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zepskies · 2 years ago

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Never Say Goodbye - Part 3

Pairing: Dean x Female Reader

Summary: The first time you and Dean sensed each other’s thoughts and feelings, you were just kids. It would take years to realize that you both were bonded for life, and even longer to finally meet. [Soulmate AU] (Rated M for eventual scenes – 18+)

Word Count: 4,500 Warnings: Language, fluff.

Part 3: Contact

As it turned out, your life started to get better after you missed that shift at the coffee shop.

Oh, you still got fired. But the experience of nearly getting splattered on the pavement by an oncoming truck gave you some unexpected clarity about your life.

Mainly, you needed to stop wasting it. You were tired of jobs that would pay your bills but not bring you closer to your career. And frivolous thoughts of coffee shop boys and…the hope of running into your soulmate.

Maybe one day, you could dare to hope, but from now on, you wouldn’t let it rule your thoughts. You wouldn’t hope too hard either.

It could save you from the disappointment of never hearing anyone’s thoughts but your own.

So you decided to check the University of South Dakota’s career board for jobs, and you discovered an opening in the history department! A research assistant for one of your favorite professors, who was writing their dissertation on the strange, superstitious, and sometimes down-right disgusting social practices of the Ancient Greeks (including bottling up the sweat of their best athletes, because they thought their musky body oils contained magical properties).

Since you were already majoring in history, you were a shoe-in for the job. And working directly with your professor gave you a great resource for future classes.

Four years later, you had earned your bachelor’s degree in History. You even decided to further your education when you were able to get a scholarship for graduate school.

Now you were just one semester away from finishing your master’s. You still worked in the history department, but you had been able to upgrade—to Executive Secretary to the Dean of Ancient Studies.

It sounded fancy, but really, you were a glorified slave. Or at least, your boss seemed to think so.

“I need you to cancel my meeting at two,” said Dr. Birch. She breezed into your tiny office without knocking, startling you from where you were hunched over your laptop.

“Good morning!” came your reflexive greeting, though it was a bit too loud and sharp. You internally winced at yourself and relaxed your posture, like a bird unruffling its feathers. “Cancel your meeting with Dr. Wells?”

Dr. Wells was a nice man, and an important one. He was the Head Dean of the entire History department. Technically, he was above Dr. Birch. It wasn’t a good look to blow him off, but you weren’t about to say so.

“Yes, I have an important lunch, and I already know it’s going to go overtime. Gary will understand,” she replied. She was looking at her phone rather than at you. For all she cared, you were just a calendar with hands.

Dr. Helen Birch was a brilliant woman. She’d published no less than five books, had won awards for her peer-reviewed articles, and she had been your academic advisor all through graduate school.

She could also rival Meryl Streep for “bitchy-ass boss” in The Devil Wears Prada.

“I also need you to grade the final exams for one of my classes,” she said. “Greek Studies this time.”

You held back a sigh. Again? I’ll never finish my own finals at this rate.

But what you said was, “Sure, I can do that. And I’ll email Dr. Wells to reschedule.”

“Yes, make sure it’s not on Thursday,” she said, brushing a finger through her thin blonde hair. “I have to leave early to get my roots touched up before I go away this weekend.”

“That’s fun,” you chatted while you revised Dr. Birch’s calendar on your computer (and sent an apology email to Dr. Wells). “Where to?”

“Oh, I have this tedious conference in Chicago. But then my boyfriend is taking me skiing in Breckenridge.” She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I simply can’t wait. This semester has been a drain on my psyche, and just terrible for my migraines.”

With the email sent, you took a little breath and gathered some courage as you got up from your desk and gathered a handful of papers you had stapled together. It was a rough draft of your thesis, which was only a bit worse for wear (including a suspect coffee stain that you didn’t remember accidentally putting there).

“Actually, I was going to ask you if you got my email about my thesis. I just wanted to go over some of the feedback you gave me on the draft,” you said, trying to sound more confident than you felt.

Dr. Birch raised a brow. “What of it?”

“Well.” You showed her the front page, which was covered in red ink. “Mainly the part where you crossed out the first three pages and commented, ‘Missing the point.’”

She nodded. “Yes. I’m afraid I have nothing to add about that.”

Well, that didn’t exactly help you. The first three pages was your entire introduction to your thesis, “TV & Film: The Modern-Day Mythology of the Masses.”

You must’ve had a pitiful, lost look on your face, because Dr. Birch finally took pity on you. She sighed.

“You are a creative girl. I’ll give you that, but your degree is not in cinematography. You are a historian,” she said. “And while the ‘Well of Souls’ in Raiders of the Lost Ark may be based on a real historical place in Jerusalem, that does not mean Indiana Jones can, or should be described as a ‘religious experience.’”

My ten-year-old self would bed to differ, you wanted to retort, but you kept your mouth shut and lowered your eyes. Dr. Birch nodded to herself and was about to leave your office, until she stopped short and gave you her Amex card.

“Oh. And get me a coffee, would you, dear?”

The moment your day ended and you were able to get into your car, you let out a long sigh of relief. While you waited for your car to warm up, you massaged your hand, aching from grading papers for Dr. Birch’s class.

You rubbed your hands together, this time to warm them as the frigid air draining from the car still bit into your skin. A shudder tingled through your body, and not in a pleasant way. Honest to God, I hate the winter.

On reflex, you toyed with the silver ring on your right hand—your mom’s ring. It usually comforted you, but today, remembering her made your heart heavy. Because today was the anniversary.

You still remembered that snowy day when you were fourteen, could picture it so clearly, like a scene painted on glass.

With one last sigh, you fished out your phone to call your dad. It rang for a few seconds (it always took him an eternity to answer his phone, and it drove you crazy).

“Hello?”

“Hey, Dad,” you said.

“Hey. Just got off work?”

“Yeah, I’m headed back to Sioux Falls. Want to meet at home and go together, or do you just want to meet me at the cemetery?”

The other line was silent for a moment. Longer than you would’ve liked.

“You’re coming, right?” you pressed.

“Look, I’m gonna have to work late tonight,” Jack said. “Don’t wait up for me.”

“Really?” Your voice was terse. “It’s one day a year, Dad. You can’t even manage that?”

“I told you I’m working a case.” He sounded annoyed. You didn’t care.

You were pissed.

“Whatever,” you dismissed. But then, you realized you weren’t willing to let it go just yet. “You know, I just find it interesting. On her birthday, Christmas, today, somehow you just can’t be bothered to visit your wife.”

“Hey, drop it, all right?” your dad snapped back.

“Sure. It’s none of my business, I guess.”

“I don’t need your sarcasm either.”

You silently fumed, but you weren’t willing to hang up the phone first. You didn’t want to look petty, and apparently, neither did he. You both could be stubborn like that, sitting in a tense stretch of silence instead of just…

Instead of just, I don’t know what, you could admit, if only to yourself. Eventually, his voice reached your ears.

“I’ll go when I can,” he said.

“Fine.”

And you really did hang up this time.

What should’ve been an hour drive back into your hometown took almost two with the traffic.

Oh yeah, you still lived at home with your dad. It wasn’t ideal, especially with a long-ass commute every day. But unfortunately, being a full-time student with a part-time job didn’t give you the budget to have your own life.

At least you had your car—a dark blue Camaro your uncle had restored and gifted you for your twenty-first birthday. You didn’t talk to your Uncle Bobby as much as you would like. Between work and school and taking care of the house for you and your dad, you didn’t have much free time on your hands. You did see Bobby around town sometimes, and occasionally shared a beer with him when your demanding schedule allowed.

Your dad had never liked it, you hanging around your uncle. So you didn’t tell him.

That seemed to work out better for both of you.

In fact…

You reached for your phone again and found your uncle’s number.

“Stop badgering me, Rufus. I’m busy.”

Your lips curved into a grin. “Uncle Bobby?”

“Oh. Hi, darlin’. Sorry, thought you were some riff raff that keeps spammin’ me.”

“What did Rufus do now?” you asked.

“He knows,” Bobby said. The surly edge to his voice made you smile in amusement.

“What’re you doing later? Up for a beer?”

“Usually I’d take you up on that, but I’ve got some people coming in pretty soon.”

You scoffed. “You have people? What people?”

“You’re not the only number in my cell, you know,” he said dryly.

“What, you mean Rufus?” you teased.

“All right, now you’re just runnin’ up my minutes,” he said. “If you really want that beer, you’re welcome to swing by, if you want. I’ve got a stocked fridge full of cold ones.”

You laughed, then you considered his offer. Did you really want to go home and deal with your dad (whenever he bothered to come home)?

“Well, I’m going to the cemetery first, but I could maybe swing by after,” you replied.

“Right, that’s today, ain’t it?” Bobby said. “Give your mom my respects.”

A more genuine smile grew on your lips. “Thanks. Will do.”

You hung up with him just as you got to the cemetery. It was hard not to feel melancholy here, especially in the winter. All the graves were lightly dusted with snow, and it felt like the world came to a quiet stillness here.

You bundled up with your scarf and gloves as you braced yourself for the cold, stepping out of the car. On your way in, you heard the rumble of a car going by. It was loud enough to make you turn your head and see a flash of black speeding away.

You shook your head. People drive like maniacs nowadays.

You were about to continue on your way towards your mom’s grave, when you finally heard it.

Say goodbyeee…never say goodbye-y-aaayy. Holdin’ on we gotta try, holdin’ on to never sayyy goodbyeee.~

Someone was warbling a Bon Jovi song in your mind, and it certainly wasn’t you.

But you did come to a dead stop in your path. Your eyes widened as shock claimed your heart and your brain. Soon enough though, your heart warmed as you became aware of something new. It was like a low hum at first, reverberating inside your chest.

You and me and my old friends, hopin’ it would neeever end. Say goodbye—

The singing continued, but all you could focus on was the thrumming in your skull, the thread of connection you could sense and feel inexplicably. You didn’t realize you were crying until you felt warmth trickling down your cold cheeks. Sniffling, you wiped your tears with the back of your hand and smiled tremulously.

You were finally feeling your soulmate.

Which meant, he was close by…and with that realization came an important question:

What the hell do I do now?

They were in South Dakota again.

Dean knew coming back here was…potentially dangerous. He hadn’t heard his soulmate’s thoughts in four years, since the last time he was in this state.

Truth be told, he hadn’t wanted to come here. After the last hunt though, he could use some R&R at Bobby’s for a couple of days.

This time Dean had his brother with him, albeit the circumstances weren’t…great. Their dad was missing, and Sam had lost his girlfriend in the process of trying to find him.

Sometimes, Dean really regretted going to find his brother at Stanford. Part of him thought, if he hadn’t hooked Sam into coming with him to try and find John, maybe Jessica Moore would still be alive.

A more selfish part of him (one he wouldn’t name) was glad to have Sam with him. Dean was actually having fun hunting with him. And maybe, Dean was having to get to know him again too.

“You think Bobby will have any intel on Dad?” Sam asked from the passenger seat of the Impala. They were about five minutes away from Singer Salvage, the old man’s tow business (and his house).

“Doubt it,” Dean replied, changing the radio station once Bon Jovi turned to REO Speedwagon. He could get down with some pop rock from Jovi, but REO was pushing it.

“Then why are we here?” Sam turned to him with a frown. “We just ganked a poltergeist in our old house and…we saw Mom. You think we should be wasting time right now?”

Dean’s lips pursed. Leaving their old house behind in Lawrence, Kansas was exactly why he needed a minute before jumping into the next case. As much as he wanted to find John, Dean just…he needed a minute to breathe.

Revisiting those old (painful) memories wasn’t easy for him. He wasn’t sure that Sam completely got that.

“Bobby’s got a stack of lore books to Kingdom Come. Who knows, he might have a way to help us find Dad,” he said.

Sam shot him an unimpressed look. “And if he doesn’t?”

Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He got why Sam was so fired up. Really. The fact that the kid was having weird…premonition dreams about the near future was concerning. And he wanted to find the thing that killed Jess, that killed their mom, but this was clearly going to be a marathon. Not a sprint.

“In the meantime, we crack open a couple beers,” Dean said, “get one or two of free nights on actual beds, and then we’re on our way to the next gig. How’s that sound?”

Sam let out a sigh through his nose and faced the road ahead. They both knew he wasn’t happy. Dean couldn’t exactly blame him.

When they finally got to Bobby’s, the old man greeted them with a casual wave, beckoning them inside. He offered them the contents of his fridge—a few beers and a frozen lasagna defrosting in the fridge. Dean scoped it out while Sam dropped off his bag in the upstairs guest room.

“That for us?” Dean pointed to the lasagna with a grin. “Didn’t know we merited the red-carpet treatment.”

“’Cause it’s not just for you,” Bobby said dryly, then he hesitated. “...My niece might be swingin’ by later.”

Dean raised his brows in curiosity. “Didn’t know you had a niece.”

Or any family, for that matter. He knew the old man had a wife, once upon a time, but he assumed she’d passed away. No kids. Bobby had never talked about having an extended family. He didn’t have pictures on the walls, and the shelves only had books and locked boxes.

Bobby took a long sip of his beer after opening a bottle each for himself and Dean. He had one ready on the counter for Sam, who came into the kitchen looking tired. The kid hadn’t been sleeping well for the past few weeks, to say the least. Dean handed him the beer.

“I don’t see her much,” Bobby conceded.

“Why’s that?” Dean asked.

It took a moment for the other man to answer. Eventually, he was honest. “Well, she's grown. Going to school, got a job. But you could say I had a fallin’ out with her dad, a while back.”

“You have a brother?” Sam said.

“Brother-in-law,” Bobby corrected. He didn’t say anything more about it though. Sam and Dean shared a look that said they agreed: There’s something off there, but I’m not gonna pry.

“You still see her though?” Dean asked.

“Every now and then,” Bobby said, sipping at his beer again. “It’s a small town.”

That kind of pissed Dean off. Bobby was a good guy. He’d watched Sam and Dean a lot when they were kids, their dad on a hunt. He’d made sure they had decent food to eat, good movies to watch, and even played catch with Dean a time or two.

So what kind of assholes did Bobby have for family, that they couldn’t be bothered to check in on the old man every now and then? They must’ve been off living their lives, in their own little world. Must be nice.

Dean brought the bottle of Heineken to his lips, only to realize it was empty. Couldn’t have that, could we?

He went to the fridge and opened the cap, only to jump as the beer fizzed and leaked over his hands.

Damn it!

Bobby sighed. “And I just mopped the damn floor.”

“All right, Martha Stewart. Keep your slippers on,” Dean teased. “Sam, get me a paper towel.”

Bobby tried to get by him to get the mop, but beer was still dripping down Dean’s arm.

“Would you move to the sink, already?”

Sam finally cracked a small grin as Dean rolled his eyes. “Fine. Jesus. You’d think Miss America was comin’ into town.”

Damn it.

You heard him again. And this time, you could hear his voice, so you knew the thought belonged to a him. The voice was pleasantly deep, and annoyed. You actually felt his irritation and were able to recognize that the emotion didn’t belong to you.

Excitement bubbled in your throat, almost making it hard to breathe as you drove your car down the road. You had been too worked up to go see your mom, and technically you were supposed to head to your Uncle Bobby’s house, but this was too important.

You needed to figure out how to talk to him—your soulmate.

So you pulled over on the side of the road, and even turned the radio off. Okay, now what?

You didn’t know what you were supposed to do. They taught about this subject in school, sure, but that had been years ago! You’d spent the past six years filling your head with college and work and learning how to be an adult.

Okay, just breathe. You calmed down a bit with some deep breaths, and you closed your eyes. When you first heard your soulmate’s singing in your head, you remembered feeling warmth spread through your body, emanating from your chest. Then in your mind, you’d noticed a…a thread, of what could only be described as energy.

You felt it now. You could almost visualize it with your eyes closed. In your imagination, it was bright and beckoning. You focused on it, and it grew brighter, thrumming and soft.

You thought of what you wanted to say, and you tried it—sending your thoughts and your will through the connection.

Having a rough day?

Dean was still wiping beer off the floor in Bobby’s kitchen when he heard your voice ring through his mind.

Having a rough day?

His entire body tensed, and he paused with a ball of wet paper towel in his hand. Sam had taken the mop from Bobby and was about to finish off the floor, until he noticed Dean blanking.

“Dean?” he asked.

It shook Dean out of his shock, enough for him to look up at his brother. “Hmm?”

“What’s up? You were staring off into space.”

Dean feigned innocence. “Nothing.”

Sam’s brow rose, but he didn’t press the issue and went back to mopping. Dean took the opportunity to toss the wet paper towel in the garbage.

“I’m gonna hop in the shower,” he said, and made his swift exit to the bathroom upstairs, so quickly that he didn’t see Bobby watching Dean curiously from the living room.

“Don’t use up all the hot water!” Sam called after him.

Once again, Dean found himself locking the bathroom door and staring at himself in the mirror. His green eyes were conflicted as he tried to calm down. Maybe his heart was starting to beat a tick faster. Maybe a trickle of nervous sweat was making its way down his spine. Maybe he didn’t know what the hell to do.

His dad’s warning was still clear as a bell in his mind.

“Unless you’re prepared to hang up your gun, and stop hunting, don’t open that door.”

Dean knew why John had said it, and even agreed with him…at least, logically he did. His life was complicated, and insane, and bloody. How could he put someone else through what he went through? What he still went through every day? It wasn’t right.

But his chest was aching. He rubbed at it absently.

He could feel your worry again, he realized. You were anxious, probably waiting for him to respond. Dean could feel you. Having a rough day? you’d asked him.

So as usual, he made an impulsive choice.

You could say that, he carefully replied. He remembered the way your voice sounded, smooth and pleasant in his mind, and he couldn’t help smiling a little. But not for long, I’m thinkin’.

Your relief hit him in a slow, but powerful wave. It almost made him feel guilty for taking so long to answer.

Well, it’s not every day you hear someone else in your head. Maybe you’re going crazy.

She was teasing him. You were teasing him.

It brought an incredulous smile to Dean’s face. You’re one to talk. Maybe you’re just talkin’ to yourself right now.

Hmm. I don’t usually warble to Bon Jovi, but maybe you’re right.

A beat of surprise, another to remember what he and Sam had been listening to in the car earlier, and then embarrassment prickled at the back of his neck.

You heard that, huh? he asked wryly.

Maybe, you giggled. It was a cute sound, and it cut through some of his embarrassment. He wasn’t used to being put back a step by women. He was good at reading people’s body language, and usually it didn’t take him more than one look to figure out what a woman thought about him, and what they wanted to do with him.

So the fact that he couldn’t see you was a challenge. With that realization, a slow smile spread across his face. He was game for a challenge.

Well, I’m likin’ your voice so far, he said. Think I could get you to sing for me?

He felt you pause, a flutter of warmth through a tendril of shyness. I’ll leave the performing to you, Romeo.

Come on, it’s only fair.

Who said life is fair?

Dean sobered a bit at that. Ain’t that the truth.

Hmm, so you were having a rough day.

Make it a week, he said.

Yeah, I know the feeling…I wasn’t having a good day today either.

Dean sensed your melancholy and didn’t like the feeling. Well, now you’re talkin’ to me. So it should be smooth sailin’ from now on.

He could feel you brighten at that. It made warmth bloom once again inside his chest, especially because he sensed you were smiling—a bit shy, but genuine.

…What’s your name? he asked.

It took you a beat, but eventually you gave him your name. It wasn’t what he expected, but he liked it. Your name rolled through his thoughts, and he tested on his tongue.

What’s yours? you asked predictably. Somehow, Dean didn’t anticipate the follow-up.

Suddenly he realized exactly what he was doing: he was talking to you. (Something he’d told himself he wasn’t going to do.) Not to mention, he’d been locked in the bathroom for about ten minutes and hadn’t even showered yet. Pretty soon either Sam or Bobby was going to come knocking to see what the hell he was doing, so he might as well shower for real.

He answered you as he turned on the showerhead and started undressing. I’ll make a deal with you…if you can guess what I do for a living, I’ll come by and introduce myself in person.

Dean felt your shock, so he let you think as he stepped into the shower. Eventually you came back, annoyance coloring your emotions and your voice.

That’s stupid.

Dean smiled. Aw, come on. It’ll be fun.

For you!

Don’t you know, sometimes the best things in life come after some delayed gratification.

You paused for a moment, in which Dean didn’t know if you were in shock again, or just pissed. Maybe a combination of both.

Great, I got a comedian, you deadpanned. …You’re not a comedian, are you?

Sweetheart, I’m hilarious, Dean replied. But no. Good guess, though.

He sensed the equivalent of you rolling your eyes.

Just then, Sam knocked on the bathroom door.

“Hey, you better not use up all the hot water!”

“Twenty minutes of peace, Sammy. That’s all I ask,” Dean shot back. Sam made a sound of annoyance, but he went away, leaving Dean almost alone with his thoughts.

Look, I gotta go, he said regretfully. But I expect you to have some guesses cooked up by the time I get back from work.

You were still annoyed, but you begrudgingly agreed to his terms.

Fine. Just…don’t wander too far off. I can’t win the game if I can’t hear you.

Dean sensed your underlying worry, and your fear. You were afraid he was going to leave.

His heart softened. As a result, he ended up promising things he didn’t know if he meant.

Don’t worry. I’m not leaving town until you win, he said.

He felt your warm smile, along with your excitement.

Goodnight, sweetheart. We’ll talk soon.

Okay…goodnight.

He hung onto the feeling of your presence for a few seconds longer, before he let go of the connection. For now.

Dean caught himself smiling, but it quickly turned to a frown.

“Nobody should be waiting on men like us to come home bloody.”

When he once again remembered his dad’s warnings, that new warmth in his heart chilled, and it sunk like a stone. He leaned against the cool bathroom wall and pressed his forehead against the tile, while lukewarm water beat the side of his face and body.

Shit.

AN: Oh, Dean. What're we gonna do with you? lol

I hope you enjoyed Part 3! I promise they'll finally meet soon lol. What did you think of their first conversation?

To keep reading: Part 4

Series Masterlist

Dean Winchester Masterlist

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852 notes · View notes

croziers-compass · 1 year ago

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Summary Notes of Terror Camp 2023 (10.12.23)

(A small summary of notes and references I took during Terror Camp Day Two - Antarctic Exploration!)

Branwell's Death Narratives

Captain Scott - The narrative tilts. It tilts according to who's written it.

