#also im so so sorry for the late answer on this one ToT | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tinytigerrrr · 3 years

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11 for 11 may 🙏, 15, 21, 23, 25, 28, 31, 38, 45, 48 😉 & 49!

11 for 11 may, my god bless you my friend!! <3 And Also THANKS FOR THE ASKS!! <33 Sorry it took so long I really wanted to take my time hehe c: 11. Describe your ideal day. I think my ideal day is sleeping in late, what for me is normal, around 12pm. Then I wake up, eat a good breakfast, sit with my cat on my lap for smtn like an hour. And then I go outside, bcs the sun is shining. I meet my friends and we go picknick somewhere in the sun beneath a few little trees. I buy smtn to drink somewhere because its very hot and ofc I forgot my drink. Its so refreshing and I feel so alive and the world is so beautifull. Me and my friends, we laugh a lot and just enjoy the good weather, the nice day and the little foods. And than at the evening we bbq or eat smtn else nice, and have a good evening. We sit outside for a while, feeling the summer evening becoming cooler. We watch as the stars come out and think to ourselves if we ever looked up at the same stars together in another life. And then when it’s really late, I go back home, feeling the cool breeze against my skin while I ride my electric bike. At home everyone is asleep so I walk in very softly and there I see my cat sleeping in the chair so I walk to her and bent over giving her a gentle kiss on her little head. She makes mmrrr sound and I tell her I love her and that I had an amazing day. After that I give her some food and I go to bed. Maybe take a showe bcs it was so hot today. And then I lay in my bed, tired but very fufilled after such a wonderfull day. Storing the happy memories in my head thinking how blessed I am with my life. As I fall asleep I feel gratefull for today and all the beautiful things that brought it. Yeah, I think thats mu ideal day. Friends, good weather, sunshine, little food, laughter, love, my cat lucy, summer - yeah smtn like that c: 15. What is your favorite compliment to recieve? I like all kind of compliments. Im a sucked for compliments. I know I do a good job most of the time, but there’s just smtn in me that really likes the validation? I know I don’t need it. But it just makes my soul shine like: Ohmygawd thank you so much this makes me so happy D:. But If I had to think, I think I like the compliment saying I have a good energy or vibe the most. Bcs its so pure and real and not everyone can sense/say that. And you’re energy is not smtn you can fake or make more beautiful. So its such a sincere compliment, that I think thats my favorite compliment to recieve c: 21. Tell us about your music taste. Bro, this is a long one HAHAHA. But I will keep it short: ‘Diverse.’ I think that describes my music taste the best. Because I listen to A LOT of different things. Just what I feel like or in what mood I am. And one thing I also like a lot is when a song makes me feel ‘free’. As if im totally cut off from the world. Thats a really nice feeling music can give you. And ofc songs that make me feel things. Bcs often then I can use it as inspiration. So yeah, thats abt my music taste haha c: Also! I like it when songs have a deeper meaning. Idk why, but thats just megical c: 23. Did you have a favorite stuffed animal as a kid? OH I already answered this one so I will just copy and paste it here! c: ‘’ YES! I HAD. AND I STILL HAVE IT! I dont sleep with it anymore but it has a honorable place among my other stuffed animals. It is a cow, that is formed like a teddy bear so its more cartroony instead of animal like, her name is Koetjeboe and you could play a musicbox song of A Small World from Disneyland. It was my favarite soung and whenever I felt anxious as I child I would play it and it would sooth my soul and fill me with happyness. Aaah good times c: I also had a cat, named, Poes, she is very very very soft, well was, nowadays she aint HAHA she looked like my cat when I was younger, Sjimmie, I loved the plush. Mom bought it for me in England in the Harry Potter castle. It was amazing c: So, I kinda had two, but Koetjeboe the cow is rly my birth stuffed animal haha c:’’ 25. What dream trip would you take with your wife? Honestly, anywhere with her would be a dream. And if she has somewhere wehere she really wants to go, I would just go with that c: Seeing someone you love happy is such a gift so I totally wouldn’t mind going anywhere. That is also because I have so many places I want to go, and almost every place interests me. I can’t think of a country or city or place I am not interested in visiting. I always loved to travel, and still do, so anything would be good c: But if she’s like: Hey what do you want badly? I would probably say somewhere with a beach. I love the sea and I love the beach. So that would be a thing I would love too hahaha. But yeah, anything rly, and the beach c: 28. What makes you smile? Oh boi, what doesn’t?! HAHA. A lot of things make me smile tbh bcs I get happyness out of almost everything. I can remember that I was crying and felt sad, and even then I smiled because it was such a special experience haha. But if I had to say some things I would say; My cat Lucy, cant help but smile whenever I see her, my friends, you super included <3, sunshine, good food, baby animals and honestly just life in general c: 31. How do you show your love? Again, how don’t I? I learned at a very young age to show love in different ways. Bcs I wanted to be a good person. And one of those things is showing love. So I do it with words, saying I really love someone or giving them compliments, thats a big one for me haha. I also like to really support my friends through words. Just supporting them for whoever they are! I also like to give things. It can go from small presents to food to many or big presents on their birthday. Also I like to help people, to give them advice or agai support them any way I can. I also show it through physical contact, as in hugs ans such. And I even sometimes lean toward just really cuddling up to someone HAHAHA But I don’t do that tbh, bcs at the same time it makes me feel uncomfy, but at the same time im like: Ohmygawd I love yo uso much just lemme huddle up against you to share my love with you and ahfgs. So amny ways HAHAHA some more difficult for me and others really easy. Like presents or food, hit me up, imma get you some nice flowers or some sweets or a book you really like bcs I love yu!

38. Who do you admire? Myself *smirk* HAHHA no kiddin. I admire my friends. Because those people have been through hell, or still going through hell, and still decide to be genuine good persons. I’ve seen from upclose what they have to deal with. And they still give so much love tot he world and people and want to help. Its really a blessing to have people like that around me. And I thank the heavens for that. So I would say my friends. Yes. (pls know you are in this picture too. Hello, going through hell still being super good person, ok.) 45. Do you have tattoos or want any? Yes, I have one underneath my feet. HAHA oke jokes, sorry HAHA. No I don’t have any. And I would like one yes. Im not sure what I want tho. I am always thinking of a tiger. Or a lotus flower. Or a little symbol on the inside of my left wrist. That last one I smtn I’ve had for years. I dont know why but I would really like that. A small thing on that place. But what that is gonna be, I have NO idea. OH and I want a smilie face underneath my big toe! Thats just one for fun, but I would rly like it haha.

48. Did you know you’re actually a gift tot he world, for real? IM NOT CRYING YOU ARE *SOB* Thank yo uso much frend!! It means so much to me to hear that I just can’t. My gosh. When I see yu imma hug ya big time. SOB 49. What’s your favorite memory? Ooh this is a hard one. Mostly because I have many good memories and also because Im actually pretty bad at remembering things HAHHA thats two opposites I know xD But uuh, oke I thought about it, but im so sorry i cant think of one RIP. But if I had to choose I would choose smtn that made me smile. That made me really happy. So one with Lucy, many with Lucy, or one with my friends, many with my friends, with my mom, traveling, and so fort. There are a lot and I wish i could show them all to you. Sadly I can’t. BUT We can make our own favorite memories. So lets do that, okay? <3

#asks #answered #rolo

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ghibliyoongi · 5 years

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call me, maybe?

pairing : (idol!)hoony x reader

word count : 1.6k+

genre : fluff

warnings : mentions of drinking & smoking

summary : after saving for years you and your best friend finally had enough money to go on your dream trip to thailand! one night, at the usually almost empty hotel bar, you encounter some cute looking guys

auther’s note : this is.. literally based on a dream i had a whiiiile ago lmao, hope yall like it ♡ (also im not good at all at using just one tense lol sorry)

▪︎ so you and your best friend finally made it to thailand! you saved enough money to stay for a whole month!!

▪︎ you two went sightseeing A LOT, getting food at all different kinds of places and meeting the friendliest people you ever came across

▪︎ after another small scenery change, you couldn’t stay at just 1 hotel for a whole month so you changed your hotels pretty much weekly while exploring different places, you finally ended up in the middle of bangkok

▪︎ the city you were most exited about!! you’ve dreamed all your life of visiting bangkok once and now the time had come

▪︎ to let the evening die away you and your best friend decide to get some drinks in the bar right next to the small hotel you’re staying at since the hotel doesnt own a private one

▪︎ joyfully you two entered he bar but your jaws drop when you realise how full the spacious room already was. after you decided it’s probably best to look for seats and then order drinks, instead of going to the bar straight away, you let your eyes scan the flooded bar

▪︎ after you a few seconds you spot two free seats in the very back of the bar and start heading towards them

▪︎ while coming across a little dance floor you get closer to the table in the back when you determine two guys are already occupiying the table

▪︎ after checking with your friend yall decide to just ask the two handsome boys, one having dark green hair – the other one blonde, if you could join them. it was already late and you werent really in the mood to go look for another location to have a few drinks

▪︎ „hey, is it cool with you if we just sit here?“ your best friend asked. „sure!“ the one with the green hair replied, both of the boys giving yall a sweet smile.

▪︎ you took off your coats, happy you changed into your new black velvet top that you got right before leaving for thailand

▪︎ „they’re quiet cute huh“ your best friend said to you (of course in your mothertongue so the guys wouldn’t catch up right away), yourself already giving her a knowing look 👀

▪︎ you chatted for a bit until calling over a waitress to finally order your goods for the night

▪︎ „a strawberry mojito for me, thanks!“ you said tot he girl, ordering after your friend. from the corner of your eye you saw the blonde boy next to you quickly emptying the rest of his beer

▪︎ „i’ll take the same as her“, he said, making the waitress eye him his friend. „anything else?“ she asked with a smile. „another beer for me please“ the guy with green hair and small tattoos around his neck, that you only noticed by now, said

▪︎ flashing a glance at your best friend to make sure she also saw what you saw, you could see in her eyes that she already had spotted them. and she loved them

▪︎ „i’m hoony by the way“ the blonde guy said. you only also discovered now that the boy had a nose piercing, which made him 10x more attractive by the minute!!

▪︎ the tattooed guy introduced himself as mino

▪︎ somehow you all started talking about nothing and everything, ordering one drink after another. your hometowns, your favorite songs and drinks, thailands nightlife and what you all were up to being in thailand were discussed

▪︎ before you knew it, after explaining to the two cute guys next to you that you two were basically on vacation, the conversation had split up

▪︎ your bestie and mino were already talking about a whole `nother topic but you couldnt complain (now you had hoony all to yourself hehe)

▪︎ the alcohol that slowly found it’s way into your bloodstream made you feel warm deep down in your stomache and your confidence grew

▪︎ „i probably should’nt tell you this, but i will when you promise to keep it a secret“ hoony slurred his words at you

▪︎ you had no idea what he was talking about but you still linked your pinky with the one he was extending towards you. „okay i won’t tell any one‘ you reassured him

▪︎ he leaned closer to you, so close you could smell a light hint of his cologne and feel the heat his body was ratiating

▪︎ without letting go your pinky he (kind of, not really - he was a little tipsy) whispered in your ear „you know, mino and i, we’re rappers. have you heard of winner?‘

▪︎ thinking for a second you remembered hearing the groups name around thailand a few times

▪︎ before you could answer hoony kept talking. proudly he told you all about his other bandmates jinu and yoon, their music and their lifes as idols

▪︎ you nearly wanted to remind him to catch a breath once in a while but you could’nt since he was just so into it you would’nt want to make it seem like your were disinterested

▪︎ quiet the reverse! you loved listening to him since he seemed exited like a little puppy. he was’nt bragging about his fame though. you felt like he genuinely really loved what he was doing in life

▪︎ „ya hoony!!“ mino interrupted his friend. „we’re going outside real quick, going for a smoke and catching some fresh air. we’ll be right back!“

▪︎ mino was already guiding your best friend to the door that lead to the front of the bar. you noticed how he had took her hand and while your friend looked at you with an apologetic gaze, you answered her with an understanding wink

