a mix of fond and exasperated that was one of her more honest expressions. Natsu knew how hard being the face of the camp was on her, and how she fell back into the persona if she wasn’t careful. “Besides, do you really think Ever would risk getting sweat in her hair at a rave?”

Natsu barked out a laugh, picturing the stuck up brunette screaming at a crowd of uncaring people. He wasn’t as close with Ever, Bickslow, and Freed as Mira was, her main connection being her friendship with Laxus while Natsu was closer with Mira’s little sister, Lisanna.

His joy at picturing Ever’s disgust melted away as he thought of his friend. Natsu hadn’t seen her in a year or two, not since she had been accepted into Edolas’ advanced medical program, her dream of being a vet snowballing with her talent in school and easy to love personality propelling her two years ahead so she had already graduated and was on her first year of university. He knew he’d only have held her back, but he missed his best friend so much it hurt sometimes. Natsu had never opened up to someone like he had with her, and there were days that a certain feeling nagging in his gut told him he had annoyed her so much that she decided to throw herself into her education and run to a new continent.

Just like how Lucy would probably run away after a week of being forced to work with him.

“So,” Natsu said, forcing a grin and his thoughts away from Lisanna and how much fun she was having without him around, “You decide Lucy’ll be your new protégée?”

Mira gave him a knowing grin that reminded Natsu far too much of her earlier years in the She Devils, pulling Lucy closer to her side and speaking sweetly. “Of course! Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, Natsu, and Erza has been keeping me updated on all the happenings of the campers.”

“Snitch,” Natsu hissed under his breath. Mira continued speaking as if she hadn’t heard anything at all.

“So you’ll be seeing me much more often, can’t let all you babies have all the fun you know.” Natsu cringed, tucking into his scarf to hide his frown. Mira was speaking in the same sweet voice, but Natsu could hear her words for what they really were; a threat. If there was something Mira loved more than her music it was meddling in people’s lives, particularly in the affairs of the heart. Which meant Natsu didn’t even want to imagine the horrific and scarring things that might happen if she decided to ‘help’ Natsu woo Lucy, which would not only be a futile effort but might actually ruin Lucy’s time at camp, which was the absolute worst thing Natsu could imagine. “And you know how much I love helping out new talent, especially one with as much raw potential as Lucy.”

“You think I have talent?” Lucy awed. Mira giggled and nodded, either unaware of Lucy’s adoration or simply used to it. Natsu felt a pang as he watched Lucy make heart eyes at Mira. She would definitely have preferred to have the silver haired girl as her partner. That would make her entire time at camp, let alone week.

Natsu jolted when Lucy turned to look at him, still giddy off of Mira’s praise as she smiled at him.

“So have you seen the names for who’s being partnered?” she asked.

“Erm,” Natsu replied, tucking deeper into his scarf.

“You think your partner will be that bad?” Lucy asked sympathetically. She gave him a reassuring smile, Natsu losing himself in how pretty her eyes were and the way the noon sun lit them up. “Whoever they are, they won’t be as hopeless with the guitar as I am, I can guarantee you that much.”

Natsu smiled awkwardly before turning on his heel and disappearing into the crowd, both to stop himself from saying something stupid like ‘The only hopeless you are is hopelessly cute’ or other dumb shit, and to save himself from having to see the disappointment on Lucy’s face when she found out he was her partner.

Lucy blinked in shock as she watched Natsu’s back. She turned to Mira Jane, worrying her lower lip.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Mira Jane patted her arm before leading her to the board, shaking her head ruefully and making the silver hair framing her face bounce. It was so pretty and shiney. Lucy would have to ask her her shower routine to get it so soft and healthy.

“Natsu is just a little shy sometimes. He’ll get a thought in his head and honestly, it’s easier to convince Erza of something than Natsu.” Mira Jane gave her another smile, kind but a little strained. “He’s best friends with my little sister, Lisanna, have been since they were children, but I still can’t read him. It's quite annoying.”