Vitai Lampada by Newbolt

The Book of the Long Long Trail - Newbolt

Scott Supporters vs Critics. Was he a fool or a misunderstood individual? Challenge the complexities with which a Narrative is design and revolved around. Interrogate the Narrative and where it came from!

Caitlin Branden

Personal Bias and Individual experiences steer your experience with a particular Polar Expedition

"A wonderful Evening"

Which Member of the Expedition Are You?

What attracts you to your Expedition? What about your Expedition draws you to it? What do you talk about when you talk about the Expedition of your Heart?

Rach

"Terrebus"

Narratology

"How do we frame the Narrative and How does the Narrative Frame us?"

"We cannot ask reason to take us across the Gulf of the absurd"

" The real Quest was the books we tried to write along the way " - R - The Discord Chat

"We all have our special little guys"

"Perhaps being haunted is part of being Human"

"Any Narrative can become dangerous if it becomes The Narrative. Be aware of the Biases off the Narrative you are writing. Take responsibility for the Narrative."

"Carry your little Guys in your pocket"

Emma J. P. - From the South Pole to the Stars

Incredible Parallels twixt the Astral Exploration of Space and the Antarctic / Polar Explorations with Antarctica being a simile for time spent off of Earth itself.

Empty and Vast

Roald's Narrative during the South Pole Expedition!

Sam Botz - The Feminine (?) Antarctic

"The Last Imaginary Place on Earth."

Antarctica The Woman - Stephanie Krzywonos

"Flying and Singing Like Sparrows" - Le Guin

Phil M. (linked to Patreon) (Paper Doll Polar Explorer's Sea Chest)

Ross and Crozier Expedition!

"They were Hut Mates"

Crozier Passed His Leftenant Exam at 21 in the year 1817 Ross and Crozier serving under William Perry

They Celebrated St. Patricks day!

McCormick is our Narrator through much.

"EVERYONE WAS WET"

⚓ Robert McCormick's geological collections from Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, 1839–1843

⚓ (Ross Volume 1) Voyages of discovery in the Arctic and Antarctic seas and round the world [microform] : being personal narratives of attempts to reach the North and South Poles ⚓(Ross Volume 2) A voyage of discovery and research in the southern and Antarctic regions, during the years 1839-43

by Ross, James Clark, Sir, 1800-1862 (links to Archive for JCR)

⚓Cunninham's Transcribed Journal

⚓ (An X/Twitter Acc. that follows JCR Expedition)

Becca (I got pulled away so my notes are sparse here) "I'll be blowed."

Some of these Cold Boys should not have been there. (The Scientists) Elephant Island was quite the ordeal.

Clark, Hussey, Wordie, James, the Four Nations that did not live together in Harmony.

All in the Middle of the Great War.

"Nerdy and Outside the Narrative"

Meg - Cold off the Press

"You tried"

"Mr. Clark proved the faunistic richness of the coastal Antarctic Waters, but, unfortunately, all his collections were lost with the ship."

Hussey - "This Scientist is an outlier and should not be counted"

Avery S. - Oddments, Riff Raff, and Pocket Full of Rocks

Dancing on Ice Floes

Giving sea shells as gifts!

-The importance of Collecting was incredibly valuably psychologically. To collect these specimens meant that one would have to survive to deliver them. It also helped create routine

Trading Rocks for Tobacco.

“Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, 'What is the use?' For we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which will not promise him a financial return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin's egg.” - Apsley Cherry-Garrard

"When you reach out to understand the world, even scientifically, you are reaching out to understand your place in it." - Avery S (Polar Exploration Conference Terror Camp 12.10.2023)

"How McClintock Of You" - The Discord Chat

Key Notes: With Francis Spufford and Sarah Airriess

(I was very invested in the conversations so I did not write as much as I would have liked. But some critical things really stood out to me.)

The Homosocial responses/responsibilities between the men. Care-giving and demonstrating tender roles with one another. 'Unexpectedly Gendered'

Francis has not seen The Terror

The way of Knowing these people is very unique. Reading their letters and their diaries provides a particular perspective allows you to know what they really were like - more than what their fellows may have known. You see a more intimate part of these explorers through their very personal narrations through their journals and letters.

"People are clouds of possible selves." - Francis Spufford He goes on to say something along the lines of: "Which is the problem with storytelling - as a narrator of storytelling you have to decide what comes out and what fades in the background of their personality."

"You have to decide as a Narrator." - Francis Spufford

Empathy as a Tool for Understanding

(This part was incredibly important to me.)

Sarah goes on to explain (thereabouts): You have to Listen to people. They (people writing or creating a Narrative/Narration of events) look at a historical figure and get a "snap" of them. From there they decide that they know everything about them. From there, it's like Cinderella's shoe and the step-sister cutting off parts of her foot to make it fit. You need to let these people liver and breathe as a dynamic person with feelings and thoughts. You have to be truthful. Otherwise you are doing that person a disservice and shoving them into a specific box that is meant to just fit your Narrative. You should try and be empathetic to the individual you are writing about as if they are still alive.

Spufford goes on to extrapolate on that with (thereabouts): Finding out what people meant to themselves is important. Some things you want to keep at arms lengths but still play an intrinsic role in their character. Being empathetic to these people is critical to respecting and acknowledging them with care and showing them that you care about them.

"Captain Scott is a Myth"

"The Unified Field Theory of Cold Men."

"Neurotypical people don't go to the Antarctic. Normal people are not drawn to the Antarctic."

Extra Important Links:

These are just some that I have saved from the Terror Camp. There were so many more but here is a handful.

Observations on ca. 175-year old human remains from Antarctica (Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, South Shetlands)

Cheer_Scott_expedition

Ursula K. Le Guin Books: The Wave in the Mind Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places (thriftbooks link)

An Empire of Magnetism (Global Science and the British Magnetic Survey in the Age of Imperialism) - Dr Edward J. Gillin

A Game! "To Keep the Meat"

The Popularization of Science in Nineteenth-Century America - Hyman Kuritz

"Have You Been There?" Some Thoughts on (Not) Visiting Antarctica - ADRIAN HOWKIN

The Ship that Never Was: The Greatest Escape Story Of Australian Colonial History - Adam Courtenay (Goodreads Link)

Tristian's Wordpress of Franklin Expedition Content

Francis Spufford! ⚓ Sarah Airriess ⚓

The Music Track for Terror Camp ⚓

Book Recs from Crewmate @jesslovesboats (thank you)

Thank you so much for the experience! This weekend was fantastic!

Personal Notes and Commentary

This was my first Terror Camp in its entierty. The weekend was such a delight. I had no idea what sort of experience I would be having. It was beyond my expectations. I got to learn a lot more about some of the other Expeditions that I was not as familiar with as I would have liked to be. My book list has expanded by a decent number. Getting to listen to Nive Nielsen and Paul ready was incredible. I loved everything about this experience. I cannot wait for @terrorcamp to announce the next year's event. I will certainly be attending it without a doubt. I look forwards to future projects and staying in touch with anyone else that would like to. Thank you again for such a wonderful experience! I want to give a shoutout to the people I know of the Tumblr Urls that contributed: @brainyraccoons , @jckielantern , @nopickls , @wllipt (who was a captioner), @vivtanner , @inkonfreshnewpaper - I do not know if I missed anyone. I went through the Muster Book to check out who had tumblrs. If I missed you, please let me know. I had a fantastic time. Thank you all.

With love, In heart and spirit, Second Leftenant, Wilbur

#terror camp #terror camp 2023 #the terror #polar exploration #arctic exploration #antarctic exploration #naval history #history of exploration

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challengeanon · 9 months ago

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Kirishima Eijirou

2018 backlogs part 4. <3

--------------------------------------------

ou walked through the crowded hallways of Yuuei looking at the signs above every door looking for 1-A. It was the first day of the year and if it was anything like the entrance exam it was going to be a long four years. After what felt like ten years you finally made it to your classroom. With a breath you opened the door and walked in to your surprise you were greeted with both smiling peers and peers, more accurately one peer, so angry you could feel it in the air surrounding him. You stopped and looked around for a seat to call your own happy when you found one towards the side of the classroom quickly walking over to it and sitting down. You sat sad and put your head on your arms attempting to take a nap before class starts since you were too nervous to sleep well last night. Your attempted nap didn't last long before you felt a finger gently tap your shoulder. Picking up your head and opening your eyes you saw a pink skinned girl with pink hair and antennas. She was one of the people sitting with the angry ash blonde earlier. Just past her you could see yellow haired boy and another with red spiky hair. The spiky haired one has... shark teeth?

"Hi! I'm Ashido Mina! This is Kaminari Denki. That is Kirishima Eijirou. And track there the black haired one is Hanta Sero and the blond is Bakugo Katsuki." She introduced the entire group that he was with earlier. Each boy gave you a smile and a nod or a wave ash she said there name the one called Bakugo only you a slight glare though. You smiled back saying hi to all of them and introducing yourself happy to make new friends most of which seem really nice.

A couple months later

You threw punches and dodged incoming attacks over and over as you had been for the past hour and a half. Your bodies slower than when you first started sparring. You always thought sparring with Eijirou was a good idea until about an hour in when you both started to get exhausted. You dodge his punch and sent one in return you felt your hand connect with him stomach. You two always made it a point to try to not hurt each other too badly whether you're using your quirks or not. Like you're not right now.

With that final blow his body fell, exhausted his chest heaving as he breathed heavily you soon joined him laying down letting your body rest. You both laid there catching your breath after a few minutes you both get up. You both stood up helping each other up laughing.

"Good training today! You're getting stronger!" Eijirou said excitedly smiling with his shark teeth. You two had been close since Mina first introduced him and somewhere along the way you started to have feelings for the young man. You thank him happily your face dusted a light pink thankfully he didn't noticed.

"You too Eiji! But I still won!" You cheered loudly as you both packed up. He couldn't help laughing at your triumphant cuteness.

"We were training so you didn't win." He jokingly retaliated he cute grin ever present on his face. You two bantered back and forth like that as you finished packing up and started heading to the dorms.

"Alright alright you won and your reward for winning is I'll take you for ice cream!" He said excitedly knowing how much you absolutely adore ice cream. You beamed at the idea of getting ice cream with him. It was almost like a date. Almost.

"Yay! But first let's shower. You stink." We both do!" You joked with him. Both of you laughed as you made your way to the dorms talking and joking the way you always do. His smile was gorgeous. You both said your goodbyes as you parted to go to your dorm rooms to shower.

After about half an hour you heard your phone buzz. Picking it up you realized it's from Kirishima.

Kirishima: Hey want to meet outside of the dorms in 5 to get the ice cream?

You send a quick reply of approval and get off of your bed. With a final check in the mirror you confirm your thought. You looked super cute. Your hair is perfect and your shirt and jeans fit you just right. You slide your phone into your pocket and head out to meet Kirishima.

Once you got outside you noticed he wasn't there yet but you knew he'd be there soon he isn't one to go back on his word. You were so excited though ice cream AND Kirishima it was going to be a great day! You couldn't help but smile to yourself. Your thoughts were cut short when you heard the door open and saw a figure with spikes red hair exit his face going from a smile to a very worried look.

"Oh no! You weren't waiting for me long were you? That'd be so unmanly of me." He said stumbling over his words as he anxiously awaited your answer. He didn't get flustered often but you had to admit it was cute.

"I've only been here for a minute or two don't worry Eiji!" You let out a slight giggle once he relaxed and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. With that little bit of embarrassment he started walking not going far or fast until he was sure you were right by his side. He was as excited as you it was almost like a date. He knew it wasn't but the thought made him all warm inside.

The two of you laughed and joked with each other walking along the sidewalk catching a few simple glances here and there though neither of you paid any attention. You never had to worry about being yourself when you're with him he's patient and caring and honestly just so loving. You felt so comfortable with him like nothing else would matter. The 20 minute walk to the ice cream shop felt like five because of how much fun you were having and how much you were laughing. Unbeknownst to you thought, he found your laugh like that of an angel.

It might have been summer but it was a sweltering hot day it was a relatively comfortable heat with a gentle breeze. Once you arrived at your destination you nearly squeal in excitement. Except it wasn't nearly you did squeal and it earned you a deep chuckle from dearest companion.The two of you stop not far away from the excited crowd of satisfied customers as he asks what flavor you'd like. Come to find out you both had the same favorite ice cream flavor!

"Haha alright if you want to wait here so you don't have to be in the crowd I'll go get the ice cream. If anything happens just call and I'll come alright?" He asked his last comment just to reassure you he wasn't going to just leave. You give him a smile, a nod, and an excited yeah and with that he turned around to make his way to the counter. With a final glance you turn your attention to the beautiful blue sky. The sun was high blinding victims who stare directly your attention though was on the delicate cloud slowly crawling across the sky without a care. Well that was until you heard a deep voice you didn't recognized call to you.

"Hey cutie what are you doing here all by yourself? Someone like you shouldn't be alone you know?" He asked his voiced straining to sound cool and confident but just making him sound creepier. You knew if you faltered at all he's take it as an opening. As a confirmation.

"No thanks I'm here with someone anyway." Your voice sounded confident but you were horribly uncomfortable even more so when he stepped even closer to you. You shot a stealthy glance over at Kirishima who had just received and was turning around. He must have noticed how uncomfortable you were when your eyes locked and he sent you a knowing glance. The few seconds it had taken him to walk back to your side felt like an eternity under the gaze of the random creep.

"Hey babe sorry that took so long they only had enough for one of our favorite flavor so I got a different one. Oh who's this?" He said nonchalantly but with enforce to seem like he was genuinely your boyfriend as he handed you your ice cream cone. You felt a strong arm snake around your waist and you pull you against its connected body. It was like a nightmare slowly turning into a dream if only any of this was real.

"Who am I? I bet you're not even her real boyfriend." The creep said spitefully. You got worried. How did he know? You couldn't wrap your head around it your brain going at a dizzying speed. You quickly put the brakes on your mind when you felt the protective arm around you harden slightly as Eijirou inched his foot forward. The two males seemingly in a battle of who the hypothetical alpha is. Kirishima couldn't help but think about how unmanly this guy was being.

"He IS my boyfriend you know." You said not bothering to mask your growing annoyance as you felt your body press more into his side. You wouldn't be surprised if the other customers could feel the tension coming off of the three of you.

"Oh yeah? Then kiss each other for an entire five seconds. If you can manage that I'll leave." he said cockily knowing perfectly well we wouldn't actually kiss. You just weren't sure how he knew. You wanted to kiss Kirishima you couldn't lie but you wouldn't make him do that. Not even to get this guy to go away. You turned your head up to face him to protest but you couldn't. Just as your were about to start speaking you felt a pair of warm slightly chapped ulips against yours. He kissed you without any hesitation. It was passionate. A simple kiss longing to be more. It may not have been the scenario you had dreamed of but the kiss was so much more. The warmth of him was nearly intoxicating. The five seconds went by in a flash as you both reluctantly pulled away. Your mind was blank but your face has a dumb smile plastered all over it causing Eijirou to chuckle a similar smile playing across his lips. With a quick apology the guy quickly made his exit running from the scene avoiding any extra confrontation.

The two of you laughed and started walking Kirishima licking his ice cream happily his arm never letting go of you waist. You figured it was just to make sure that guy didn't come back so following his lead your started eating your ice cream too.

"Mmm it's so good!-" You exclaimed happily your voice slowly dying down "Hey Eiji thank you for the help back there I really appreciate it and I'm sorry you had to deal with it." You smiled softly at him trying your best to hide the guilt you felt.

"He wasn't being a man it isn't your fault so don't worry about it alright?" The smoothness of his voice was comforting. Not enough to make you feel better though.

"How about I give you a taste of my ice cream since it's your favorite and you didn't get any." You suggested licking your ice cream again. He didn't say anything for a moment as he thought about something before nodding in agreement. Just as you started to lift your ice cream towards him you felt his lips against yours again. This time it felt different it was real and unprompted. A better representation of how he really felt. This kiss was like ecstasy it was perfect and you never wanted it to end. His arm never moving from your waist the entire time even after he pulled away. You stared at him your mind reeling in shock.

"What you said I could have a taste!" He joked with a sincere and happy grin on his face. You could feel your face flush the heat burning. You knew your face was beet red but you couldn't help it. Suddenly his face went serious.

"(Y/N) will you let me be your boyfriend for real? It'd make me so happy." He asked you cautiously but his voice full of hope as he stared at your burning face. He'd liked you for a long time and he couldn't hold back anymore. But when you didn't reply quickly he blushed embarrassed slightly worried you'd reject him. You blinked back the surprise and your face just lit up a huge smile growing.

"Of course Eiji! I'd love it if you were my boyfriend!" He told him ecstatically as you hugged him. He beamed hugging you back. Both of you being careful to not lose the cold treat in your hands as your hearts warmed knowing it all worked out.

Like a dream.

#kirishima eijirou #kirishima x reader #my writing

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immortality-becomes-you · 8 months ago

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RUMORS•e. munson

masterlist

chapter 7

January, 1985

Ziggy and Eddie never really talked about what happened in his van a few weeks ago. They just climbed in the front seat and drove home, the van finally cooling down enough to start. They kept up with their weekly study sessions. The pressure was on. With four months left of school, the first semester was finally coming to an end, and that meant it was time for finals.

Ziggy had helped Eddie stay up to speed in all of his classes, earning test scores that were just enough to keep him above an F. Now, Eddie felt as though he knew everything necessary to keep him from flunking another year. When it came time for him to sit down and take his final, he was feeling confident. That is, until his mind began to wander. Ziggy was always in the back of his mind. They had grown closer over the past three months. So close that they made out. It was less than he truly desired, but more than he ever thought he'd have the chance of getting. When they first met, Ziggy acted as though she was better than him. As a matter of fact, Eddie had been pretty sure that she truly believed it. After really getting to know her, he could confidently say that he agreed. She was better than him. She was better than the whole school combined. He'd never been given the time of day by anyone romantically, but somehow, he managed to slip his way into Ziggy's grasp. How could someone so fucking perfect be willing to spend so much time with him? How could she be willing to kiss him? How could she want to kiss him? Had he been the one to initiate things those weeks ago, he'd probably be worried he had pressured her into something that she didn't want, but she kissed him. In Eddie's mind, that was a wonderful sign. As he mulled over the thoughts and feelings Ziggy had ignited in him, he was drawn out of his trance by the sound of her walking up to the teacher's desk and placing her finished exam down. He stared at her long ponytail in confusion. Here he was, recounting all of the words he had shared with her, and she was absolutely blowing through a test. It was like he wasn't even on her mind. He was thinking about her and she was thinking about their exam.

'Holy fuck, our exam!" Eddie was reminded. He clutched his pencil, reading over the next question he had yet to answer.

Once Ziggy had finished her test, she found herself in a similar position to what Eddie had been going through. Truth be told, she found herself thinking about Eddie more often than not. She was never good at making friends, so she wasn't sure if the way that Eddie acted around her was what normal friends would do, or if the flutter in her chest was completely valid. With that being said, she wasn't naturally shy either. When she felt that something was best for her, she jumped at the opportunity to achieve it. Eddie was different. She wasn't sure if he was what was best for her. Nonetheless, she knew that she wanted him. Ziggy refused to truly ponder on the idea that making a move was the wrong choice, because if she knew for a fact that it was a mistake, she wasn't sure that she could bring herself to genuinely feel guilty about it. Instead, she psychoanalyzed everything he did. She was the one to make the first move. The ball was in his court now.

After the sun had set and Ziggy got comfortable in her bed, Eddie had made his first play. He held the phone between his cheek and shoulder, using both hands to roll a blunt for himself on his bedside table.

"So, how does it feel to know that all of your hard work paid off?" Ziggy asked, playing with the hem of her nightgown on her thigh. She nustled her head in deeper to her pillow, smiling at the deep chuckle that slithered through her phone speaker.

"Pretty metal. Nearly shit myself by the end of fourth period, though."

"What? Why?"

"I was only half way done an hour in."

"How did that happen?"

"Just let my mind wander, I guess." Eddie broke out into a grin.

"Ya know," he trailed off. "I passed Miller's class, but I've heard Mrs. Johnson is no joke. I might need some more help." He scratched his chin, still smiling wickedly. Ziggy raised her brows from the other line.

"Oh yeah?"

"Oh, totally." He looked down at his fingers, waiting for a response.

"I guess a few more months of studying couldn't hurt. It would be a real bummer if you did all of this just to flunk out within the last half of the school year."

Eddie would later be able to confirm that it truly was a bummer.

March, 1986

"You need to go to sleep."

"No, you need to go to sleep."

"I need to keep watch."

"No, you did that last night. It's my turn to stare out of the window for eight hours and your turn to get some sleep. Not that you need it, but a little beauty rest could never hurt." Ziggy stood with her arms crossed over her chest. Eddie stood in front of her, tilting his head to the side as he looked down at her.

"Eddie, you're the priority here."

"Well, I'm not gonna be able to think on my feet when all goes to shit if I'm worried about you, princess." Ziggy nearly flinched at the thought.

"This isn't gonna go to shit. You're gonna be fine." Eddie licked his lips, unconvinced. Ziggy grabbed his hand, squeezing it in her own. His attention was drawn down to their connected palms. He glared up at her quickly.

"You're distracting me." She threw her head back. He kept her hand clutched in his.

"If we keep arguing like this, then neither of us will sleep."

"Exactly! So, it's settled; you're sleeping." He pulled her by the hand and yanked the tarp off of the boat. Ziggy looked down in disgust.

"If you think that I'm gonna be able to sleep on literal wood, you're batshit crazy. I can't even fall asleep on carpeted floor-" Eddie wrapped his arms around her middle, picking her up enough to place her in the boat before he quickly followed. Ziggy moved her hair out of her face and looked to where she felt Eddie step only to find him sprawled out beneath her. She scoffed in surprise, almost tripping on his legs that were spread on either side of her. Her hands raised in defense, ready to comment on his provocative stature. Eddie, growing frustrated, sat up and pulled her forward by the back of her knees, sending her body crashing down into his. She found herself straddling his lap, resting her arms on his shoulders to brace herself for impact. Their faces were inches away from touching as Eddie's hands rested on her bare thighs. It was strikingly similar to their position in the back of his van over a year ago. Her breathing was heavy as she glanced between his eyes and his lips. Eddie couldn't bear to move his gaze from her eyes. He licked his lips, slowly trailing his hands up from her thighs, grazing over her stomach and breasts to fist the collar of her jacket in his palms. He wordlessly pushed the jacket down, slowly removing it from her shoulders and down her arms. Ziggy pulled her arms down, pushing her chest flush against his to give him the reach he needed to completely remove the item of clothing. She heard a soft rustling behind her as his arms kept her caged to his frame, her hands coming up to rest on either side of his neck. The rusting stopped and Eddie leaned back, removing his hold on her all too quickly. He laid down completely, bringing her balled up jacket to rest beneath his head. One of his hands stayed there above his head while the other fell to his side. Ziggy grew confused, resting her hands on his stomach.

