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an-absolute-travesty · 4 years ago

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Smokey Skies and Pretty Fires

Hecking FINALLY

This took like a whole ass month my dudes

There was no prompt, just some good ol self indulgent marelinh :) (that started as a joke but-)

About: Marella x Linh, vigilante arsonist/fire fighter au

Word count: ~4,250

Tag list: @cadence-talle @ruewen-and-rising @lemontarto @a-lonely-tatertot @clearlykeefitz @percabetn @vibing-in-the-void-deactivated2 @sewersewersewercouch @everyonehasthoughts @imaramennoodle @enbies-and-felonies @blxckh0les42 @rainbowtay-11 @callas-starkflower-stew @impostertamsong @appalyneinstitute1 @stars-and-splendor @anna-without-an-e @mistythegirlfluxmess @we-have-no-bananas-today @we-wont-dissapear

Warnings: corrupt governments, fire, swearing

Linh bent down, examining the ash that covered the ground.

Some of the structure still remained, but very little of it. This was intentional, and the perp knew what they were doing.

The long string of arson incidents on government buildings was getting to be too much. At first, Linh didn't mind much. No one was ever hurt, the files inside were saved and released to the public, no fire ever spread to other buildings. But as a fire investigator and, due to her hydrokinesis, a firefighter it was getting kind of annoying. She had better things to do with her time.

She felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey Song, come over here for a minute."

It was her boss. She, obviously, followed.

"Chief Zaldo."

They nodded.

"I have a special assignment for you. We've gotten word that the arsonist may be attacking the courthouse next. We need you to scope out the place and put out the fire."

"Not stop the fire?"

"No. These people, or this person, might be dangerous. Just put it out, don't engage. Try to catch their face."

Linh nodded. She...wasn't great at taking orders, but she could try.

"Do you know when this is happening?"

"Three days. We hope to get more details soon."

"Who's your source?"

"Confidential information. Now go back out there, the folks will get suspicious soon."

"They don't know?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Song,"

"I have the right. Are...are you sure something bad won't happen, Chief?"

Zaldo sighed.

"No. No, I'm not."

~*~

Linh sat in the parking lot of the building next to the courthouse in the most nondescript car she could obtain.

... That being her own. The higher ups didn't exactly give her department the most funds. That went straight to the police sector. She stared at the news on her phone as reports came in of a protest across town. If she wasn't stuck in a stuffy government provided position she'd be down there with them.

She looked out the window once again. So far there were no signs of the arsonists yet.

She sipped on her mostly milk coffee. This seemed like it was going to be a long night.

~*~

At nearly three a.m. Linh awoke to a warm glow outside her car.

Shit.

Her orders from the Chief Had been forgotten completely. Without hesitation, she sprung from her seat and looked around frantically for the culprit.

There. A small figure was running away from the blaze. Linh chased.

"Hey! Kid! Get back here!"

The figure kept running. She couldn't blame them. She would too.

Luckily she was significantly taller than the person and caught up quick. It was probably very ill-advised, but she tackled them to the ground.

So much for "do not engage."

In the light of the still raging fire she saw that the apparent arsonist was a girl. She was about Linh's age with blonde hair and pretty eyes and-

CHRIST! LINH, SHE'S A SERIAL ARSONIST, GET IT TOGETHER.

Linh shook off her brief moment of lesbian brain fog.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

"I could ask you the same." the blonde girl looked in her eyes with a challenge.

"Only one of us was just caught in the act. You're going to jail."

"Am I?"

In one swift movement the girl shifted so she was on top of the pin.

"Welp, I'm going to head out now. Good luck with that fire."

She got up. Linh was still frozen in place as she ran away.

She turned around mid run and paused.

"Oh, the name's Marella. Not Mare, not Ella, no nicknames. Make sure you tell the papers that."

With a wink she was gone.

~*~

Linh sat in the Chief's office, twiddling her thumbs until they got there.

She had put out the fire that night. In fact, a lot of the structure of the courthouse was saved. When she came into work the next day she was welcomed with a warm applause.

When they walked into the room, she stood respectfully. Before she could greet them, they started talking.

"Song, how'd it go? Did you get any info?"

"Um...no, no I didn't. They must've run the other way."

"Dammit. That's okay. The fire's out, that's what matters. The cops can do the rest."

"Yeah, I guess." Linh couldn't meet their eyes.

~*~

Marella looked over the morning paper with disappointment.

"What's up?" Sophie said as she peered over her shoulder.

"They didn't even mention the fire, I made it extra dramatic and everything."

"Oof, guess we have to try again."

"Ugh." Marella flicked her wrist and set the paper to flame, it turned to ash as it hit the floor, "I'm so tired of these assholes. Peaceful protests don't work, aggressive protests don't work. These council bitches are stubborn. Our requests are reasonable, but nooooooo. Can't even let us have a real say in who controls everything."

Sophie hummed noncommittally.

"Like I said, we have to try again. Fill the skies with smoke, they have to notice eventually. Just like Forkle always tells us. Oh, and it's your turn to empty the dishwasher today by the way, Biana said she would put them all in your bed if you forget again,"

Marella waved her off, returning to her black coffee.

~*~

The next day, Marella went through the same motions as usual. She had leaked where she would be lighting up again, the first time was a risk but if all their cops were like the last she'd be perfectly fine.

And if it was the same cop...more than perfectly fine.

As she hauled the boxes of files out of the city hall she noticed a particular car sitting in the parking lot.

Guess she would see her favorite officer today.

Soon after the blaze started building, the woman got out of her car. Marella didn't run away this time, rather walked towards her.

"Lovely night isn't it?'

"You again."

"The one and only." Marella turned to her blaze. "Strangely beautiful, don't you think?"

"Yeah... I mean no- I mean-" The woman sighed. "Why are you doing this?"

Marella shrugged. "Well, it's simple. Peaceful protests seem useless at the moment so we're taking a more hands-on approach."

"No, why are you doing this? Not this...group, if there is one, why are you risking your freedom for this?"

"What freedom?"

Marella walked to her car. As she drove away she saw a large wave come from the fire hydrant, putting out the building in one go.

~*~

As Linh walked into the office, Zaldo already sat at their desk.

"Song, did you find anything this time?"

"No, I didn't, I'm sorry."

They sighed, putting their face in their hands.

"Song, I'm giving you one more chance. You're clearly determined, and to me the stealth angle seems best. But if this fails? We're going to the police,"

"Yes, Chief."

With a nod they gave permission for her to leave. She stood in the hallway for a moment, knowing what she had to do next but not knowing if she had the courage to do it.

~*~

Linh stood at the house's front door. She had chased down arsonists and saved kids from blazing fires and yet this was still the scariest thing she'd ever done.

She rang the doorbell. Maybe he wasn't home. Maybe she wouldn't have to do this.

The door opened.

In front of her stood the grown-up form of the teenage boy she had left Tam as. He still had his trademark silver bangs, apparently he hadn't cut his hair very much since they were kids. She had gotten rid of the silver long ago, dyed hair doesn't go over too well in the corporate world and her shoulder-length bob was much more practical than her long hair.

"Hello,"

"Long time no see," Tam's voice had an annoyed sound to it. "Came here to tell me 'Tam! You shouldn't mess around with that Black Swan stuff! They might be dangerous!' Again?"

Tam's impression of her voice was crude, unfortunately that was a direct quote from the last time they had talked right before their falling out. He always could hold a grudge.

"Well, um, actually, uhh... I mean sort of,"

Tam sighed.

"You know what? Whatever,"

He brought her into a tight hug.

"Come in, lecture me as much as you want, I'm not risking another 8 years without talking to the only family I have left,"

"I'm sorry about that, by the way," She said, crossing through the door and sitting on the couch.

"It's ok, you tried to make contact, I was being the asshole."

"I love you, asshole,"

"I love you more, dumbass. Now, go ahead and get your lecture started while I make us some coffee."

"Look, that arson stuff that's going on. Is that...you guys?"

He stopped mid coffee ground scoop.

"Considering you're with the government, it doesn't seem wise for me to confirm or deny,"

"Tam, I'm trying to help I swear. I just wanted to say that if it is then you should stop, I can only buy time for so long before the police are brought in,"

He put his hand on the counter, back still facing her.

"Are you threatening to call the cops? Well, we're not going to stop. It's not our fault that after years of our society abusing you, you decided to help it,"

"Tam I-"

"No. We've fought too long for what we want and you've worked too hard to make everyone forget you had a twin. I think it's best if you leave, Linh. Fitz is going to be home soon and he's heard too much to be fond of you."

"Fitz?"

"My boyfriend. Should be husband by now but your dear councillors aren't letting that happen any time soon."

"Tam, please, it's not like that I-"

"Please go. Right now. You know where to find me."

Linh nearly said something else, she wanted to argue, wanted to make sure she wouldn't lose her brother again.

Instead, she left without another word.

~*~

Linh stood outside the back of the new makeshift city hall (which was just an old fire department building repurposed) anxiously tapping her foot, waiting for Marella.

Soon enough a car pulled up and the petite woman got out of her car.

"Heya! You're waiting for me this time, that's new. What changed?"

Linh sighed.

"Look, you have to cut this stuff out. I- the police-"

"I don't care about the police. Lock me up, you have me right here officer,"

She extended her wrists straight out, offering to be handcuffed.

"I'm not a cop,"

"Really? Are you just an excitable citizen then? I thought you were just absolute shit at your job,"

Linh cracked a small smile but repressed it quickly.

"I'm a fire investigator...okay technically I'm just a firefighter but they needed more people,"

Marella cocked her head to the left.

"So none of this is even part of your job? You get paid more right?"

"Well no but-"

The girl opposite of Linh doubled over in laughter.

"Oh gosh lady you're just as bad off as the rest of us! No wonder you haven't done anything to stop us. Speaking of, scoot over, I have a fire to start,"

"No. Like I was trying to say you have to knock this off. They were trying to be stealthy but since I haven't given them any information they're sending in the cops if I don't get anything this time."

"You're trying to save my ass?"

Linh felt her face start to burn.

"Well um..."

"What's your name Miss Not-Even-A-Fire-Investigator?"

Linh sighed.

"It's Linh. Linh Song."

"Song? Like..." She trailed off, thinking for a moment. "No fucking way. You're the sister Tam always talks about. You know, putting me in cuffs won't do any harm to your brother, I'm no snitch."