Lucy laughed awkwardly, unsure of how Mira Jane’s sweet tone lined up with her words. “I don’t think I’ve seen her at camp.” Lucy said, diverting the topic away from a certain pink haired boy who had given Lucy the cold shoulder. Just after they had agreed to be friends. “What talent does she focus on?”

“Oh, no no no. Lisanna is in Edolas for her veterinary degree. She skipped the last two grades and got accepted early. You should hear Elfman go on about how proud he is of our genius sister. ” Mira Jane grinned, easily maneuvering through the crowd until they stood in front of the board, only a few feet from where they had been talking with Natsu. Lucy half heartedly scanned the pictures in front of her, looking for herself. So Natsu’s best friend was a genius going to school in a different country to save animal lives. Okay. Not like he had high standards for who he hung out with then. Of course, he seemed to be as thick as thieves with Gajeel, so maybe Lucy wasn’t too out of her depth. She frowned, feeling a headache growing behind her eyes. Hard to read indeed.

“Oh,” Lucy breathed, finally finding her own picture. Right beside Natsu’s.

They were partners.

“Do you think he’s upset?” Lucy asked Mira Jane, tearing her gaze away from the candid photo Natsu had submitted that looked like it belonged on a magazine or album cover.

“Yes, but not for the reasons you’re thinking of,” Mira Jane soothed. “Natsu’s always been a little nervous of what people think of him, and from what I understand, your opinion is ranked very high on that list. You just need to give him time to get used to the idea that you wouldn’t actually prefer to die than spend an hour or two with him, and then it will be smooth sailing for you too.”

Lucy felt her cheeks heat as Mira Jane spoke, looking at the ground and tightening her arm on the one Mira Jane had looped through. She didn’t know why, but the thought of Natsu caring that much about what she thought made her both nervous and a little happy. Which was ridiculous. Because Lucy was here to learn music theory and how to improve herself as a musician, not to find a summer love.

But oh, Lucy didn’t think it would be all that bad to have Natsu come and sweep her off her feet. Especially if he were shirtless again...

Lucy squeaked as she tore herself from her thoughts. She ignored Mira Jane’s curious look, and distracted herself by waving to where Juvia stood with Cana and Loke and a shorter girl with long blue pigtails and a nervous look in her eye.

“C’mon, Lucy, why don’t you introduce me to your friends!” Mira suggested. Lucy blinked at her, already being pulled forward by a giggling and excited Mira Jane before she had the chance to form any words. Thoughts of maybe-shirtless Natsu’s drifted away as Lucy went back to aweing over how she was linked arms with her idol, and about to introduce her to Lucy’s friends. God, if Loke tried to hit on her Lucy would throw his damn phone in the lake. See how much he’d call her his sunshine then.

If there was one thing Gray was thankful for, it was the privacy of his cabin. And noise cancelling headphones. But he had left those in the jacket he had accidentally stripped out of at Lucy’s cabin, so he was stuck simply ignoring his two mentally imploding bunkmates as he dealt with his own, actual, catastrophe.

He couldn’t believe there was no one else at camp who played the violin. What was worse, was he couldn’t believe he had actually been stupid enough to put down violin as his second talent. He should have put costume design like Loke, or bullshitted and put piano like Cana. But no, he had decided to be a complete dumbass and be open and vulnerable and honest.

And now. Now Gray was going to have to dance.

“I’m so fucked.”

“You’re fucked?” Natsu squeaked, pausing in his spot where he had been pacing for the last three minutes. “I’m paired with Lucy and she’s going to hate me? What if I can’t teach her how to play guitar? What if she can’t teach me how to sing? I’m going to make a fucking fool out myself, holy shit.”