"What're you doing?"

"You said you couldn't sleep on wood, so you're gonna sleep on me." Her mouth parted in surprise. He didn't give her time to question him, pulling her down on top of him and pressing her head to his chest. Ziggy moved her hips down farther on his frame, letting her back stretch to get comfortable.

"Someone needs to keep watch." She protested despite closing her eyes at the feeling of him playing with her hair.

"I can hear perfectly from here. Just go to sleep, sweetheart." He twisted her hair between his fingers until she drifted off, which didn't take long at all. Soon enough, he found himself drifting off with her.

The sunlight woke Ziggy up the next morning. Her back was killing her from being twisted in the same position for hours on end. Her eyes fluttered open with a sigh, feeling one of Eddie's arms wrapped around her back. She had made her way further up his body at some point during the night, tucking her head into his neck. She licked her lips and looked up at him, taking in his sleeping form. With a start, she leaned up on her elbows, hovering over him to get a better look and confirm her suspicions. He was definitely asleep.

"Eddie." Her morning voice slightly croaked. He didn't move. She moved one of her hands to rub his shoulder softly, hoping that would help wake him.

"Eddiiiiiie." She drew out. He still didn't move.

"Eddie!" She grumbled louder, finally startling him awake. His head shot up, nearly hitting hers before thumping back down. His eyes fluttered for a moment before focusing in on her face. His body relaxed.

"Hey"

"You said you would keep watch." His eyes blinked slowly. Truth be told, he had no idea where he was or what she was talking about. The sight of her above him made him think he was still dreaming.

"I thought you were on watch last."

"No, you were definitely on watch last." His brows furrowed. He finally looked around. Now he knew where he was. He flopped his head back down, bringing a hand up to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Shit, I was on watch last." Ziggy rolled her eyes and sat up. Eddie's hand froze. He watched carefully as she sat upright on his lap, stretching her arms above her head and stretching her back. Ziggy ran her hands through her hair, pushing down her flyaways. She dropped her hands down to her lap with a slouch, finally looking down at Eddie's dreamy stare.

"I'm hungry." She confessed in a monotone voice. Eddie blinked a few times, patting her thigh to signal for her to stand to her feet, which she did with ease. After climbing out of the boat successfully, Eddie grabbed the walkie with one hand and intertwined fingers with Ziggy in the other one. He carefully lead the way from the boathouse into Reefer Ricks home.

February, 1985

Ziggy and Eddie sat side by side on his bed. He had leaned back, resting his shoulders on his headboard as his legs sprawled out in front of him. Ziggy sat up straight, reading from the textbook that was sat in her lap. Her hair kept swinging down from her shoulder, the ponytail doing little to keep it out of her line of sight. Eddie twiddled his pencil between his fingers, staring at her in thought. He brought his hand up to scratch at his nose, licking his lips before speaking.

"Ya know, I've been waiting all day for you to mention it." Ziggy froze at his words. Her hand moved to grip the side of her textbook. Nevertheless, she kept her eyes downcast.

"I'm not sure what you're referring to." Eddie grinned, baring his teeth.

"I figured maybe you didn't wanna make a big deal out of it this morning, so I wasn't surprised then, but I figured you'd at least mention it at some point today." She glanced up at him through her lashes.

"You didn't even slip up." He threw his pencil to the side, rolling slightly to his side so he could face her better. Ziggy gulped with pink cheeks.

"We can talk to each other about stuff, right Niamh?" Ziggy blinked a few times quick, nodding her head. Eddie nodded too, leaning in closer to whisper in her ear.

"Then how come you didn't tell me it's your birthday?" Her face fell. He laughed, sticking his tongue out slightly as he did so with wide eyes. Ziggy audibly groaned, rolling her eyes with a frown.

"How did you even find out about that?"

"Your brother mentioned his birthday when I came over for Christmas." Eddie looked up at her lovingly, leaning on his elbow. Ziggy ticked her jaw to the side, silently cursing her twin brother for running his mouth. Eddie raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to say something. She glared at him silently.

"Well? Why didn't you tell me?" He chuckled. Ziggy scrunched her face up, turning away from him in thought. She faced him again, throwing her hand up and letting it plop back down on her textbook.

"I don't know, the whole thing just seems so dramatic." Eddie scoffed.

"This coming from the girl who-"

"There's really no need for you to point out my quirks!" She held her hand up, halting his statement as she shook her head with her eyes squeezed shut. Eddie snatched her hand out of his face, holding it in his on top of the mattress.

"Come on! You don't like celebrating? At all?" Ziggy looked down at him, switching her focus from one of his eyes to the other. She bit her lip, shaking her head. Eddie narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"I Don't buy it."

"Okay! I share a birthday with my brother! The one day out of the year that is meant to be about me is actually about both of us. It's not like I've ever had any friends to celebrate with, so I kinda just act like I hate my birthday so that Adrian can have all the fun." She looked down, playing with Eddie's fingers and twisting his rings. Eddie watched her intently.

"Okay...that stops right now." He demanded. Ziggy finally looked up at him again.

"Pick something to do and we'll do it." He offered, squeezing her fingers.

"I'd like to keep studying." She let got of his hand and looked back down at her book. Eddie reached for her again, pulling her arm towards him before she could turn the page.

"Nope. Something fun." Ziggy gave him a wide eyed look. She turned to look at her watch, facing him again with a chuckle.

"Everything's closed. It's 9:47." Eddie choked, reaching out to grab her other arm and pull her watch closer to his face to read the time.

"Well, shit." Ziggy nodded her head in a cocky fashion, earning herself a critical stare from Eddie.

"Pick something that we can do at ten o'clock then." He demanded again. Ziggy shook her head incredulously. She pulled the wrist that held her watch from his grasp, feeling his hand return to her other wrist to rub over the skin there.

"My birthday is over, Eddie. It's no big deal."

"Bullshit! We've still got two hours. Let's do something."

"You want me to pick something to do that is fun, will take less than two hours, and doesn't require leaving your trailer." Ziggy listed off the requirements, making it abundantly clear how ridiculous his request was. Nonetheless, Eddie nodded.

"Yup." Ziggy sighed, looking down at him with those big hazel eyes he loved so much.

"Whatever you want to do. Just say the word, and I'll do it." He offered. It was an innocent offer, but the way he shifted his hips closer to her caught her attention. She raked her eyes from his hips up his body. When she finally found herself staring at his face again, his harmless expression was gone and replaced by an intense one.

"You'll do whatever I want?" Eddie nodded his head, swallowing the excess spit down his throat.

"All you've gotta do is ask." Ziggy found herself leaning in closer. Eddie's hand moved up from her wrist to her waist. He sat up slightly, still leaning on his elbow but straightening his shoulders. She tilted her head. All she had to do was move in a few inches and they would be kissing again. She decided to go for it. Before their lips could touch, Eddie pushed her back by her rib cage. She laid flat on his bed, breathing heavily. Her heart rate had picked up at what she initially thought was a rejection, but soon Eddie was staring down at her chest that was rapidly rising and falling and running his hand down to her hip.

"The asking part is necessary." He mumbled. Ziggy's hands rested on either side of her head. Eddie licked his lips, raising his focus from her cleavage to her wide eyes.

"What's the point in asking if you already know what I want?"

"Because I wanna hear it come out of your mouth." Ziggy parted her lips in a stutter, catching Eddie's attention momentarily. She twisted her feet at the end of the bed, sliding the textbook off of her lap and hearing it fall to the floor. She sat up on her elbows quickly, lurching herself closer to him in an instant.

"Eddie, I want you to touch me." She whispered in a rush. Eddie grabbed her by the back of her neck, slamming his mouth over hers instantly. She wrapped both arms around his shoulders, yanking him down so that she could lay her back flat against the mattress. Initially, Eddie was going for an intense kiss, but when Ziggy opened her mouth with a gasp, he realized she was looking for one that was more intimate. He let his tongue enter her mouth, climbing over her so that he was laying in between her legs. Their noses bumped together. Ziggy slipped one of her hands up his head and pulled at the hair at his scalp. Eddie used one hand to keep himself hovering above her while the other held her hip. He moved it down to grab at her thigh, hitching it higher. Ziggy sighed into his open mouth, pulling his head back by his hair and latching her mouth on his neck. Eddie let out a choked exhale. Frustratedly, Ziggy removed her arm from around his shoulder and pushed at his elbow harshly, making it buckle before giving out beneath him, making him lay flat on top of her. Ziggy quickly wrapped her legs around his hips, sucking a harsher hickey on his neck. Eddie let out a soft mewl when she bit down at the darkening skin making her tighten her legs around him, pulling his crotch to hers unintentionally. Eddie ran his hand from the sheet to the back of her head where she was latched onto his throat. He carefully pulled her back down, kissing her on the lips again. Ziggy's hand found his that held her thigh. She dragged his calloused fingers up her body, finally placing his palm over her breast and squeezing him reassuringly. Eddie broke from the kiss and looked down. His hand twitched over her shirt. Her skirt had ridden up, giving him full display of her panties.

"Holy shit." He whispered. Ziggy grabbed him by the cheeks, lifting his face to kiss her again. Her fingers on his cheeks twitched when he gave her breast an experimental squeeze. Her breath hitched when he did it again. He smiled into her mouth when he found a rhythm that made her drop her hands to his back, stretching the t-shirt he wore. He moved down, kissing her jaw and licking at her skin. Her hips jumped up, catching on his bulge. When he froze his movements, she did it again just to make sure. He let out a quiet croak. Ziggy desperately held his head in place, reaching the other down to grab his ass and grind up into him with a small whimper. Eddie squeezed her tit harder, closing his eyes for a second and then kissing her neck again. She wrapped her legs tighter around him, pushing his erection against her panties. She moaned again.

Eddie took over, grinding down into her himself. Ziggy slipped her hand beneath his shirt, running it up his bare back as she whimpered his name in his ear. The hand that wasn't fondling her top half yanked her calf higher on his hips as he moved faster. He whispered a curse word into her shoulder. She angled her hips upward, moving them in time with his.

"Eddie, don't stop." She moaned as he picked up his pace. They humped each other faster, making the bed squeak quietly as it bumped into his wall. Ziggy pulled at the hem of his shirt with a whine. Eddie released his grip on her, pulling his shirt off and leaning back down with a smile on his face. He reconnected their lips, muffling their quiet sounds of pleasure as he continued his previous movements. She bit his lip as he gave a hard thrust. His arm slid under her back, pulling her up and closer to him while the other held the edge of his mattress above her head, giving himself more leverage. Ziggy's hands were laid flat on his back; one up at his shoulder blade and the other above his hip. Eddie's pants had never felt tighter. Ziggy pulled away, looking down at the tattoos on his chest with lust blown eyes. She moved her hand from his lower back to run over the ink with a sigh.

"You're so hot." She whispered. Eddie released a choked out laugh, being cut off when she threw her head back and dug her heels into his ass.

"I can't believe this is happening to me." He groaned, resting his forehead on her collarbone. Ziggy pulled him up to kiss her once more by his cheeks. He opened his mouth against hers and squeezed his eyes shut, stuttering his hips. Ziggy froze with wide eyes as a wet patch seeped through his jeans. Her jaw dropped as she glanced between the growing stain and his screwed shut face.

"Holy shit, I just came in my pants." He looked down with wide eyes before scrambling to move his hand down to her stomach. His fingers started to dip below the waistband of her panties but were stopped by Ziggy's hand to slap over his wrist, keeping it from going anywhere further. He looked up at her in alarm.

"No?" Her wide eyes blinked, shaking her head. Eddie nodded, moving his hand back down to her side and dipped down to kiss her neck again. She leaned back with a deep breath, smiling wildly. Her hand grabbed one of his and laced their fingers together. She giggled as he placed a chaste kiss on her shoulder.

"Okay, okay!" He pulled away to kiss her cheek. Their faces were red; hers from being flustered and his from embarrassment. He looked down at her, feeling her hand raise up to hold his cheek. She leaned forward placing a slow and delicate kiss on his lips. They both jumped when a horn honked from outside. Eddie sat up on his knees, trying to peer out the window through his sheer curtains.

"What the hell was that?" Eddie looked back down at Ziggy in questioning, becoming distracted by her damp panties and crooked top. She looked down at her watch, eyes widening with a gasp.

"Oh shit, it's by brother!" She sat up, pulling her leg up to her chest to swing it to the other side of his hips, sitting upright and gathering her things in a rush.

"He's picking me up! I'm so sorry." She threw her things in her bag as Eddie stepped off of the bed with a frown.

"Right now?"

"Right now!" She stood to her feet, nearly falling over after fishing her book out from under the bed. Eddie looked her up and down as another honk came from outside.

"I could take you home." He offered, not wanting her to leave without talking about what just happened. Ziggy shook her head.

"He's already here. That's okay." She started to step out of his room, freezing when he started to follow.

"What are you doing?"

"Saying hi." Ziggy looked him up and down, criticizing his shirtless torso and cum stain. She tilted her head with wide eyes and he nodded, getting her point. Adrian honked again.

"Ugh, I've gotta go! Bye!" She started to run down the corridor, but Eddie ran after her, grabbing her by the waist and swinging her around to pin her to the wall. He swooped down and kissed her on the lips one last time. She stared up at him in the dark hallway with wide eyes. He reached down, pulling her skirt so that it actually covered her ass.

"Your skirt was messed up." He smirked. She nodded her head, rolling her eyes with a smile and shoving him by the shoulder. She walked the rest of the way down the hall. Eddie watched with a smile.

"Right. I'll see you tomorrow!" She yelled closing his front door behind her

#eddie munson #joseph quinn #stranger things 4 #stranger things #netflix #imagine #fanfic

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rainbow-nerd-13 · 8 months ago

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I applaud you for the math, it's my least favorite subject because it's so confusing to me!!! I agree with the books, I would protect mine with my life as well! What's been your favorite thing to learn? I'm teaching myself needle felting and embroidery right now as hobbies and it's been so much fun, but I'm also learning coding and IT stuff for a career!

Well, most of the time I'm confused with math as well but somehow I keep going. My favorites thing to learn is hard to pick again, but I love learning languages. I can speak four languages and I'm learning my fifth right now. I was raised bilingual, so I can speak German and Polish pretty much perfectly. Then I learned English in school and now I watch most shows in the original. But then again, English is hard not to pick up in a such a connected world. Later, I learned French in school and did the DELF B1 exam (an exam that gives me a diploma at the end, which shows I know all the basics and it can't be taken away from me even if I forget some things later on in life). Now I'm learning Spanish and it's a lot of fun. Since I can compare the words to other languages I can memorize them better and most of the time, I can guess the meaning of a new word before I look it up because of the similarities to French. I think I want to learn Russian next. Since everyone is scared of a possible extension of the war over Europe I thought it would be neat to know the language of the enemy (that's what my old neighbor who lived through world war two always says as well). I already looked up how to beg for your life for fun, lol. My Duolingo streak is over a thousand days now. Your hobbies sound so cool, I would love to learn embroidery one day, too. I also thought about glass blowing, but sadly there are no courses on that in my area (and I don't have the time, but sometimes I try to repress this though and daydream about all these cool hobbies I could pick up). Wood carving would be easier to learn, you don't need an oven for that. Coding and IT stuff are super interesting. What programming languages do you know? I started learning Java this semester and passed an exam on it. Next semester I want to continue learning programming, diving a little deeper into object-orientated programming. At least if I didn't fail the math exam. I'm kinda always scared not to pass too often and get kicked out. Sometimes it feels like I'm lying under the sharp blade of a guillotine that could kill me at any moment, but I can never know when or whether it will fall at all. I'm currently still waiting for results. If I failed, I have one last chance left. But I would have to retake the exam orally instead of the standard written form. And I'm afraid that's pretty embarrassing. Today I told someone that me choosing to go to uni despite it being so hard, brushing off concerned warnings of friends saying I like challenges is strangely similar to the dozens of stupidly brave folks who climbed the Mount Everest just to die on it. Sorry for the rambling, the question leaves room for a lot of random infos :)

#learning #learning new things #learning new skills #ask #anonymous asks #asks open #asks #learning languages #languages #hobbies #university #uni updates #ramblings

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fakeosirian · 2 years ago

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Almost a Stranger -- HoA Fabian/Patricia One-Shot

Post-S3, hurt/comfort, angst, lots of mess.

Fabian and Patricia have always been friends, despite how surprising people (themselves included) found it. Most days, they bicker, or they make plans to avert whatever crisis they're in this week, but the crises finally dried up, and bickering doesn't feel quite the same when the sentiments are ringing true more of then than not, these days.

At least they can be miserable together.

read on ao3 or here below the cut

Is it alright to be myself again? Can I finally be myself again? I don't need a reason to find I'm beginning to feel myself again I'm leaving the memory behind So I can finally be myself again Auf Wiedersehen, I'll see you later, some better day Cards on the table Vanity off to the side Always been able To get myself back to a stride Time's an eraser A reverie speaks for itself Sign your own waiver And you'll never be somebody else You'll never be somebody else Almost a stranger And even to those that I know I'm the remainder Of memories thrown to the cold Life is too painful When honesty comes at a price And lies are non-fatal Unless they're the four-letter kind Unless they're the four-letter kind

Fabian had been stuck in limbo for three straight weeks.

Ammut’s destruction did not cancel exams. That’d be an admission of guilt on Mr. Sweet’s part, and regardless, despite things feeling Decidedly Over around Anubis House, that didn’t apply to the school year. As he stared at his ceiling, there was still a month and change left, and while he wanted the Valedictorian spot, he didn’t want it badly enough to study early through the funk.

Well. Another year, he might have. In truth, his lack of early bird vigor had little to do with the exams themselves and everything to do with the black hole in his memory he’d do anything to scrub out entirely. Just knowing it was there at all was more than enough – he was guilty to admit he’d eliminate even the negative space it cast behind it without a second thought, if given the chance.

Eddie growled at his laptop across the room. He must have nearly died again. (In the video game, Fabian reminded himself, when just thinking that made him reflexively nauseous.)

Unable to stand the mounting pressure any longer, Fabian shot up from his bed and strode across the room to the door. Eddie pulled one half of his headphones off his head and peered over the lid of his laptop.

“You good?”

“Yeah, just getting a glass of water.”

“Cool.” He went back to his game without missing a beat; Fabian let go of the breath that lodged itself deep in his torso.

The hall was dimly lit – it was past 10, but Victor had gotten…noticeably lax about curfew recently – and dead quiet. Fabian’s steps lightened out of habit, and he stopped short when he saw a light flickering past the cracked kitchen door.

He slid up to the door and peeked through; Patricia leaned against the island counter, one hand gripping it tightly enough to blanch her knuckles, and the other blanching its knuckles on the handle of a mug. She stared into a lit candle on the counter like it held the answers to all of life’s biggest questions, and if she looked away for even a moment, they’d evaporate completely.

He wasn’t meant to see this, that much was clear.

He’d frozen on the spot, not paying attention to the way his weight shifted onto the door; unlatched, the door put up no resistance against his body leaning forward, and while Fabian was still mid-panic deciding how to proceed, the door’s hinges whined once it hit that one spot in their rotation. Patricia startled, blowing out the candle. Fabian gritted his teeth and held back a curse.

“Who’s there?”

“Me. Sorry.” Fabian ducked out from behind the door, sheepish eyes jumping all around the room, anywhere but on hers. “Are you…?”

“I’m fine,” Patricia said, a bit too quickly. She glanced at the smoke spiraling upward from the smoldering candle and back at him. “Someone left that lit. Fire hazard.”

“Right.” He fought down the urge to call her out. Why lie about that? It’s just a candle. It’s…definitely just a candle. Nothing weird about candles. So, no reason to lie, but she did anyway. I probably look suspicious. She’s acting suspicious. I’m acting suspicious. Suspicious of what? Ugh. It’s Patricia – of course she’s being weird about a candle when it’s just a candle. How long has it been since someone’s said something? Oh God. She can see it in my face, can’t she?

“Going to share with the class?” Patricia’s grip on her mug jerked a bit. Her shoulders were tense; Fabian’s were too. He heaved a sigh – felt a lot more like shoveling dirt than breathing should – and walked past her to get a glass.

“Nothing.” She stared at him, wordless. “Nothing worth the breath to explain, at least. I just came to get some water. Didn’t mean to interrupt anything. Sorry.”

“You didn’t interrupt anything,” she insisted. Fabian pressed his lips together and nodded; it came out jerky, insincere despite his best efforts and intentions, and her face pinched up in disgust. “If you’ve got something to say, then just say it.”

“I really don’t.” She scoffed. Fabian closed the cabinet door, but his hand hovered over the faucet handle for a moment. He tried, but he couldn’t let it go. “Seriously, are you okay? You seem upset. Is something bothering you?”

“If you even have to ask,” she grumbled. “It’s nothing to get all worried about. Would be better if you didn’t, actually.”

“Patricia.”

“Fabian.”

He put the glass down next to the sink and stood directly in front of her.

“I’ll leave it alone if you ask me to, but –”

“Already did, so case closed.”

“But, there’s no reason to suffer through it by yourself on purpose.”

Patricia looked at the floor, kicking the tip of her slipper over it, back and forth, back and forth. Fabian opened his mouth, compelled to fill the silence but with no particular thoughts in mind; it hung open for a moment, and closed when he came up empty. He turned around and turned on the tap.

“I was trying to calm down. Not from anything in particular. Just relax, whatever that means,” Patricia said underneath the rushing water. Fabian turned it down slightly – but not off. He glanced over his shoulder briefly, too quick for eye contact, and put his glass under the stream. “I heard somewhere staring at a candle works. Total crap, in my opinion. Now I’m tense and I have a blind spot smack in the middle of my vision.”

“Can’t sleep?”

“Something like that.”

“Me neither.” Fabian huffed a laugh. “Doesn’t help that Eddie’s teaching some twelve-year-olds some colorful, new vocabulary over Call of Duty right now.”

“What, cause he’s losing?”

“You didn’t hear it from me.”

