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cades-outsider · 3 years ago

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Johnny Cade X Reader *SMUT*

Warnings: Your first time with Johnny Cade

Irresistible

The feeling of Johnny's touch always lingered on your skin, his burning touch sent sensations that ran through your veins in such a way. It left goosebumps on your skin, the kind of goosebumps that only Johnny could give you.

The sensation was almost like nothing you had ever felt before, his touch only ever made your skin burn with anticipation in the best way possible. It made your heart race ten times the normal speed.

Your pupils would dilate times ten, so much so that your eyes would cloud up with love and lust only towards Johnny. Your cheeks would brighten from the inside effect he could cause. Your chest would tighten from anticipation and excitement. Every part of you felt like it was on fire just by Johnny lightly caressing your skin.

You didn't know this, but your touch did the exact same for Johnny Cade. His moans and drawn out whimpers would let anyone know how desperate he was for your touch. The same tingling sensation would run through his veins causing him to let out a strain of moans from the contact of just your finger tips or your lips in contact with the sensitive skin on his neck.

You and Johnny had never had sex before, the farthest you both had went were intimate make outs. You hadn't even seen each other naked yet, for Johnny the farthest he's ever went was sliding his hands under your shirt and resting them on yours hips; not wanting to go any further incase you go uncomfortable.

For you the farthest you went with Johnny was grinding against him, Johnny was to shy to ask for anything and he was to shy to do something about it. He didn't want to go over boundaries, and sometimes he was too afraid to ask so you both would just end the make out with slow pecks and hand movements.

Neither you or Johnny were experienced, so when it finally did happen it would be both of your firsts. The Curtis's were having a family dinner with the whole gang, and being apart of the gang with Johnny they insisted you both came and stayed for their annual family dinner.

Johnny agreed but only if you were going, you agreed as well wanting to spend time with your second family. Well technically they would be more like your first since you barley seen your real family, they were always gone on job trips or vacation. You were happy that they didn't drag you alone to say the least, that meant you got to spend extra time with Johnny.

The times your parents weren't home which would usually be all the time; as of now your parents were home but resting for a trip they had planned the next day ahead. During these times when your parents weren't home you would take Johnny in and let him stay with you, you'd feed him, let him take showers, wash his clothes, and let him sleep in your room with you with the price of cuddles of course.

Both you and Johnny entered the Curtis's cozy home, everyone greeted you both with warm welcoming smiles and greetings. As always Darry came out of the kitchen wearing an old apron, drying his wet hands on the apron that rested around his waist as he let out a warm smile "make yourselves' at home" He tilts his head to the unoccupied couch.

You grabbed Johnny's hand with a warm smile and walked over to the couch, after greeting everyone yourselves you and Johnny take a seat close by. The room was always a bit tight considering there was only two rocking chairs, a love seat that could hold four people and a coffee table.

You sat closer to the arm of the couch, Johnny sitting so close to you your arms and legs were touching. Not that you minded, but his touch always just seemed to make your body light up in flames. A small blush covers your cheeks as the small sounds of Mickey Mouse playing ignited the room.

Two-bit sat on the floor as always, with a whole chocolate cake also not surprisingly; he always spoiled his dinner first as Darry would like to call it. You interlocked you and Johnny's hand together, resting both your intwined hands on the middle of your leg but still super close to your thigh.

Your exposed legs and his touch only made your skin burn more with anticipation, you decided it would be a good day to wear your flowered skirt that went just past your mid thigh. Since it was a hot and sunny day out, you also matched it with a black tank top that had a string tied in the middle way of your chest, with your worn out white converses.

Now you were starting to rethink the whole skirt idea, but maybe it would come in handy later on. Soon Dallas entered the house and all of a sudden the once small, quite house was now full of laughter and small talk.

Soon dinner was ready and Darry was calling everybody in the kitchen, Pony boy was setting the plates and silverware. Steve grabbed a few extra chairs for everyone and made room at the table, Darry had made his famous mash potatoes, steak, and vegetables; everyone's favorite.

Everyone over flooded their plates seeing as Darry made enough for three and a half families. You were seated next to Johnny on your left and Pony boy on your right. Everyone said grace before digging in and stuffing their faces with delight.

"This is really somethin' Darr" Dallas complimented with his face full, as everyone followed behind with praises and thank you's of the food.

Darry responded with a simple 'Thank you' in return before stuffing his face. Soon everyone was stuffed from the nice meal, though once Two-bit finished swallowing his last bite he sighed stuffed before standing up from his seat "I got the chocolate cake" he sates before rushing to the counter and grabbing the cake causing everyone to let out a little chuckle.

Everyone was able to eat a thin slice of chocolate cake while Two-bit on the other hand was back at his mission of sitting on the floor watching Mickey and eating the rest of the cake using his hands.

Darry collected all the empty plates and silverware before placing them in the sink, starting to wash the dishes. You kissed Johnny on the cheek and let him know you were going to help Darry with the dishes. He responded with a gentle nod before pecking your lips and taking a seat on the couch beside Dallas, Dallas immediately grabbed Johnny in a head lock and ruffled up his hair.

"Hey Darr, need some help" You offer, walking over to the sink.

"Sure Y/n, that'd be nice" He smiles moving over to let you stand by the strainer, while he washed and rinsed the dishes you dried them off with the kitchen towel given to you.

In a matter of five minutes you both had managed to finish up the dishes faster than just one person would've. Walking into the living room you take an open seat beside Johnny, resting your head on his shoulder to which Johnny lays his head against yours and snuggles into your side.

Soon the laughter and fun times ended once the sun went down and it started getting dark, you and Johnny said your goodbyes but before you could leave the porch Dallas came running over to Johnny. He tugged him away for a second before slipping something in Johnny's hands, it reflected off of the moonlight and you could tell it was a packet of some sort.

Once Johnny took a look at whatever it was he quickly shoved it in his Jean jackets pocket with an embarrassed blush covering his features "good luck" Dallas grinned, with a cheeky wink as he walked back into the house.

Johnny walked back up to you and slipped one of his hands in yours while his other rested in his pocket. It was quite chilly out, causing Johnny's small frame to shake from the cool air. You only shook once but that was enough for Johnny to pull off his jacket and drape it over your shoulders, your head snapped up to Johnny's.

"Johnny m' fine really, here" You tried to give it back to him but he refused to take it back, his small frame still shaking.

"Nah' Y/n I'm good really" He tries, but you clearly see behind his shaking features.

Grabbing Johnny's arm you lift up the jacket letting his arm slide through the collar but also draped around your shoulders, as you drape your shoulder around his letting the jacket cover his freezing frame.

You look up at Johnny, catching his loving gaze as he stares back at you. No one had ever really put him first like you have, even if he protested against something like this you always found a positive way to help the situation.

You smiled up at him shyly as you both continue to walk down the road, "wanna' come to my house?" You question.

He shakes his head "your parents' are there I wouldn't want to intrude" He says.

"You wouldn't, you never do... but how about' we go to the lot then?" You question curiously.

Johnny looks up at you "yeah, that'd be nice" He smiles small.

A couple more minutes of walking and you both arrived at the lot, the moon reflecting on the old seat car seat that you and Johnny have cuddled on many times. Johnny removes his arms from the jacket to grab his lighter and lighting a couple of dead leaves placing them on top of the wood, causing the sticks and limbs to ignite a warm fire.

You rest your hands in Johnny's jacket pockets before feeling a sharp paper like object touch your finger pads, while Johnny was busy rearranging the limbs to keep the fire going you slipped out the golden packet from the pocket that read 'durex: one latex condom'.

You soon heard the steering of leaves and branches come to a halt causing you to move your gaze to Johnny. His mouth was wide open and his eyes were slightly bulged open as well. There was a loud silence, the only thing that could be heard was the burning of the fire.

You walked over to Johnny and sat down on the seat next to him, Johnny's gaze followed you as his expression never changed. "So this is what Dal' slipped you eh?" You giggle slightly, something you only found yourself doing with Johnny.

A bright red blush covers Johnny's features as he looks down embarrassed but slowly nods, confirming it was in fact what Dal had slipped him.

You lift his head up with your pointer finger, your eyes meeting once against you raise one of your legs and place it on the other side of Johnny now fully straddling his waist.

Johnny gulps nervously as your body's continue to touch each other's, you gently caress Johnny's arm with the pads of your fingers causing goosebumps to ride down his spine. He continues to watch your every move, studying your features like none before.

"Johnny I'm ready" You mumble softly, looking into his soft brown orbs.

"Wait. Are you sure?" He mumbles resting his hands just above your hips.

"Yes, are you ready?" You question softly.

"I am" He gives consent, a small blush forming across his cheeks due to this conversation.

He was terrified, what if's kept running through his mind 'what if you don't like it?' 'What if I'm bad?' 'What if she leaves me?'. He hadn't ever been in this position before and this meant a lot to him, because it was a sign of love for your partner and he didn't want to dis-satisfy and disappoint.

You place your hands gently on his cheeks and bring him into a loving kiss, fireworks go off, your lips tingle against one another, slowly but surely the kiss started to heat up along with the speed.

You were now both hungry for each other, you pulled away for air but immediately placed your lips against the sensitive skin around his neck, Johnny lowly whimpers in response as his head tilts back. You were starting to get greedy, your kisses became more desperate as did your grinding on his crotch.

Though you kept that at bay not wanting to frighten him. Your breathing started picking up as you nipped and kissed his soft spots on his neck. Johnny felt as if he was floating with the immense pleasure and you haven't even started yet.

You lifted your face from his neck and went back to his lips, closing the gap. You slowed down the kiss, gently you bend your head down a little and take his bottom lip in between your two lips, kissing slowly before moving to his top lip and showing all your attention there. Soon your place your lips on his, he runs his tongue under your bottom lip asking for entrance to which you allow.

His tongue slipping into your mouth, interwinding and fighting for dominance with yours. You pull away slightly for more air, you get a good look at Johnny's eyes and see that they have darkened and lust clouds his eyes as he looks at you lovingly.

You grind your hips against his hardening cock causing him to gasp in shock and in pleasure as he grips your hips and follows your rhythm. You close your eyes and let out a light moan from the stimulation. You never would've pictured Johnny like this, his eyes were practically begging you; speaking words he was to embarrassed to speak himself.

"Johnny..." You whisper, going back to your current position of kissing and nipping at his neck, making sure not to add noticeable loves bites.

"Y/n.. Can-can I touch you" He practically begs out.

"Yes..." You breath out, trying to maintain your breathing.

Gently he grips your hips and turns you over so he's hovering over you, his eyes pierce through your soul. You almost spill out all your dirty thoughts you've had about Johnny right then and there.

It felt like hours as Johnny's brown orbs stare into yours, when in reality it had only been a couple seconds. Everything seems to play in slo-motion as Johnny straddles your waist, knees on either side of your waist. Kneeling down so his forearms are resting beside each side of your head laying on the old seat.

Johnny peppers small kisses around your neck and under your jaw, slowly he makes it down the valley of your breast; not going any further than that he starts sucking on the sensitive skin leaving little loves bites in places that wouldn't show to much.

You run your fingers through his greasy hair, not caring that in return your hand was starting to get greasy from the intense amount of hair grease placed in his hair.

Johnny slips his Jean jacket off your shoulders placing it on the ground next to you, he places gentle kisses all over your exposed shoulders. His hands began to shake from nervousness, this action causes you to lift Johnny's head up with your finger.

"Johnny... are you sure you're ready?" You caress his cheek lovingly.

He nods his head "I'm sure, are you?" He makes sure.

"I am" You confirm, bringing him down to press a loving kiss to his chapped lips.

He fumbles with the string of your top nervously, trying to untie it; his shaking hands not allowing him to do so. Eventually he manages to untie the bow, following with unbuttoning the rest of the buttons with a nervous struggle.

He slips the piece of clothing off your shoulder, exposing your black bra that held a little diamond bow in the middle. You blush as Johnny stares at your chest lovingly, "Y-you're beautiful..." He gasps out.

He doesn't give you to to thank him before placing little kisses above your breasts, gently sucking and creating little love bites causing you to let out a little moan. You tug at the hem of Johnny's black t-shirt, signaling that you wanted it off.

Johnny stops what he's doing to lift up his shirt off of his body now showing of his tan skin. A couple scars rest on his chest and torso, you gently rub your finger pads over some of the old scars. Lifting up your body you rest on your elbows maintaining eye contact as you press a few kisses to his scars and chest causing Johnny to melt in his position.

Johnny blushes as you lean back a little to get the whole view of your Johnny Cade, still resting on your elbows you look up at him with excited eyes. You run a finger down his chest to his stomach, stoping at the hem of his pants that held a very noticeable bulge.

You lift yourself up, wrapping your arms around Johnny neck before bringing you both back down and pulling him into a lust filed kiss. Letting your hands wander you end up being back to the hem of his loose jeans, you let your fingers rest there for a bit as you and Johnny continue to make out.

Soon you start to fumble with the button, then you start unzipping his jeans. You leave it at that before breaking the kiss for air. Johnny lowers his his butterfly kisses to your stomach, soon being face to face with your skirt.

Looking you in the eyes he slips his hands in your skirt, rubbing your thighs as he does so. He grabs the edges of your underwear and tugs them down, licking his lips hungrily as he does so.

Placing them on top of his jean jacket so they don't get dirty he spreads your legs not quite seeing your exposed core yet. "Can I taste you Y/n?" He asks innocently, his breathing picking up as he looks up at you his once light brown eyes now fully black and clouded with lust.

You nod your head furiously your stomach tightening from excitement, lifting your skirt above your thighs your core now being exposed to Johnny. You were so into it you didn't feel embarrassed about showing him your body at all.

He places kisses on your thighs, slowly leaning closer to the place you needed him the most. Looking up at you he wraps his lips around your clit, the feeling of his tongue causing you to gasp at the stimulation.

He continues to swirl his tongue around your clit, flicking faster as your breathing picks up. Johnny gets more confident in his movements as he hears you moan, he speeds things up and slowly starts to add one finger into your now dripping core.

Your eyes roll into the back of your head as he lets you adjust to one finger before slipping in two. You let out a strained whimper as his tongue continues to work on your clit and his two fingers stretching you out, getting you ready for him.

Since this was your first time being eaten out and first time period, your climax comes closer than you would've expected. Your eyes roll back as your hips push farther into Johnny's hold, "I'm gonna cum, Johnny!" You whimper out as your high soon rolls over, causing your hips to stutter and Johnny to moan at the satisfying taste.

He lets you ride out your high before coming back up to you, a panting mess as you try to calm yourself. Johnny's lips glisten in the moonlight as he's covered in your cum. He licks his lips and sucks off his fingers hungrily as his eyes continue to stare into yours.

"You taste amazin'" He moans out as he presses a kiss to your lips before getting up and sitting on the other side of the seat and tugging off his jeans.

Sitting up you wrap your legs around his waist, grinding yourself on his clothed bulge. You run your fingers down his stomach until you get to his boxers "can I?" You blush.

Johnny nods shyly as a blush covers his features, you tug down his boxers revealing his cock that springs out and hits his stomach. You lick your lips as you place the piece of clothing on top of the pile of clothes. You run your finger pad over the tip of his cock smearing the pre cum that rested there.

Johnny's breathing picks up as his head falls back, his mouth falls open and his eyes screw shut; having being touched for the first time. Getting more confident you grab his length and start to stoke his cock in up and down motions, slowly since he was sensitive.

Small moans fall out of Johnny's pink lips, your mouth falls open as you look up at Johnny, his moans turning you on even more. "Oh my..." you mumble lowly, as you continue to stoke his length.

Grabbing the condom that sat beside you, you slow down your motions before stopping causing Johnny to look back up at you. You gently open the packet to the condom, sliding out the lubricated latex. Flipping it to the right side you place the condom on the tip of Johnny's cock before sliding it down correctly.

Johnny watches in amazement as you adjust the condom on his length, you press a loving kiss to his jaw before gazing into his brown orbs "are you ready?" You question, caressing his redden cheek.

Johnny nods furiously as he places his hands above your hips, shakily. Lining up his cock with your entrance, you start to slide down his cock. Your tight walls closing on around Johnny's length, it didn't really hurt as he slipped in your walls but more so stung a bit. It was a very tight fit as you continue to slide down further on his harden cock.

Johnny's eyes slam shut at the tight fit around his length, his breathing picked up as his cheeks reddened along with the tip of his nose. His stomach heaved up and down from your walls closing in on him, his hips stuttered from him being so sensitive but he maintained them as best as he could until you were ready to speed up.

Soon your walls started to get used to Johnny's cock allowing you to speed up your actions, your head rolls back as your chest arches from the stimulation. Just now realizing you weren't completely naked since your bra was still connected to your body, you continue riding Johnny at a medium speed whilst reaching your hands behind your bra strap and unclipping it.

Throwing your bra to the other side finally freeing your breasts, Johnny's eyes widen at the skin burning sight. He looks up with his doe brown eyes, asking to touch you. You nod as you continue to ride Johnny, your boobs bouncing as you do so. Johnny's eyes fall back on your perky breasts before letting his hand trail up from your waist and stomach to your boobs, lightly twisting your harden nipple causing you to moan and roll your hips.

"Oh Y/n~" He all but whimpers as his hands continue to rest on your chest, Johnny throws his head back, mouth gape open, eyes shut as you feel his cock reach your sweet spot.

"Oh my, Johnny" You moan out, skin slapping together as you ignore the burning sensation in your thighs.

Johnny lifts up and wraps his arms around your waist, pulling your heated body closer to his as your motions speed up. Your hands fall to his neck, playing with the little hairs that rested there. His head rests on your chest, his breathing constantly heaving as he feels the burning sensation in his abdomen.

He lets out a muffled whimper against your skin as his cock continues to reach a point past your sweet spot and your walls clench around him greedily. You swirl your hips around his causing Johnny to gasp, "do t-that again' p-please" he begs out, squeezing his eyes closed.

You continue to swirl your hips around his length feeling that same burning sensation in your abdomen. You speed up your actions, ready to reach that point. Johnny places his lips against yours for support as he feels his body shaking from anticipation and also chasing his high.

His hips stutter upwards causing his cock to be buried deeper inside your walls. You moan out into the silent night as your motions only increase, "y/n... I'm gonna' cum" Johnny warns as his breath catches in his throat, you nod your head in agreement.

With one final thrust Johnny cum's in the condom, you're able to feel the warm cum inside you from the thin latex that was preventing him from spilling inside you, that set off your orgasm as you start to cum around his cock. Your hips stutter along with Johnny's creating more friction against your sensitive core.

Once both your highs decrease you slow your movements, not quite quitting as you press a loving kiss to Johnny's lips. He accepts the kiss, only becoming more needy as you run your hands through his hair.

You pull away gently before gazing into Johnny's loving orbs, "that was amazin' Y/n..." he gasps out as you agree, slowing sliding off his cock slowly causing you both to whimper as Johnny's hips stutter in the air.

Before Johnny could slip the condom off you take action and began slowly slipping it off for him and tying it before discarding of the latex in the trash can beside the seat.

You slip on your tank top, not bothering to put your uncomfortable bra on as you hand Johnny his boxer and jeans. Johnny slips on his clothes the same time you do.

Johnny looks at you lovingly as you finish up the buttons on your tank top, half your chest still exposed until you finish buttoning the last button.

You glance at Johnny to see him staring at you, "what?" You smile bashfully.

"You're just'... beautiful" He admires you as you crawl over to him and cuddle into his side, taking his Jean jacket and covering you both up with it.

"That was really breath takin' Johnny" You giggle slightly as you shyly look into his puppy eyes.

Johnny smiles as a blush covers his features "i love you Y/n" Johnny admits as he cuddles into your side.

"I love you Johnny" You smile as you both stare at the burning fire, soon your breathing lured Johnny into a restful and deep sleep, you soon following behind moments latter.

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Requested from Wattpad!!!

#wattpad #cobra kai #cobra kai imagine #cobra kai x reader #eli moskowitz x reader #hawk #tiktok #x reader #masterlist #johnny cade x reader #johnnycade #the outsiders #outsiders #johnnycade smut #johnnycadexreadersmut #robby keene

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koolkat9 · 2 years ago

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GerEng Week 2022: Day 9

@gereng-week

Prompt: Free day

Relationship: GerEng + Sealand

Rating: T

Word Count: 496

Author's Note: So I do have a fic planned for yesterday's prompt, but I wanted to do a little something for Halloween so I'll be posting this prompt and yesterday's prompt out of order. Happy Halloween every one!

"Remind me again how we got stuck taking him trick-or-treating?” Ludwig asked as they walked down the street near Arthur’s flat. Peter had run up ahead, his devil tail bouncing as he did so. Arthur had gone all out on Peter’s costume this year ensuring it was both warm and looked like a proper little demon.

"Because he's spoiled and requested we do, and you can't say no to puppy dog eyes."

Ludwig flushed lightly.

Arthur smiled slightly. "It's not so bad. I made him agree to pay us in candy, so at least we'll have sweets to make up for it."

“Arthur,” Ludwig scolded.

“What? It’s cold and wet, and I would much rather have stayed inside tonight. I need some sort of incentive. Half his candy ends up going to waste anyway when he forgets about it after a few months.”

Ludwig couldn’t argue with that. It would be a shame for all those sweets to go to waste.

“Hurry up!” Peter whined, looking back pleadingly.

“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Arthur groaned. He jogged to catch up to him.

Ludwig stifled a laugh. Though he would much prefer to have stayed in for Halloween and perhaps help Arthur hand out candy, as he watched Arthur and Peter approach the first house, he couldn’t help but smile.

With the help of Ludwig and his strategic planning, the three were able to efficiently make their way around the neighbourhood, leaving extra time for a movie before bed. They had finished just in time too, given the way Peter’s feet were dragging and his eyes drooped.

Without a word, Ludwig scooped up the tired boy into his arms.

“I can walk on my own,” came Peter’s half-hearted protest.

“I know. But you should conserve your energy for movie night.”

Peter shrugged, letting his head rest on Ludwig’s shoulder.

“Don’t fall asleep now,” Arthur teased, booping Peter’s nose.

The boy batted his brother’s hand away and snuggled into Ludwig more. Arthur chuckled.

He took Peter’s bags of treats. “God, he made out like a cheeky bandit,” Arthur exclaimed as he peeked into one of them.

“Makes you wish we had stuff like this when we were kids.”

“I mean, I did. Ever heard of Samhain? We dressed up in animal skins. And we added the food thing centuries later.”

Ludwig nodded along. “I didn’t. We only just started embracing the traditions.”

“Ah right. Well, at least you can celebrate now.”

Arthur lifted up a piece of chocolate he stole from one of the bags to Ludwig’s lips. “Arthur,” Ludwig hissed.

“What? It’s part of our payment.”

Ludwig rolled his eyes but took the chocolate anyway. Curse his sweet tooth.

“So about that movie. What were you thinking?”

“Well, we have few. Corpse Bride is at the top of my list personally. But Peter has the final say. And later, when Peter goes to sleep, I was thinking we could watch Rocky Horror.”

Ludwig nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

#hetalia #hws #gereng #geruk #engger #hws sealand #hws germany #hws england #gereng week 2022 #gereng week #fanfiction #hetalia fanfiction #fluff #trick or treat #halloween #halloween 2022

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akirameta84 · 4 years ago

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Saiki K. - A list of Never-Adapted Chapters

As stated, a list and brief kinda long summery of the chapters never adapted into the anime. Only a few have good reasons aside from time though. (Also a list of reasons for anime only viewers to give the manga a read *cough*)

Warning: I spoil every single one of these chapters. So if you’re lazy and only want to read the non adapted chapters, go ahead and just read the chapter number/name, and avoid the summery. You will be missing a HUGE amount of unadapted scenes if you don’t read the whole manga though, which are present in nearly every chapter, adapted or not. They were likely cut for time like a lot of the chapters, but many add depth and important character development, and actually explain certain dynamics between characters present that were glossed over in the anime.

Reblogs appreciated...this took me so long qwq

Under the cut for sheer length

Chapter 0.1 “Telepathy”: A chapter mainly detailing info about Saiki’s telepathic abilities, and the plot revolves around him stopping his class from believing Nendo stole everybody's wallets.

Chapter 0.2 “Telekinesis”: A chapter mainly detailing info about Saiki’s telekinetic abilities, and the plot revolves around Nendo “saving” him from being bullied, and him realizing that Nendo actually isn’t a delinquent, and is a good friend. Interestingly, Saiki is able to hear Nendo’s thoughts during this chapter, in which he is internally telling Saiki to run away while he takes the attack from the bullies.

Chapter 0.4 “Precognition”: A chapter mainly detailing info about Saiki’s precognitive abilities (are you noticing a theme among the volume zero chapters?), and the plot revolves around him receiving a precognition about Nendo’s supposed funeral. Saiki follows Nendo around all day as they hang out in preparation of his date, and it’s (obviously) revealed the girl did it as a dare. Saiki uses his teleportation to apport a bowling ball Nendo had bought with the girl’s phone, and sends a message telling Nendo that she was simply busy and had to miss the date. The two go to Nendo’s house and it’s revealed the memorial was for Nendo’s already deceased dad, not him.

Chapter 0.5 “Teleportation”: A chapter mainly detailing info about Saiki’s ability to teleport/apport, and the plot revolves around Chouno attempting a magic show with a new assistant, after firing Ike-san (still homeless at the time) for making mistakes. His assistant, however, is purposely sabotaging him. Part way through, Ike-san shows up and thinks about how he should’ve been a better assistant, and his makeover is revealed. Near the end of the show a trick is attempted to where Chouno’s assistant is meant to teleport out of a box, but of course she does nothing. It is noticed that her and Ike-san have swapped places, due to Saiki apporting the two of them, and Chouno and Ike-san reunite.

Chapter 0.6 “Clairvoyance”: A chapter mainly detailing info about Saiki’s clairvoyant abilities, and the plot revolves around Kaido accidently spotting Saiki teleporting from a distance, and trying to find out who it was. Unfortunately, the drawing he is using to ask around for the “Trickster” looks nothing like Saiki. At the end of the chapter, Saiki appears before Kaido with the face of his crude drawing, and teleports out, to appease him. (Interesting tidbit about this chapter is that the mysterious stranger from the birthday arc appears in the class while Saiki uses his clairvoyance to watch Kaido. He also appears in the background of chapter 41 (the telepathy silencer movie chapter), but not in the anime equivalent.)

Chapter 0.7 “Astral Projection”: A chapter mainly detailing info about Saiki’s ability to astral project, and the plot revolves around Saiki using telekinesis to deflect a stray baseball from hitting him, but it instead hits Nendo, subsequently knocking him out right before he was due to play in a baseball game. Thus, Saiki uses astral projection to take over Nendo’s body and play in the baseball game for him.

Chapter 8 “ Fighting for a RePSIval!”: Saiki and Nendo end up stopping a failing musician from jumping off a roof due to his enormous debt. Nendo gets the idea to help the man gain money by selling the CDS of his music he had ordered in bulk, which were the result of the debt, due to them not selling. He performs live in the park, and Saiki accidently uses his telepathy to project the song to everyone in the are, causing them to believe it became stuck in their heads due to how good it was.

Chapter 00 “Special One-Shot: The DiPSIster of Psychic Saiki Kusuo”: This chapter falls in-between 8 and 9. It is a collection of oneshots set in a slightly different universe (likely a pilot or a very early storyline) in which it details information over several of Saiki’s powers, much like Volume 0.

Chapter 32 “ExPSIbition! Jump Festa”: Saiki goes out to Jump Festa to purchase merchandise due to an errand from his mom. There he meets Kaido, and the whole chapter’s gag is subtle advertisement for Jump Festa. The pair run into a crying child, who had lost his mom. He smartly refuses to go with Kaido to a help desk due to stranger danger, but Kaido comes back in his cosplay and since the kid vaguely recognizes him after he “proves” he really is that character (with Saiki’s help), the kid is returned to his mom.

Chapter 73 “PubliPSIzing the Popularity Contest Results!“: Saiki ends up in an alternate universe to where people’s popularity is shifted. (The chapter is based on the popularity poll that was held, hence that being the joke). Saiki is the most popular in this world, and he is bombarded with people until he hides away in the bathroom and transforms into Kuriko. This allows the original world’s Saiki to return, and he briefly explains why the world is this way, before sending Saiki, as Kuriko, back.

Chapter 88 “Press Play! A "Making Of" PSItory”: Saiki finishes watching a movie, and he remarks about how he loved it due to the quality of the acting and would like to visit the place it was filmed. Shortly after, he teleports to the location while returning the movie. He then decides to use his psychometry to see how the movie was filmed, and slowly it is revealed that the actors themselves were quite bad, especially the child star who Saiki believed to be a very good actor. The reason the movie was so good is revealed to be because the scenes in the movie were filmed as a supposed to be “behind the scenes”, and those were put in place instead of the actual filmed scenes.

Chapter 95 “The PSInnacle of the Golden Age of Heroes! A Fun Party Game”: Kaidou, Nendo, and Kuboyasu visit Saiki’s house the same day the game “J-Stars Victory Vs” was supposed to be arriving for him. A package arrives at the door, but instead of J-Stars, it is “C-Heroes Vale Tudo Battle”, a ripoff game by Saiki’s dad’s manga company. Kaido, Nendo, and Kuboyasu are all enamored by the game and reveal that they love Cognac, the magazine the game is for, and they all play the game. At the end of the chapter, the actual wanted game arrives, and the trio are just as excited and want to play that instead.

Chapter 102 “The Achromatic InviPSIble Boy”: (My personal favorite chapter) Saiki turns himself invisible to avoid running into his friends on the way to school, and winds up inside an empty storage room in order to wait for his invisibility to wear off. Unfortunately, a group of girls decided to use this room to change due to the peeping tom that’s been rumored around the campus. He hides by gripping onto the ceiling and waiting for them to leave, but when his invisibility is about to wear off the girls have still not left. After some time spent dodging and hiding, the door is opened by Saiki, revealing the actual peeping tom. The girls chase after him and Saiki uses the opportunity to escape.

Chapter 118 “The DiPSIster of the Rental Video Store”: Saiki, due to being bored, decides to go to a rental movie store to rent a movie to watch. Unfortunately, the current cashier is one that Saiki doesn’t favor very much, because she is high on his list for potential spoilers, but he remarks that at least the manager, a man who has seen nearly every movie, isn’t there. But (lmao), the manager switches positions with the cashier shortly after. Saiki then runs into Takahashi, who is purchasing pornography. In exchange for not telling the school about this, Saiki asks Takahashi to check out his movies for him. Takahashi gets caught like the dumbass he is and the plan is ruined.

Chapter 133 “An ExPSIlent Wife and Mother!? Mom's Class Reunion”: Saiki starts the chapter off by explaining how his mother is scatterbrained, and showing examples of it. Kurumi than remarks that she is going to her class reunion, which is being held in the city near her this year instead of way out in the country, meaning she can attend. When she arrives she starts getting reintroduced to her classmates who she hasn’t seen in 20 years, and talking about how different they are. Only one of the attendees, however, is actually from her class, and he reveals that the whole event is a plan to get closer to Kurumi, in order to use her for her eldest son’s wealth. Saiki, who had come to watch after having a bad feeling about the event, follows him into the bathroom and threatens him to stay away from his mom. Before he can finish, Kurumi accidently stumbles into the men’s bathroom, and her former classmate claims that her youngest son had attacked him unprovoked. Kurumi attacks the man, claiming her son would never do such a thing.

Chapter 134 “Kaidou and Kuboyasu's PSIpicions”: (The BEST Chapter) Kaidou and Kuboyasu are talking near their lockers about how neither of them got any chocolate for valentines day, and the conversation strays off to talking about Hairo. The two remark that they never see him talking to or dating girls, despite his popularity, and joke that he must be gay. The two are later found following Hairo, and bring up incidents that add to their growing suspicion. They soon find Hairo talking to Nendo, and begging the latter to join his club, stating that it has to be him. The conversation is normal, but Kaidou and Kuboyasu keep mistaking parts of it as being dirty. They watch Nendo and Hairo have a sumo match, and confront him after it, stating that it’s fine if he his gay, they were just curious. Hairo laughs it off and says he isn’t, but after another risque seeming scene (including an omake where Hairo and Nendo remark about keeping their relationship secret and how Hairo is willing to come out for him 🤔 ) the duo agree to stop thinking about it.

Chapter 165 “Train DiPSIster”: Saiki decides to take the train to a coffee shop 30 minutes away from his house instead of teleporting, claiming coffee jelly tastes much more satisfying if there is effort put into travelling there...though he does plan to teleport home. He explains how annoying train rides are for him, due to his telepathy, and how if someone playing music loudly is annoying for you, how much worse it is to listen everyone complain about said music. Over the course of the trip, Saiki begins to get anxious due to the crowds and his telepathy, and is relieved when several people get off. Unfortunately, he receives a precognition about the train stopping, and ends up saving a man from jumping in front of the train. Saiki winds up teleporting to the coffee shop.

Chapters 176 & 177 “PSIolving the Biggest Riddle!”: Saiki shrinks himself to retrieve his mother’s wedding band that had fallen down a drain, and when he jumps down, he remarks that the sink had become essentially 80 meters tall due to his height. He lays down in his bed afterwards, deciding to take a nap while he returns to normal size. When he wakes up however, he is much taller than normal. Due to the fact his body keeps growing, to avoid destroying the house anymore, Saiki teleports away to an island to hide, but he realizes that he teleported to an island closer to land due to his height throwing off his teleport. He hides under the water to avoid being caught, but ends up having to teleport away to avoid being seen. He accidently ends up on land, and nearby is a tribe of people, who are speaking a strange language. Before they approach him, Saiki ducks into his shirt, remarking that he feels embarrassed and is at a loss. He ends up floating and crashes to the ground once he reaches a certain height. It eventually clicks and he returns home, normal size. He had realized that his growing and shrinking powers were the same, but growing happened slowly, and shrinking happened quickly, hence why he would return to normal size slowly. The cause of this issue? The off comment he made about the sink “Becoming 80 meters tall.”

Chapter 201 “A Miraculous InvenPSIon”: Saiki notices his dad using a tablet and asks him what it his, to which Kunihara explains. Once he remembers he has work, Kunihara runs off, but not before offering his old tablet to Saiki, saying he can use it to read books and buy things. A little while later, Saiki is amazed by the tablet. He remarks about the shopping sites he an use to buy not only physical copies of books on, but digital ones as well. He keeps thinking about how amazing the online shopping sites and recommendations are, meanwhile he performs basically the same exact thing to his mom, when she requests he go out and buy groceries, as he instantly apports them for her, and also added foil because he had a precognition about her running out. While searching for appliances, he stumbles on the coffee jelly maker he owns, and finds out it has shitty reviews, but everyone recommends a newer model. He looks for the cheapest price of it, and finds an ad claiming to sell it for 100 yen. However, he falls for the trick of a ridiculous shipping fee, and his father laughs and remarks how just like his mother, he got scammed. Angry, Saiki teleports to the factory and threatens them into giving him the model for 100 yen, claiming that he doesn’t have to pay the shipping fee if he picks it up himself.

Chapter 229 “No Need for Bath Salts! Taking a Dip in the PSIcret Hot Spring”: Saiki decides to take a visit to a secluded hot springs in the mountains to relax himself, but unfortunately two strangers decided to hike there at the very same time. He cannot just teleport or walk away, since he didn’t bring his clothes with him, having teleported there to begin with. To make them leave, he decides to heat the hot spring up, so that the two men get overheated and decic to leave. One of the men, however, decides to try and stay in the water that is slowly gaining heat, in order to outlast Saiki. The man eventually gets out and faints, and to avoid having to help them, Saiki feigns having fainted from the heat as well, causing the two men to leave on their own.

Chapter 243 ″Welcome to PSIberspace”: Saiki’s dad has a new VR headset, and while he has to leave for work he offers it to Saiki to play with. Saiki is enamored by the horror game his dad was playing, being that it’s able to surprise him. The jump scares, however, cause him to accidently use his telekinesis, which is actually blowing stuff up at his dad’s workplace, instead of his house.

Chapter 245 “Trending on a Streaming PSIte”: Kaidou, Nendo, Kuboyasu, and Saiki are all hanging out, and Kaidou mentions he has a camera and wants to become a youtuber (Yotubo-er is what it’s called). At a café, the group suggests video ideas, such as Teruhashi. In order to prevent this plan, however, Saiki uses telekinesis to stab french fries into their eyes when Teruhashi ends up walking by the café. On the walk home, however, Saiki receives a premonition about all the video ideas they suggested becoming popular, including one of him using his abilities on the french fries. He obtains the camera from Kaidou and deletes the footage, which had been recording due to the camera being on the entire time.

Chapter 255 “APSIsting In Mediating A Long-Term Marriage!”: Saiki and his parents go to visit his grandparent’s, only to learn the pair is fighting, and his grandmother would like a divorce. The start of the entire fight is revealed to be because Kumagoro left the toilet seat up, and Kumi explains how she’s had to put the seat down for 40 years. The reason she was so adamant to divorce as well was because Kuusuke had pushed her to it. Kumi gets ready to leave the house, especially after Kumagoro purposely leaves the lid up one last time. Saiki stops her and tells her to put down the lid one more time, only for the words ‘I’m Sorry’ to be written on it. The fight is resolved.

Chapter 264 “Please Go Watch the Live ActPSIon Movie!”: A manga Saiki reads is getting a live action movie, and he is particularly upset about it. His dad happens to be the editor for the manga, and takes him to the filming set to change his mind. (By the way, this is the best chapter for showcasing Kunihara’s shittiness as a father. He physically attacks his son several times. Missing, of course, but he still actively attacks him. Kunihara is a horrible person, let alone father.) Saiki views the set and is perturbed by the actor choices, specifically Makoto as the lead character. He is even more upset to learn that the movie features an original character (like a badly written wattpad fanfiction), and that the end of the movie even features the death of the main character, and Kunihara explains that it differs from the manga greatly. He explains to his son that the changes make the movie better, and Saiki ends up agreeing after he winds up viewing the actual live-action movie.

#saiki k #the disastrous life of saiki k.#saiki kusuo no psi nan #saiki kusuo #manga #long post

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that-one-weeb-but-starwars · 3 years ago

Text

A ball| Tup

Note: they did not need to make him that Pretty

Warnings: no not really, just Tup and Y/n fallin in love and steamy scene at the very end but kinda not really, also this is really long

Reader: female

Part 1 | 2 (in the works)

"Checkmate," Satine spoke.

"Damn it..." Y/n muttered, hand on her chin as Satine had one yet again another game.

Satine smiled at her, as Y/n tried reading the board seeing how it had exactly happened.

"Duchess, excuse me." A guard interrupted their leisurely game outside in the guards of the castle.

"It's no problem, what seems to be the problem?" Satine questioned.

"The preparations for the ball are underway, the royal seamstress says your outfits are done and asks if you both can approve of them."

"Yes of course," Satine spoke, two more guards walking up with boxes.

"Oh. no, I'm quite okay," Y/n responded, resetting the black and clear glass pieces.

"Y/n, you are turning 19, my dear, you'll need to look presentable," Satine spoke.

"Dutchess I believe I look presentable, I'm quite comfortable like this as well," Y/n told.

"I know my sweet child, you've always been comfortable with the bare minimum, but please, let me spoil you for one day," Satine responded.