▪︎ it was then that you noticed , hoony had’nt let go of your hand all this time either, your hands were just resting on top of your knee. you smiled to yourself and gave all your attention back to the pretty boy next to you

▪︎ you had lost track of time by now but while seeing mino any your friend leave out of the front door you noticed the bar had cleared quiet a bit. the small dance floor wasnt as filled with sweaty bodys anymore as it was before and there also were a couple of empty seats

▪︎ the song changed to a slower, more softer, song. hoonys hand suddenly disconnected from yours just to appear right in front of your face once again

▪︎ „dance with me“ he said. it wasn‘t a demand, nor was it a question. the way he looked at you though, the carefullness in his voice, let you know you could have said no

▪︎ but you didn’t

▪︎ normally you would have thankfully declined, dancing in a bar with a guy you practically just had met? maybe, you tried to blame it on that, it was the alcohol streaming through your body, maybe it was the blonde sweetheart that truly had the potential to steal your heart

▪︎ either way, you grabbed his hand and followed him to the now nearly empty dancefloor

▪︎ hoony gently placed his hands on your hips while you interlaced your hands behind his neck

▪︎ he pulled you closer shooting you the sweetest smile you had seen in a while

▪︎ „is this alright?“ he asked so only you could hear him. you replied with a simple nod sending a smile right back at him

▪︎ you two stayed in comfortable silence just swaying along to the song

▪︎ when the song came to an end you suddenly heard the familiar voices of your friends

▪︎ „i guess we have to leave soon, they’re already starting to close down the bar and we also have a concert tomorrow“

▪︎ you shyly smiled at hoony once more and started heading back to your table, not letting go of his hand

▪︎ mino and your best friend were already waiting at the table for the both of you

▪︎ „guess we should head back to our hotel now too“ your friend said to no one in particular. „lets go pay our drinks!“

▪︎ „oh, hoony and i took care of that already“ mino said sending a wink hoonys way

▪︎ „no no no, you really don’t have to“ you two started protesting, but there was no way you two would win this fight

▪︎ making sure you gathered all your things the now four of you left the bar

▪︎ since your hotel was just next door it was now time to say goodbye, you were kind of sad but also, not gonna lie, your were also starting to feel really tired

▪︎ you hugged mino goodbye and turned to hoony. „give me your phone real quick, okay?“

▪︎ you did as hoony asked and passed him your phone. seconds later he handed it back to you

▪︎ looking down at your screen you saw that hoony had entered his phonenumber into your phone

▪︎ „hey, if you want, you could come by out concert tomorrow! we can organize your some tickets!“ you heard mino say

▪︎ „just… call me, maybe?“ hoony softly said to you. looking up at him you couldn’t stop yourself from grinning

▪︎ he pulled you into a tight hug that lasted just a little longer than a normal hug would (u kno what im sayin)

▪︎ placing a small kiss on the top of your cheekbone he slowly let go of you

▪︎ seperating in the same pairs as you started your evening you went in the opposite direction the boys were taking

▪︎ „did hoony gave you his number just like mino gave his to me?“ your best friend asked while linking arms with you

▪︎ you looked at her with a cheeky grin. „and should we give them a call in the morning?“ she asked with a sly smile

▪︎ oh and how you were gonna give them a call tomorrow!! there was nothing you were more sure of

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bubbleblower · 5 years

Text

Minor Details Ch 8/?

AN: Sorry for the delay in this chapter. I promise I haven't abandoned this. LIFE just happened too much for me to get much writing done.

Ao3 Ch1 Ch2 Ch3 Ch4 Ch5 Ch6 Ch7 Next

Friday dawned bright and warm. Alya could feel it in the bags under her eyes, the fatigue in her limbs, and the frazzled certanity of her thoughts as she looked at the breadth of her notes on Ladybug and Chat Noir strewn across her desk.

Learning that Marinette was Ladybug changed everything. Statements she had taken as fact from Lila could no longer be used. Things she had witnessed with her own eyes couldn't be trusted. After all she had seen Marinette and Ladybug side by side when Alix had been Akumatized. Now she realized that was because Marinette had literally gone back in time thanks to the Akuma's powers. Theoretically meaning that she could have seen Chat in the same space as his civilian self too and not known it.

She had texted Marinette last night and been told for real that she didn't know who he was. But Alya? Oh she was gonna find out. She had put it together long ago that Chat Noir also went to their school, there were too many coincidences for that to not be true. Chat knew people's names without needing to be told, he showed up even during akumas that had walled off the school from the outside world, and he frequently showed up before it was possible for anyone to have gotten the word out that an akuma had appeared. She needed answers, and she had a pretty good idea of who to start asking questions. Centered on a page in her journal, in big black letters, circled and triple underlined: ADRIEN AGRESTE.

She grabbed a bagel, hugged her sisters, and ran out the door determined to get to school before a certain blonde haired green eyed model.

The boy in question, unaware that he had been found out, was checking the outfit his father had picked for him for what had to be the 20th time that morning.

"Kid. Stop pacing. You're putting me off my cheese." Plagg complained from his pocket.

"Sorry, Plagg." Adrien replied, shaking himself to a stop. "I'm just nervous."

"You'll be fine." Plagg said, unusually sincere. "You already know she likes you, all of you. So all you need to do is be yourself and everything will work out." Adrien smiled at him, scritching the top of his head.

"Thanks Plagg. I really needed to hear that." Plagg purred lightly, something he didn't do often. But he knew it made Adrien happy when he did, and after what he found, he was going to give this kid every moment of happiness he could.

"Alright." Adrien said, straightening his shoulders. "I can do this. Let's go." Plagg hunkered down in his pocket as Adrien headed out. He was not looking forward to the conversation he needed to have with Tikki today.

Across town Marinette wasn't handling things near as well.

"It's friday. Tikki it's FRIDAY." She sat bolt upright in bed, startling the little red bug, who rolled off her pillow barely catching herself before she hit the ground.

The whole morning was a roller coaster between excited daydreaming.

"And then he'll whisk me away and we'll get married have 3 kids and a hamster."

And panicked despair.

"BUT WHAT IF I TRIP AND KNOCK INTO A WAITED WHO SPILLS EVERYTHING ON ADRIEN AND THEN HE'LL HATE ME FOREVER BECAUSE IM SO CLUMSY AND I'LL DIE ALONE! TIKKI I CAN'T DO THIS!"

Tikki, for her part, watched the meltdown with her usual combination of polite exasperation and cheerful encouragement.

"Marinette, calm down. Adrien is your friend. You know he likes you just the way you are. Just take a deep breath and be yourself and you'll do just fine." Marinette took a deep breath letting out in a raspberry.

"I'm sorry Tikki, I'm just so nervous."

"It's okay. But remember, we also need to go talk to Master Fu before your date. What he has to say may make a huge difference on how it goes." Marinette's face fell.

"I know."

For the second time that week, Marinette left the house a huge mess of nerves.

Alya hid just out of sight of the front door of the school, watching for Adrien's arrival. Her journal clutched in her hands, videos pulled and waiting on her phone. As she waited, Lila walked past holding court with Max, Kim, Rose and Juleka.

"It was so funny. Ladybug and I were hanging out last night, and you'll never guess the story she told me about her and Chat Noir! I'll give you a hint, it involves their REAL first kiss, which WASN'T the one posted tot he Ladyblog during your akuma, Kim"

Alya gritted her teeth, crushing her notes in her hands a bit. Now that she knew the truth, she could see why Marinette hated Lila so much. Alya mentally added taking Lila down to her rapidly growing to-do list.

Adrien fiddled nervously with the strap of his bag, his leg bouncing in the back seat of the car. Traffic was moving slowly, and he could see the Gorilla tensing up with every honk and sudden stop. He was going to be late at this point.

"Hey, I can just walk from here, you should take the next left and get out of this traffic jam" He took the grunt he recieved in response as an agreement and jumped out of the car.

Marinette, running late again, sprinted across an intersection and knocked elbows with a blond boy she didn't know. She caught herself on a lamp post, just barely staying upright. But he was sent sprawling. A wave of dread swept her when he looked up at her with green eyes.

She had forgotten she was supposed to be watching out for civilian Chat Noir.

Gabriel Agreste wasted no time descending into Hawkmoth's lair once his son had left for school. He had much to prepare.

His son's first date would no doubt leave plenty of broken hearts in it's wake, and already he could feel it was the kind of day where tensions were running high. He briefly paused at his wife's casket, laying a hand reverently against the glass. Then he took his position in the center of the room, the windowshade parascoping outwards revealing the butterfly motifed window.

He grinned with malice as white butterflies rose in a cloud around him.

"Nooroo, dark wings rise!"

#adrien agreste #adrien x ladybug #adrien x marinette #adrienette #adrinette #i'm just a really terrible person #ladrien #ladybug and chat noir #ladynoir #marichat #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous ladybug #ml ladybug #tales of ladybug and cat noir #villain #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth

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igottoomuchwriting · 5 years

Text

For Forever Chapter 2

Series: First Part/Previous Chapter/Next Part

Connor Murphy: i stg if this mom doesnt chill tf out i will find where she lives and fight her

It has been a month since Connor and Evan started talking. At first, it was awkward, but slowly they broke the barrier through text messages and small conversations during English. Slowly they were learning more and more about each other.

Connor loved to read. Any book that they read as a class, Connor loved, even if it was an older one that everyone else thought was boring. One day in English, Connor had overheard a kid talking about how much they hated Pride and Prejudice and Connor started whispering to Evan about how the kid didn’t no good literature, how Lizzy was a feminist icon of the time, Darcy was the best boy and the romance was correctly written and “he was just pissy because he is a fucking white boy that doesn’t understand the hardships that women of those days have had to go through!”

He also loved TLC shows, especially Say Yes To The Dress. That was a shock to Evan, but Connor was talking about different dress one day and Evan was curious on how he knew. Connor was nervous to share, but he knew that he could trust Evan.

That’s what he was texting Evan about now. Hulu had put out new episodes and Connor was watching them while live texting Evan about everything that is going on.

Connor Murphy: SHES CRYING NOW AND THE MOM STILL WONT BUDGE

Connor Murphy: thats it

Connor Murphy: im flying to georiga. Ill see you later evan

Evan Hansen: I know you have that ability so please dont

Connor Murphy: like my parents would let me

Evan Hansen: Find something nice in Georgia that your mom would love to see. I’m sure that will get her going

Connor Murphy: well which is it hansen

Connor Murphy: should i go punch this lady in the face or no

Evan Hansen: Definite no

Evan never really was interested in those shows, but he did watch one episode to see what he loved so much about it. It was a good show, and he really did love Randy and most of the brides that came through the shop. His mom had walked in when he had it on the TV, which sparked a conversation of how they were and who Evan liked.

“You know this is a safe place, honey!” Heidi had cooed.

“I know,” Evan mumbled, looking down at the ground awkwardly.

Since then, he’s been trying to pointedly show that he likes girls, and only girls.

Connor Murphy: oh good the bride won

Evan Hansen: With Randy on her side, how could she not

Connor Murphy: true

Connor Murphy: shit

Connor Murphy: my mom is home

Connor Murphy: i have to go to my bed and pretend to get some sleep

Connor Murphy: night

Evan Hansen: Goodnight

Evan decided that he should probably go to bed too. He had a test tomorrow, and he needed to sleep so he wouldn’t freak out as much when the time came.

He quickly turned off the TV and headed back up to his room.

---

Evan did not get any sleep. Right as he was about to fall asleep, his mom came home. Since he was still delirious, he thought it was a burglar. Suddenly he was awake and on alert, ready to do what he needed to.

Without getting out of bed and drawing attention to himself, of course.

He stumbled off of the bus, shoulders slouched over and tired look in his eyes. His classmates shoved past him in a hurry to get to the cafeteria for breakfast, but Evan just slowly made his way to his locker.