Patricia grinned behind her mug. Fabian decided not to question why, upon closer inspection, Patricia decided to drink black tea if she was ‘having trouble sleeping, or something.’ The longer he lingered, the clearer it became to him that their ‘somethings’ were the same.

That was the last thing he wanted to talk about. …And yet he was still in the kitchen, talking. A strike of fear flashed across his mind – acting against his feelings, or were they his feelings, or was there something else driving the car? – and he forced down a gulp of water.

Unsurprisingly, he choked, and Patricia slopped tea on the counter in her haste to get her mug out of her hands. He waved her off, red-faced and suppressing the last of the sputtering, and forced his ragged throat in line.

“Wrong pipe.”

“Right.”

She positively dripped skepticism; rich coming from her, Ms. I Can’t Be Seen With A Candle.

He sniffed – water had gotten all the way up his nose, because of course it had – and took less ambitious sips while Patricia made a half-hearted attempt at mopping up her spilled tea with a paper towel. Every second that ticked past, the silence got thicker. Fabian wanted to leave. But, he hadn’t yet, and he wasn’t making any moves to. There was something…unfinished about this.

That original ‘something.’

“I guess you could say I haven’t felt myself lately,” Patricia said, apropos of nothing (or something). Fabian half-choked again – his glass was at his lips and ready to tip – and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“That’s one way of putting it.” He sighed. “You don’t remember anything either, do you?”

“No, nothing.” She rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. “Not that I really want to, but I keep looking around in here like I might, like it’s possible I’m just missing something, and I can’t not know about it if that’s something that’s possible.”

“I find it hard to try in the first place because the sinking dread of what I’m going to do about it if I did remember something gets in the way.”

“Well, nothing, right? It’s over. Done and dusted.”

“Joy won’t look me in the eye.”

Patricia froze.

“What do you mean?”

“Ever since I’ve…been back…she’s seemed off. Not around anyone else, and nothing like I could remember before.” Fabian grimaced. “People have told me things I’ve said, but no one’s mentioned anything I said to her. I just…don’t know, and it’d be so hard to explain. I wouldn’t believe me if I was her.”

“She hasn’t told me anything about that,” Patricia said, her voice small. “Are you sure you’re not…y’know.”

“No, I’m not imagining it,” Fabian grumbled. “I think Jerome’s noticed too.”

“Ah.” She took a slow sip from her mug. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, people only noticed you acting weird because you’re usually pretty nice. Me? Apparently, just an average couple weeks, as far as everyone else was concerned.”

“It…doesn’t,” Fabian said, wincing. “And you weren’t completely normal, anyway.”

“Oh, great. I was worried I hadn’t made enough of a mess.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Patricia barked a laugh; it sounded painful. Fabian’s face grew hot. “You had no idea what they were doing in the Gatehouse! We didn’t even know what a sinner was yet.”

“Sorry, Officer, I didn’t realize Evil Things were happening in the Evil House. Won’t happen again.”

“Well, I did know, and I went anyway. Could always be worse.”

Patricia glared at him. He didn’t buckle; why would he? She couldn’t say anything worse about him than he’d already said himself. Bomb defused. She broke eye contact, muttering something unintelligible under her breath.

Before he caught up with himself, Fabian poked the bear.

“What?”

“Don’t talk like that around Eddie.” Fabian stared at her, missing several pieces of the puzzle. “Nevermind. Just don’t. Better yet, leave the entire topic alone.” She picked up her mug and pushed past Fabian to exit the kitchen.

“Patricia, wait.” She stopped, but she didn’t turn around. Her knuckles flexed where she gripped the door for dear life. “Do you…not talk about this at all? With anyone?”

“Why would I? Do you?”

“Fair point,” he said. “Um. Maybe we…should.”

She looked over her shoulder. Her eyes shone, glassy, under the low light of the kitchen.

“Why.”

“It’s…hard? When you don’t?”

She pressed her lips together. He ran through all of the other exits in the room that didn’t involve getting past her in his head. Two, by the way. Laundry room, window. Not looking good.

“Maybe.” She turned to the threshold again. “Thanks, Fabian. Sort of.”

“Er, you’re welcome. I guess.”

She disappeared down the hallway. Fabian lingered in the kitchen; he couldn’t leave, not while his heart raced and his blood sang in his ears.

*-*

That was before, but this is now: a summer trip to New York City, Patricia, Fabian, and Alfie on a plane, with instructions to meet Eddie and KT at the airport. (The directions to where they’d meet in the airport looked as clear as the alchemy recipes Victor left lying around in the cellar, so functionally directionless and with the implication of harsh consequences for failure.)

Fabian didn’t like to think too much about how he couldn’t make it out for Nina before. Alfie had offered to pay without hesitation, otherwise it likely wouldn’t have worked out this time, either, and making a comparison between the two situations seemed like an exercise in misery.

Three hours into a trans-Atlantic flight, and exercises in misery sound appealing for being exercises at all. He’s stuck in the middle seat, Alfie sleeping in the aisle seat, and he’d already finished the only book he’d taken out of his carry-on.

Patricia’s awake, though. They hadn’t talked much once the novelty wore off and Alfie passed out, but one glance at the book that wouldn’t un-finish itself and Fabian knew he’d have to break the awkwardness sooner or later.

She’d propped up her chin on her hand, staring out the window like something other than ocean would show up. He taps her on the shoulder, and she grunts her acknowledgement.

“Excited to see Eddie?”

“Huh?” Couple seconds to process. “Oh. Yeah, loads of excitement.”

“Sure sounds like it.”

“Oh, shove it. I’m exhausted, and I can’t sleep on planes,” she says. “Yes, I am excited to see Eddie. I bet you’re going to be missing Mara, then.”

Fabian’s breath catches.

“Mara?”

“Well, yeah.”

Yikes. He hadn’t told her, had he.

“That didn’t really…”

“Oh.”

“It’s pretty recent. You didn’t miss anything, or. You know.”

“No explanation necessary.” Does she look…relieved? “To tell the truth, it was weird anyway. Sorry if that’s mean.”

“It’s not. It…made sense, but.”

“Too much sense?”

“Too much sense.”

Patricia nods like she’s got a cigar hanging out of her mouth.

“Always thought she picked people who she had nothing in common with, but turns out that was her type all along. I suppose I owe her a ‘you told me so’ for all the times I told her otherwise.” Alfie stirs in the aisle, and Fabian waves his hand in a ‘volume down’ motion. She grimaces, but she’s clearly got more to say. “Was it…mutual?”

“Yeah,” Fabian says. “It…yeah. Two dates, and at the end of the second, we were both looking for the opening. No big deal. Guess I’d just gotten in the habit of starting something new at the end of the year.” The laugh isn’t completely forced. Patricia awkwardly pats him on the arm.

“Not all of us can have the surprise whirlwind romance of Joy and Jerome.”

“Oh, don’t sell yourself and Eddie short.”

He hadn’t even wanted to say it, not really, but he thought it’d be the right thing. Evidently, it wasn’t, because Patricia’s eyes widen and dart back to the window. She rattles off a stilted agreement a moment too late.

That isn’t wishful thinking, is it? It shouldn’t be. Worse than making ‘too much’ sense, it made none at all.

Despite no wishes being made, the monkey’s paw curls anyway. The first day of the trip goes great (navigating the airport aside); the second day, Patricia and Eddie spend the latter half of the afternoon arguing behind a bedroom door while Alfie, KT, and Fabian do their best to drown it out with the TV. It’s not working.

Alfie just cranks the volume up a couple notches when they start shouting again, and KT turns it down when they get quiet. Fabian would get involved in the tug-of-war over the remote if he wasn’t so invested in spending every single ounce of willpower he had to not make sense of the snippets he caught anyway. Morbid curiosity is already a real enough concept to him, but he hadn’t yet considered that it also applied to situations without someone trying to kill you directly. You can absolutely die of anticipation, all on your own, with a heartrate fast enough.

Eventually, whatever show they were hardly paying attention to in the first place didn’t cut it anymore, and KT suggests that the three of them go around the corner for some snacks. Of course, that’s when Patricia and Eddie throw open the door.

“I’m going with you,” Eddie says, no room for argument as he grabs his wallet and keys out of the bowl next to the front door. He strode past so quickly Fabian couldn’t even see his face; his voice was bent out of shape, hoarse and evaporated. KT, Alfie, and Fabian share a look; Fabian takes a step back towards Patricia, and the other three leave without a moment’s hesitation. The door slam echoes throughout the Miller’s apartment, and in the void of sound it leaves behind, Fabian wonders if he’s made an enormous mistake.

(Why this would be a mistake, he didn’t know, but it nags.)

Fabian whips around to face Patricia. Her cheeks are splotchy and red, her breathing shaky, and Fabian remembers how deeply unequipped he is for this. Something must have shown on his face; her breath catches, her eyes get glassy, and it’s all over.

“Come here,” Fabian says, or something tells him to say, because he’s acting entirely on instinct when he erases the distance between them and takes her up in a hug. She’s stiff as a board in his arms, but she isn’t throwing him off (like he knows she is completely capable of and willing to do), so he’s at least avoiding the big mistakes.

He guides her to the couch; she hiccups into the side of his shoulder, and he can feel the twin wet patches there stick to his skin. They’re forced to break up for a moment when they sit down.

“I’m sorry,” Fabian starts to say, but he only gets halfway through the second word before she fully breaks down into sobs. That’s when it clicks for him – he knows these sobs.

“I only –”

“I know. When you’re angry.”

“Very angry,” she corrects between heaves.

It had been years since the last time, so long he’d nearly forgotten, but he still knew what to do. He puts an arm around her shoulders and buttons up his mouth; she lets it all out. There’s words in there between the tears and gasps, nothing that’d make it easier to understand, and nothing he dares to press.

Who knows how much later, Patricia’s mostly stopped crying, still muttering under her breath here and there and wiping tears off her cheek with Fabian’s upper arm, and Fabian’s phone buzzes. It’s a text from Alfie asking if they’re clear to come back.

“What’s up?”

Fabian fumbles to respond to the text – not yet, need a bit more time – and attempts a lie by omission to the question – just Alfie – but she sees right through it. He puts his phone back in his pocket (where she’ll have to wrestle him for it if she really wants to – he doesn’t examine that thought too much).

“They’re going to be taking a bit longer with the snacks.”

“What, because I’m crying?” He sighs – he’s supposed to be avoiding getting into it with her while she’s still upset – but before she can get either angry or angry with herself for being angry, he shifts the topic:

“What do you need right now?” Her mouth drops open in surprise, and not a moment later, less in surprise and more out of offense. “Do you want them to come back?” Her jaw shuts with a click. “Talk about it, then? Or do something else entirely? We could go on a walk for ourselves.” The straws he’s grasping at break apart in his hands, but it’s enough to get her laughing.

“Wandering around NYC without a guide would be insane – that doesn’t sound like a Fabian plan at all! Who are you and what have you done with him?”

Oh, that’s what was so funny. Haha. Oh.

She looks horrified once it sinks in for her, too, but he just…laughs. Very hard, to the point he can’t stop laughing, actually; it’s nervous and jarring, but it’s infectious, and she tentatively starts laughing, too, enough to finally interrupt her crying, until his chest catches on a laugh-turned-hiccup. He’s crying, he realizes. He wasn’t laughing at all. He’s just crying.

Now it’s her turn to fumble her way through an apology (and he knows why she’s compelled to since she’s not subtle – she can needle him and call him a geek but only because he doesn’t…break when she does).

“No, it’s okay – I’m sorry, I’m supposed to be comforting you,” he says, voice thick with tears, which she just shakes her head at, no words. He gets ahold of himself as quickly as he lost it. “Seriously, no apology necessary. I know you get it.” She still doesn’t have the words, but she nods.

They sit like that for a while; Fabian’s not sure how long, the best marker of time available the erratic rhythm of their heartbeats interrupting each other over and over. His picks up whenever he thinks about it too hard. Maybe he was wishing it into existence, but sometimes, he could have sworn hers would do the same.

Without preamble, she explains:

“We’ve been having issues because Eddie’s mad I can’t forgive myself for what happened. Whatever that’s supposed to mean in this context – I think he’s being daft. There’s way more to it than that, if that were even it. I mean, if it were that simple, wouldn’t I have just done it already?” Fabian understands both sides of this argument a little too well to stick his neck out, so he presses his lips together tightly and waits for her to continue. “It’s pretty easy for him to feel that way in his position. His biggest sin was trusting the wrong people.”

“Nina always felt guilty when things went wrong,” Fabian chips in.

“Exactly. Something about being in charge makes people all weird. It’s so selfish. Has anyone ever properly been in charge of anyone else around here? We’re all just doing stuff and half-talking about it and hoping it works out. It’s so hard to look yourself in the face and recognize what went wrong is entirely your own fault, but it’s the only way you get better, right? It’s insulting for someone to step in and blame themselves and take that away from you.”

Fabian is taken aback because it feels wrong, just as selfish in a way, but something buried deep inside him agrees strongly enough to scare him a little. He’s never had that feeling validated before. He thinks it probably shouldn’t be, reflexively, but that in and of itself exposes the deep river of self-doubt running below all of that. Alfie got sinnered too, they’ve talked about it, but he’s been able to cope by still trusting his core intentions to be good. Patricia is the only other person who understands. He can trust her more than anyone else, in a twisted sort of way, and if she trusts him…

Does she? They make very significant eye contact. Of course she trusts him. This is Patricia – she doesn’t cry in front of anyone if she can help it. Except him, apparently. It’s not like he’s keeping her here by force. (He couldn’t even if he wanted to.)

Suddenly, he’s very, very, very aware of the fact that they’re alone for as long as they want to be (within reason) and there’s a dangerous current arcing between them. Judging by the look on her face, she’s well aware of it, and just as flummoxed as him.

But…just as interested. They’ve been physically close ever since she broke down crying, but their faces were not this close five minutes ago. This is bad. This is very, very bad.

“Eddie!” he squeaks. She whips around to look at the door – he clarifies:

“No, they’re not here, they’re still gone, I just. Well. We’re…”

“We’re what, doofus?” Now he’s irritated.

“We’re about to kiss?” She opens and closes her mouth a couple times (and stares at his) but she can’t dispute it. He continues: “You’re still dating Eddie.”

Patricia deflates into him – cue the flush simmering away on his face roaring into a towering inferno – and mumbles into his chest.

“Am I?”

(He’s positively mortified how quickly that got him excited. Forget mortified – disgusted.)

“…Isn’t this exactly what got Jerome in trouble?”

“Are you seriously comparing me to Jerome Clarke right now? While cuddling me?”

He’s too flustered for words; she sits up, but she’s still holding on to him, now eye level. He can see the justifications flying around between her ears, so clearly that he pinpoints the moment she picks one and sticks to it.

“It’s not like it’d be the worst bad decision we’ve ever made.”

“That’s a pretty low bar to clear.”

“Exactly. Why beat yourself up for this when you’re too busy tackling the big fish?”

“…I don’t think that’s how that works.”

“Why can’t it be?”

Fabian sighs.

“Patricia.”

“Fabian.”

She’s not going to let up; she forced his hand.

“Patricia, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really, genuinely want—” Chokes a bit. “To kiss you. Right now. I needed to say it out loud to make sure you know I mean it, but mostly because I’m having a hard time believing this is real.”

“Same here.” Her wobbly little smile looks like victory; unfortunately, victory over which battle hits him like a brick to the chest, and it’s much harder to want to reach out and take it after that. “What? Is everything okay?”

Fabian shakes his head. He waits for her to fight him, agree, do anything, really, but the ball’s still stuck to his side of the court. He struggles to find a way to say it that doesn’t feel so…accusatory.

“Do we really want to taint…this…with that? You're still...”

She sighs, looks at his lips again, and looks away with a shake of her head.

“I hate that you’re a good person.”

“Hey, I could say the same about you. That was the last of my resistance I was using there – if you’d fought me at all, well.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

“Sorry! Sorry. Ugh.” They stop talking, but they don’t stop holding each other. The gears in Fabian’s head turn in time with his stomach. “Don’t break up with Eddie for it.”

Patricia gets up, puts him at arm’s length, but still holding onto him.

“Where the hell did you get that idea from?” He blanches – did he overstep? Had he missed something? Or is he really that self-centered? She whacks him in the arm. “And stop overthinking it! Seriously, why are you worried about that?”

Fabian hems and haws a bit. Despite the involuntary rush of adrenaline – cued just in time to match the way his mind went completely blank on the topic despite the clear logic he used to make that statement in the first place being there just a second ago – he’s shocked to find that she’s not angry. She sounds shocked, a bit upset, but not necessarily with him. He takes a couple steadying breaths as she looks on with concern ratcheting upwards.

“You and Eddie are having a hard time right now, and for good reason, but it’s not unfixable whatsoever. You have a strong relationship. I don’t mean to insinuate anything, only that I don’t want you giving up on that prematurely for…whatever this is, or rather could be.”

Patricia frowns, brow furrowed to the nose and storm clouds rolling in.

“Don’t worry about what me and Eddie are doing. I know exactly what I’m doing.” Even though he feels like he’s the one in the wrong here, he can’t help but get his hackles up involuntarily at that obvious falsehood. She groans and waves her hand. “Oh, you know what I mean. It’s a mess, but it’s my mess. Our mess, me and Eddie’s, I mean. If it ends, it ends because of us, and there’s plenty of us to go around already.”

“Okay,” Fabian says, desperately grasping for that trust he had in her earlier. He finds it more easily than he was expecting, lying right behind her eyes and in the thin, crooked, half-broken smile she puts together from scratch for him.

“But.” He tenses up. “The two of us have been through a lot together. I’ve known you for basically forever.”

“Not all of forever has been pleasant,” he can’t help but offer. She snorts.

“That’s sort of what I mean. Don’t discount what this could be because of what it might have been before.”

That…huh. It struck a chord with him, but…

“Does…does that mean anything at all?”

“Oh, shut up. Don’t make this bit of forever unpleasant, too.” They both laugh, and things feel as close to comfortably normal as they could, what with the pervasive feeling that This Isn’t Happening For Real still hanging over the room present. Or her hand on his shoulder, still. Mostly the hand.

“This bit?” He can’t help himself – it’s so easy to give in to the urge to be cheeky around her.

“Yeah, this…whatever we’re doing. How we’re being better friends because we hate ourselves but we could be also…” she trails off, nose crinkling as she tries on an entire store’s worth of ill-fitting phrasings. “What did I say about not making this unpleasant?”

This time, when he cries from laughing too hard, there’s no pain in it whatsoever.

Eddie, Alfie, and KT return shortly after. Eddie still seems bothered, but less than he did when he left, and Patricia’s able to keep her cool just fine when he walks in the door. The only slip that gives her away is the quick glance back at Fabian when Eddie finally vacates the threshold of the door and puts their convenience store haul down on the coffee table. It was so quick that only Fabian would notice, but the gnawing anxiety in his gut wouldn’t stop reminding him that his own over-focus on Patricia would be the far more obvious thing for an outsider to notice there. That’s the only reason he saw her glance in the first place.

It's easy enough for them to pretend that everything is some semblance of normal for the rest of the trip. When they’re in a group, whatever activity they’re up to and the five-person banter are far too distracting for minds and eyes to wander. In a group, Fabian can’t tell if that subtle bit of distance between Patricia and Eddie is all in his head or not, and the less people there are, the distance between everyone invariably gets larger. Consideration for personal space, maybe. Maybe.

The trouble comes when the group whittles down to just Fabian and Patricia again, so they do their best to limit how often that happens. Fabian ranks it among the hardest things he’s ever done where the consequences don’t involve someone dying.

By the time they’re on the plane home, he’s so exhausted from tamping his feelings down that he doesn’t have the energy to feel them in the first place. He sleeps most of the time, unlike last time, and is only awake at the same time as Patricia (the one who claims to not be able to sleep on planes) once. They spend most of it in silence, Alfie’s snoring matching their stuttering heartbeats, and dare not refer to That Night.

Fabian would hold Patricia to her word – to not hurt Eddie on his behalf – no matter how much it hurt the two of them in turn. For now, he’s left with a lightness in his heart, and an ugly churning in his stomach.

#house of anubis #hoa #my writing #house of anubis fanfic #hoa fanfic #fabicia #didnt necessarily mean to do this but i ended up using the post-canon i have for foyf just. Diverging. Obviously #almost certainly not noticeable or important but mentioning for clarity's sake LOL

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nehirose · 1 year ago

Text

like it would probably help if i ever actually talked about things anymore but see also: tired.

i've been out of work for a year. i was supposed to be able to take a break and then get back to it, but instead thing after thing that was more urgent priority and needed to be wrangled has happened. (this isn't isolated to me. by any stretch of the imagination.)

& the job hunt hasn't been great. the last interview i had was for mcdonalds and it went really well! but the gm was out of town and by the time they came back, the location had gotten more applicants. with prior experience. who got hired over me.

they still have the now hiring sign up. it was kind of a body blow to my ego but more importantly fed into the whole thing where -

i am struggling pretty hard with the recursive loop of untreated adhd making it like wading through hip deep cement to get anything - including and especially the things i desperately WANT to do and NEED to do to make any of this easier. get a job get insurance get meds. do paperwork get meds get job? - watch friends with more recent dx but usable insurance struggle to find providers get prescribed not just give up because they struggled their way into a stable place without help so what's even the point.

make art again. enjoy my hobbies again. which i have at least been actually functionally interested again?

partner has a good job and has been a godsend. we're much better off than we were a year and a few months ago, when i was the only one working. we consistently have rent covered, and money for food, the occasional action figure full of serotonin.

the schedule sucks (12 hour days dispersed out over a schedule that repeats every two weeks, rather than every week, and whether those 12 hours are 6am-6:30pm or 6pm to 6:30am switches every four weeks. it's predictable, just irregular, if that makes sense. we're currently on nights - well, i'm doing my best not to be, just adjusting the times for drop off and pick up. there ARE other shifts and teams available, buuuuuuu) uuuuuut the pay is amazing. by rights we should be fine all of the time, barring unforseen disaster. we're stable where we are -

it's just still a one bedroom shared with three people and two cats that is where none of us still want to be living.

we all need trips to the dentist. and follow up dental work. i need an eye exam and new glasses. i probably need to get my migraines more managed if i'm going to keep whatever job i do manage to get. the car needs headlights replaced and to investigate the horrible creaking noise when you are backing out in a turn. we should be doing a better job of trying to put anything into savings, but that's hard.

everything would be /just enough/easier with me bringing in any kind of income. possibly even better than good.

i've been beating myself up about this a lot.

i'm working on that.

i have an *incredible* team for support. my partner and my closest friend who i don't actually live with are both absolute rocks. patient as hell in all of this, but it's hard. willing to help me with getting things out & getting supplies acquired if i manage to get rolling on any one of multiple projects that are currently (finally) percolating. (my other close friends think i deserve to be able to have a break.) (i think that might be a middle ground.)

things ARE looking up. i'm still trundling ever forward and socially i'm so, so, so much happier and better off than i have been in a long time, it's just, y'know.

wading through slowly drying concrete is really, really hard. some days are better than others. things ARE going to improve, one stubborn step after another.

i'm just tired, man.

i'm tired.

i'll be okay.