Y/n was quiet as she set the final piece down, "very well..."

Satine smiled as she stood up to look inside the box and approve the dress, Y/n sat in thought, Satine wasn't her mother, no they looked drastically different after all, Y/n had been left in a bush in the palace gardens, Satine finding the child alone and in silence, busying herself with one of the flowers. Satine had gladly kept the child inside the palace walls until a parent came along, but no one ever came and Satine was suddenly a mother.

"Mistress." The guard spoke snapping her out of thought.

"Oh uh, yes." Y/n spoke standing up from her seat, and looking at the creme outfit with barely a glance, "Yes, it's beautiful, tell the Seamstress 100 thanks."

The guard nodded covering the box as they all bowed and left, Satine frowned, "Come walk. Let's talk my daughter."

"General Skywalker, do, do we really have to go as well?" Tup questioned, droids handing them all dark blue suits almost black in color, and matte.

"Yes, Obi-Wan was double security at this event for the Dutchess, and I agree with him," Anakin spoke, "Separatist parties will be there, Duchess Satine has a knack for being able to convince people, and with Padame they're practically an unstoppable team."

"But," Tup spoke, "Sir a, a party?"

"Diplomatic party, you'll be fine Tup."

Anakin then walked away to let his boys get ready and go get himself ready.

"I look good," Fives spoke checking himself out in the mirror.

"It's nice to wear something besides armor." Hardcase commented, "Makes me feel like a civie."

"A civie that just has thousands of replicas." Dogma argued.

"Oh get the stick out your ass," Jesse argued, "We can have fun for the one time in our life on the job,"

"Hey," Kix placed a hand on Tup's shoulder, "You okay?"

"Huh? Yeah," Tup spoke, "Crowds, uh aren't my thing."

"I'll make sure Rex posts you on the patio outside, you won't be around too many people then," Kix told.

"No, It's fine, I'm on the job- I'll, uh...just focus on that," Tup responded.

"Are you sure?"

Tup nodded as Kix returned the nod in understanding, going back to dressing himself, Tup went over to his bunk to dress, he'd admit, even though he was the same as everyone else in that room, he still felt shy, being a bit leaner than the others he started pulling his armor off to dress in the new outfit, simply putting the outfit over his blacks.

"What- No! Hey I want a titty window!" Fives argued.

"No," Echo demand, buttoning up his brother's shirt fixing Fives vest as well.

Tup stayed silent as he buttoned up the shirt, tucking it into the slacks and putting on the matching vest.

"OH Ho HO!" Fives whistled, "Look at Tup!"

"Yeah, thanks," Tup spoke, fixing the collar of his shirt, and pushing up the sleeves.

"Come on! Let your hair down! We're going somewhere fancy!"

"I'm good." Tup spoke

"He's way to excited for this." Dogma protested causing Tup to chuckle.

"You look nice." Tup commented.

"Uh. Yeah I guess." Dogma spoke.

The two had gotten close due to one another due to being not only regular troopers with no rank, but due to there quietness.

"OH HO HO! LOOK WHO JUST CAME IN! GENERAL TANO!"

The boys turned there head whistling playfully.

"Bad bitch is the house."

She wore a pinstrip pant suit, the lines orange on white fabric and a pair of heels. She laughed.

"We're almost there." She spoke, "Skyguy wants us on the transports now."

Tup followed suit of everyone else. Everyone doing as asked, it was odd, seeing everyone dressed up all fancy and nice.

Y/n sighed.

"Look up madame. They'll be plenty fine gentlemen there." A maid tried to pursuade, "or a woman if you'd prefer."

"Yes. I know." Y/n responded mindlessly, nose stuck in the book about game tactics, her goal to be her mother, "mhm. I've never tried that before."

The maid sighed finishing y/n's hair in the crowned braid.

"Look look beautiful."

"Mhm."

The maid frowned, and there was a knock on the door. It opened as Satine came in, the maid bowing and leaving quickly.

"You're nose still stuck in a book. You remind me much of Obi-wan."

"Is the party over yet?" Y/n questioned flipping the page.

"It hasnt even began my dear." Satine spoke, expecting a comment back Y/n kept silent sitting infront of her simple vanity it black in color and matched the bench she sat on.

Satine walked over, taking the open spot next to Y/n.

"What is wrong me dear?" Satine inquired, "You don't avidly read strategic books unless something is wrong."

Y/n sighed, marking the book with a string and setting it down.

"I. I just don't wish to go." Y/n responded.

"It is much bigger than that isn't it?" Satine refered, catching Y/n in her lie.

"I." Y/n sighed, "I am nervous."

"For what my darling?"

"People." Y/n responded, "I. This. People...it's...I dont have the skills."

"Well of course you do,"

"I've never been out the palace walls, I've never fallen in love, I've never been taken advantage of- I just- Don't know anything about people," y/n defended "I've never even seen another sential species besides the holograms and images in my books that use words. I know every launage out there but have never met there people- I-"

"Calm down, take a deep breathe." Satine soothed, "everything will be fine. I will be at your side. The whole time, and you know me. Don't you?"

Y/n nodded as Satine smiled, "You're turning 19 my dear, becoming a young woman. You can do this, and I will guide you through whatever you ask."

Y/n only nodded once more, "now. Lets put our. Pain killing heels on and make haste shall we? Guest are arriving and I'd like to introduce you to your very first group of friends, but first."

Y/n watched as Satine pulled out a box, "I had something much. Much more elaborate my birthday, but you I know. Like to keep things as simple as possible."

Y/n took the small box in hand. Opening the golden box there was a small golden crown, it reminded her of a laurel wreath, yet without as many leaves, a few littered around the gold band with a stone that was ment to set on her forehead.

"For you're love of nature a green stone." Satine spoke.

"Its beatiful, thank you." Y/n spoke softly pulling it out of its box.

"Allow me." Satine spoke, y/n handing it over and bowing her head, Satine with a smile set the item on her head.

Y/n raised her head back up, "quiet beatiful you have become."

Y/n smiled smallly, "now. Shall we make haste? To make new friends?"

Y/n nodded smally as Satine smiled.

With that they were off, y/n following Satine dressed up nice, and thanked maker for the soleless sandles given to her instead of heels.

Y/n wouldn't lie, when General Kenobi arrived as they walked out onto the royal landing pad she found no interest in him, bowing her head respectfully, she did the same with Anakin. A bit more intrigued with Ashoka, but nothing pictures hadn't depicted. A man stood next to Anakin, who was soon introduced as Captain Rex. Y/n welcomed and thanked him for coming, but besides that, she was silent during the conversation.

"Sir, apologies for interrupting."

"It's fine, Jesse go ahead," Anakin spoke, Y/n watching the man with a large tattoo on his face gave a brief report to his general as the two joined the tight group of talkers.

Y/n was intrigued with the man next to him, hair tied back in a bun as his brother in arms talked. He too seemed the silent type, staying behind Jesse's shoulder rather than next to him, it was a slight difference Y/n realized.

"Lady Y/n, these are two are some of my finest men, Jesse and Tup."

"Lady Y/n" Jesse spoke bowing his head.

"Nice to meet you," Tup spoke nervously, his hand outreached for a handshake, Jesse quickly pulling his brother's hand down who was already a nervous wreck.

"Apologies for my brother! He doesn't know how to act!" Jesse scolded elbowing Tup slightly who was already shaming himself mentally and Y/n could sense it, but Jesse was already dragging him away with an insane amount of apologies as he left.

Y/n watched as they got far enough away to where Jesse had started to drag Tup by the collar of his shirt.

"Lively bunch aren't they?" Satine questioned Y/n who nodded.

"My apologies Duchess, Lady Y/n. The 501st is not very big on tradition, and neither is there general." Obi-Wan scolded as Anakin shrugged.

"It's okay." Y/n finally spoke up, causing heads to turn, "I, um, apologizes. Duchess if I may."

"Yes, you can go ahead," Satine spoke worried for the girl as she rushed off quickly.

"Will she be okay?" Ashoka questioned.

"She has no social skills, and on top that, no friends her age," Satine spoke solemnly, "I wish to help her but she's a closed book."

"Have I got the perfect trooper for her to make friends with," Anakin responded

"You're not sending Fives or Hardcase over to her, if anyone to watch her it'll be Cody, at least he can stay on task," Obi-wan argued.

"I think me and my master have the same idea," Ashoka smirked.

"I- I'm sorry general- Me?" Tup questioned.

"Yes I need a clone with Lady Y/n at all times, and since she seems to like you after a slip up that could have cost us a whole war," Anakin spoke, "You're watching her,"

"General! I. I can't watch her! I. I. I. I have patrol!" Tup tried to argue.

"Kix is on patrol now, she's supposedly back in her room," Anakin spoke.

"Her- what!?" Tup argued.

"one of the guards will escort you thanks again."

"Wait! General!" Tup argued but he was walking away and waving to Tup happily.

"Are you the clone trooper known as Tup?" A guard asked walking up to him.

"yes, but wait a minute!-"

"This way."

Tup had no option but to follow a guard at his back and his front as they escorted him to the room. Anxiety racked his body, his hands clammy and squeezing each other as he gulped, the guards stopping and knocking.

"Mistress your escort is here."

"Oh, yes," Y/n spoke quietly, "He may come in alone."

The guards posted outside her room as Tup pushed one of the doors opened, he walked in silently and closed the door behind him carefully.

Looking straight on the large french doors were opened to a patio. Walking towards the open doors he found Y/n sitting on the floor a stack of books beside her with a chessboard by her side, her knees raised to her chest as her dress was laid out around her.

"I'm uh, your guard for the dance," Tup spoke, his thumb pressing into his palm.

"You can go back, I'm not going," Y/n told him, her mouth and jaw covered by her arms propped on her knees.

"oh, uh..." Tup spoke, not knowing what to do.

Y/n looked beside her, "You can sit, maybe you'll get in less trouble that way?"

He nodded in agreement, taking a seat on one side of the chess board. They sat in silence against the wall. Tup looking down at the pieces of the board set up on their respective sides, his clammy hands couldn't help but move a piece. Y/n looked overhearing the crystal click on the board. Looking down she picked up a piece and moved it, Tup moving his next piece without a word. Y/n looked down at the board, her legs falling from her chest and onto the ground flat as she looked over in thought. Picking up her next piece she took his pawn, setting it down on the side. As they played they could hear the talk of guests starting to come to the palace. Due to where Y/n's room was it wasn't much to hear, just the occasional burst of loud laughter.

"Ah yes! Yes!" One laughed spoke loudly, "I love the stars!"

Y/n suddenly came with an outburst the came with the man's hearty laugh, "I have loved the stars to foundly-"

"-to be fearful of the night." Tup finished moving his next piece.

Y/n's moved her gaze up softly then chuckled, "Mythology lover?"

"When I have the time, I mostly learn through tell and hear," Tup responded watching Y/n capture another piece.

It was silent again as Tup captured yet another piece, his eyes drifting over to her stack of books. Eyes glancing over the titles.

"H.P Lovecraft?" Tup questioned Y/n nodding.

"I find his stories interesting, I enjoy the horror genere as a whole." Y/n smiled moving her next peice, "do you like horror?"

Tup nodded, "I do occasionally, again hear and tell mostly."

Y/n nodded, "come with me."

Y/n stood up, walking into her room, Tup watching her.

"Come on." Y/n gestured holding out a hand for him.

He took it gently and was pulled up from his spot on the floor. Y/n led him by the hand into her room and towards a wall pushing on a certain spot a small door opened. Y/n leaned down walking through the door as Tup followed, Y/n closed the door behind them.

"Woah."

Y/n smiled, "the palace library."

"I am the only one who's ever in here." Y/n contuined.

The two walked side by side, out from the side of the room and into the center of the room. Tup turned around to speak, but he watched her pass a dusty window, the sun set passing in through cobwebs and dusty, shining on her think crown, her dress flowly and made up of multiple thin layers of fabric.

He gulped as she turned her head, stopping in her spot.

"What's wrong?"

"I," he started but stopped for a momment, "My name, its. It's Tup. I don't know if you-"

"Remember you?" Y/n questioned, "I do."

She walked up to him a hand extended, "Y/n."

He smiled as they shook hands.

"Tup." He introduced himself once again as they chuckled lightly.

They pulled away, Y/n's hands clasped infront of her.

"Well Tup its very nice to meet you again."

"Its nice to meet you too Lady Y/n."

"Lady Y/n!"

She took a quick step back from her closeness with Tup, clearing her throat.

"Oh thank maker..." the gaurd spoke under his breathe, "the duchess wishes for you to greet your guest."

Y/n nodded softly, "Well. Let's go?"

Tup nodded, the two leaving side by side in silence. They two making there way down to the main set of doors which led to the throne room.

"Lady Y/n." Obi-wan spoke, "The Duchess ask I escort you in while introduced."

"Oh." Y/n spoke looking at Tup he gave her an akwards thumb up, she chuckled and smiled at him with a nod.

Y/n smiled Obi wan extending an arm, Y/n linking arms with the Jedi General. The doors opened as they walked forward.

"Introducing Lady Y/n! Daughter of Dutchess Satine! Next in line for the throne!"

Y/n and Obi-wan walked forward people clearing a straight shot to her mother. Her and Obi-wan walked forward, feeling the stares on her she kept silent. It soon because uncomfortable, feeling the gaze more than just simple admiration or awe. She tensed as they walked making her to the steps to Satines throne. She pulled away from Obi-wan, bowing her head to her mother as she walked up, a smaller throne simplistic like how Y/n liked it and took a simple seat, she watched Tup sneak into the room carefully standing next to a man who had a medical band on his arm with his suit, before everyone started to fill the room again.

Satine stood up, she was making a speech Y/n zoned out, it was a greeting, thanking everyone personally for coming to celebrate Y/n's transition into womenhood.

"That's why I am glad to speak, Y/n's hand is extended for potential marraige candidates!"

Y/n sat up shocked, and Satine thanked everyone once again and took a seat. Everyone going back to chatting.

"Excuse me!? Marraige?" Y/n argued.

"It is a formality you do not have to marry anyone."

"Im not taking anyone into consideration," Y/n defended, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat.

"Lady Y/n-"

"No." Y/n spoke, she was beyond annoyed.

"Thank you for your time..." he spoke bowing his head and walking away heart broken.

Y/n rejected any man that came up to try and give there hand to her.

Tup watched from afar, Kix and Dogma by his side. Men contuined to go up to her and as more and more did she seemed more and more irratated. He quickly walked away from his brothers would watched him out of confusion.

Watching him walk up to the thrown he started walking up the steps.

"Y/n," Tup spoke, holding a hand out for her, "I'd like to spend time with you, perhaps a dance?"

"Hey! Buddy wait in line!" A man argued but Y/n looked at Tup thanks in her eyes.

The lighting on him seemed perfect, he back lit perfectly, his eyes holding a smile along with his lips. Y/n grabbed his hand lightly as Tup helped her up, the two walking down the stairs hand in hand.

"Thank you." Y/n spoke they now in the crowd of people.

"Seems you needed it," Tup answered as Y/n chuckled.

"To the libary?"

"Actually," Tup spoke quietly, "I'd...like to have a dance with you."

Y/n flushed, "t-that sounds good. Yeah."

It was almost on cue did everyone backed up circling people who wanted to dance, Y/n and Tup in the center of it.

"Um. Tup." Y/n spoke.

"Hm?"

"Do you know how to dance?"

"Oh. Uh." Tup spoke, "no actually, do. Do you?"

Y/n shook her head no. The two laughing together as the music started.

"Suppose we should act like we're doing and maybe we'll fall in?" Y/n laughed.

Tup smiled in return, "I suppose."

The music started as they watched other, a simple waltz. Y/n and Tup luckily able to copy others, hands which once were placed in hand on on him, soon became more intimate, fingers intertwining. Tup's hand moving from her hip to the small of her back, she leaning into his touch just a bit more.

"Not bad." Y/n spoke softly, "we're doing decent."

Tup chuckled softly in return, "I suppose us clones learn quick."

"Clone?" Y/n questioned, "you're a clone?"

Tup looked at her confused, "You. You don't know that?" He questioned confused.

"I." Y/n spoke, "I don't mean to sound, uh, Rude."

Tup frowned, maybe she was an avid clone hater?

"I um. Havent payed much attention, to your face, my apologies." Y/n spoke, a flush coming to her cheeks.

"Am I offensive?" Tup questioned.

"No. No. Not at all." Y/n spoke, "On the contrary actually. I. Find you most appealing, your. Voice and presence is quiet soothing. You're a good man."

It was Tup's turn to flush, spinning her around softly as everyone else did. Her dress picking up just the slightest at the ends. Pulling her back into his grasp, it was sudden for both of them, there chest pressed up against one another, faces close, Tup's hand now across the small of her back grabbing her other hip as he lowered her into a dip, Y/n's arm around his neck as he did.

The claps of everyone was muffled in there ears.

Tup's nose brushing against hers as he tilted his head softly, Y/n stopping him with a hand on hie jaw , and she was raised up again in a flash.

"I. Im sorry" Tup apologized, everyone still clapping as Y/n bowed to him red faced.

"I...must go." Y/n spoke quickly rushing away and into the crowd.

"Wait!" Tup called rushing after her, she rushing out the throne room.

"My lady-"

"Im quiet fine a game of tag is all." Y/n defended rushing off, the urge of wanting Tup so bad fueling her feet as she ran from him.

Tup rushed looking both ways, "Which way did she go?"

"Left sir-"

Tup rushed after her, his shoes clicking against the marble floors of the palace as he ran. Seeing her take a turn up ahead he called her name once more, following her quick steps, she rushed into her ungaurded room and closing the door behind her.

Making it to the doors he panted for a moment, soon calming his breath he knocked on the door.

"Please! Y/n I did not mean to upset you!" He begged, "I. I should have asked asked you! I should have never just jumped into it!"

Y/n quiet as she leaned against the door, her body pressed up against it to keep it closed, he seemed genuinely angered with himself, and worried for her.

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Tup spoke softly, "I...just..."

Y/n stayed silent listening.

"I. Seen you for the first time walking up with my brother to report to General Skywalker..." he informed, "I had no idea someone could look so beautiful until I seen you, then. Well then we started that chess game."

Y/n's cheeks grew red as she listened, her heart starting to drop its quickly put up walls.

"You just spoke and It was beautiful. I. I'm not good with words either. I." He sighed, "I didn't realize someone like me could have so much in common with you... half the time my brothers don't like any same things as me. And we're all copies of each other."

The knot in her stomach grew as she gulped, "I. Tup. Its not that I'm mad at you."

Tup was surprised to hear an answer, "I. I think you're quiet beatiful, I. I just...I've never..."

"Y/n you do not need to explain yourself to me." Tup told her.

"Just. Let me finish." Y/n spoke calmly, "I've, well. Tup. I. I. I've never kissed anyone."

Y/n stopped waiting for a laugh, or even a 'yeah right', but she got a sincere chuckle trying to break the ice, "neither have I."

It was a surpise to Tup when the door opened softly, Y/n's flushed face being seen due to the light of the hall.

"Are you okay?" Tup questioned Y/n nodding her gaze to the floor.

"We're you being..serious?" Y/n questioned softly.

Tup nodded, growing nervous himself.

"Would you..umm. like too?" Y/n questioned, "kiss me?"

"I..um." tup spoke his face full red, "yes.."

Y/n opened up the door a bit more so he could come in, taking the hint he walked in the room dark. His eyes not having to adjust as the French doors which were uncovered let in moonlight.

Y/n closed the door quietly, locking it behind her so they'd be uninterrupted. He turned his head watching her walk towards him.

Oh maker.

They stood infront of each other nervously, refusing to make eye contact. Y/n with a shaking hand reached out her hand, her fingers dancing along his shoulder as he looked down.

"Tup. I." Y/n spoke, her other arm following her first one on the other side of his head his hands slipping onto her hips.

Nerves in a bundle they tensed in one anothers arms, faces leaning in slowly, noses brushed up against one another. A few of Tup's fingers tapped and tilted her face to the side as he tilted his own face the other way.

"Tup...Im nervous." Y/n whispered against his lips, "what happens if...if i like it too much?"

"I'll do anything you ask me..." he mummbled her hot breathe hitting his lips.

It was silent for another momment, Y/n's eyes slolwy closing as Tup's followed. They leaning in the small space as there lips pressrd against each others. The bundle of nerves melting away and falling into ribbions that slowly started to knot.

The kiss was, cute, nothing more than pressing there lips against one another and then pulled away little space between there lips, a new found hunger filled the both of them, Tup pressing forward in a much more passionate kiss, y/n kissed back, lips dancing against one another. Y/n pushed into Tup. Breathe heavy through the armature kisses. Tup mindlessly picked Y/m up, her legs wrapping around his waist as they contuined to kiss. Walking over to her bed he placed her down carefully, climbing over her body.

Kiss only breaking for air, "Do. Do you want this?" Tup questioned, things had moved awfully fast and turned into a one night stand, love filled relationship neither could explain.

Y/n nodded, "Only from you"

"Are you sure? I don't want you unsatisfied." Tup spoke honestly.

"If its you I'll never be unsatisfied." Y/n told him, the two kissing again, Tup holding his like a peice of glass under him.

"I love you." Tup whispered against her lips.

"I love you too Tup." She spoke back. Tup kissing her once more.

#tcw tup #tup x female reader #star wars tup #twc tup #tup x reader #clone trooper tup #sw tup #tcw x reader #x reader #female insert #part one

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makeste · 4 years ago

Text

BnHA Chapter 282: Aizawa Defeeted

Previously on BnHA: Oh my god do we even care about that at this point. Tomura made a speech; Gran Torino died; Deku lost his shit and tried to strangle Tomura to death with his bare hands; Ryuukyuu came back from Wherever She Was and tried to grab Tomura but he punched a hole through her giant hand; and now he’s grabbing his Quirk-Be-Gone bullets and is ready to cause some mayhem okay?? That about sum it up?? Is anyone even reading this?? CAN WE JUST GET ON WITH IT I’VE WAITED AN ENTIRE WEEK.

Today on BnHA: Well I guess let’s start with what doesn’t happen: Bakugou doesn’t lose his quirk. HE LUCKED OUT!!... for now, anyways. Because, thanks to a near-impossible-to-predict series of events (seriously, raise your hands if you had “Aizawa gets shot but goes full World War Z on his own ass” on your bingo card), Tomura has seemingly regained his regeneration powers, which means that his other quirks are probably back online as well! So we’ll see how that all goes. Anyway so in the meantime Shouto’s back, looking very mad that everyone temporarily forgot he was a main character. And Gigantomachia is back as well! Or almost, anyway. Also, you’ll never guess who broke another one of his arms! Go on, guess. But at least he still has the arm, though, which is more than we can say for certain other people’s limbs. Poor Aizawa is literally on his last leg. He and Tomura really got off on the wrong foot. He chopped his leg off, is what I’m saying. It’s that kind of chapter folks.

you guys I’m losing my whole fucking mind. I straight up deleted the tumblr app off my phone for 24 hours so that I wouldn’t be tempted to log in and risk potentially being spoiled. and I’m happy to say that it worked! so here we are now, completely spoiler free, and let me just say that if Horikoshi decides to cut back to Gunga Mountain now, I will either cry for hours or abandon the series forever and go do something more productive with the rest of my quarantine like learning how to play sad songs on the guitar

all right. here goes

so we’re opening with Deku, who is currently comprised of 100% rage and 0% mercy, and is doing that thing where only the whites of his eyes are visible. and basically he’s just thinking “I’VE REALLY GOT TO HOLD ON TO THIS GUY AND MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T DO ANYTHING ELSE HOMICIDAL.” which is a solid game plan, but perhaps not so easily accomplished

-- oh my god this poor kid is still in denial, I can’t. why are you doing this

is there even still a Gran Torino to tend to at this point? after Tomura bulldozed a hole through his torso, and you went and finished the job with your own fucking attack? sob

but I guess the law of Tragic Shounen Mentor Deaths mandates that Gran’s should be at least as drawn-out as Nighteye’s was, though. so he’s probably only Mostly Dead, which is still Slightly Alive if I remember my Princess Bride correctly, and I think I do

so now the rest of these stooges are finally catching up with us here

yes, my friends. a bullet. WELCOME TO MY LIFE FOR THE PAST FUCKING WEEK. anyways I have a LOT of pent-up energy here just fyi. there may be a lot of unnecessary screaming in this recap

FUCKING WYOMING SMASH Y’ALLSSSS

I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT JUST HAPPENED SOB. DID HE JUST HAMMER FIST TOMURA’S HEAD INTO THE GROUND. DID HE SNAP HIS FUCKING NECK AT 100%. IN AN IDEAL WORLD HE WOULD HAVE JUST CHOPPED TOMURA’S ARMS OFF WHILE SOMEHOW MANAGING TO AVOID BREAKING ANY OF HIS OWN BONES IN THE PROCESS, BUT I HAVE A FEELING THIS SITUATION WILL NOT BE RESOLVED IN ANY KIND OF MANNER ONE WOULD CONSIDER “IDEAL”

(ETA: fun fact: this attack did absolutely nothing except make things approximately 100x worse. but you tried Deku. you tried.)

THE FUCK KIND OF PORTENTOUS BULLSHITTING TITLE IS THIS. OH MY GOD, I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT EMOTION I’M HAVING RIGHT NOW, IT’S JUST A LOT OF LOUD THOUGHTS

anyway so if you’re just joining us, Tomura just pulled two bullets out of his pocket, the good guys finally noticed, and then Deku did a smash and everything exploded. the radius of this attack actually looks wide enough to have potentially involved Aizawa, who probably does NOT want to get any debris in his eyes right now, and also Gran, who probably doesn’t particularly want to be hit by another deadly attack for the third time in the past ninety seconds. anyway so I guess what I’m trying to say here is WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT YOU LITTLE GREEN LUNATIC

AHHHHHH

he got the one!! the one that was in Tomura’s right hand!! but what about the one in his left ahhhhhhh

(ETA: lmao at Kacchan being the one to blow up the same bullet I was so sure he was going to be shot with. saw the writing on the wall, huh kid? what do we say to the god of foreshadowing?? ‘NOT TODAY.’ ...except that we’re still not actually out of the woods yet so you still better watch yourself lol.)

...

based on the font here, these are Tomura’s thoughts. which he is thinking immediately after getting the lower half of his jaw very painfully cronched by the VERY homicidal sixteen-year-old still clinging to him. anyway so Tomura’s thought processes are as inscrutable to me as ever lulz

and Deku’s arm looks broken again, yaaaaay. but at least it’s his left arm and not his right! so that’s nice. now they can match

[SHRIEKS]

HE YEETED IT. IT HAS BEEN YEETEDED. HE DID A YEET. [sobbing] he DiD a YeEt oH my GOD

DID IT HIT SOMETHING!?!?!?

my reading process here is as follows: 1) scroll down exactly one panel. 2) scream even though absolutely nothing has happened yet. 3) WRITE THAT DOWN 4) REPEAT

DKSFJLKHSDLGKHLI

DID IT HIT HIM!?!? DID IT GET HIM IN THE LEG SOB ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS. JUST LIKE THAT?? BOOM GUN BULLET LEG!!?

YOU GUYS IT REALLY HIT AIZAWA AND NO ONE DID A GODDAMN THING?? it wasn’t even drawn out or anything??? it just HAPPENED, within like four pages??? NO SLOW MO?? NOT EVEN A REACTION PANEL WHAT THE FUCK

son of a bitch I would so dearly like to grab Manual and RockLockRock’s heads right now and just conk them together real hard. YOU STUPID FUCKS sob YOU HAD ONE JOB!!! IT REALLY WAS JUST ONE!! AND YOU WERE SHARING IT!! SO IT’S MORE LIKE HALF A JOB!! AND YOU STILL COCKED IT UP IN ABSOLUTELY NO TIME AT ALL OH MY GOD

(ETA: they should blow this panel up and make it into a t-shirt and make Manual and RLR wear the shirts every day for the rest of their lives. half a job, you guys. please go away I cannot even look at you right now.)

FUCK MY EVERYTHING

(ETA: I still can’t figure out if this horrific angle is due to the earlier damage from the Noumu, or if Tomura really just flung the bullet THAT hard. honestly I’m surprised it didn’t just slice right through him with that kind of velocity. “no thanks because then I wouldn’t get to write a scene where he chops his own leg off” oh okay well when you put it that way, Horikoshi.)

if I recall correctly this is the leg that he said was “twisted”, no? yeesh. might just want to chop it off real quick, then. s’not like it’s doing you any more good. does anyone know if zombie rules apply or not with this sort of thing?? shit

?!?!

“THANKS”?? okay what. did it hit him or not??

-- oh my god WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT. WAIT

I WAS -- I WAS JOKING I -- FFFFFFFFKJK

jesus fucking christ. when I said “might just want to chop it off real quick” literally FOUR PARAGRAPHS AGO, I can tell you that the one thing I did NOT expect was for Aizawa to be all, “you know what, that’s a good idea”, and then YOINK OUT HIS TRUSTY HERO SHANK AND GO FULL 127 HOURS ON THIS BITCH. "LALALA WE’RE GONNA DO IT RATIONALLY TEEHEE” like excuse me, the fuck

anyways. I don’t even know what to say. thank you Aizawa’s leg for your sacrifice, and for always supporting him. literally. oh my god I came here ready for my son to enter a new phase of character development, and for the manga as a whole to enter a new phase of glorious, glorious angst. no one told me I’d be sitting here making puns instead. what a fine, confusing day

anyway though let’s just fucking hope it worked. and side note, if Aizawa Shouta really did chop off his own fucking leg just now and somehow STILL managed not to fucking blink, I think we might as well just go ahead and hand him the Biggest Badass In The Series award right now because no one is ever going to top that. nope. not happening

it is truly a testament to Shigaraki Tomura’s unfathomably mysterious sexy villain energy that he still somehow manages to look hot with only half a face

also no one in this manga actually feels pain, do they. not Deku, not Aizawa, not Tomura, no one. no wonder none of them have any self-preservation instincts to speak of

did someone just randomly explode just now. at this point it might as well happen, right

oh it’s the shockwave from Deku’s Wyoming attack, apparently. how nice of it to have a delayed reaction for absolutely no reason

anyway so Deku’s being flung back, but he’s grabbing onto Tomura again with Blackwhip. but oh shit you guys, if Tomura escapes Deku and Ryuukyuu’s clutches and still has any bullets left in his pocket, we may still be able to salvage this Bakugou quirk situation after all. would be nice to be able to actually do something with all of these “happy quirk losing day” balloons that I ordered

(ETA: actually, believe it or not I honestly like this better. Tomura using AFO was always the more dramatic option anyway. and now that we’ve done the bullet thing everyone has presumably let their guard down again, which, good.)

I love how Tomura apparently hasn’t noticed that Aizawa’s just amputated his own leg? to be fair he’s probably distracted by all the explosions and such

also gotta love how Deku’s arm-breaking attack seemingly just made everything worse for no reason. and also how Manual and RockLockRock are once again just standing there doing absolutely nothing

SO NOW GUESS WHAT’S HAPPENING

I MEAN IT! GUESS. BECAUSE YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE LOL

OH WELL OKAY THEN

just like we all saw coming!! ...

so is this Endeavor’s attack?? Bakugou’s?? either way, hot damn. fortunately for Tomura he is apparently operating under the same guidelines as the U.S. Federal Reserve, in which mutilated bills may still be exchanged at face value if more than 50% of a note identifiable as United States currency is present. basically as long as roughly half of him is still vaguely Tomura-shaped I assume he’ll be fine

(ETA: in hindsight I should have immediately been able to identify this as a Shouto attack based solely on how murdery it was lol.)

OH MY GODDDD

KRANCH?!?

OH MY GOD LOL WHAT. LOL. REMEMBER EVERYONE’S THEORIES FROM LIKE TWENTY YEARS AGO LOL. SHOUTO WHAT THE FUCK. DID YOU STOP FOR DRIVE THRU

AND MEANWHILE DEKU’S BACK ON THE SCENE GIVING ARGUABLY EVEN LESS FUCKS THAN BEFORE, IF SUCH A THING IS EVEN POSSIBLE. SO FAR THIS CHAPTER HAS PRECISELY ZERO THINGS THAT I ACTUALLY EXPECTED IN IT, WHICH IS VERY IMPRESSIVE

IT ALSO HAS A LOT OF SMASHING

a LOT. of smashing, guys. feels like... 60% smashing, 20% severed legs, 20% Kranch

-- oh no oh SHIT oh shit oh shit

(ETA: um so I really can’t tell how far that wound extends and whether or not Aizawa still has his right eye, shit.)

first of all how did Deku get here next to Aizawa when he was just over there with Tomura, what. and second, I think Aizawa just blinked, oh shit. probably on the verge of passing out after CHOPPING HIS OWN LEG OFF which STILL hasn’t been acknowledged yet?? did I just completely misinterpret all of that back there or what

(ETA: there was seriously so little attention called to this that I scrolled back up to confirm it probably like half a dozen times. apparently Horikoshi thinks that THE MOST BADASS THING TO EVER HAPPEN IN THE MANGA should be completely downplayed. whereas if it were me, there’d be an entire two page spread of JUST THE LEG. WITH MUSIC PLAYING. EVEN THOUGH IT’S A MANGA.)

YEPPPPPPP. fuck

look at him though. he’s so happy. this is why I can’t stay mad at you no matter how deranged you get you little maniac

so is quirk-stealing back on the menu then or what. don’t think I’ve been lulled into any kind of false sense of security by any of this lol

-- ARE WE SERIOUSLY CUTTING AWAY

so Todoroki really went after them ALONE. the better to put his dad right back up at the top of the Lose Your Quirk Sweepstakes finalists. well... second-to-top, maybe. like I said I will not be lulled

yuh-oh

why do I feel like the odds of Gigantomachia arriving to herald the end of this chapter just shot up DRAMATICALLY

so the next page is almost entirely just a list of cities that the news anchor is telling people to evacuate because they’re in Machia’s path. along with a bunch of dead heroes lying around everywhere, and Ochako being all ominous

(: weren’t they, though? heh. this is going to be so, so bad (: (: (:

-- fuuuuuuuuuuu

aaaaaand that’s it. hahahaha. okay then let’s summarize

Bakugou defied all expectations and kept his quirk (FOR NOW)!

Aizawa cut his own fucking leg off and it WASN’T EVEN REMOTELY ACKNOWLEDGED FOR REASONS I CAN’T UNDERSTAND (R.I.P. AIZAWA’S PRECIOUS LEG. YOU ALWAYS PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD)

Kranch showed up after 157 years and is probably wondering why the heck I keep calling him “Kranch” now. THINGS CHANGE WHEN YOU’RE MIA FOR A WHILE MY LITTLE STARBUCKS CHRISTMAS CUP

Deku broke his arm for the 78th time

Tomura regenerated but seems to think Aizawa’s quirk is actually gone for good, which I’m pretty sure it’s not. so if they can keep him from destroying everything long enough for Aizawa to turn it back on again, we might possibly still survive this

and lastly, Machia is about to kill all of these stupid people frolicking around outside of this fitness club who are probably so proud of themselves for not being glued to their phones 24/7 because they prefer to LIVE LIFE IN THE MOMENT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. well that’s on you my friends. at least it’ll be a quick death. ffff

#bnha 282 #aizawa shouta #shigaraki tomura #midoriya izuku #todoroki shouto #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #sorry for all the leg puns #it's in my nature #I can't help it if I find this kind of situation humerus #...oh no wait that's arms #dammit

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sokkas-honour · 4 years ago

Note

3 with sokka for your spotify wrapped playlist writing thingy? Also hii hehe i just found your blog 5 seconds ago NICE TO MEET YOUUU

it’s lovely to meet you too! (i prepared these a while ago but tysm for being so supportive of my blog!!)

affluenza - sokka x reader

pairing: sokka x fem!reader (it’s more platonic than anything)

wc: 2.7k

notes/warnings: again, i’m only really using the theme of this song instead of the lyrics. for warning, misogyny?? a bit of neglect

growing up a princess was already hard to begin with, but being the younger sister to the nation’s favourite royal was even worse. constantly being in her shadow, being ignored by parents and just being blindly spoiled. you were lucky, you could get whatever you wanted except for your parent’s own attention and affection.

ever since you turned the age of ten, you were quick to notice that you weren’t your parent’s favorite so you would try and do whatever you could to be the star in their eyes. you trained everyday in order to improve your water bending, your warrior skills, just anything that could make you stand out and get your parents to notice you more. but alas, you weren’t the crown princess, the most beautiful girl in the northern water tribe.

it came to a point where, around your fifteenth birthday, you were starting to loose motivation for things in general. all of your work had payed off, you had mastered every healing form and had even gotten secret lessons from local boys trying to use you to get to yue, you had everything you could want except for the one thing you desperately needed. so you started isolating yourself a bit more, the rest of the nation forgetting about you even more.

your isolation changed when you heard of the avatar having arrived in your tribe and suddenly, you desperately wanted to get to know them. if you befriended the avatar and even joined him on his voyage, you might just finally get your parent’s stamp of approval. it was the first thing in months to give you any sort of motivation.

during the dinner that your dad threw for the guests and to honour your sister’s birthday, you had managed to find a spot next to the southern watertribe girl and you two hit it off immediately. bonding over shared experiences as younger siblings.

“yeah it does hurt a bit to have practically mastered all your water bending forms and not get a congratulations from your parents.” was your comment as the two of you spoke about sometimes feeing as thought you’re living in your older sibling’s shadow. what you said seemed to have done something to the girl who’s name you learned was katara.

“you’re a waterbender?” she asked bewildered. her eyes looking at you with excitement and wonder.

“yeah, one of the best in the tribe if i do say so myself.” you joked lightly, a bit confused at her tone.

“i’m a waterbender too! do you think you could teach me a few things?” she excitedly asked, a huge grin on her face. you nodded and finished swallowing your pickled fish that had been prepared by the best chefs in town.

“i mean sure but i’m not sure what i could teach you. i’m basically a master but i wouldn’t say that i’m too far ahead from other people my age.” you responded, explaining to the girl from your sister tribe that you may not be able to teach her much.

“oh, where i come from, i’m the last waterbender. so i’ve never had any actual training.” her gaze averted from yours and you instantly regretted what you said, feeling horrible at your assumption. you were used to being surrounded by waterbenders and had no idea what she must’ve been going through.

“i’m so sorry, i shouldn’t have said that. if you need anyone to show you some water bending forms, i’m more than happy to. but i’m sure you’ll get more from master yagoda.” you searched for her hand and gave it a little squeeze, she turned her head to smile at you which you returned a comforting one back.

“why not master paku?” she inquired, slightly confused at not hearing the name of the respected master she had heard about at one point during the dinner.

“master paku teaches warrior waterbending skills, girls aren’t allowed to learn those techniques, only healing.” you explained, gaze faltering slightly. you hated your tribe’s costume which is why you always tried to rebel in your own way, but she didn’t need to know that yet.

“why? that’s stupid!” she exclaimed, removing her hand from yours to hit her closed fists on the table in annoyance, thankfully not drawing any attention.

“i know! but it’s tradition and the old farts who control this town hate breaking tradition, even my father won’t break it for me!” you explained, giving a small glance to your father who spoke to one of his councilmen.