“Acorn!” he heard Jared call. Evan turned around to see Jared walking towards him, same amount of confidence in his walk as he always had. His backpack was slung over his shoulder, so Evan assumed that his first period teacher is either late or has a sub who is late.

“Please don’t call me that,” Evan mumbled.

“Aw, come on! It’s a term of endearment. All fun and games, ya know?” He threw his arm over Evan’s shoulder and they continued the walk to their locker. “It’s a playful jab at a silly mistake you made.”

Evan’s hand shot to his cast, holding onto it gently.

Yeah. A silly mistake.

“I’m gonna come over today after school. My mom’s been wondering why we haven’t been hanging out lately.”

“Oh. Uh, okay.”

“You still got Mario Kart, right?” Evan nodded his head. It was the last gift his dad had gotten him before he left, and even though Evan is not fond of his dad, he still tries to hang on to when life was good.

“Cool! Then we can play that today!” Evan just nodded his head again and opened up his locker. Jared continued to talk about a girl--or the same girl that he met over the summer, he doesn’t know anymore--and Evan turned his head to the side to see Connor at his locker. He was slouched over and seemed to be angrily putting stuff into his backpack.

“Sorry, uh,” Evan spoke, interrupting Jared’s sentence, “I’m gonna go talk to Connor.”

“Really?” Jared turned to look at Connor as threw a book into his locker. He flinched. “I don’t think you wanna talk to that dude right now. He seems like he is in a bad mood.”

“That’s why I wanna, um, talk to him.” He started playing with the bottom of his t-shirt. “I want to see if he’s okay.”

“Your funeral, man,” he said with a shrug. He gave Evan one last violent pat on his shoulder before walking away.

Evan closed his locker and took a deep breath. Connor hasn’t been in a super bad mood since they started talking, so Evan was worried if Connor would even want to talk to him or not.

“Hey Connor,” he mumbled. Connor whipped his head around and shot a glare at Evan.

“What?” he snapped. Evan took a step back and looked down at the ground.

“Well you seem like you’re in a bad mood so I wanted to come over and see if you’re okay but you barely know me so I don’t know why you would even want to talk to me about it. I’m sorry I should’ve have even come over, I’ll leave, I’m sorry,” Evan stuttered out. All his words started blending together and he was stumbling over his words.

Connor sighed and hit his head against the top of the locker.

“No, I didn’t mean to snap at you. You did nothing wrong.” Evan glanced up at him before looking back down.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me,” he mumbled. Connor was silent for a moment. Evan was just about to turn around and leave him alone when he started talking.

“My parents took my fucking phone last night because they didn’t believe that I was texting someone other than a fucking drug dealer. I told them that no goddamn drug dealer would be answering fucking calls at that hour because they were trying to act like normal fucking people but they took my phone anyway!” He slammed his locker closed and Evan jumped. “They don’t believe a fucking thing I say and it pisses me off because I was actually telling the truth this time!”

Evan looked around the hallway and saw people giving Connor both confused and dirty looks. He didn't know what to do. Jared never came to him for emotional things, and since Jared has been his only friend growing up, he never had anyone else come to him for anything. The closest that he has come to comforting someone was when he walked in on his mom having a breakdown, but even then she turned it around and made sure that he was okay.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “That’s--That, um, sucks.”

“Understatement of the fucking century,” Connor grumbled.

The first bell rang, signaling that students have five minutes to get to class. Connor turned towards the doors at the end of the hallway.

“Wait, where are you going?” Evan anxiously called.

“Anywhere but fucking here.” With that, he was gone.

Evan watched Connor’s dark figure disappear around the corner outside, wondering if he should tell someone. What was Connor going to do? Would he hurt someone?

Would he hurt himself?

“Get to class, Mr. Hansen!” Evan heard a teacher call. Evan looked behind him to see Ms. Asher--the English teacher that no one liked--raising an eyebrow at him. Saying nothing, Evan moved on to his first class.

---

Evan hasn’t seen Connor all day. It was lunch time now and the boy still wasn’t here. Since they started talking more, he and Connor started sitting together at lunch. Connor never ate anything, and Evan did try, but sometimes his anxiety became too much and he just couldn’t stomach what the school was giving him. During those days, Connor tried his best to calm Evan down enough to where he would get Evan to each at least some bland tater tots.

That wasn’t the case today. He sat alone in the corner of the cafeteria, untouched food in front of him.

It’s not like he wasn’t used to this. Jared would never sit by him, always opting to work on programming by himself and not be seen with Evan, and since he had no other friends, he was pushed to the corner of the room.

Evan was deep in thought when he heard a voice.

“Evan Hansen?” Evan snapped his head up, only to freeze when he saw Zoe Murphy standing there, kind smile on her face.

“Oh, uh, yeah. That’s me,” he stuttered out. How long has she been standing there? Was she just waiting for Evan to notice her?

“Sorry to bother you, but can I ask you a question?” Oh okay, straight to the point. Evan wiped his palms on his jeans.

“Yeah! Yeah, of course.”

“Are you and my brother friends?” That’s not what he was expecting.

Are they friends? He doesn’t know if Connor considers Evan a friend, but does Evan?

“Uh, yeah,” he drew out. “Yeah, I guess.”

Zoe raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. She looked around the lunch room before sitting down across from Evan.

Oh God.

“Do you guys text?”

“Yeah, why?” Did something happen? Why would she need to know if they texted?

“Were you guys texting last night?”

“Yes?” Evan was about to have an anxiety attack. Did Connor tell her? Did Connor spill everything that Evan told him? Is Zoe making sure that this is the Evan Hansen that he is talking to so that she can go around and tell everyone?

“Okay,” she mumbled. She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I’m sorry for asking these questions, but Connor got his phone taken away yesterday and my parents wanted to see if who he was texting went to our school.”

“Oh.” Great, so Connor’s parents read their text messages? There was private stuff in there. He hasn’t even met these people and they already know his fears? Did Connor delete the texts he sent when he was having a mental breakdown?

“I haven’t seen the messages!” she quickly added. “My parents only asked if I knew the name ‘Evan Hansen’ and so I wanted to make sure it was you.”

“Okay,” he mumbled. They sat in a silence for a moment, neither knowing what to say.

Zoe broke the silence.

“When did you two start talking?” The questions continue.

“About a month ago?”

“Why?” Well that’s not going to be shared. How would Evan even say that? Yeah, you’re brother stole something of mine and flipped out on me but I was able to calm him down and get it back and now we are basically becoming best buds!

No.

“He, uh, wanted to apologize for getting mad at me in the hallway on the first day of school.” That was kind of the truth.

“And you guys kept talking because…?”

“He was nice.” Zoe immediately rolled her eyes. Oh no. Did he say something wrong?

“He’s not nice, Evan.”

“Wh-What?”

“He’s a druggie who will turn on you when you make one little mistake.” Evan stared at Zoe in disbelief. Here is Connor’s sister, who is known for being happy and helping others, staring at Evan with an angry look in her eye. She’s spending her time, giving Evan a warning.

“He--I don’t think--would he really?”

“He’s done it to me countless times.” Before Evan could say anything else, she stood up. “I’m not telling you what you should do. I’m just warning you that my brother is a loose canon.” With that, she left.

Evan stared at the spot she had just occupied. Zoe has obviously been with Connor her whole life and she knows more than Evan. If she is giving him a warning, he should listen.

Shouldn’t he?

---

When it was sixth period, Evan didn’t know what to do. Surprisingly, he didn’t have any homework to do for that day. He didn’t want to write a letter to his therapist either, as the only thing that happened today was talking to Zoe.

He decided to walk home. It was the last period of the day, and no one was going to be waiting for him. He also wanted to make sure his house was clean before Jared came over.

Evan didn’t get far off of campus before a truck pulled up next to him. With his headphones in, he didn’t hear the driver call out to him. He did hear the car horn, however.

He whipped his head to see Connor sitting in the truck, looking at him threw the passenger window. He quickly pulled out his headphones.

“Connor?” he asked.

“Get in, Hansen.” Evan didn’t question, he just walked across the grass dividing the street and the sidewalk and into Connor’s car.

Connor pulled out into the road before Evan could buckle his seatbelt fully.

It was silent between the two. Evan wanted to know where Connor went in the beginning of the day, if he was doing better, if he was okay in general.

“I didn’t mean to flip out on you earlier,” Connor stated.

“I know,” Evan mumbled. It was silent again. You would think after talking for a month, they would be a little better at talking to each other.

Evan watched all the trees go by. The radio was playing in the background, and the sky was blue with only a few clouds. Always a little strange for October weather.

“Have you ever been to the orchard?” Connor asked. Evan shot him a confused look.

“What orchard?”

“So I’ll take that as a no.”

“Where is it?” Evan asked.

“Well, it’s closed now, but it was almost like a forest reserve for people to go to. You could have picnics, there was a creek, all that fun stuff.” Evan hummed.

The rest of the car ride was filled with small talk. At some point, they had gotten onto the topic of bands they liked, and it blew up from there.

“You’ve never heard of Hollywood Undead?” Connor laughed. “How the fuck have you not?”

“They’re not a very popular band, obviously,” Evan shot back. Connor turned to him with a look as if he had personally attacked Connor’s work himself.

“They are popular!”

“Sure, Connor.”

“You shut the fuck up, Mr. ‘Taylor Swift is a better country singer than pop’.”

“Well, she is--”

“You have no taste.”

It wasn’t long before they reached where Connor was taking them. Evan looked around as Connor turned off the car and saw trees everywhere, as well as a gate with a sign that said “NO TRESPASSING”.

“Uh, what are we, uh, doing here?” Evan asked.

“We’re gonna walk around.”

“W-Wait, what?”

“Come on, Hansen,” Connor called, ignoring the panic rising in the boy. He hopped out of the car and Evan quickly followed, leaving his backpack in the car.

“We can’t go in!” he called out. Connor rolled his eyes.

“Trust me, it’s fine.”

“What if someone finds us? What if they see your car and come searching and then we get in trouble? What if we get arrested? I can’t have my mom bail me out of jail, and your parents won’t--”

“Evan!” Connor yelled. Evan immediately stopped talking. “It’s fine. I come here all the time. I was just here earlier, and no one found me. No one even thinks about this place anymore.”

Evan nodded his head in understanding and looked down at the ground. He heard Connor take a deep breath.

“Just… Come on. You can trust me.”

Evan followed Connor to the fence. Right under the trespassing sign was a cut part of the fence that looked like it was able to be pushed back. Connor pushed the fence piece back and held it open, motioning for Evan to make his way through.

Evan made it on the other side, careful with his cast, and Connor followed suit. Evan looked around in amazement. How come this place was abandoned?

“This place got closed down after they opened up the park as a national park,” Connor answered his unasked question. “Apparently people feel like going to a national park would be more fun than an orchard, even though it’s the same fucking thing.”

Connor stared walking into the trees and Evan was quick to follow.

It was gorgeous. It was a surprise that he has never seen this place. His mom and dad would always love to take them out and show him the nature, the flowers, the birds. It was a big part of his life, and a big reason why he loved trees. Participating in the Junior Ranger program was a way for him to try and go back to those times.

Happier times.

“So homecoming’s coming up,” Connor stated. “You going?”

“Well, uh, probably not?” Those kind of things were never Evan’s thing.

“Even if a cute girl asked you out?” Connor laughed as Evan blushed. The only girl Evan would even want to ask him out is Zoe, but after their conversation, he has been questioning his relationship with her.

“If someone asked me out, that’d be a shock in itself.”

Connor laughed. “Fair enough.”

“What about you?” Evan asked. “You going?”

“No. No way.”

“Not even if a girl asks you?”

“There’s no girl that could make me go to any dance.” Evan hummed.

“What if your crush asked you? There is a girl you like, right?” Connor gave him a side look and coughed.

“Yeah. A girl…” He didn’t say anything after, and Evan didn’t want to push it, so they fell back into silence.

“We’re here.” Evan gave him a confused look.

“Wait, where?”

“Look.” Evan looked anxiously at the space past the trees Connor motioned to before walking forward.