(but i should probably go to bed.)

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the-original-b · 1 year ago

Text

The Omen of St. Tepes

Format: Prose / Fiction

Word Count: 4,577

Synopsis: College seniors Johnny, Shirley, Claire, Ian, and Luke blow off some steam between exams, but are stalked by an ancient evil.

Luke walked out of the convenience store, a beaming smile on his face as he carried the 24 pack of Keystone Light and pair of four-pound bags of ice from the exit to the back of Johnny’s old Pathfinder. "Open up, Johnny boy!" he extolled. "I've got the goods!"

"Alright, alright," Johnny said, fumbling with the key fob to unlock the lift gate. “Flex your legal purchasing privileges some other time.”

"All in due time, my son." He placed the beer and ice on the floor to open up the trunk and retrieve a cooler which Claire, borrowed, from her parents. "You too may one day be blessed with the gift of being able to buy the cheapest beer on earth." He began filling the cooler with ice and the beer cans.

“It’s all of our money that paid for the beer,” Claire added, “So the beer belongs to all of us. Plus it’s my cooler, so…”

“So, nothing,” Ian added, helping Luke load the packed cooler back into the Pathfinder. “It was my idea.”

“And its my car,” Johnny added, triumphant. “So can we all agree that we can split the credit five ways?”

Shirley shrugged her shoulders, leaning against the passenger seat. “I don’t know, I think you deserve a little more of the credit here.”

Ian considered the point, then nodded. “You know, she’s right…! Cute girl takes your side, you win.”

Shirley began to blush, breaking eye contact and looking off up the road.

Johnny stared daggers at Ian. “Just get in the car, wiseass. You know where we’re heading?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Just follow the road for like twenty minutes, it’ll be impossible to miss.”

The five of them—suite mates Johnny, Luke, and Ian as well as Luke’s girlfriend Claire and the shy girl in Johnny’s classes Shirley—piled into the Pathfinder to head for Ravenwood Memorial Park, where they intended to drink, joke, and share stories around a bonfire on Halloween night. Probably their last before the Innsmouth University Class of 2012 would accept their diplomas and go their separate ways to join the work force, start families, and live their lives.

Johnny hopped in the driver’s seat and fired up the Pathfinder. He plugged his iPod Touch into the aux cable which fed into a cassette adapter to play his passengers’ suggestions through the sound system. Then he put the SUV in drive and pulled out of the parking lot to a dimly lit intersection.

As the car idled at the red light. A shadowy figure spilled out of the tree line and onto the road a few dozen yards from them. A large, dark colored four-legged thing. It briefly stopped in the middle of the road to turn and raise its head to look at the car. Despite the darkness they could see its silhouette resembled a canine, and its eyes seemed to glow an intense, fiery yellow that cut through the black. And there it stayed for a full five seconds before turning back to continue along its path, back into the woods on the other side of the road.

“Did you guys see that?” Johnny finally asked.

“How could we not?” Ian retorted. “It walked right in front of us.”

“Yeah, duh… but what the hell was that? It was way too big to be anything we get out here.”

“How do you even know how big it was, you can barely see anything with those headlights,” Luke teased him from the back seat.

Insincere as he was, Luke had a point: his old jalopy was in dire need of some TLC. Johnny looked over to Shirley in the passenger seat next to him, who stared ahead blankly as the traffic light turned green in front of them. He shrugged, dismissing what he saw, took his foot off the brake pedal, and proceeded up the road.

~~~

As promised, they arrived at the park some twenty minutes later, and after unloading the Pathfinder Ian led them down a cobble stone path, past a few gargoyles, sculptures, and an old shack tucked beside a titanic tree that must have been centuries old. While intriguing in their own rights, that wasn’t what they came here for. After a brief walk, they arrived at their destination: a courtyard clearing with a fire pit and bench seating. They set up shop in the courtyard, Luke opening the cooler and handing cold beer cans out as Ian gathered the materials to start the fire. And there they sat, enjoying each other’s company for hours as they swapped classroom tales, drama, and jokes for hours.

“Anybody got a good Halloween story?” Johnny asked from over the top of his beer can.

“Well, there was that one in Haddonfield,” Ian said with a smirk. “A guy in a Bill Shatner mask knifed a bunch of babysitters.”

“Har har.”

“Let’s see you come up with a better one, then..!” Luke challenged.

“I’ve got one,” Claire offered, putting her beer can down as she straightened up. “You ever hear about the Omen of St. Tepes?”

“The what?”

Claire took a breath to find the best storyteller voice she could muster, and began. “It’s a tale as old as time,” she said. “About lust, jealousy, a promise, and a beast from Hell.”

Ian, Johnny, Luke, and Shirley looked over to her, meeting her eyes past the fire.

“The year was 1692, in the quiet town of St. Tepes, Massachusetts,” she continued. “In this town lived a perfect family. A father, mother, their grown daughter, and teenage son. Everything is going well, as you’d expect, until one fateful morning the archdeacon of the church knocks on their door. The father answers, and receives a warning from the archdeacon about a coven of supposed witches down in Salem. He warns they could be spreading north, and advises him to keep his family safe.” She paused to pick her beer up and slosh it around in the can. “The archdeacon visits again and again, bringing gifts of good will and good spirits to the house—to protect the family, of course. But that’s not why he kept visiting—”

“What,” Luke interposed. “He wanted to get in the son’s pants?”

Johnny chuckled to himself, but stopped when he glanced over to Shirley who remained quiet as she listened to Claire’s story.

“Close,” Claire said, taking from her beer. “It was the daughter.”

“Scandalous...!”

“Some weeks go by,” Claire continued. “Eventually, the archdeacon asks the father for an audience with the daughter. Says it would do her good to speak with him about guarding her spirit. The father—knowing what’s happening in Salem and what could happen to them if he denied his request, grants him the audience.”

Johnny leaned forward, taking genuine interest now.

“It goes about as you’d expect: daughter spurns his affections. Of course. So, the archdeacon accuses her of witchcraft, imprisons her and the whole family.” She took from her can. “…of course.”

“Not really feeling like a Halloween story, more like a historical one.”

“Patience,” Ian said. “Story’s not over.”

“Far from it,” Claire added. She continued while she absentmindedly sloshed her beer around in the can, ignoring the stark cold of the perspiring metal in her fingers. “The night before their trial, and—let’s be honest—their execution, the daughter gets a visitor to her cell. An old man in dark church-looking robes. With dulcet tones and a honey voice he says he can protect her and set her family free. All she needs to do is accept his offer…and she does. As a dutiful daughter who loves her family.”

“She’s got to know there’s some kind of catch here.” Johnny said.

“Maybe,” Claire retorted. “But put yourself in her position—wouldn’t you do anything to save your family from a hanging?” She put her beer can down again. “So anyway, she says ‘yes,’ right? Church-looking visitor thanks her, bids her good evening, then leaves. The following morning,” she continued, as her breath started to form thin cloudy wisps in front of her face, “a few villagers of St. Tepes begin crying wolf. Literally, they say there’s a huge black dog watching them from the top of the hill.”

Luke rolled his eyes and looked away as he finished his beer. He knew where her yarn was going.

“Over the afternoon, more and more villagers bring the matter of this shadowy hound to the archdeacon’s attention. Say that a huge black shape with fiery eyes boring into their very souls is watching them. The archdeacon dismisses them at first, but eventually can’t as every single one of the villagers makes a point to tell him they saw it three distinct times over the course of the day. That night he calls for an emergency mass to address the sightings. The entire village of St. Tepes is in attending.”

“Except the daughter and her family,” Ian suggested.

“Exactly,” Claire confirmed. “So as the villagers are piling into the church, a terrible storm starts brewing, like they’ve never seen. The archdeacon ushers them inside fast and makes his way to the altar to begin the service. And then, just has he begins, the altar bursts into flames, and out from the fire emerges the hound.” She picked her beer back up. “The villagers are hysterical—‘it’s a demon’ they shriek. ‘come up from hell to punish us.’ As they scream, the wolf howls and disappears in another fireball, and the panicking villagers burn to death, trapped in the church as the fire spread and swallowed them all.” She took a sip and put her drink back down. “The fire spread across the entire town and beyond. reaching the farms and even the cells where the daughter and her family were being held.” She blinked and looked up towards the sky. “Of course the daughter and her family were spared the fire, but were wracked with guilt over surviving their entire town burning down. The father and son cut their wrists, the mother poisoned herself, and the daughter lived the rest of her life alone.”

“Right,” Ian said. “The old man said they’d be set free. In death. Pretty effed up story, Claire. More depressing than scary.”

“I might have embellished some things for dramatic effect,” she confessed. “Different versions of the story are floating around, with different endings.”

“So, what,” Johnny said, “the guy who came to the daughter in the church was the Devil or something?”

“Possibly. Probably. But all the variants of that story call what burned the city down a hellhound. An omen that supposedly kills anyone who spots it—”

“What, like the thing we saw on the road?” Luke interjected. “So are we marked for death?” He raised his hands up to head level, imitating a campy television host after telling a cheesy supposed scary story. “Oooooo...!”

“We should be fine, unless we look at it two more times tonight,” she added, tongue-in-cheek. “Anyone who looks into its eyes three times will supposedly die that night. Which tracks, if you think about it. If each of the townspeople looked at it over the course of the day, the Omen must probably figured it’s be easier to wipe them all out at once.…”

She looked back at her friends when she realized she was trailing off in a tangent, and saw their eyes following something over her shoulder. She turned around to spot it as well—a pair of searing yellow dots a few yards away. In the dark she could see a faint silhouette around it as it moved to their left. She could see it was an animal—a canine moving with its head lowered as it circled them.

Johnny pitched his beer can at the shape, getting up from his seat and yelling at it as he strode toward it. The shadow turned its head from them and trotted away, disappearing out of sight behind a large tree.

He slowed as he approached the tree, then stopped completely before calling his friends over. “Was there a group here before us?”

“Not that I saw, so,” Ian said as he, Claire, Shirley, and Luke walked up to join him.

“Check this out,” he said, gesturing to the side of the tree away from their fire.

Claire’s eyes widened. “It’s smoldering,” she said. “Like a fire was put out…”

Johnny slowly looked back at the others, raising an eyebrow.

Luke shook his head. “No way. No frigging way—you’re really gonna sit there with a straight face and tell me that just happens to be the thing from Claire’s story?”

“We should probably go,” Ian suggested.

“What, you’re scared shitless of a dog? And of a story she just put together on the spot?”

“Look, best-case scenario—it’s a stray dog following us. Worst-case, it’s the devil’s mutt. Either way, it wouldn’t make a ton of sense to stay out here much longer.”

“Guys,” Claire got their attention. “Where’s Shirley?”

Johnny looked around, not spotting her among them. “Aah, shit…” He peered off into the distance, following the trail back up the hill toward the old shack. There’s only direction she could have gone, he figured. “Stay here,” he said before taking off in the direction, “I’ll get her...!”

~~~~

Johnny followed the cobblestone trail, calling out to Shirley as he traced what would certainly have been the path she took away from the rest of the group as their discussion about the ghostly black dog they encountered grew more heated. He pressed on, up the hill and past the old shack and ancient-looking tree they passed on the way to the fire pit. Past where he was sure they’d gotten onto the path in the first place, and beyond.

“Shirley,” he called again, his breath forming thin clouds in front of his mouth. The designer zip-up hoodie he wore did little in chill night. “Shirley...!”

He kept a light jog as he followed the trail deeper into the park, passing sculptures overtaken by nature and more foliage that must have been centuries old. His growing unease pulled him gently in the direction of the group, but his guilt for inviting her out in the first place drove him onward. He pressed onward for what must have felt like ten minutes.

“Shirley!” Eventually he found her curled up on a bench with her knees in her chest, her arms wrapped around her shins and head tucked behind them. Slowly he approached her, tenderness in his voice. “Shirley…”

“We shouldn’t be here,” she said, not looking up at him. “It was a mistake coming out tonight.”

Gingerly, Johnny took a seat on the bench next to her. He reached out toward her, then paused before stretching out his arm fully to wrap her in an embrace and share a little bit of his warmth with her. She leaned into him as he started to talk her down. “Shirley,” he reassured her, “it’s fine. We’re taking some time to relax and blow off some steam before getting back to the grind. One night out isn’t going to kill us,” he added with a smirk. “We’re fine.”

“No..!” she insisted, looking up to look him in the eye. “We’re not…” She turned in her seat to face him fully as Johnny gave her his undivided attention. “You don’t seem to understand how un-fine we are,” she continued, her voice receding to a terrified whisper.

Johnny leaned closer to her, matching her tone. “The wolf?”

Shirley shook her head, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “It’s not a wolf,” she confided.

Johnny recoiled, incredulous. “You don’t actually believe that Hell-hound garbage—”

“Yes!” she insisted. “And you should too!” She took a breath to compose herself before continuing.

Her unyielding stare told Johnny she was serious.

“A mortal soul who would thrice meet its eyes, is marked by fate to perish by sunrise.”

Johnny blinked slowly. He wasn’t scared until she recited the line from Claire’s story, almost poetically. They all looked right at it as it crossed the road in front of the car, and a second time in the courtyard. If the legend was true, looking at it a third time would mean their peril. “So, you know what this thing is?”

“Intimately,” Shirley said. Then she exhaled, shut her eyes, and tilted her head back to look up at the night sky when she opened them again. “She didn’t want for them to die,” she confessed.

“What?”

“The daughter in Claire’s story.” She looked back at him. “And she was visited a second time, after the prison burned down on top of her family.”

Johnny blinked. “How do you know all this, Shirley?”

She quickly scanned the horizon, then stood up. “If we make it back to campus tonight,” she offered. “I’ll tell you everything.”

They re-traced their way back toward the courtyard in total silence, Johnny wrapping his arms around himself and working to keep up with her brisk pace. As he did, the questions continued to bubble up in his mind—how did she know so much about Claire’s story? What else was there that she didn’t tell? How was she not cold? What was that cardigan made of?

Suddenly he became aware of his breath, and the clouds that formed in front of his face and Shirley’s. She slowed down just a little, but enough. Even looking at the back of her head, her ebony hair, he could imagine what her expression must have looked like while she kept her eyes straight ahead. She reached back behind herself with her left hand, fumbling in the air for a bit before it finally found his right and held on tight. Then she picked the pace back up, leading him, and he found it a lot harder to breathe now for some reason. Like the air was denser.

“When I say so,” she said, barely louder than a whisper. “You run. Run as fast as you can and don’t look back.”

As he processed her words and made sense of them, his heartbeat started to accelerate. He acutely felt the adrenaline spread to his every limb as he started to turn his head to look over his left shoulder.

“Don’t look,” she said. “Keep your eyes forward.” Her voice started to shake. “Whatever you do, don’t look at it.”

At first, he thought it was his brain playing tricks on him, but he could swear he heard a light scratching noise on the floor a few yards behind them. The sound grew louder in his mind as he realized how similar it sounded to a dog’s claws on stone. As if the thing from Claire’s story was following them.

“Run…” Shirley said, not daring to look behind at him. “Run, now…!”

“Shirley—”

“RUN!!”

Without a second thought, they took off. He ran as fast as he could muster, just like she told him to. As fast as his legs could carry him, he sprinted away from the terrible thing he couldn’t see.

And then he heard it—a blood-chilling howl unlike any he could have imagined. It was a loud, shrill, terrifying call that shattered the night air and echoed with what sounded like the souls of thousands crying out in anguish.

He realized he’d out-paced her. That thing would get to her first.

“Keep running, Johnny!” She called after him. “Don’t look back!”

His mind betrayed his instinct to keep running, to survive. He fought the urge to look back and make sure she was still alive, and as he kept his eyes forward, toward life, he imagined the worst. He anticipated hearing her screams as the thing tore into her. He anticipated feeling the vice grip and searing pain pierce into his flesh as it tore at him from behind. He couldn’t take it anymore; he made the decision to—

His foot caught the edge of a stone. He stumbled forward before falling onto his side, his ankle throbbing.

“Johnny!” In mere moments she caught up to him, throwing herself down on top of him and wrapping her arms tight around his body. She tucked her head beside his neck and shut her eyes tight.

And then it was upon them. The huge, ghostly black hellish hound that had pursued them all night. It circled its prey, snarling madly.

“Don’t look at it, Johnny!” Shirley cried. “Whatever you hear, don’t open your eyes!”

It was so close to them she could feel the heat coming off its body, like a torch held by some tormentor shrouded by the darkness of their closed eyes. Its claws scratched at the cobble stone road around them. A crematorium door opened and shut with its every breath and bark.

And there they lay, anticipating an attack that never came. Despair and terror overwhelmed them.

Then the animal stopped moving. The heat remained inches from Shirley’s shoulder for only a moment. Neither she nor Johnny dared to move when it was so close either one of them could have reached out and touched it.

And then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it fled. And in the same instant the heat left them they were instantly aware of the world around them again—the cobble stone path below them, the cold night air…

And their friends’ voices.

“Shirley!” Ian called. His voice grew louder as he got closer. “Johnny!”

“Ian!?” Shirley sat straight, still squeezing her eyes shut and reaching out in front of her. “Claire!?”

“We’re right here,” Claire’s voice just feet from her now. Then she’d felt the familiar warmth of Claire’s hands on her arms, cupping her elbow and helping her back onto her feet.

Finally, Shirley opened her eyes to see the faces of her friends. And she knew she could breathe easily again. “Johnny hurt his ankle,” she said to them. “Help him up.”

Luke and Ian helped Johnny up off the ground. Immediately they noticed his pain.

“My ankle,” he said through clenched teeth. “Twisted it back there…”

Luke looked around for anything he could find to start treating it. “We can probably find something in there,” he said, motioning the old shack next to the giant tree about thirty yards from them.

“That’s perfect,” Claire noted. “Let’s get him inside.”

Ian and Luke each put one of their arms under one of Johnny’s to help him stand and followed Claire to the shack beside the old tree. Shirley trailed behind, but her attention was pulled by a flash of lightning off in the distance which the others didn’t seem to notice. It gave her pause as she recalled a detail from Claire’s story, but eventually she dismissed her thoughts and joined her friends in the shack.

Shirley sat down on a bench beside Johnny as he raised his injured leg. Claire brought over a box for him to rest his ankle on while Luke activated a flashlight app on his smartphone as he checked the corners of the space for anything he could use as a splint. He apologized to them all when he came back with nothing to show for his idea.

“Look, I’m just glad you showed up when you did,” Johnny said. “How’d you find us, anyway.”

“All the noise,” Ian said. “We heard a howl and knew what it was immediately. We came running.” His words were accented by the rolling of distant thunder.

“Perfect timing too,” Luke added. “You two would have been puppy chow if we hadn’t shown up… Fido knew it too. Looked right at us and bolted as soon as it saw the odds were stacked against it.”

Shirley froze. Then, slowly, she stood up and backed away from them all. The others turned to look at her.

“Shirley, you okay?” Ian asked.

The distant thunder grew louder—closer. Panic choked her as the color drained from her face. “What did you just say?” she asked.

Before any of them could answer, they were deafened by the crack of lightning landing just outside the shack’s wall. When her hearing returned, Shirley heard a pattering on the roof of the shack above them. Too hard to be rain or an animal, she thought.

Then she remembered the tree. The giant, ancient tree right beside the shack which stretched high into the sky. The path of least resistance.

The lightning had struck the tree. It was debris she was hearing, and it was growing louder.