“maybe he’ll change his mind if i’m with the avatar! we might even convince him to train you!” she suggested, optimism laced in her words but you simply shrugged your shoulders.

“you can try but i wouldn’t get your hopes up. if you do though, make sure to come get me.” you blankly responded, not wanting to give her any false sense of joy.

the rest of the dinner went by nicely, her telling stories about her adventure with the avatar and her brother, who’s name you learned to be sokka. he even inserted himself in the conversation once or twice, making you laugh at his comments. the night had to end eventually, and for yue and yourself, it meant you two have to leave before the party ended.

“y/n, i think i may have a problem.” yue nervously started when you were both alone. “that southern water tribe boy, he.”

“he’s hilarious?” you finished her sentence, a knowing smile on your lips.

“yeah, and i’m scared i might be catching feelings for him. he even suggested to do something together.” she explained, hand grabbing yours nervously, looking to you for advice on what she should do. no matter how much your parents favoured yue on every way, there was so way you could ever hate her or hold your parents’ doings against her.

“oh come on yue, talking to him won’t hurt you. if anything, not talking to him will hurt him.” you joked, placing your hand on top of hers to give more weight to your words.

“i suppose so.” she smiled, most likely thinking about him and the way he made her feel. your smirk never left your face as you watched the way he made her feel.

the next day, you ran into katara and aang as they went to visit master paku to try and convince him to train the both of them. you were going on a simple walk, hoping to run into them.

“y/n, want to come with us to master paku?” katara immediately asked once you were in proximity to the tow of them.

“not sure you’ll be able to convince them but i’d love to either way.” you smiled, waving hello to the avatar.

“well we’re going to try.” aang backed up katara’s optimism which was slightly sad to see as you knew the ending, you had experienced it yourself.

and like you predicted, their attempt to get the old master to go against outdated traditions proved useless. it ended in katara yelling at his misogynistic attitude and giving up to go sit in on a healing session. you decided to join her, knowing it was useless to you but it was nice to a get a refresher nonetheless.

once it ended, you were left to deal with an annoyed katara as aang was still training. you admired her for standing up to him, wishing you had the confidence that she had but you had given up fighting traditions a long time ago when you realised it was useless.

“listen, i’m sorry katara. if you want though, i can show you around town.” you tried to cheer her up but she seemed to agree with no enthusiasm.

during your tour, you made sure to give as many details as you could to the girl from your sister tribe but it didn’t do much to make her smile. her attitude did change though when the both of you ran into her older brother, a lovestruck emotion on his face which immediately led you to conclude he had seen your sister, and you were right.

“we’re meeting tonight at the same bridge we saw each other! yue and i!” was the first he said when he approached the two of you, more directed to his sister.

“really sokka? that’s great!” katara’s mood seemed to change to happiness for her brother. she then turned to you, surprisingly. “you know, maybe yue said something to y/n. did she?”

“why would yue tell her something?” sokka stopped you from answering, taking you slightly aback. his rather none accusing question hurt you more than you’d care to admit.

“i beg your pardon?” you were slightly offended at his question, more hurt but that wasn’t the tone that you wanted to show, knowing that showing hurt was more of a weakness than anything. at least in your household, your parents only seemed to notice your negative attitude when it came out. a comment made by a schoolmate hurt you and when you came home crying, you were simply neglected as yue had come home earlier and your parents were engrossed in her story. you had tried to come to them but were simply ignored. since then, you’ve only ever shown emotions theyd deem negative to your sister.

“sokka, you met her last night. she’s the second princess of the northern water tribe!” katara harshly whispered as you calmed yourself down, making a mental note to thank your new friend.

“yue has a sister? what did she say about me?” his confusion turned to excitement as he practically rushed into your face, too close for your liking.

“yes, and what do you think you’ll get out of me?” you smirked slightly, putting your hand on his chest to push him out of your face.

“i don’t know, what does a princess need?” he questioned. letting your hand linger before you dropped it.

“warrior training.” katara observed as you narrowed your eyes, the smirk still on your lips as you surprised the rather bold boy.

“why would you need warrior training?”

“because, i want to. my father refuses to let me train but i’ve found ways. yue told me you’re supposedly the best warrior in your village and i want some.” you defied his expectations, he assumed you’d probably be drastically different from your sister in a bad way but he was wrong.

“deal, you tell me what yue thinks of me and i’ll teach you a couple of things i know.” he was quick to agree, willing to do anything to know what the crown princess thought of him. you took your hand out to shake on it and he did, both of you looking each other in the eyes in defiance, hands lingering in each other’s grip.

katara giggled at the interaction which brought the two of you out of your stare and let go of each other’s hands.

“i’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully yue will tell me more after your little rendezvous today.” you told him before turning your attention back to katara, seeing as though she was with her brother now, she’d be fine on her own. “i’ll see you tomorrow around the healing hut early tomorrow?”

she nodded before you waved the two of them goodbye and walked back towards the palace, looking forward to your first session with sokka.

the next day was pretty eventful, finding out that katara and aang had gone against paku’s rules, meaning that he refused to continue raining the avatar. you found out right before leaving for the session with yagoda and decided to stick around when katara defied him. and by the end of that whole fiasco, she was able to convince him to let her train with him.

after that happened, you immediately went to your father to beg him to let you join paku’s clas but you were met with a wall.

“absolutely not, the times may be changing but i’d rather none of my daughters do anything too dangerous. you still need to finish mastering healing.” was his response, leaving you in complete disbelief. you had mastered every healing form a couple of months ago and he didn’t know.

yue tried to comfort you but you ignored him, deciding to walk around town to calm down. you knew that if yue was the waterbender, she’d be able to do whatever she wanted. even if she was their fragile little girl.

the day went by rather fast, and before you knew it, you were following katara in secret to watch the first ever girl receive training from a master in the northern water tribe. you made sure to not make your presence too noticeable, even if the majority of people didn’t notice you most of the time. you watched in complete awe of her raw skill, wishing that you were right there next to her, having something to make you stand out from your family.

when the afternoon came, you made your way to where the three of them was staying in order to complete your deal with sokka.

“hey y/n, did you find out anything about yue?” was his greeting which earns a little eye roll from you.

“didn’t she tell you that she was engaged?” you said rather harshly, regretting as you saw him look down sadly. “listen sokka, she can’t love you but she does. she’s tied to our ridiculous customs, i’m sorry.”

“it’s okay.” he took a deep breath in and let it go before meeting your eyes that were soft, matching them with a small smile. “ready to get started?”

“more than ready. my stupid father didn’t want me joining katara today so i need to let out some sort of aggression.” your tone clearly annoyed at your father which confused sokka, yue didn’t seem to have any problems with her parents.

“i don’t know if this is my place to ask, but why do you seem to hate your father so much?” he asked, curious to know.

“this is nothing against my sister, i love her to bits. it’s my parents i have problems with, they just cast me aside. all of their attention has always been on yue, hell everyone in this stupid tribe only cares about yue! i’m supposed to just be unnoticeable according to my parents yet they shame me for not being as special as yue! i mastered every single healing form and i even managed to learn a couple of fighting stances, yet it’s still not enough.” you let yourself go, deciding to dump all of your problems on the poor boy who had to hear your practically yell at the end. “sorry, you probably didn’t want to know all of that.” you joked nervously.

“no, no its okay. i just figured that being yue’s sister would be like the best thing. i mean being royalty makes your life basically perfect and i mean, she’s one of the sweetest girls i’ve ever met!” sokka ranted, not exactly being what you wanted to hear.

“yeah, i have everything i could ever want but my parent’s attention.” you laughed in disbelief at how ridiculous your situation was.

“you know what?” a silence had settle after your uncomfortable laugh but he was the first to speak, excitement in his voice as he voiced the idea in his head. “what if you joined us to defeat the firelord and travel with the avatar? that’s sure to get your parents to notice!”

“you barely know me and i haven’t actually spoken with the avatar, what makes you think that i’d fit your little team?” you were skeptic at his proposition, loving the idea but not being sure he was thinking it through.

“from what katara’s told me, you’d be perfect for us! katara could teach you what she learns with paku on the road, i could teach you what i know and you could be our own healer!” he excitedly thought about the idea of having someone else on his team, even if you weren’t the sibling he fell for, he still took a liking to you after your first conversation.

“well then, come fetch me before you leave. my parents won’t notice me gone so there won’t be any problems.” you concluded, you yourself getting excited at the idea of finally doing something that might make you stand out to your parents.

“great! now let’s get started.” he opened the door, a huge smile on his face.

“if you were at all interested, she thought you were a pretty good kisser.” you added before he could start teaching you any of his skills.

general taglist: @butterfly-skinnylegend @biqherosix

atla taglist: @missmorosis @draqondance @firelady-jay @welovediaaxx @sunnypluto

#atla x reader #sokka x reader #sokka of the southern water tribe #atla sokka x reader #sokka x y/n #sokka x you #sokka x yue #aang x reader #katara x reader #atla sokka imagine #sokka imagine #avatar the last airbender imagine #avatar the last airbender x reader #gaang x reader #gaang imagine #sokka

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norarigby · 4 years ago

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Piercings

Pairing: Dabi x TattooArtist!reader

Warnings: very slight blood mentions, staples are mentioned, very very very slight suggestive content, Dabi being a bit of a creep

Word Count: ~1.4K

A/n: I know this trope is a little overdone with Dabi, but it was what I was craving so....enjoy!

It was a slow day. You only had one or two appointments for the day and you’re last one finished up about 15 minutes ago. That meant you were stuck up front until a walk-in came in. It wasn’t the best (especially since it had been this way everyday for the past week or so), but you were off in an hour and binging up front meant you had full control over the music. Pros and cons.

Speaking of, you hooked up your phone to the sound system and pressed shuffle on your classic rock playlist. Sabotage by Beastie Boys came on first and you smiled. What a classic. You lightly bobbed your head to the beat as you leaned back on the stool, leaning yourself against the wall and propping your feet on the counter. Sam hated when you put your feet on the counter, but he currently wasn’t there—and what Sam didn’t know, wouldn’t kill him.

You unlocked your tablet and worked on a design for a client you had the next day. This design wasn’t hard (one of the Pinterest inspired, minimalist looks), but actually working on something was better than staring at the boring wall for an hour.

The playlist shuffled a few more songs, then landed on your personal favorite: Cold Hard Bitch by Jet. You turned the volume up a few notches and drummed your pen lightly against your leg along with the beat.

Ding!

The sound startled you a bit, but you composed yourself and stood up to greet whoever walked in—hopefully, they already had an appointment. That thought quickly disappeared from your mind as you finally looked up to see who had walked in. Your usual greeting caught in your throat as you took him in.

He was...handsome, in a strange way. His hair was ink black and was spiked oddly. He was tall and looked athletic, but the baggy clothes coupled with the dark trench coat masked his true figure. But the most intriguing was the insane amount of piercings—and how many of them looked like they were attaching a purple skin to his normal skin.

Noting your lingering gaze, he smirked, pulling your eyes up to meet his. You made eye contact and your body began to run hot with how intensely he was looking at you. “Like what you see? I’ll even let you take a picture, free of charge.”

Oh man.

His voice.

It was a deep rumble that you could’ve listened to all day. In fact, it had been so enticing that it took you longer than you would’ve liked to form a string of words into some semblance of a sentence, “Oh, uh, I’m so sorry. I’m not usually so unprofessional. You’re piercings are just- well, there’s a lot of them.”

He laughed (damn, that was going to be the death of you), “Nah, that’s alright. I’m pretty used to that kind of attention.” He moved to the counter and leaned on the surface with his forearms. “Actually, they’re why I’m in today. I’m having a few, ah, problems with a couple of the piercings. I was hoping you could help me.”

His colbalt eyes flickered up to meet yours. You seriously considered that if he asked you to do anything, anything, in this moment, you would honestly say yes. What was with this guy?

“Yeah, I think can help you with that. Why don’t you come back and I’ll take a look.” You heart pounded as he smiled while following you to your room in the back. For some reason, bringing him back was feeling extremely intimate. It shouldn’t have been, though. He definitely wasn’t the first man you’d worked on. He wasn’t even the first attractive man you’ve worked on. But that fact didn’t ease the your nerves.

You gestured to the chair, “Go ahead and take a seat while I get my things.” You turned to the sink, grateful for the brief moment of privacy to gain some more composure.

“Sure thing.” You heard the chair squeak and settle under his weight. “You know, I never caught your name.”

I never threw it. “It’s, uh, y/n.”

“Y/n...?”

“Y/n l/n.” You collected your piercing instruments into a pan and reached for the masks and gloves. “Care to share yours?”

“It’s Dabi.”

You sat in your chair and swiveled over to where he was sitting. It started you as you observed his eyes were already on you. The pan was set on a side table next to him and you put on the latex gloves with a snap, “No last name, Dabi?”

He watched as you adjusted the disposable mask and arranged the tools next to him, “Sorry, sweetheart, that’s classified.”

You glanced up at him briefly before rolling your eyes, “Alright, drama queen. A simple no would’ve sufficed.”

“Ah, c’mon, y/n. Don’t be like that.” He leaned in, peeling your attention away from the table, “Besides, that name sounds pretty good coming from your lips already. Wouldn’t want to spoil something so nice.”

Masks had never been more useful in your life until that exact moment. You could feel your cheeks flushing—and you knew from his smug expression that he could tell too. Quickly turning your attention to finishing your prep, you changed the subject, “So, what problems with your piercings are you having? Closed piercings? Stuck piercings?”

“It’s a little complicated. But you’ll know when you see it.” You heard some rustling of fabric.

“What’s that supposed to....oh.” He had taken off his jacket and had his palms outstretched, revealing some of the staple like piercings popping off the skin. The two skins had parted and were slightly bleeding. You realized that the piercings weren’t piercings; they were surgical staples. “Dabi, this looks serious. You should go to the hospital or see a doctor.”

He retracted his hands and his gaze got dark, “That’s not possible for me. I need this done here.”

Between his intense glare and not knowing how to even help him, you felt like a deer in the headlights. This probably was a job for medical professionals, but Dabi definitely wasn’t going to take no for an answer. It wasn’t that different from some piercings you’d done. And he didn’t seem super worried, so it was probably alright? Right?

Coming to a decision, you held out your palm as an offering. His gaze relaxed and placed his left palm in your hand. It took some fiddling and experimenting, but you eventually fell into a groove and were able to fix the staples on both hands as well as a few on his chin.

“And that was the last one.” You pulled away from his face and began to clean up, “I gotta hand it to you, Dabi, that was the most interesting appointment I’ve ever had.”

“Keeping things interesting is my specialty.” The chair groaned again from the weight shifting off it, “Thank you, though. How much to I owe you?”

You turned to find him much closer than you thought. He towered over you—a good 5-6 inches on you at least. It also scared you how quickly and quietly he could move around.

“Uh, no need.” You held up a hand to stop his response, “I didn’t use any of my piercings and this took me, what, 10? 15 minutes? Seriously, it’s fine.” You pumped some hand sanitizer into your hands and started to walk out of the room, “Besides, like I said, this appointment was by far the most interesting I’ve had in a while. Consider it a thank you.”

Dabi had followed you out to the front. He leaned onto the counter as you resumed your spot on the stool. “Only if you’re sure. I may not be the best guy out there, but you’ve seriously done me a huge favor here and I don’t want to dupe you out of the work you’ve done.”

You waved your hand, “Don’t worry about, Dabi. Seriously, it’s all good.”

He smiled, and you sensed some mischief behind it. Sure enough, he slowly leaned in so he was right next to your ear and whispered, “Damn, well since you said my name so sweetly.” He pulled away and chuckled, leaving you flushed and dumbfounded.

“See you soon, sweetheart.” And with that, he left.

Huh, you thought, I am in way too deep.

(Posted December 31, 2020, 01:53 AM MST)

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words-for-holland · 4 years ago

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Quarantine Series: The Birthday Week

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: It’s Tom’s Birthday Week! So much planning, food, and surprises....and a special promise from our favorite Q.S. Couple.

A/N: It’s been long overdue...Is it too late to say Happy Belated Tom?! 🥺

A/N: Happier Part 3 comes out this weekend!!

Check the Rest: Burnt Out | A New Look | Secret Cuts & Kisses | Breaking Friendships

May 25, 2020 (T-Minus 7 Days)

An almost average Monday. Its the start of Tom’s Birthday Week and Y/N is trying her best to get ahead of the game and prep up for an over-the-top birthday party for her boyfriend. Well as over-the-top as it can get when you’re stuck in Quarantine because...well...Covid.

The only problem, she didnt know where to start. What party to throw, games to play, food to make, playlist to create, and above all the gift. This year Y/N wanted to give Tom something that held a lot of sentimental value to represent all the love she had for him. While Y/N was lucky enough to have someone like Tom to spoil her and show her just how much she meant to him, she wanted to do the same for Tom. So, she went to the spare room, which had now become her new work space and started googling away.

May 26, 2020 (T-Minus 6 Days)

The next day, Tom and the boys went out for their daily Golf match, while Y/N stayed behind to continue party planning. She made sure to be discreet about it and pretended that she had to take care of a few things for work. In reality, Y/N facetimed her best friend, on advice of what to get Tom for his 24th.

“C’mon Im serious Nico. I want to give him something special this year.” Y/N groaned when she knew her best friend wasn’t giving her the answers she wanted.

“Im sorry, Y/N. I dont know what you could give him. You’ve know him better than anyone else.” Nico reasoned, as Y/N continued her helpless groans, banging her head on the table. “Look Im sure what ever you come up with, Tom is going to love it no matter what.”

“But that’s the problem I don’t know what I can come up with. Our first year together I got him clothes, last year it was golfing gear, I don’t know how I can top that.” Y/N continued to stare at the desk picking up and dropping her pencil repeatedly. “I just know that I want it to be something he can always look back at and know that I’ll always be there for him.”

“Wow. You really like this kid don’t ya?” Nico questioned, but of course she knew the answer to that...anyone did.

“Yeah...more than anything.” Y/N smiles back as she thinks about Tom.

“Well what about a promise ring?” Y/N’s ears perk up at the suggestion.

“Like uhhh a men’s promise ring? Do they even make promise rings for men?” She questions, though isn’t opposed to the idea.

“No, Im talking about a donkey’s promise ring.” Nico rolls her eyes. “It’d be cute and not to mention empowering because you’d be making the first move. Empowering women is super attractive.”

Y/N stops to give it some thought. It would be cute to have a ring for him and see him wear it everywhere knowing he would carry a symbol of her love. Of course it’s nothing like the real thing when couples get married and all, but it’s a step toward that direction. “Ill think about it.” She says.

May 27, 2020 (T-Minus 5 Days)

Y/N had finally given the idea a good 8 hours when she decided to find the ring. She scrolled through pages and pages to find the ring but none of them spoke to her or looked like it was meant for Tom. The more she scrolled the more anxious she got, slowly biting ther thumb nail as she continued.

“You know if you’re gonna do birthday shopping for someone in the house, the kitchen might not be the best place to do it.” A deep british voice popped up from behind.

Y/N shrieked and jumped, quickly closing her laptop, afraid she had already ruined the surprise. Until she turned around and saw it was just Harrison. “Ugh, was it reallg necessary to do that?” She whined. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Of course wheres the fun in simply asking what you’re doing.” He laughed, pulling a chair next to Y/N as he watched her scroll through pages or rings. His smile growing ever so slightly. Y/N looked at him with suspicion.

“Okay I know that smile...clearly you know something I don’t.” She states. “Is this a bad idea?”

Harrisons smile dropped quickly as he profusely shook his head. “What? What? No...I just uhh — actually yeah the rings are not a good idea.” He blabbers. Y/N looks at him, waiting for Harrison to continue. “I mean think about it. If you buy a ring for Tom and he starts wearing it everywhere. People are gonna suspect that he’s getting married or worse find out about your relationship. I don’t know if you wanna risk that.”

Harrison was lucky to be a gifted actor as he improv-ed his answers on the spot in hopes that Y/N did not find him to be too suspicious. If she called his bluff and found out, Tom would make sure Harrison would never see the light of day. “You should go for this necklace. I think it suits him and has a touch of your style.” Harrison points out to a necklace he truthfully thought she should get him. With that, he quickly left Y/N to be on her own in gift shopping.

May 28, 2020 (T-Minus 4 Days)

Y/N’s planning was 70% in the clear. The necklace was ordered, Sam was helping out in planning the food, Harrison and Tuwaine were arranging the golf diversion plan, and Harry was keeping Tom busy making sure he wasnt suspecting anything. Although that didn’t stop Tom from bothering his girlfriend a couple of hours of the day. How could he not, the boy missed his girl.

“Y/N..” Tom cooed as he wrapped his hands around her, kissing a small part of her shoulder. “Can you take a break from whatever arts and crafts thing you got going on and cuddle with me?” He continued as he placed another kiss.

“Babe, I’d love to more than anything but I wanna finish this up so I can at least accomplish one thing during Quarantine.” She explains.

“You accomplish a lot of things darling, and you can accomplish another if you just come and cuddle with your needy boyfriend, who happens to be turning 24....in 4 days.” He hinted, places kisses by ear.

“Oh and I suppose that gives you special treatment?” Y/N challenges, letting out giggles as Tom continued to kiss where she was ticklish the most.

“I would hope so. Now, what do you say?” He smiles at her, placing the small strand of black hair behind her ear.

“Okay you win.” She whispers.

May 29, 2020 (T-Minus 3 Days)

Tom and Harry were busy hosting the Pub Quiz, while Y/N and Harrison took the time to create the decorations for Tom’s party. The theme... Spiderman, but what else was new. Harrison drew up webs and spiders on the deflated red and blue ballooms, stashing them in a paper bag to be inflated the day of. Y/N started on the birthday pub quiz answer sheets, customizing them to have that personal touch of Tom. Everything was going smoothly until, she needed more glue.

“Crap, Im gonna check the closet. I think we have a few spare sticks of hot glue.” Y/N stated, as she got up.

Harrison eyes started to display signs of panic as he quickly got up and raced her to it, guarding the closet door. “Uh...there’s no more. I already checked.” He squeaked.

Y/N raised her one eyebrow in suspicion. “I’m pretty sure there’s a couple.” She fired back, trying to pry Harrison off the closet. “C’mon Harrison. This isn’t funny.”

“I think it is.” Harrison continued to stall. Y/N rolled her eyes, coming closer to him, wiggling her fingers. She tickled his sides, knowing it was his weak spot. His grip started to loosen as he let out fits of giggles. Y/N took the opportunity to quickly open the closet, and grab her glue sticks. She looked around to find if anything was suspicious or worth hiding, but there was nothing.

“You know...you’re acting really weird.” Y/N stated as she walked back to the table to continue her project. Once she was out of Harrison’s sight, he quickly texted Tom about the dilemma. Only to receive:

Time to find a new spot then.

May 30, 2020 (T-Minus 2 Days)

It was Tom & Y/N’s turn to wash the dishes after dinner. The irony both had no clue what one was planning for the other. They were always the type to be truthfully honest to each other, but a few little playful secrets couldn’t hurt. “So, is it just me or is Harrison acting really...strange?” She asked her boyfriend. Tom looked at her, pretending to not know what she was talking about.

“Umm..not sure. He seemed fine to me....Why? What’s happened?” Tom asked casually, focusing on the dishes.

“You know for someone that’s really good at acting, you’re a terrible liar.” Y/N laughed out loud, only to get splashed with water. “Touche. But seriously, he gets so nervous around me. Like someone’s out to get him if I do something he doesn’t expect. I wanted to get glue sticks yesterday in the closet and he straight up guarded the door, saying I wasn’t allowed....in out own closet?! I swear it’s like he’s hiding something in there.”

“Haz, you div.” Tom muttered under his breath.

“What was that babe?”

“Uhh nothing. I was just saying Harrison is a piece of work. Even I couldn’t tell you why he was acting like that.” He lied.

“Uh..huh.” Y/N responded, not buying anything but rather just letting it be.

Tom placed the dishes on the rack, while he came up behind his girlfriend, huggling her tightly from behind. “It’s whatever. But, lets just go back to our room, lay under the sheets, watch some Netflix....have a good time.” He smirked, kissing her temple. “And just cuddle like there’s no one watching.”

“Mmmm. Now that sounds like a plan.” She whispers pulling him to their room.

May 31, 2020 (T-Minus 1 Day)

Y/N only had 1 day left to prepare everything for Tom’s big day. She made sure to stay on top of everyone’s tasks and prepped her gifts for Tom tomorrow. Y/N was extremely proud of everything and everyone that was taking part of her little project. A rare sight anyone would ever see, but the most thing she was proud of was how secretive they were able to keep it that Tom didnt suspect a single thing.

“So, got anything planned for tomorrow?” Tom asked Y/N as she was cooking pancakes.

“Mmm I dont know. Am I supposed to have something to do tomorrow?” She teases.

“Well..” He starts as he takes the spatula out of her hands. “I hear it this div’s birthday tomorrow.” Tom grabs Y/N’s waist, picking her up and placing her on the counter. “And I hear he just wants to spend it with his girls all day long.” Y/N’s legs locked around Tom’s waist as he continues his not-so-obvious birthday wish.

“Oh there’s gonna be more than one girl at this birthday of his huh? He must be quite the player.” She smiles at him, fingers thresding through the small brown hairs at the nape of his neck.

“Well yeah because Tessa is his princess but Y/N, this really cute adorable hot girl who doesn’t think she’s hot but should really start seeing it...that HIS princess.” He explained, kissing every visible spot on her face. “It would make his 24th. Trust me.”

Y/N pretends to stall and think about his wish. He knew he was going to get Y/N and Tom time together no matter what, but where’s the fun in just expecting it. “We’ll see about that birthday boy.”

June 1, 2020 (Party Time!!)

The boys were all out celebrating Tom’s birthday at the golf course at the start of the day. Of course that wasn’t until Tom made sure to get some extra love and attention from his girlfriend first thing in the morning. Y/N quickly rushed to get the decorations in place, while Nikki, Tom’s mother helped in setting the table and getting the food ready with cleR and concise instructions from Sam to ensure they couldn’t mess it up.

“Y/N this was such a wonderful idea. I cant wait to see his face when he comes home.” She exclaims, giving Y/N the most comforting hug.

“Thank you Nikki, I just want it to be perfect for him this year. I mean we’re all in Quarantine and all of us are finally together in one place.” Y/N explains as she places the final ballons up by the doorway.

“Well of this is how you prepare for a birthday, I can’t wait to see how you prep for your wedding.” Nikki responds, only half joking.

“He hasn’t even proposed yet!” Y/N laughs, though the thought makes her stomach flutter in the best way possible. Being married to Tom was all she could ever want in life.

“Well, dont you worry. Im sure it’ll happen, that boy can’t gona second without you I’d be surprised if he doesnt....May just have to chastise him if he takes too long.”

Y/N was starting to grow a bit suspicious. This whole week alone was filled with suspicion. Harrison acting weird, Tom being extra needy and cuddly, Nikki talking about marriage. “Was Tom going to propose soon? “ she thought to herself.

Just in the nick of time, the boys had all arrived after an intense game of golf. They came in bursting in conversation about how great it was, who deserved to win, and of course how Dom was always getting beat at his own game by his sons. Of course the festivities didnt start yet, until Tom took a moment to shower and dress up. It wasnt that he needed to, but for him..it was extremely necessary for today.

Y/N went up to grab her presents for Tom in the work closet, when all of a sudden, a small box landed on her head. She looked up then down towards where the item fell, only to see a sparkling pink and clear diamon cut ring. “Oh my god” she muttered.

“Bullocks.” Tom spoke out loud wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his torso.

“I...uh..Im sorry Tom. I swear I wasn’t looking for it I was just trying to get my gift so I could give it to you. I didnt know this was your hiding spot.” She frantically explains picking up the box and giving it to him.

Tom looked a little disappointed as he stared at the ring. He had worked so hard to keep it a secret from everyone only to get it ruined on his brirthday. “No no no. It’s fine Y/N, really. I just...I was planning on giving this to you next month on your birthday.”

Y/N opens her mouth realizing how bad she messed it up. “Oh my god. Tom Im so sorry.”

“It’s fine.” He laughs. “Actually kinda glad you found it. So now I can do this”. Tom gets down on one knee, his towel still wrapped around his torso. “Y/N, I have loved you more than I could ever love anyone in the past 3 years I’ve known you. I swear I could have sworn I was going to marry you the day I met you at the Marvel office with your little black Dell notebook in your hands. Your humor, your kindess, your sympathy and empathy for all living things makes me love you even more. Will you make me the happiest birthday man on earth, and marry me?” He proposes.

Y/N tears up and shakes her head vigorously. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” She cries, repearing the words as she hugs him on the floor. They lean in giving into a passionate kiss, still holding onto each other. Y/N and Tom couldn’t believe it was real. Just a couple of seconds they were boyfriend and girlfriend..now they’re engaged. “Wait. I almost forgot about your presents.” She quickly speaks out grabbing the bag.

“Darling, believe me you were my present. I am beyond satisfied right now.” He chuckles.

“I know, but I got you these too!” Y/N pushes the bag to him. Tom shakes his head as he opens it up find a silver necklace with a retangular pendant, and a major jar full of post- it notes. He observes the necklace and opens up the retangular pendant to find a picture of Y/N and him during their firsf year together. He smiled back at the memory, now seeing as to where they’ve ended uo. Stronger and better than before. Next, he opened the major jar pulling out a small card that read:

For whenever you’re down, need a laugh or missing me.

He picked up a post it note that more pictures of them during their time together with a note saying:

“Remember that you’re the reason we all smile. You are a warm loght of happiness that does not stop giving to the world.”

Tom tears up at the gift. In all his years, no one has ever given him soemthing that held so much sentimental value. “I love you so much Y/N. Thank you for this...for all of this.” He whispers, placing a gentle kiss on her lips.

“Your welcome. I hope you know you mean the world to me too, and I just wanted your birthday to be perfect.”

“It already is...because I have you.” He looks back at her and smiles.

“Cmon birthday boy. Get dressed, we have a party to attend to and news to share .” Y/N laughs as she helps her boyfriend...I mean fiance up. Who said that quarantine birthdays were boring?

Taglist:

@hollanddolanfangirl @parkerspillow

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland imagine #peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader

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halothenthehorns · 3 years ago

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TLTNL- A PECK OF OWLS

You guys don't understand how happy it makes me to see continued support for this!

HPHPHPHP

Harry still had a ton of questions, like the confirmation that Mrs. Figg was an Order member so what she could be doing hovering around him his whole life, and more details on this Mundungus and what he could be doing, and honestly a million other things about the Order, as well as the still problematic question of what on Earth those Dementors had been doing around there.

Yet when Harry hesitated in flipping to his chapter and looking at them hopefully, he knew full well they all knew what he was silently asking for, and none of them answered, he gave in and began his chapter. He was confident if they had any more idea than him they'd have said something, and he was right.

Harry asked what she meant, and Mrs. Figg burst out that he'd left to go buy some batch of cauldrons!

Sirius had to bite down on his tongue hard to stop himself asking what Mundungus had been doing there? What was the big deal if he had left? Figg was acting like that was the cause of the dementor attack, but that wasn't really making a lot of sense. However, it was still clear as day no one in here knew what was going on either, so they were hoping for a little more info and a lot less cat talk soon from this lady.

She'd told him not to do it, and look what happened! It was a good thing she'd had Mr. Tibbles watching Harry!

Harry blinked as a random memory resurfaced of that cat streaking away from the car, the very same one?

She reminded they couldn't just stand here all night though and barked at Harry to get a move on, reminding how much trouble this was going to cause, and shouting that she was going to kill him!

Harry tried to grasp this, trying to wrap his mind around his batty cat obsessed neighbor knowing of Dementors.

"You don't seem that surprised now," Remus pointed out at Harry's mostly annoyed face, he had a feeling he'd be seeing a lot of that for a while.

"I've been suspecting it since you guys mentioned her," he shrugged, "it just felt right."

He stammered out that she was a witch, but she corrected only a Squib. Which that Mundungus knew full well, and he'd still left Harry all alone.

"Why was I being followed?" The outrage finally burst out of him despite being unsurprised when they all looked as shocked as him at the news.

It was his mum though who nodded first and admitted, "honestly, I can see it though. We were groaning that Dumbledore sent you there unprotected, well maybe he does have the Order keeping an eye on you. At least now we know what that noise was, and there isn't even worse things around you."

Harry just looked at her in disbelief that she was considering this a good thing while he still scowled, "without telling me? I've been wasting away there for a month, and not one of them could have bothered passing me along a scrap of anything." He managed without much difficulty not to shoot a look at his godfather, he could already feel Sirius was just as unhappy about something as Harry and he assumed it was the same thing. Sirius wouldn't hide something like this from him.

Lily just leaned back into James shaking her head for an answer, she clearly couldn't say anything to Harry right now to make him even see this as slightly a good thing like she could, and none of the boys were helping as they looked as peeved as Harry at the idea he'd been followed without his knowledge, even by their side.

Harry understood that it must have been this Mundungus who'd Disapparated from his house earlier making that noise, which Mrs. Figg hastily agreed Mr. Tibbles had warned her of when that happened.

"Err," Harry began in confusion which temporarily derailed his anger as he recalled, "I remember Sirius could kind of sort of talk to Crookshanks while he was a dog, but..." he trailed off in confusion hoping someone would explain this.

"Well remember we said how highly intelligent kneazles were, and that Mrs. Figg breeds them for a living," Remus shrugged. "She's clearly kept her own litter and trained them to do her dirty work."

"I got that," Harry nodded, "but warned her?"

"Probably just gave the cat instructions come back with a twig or something and that means Harry's in trouble," James shrugged.

She finished with a groan of what Dumbledore was going to say of all this, before turning on Dudley, still on the ground, and snapping at his fat bottom to get a move on!

"It's nice to finally hear someone talk to Dudley like that other than Hagrid," Sirius nodded to himself.

Harry could do nothing but stare at her as he asked she knew Dumbledore?

She snapped back of course she did, everyone did, before telling Harry to get his butt in gear as well, they had to get back to the house. She'd be no use if the dementors came back, she'd never so much as Transfigured a teabag.

"Neither have I, now that I think about it," Sirius acknowledged, receiving a smack from Remus for that random input.

She stooped down, seized one of Dudley's massive arms in her wizened hands and tugged,

Lily blinked in surprise as it first registered how badly Dudley had reacted to this whole instance. Yes Muggles were heard to have a worst time of it around dementors, but Dudley seemed to have full blown passed out, what had he seen? That spoiled little boy who'd never been told no in his life, surely the memory of what Hagrid had done to him wouldn't be this bad. She didn't bring it up though, in fact honestly disregarding the matter as whatever it was she'd probably never get an answer for and she was far more concerned hearing about what happened to her own son.

while snapping at his useless rump to get up!

Remus nodded to what Sirius had said, that was like music to his ears hearing someone actually say the words to Dudley.

Dudley either would not, or could not move, remaining on the ground with his hands still over his mouth.

Harry just sighed he'd deal with it, bending down and heaving one of Dudley's arms over his shoulders.

"You'll break your back," James gaped at his son with certainty.

Harry merely shrugged, he was well used to physical labor and while Dudley was probably the heaviest thing he'd had to carry at the Dursleys, he hadn't been able to find it in himself to leave him there for the dementors.

It took all his effort to get Dudley to his feet, and his cousin was of no help as his eyes continued to roll uselessly in their sockets.

All Mrs. Figg did was shout at them to hurry up!

"She's just being no help," Lily murmured with concern, understanding Mrs. Figg was stressed and trying to get Harry to safety but continuing to yell at him wasn't doing any good.

Harry may as well have been hauling bricks as he got Dudley moving behind the spritely woman trotting ahead in carpet slippers, who still occasionally glanced back at the boys and kept snapping at Harry not to put his wand away. The Statute of Secrecy wasn't a concern now, there was going to be hell to pay anyway.

Harry suddenly shivered, he just knew Mrs. Figg was entirely right about that and something worse than dementors was fixing to loom over him because of tonight's events.

They might as well be hanged for a dragon as an egg.

Remus managed a small smile to himself, he always laughed whenever he heard wizards rephrasing muggle sayings, like this one was a favorite of his mother's who always said, 'we might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,' when moving from one town to the next with her burden of a child after his oddities nearly got them caught again.

This had been exactly what Dumbledore had been afraid would happen, then she spotted someone far down the street, but muttered to herself it was just Mr. Prentice.

"I'd still consider that a bad thing," James muttered, "it would be odd for any muggle to see Harry's wand."

Lily smiled where James couldn't see, honestly thinking that muggle would find this whole scenario odd but Mrs. Figg was still right, he could write this off however he pleased, Harry needed to keep his protection up.

It wasn't easy to lug his cousin around while keeping his wand steady, but Dudley was refusing any independent movement, his feet dragging at his side the only help along.

Sirius scoffed in disgust. If Dudley managed to get Harry hurt while he tried to protect him, that boy was going to be in even more hot water than before, pity be damned.

Between gasping breaths, Harry demanded of his old babysitter why she'd never told him what she was?

"That's actually a fair point," James huffed, "not just this summer, but ever. Harry was miserable growing up, and no matter what you didn't tell her it was as obvious as could be."

Harry was looking down at the next sentence in answer to his dad's question with a rising sense of hurt blocking his throat off. He'd always trusted Dumbledore, couldn't remember a time where he'd really questioned his headmaster, and this was his reward? As everyone continued staring at him expectantly when no one had a good answer for James, Harry had to clear his throat hard around a block and got out.

She told it was because of Dumbledore's orders.

While the others all groaned and grumbled as that seemed to be a far to frequent thing, Remus rolled his eyes at them and said, "well at this point it's not surprising at least. He did say he wanted Harry to grow up away from that fame, what sense would it make to allow Figg to tell him anyways."

No one particularly appreciated the reminder, but they stopped gripping about the innocent old lady for now at least.

She did apologize for his miserable time at her place though, but if the Dursleys had thought he'd enjoyed it she couldn't have done her job of helping to look after him.

Lily still couldn't stop a nasty scowl for that, she still had reasons to dislike Mrs. Figg for this alone. Indulging in the Dursley's treatment of making Harry's life miserable when she should have been doing something to help her son! At the very least encouraged Harry to lie to the Dursleys when he went back while she was a friend to him!

She switched back to speaking of what Dumbledore was going to do when he heard, murmuring to herself of all the trouble this was going to cause and how he needed to know as soon as possible, but there was no way to tell him.

Harry offered she could use his owl.

"You'd need something faster than that," James disagreed with a sigh, his ire for Dumbledore not quite pushing out his usefulness with power right about now, Harry really could get in trouble with the Ministry for this magic until things were all said and done, and a calm voice like Dumbledore would be helpful. "I'd recommend Floo travel, but you haven't got any."

"An honest oversight on your part for another quick getaway," Sirius sighed, "but I suppose you could always hail The Knight Bus again."

"Still not fast enough unless you bribed them to bump you ahead of everyone," Remus reminded while Lily cleared her throat to cut them off.

She told that wasn't fast enough, he needed to know now, the Ministry already did.

Harry asked what the big deal even was, he'd only used magic to get rid of Dementors, surely they'd be more concerned finding out what they were doing around here.

"Well yes, after you explain why you had to use the magic," Lily reminded. "For now, all they're going to know is that you used that Charm, and they're going to try and make another note of it, something that you don't need in your life right now with how angry Fudge was last seen with you."