"Tam has made it very clear he doesn't want my protection,"

"Why are you doing this then? You're risking your job, your...everything really,"

"I don't know,"

There was a tense silence. Marella stared her down, it was like she could see right through her into her soul.

"Linh, let me into the building,"

Linh didn't know why she moved. She didn't think she ever would know.

But she watched wordlessly as the files were taken out, loaded into a car, and then Marella walked a decent way from the building and tossed a ball of fire.

The building went up quick. It felt wrong to just stand there but...the fire was very pretty.

Soon enough Marella joined her in watching the blaze. They were wordless for a good while.

"We should get out of here soon. Someone's bound to notice the smoke," Linh was starting to get anxious.

"We? You don't have to wait for me, Linh. You have your own car,"

"Yes, I know,"

They were silent for another minute.

"Tam talks about how much he misses you, like a lot. Normally when he's drunk but still. He'd um... I think he'd like it if you um..."

"Yeah..."

Linh thought. And then she thought some more. What did she have to lose? She didn't have friends, or family, she went home every day to a mediocre apartment she could barely afford. She was underpaid and overworked.

"I want to join you,"

"You know, you said it yourself, you're risking your freedom,"

"What freedom?"

Marella smiled.

"Well, in that case, go home and get your things packed up. Meet me at the diner on 5th street tomorrow at noon. You might want to quit your job, we don't need a missing persons case on our hands."

"Be honest, is this a bad idea?"

"It depends how much you have going for you, but considering you're willing to run off to an undisclosed location with an arsonist I'm guessing you don't have much to lose. No offense," Marella looked panicked at what she said.

"None taken. Don't worry, I'm on my own. No wife and children or anything."

"Same,"

A siren wailed a few blocks away.

Marella smiled again. Wow, her smile was beautiful.

"Welp, see you tomorrow,"

"Yeah,"

Linh watched her walk away, a dorky grin on her face the whole time, before realizing she should probably get out of there before the police caught up.

~*~

The next day, Linh stood in the parking lot of the small diner. The only things with her a small backpack and a crate with Princess Purryfins, her murcat, inside. She didn't even take her car, rather walking the whole way.

Soon enough, a familiar car pulled up next to her and Marella got out.

"Is that it?" Marella pointed to her bag.

"Yep, like I said, no wife and kids or anything,"

"Yes but most people have, I don't know, clothes?"

"Swiftly changing the subject, I have a couple questions,"

"Shoot,"

"Since I'm not working anymore, how...exactly will I stay, y'know, alive and fed?"

Marella laughed. Linh knew that even if her answer was 'you won't, we live in the woods and you're our next dinner' Linh would still follow her if she was promised she'd hear that laugh again.

"Well, frankly I shouldn't be saying this in a public space, but we have allies in high places. They fund us,"

Linh nodded as if she understood fully.

"Any other questions?"

"None worth asking,"

"Cool, ready to go?"

Linh nodded again, tongue-tied from anxiety.

~*~

Nearly an hour later, they pulled up to a building in a rural part of the county. It seemed cozy enough, plenty land to be a farm though there were no animals. A small pond out to the side of a cabin that had clearly been added onto to make significantly larger.

As they walked up to the door, Marella pulled out an odd key with a swan insignia painted on the grip.

"Here is your new home for...as long as you choose to stay. You can always go out and get your own house if you want, but only paid with cash and no renting. We have to stay off the grid as much as possible,"

Linh just nodded again.

"You've been quiet," Marella pointed out.

"Yeah I'm just...it's been a lot,"

"I know, I'm sorry, you can still turn back,"

Linh shook her head.

"No, I'm committed now. I already sent the letter quitting my job,"

Marella gave her a sympathetic look.

"Alright, your room is down the hall, third to the left. I'll be upstairs if you need me. We're having a meeting tonight over dinner, then you can see everyone,"

Linh smiled politely, but started tearing up when she was left to find her room. What was she doing? Getting involved with an illegal organization against the government.

Ah the extents she would go to for a pretty girl. And nice. And funny. And smart.

Ugh. Cute girls would be the death of her.

~*~

Marella tapped her fingers on the table, waiting impatiently for the meeting to start.

Most people were there and she had introduced Linh to them.

Well, everyone but Tam and Fitz, who weren't there yet like the late-ass bastards they were.

Marella sat right next to the very quiet Linh, she seemed completely resigned about the whole ordeal. It had to be a very strange day for her.

Forkle stood up at the head of the table, tapping a glass with his dinner knife as if to get everyone's attention, even though the room was mostly silent.

"Good evening everybody! Today we have been joined by the lovely Ms. Song. Unfortunately we have not been blessed by the appearance of her brother as is usual of him."

Marella and the rest of her colleagues chuckled, Linh didn't.

As if on a timer, the door opened.

"Well speak of the devil," Forkle said, turning around to peer at the men in the doorway.

Tam's eyes went wide at the sight of Linh. He quickly ran over and scooped her into a hug.

Their conversation was quite long and very quiet, even for someone right next to them. All Marella caught was "I promise I won't leave again, I love you asshole," Linh came away with a slight sparkle of tears in her eyes.

After they broke apart, Forkle continued.

"Okay, now that we're done with that sweet moment, it's time for the boring stuff. It'd come to our realization that we can't continue on as we have been. We need something new to grab their attention. Anyone have a suggestion?"

The table was silent.

"Ms. Song? Perhaps you're more diligent than these kids,"

"We're very much adults, thank you very much," Keefe piped up.

"Mr. Sencen, when was the last time you changed the oil in your car?'

"...touché,"

Forkle sighed, and after a moment Linh started talking.

"I was thinking...all this fire stuff probably isn't great for the environment and stuff. And, well, water should work just as well. But, I mean, I don't want to impose-"

Squall cut in. "Ms. Song that's a great idea, we can cause just as much destruction with less harm and throw them off,"

Everyone around the room nodded their agreements and Marella nudged Linh's arm.

"See? You're fitting in already, nothing to worry about,"'

Linh smiled.

~*~

Linh sat at the edge of the pond, making small ripples in the water and looking at the fish. A toad croaked in the distance.

She didn't know if she was supposed to be out here, or if there were any rules at all. It didn't seem so, of all the people she'd met so far they treated this base like their home.

She felt a tap on her shoulder that made her nearly jump out of her skin. When she turned around she was expecting Tam or someone on their 'Collective' or whatever. Turns out, it was just Marella. She sat next to Linh on the bank.

"Told ya' everything would go fine,"

"You told nothing of the sort,"

"I was thinking it,"

Linh chuckled. "Yeah, it was fine,"

"So, what's your first impression of the gang?"

"Sophie and Dex seem nice, I'm a bit concerned for Keefe's car's health, I don't think Fitz likes me very much..."

"They can take some getting used to,"

"Mhm," Linh mumbled before they fell back into silence.

"So..." Marella said after a while. "Do you think you'll stay? Here at the base I mean,"

"For a bit. I don't exactly have an apartment anymore and this is way better than the one I had anyway. Just until I can get back on my feet by myself,"

"You can really stay as long as you'd like. Most people have their own homes but quite a few stay here. Sophie, Biana, and I do, at least,"

"Then maybe I'll stay a while,"

"I'd like that,"

Linh felt Marella's body heat get a lot hotter just then. She couldn't quite see in the moonlight but she guessed she was...blushing?

"I um... I was thinking um...that...um," Marella seemed to continue to heat, Linh was concerned she was going to catch fire. "I was thinking that maybe we could um...go out sometime? I- I mean as a date, o-or as friends if you don't-"

"I'd love to,"

Marella sighed in relief. "I didn't expect that to go well, honestly,"

Linh laughed. "Well, how does tomorrow at 8 sound? We can go to that pottery place on 2nd street, I think they mostly do kid's birthdays but that's never stopped me before,"

"Sounds great, it's a date,"

"It's a date,"

Linh almost just got up but hesitated for a moment. She quickly pecked Marella on the cheek before going back to the house as fast as possible. She almost thought she saw the light of a fire in the corner of her eye.

~*~

The beep-like news theme comes on followed by the announcer.

"Tonight on the 7 o'clock nightly news with Jennifer Watson"

The woman on T.V. straightens her papers.

"The two silvered-hair bandits known as the "Trouble Twins" by the public are still escaping the police's grasp. They have flooded two government buildings this week and don't seem to be intending to stop any time soon. They claim all they want is to have a proper negotiation with our lawmakers. Will the council respond to these vigilantes? Or will they continue to let our buildings be destroyed? And coming up next, this video of Bobo the panda has the internet going wild-"

Marella turned off the T.V. and slouched further on the couch. She bit into her apple, unamused.

"Babe, you have to be patient. We're getting closer, Councilor Oralie said she was going to introduce the idea of negotiation, it'll be ok,"

Linh's words helped but Marella was still unsure.

Linh sat back on the couch and nudged her.

"There's nothing to worry about, c'mon, give me a smile,"

Marella couldn't help but grin at the dork she called her girlfriend.

"There it is! Dinner will be ready in like...5 minutes so," Linh took away Marella's apple, "Then we can go meet up with Tam to fuck up the Tribunal Hall,"

"Sounds like a lovely night,"

Linh laughed.

"I love you, you know that?"

"We do say it to each other quite often,"

"Yes but I don't know," Linh looked down at her lap. "It's been almost a year and... I guess I thought I'd regret joining you guys at some point but I never have,"

"Well, I am quite charming,"

"She says, as she slowly slides off the couch,"

Indeed, Marella was now halfway to the floor. Linh just laughed.

~*~

"Order in the court!" Councilor Emery slammed down the gavel.

Bronte rolled his eyes. Ever since they decided to cut the telepathic communications (Emery's migraines were getting bad) he had been using that stupid thing.

"Today the council will be voting on one thing, are we willing to listen to the Black Swan's pleas? Or do we attempt to wrangle them?"

Everyone around the room scratched on their piece of paper with the old-fashioned and unwieldy fountain pens. Bronte already knew what his vote would be, he had many conversations with the Forkle brothers in the past, now down to one. It was an easy decision.

Once all the votes were in the box, Emery started counting. He sighed.

"And, with a close vote of 7 to 5, we will be attempting to negotiate with the vigilante group," He pounded the gavel again. "Meeting adjourned,"

Oralie gave Bronte a thumbs up from across the room. He rolled his eyes again, but fondly this time.