By the time the others realized what had happened, the ceiling had already started to collapse.

~~~

Shirley snapped her eyes open with a gasp. Her cheek on the rain-drenched floor. She took inventory of her senses; she felt the cold night air around her again, and the rain falling on her head, neck, and shoulders let her know the shack had been split open around her. Still, she didn’t feel anything missing. And she’d felt her breathing and steady heartbeat—she’d survived the falling tree.

But did he?

“Johnny,” she whispered, slowly scanning her surroundings to look for him in the wreckage and finding only death around her. Out from under a pile of rubble protruded a pair of legs in blood-soaked jeans wearing Ian’s shoes. Luke’s stomach and legs disappeared somewhere under huge tree limbs, along with the rest of Claire’s body below the left shoulder. The falling rain spread the pools of blood forming under the wood, eventually joining them. “Johnny?” She whipped her head back in the other direction to find him on the other side of the space, under a smaller tree branch but whole.

“Johnny…!” She scrambled to her hands and knees and made her way to him, trying to lift the timber from him but failing. She realized all too late that poor Johnny was firmly pinned to the floor, impaled in several places by the branch that fell on him.

Disheartened, she sat back on her calves as her shoulders slumped with a defeated sigh. She looked at his lifeless eyes, frozen in the terror of his final moments. “You looked, didn’t you?”

She didn’t cry for him, she’d cried out all her tears after she’d lost her family in that catastrophic, hellish blaze. She didn’t mourn her lost friends, or any of the countless souls she’d shepherded to their doom over the centuries. Now, as so many times before, she felt hollow. A cold emptiness that accompanied the reminder that she’d forfeited any chance of living a normal life when she accepted the offer that figure made her in the cell.

She felt its presence before she turned to look at it, the hellish hound to which she was bound forever. It looked back at her from past what was left of the shack’s outer wall, sitting on its haunches as it licked its lips and yawned, its eyes smoldering in defiance of the rain falling around her.

Slowly, she stood up and walked away from where Johnny lay, away from the remains of Ian, Claire, and Luke, and out into the open. And Shirley—the alleged witch who struck a deal to save herself and her family only to lose them both—disappeared into the dark night, the Omen of St. Tepes following close behind.

#short story #spooky #scary stories #halloween

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lindseymccue10 · 1 year ago

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Script Writing

Lights up as JULIA and SAVANNAH finish their duet on stage

STAGE MANAGER. Take five everyone!

JULIA. (To Savannah) Wanna go fill up my water bottle with me?

SAVANNAH. Would love to.

(They both walk off the stage and start heading to the water fountain in the hallway. The STAGE MANAGERwhizzes past the two girls while on the phone)

STAGE MANAGER. It has to be there in under thirty days and if it doesn’t get there it’s really not my problem.

(The two girls look at each other with a slight grin)

SAVANNAH. (Whisper sings to JULIA) Dramaa!

(They giggle in unison as JULIA starts to fill up her water bottle)

JULIA. Y’know, our duet might be the best number in the whole show.

SAVANNAH. I agree. It’s such a powerful song. No one can even come close to us—except for maybe Jake’s solo at the end. He really has come a long way since the vomit incident. (She pretends to gag then starts to laugh as she catches JULIA’s eye)

JULIA. (Begins to laugh as well) Can you believe how embarrassing that must've been? Singing in front of the whole school just to end up blowing chunks on every soprano—he should just be glad I’m an alto.

SAVANNAH. (jokingly offended) Juls let’s not forget I was one of those sopranos!

JULIA. (jokingly apologetic) Oh shoot. Now I remember it correctly. You were directly in the splash zone, yikes...

(They both become hysterical as they start walking back into the auditorium. The STAGE MANAGER pushes past them in another rush while still on the phone)

STAGE MANAGER. I swear I will not be paying a return fee!

(Savannah rolls her eyes at Juls as they take a seat in the chairs)

SAVANNAH. Besides all this craziness, how has life been?

JULIA. Eh, it's okay. I mean, it would be better if I didn’t have to take stupid biology. I’m so nervous for the exam, like you don’t understand. (Dread starts to take over her body)

SAVANNAH. I definitely feel that but I’m sure you'll be fine. I wish we could just take choir every day and all day, Ms. Dorell is my girl.

JULIA. Yeah, it’s a dope class, it’s quite literally the only motivation I have to get through the week until Fridays.

SAVANNAH. For sure. By the way, they're gonna have to recruit someone else to throw the cast party, I am never throwing another party again because I did everything myself.

JULIA. (Immediately begins to plead with Savannah) C’mon Sav you have to throw it! You have one of the nicest houses in the whole district and I swear this time I’ll stay extra late to help with clean up. (Puppy dog eyes) Pretty please? For your duet bestie?

SAVANNAH. (Playfully rolls her eyes) I can't with you. (Realizing that JULIA won’t let up) Fine, but you're on bathroom duty and you have to get two freshmen to stay and clean too.

JULIA. (Extremely pleased) Deal. I appreciate you, queen.

(STAGE MANAGER as he’s walking onto the stage visibly flustered)

STAGE MANAGER. (To someone standing off stage) It’s not there anymore, it’s broken. What do you want me to do? (Turning to face everyone sitting in the chairs) Sorry about the extended break, as you can see nothing is going my way today like usual. We’re gonna run the show from the top. PLACES! (He runs off stage, prepared to take care of something else going wrong)

(as the two girls begin to stand up, SAVANNAH begins to stretch and yawn)

SAVANNAH. Welp, looks like I’ll see you in approximately four numbers.

JULIA. (Making her way towards the stage, visibly tired and unenthusiastic) Yay, can’t wait.

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letterstoderek · 2 years ago

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It’s been almost four days since I found out where you were and kind of what’s going on. Im trying to do this to not blow up your phone. At 1pm roughly it’ll be 4 days since you were last alert on socials. I regret that this is how I found out I still loved you more than anything. I know you will pull through. You’re a fighter. I’m not really happy your mom says only family can visit but then your friends are. So I’m gonna come out probably after my exams Friday. My boyfriend says dad is right, that this will affect our relationship. But he doesn’t get that I don’t even feel attractive to him anymore. I’m struggling because he’s got depression, and .. like you he refuses to get help. You also have addiction which I understand. But that’s why WE split. It got to where it changed you and I couldn’t watch you fall apart anymore and you weren’t interested in help. Not even because I didn’t love you, because man if I didn’t love you. I wouldn’t be bawling, snot going everywheres, and crying til I puked. I told Jess today I still love you. Barbie is praying. Everyone is. I had Nan add you to the prayers of the people. I know you are getting help & you are going to fight this and recover and get a transplant. You can have part of mine if you want. I’ll even start eating healthy so it’s good. Today was hard, I go to school because I know you’d be pissed if I missed school over you. You were so proud. But I did the assignment, it was just donning & taking off PPE. I lost two points. It’s okay my average is still good. I will take care of you and work as long as you fight and get home. You have a second chance and I believe in you. Everyone is thinking positive. Yet no posts have been made. Today I was so fucked I went to the big stop and almost bought smokes. The dude knows me because I usually get my energy drinks and everything there. He told me to think hard before picking up another habit. I think I’m gonna see about getting you something cool for your hospital room. Flowers really are not your thing. And no, I can’t turn it into a fishing pond.

I love you

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utopiaskids · 2 years ago

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Lakers' D'Angelo Russell Doubtful for Sunday Game in Dallas

The Los Angeles Lakers may be without point guard D'Angelo Russell when they face off against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. According to Lakers coach Darvin Ham, Russell is unlikely to play due to a right ankle sprain sustained during Thursday's victory over the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena. Russell rolled his ankle in the first quarter of the game when he stepped on the foot of Golden State's Donte DiVincenzo while inbounding the ball. Although there is no structural damage, the injury is considered a day-by-day situation, and Russell did not undergo an MRI exam on Friday, instead receiving in-house treatment. "He's still going through some different treatment procedures," said Ham. "There really hasn't been an official word. It's not sprained. Well, it is sprained, I should say. There's no structural damage or anything like that. It's going to be a day-by-day thing, pretty much." Russell's absence would be a blow to the Lakers, as the guard has been averaging 13.5 points, 5.0 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game in the four games he has played with the team. He has also been shooting at a 44.2% clip from the field and 35.3% from three-point range. Despite the setback, Russell has remained involved with the team, soaking up the Lakers' system and terminology while sidelined. "He's excited about what's happening here and what he's going to be a part of," said Ham. "Even though he's not able to be physically active with the rest of the group, he's out here listening as we're talking about Dallas. Doing some things on the court, he's right there on the sidelines soaking it all in and continuing to learn our system, our terminology. So, it's good man. It's a good vibe." Although the Lakers have not officially ruled Russell out of Sunday's game, his doubtful status suggests that fans may have to wait a little longer to see him in action again. Read the full article

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rosesbxrry · 3 years ago

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𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐞

𝔼𝕟𝕙𝕪𝕡𝕖𝕟 𝕧𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕖 𝔸𝕌 𝕤𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤

You really didn’t want to come to the party that Jay threw in his mansion. Not because you have not started studying for the upcoming calculus exam, but your ex-boyfriend would definitely be there since they are in the same circle of friends. Avoiding him throughout the party was harder than you thought but you stood there, wide eyes, staring at Heeseung with blood on his mouth and hands.

Pairing: Heeseung X Fem! human Reader

Genre: Smut 🔞 (Minors DNI), slight angst, slight fluff, exes to lovers

Warnings: mention of blood, kidnapping, very heavy alcohol consumption, lots of profanity and cursing, smut warnings under the read more

Word count: 13,708 words

Series masterlist

Smut warnings: lots of sexual tension, Heeseung being somewhat a soft dom, oral (male receiving), dry humping, dacryphilia, praising (female receiving), unprotected sex, creampie, Heeseung being sexual frustrated and horny as heck, reader being Heeseung’s greatest weakness, hopefully I didn’t miss out anything else.

Author’s note: It would be better to read Jungwon’s installment first since there will be references to that.

You refuse to believe that vampires are real.

For God sake it was the only thing people were talking about among the students lately. Ryujin and Winter seemed very engrossed on the topic as they chewed on their lunch.

In contrast, you were very stressed out. People are busy worrying and being afraid of the supernatural while you are in a dilemma about a real life crisis.

Math was not your strong skill, especially when calculus is involved. Failing the upcoming exam, to you, is way scarier than a fictional myth that was spread for shits and giggles.

“Are you even listening, y/n?”

“Hmm.”

Ryujin and Winter glance at each other as they anxiously stare at you picking on the mac and cheese with a fork, an obvious frown on your lips. Winter signals something to Ryujin with her eyes, in which the latter nodded, leaning into you closer.

Ryujin gives you a reassuring smile. “Hey, don’t worry about the exam okay? Look at the bright side! You can always retake it―ouch!”

Ryujin let out a yelp of pain when Winter kicked her in the shin under the table, a death glare evident towards the blonde who was clueless towards what she had done.

You groan as you lay your head against the table, ruffling your hair in frustration. How were you supposed to pass this exam with such little time? Was this your punishment for the lack of time management that you slipped past the fact that you had an exam in four days?

Maybe Ryujin’s right for once. At least if you retake it, you’ll have enough time to study harder. But that means paying to do the resit, which, as a broke college student, was not an option as well.

“Umm…you don’t really have to go to the party, you know?” Winter reassured, patting you on the head for comfort.

“No, no, I promise I’ll go. We’ve been planning to go right? I just can’t back out now.” You said, blowing on the piece of hair blocking your view as you sat up from your seat.

“If you say so. Oh yeah, one more thing I need to tell you―” Winter spoke out before you cut her off.

“Oh shit, I forgot!” You exclaimed hurriedly to them while you packed your stuff, stacking up trash and the plate of untouched mac and cheese on your food plate.

How can you forget that you had to meet with professor Baek today about an assignment? Things were not going great for you this week.

“I’m sorry I have to go! I’ll see you guys later for the party!”

With one hand hugging your stack of books while the other balancing the food tray, you juggle the two as you walk-off the table to put the tray away.

You turn to a corner only to bump into a group of guys, particularly the person in front of you.

Thankfully you didn’t fall and the fact that the guy held onto the food tray before it got knocked down gave you a sense of relief. Well, until you realize the bowl of mac and cheese has toppled over the edge and onto the guy’s shirt.

You cringe out of embarrassment, cursing at how the world was against you at this time and moment.

“Shit!—I’m sorry, I—”

The moment you lock eyes with a familiar pair of doe eyes, you wish to crawl into a hole and never come out of it. Someone please save you from the humiliations and make you disappear from the Earth’s surface because you had just bump into your ex-boyfriend, Lee Heeseung.

And you spilled mac and cheese all over his shirt.

Horrified? It does not even come close to describing how you feel right now. With mouth agape and dumbfounded by the situation, you were frozen from your spot and you couldn’t think of a word to say right now.

Your fight and flight response kicks in and just like any other embarrassed person, your flight response takes over.

The moment pass by like a lighting strike and you found yourself literally running out of the cafeteria door.

You didn’t take in Heeseung or he’s group of friend’s reactions. They were probably as embarrassed as you are.

You can’t believe you left him hanging there with your food tray still on his hand, mac and cheese attached to his shirt.

By the time you’ve arrived at professor Baek’s office room, you were as red as a tomato while reassuring him that the cause of it was due to the summer’s heat.

Heeseung casually walked over to where Jay, Jake and Sunghoon’s table were, having come out of the washroom to clean his shirt after the mac and cheese situation.

Jay looked over and pointed at his damp shirt. “That’s gonna stain.”

“Dude, seriously, you knew she was at the corner. Why did you let her bump into you?” Jake questioned, chewing down on his sandwich, though he grimaced slightly after swallowing it.

It was all an act. Human food was not necessarily a bad thing for a vampire. But their body will reject it and the boys find it not as appetizing anymore compared to when they were human, except for Jay, who was born a vampire and had never enjoyed human food to begin with.

“She literally went hit and run on us.” Sunghoon commented.

“I mean I would. Imagine spilling mac and cheese on your ex.” Jake said, a tone of understanding.

“Well this could have been avoided if someone used their vampire senses and dodge.” Jay explained, staring right through Heeseung.

The said male shrugged, not knowing the reason why as well. He knew you were around the corner, sensing you were about to turn in a frenzy and crash onto him. But he was frozen as well.

Maybe it’s the little selfish feeling in him of wanting a reason to see you again.

How long has it been since the both of you broke up, almost three months? Heeseung can’t remember clearly. All he knows is that he had broken two years worth of relationship with the person he was still in love with. The reason? Well, things are complicated when you’re a vampire.

The other three males look at each other in understanding when Heeseung doesn’t respond. It was obvious to them that he still had feelings for you.

The way he’s eyes will follow you wherever you are in his view, longingly staring whenever you laugh or smile from afar. It didn’t go unnoticed to them, though Heeseung stubbornly denied all their accusations, insisting he had moved on.

But it was a choice he made the moment he knew the dangers of being a vampire.

It was a choice that hurt him, and you, for the sake of your safety.

“You guys are literally the worst.” You whined, sitting at the back of the passenger seat while Ryujin and Winter were staring back at you with apologetic looks.

The three of you have arrived at the party’s destination. You could already see the flashing lights inside the mansion, the silhouette of drunken students dancing to some god awful songs.

There was already random stuff thrown left and right at the front porch and roof top; confetti, newspapers, toilet papers and egg cartons?

Anyways, you were excited for the party until Ryujin pulled in front of Jay’s mansion did you found yourself in confusion. It was then they drop you a huge bomb which leads to the situation now.

“Why didn’t you tell me that the party belongs to Jay Park, aka my ex-boyfriend’s best friend!”

Winter winces at the way you whisper yelled at them while Ryujin looked at you with the most oh shit face ever.

“We were gonna tell you y/n. It’s just that the timing wasn’t right.” Winter tried to explain.

“Maybe you should have told me before we left the dorm?!!”

You were already losing your mind. The incident during lunch at the cafeteria this afternoon was still fresh in your mind. Oh god you had to face Heeseung again and you don’t know if you can take this amount of embarrassment in one day.

“Calm down y/n,” Ryujin reasoned, her voice lace with optimism. “maybe there’s a chance that he might not come?”

You gave Ryujin the most deadpanned look. “No. When there’s Jay Park, there will always be Heeseung as well.”

You watch Ryujin open her mouth to contradict but soon closes it when she realizes you were right. You raise an eyebrow at her, challenging her to elaborate in which the blonde couldn’t.

“Welp, there’s a burger joint at a gas station down the road. Should we go there instead?” Ryujin suggested.

You shook your head, a sigh of remorse escaped your lips for cock blocking their fun. It wasn't right of you to not let them, your best friends, have some fun just because you didn’t want to see your ex.

This was definitely something you need to move on and not be childish or toxic about. Plus, there was free alcohol and you knew Jay had the best in town. If you were to suffer, at least you can indulge yourself with some nice liquor.

“We’re already here right?, might as well just go in already.”

You rolled your eyes when Ryujin yelled in triumph, arms in the air with a wide grin on her face, her suggestion before this came flying out the window the second you cave in.

“Let’s go party losers!”

You and Winter glance at each other, a playful smirk exchange between each other as the three of you unbuckle your seat belts, heading towards the front entrance of the mansion.

The living room was as spacious as you remember. Back then, Heeseung would often bring you here to hang out with the others; mainly Jake, Sunghoon and Jay, with the courtesy of the owner himself of course.

It was here that you spent a lot of time together with Heeseung; watching movies, playing games and sometimes when it gets too late into the night, there was a spare room you shared with him where you would cuddle and chat for hours until the both of you would sleep in each other’s arms.

You shook your head after reminiscing the bittersweet memories. Were you really getting all sappy in the middle of a party? Sure it was definitely the happiest memory with him, but you had to pull yourself together because the reality was, you guys aren’t together anymore.

What hit the nail on the head further was the fact that you see him sitting at one of the sofas, a cup on hand while a girl was dragging him to his feet, probably begging him to dance with her as a grin was plastered on her happy face.

“I’m gonna go get a drink.” you said.

Winter didn’t stop you as you marched away from the scene into the hallway.

She saw what you had seen, watching you with a look of worry on her face as you disappeared. But Winter knows that you’ll probably need some time to think for yourself thus, she lets you go alone.

To be honest, it did hurt a little.

But it’s over between the two of you. You had no right to be jealous of the girl but you couldn’t help but realize that you’ll never get over him after seeing that.

Fuck. You need some alcohol.

It didn’t take you too long to arrive at the kitchen; you knew the place like the back of your hand. There were tons of beverages at the tables and islands, but you knew where Jay had placed his most prized liquor and you didn’t hesitate to open the cupboard under the sink.

You have to thank and apologize to Jay the next time you see him.

“Boo!”

You yelp in surprise when you almost spilled the drink while pouring it into a cup. The person who scared you laughed aloud, his voice familiar to you as it echoed throughout the empty kitchen.

“Fuck off Ni-ki” you whine in annoyance.

The male had a wide grin on his face as he hops onto the kitchen counter beside you. Honestly, it was annoying how sneaky he can be and the fact that you couldn’t feel or hear him approaching you from a distance was quite terrifying.

“Gosh, let your liver breathe for a chance would you?” he teased, obviously referring to the alcohol in your hand.

You gave him a sarcastic smirk. “Why are you here? Isn’t it past your bedtime? Where's Sunoo to tuck you in?”

He scrunched his face and stuck his tongue at you in retaliation.

“I’m assuming this is a reaction after seeing Heeseung just now?” Ni-ki said and you immediately gave him an icy sharp glare as the male put his hands up in defeat.

“Don’t even go there.” You hiss.

Ni-ki was nonchalant about your death glare and threatening words; only leaning closer as if he was about to spill a secret to you.

“Just something to add,” his words now attract your attention as you perk up your ears to listen closely. “You shouldn’t worry too much about the girl you saw with him in the living room.”

You snort at what he said, sipping on the liquid in the cup. “Would you say the same thing as Kim Hari?”

Ni-ki winced at the name mentioned. “I can’t guarantee you with that one. She’s a persistent one.”

Kim Hari. She was a girl who had her eyes on Heeseung even at the beginning of your relationship with him. Though she knew he had a girlfriend, which was you, it didn’t stop her from blatantly flirting with him.

You hated the fact that she knew Heeseung had a girlfriend, knew that he was uncomfortable with her advances, yet she continues to do so in order to get under your skin.

The only thing holding you back from potentially choking her was the fact that you trusted Heeseung, and he also reassures you that he had told her off multiple times. Honestly, that was the only thing keeping you sane.

But now that everyone knows about your breakup with Heeseung, rumours circulated that Kim Hari and Heeseung had been spotted together and that they were hooking up.

You didn’t care if he really did hook up with her after. The both of you had ended your relationship and he was a free man; he wasn’t obligated to you anymore.

It was still stupid rumours coming from the mouth of students but boy did that shit hurt when you heard it.

“What else do you want from me?” you sigh at Ni-ki as he still had that shit eating grin on his face even after telling the piece of information.

“Do you wanna play a game?”

You watch the empty glass bottle spin and spin, the opening end of the bottle stops and points at the person sitting opposite of you.

You let out a breath of relief as everyone around you laughs and teases San as he drinks a shot of soju; unable or unwilling to answer the question given to him.

You had gotten yourself into a sticky game of truth or shot; a made up alternative game of spin the bottle where whoever got chosen had to pick whether to answer a truth or take a shot of soju instead.

In a normal setting, you would be having a blast right now. But unfortunately, you took a sneaky glance at Heeseung as he drank from his cup; sitting at a sofa with his signature man spread, an amused smirk on his face as he watched San take a shot.

Why did he have to participate as well? If you knew, you would have booked it right there and then. But, you had made your presence known to the group of people playing and if you leave now….why do you have to succumb to peer pressure?

You have to remember to punch Ni-ki in the face next time you see him.

In the middle of the game, you text Ryujin and Winter to come and rescue you but the two of them somehow got involved as well, meaning you were screwed if the bottle points to you.

You and Heeseung basically have a bull’s eye on your forehead right now, your past relationship could be the source for the truth given when either of you are chosen by that stupid glass bottle of beer.

Whatever happens, you thought, the shot of soju sounds better.

“Let me spin the bottle next!”

Choi San grabbed the bottle, spinning it in the middle of the floor. It spins and spins until it stops at, lord and behold, Lee Heeseung sitting on the sofa.

The moment San makes eye contact with you across the room, a mischievous smirk and a teasing glint on his eyes, you knew you were fucked.

“Who’s a better kisser? Hari or y/n?”

Everyone in the room immediately burst into a group of whistling and howling, obviously enjoying the little scandalous question. Dread immediately washed over you, glancing as Heeseung stared at the floor with a hard look.

Please just take the shot of soju, please just take the shot of soju; you chanted in your head in desperation.

But when he looked up to make eye contact with you, his eyes reminded you of the first time he confessed to you with so much affection and adoration, you were stunned the moment he said your name.

“y/n.”

You hear the sound of people talking in excitement, some exclaim in surprise as they start to whisper to one another; glancing back and forth between you and Heeseung.

You drown out their voices. You were staring back at Heeseung, his gaze at you never left the moment he said your name. You find it hard to breathe and the next thing you know, you abruptly stood up and walked away when you saw his mouth opening to say something else.

You heard Winter calling you out as you left and Ryunjin’s loud voice as she shouts ‘asshole’ towards the doe eyed male causing the ruckus in the room.

Your legs subconsciously drag your body away towards an empty room. You slide down and rest your back against the hard door after entering, curling up and hugging your legs to your chest as you feel tears starting to prick your eyes.