Harry gave an uneasy frown at his mother, he had a bad feeling not all was going to go as she said.

She began to explain to him that it was far more complicated than that, then broke off and screamed to the heavens she was going to kill that Mundungus Fletcher!

"And you have my blessing," Remus agreed wholeheartedly.

There was another crack same as before, and this time came with it the smell of stale tobacco, with someone pulling off an invisibility cloak revealing a squat man with unruly ginger hair and bloodshot eyes.

"Sounds like he hasn't changed much," Sirius rolled his eyes in contempt for the thief he'd once found an amusing friend. Sirius could still manage to be annoyed Harry had been followed by him, and still be angry Mundungus hadn't been doing his job right all at the same time.

He looked blearily from Figg to Harry, asking what had happened to them staying undercover?

"Well someone had to step in and make sure he was alright," Lily sneered while her eyes flickered to Remus and away sadly. She was honestly hoping that he might have taken up this job, at least if he or Sirius had been around Harry in Privet Drive they'd see more of what happened there and would have stepped in. Clearly not though, if this was Mundungus' regular job than that old codger wouldn't care a lick or even take notice of such things.

She shrieked what the problem was at him!

He just gaped at her as he repeated Dementors, here?

"No, in Merry Old London!" James grumbled, wanting to give Mundungus a good whack now himself.

She repeated yes here, while calling him a useless pile of bat droppings.

Sirius couldn't help cracking an honest grin though, speaking his mind as usual, "you know, despite my annoyance at her for Harry's sake, I can't help but decide I like the old broad. Anyone who can throw around these kinds of insults is good in my book."

"You should come around her place for cake some time then," Harry snorted.

"Nah, not if it still smells like cabbages," Sirius crinkled his nose in remembered disgust, "but she can certainly come around mine."

She began berating him verbally for what he'd been off doing when he should have been here to stop it. Mundungus tried to protest it had been a very good deal-

"A business deal is better to do than looking after my son?" Lily asked of no in here dangerously, but suddenly making all the boys realize Mundungus was lucky if Mrs. Figg was the only angry woman he had to deal with.

Mrs. Figg raised the arm from which her string bag dangled and whacked Mundungus around the face and neck with it;

Sirius felt a bark of laughter escape him, if he'd had any questions before they were gone now, he liked her.

judging by the clanking noise it made it was full of cat food.

Causing all of the boys to join in, even Harry came easily out of his foul mood to chuckle along at the mental imagery.

She began whacking him unrelenting as she told it was his job to go and tell this to Dumbledore, and why he hadn't been here to help, punctuating every word with another swing.

"Oh how I wish we could sit in on that conversation," James' shoulders kept shaking so hard he was making Lily twitch in his lap with her own laughter she was trying to suppress.

Mundungus was left a cowering mess away from her, promising it would be done as he vanished with another crack.

She swore she hoped Dumbledore killed that one!

"That would ruin my fun though," Sirius said in chipper enough tones, but it was still very clear he meant it. Lily wasn't the only one who was angry Harry's looking after wasn't being handled by someone who wasn't this old idiot who'd run off and leave Harry like that.

Then she beckoned to Harry to hurry up again, asking what he was waiting around for.

"He was enjoying the show of watching you beat up the guy," Remus pointed out like that was obvious.

"That would give anyone a pause," James agreed.

Harry didn't waste breath pointing out he could hardly keep moving much longer, Dudley was surely cracking his spine as he shuffled along.

Privet Drive came into view, Mrs. Figg still muttering to herself about what a catastrophe this was, and how it had been exactly their job to stop Harry doing magic at all costs.

"Just what would they have done if I'd gotten bored and really left myself?" Harry demanded.

"Been able to warn Dumbledore faster I suppose," Lily shrugged, as honestly she agreed with him, his being watched just didn't seem that useful if they were just supposed to be stopping him from using magic. She'd been thinking it was more to do with further protection in the Muggle area, but if that's all Dumbledore's endgame had been than it was an even worse idea than originally thought.

Harry managed to pant that Dumbledore had been having him followed all summer?

She agreed it was obvious, did he really think Dumbledore would let Harry Potter be on his own after last June?

"Well it sure bloody felt like it," Harry grumbled, still fare more annoyed by the whole instance than everyone else it seemed who'd moved on to being annoyed by this Mundungus. Harry did admit though there was something irksome about the man as well he was having trouble placing feelings on, which usually meant a memory not yet returned he shouldn't be prodding at.

She finally got him to the door, before telling him that someone would be in touch shortly.

"For once," Harry rolled his eyes, causing all of them to raise a brow at him. He seemed to have turned into a belligerent teen overnight, which almost would have been funny if it wasn't so depressing to watch. They still agreed with him, he had been left alone all summer, and if this was really the thing to kick him into the action where his friends were, it was really sad.

Harry asked what she was going to do, and she merely said go home, casting one more shaky look into the shadows.

"The poor dear," Lily couldn't help but worry. Harry's safety was far more important, but she still wished there were someone there to walk the woman home.

She then marched off despite Harry's protests that he wanted to know-

"Everything," he finished dejectedly as he could already see her in his mind's eye spinning away and trotting off up the street like he hadn't even spoken.

it was too late, she was already vanishing with her bag of cat food clanging away and carpet slippers flopping about.

"She sure is a sight," Sirius gave one last happy smile which would likely be the last for hours. Harry was back at the Dursleys place, and couple together his earlier commentary with those horrid people and how he was arriving at the door with Dudley, no one needed much intuition to know this wasn't going to go well.

Grumbling under his breath in disappointment it would have been nice to have a chat with anyone who was in contact with Dumbledore, he knew there was nothing for it as he turned to the door and rang the bell, finally tucking away his wand.

"Why would you ring the doorbell?" Remus asked while Lily whispered to James what that was. "You do by all technicalities live there, that's why you're bleeding there." The old bloodlust was already creeping back into his tone of imagining Vernon answering the door and attacking Harry at once. "Just march in there, dump Dudley on the couch and be done with your night."

Harry just shrugged as answer, he really couldn't find it in himself to explain he'd never entered that house without knocking first, it's not like he'd ever felt welcomed there, let alone ever been given a key if it had been locked. Then he remembered the last time he hadn't answered in his full thought process, and not wanting to do anything to have his dad so angry at him again, he told them that.

Again, no one hardly seemed pleased at his truth, but he was happy to see at least James smile at him for the effort it clearly took him to say that.

Petunia's shadow emerged with her voice already speaking of how she'd been getting worried, but she trailed off in fear when she saw her son's green face.

Harry took a look at his cousin, and realized what was about to happen a second before he did, only just managing to duck out of the way as Dudley vomited on the doorstep.

"Lovely," they all noted, while some irony warred with pity. Harry had vomited in this room from the stress of reliving his worst memories, now here he was watching Dudley do the same. If this had been any other person other than someone with their last name, they knew they would have been very concerned indeed for Dudley's circumstances. Now all they were really doing was picturing an amusing mental image of watching Petunia be forced to clean that up, though in all honesty it would probably be Harry instead.

She began screaming in concern at once, drawing Vernon's attention while both parents began fawning over their son to demand what was wrong, had he been drinking foreign tea?

Lily had to press her fingers firmly to her lips as she remembered that ridiculous lie Dudley had told his parents, though if that's what they ended up believing she really couldn't bring herself to care one way or another. Though it would further put some amusing spin in that the cure to this would be for Dudley to eat chocolate, something strictly against that diet he might still be on.

Then Vernon noticed he was covered in dirt, and asked if he'd been on the ground? Had he been mugged?

Remus cocked his head to the side as he tried to force himself to see this as a Muggle would, but even then he couldn't picture anyone stupid enough to be trying to rob such a wall like Dudley at any stage of his life.

Petunia began screeching the police needed to be phoned while both parents started shuffling Dudley towards the kitchen. Harry began trying to make his way to the stairs while no one noticed him.

"I might actually enjoy the rest of your summer if they go on some wild doxie chase," Sirius snorted, picturing Vernon trying to go after a dementor and vividly enjoying that imagery much more than he ever would have considered possible.

Dudley began trying to mouth some sort of explanation, and finally managed to force out the word, 'him.'

Harry's foot froze in place as he braced himself for the explosion.

James's mouth snapped open in outrage at once to know just what kind of explosion, but Harry was still reading on calmly, if subdued now like he was accepting his fate to the gallows. Least he wasn't tensed for a fight, yet.

Vernon shouted at the top of his lungs that moment for the boy to come in there!

Harry really wasn't screaming all that loud, but they all knew it wasn't meant to be kind either. Of course now that they thought about it, Dudley probably did think Harry had done all of that to him. Even now knowing the extent of what the Dursleys would presumably do to Harry in retaliation, they all still tensed in preparation for it to happen with mounting fear. Harry really shouldn't have put his wand away when he'd gotten to this house.

Forcing one foot in front of the other, Harry entered to find the three in a panicky mess, Vernon advancing on him at once as he demanded to know of Harry what he'd done to Dudley!

"Clearly nothing of lasting impact," Sirius muttered sourly, "otherwise he wouldn't still be walking."

"With the way he was talking to Harry right before this happened, he really should consider that a blessing," Remus agreed.

Harry said he'd done nothing, even knowing he wouldn't be believed.

"Then why do you bother?" Lily rolled her eyes in disgust.

"The conversation goes by faster if I pretend to follow along while Vernon makes up his own assumptions," Harry shrugged.

Petunia ignored him entirely, turning to her Diddy and asking what Harry had done. Had he used his thing?

"They really do make us all sound like some disease," Remus curled up his lip as she phrased it like that.

It seemed to take every last drop of Dudley's efforts to nod.

Harry still yelped he hadn't while Vernon came forward with a raised fist.

Harry watched in fascination as everyone around him flinched and paled all over again to what he found a fairly common sight. He still didn't think divulging Vernon's physical treatment of him had helped anything, the opposite as it seemed to make all their fears of the man ramp up to their highest degree, but he couldn't take it back now and seemed to decide the best way to soothe them was to read past the moment. He had every confidence at least Vernon wouldn't lay a hand on him now, hopefully he'd get that through to them eventually.

Before anymore could be done, an owl came flying in through the window, dropped a note at Harry's feet, and soared right back out.

"Considering that could have been from any number of people, I can't say I'm thrilled Harry's finally getting more mail," Remus rolled his eyes.

Vernon switched anger to bellowing rage about those pestilent birds!

"Hedwig better watch her little feathers," Lily muttered protectively, her hands still clasped tightly inside of James'.

Harry paid this no mind as he ripped open the official looking letter, finding it from the Ministry saying they had received intelligence,

"I wish," Sirius huffed under his breath.

of Harry's Patronus Charm. As this was not his first breach of the Decree, he was now expelled from Hogwarts.

Harry heard those around him screech so loudly, he was sure it ruptured an eardrum. He however just stared blankly down at the pages. He wanted to believe with everything he had that he would never have to leave Hogwarts before he had to, but there really was some great looming gap in the distance promising he would indeed be missing from his school for quite some time. It wasn't really because he'd been kicked out, right? Dumbledore would never let them keep him out, but Dumbledore wasn't -

"Harry!"

Harry shook himself hard, managing to push the pain back out of the forefront of his mind and offer up a weak smile to those around him. "Sorry, just really freaked me out is all, they wouldn't really expel me would they? You guys said it takes a few instances of these getting me even up to the Ministry and how rare it was, and this was only my second offense. Plus," he continued, switching from fear to anger as he pressed on, "they haven't even heard my side of it, how come they can just go and expel me whenever they feel like? Why-"

"Harry," Sirius repeated just a touch more calmly than his godson who was quickly driving himself into a frenzy. "I am positive everything's going to be fine, the Ministry doesn't even have the power to expel you from school so I don't even know what they're thinking with that. All they can do is fine you, warn you, and remind you not to use magic outside of school." When none of the color still returned to Harry's face, Sirius persisted in a forced more amused tone, "besides, if Dumbledore put up with us for all those years there's no way he'd have you leaving the place without a fight. As Headmaster, even if you are expelled, he can always chose to enroll you." He finished with a triumphant little smirk.

Harry managed a pleased enough smile for Sirius, though something in him lingered as he turned away, like maybe he should have left school for just this year, something to do with Sirius needing him far more or- he forced himself to cut off that time as his brain was beginning to feel cooked from too much thinking ahead.

Ministry representatives would be calling at his place shortly to destroy his wand.

Harry still couldn't stop his mouth sagging open in horror for that bit! There was no way he was losing his wand to anyone!

"But they can't do that," Lily fired up in protest. "They aren't allowed to do a thing to you until after the charges are proven, and you're allowed to give a reason of why you did the magic before it hits this level!"

Lily's rendition of the laws didn't seem to have gone in one bit of Harry's conscious, so she took a deep breath and tried something else instead.

"It's going to be fine love," Lily promised her shivering son at once. She hesitated, hating having to say so, but then promised, "it may not be the same, but honestly you can get another one." The suggestion felt cruel, like her cat had just died and someone told her to just replace him with another one right away, but the assurance that he could still have access to magical protection when he was let back into school had to be of some comfort.

For a few moments more Harry could do nothing but gape in shock at the realization his wand was still going to be broken, but his hand crept into his pocket now and closed tight around the phoenix core which gave him enough hope to continue on that hopefully this would never be a permanent fear.

He would have to make an official appearance at the Ministry at 9 a. m. on the twelfth of August.

"That's the only part of the bleeding letter that makes any sense," James rolled his eyes in disgust, though even that wasn't known to happen until after the third strike, this was all very extreme.

There was a sign off hoping for his health,

Sirius scoffed in annoyance at the pleasantries, no one would be doing very well by the end of that letter.

Then the bottom part of who had written it, the office, etc.

Harry reread the letter with mounting fear. He was expelled!

None of them could stand watching Harry be like this now, without a word of comfort any of them could offer. Even Sirius had claim to another home in the Potter's manor outside of Hogwarts, none of them could grasp how it must feel to only find one place on earth safe. He wouldn't even feel right at The Burrow anymore, watching everyone around him still being in school.

His brain was having trouble processing past that, but one thing did become more clear. He had to run, now. He could not let anyone destroy his wand.

"Not that I ever really consider leaving that place a bad idea," Remus shrugged, "but just where do you think you're going again?"

"Hadn't got that far," Harry sighed, some lingering hope trailing in him hoping he wouldn't have to, something would happen so he'd never have to go that far.

Without a word Harry turned as if to leave, but Vernon blocked his path at once, still demanding to know what had happened to his son!

It took a moment for Lily to realize she wasn't the only one trembling with fury at the way he continued to speak to their son, James still seemed likely at any given moment to resume his frenzied anger to get out of here and end Vernon's life if he kept treating Harry like this after he'd put his hands on their boy.

Harry ignored this and instead pulled his wand, promising he'd hex Vernon if he didn't move.

Vernon denied the threat, saying that madhouse of his school forbade it.

Harry told that madhouse had chucked him out!

Sirius shook his head sadly as he thought of all the insane things Harry had been up to lately, and how madhouse may actually apply to his old school in some terms with the way Harry's years went there.

He could do whatever he pleased now!

Before he could continue with the threat, there was a crack, and though Vernon ducked,

"If only," Harry sighed in honest disappointment, dispelling at once the hope that had lit everyone else Harry had actually cursed that buffoon.

for the third time that night Harry was searching for the source of a disturbance he had not made.

"Three times in one day really does have to be some kind of record," James shook his head at this.

It was another owl that had crashed into the window, and when Harry sprinted over to open it, the owl delivered the message to Harry which turned out to be a hastily scrawled note from Mr. Weasley promising Dumbledore had arrived to sort this out, not to leave the house, surrender his wand, or do more magic!

Harry paused after he'd finished with this, his head cocked to the side as he asked the others, "does that sound a little off to anyone else? Don't do more magic but don't surrender my wand, how am I supposed to do both?"

"Talk them down obviously," Sirius rolled his eyes, "offer them a cup of tea and have a nice chat before they destroy your link to magic, works like a charm."

Remus gave him an absent nudge while he honestly pondered the question. "My best solution would honestly be your original plan though, better to avoid the fight and make a run for it. Arthur's intentions are good, but you really don't have many options until this all cools down."

"Here's hoping I send him that next," Sirius sighed in agreement.

Harry hummed in silent concurrence and went back to reading instead of the internal struggle he felt kicking inside of him. At the point of his fifteen year old life, he honestly trusted Arthur more than Remus, maybe not Sirius, but as of now it was hard to decide whose advice he'd take more...

Harry stared hard at the words, that Dumbledore was fixing this. How much power did his headmaster have over the Ministry of Magic?

"Guess it depends on the branch you're talking about," Lily sighed. "He really does have a lot of influence even without the actual titles to back anything up, it honestly wouldn't surprise me if he could turn this whole thing around before the nights even up."

Harry did finally start breathing easier at that news, he had full confidence his mother was right about that at least.

Harry still didn't understand how he was supposed to not give up his wand while still not doing magic. He'd have to duel someone from the Ministry, possibly getting him thrown into Azkaban.

"You really love that extreme punishment don't you?" Sirius shivered in disgust. "Resisting arrest is a big offense I'll admit, but they won't haul you into Azkaban for that alone. They have a few holding places in the Ministry you'd be left in until your trial, and the chances of you getting off lessen by a ton if you fight, but you're never going near that place Harry."

"Same for you," Harry reminded at once as he couldn't help but relax back as he felt the truth of Sirius' words.

Sirius gave Harry a confident smile back while rolling his eyes at his friends own pleased looks.

Still it was a comfort that Dumbledore was working to fix this, he'd sorted out worse.

"Like what?" James snorted, "that you know of anyway."

"He came back after the Ministry kicked him out of Hogwarts," Harry reminded of his second year, "I guess this hardly felt like as big a deal as a student."

Lily shook her head fondly at Harry's logic, but didn't correct him if it would keep him from panicking.

Aloud Harry announced he'd changed his mind, he was staying, flopping into a chair across from Dudley to all of the astounded faces around him.

"They don't have the benefit of hearing your train of thought," Remus chuckled, "otherwise I'm sure anyone would have been confused by that."

Vernon demanded who all of these owls were from?

Harry answered in order,

Harry could feel the interruption coming of, again, why he bothered answering these ever rude people, but he could already feel his own mind's logic acknowledging what he was sure would pop up.

thinking to himself it was quieter to answer rather than continued yelling on Vernon's part, and he now needed to listen for those Ministry officials.

"Well I guess," James grumbled under his breath, though he'd still rather Vernon's throat just be removed, that would be quietest of all.

Vernon barked in surprise there was a Ministry of Magic? His kind of people in government! This actually made sense, no wonder the country was going to the dogs!

Lily's face puckered with dislike, but she honestly wasn't even that bothered, this was the least insulting thing he'd said about her life of late. James decided he'd ask later what his government had anything to do with canines, he didn't care enough right now.

Then Vernon switched back to Harry, demanding to know why he was expelled?

Harry began to explain he'd done magic, but Vernon cut him off with a roar of triumph he had done something to Dudley!

"It really is impossible for that ignoramus to hear more than one thing isn't it?" Remus rubbed at his temple at the mere thought of trying to speak to this man, rather than leaving him alone with James which was the worst punishment possible.

Harry again protested that wasn't his fault, but then Dudley forced out more words, the two parents silencing Harry at once.

Harry just sighed, he honestly had no idea why he even bothered, he'd never had a voice in that house, least of all when Dudley was speaking.

Dudley began to explain everything had gone dark, and he'd heard voices in his head.

That brought all the boys up short in surprise as it occurred to them for the first time, Sirius voicing, "wonder just what he heard?"

"The worst thing we know that happened to him was Hagrid giving him a tail," Lily remained with a careless shrug, "and as that shouldn't have really caused this, I can't think of anything."

Harry sat there mulling it over for a moment, and said without a trace of confidence, "I know I never ask Dudley so this is me guessing, but I like to think he's finally just getting some comeuppance and hearing all the kids he's always bullied."

"Why would that be a bad memory?" Remus scoffed, "he'd preen at the idea of all his victims."

"If the thought bothered him that much, he'd have stopped being what he was ages ago," James agreed.

Harry still tried to give his reason, "after he met someone who could take him on, Hagrid, I actually never saw him keep bullying people again though. Sure he still beat up kids, but it was always a quick blow to prove his point and then he'd leave his gang to finish. I don't know, maybe Hagrid giving Dudley a tail also forced him to grow a conscience."

"I don't really buy that," Sirius rolled his eyes, "but I don't really care either as it's about Dudley. So you think what you like pup, I'd rather hear about you not getting expelled."

Harry clearly wasn't convincing anyone else, so let the matter go.*

Vernon and Petunia exchanged a horrified look at this. Their least favorite thing in the world, outside of people besides them who misused their hosepipe privileges,

"I thought you said Vernon had told all that he was above doing such things," Remus rolled his eyes.

"I thought so to," Harry shrugged, before reminding them, "but I guess that one was above me, I didn't actually write these you know."

was people who heard voices. They obviously thought Dudley was losing his mind.

"Points for irony," Sirius chuckled maliciously. If that was the worst thing they could do to the Dursley's, he was positive he could manage that.

Petunia managed to ask Dudley what exactly he'd heard, but Dudley seemed too horrified to answer.

Harry stared at his cousin curiously as he wondered just what his spoiled cousin's worst memory would be?

"Whatever it was won't have any more of a lasting impact than that stupid tail," Lily muttered in disgust, honestly thinking the Dursleys were never going to get the retribution they deserved and it would never not fire her right back up.

Vernon whispered while asking his son why he'd fallen over, his tone that of speaking to the ill.

All five of them blinked at the oddity of that sentence, not one of them ever having thought of Vernon as a maternal person, and that was a genuinely human moment. Which only managed to make their loathing for him stay at a simmering level, managing this for Dudley and still able to act how he did towards Harry.

Dudley tried to explain the rest, but couldn't get out the part of how the dementors had made him feel, which Harry supplied.

Vernon rounded back on Harry, coming to the conclusion Harry had put some spell on his son to make him hear voices and be eternally miserable!

"That would be an interesting spell," Remus couldn't help a twisted little smile. "Someone should look into the properties of how to harness a dementor's powers and channel it into one."

"I'm sure if they did, we wouldn't even need those bloody beasts round Azkaban anymore," Lily agreed in honest curiosity, "the magic would keep them subdued if imbedded right." She had a few more ideas lingering in her head at the thought of this, but neither of them continued as despite Sirius examining his knuckles and blatantly ignoring them, no one could notice he was starting to lose color again at the topic, so Harry quickly moved on.

Harry was starting to lose his temper as he exploded he'd been trying to tell them, that wasn't him, it was the Dementors!

Vernon of course had no idea what that was, and Harry repeated the creature's name back slowly and clearly.

"I'm convinced that's the only way he can understand anything," James huffed.

He demanded what those were, and it was Petunia who answered they guarded the wizard prison Azkaban.

Harry couldn't help but pause there and just gaped down at the words, then looking up and around to see everyone else just as surprised.

Lily snapped out of it first, heated disgust bleeding into her tone, "why am I not surprised that of everything she would have heard me mention of my world, that's the thing she'll claim knowledge of after all these years. A place she was probably hoping I'd go at some point."

"Don't say that Lily Flower," James whispered behind her, trying to hid another violent shiver of his own. He couldn't even bare the idea of Sirius being in that place, his hands convulsed around his wife at the notion of the same fate befalling her.

Lily patted his hand absentmindedly while Harry collected himself enough to go on, though something of this explanation felt a little curved still. His mum wasn't entirely wrong of why Petunia knew this, but not entirely correct either.

It only took a second for the woman to realize what she'd said, than her hands flew to her mouth as if she'd just uttered a swear word.

Harry demanded to know how she knew that?

"I honestly forget sometimes you two are related," Harry sighed, even picturing the woman in his head she looked nothing like his mother.

"I wish we weren't now," Lily grumbled lowly.

Petunia hardly seemed aware she was answering him as she stated she'd heard that awful boy mentioning this years ago.

"What's this?" Harry asked curiously.

Lily sighed, casting a look at the Marauders, before admitting, "She's talking about Snape. She caught us one time talking about them."

She was expecting more than a few snide comments from the boys about her long ago friendship, but unbelievably none of them said a word, except for James, who simply said, "Thanks Lils, cause that was really confusing. I thought she meant me for a second, and the one time I met her, we didn't exactly have a conversation about this."

Lily all but beamed at her husband for showing any restraint and not making some crack about her childhood spent with him.

Harry snapped if she meant his parents, she could use their names.

"While you were only half right, she still wouldn't have bothered," Sirius uttered tersely, he hadn't forgotten the anger he'd felt when he'd learned Harry hadn't even known his own parents names because of these bleeding people, all the injustices they'd done to his pup would never leave his mind.

Vernon seemed speechless that his wife had offered this up to the conversation, and was now clearly struggling to find words.

None of them bothered to smother their mean laughter. It was nice to see Vernon struck dumb for even a moment, though they'd rather he'd just been struck, they'd take it.

He finally managed to ask his wife that these Dementywhatsits were real then?

She only nodded.

He then glanced from her to Dudley like he was expecting one of them to shout April Fool's at him.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Remus sneered, "this is the most I've heard him squirm this whole time, you won't find any of us putting a stop to it anytime soon."

No more could be said before another owl arrived through the again open window, and Vernon was temporarily saved from the conversation by stomping back to the window and closing it again.

"He does remember those can get into the house from other than windows, yes?" James scoffed of no one.

It was another letter from the Ministry, retracting all previous statements but the one stating when the hearing would be, until then he should consider himself in suspension from school.

"I don't understand," Lily ran her hand through her hair in utter frustration of having to say that. "Dumbledore should have gone up there and pointed the laws into whatever idiots faces approved of this in the first place and the whole thing should have been redacted. Why this continued farce of a hearing?"

Something of what Sirius had said in the last book lingered in Harry's mind, 'the whole show had been so everyone could see how much he hated the boy.' Harry somehow felt that wasn't too far off the mark for what was fixing to happen to him, but he didn't think using his godfather's quote would make the pain any less if he tried to offer up a suggestion for his future so instead chose to say nothing to his mother's rhetorical question.

Harry felt himself breathing easier at once, even if everything did hang on this hearing on the twelfth.

"At this point it's a bleeding miracle it wasn't set for Halloween," James grumbled under his breath, "then we know he'd get the book."

Vernon barked at Harry what this one was about? Did his lot have a death sentence?

Harry heard a few splutters of angered disgust around him, but at this point they couldn't really be surprised Vernon would wish for such a thing so Harry ignored them.

Harry just said what he'd read, and Vernon decided he wouldn't give up hope then.

James really couldn't seem to stop a snarl of outrage drowning out Harry's words for a moment, but he looked up at his dad in exasperation which did nothing to curb his mood but Harry still kept going.

Harry tried to leave for his room now, aching to write a letter to his friends or Sirius.

"I wonder if we even know," Sirius' face fell another few inches as some resentment of Arthur nagged at him. He was doing far more to help Harry than Sirius ever could, he was lucky if he'd even find out before the trial was said and done.

Vernon shouted at once Harry was to sit back down and tell what had happened to Dudley!

Harry lost his temper and shouted he'd been trying, while sparks flew out of his wand and all three flinched.

"As they should be," Sirius muttered pitifully, all this trouble and Harry hadn't even used a curse on his intended target, instead he was being punished for saving these useless lumps on his existence.

He recounted the whole event, finally, but Vernon still demanded what those Dementoids are?

Remus couldn't help snorting in a bit of amusement at Vernon calling them the wrong thing. Whether intentionally or he just hadn't grasped the name yet, both still showed his continued levels of idiotics, which were at their extream to begin with.

Harry briefly explained them, and their most powerful ability, to Kiss you.

Vernon's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he parroted that.

"He actually manages to make the term even worse," Sirius couldn't help but blanch as he leaned just a bit further into the couch.

Harry told that was what it was called when they went for a soul.

Petunia began screeching in fear as she clasped hold of his son, demanding to know if he still had his!

"Thanks to Harry," Lily sniffed, knowing no Dursley would ever do it, but Harry deserved to hear, "which by the way, you're owed a thanks for love. So I'll say it for them, it was right what you did for him no matter whether he deserved it or not, so thank you."

Harry just gave an absent shrug in answer. He hadn't exactly stood around and had a moral quandary over whether he should or not, he'd just reacted. His mum was right though, no one in that house was going to say this, and it still managed to touch him she'd considered giving it to him.

She seized Dudley by the shoulders and shook him, as though testing to see whether she could hear his soul rattling around inside.

James narrowed his eyes at nothing as he tried to picture something so stupid happening, but he was coming up short.

Harry just sighed of course he did, you could tell if he hadn't.

Sirius couldn't stop a violent convulsion as he forced every last bit of his mind not to think of that.

Vernon loudly stated it had been Dudley fighting them off, with the mad appearance of a man dragging the conversation back to a plane he could comprehend.

"Sorry we can't drag this down into single syllables only," Remus rolled his eyes.

Dudley had given them the ol' one-two.

"Now that would have been interesting to see," James snorted in disgust at the idea.

Harry rolled his eyes at the idea, telling that wasn't possible.

Vernon demanded why he was alright then?

Harry really did have to fight down the compulsion to stop himself giving a very sarcastic reply of, 'oh you're welcome by the way. If I get expelled from Hogwarts just remember what for!'

Harry started to say the charm he'd used, but another owl arrived just then down the chimney, leading Vernon to start ripping at his mustache in frustration, something he hadn't done in years.

"I'm just getting all kinds of flashbacks to your first year," Lily offered a crooked smile.

Harry ignored his continued rant about the birds as he took the new letter, and he was so convinced this one was from Dumbledore explaining everything, that for the first time in his life he was disappointed to see Sirius' handwriting.

"Now that hurt!" Sirius yelped at once, considering he'd just felt the exact opposite. He was jubilant he was even involved enough in this mess to be passing Harry any messages along.

Harry just grumbled inarticulately for a moment before commenting, "how are all these owls even getting to me so fast? Normal owl post isn't that fast, these are taking minutes."

"Well the Ministry has a way to speed owls along to their destination, they get special charms placed on them to fly them along faster than should be possible, though they never use it on the same bird twice as that could be lethal to them, and of course they have to fly back on their own to just become department memo owls after that." She realized she was getting off track and quickly retraced, "Arthur could be using the same of course, though I'm not sure how Sirius managed it," she finished with a curious look at him.

"I might have Floo'd it there," Sirius shrugged, "it did mention it fell out of the fireplace. Don't know how I know honestly, but that's all I got."

It was only two sentences. Arthur had passed along word of what happened to us, and don't leave the house.

"Us?" Remus asked hopefully while everyone else in confusion.

Harry ignored that and asked petulantly, "does everyone know what's going on besides me?"

"They just haven't gotten a chance yet Harry, everyone's scrambling around to find out what happened, then I'm sure someone will tell you what they've found." Lily said with absolute confidence. Whatever motives Dumbledore had before in keeping Harry out of the loop, surely they wouldn't still apply now that it was made perfectly clear Harry wasn't remotely safe by any means at that place.

Harry didn't look very convinced, but he seemed to believe enough he kept going.

Harry found this such an inadequate response to everything that had happened tonight that he turned the piece of parchment over, looking for the rest of the letter, but there was nothing else.

James normally would have snorted with laughter, as Sirius was far more known for sending paragraphs worth of letters full of everything he was thinking during his summer holidays. It only managed to sober James up all the more though that he hadn't once seen this of his Sirius again, this was more of this after Azkaban Sirius acting like Arthur when he'd agreed with Remus earlier, and it really freaked him out.

Now his temper was peaking. Wasn't anyone going to tell him well done for handling this on his own?

"I didn't realize you wanted acknowledgement for that," Remus mocked while beginning to raise his hands in applause, "let me fix-"

Harry blatantly ignored him while reading loudly, they knew full well that wasn't what he meant. He knew everyone knew he could handle a dementor, it was the other part that was rankling him.

Both Mr. Weasley and Sirius were acting as though he'd misbehaved, and were saving their tellings-off until they could ascertain how much damage had been done.

"Hey," Sirius pouted again, wondering why Harry was taking so many digs at him when he was just trying to help, "I'm doing no such thing."

"Sure felt that way to me," Harry huffed without looking up.

Vernon was still vocally abusing the delivery system, complaining about the peck of owls treating his home like a nesting ground.

Harry snapped back he couldn't stop the owls coming.

"I wouldn't want to either," Harry grumbled for himself.

Vernon turned attention back on Harry, asking how those Demenders had gone away then?

Harry told of the Patronus Charm he'd used to send them off.

Then Vernon asked why Dementoids had been here?!

"He's successfully managed to say that a different way three times now," Lily rolled her eyes, "he is clearly doing it on purpose."

Harry admitted he had no clue, which Vernon responded with snapping that it was somehow all the boy's fault.

"Well that we can't actually agree on," James groaned while letting his head fall against Lily's shoulder for agreeing with that man about something. Lily patted the wild hair with sympathy, a contemplative look on her face as she still wanted an answer to that as well. It really didn't seem in Voldemort's style to have done this, not after the show he'd made about being the one to kill Harry, surely he'd be sticking with that and sending creatures to do his bidding was above that rule, could make Voldemort look weak. A random attack then? More unlikely than Voldemort, but there weren't any other possibilities.

His uncle's had been a good question though, Harry truly had not a clue why those Dementors were here.

Lily quickly explained all that she'd just been thinking, and no one disagreed with her, none of it really made sense.

Vernon kept his attention by demanding these Demembers guarded some prison?

"I'm honestly curious now just how many times he can butcher that," Remus muttered absently.

It was now a strain for Harry to just agree to that, he wanted to escape to his dark room, to be alone to think.

"Harry, you're feeling alright now, yes?" Lily quickly asked in concern as he just kept mentioning how much his head hurt and if he needed a quiet moment-

"I'm fine," Harry quickly assured. "I certainly remember my head feeling like it was going to cave in any moment, but I promise if it was bothering me that much now you'd know."

Lily wasn't entirely sure of that, as he'd gotten well at smothering his pain in front of them to stop them worrying, but she also trusted that he would excuse himself if he really needed it.

Vernon then came to the assumption that they'd been coming to arrest Harry, with the triumphant air of a man reaching an unassailable conclusion.

"Those are the only conclusions he can come to, his own," James scoffed.

Harry was on the run from the law!

"I'm fairly confident when you're on the run, you don't hang around your own house," Sirius snorted in disbelief.

"Though it's some logic if you know Harry well," James reminded with an odd smirk at his friend.

Remus chuckled lightly while Harry was left wondering why he was feeling like he missed a joke, but he didn't bother to ask as he was almost done with this head splitting night.

Harry rolled his eyes that of course he wasn't, and that Voldemort must have sent them.

"I don't blame you for coming to that conclusion," Remus sighed, "it just doesn't make sense with his previous history with you. Plus, why now, after all those months alone, what could have changed?"

"Maybe we just didn't get to hear the switch, and something did change making Voldemort want Harry out of the way right now instead of doing it himself," Sirius said uneasily. "I'm not entirely ruling it out."

Harry said nothing for their argument, he could just feel the real answer hadn't even been theorized yet.

Harry took a moment to register how odd it was that despite the Dursley's flinching at such words as wizard and magic, they didn't so much as twitch at the name Voldemort.

"That is indeed an interesting flip of dynamics," Lily rolled her eyes, not finding it nearly interesting enough she wasn't still planning on disemboweling them.

Vernon's eyes narrowed as he thought back to where he'd heard that name, as the man who'd murdered Harry's parents.

"Because this is always a fun topic," James muttered under his breath, while Lily snuggled a bit more into his lap.

Vernon impatiently reminded that he was gone, without a trace of his tone suggesting this might be a sore topic for Harry to be discussing his parents murderer.

Remus could feel his jaw working furiously to hold back a retort to that while Sirius couldn't muster up quite the same restraint and voiced several colorful sentences under his breath, but both were working furiously to keep it that low in lieu of the shouting that would only make Lily, James, and Harry grow even more pale.

Harry merely answered he was back.

The oddity of the moment struck Harry again that he was sitting in this kitchen, speaking about Voldemort to the Dursleys.

"When you put it like that, it really does sound ridiculous," Lily agreed absently as she began twirling a bit of hair around a finger, her mind clearly not all in this topic anymore.

The arrival of the Dementors in Little Whinging seemed to have breached the great divide that had blocked the non-magical world of Privet Drive and his own.

"Almost makes me wish dementors had popped up sooner," Harry murmured to himself, anything other than that dull lifestyle he'd been forced to suffer through.

"While normally I can agree boredom is to be avoided at all costs," Sirius nodded, "I'd think you'd at least appreciate some of the quiet time considering last year."

"I'll take a dragon over Privet Drive," Harry reminded to Sirius' shivered disgust.

Harry's two lives had merged into one, and his head continued to throb more painfully than ever.

Despite Harry reading that in as bland a tone as he could to reinforce he wasn't feeling that now, much, he could still see Lily twitching in the corner of his eye and fighting the impulse to come check on him, so he infused his voice with a touch of warmth as he continued.

It was Petunia who spoke first, repeating he was back in a terrified whisper?

Harry looked curiously at her, and for the first time in his life appreciated the fact that she was Lily's sister though they looked nothing alike, she alone understood what this meant.

Lily was suddenly astonished at the well of hurt that was now trying to climb her throat. She'd never forgive Petunia for the way she'd treated Harry, but what her son had just witnessed in her sister's eyes was what Lily kept picturing of her old Tuny. It's why it hurt so much to envision this shrew treating her Hare Bare like this. She had to clear her throat hard to get rid of a sudden lump, and brushed Harry impatiently on when he tried to break off.

Vernon kept center stage as he demanded this Voldything was back?

"You know, I think I like that better than calling him Riddle," Remus snorted.

"I won't have it," Sirius sneered, "I won't be indulging anything Vernon comes up with."

He was sending Dismembers after Harry?

"He's actually getting farther away from the word every time," James arched a brow.

"That one may have been funny if they actually dismembered you," Sirius snorted.

Vernon's face settled then, and he barked at Harry to get out!

Harry blinked spastically down at the pages like he thought his glasses were playing tricks on him. He'd always hated it there and never been shy of saying so, but he'd also never considered the possibility of truly being kicked out like this.

"Honestly though, I think I'm impressed this has never happened before," James' face was turning an ugly red color as what had been said really registered. "He clearly despises you, why hasn't he done something before to get rid of you permanently?"

"Don't know," Harry shrugged, though he could tell it wasn't really meant as an actual question. "Not like I've ever asked him."

"I'm almost happy about this," Sirius groaned, "least now you'll never have to deal with them again. You can come do whatever I am without anyone really protesting, since clearly you won't be making an appearance at the Burrow anytime soon." He hadn't meant to sound so bitter while he'd said that, but the outrage that Dumbledore was trying to keep Harry there really was pushing his buttons, and now the irony was that wouldn't even be an option any longer, to which he was grateful for.

Harry just sat there in shock while Vernon suddenly began listing every single thing Harry had ever done to their life, including that flying Ford Anglia.

"I'm impressed he noticed what kind of car it was," Remus rolled his eyes at the odd detail.

Now some loony was after Harry! Vernon wasn't having it, he wouldn't let the boy put his family in danger like this, Harry was to get OUT!