“Yeah, you are,” Gray said flatly. He had more important things to do than coddle Natsu right now. Like planning how to fake his death, which frankly would be easier than turning down Juvia. He hadn’t known the girl very long, but he already had an inkling that she was even more stubborn than Cana. It didn’t help that every time she looked at him it was with adoration. His friends might call him emotionless, but even he couldn’t crush her so flatly. Also, saying no to people he didn’t hate made him break out in hives.

A pair of flying pillows pulled him from his thoughts, both nailing him in the face.

“Oi!”

“Don’t be a dick, Strawberry’s got enough issues without ya agreeing with the voice in his head.” Gajeel grunted, going back to petting Lily obsessively.

“I don’t have a voice in my head,” Natsu scowled. He resumed pacing, sending Gray a middle finger at his disgruntled noise. Gray watched Natsu walk, changing his step mid stride as Happy wound around his ankles, eager for the muffin Natsu had shoved in his pocket at breakfast that the moron had forgotten about. “And I’m not the only one hiding in here. Juvia was searching for ya high and low when I was heading back.”

“Fleeing from Bunny Girl,” Gajeel interjected, still glaring at the wall under Gray’s bunk and above Loke’s. Gray was seriously considering the idea that Gajeel was trying to burn down the cabin with his mind. Natsu ignored his cousin, turning on his heel and pacing back towards the door.

“You don’t have to worry about screwin’ up in front of her like we all know you will, you could sneeze in her face and she’d still basically worship you,” Natsu scoffed. Happy meowed, tiring with his chase and batting at Natsu’s ankle. He slowed, allowing Happy to crawl up his leg and his body so he could perch on his human’s shoulder.

Gray groaned, claiming all three of what were now his pillows, burying his face in them. Maybe if he was lucky he’d suffocate and this conversation would end.

“Is she like this with everyone she meets?” he asked, not really caring if Gajeel or Natsu heard him.

“Nope,” Gajeel said flatly, shattering all of Gray’s hopes.

“Whyyy,” he complained, smothering his whine into his pillows. Great. He was going to act like a dipshit in front of a girl who had an apparently massive and unique crush on him. He didn’t know why that thought bothered him, but it did, which meant Gray was not looking forward to these next three weeks.

“Trust us when we say we have no fuckin’ idea what she sees in you, dude,” Natsu said, helpful as always.

“Go jack off to your fantasies of Lucy telling you she hates you,” Gray snapped.

“Why, you wanna listen in or something, you pervert?” Natsu snarled back. Gray threw Gajeel’s pillow at him, cursing to himself when he almost hit Natsu’s dumb cat. Fucking cheater had an adorable built in shield that stopped Gray from maiming him. Natsu sneered at him, lips twitching between a frown and a smile at their fighting. Why were his friends so weird.

Shit.

Natsu wasn’t his friend and he definitely didn’t think that. He was getting cabin-fever was all. Or the stress of mentally preparing himself to do a musical number from Cats was getting to him. Yeah, that made more sense.

Gray looked back at Gajeel.

“Why the fuck are you so catatonic?”

“Shove it,” Gajeel grunted. Lily sat in his arms, not minding the heavy pets his human was using on him, obviously used to being Gajeel’s comfort in times of stress. What the giant had to be stressed about that Gajeel couldn’t punch into submittance was beyond him, but Gray wasn’t about to risk being said punching bag.

“Nah, pervert here has a point,” Natsu agreed, crossing his arms over his chest. Happy chirped in agreement, a strange ‘aye’ sound that made Gray think he’d choked on a kernel of food as a kitten and had done some damage that Natsu was too oblivious to notice. “What’s your issue? Levy seems nice enough to wait at least three sessions before laughing at your horrible singing.”

“How the fuck am I gonna teach her how to play guitar?” Gajeel asked, more like he was talking to himself than answering Natsu’s question. “She’s the same fucking size as it!”

Gray wondered if Gajeel knew how often he said ‘fuck’.

“I’m more worried about how she’s going to teach you how to sing,” Gray said instead of answering his question.

Natsu held up his hand for a high five from Gray.