~*~

BAM BAM BAM.

The gavel was loud, Linh didn't like it, her anxiety was high enough that day, the stimulation of it all was too much.

Marella gently held her hand under the table.

"Order in the court!"

Sure, "court", not like they were sitting in the community center because they hadn't managed to rebuild the actual places of court yet, not at all.

"Today we have gathered to discuss many things. First, on the agenda is discussing giving citizens the right to vote as a democracy. Then, the details of a possible police reform and redistribution of funds. Finally, on what the current legal definition of marriage is, and the possibility of changing that."

Tam caught Linh's eye from across the room, he nodded at her.

Now, the real fight began.

#kotlc fic #marelinh #marella redek #linh song #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #hnng this took so long if it flops ill cry i think

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secondhoekage · 5 years ago

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Ignore this long rant I’m high as shit but I... can’t take the hero commission oR HONESTLY THE HEROES THEMSELVES, seriously anymore

They’re BRAINLESS they all share one (1) brain cell and it belonged to Crust. THESE GUYS had MONTHS to strategize this attack and what did they do? They fucked it up. They want me to believe this was planned and not written on a chalk board the night before? Sent out to all heroes the next morning at 8am in a CHAIN EMAIL?

Unpopular opinion(?): they sent the worst possible, ill-suited heroes to each location for this PLF raid and I’m mad at them for it and I’m mad at Hori for making me be mad at it even tho he had to do it beCauSe oF pLot but I’m mad.

The MLA’s plans to take on The League of Villains? Spotless. Chef’s kiss. The detail. The one-on-one counters they planned out. Accounting for each enemy’s quirk. Yeah there were like 6 of them to account for but?? Heroes, yall had enough info and enough time to think of ways to go about this raid and I’m supposed to believe that you did, BUT DID YOU REALLY? MONTHS TO PLAN, and saw one electric Sir Crocodile rip-off and immediately threw Kaminari on his ass. Good move. Kinda. But the rest of the PLF? Heroes just gonna make shit up as they go I guess??

To make myself feel better here’s a long ass useless rant on what could’ve damn happened and which heroes should’ve gone where and to make this an epic ass rumble. ugh. Even just doing some of these things would’ve made this arc (imo) feel more... convincing and delicious

under the cut tho bc damn this is too long

In this essay I will—

Edgeshot??? EDGESHOT?? EDGESHOT?? i’M GOING TO GO OFF.

I swear to shit Edgeshot could’ve soloed the hospital but they had him at the PLF mansion for Some Reason like... like they didn’t make him run up on the League’s bar instead of the Nomu factory bc they knew he would take care of shit immediately. Make it make sense. If he was at the hospital eye just—Nomu in the way?? Doctor running off? Say less. Electric slide all the way in there Shinya. DID NO ONE SEE HOW EASILY HE HANDLED KUROGIRI? Did everyone just forget this man can pull a K.O in .3 seconds flat? Heroes didn’t think it might be a good idea to have him there, ready to give Shigaraki the paper cut of his life the second he woke up (if he even did bc my mans likely could’ve prevented the ‘doctor getting away>high-end awaken>rush to get shiggy out of the tank>shiggy wakes up’ chain of events)? Didn’t think to send him instead of this guy X Less just sitting there with That Look on his face?

I get they needed heroes like Edgeshot at the mansion to take out a handful of enemies in one go but COME ON NOW. There were more than enough long-range AOE heroes there. And even if you don’t wanna believe he could solo then STILL, EDGESHOT DUOING WITH MIRUKO, ANYBODY? If anyone was gonna keep up with her happy ass zooming into the lab it could’ve been him. We were robbed of an Edgeshot/Miruko teamup and I’m not okay. Could’ve had a sexy ass panel of the hospital-team hyping up Miruko and Edgeshot as they dashed to Ujiko’s lab, two fast as shit bad bitches, zooming through these Nomu, absolutely obliterating them at lightning speed, watching each other’s backs too, PROBABLY SAVING MIRUKO FROM BECOMING THE PRE-DEATH ORGAN DONOR THAT SHE IS NOW. I know it was hot watching Miruko take on these high-ends but I’d have rather Edgeshot share the spotlight if it meant Miruko was in one piece rn. Hori played her

Anyways the literal dumb bitch energy that went into not sending Edgeshot to the hospital is sending me. Could’ve at least let him just be on the team and on standby while Shigaraki was waking up. With those sharp as shit reflexes of his we’ve seen? Shigaraki would’ve been out like a fucking light the second Edgeshot saw him sit up. X-Less you had a nice thicc upper lip that lip was too shaded for you to die, but F in the chat bitch. Useless plot fodder I’m sorry X-Less. There isn’t a hero there right now (besides Aizawa but like... idk, plot is nerfing him) that could’ve incapacitated Shiggy so quickly and prevented the mess they’re in now like my guy Edgeshot could’ve. Feels like a cop out

In conclusion: Edgeshot sweety I’m sorry they did this. I’m sorry you were nerfed. I’m sorry they didn’t let you deliver Kamino Pizza to this hospital. I’m sorry they ignored you and now everyone’s gonna die bc they didn’t they respect your Ninpo rights

CEMENTOSS??? y’all sent him to fuck up the mansion FOR WHAT??? If I were the hero commission and thought :

“Dang we need to completely ass blast this huge PLF resort to make room for our heroes to run in... but it would also be good if we had someone to do that at the hospital too just in case things get tricky and we need to pave a quick way to Ujiko’s secret hideout... but I’m single-celled and can’t weigh my options logically so ok. Cementoss, to the mansion.”

...................... Ok but can I in interest you in PIXIE BOB? I get the mansion is huge but going by the shit we’ve seen her do?? I’m not about to underestimate ol’ girl. I know she could’ve fucked that place up if they let her, switched her out for Cementoss, who could’ve made THE EASIEST route for the hospital team to get into the secret lab, trapped Ujiko, also trapped a couple nomu/high-ends in cement while he was at it, rearranged some tunnels for optimal tactical movement, probably could’ve done a decent-fucking-job at slowing the onslaught of Decay too if it got to that point (AND IT MIGHT NOT HAVE BC THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS RANT IS TO INSIST THAT A BETTER SELECTION OF HEROES WOULDN’T HAVE RESULTED IN SHIGGY’S CURRENT THANOS SNAP ORdEAL)

I know Pixie’s mostly on rescue operations and that’s what she’s doing at the hospital/surrounding city but WHY?? EVEN IF THEY REALLY NEEDED CEMENTOSS AT THE MANSION—WHY NOT HAVE PIXIE BOB DOING SOMETHING IN THE ACTUAL HOSPITAL BATTLE? JUST A LITTLE? The hospital is built on uh.. oh yeah... EARTH? And considering in the Forest Training arc she was using her quirk from a remote location (to make that Earth golem, or whatever) she wouldn’t even HAVE to be IN Ujiko’s lab to be useful

Can y’all PLEASE put at least ONE of your terraforming heroes at the place where y’all REALLY need them?? And not after-the-fact like y’all just did with Pixie Bob? Because clearly she didn’t do shit this last chapter trying to stop Decay. I’m sorry girl. You may be dead. Terrible.

I would have legitimately sent Snipe to get Ujiko before I sent Miruko and that’s that on that. Where is he even? He was there during the briefing but he’s gone? MIA? Idk. No way Ujiko is getting away from those bullets. Target locked: Ujiko’s hand. Fire. High-end Nomu remote goes bye bye. Then another bullet in the leg. No need to worry about him escaping and waking up high-ends/Shiggy when he doesn’t have kneecaps. Problem solved. No way it would’ve taken that long to break Shiggy’s tank either with a few well-placed pew pews zigging around some Nomu (not that we really wanna break him outta his tank bc look what happened). Snipe’s 6/5 technique stat deserves better!!!!!

Gang Orca did not go off and give a bunch of kids brain damage during the License arc to be so thoroughly ignored here. He’s clearly about to get his shit rocked by some gauged-out ex-Hot Topic employee in the next few chapters and ugh you’re TOO GOOD FOR THAT ORCA. COULD’VE BEEN OF USE AT THE HOSPITAL. PARALYZING SONIC WAVES? WE’LL TAKE IT. Who knows if any of the high-end Nomu would’ve been affected by paralysis but the small fry? Probably. Shiggy’s little twink ass? I would bet on it. Not that it would really stop him from using Decay but still

At the risk of sounding like someone I know who endorses child labor (the hero commission) here me out: CAN I GET A UHHH JUZO HONENUKI??? AGAIN YEAH good that he was at the mansion to do some long-range AOE action but if y’all are gonna force kids to join in on this war anyways, put your strongest and most useful ones at the place you need them. Shit it would’ve been real nice if Honenuki was there to trap some Nomu—uncertain if it would work against the high-ends that show some pretty flexible quirks but who knows—and even at the risk of reaching, maybe in some universe where Shiggy and Honenuki face off, it would be interesting to see Decay against Softening, since Decay’s one big weakness is that it can only work on solid objects sooOooOo? Idk. Would’ve been a cool match up but I hate that the kids are fighting anyways so we’re gonna ignore this Juzo rant. Just know it would’ve been cool

And as for the mess that’s going to be this fucking mansion soon... .. We’re just gonna ignore a whole ass Geten, big destructive power, big fucking threat, and not gonna throw Endeavor’s ass in there? Makes sense. They’re leaving it to Shoto I guess. They said time for you to fucking shine kid. Get in there. I mean really trading Endeavor for Edgeshot would’ve been top tier strategy but...

I MEAN THEY?? Made up a whole ass plan to counter ONE greasy-looking PLF guy by throwing Kaminari in there, but they couldn’t make up a plan to counter Geten? Are they just?? Pulling names out of a hat to see who gets to fight who? Did they spin a bottle to see who it landed on? Did Mt. Lady pull the short stick? I swear on shit when Geten starts going feral soon I’m not gonna feel sorry about it. Unless heroes got a plan and someone’s gonna make a sexy ass top 10 anime entrances to counter his ice then I’m disappointed. We went ape shit over Kaminari countering one of the commanders but are we not gonna get anymore ‘I’m your perfect counter and I’m here to stop you’ moments? No? I’M PISSED.