Harry read that in an almost despondent way. He could actually see Vernon's logic, and while he'd never cared before this night about the Dursley's well being...he could see the point. Anyone around him was a danger if Voldemort realized that...

Harry stood rooted to the spot. The letters from the Ministry, Mr. Weasley and Sirius were all crushed in his left hand.

"I swear I got more mail in that one night than I did all summer," Harry rolled his eyes to dispel his train of thought. No need for anyone around him now to realize what he'd been thinking.

They'd all warned the same thing, not to leave the house!

Vernon clearly didn't care though, as he leaned right into Harry's face and hissed it again.

Harry shuffled uncomfortably at so many hateful glares in his direction even if they were aimed at the book, but after Vernon's attack earlier he couldn't blame them for their reactions, he just quickly read past it.

Vernon wished he'd never had to bother taking Harry in to begin with, he should have gone straight to an orphanage!

Lily honestly still questioned that. Why take in a child you had no love for? She'd honestly been pondering that question while she'd watched James have his meltdown, and she could come to no real conclusion. There was just no way you could raise an infant without love, the care it took to nurse them. Which meant that all this must have started when Harry would show his first signs of magic and their fear would begin, but how long had that taken? Long enough that they'd had him and had no more excuse to be rid of him? She still honestly wished Harry had been left at an orphanage rather than that cruel childhood he had dealt with at the hands of her extended family.

They'd been too damn soft on him, thought they could squash that freakish stuff out.

"So, ah, what exactly does that mean?" James asked hesitantly, not wanting to break a clearly open bit of honesty in his son when it came to these people.

Harry gave him a loaded look, then shrugged and said, "Suppose it just meant keep me as miserable as possible. I've now honestly told you the worst of it, if you really want me to sit around and in detail recount every time of it then we're going to be here all week. Like I could remember every stinking instance anyways."

That wasn't exactly comforting, neither the blunt honesty or the fact that this was so common place he'd lost count.

His tyrant was cut off by the arrival of another owl.

It too fell from the chimney, and circled the room near Petunia, who shrieked in fright and tried to cover her face.

James laughed softly under his breath as he imagined the bird attacking her, then rounding on Vernon. It wasn't the justice he wanted for what they'd done to his son over the years, but a few scratches wouldn't kill them either.

The owl dropped the red envelope on her head, turned, and flew straight back up the chimney.

"Err," everyone muttered in surprise. That was a Howler, and that bird wouldn't have dropped it in front of her if it was meant for Harry...

Harry had to give himself a kick before he could move on, everyone else was so stunned they hadn't even collected themselves yet.

Harry made to grab it away, but she'd already scoped it up and was watching it fearfully.

Harry just said she could try and hide it, but he'd hear it anyways, that was a Howler.

Vernon at once told his wife to drop that, it could be dangerous!

"A letter?" Remus demanded, coming around enough to continue laughing at these idiots. "He doesn't even know what that is, and he just assumes it's dangerous."

"Honestly though, that's safe when encountering anything magical," Harry shrugged back.

Petunia couldn't get over her shock enough to unfold it, still staring at the ink clear as day addressing it to her.

Harry still urged her to open it, and she still refused.

"Like that's ever stopped a Howler," Sirius snorted as he rubbed his ears in absent remembrance.

She had no choice in the matter though, as it burst into flames just as she dropped it, and the shouting voice that filled the kitchen was so loud it echoed unfamiliarly the words 'remember my last.'

"Who on earth..." but James' voice failed before he could get out the whole question.

"Who's last what?" Remus snatched the book away from Harry like he thought he was holding out on them.

"I, have no clue." Harry couldn't stop blinking, like that would make the surprise any less.

Lily broke first, and she flipped straight to anger. "Who the bloody hell is she in magical contact with to be receiving anything like that! She can not have spent any amount of time harassing you for doing the same when she's been doing this for any length of time!"

"You didn't see her face," Harry shook his head in bewilderment. "I promise, she has no more idea than we do who this is from."

"Is there some other Petunia out there with the exact same address," Remus raised a disbelieving brow, "because owl post does not get confused easily."

Harry kept staring at the letter a moment longer, but as the silence rang he forced himself to go on. There was just nothing to speculate, nothing at all to guess at. This was by far one of the randomest things they could have come across.

Everyone just sat there gaping at Petunia for what this could mean, but it was she who collected herself first, turning to her husband and telling him the boy would have to stay.

"She what!?" They were all entirely sure they'd heard that wrong. Petunia had no reason in the world to argue with Vernon, least of all about Harry. This clearly must have something to do with the letter she'd just received...which only made it all the more mind boggling! This was beyond frustrating to every one of them, they had yet to come across a problem they couldn't begin to speculate about because there were just no possible options!

Harry watched them all in a stumped and fuming silence, before sighing heavily and finishing.

Vernon tried to protest, but Petunia gave a list of reasons such as the neighbors would notice if he left for good.

"I'll buy that as soon as I do a Nimbus," Remus rolled his eyes.

Vernon was deflating like an old tire, still trying to say this was a bad idea, but Petunia ignored him now and snapped at Harry to get to his room.

"There's what we've been missing," Sirius rolled his eyes testily at the return of the Dursleys they knew and hated. He almost preferred the ones that were insulting dementors and talking about Snivellus.

Harry didn't move as he demanded who that Howler had been from?

"If she actually answered you, I might take back one of my death threats," James scowled at the book.

Petunia at once snapped at him not to ask questions.

Lily winced with renewed hate at the reminder of that hated ingrain she'd put into her son, that had taken him so long to open up to them or anyone.

Harry persisted, but she merely repeated herself until Vernon shouted at the top of his lungs for Harry to listen and get out!

"That's done," Harry sighed as he passed the book to Remus.

"I think I'm honestly relieved," he sighed as he stared down dauntingly at the next page. "That argument was turning circular, clearly they weren't going to answer you, but certainly credit for continued trying."

"I still can't believe we haven't got a clue what any of that was about," Sirius huffed, feeling ever more frustrated they'd just started this one and they already had a pile of questions with no answers in sight.

HPHPHPHP

*In answer, JK has said that Dudley heard the screams of all his victims hit him all at once and that's what changed him. I dismissed this in the characters as what he heard though because I'm not sure if that ever made sense, after all he'd have heard them screaming while he was bullying and surely just laughed it off. If the noise bothered him so much he would have simply found reasons long before now to stop bullying. However as I've never really come up with anything else I'm leaving it open ended for fan theories which I so love.

#The LIfe that Never LIved #Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #The Marauders #Ootp #James Potter #jilly #Lily Potter #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black

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1-800-roflmao · 4 years ago

Text

Wash Day Delight Pt. 7

Rating: General Audiences

WARNINGS: None

Fandom: Undertale (Video Game)

Relationships: Papyri Harem.

Characters: Papyrus (UT!Pap), Reader, Blue (US!Sans), Willow (HT!Pap), Mutt (FSR!Pap), Red (UF!Sans), Coffee (FSG!Pap), Oak (HT!Sans), and Mentions of Other AU Skeletons

If you prefer reading on AO3

*Willow is here to save the Reader’s toes after that trip through the void. She finally gets to have her shower and ponder. Meanwhile, the guys discuss downstairs and Coffee reminds them Google is a thing.

*Bonus: Fluffy Willow moments.

PREVIOUS || FIRST || NEXT

Papyrus was never a fan of shortcuts and not just because his brother borderline abused them. No, he didn’t enjoy the pervasive feel of the void around him. The cold of Snowedin never bothered him, but the void’s cold always managed to sink and settle into his bones no matter how short their time was spent in the odd space. By the way he could feel the human in his arms shivering lightly let him know she was feeling it as well. Finally, the inky blackness of the void seemed to pull before snapping and his well lit home falling into place around him was almost blinding.

“ALRIGHT, YOU CAN OPEN YOUR EYES,” Blue had yet to release his grip on Papyrus’s arm as he used it for leverage to check on their friend. She was slowly unfurling from the fetal position she had curled into during their trip. Had she been that cold? His sockets took in her attire and he mentally kicked himself for not realizing how light her clothing was. And humans were more sensitive to temperature to boot.

“APOLOGIES! I SHOULD HAVE GRABBED A BLANKET FOR YOU.” Papyrus wanted to help rub some warmth into the bared skin of her arms and legs, but he doubted his frozen bones would do much good right now. Even Blue was resisting touching her right now.

She had unfurled as much as she dared and patted his chest before trying to speak. Her teeth chattered shortly into her effort and she quickly closed her mouth with a little embarrassed huff. He managed to stifle a giggle at the cute display as she took a moment to rub her hands together and blow hot air into her palms before pressing the warmed skin into her cheeks and rubbing more. Blue didn’t bother hiding his chuckles and she sent him a pouty glare, “N-not f...f-f… fun-ny!” she pushed out.

Blue just grinned as he lifted a hand and made a show of removing his glove, “NOT FUNNY SHE SAYS!” he cackled as her glare quickly melted into horror and panic as the energetic skeleton hovered his hand over her bare leg.

“D-don’t you d-are!” she chattered, legs jerking slightly as she seemed to be holding back from moving too much. Papyrus could feel her jump as Blue dropped his hand lower playfully.

“OKAY, THAT’S EN-EH!!!” his statement was cut off as a new pair of skeletal hands came into view and plucked the shivering human from his arms swiftly. It took a moment for his mind to catch up with what just happened as he snapped his head up to see who had stolen his friend.

“WILLOW!” It had been Blue calling his doppelganger’s nickname as they both watched the towering skeleton adjust his hold on her so she was pretty much sitting in the crook of his arm, tucked against his side, with his palm cupping her feet as his fingers gently rubbed at her toes. She seemed to be shivering less and less, relaxing into Willow’s hold even as said skeleton fussed over and at her. Papyrus and Blue weren’t exempt from a scolding though as Willow turned his attention to them and wasted no time falling into a lecture.

“I UNDERSTAND YOU TWO WERE EXCITED TO HAVE OUR FRIEND OVER TODAY, BUT THAT IS NO EXCUSE TO RUSH AND FORGET NECESSITIES LIKE SOCKS AND SHOES! HUMANS LOSE MOST OF THEIR BODY HEAT THROUGH THEIR FEET!” Papyrus and Blue just resigned to their fate and bowed their heads guiltily. Thankfully, Willow’s scolding was halted by the human in his arms patting his chest.

“That’s enough, Willow,” she hushed, for some reason looking guilty herself. “Blue and Pap took real good care of me before the shortcut, so go easy on them, please?” The two she praised perked up. “Plus, they weren’t the only ones excited to come over today,” she finished her plea and Willow took a moment to consider it before letting his shoulders and features relax.

“FINE,” he gave in and sighs of relief resounded before a confused squeak escaped their guest as Willow turned around with her still cradled against his side and started making his way up the stairs.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

“Um… Willow?” she called, trying not to look down or around. Willow was already tall… no, tall wasn’t enough to cover just how much airspace this particular skeleton cousin took up. Now, they were on stairs… ascending said stairs steadily and just out of her view she knew the ground floor was getting further away and the ceiling was getting closer. She knew he wouldn’t drop her, but lord, a fall from this height would do some damage and be extra painful today especially.

He answered with an inquiring hum, not even glancing down at the human he had pretty much kidnapped. “Where are you taking me?” she questioned, eyes focused on his face and nothing else. Even the sound of rushed footfalls on the stairs behind them didn’t pull her attention. It was most likely Papyrus or Blue trying to catch up.

“TO YOUR BATH, OF COURSE,” he answered like it was the most obvious answer. A little “oh” fell from her lips before pouting a bit as she squinted up at him.

“I could always walk?” she put out there. They were literally going to have her spoiled if they kept carrying her this much. Plus, she still had that nagging feeling that as an adult she shouldn’t have things this easy.

Willow only hummed again, but made no move to put her down even as they reached the landing and took a left to go down the long hallway. So, no walking for her. Knowing Blue, he probably told the whole household Papyrus’s plan to pamper her today.

“WILLOW!” Speak of the devil and he shall appear. No longer on the stairs, she looked just in front of them to where Blue was pretty much jogging backwards in order to stay ahead of Willow’s long gate. And Willow wasn’t letting up, but did tip his skull down to acknowledge the small skeleton. “YOU CAN’T JUST STEAL Y/N!” he scolded, “PLUS, ALL HER STUFF IS WITH ME.” He gestured to the pack on his back.

“AND YOU’RE HERE WITH IT, I DON’T SEE THE PROBLEM,” was Willow’s sassy reply. Blue opened his mouth to respond, but his teeth clacked shut as words failed him. She giggled as Blue huffed and he sent a little glare her way. He had to scramble out the way as they had finally reached the “master bath” and Willow wasn’t wasting any time as he pushed the door open with his free hand and stepped inside.

This was only her second time in here and it still amazed her how extravagant and expensive a bathroom of all things could feel. If she remembered correctly, it was Black’s insistence they have at least one bath like this. She could see his tastes echoed in the dark marble countertops and black paneling along the walls. Wine must have had a say as well from the cozy touches like the cypress wood flooring and cabinets, decorative towels and art pieces--she’d have to ask if Coffee made some of these. She hadn’t asked last time whose decision it was to have not only a skylight, but a floor to ceiling glass panel next to the modern soaking tub. Thankfully, their house was outside city limits and up in the hilly area, nestled on a cliff side. They probably have a fantastic view of the stars come night time through that window. Right now though, all she could see was blue skies with lazy, wispy clouds.

“Oh, that’s new,” she commented, noticing all the new plants and even what looked like a moss mat placed before the tub.

“HM, WHAT IS?” Willow questioned as he carried her closer to the shower. Now able to see the just as extravagant shower, she could see another of the mats in front of it as well. Now, that she looked more closely, the little organic mats made a cute stepping stone-like trail over to the tub.

“That,” she pointed out, fingertip following the trail before twirling to indicate all the plants in general.

Willow’s sockets widened a fraction as he realized what she was talking about before smiling, no beaming proudly. He straightened up as much as he could while carrying her, impressive considering his back wasn’t the best. “THAT WOULD BE MY BROTHER’S DOING!” he proclaimed, practically glowing with pride, “HE’S RECENTLY GOTTEN INTO GARDENING AND BOTANY. OH, YOU SHOULD SEE HIS GARDEN! I MEAN… IT’S NOT IN BLOOM RIGHT NOW, BUT IT’S STILL IMPRESSIVE AND HE’S THINKING ABOUT A GREENHOUSE ONE DAY SO HE CAN GROW FRUITS AND VEGETABLES ALL YEAR ROUND FOR US TO EAT.” He was rambling, but that was fine. It was touching seeing his enthusiasm for his brother’s new hobby… would it be considered a hobby? She felt better thinking of it as a passion. “OH! I’M SORRY, I GOT OFF TRACK,” he apologized but she just shrugged.

“I don’t mind, I actually like it,” she assured. She adjusted her grip on him as she felt him starting to crouch down.

“GREAT! BECAUSE I HAVE MORE TO SAY!” he chirped, sockets curving just a bit as she giggled in response. Bent at the knees, he eased her onto her own feet which left her standing between his spread femurs with her hands on his shoulders for balance as she stretched and flexed her legs to wake them up. He continued to chat with her throughout. “BUT MY BROTHER’S FAVORITE IS TAKING IN RESCUES,” he started and gestured to the plants in the bathroom, “THESE ARE SOME HE’S REHABILITATED.” He had dove into telling how Oak explained that these plants in particular thrived in more humid environments, plus how he had convinced the more bourgie of their housemates to allow the plants to be kept in this bathroom. Apparently, it had been Wine who gave in first, but it took near half the household to convince Black. What won him over was the moss being useful for soaking up water and the plants for their air purifying qualities.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

By the time he finished retelling the saga, she had taken a seat on one of the mats as she laughed along with him as he whispered how Black had been caught talking to one of the plants. “HIS DEFENSE WAS THAT HE HEARD OAK TALKING TO THEM SEVERAL TIMES,” he completed his tale, his small sockets softening as he took in how even her eyes seemed to be shining with her mirth.

“Well, I read somewhere that talking to plants actually can help them,” her words were still interrupted by cute little giggles. Finally, she took a deep breath and held it before releasing slowly. She had lifted a hand to fan herself and he could understand why considering the flush he could see on her cheeks and ears. “I’m happy for Oak, it seems like he really found something he loves--aside from you, of course,” she remarked thoughtfully, “And I can hear how proud you are as well.”

“I AM.” He had been ecstatic when his brother finally found something to focus on other than food and his condition. All thanks to a sad little plant he had found left out to die and be thrown away with the trash one day. It had been nothing more than a single stem with one big leaf that had shriveled and was turning brown at the edges.

It had been confusing at first when his brother came home with it carefully cupped in his palm with soil he had dug up to cover its roots. Oak had mumbled that he couldn’t find a pot or anything for it and he had forgotten his money at home, but it needed help, so he did what he could. He hadn’t questioned it. Now, that sad little plant was taller than him and outgrowing its current pot quickly, but they were waiting for the warmer months to plant it in the ground finally.

“THE ROUTINE OF TAKING CARE OF THE PLANTS HELPS HIM TREMENDOUSLY. PLUS, TALKING TO THE PLANTS HELPS HIM AS WELL! IT STRENGTHENS HIS MEMORY,” he added, teeth quirked into a gentle smile. She just hummed in response and he flushed a bit as he saw she was now gazing up at him with her chin resting on her braided fingers. He wished she wouldn’t look at him like that. So gentle, so warm, and so understanding. It gave him hope when he knew damn well her feelings were just platonic. Besides, he knew he didn’t stand a chance against his prime version.

Sighing, he stood up and rolled his shoulders and neck to ease the stiffness that had set in. “WELL, I SHOULD LEAVE YOU TO IT,” he dismissed as he offered her a helping hand and pulled her to her feet; bare toes wiggling and pressing into the moss mat curiously. He still couldn’t--no, he could believe it-- he simply couldn’t wrap his mind around how they had forgotten even shoes or socks for her.

“Oh, I get to bathe myself?” she joked as she peeked around Willow to find Blue, but all she saw was her bag abandoned on the counter. He must have run off while they were talking.

Willow immediately lifted a hand to cover his now glowing cheekbones and nose ridge, “I BELIEVE THE AGREEMENT WAS THAT YOU BATHE YOURSELF.” He heard her snort and looked down at the human as she now rummaged through her bag, pulling out a few containers, a bright colored netting of some sort, a change of clothes, and even a bath bomb. “UNLESS YOU’VE CHANGED YOUR MIND OF COURSE,” he watched her freeze like a dear from the corner of his vision as he looked off to the side in feigned innocence, “IT IS DIFFICULT FOR YOU HUMANS TO REACH CERTAIN PLACES ON YOUR OWN, CORRECT?” Oh, she was blushing something fierce right now.

“WILLOW!” she whined, now imitating an ostrich as she pressed her face into her bag to hide.

“WOWIE, MY NAME SURE IS POPULAR TODAY!” he replied playfully as a muffled little scream came from the bag she was hunched over. He chuckled and gently pushed the edge of the bag’s opening down enough so he could see her eyes peeking at him. Well, glaring right now. “WHY ARE YOU SO EMBARRASSED, HUMAN? I WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT HELPING YOU WASH YOUR BACK IF YOU WANTED,” a crooked grin pulled at his teeth as her eyes narrowed further.

“Uh. Huh,” was her answer and somehow that sound carried so much attitude and meaning. Yeah, she definitely didn’t buy it, but at least she was finally emerging from the bag and finishing unpacking what she needed. He smiled as he saw her pull out a pair of cute fuzzy socks. Those would have helped earlier, but at least he wouldn’t have to hunt down a pair… most of theirs wouldn’t fit anyway. “So, how do y’ll want ta do this?” she asked him suddenly as she started zipping up the bag again.

“DO WHAT EXACTLY?”

She was staring for a moment, looking for any indication that he was playing dumb before finally answering, “My hair? I told Papi I’d let him help with it, but he’s off somewhere, so I can’t ask him.” Oh? She’s letting Papyrus touch her hair? He really had no chance, huh? “But I don’t mind if more of you want to help out, too.”

“YES,” the word had jumped from his teeth as soon as she finished speaking. Taking a deep breath and recomposing himself as her now wide eyes just blinked up at him in shock. “I MEAN I’D LOVE TO HELP OUT… WITH YOU HAIR I MEAN,” he tried again, volume and tone hopefully more casual. He had his hands behind his back to hide his fidgeting fingers.

One more blink before her expression, only for a second, twisted into suspicion and curiosity. The look was gone and replaced with something neutral, but welcoming. Just what had gone through her mind, he wondered. “Okay…” she dragged out the vowel a bit, “So, once again, how are we going about this? Do y’ll want me to wash my hair and you just get to do the styling, detangling, blah blah blah… oooor-”

She quieted as Willow held up his palms to her, “WE WANT TO DO EVERYTHING.”

“Everything?” He nodded with an eager smile, fingers curling into happy fists that were shaking from tension as he withheld pumping them excitedly. He watched her look up to the ceiling in thought before shrugging, “Alright, so I’ll just wash up for now and save my long soak for later.” She was thinking aloud as she picked up her bag and held it out to him, “While I’m washing, why don’t y’ll pick out some products we’ll use? Mainly focus on the scent for now.”

He took the bag with a nod and a surprised little rep as he felt how hefty the bag still felt. “Yeah, we probably went overboard, but Blue figured it’s better to be over prepared than under,” she explained and he could only nod in stunned silence as he turned and started to finally leave.

“Oh!” He paused in the doorway and looked back at her. She had only managed to turn on the shower to start warming it up and though she wasn’t looking at him kept speaking, “You guys also need to figure out how and where we’re going to wash my hair.”

Willow’s skull tilted and he lifted a brow bone in question, “ARE WE NOT DOING IT IN HERE?” He thought the bathroom was where humans took care of all their hygiene needs. And shouldn’t she know how to wash her hair? She’s supposed to show them after all.

She just hummed and took a long look around. “I guess we could, but…” she trailed off.

“BUT?” he pushed, genuinely curious.

“The tub is a bit tall for me to be leaning over for a long time and I know your back wouldn’t appreciate it either, plus it would require a cup or something to dump water over my head.” She wasn’t wrong about his back. So, that was out. Plus, it didn’t sound pleasant to have water dumped over one’s head over and over. “The sink in here is higher, but that would be difficult for me. Plus, it’s a bit shallow and once again, we’d need a cup.” Sink was out, too, then.

“And last, the shower. That’s usually where I wash my hair, but it’s a bit difficult with multiple people.. At least it is if you’re not comfortable being naked or in swimsuits together,” she laughed and he blushed a bit at the intimate, domestic scene it summoned in his mind. “Other than that, the only ways I think we could make it work up here is if I leaned over into the shower or knelt down and we used the removable shower head,” she put out the idea, but he immediately knew it wouldn’t work out.

“THE WATER PRESSURE WOULD RESULT IN A VERY MESSY… WET EXPERIENCE,” he lamented and she just nodded sagely with a little shrug. How would they get this done? Was it even possible?

“If it helps,” she piped up, holding a hand under the spray and feeling the temperature of the water, “We usually use the kitchen sink or a utility sink. Ylls is still tall, but I think if I stand on a chair, it might work.” She sent him a confident smile as he perked up at the idea, “Y’ll have time to think it over. Plus, I want to show you all something before that anyway.” After that, she had shooed him out and he left with a promise to talk it over with the others. He couldn’t help wondering what she wanted to show them.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Once the door closed behind Willow, she couldn’t get out her clothes fast enough. This bath has been due for a bit and my god it already felt heavenly on just her palm from touching the water. Leaving her clothes on the floor right where she shed them, she went to dive into the shower before remembering she needed her soap and other supplies to actually get clean. One naked dash to the counter to scoop up what she needed and back again,plus she tossed a shower cap on at the last minute; finally, she was able to enjoy her shower.

She debated rushing as to not keep the boys waiting, but she rarely gets to experience a rain shower like this. It was dampened-heh-by the plastic shower cap, but overall was pleasant. She took a moment to just bask and relax, but her mind began to wander and shower thoughts filtered in.

Namely how all the skeletons she had interacted with today had been surprised that she was letting them do anything with her hair. Well, they hadn’t expressed their surprise with words, but their body language and facial expressions spoke volumes. That had been genuine surprise and shock she had seen. Add in their eagerness to help her with her hair--adorable--and it’s obvious they’ve wanted to possibly touch her hair or ask about it for a while.

Had she done something to make it seem like she didn’t want anyone touching her hair? At all? She mulled over all the time she had known the skeletons and the only things she could think of is maybe they witnessed someone touching her hair without permission and she snapped on said person. It happens less now, but it has happened. Even that would only make sense if they didn’t hear everything she says to the person. She always mentions consent when she gets on people with wandering, overcurious hands and fingers. So, they would know they just need to ask? Right?

Brow scrunching, she sighed and stepped from under the rainfall to finally start actually cleaning up. Going through the familiar motions, she continued to turn over and pick at the mystery. It wasn’t until near the end of her shower when she was rinsing off the suds, something clicked… “Cash.”

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

“we were startin’ ta wonder if doll changed her mind, will o’ the wisp,” a skeleton dressed in mostly black with a fur lined hood and a single gold fang jeered from his seat on the living room sofa just as Willow reached the bottom of the staircase. A disappointed grunt followed as the taller skeleton purposely ignored his comment.

“RED, I THOUGHT YOU HAD TO WORK TODAY?” Willow inquired as he stepped into the living room, only after hearing Blue and Papyrus’s voices reprimand the gold fanged sans. Standing in the doorway, he could now see that the two were sitting on cushions on the floor before the tv. From the characters running and bouncing around the screen, it looked like they were playing Smash. Leaning over the arm of the couch opposite the one Red was sitting on was Coffee. He spared a little wave to Willow, but went back to watching the other two play. He was probably waiting to jump in and play whoever wins. Stretched across that same couch with his fur lined hood up and obscuring his face was Mutt. His long legs hung over the remaining arm of the couch and his arms were crossed over his chest. He truly slept like the dead as he didn’t budge or even twitch. His chest didn’t fall and rise in simulated breath either. The last skeleton in the room was Willow’s brother, Oak, and he was currently snoozing as well, leaned back against the couch with his skull lolling to the side.

“wha’, i’m not invited ta y’lls lil’ wash day thing,” Red growled, but his crimson eyelights avoiding Willow’s gaze hinted he was simply dodging the question and not offended.

Before Willow could call him out on this, Mutt surprisingly beat him to it, “him n’ sansy had a lil’ lover’s spat.” Ah, so he wasn’t sleeping.

“would ya’ quit callin’ it that!” Red barked, scowling as chuckles only rumbled from Mutt.

Coffee’s soft voice just barely spoke above the noise of the other two, “Red wanted to test the machine…”

Willow just arched a brow bone as he set down his hefty load on the coffee table, “AND SANS, I’M GUESSING, DID NOT?” He looked to Red for confirmation and said skeleton huffed, crossing his arms with a frustrated scowl marring his features.

“dun know how he expects us ta know if the damn t’ing works w’itout testing it!” he mumbled, “coward doesn’t even like ta turn it on most times…”

“WELL, IN HIS DEFENSE, THAT MACHINE IS THE REASON ALL OF US ARE HERE RIGHT NOW,” Willow’s attempt to play mediator only resulted in Red grunting and sinking more into the cushions.

Blue had handed off his controller to Coffee who eagerly vacated his spot on the couch and took Blue’s place on the floor. “HE’S GOING TO POUT (“m’not poutin’!”) FOR A WHILE,” he stated as he moved to kneel by the coffee table. His eye lights were glued to the bag he remembered bringing upstairs not that long ago, “WHY DO YOU HAVE HER BAG?” He hoped she had everything she needed upstairs.

His question had Papyrus perking up behind them, but the prime doppel refused to take his sockets off the tv, “I’D LIKE TO KNOW AS WELL!” He wished he could turn and investigate, but Coffee took his games seriously and he had yet to beat the younger skeleton at any. Maybe today would be the day.

Willow sat in Coffee’s empty spot on the couch to ease his back so he wouldn’t be bent over as much. His weight displaced the cushions more than Coffee had and resulted in Mutt slipping down a bit further, closer to his hip and pulling at his hood. Said skeleton didn’t complain and just let it happen, opening his unscarred socket so a rusty blood orange eyelight swiveled to look at the bag in question. “lil’ missy plannin’ ta stay fer while?” he inquired as he took in how full it seemed.

Blue laughed, “NEVER KNOW! WE JUST WANTED TO BE PREPARED!” he chirped.

“BETTER TO BE OVER PREPARED THAN UNDER!” Papyrus joined in before squawking in surprise and muttering a little curse. Coffee could be heard giggling softly and whispering how Papyrus had to put money in the swear jar now, on top of his impending loss.

Mutt just nodded and Willow hummed as he unzipped the bag, “SHE WANTS US TO PICK OUT WHAT PRODUCTS TO USE.” He plucked a jar from the bag to examine.

“why’?” Red had sat up and scooted to the edge of his seat so he could see the bag’s contents better. “shouldn’t she be tellin’ us what ta use?” he mumbled as his eyelights expanded at the amount and variety of products in the bag, “she bought da’ whole store?!”

Blue just snickered and those snickers were growing into laughter as Mutt finally gave in to his own curiosity and sat up. Both sockets now open and eyelights mirroring Red’s own in shock, “never thought i’d be so thankful ta not have hair.” He rubbed a hand over his skull, “exhausted just lookin’ at all this. No wonder they got a whole day just for washin’ hair.”

Willow shook his head at the two with a withered sigh as he could hear Papyrus joining Blue in poorly hidden laughter. “THEY DON’T USE ALL OF IT,” he resisted burying his face in his hands in exasperation, “HENCE WHY SHE WANTS US TO HELP CHOOSE WHICH ONES TO USE TODAY.” He lifted the product he had already taken from the bag and wiggled it for emphasis, “WE’LL JUST PICK OUT BASICS… SHAMPOO, CONDITIONER…” he trailed off. It hit him that he didn’t know what exactly could be considered basics beyond that.

“We could look up the rest…” Coffee spoke up, tilting his head towards the conversation, “...there should be something about this on the internet right?” A harsh click of a button and snap of the joystick could be heard before an anguished cry belted from Papyrus as his character went flying to the edge of the edge of the screen. A flash of light then the announcer chiming in loudly: GAME! He had lost once again. “Good game, Pap…” Coffee patted the defeated monster’s back as he dramatically sobbed into his hands.

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THAT FROM YOU!” Papyrus whined and they could practically hear him pouting as Coffee just giggled.

“GREAT IDEA, COFFEE!” Blue wasted no time whipping out his phone and holding it up proudly as his eyelights formed to stars, “MWEHEHEH! WITH THIS WE WILL PICK OUT THE PERFECT ASSORTMENT AND HELP HER HAVE THE BEST WASH DAY EVER!”

Papyrus bounced back from his crestfallen state as heard Blue’s declaration. He joined them at the coffee table and clapped for Blue who just beamed more. Coffee offered his own shy clap of support as he wandered over as well and settled into an empty spot on the other side of Blue.

Red’s eyelights couldn’t roll any harder at their antics. A frown still pulled at his teeth as something wasn’t sitting right with him about this situation, “thought doll didn’t like anyone messin’ wit’ her hair?” Why the sudden change of heart? The others went quiet at his question and Mutt just hummed along, the sound giving way his curiosity about this as well.

Papyrus fiddled with his hands, braiding and unbraiding his fingers, before breaking the silence that had fallen on the room, “WELL, AS YOU KNOW--from the group text--WE CONVINCED HER TO LET ME-US TAKE CARE OF HER.” He inhaled and looked up, looking at each skeleton in the room, “I ASKED IF WE COULD HELP WITH HER HAIR…” A soft smile lifted the corners of his teeth, “AND SHE SAID YES.”

Nothing was said for a bit as Papyrus’s words sank in before Mutt hummed once again, “well… let’s get ta pickin’ then.” Nods were shared in agreement. It didn’t answer why, but it would do for now.

Willow started them off with the product he had already. He read the label aloud, “HAIR HONEY?” before unscrewing the lid. He didn’t need to lean in to get a whiff of its scent. Not only because his naturally more sensitive sense of smell, but it was potent and the others around perked in curiosity as well. It was sweet and warm, but not floral. Maybe a bit fruity? It reminded him of a tropical drink… the color of it certainly looked like honey though. Before he could even question what it was for, he could hear Blue’s distals tapping at his screen to look it up.

“HAIR HONEY IS A BALM FOR STYLING, MOISTURIZING, AND ADDING SHINE TO HAIR,” he read, along with a few details about ingredients. Surprisingly, the product had very little to no actual honey in it.

“WHY CALL IT HONEY IF IT HAS NO HONEY?” Papyrus voiced the question they were all thinking as Willow replaced the lid on the jar and set it aside.

“‘n they say monsters are bad at namin’,” Red grumbled before jumping as the cushions beside him shifted and sank. He could hear a long, loud sniff and scowled at Oak as the larger skeleton was literally following his nasal cavity to the now closed jar. “Fuckin’ ell when did you wake up!” he griped.

Oak ignored him for picking up the jar and opening it again to take a deep sniff. A moment later they could hear purring.

“Missy might not be gettin’ that one back,” Mutt chuckled as he took his turn digging in the bag for a product. They continued like this. Taking turns picking a product, reading and looking it up, sniffing, and eventually sorting them into piles at Papyrus’s insistence. They had started with two: YES and NO. But the YES pile was now organized by scent. The “tastier”--as Oak put it--scented products had been more or less hoarded by said skeleton. It was obvious what his vote was for.

“is it really smart ta have her smellin’ all yummy and shit,” Red had scooted to the far side of the couch away from Oak. It was too much being next to the giant while he was purring with the volume of a freight train. He swears the cushions were vibrating. Willow’s sockets narrowed on the smaller skeleton, “I HOPE YOU ARE NOT INSINUATING WHAT I THINK YOU ARE.” His still crooked teeth pulled into a frown. His braces were slow to fix them.

“THAT WAS VERY UNCOUTH, RED,” Papyrus agreed and Willow sent his duplicate an appreciative smile.

Mutt shrugged as he watched Blue repacking the NO pile, “‘m fine wit her smellin’ like a snack~” His gold fangs glinted as he smiled, a teasing lilt to his voice. “‘sides it’s hard not to considerin’ half this stuff has some sort of ‘butter’ in it...” he muttered. He had no clue what exactly cocoa or shea butter was or what it did, but it smelled amazing.

Red agreed with the butter comment. Hell, he was still trying to figure out how they got butter from something like olives, hempseed… MANGOES? A god damned fruit… how? Not too mention the different oils… it was like they were trying to purposely seasoning themselves.

Blue choked on a cut off laugh and Red had cracked a smile, snickering. Willow had tilted his skull back with a far away, tired look to the ceiling, but couldn’t hide a light flush to his cheekbones. Papyrus had slapped a hand to his forehead with an exasperated sigh.

Coffee giggled quietly, “...I have a bit of a sweet tooth as well…” That was an understatement. He had the biggest sweet tooth out of all of them. A golden blush flushed his cheekbones as all attention had turned to him in mild shock that he had said something even slightly close to a double entendre.

A barked laugh burst from Red and Mutt. The taller of the two recovered first with a satisfied sigh, “well, now we really gotta go with Oak’s choice.”

Red wiped a tear from his socket as he conceded with a shrug and amused huff, “fine, fine…” Blue and Papyrus agreed since they were outvoted either way, but Willow had yet to speak. He was staring down Red, frown still in place. The skeleton currently under his harsh gaze began to sweat, eyelights wobbling and shrinking as he refused to make eye contact. The trio on the floor shifted awkwardly and after a subtle glance between the two, they busied themselves with packing up the products they wouldn’t be using. “what?!” he finally snapped, turning sharply and glaring up at the towering monster.

“ya still owe us an apology…” Oak rumbled, his bloated red eyelight focused on Red. His brother crossed his arms over his chest and hummed in agreement.

“seriously?” Red looked between the two in disbelief. Neither held an expression that they were joking and Mutt was offering no support for him. The trench coat clad skeleton instead was looking at the ceiling with the utmost concentration. Traitor… Red tried holding out stubbornly and debated simply shortcutting away, but even he knew he had overstepped. Maybe that therapist was worth the money. “m’sorry…” he grumbled, scrunching up in an effort to hide further in the fluff of his hoodie.

Oak looked to his brother to see if he approved of the apology. It was a piss poor one even by his standards, but he knew they probably wouldn’t get much more than that right now. Willow’s expression definitely said the apology wasn’t up to standard, but let his shoulders fall and his arms uncross. It was enough of an acceptance for Red as the smaller skeleton sighed in relief at the tension easing in the room.

Papyrus, Coffee, and Blue had finished packing by now and Papyrus clapped his hands, a bright smile lighting up his face. “WITH THAT AND OUR CHOICE OF HAIR CARE PRODUCTS COMPLETED, I’D SAY WE’VE DONE GOOD!” he boasted and Blue nodded along. Oak just hummed and purred happily; he turned his attention back to the products on his lap.

“BUT WE’RE NOT DONE YET,” Willow interjected and confused, curious eyelights and sockets were aimed his way. He was grateful the more prim and proper and strict of their household were not in for this particular conversation. “YOU SEE, WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW WE’RE GOING TO WASH HER HAIR…. OR RATHER, WHERE?” he continued on to explain that they had already scratched off the upstairs bathroom she was using, plus pretty much any other bathroom at that. “ACCORDING TO HER, THE KITCHEN OR UTILITY SINK IS BEST FOR WHEN SOMEONE HAS TO ASSIST,” he finished.

Pensive, thoughtful looks adorned most of the occupants, except for Oak and Mutt. Oak was distracted by his hoard and Mutt was still staring at the ceiling.

“USING THE UTILITY SINK WOULD APPEASE CERTAIN SOMEONES,” Blue noted, but he didn’t sound certain.

“it would, but knowin’ how many of you are gonna wanna hang around, it’ll get crowded real quick in that little room,” Red inputted and shot down the utility sink idea. While his brother or Black might get huffy about the kitchen sink, it wouldn’t be anything worse than some harsh words. Black was soft on the woman and his brother held a torch for her. They’d be fine.

Tipping could be heard and they half expected it to be Blue typing on his phone again, but instead it was Coffee. A few more clicks and they could see the light of the screen shining off his pearly face and gold braces. Blue leaned to peek over his shoulder and Papyrus followed suit. The two sharing looks of awe and understanding.

“ey!” Red snapped and two of the trio jerked their attention from the screen, “don’t just keep it ta yaself. show us what ya found!”

Coffee was the only one still looking at his screen and he swiped his finger across the glass surface before turning his phone around for them to see. On the screen was a video of a woman that had curly hair and skin like their friend. She was leaning over a sink with a woman standing just beside her. The other woman had short, dark coils and her skin was a deep, cool brown. She was currently using the pull down sprayer to wet the other’s hair and working the water into her curls with her other hand.

“OH, WE HAVE A SPRAYER LIKE THAT!” Willow nodded, “IT WILL MAKE THIS SO MUCH EASIER THAN USING A CUP OR BOWL TO DUMP WATER OVER HER HEAD.”