Gray threw Natsu’s pillow back at him, hitting him in the face. Happy meowed angrily as his perch was disturbed, jumping from a sputtering Natsu. Gray blinked in surprise as the cat was suddenly on his bunk, having scaled the bed. He curled on Gray’s shins, purring as the fluffball pinned Gray to his bed.

“Oi!” Natsu spat, glowering up at Gray. He ignored how the yellow was still noticeable on Natsu’s jaw, and the following twinge in his gut, scowling at Natsu before a smug grin broke out and he began to pet Happy. “Don’t steal my cat!”

“He chose me. Blame Fluffy here.” He mocked. Gajeel remained impassive as he pet his own cat and muttered to himself about breakable girls and guitar scales. Natsu sneered at him, hands shoved in his hoodie pockets as he stopped pacing the room, finally.

“His name’s Happy and ya know it!”

Gray snorted, looking back at the cat curled into a tight ball on him. He didn’t know that many cats, and as he scratched behind an ear and pulled deeper purrs he wondered if they were all clingy like Happy seemed to be. Then his mind drifted to other cute, clingy, blue creatures and he flopped back into the bed with a groan. How the fuck was he going to deal with Juvia? What if he was weak to her wide eyes? Would he snap at her and make her cry? God, he hated when girls cried. What the fuck was he supposed to do with his hands? What if she tried to touch him while they danced? Gray didn’t do casual touching.

“Do you really think Lucy will hate me?”

Gray whipped his head back at Natsu, the dumbass having lowered his gaze and worrying his lip after asking his question. He pulled on the edge of his beanie, dragging the dark gray fabric down so no part of his hair escaped it. Gray scowled as he thought about how it looked like Natsu was trying to hide in the damn fabric.

“Of course not,” he spat, huffing as he looked away from Natsu while sitting up. Because he didn’t want to look at him. Not because he looked like a fucking puppy with hopeful and wide eyes as he gave his full attention to Gray. His hair might be natural but Gray was adamant that he wore coloured contacts. “I don’t know why but she’s decided she likes you, and once Lucy has decided you're her friend literally nothing you could do can change that. Trust me.”

“She’s not just being nice and pitying me?” Natsu asked, hope gone from his expression as he looked over Gray warily.

“Oh definitely,” Gray yawned. He scratched under Happy’s chin, smiling to himself at the loud purrs he pulled from the odd coloured cat. He sensed Natsu’s mood drop, his smile slipping from his face slightly. “But that’s just because I can’t fathom a reason as to why I’d hang out with you outside of being bunkmates, and in case you haven’t noticed, Lucy’s a bit better at not being a horrible person to other people than I am. Actually likes most people too, that freak.” Gray snorted. Happy rolled into his back and batted at Gray’s hand, both offering his white tummy for belly rubs and threatening Gray’s wrist. He decided it was worth it and rubbed the softness of Happy’s stomach.

“Okay,” Natsu said. Gray looked away from Happy, quickly turning back to the cat when he saw Natsu’s small smile. It was a little shy, a little soft. It was sickening.

Happy meowed once before slinking away from Gray and abandoning him. He curled onto Gajeel’s lap next to Lily and Gray couldn’t help but feel betrayed.

“Juvia means well,” Natsu called suddenly. “She can be a bit crazy, and weird, but nothing she ever does is fake or half hearted. You don’t have to worry about what she thinks of ya, Numbnuts.”

That wasn't what he was freaking out about, but Gray nodded anyway, appreciating Natsu’s attempt. “Ok, no need to worry.”

“But are you sure Lucy doesn’t hate me.”

Gray groaned, loudly and trying to convey all of his annoyance through a single sound.

“Oi,” Gajeel called. Gray looked at him, ignoring Natsu’s resumed pacing and wringing of Gajeel’s pillow in his hands. “You hurt Juvia and I’ll kill you.”

Gray let his head fall back into his pillow. He really fucking should have put ‘more drums’ as his second talent.

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