Past the trees was a big open grass field, surrounded by trees. The wind was blowing the long grass gently and the sun was peeking out from behind the threes, just getting ready to set for the night.

Evan was in shock. This place was gorgeous.

“I assume you like it?” he heard Connor call.

Evan shook his head. “Connor, this--this is amazing! How did you find it?”

“I was just walking around one day and stumbled upon it.”

Evan stared at the whole place. Connor watched him with a smile.

“You said you like to climb trees, right?” Connor asked. Evan stiffened up.

“Um, yeah,” he stuttered out.

“Come on. There’s a tree with really low branches.” Connor started walking away towards a tree that Evan saw stuck out from the rest. It was slightly out of the circle of trees, and Evan understood why Connor chose that one. The branches are definitely lower than the others, and easier for the boys to reach.

“I--I don’t think I can climb right now,” Evan called towards him. Connor turned and gave him a confused look.

“Why not?” Evan just held up his cast. Connor looked at for a second before realization hit. “Fuck, that’s right. I’m a fucking moron.”

“Sorry,” Evan shrugged.

“Why are you sorry?”

“You wanted to climb the tree, and I can’t.” Connor sighed and shook his head.

“That’s not your fault, man.” Evan nodded his head and decided not to say anything else.

His phones started buzzing in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out to see who is was.

It was Jared.

“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath. Connor was next to him now, looking down at his phone.

“Kleinman? What does that fucker want?” Evan opted to not comment on Connor’s obvious hatred of Jared.

“I forgot I was supposed to hang out with him today.” He hit answer and turned away.

“Evan! Where are you?”

“I’m sorry, I was walking home but Connor wanted to hang out--”

“Connor? Connor Murphy? You’re with him right now?”

“Yes, I’m sorry, I am headed back right now--”

“Did he kidnap you or something, dude? You guys never hang out outside of school. I never even thought the guy was stable enough to do something.”

Evan anxiously shot a look at Connor, but he was picking at his nail polish, so Evan was sure he didn’t hear Jared.

“He can. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry I’m heading back now. Just go inside, I’ll be home soon, ignore the mess.”

“Whatever you say dude. Bye.”

With that, Jared hung up. Evan turned back to Connor, fiddling with his phone.

“I’m sorry Connor, can we--”

“Yeah, we can go back.” Connor clipped. Evan flinched. He looked down at the ground anxiously.

“Sorry, this was fun, but--”

“I know,” Connor forced a smile across his face. “You and Jared had plans. Nothing wrong with that.”

Connor started walking away, and Evan couldn’t help but get the feeling that Connor was truly upset.

He quickly followed Connor back to his car and tired to calm down his anxiety.

“Thank you for taking me here,” Evan said when they got back into Connor’s truck.

“Yeah. We can come back.” Evan looked down to hide a smile.

Connor actually wanted to hang out with him again. Hang out, in public, for no reason other than to hang out with Evan.

Is this was real friendship is like?

#dear evan hansen #evan hansen #connor murphy #zoe murphy #jared kleinman #evan hansen x connor murphy #tree bros #writing #sun writing

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daughterofsinsloth · 6 years

Note

I heard from a friend of mine that you are suggesting great fics of soukoku! Everyday I always go to AO3 and look for Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya tags to find interesting stories but recently I dont feel anymore of enthusiastic when I see updates, probably just stress from school. If its okay do you have any skk amazing fics that you like to recommend me or some you read?

hello anon-chan!! and hello to your friend too!than k you very much for your words! they makle m e really happy!

now! I kinda understand what you mean. maybe coz lately there are more angst fics? also school can be a major reason! i freak out a lot too! neh I will give you some fluuf and romantic or action fics so you can realx and forget all about school okay?

lets see!

first some great writers, that you will definatly enjoy, are:

ReaperStygian

setosdarkness

photography_tea

Memos

Witheryvine

Avi_pizzapopolis

AnonLearnsToWrite

Konoha79

sodenoshirayuki_23

izanyas

stargazerlilith

SoukokuParadise

hellosweetie17

gureshintrash

TheGreatCatsby

hybridempress

Lake_Toya

Kohaku69

okay now some am amazing fics that my heart always skip a beat reading them!

Mother by WhisperingWinds99:

a really heart warming fic! Kouyou narrate skk life and we see her mother sight! well written and overwelming emotions . one shot

Movie Nights and Lazy Mornings by evie_maria:

a cute little one shot abouot skk weekend! pure fluff and calm feelings.

Seven days to show you my love by holdinglucy:

It takes Dazai seven days to prove Chuuya he’s still his partner in the things that matter. one shot and absolutely lovely! Im jealous of chuuya here! its nice seeing Dazai as a caring boyfriend who tries to find happiness and Chuuya deserve some too.

Chuuya’s Secret by Anonymous:

Chuuya’s behavior has become strange lately, but Dazai, with his insight, is certain he can figure it out. a hilarrious fic! one shot and a fluffy one! its mpreg too and its funny seeing Dazai as these dork dads!

Fire in the Night by ChubbyHippo:

I love this one. its one shot and AU. brothel!Chuuya and solder!Dazai fell in love under the bright moon and my hearet stopped!its lovely, romantic,bit sad but overwelm ing and leaves you full.

Five more minutes by counter_illumination:

from morning to night their typical day. cute and fluffy.crak makes an apperance too coz we are talking about Dazai.a really nice feeling in it. one shot

Shared Gravity by writingfromtheshadows, ZODIACHUUYA:

mind the writes too. multi-chptrs. the writers take turns with the chptrs leaving no hoe init and giving you the emotions open to see. AU!high school and reallyyyyy good.The first time they slept together, Dazai and Chuuya were little more than academic rivals thrown together in a haze of dancing and alcohol.Every time after that, well, they just seemed to be drawn to each other. its an awesome fic

A Hearts Desire by Kaokita :

AU and multi-chptrs.Chuuya works in a brothel when he meets Dazai, a journalist. Dazai thinks he can save Chuuya but Chuuya doesn’t need saving. The one who needs saving is the one who longs for a reason to keep living. Chuuya and Dazai end up saving each other. this two are like magnets and when they connect they are explode. Chuuya thinks that they are different but they are not really. A+++ for Oda being alive.

Feel My Love by eunrihae:

multi-chptrs, one going, mpreg.they are just in love and noone thoought that Dazai was serious about Chuuya. but boy they are wrong. coz in the end of the day they will always be in love.

Five Times Dazai Didn’t Stay, and One Time He Did. by kidspawn02:

I honestly loe this one. its well written, well built and over welming. emotions bear for you to see and feel . it has smut b ut not graphic but its about Dazai and Chuuya don’t really know how to deal with sexual tension, and Chuuya doesn’t think it’s fair that he’s fallen in love and that Dazai leaves every time they share a bed. it hurts but the ending is perfect. one shot

Strangers and Painkillers by TheEnigmaticPhoenix:

thiiiiiiiis fic!!!!! best absolute perfect! fluff and light angst but its great! Chuuya has no right as a stranger to make assumptions that the man sitting in front of him is hurting more than he is, despite the huge bloody gash running down the length of Chuuya’s arm.So, in an attempt to become less of a stranger, Chuuya lets the man drag him to the hospital to get his arm treated, hoping that he’ll answer Chuuya’s questions.What Chuuya doesn’t realize is that it’s not that easy to get a certain Dazai Osamu to open up. (part of series)

(i believe) i think i said goodbye to my soul tonight by iskendaris:

this one has smut but I choose it for what it represent. the raw emotions and the writting just bring to light words and promises long buried and very much needed by afraid to be said. true emotions that no one wanted to say but they are not bad and its great how the writer portain them. Dazai OP is “This isn’t sex as much as its an interrogation. Whatever Chuuya wants from him, he doesn’t know why but he knows he can trust Chuuya not to fuck him up.Or rather, he knows why, but he doesn’t think about it too much about baseless trust issues, because therein lies hell and damnation.” and its nice seeing through him

Temporarily by prettypurplegirl08:

cutness overload and a very much needed happiness.multi-chptrs and you dont want it to end.In Dazai’s arms was a small child–Chuuya would guess he was probably around 3 or 4 years old–with, surprisingly, silver white hair staring at Chuuya with those wide purple-yellow mixture orbs of his. The little kid was only wearing an over-size white shirt–well it’s definitely oversized for the small kid. Chuuya fell silent as his gaze never left the child who was thumbsucking in Dazai’s arms, part of his brain trying to figure out where he had seen the kid and another part trying to fathom why Dazai had come to his apartment with him in the first place.//or Atsushi gets turned into a child and Chuuya and Dazai has tot ake care of him, Akutagawa is somehow involved?

I’ll Hold You Close, and Half of Us Closer by doubleblack :

multi-chptrs, on going, mpreg. a lovelly fic. a very needed fluff. “This is the baby.” The doctor smiled. “They look like a little spot right now since you’re not far along. And that is their very strong heartbeat.“Chuuya and Dazai smiled as they looked at the ultrasound of their baby. The doctor printed out the ultrasounds of their baby. She prescribed Chuuya prenatal vitamins, told him he was 10 weeks along, and that he would be due early December. Chuuya and Dazai were now on their way home, and Dazai held Chuuya’s hand as he was driving home.“If Mori finds out…”“He won’t.” Dazai stated. “And even if he did. I will not let anyone hurt you or our baby. Ever. I will destroy the whole Port Mafia before I ever let that happen.” its cuuuuuute. its a journey that i would love to see.

Lips by SilentSoukoku:

cut and unexpected! “My dearest Chuuya, do you even take care of your lips? Look at how cracked they are!” did you died yet? coz I did! one shot

Waste of Bandage’s by ChuuChan1994:

hilarious, cute, amazing! one shot. Chuuya is getting along better with the ADA, that still doesn’t mean he’s willing to put up with Dazai’s bullshit. Where Akutagawa was use to the sight, Atsushi was left gaping at the sight before him.

Just like we agreed by codenamecat:

I will say on thing : Yosano is a b adass Goddnes. thats all. one shot and smut sorry but its funny and fluffy too. “I’ve been giving you excuses to leave since the very beginning, why won’t you just do what we’re both waiting for and take your gross ass away from here?!”Dazai tilted his head, his expression suggesting that he suddenly forgot his mother tongue and didn’t understand a word of what Chuuya just said.“Who said that it’s what I want?”

bounded by fate by Nekito :

super interesting multi-chptrs, AU!!! kouyou never took chuuya in and chuuya never joins the mafia, thus never meeting dazai when they were kids; instead chuuya lives 22 years a normal life until he mets dazai; dazai’s connections with the port mafia however soon causes problems on going.

Without Gods, Without Guidance by dancing_dazai :

another super interesting AU but with Gods! niiice and very promising!Without gods, without guidance, By the window, a woman has passed on; the white sky is blind, the white wind is cold.-The Hour of Death, Chuuya NakaharaTwo lost souls find their way to Quindecim with no memories of who they are or how they got there, and they’re determined to get their lives back. No matter the cost. multi-chptrs and on going

centrifugal/centripetal by TopHat69 :

my absolute favorite! majestic, powerful, overwelming, lovelu, lovely fic! multi-shptrs, omegaverse, on going their story from the begging but they are true mates. problem is that its more than they can handle. it what they need but Chuuya is not good at this and Dazai is too afraid. Chuuya wants to learn, to reach Dazai and Dazai want to be free and filfull a promise.

Cover Up by Satquael:

one shot and beautiful! It wasn’t long after they’d first met that Dazai noticed the tattoo. It was on the back of his neck, a bunch of letters and numbers that didn’t make any real sense. A serial number, of sorts.Chuuya had tried to hide it, understandably. Under his clothes, and then makeup. These solutions didn’t really work. Not in the long term, anyway. Clothes shifted, and makeup rubbed off.Dazai had a better idea.

lastly, will be too bad of me to share my works? I think that you may mostly like this fic:

Can you sew my suit? : Akutagawa and Atsushi are getting married and who is a better person to be their best man, but Dazai Osamu? Unfortunally, all guests has to wear newly sew suits, but Dazai missed the deadline for the order!Now, eight days before the wedding, Akutagawa sends Dazai to his last resolt; his good friend’s tailor shop, Nakahara Chuuya.However, his Dazai’s suit will not be the only thing fixed.Ch1.: the prologueCh2.: the meetingCh3.: a bonus

aaaaaaaaaand thats some of my favorite and amazinf fics i LOVE! hope you like them and happy reading! tell me what you think okay?

be well! :)

have a nice day!!!