“you were plannin’ ta waterboard doll?” Red joked as he continued to watch the video. “only problem ya have left is that our kitchen sink is built fer the taller than average…” he pointed out. It sparked new ideas to be put forth. Suggestions that they could use a chair or stool for her to stand on. This was shot down as Coffee reminded them that she was physically exhausted and her neck and back wouldn’t appreciate being bent over for so long after the workout Edge and Papyrus had put her through.

Papyrus sighed, “IT SEEMS MY ENTHUSIASM YESTERDAY HAS PRODUCED YET ANOTHER PROBLEM…”

Blue patted his shoulder comfortingly, “WE HAD NO CLUE ANY OF THIS WOULD HAPPEN. PLUS, THINK HOW PROUD SHE’LL BE WHEN YOU SHOW HER THE CHARTS OF HER PROGRESS YOU MADE!” It helped cheer up the positive skeleton and he nodded, mumbling a thank you to his ever supportive friend.

A deep rumble pervaded the living room and gradually morphed into amused, pleased chuckles. All attention moved to Mutt, the source, with inquiring gazes. Pushing his hood down and leaning forward, resting his elbow on his knee and his cheek against his knuckles, he grinned at his companions, “...think I have a solution fer that~”

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uncreativetitletrack · 5 years ago

Text

I Am Me

Pairing: Yeonjun x Reader

Word Count: 15.6k

Genre: Fluff, Angst

Summary: Yeonjun wants to be more than his titles, some that doesn’t even belong to him. He just wants to be himself, but when the media doesn’t let him, it takes a toll on him.

Warnings: Some **spoiler**, but I just want to say that I’m not trying to antagonize BTS or fans from either bands in this story. It’s a highly dramatized, fictional story, and I’m sorry if it offends you in any way!

You’ll never forget that day, walking down the halls at three in the morning. You didn’t want to be there because you just spent the entire day working. ‘Appreciate that you have a secure job at that entertainment agency’ is what your friends and family would tell you after landing a great opportunity to work at one of the most famous music companies. You hated working here because of the pressure of working for nearly the entire day managing five trainees. There’s so much workload that you even contemplated on quitting.

But peeking through the door that’s slightly ajar of a dance room, it changed your entire perspective. It gave you another reason to keep going forward with these trainees. Sitting alone in the hollow practice room is Yeonjun, curled up in a ball. His shirt is drenched in sweat, or at least that’s what you thought. Although it is sweat, it took you a moment to realize that some of the wet spots on his shirt are also tears. This young man, who dreams of becoming a star, is sitting by himself in a defeated pose like he’s going to give in to the overwhelming stress. No one is there to comfort him, left to be ridiculed by his dark thoughts. Only at the ripe age of eighteen, he already thinks that he’s incompetent.

“I can’t do this anymore…” He muttered under his breath.

==========

“Jokbal! Jokbal! Jokbal!” Yeonjun chants, fist-pumping the air.

You and Yeonjun are at the grocery store, looking through the meat section. While you’re looking for pig trotters, he’s singing a tune he made up in his head with the only lyrics to his song is jokbal. He’s wearing a face mask and baseball hat to hide his identity, but those aren’t enough to hide the excitement in his eyes.

“Get the spicy kind!”

“Alright, alright.”

“Let’s also get chicken feet! Pizza! Pasta!”

You chuckle. “You sound like a child.”

“What’s there not to be excited about? You said that we can be spoiled brats tonight, so I wanna eat whatever I want.”

“Yea, but don’t you think it’s going to be too much for you guys to eat?”

“Eh, it’s fine,” he waves his hand nonchalantly. “It’s coming from the company’s credit card, right? That means we’re finally allowed to eat anything with no limits. Besides, we don’t have a recording tomorrow, so we don’t gotta worry about looking puffy.”

You don’t think you’ll ever understand how Yeonjun’s brain is wired. Still, it’s great seeing him smile this much. In the midst of their busy schedule, they have the entire day off. And the day before, it ended perfectly with their first win for Crown. They’ve never been this exuberant before.

“Also, let’s get some bubble tea. Kai and Soobin might want some ice cream too. Beomgyu wants kimbap and Taehyun wants some toast. Let’s go, let’s go!”

“Give me a sec. I still have to get some jokbal, then restock kimchi for you guys. Also, you guys need some more tangerine—”

“No more tangerines! We eat that enough already. Bubble tea!!!” He’s like a child about to receive a lollipop.

Despite being the eldest, he’s got a cute side to him that you find lovable. “Alright, where do you wanna get your drink?”

“Let’s go to 7 Leafs! I heard a new one opened down the street.”

“Okay, after we shop. Text the other boys what they want.”

“Yessir.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He puckers his lips, swaying his head side-to-side playfully.

You hurriedly look through the shopping list on your phone. The boys must be starving back at the dorms, so you want to hurry and get back as soon as possible. You can already imagine Beomgyu clinging onto one of the members and whining about how hungry he is.

While Yeonjun’s distracted with his phones, two women are whispering and pointing at him, occasionally giggling like school girls. Even with his disguise, he’s still spotted. Though, what did you expect? With their explosive debut, they’re bound to be instantly recognized in the public.

“…Go…” One girl mutters.

“No, you go first.”

They nudge each other, pushing one over the other to see who gets to Yeonjun first. He’s still oblivious to the fans, finishing his text message and sending it to the group chat. During times like these, you would push Yeonjun away from these girls to avoid drawing more attention, but since they aren’t hinting at any sort of danger, you decide to let it be.

After some minor arguments, one of the girls approaches him, although she keeps her eyes locked to the ground. “Uhm…excuse me?”

Her voice catches Yeonjun’s attention, so he turns to her, startling her. “Hello?”

“Are you…Yeonjun from Tomorrow by Together?”

He nods, and she squeals.

“I-I’m sorry if I’m bothering you!!”

Her eyes are fixated on Yeonjun. Even though you’re right next to him, she behaves like you don’t exist.

“No, it’s really fine. Did you want to take a picture? Manager, we can take a picture, right?”

You shrug your shoulders. “Go ahead.”

“O-oh, I wasn’t intending on taking a picture. I was just wondering...” she rummages through her purse.

Yeonjun’s eyes lighten up at the thought that this lady is going to give him a gift. He even got his hand out and ready to accept the present. Eventually, she finds what she wanted to give, and it’s a small box of chocolate the size of his hand.

“I was wondering if you can give these to Taehyung-oppa!” She covers her mouth.

And that gleam of happiness is immediately diminished, like a gust of wind blown against a lit candle. You don’t need to see under his mask to know that he lost the will to smile. It’s like his confidence has been stomped on, glaring down at the gift that isn’t even his. It’s not even for another member from his group—it’s for their senior.

“M-my friend and I have been fans of BTS since we were nineteen, so can you let him know that we’re thankful for everything he’s done? He really saved me from the darkest time in my life.”

He’s at a loss of words, baffled at this outrageous request. But rather than going off on the woman, Yeonjun laughs stiffly, scratching the back of his head. “I’m sorry I don’t know if I can give it to him because we don’t see each other much.”

Her shy nature disappears, cocking her head to the side and raising an eyebrow. “Huh? But you’re the same company. How do you guys not see each other often? I thought you guys are already like family to them.”

“It’s…much more complicated than that. Our schedules never correlate, so that’s why. If it makes you feel better, we can take a picture and—”

“Then…it’s okay. Sorry to bother you guys. You can have the chocolate though.” She waves goodbye and returns to her friend.

You should’ve stepped in when you had the chance. Yeonjun is at a loss of words as he watches the two girls trek off as if this never happened. Even though they’re walking off, he can hear fragments of their conversation.

“He kind of looks like Taehyungie-oppa…do you think he…passed auditions…becau…looks?” One whispers.

“Maybe. But…chin…too big. Teeth too.”

If you two weren’t in public, then you would’ve smacked them without hesitation. To bother Yeonjun during his day off only to push him aside because he’s not the idol they’re looking for, it’s just outright rude. This clearly ruined his mood, and now he’s become sullen. He rubs his chin, thinking about the last girl’s comment.

“Ignore them. Let’s go back and celebrate, yea?”

He nods, but his smile hasn’t returned.

==========

“Here you guys go!” You set a plate of jokbal on the floor.

In the living room of their crowded dorm, the five of them crowd around the meal that you’ve prepared for them. Despite the many clothes that are sprawled across the floor and trash left out on the coffee table, you’re able to brush them aside to make room for the six of you to sit together. Other than the pigs’ feet, there’s also pizza and chicken feet. Beomgyu’s mouth waters, but before he even eats, he briefly takes pictures of it with his phone.

“You didn’t have to waste your time making this when you could’ve just ordered it.” Taehyun states with a monotone expression.

“I know, but in honor of your first win, I wanted to cook from scratch.”

“You made the pigs’ feet, but you ended up ordering pizza and chicken feet…” Taehyun flicks open a can of Coke.

“Okay, pizza is hard to make from scratch, and chicken feet…the nails…” Shivers run down your spine.

“Taehyun…you could at least say thank you,” Soobin elbows him.

Now flustered, Taehyun looks down. “…Sorry…thank you.”

“No, no! It’s okay. For all we know, my cooking is probably not that great.”

“Anything from the Manager is going to be super great! Thank you very much!!” Huening Kai leans over and rubs your stomach.

“Hurry, hurry! Let’s eat.” Beomgyu takes a plate full of chicken feet.

“Says the one who kept taking pictures.” Soobin mumbles.

Each member takes a plate of food. Even though you know full well how average your cooking is, the boys are starving, so they’ll take anything. Everyone digs in to their dinner, all except for Yeonjun. As you’re eating the pizza, stretching the cheese from your mouth, you stare at him, waiting for him to take a bite.

“Yeonjun? Are you gonna eat?” You ask while covering your mouth full of food.

He shakes his head, rubbing his chin. “No…I’m not hungry.”

“What? But you were so excited to eat.”

“I’m full from the bubble tea.”

He gets up and walks to their bedroom, which is extremely out of the ordinary. He never says no to food. Even when they’re dieting, he’s the one who would sneak in food. Now that they have a chance to eat whatever they like, he’s not eating.

“Did something happen to Hyung?” Soobin asks curiously.

“Some girls were being rude.”

You didn’t expect it to take a toll on him this much. What they did has definitely squash his confidence, but knowing him, there has to be more than what those girls said.

==========

Yeonjun is sitting on his bunk bed, laying on his stomach and watching a video on his phone. He hears a knock at the door.

“Yeonjun? Can I come in?” You ask from the other side of the door.

He pauses the video. “Come in.”

You open the door, closing it behind you. Their bedroom is tidier than usual, and it’s probably because you were coming over for the night. Most of their clothes are hanging in the living room, so the floor isn’t riddled with clothes compared to the living room.

“I told them to save some for you in case you wanna eat later. How’re you feeling?”

“I’m fin—.”

“Be honest.”

You take a seat at the edge of his bed. He sits up, placing his pillow on his lap and scooting closer to you.

“Okay, I have a question…and you have to be honest.”

“What is it?”

“Do I look like V-sunbaenim?”

You crease your eyebrows. “V-sunbaenim? As in, Kim Taehyung?”

He nods.

“You two look nothing alike.”

“Really?”

“Yes, you look like yourself.”

“…That’s not what people say. Everyone is always telling us that we look like BTS-sunbaenim or that everything we do reminds them of them. I don’t want to sound like a brat, but I really don’t like it. One second, they’re saying that Soobin looks like Jin-sunbaenim, and the other second, they’re calling Taehyun Jungkook-sunbaenim’s clone. Do we seriously look like them?”

It’s not only himself he’s concerned about, but the other members as well. After their debut, many news outlets exploded with articles about the similarities between them and their senior group. It was your typical cover page with a side-by-side comparison between two members, each from TXT and BTS, red circles around specific parts of their face and drawing arrows to each other. Some of them were outrageous claims, like how Soobin learned how to blow kisses from Seokjin even though Soobin only did it once and it was because the host of the radio show told him to do it.

Some people even went to the extreme and called TXT clout chasers, accusing the young boys for being too privileged. While they were treated with luxuries, they were bombarded with negative comments. It was to be expected, but they weren’t prepared for this extraordinary amount of dislike. Even when they did receive compliments, it never felt genuine because somehow and some way, the same people would draw comparisons to them to their seniors, crediting them for teaching TXT how to be polite.

“None of you guys look like them at all. If you think about it this way, and by no means am I disregarding your frustrations, you guys debuted during the peak of BTS’s popularity. These comparisons were bound to happen. All we can do now is be patient and wait for this to die down. Besides, you guys have a good amount of fans who aren’t forcing themselves to like you guys.”

Despite still being gloomy, you’re able to get Yeonjun to laugh, exhaling through his nose. He elbows your arm. “How are you so optimistic all the time?”

“Because I’ve seen pretty much every second of your rehearsals, and I’m always freakin’ impressed every time I watch. I can’t wait until people acknowledge it too.”

He hides his face in the pillow. “Yea…I can’t wait for that too.”

==========

After being appointed as their temporary manager, the first time you met them was in Los Angele. They looked so young and naïve back then. Beomgyu, Soobin, and Huening Kai had this sort of innocence in their eyes, like they needed to be guided constantly. Despite being the same age as Huening Kai, Taehyun was always calm and professional, never allowing his nervousness show. But as for Yeonjun…arrogant is what you would describe your first impression of him.

The way he stood firm, his chin up and his eyes looking down. You knew that he isn’t a bad person, but it’s just his posture that you never liked. It was like he stood above everyone, his hands in his pockets and constantly in his ‘cool’ pose like a model. Your suspicions of his arrogance came with confirmation when you learned that he’s ranked as number one in vocals, rap, and dance. To add on to the fire, he’s also a trainee for one of the biggest entertainment companies in South Korea, so it’s no surprise that he’s carrying a luggage full of reasons to feel proud.

Wow, this guy probably got everything handed to him, you thought to yourself. When you started your work as their manager, you put the least amount of attention on him. You assumed that since he’s the eldest and is already sufficient with every aspect of being an idol, you didn’t bother with putting in effort for him.

==========

You sit in a conference room with sales and marketing team. The lead of the team stands next to the projector, slamming a stack of paper on the table. The loud bang causes the other employees to jump, including you.

“61,400 only??” He exclaims. “Just 61k was sold?! Tell me what the fuck happened to the sales?!”

On the projector, there’s a bar graph of TXT’s sales history. It records the number of albums that were sold between the two albums: TDC Dream and TDC Magic.

“S-Sir…we tried our best…but it’s just that…”

“Don’t give me your fucking excuses. You all were riding on the expectation that these teens were gonna bring back the same numbers. This isn’t even enough to pay back the budget used to make the damn music video,” he sighs in frustration. “Jesus Christ. BTS are still on their break, but the amount they made off of their Summer Package is enough to pay for three music videos. We’re gonna have to ask for a lower budget for the second music video.”

You glance back at the chart. It hurts seeing their two albums stand side-by-side and that dramatic drop between them. Not only that, but their music video isn’t doing so well either. Compared to their debut music video, they didn’t even have half of what they got on the first day, going from fourteen million views on Crown to a little under five million for 9 and Three Quarters. This is still exponentially well in terms of rookie group standards, but there’s more to it—there are expectations to be met.

It could easily be excused that the video website’s streaming rules have changed, but to have that huge drop can’t simply be because of a system. It’s already been a few days, and the views are barely going up.

But what you’re mostly worried about is what the boys think about this. To have received so much attention in the beginning only to be pretty much dropped off the face of Earth is no simple feat.

==========

You return to the practice room where the boys are rehearsing with their choreographer. While their coach i flicks his eyes at you then returning back to work, none of the boys bat an eye at you, which is normal. They’re so focused on training that nothing can get them out of it.

Once they finish the entire song, their dance coach turns off their song. “Take five.”

Almost like they’ve been put out of a trance, they snapped to their usual selves, falling to the ground and breathing heavily. Huening Kai is the first to notice you, running to you with what little strength he has left.

“Managerrr!! Save me!” He yelps.

He wraps his arms around you, his hand clasping around your stomach, and you get a strong scent of sweat coming from him. Though, it doesn’t bother you since nearly every time you come into this room, they’re sweating logs.

“Kai is sexually harassing her.” Beomgyu teasingly shouts.

“What?! No, I’m not. Am I, Manager?” He looks at you with his puppy eyes.

“Not at all. How was practice today, guys?”

“We’re doing well! Just tightening some loose ends after we ended our first week of performing.” Soobin pulls Huening Kai away from you.

Huening Kai was about to whine, but Soobin passes a water bottle to him. Dying for water, Kai gives up the complaining for water, taking huge gulps.

“Loose ends? But I thought you guys did great on stage.”

“Not enough,” Beomgyu chimes in. “Our timing is off when we change positions.”

“Kai, don’t take too long to lift me up. If you take more than a second, then it messes up the rest of us.” Taehyun comments.

“Ah…okay…sorry.” He lowers his head.

“I think Kai is improving a lot. It’s so cute seeing him trying to lift Taehyun on his own.” Soobin touches shoulders with Huening Kai to cheer him up.

Huening Kai lets out a small chuckle while you’re adoring their playfulness. You glance at Yeonjun, glaring at himself in the mirror. He runs his hand through his sweaty hair. You don’t know what he’s thinking, but just by that serious look on his face alone, you can tell that he’s not happy.

“How was the meeting?” Soobin takes a sip from the water bottle.

“Uhm…it went okay.”

“What was it about again?”

“It’ll bore you guys if I explain it, so I rather not say. But they’re going to change things up a bit for the second music video’s filming.”

“Oh really?” Beomgyu asks. “Why?”

You can’t bring yourself to tell them the truth. They don’t go on the internet often, especially when it comes to anything that has anything to do with them, so they don’t know much about the records they break or don’t break. If they found out that the number of support they got for this comeback has become lackluster, then it’ll just devastate them.

“Uhm…change in artistic direction.” You pull that out of your ass.

They seem to take your word for it, so it makes you a little relieved. But while the other members moved on, one glance at Yeonjun and you knew that he isn’t convinced. Yeonjun opens his mouth to say something, so you quickly think of diverting this possibility.

“A-anyway, when rehearsals are done, we have to go to on some shows. I’ll let you guys know when it’s time to go.”

You walk out of the room, sighing. Just as you predicted, you couldn’t bring yourself to tell them the truth. How do you go about telling them that they didn’t do so well for this comeback? Not only that, but with your lack of experience as a manager, what can you say or do to encourage them? Even if you don’t tell them, they’ll find out eventually. And you already have a feeling that Yeonjun already does.

You peek through the crack of the door, watching the boys sitting down on the ground. Even though they’re supposed to take a break, they’re watching a recording of themselves to see if they can finds places to improve on.

==========

Yeonjun is in the center of the main dance practice room, free-styling to a song that infuses hip hop and heavy rap. The rest of the students are sitting by the walls. You sit with the other members as they’re just as mesmerized as the rest of the students. The way his body flows so smoothly with the rhythm is so satisfying to watch. If you didn’t know who he was, then you would’ve assumed that he was a coach or a celebrity, not a trainee.

You look at the other members. Soobin is like a high school girl experiencing their first love—his eyes are fixated on him, covering his gaping mouth in pure awe. Huening Kai is bopping his head to the song, more so enjoying the music itself than Yeonjun’s dance, although he still finds it entertaining to watch.

On the other hand, Beomgyu and Taehyun look jealous. Just one look and you can tell that in their heads, they’re most likely thinking, I can do that too. And that’s one thing you don’t particularly like about Yeonjun. He takes the spotlight and enjoys it. He doesn’t share any of it with the other boys. While you’re impressed by his dance, you don’t find his narcissism impressive in the slightly.

When the song ends, the entire class applauds. Soobin claps louder and faster than the rest of the students, bouncing up and down from his spot. The three younger members applaud as well. But Yeonjun doesn’t even look at his teammates. He waves his hands up like he wants the crowd to get louder.

“Okay, who wants to go next?” The coach asks.

A large number of students raise their hands, including Beomgyu. Although Taehyun makes it clear that he’s jealous of the attention that Yeonjun receives, he knows full well that he’s incapable of surpassing him in dance. Then there’s Soobin and Huening Kai who would rather be on the side.

After the coach chooses the next person to freestyle, you were expecting Yeonjun to sit with you and the boys. But to your surprise, he sits with other people, receiving high fives from the other students. It really ticks you off seeing him have the audacity to act like he’s too cool for the boys. You want to bring this up with them, but they don’t seem to particularly mind.

“That was fucking awesome, dude.” One of the students says in English.

“Thanks, I know I was cool.” Yeonjun replies in English as well.

You truly cannot find a reason to like Yeonjun even if he hasn’t done anything directly to you. He’s just so pompous and full of himself. When the members told you that he loves bragging about being ranked top in every category, they weren’t exaggerating. If anything, they weren’t exaggerating enough. With each passing day, Yeonjun starts hanging out less and less with the members unless it’s necessary, such as the private lessons with the five of them or when they’re filming for future projects. Perhaps it’s also the façade that he puts out a lot that you also don’t like. If you really are going to become their manager, you can’t picture yourself being close with him at all.

While you’re too busy finding reason to despise Yeonjun, you catch a glimpse of something. His hands are shaking a lot, but he tries to hide it by putting his hands behind his back.

==========

“You guys look so cute!!” You clasp your hands together.

The boys walk out of their dressing room in matching pink sailor outfits. Your jaw drops at how absolutely adorable they look in them—like anime characters coming to life. When their appearance on the show goes on air, their fans will definitely go insane.

“Huening Kai and Taehyun are the cutest.”

Huening Kai’s cheeks turn pink from your compliment while Taehyun looks indifferent. You turn to Soobin and Beomgyu, and they fit into the cute concept as well.

“I’d prefer something that shows off my more adult side…” Soobin puffs his cheeks while nodding his head.

The way he sulks only amplifies his cuteness. The outfits complement their physical appearance except for their overarching height. But after doing a head count, you notice that there’s somebody missing. You look around, and the eldest is nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Yeonjun?”

“I think he’s still in the dressing room.”

“I’m gonna go get him.”

You walk to the dressing room, knocking three times. “Yeonjun? You in there?”

“Yea.”

“You almost done? You guys have to go on in a few minutes.”

“Y-yea, just give me a second.”

Yeonjun twists the doorknob, opening it and peeking his head out. You cross your arms, waiting for him to completely walk out, but he’s too embarrassed to show himself.

“What’s wrong?”

“I look dumb.”

You scoff. “I’m sure you look fine.”

“No…”

“Come on, it’s not as bad as you think it is. Besides, the other boys are wearing it too, so you’re not alone.”

“It’s just…”

“You’re fine!”

Feeling impatient, you pull him out of the room. Just as you thought, he’s wearing the sailor uniform like the rest of them. He tries to stand in a masculine pose, slouching his back slightly and putting his hands in his pocket. You can tell he feels humiliated to be in this outfit.

“See? You look cute.”

“That’s the problem. Just because we’re young doesn’t mean that we have to dress like kids. I’m twenty-one for crying out loud.”

“Twenty-one and rocking that look. Come on, even if it looks childish, you can still make it look cool,” you check the time on your phone. “Oh, they’re waiting for us. Let’s go.”

Just as you were about to walk away, you look back to find Yeonjun not moving from his spot. He’s still sulking about the clothes. This is bothering him more than you thought, and you wish you can do something about it, but with the limited time that they have, you can’t change the stylist’s mind.

“Yeonjun?”

“…I want to wear suits like BTS-sunbaenim.”

You freeze, everything around you falling silent. You try thinking of anything to make him feel better, but with every direction you go, it doesn’t form proper sentences. You can think of the usual ‘don’t think too much about it’ or ‘you look great in the outfit’, but they’re shallow assurance, and it won’t make him feel any better.

“You guys are on in five minutes!” A staff member shouts from the room.

“Okay!” You let the staff know before turning back to Yeonjun. “Let’s go.”

That’s all you could say, and it made you seem disingenuous. If only there was a way to make him feel better, but with being a new manager, it also comes with many trial and errors, including some major and minor mistakes. You sort of feel pathetic for not thinking of any clever quotes to cheer him up.

==========

You stand on the other side of the cameras as the five boys speak to the hosts, a man and a woman. They’re dressed in a ridiculous amount of pink, and the entire room itself is fluttered with pink too. Despite the pinkness, the other side is contrasted with silent darkness, sound producers, scriptwriters, and cameramen being blanketed with the damp blackness of the studio while the members and two hosts are riddled with twenty shades of pink.

Since they’re still new to the showbiz world, they’re as stiff as usual, but unlike their debut, they’ve loosened up a bit more. They’re moving around and smiling more, which is a huge step forward. However, despite their more natural side are shown in a better light, Yeonjun is rigid. His hands are behind his back, not moving an inch. And that smile that you know is forced.

“We’re really happy to have K-pop’s next big boy group be on the show!” The male host shouts with an exaggerated enthusiasm. “Tomorrow by Together is known as the monster rookie group, already hitting records and completing their first US tour.”

The five boys clap, cheering sarcastically.

“Despite being so young, they’re pretty tall. On average, their height is 181.3 cm, which is an amazing record on its own. None of you guys have a fixed position either, both in talents and looks!” The female host chimes in.

Everything seems to be going well so far. This show is known for portraying each individual members’ special talents, so this is a great opportunity for the boys to stand out on their own.

“Let’s introduce each member from right to left. Taehyun.”

“Yes.”

As usual, Taehyun is excellent in professional settings. Despite his young age, he knows how to think and act on the spot, improvising and thinking of the right words to say. His timing is never off, and he can read the atmosphere without a problem. It makes the audience, even you, forget that he’s a teenager.

The hosts go through each member, showing off more of their personalities. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Huening Kai. Unlike Taehyun who remains calm yet makes witty comments, Huening Kai is less prepared, but he balances that out with his bubbly personality. He laughs to lighten the mood, knowing how to recover from an embarrassing mistake and turning it into a joke.

Although upon first impression, Beomgyu seemed like the kind of guy who doesn’t mind the shy and cute concept, he’s a natural when it comes to being charismatic and masculine. He can talk to anybody and make it appear like they’ve been friends for years. He doesn’t let the air become awkward and is able to fill it up.

Soobin is the one who makes the most mistakes, his mind often trailing off and messing up his lines. He lets the nervousness take over him, often laughing and hugging the closest member to release some tension. Despite the many mistakes, he repeats himself until he perfects it. His cycle of making and fixing his slip-ups makes the hosts find it endearing.

Last person is Yeonjun. When the hosts lay their eyes on him, he nods and forces a smile.

“Now…last but not least, Choi Yeonjun: born on September 13th, the oldest member, been the trainee the longest and is ranked number one on all three categories, vocals, rap, and dance. Wow, that’s a lot for one person.”

“Yes.” He answers.

“Even though I think you’re all very handsome men, I think you should also be ranked number one in terms of visual too.”

“Ah…” he laughs nervously. “Thank you.”

“I mean, you deserve that title! You have a lot of resemblance with your BTS senior, V-ssi.”

And with that, the light in his eyes disappears.

“You have the hair color, the eyes, and the striking visuals in general. I think you two are even the same height.”

“Ah ha ha…yes.”

Huening Kai is the first to sense Yeonjun’s discomfort, so he steps in to make a comment. “Yeonjun-hyung was always the first trainee to introduce himself. He would take us to the whiteboard with the rankings and ask who was number one in each category. We were all shocked when he said that it was him.”

“Oh, really? Okay, let’s give Yeonjun a chance to show off his skills, starting off with dance.”

Yeonjun steps forward, and to your side, the producers choose a song to put on. Unsurprisingly, they put on a BTS song, Dope. Within seconds, Yeonjun got the gist of the beat and dances to the song accordingly. He doesn’t make a single mistake despite the lack of practice, which is remarkable on its own.

They then put on the next song, which happens to be Boy in Luv. Unlike the fast-pace dancing, it switches to a slower tempo, but he has to show more of his aggressive side. And just like that, he’s got the choreography memorized as well. Once again, they switch the song, but…it’s another BTS song, Fake Love.

This wasn’t a part of the script. They were supposed to play other pop songs and some American music to give him the chance to freestyle. With this last-minute change, Yeonjun falters, only knowing the basics to the Fake Love choreography, but not grasping onto the details that well.

The female host signals the music to stop. “How do you mess up one of their recent songs? Fake Love is played everywhere. You two are in the same company and got more chances to see them practice. You should know their songs to heart.”

Although that was supposed to be a joke, Yeonjun took it personally. You can see that her words have pierced through his chest. You don’t like how she’s putting him on the spot with unrealistic expectations.

“Okay,” the male host interrupts. “Let’s try again but with a different song.”

He waves his hand down, cueing for the next song to play. Yeonjun shakes his hands and spreads his legs out shoulder length, determined to get this one right. The producer plays the song, and it’s Boy with Luv.

Yeonjun freezes. He hasn’t learned this dance because this song came out during the most hectic training period. They were practicing to their songs nonstop as well as performing on stages.

The female host makes it very apparent that she’s disappointed. “Stop, stop, stop. It’s okay, even if you don’t know your seniors’ songs that well, you should at least know this one. It’s simple to learn and it’s their latest song.”

Yeonjun chuckles nervously. “You’re right…”

It’s agonizing to watch this host tear Yeonjun down. There’s clearly some bias here, and she’s going at him more than the other members. It might be because he’s been the trainee the longest or because of his title as the ‘monster trainee’ to increase her expectations on him, this is still borderline harassment. Thankfully, the other members are seeing this as well, so they look at each other, almost like using telepathy to back up their eldest member.

Soobin raises his hand. “Taehyun and Beomgyu have memorized the dance.”

“Oh really?”

“That’s right,” Beomgyu steps forward. “I’ve been a hardcore fan of BTS even before I became a trainee. I’ve studied every single thing, including the timing of their facial expressions.”

“I also enjoy listening to Jungkook-sunbaenim’s English covers. I know all his cover songs by heart.” Taehyun enters the conversations calmly.

This is off-script, but it’s a relief that you can rely on the members to help each other out of a pinch. You nonverbally sigh, but your troubles haven’t left you. It was the members who had to help, and you couldn’t do anything. Not only that, but the deed has already been done. To see the sunken spirit in Yeonjun’s eyes, it hurts. You wish you can reach your hand out to tell him that everything’s alright, you can’t just interrupt recording. All you can do is watch from afar.

==========

In the hallway, Yeonjun is just walking out of the restroom after changing back into his street clothes. Opposite to the cute sailor outfits, he’s wearing a leather jacket and blue jeans, with tan boots that completes it all. Even though you liked both outfits that he was wearing today, nothing beats Yeonjun dressed in the clothes that he’s more confident in.

Standing outside of the men’s restroom is you. He’s caught off-guard to see you waiting. “What are you doing here?”

“I just felt like it.”

“Where are the other guys?”

“They’re still changing. Why didn’t you tell me that you went to the restroom?”

“It was just a quick whizz.”

“You should still tell me.”

He walks back to the room and you follow him from behind. “You’re not my mom.”

“But I’m technically your mom!”

“That’s…let’s not get there. Aren’t you our age?”

“I dunno, am I?”

With this conversation going nowhere, he stops. Even though he sounds a bit harsh, you know that he doesn’t mean to. Today’s show recording was definitely unfair, so it’s not a surprise to see Yeonjun down in the dumps.

“Good job today.”

“Thanks, but I don’t feel like I did well. Not even average or decent.”

“Hey, but you got it over with and that’s all that matters. Now, onto the next one!”

“Yea…”

Despite your efforts in cheering him up, it doesn’t work. Pretending like the issue doesn’t exist isn’t going to make things better for him.

“What that host said, it’s still bothering you, huh?”

He can’t hide from you as well. “You got me. This feeling kinda sucks…”

“I can tell. I don’t think she means it though.”

“You’re siding with her?”

“I’m not. Yea, what she did was really horrible, but everyone’s caught up in the heat where they want to only talk about your seniors. TV shows are dying for BTS to be on their show, but they’re too busy touring. It’s rude, but even for other bands, your sunbaenims are constantly brought up.”

“That’s true…”

“Besides, that doesn’t matter. Anyway, I’m gonna drop by the convenient store to buy some snacks. What do you want?”

“…Can I go with you?”

“What? No, you should be resting! Take every chance to take a nap, relax your muscles, or play some video games! Don’t do something as boring as coming with me to the store.”

“It’s not boring to me. Going to the store with you soothes my nerves. No joke.”

Your cheeks turn red when he grins. It’s been a while since you last saw him smile like that, so you can’t say no to him.

==========

Seoul is filled with your stereotypical description of the urban lifestyle—honking cars, citizens striding through thick crowds of people, and flashing lights at every corner. Since it’s night, the skyscrapers are covered in squares of screens that display an array of advertisements such as drinks, clothes, and latest phone models.

You and Yeonjun are two out of millions going through the city and back to the studio. Despite wearing a mask and beanie to cover his identity, he still stands out like a sore thumb. Girls can’t help but glance and admire his towering, lean body.

“Ah, I really like times like these when we get to go out and enjoy the city air.” You point your nose to the sky and inhale.

“You mean the pollution and bacteria traveling into your nostrils?”

You elbow him. “You didn’t have to phrase it like that!”

He laughs.

One thing you like about this is not only breaking away from the busy life in the entertainment business, but being with Yeonjun. Behind the cameras, he’s an ordinary young adult who enjoys the little things, like walking in the city and making jokes. He doesn’t have to put up a show or be conscious of how he dresses and correcting his posture. He doesn’t have to censor his words and can say whatever he wishes.

You get a text message, and it’s from the group chat. “Taehyun said that Beomgyu is starving to death. Let’s hurry.”

You pick up the pace and so does Yeonjun. You two pass by many small shops that are surviving each day to make ends meet. Some of them are antique shops, record stores, and clothing lines. One of them is a toy store. If you could, you would love to go to them but with very little spare time you have in your hands, it’s too far into the future for you think about it.

You look up at the night sky and notice how particularly cloudy it is. Not only that, but the weather has been getting colder these days.

“Geez, I think it’s gonna rain soon. What do you think, Yeonjun?”

No response.

“Yeonjun?”

You turn around and find Yeonjun standing in front of the toy store. He’s staring down at a table that’s filled with a mix of toys. You tilt your head, curious about what caught his eye.

“Is there something you want?”

He remains quiet.

You look down, there’s one particular toy that stands out to you, which could explain why he stopped. You pick up a box with a doll of the BTS member, V, inside. The plastic cover has been battered up, and the doll’s hair is a mess. The limbs are sprawled in directions that a human bones can’t replicate. All in all, it’s a pitiful sight to bear, but what makes it even more tragic is that this outdoor table is for toys that are on discount.

“I remember when the dolls were announced, everyone went crazy for it.” Yeonjun comments.

He was still a trainee at that time, but he already knew about it before the public did. You did too, but you didn’t think too much about it since nearly everything related to BTS becomes impactful to the world.

“But…look at where it is now. It has its quirks in the beginning, but after a while, this doll will never compare to the real person. It’s a temporary escape from the reality that you’ll never get to be with the real V-sunbaenim.”

The way he words it…is so depressing. This is unlike Yeonjun to be spilling poetic lines. You stare at the doll, and the doll glares back at you. You wonder what the doll’s journey was like, from factory to this clearance table.

“It’s just a doll. I’m sure it’ll find an owner,” you assure him. “Let’s hurry back before they get upset.”

He turns to you as if you offended him, not the doll. But he looks away with a troubled look, ultimately plastering a nonconsensual smile. You know you said something wrong, but you don’t know what it is.

“Manager…” Yeonjun calls out.

“Yea?”

“…I’m…different from V-sunbaenim, right?”

This isn’t a hard question, and yet you’re having a hard time answering it. It’s because if you answer either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, they both carry heavy context behind them. It’s plainly obvious how Yeonjun will feel if you say ‘no’, but saying ‘yes’ would also feel shallow depending on the tone. In this situation, how do you answer?

“…You’re fine just the way you are.” You say it with a tone as plain as cardboard.

You can’t decipher his expression, and it worries you more. It’s like you nailed the coffin perfectly and just made his mood worse.

Without putting much thought into it, you take him by his hand, holding it tightly. He’s confused, but you muster a smile. “Come on, stay close so that we don’t separate. You’re the one carrying Soobin’s snacks. He’ll cry if we lose it.”

You drag him along with you. As you walk forward with him in hand, you make quick glances behind to check on him. His sullen expression still remains, and it makes you all the more conflicted. You don’t know exactly what’s going on in his head, but you’re too afraid to ask, thinking that he might just brush off your worries as meaningless thinking.

==========

“Kai, don’t cry.” Soobin pats him on the back.

Occupying a private dance room in Los Angeles, Huening Kai is sitting in a fetal position, wiping his eyes with his hands. Soobin and Taehyun are on their knees, one person on each side. You sit in front of him, thinking of ways to encourage him.

“You’re overreacting. You did everything fine.” Taehyun adds on.

“I can’t dance. I’m really bad at it.” He mutters to himself.

“Have some water and let’s be chirpy again!” Beomgyu kneels down and passes him a bottle of water, but he doesn’t accept it.

“I shouldn’t have tried to become an idol. I don’t like, I hate this. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Huening Kai, don’t say that,” You put your hands over his. “You’re doing great.”

But it doesn’t seem like your message has crossed over. It’s understandable that Huening Kai gets into moods like this, especially being under immense pressure despite only living fifteen years of his life. To be so young yet feel defeated makes your eyes water.

Standing on the other side of the room is Yeonjun, still rehearsing. You’re a little annoyed that he more interested in himself than Huening Kai. You give him dagger eyes, waiting for him to do something, but nothing happens.

“Yeonjun, can’t you at least take your eyes off of yourself for a second?” You pout.

“Manager, don’t…! It’s okay!” Huening Kai begs.

He finally turns to your direction, staring back at you as you glare. He scratches the back of his head, approaching Huening Kai until he crouches in front of him.

“If this is too much for you, then why don’t you just quit?”

Huening Kai gasps, and so does the rest of you. You have the urge to smack him across the face, wondering how he could ask that question when Kai is already at his lowest.

“I don’t want to…”

“Why? You’re the one who keeps complaining about how hard it is.”

Huening Kai looks conflicted, like his words are biting back at him.

“Yeonjun, don’t—”

But Soobin stops you by putting his hand on your shoulder. While you don’t know what’s going on, it seems like the rest of the boys do.

“I don’t want to quit.”

Yeonjun’s serious expression then switches that of an upbeat grin. He pats him on the back, pulling him for a neck hug.

“You say that you want to quit, but deep down, you want to keep going. The moment negative thoughts start passing through your head, shut them out immediately and start finding compliments for yourself.”

“But…that’s a bit self-serving…”

He shakes his head. “Conceited people compliment themselves as a means of building a wall to avoid their ego from being hurt. Confident people are so confident in themselves that they want others to succeed too. Come on, let’s keep practicing. Show me what you need help with and I’ll do my best to help.”

“Me too!” Soobin raises his hand.

“I’ll take part too.” Taehyun adds.

“Hey! Don’t leave me out either!” Beomgyu shouts.

These boys will never stop amazing you, but it also makes you feel bad. You feel like you didn’t do anything, and Yeonjun, once again, knows what to say and do. It makes you feel insecure—like you’re not cut out for the job. Once again, it’s Yeonjun overpowering someone’s abilities.

And despite disliking it, you can’t help but see Yeonjun in a more positive light. You thought that he didn’t care about the other members, but it doesn’t seem like the case all the time.