I would have also settled for my kween Nejire being there to blast away some ice because who tf else is gonna do it? But eh.

Dabi will also be trouble depending on what he decides to do. He only has about 3 good ideas a month and he’s used them all up by now so he’s in dumb slut territory as we speak. But you’d think that a villain as widely recognized as Dabi with such a destructive quirk would urge the heroes to have some plan to take him on but?? So far I don’t really see anyone quick to take on the role. Not that it’d be that hard bc he’s dangerous but also dangerously dumb. Where is Inasa. Maybe he can just blast the flames back in Dabi’s face. I love him but at this point he deserves to have some of his rights taken away

Don’t even get me start on Gigantomachia. I get the heroes had little choice except to attack before Shiggy was full-power but just?? NOT having a plan in case by some little chance Gigantomachia DID wake up? You stupid bastards. You absolute fools. I guess there’s not much you CAN do but FUCK y’all just gonna let him SIT THERE? No counter measures? No ‘Let’s execute this incredibly thorough and thought-out plan we’ve spent months formulating to restrain Gigantomachia in case he does end up waking up, because better safe than sorry’? When he tramples like 50 students I bet that shit gonna hurt

I hate it all. I was really happy about seeing Shiggy go off 272 bc he’s a king but after rereading from like, 258 I feel... weird. Maybe this will be resolved with more chapters but. eh. Now that I’ve thought of this, I can’t go back. I miss the brain power that was behind the MLA fight

#bnha spoilers #bnha 272 #i'm mad #bnha #Why did I make this? It’s so dumb #i'm gonna wake up tomorrow and scream #they're 2d bro LMAOOOO #is htis a meta #meta #bnha meta

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vecnawrites · 4 years ago

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ArcAngel, Chapter 2

It’s been just a few days since Joan was born, and already, a circle to protect the newborn Angel is forming.

It was a great shock to the Arc Family that their newest member was an Angel, a quasi-mythical being that was the complete antithesis of the Creatures of Grimm. As it was, Vermilion, Juniper, and Adrianne were running interference, playing off that both Juniper and the newborn Joan were healthy, but needing rest and to be unbothered so no one came and found out the secret until they found a reliable way to hide their newborn’s wings...or the little Angel managed to pull them in.

As it was, they had to hide the youngest of the family’s status from Indaco, Injigo, and Violette, since they were very excitable and might accidentally let their sister’s uniqueness slip when talking about her. Bless them, they were a little too young yet to truly understand about how Angels could be hunted down and abused for their powers.

Crimson, Saphron, Verde, and Bleu knew and understood, and as such were involved in ‘Angel Wrangling’...not that there was much actual work involved. Her species was rather ironic, as Joan was an Angel. She only ever cried when she was hungry or needed a diaper change, usually just content to be cuddled in the arms of whomever was holding her.

~x~x~

Vermilion sighed as he looked through the books Adrianne had lent him. They didn’t say anywhere near as much as he liked. They had the basic powers that she would gain: Flight, Immunity to Human and Faunus Illnesses, Photokinesis, Healing...but not only did it not say when these powers would emerge (he was already having nightmares of a flying baby that would be captured and taken away from the family), and worse, there was mention of powers that each angel had that were completely unique to any other, so the ones mentioned in the book were likely useless.

But that didn’t stop him from taking extensive notes to make sure that he, that Joan, would have the information at her fingertips as she grew up. He wouldn’t allow her to go through childhood wondering why or how she had these abilities if he could help it.

He also refused to let her go through life without knowing the dangers of her power. Not only were the more significant powers draining, leading to to exhaustion if not used carefully, but in several cases they could kill the Angel in question if misused. Beyond that, there had been instances of families killed and the Angels taken and broken, making their golden wings turn pitch black as they were broken and forced to use their powers for the selfish whims of others.

Fire burned within him at the thought of his baby being put through that, the bright light in her eyes reduced to a dead flicker of what it was. “I promise, my daughter…” he vowed, “I will do everything possible to ensure you live your life without fear...and only you will decide what your destiny is…”

~x~x~

“Waaaahhhh!” Juniper jolted out of her doze as she turned to see her baby squirming in her bassinet next to her. Gently leaning over and gathering her baby in her arms, a quick cursory sniff told her that it wasn’t a diaper change, so she gently cradled her daughter in the nook of her arm and rocked her gently. “What’s the matter, sweetie? Let’s try some food…”

Carefully shifting, Juniper opened her robe, revealing one of her heavy breasts and gently twisting her daughter so her lips brushed against her nipple. She released a small laugh as her baby immediately latched on and began nursing, quieting down as she nuzzled closer, her little chubby cheeks moving as she pulled milk into her mouth and devoured it hungrily. “You can slow down, baby girl...mommy’s not going to run away, and she’s not going to run out of milk anytime soon…” she cooed, gently stroking her baby’s head, amazed at how she had so much hair already. They could already pull it into a tiny ponytail on top of her head. But the strands were just as golden as the tiny feathers that were attached to the wings on her back.

“I promise, baby girl...we won’t let anything bad happen to you…” Juniper murmured, gently rocking her baby and slowly beginning to sing, a soft tune that her own mother had sang to her, and her mother before that.

“Hush little child,

wipe your tears away,

you’re safe in my arms,

in the moonlit night~”

She could see her baby’s blue eyes (like the rest of the families, but somehow brighter and even more pure) focusing on her, even as she suckled, making Juniper tear up, this precious little life meant so much, not just to her, her husband, and her daughters, but to Humanity as a whole. “I promise, Joan. For whatever reason you were given to us, we will help you…”

~x~x~

Adrianne Nox never really thought of herself of someone who would do greatness. She was a mere pediatrician and midwife, living in a settlement outside Kingdom walls and ruled by itself. She had honestly thought she would go through her life pretty normally, help mothers give birth to their newborns, and care for those same newborns until she either retired or death took her.

She never expected to help a mother in this settlement give birth to an Angel.

Despite preferring healing, she was no slouch when it came to History, either. She knew that Angels were only born when there was an upcoming period of intense change in the world. She also knew that they were gifted with incredible talents and abilities, to help protect humanity from the Grimm.

But she also knew that they needed to be protected in their formative years. While they could instinctively use their powers to defend themselves, that could disable them when they got older. They were extremely vulnerable until the age of five or so. It would be difficult, but they would protect her, until she could protect herself. It would be easier than normal, since she was not only the one who helped birth her, but also the Pediatrician for the Arc Family, it would be pitifully easy to modify her charts to hide what she really was. She wouldn’t let the world’s newest Angel be captured and Fall, she swore on everything she was. “I swear, little one, nothing will harm you if I can stop it...”

~x~x~

The Arc Sisters were worried for their youngest sibling. All of them that were in the know, Crimson, aged seventeen, Saphron, aged fourteen, Verde, aged thirteen, and Bleu, aged twelve, sat in Crimson’s bedroom, books surrounding them. Every reference of Angels they could scrounge up from their family library. They knew that their newest sister was something special, and why Injigo and Indaco, seven years old, and Violette, a mere five, weren’t told.

The Twins weren’t exactly discreet, after all, and it was hard for a five year old to have any ability to keep a secret. They loved their little sisters dearly, but all of them knew that Joan was helpless right now. It was up to the family as a whole to defend her.

So the four were pouring over every tome they had lifted, marking down everything interesting they found, every bit of potentially useful information that they could use to help Joan understand her own roots, in a way.

Crimson was the eldest of the Arc Daughters, and even though she wasn’t a Huntress proper, she was trained by their father in the case of Grimm attacks breaching the walls. It hadn’t happened since before she was born, but it never hurt to make sure to be prepared. ‘I swear, Joan...I will protect you and help you learn what you need…’ she vowed.

Saphron was simultaneously amazed and worried for her baby sister. She had always loved to read those histories, hoping to write something as wonderful as she had read. The stories of Angelic help in the world filled her with hope for the future, and part of her wanted to make sure that her sister’s stories were recorded for the future to help others. ‘I promise, baby sister...I will make sure that everything is written perfectly, so no one can try and cast shadows on your actions…’ she promised.

Verde Arc liked to think herself an adventurer, and had shamefully been jealous for a few moments at the fact that her baby sister would have far many more than she could, until she realized what dangers she would be facing. Grimm would be, surprisingly enough, the least problematic thing she would face her entire life. The largest problem would be humans and faunus, surprisingly enough. For every Angel that helped bring about peace, there was at least two of them that had been forced to use their powers for selfish reasons, by selfish people, breaking them and making them shadows of themselves. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, allow that to happen to her newest sister. She would make sure she learned all the tricks that she had learned, from rock climbing to knot tying! ‘Don’t worry, Joan, big sis Verde will watch over you!’

Bleu Arc knew she wasn’t a fighter. She had never had the instinct for it, nor the stomach. But what she did have was her mind. She was considered arguably the most intelligent of the children, having been drawing prototypes and blueprints as long as she could remember. She adjusted her glasses as her keen eyes roamed the pages of the books around her, not reading the words, but instead looking over the pictures of the angels within them. What they were wearing, what they were wielding, what they were fighting, her mind already coming up with plans on what to design for Joan as she grew older and into the warrior that the world would no doubt make her. ‘I may not be a fighter like daddy or Crimson, but I can help you with my brain! I promise, Joan!’ she swore that her sister would have the best equipment ever!

~x~x~

The seven each continued their different plans as the four youngest of the Arc family rested, all of them working together, albeit in different ways, to ensure the future of the newest member of the family. They all vowed that she would only have to follow her own heart, not anyone’s desires but her own.

#ArcAngel #Arc Family

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seb-owns-these-tatas · 5 years ago

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Witcher Of The Night (Chapter 7)

THIS IS MODERN ERA READER WHO WOKE UP IN THE DIMENSION OF THE WITCHER.

WITCHER OF THE NIGHT MASTERLIST

CHAPTER 6

Characters: Geralt of Rivia x small!Naive!Reader

Summary: Your life was on the edge again as you were close to being sold to men in their dimension. With a kind and selfless heart; you've tried saving Cirilla. Though, despite of the failure of a rescue, a certain witcher wouldn't let you stay in danger as he came to your aid and massacred whoever comes in his way. Thus, he'd recognized the person holding you and it made him curse deep beneath his breath as he remembered what he wanted from him after years of avoiding them for their regal favors.