#bungou stray dogs #soukoku #fic rec #highly recommended

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randomfandomimagine · 7 years

Text

Sunshine in the Moonlight. Chapter 11: Stronger

Fandom: Final Fantasy XV

Pairing: Prompto x Alexandria (OC)

Previous Chapter - Chapter Index - Next Chapter

Wattpad - AO3

The first day in Hammerhead was long and insufferable.

I felt too apathetic to accomplish any of my goals, even if they were as simple as analyzing myself and my feelings. Yet the emptiness that their absence left was too notable.

As a result, all I did that day was merely wander around Hammerhead, idly studying the hunt possibilities and helping Cindy and Cid with the garage. Other than that, I did spend a lot of time lying down in the caravan’s bed with no luck as to understanding my own feelings or finding a solution for my struggles. It wouldn’t be so simple.

The morning of the second day was even worse, as I woke up realizing it was the first night I went to sleep completely alone. I missed Prompto’s presence next to me, Ignis’ good mornings, even Gladio’s snoring and Noctis being sprawled out still fast asleep. However, I forced myself to get up and actually do something worthwhile. Because what was the point in leaving the party if I would spend every moment missing them and not doing what I came to do on the first place? With a new found determination, I left the caravan and headed for the diner. I ordered a coffee for takeout and caught notice of a certain blond girl when I walked outside, so I approached her seeking some sort of interaction.

“Good morning, Cindy” I internally resolved to call a truce about my jealousy towards her. Cindy Aurum was a sweet, friendly girl despite my irrational enmity with her. I merely envied her, and getting over such childish mindset was a step towards improving myself.

“Mornin’ there!” She slightly distanced herself from the car she was fixing and dedicated me a grin. “Slept well?”

I shrugged, not really wanting to admit that I didn’t rest properly as my mind kept drifting off to varied subjects.

“Well, if there’s anything ya need ya ain’t even have t’ask, ‘right?” She absently got back to the engine of the car.

“Actually…” Restless, I tapped my nails against the coffee mug. “Can I ask you something?”

“Course!” Very patiently, Cindy stood up straight and glanced at me attentively. “What can I do ya for?”

“I was just wondering… What do you think about my friends?”

“Those boys? They’re sweeter’n moogle with a lollipop!”

I chuckled, endeared by such an inventive response, and nodded.

“What about… Prompto?” I bit my lip in anticipation, remembering how they made such a great couple.

“The cute little blonde?” Cindy smirked a little, crossing her arms and tilting her head to the side. “Such a nice fella!”

“That’s all?”

“What else would there be?”

“I don’t know…” I sighed, feeling stupid for needing a straight answer as to make sure I had a chance with him. Even if I wasn’t sure if I should make a move. “Do you like him? As in to go out with him sometime? Eat something together?”

“Don’t have the time, gotta stay here with Paw Paw and give ‘im a hand”

I remembered those moments in which Gladio mindlessly flirted with her, and how she rejected him without realizing what he was doing. Cindy wasn’t truly interested in boys, she was too busy with the garage and with helping her grandfather.

No matter how foolish it sounded, I was relieved by her answer.

Cindy then looked strangely at me, even if her green eyes were still glowing with friendliness and that smile never faded from her lips.

“Why do ya ask?”

“Just… making conversation…”

“If that’s everything, I’d need to get back to work”

“Of course, sorry to have kept you”

“No worries!”

I smiled at her before she got back to fixing the car and drank the last of my coffee, suddenly feeling energized. Perhaps because of the caffeine of my beverage, perhaps thanks to the spark of hope that talking to Cindy ignited in me. Whatever the case, I was determined to do some work that day.

I went back to the dinner and returned the mug, as well as studying the hunts again. There was one about sabertusks that offered a reward of seven hundred gil that sounded especially appealing. I nodded to myself and headed back outside, directly for the shop to take a look at the wares.

I still had some potions, elixirs and phoenix downs that I had been carrying around on our journey, yet I wanted to perhaps obtain a new weapon. I purchased a hand gun, being reminded of Prompto’s lessons, and assuming it would be the perfect occasion for some target practice.

Thinking of it as an investment as it would help me earn the reward from the bounty, I loaded my gun as Prompto had taught me and started walking to where the sabertusks had been spotted, close to Hammerhead. I missed the Regalia and travelling in that wonderful car with my friends. They were always in my mind.

Just as I evoked those memories, my phone vibrated in my pocket and so I picked it up to open the text message. It was from Prompto. My heart skipped a beat when I read his name in the screen and proceeded to read the message.

I know it’s been only a day since you left but… we already miss you, Xanders! =( TOT

I smiled at the adorable text followed by those many different emoticons, which were so like him. I was about to answer when another message came through, and it happened to be a photo.

I laughed because Prompto couldn’t text me photos through his camera and had to resign himself to using his phone instead. And I chuckled again when I saw that it was a selfie in which he appeared posing with a beautiful smile. The rest of the boys were with him too, probably after he told them he would send me a photograph. Gladiolus was winking an eye, Noctis showing that small smirk that he posed with for photos so often, and Ignis waving softly with a small smile. It warmed my heart to see such a picture and I didn’t think twice to save it as my phone background.

I miss you all too! I replied simply, not truly knowing how to further express myself.

Iggy asks if you’re doing okay =P Prompto send yet another message.

Tell him not to worry, I’m alright

‘Kay, take care out there! =D And say hi to Cid and Cindy for us! ;)

Sure =)

I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. I assumed he also didn’t want to bother me and I appreciated that despite the fact that I partly wanted him to keep talking.

As I continued walking under the hot sun, trudging through the rocky and sandy ground of the desert area, he lingered on my mind. I distracted myself with the possible outcomes and scenarios of my interactions with him, balancing whether I should act one way or the other.

It took me a long time to finally find the sabertusks, and by then I had decided a provisional solution for my problem with Prompto. I was too scared that acting on my infatuation resulted in the end of our friendship, and I didn’t want to lose him. So I resolved to staying friends with him for the time being, at least until I could be one hundred percent positive that he reciprocated my feelings.

It didn’t solve my problem, nor put the butterflies that awoke inside my stomach at the thought of him at rest. But at least it was the first step. For the moment, I focused in my other goal: becoming stronger.

I conjured my sword and kept my new handgun in mind in case I felt like I needed it. I took a deep breath as I prepared for the battle, letting my instinct guide me while I also concentrated on everything I knew about fighting.

The creatures –there were three of them –growled as they noticed me and moved quickly to approach and attack me. I started with a simple swing of my sword, which hit one of them and made it stand back. The adrenaline started building up inside of me, speeding my heart up and accelerating my movements and thoughts. I felt frantic, rushed and energetic.

I tried to remember what Gladiolus told me when he first started teaching me how to fight. The lessons he taught me as I began to wield my sword: stay alert, never lose focus, don’t attack mindlessly, sometimes the best attack is a good defense. Those were the main lessons as this happened so long ago that it was hard separating the theory from the practical part. And I was used to the latter, basing my attacks on muscular memory and instinct. They still played a big part, but I had realized lately that it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t attack mindlessly and hope for success.

Fearing that the other two sabertusks in the distance would catch up to me and attack me while I was busy with the closest one, I pulled out my new gun. It was the perfect weapon for long distance combat.

Here was where my new knowledge came in handy, where I was to recall all that Prompto taught me. I wielded my handgun with both hands, arms straight and legs slightly apart yet firmly planted on the ground. I held my breath as I fired the weapon, trying to flex my arms to lessen the impact of the recoil. It worked.

I smirked, thinking that a certain blond would be proud of me, when I realized it had been a precise shoot and it hit directly in its head, bringing the sabertusk down. I jumped back to avoid the claw that the closest creature swung at me and carelessly fired at it to buy myself some time while I took the other sabertusk down, the one far away from me, before it could reach me. Even though I was positive that my stance was correct, my aim was still lacking. It took me three attempts to hit the creature until it was dead, and by then the other one was already back on its feet.

I saved my gun as fast as I could and wielded my sword again instead, yet the sabertusk had tackled me to the ground and threatened to bite me. If it weren’t because my reflexes had saved me by using my arm as a shield, pushing it against the creature’s neck to establish a distance between its jaws and my face, it would have probably killed me in one blow. My training wasn’t as useless as I first thought, it gave me instinct and reflexes even if the problem probably was the lack of practice and strategy.

I pushed my feet against the sabertusk as hard as I could, which achieved to throw it back and give me some room to breathe. Even if it did scratch my arm as it tried to cling onto to me. I could have sworn its fangs also scratched my cheek as we struggled, because my skin burned in that very spot.

As it was further away now, I wished I hadn’t saved my pistol. However, I didn’t have the time to wield it again. Already carrying the sword in my hand, I prepared to defend myself with it instead, letting the sabertusk get closer to me and preparing to retaliate.

My breath hitched in my throat as it pounced at me, but I forced to send an order to my arms so they would stab it before it could get to me. They did, and the blade sunk into the sabertusk’s body before it could harm me.

They had been only three sabertusks, which weren’t too powerful. Yet those enemies offered quite the fight for me, leaving me lying on the ground breathing heavily and appreciating life much more. I couldn’t help but to wonder what my friends would think about it if they were there with me.

Forgetting about everything else and remembering I had successfully completed a bounty hunt on my own, I pushed myself to my feet. I had also realized the flaws in my technique, and once I worked on the strategy and practice, I would improve.

I had a few bruises here and there, and I was definitely drained and exhausted. However, I headed back to Hammerhead with a smile plastered on my face.

I felt a great satisfaction when I received my reward, feeling for the first time like I absolutely earned it. Like the victory was all thanks to me since I had been the only one there. That time I didn’t have my friends with me yet I handled it on my own quite well.

“There ya are!” Cindy’s voice startled me, as I wasn’t expecting her to leave the garage and enter the diner.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her, noticing how she was frowning and seemed upset.

“Been lookin’ all over for ya!” The girl made a face and placed her hands on her hips in clear annoyance. “Where you been, gurl?”

“Hunting…” I was greatly surprised by her apparent concern. “I just got back”

“And you got hurt” Cindy sighed, taking my wrist and making me walk with her. “I’ll fix ya up in no time!”

We both headed to the garage, where she sweetly smiled at me encouragingly and sat me down in a small pile of boxes as she went to gather the first aid kit. I chuckled a little when I realized I was somehow like a car, since the grease-monkey girl would fix me like she did all those vehicles.

“Gotta tell me ‘fore you run off like that!” Her thick accent announced that she was already coming back. “If Paw-Paw found out I let one of the prince’s friend get hurt…”

“You are under no obligation of looking after me”

“I wanna! Gotta take care of a pal like ya”

I observed her, surprised yet delighted by her endearing kindness. Completely selfless and honest concern for my wellbeing.

Cindy tended to the cut in my cheek and the scratch in my arm, which were bleeding a little, and easily covered it with gentle yet determined hands. She was no expert like Ignis, but it did the trick.

“There ya go” She smiled when she was finished. “Lookin’ better”

“I will tell you before I leave the garage next time, Cindy” I mumbled, still shocked by her generosity. “I wouldn’t want you and Cid to worry”

“That’d be swell” She nodded, agreeing with my idea. “And don’t go runnin’ off now and doin’ anything dangerous”

“I won’t” I smiled back, promising myself I would be sensible about my hunts.

Once done, I stood up and awkwardly smiled at her before going back to the caravan. I was too dazed by such unexpected interaction to say anything else to her. So I just spent the rest of the day training and excitedly checking my phone for more messages, yet there came none from the busy boys.