==========

You’re in the van with the rest of the boys and the driver. This time, they’re dressed in more formal attire, wearing suits. You’re glad that Yeonjun is a little more confident in himself now that he’s wearing what he wanted, but there’s still that lingering sense of gloom that floats around him.

The driver is playing songs on the radio while the boys are busy playing on their phones. Many overplayed songs play on the radio, some that you are still in love with and others where you’re getting sick of.

BTS’s song plays, and already, you can sense Yeonjun feeling uncomfortable. His raises his shoulders, scratching his head more than usual. You can see his distraught being played in the rear-view mirror.

“Excuse me, can you turn off the radio?”

“Oh yea, sure.” He turns it off.

You look back in the mirror, and he’s look like he’s fine, though a little disturbed. He clears his throat, looking at the reflection in his mirror and fixing his hair. Every time the driver hits a bump, Yeonjun would look at his phone’s camera’s portrait mode to fix his hair.

Drawing near the red carpet, the boys get ready to prepare for their walk. They can already hear hundreds of screams, and it only gets louder as they get closer. They check themselves one last time, making sure that every detail is perfect. Through the windows, there are fans screaming and waving at them.

“Alright, good luck, guys! Go make the crowd go wild!” You cheer them on.

They cheer back right as the car parks. In an instant, they shut their mouths, preparing for flashing lights from cameras and the nonsensical screams. They come out one by one, and you wait until they’ve walked enough so that you can enter. You don’t like being in the spotlight, so you rather distance yourself from situations such as these.

Just as planned, the boys stride through the red carpet professionally, waving and throwing finger hearts at fans. Once the crowd turn their heads away from your direction, you speed out of the car, wearing your face mask and parka to hide your identity. You speed to the backdrop where the five boys stand and pose for the hosts of the red carpet.

Behind the photo scene, you watch from behind as a barrage of camera flashes blind your vision. You can barely make shape of the members’ bodies. Judging how the situation is going, they seem to be handling it well. This isn’t the first time they were in front of this many cameras on a carpet walkway, so it’s not surprising that they’re doing well on their own.

“As BTS’s juniors, they’re doing amazing by breaking records of their own and standing out internationally, as well as in Korea. Coming back to the spotlight after two delays of their comeback, they returned with their first full-length album The Dream Chapter: Magic. It’s extremely rare that a rookie group is able to release a full album so soon, so they have a lot to show their fans. And speaking of fans, please pose for them, Tomorrow by Together!” The male host announces.

And doing what they’re told, they immediately start posing, raising their hands up to make hearts. They tilt their heads, some of them smiling and others, like Beomgyu and Yeonjun, making serious expressions. Fans are cheering for them, jumping and waving their hands at them but also hiding their faces behind cameras larger than their heads. They even have built-in lenses that are so large that it makes the cameras look like telescopes.

“Is there anything you would like to tell your fans?” The male host passes the microphone to Yeonjun.

He takes it, waving before taking a second to think about what he wants to say. “First of all, thank you to the MOAs who have been supporting us with our newest title track, 9 and Three Quarters. We worked very hard and put all our passion into each song in the album, so we would really appreciate it if every one of you also sup—”

Suddenly, someone throws an egg at Yeonjun, aimed perfectly at his head. The shell cracks into a million pieces, the raw components splattering all over his face. While the crowd gasps in horror, Yeonjun is in complete shock. During their years of training to deal with not only being exposed to passionate fans but also hate groups.

Among the crowd is a woman wearing sunglasses, a face mask, and a black beanie. She’s wearing all in black and is holding a carton of eggs in her arms.

“YOU’RE A PARASITE TO BTS. YOU LEECH OFF OF THEM TO MAKE EFFORTLESS CASH. THEY WORKED SO HARD ONLY FOR YOU TO TAKE IT AWAY. YOU DIDN’T DESERVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD. YOU’RE ALL FUCKING SCUM AND DESERVE TO DIE IN A SHITHOLE.”

She grabs more eggs to throw at Yeonjun. Bodyguards are sprinting toward her, but with so many people in the way, it’s taking longer to get to her. The staff from behind the backdrop, including you, are rushing onto the scene to grab the boys. But Yeonjun is furthest away from the exit, and the host next to him has ran off. In a state of panic, the staff and guards can only think about saving the idols who are closest to them, but no one is running to Yeonjun.

He’s frozen in shock, still processing what just happened as the egg whites drip from his hair. Even though everything is moving fast, it’s like time has slowed down, giving you milliseconds to think about your next moves. But some of her eggs fail to reach Yeonjun like the first attempt. With the guards tailing in on her, she dashes toward him, grabbing a fan’s large, expensive camera, lunging it back and readying it to hit Yeonjun with it.

Then that’s when Yeonjun’s bright, loving smile flashes through your mind. You thought about all the times you’ve spent with him laughing, playing games, and eating junk food with him. He used to be so happy, and it made your chest warm when you saw him in love with being an idol.

So…when did it start falling apart?

And the last frame in your mind was the first time you’ve ever seen him cry. All alone and on the ground, begging for his stress to go away. He repeats over and over that he wants to give up—the same trainee that was ranked number one, the same guy who everyone dismisses his five years of brutal training as ‘his seniors’ privileged little brother’, the same boy who you disliked because you made an assumption about him before you got to know him.

The next thing you know, you’re standing in between Yeonjun and the camera that the woman has thrown. In that brief moment, you and Yeonjun make eye contact. He looks so scared, like a child who’s been traumatized. But you don’t want him to keep making that face, so in the midst of the chaos, you smile, letting him know that everything will be alright.

Then your vision turns black.

==========

You clasp onto the door frame, your mouth hanging open. You thought you heard Yeonjun wrong. This is the same guy who you thought that he’s full of himself. But to see him on the ground, crying his eyes out, it was like reality hitting you really hard that trainee life can take a toll even on the most gifted of trainees, even Yeonjun.

“What did you say?” Unbeknownst to you, there was another person in the room. It’s their main choreography coach. “You’re quitting? You’re more pathetic than I thought.”

His coach crouches, knocking on Yeonjun’s head harshly.

“You’re so full of yourself that you’ve forgotten how much you’re a fucking sore eye to watch when you dance. Your feet and back is hurting? Bullshit. Those are excuses that quitters make. You think you can keep being number one with that mindset?”

How have you’ve never seen this up until now? How can this crude man be considered a coach?

“I’m sorry, I won’t say it again.” Yeonjun mutters as he sniffs, but he hasn’t stopped crying.

“Might as well make Taehyun number one. He’s doing great and he doesn’t whine like you. And he’s pretty young, too. He’ll top you in no time, and you’ll be last because you’re incompetent.”

Even bringing up the other members makes you sick. There’s something twisted about how he puts down Yeonjun’s spirit by comparing him to the other boys. While competition is great, this is just outright creating unnecessary rivalry. It now makes sense why Yeonjun distanced himself from the other boys; it was the work of this man. He made him fear his own teammates.

“Sitting around and shitting yourself isn’t going to make you a better dancer. Get the fuck up and keep practicing.”

But Yeonjun is hesitant to get up which irritates the coach.

“What are you still doing? Get. Up.”

“But…sir…it’s almost lunch time. The other members are back in the room…and they’re waiting for me.”

“Do I hear a goddamn wimp talking again?”

He immediately shakes his head. “No.”

“Then get up and stop crying. I’ll let you eat when you’ve finished thinking about what you did wrong. Besides…” he pinches Yeonjun’s cheeks. “No girl wants a guy who has fat on their face.”

He swipes Yeonjun’s face away, getting up and stomping out of the room. In the brink of time, you were able to hide behind the door while he walks out. He does what he’s told and gets up, and you cover your mouth when you realize the horror that’s been going on behind the scenes.

You can’t just hide. You want to talk to him, you want to know if he’s okay. If this is how their coach treats Yeonjun, you can’t imagine what he does to the other members.

You peek your head into the room, seeing as he’s already returns to dancing. He’s rubbing his feet and back like it’s in pain. You never noticed this before, but he has a lot of scars and burises on his arms and legs, most likely from excessive practicing. Some are old, some are new. He’s always worn long sleeves during practice and filming, at least long enough to hide them.

However, you’ve been staring for too long that you catch Yeonjun’s attention. You both are startled, but Yeonjun immediately wipes his eyes to hide his wet eyes.

“Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you were with the rest.”

You shake your head. “I came here to let you know that we’re going to get lunch.”

“It’s okay, I’m not hungry.”

You curl your lips inward, trying to fight the urge to cry. You don’t want to make it seem like you eavesdropped, but it’s too late.

“You…heard everything, didn’t you?”

You don’t reply.

“Ah…so embarrassing…”

“I’m…sorry.” You murmur.

“What?”

“I didn’t know.”

You step forward, falling into Yeonjun’s arms. He’s confused, trying to push you away, but you won’t let him.

“What are you sorry for?”

You’re not sorry for listening to their conversation. You’re sorry for making the wrong assumption about him. Because of that, you deemed him as the villain who only wants to win for himself. You feel immensely guilty for pushing him aside without putting much thought. But now looking back, you were wrong for making up thoughts based on how he acted and look.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that that coach is fired.”

“Wh-what…? You don’t have to.”

“No! I have to! I don’t want you to debut with that way of thinking! You’re better than what he makes you to be.”

He’s at a loss of words. He’s hesitant about putting his arms around you, but he ultimately does it. His hands are shaking so much, and you aren’t sure if it’s because of malnourishment from extreme dieting or if he’s scared.

“I’m okay…really…” Yeonjun chuckles as he fails to fight back his tears. “I’m okay…I’m fine. I’m fine…I’m…okay…I’m…not…”

He starts crying louder and louder, though not too loud so the coach can hear. He lowers his back, though slowly because his spine is in excruciating pain from so much dancing. He buries his face into your shoulder, sobbing. He clutches onto the back of your shirt, not wanting to let go of this warmth. You can tell by how awkward he wraps his arms around you that he doesn’t hug that often.

Those years of pressure to keep up with his reputation is catching up to him. Everyone may think he’s a super trainee who will undoubtedly succeed, but at the end of the day, he’s still a trainee. You may never fully know what he exactly endured, but imagine five years, 1,825 days, that he had to suffer thinking that he’ll never debut. His naïve dreams of inspiring others with his performances slowly diminishing as time went by, fleeting into dust when he realizes that he may never debut.

That’s why he’s so conceited—hiding away his anxiety and fears of never being able to show the world those five years of torturous training. He built himself up so high because he wanted to believe that he’ll make it, and he wanted to convince others of that too because he never truly did. In the darkness, he was scared that the scars he received, the mental beatings, and the physical pains were for nothing. After all, a narcissistic person tries to hide his flaws rather than having enough confidence to help others.

He was so deep in his vicious thoughts that he forgot what it was like to be comforted. That’s probably why he’s holding onto you so tightly, because he’s afraid that he won’t have another chance to feel this vulnerable. What started as a rocky relationship, he became your harsh reality of the music industry, but you have become his therapy.

But this escape-therapy can only go so far.

==========

You regain consciousness, and the first thing you see is a white ceiling. You hear a monitor beating to your side. You turn your head, seeing the four boys sitting next to you. They’re all frozen, like they can’t believe that you’re awake.

“MANAGER!! I…! You…! Alive!!” Soobin bursts into tears.

He throws himself onto you, losing your breath because of his heavy weight pressing against your chest. Your heart rate increases on the motor, so Huening Kai immediately pulls him off of you.

“Are you trying to kill her?!”

“I’m…I’m…I’m…just so happy!” He’s like a broken faucet that can’t stop crying.

Beomgyu and Taehyun are also crying, though Taehyun tries to hide it with his hand. It doesn’t help when you can see his tears landing on his lap.

“How are you feeling?!” Beomgyu asks.

“I’m…so sleepy…Where am I?” You try getting up.

But Huening Kai pushes your shoulders back down. “Don’t get up! You need all the rest you can get.”

After wiping the tears away, Taehyun clears his throat. “A criminal threw a camera at Yeonjun-hyung, but you managed to get in between, but you ended up getting hurt and got an injury to the head.”

“Calling her a criminal is a bit too much…” Huening Kai states.

“Too much or not, she still committed a crime because she had intent on harming us, especially our hyung. If we weren’t in public, then I would’ve done anything to stop her. But my ideas would’ve sent me to prison.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“IDIOT!!!” Beomgyu shouts suddenly.

His loud voice startles you, creating a spike in your heartbeat monitor. You’re jokingly beginning to think that them being in the room with you is going to do more harm to your body.

“Why did you try to tried acting like a hero?! During times like that, you have to save yourself!!” He keeps on crying and let his nose run.

Honestly, you don’t know either. Your feet moved on its own, and your only goal was to ensure Yeonjun’s safety. And speaking of Yeonjun, he’s nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Yeonjun?”

“Yeonjun-hyung…he…” Huening Kai pauses.

“Hyung is back at the dorms. Because of the assault, we had to temporarily pause activity in the meantime. We were also checked and we’re fine.”

“But Hyung…” Beomgyu trails off.

Your heart drops, fearing for the worse.

“He—”

“He was just a little startled,” Taehyun continues. “He’s taking a break in the dorms right now.”

You sigh in relief. The anticipation was really killing you. It makes sense that he’s still a little shaken up because the threat was aimed toward him, after all. But despite the assurance, you can’t help but worry.

“Is it okay to leave him by himself…?” You ask.

“We were just about to leave to check on him. We’ll let the nurses know that you woke up and we’ll be on our way. We’ll text you if something comes up.” Taehyun says.

Soobin, who’s still riddled with tears, places his hands over yours. “Manager, please eat a lot. Call us immediately if something happens. Text us through Kakao, but if you absolutely have to, then use our actual phone number. Don’t try to do anything on your own and have the nurses assist you. And I know how much you stress out about us, so every morning, afternoon, and evening, I’m going to remind you not to worry. If it makes you feel better, I’ll leave voicemails about what each of us did for that day too. Here, I’ll set up three alarm clocks to remind myself to text you every day.”

Right as he whips his phone out, you raise your hand up to stop him. “N-no, it’s okay.”

“Okay, we’ll be leaving.” Huening Kai winks at you.

“Call me when you guys make it back to the dorms.”

“Yes, yes worry-wart.”

==========

“Why did you lie to her?!” Beomgyu shouts.

“I didn’t want to lie, but I thought it was better that way,” Taehyun crosses his arms.

“But she’s already concerned for Hyung as it is. Lying won’t make it any better!!” Beomgyu’s loud voice draws attention.

Panicked, Soobin shushes him. “Beomgyu, please! People are staring.”

“You do realize that if we tell her, then all she’s ever gonna try and do is sneak out of the hospital and look for him on his own, right? She won’t listen to us if we still that Hyung still comes home every night.”

“But…he’s gone all day, and we don’t know where he goes. We’ve already tried talking to him, but he won’t listen to us!!”

“I think Taehyun’s right,” Huening Kai raises his hand. “At least for now, we should at least keep it a secret until she’s recovered. It’ll just stress her out even more if we tell her now.”

“I agree with the both of them.” Soobin also votes.

Beomgyu looks at the three of them, unable to believe they would continue with this falsity. However, they do have a point. Your stress levels have definitely spiked ever since their comeback, and adding more to that isn’t going to make you rest, but freak out more.

“Al…alright. But we have to tell her soon!”

“Yes, we will,” Taehyun says. “Just. Don’t. Tell. Her.”

He warns all of them, but particularly at Beomgyu. Even though Taehyun says that, he has a strong feeling that Beomgyu will give in to the weight.

==========

Thankfully, the injury to your head isn’t that serious. For the next two days, you remain in the hospital to double check that you can function properly without any disruptions to your brain.

Unsurprisingly, the attack became international news. Accusations were placed everywhere, with fans blaming the awards ceremony for not having high security. Even though fan outrage is to be expected, getting angry over it can’t undo what has already happened. In your opinion, you wish that rather than focusing their attention toward blaming the ceremony, they should be more focused on the wellbeing of the boys. Thankfully, there are fans who worry more about them than award show functionality.

For the last two days, the boys have been taking a short hiatus. They can’t even enter the Big Hit building because there are so many journalists crowding at every entrance. To the best of your luck, Big Hit has never publically shared which hospital you’re staying at, so there are no journalists anywhere here. It makes it easier for the members to visit you during their free time.

Just as Soobin promised, he’s been updating you about the boys. They seem to be doing well, even sending you an entire essay about each member in exquisite detail, with the exception of Yeonjun. For him, Soobin would keep it very vague, and it doesn’t make matters any better when Yeonjun’s the only person who hasn’t visited you. They keep telling you that he’s fine, but you want to see it for yourself.

“Yay! You’re leaving tomorrow morning!” Beomgyu claps his hands.

Today, it’s only Beomgyu who came. Huening Kai and Taehyun had to stay after school to make up a few tests that they missed, and Soobin had already visited you in the morning. Beomgyu is still in his school uniform and he brought some candy for you snack on.

“Yea, I feel like I was going insane being cooped up in this room all day. I guess it’s true that when you see the color white all the time, it makes you go crazy.” You laugh.

“But just because you leave the hospital doesn’t mean that you should go back to your usual routine. Take things slowly. I can play as the manager while you heal!” Beomgyu points to himself with his thumb.

“Uh…it’s okay. If you’re the manager, then the group is going to be in shambles within weeks,” you elbow him. “I’m just kidding. Thanks for volunteering to do that though. That’s mature of you to take responsibility.”

“Anything for you.” Beomgyu holds your hand and sways it up and down as he giggles.

He lets go of your hand then looks out the window, exhaling carbon. The skies are covered with gray clouds.

“Ah…I hope the sky becomes happier when you leave. I want the entire world to be happy when you get out!”

You chuckle. “That’s so adorable. Thank you.”

“But I do hope that this bad weather makes the news reporters just leave was alone. They’ve been camping out in front of the building.”

“Oh yea, on the same topic as that, no one’s been harassing you guys about the whole ordeal, right?”

He shakes his head. “These big scary guards have been protecting us, so we’ve been protected very well.”

“And how’s Yeonjun?”

Beomgyu freezes. You wait for him to reply, but when he takes longer than he should, that’s when you realize that something’s going on.

“…He is doing fine…right?”

“Ye…yea…! He is! He’s terrific, fine, excellent, phenomenal, exuberant!”

But you aren’t convinced. “Beomgyu, don’t lie to me.”

“I-I’m not lying!” He laughs nervously. “Why would I lie to you?”

“Please, tell me the truth.”

With your serious yet calmly desperate tone, he can’t hide it anymore. After a few days of keeping it a secret, he has to tell you. “Hyung has been going out a lot. We don’t know where he goes, but when we ask, he won’t tell us. When he does come home, he goes straight to bed and sleeps until he gets up and repeats.”

“What? Are you telling me that he goes by himself with no guards?”

“W-well…”

“Is he out right now?”

“I don’t know…I think so?”

You throw the blanket off of yourself, moving your legs off of the bed before Beomgyu places his hands on your shoulders to prevent you from getting out. “What are you doing??”

“I’m gonna go look check on him.”

“Are you nuts?! You haven’t been discharged yet, and you’re leaving?!”

“Yes, so let me go.”

“I can’t! Agh…I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. Manager, please don’t try and go. We’re all worried as it is.”

“What?”

“Taehyun told me that we should keep it a secret from you because we want you to rest. We’re already troubled having to find Yeonjun-hyung, and we’ll just get even more worried if you push your body.”

You paid so much attention on Yeonjun that you pushed the other boys aside. The pained expression on Beomgyu’s face says it all—the situation that both you and Yeonjun are in is taking a toll on them too. They may act like it isn’t bothering them when it clearly is; they’re trying their best to do what they can.

You put your legs back under the blanket begrudgingly. “Okay…I’m sorry, Beomgyu.”

He sighs in relief, glad that Taehyun won’t have to get upset. “Is there anything I can do for you? I have to go back to the dorms after.”

“No, I’m good. You can go now. Thanks for stopping by and giving me candy. I don’t think I can last another meal with hospital food.” You laugh.

Although you’re trying to lighten the mood, Beomgyu can sense that you’re still troubled. He pretends like he didn’t notice and forces an obvious fake laugh.

“O…okay. Please text us if you need anything. I’ll be going now.”

Beomgyu leaves and closes the door. Now alone, you think about what to do. Sneaking out of the hospital isn’t going to make things better, even though you really want to. For now, you can only wait until you’re discharged from the hospital.

Or…that’s what they want you to think. Your instincts tell you that if you don’t do something right now, then you’re going to regret it.

==========

“WHAT?!”

Soobin shushes Beomgyu.

“Mi-mi-mi-missing?! What are we gonna do?! Does Taehyun and Huening Kai know about this?? A-and, Manager, she—”

“Seriously, calm down, Beomgyu! They don’t know about it. I think it’s better not to tell them until they come back. As for Manager…I don’t know.”

“We have to let her know!” Beomgyu takes his phone out. “I literally told her that he’s fine!”

“W-wait, let’s think about it first.”

“That’s what we’ve been doing! We kept thinking about it that it drove Yeonjun to go missing!!”

As the leader, Soobin is trying to remain calm, but inside, he doesn’t know what to do either. He feels awful that he kept this hidden from you. However, making you panic isn’t going to make things better either.

He thought about calling the police, but with the media already on their tails, he doesn’t want to cause more trouble and create an even bigger scene.

“I’m going to tell Manager.” Beomgyu dials your phone number.

“Beomgyu—”

“What?! Are you going to tell me to keep it on the down low again?! Sorry, Hyung, but I can’t. I don’t want to keep hiding from each other anymore. I don’t want to disappoint her again.”

Soobin is hesitant, but Beomgyu is right. “…Okay, you call her and I’ll let the younger two know,” he looks out the window, seeing as it started raining. “I just hope Hyung is safe…”

Beomgyu lets his phone ring for a while. After five rings, that’s when he knew that there’s something going on with you. Whenever it’s one of the boys who’s calling, you would pick up immediately unless there was an emergency. And since you’re not picking up your phone…

“H-Hyung…she’s not picking up. Wh-what should we do?!”

==========

You don’t know how, but you miraculously escaped the hospital. Thankfully, the members left some of your sweaters for you in case you got cold, so you were able to hide your patient uniform and leave without anybody noticing. Your hospital bed doesn’t have an alarm, so you were able to get up without having to alert the nurses.

But what you didn’t have was an umbrella. Within seconds in the rain, you’re soaked. And even though you set out in search of Yeonjun, you don’t know where to start. You left your phone in the hospital, so there’s no way you get contact him—that is if he doesn’t ignore your calls or messages.

With the day drawing towards its end, the skies grow darker with the clouds raining heavier. Less people are on the streets, only drunkards waddling back to their homes and college students coming back from restaurants.

You run around the city, passing through citizens who may look like him but to your dismay, he isn’t any of them. From head to toe, you’re drenched. Even your slippers are too wet to keep your feet dry. With each footstep, the pressure put onto the slipper squeezes some water out, only for it to soak up more.

You want to call his name, but you’re afraid that by doing so, it’ll call attention. While he may have dyed his hair blue, he is most likely hiding it to avoid being recognized. Everything is playing against you, and it makes you agonize in your lonesome worries—that you’ll probably won’t be able to find him.

It pains you to think about all this might’ve been avoidable. Maybe if you didn’t push aside his problems, then this wouldn’t have happened. Of course, the attack at the red carpet was unforeseeable, but perhaps the smallest of decisions before that might’ve changed some decisions.

And looking back in the past, to trace your steps to the places you’ve been with him. It might be pointless, but it’s the best you can do. Standing at the dead center of the sidewalk, you scour through your memories, from the convenience store to the variety shows. Of all places, there was one place that stood out to you. It might’ve have very little significance at the time, but after putting everything together, it oddly makes sense. With a destination in mind, you run.

==========

At the toy store, it’s long since been closed for the day, but just as you thought, Yeonjun is there. You’re overwhelmed with an array of emotions, relieved that he’s okay but also concerned to see him just as wet as you. He’s crouching next to a trash bin next to the store like he’s inspecting something.

“Yeon…!” You stop yourself before calling his name.

But he heard you clearly. He can recognize your voice from a mile away, but he doesn’t react whatsoever. It’s only when you stand behind him when he turns around. Even though it’s the same person, his eyes have bags underneath. His hair is a mess, matted to his forehead from the rain. His nose, cheeks, and ears are red, but is skin and lips have lost color. When you trace your eyes down to his hands, he’s holding something.

You snap out of your trance, shaking your head then crouching to his level. “What are you doing here?!”

“…(Y/N)?” He mutters a small chuckle. “Ah…I’m hallucinating now. You should be in the hospital.”

Cradled in his hands is the V doll that you two saw days ago. It’s out of its box now, but it has black dirt all over its clothes and face. It has lost some of its plastic hair, revealing a few bald spots with holes.

“Wh-why do you have that? Come on, let’s go.”

You try helping him up, but he refuses to move. He even shoves your hands off of him.

“Hey, (Y/N). Guess what I just found out?” Yeonjun smiles, though the ends of his lips twitch. “For the past few days, I came here to make sure that someone would buy this poor doll and give it affection. I didn’t want to buy it because I wanted someone else to prove that a doll like this can be loved. Every, single, day, people would pass by this doll and aren’t willing to end its loneliness. And you know what? Just a few hours ago, the owner of the store was clearing out his clearance toys and threw them out, and this doll was one of them.”

He’s talking like a mad man. But his grin slowly twists into a sour expression as he bites his bottom lip.

“It fell out of its box and got dirty. It became nothing more than another piece of trash. And it made me open my eyes: the reason why this doll can’t be loved is because it’s just an imitation of the real V-sunbaenim! There are millions of V copycats, just like this doll, and none of them will ever match his level of superiority. People fall in love with the real V-sunbaenim, not this, so it’s obvious that they want the real one,” he squeezes the doll so tight that the limbs begin to misshapen. “The fake one is just temporary. The fakes are always the ones who are left behind…”

That’s when it hits you; Yeonjun isn’t talking about the millions of factory-made dolls of Taehyung, or any of the other BTS members in that regards.

But himself.

“Ever since our debut, I kept having demented thoughts…I supported my seniors, but deep down…I wanted them to fail. I wanted them see them crash and burn because…the more successful they became, the more pressure that came upon us. And I hate myself for being selfish! But…I’m more scared of disappointing the people…our fans…that I can’t live up to their expectations.”

You’re so shocked that you can’t say anything. All this bottled up emotions has been eating him up, and it’s scaring you.

“If we tried our best, we got hated because they think we’re trying to top our seniors, but if we didn’t live up to their expectations, then we were accused of being privileged and lazy.”

His eyes are turning swollen, and he can’t stop crying. He covers his eyes the palm of his hands, wailing in pain.

“I didn’t become a performer only to continue someone else’s dreams! (Y/N)…I can’t take it anymore…”

No, he’s doing it again.

“I can’t…”

Don’t say it.

“I want to give up—”

“YEONJUN!” You shout from the top of your lungs.

You grab his cheeks, shaking him violently. His face is so icy—so cold that it could give you frostbites. While he’s sitting, you’re standing on your knees, hovering over him small body.

“Get those thoughts out of your head! Don’t ever say that you want to give up! You will make your own mark!! You’re going to go on stage and prove to yourself that you’re not Taehyung from BTS, but Yeonjun from Tomorrow by Together. And…and…”

You can’t hold back your tears either, letting all your emotions out as well.

“I’ll be there…supporting you…Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Huening Kai. Because we’re a team, and we help each other out.”

You pull him in for a hug, and his head is nuzzled on your shoulder. When he tries to fight you off of him, you don’t let go.

“They may compare you to Taehyung, and they can hate you for all we care. But you’ll never be Taehyung.”

You pull him back, smiling.

“And he can never be you, either. Just like how there’s only one Kim Taehyung from BTS, there’s only one Choi Yeonjun from TXT, and that’s you.”

His eyes widen, then within seconds, he bursts into tears. He hides his face in your chest, sobbing like a child. He drops the doll to hold onto you. Despite you shivering too, your body gives so much warmth, and he doesn’t want to let go.

Having to grow up into the cruelty known as the entertainment world where the agencies and audience has the right to control their lives, Yeonjun could never cry in pain. His fears hold him back from ever revealing his vulnerable side because he’s the ‘number one trainee of Big Hit’. A title so high like that, he had to pretend to be a man who can stand tall. But…as time went by, it broke him bit by bit. He was constantly compared and belittled, and it hurt him more than anyone could ever imagine.

“(Y/N)…I don’t want to let go. I’m scared…I’m scared of the world, myself, everything.”

“It’s okay…don’t worry.”

“I don’t hate my seniors…I don’t hate our fans…I just hate…how the world works.”

“Don’t beat yourself up anymore. You don’t have to be so hard on yourself. You deserve to eat whatever you want, dress however you want, and be the person you want to be. They can judge you, but they can’t define you. Now, let’s go back home.”

==========

Many hours later back in the dorms, the four members are standing by the bedroom door. They want to check, but they don’t want to disrupt you and Yeonjun. You two have been in there for hours. But even with the warnings of the other members, Beomgyu is antsy.

“Why can’t I just look?”

“No! They’re probably tired and just want to be left alone.” Soobin steps in between Beomgyu and the door.

Beomgyu groans. “Those two have been doing crazy things, and I can’t take a break.”

“Lower your voice. They’re most likely sleeping.” Taehyun shushes.

“…Okay…” he sighs. “But just a peek.”

Beomgyu steps around Soobin and tries to open the door.

“No!” Huening Kai pulls him away. “It’s forbidden to intervene in such an intimate moment.”

“…You calling it ‘intimate’ is just making me even more nervous! What if Yeonjun-hyung is, you know, doing things to her?!”

“They both came back to the dorms drenched in rain, potentially sick from being exposed to germs, and that’s what you’re worried about?” Taehyun raises an eyebrow.

“Manager has been in the bedroom for a long time…” Soobin plays with his fingers. “Who would’ve ever thought that they had an awkward relationship from the beginning?”

“Eh? They did?” Beomgyu asks, oblivious.

“Of course. They wanted nothing to do with each other. I don’t know when, but they became friends out of nowhere.”

“It’s even weirder that Yeonjun-hyung didn’t like her at first, but look at him now,” Taehyun crosses his arms. “He’s completely infatuated with her.”

Beomgyu stares at the boys, wide-eyed. “…WHAT?! Ye-Ye-Yeonjun-hyung l-l-likes Manager?! Since when?!”

“You couldn’t tell?” Huening Kai laughs. “He makes it very obvious. There are times when he becomes a vicious wolf when we hog her too much…”

“Manager probably likes him too.” Taehyun adds.

“What…?” Beomgyu looks baffled and disappointed, like he just lost a battle.

“I wouldn’t be surprised…” Kai drags his sentence. “Yeonjun-hyung does have that air of maturity. She probably wants someone like him.”

“…I’m an adult too.” Soobin mutters under his breath.

“I do hope that Yeonjun-hyung does realize that not everybody hates us,” Taehyun turns on his phone, sliding through pages of articles. “We have fans who care about us too. V-sunbaenim also sent us a message in the group chat, asking if we’re okay. He said that he’s even willing to cancel their activity in the U.S. just to visit us…”

“All of our seniors are worried about us. They do treat us too good.” Huening Kai chuckles nervously.

“Oh, I know!” Soobin jumps excitedly. “Before he wakes up, let’s compile all the supportive comments that we’ve received during our hiatus, including some from BTS-sunbaenim.”

“He’s going to cry for sure. There’s so much support from our fans that we can’t count. But…every voice matters, and I kind of want to do that.” Taehyun blushes slightly.

“Yea, yea, let’s do it!!!!” Soobin grabs ahold of Huening Kai and swings him back and forth.

“Gah! Hyung, let me go!!”

==========

Even though the boys are trying to leave you and Yeonjun alone to rest, they’re doing a poor job at it. You’ve been trying to fall asleep, but with their loud voices, it’s nearly impossible. However, you can’t help but find it endearing, disliking them is even more impossible.

You’ve been sitting by Yeonjun’s bed, having changed out of your patient uniform and into clothes that Soobin rushed to buy just for you. Yeonjun has been sleeping since he was showing signs of a fever. The entire time, he wouldn’t let go of your hand, and you’ve been holding it since.

When you look at him, Yeonjun has been awake for a while, but you don’t know when he woke up. He’s on his phone, scrolling through his feed.

“Oh, you’re not sleeping?”

He shakes his head. “How am I supposed to sleep with all the ruckus?”

You snicker. “True. I’m sure they’re just worried.”

“Yea, and I feel bad.”

“Hey, no need to feel bad,” You hold onto his hand tighter.

He gazes at you with gentle eyes, brushing your hair behind your ears. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m better than ever.”

“No fever?”

Yeonjun presses his knuckles against your forehead. As he leans a little closer, it makes you timid with how intense his stare is. It’s too much that you had to pull yourself away.

“How are you feeling?” You avert your eyes, scratching your forehead.

“Well…I’m dying.”

“What?! Wh-what should I do? Ah…we have to go to the hospital. Where’s my phone???”

“I’m dying of embarrassment. I can’t believe I broke down in front of you again.”

You’re still before it finally hits you that it was somewhat of a joke. “Jesus Christ, Yeonjun! You scared me!”

“Seriously! My pride’s been ruined, and now I don’t think I can ever recover. I vowed that I would never appear weak in front of you again.”

You chuckle. “What’s wrong with that? We’re all human.”

“Yea but…it makes it seem needy. I want to be able to take care of you too.”

“You’ve done enough for me too.”

“Going to the store with you doesn’t count.”

“It counts to me!”

“No,” he sets his phone down, cupping your cheek so you can look at him.

With that brief eye contact, it’s already enough to make you all worked up. Your heartbeat becomes rapid, and your anxiousness has risen. You try to turn away, but he doesn’t allow you to do so, turning your head back to him.

“I’m going to prove that I’m not who the media thinks I am, some innocent boy. Don’t forget that I’m twenty-one. There are things that I crave too, you know?”

“L-like what?”

Take smirks. “Take a guess.”

He brings his face closer to yours. You flinch, but you don’t fight it. Your face turns as red as a tomato, so embarrassed that you can’t look at him in the face. He loves seeing you flustered because, for once, it seems like you’re able to see him as a man, not a child.

“Yeonjun…the boys are in the living room. We…we shouldn’t…”

“Let them catch us.”

“Wh-what??”

“If you’re so worried about them, then I’ll stop.”

But you’re hesitant, clearly expressing that you don’t want to turn him down. It makes Yeonjun smirk.

“They already know that I called dibs on you a long time ago.”

“L-long time ago?!” You give him a surprised look. “Since when—”

And without warning, Yeonjun presses his lips against yours. His eyes are closed, the soft sensation of his lips create fireworks in your chest. There’s no gap in between, your face brushed against his, and while he’s breathing steadily, you hold your breath.

He pulls back slowly, almost wanting to go again but stopping before he can’t control himself. Your entire face has burned up so much that he could’ve sworn he saw steam coming out of your ears. He laughs, finding you absolutely adorable.

“I’ll give my everything to the media, our real fans, and especially you, what I’m made of. I can promise you that.”

It’s been so long since you last saw confidence in his eyes. In fact, you don’t ever recall seeing him as confident as this. He always pulled through challenges with a wink of doubt, never none. As flustered as you are with this sudden kiss, you’re nevertheless happy that he’s found his footing again.

“(Y/N), and I’ll make sure that everybody knows that I like—”

“MANAGER! I’M GOING TO SAVE YOU!!”

Beomgyu’s abrupt shouting startles both you and Yeonjun as he tries to unlock the door. You two can hear Soobin and Huening Kai struggle to get him off the door as the knob twists side to side.

“Is he hurting you!? He is, isn’t he?! I always knew Hyung was a fox in sheep’s clothing!!”

“It’s wolf, not fox!!” Soobin corrects him.

You and Yeonjun look at each other with confused looks, but then it turns into sweet laughter.

You don’t know what the future holds for you and the five boys. This isn’t going to be the last time people will send hate toward them. It hasn’t been long since their debut, so they have a long way before they can show how strong they are. Regardless, each obstacle is a test for them to fight back against those who try to pull them down.

The future may be foggy, but there’s a purpose with why you became their manager. You and the boys have come together with the same dream of touching the hearts of many, reaching for a better tomorrow. They may have their ups and downs, but it’s these flaws that they’ll learn to grow and become a better and more confident version of themselves. They don’t know when the day will come, but for now, they’ll enjoy their journey.

[End]

#txt #txt scenario #txt scenarios #txt imagine #txt imagines #yeonjun #choi yeonjun #tomorrow x tomorrow #yeonjun scenarios #yeonjun scenario #yeonjun imagine #yeonjun x reader #yeonjun fluff #txt fluff #yeonjun angst #kpop #fanfiction

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lovehotelreservation · 5 years ago

Text

Escort

Summary: On those late work nights at the office, it was comforting to have someone from security come walk you to your car. A presence like that of a guardian angel.

But after how long it had been, that guardian angel had become much more devilish. [Office/Security Guard AU]

Rating: NC-17

Pairing: Reader/Risotto, implied Reader/Diavolo

**Warning: this one-shot contains themes of dub-con and possessive behavior!**

KLFAJ;FAKL THIS IS LIKE THE HOT TOPIC VERSION OF MY BUSINESS AU!DIO

ALSO I JUST REALIZED I’VE NEVER DONE A SOLO RISOTTO PIECE? HE’S ALWAYS SLANGING DIKK WITH THE REST OF LA SQUADRA IN G*NGB*NGS OML CHANGING THAT RN WITH THIS PIECE I HOPE U ENJOY BELOVED!!!

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It was one of those nights where you just had to stay late at the office.

Late enough that there was nary a soul around by the time you were finished with finalizing your report on the company’s earnings for the month.

No coworker to tag along with on the long, dark walk to the employee parking garage.

You bit your lip right as your hand hovered over your desk phone.

Surely it wouldn’t be too late to request for someone from security to come escort you, right?

Your hand reached for your phone, but didn’t pick it up just yet.

Even if you did get someone to accompany you on your walk, you wondered who would be the one to be by your side. After all, the security team for your workplace was notoriously rough around the edges, with rumors swirling of former ties to the mafia and the like.

You took in a deep breath.

Despite the hesitation, you brought your phone up to your ear as you dialed the security office.

Alleged shady histories and all, you knew fully well that the security team still got the job done.

A fifteen minute walk from your humble little office to your car wouldn’t take too long anyway.

You were able to phone in your request, albeit you were forwarded over to the company’s automated system to arrange for your escort. A bit odd since the late hour surely would mean that security would be free. Nonetheless, you paid no mind to it further as your focus shifted to shutting down your computer and gathering your belongings.

However, you were just barely powering off your monitor when there was a knock at your door.

Your instincts brought you to a still, all while your hand hovered over your keys to slip them into your purse.

So soon…?

The bit of worry of having to wait too long for security was put at ease thankfully. Upon quickly filing away your day’s work and checking over your desk to ensure nothing was left behind, you slung your purse’s strap over your arm as you went to greet the person at your door.

Only to be met by a gruff few words and a looming crimson stare.

“It’s been a while.”

You found yourself frozen in place once again.

Surprise didn’t even begin to describe your reaction.

All while your thighs subconsciously pressing together spoke of a wholly different yet conflicted emotion.

The word you said next was one you had not uttered in a while, but it tumbled effortlessly from your lips nonetheless.