Warnings: Gore. (I’ve added a gif that kinda..ugh. You get my point. Hehehe.) Death. Swords. Curse words. Modern references. Hehehe. Blood. Anger. More descriptions than dialogues. (I mean, who fights while talking? XD Also, it’s Geralt. You know how he is. XD) Assholes selling women/children.

Words: 6.3k+

A/N: Chapter 7 is out now! I've used Gifs of Geralt while the story goes on. Heehee! Just wanted to. IT’S GETTIN’ LIT IN HERE. AYEEEE!

TAGLIST IS STILL OPEN FOR THIS ONE! Heehee! Don’t forget to REBLOG, COMMENT OR GIVE FEEDBACK IF YOU DID LOVE THIS CHAPTER! IT’LL MAKE ME SMILE!

Disclaimer: PNG's used in edits are not mine even the GIF's too. However, the edits and oneshots are definitely from moi. Characters, places and said monsters aren't from moi as well. GIF’s INCLUDED ARE CREDITED TO THOSE WHO MADE THEM! I DO NOT OWN THEM!

MY WORKS ARE NOT NOT NOT NOT NOOOOOOT TO BE POSTED ON ANY OTHER WEBSITES. My official username in Wattpad is “TATATHEPOTATO” and that’s the only other site I have for writing aside from Tumblr. Thank you, Tater tots!

It took a narrow, derelict looking alleyway for Cirilla and her friend to be found. This was why you never trusted kids playing alone because they needed supervision at all times. There were black, grey and brown stone build houses designed for the outmoded era surrounding the alley.

You taciturnly stood in the middle of the dirt ground, scanning the whole place and finding a kid who wore a light blue kirtle. The sound of sand and gravel was apparent as you've taken conniving steps till you were about to enter another aisle that looked deserted. But, you were stopped as a silhouette of two men who wore dark brown furry sheep coats emerge from the gully.

The man holding Cirilla had a horrible beard looking like the man in the movie 300 with a sly smirk that could get you to know that he was part of the villains in a show while the other was a blonde chevalier that can pass as the prince's bodyguard.

They had sharp looking daggers across the children's necks and it made your heart cease because of the panic rising through your head. Yet, you try to calm down to make better decisions.

Not that it was a habit. You were bad a making decisions; look at how your life ended. Forgetting why you were drowning on a lake and suddenly emerging from another dimension like you had your next life in just a snap of Thanos' gauntlet.

"Nice, very nice." you mindlessly mumbled, avoiding their scowls and grins; giving the kids a once over as you've seen the fear straight out of their eyes.

There were no guns, anything to use for defense nor do you know any kung-fu that can make Jackie Chan watch you with popcorn on his hands.

You were currently a useless human especially that you were teleported with no supernatural powers or magic. What a nice way to be brought to a world you didn't know and had people who are experts in brutal fighting.

"Why, why, why," The man looking like King Leonidas mischievously announced as he tightened his hold around Cirilla and held the dagger close to her neck. The princess shrieked and growled before him, struggling against his hold as you winced at your mind who couldn't help but utter the most awkward sentences in panic.

"Delilah?" your nose scrunched so hard you were sure you looked constipated. It was a pun, and so it wasn't the best as you couldn't help but cringe for your stupidity.

"Ain't she a beaut," The blonde knight cackled as he strolled towards a wooden cage that can be used for lions or any feisty animal as Ethelia was dragged and locked in like a fauna being pulled around; never forgetting to give Cirilla's friend a pinch to her delicate cheeks as she flinched away from the asshole.

"Don't hurt Ethelia!" Cirilla struggled against her captor's arms, but he tightened his hold around her a lot more, "---Get her out of the cage!"

You've squinted your eyes at the large cage where Ethelia has been violently captured and saw not only one but a dozen of children taken to their account. Some were grubby and clean, though that one thing that made them all the same was that they were women.

They were freaking women and you definitely saw red because they all seemed innocent with all their wailing and bloodshot eyes.

The princess has managed to bite Tybalt on the arm; making the latter grab onto her roots brutally, igniting a frightened scream out of Cirilla, "You are next to this wench that shall be offered to the king!"

Thus, her screams made your palms sweat. You needed to do something and not just stand there like an idiot.

Tybalt's attention was suddenly turned to you; cocking his head to the side as smugly as he could, giving you a menacing grin that gave you the nervous shivers.

"---Or not?"

"Leave the child alone!" you suddenly had the courage to muster out loud; but it was no use as it didn't sound frightening for the party. Tybalt aimed the sharp edge of his dagger along Cirilla's neck as he moved them both forward, his appearance more discernable from the sudden cloudy day as he stepped outside his shadows. "---If it isn't another whore that I could sell to the duke,"

You could see how tall he was and utterly buff just like Geralt. His face was a complete epitome of a bandit as you noticed those sharp fangs and thinking he just had that type of teeth, "---Your beauty...Only passes for a knight's whore,"

Well, that sounded mean.

Tybalt continued, keeping Cirilla steady in the width of his arms as the child went on to struggle against his hold, her movements accidentally giving her a short slice of a wound that you quickly saw. Crimson liquid dripping down her neck like a breeze; not much, yet it was enough to give a wince, "---not for a king," the latter continued as he gave a low baleful laugh.

He'd studied you from head to toe, his gaze utterly making you feel uncomfortable. It was obvious that it consists of obscene thoughts running inside his brain. You couldn't help but feel your sweat turn cold from the panic you were feeling, "You are one short fella'! But, also kind of adorable like a dirty mouse not even worth for a penny,"

"Don't--Don't touch her," you stammered, biting on the insides of your lips as you tried thinking quicker. His wicked plans and diabolic ideas inside his head were enough to make your knees tremble; like you were being hunted by an Alghoul for the second time. You always had the luck in being involved with such ill-fate circumstances and it was making you crazy. Tybalt loudly scoffed, brown eyes glowing with malevolence and his smile turning sinister, "What are ye' going to do, little one? Cry like a bairn?"

The princess breathed in deep breaths, her heart beat running as fast as a cheetah. She'd gave you a look and you could quite see that she was deep in thought. Was Jaskier lying about her abilities? Was she a mutated one as well? Were the men holding her the Elvens?

"Cirilla," you subtly shook your head to distract her from doing anything that could give you both more peril than it should have.

"I can bring your little friend and this woman," Tybalt gestured to you and it made you step back; nevertheless, more of his bandits marched into view and roughly grabbed onto your arms, leaving you no chance to escape as you've tried to battle from their hold. "---Ethelia has been sold to the king by her father who had killed one of his knights. You know how King Viduka loves his knights,"

You wrestled against their hold. Two men strenghtened their grasp on you; rooting you to the ground as they were pretty much stronger, lanky and muscly with their fur coats. They were laughing on either side of you because of how you were struggling, "What is your name?" Tybalt drawled his words like a snake teasing his prey.

You loudly huffed and tried to wrench your arm away from both as you breathed hard; languidly feeling as if you were having a panic attack. It was there; again and it wasn't the right time, "You don't want me dropping down memes, I swear. I'm close to screaming John Cena," pause. "---You're gonna hate me, King Leonidas." A small guiltless smile was given to Cirilla's captor and it was enough to infuriate him because of how you didn't make sense.

Out of the blue, Tybalt unceremoniously pushed the princess off the ground; giving both his men that stood on either side of you a look as they roughly pushed you to him; passing you like a tennis ball as he caught you in his arms. You shrieked and have your heart flying off your chest as the chess piece suddenly moved and you were now their target.

Cirilla coughed her shock out of her chest; face scrubbing the ground which soiled her pretty face as she crawled and trembled away from you; sitting on her backside as she had her eyes focused on the the whole scene; thoroughly staggered at the sudden shift of victims.

Tybalt had his fingers grabbing onto your roots like a bitch; making you yelp as loud as you can to get anyone's attention from the other side of the city. But, no. There was no saviour. "Nobody owns ye', little scrubber! Come, to the palace!" he mercilessly yanked you with a handful of your hair, painfully dragging you to where the cages for humans stayed behind them; covered with a thick brown cloth for decency purposes if they even have dignity in their bloods.

"There's a place for little whores like ye'!" The other man who held you on the arm announced in a snobbish manner; ending his statement with a mirthful laugh that petrified you because of how presumptuous they were to find their actions fine for their world.

Your nerves were spiking up like a sparking electric circuit. The more closer you forcefully strided towards the cage, the more your emotions was flying up the sky. Adding the pain that Tybalt has been pouring on your roots was triggering your sensitive self to shed some tears from the fear of being sold by some dirty, old man who treats women like some kind of doll to relieve their sexual pleasures.

The lioness of Cintra dreaded the moment to see you walking towards a cage full of women going to be sold to different people. She couldn't do anything but think of ways that could get time ticking before Geralt could feel that there was something wrong. Accepting the fear of not saving you will never die down; if she would've not tried to help as she was saved by you.

Cirilla stood on her soles, feet shaking like a leaf as she had both hands in front; halting the forceful kidnap happening, "No! Stop! A man owns her with the name, Geralt! Geralt owns her! Geralt of Rivia! The Butcher of Blaviken!"

All men had their brows in a twist, tugging you back and making you face her. You were wincing and tears were falling from the hopeless feeling; it was much better to be living in their family rather than another man's home whom could have the power in owning you like a damn animal.

Tybalt jibed at the princess, poking fun at the lies she was saying. The name rang a bell; it was a name that they've been searching for so long but have been considered as a myth that isn't real. They've had their latest witcher be killed by a lethal beast. This known Witcher that they have been searching was no where to be found for years after years; or he just didn't want to be found was more of a logical reason at the same time.

"The Witcher?" he belittled with a grin, "---He's long gone, child. Hiding like a birdie! Cease your fantasy in having a witcher in the Kingdom of Kaedwen! We will all be killed by beasts! Just like them!"

Your captor tightened his hand on your head, giving it a sting that made you shriek. You didn't want to grow bald because of this. It was humiliating; you thought at the back of your mind as you sobbed from the fright. Tybalt inserted his dagger back in his pocket and swiftly opened the cloth to reveal ten children scared to death or even more, "This dirty maiden can be more useful than this lioness of a kid! It bites and roars too much!"

Thus, you never know how satisfying it was to hear a strum of a lute from afar. The echo resonated from the far end as you whipped around in zealous. Your heart beat coming to life as the hope flew back to where it should've been.