The third day I decided to take it easy. All the straining from the battle with the sabertusks had left me sore and tired, to the point that I was almost as drained as when I trained with Gladio.

I wouldn’t waste the day, however. I would train –both to improve my stamina and my combating skills –and try to figure myself out, as well as perhaps chat with Cindy. I never truly thanked her for being so caring and attentive towards me the other day, even if I knew it was partly due to the fact that I was Noctis’ friend. Yet it was a sweet gesture nonetheless.

I left the caravan and looked for her around the garage, even if Prompto was the one on my mind. I had dreamt with him again last night, definitely triggered by the adorable text that he sent me. And this dream shared similarities with the other dream regarding their adorable and intimate nature.

As I walked to the garage where they kept all the cars, I tried to mentally answer all the questions that piled up inside my mind concerning Prompto. I wondered if my brief and provisional decision of staying friends was the right one. I wondered whether I would regret it as soon as I saw him in person again, strongly craving his affection. I tried to imagine myself actually dating him, picture myself being embraced by his arms and kissed by his lips. A pleasant chill overcame me, as well as those well-known butterflies that were starting to feel familiar and welcoming, inviting almost. How could I reject all of that when I craved it so much? Yet again, how could I risk ruining the relationship we currently had and obtain nothing in return? Love was such a complicated subject!

“Hey, kid” Cid was sitting there, even if I didn’t notice as I passed him by until he announced his presence.

“Good morning” I greeted him, stopping to see if he wanted to say something.

“I see Cindy was right, you got hurt yesterday” His eyes fixed on my cheek, there where a band-aid covered my superficial wound. Self-conscious about it, I timidly covered my cheek with my hand.

“It is nothing of importance” I pursed my lips together as I held his stern glance.

“Better watch out, don’t do anything dangerous” The man stubbornly shook his index finger as he pointed at me with it. “And don’t be scared to ask for help either”

“I wouldn’t want to impose or bother you” I tilted my head at the thought of troubling them, especially considering we weren’t that close.

“Nonsense” He huffed, shaking his head. “That’s what friends are for”

“To annoy them?”

“Yeah, you’re not bothering if you ask a friend for help, it’s a friend’s duty”

Cid’s words caused my eyebrows to shot up in surprise and realization. He might not have realized it, but I found them to be extremely wise and true.

“You’re right”

“Course I’m right!”

“Have you seen Cindy?” I changed the subject, even if smiling widely.

“She’s in there” He pointed at the garage where I was headed to in the first place. “Go say hello”

“Thank you” I politely nodded my head before walking in that direction, immersing myself in the dark garage. “Cindy?”

“Here!” Came her response, just as I spotted her sticking her head over the hood of a car.

“I… never really thanked you for yesterday” I began to say, quite embarrassed about it. “It was very sweet of you to look after me like that”

She chuckled at my comment, firmly closing the hood of the car and cleaning her hands in a rag that hung nearby.

“No need to thank me!” She walked over to me, her heels clicking against the ground.

“Guess that’s what friends are for” I shrugged my shoulders, still smiling at her.

“Right! Was about to say just that”

“Still, I appreciate it”

“Didn’t need to come all the way here just to say that, gurl” Cindy smirked a little, sweetly.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You’re a curious lil cat, aren’t ya?”

“I just want your opinion” Seeing as she was the only girl I talked to other than Iris, and without having the boys around to hear us, I truly wanted to ask. It might seem irrational to be exposing such personal thoughts to someone I wasn’t so close to, yet that was precisely the point. Cindy wouldn’t exactly know the context and had no compromise in answering, yet her responses would prove to be useful.

“Shoot then”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“Can’t say I have” Cindy tapped her finger against her bottom lip, thoughtful. “Maybe in love with my work”

“Right…”

“They do say love is the most wonderful thing, so I wouldn’t let it go if I found it”

That left me astounded because of how important and true that statement was. Yet it didn’t assure that Prompto reciprocated my feelings, in which case I would embrace my love for him. But it wasn’t that easy, was it?

“I will try to keep that in mind” I said as I waved goodbye at her and left the garage. “I will be back in a while, don’t worry too much”

I started to walk into the distance, looking for some shade so I could train, perhaps under a big tree. My phone rang as I walked, so I nimbly pulled it out and hoped it was a text from who I thought it would be. I was right.

Mornin’, buddy! Hope I didn’t wake you up! Here’s a smiling me so hopefully I pass it on to you and then it’ll be a smiling you! =DDDD

Right under that completely adorable text he sent a picture of himself, alone, posing with an adorable and broad grin. How I missed that boy.

I rolled my eyes, silently scolding myself for becoming so stupidly happy over something like that. I opened the camera in my phone and took a selfie –something I never thought I would end up doing as I found it so silly, but it was for Prompto and so I resigned myself just to make him happy –posing with a big smile and making a peace sign with my fingers.

I took a good look at the photo in my screen before sending it. I was squinting my eyes because of the sun, but other than that I didn’t look too awful. I just hit sent before I could change my mind and wrote a small text after it.

Here’s a clumsy attempt at a selfie, hope to make you proud!

I observed the dots in the screen restlessly, waiting until he was done typing. His response came soon afterwards.

Hahahah that’s awesome! You look great, Alex!

I pursed my lips not to grin widely as I pictured Prompto excitedly and proudly showing my selfie to Noct, Iggy and Gladio. If I knew him as well as I thought I did, he would definitely be doing that at the moment.

I decided to say something else, wanting to keep the conversation going before I immersed myself in some arduous training.

Thanks! I hope you’re all doing okay =)

The dots appeared again as Prompto typed, and I was surprised by how quickly he finished and sent the text back.

Been a couple of hectic days, but we’re a-okay! Hbu?

‘Hbu’?

Sorry! How about you? =P

Oh, Prompto, such a lovable nerd. I bit my lip when I realized he was doing it again, without even being there. He was bringing out a much more relaxed and casual side of me, one that mirrored him and I was starting to enjoy and embrace.

I’m alright, hopefully I’ll be able to get back to you all very soon

Can’t wait! Are you still in Hammerhead? How are Cid and Cindy treating ya?

They’re lovely! They take good care of me (make sure to tell Ignis, so he doesn’t worry)

Will do! So… did Cindy say anything about me?

I froze for a moment, wondering whether I should tell him we spoke about him or not. Testing my friendship approach, I decided to admit it and analyze his reaction. I hesitated for a moment as my thumbs hovered over the keys, but I soon made up my mind and started typing. It made me wonder if seeing those dots was making Prompto anxious.

She did! Cindy said you’re cute and very nice =D

I awaited his response, wishing I was there to see his actual expression and reaction. He must have been excited by the revelation, because he made a few typos next.

OMG, forreal?! Wow! I wouf.nt have expected to hearthat!

I smiled sadly, slightly disappointed by his excitement about it. But for the moment I was his friend, and I was happy for him.

I know! Was all I came up with as a response, quite plain and snippy.

Oh! Iggy is asking me to tell you this: ‘please reach us some time, merely to update on your current status’ are his exact words. The man’s worried, Alex! XD

I smiled in spite of myself, charmed even by his goofy banter.

I promise I will call soon, for now I have to go train.

K! Ttyl! I deciphered those abbreviations and realized he meant to say ‘okay, I will talk to you later’. It made me smile again.

Have a nice day, and please be careful!

You too, take care!

With a permanent smile on my face and the feeling that my day was made, I saved my phone on my pocket and proceeded to do some target training and some sword wielding. I needed to keep in shape.

The fourth day I was starting to find the sudden routine a bit tedious. After being exposed to a new adventure every day for so long, I found myself missing it.

After that day, everything started mixing together as I did the same thing every day. I woke up in the same place, wandered around Hammerhead, chatted with Cindy and went to the diner for some food and hunts. Then I completed said hunts, I trained –at least focusing in different types of training to have some variety –and went to sleep, just to get back to the start again the next day.

Luckily, my fighting skills had greatly improved and I was quite proud of that achievement. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite make my mind up about Prompto.

He hadn’t texted me for almost two days, and while I imagined they were busy, I truly missed his daily texts as well as his selfies with the others. I found that they made my day and I was left slightly sad and incomplete without them.

I was positive that what I felt for him was love, an intense and strong emotion. And that I wanted to be beside him, no matter how. Perhaps merely as friends if things didn’t work out between us, I would have to look into it to discover whether he liked me back or not and when I did I would act on it. Yes, that sounded like a smart plan. For the time being, I had started to get used to the butterflies and chills that evoking him caused me and they didn’t alarm me as much. Yet it was still to be seen how these effects would evolve once he was next to me again. If the mere thought of his existence while being apart from him caused chaos inside of me, those would only multiply in his presence. Even if I had tried to control them or calm my giddiness these days.

One day I was at the diner, looking for a challenging hunt that would prove worthy of my time, that would make me stronger and defy my skills. Just then, my phone rang with an incoming call. I smiled when I saw Prompto’s name on screen as well as the photo I had established as his contact picture, the one that he sent me of him smiling.

“Hello?” I replied, eager to hear his lovely and upbeat voice.

“Alex!” His cheerful tone replied. “Can you talk? Is this a good time?”

“Absolutely! I’m not doing anything at the moment!”

“Cool, heh” How I had missed that small chuckle as well. “We all wanted to talk to you, check on ya”

“I’m doing okay” I started to narrate, delighted to be talking to him.

“Aha” He uttered to let me know he intently listened.

“I’ve been working hard these days and I honestly feel achieved and-“

“Hey!” Prompto complained of a sudden, his voice becoming distant as though he was separating himself from the phone. “Noct!”

“Alex, what’s up?” There came Noctis’ voice, who I supposed had snatched the phone away from Prompto’s hands. “You’re taking your time out there”

“A work well done needs time” I laughed a bit, realizing how much I yearned for his playfulness as well, for our friendly teasing.

“Really? What are you doing anyway?”

“Training, mostly”

“Way to be boring…” Noctis sighed for a moment, pausing, before speaking up again. “Wait, Specs wants to talk to you”

I heard the phone being moved around, as well as Prompto’s complaints in the background while he asked for his phone back to talk to me. I giggled picturing the scene of the four of them travelling in the car fighting to take Prompto’s phone.

“Alexandria” Hearing Ignis’ calm voice brought me an unexpected comfort that I didn’t know I needed. “Is everything alright? Are you making some progress in your endeavor?”

“Quite so” I grinned proudly, even if he couldn’t see me. “I intend to reunite with you guys soon”

“I’m glad to hear that, we’ve been missing your presence”

“Is that so?”

“Certainly, we’re lacking that elegant feminine presence on our side”

“I see” I chuckled, amused by his usual charming personality.

“Hang on, Gladio would like to speak to you as well”

“Okay” As he passed the phone yet again, I felt extremely important and tiny at the same time, like a child that’s left the nest and has their family checking on them.

“Hey, Alex” Came Gladiolus’ deep voice. “Gotta ask you something”

“What is it?”

“You didn’t leave because of me, right?”

“What… do you mean, Gladiol… Gladio?”

“Iggy told me that you felt helpless after our fight with Titan, and I remember the things I said to you that day”

“Gladio…” I tried to interrupt him before he could dwell on that. It was nearly a week ago, I had forgotten about it. I wasn’t bitter about that anymore, I had become stronger and more capable. And although with a slightly aggressive and harsh approach, Gladiolus had spoken but the truth.

“I’m sorry, kid, I never meant to belittle you”

“It’s okay, no harm done”

“You sure?”

“Positive”

He didn’t speak at first, forcing an uncomfortable silence on the line. Until he eventually piped up again.

“Don’t go doing something stupid now, you hear?”

“Of course not”

“I’m putting you on speaker now” Gladio said after a short pause. “So we can all hear you”

“Hello, boys” I said to them all, smiling fondly. “I should meet you again soon, I can’t wait to see you”

“Us too!” Prompto exclaimed quickly, before they could all talk over each other.

“See you soon!” Noct said too.