Why did he have to do that? Did he know how much you cried over the break up he initiated? He doesn’t know how hard it was for you to fall asleep, to even swallow anything, feeling ruined like you were dying after he broke your heart.

He had the chance to drink the soju, to walk away or just pick Hari; but he chose to make you feel this way instead and send you mixed signals.

So you did what you knew best, you drowned your agony in rounds of alcohol at the party, feeling the liquid burning your throat. But it helps you to relax, to have fun and most importantly, it helps you forget the pain.

Don’t worry, it’s not as toxic as you think it was. Ryujin and Winter was literally the best; bringing you some alcohol as the three spent time drinking, talking and laughing at the empty room you were in while ignoring the party throughout the night.

They had the decency of holding you back and keeping you in check; they knew you were going to regret it the next morning.

So when you all decided to head back to the dorm at two in the morning, you were only slightly tipsy from all the drinking, your face warming up to some degree.

“Wait, I need to go to the bathroom.” you announce as Winter and Ryujin climb into the car. They told you to hurry up as you rush back into the mansion, heading towards the closest restroom on the ground floor.

The bathroom was so nice and clean that you didn’t mind sleeping on the floor if you could. Your eyes were so tired with eyes half-lidded that the only thing you could think of after returning to the dorm was to sleep.

You close the door of the restroom, heading back to the car as fast as possible when you hear a faint sound of groaning at the end of the hallway.

The place was quite dark; save for the party lights illuminating the hallway. There was no one other than you in the vicinity with most of the students already returning back.

You heard whispers of voices; a mix between two male and a girl before it was followed by a whimper of agony. At the corner of your eyes you spotted a trail of red spots leading towards where the voices were.

This was straight up like a horror movie. It felt like a scene in The Shining, except you were Danny without the bike and the hallway was too dark for you to see the end.

You swallow down the lump in your throat, feeling fear creeping up your body, sending a cold shiver down your spine. You feel goosebumps forming on your skin as the voices get louder and louder as you slowly walk towards it.

The closer you got, the more you were convinced that the red spots were indeed trails of blood. You caught a faint waft of a metallic smell, like a copper coin in the air. Your heart palpitated louder; you could hear and feel your heartbeat at your throat.

The scene at the end of the hallway was not what you had expected.

You close your mouth with your hand in shock, eyes wide with what you witness.

You watch Heeseung death grip a male by his neck, blood dripping down the latter’s mouth and head. Beside Heeseung was the girl you saw in the living room with him, her back against the wall with frightened eyes, hiding behind Heeseung’s protective figure.

Your gasp must have reached their ears because their attention was immediately on you.

Thanks to your distraction, the male found the perfect opportunity to escape from Heeseung’s hold. But it was enough time for you to realize that the man you saw had golden eyes which glowed in the dark and a pair of wolf ears on his head.

The man ran into a room, the sound of glass shattering echoed and you assumed he had escaped by jumping out of the window.

Heeseung let out a string of curses, a perplexed look plastered on his face as he glanced back and forth from the man’s direction to your figure.

You watch in horror, taking a step back in fear as it registered on you that Heeseung’s eyes were as red as the blood on the floor. His hands and shirt were bloody and you assumed it belonged to the injured male who had run away.

But it was nothing compared to his fangs protruding out from his upper lips, blood dripping down the corner of his mouth due to an injury.

A vampire.

A flashback to when Ryujin and Winter talked about a rumour about the supernatural creature crossed your mind. Not for a second did you believe those stupid rumour but now, you were staring back at one. You guess the joke was on you now.

You took large steps back as his eyes now zeroed onto you. You trembled at the sight and for a second, you thought this was your end right here.

But you found the strength to immediately run and not for a second did you look back.

“Welp,” Jay started with a hand on his hip, observing the broken glass window where the werewolf had escaped. “Maybe some duct tape can do the trick for now.”

The others came the minute they heard the big commotion. There were shards of glass everywhere on the floor, the curtains fluttering as a cold breeze entered the room.

Heeseung had filled in everything that happened.

The werewolf who had come uninvited to the party last minute, had the audacity to torment Jaehee, whom he had cornered just because she was affiliated with a group of vampires.

Being a ghost was always discriminated against among the supernatural species that roam earth.

When the soul of a deceased human is unable to pass peacefully, a ghost is a manifestation of that; they continue to roam around in an amiable human-like façade.

But unlike how the media have portrayed them, ghosts generally wander in solitary and don’t possess abilities or characteristics that make them a threat to anyone.

They prefer to stay away from other people’s business and instead, are in search of their own purpose in order to pass into the afterlife. In a way, they were the underdogs; the odd ones.

So when Heeseung stumbles upon Jaehee, the ghost of a woman his age wandering in the old building beside the campus, he took the opportunity to help the lost soul who had no idea she was dead in the first place.

"What did you say his name was again?" Sunghoon asks, pushing a few pieces of glass shard away from the floor. Jungwon had given Heeseung some wet cloth to wipe away the blood on his hand while Sunoo was attending to the small wound on his mouth.

"I think it was Jisung or something?" Heeseung tried to recall. "He mentioned his alpha being Bang Chan," Heeseung turned to Jay who was in deep thought. "Does that ring a bell? He said that you, K and whoever this Bang Chan person is, go way back."

Jay closes his eyes for a moment, reminiscing old memories that happened centuries ago. A few seconds of silence went by before he replied. "I mentioned to you guys before that there existed a great war between vampires and werewolves?"

The others attentively listen, nodding their heads for Jay to continue.

"K's pack, in a way, was our double agent; working together with the vampires, with me, in order to take down the werewolves."

Ni-ki raises his eyebrows in confusion. "Why would K's pack help the vampires?"

"Because the werewolves intended to eliminate Humans," Jay declared. All of them watch as Jay walks towards a table with a stack of books, pulling one in the middle, watching the tower fall apart as a few books go tumbling down on the floor.

"I think anyone with a brain can tell that by doing so can fuck up the whole balance of the system. You take out a species in a food chain, the whole pyramid topples over."

There was tension in the air at the way Jay was glaring at the fallen books. There was something else flickering across his face, maybe pain? sadness?, but it disappeared the moment he turned to face the others again.

"After the war, some packs survived and surrendered, and one of them belongs to Bang Chan's. But I don't think this little taunting had anything to do with him."

"Henchmen acting on their own?" Jake guessed right away. Jay nodded in affirmation at him.

"This is something me and K might have to do, just stay low in the meantime. Another thing―" Jay then turned towards Heeseung.

"Are you sure there was no Human witness?"

The image of your frightened face and frozen figure cross his mind.

"Yes, I'm sure of it."

You now believe that vampires are real.

When you rushed out of the mansion and climbed into the back seat of Winter’s car, your face was as white as sheets and you were dazed until Ryujin had to shake your shoulder to get your attention.

You couldn’t bare yourself to sleep. The images of Heeseung’s piercing red eyes gazing back at you kept replying in your mind as you toss and turn in your bed.

But for some reason, his gaze to you didn’t felt threatening; the fear in you was fuel from the atmosphere before that, the amount of murderous intent in the way Heeseung choke the other male with bloody hands and the tension leading up to the discovery.

You didn’t get a wink of sleep.

You had to drag yourself to get ready for morning class and your head throb a little. Winter was kind enough to give you a hangover cure and you find the pain had lessened as the class ended.

You tried your best to avoid Heeseung. He was already in a different Major than you so it was relatively easy, except when you see either of his close friends did you swerve around since it’s likely that he’ll be with them.

And also the fact that you can’t trust either of them now. They could also be vampires for all you know.

In a sleep deprived state, you nonchalantly walk at the main hallway of the west building of the campus, looking forward to eating some good dinner before heading off to dreamland for a much needed sleep.

You were yawning and wiping the tears accumulated on the corner of your eyes, minding your own business before a hand reached out to grab you by the arm, dragging you to the doors of an empty lab.

You were about to scream until the person clamped your mouth shut with the palm’s of their hand, already anticipating that you’ll shout for help.

You tried to trash around and wiggle out of the person’s grip but the minute you faced Heeseung, you immediately stopped dead in your tracks.

“If you don’t scream, I’ll let you go.” He said.

With brows furrowed and a defiant look, you lick his hand in hopes that he’ll let go, but when he stares at you with an eyebrow raised and an amused smirk, unaffected by your little trick, you glance down in embarrassment before nodding your head.

The second he lets you go, you pull yourself away from him, making sure the distance between you and him is as far as possible for you to feel safe.

Heeseung slowly retreats his hand back, feeling a little hurt by the way you immediately separate yourself from him. But at the same time, he understands why you were on guard and glaring at him cautiously.

Especially with everything you had witnessed, he doesn’t blame you.

“Listen, I just wanna explain to you about what happened.” Heeseung raises his hands up to show his palm, he needs to show you he means no harm.

“I don’t think there’s anything to explain.” You curtly reply.

He gave you a pleading look. “Please, please just listen to me. I promise you it’ll all make sense.”

With lips pressed in a deep thought, you let out a sigh of frustration, giving in to his desperate attempt to explain himself.

“Fine. But you stay where you are.” You pointed your index finger at him angrily.

Heeseung went into a period of word vomit, spilling to you everything that needs context and explanation. The more in depth he went into, the more horrified you were and it took you a moment to fully digest the information.

“Don’t tell anyone. Including Jay and the others about you knowing.” He quickly added at the end.

You gave him an almost snort of sarcasm. “Of course idiot, I don’t want to look like a freak in front of the whole student body.”

You watched as a genuine grin spread around his face, obviously entertained by your comment and the little insult you called him, but at the same time, you saw a wave of relief in his body at the way he instantly relaxed.

You realize that this was the first time the both of you spoke to each other after the break up. It was much more natural? than you expected, minus the supernatural part of the conversation.

Or maybe it's the fact that deep inside, you still wanted to talk to him, even after all the sufferings you went through.

“But I have a favor to ask, if you don’t mind. You can say it’s a bargain for keeping my mouth shut.”

Heeseung perks up when you mention the word ‘favor’, with an anticipating look as he waits for you to continue.

Jake regretted agreeing to tutor you for calculus.

No, it wasn’t because you were a frustrating student. In contrast, he was happy to help you pass the upcoming exam. Not to mention the look of shock on his face when it was Heeseung that told him that you wanted a tutor asap.

Jake regretted on agreeing because he didn’t expect to be a fucking third wheel.

The schedule was simple. After your class, the both of you would meet up at the library for the tutoring session. He didn’t mind that Heeseung wanted to tag along, as long as you were comfortable with it.

He had fun teasing the older male about his lingering affection for you, something Heeseung still denies constantly, which in turn, results in an eye roll from Jake.

It was the lingering glance towards each other from across the table, the way y/n will get distracted every time Heeseung does the bare minimum, the way Heeseung would bring coffee for you but accidently forgot to get one for him, it was those little things that make him scream internally, wishing for this to be over.

The fact that neither of them even tried to be subtle got him gagging at the amount of sexual tension in the air.

The both of you might as well make out on the table and Jake will still ask you if you’re done with the practice question. It wouldn’t make a damn difference.

Jake Sim wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Are you fucking Lee Heeseung?”

You choke on the orange juice you were peacefully drinking before Ryujin opens her mouth. You wipe the excess fluid dripping down your mouth and pat your chest as you continue to cough.

“Shin Ryujin, what the hell?!” you scowl, feeling disgust at the sticky residue of the juice around your chin. Ryujin rolled her eyes at how dramatic you were while Winter was beside her, ready to interrogate you further.

Just when you wanted a peaceful lunch.

“Answer the question y/n. Are you and Heeseung rolling in the hay?” Winter asks. In confusion, you reply in disarray.

“What?”

Ryujin gave you a deadpanned look. “Did he put his dick into your hole?”

Winter gave her a questioning look, obviously appalled by her poor choice of word, in which Ryujin shrugged at. “Did you have to be so vulgar?”

“Someone has to be the bad cop.”

You glance back and forth between the two, shaking your hand to catch their attention, with eyebrows in a furrow.

“What makes you two think that me and Heeseung are fucking?” you ask in confusion. The both of them turn to give you a stunned face.

“Winter, have you or have you not notice that Heeseung and y/n were literally eye-fucking each other without knowing whenever they are in the same vicinity.” Ryujin said in a posh manner, repositioning her posture as if she was having a normal conversation with Winter.

“Why yes Ryujin. And the way they scan each other’s body from head to toe whenever they greet each other? Might as well just take each other’s clothes off while you're at it!”

You cross your hand over your chest, giving the both of them an annoyed look as they continue their act of taunting you. “Are you both done yet?”

“Look,” Ryujin said, switching to a more serious side “There is definitely something hanging between you guys. Both of you dumbasses don’t realize it but all of us do, including Heeseung’s friends.”

“Have the both of you ever talked about why he broke up with you in the first place?”

You pause a little at Winter’s question, pressing your lips in silence, not knowing what to answer.

It’s true that ever since the situation at the party, it seems that you and Heeseung have been interacting more lately.

For over three months of complete avoidance after the break up, you had cut him out of your life, sometimes not even acknowledging his existence.

But now, it was just simple hellos and glancing at each other across the room.

Sure, sometimes you would catch yourself staring at him for too long. Maybe if he didn’t wear that damn lip ring or a pair of tight pants while sitting with his legs open you wouldn’t ogle on him too much.

Okay, maybe you were still into him a little too much but exes can still talk to each other right? It’s not like he feels the same way anymore, or not, he wouldn’t break up with you in the first place.

Whatever the tension they were referring to, you refuse to acknowledge it. You reassure yourself that it might be because you now know his secret, and that it's just him looking out to see if you’ll break the promise.

Yeah, that’s it, you thought. There’s no way it was anything more than that.

The first time you met Jaehee, you didn’t expect a ghost to look more alive than a normal human being.

Jaehee often whined and complained to him how she wanted to explore outside and have fun with girls her age.

The only person he thought was you; the person who perfectly fits the candidate criteria which is a girl (obviously) and knows the existence of the supernatural.

To be frank, you were the only human girl he knows that is aware of the supernatural, making you his only choice.

When Heeseung said that he needed help from you, which is to accompany him and the said ghost on a walk around the mall, you expected her to look like Casper the ghost or the undead looking ones from the conjuring.

With short hair cut and youthful features, she was so lively and sweet that you wonder how the girl is even remotely the same age as you.

Heeseung did tell you that he speculates that she was probably a couple hundred years older than them, and had died closer to their age. Thus, she doesn’t know anything about the current world right now.

He mentioned that Jaehee was not aware that she was even dead the first time he met her. So, he decided to take her in for a while until she could pass into the afterlife; making him her babysitter.

It was then that you understood the relationship between the two; Heeseung being more like a guardian to the girl to keep her safe in the meantime.

You can’t believe that the hint Ni-ki gave you was actually real and you felt bad for misunderstanding the situation back at the party.

But now you get why he warned you that Jaehee can be too mischievous and eager to learn about the human lifestyle.

You were probably dragged every five seconds by the hand, the girl kept questioning everything around her with such an innocent wonder that you can’t help but smile in endearment. It made you think of how cruel it was for her to stay in the real world rather than passing in peace.

It was also fun watching her reaction to riding an escalator for the first time; seeing her turn rigid and holding onto your jacket with her eyes closed, curling to your side in a cowardly manner.

Heeseung throughout the whole time trailed behind the two, hands in his pocket with a small smile on his face as you gently patted the frightened girl on the shoulder, reassuring her that the escalator was safe.

He did the right thing to invite you.

After what seems like hours of window shopping, you teach her a thing or two about fashion and now, she seems more obsessed with the idea of dressing up and modelling than actually buying the clothes.

This leads her to beg you to join as well, which you gave in and let out a sigh of defeat the moment she gave you a pair of puppy dog eyes.

You stood in front of the mirror of the changing room. The lights were blinding your eyes off and the heat radiating from it was not helping as well. The mirror was tall and large, showing your reflection from top to bottom.

It was a simple white floral dress that reached your knees, halter straps with a bare shoulder look giving it a breathable and easy design built for comfort.

It was definitely a type of dress you would often wear in the summer but now that it’s closing to autumn, the weather was a bit more chilling.

You choose this just for the heck of it; already missing the sunny weather.

“Tadaa! Heeseung, tell me how I look?” you hear Jaehee’s voice from outside the changing booth. She must have finished trying on her outfit.

“Pretty decent for a ghost.”

You let out a small chuckle when you heard Jaehee pouts and whines at Heeseung’s monotone response. You knew from the tone of his voice that the male was only joking.

He did that pretty often with you whenever you wore something new to show off to him. He would pat your head, telling you he was just joking before proceeding to whisper in your ear, how beautiful you look.

Well, last time when you were still in a relationship.

“y/n! Come out! I wanna see your outfit.” Jaehee said in a sing-song manner. You adjust and pat down the material of the dress one more time before opening the door.

“Tadaa.” You emerge from the changing, gesturing to your outfit with fake enthusiasm to try and match the ghost’s excitement.

Jaehee claps and squeals in delight before linking elbows with you. She dragged you both together to stand in front of Heeseung, who was sitting on a chair, preoccupied with his phone.

When he looks up, you suddenly take note of the way his eyes widen and his posture straighten, his hands slowly putting down the device.

His eyes rake down from your body to your head attentively as if drinking in your appearance, lips slightly parted and Adam's apple bobbing as if you had him under a spell.

It was at this moment, you finally understood what the others meant by the weird tension.

You suddenly realize that maybe the dress was showing too much leg; your shoulder being exposed excessively as well.

When you start to feel warmth at the tips of your ears, hands fidgeting and legs moving to shift your weight, did Heeseung whip his head to look away, a hand covering his mouth. He tried hard not to glance your way.

“I have another dress I wanna wear! I’ll be right back!” Jaehee, who was obvious about the sudden change in mood, skips back to the changing room, leaving the two of you alone.

There was an awkward silence present in the room and it didn’t help that Heeseung was still looking away from you.

“I’m….gonna go change.” You nervously said, tip toeing in a fiddly manner towards your own changing room to save yourself from the embarrassment.

When you were gone from his sight, Heeseung let out a deep sigh of relief, back slouching on the chair.

He massaged his face, the image of you in that dress looking so sexy and alluring kept replaying his mind. The way the outfit showed off your shoulder and the way it hugged your curves; Heeseung groan in agony just thinking about your fucking legs.

He tried to suppress the arousing feeling in him. He can’t stop reminiscing the times where he could hold your body against his, leaving butterfly kisses on your collarbone, his hands caressing the skin of your thighs as he goes higher and higher until he hears your voice hitch—

He let out a muffled groan. He can’t believe he was acting like a pubescent teenager fantasizing about illicit things by just seeing fucking skin on a girl.

You obviously were uncomfortable with his gaze, the look of confusion on your face before he looked away. He can’t keep leading you on like this, like he was in love with you, which he madly is and will always be, but he was the one who broke your heart.

You didn’t deserve to be played like this.

But he misses you. He miss you so fucking damn much.

He hasn't even told the other’s yet about you knowing that they were vampires. He can already predict the disappointment in Jay’s face if he knew.

No human was supposed to know the supernatural exists; whether it be vampires, werewolves, ghosts or even demons, whom Jay has mentioned still roam among human civilization in hiding.

He had tons of episodes where he accidentally came across humans in his vampire characteristics, the look of fear in their eyes made him accept the fact that he is no longer a human.

But what really scares him the most was the fact that you’ll also feel the same, that you’ll also see him as anything but a blood sucking monster.

How did you end up here in the first place?

You let out a soft groan, pushing your head up from the most aching position you’ve ever slept on. A pulsing headache overwhelms your sensation.

Your throat is dry and you squeeze your eyes a couple of times as your view becomes increasingly clear.

It took a while for you to realize that you were in a dark warehouse. The window outside indicates that it was way deep in the night, only the moonlight shone through the glass pane.

A few strands of hair had stuck on your face. You were about to push it away until you realized you couldn’t move your arms. It was at this moment you took in the fact that you were tied to a chair, tight ropes circle around your body and holding you down captive with your hands behind your back.

“What the hell?” you question, confused at the situation. It wasn’t until you noticed three figures observing you from a far at the other side of the room, gold eyes shining through the dark, spacious warehouse.

“Jisung, she’s up!”

“Shut up, Hyunjin. I know she’s up!”

“Guys, I don’t think this is a good idea. What if Chan-“

“-Chan Hyung won’t know anything if we don’t fuck this up Felix.”

The loud conversation caught your attention as the figures slowly emerged out of the shadows. The one in the middle immediately sparks familiarity in your head.

It was the male you saw at the party, the person who Heeseung had beat up for threatening Jaehee, the one who is a werewolf.

The other two follow suit, standing side by side with each other, looking slightly perplexed compared to Jisung.

From the outside, they look like normal, everyday, mundane students but you know you shouldn’t be fooled by what you can only see with the naked eye.

“Where am I?” you asked.

Jisung gave you a smirk. “Before I answer you human,” he said the last word with such distaste that he almost spit. “I have a few questions of my own.”

Walking closer until he was an arm’s length from where you were captured, he tilted his head slightly towards the other two. Hyunjin and Felix understood the gesture, silently walking away until it was only the two of you in the dark, spacious room.

You put up a guard, uncomfortable at the way he was staring at you unpleasantly. You swallow the fear creeping up your throat, feeling anxious at the fact that you had just been kidnaped, captured and brought into an unknown place.

The last thing you could remember was walking home after studying in the library before your mouth was clamped shut with a piece of cloth, presumably containing the drug that knocks you out cold. But what would you offer to a bunch of werewolves? unless-

“You need me because of Heeseung.” you clarified.

It makes sense right? He saw you at the party. He probably saw you, Heeseung and Jaehee together in public as well. What else would he take you as a hostage for? To take revenge on Heeseung for beating him up?

Jisung gave you a rather taunting chuckle. “Close enough, but that’s not really what I’m after.”

“Then what are you really after?”

“Information,” Jisung said, hiding his hands in his pocket nonchalantly as if he didn’t commit a crime. “Tell me where The Sanctuary is and the location of the Dust and I’ll set you free.”

The Sanctuary? Dust? You stared at him in confusion. “I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

The way his mood shifts tells you that he didn’t expect that answer from you. You watch the corner of his lips turn downwards and his eyes fuming with anger, lips press into a thin line making you anxious at what he was about to do to you.

“You don’t know don’t you?”

You flinch when he reaches out to grab your jaw, pulling you forcefully to look at his rather haunting golden eyes.

You stiffen immediately at the contact. You know the minute he had the chance, if he just twisted your jaw with enough force and the right angle, you would be gone in a second.

So you sit still, waiting for his next step with hands forming into balls of fist to hide the fear, nails digging at the palm of your hand. The rope around you felt even more suffocating now, cold sweat trailing down your back.

“I hear that you and him have been together for a while. It seems that he didn’t tell you anything?”

“We broke up months ago. It seems like you didn’t get the latest news? And here I though you’ll have a keener sense that Heeseung”