"That...is definitely not a good idea,"

Jaskier. There was Jaskier. Only Jaskier, but no Geralt. Still, it gave you a ton of hope to be saved.

"A bard," Tybalt rolled his eyes from all the pathetic interruption. Just getting you was thoroughly time consuming and he didn't know if he was already regretting it. He should be, when he's got his foot six feet on the ground already by touching Cirilla and you.

The bard stood where you could clearly see him. You eyed him with that agitated look. Nevertheless, he'd given you a cheeky wink as he continued to strum; his foot signalling Cirilla to take her flight and leave the hell hole before the men even had second thoughts of grabbing her again.

Hence, she hurriedly did; with a need to find the witcher.

You knew what Jaskier was doing. You've seen this in the movies for a lot of times. Some ended well while some didn't.

He was distracting Tybalt and his men. Hence, the bard was doing a damn great job at it because of how he was great at not showing his anxiety and trembles from being stabbed or beheaded like he was already...used to the thrill and danger.

"Get out of my way!" Tybalt frustratingly barked; giving him a nasty glare, "You are making the massive mistake ever---," Jaskier articulated, sounding like he was telling a story as he sounded informative and factual.

"---You are plotting your own demise, Berk."

The nickname was a wrong move for Jaskier. He'd wince after seeing Tybalt's nose flare like a dragon in heat. Now, it was the perfect time you've seen his fingers stop from strumming his lute and actually seeing the little tremble from his fingers.

He was doing good; so good, but he had to just insult the guy and let the mistakes flow.

You've sniffed and felt the tears have subsided. Eyes thoroughly bloodshot as well because of how you've felt the man holding you captive exhale a breath of vexation. Tybalt was mad.

Which gave you a reason to mouth at the bard that he had only one job, one job and he ruined it.

"What did you just call me?" Tybalt seethed like there was fire coming out of his mouth. Forehead creased to the extent that he was tempted for his horns to come out. "Ughm," Jaskier spluttered, eyes rolling elsewhere as he heard footsteps coming closer from behind.

"I'm--I'm--I'm just actually uttering out the most foolish things ever! Just wasting time until a witcher has your head in a platter or more so; cut in half!" Jaskier spun around and saw those two men who has held you was now treading near and his eyes wanted to come out of his eye sockets when he'd seen them scowling.

A tiny shriek came out of the bard as he swallowed his nervousness and swiftly spun and kept his lute behind him.

You've felt Tybalt shifting behind you; fishing for his dagger as you'd remember it from a while ago. "There are no more witchers in this kingdom," he harshly spat with spite, "---If so, Sorceress Ingrith and I would've found him and asked for help,"

The bard halted from backing away from the two men who wanted to corner him, peeking back at Tybalt as his back felt the stone walls and they were looming before him. "What?"

"---So, just let me take her, bard!"

Jaskier was swift enough to dodge out of being cornered, quickly jogging to where you were at arms reach from him as he had his hands on his hips; still having the time to be sassy after being threatened. "No, no! You cannot take her! I second the notion and refuse for you to take her!"

Those two bandits who had eyes on him unsheathed their swords from behind. He'd heard the metal slash out of its home as he felt the tip of the sword from one man on the edge of his neck; like a warning to shut his flowery mouth from even saying anything less.

"Impossible! You are close to being beheaded!" Tybalt scoffed, cackling as he saw the bard tap his foot in anxiety when he'd seen another pair of Tybalt's men emerge from behind you. Jaskier was thinking and also having an internal monologue of feeling the adrenaline rush. There were more; maybe a maximum of nine people who came with the kidnapping monster.

"Oh gods, where is Geralt when we need him," Jaskier mumbled to himself and calmly breathed out of his nose; languidly closing his eyes to keep him from panicking out loud.

Yet, the bard couldn't control it and began to yell for help.

"Fuck!---GERALT! This is no time for your bone aching moments because of how senile you are! You are certainly getting old when you want me bleeding after this just to rescue your darn midget!"

Jaskier was heaving deep breaths as he was having his panic attacks right now. He stared at you with hysteria and thinking if Geralt didn't come too early, he would already be beheaded. You swallowed the fear stuck in your throat for the third time around; patiently waiting for your demise that you had been wishing on the first day but was now dreading the idea of it when you had lived in for days in their dimension.

You thought it would take hours for the witcher to find you; or even days after being captured. But, seeing him make an appearance as he finally turned a corner was the best feeling you've ever felt.

Now, you know how it feels to be captured then saved by a man who lives in your fantasy. It felt utterly fulfilling and joyous. Specially, when he'd cautiously trudged along with that brooding facade he had.

You were elated to see him; huffing out a breath you were holding for far too long. Too happy as you were saved for the second time; having a chance to live for the second time.

"Geralt! Oh gods, great timing!" Jaskier yelped when a man roughly kept him still. The witcher came with nothing but his bag of sword strapped behind him and his brooding charm, his anger obvious on his face and a humorless expression.

"Fuck," thus, he deeply snarled beneath his chest; knowing what was bound to happen.

A look you have never seen before; ever. Hence, it was a facial expression you didn't want to encounter because it was as if you felt like he wouldn't bat an eyelid to everyone who would come his way and end up creating a massacre.

It technically resembles the look of destruction.

Geralt stood on the middle of the area, a few meters away from you; thoroughly calm and collected but with a stony-face you didn't want to poke on. Shoulders and chest puffed to an extent that screams strength and resilience. He'd given Jaskier a once over to check if he was okay and based on how talkative he still was; the bard was totally fine.

Then, he'd taken a look at you. Those golden eyes were blazing with indignation. His forehead slowly creasing together so tightly as he realized Tybalt's fingers grabbing onto your roots; a shiny dagger catching his eye that was hidden behind your clothing. Your attention right on the witcher as you didn't realize that it was painstakingly lifting Geralt's tunic in which you wore as the asshole grinned back at him with devilry.

"What took you so long?!" Jaskier still managed to hollered out loud. But, took no answer from the witcher as he squinted his eyes at you who was held captive.

You felt the cold, brisk wind hit your thighs; lately realizing that Tybalt was playing with your clothes like the debauched man that he is as he was slowly lifting the damn tunic and making people see your black underwear which made the man eyed it weirdly. Your heart was hammering out of your chest as you stared back at the witcher who was sending a grimace at the man behind you.

Your eyes was pleading for him to come and get you. Geralt knew and could see it in your eyes and it was making his blood boil for everyone.

"The infamous witcher," Tybalt announced in shock. The tip of his dagger probing at the side of your hip like a warning to never move. Geralt hoarsely gave a groan deep within his chest, languorously unsheathing his sword from behind him and never shifting his eyes away from you.

“---He’d finally shown himself to us! Perhaps, you really aren’t just an epic created by the blue-eyed dunce!”

The men who held Jaskier was foolishly eyeing the witcher with their faces twisted like they couldn't believe what they were seeing. They've seen his face in the parchment paper that they had. Though, Geralt was considered as a myth that was never true. To Jaskier's luck, it was the right time to snatch the blade from one who has held it loosely; spinning on his heel and aiming the nib on his neck with an awkward stance. A triumphant grin given from the bard as his friend continued to gawk at the witcher like he'd seen the heavens.

"We've been finding yer' kind!" Tybalt grinned from ear to ear, feeling the tine of his whetted dagger pointed on top of your hip bone and you felt your blood rise from the adrenaline starting to take over. Your feet shuffled and it took one move for him to yank at your roots that was already throbbing from the soreness, "---Or a particular one! Long white hair, brooding and a stubborn arsehole who keeps on rejecting the king's favors like some notable man!"

You can feel Tybalt sniffing out loud, thus a loud shriek came out of you when he'd vulgarly dropped his head to inhale your scent in between the pillar of your neck which made your face twist in utter disgust because of how peculiar he was acting; like a vampire in the movies who couldn't get enough of your scent. "Oh, hell no! You're no Edward Cullen! I'm also no Bella! You don't glimmer against the sunlight and you're not as pale as I think you are!" you were terror-struck from his actions and tried to fight away from his face that was strapped on the edges of your neck and suddenly felt canines teasing that part of your neck where he wanted to bite, "---OH MY GOD, A VAMPIRE! PLEASE DON'T BITE MY NECK! NOBODY HAS DONE IT YET!"

All hell broke loose as Tybalt plunged his mouth on your neck like a deprived creature; but not giving a bite. Thus, his men rashly took charge from the moment Geralt lifted a foot as he fully drew his blade out from behind; including the man who'd tried threatening Jaskier; leaving the other weaponless man to the bard as they both looked at each other in wonder.

The witcher knew Tybalt was a vampire. A higher one. He sensed it and he knew him.

A knight from the palace was the first to pounce on the witcher with persistence, lunging after Geralt as he dodged his attack and stabbed him from the back with no penitence. His focal point on you and his senses were heightened a lot more than it ever does with a will to keep you from harm.

Without even batting an eyelid, the witcher was aware of the men ambushing him one by one. Second man who had an unlucky fate tried to strike a blow to his upper leg but the witcher was more skilled than the latter and shielded the attack by his sword; the loud metallic retorts when the blades collide with one another, it was ringing in your ears as you felt Tybalt licking a stripe from your nape to your jaw, making you shiver from disgust.

You shrieked out loud as you felt so gross from his ministrations; but never taking your eyes off Geralt who managed to skillfully dodge all blows from the fighters like a virtuoso as he stabbed them to anywhere they were vulnerable and fatal; giving them no chance to live. There was blood, lots of bloodshed happening as Tybalt cackled from behind you; watching his men be killed with one stab of the witcher's sword; amputating them with no pangs of conscience.

He was that dedicated that he'd assassinated five of his men without a blink of his eye.

You've felt the dagger poke at your sides, and you were too distracted on watching the witcher edge closer to where you were as he fought men. You didn't feel Tybalt stabbing you on the hip; not fully sheathing it inside you but it was enough to ignite a loud cry that made Geralt stop and snap his head away from the previous attacker as he fought him off, his Aurum eyes narrowing as he gruffly growled to himself and saw Crimson dripping from your hip to your thigh; tears dripping down the sides of your eyes when you've felt the excruciating pain sting like a damn train hitting you on the face.