“Risotto…!”

Though it had been months since you’ve had to call for security upon getting hired at work, there was no way you could forget Risotto. From when you were a lowly new intern doing overtime to prove yourself in hopes of being hired, he was the one to walk with you to your car during those lonely late nights.

At first, he never spoke much while escorting you, but as your time with the company prolonged, he opened up to you night by night. Strict as he appeared, he showed a softer side whenever he spoke fondly about the other security guards, who he was friends with even beyond work. His conversations were fascinating and you could go on about his chiseled, handsome features. As tired as you were by the time you finished work, he was something to look forward to upon the end of the day.

Your connection to Risotto was a work friendship at its finest.

He stood before you--tall, massive, and daunting. Even dressed in the plain black security uniform of a polo shirt, work pants, and a cap that said ‘SECURITY’ across the front in white, he still carried a formidable aura.

You wondered if he ever shook off those rumors of being a former gangster.

As much as you wanted to ponder those old hushed conversations by the water cooler, the gravelly rumble of Risotto’s voice asked for your attention.

“You asked to be walked to your car?”

Your hand squeezed on your purse strap even as you smiled sheepishly with a nod. “Yeah--if you don’t mind. It’s been a while, stranger!”

He eyed your smile before turning towards the hallway. “Very well.”

There was a twist on your insides as you stepped out of your office. Whatever friendly connection that you gingerly built with him seemed to be absent.

It was strange, as he often remarked how he would like to see you around more often during your internship. However, when you excitedly shared news of being hired full time to work directly under the company’s boss, he didn’t seem as enthused.

So it would seem that the two of you were back to being strangers.

Though, as you trailed alongside Risotto down the semi-lit hallway with every other fluorescent light in the ceiling darkened, your hand still held onto your purse strap tightly.

This was probably for the better.

With your office now located a floor below your boss’s within the grand scale of the company’s headquarters, the walk back to your car was much longer.

Cross through the hallway towards the elevator.

Descend along a skyscraper to ground level.

Walk out the side entrance that led into the parking garage.

You were just barely about to proceed with step 2 when Risotto spoke up.

Right as the two of you approached the end of the hallway.

Beneath a darkened fluorescent light, in-between two lit ones.

“The Boss kept you this late?”

It was a question that wasn’t looking for an answer.

Not when he strode ahead of you slightly. But for a hulking man of a 6’8 stature, a little went more than a long way.

”And here I thought you’d be free to leave as you pleased with him away. After all…”

He stood right before you near instantaneously. Were you not so on edge, you would have walked straight into him.

Not that he was going to have any issue with getting you close to him.

Risotto dropped by your ear, the low rumbles of his voice giving rise to a vicious snarl, “With him gone, you’re not spending the day on your knees in his office while he fucks your throat.”

You were squeezing onto your purse strap for nothing.

The moment you realized Risotto was the one to take you to your car, you knew you were fucked.

Or at least, you were going to be.

After all, it had been a while since you enjoyed the benefits of your work friendship with him.

Your body was immediately ensnared by thick, heavy muscle before you were toppled to the floor. Even when Risotto broke his hold so his large hands could instead grope your body and tear at your clothes, no amount of struggling would allow for escape.

Especially when the smoldering heat of his lips smothering yours left you much too dazed.

”What’s wrong?”

He taunted upon drawing away, only for his tongue to snake over your lips before dipping deep into your mouth. Though you were surrounded by body heat, you could still feel streams of cold air-conditioned air from the vents above as his fingers tore at your blouse.

”You forgot what it’s like to be fucked by me? Must be nice to be spoiled by the Boss.”

He sneered while his hands kneaded and fondled your breasts through your bra. Noticing the fancier material, his eyes narrowed. He would make sure to stain the lace with his cum at some point. There was still the more crucial point of tearing at your stockings.

“How is it, being the Boss’s shiny new toy?”

He mocked when he showed you the sticky gleam of his fingers upon retracting them from between your thighs. At your squirm, he only drove his fingers right back inside your core, which was left a dribbling mess by his work.

”Keeping you up high in his fancy playroom while he does whatever he pleases to you----the one time he allows for his office’s security cameras to run their feed into the fucking dungeon. So much different from when I kept you company in that lonely intern office, right?”

He accused, his crimson red eyes boring right into yours while his large hands pushed at your calves. With you on your back, you could only shudder as you saw the familiar sight of his big fat cock lining up with your entrance.

”That bastard thinks he can do whatever he wants to me. Always fucking with my schedule so I can never escort you to your car, but always making it so that I’d have to watch his pretty new hiree bounce on his dick.”

He growled, each word emphasized by the pounding of his cock sinking deeply inside your core, his balls slapping against your ass in tandem with his thrusts. Beneath him, he could see your breasts bounce and you squirm in both pleasure and embarrassment. That shade of flushed rouge on your cheeks just made him want to fuck you even harder.

“And you played right along. Who gives a shit about security when you’re the Boss’s new fuck toy, right?! But don’t you worry--no matter how high you go, I’ll be there to drag you back down.”

A hissed promise laced with venom.

You could only cry out in agreement.

He was just so heavy.

Heavy in muscle, heavy in cock, heavy in thrust.

You lied prone beneath him, your pleasured cries mingling with the vulgar wet slaps of his cock hammering away inside your center.

The noises filled the empty hallway to be heard by none.

But the security footage that recorded your reunited tryst would surely be sent over to be seen by one.

#Risotto Nero #jjba #reader insert #super freaknasty writing #Fic #management will return in a queue minutes

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maddiefriendlovesbilly · 4 years ago

Note

If you feel up for writing more ever all I crave is Ghost angst Constantly S a d //it can have a happy or sad ending if you want I just need to agressively throw my emotions at a fiction character who is also sad//

So anon, I know its been like a few Months or something since you requested this, but here it is,,, Ghost angst!! I can’t tell you my plans because that would spoil the surprise but what I can say is: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I present to you:

Once More, This Time With Feeling

Rating: PG-13 (but rating may go up), SFW for now

Ship: Ghost/Spooker

Warnings: Angst, emotional turmoil, Ghost being an idiot feelings-wise, dark/intrusive thoughts, blocking others out, next chapter may have more warnings

Summary: The P.I.E. team head out for a seemingly normal case, but things quickly spiral out of control, and Ghost ends up in quite a unique circumstance, to say the least.

Word Count: 3,516

Nothing unusual happens, before it all starts, nothing that would indicate how utterly to shit everything goes in a mere matter of hours. There are no red flags, or bad omens, or warning signs. Everything seems as normal as it can be when you’re a paranormal investigator for a living - so when the call comes in for a fairly simple job, Ghost accepts and gives the woman an ETA before shouting a quick, “We’ve got a job!” down the hall and slinging his satchel over his shoulder as he makes his way to the door. He hears a distant whoop from Spooker just before he exits, to which he rolls his eyes.

The car ride is uneventful, save for some antics with Toast’s driving license - or lack thereof. They reach the large office building a few minutes before he said they would, and the woman has a look like she’d be pleased if the situation weren’t so distressing - he’s been met with similar looks much more than one might expect. He walks over and introduces him and his team, all business, and only grimaces slightly when he introduces Spooker, though he thinks the woman might have noticed nonetheless.

She’s mocha-skinned, a fraction taller than Ghost and perfectly kempt, with a perfectly trimmed bob and rigid posture that scream, “Inconvenience me, I dare you.” An immaculate suit and tie complete the look.

Her name is Christine Hemmingway, and she explains that she works in the office behind her as a supervisor - during a recent trip to the basement, she discovered a strange new door leading to a series of branching underground tunnels reaching lengths she can’t accurately estimate without entering them - an idea she wisely rejected outright - but, from what little she saw from the entrance, might span the entire downtown area. She heard noises, possibly talking, along with a faint ebbing glow, coming from one of the tunnels on the right, but shut the door before she could see who, or what, it was when the sounds went quiet and she heard footsteps approaching. When Ghost asks, she’s adamant the door wasn’t there before, and has replaced a water cooler and a stubby filing cabinet too short to conceal the door, both of which have disappeared completely.

Looking up at the building Ghost notes that it looks completely empty, and asks Christine if she has a way inside, to which she nods and pulls out a key card with her face on it, handing it to him while saying, “Lose this, and you’ll regret it - one, because you won’t be able to get out, and two, because you’ll have to explain to security why you’re inside a business outside office hours, and while I’m sure they’d just love to hear the story of a spooky new door in the basement, I doubt it will save you from being charged with breaking and entering.” Ghost nods and after unlocking the front door and jamming his foot in the crack, he tucks the card safely inside his bag. He hears Toast mutter something like, “Wouldn’t be the first time,” and snorts inelegantly.

Christine looks like she’s starting to rethink her decision about hiring them, so Ghost spits out something professional sounding along the lines of, “We’ll do our best to find the cause of these tunnels, you can count on us ma’am,” and it seems to work pretty well, until Colon breaks the silence with a sharp cough that sounds suspiciously like laughter. Ghost fails to suppress a side-long glance his way, and does even worse at keeping a single brow from arching in question; Colon only “coughs” again, louder this time.

For the sake of his likely rapidly declining paycheck, he just sighs and opens the door, holding it there and waving the others inside. “After you.”

The others enter and he takes the rear, letting Toast lead them towards an elevator with a “1” printed beside it. Pressing the down arrow, Spooker comments, “Nice to use a normal, functioning elevator for once, usually they’re either busted or do something crazy, like move diagonally or something, and are bringing us somewhere that’ll probably try to kill us.”

They all huff varying degrees of laughter, and Ghost replies, “I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t know what you expected when you answered the job request, because “normal” stuff isn’t something we have an abundance of in the “paranormal investigation” line of work. It’s sort of in the name.”

Spooker shrugs and smiles at him dopily, and the elevator dings beside him, announcing its arrival as the door slides open. He flinches at the volume, smile faltering, and they quickly shuffle inside. Colon hits the ‘B’ button, cringing when it beeps too. The elevator shifts and, with a groan, begins its descent. They’re silent on the way down, apart from the occasional tapping of Toast’s foot, or the click-click of Ghost making sure his flashlight works. Spooker looks up at this, and Ghost can practically see his thoughts when he starts, and fumbles at the one clipped to his belt, mouthing “Oh!” He grabs it, looking quite pleased with himself.

Ghost feels something pool in his chest at the sight, much too fond for his liking, and when his lip twitches upwards in amusement, whatever was swelling in his chest immediately curdles. The not-quite-smile sours and congeals, writhing, until he’s left with a deep scowl and an aching where something softer once lay. Despite its unpleasantness, Ghost still finds the feeling easier to deal with; bitterness and discomfort were familiar, they kept him grounded in reality, rather than letting him get his hopes up only for them to be crushed yet again. He doesn’t know how Spooker stays so positive despite how often he’s rejected and let down, especially by Ghost - he doesn’t think he could completely bounce back from many of them, let alone do it as quickly as Spooker does.

As the elevator chimes its arrival to the basement, Ghost feels a sharp pain on his bottom lip, and swears under his breath when he realizes he’s worried his lip hard enough to draw blood. The other two are too far to hear it, but Spooker glances back from where he stands in the doorway, concerned. His eyes flick to Ghost’s lips - the bottom of which now has a small bump, and Ghost swipes his tongue over it unconsciously, tasting iron - and when he meets his eyes again Spooker seems even more worried. “Are you-” he starts, but Ghost interrupts before he can finish, responding, “It’s fine - just a cut,” and Spooker looks like he wants to point out that that isn’t what he was asking, but isn’t sure how, but it doesn’t matter because it’s shut him up for now. He slides past Spooker, deciding to just put aside the whole elevator ride for the time being - he can deal with it after they’ve completed the mission, once he’s alone. He schools his features to neutrality and makes his way across the room to where Toast and Colon are examining an old wooden door, ill-fitting in its modern surroundings. “I understand what she meant by ‘strange’ now,” he comments as he approaches.

“Yeah, definitely stands out, doesn’t it?” Colon shoots back, and rolls back onto his heels, taking in their surroundings.

“All I can really think about is all that paperwork they’re going to need to redo,” Toast interjects.

Ghost snorts, pushing past them, announcing, “Alright, let’s get this shit over with,” and gripping the rusty handle and turning it. He swings open the door to reveal an empty, narrow tunnel, too long for his flashlight’s beam to reach very far ahead, with archways presumably leading to similar tunnels. Spooker, being the last one in, shoves a nearby chair into the gap between the door and frame to keep it open, just in case.

They make their way down the main tunnel, shining their lights down the branches as they pass, every once in a while coming across a room, which they poke their head into, or an iron door - often locked, each with a small, barred window to see inside, and most leading to another seemingly identical tunnel, some complete dead ends, others to (sometimes totally barren) rooms - with no apparent rhyme or reason to their placement. Something about it all plants a growing seed of dread in the pit of his stomach, but he can’t place what it is that bothers him so much. None of these things are unusual to see in their investigations, and are all pretty by-the-book as entities’ lairs go, but maybe it’s the way it’s all laid out - there’s no practical way for them to search every single tunnel, that would take days, maybe weeks, so there’s no real way to know what to expect, and the door placement is so sporadic that it’s impossible to tell if something is locked because it’s important, or just another meaningless path to who-knows-where; maybe it’s that they’ve been walking for at least fifteen minutes and nothing has changed, other than the fact that he can’t see the door anymore, just a wall of darkness at their backs. There aren’t any lights, though Ghost does spot an empty sconce every so often, and Ghost isn’t afraid of the dark by any means, nor is he claustrophobic, but he can feel the darkness behind him like hands on his back, and the tunnel is carved just wide enough to almost fit two people side by side, with flawless smooth stone on all sides, and a ceiling that arcs just above Toast’s head at its peak, so close that Ghost worries it might come crashing down any moment. He doesn’t even know if these are even actual tunnels in the ground, or if they’re in another dimension, or between them - and he’d rather avoid repeating that experience, thank you very much.

Glancing around, the others don’t seem to be any more on alert than they usually are on missions, so he’s probably just overthinking it - but that explanation does little to quell the panic rising in his chest, which only grows larger, filling the space his lungs need to expand. He realizes he’s chewing on his lip again when the cut stings from being reopened. He digs his nails into his palm to bring himself back to the present, but the hands on his back have morphed into something colder, darker, and he can’t focus when, logically, he knows there’s nothing behind him but an empty tunnel and eventually an old door, but every instinct in his body is screaming that something is very, very wrong, and they need to leave right now, but he can't even tell if there’s still an available escape because the tunnel is so completely void of light and there’s nothing he can do about it.

He doesn’t see Colon take out his detector, and clearly jumps about a foot in the air when it shatters the silence with a shrill beep - and just when did it become so deathly quiet that the only sounds are their footsteps on the smooth, stone floor? - and when they look at him like he’s grown a second head he laughs awkwardly and says, “Warn a guy next time!”

Colon takes it at face value, and apologizes before turning back to the beeping machine in his hand; Toast gives him a look of “everything okay?” to which he shrugs, and Toast nods in understanding, probably planning on asking him about it later. Spooker seems unconvinced though, and while he doesn’t say anything, he steps just a fraction closer to Ghost, and maybe by doing so he’s admitting it’s not really fine, that nothing is, but nonetheless, he doesn’t move away. It’s not obvious with the close confines of the tunnel, but Spooker notices, and he smiles a little, but it’s tinged with sadness and something else Ghost can’t name.

That’s when the detector’s beeping spikes, turning frantic.

Everyone is on alert immediately, but Toast is the first one to motion in the direction of what sounds like approaching footsteps, bare on the cold stone floor. They all turn around to face whatever’s coming down the passage, the beeping steadily increasing as the footsteps get louder. A pale foot inches into the beam of one of their flashlights, quickly followed by another, and with it, the rest of the short, petite girl, a mop of tangled black hair hiding most of her face and slim shoulders. Her white dress drags behind her in chunks, shredded and stained from dragging across the ground.

Ghost feels his eyes widen, and realizes he’s stumbled back, pressing into Spooker, who’s practically holding him up by the shoulders. Through the strands of hair he can see a single eye staring out at the bodies crowding the narrow hall, and he knows it’s stupid, but he can’t shake the feeling that it’s staring straight into him, even though she hasn’t glanced up once yet. He’s pretty sure he’s shaking now, and can only hope that Spooker hasn’t noticed, for the sake of his pride.

The ragged figure stops just inside the beam, finally looking up. She meets Ghost’s stare, and holds his gaze - they stay that way, matching each other in a silent battle of ‘who will crack first?’

“K-” he starts, “Katrina?”

Spooker shifts behind him, Ghost thinks he might be staring at him too. He doesn’t break away to check.

Katrina says nothing, only stares.

He takes a quivering step forward, feels Spookers hands fall from his shoulders, reaches out. Katrina still doesn’t look away, but she also doesn’t move away, so he takes another step towards her, then another, then another, until he’s right in front of her, hand merely an inch away from making contact. The flashlight in his hands quakes violently in his death-grip, but he drops a hand onto her shoulder, which is surprisingly solid. This seems to break Katrina from her trance though, and she screeches - not unlike a banshee, Ghost thinks distantly - clawing at him.

He veers back, not quite quick enough to avoid the talons that just catch his cheek, leaving two shallow claw marks behind. The other three behind him break from their stupors and begin shouting, pushing themselves bodily between the two of them in an effort to protect him. Spooker makes it his job to confirm that Ghost is somewhat okay, before turning back to face the enemy in front of them.

Ghost’s cheek oozes blood, but not enough to really be worried, so he just holds one sleeve up to the cheek, letting it soak up the sticky liquid. The others have their guns trained on Katrina, but he can’t manage to make himself do the same, so he just ends up standing at the back, watching. He feels like a coward. Bile still threatens to claw its way out of his throat as he stands there numbly.

Behind her ratty tangles, she catches Ghost’s eyes once more, before disappearing altogether. He hears himself sobs her name under his breath, feels his legs wobble beneath him, but somehow manages to stay standing, despite the sickening dread swimming in the pit of his stomach. It doesn’t last long though, because soon, the group of them are hit with a wave of vertigo so strong, they fall to their knees collectively. Ghost chokes on his nausea. He squeezes his eyes shut in an attempt to block out the swimming feeling, and when he opens them again, the long, narrow hallway is gone, replaced instead by an inky black room.

He fumbles blindly at his belt, whipping out his flashlight and flicking it on. He pivots, but his flashlight quickly collides with an obstacle - one that responds with a sharp “Ack! Dude-!” in Spooker’s voice.

“Shit!” Ghost spits, stumbling back - not very far, mind you, being that he hits the wall behind him not two steps back - and proceeds to shine his light directly into Spooker’s eyes until he shields them. “Jeez-Jesus, dude, Jesus.” He finally lowers the light, dropping into a crouch. “I gotta-I can’t, man. Shit!” He takes in a shaky gulp of air and tries not to scream.

Spooker probably has that look he gets when he’s trying to play it cool and seem unconcerned - but just ends up looking confused instead - because Ghost can hear it in his voice when he says, “Are y-?” He clears his throat. “Do you uh-need me to-er take care of that scratch? It could get infected if we don’t uh, do that. Yeah.”

“It would probably help to find some light,” he says, with more bite to it than either of them were expecting, “Y’know, so we don’t blind each other in this pitch-ass-black room?”

Spooker wisely does not comment on that statement, simply takes out his own flashlight and sweeps the beam around the room, eventually coming to rest beside Ghost. He looks up, realizes his head is inches away from the door handle, and sighs wearily before rocking forward and up into a standing position, opening the door.

He’s sure that neither of them are expecting to be met with a completely foreign corridor, still narrow, but seemingly lived in, at least in the past. Dim lights flicker overhead, implanted in a tile ceiling, a stark contrast to the empty sconces and carved stone of the previous tunnel.

They glance at each other once, before shuffling into the hall. Ghost sees three other doors lining the hall - one on the end and two on the opposite wall - and makes his way to the closest one. He moves to try the knob, but is impeded by Spooker catching the hood of his jacket and dragging him back, tutting, “Nope! We’re dealing with your injuries before we do anything else!”

Ghost feels himself pouting, and quickly changes his expression into one more neutral before turning around; Spooker seems to see it nonetheless, because he placates him by saying, “It’ll only sting for a second, promise!”

He pulls him to the ground, and Ghost crosses his legs, resting his uninjured cheek on his hand. He’s very much not sulking right now, even if Toast would tease him for it if he were present. He especially doesn’t glare at the alcohol as Spooker pulls it out. He does hiss as Spooker dabs at his cut, and he can see how much Spooker is struggling to not roll his eyes.

Finally, he’s allowed to do actually important things, and walks to the door, gripping the handle. It rattles, staunchly denying him entry, so he moves on. The next one does the same, and he moves to the one at the end of the hallway, which thankfully swings open with a grating creak, revealing a dimmer, but otherwise identical hallway to the one behind him. He repeats the process, with the exact same result as the previous section. He glances back at Spooker before pushing open the door at the end, to reveal a slightly dimmer version.

Again, he tries the doors. Again, the one at the end is the only one that opens. The next hallway is slightly darker than the last.

Ghost’s stomach churns nervously, and he glances once more at Spooker, whose expression is starting to match his own.

The light quickly diminishes, and soon enough they’re flicking their flashlights back on. “Crap-” he hears behind him, just before their lights flicker once, twice, and die simultaneously. A familiar giggle echoes throughout the small corridor, and Ghost shivers, moving minutely closer to where he last saw Spooker. Ghost shakes himself and fumbles toward the end of the hall, using the walls to guide himself. “Try the other doors, I’ll try the one at the end of the hall.” He hits the end of the hall a little harder than he meant to, and is a little glad for the dark, even if it can’t hide the soft ‘thud’ that bounces through the room. The door rattles in its frame, unbudging, so Ghost throws over his shoulder, “This one’s stuck, what about the others?”

“No luck over he-Woah!” A slam ricochets throughout the small place - presumably the door meeting the wall in a less than pleasant fashion. “You good?” Ghost manages to get out without his worry peeking through, falling just short of nonchalant.

“Yeah...yeah, I’m alright, just caught me off guard. Let’s go.” They hobble through the doorway, which slams shut behind them. Ghost’s mind swims with deja vu for a second, but he can’t place the reason for it, so he decides to put it aside for the moment.

Ghost thinks later that if he had to choose the moment everything truly started going to shit, he might choose this one. Like the calm before the storm, or the eye of a hurricane, or some other cliché crap.

Either way, the soft click of the door locking behind them feels like an omen of things to come.

Or maybe it’s the axe swinging directly toward Spooker’s head.

#jess answers #venturiantale #venturiantale pie #johnny ghost #johnny toast #jimmy casket #fred spooker #chris colon ghostie #vt katrina #ghooker #ghost x spooker #as requested (ages ago)!!#jess writes

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argylemnwrites · 5 years ago

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Change of Plans - Part 2

Pairing: Drake Walker x MC (Riley Liu)

Book: The Royal Romance (An It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment universe AU, set nearly 3 years after that epilogue)

Word Count: ~3500

Rating: PG-13 (just some adult language)

Summary: Living in NYC in March 2020 is redefining normal for Drake and Riley. Life doesn’t always go according to plan during a pandemic, after all.

Author’s Note: Alright, I said this was going to be a two part AU inside my AU, but I lied. There will be three parts because I don’t know how to be brief, and I’ve really enjoyed exploring this scenario with these two.

Just like part 1, this does hint at or reference some events from the prologue and the first couple of chapters of Why Are We Still Waiting?, but it does not spoil the core content of the story. And again, Trigger warning for coronavirus discussions.

Riley checked over her appearance in the mirror, making sure her eyeliner looked even on both sides. It may be the middle of a pandemic, but she figured she was allowed a little vanity on her wedding day. Even if it was going to be a courthouse wedding with only one witness, she still wanted to look and feel like a bride, at least as much as was possible given the circumstances.

Finding a white dress had been difficult. Her actual wedding dress was with Hana for some “finishing touches” that she’d wanted to add, and other than a couple of button downs for work, white wasn’t really a color she ever chose for herself. For a hot minute last night, as she stood in front of the closet, taking in lots of bright and dark colors, she’d considered just saying “Fuck it” and wearing something red, but then she remembered the white dress she’d picked out for her bachelorette party when Hana was in New York a couple of months ago for a meeting with her North American directors. Sure, a white shift with some sparkly embellishments at the neckline and a hemline that was short enough that she had to be careful about bending over probably wasn’t the most “bridal” piece of clothing out there, but she had to work with what she had.

She really did want to make their elopement as close to a “standard” wedding as she could. As much as Drake insisted he was fully on board with eloping and that the details didn’t matter, as much as he would scoff if she ever mentioned it to him, she knew that the traditional marriage ceremony meant more to him than it did to her. He might not be big on over-the-top, storybook romantic gestures, but he definitely had more of a sentimental streak than she did, and she knew that part of him was going to miss having the chance to take those vows in front of friends and family, miss having those closest to them get together and celebrate taking that step. They hadn’t decided whether or not they were going to still have the reception in Texas as originally planned, but even if they did, Riley knew it wouldn’t feel quite the same for Drake.

To be honest, the thought of eloping had popped into Riley’s head numerous times over the past year or so. Back when they postponed the first time, a large part of her had wanted to march down to whatever municipal building they needed to and just do it. Growing up, it’s not like she dreamed of some fairy tale princess wedding or anything, and while the wedding she and Drake had put together sounded nice to her, it wasn’t something she needed. Plus, the thought of organizing everything again for a later date had sounded just miserable.

She’d thrown the idea out there once. Eloping had wormed its way back into her mind right after they’d gotten back from Cordonia, about one week after their wedding was supposed to happen. Not able to shake the thought, she’d hinted at just getting married soon in New York. She remembered laying there on their couch, her head in Drake’s lap as she painted her fingernails with turquoise glitter polish, Drake combing his fingers through her hair absentmindedly as he watched the 11 o’clock news. She’d told him it was such bullshit that they weren’t married, that she wasn’t good at waiting. He’d been sweet, thanking her and telling her it would be worth it in the end, but it had been clear to her that he still wanted to go through with the whole wedding down on the ranch, even if it would take them a bit to save up money for new deposits. She had known that if she’d told him point blank that she wanted to elope, he would have done it. But that wouldn’t have been fair to him.

But now that the world had changed so drastically, eloping was Drake’s idea. And while Riley was fully on board with this change in their plans, she knew there was probably a part of Drake that was going to mourn the loss of their outdoor wedding on the ranch. Since she knew he was doing this largely for her benefit, she figured the least she could do was try and make everything feel as much like a wedding as possible. Try and make everything feel more like a celebration, not a desperate move to get her health insurance.

So, she had scrambled to throw together something resembling their wedding last night, after they got back from the Marriage Bureau with their license in hand. Drake had logged in remotely for work, trying to get ahead as best he could, hoping to be done with his work for tomorrow by noon while Riley had flipped through the binder Hana had put together for them, full of tips and advice she gained from her own wedding. Some parts obviously got pitched out from the start. There would be no toasts, no music, no personalized vows. On the other hand, some tasks couldn’t be easier. They already had their rings, for instance, and as far as photographers went, well Daniel and a smart phone was really their only option.

All things considered, Riley felt like she’d done a decent job with what she’d thrown together. Truth be told, winging things and just rolling along, letting her whims guide her felt so much more natural to her than filling out all those damn charts and timelines and tables that Hana had given her. After all, so many moments in her life had been defined by impulsive decisions, including accepting Maxwell’s invitation and getting on that flight to Cordonia. Throwing together a wedding in 24 hours felt almost fitting.

Giving her appearance a last once over in the mirror, she threw her lipstick and eyeliner in her purse that already held their license, the rings, and their passports and walked out of their bedroom. She’d heard the locks on their front door, and the kitchen sink was running, so she knew Drake was back from taking out Anderson for a quick walk. It was time to go.

“Alright, you ready?” Riley asked as she walked into the main living space and over to the door, grabbing her leather jacket off the hook and slipping it on.

“Yeah, we’re just gonna have to hail a cab because Dryve is in surge. Probably everyone trying to avoid-” Drake replied as he shut off the water with his elbow and grabbed the towel, but he stopped abruptly as he looked up at Riley. “Damn.”

Riley smiled as she finished putting on her jacket, flipping her hair out of the way. Drake had insisted he didn’t want to see what she was wearing until the last minute, just further proof to her that he really did crave those wedding traditions. She walked over to him with an exaggerated roll of her hips, unable to resist teasing him just a little. “Avoid what?”

His eyes traced over her body slowly. “What?”

“What is everyone trying to avoid?” she widened her eyes, trying to make herself look as innocent as possible as Drake’s gaze left her legs and snapped back to her face. But he just shook his head slightly, giving her a little smile, not taking her bait.

“Shit, I need to change. You look perfect, and I’m just-”

Riley rolled her eyes, grabbing the lapels on Drake’s sport coat and pulling him down into a gentle kiss. “You don’t need to sweet talk me. I already put my name on the marriage license,” she quipped as she pulled back.

Drake lifted his hand to cup her cheek, but stopped himself, instead giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’m serious, Liu. You’re so beautiful. Why did you tell me that jeans and a sport coat would be fine?”

“Because it is,” she said, shaking him lightly by his lapels, “While I’m glad you like this improvised look, keep in mind that this dress was originally intended to be worn to a trashy nightclub.”

“Does saying that I’m glad that didn’t happen make me a jealous asshole?” Drake asked, eyes roving over her legs quickly before jumping back to her face, “But seriously, I’ll go put on a suit if you want me to.”

She shook her head no emphatically. “You aren’t supposed to upstage a bride on her wedding day, Drake. Besides, you in some denim and me in some leather just kind of feels… right, ya know?”

He nodded slowly, sliding his hand from her shoulder down to her hand, lacing their fingers together. “So, you ready?”

“Absolutely.”

They walked the few blocks over to Church Avenue hand in hand, knowing they would have an easier time hailing a cab there than on their street. They had actually had a bit of a debate on how best to get to the Marriage Bureau, wondering if prolonged time stuck in a car with a driver would be riskier than braving the subway, but ultimately they’d decided one driver into Manhattan and one back would have to be safer than mass transit. Still, Riley could tell Drake was a bit on edge, particularly when their driver coughed once.

The traffic into lower Manhattan wasn’t terrible for a Wednesday afternoon, and soon enough they were pulling up outside the City Clerk Office building. Daniel was already there, standing off to the side of the steps, wearing a mask. Daniel being their witness was actually why they were going to the Manhattan location, not the slightly closer Brooklyn one. Daniel still lived in Manhattan, and his apartment was close enough that he could walk to this site. Since he now had no income coming in with the bar and restaurant closure order, it had seemed like a huge imposition to ask him to have to pay for transportation, particularly when his coming out for this at all was already a massive favor.

Daniel waved when he saw them getting out of the cab. “Are you guys excited?” he called out. When Riley had texted him with their plans and asked if he would possibly be willing to be their witness, he’d called back, very enthusiastic. After all, he’d told her, she never would have met Drake if it weren't for him. “I brought a wedding present for you guys.”

Riley laughed as he handed them a bottle of hand sanitizer. “This is probably the most sought after item in the city. We’re honored.”

After buying a little bouquet of calla lilies from a vendor at Daniel’s suggestion, they made their way inside. Security guards were there, staggering different groups of people, trying to maintain some distance in the long, narrow room. The three of them presented their IDs with the license, Drake took the ticket with their number, and then all they could really do was sit on the light green couches and wait.

Riley could tell Drake was antsy. He would alternate between sitting next to her, knee bouncing up and down slightly and pacing in front of her. Under normal circumstances, a clearly anxious groom might be the butt of some joke, but today nearly everyone seemed on edge. The atmosphere was tense, like every person there was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The Marriage Bureau was busy, and she was sure she and Drake weren’t the only couple scrambling to tie the knot.

As she looked over at him, repeatedly checking the time on his watch, she just knew he was worried they wouldn’t get called up today. She understood why that had him on edge. Not only would they have exposed themselves to dozens of people for no good reason, but it probably wouldn’t be too many more days before the Marriage Bureau was shut down as a non-essential court service. She knew that marrying her and getting her onto his health insurance had cemented itself in his mind as the one thing he could do to keep her safe, and if he wasn’t able to do that, he would feel like a failure.

She placed her hand on his thigh, hoping to both calm him and stop his fidgeting, but he just wove their fingers together and squeezed tightly, his leg continuing to bounce beneath their hands. Oddly enough, for all his anxiety over the whole situation, Riley felt calmer than she had in a long time. All the struggles to get that wedding in Texas rescheduled, only for the world to throw a pandemic at them and force them to change their date again now could be forgotten. They were getting married on a whim in their city, basically just the two of them. It felt right, in a strange way, to her.

After their number was called the first time, after they had paid the fee for the ceremony and taken care of the final paperwork with Daniel, Riley had hoped that Drake might calm down slightly. After all, the ceremony was definitely going to happen now. They’d already signed and dated the papers. But as they moved back towards the couches, Riley realized how foolish that hope was. Drake had worked himself into a ball of tension. If she didn’t find a way to calm him down soon, he would be miserable all the way through the ceremony.

Back in the day, she had some signals with Daniel, both for when she needed rescuing and when she needed him to back off. Granted, the backing off had usually been when a table of men had been a manageable level of flirty, but she flashed those three fingers behind her back at this point not because she was hoping for an excellent tip, but because she needed some one-on-one time with Drake. Thankfully, Daniel recognized her move quickly, excusing himself to the restroom.

Riley sat down on the couches, hoping that Drake would sit next to her so she could talk to him and get him back in a calm mood. However, he continued pacing in front of her. Sensing that she needed to break his mental cycle sooner rather than later, she called out. “I’m gonna need you to chill out, just a little bit. Otherwise, I’m gonna start thinking it’s the thought of marrying me that has you all stressed.”

“How can you even say-” Drake started, whipping his head around to face her, but stopping when he saw the look she was giving him. Letting out a big sigh and running his hand through his hair, he started again, “I just don’t like being stuck indoors with this many people. Maybe we should have worn masks like Daniel. I don’t know. It just makes me uneasy. And the longer we have to sit here, the more people that walk past, and every time someone coughs or sneezes, I just feel sick to my stomach. I thought this was a good idea, but now I’m wondering if we just took a really foolish risk.”

“Drake,” Riley said, shaking her head slightly, “everything we do these days is a risk. Either of us taking Anderson out is a risk. Next time we need to buy food will be a risk. Hell, I was still going into the office less than a week ago. We’re doing everything we can to minimize that risk, though. And that’s all we can do. Right?”

Drake nodded briskly, but he continued his pacing. Riley sighed, wishing she’d thrown a flask in her bag. A little bit of whiskey might help him take the edge off right now. But she hadn’t, plus she got the feeling that openly drinking in a government building might not be the best idea. Oh well, time to try another distraction technique.

“I’m not wearing any underwear,” she said quietly, hoping only Drake could hear her.

“What the hell, Liu?” he asked, stopping his pacing immediately to pivot to face her fully.

She shrugged and glanced around. “I just wanted to take your mind off everything that’s stressing you out.”

“So your strategy was… to tell me you aren’t wearing underwear? Even though that’s not true?”

“You don’t know it’s not true.”

He crouched down in front of her, staring straight into her eyes, trying to tell if she was bluffing or not. She just raised an eyebrow and gave him a coy little smile.

“I don’t buy it,” Drake said after several moments, pushing himself back up to standing. However, he didn’t resume his frantic pacing.

“But you can’t really be sure, can you?”

Drake rolled his eyes and shook his head, “You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

“Yup!” she responded brightly, dancing and shimmying a little in her seat before bursting out in laughter, “And you chose to tie yourself to me for life anyway!”

Drake chuckled, plopping down on the couch next to her. “What was I thinking?”

“It’s not too late. You could still make a run for it.”

“Nah,” Drake said, grabbing her hand and nodding at Daniel as he walked back over to them, “I already signed the paperwork.”

Maybe 20 minutes later, they were called over to the next room with several other couples. Knowing they would be up soon, Riley tucked her engagement ring in the box with their wedding bands and squirted some hand sanitizer into both of their hands. And then, C875 was being called, and suddenly they were walking into a room with a rainbow painting, one bench, and a podium. For all the years of planning, for all their waiting around this afternoon, it almost felt surreal that this was really happening.

As Drake clutched her hands, she barely was able to process that the ceremony had started. But the officiant was there and was speaking, even though Riley wasn’t really listening to the words he was saying. All she could do was focus on Drake, staring at her with such intensity and such earnestness, she thought she might cry.

As Drake said “Yes” in response to whatever the officiant had been saying and slid her rings onto her finger, she knew she should probably pay attention to the officiant, because her turn was coming up next. But all she saw was Drake, his large hands working so gently to put those rings onto her left hand. Those hands that had held her and clung to her and that had been a constant in her life for so many years now.

Once the rings were in place, she heard the officiant start speaking again, this time asking her if she promised to love, honor, cherish, and keep Drake as her husband. But all she could think about was the steadiness Drake had brought to her previously flaky existence, his utter understanding of her as a messed up human being, and his complete acceptance of both her flaws and strengths. So when the officiant paused, she said “Yes.” It didn’t matter that she’d missed half the words he was saying. Committing to this man who saw her as she was, who trusted her and who she trusted just as much was not a hard thing to do. So she grabbed his band out of the box and worked it on to his finger, hopeful that he knew the slight tremble in her hand came not from nerves, but from adrenaline.

Riley looked up to find Drake’s eyes locked on her face, and she gave him a small smile as the officiant finished the ceremony with some words that she still was finding it hard to focus on. Somewhere in there, she heard “state of New York” and “married,” but before she could fully process that Drake was now her husband, he was tugging her close and kissing her, sliding his hands around her waist as her arms looped around his neck instinctively, one hand snaking into his hair, the other still clutching her bouquet.

When they pulled apart, the officiant immediately handed them their marriage certificate before briskly walking out of the room. That was it. After years of planning and just over 24 hours of scrambling, they were officially married with a ceremony that couldn’t have taken more than 60 seconds. Riley couldn’t help but chuckle. It somehow felt perfect for them - take it slow until you decide to barrel full steam ahead had always been their pattern.

“Holy shit, Drake!” she said with a laugh, pulling him down for another quick kiss, “We’re married.”

“I know, Riley. I know.”

“I love you so much.”

“Yeah, me too. So damn much.”

She threaded her right hand into his left, noticing the way his ring felt against her fingers as she tugged him towards the exit. The world might be a mess of uncertainty, but they would face it together as a team.

Permatag: @ravenpuff02 @octobereighth @drakewalker04 @kimmiedoo5 @speedyoperarascalparty @mfackenthal @lilyofchoices @thequeenofcronuts @jamesashtonisbae

The Royal Romance/The Royal Heir: @kingliam2019 @sirbeepsalot @texaskitten30 @princessleac1 @ladyangel70 @dcbbw @yaushie

Drake x MC only: @jovialyouthmusic @iplaydrake @gibbles82 @drakewalkerisreal @riley--walker @notoriouscs @butindeed @axwalker @drakesensworld @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria

It Couldn’t Wait Another Moment: @wickedgypsymoon @thesumofmychoices @cosigottahavefaith @thequeenchoices @katedrakeohd @feartheendlesssummer @ao719 @ooo-barff-ooo @sunnyxdazed

#drake walker #drake x mc #trr fanfic #trr au #trr au fanfic #tw: coronavirus

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