You didn’t know what came over you. It was not the right time for you to get sassy, knowing that he had the advantage to kill you now. But it kinda ticks you off that he mentioned your past relationship with Heeseung.

“You humans really do know how to bark don’t you?” He sneered. You could feel his hold on you tightens and you winced when his sharp nails dig into the skin of your jaw and cheeks.

“Even if you don’t know anything, you can make a really good bait,” He examined you further. “You really do look hideous up close.”

You snorted, “Don’t worry, you’re not exactly the level of Jacob Black as well.”

“What the fuck is that?”

“I don’t know if I should feel sorry or jealous about you not knowing twilight,” you said.

You should really stop rambling before he actually kills you.

He gave you a distasteful look. “I don’t indulge in foolish human culture.”

You were about to retort before you saw him immediately perk up.

He looked agitated but there was a sense of expectation in the way he turned towards a figure approaching the two of you. His lips curl into a provocative smirk as he turns to stand behind you, the strong grip still attached to your face.

“Well, well,” He let out a very amused chuckle “it seems like your saviour is here.”

Your eyes widen as Heeseung emerges from the shadow. He looked dishevelled and you could see that he was breathing rapidly. But he could only look at you the moment he stepped out into the lights.

“One move and she’s gone.”

A shiver went down your spine when you heard the werewolf from behind you. You could see Heeseung still held his gaze at you, eyes soft and filled with reassurance, as if to tell you that everything will be alright.

You let out a gasp when Jisung twists your head in an angle, moving it enough for you to react.

Heeseung immediately moves his attention to the male behind and his gaze hardens at the way the werewolf was smirking in triumph in getting the vampire’s attention.

“Your watchers weren’t really that challenging,” Heeseung said “They were more cooperative than I thought.”

Jisung was displeased and honestly taken aback by the words. How could a mere Alter Vampire, a human turned into a vampire, be able to get through two werewolves that survived the war centuries ago?

They were far more superior than him. Even a pureblood born vampire struggles in a fight with them. How could he—

“Han Jisung.”

You couldn’t comprehend how a simple voice could make all the strands of hair at the back of your nape stand up.

The voice was commanding and you could tell that this person knew the power behind his orders, because the place was overwhelmingly suffocating the minute he showed himself not far beside Heeseung.

Jisung’s hold on you quiver, as if he was affected by the voice in such a severe manner as his breathing intensified and you could tell he was on edge.

“Let go of her, Jisung.”

The male behind you shook his head. “No! I won’t! We were this close to getting the apprehend Chan-hyung. If we can get access to the The Sanctuary, the witch’s hut then—”

“Then what Jisung? The war has been over for centuries. We lost and it’s time that we move on” Bang Chan let out a sigh of disappointment, trying to reason with the younger male but Jisung was still persistent on going with his plan.

“I’ve already told Felix and Hyunjin to keep an eye on you, and you went behind my back? behind the Alpha’s permission?”

Jisung’s face contorted in betrayal. He finally understands how Heeseung managed to go through them with ease, they were with the Alpha in the first place. He bit his lips in frustration.

“Jisung, let go of her.”

Bang chan’s voice was like a spell, hypnotic almost, as he slowly prowled towards them. Jisung’s hold on you was quivering harder, as if he was trying to resist the order given to his Alpha, the leader of the pack.

But to no avail, Bang Chan was far more superior, far more ancient, and because of that, his pheromones were absolute.

Jisung knew that. That was why he stood frozen in his place before he slowly let go of your jaw and fell on his knees with his head hanging, no longer able to resist the order.

You feel how powerful the pheromones were. Your vision starts to blur and your lungs feel like it is squeezing against your chest with such force that you start to break out into cold sweats.

You were at the verge of passing out, eyes heavy and threatening to shut close. You don't know how long you can take with this suffocating feeling as you let a deep breath of agony.

It wasn’t until you felt the ropes around you begin to untangle and you felt a pair of cold hands holding on to your face, softly calling out to your name.

It was Heeseung, and he urged you to wrap your arms around his neck as he carried you bridal style, lifting you up from the chair into his arms.

Everything felt like a fever dream like you were going in and out of consciousness. You hear Heeseung and Bang Chang exchange a few words but it was muffled due to your condition so you weren’t able to make up their conversation.

The last thing you remember was Heeseung whispering to you that he got you and that you were safe from harm's way before you passed out.

You almost thought whatever happened to you was a dream, because the next day, you woke up from your bed feeling more normal than ever.

It wasn’t until you noticed a note on your bedside did you realize it was all real, and also the fact that you still felt a little iffy; no thanks to the drug and pheromones physiologically affecting your body to the core.

I’m sorry.

It was a simple note, but it conveyed to you thousands of emotions that Heeseung couldn’t put in words.

Of course he would apologize, you thought, gripping on the piece of paper as you try to suppress the dejected feeling in you.

It was the same words that utter out of his mouth when he broke up with you. No explanation, no elaboration on why he wanted to break up, just a simple apology afterward.

You knew he wanted to say something more but saying those words was easier, because he genuinely felt sorry, but you don’t even know why he was apologizing for? Sorry for falling out of love? Sorry for dragging this relationship out? Sorry for breaking your heart?

And now, was he apologizing for getting you involved with the supernatural? or was it for letting you go through a whole process of getting kidnapped and endangering your life?

You didn’t like it at all, as you wiped the tears at the corner of your eyes, threatening to escape as you recall the memory in your mind.

It felt like he was pushing you away again, keeping you hidden, keeping you safe but hurting you at the same time.

The werewolf mentions that Heeseung didn’t tell you everything about him, and you imagine how much more was Heeseung keeping a secret from you.

Heck, he hasn’t even told the others about you knowing and you wonder if it had anything to do with the information that Jisung mentioned.

It made you realize that if the both of you don’t talk about it, it would only make the wound even more unbearable.

You were honestly so happy when the two of you were getting closer, even if the both of you considered each other as acquaintances; it was better than being complete strangers.

It’s as if the gap between you two were within an arm’s reach ever since you knew that he was a vampire.

But now, he was so far away from you. Like a star in the night; he was so close yet so far from your reach.

It was what you thought when you went to the balcony of the 3rd floor of Jay’s mansion, opening the sliding door to see Heeseung leaning on the railing, his head looking up towards the dark sky.

At that moment, you really thought he was among the stars that night.

You close the sliding door, muffling the sound and music coming from the party down in the living room. When you arrived, your first mission was to find Heeseung among the crowds.

But when you bump into Jay on the way, he gives you a knowing smirk, an eyebrow raised as he gestures to the stairs, mouthing to you where Heeseung was, as if he knew you were searching for the male.

He knows.

“Is Jake your messenger dog now?” you said, tucking your hands into the pockets of your jacket as you feel the autumn chill against your exposed skin, causing you to shiver.

You wonder how he could resist the cold breeze with just a black t-shirt, a white cap and trousers until you realize, of course he can, he was a vampire after all. They were the embodiment of coldness.

Heeseung turned around to face you with a small smile, pearly white teeth threatened to show itself as you stroll to stop beside him, hands rested on the railings as well.

“I get it that the message was delivered well?” He asked.

You nodded. “I even gave him a treat for helping me pass the test.” You let out a giggle, fingers fiddling against the steel railings when the conversation died down. Heeseung had folded his arms and rested against it.

“So,” you started, shifting your weight between the balls of your feet out of nervousness “Why did you ask Jake to tell me to come meet you at the party?”

Heeseung stared out of the distance, licking his bottom lip out of habit when he was anxious. You could tell he was trying to recollect himself, finding the right words to articulate himself to you.

You waited there, basking in the cold breeze of the night.

“The day I found out I turned into a vampire was a few months ago,” He said. “I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I was confused, so unsure of myself on what to do.”

“Jay really helped me out during those times but then, I started to think about what being a vampire really meant.” He turns slightly to meet your gaze.

“You don’t know what the supernatural world has to offer, y/n. It was a lot to take in. Enemies, danger and dark magic lurk everywhere, wherever path I take, and don’t get me started on the immortal and blood sucking thing.”

“It took a great toll on me, like something was sucking my humanity bit by bit, tearing me apart like a sheet of paper and it was at that point that I knew this was my fate and that there was no escape to it. I- I don’t think I can even trust myself as well.”

You reach out to gently place a hand on top of his and you could physically see him immediately calm down. The both of you stare at the way he moves to lace his fingers with yours, something about the action made the both of you realize how complete it looked.

“And then I thought about the future, what it meant to my family and the friends around me and—“

His words died down when he turned to look at you, an unbearable expression on his face and you knew what meant before he even finished his sentence.

His thumb rub circles around the back of your hand, feeling how warm you are compared to him.

“When I heard that he was taking you hostage, I think I almost went into rampage mode,” He laughed out with such nervousness that you knew he only did it because you knew he would.

“If it weren’t for their Alpha being there, maybe you’ll see what I am capable of.” He stopped to look at your reaction.

You only press your lips in silence, remembering the time where he held the werewolf by his neck at the party. They are powerful creatures, no doubt but Heeseung— he was different. There was no way he would intentionally hurt someone without a reason.

“That’s why, I need to show you this,” with his other hand, you watch him pull a sachet bag from his pocket, “This is dust. It’s an item desired by many, made by a witch and Jay is the only one who possesses it. It only works for humans to make them forget about the supernatural. Using this, you can—“

“Wait, wait—“ you stop him from continuing, taken aback by his sudden proposition, “—you’re telling me to forget about everything? Are you insane Heeseung?”

“You don’t understand, don’t you? When you stumble across me at that party, I thought that was the end, that you’ll finally be afraid of me, heck even think I’m a monster.”

You search his eyes in disbelief. “Why would I even think of that? You know that’s not true.”

Sure you were afraid the first time, but what kind of person wasn’t? But being with him after makes you realize that it didn’t change who he was, he was still Heeseung and he was very much not a monster.

He let out a low sigh. “I knew that. That’s why I took the chance, that’s why I didn’t tell the others about you knowing. I wanted to let you know that I was still the person I was before. But I can’t let what happened slip by again.”

He shook his head, his eyes pleading for you to understand. “Please, I’m begging you, I don’t think I can let anything happen to you. Keeping you safe is all I fucking wanted.”

His voice crack at the end, biting on his lower lips to keep him from breaking down in front of you. You understand now why he broke up with you.

You try to blink away the tears threatening to spill but to no avail; Heeseung watches as it flows down your cheeks as you punch at his chest in fury.

“You idiot.” you lent another punch to his chest but Heeseung could barely feel the force as he continued to stare at your upset face.

“And here I thought you broke up with me because you fell out of love, or maybe you finally realised that I wasn’t the one anymore. How selfish can you be to break up with me, only to say that was in favor of my safety!”

You didn’t know how many times you punched him right in the chest until he moved to hold your wrist. At this point, you couldn’t stop the tears flowing down your cheeks as your sobs echoed in the air.

Heeseung was silent the whole time.

“No matter how hurt my heart is, I’ll always be here for you,” You whimper, “Please don’t let me go Heeseung.”

Heeseung could feel his heart broken into millions of pieces. He was distorted, everything inside him shake, bend and break when you looked at him with those eyes and the walls and fences he built came crumbling down.

He took you in his arms, feeling your warmth against his body as he dived into the crook of your neck. He felt your hands clawing and clenching at the fabric of his shirt in desperation, pressing him closer to you.

He basks in your sweet scent, a mix of vanilla and something floral. To him, you smell like home where he truly belongs and at that moment, he knew you got him wrapped around your finger.

He’ll never let you go anymore.

Heeseung broke the hug to caress your face, wiping away any dried tears on your cheeks. You lean closer to rub the tip of your nose against his and Heeseung reciprocate back.

He traced his fingers over your features, steely eyes succumbing to how beautiful you look before it stopped to your lips. You notice his gaze through his eyelashes as his thumb rests on the cushion of your lower lips.

You can feel his breath tickling your cheek bones. He leans closer, palm holding the side of your face before he slowly closes his eyes and captures your lips with his.

Immediately a burst of butterflies invade your stomach, feeling his lips against yours was feeding the hunger that was starved in you when he was gone. You clench harder on the fabric of his shirt at the satisfying notion.

Heeseung felt the ache in his throat disappear the moment he got a taste of your sweet lips. No amount of blood could ever soothe the itch he felt losing you and may he dared confess, you tasted better than any blood he tasted.

He was addicted to you.

Heeseung broke the kiss in such a sudden manner that you let out a soft whimper. Your thirst was not quite quenched yet.

A little in him fucking love the way you look right now, lips swollen and eyes half lidded. He couldn’t wait to see how you look if he went even further.

“I didn’t hook up with Hari. I wanted to tell it to you during the game but you left before I could explain.” He whispered.

Slightly dazed, you swallow down your saliva before replying. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

He pushes you gently against the railing, pressing his body further into your body. His other hand trailed to rest on your waist before he rested his forehead against yours and suddenly, you were hyperaware at the amount of lust and desire pooling in his eyes at the way he was staring at your lips.

“I wanna show you how ruined I can be at just a taste of your lips. I want you to bring me on my knees,” He moved to lick your bottom lip, nibbling at the flesh, inducing a moan from your mouth at the motion.

“I want you to break me and make me fall apart.”

He captures your lips once more but this time, you can feel how desperate and needy it was. You felt the railing behind you digging on your back as Heeseung continued to ravish your mouth.

He let his tongue slip into your mouth and felt it explore every inch of you. You let out a string of muffled moans against his lips and it only tugged on his arousal even more.

You were out of breath, desperate to break the connection, but your carnal needs out weigh your own lungs. So you started to claw at the back of Heeseung’s neck, feeling his hair in between your fingers to draw the kiss even more deeper.

You never knew loving could hurt so good.

He seems to notice your squirming, hesitating to break the kiss but the minute he let’s go, he dives into the crook of your neck. A small sigh escapes as you breathe in a few gasps of air.

“Heeseung.” you weakly called out. You let out a whimper when he continued to kiss your neck to your collarbone, feeling his lips leave wet kisses on the skin.

Though you tilted your head to the side, you grabbed onto his shoulder to get his attention. “Not here.”

Your pleading cries caught his attention and before you knew it, Heeseung grabbed you by the wrist at such speed that you didn’t notice that he was leading you towards a familiar guest room, away from the crowding noise of the party downstairs.

It was the guest room the both of you would often use, both for cuddling and also some illicit activities that was once the reason why Jay refused to let you guys use the room anymore.

Heeseung didn’t hesitate to connect his lips once more to your neck the minute he locked the door. His teeth nibble and graze against the sensitive surface and you can’t help but moan when he moves to cup one of your breasts, kneading the soft flesh through your shirt.

The both of you moved closer to the edge of the bed as Heeseung continued to pleasure you. Removing your jacket, you let your hands travel down to his chest until you felt the hard outline of his cock against the fabric of his trousers.

Heeseung let out a small groan against your neck as you rub the hardened cock, the friction was causing his toes to curl and his hips to buck against the palm of your hands.

“Let me suck you off.” you breathe out.

Heeseung felt his breath hitch a bit, the mere thought of your lips wrapping around his head sends a fury of lust coursing through his body. He already felt some precum leaking out of his cock and the tent only grew bigger when you began to unbuckle his pants.

“Fuck y/n,” He groaned, watching you began to kneel against hard floor, pulling his trousers until it pooled on his feet. “Are you trying to make me cum before we even start?”

You let out a small laugh, “You were the one who told me you wanted my lips to break you and make you fall apart.”

Heeseung let out a loud sigh as you pulled on his boxers, freeing his hard and aroused cock from the confinement. He let his fingers thread through your hair before It rested on a secure grip behind your head.

If you were going to suck him off, he wanted the best view to watch you untangle him.

“Then I am at your mercy.” He whispered.

You rest your hand on his thigh before shoving his length into your mouth. Heeseung let out a whined moan, feeling his cock get engulfed by your warm mouth and feeling your tongue dragging at the side of his length where all the veins were protruding out from the stimulation.

You watch from above as Heeseung closes his eyes from pleasure, shuddering ever so often when you let your tongue slip past his slit and tasting the salty precum.

Heeseung began to groan louder when you hollowed your cheeks, focusing on going up and down his length. He was enjoying the view from above, watching his cock disappearing inside your mouth.

“Fucking shit y/n.” Heeseung’s grip on the back of your head went tighter and you felt him slowly move his hips forward. His action caused his sensitive head to rub against the back of your throat. He was so hard, so big and so solid in your mouth that it was stretching the corners beyond the limits.

“your mouth feels so fucking good. That’s it baby, right there, yeah just like that.” He praised, eyes rolled to the back at the pleasure.

You tried to control the pace by gripping onto his thighs but Heeseung continued to deep throat you and fucking your mouth until he was a moaning mess. Tears were starting to sting your eyes and you fought hard on your gag reflex to avoid getting choked.

With one last thrust, his thigh clenches and you watch as he throws his head back, releasing his hot seeds into your mouth. You continue to pump the remaining length but your mouth stays attached to his head, welcoming his cum into your mouth.

You close your eyes shut, swallowing every drop of his seeds until it drips from the corner of your mouth to your chin.

Heeseung’s breathing was labored and he pulled out of your mouth once his high had died down. You relish in the bitter taste of his cum before wiping any excess dripping down.

A small sigh escaped his lips, trying to recover from the intense orgasm. It was everything he dreamed of, it was everything he wanted.

You had always gave him the best head, but being away from you for three months, it was like torture every time he wanted to jerk off.

He always imagine his hand as your wet cunt or your mouth, but even after reaching his climax, it never felt as good as actually having you, which in turned causes him to feel sexually frustrated.

There was something endearing at the way he trailed his hand to your glistening lips, a thumb pressing on the lower part. As much as he wants you to abuse him with those pretty lips of yours, it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his desire.

“I need you baby, tell me you want this too.” Heeseung tug at your chin, prompting you to stand up. You wrap your hands around his neck as he gently places his hands onto your hips.

“I want you Hee, I want you so bad.”

You mumbled before your lips connected with his. His arm trailed downwards at your back before clutching onto your ass, shoving his bare hard cock against your abdomen.

There was so much desperation in the way he dry hump you. You can’t help but raise a leg to feel the delectable friction even more, giving excess to him as he holds onto the back of your thigh to hook it to his hip.

The knot under your stomach grew deeper as he continued to rub against you. All you can think of is the wetness pooling in your panties as Heeseung continues to nibble at the bottom of your lips.

The mattress cushions your fall when Heeseung pushes you. From where you lay, you watch him quickly pulled his shirt off before he was aiding you in taking yours as well.

“Your so beautiful, so fucking gorgeous you know that?”

The minute you took your bra off Heeseung was quick to murmur those praises while leaving feathering kisses on your cleavage. Every touch of his lips sends waves of pleasure to your core but the minute he sucks a nipple while simultaneously pinching at the other gets you arching your back.

Heeseung worshipped your breast as you continued to mewl and moan at every flick of his tongue against your nipple; gripping on the sheets of the bed while the other was nicely tugging at his hair.

He released you from his mouth when he heard your breath hitch, now tugging at your skirt to remove it. “Do you touch yourself thinking of me?”

You blush at how blunt his words were. Slightly taken aback, you pressed your lips shut, but in fact, the times where you did feel aroused after the break up, you find yourself calling out his name as you pleasured yourself; your face flush with shame when you realize after.

Your silence was all the confirmation he needed.

“Did you touch yourself like this?” He began to rub your folds over your panties, two fingers gliding over before stopping to circle around the sensitive nub of your pussy.

“Heeseung!” you moan, feeling your core pulsate at the friction. Your nails dig into his forearms as you feel your thighs twitch at every teasing motion he did to your clit.

He moved closer to you, watching the way your mouth was agape, eyes squeezing shut when his fingers moved to directly touch your wet folds. Every moan and whimper was music to his ears and he felt something raging and burning in him at the way you call his name.

As much as he likes to finger you until you are a mess, he removes your panties before tossing them to the side, moving closer to align his length against your core.

“Tell me if it hurts, okay?” He tenderly caressed your cheeks, as you nodded.

You couldn’t hold back a loud moan when he slid into you. The stretch was foreign, a bit uncomfortable and it was at this moment you realize how big Heeseung was.

It took you a few seconds to adjust to his size, your walls clenching to every surface of his cock and then you felt it hit you like a truck; the most euphoric pleasure you felt as he filled you to the brim until his pelvis was on yours.

Broken moans erupt from you as Heeseung thrust into you, moving in and out once he heard you begging for him to move. You find yourself reciprocating his movement, bucking your hips to match his thrust.

You grab a hold of the sheets. The pleasure was so overwhelming and you felt the bubble in you slowly growing bigger and bigger, waiting for that one push to finally pop.

Heeseung was equally as star struck, groaning ever so often on your ears as his arms, holding him above you, flexed at the side of your face. At this point, the bed frame was swaying at every movement of his hips, but his only focus was how tight and fuckable you feel.

“Fuck,” you cursed as Heeseung quickens his pace, “Right there Hee, I’m close.”

When your walls clench tightly around his cock at a particular thrust, Heeseung wasted no time than to repeatedly hit that deep spot. He went absolute feral, his hips wouldn’t stop moving, his pace was fast but he made sure his head railed onto that little bud perfectly.

“Cum for baby, show me how good I make you feel.”

He groans lowly, hands now gripping your hips to intensify every thrust. Though he was relentless, you see the longing in his fogging and half lidded eyes. He trailed his hand to your cunt, pressing and playing with you clit to drive you over the edge even more.

You don’t know how many times you’ve choked over calling out his name. You could only feel your orgasm nearing as he continues to mercilessly hit that perfect spot and circulating his finger over your sensitive knob.

He wanted to see you unravel, and unravel you did when you cried out his name, your orgasm washing over you like waves.

The only view you see was the ceiling as you arch your back, toes curling. The bubble that was building up in you burst into oblivion, and you want nothing more than to feel like this forever with Heeseung.

Your walls clenched so tightly onto him that it became the final verdict for him to cum as well, his hoot seeds filling you up. He grunted, biting on his lower lips at the sheer amount of pleasure that overwhelmed him until he swore he saw stars.

Heeseung slowly pushes through a few final thrusts hoping to savour the orgasm the both of you shared until he no longer feels ropes of cum pouring out.

He pulled out of you, collapsing at the space beside you. The both of you were panting and covered with sweat, still recovering from the climax. Heeseung’s mind was dizzy and exhausted at cumming twice but he shuffled to lay on his side to face you.

His push a few strands of hair stuck to your face and smiled at the way you were still dazed, mouth agape and heartbeat in disarray.

“Hey,” He softly called out, swallowing down his saliva “I love you.”

In contrast how he was previously, Heeseung said those words with the utmost adoration, his doe eyes staring back at you. His hair was a mess but it only adds to the tenderness of the moment as you place your hand on his with a smile on your face.

“I love you too, idiot.”

You look so perfect beside him. He was so stupid to let you go, and of course you’ll want to stay with him. He’ll show the world how much you mean to him.

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@mildlystupid @heejaies

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