Tybalt took a loud whiff as the pungy, metallic smell wafted through the air; from you and from his men that Geralt have slaughtered; his eyes burning you as it has been on you since the start of the fight. "She smells different," your captor mirthfully foretold to the witcher who was quick to cast a sign towards a charging man with a mere use of his palm and it was enough to make you breath hitch as it seemed to look like he just used a spell. It was magic. The man propelled backwards as his head hit the stone wall; knocking him out.

So, magic really does happen in their world. You silently thought to yourself.

The dagger was slowly being dragged out and it even hurt more than it ever should. You sobbed and felt your knees weakening from the pain because of how low your pain tolerance was. Tybalt dragged the dagger to his mouth, his sharp, long tongue giving himself a little taste of your blood, "---Even tastes different," he grinned, inhaling deep as your focus was on the witcher who penetratingly stabbed a man's mouth; slashing him open in between his head without regret with blood splashing his face and on the ground he stood. His focus on exterminating who comes in his way. Your face was twisting in a cringe by the pain on your hip and by also seeing the gore happening around the area made by the witcher.

"---Witcher got himself a bizarre woman!" Your captor announced out loud with a laugh when Geralt was finally close enough. Assassinating every bit of his men into lifeless dolls.

No exhaustion was written on his face except for the sweat. There were splutters of human blood soiling his dashing features. He'd relaxed his stance and had his hands on either side of him, palms on show but the other holding his sword, yielding it away from your captor, yet still showing sign that he wouldn't be doing any more violence.

Jaskier had managed to kick the unarmored man with his foot and hit the butt of the sword on the latter's head, knocking him unconscious as he scanned the whole area with a terrified look on his face.

It was a complete massacre.

The witcher had his eyes solely on you; your eyelashes batting languidly when you've taken a good look at your brawny savior and felt yourself turn jello from the blood pouring out of you. You didn't know if it was already hallucination but there was anger, dismay and fear pouring out of those blazing, golden peepers like he'd already seen the whole event, hoping it wouldn't end the way it was before.

"I take what's mine," Geralt rasped and firmly pressed with that low baritone of his. If one was aware of his change of emotions, you could hear how earnest he sounded as he took cautious steps closer; facial expressions still apathetic and non-readable for the people who sees him. The witcher kept his mouth closed as he breathed and looked away, before keeping a weather eye on you again. His half-tied hair disheveled, dirty and looking greasy from the sweat.

"---Release her," It was a demand from the witcher himself. An ultimatum sent as you've noticed Geralt's fingers tightly wrap around the handle of his silver sword; like he was trying hard not to stab Tybalt who stood behind you because he had you shackled.

Tybalt noticed Geralt who was stealthy prowling to reach you up close and so, he'd positioned his dagger across your neck as you heaved breaths; yanking your head back to show Geralt that he wouldn't think twice in slitting you dead. The witcher was quick to cease his steps when he was a meter away from you; tightly keeping his lips in a straight line as he exhaled a frustrated breath.

"The king will be delighted to see you," Tybalt deliberately observed the witcher from head to foot, shaking his head in disbelief that it only took one woman to kidnap for him to reveal himself from hiding. Your breathing was staggered as you blinked repeatedly back at the witcher as his nose was scrunched to his discontent for everything, "I don't have time for your royal shit," he seethed back at the man; giving him a tight scowl.

Tybalt frowned back at Geralt, feeling the tip of his dagger heavily pressing against the pulse on your neck; making you whimper, "---But, you wasted your time on killing my men for this useless wench, Witcher."

"She's...She's a different case," The witcher trailed off as you felt his stare on your face, definitely pining than it ever intended to before he'd given the stink eye to the vampire holding you captive, "---I don't want anything to do with the castle,"

"The prince is slowly losing himself, reaching his demise," Tybalt stressed; worried about the royal family whom he was devoted to for already a decade. Geralt scoffed back with a rude remark, "I don't have anything to do with any of their horseshit, Tybalt. I wasn't the witch who have cursed prince Althalos,"

He said his name out loud, catching you off guard as you peered back at the witcher with an intrigued haze of your bloodshot eyes because he knew him.

"You witchers are fucking useless!" Tybalt groaned and loudly sneered before violently fishing out his dagger. Geralt knew what he was about to do and your life held no value for Tybalt as he had no second thoughts on ending you with a stab to the chest.

Yet, from the moment Tybalt held the dagger over your chest; the witcher was fast enough to cast a sign towards the both of you; dragging you from the force as you were pushed off in the air. Though, Geralt was immediate enough to catch you around your wrist, pulling you to him before you could even fall flat on the ground.

The witcher secured his musclebound arms around you, his sky scraping height thoroughly used as your support as you were holding him for dear life. You didn't know how comforting his warmth was when he carefully sat you down against the stone walls as your vision was starting to spin a horizon.

"Ge...Geralt," you whispered as you heave for long breaths, tightly closing your eyes as you tried to take a good look at the witcher who was crouched in front of you; examining your face for more injuries and too dizzy to realized that he'd tuck a disheveled strand of your hair away from your face to observe your status.

You were probably losing blood, having a panic attack and feeling weak from the stab wound.

Your eyes were just straightaway staring at the witcher; seeing his face contort into pure rancor and you tried to smile despite of the pain. It took a kidnapping for him to finally notice you or even care in giving you his attention and you wanted to laugh by how you needed to shed blood for the witcher to care like this.

It looked entirely pleasing and also satisfying to see him care.

"I'm okay! J-Just bleeding--??" it was a yelp as you tried to move your hips and felt your muscles spasm as it gave you another strike of excruciating pain; making you moan and whimper; looking away from Geralt to inspect the cages for the poor children still in the background.

Jaskier finally got off on his feet, running towards where you were and you've seen him crouch beside the witcher with a look of panic and worry. Never uttering a word as his mind was in a mess at all the blood that was flowing. You languidly blinked; trying to fight off from fainting because you didn't want to fall unconscious. The heat from Geralt's palm cupping your face forcefully made you take a look at him and his expressions were unreadable as per usual, "The...The children,"

Geralt couldn't help but sigh; his face frowning from your words. Despite of being wounded and on the verge of fainting, you were still selfless enough to ask to release the children from their cage. Jaskier blinked at the image in front of him. The witcher was cupping your cheek as he worriedly stared into your eyes and the bard needed to blink to stop himself from watching; lifting himself off his feet to answer your requests. "I-I'll free them!"

The Ivory haired man checked your wounds; seeing Carmine liquid dripping from the wound like a slightly open faucet with every breath you take; staining his dark Tunic till blood was dripping down your unclothed thighs. He'd stood on his feet as he was sure to leave you in a position that would lessen for the blood to spill, his angered; golden eyes scanning the area as to where Tybalt was. But, to his dismay...He was gone.

"Worry no more, children or...women! The witcher has saved the day! Come on now!" the bard hooted as he freed the children; noticing some were teenagers and actually close to being young adults. Some of the women gasped at his words because of the fact that they were saved by a monster slayer who was only capable of taking lives and continued to gawk at the witcher who stood in the middle of the area; seeming to be in a deep contemplation within himself.

Geralt closed his eyes to try and get a scent from the vampire. Though, none. It was never found as the metallic scent of your blood has heightened it all; including those he have exterminated. A low grumble vibrated out of his chest as he sheathed his sword and kept it strapped on his back again despite of all the blood it had.

He thought Tybalt wouldn't have lasted long in the castle; even having the luck on earning a spot in the military forces despite of doing all the dirty work for the royalties. His hatred for the vampire growing back in a bigger fire; adding more wrath because he'd butchered the witcher that worked for the king last time because of certain purposes.

It wasn't a little later that you were being carried in somebody's arms. Based on the long hair hitting your face and the strong scent of blood, you knew it was Geralt. Your arms were feebly encircling his neck as you closed your eyes, fighting off from being knocked out. "I...don't...want to sleep," you saplessly whispered to the witcher who was talking to Jaskier and asking if remembers the healer that was close from the city.

You didn't want to sleep because you were worried that when you wake up, he would be back in being distant again; that everything that has happened was all a dream, being carried and saved by Geralt for the second time as he even had the look that he cared and not actually feel as if you were a baggage to their family.

Your forehead leaned on the witcher's neck as you could feel yourself smile as he'd hummed to inform you that he was listening; putting his attention solely on you alone, "I...I...didn't do anything...mean, right?" you continued to question and whispered against his neck, the beat of your heart skipping a beat despite of how shallow it was sounding right now.

Geralt exhaled a deep breath, giving you the side eye as he tried to peer down at you but it was impossible as you hid on the corner of his neck. A weak smile lifting your lips as you continued and felt your head so light; the words coming out of your mouth completely like a whistle of the wind as you accepted the daydream of talking your thoughts out in the open, "I..I...don't want you hating me..and I don't want you avoiding me...at all costs," the vulnerability of your words can be heard. You were too weak to even feel Geralt swallow that uncomfortable but equitable feeling down his throat as he strode past people who were looking at you in bafflement.

It took one last sigh before Geralt felt your head fall in between his neck in unconsciousness and for the first time, ever again. The witcher was scared.

Thus, you were sure you were thoroughly fond of his presence. As if, you were surprisingly taking more than a liking to a witcher without your consent and unbeknownst to your conscience, it has always been from the start as destiny made it out to be.

SO, I WAS SCREAMING WHEN GERALT SAID ‘I TAKE WHAT’S MINE’ (GERALT, YOU CAN TAKE ME HOWEVER YOU WANT---OOPS) OTHER THAN THE WORD FUCK THAT HE ALWAYS SAYS. *sCREAMS* WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS FOR THIS CHAPTER, TATER TOTSSSS!!?!?!?

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rons-hermiones · 3 years ago

Text

Come Find Me

by rons-hermiones

Summary: Unplanned, Hermione is forced to spend Christmas at the Burrow due to her grandmother falling very ill. After being ignored by Hermione for weeks, Ron is determined to show her how much she means to him. Just before he gets the chance to tell her, Bellatrix Lestrange shows up with other plans for Hermione. Can Ron get to her before it's too late? (Ron/Hermione Half-Blood Prince AU)

Rating: M for language & dark themes in later chapters.

Warning: This chapter implies dark themes during Hermione’s passage, but it is very briefly mentioned and not graphic. If that bothers you please skip!