“Please be prudent, Alexandria”

“Yeah, take care, kid!”

“You too!” I realized then they were my family, they had become like siblings and I loved them as such. I was hit with a wave of affection toward them four. “I… I love you guys!”

“Aw!” All of them chorused in response, varying in tones and volume. Feeling mortified by such a cheesy line, I grimaced to myself and shook my head.

“I have to go, bye!” I hurried to hung up and forget I ever said that. Not that I didn’t meant it, but it was the first time I ever announced my affections so openly to anyone. It felt embarrassing and almost uncomfortable.

In an attempt to get my mind off such occurrence, I kept looking at the hunt posters. And I soon found one that caught my eye.

Behemoth. It was risky, yet the reward was abundant and it would be the perfect challenge to exhibit how ultimately strong I had become. The last test before I could rejoin the party.

After all those hunts, despite having gone after all kind of creatures and having earned a humble hunter fame, I wasn’t completely satisfied. Even after acquiring a decent skill level both with my sword and my gun and improving my stamina and strength. Hopefully, the Behemoth hunt would give me that feeling of satisfaction I was seeking.

I merely warned Cindy about my leaving for a hunt, like I did every time, and prepared for the definite battle.

What was I thinking? I must have been out of my mind to think facing a Behemoth alone was a good idea! Even after taking the precaution of replenishing my curatives and ammunition.

I had lost track of time, wondering how long I had been fighting for. Or walking ever since the behemoth was finally defeated. It felt like hours and hours on end, but I had no way to confirm that my perception was correct. Only by the low height of the sun I could tell that at least three hours had passed.

My body shook with the effort, adrenaline and tiredness. My muscles screamed in pain because of the immense strain I had put them through. I knew I was bruised and injured, yet my body felt so numb and sensitive at the same time that I couldn’t tell where. I was also too frantic and agitated, far too much to remember where the behemoth had reached me when it attacked back.

My phone had started ringing at some point during the battle, and I was just hearing it now that the behemoth was defeated. I felt too exhausted to even pick it up.

I had been forcing myself to keep on walking, to put one foot in front of the other on my way back to Hammerhead, there where I would be safe again. I was solely moved by the paranoia that some other monster could attack me if I rested.

However, I plopped down on the ground, worn out and drained from all vitality, after several minutes of exhausting walking. Even if I did with such force that I wondered whether I had fallen or not.

I waited to give my weary body a rest, but the sound of my accelerated breathing and the pulsations of my heart against my skull were making me squeamish. I wondered if there was something wrong with me when I tried to stand up and found I couldn’t.

I closed my eyes and leaned my back against a big boulder that happened to be behind me as I focused on slowing down my quick breathing. It didn’t work.

My phone kept ringing, and the constant noise was starting to irritate me. But I didn’t have the strength to get it out of my pocket and answer the call even if I wanted to. Neither did I want to talk with anyone, honestly. I merely let it ring, not bothering to end the call to silence the noise either.

I frantically turned around, however, when I heard footsteps. Perhaps the sound of my phone had attracted someone’s curiosity. If they were to attack me, I wouldn’t be able to defend myself.

“Found her!!” Prompto’s voice was very loud and urgent.

Wait…

Wait, Prompto? What was he doing there? Did Cindy have anything to do with this? Did I take too long to come back and she had worried? Perhaps called them?

My exhausted brain didn’t give it too much thought, I was just content with having someone to get me to safety. To a comfortable place, hopefully a bed where I could rest and sleep.

I didn’t really know why, but Prompto’s hollering annoyed me. It felt like my whole body was sensitive and alert, probably due to the adrenaline produced during the fight.

Noctis was the first one to appear by my side, making great use of his warping powers. He placed a hand on my shoulder and examined me carefully.

“You okay?” He asked, his pale blue eyes piercing me in concern. I nodded, too exhausted to speak up. Truth was, I didn’t feel so good. It was probably just the tiredness catching up to my body after the danger was gone, but I felt numb. I felt feverish and light-headed, I felt weak and faint.

“Let’s go with Gladio and Ignis” The two of them grunted as they pulled me to my feet and supported my weight. Prompto’s eyes didn’t leave me as the three of us began walking.

We could see the other two running our direction, quickly separating the distance between us.

I felt the blond’s hand in my back as we moved, almost making sure I stood on my feet. Perhaps I was wobbling and not aware of it.

“Alexandria!” Like a protective father, Ignis took me by the shoulders and looked me up and down. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?!”

“I’m fine” My voice gave me away, it sounded hoarse and raspy. An unpleasant sound. “Just tired”

I noticed the glances the four of them exchanged. Or should I say the three of them, since Ignis’ green eyes were focused on me still.

“Did you actually face a behemoth?” Ignis uttered in shock.

“Dude, you fought a freaking behemoth?!” Prompto exclaimed in my ear. I grimaced and shrunk into Noctis’ body to get away from his loudness.

“I never thought you could be so reckless!” Just with that first sentence Ignis uttered, disappointed and gravely, I could tell yet another lecture was coming my way. I hung my head low, too tired to talk back or to even pay attention. “You should be clever enough to know your limitations, to be aware of your skills and not act foolishly. You shouldn’t have gone alone!”

Because I was weak, because I was not strong enough, right? Because I wouldn’t be able to protect myself without their backup and hold my own. That was exactly why I did it, because I wanted to change it. And I did! I defeated the behemoth on my own!

“Iggy, ease up” Noctis intervened to my surprise, trying to calm him down.

Our friend was definitely worried, even if he wasn’t yelling or losing his temper. But there was a hint of nervousness in his calm speech. He became silent, but didn’t let go of my shoulders at first. Until he sighed and cautiously let go of me, taking a step back. The sudden silence unsettled me, only more when I grew aware of the sound of my own loud heartbeat resounding in my ears. Of my ragged breaths that I wasn’t aware of.

“That was a pretty stupid thing to do, Alex” Gladio told me, in what I thought was an attempt to keep Ignis at ease. It worked.

“She’s fine” Noctis spoke up again, motioning with his arm. “Let’s go back”

I glanced at Prompto, noticing how quiet he had been. His thin brows were furrowed but his expression relaxed when he locked eyes with me and noticed I was staring. Then he forced out a tiny smile that couldn’t compete with his usual genuine ones.

His hand lingered on my back as we continued our way. I suddenly wished he was holding an arm around me instead, because my legs buckled under my own weight. I gasped when my vision blurred and I was suddenly drained from all my remaining energies, so much so that I couldn’t stand. My hands flew to the side of my stomach as an intense pang of pain arrived to that area, making me cry out.

“Guys!” Prompto shouted in my ear, scared, as he held me up clumsily. Luckily, his lean arms were fast enough to stop me from falling when I was unable to hold my stance anymore. His intention was to use his torso as my support point, but the inertia was causing me to slowly fall to the floor anyway.

Prompto resolved to sit down in the floor with me, letting me lean on him. At least my head on his shoulder helped a little when everything started spinning around me, even if the thump of his heart against my ear and his quick breaths upset me.

“You’re bleeding!” Noctis exclaimed in horror.

I looked down to my hands to confirm that, indeed, they were covered in crimson blood. The sight made me queasy, so I closed my eyes tight. I hadn’t even realized I had such a deep wound.

“Noct, bring the car!” Ignis instructed hurriedly. I immediately heard the sound of my friend warping away as he obliged.

“We need to get her somewhere safe” Without thinking twice, Gladio tore me away from a very shocked Prompto and carried me in his arms instead. His big and muscular arms made me feel safe and comfortable, the touch of a friend.

The four of us moved in the direction where Noctis would bring the car so we’d met halfway there. I wondered if I could stay awake until that happened, because a sudden drowsiness was taking over me.

“Eyes open, Alex” It had been a long time since I heard Ignis’ voice so gentle and tender, like he was talking to a child. He didn’t call me Alex often either.

I smiled a little at the memory of being looked after by him when I was younger, when he used that exact tone with me. And paternally stroke my hair and give me gentle smiles.

It all probably had to do with the fact that I was a bit delirious.

“Did you fight the freaking thing alone?” Gladio demanded to know, outraged.

“I thought you had retreated!”

“I didn’t” I whispered, too weak to speak louder. “I confronted it”

“Why would you do that?!” Prompto shouted, panicking.

“To make myself stronger”

“But you’re hurt!”

“But I killed it” I grinned stupidly, closing my eyes in exhaustion. “That makes me stronger, right?”

“R-Right…” His voice softened a tad, just to be replaced with a strange sadness.

“She’s losing a lot of blood…” Ignis uttered, probably to the others. But I heard him. “Stay awake, darling!”

I wanted to oblige, but I just couldn’t. I felt myself drifting into a deep slumber that I had no way of escaping from.

Someone’s hand held my own, but I did not know whether it was Prompto’s or Ignis’. Judging by how badly they shook, I thought it was Prompto’s. I didn’t mind, his touch brought me great comfort, and I embraced that thought as I gave in to the exhaustion.

Tagging list: @prince-of-wind, @toranyx, @ghadah1421

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rinzi · 7 years

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so this is just the beginning bit, and knowing my schedule, it’ll be months before i finish and upload this fic. but this is what i’ve started working on. it’s not s/tydia, despite lydia’s part in this. my intent is that it be an alpha!stiles steter fic. idk how much this scene will or won’t change in revision later

edit: idk how even the formatting did that im sorry. i copy/pasted a word doc. how does that do weird?

Stiles tapped his long fingers against the dash and watched the sun set even though it hurt his eyes.

"How soon after we get into town do you think we meet the monster of the week?" he asked with a sidelong glance at Lydia. Their monsters tended to last months, but he didn't dictate the language; he just used it.

"I'm sure they'll give you five minutes to catch up with your dad first," she answered with a shorter glance, opting to squint at the road against the low sun. Its light made her strawberry blonde hair look like fire.

As far as Stiles knew, Beacon Hills had been villain-free since his last visit over summer break. It couldn't last. They'd been through quiet periods before. Eventually, something always went bump in the night.

"Five bucks says we don't finish dinner," Stiles said, not because he wanted something to fight, but because he could barely imagine his home town without monsters anymore. The nemeton drew in peaceful and violent monsters equally.

Lydia sighed. Stiles got the feeling she'd be giving him a look if she weren't driving. She had seen as many monsters as he, though she learned of them later. Stiles figured it balanced out since she was one of them, a banshee who could predict death and fight with her screams.

Dark clouds rolled in from behind them. They'd traveled with the storm for over a day now, and in under an hour, they'd ride into town with it like the Wild Hunt come back to claim the town that fought it off.

Lydia's eyes flickered to the rear-view mirror and back to the road ahead. She had the sun visor pulled down even though it couldn't help with the sun touching the horizon.

Stiles picked at the texture of the dash and tried not to ask what he really wanted to. Lydia had told him to stop, but it picked at his brain more persistently than his fingers did the dash. He switched back tot tapping.

"I still think we should mention it." He grimaced. "Not it it, just... well, sort of it, but just so they don't get the wrong idea."

"You promised you wouldn't be weird about it," Lydia chastised.

"This isn't weird. You've seen me weird." They'd known each other for years. Lydia had seen him beyond weird.

"It's not their business," she reminded him.

"What if they notice all on their own? They'll make it weird." Stiles wasn't sure how powerful werewolf noses were, not really. How long did a scent take to fade? Could chemosignals give away something their physical scents didn't?

"There's nothing to notice," Lydia assured him. "It was fun, but we agreed it's not happening again, not in town especially."

"What if Scott thinks we're dating and tries to be encouraging?" Stiles asked. "Do you know how happy he gets when he thinks I have a date? I've stopped telling him entirely."

"Is that why I have to listen to you pine after baristas, librarians, random passing strangers...?"

"Maybe." Stiles pouted.

"If Scott tries to say something, which he won't because he won't notice, we invite him to a threesome," she said matter-of-factly.

Stiles sputtered.

"That's exactly how Scott will react," Lydia said.

Stiles laughed. "If he agrees once he recovers, I'm down."

"Somehow, I'm not sur—" she broke off with a scream and slammed on the brakes.

The tires screeched. A man stood dark in the road against the last sliver of sunlight. His eyes glowed red. The sound of his roar drowned out the screech of tires but not the smack of the car hitting his body. The hood crunched inward. The werewolf flew back. The airbag punched Stiles in the face and block his view of the man landing.

Stiles fumbled at his seatbelt and grabbed his backpack and metal bat from the floor behind his seat. He scrambled out of the car.

"Are you okay?" he asked, though he slipped the bag onto his back and held the bat ready, just in case.

The alpha roared.

"I have healing herbs if you need them."

Lydia reached Stiles and dug through the backpack.

Stiles added, "Also not-healing herbs, but I'd rather—"

The wolf charged.

Lydia flung a handful of ground wolfsbane in his face and pulled Stiles back.

"I guess you don't want healing," Stiles said because he wasn't sure how to shut his mouth with his nerves going haywire.

The alpha looked like he needed healing whether he wanted it or not. Black veins stood out against his skin. His eyes were wide with more than rage and twitched manically in all directions. The sun had set, but by the light of Lydia's headlights, Stiles saw black veins running through the werewolf's eyes too.

The wolf tried to lunge again. Lydia screamed. The force of her voice pushed the alpha back. He pressed forward. Several paces away, they reached a stalemate, but Lydia would have to breathe soon.

Stiles dug out the mountain ash from his bag and threw down a circle to trap the werewolf. The alpha crashed against the barrier. Stiles felt the impact like tremors after an earthquake.

"What happened to you?" Stiles asked. "Do you need help?" He thought the alpha was frenzied, not attacking because he wanted to but because he had been driven beyond what he could handle consciously. If he was lucky, talking, offering to help, might calm him down.

"Is it poison?" Lydia asked as she eyed the alpha's veins. "I've never heard of disease that affects werewolves."

Stiles had small batches of the nine herbs separated out in his bag. He held one up. "Would this help?"

The alpha growled.

"Dude, we're in the know, and we can tell something's wrong. We'd rather help than fight," Stiles said.

"I don't think he can help himself." Lydia pointed to the alpha's mouth.

He had begun foaming at the mouth. It was marbled with inky black saliva. He smashed against the ash barrier. The ground shook. Stiles stumbled to his knees. With the next impact, the barrier broke.

Lydia screamed too late.

The alpha's teeth sank into Stiles' neck.

Lydia's scream tore the alpha from Stiles, taking part of his throat with him. Hot blood poured down Stiles' torso. He stood. He lifted his bat.

"Stiles," Lydia said, a warning, a question, a plea.

The alpha roared, but Stiles was too newly-bitten to have turned yet. His roar couldn't force Stiles to shift or fight. Stiles swung his bat against the alpha's face. It connected with a sickening crunch.

Stiles hadn't wanted the bite. He turned it down years ago.

The alpha pushed himself back up. Stiles swung again.

If Stiles had wanted to be a werewolf, every alpha Beacon Hills had would have given him the bite. He didn't want it.

The alpha set it's hand against the ground. Stiles smashed the bat against the back of its head to keep it down.

Stiles survived as a human for years. He got out of Beacon Hills. He went to college. He was set to enter the FBI training program after he graduated. And now he got bitten by a random, sick alpha. Not one of his friends, just some guy standing in the road.

Stiles smashed his bat down again, though the alpha hadn't showed any sign of getting back up.

"Stiles," Lydia whispered.

He kicked the alpha over and crushed his teeth. He swung his bat until, instead of a crunch, he heard a squelch.

"He's dead, Stiles. Please stop."

Stiles dropped the bat. He thought there was something he should say. Something he should do. Something he shouldn't have done.

He looked at the alpha's smashed in face and tried to feel regret. He was supposed to help people. He wanted to help people. He wanted to be better than this.

But he wasn't. The dead alpha's blood covered his bat. It had sprayed out over Stiles to coat his face, chest, arms, even his legs.

"I did this." Stiles dropped to his knees.

This wasn't the first time he killed, but the other had been half-accident. He had dropped scaffolding on Donovan, and a pipe impaled him. A long time later, Scott told Stiles the lie Theo gave about how Stiles killed Donovan, the lie that made Scott believe Stiles had gone too far.

It had looked like this.

Lydia knelt beside him. Her voice was breathlessly thin when she said, "You weren't just destroying his teeth."

Stiles opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.

Lydia pressed something against the side of his neck where the alpha bit him. She said, "The blood of red, not black. That's good."

When Stiles spoke, his voice shook, "Is Scott in town yet?"

"Not until tomorrow. Malia will be in the next day." She paused. "I should call your dad."

"What about Liam?" He and Hayden should both be in town. Corey and Theo too, though as chimera's Stiles thought they'd be less helpful. Peter was around somewhere, but he was a born wolf, not bitten.

"There's nothing he can do. The change takes time, right? Nothing will happen tonight." She looked back at the alpha. "We should take care of... everything else first."

They couldn't just leave the body. Forensic evidence would point back to them once it was found. The man had been hit by Lydia's car, taken a bite out of Stiles' neck, and been beaten to death with Stiles' bat. Stiles was covered in both their blood.

"Parrish could burn it," Stiles said.

"Deaton may be able to find what's wrong with him," Lydia said. "He bit you. What if he transmitted whatever was making him sick too?"

"The longer the body survives, the higher the chance of it being found. I can't..." He took in a shaking breath. "I can't claim self defense for this. It wouldn't hold up in court, not the way I... I..." He clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. "We have to destroy the evidence."

"It was self defense," Lydia said.

"Does it look like self defense?" Stiles asked. "It doesn't to me. It won't to a jury."

"You won't face a jury," Lydia assured him. "Your dad is the sheriff, and we can destroy the body after Deaton performs an autopsy as easily as before."

Stiles ran his hands over his face. The motion was slick with blood.

Lydia pulled her phone from her purse and dialed. She set her free hand against Stiles' arm to calm him as she waited.

"Can anyone hear us?" she asked. "This is... private." She listened a moment and said, "I hit a werewolf with my car. He bit Stiles, and Stiles killed him. We need help." She was on the phone a while longer, saying where they were and answering a barrage of questions.

Stiles wiped his hands off on the back of his jeans and slipped his own phone from his pocket. He peeled off a wad of napkins Lydia had used to stop the blood flow and used the front-facing camera to study the bite. He took a picture, not sure if he would want record of the wound or not.

There was a gouge missing from his neck. Scrape marks along the edge marked the path of the alpha's teeth. It was too much of a bloodied mess to clearly see the muscle and sinew laid bare. It moved when he swallowed. Stiles barely felt it.

"I think I'm in shock," he said. He was supposed to feel it.

Lydia pet his hair and promised to make everything alright.

"He bit me," Stiles spat. "I never wanted to be a werewolf."

"I know," Lydia said. He'd never told her outright, but if he'd wanted it, all he would have had to do was ask.

"I didn't..." Stiles looked at the blood on his hands and arms, the streaks left on his phone despite his attempts to wipe his hands. "I think I'm angry, but I don't feel it. I didn't think about what I was doing. I just did it."

"I killed Valack," Lydia reminded him. He'd been nearby, though at a safe distance when it happened. She hadn't been herself. "You're not the only one."

"You couldn't have done anything else," Stiles insisted.

"Neither could you. Mountain ash didn't hold him, and he was trying to kill you, not bite you."

"We could have tried to herbs."

"How?"

"I had him down on the ground. We could have given him the herbs before he got up."

"Could we?" Lydia frowned. "He was an alpha, Stiles. He might have healed faster than we could move. We might have died in trying to save him instead of ourselves."

It was kind of Lydia to talk like this was something they did together. Maybe, given her power, it was something she let him do, but Stiles had done it himself.

"Look at him," Stiles ordered. "I didn't just kill him. I didn't just stop him from killing us." Stiles struggled to breathe. "I obliterated his face."

Lydia froze, staring at Stiles, not at what he'd done. Stiles felt it then, the heat behind his eyes. They were glowing like a transformed wolf's. He lifted a blood-smeared hand to see his claws.

Gently, Lydia pushed his hand back down out of sight. With her other hand, she turned his head to look her in the eye.

She said, "It must be faster because you killed him. You're an alpha."

"I don't have an anchor. I don't have a plan." Stiles tried to dim his eyes, but they only blazed stronger. He couldn't make the claws retract.

"You're shifted, but you haven't attacked me," Lydia said. "You're still in control."

"For how long?" Stiles growled. The vibration rumbled through his chest and throat.

"You can't hurt me," Lydia said.

"I could hurt my dad."

"Parrish and Deaton are coming with him. I think the group of us can handle one baby werewolf, even an alpha." Lydia sounded calmer than she smelled.

"I can't risk it," Stiles snarled. As fangs, his teeth fit together differently when he clenched them.

"The wolfsbane you brought. Could any of it put you to sleep?" Lydia asked, grabbing Stiles' backpack off the street.

Stiles flinched back from the bag, from the scent of poison wafting from it.

"Stiles, focus. Can any of this knock you out?"

"Green baggie." He bit his lip but stopped when his fang pierced it. "Make sure I'm away from humans when I wake up."

"I will," Lydia promised. She tossed the wolfsbane in his face.

Stiles sneezed and stumbled back with a snarl. "I'm still awake."

He grabbed the rest of the wolfsbane from Lydia's hand and tossed it aside with a roar. Blood welled on his fingers where his claws had raked a path across her skin.

"I have to leave," Stiles said, staring at her blood.

"Wait." Lydia stretched her injured hand toward him. "You... your phone. It'll die. Take your battery pack."

"Who would I call?"

"Scott will be here tomorrow, and he can help."

"I'm not one of his betas," Stiles growled, surprised at his own anger.

"A pack can have more than one alpha. We've seen it before." She reached into Stiles' bag.

Lydia lifted her hand from the bag and hurled ash at him instead of a battery pack. Stiles roared, but his voice couldn't displace ash. He hurled himself forward and crashed against the barrier. It gave slightly when he hit it.

"Let me go!" he screamed. His voice was deep and filled with inhuman vibration.

"We can figure this out together, Stiles. I just need you to breathe slowly. I'll breathe with you, okay?"

"I don't want to breathe with you," he rumbled.

She was afraid, for him, not of him. He smelled it on her skin. He heart beat faster than it would at rest, but slow enough that she was still in control. Stiles' heartbeat wasn't nearly so measured.

"It will be okay, Stiles." She was still trying to calm him.

Stiles rammed his fist against the barrier with a snarl. Mountain ash hadn't held the alpha. Scott had broken through it once, too. Wolves weren't supposed to be able to touch mountain ash, but Stiles hadn't touched it the first time he broke an ash line. He was transforming fast, but maybe it wasn't complete yet.

His fingers were still clawed when he held his hands in front of him, palms down. His hands trembled. He growled at them, but that couldn't make them stop.

Lydia reached over the ash to grasp his hands. He could smell her blood. It mixed with the blood already on his hand.

"Let me go," he ordered before she could try to calm him again. "Send Parrish after me to keep me from hurting anyone, but let me go."

Lydia pulled her hands back. "No."

Stiles screamed and hurled himself against the ash. "I can't hurt him. I already hurt you." He crashed against the barrier.

"Deaton needs to make sure you aren't sick too," Lydia insisted.

Stiles snarled.

Lydia raised an eyebrow, though her composure was only affectation. "You've already said that."

Stiles snapped his teeth at her.

"What can you bite from in there?"

Had she run out of arguments and meant to annoy him into submission now?

Stiles held up his hands again, palms facing the ash. He focused on the ash, tuning Lydia out. Mountain ash circled him entirely, resting in a thin line against the asphalt at the edge of the road. It was barely more than dust and worked because Lydia believed it would. Stiles had controlled it before. He could do it again.

Stiles separated his hands. The ash line broke.

He ran into the night. Behind him, Lydia screamed his name. Farther out, he heard the first hint of a police siren as his father neared.

#help rinzi wont shut up #mine

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