Chapter Twenty Seven

Harry’s initial shock seemed to wear by the time they were in the Transfiguration corridor. Before that, Ron had been silent, clear dead set on making it back to the tower unnoticed.

This wouldn’t seem to be the case as the chosen one came to an abrupt stop.

“Ron, I know where she is.” He spoke in a broken voice.

All thoughts suddenly left his head.

He could give a shit less if Malfoy marched up to them right now and hexed their bollocks off. If the entire Chudley Cannons team flew in and announced they’d won the World Cup, he wouldn’t even bat an eye.

No, the only thing he could think of right now was Hermione.

Seeing her again. Looking around a room and knowing she’s safe. Telling her all he wants to say. To hold her...

“W-what?” He chokes after a second. It’s the only coherent thing.

“Sort of,” Harry adds in a whisper, suddenly feeling sorry for obviously getting Ron’s hopes up. “I’ll explain everything but not here. We need to find Neville and get back to the tower.”

And if that’s what needed to be done for Ron to get some sort of bloody explanation, then you better believe that’s what he was dead set on now.

Because of Draco's impromptu appearance at his dorm, they finished earlier than anticipated. Neville was surely still at the pitch doing all he could. Thankfully, they weren’t very far so they jogged outside for him.

“Neville!” Harry called after spotting him in the stands, waving his arms manically.

Neville looked shocked at their presence but tried to hide it as he clambered down the stands.

“Harry, Ron, I thought you still had a half hour? Is everything alright?” He whispered worriedly.

“Fine, it’s fine. Look, come on, I’ll tell you everything,” his green eyes flicked to Ron’s, “both of you, just not here.”

Neville nodded anxiously as the three rushed hurriedly back to Gryffindor Tower. Soon enough, they reached their dorm as Ron was ready to burst in anticipation.

“Okay Harry.” Ron said before Potter could even shut the door.

He hurriedly ruffled through his robes and smacked the picture atop the nearest surface, someone’s trunk.

Like before, the ginger can do nothing but stare at it in confusion.

Neville voices as much, “I don’t understand...”

Harry’s eyes lock with Ron’s. There’s a fire behind them, one he hasn’t seen since that day he ran after Bellatrix, vowing to avenge Sirius.

“Do you remember Ron that night at the Burrow. That night it happened, I saw him, I saw Hermione.” He spoke rapidly.

In response Weasley nodded, “yeah, he came twice. Once right after, once that night.” He recalled.

“Do you remember what I said? When Mad-Eye asked who was there? What I saw?” He encouraged.

Ron isn’t keen on the fact Harry’s trying to place guessing games rather than just blurt out an explanation, he supposes he’ll play along. “Yeah, you said it was just a big cold room.” Every detail of that night was burned into his brain and revisited often.

The raven haired boy nodded in encouragement more than anything else, as he cocked an eyebrow.

It was evident the chosen one was coaxing something out of him, “And...” he screwed his eyes in thoughts. Harry’s strangled voice echoing in his brain.

“The only thing I remember was a chandelier. It was the only thing shining in the room, you couldn't miss it.”

“Blimey, a chandelier.” Ron almost laughed. So overcome with a sense of hope on the realization.

A small smile struck Harry’s lips, “this,” he pointed to the photo, “this was the chandelier I saw.”

“So wherever the chandelier is, that’s where Hermione is, yeah?” Neville voiced, having caught on.

Harry nodded vigorously. “That’s where I saw her.”

The excitement that had been bubbling deep within them soon dropped, “only problem is, where is that chandelier.” The brunette Gryffindor whispered.

At this Ron’s own hope seemed to dwindle a bit, but he wouldn’t let it stay that way for long. No, they were onto something, they had to be.

Think Ron, think! What would Hermione do, come on...

It came to him a minute later, “I saw that picture in The Prophet. Over the summer.”

“Okay...” Harry said not really understanding where this was going.

“There was an article on the lower corner of the same page. It mentioned Percy. Dad was right pissed off after he read it. He incendioed the damn paper. Said he couldn’t believe his own son was apart of such trash that he was sharing a page with the Malfoy’s.” He explained.

“Ron?” His friend pushed again.

“Every article, every picture, in The Prophet article cites a place, an author, a photographer. There has to be something.”

“Mate you just said it yourself, your Dad set it on fire. Either way, I doubt your folks hoard The Prophet.” Harry reminded sounding a little defeated, but the spark was still evident.

“You're right, they don’t,” he paused, “but the library does.”

Neville’s face lit up like it was his Birthday, “he’s right! When we started up the D.A. last year, Hermione and I went through archives from the first war to pull pictures for the board. That’s brilliant Ron!” He exclaimed excitedly.

They turned to Harry, gaging his reaction. Soon, a grin etched his way onto his lips, “what are we still doing here? Let’s go to the library.”

They all began racing out.

“Blimey, spending my night in the library. If only Hermione could see us now.” He whispered to himself.

...

Her mind may be muddled but she isn’t stupid. Far from it.

There’s a small crack in the cell next to hers, right on the ceiling. If she strains her ears enough she’s sometimes able to hear what they’re saying.

“When?” She swears she hears Bellatrix ask.

“Two nights. I need time to prepare. The Order has been around.” Voldemort hisses.

“Of course my lord.” Hermione can visualize her bowing in compliance.

“Until then, not a word of this to the girl, understand?”

“Yes. Yes, of course. You have my word.” She hears Bellatrix promise.

Hermione gulps as she hears the cracking of disapparating and stomping of boots from above.

Painfully, she slinks back into the far corner to rest. It’s an absolute miracle she’s even conscious after everything upstairs.

Teeth. Nails. His hands, oh god, don’t think-

She screws her eyes in thought, pulling roughly at her shirt with her less injured hand.

Her clothes are mangled and tattered. Practically shreds at this point. Her entire body is exposed and that alone makes chills dance along her spine.

She doesn’t know if the blood covering the expanse of her most personal spots are a good or bad thing. Either way it makes her wretch.

She hears footsteps come down the steps. The candle flickers on which makes her ease a bit. It only does that when Natali- no, Narcissa, comes down stairs.

She takes a moment to berate herself. Maybe she’s not as smart as she once thought.

Stupid, stupid mind, you’re supposed to be brilliant! She scolds, the voice in her head almost sounds like Bellatrix.

She’s broken from her thoughts as a large clinging of metal practically makes her jump out of her skin.

Hermione looks up to see the woman with a hand over her mouth, eyes wide in fear.

Carefully Hermione surveys the room, trying to find what has her in such a state.

She soon realizes it’s her. This causes her to self consciously throw her arm over her breasts.

“Oh child, what did they do to you?” She cries out, dropping to her knees.

The brunette cowers a little at her words, silent tears streak her cheeks.

Like last night, she can tell Hermione needs comfort now more than ever, as Narcissa thoughtlessly throws open the bars and drops to her knees.

Welcoming the soothing touch as opposed to the burning she gets when Greyback or anyone else touches her, she falls onto the woman’s shoulder.

They sit like this for a while. Narcissa strokes her matted, disgusting hair, soothing her.

It isn’t until Hermione calms down that she realizes Missus Malfoy has thrown her cloak around her frame.

“They’re planning something. I don’t know what.” Narcissa tells her in an honest whisper, “it won’t be good for you.” She says next.

And the words should really evoke some terrible fear deep within her, but they don’t. She’s just numb to the pain at this point.

“Was it worth it?” She pulls away to look at Hermione’s dull, almost lifeless eyes, “was what you did today worth all this?” Narcissa has to know. She’s not patronizing her, she’s just trying to understand.

Momentarily she can see a spark in the young witch's eyes as she nods.

“W-worth e-everything.” She stutters out, having trust that Harry was doing something. Anything.

All the days she’s spent here she’s felt useless. Like some damsel in distress waiting for her prince to come get her out, but today was different. Today she felt like she controlled her own fate, if even a small portion.

The consequences were dreadful, unbearable, but in that moment when she called for Harry, she felt like herself again. If only for a second.

She hasn’t felt that way in weeks.

Narcissa nodded at her words and then returned to hugging her small frame.

Neither knew that what Hermione did today would cost her nearly everything.

…

Madam Pince gave them no trouble when they requested the archives. Ron imagines it’s pretty empty here considering it’s most common occupant has been away.

The book is an enchanted one. You tell it a date or just a general period time and it’ll open to the exact copy from the requested time.

Harry currently had it in front of him at the table.

“What do we say?” He asked, eyeing it curiously.

Ron thinks, “well, the article was over the summer. It was after school, but before Hermione arrived. So I reckon it was between a two week period.” He thinks aloud before deciding, “The Daily Prophet, June Twenty-Seventh 1996.” He told it.

Suddenly it’s pages fluttered to life, lightly ruffling the boys’ hair as it flicked hurriedly. It stopped after a few moments with a large headline labeled, ‘Dumbledore due to Retire after Ministry Break-In!’

“Rubbish.” Neville mumbled reading it.

Knowing this wasn’t it, he told the book to keep flipping.

Most of the headlines were shite. All boasting about how wonderful the ministry is, how awful Hogwarts is, even mentions of Harry.

‘The Boy Who Lies, Again!’ The title for June thirtieth read with a picture of Harry from the Ministry.

Upon seeing that, Ron only hurried his calls to the book.

“Next day!” Nope. “Next Day!” Another page down.

Just as he prepared to call for it to move on, Neville yelled out, “stop!”

His blue eyes peeled from Harry and to the book. In front of them sat the picture of the Malfoy’s, above it read ‘Malfoy Mentality’ in thick capital letters.

For good measure Harry shakily held up the photo from the dorm next to it.

A complete match.

Wordlessly, the three moved closer and anxiously began to read the contents of the article.

It was a load of rubbish. Just going on and on about how the Malfoy’s manage to remain so respectable during these times (their words not his). A few quotes from Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy were also sprinkled about.

Ron can’t say he was shocked when the whole article was written by one Rita Skeeter. Even more maddening, not once did they talk about wherever the hell that picture was.

Next, he flashed his eyes to the photo in question, squinting to make out the small font underneath it.

Photographed by-

“Balthasar Bartolo Brimblehawk!” Neville yells out, causing someone to shush him from nearby.

He flushes red and drops into a whisper, “Brimblehawk, I know him.” He tells them.

“You do?” Harry asked, astonished at their luck. It’s almost as if they raised Slughorn’s stash of Felix Felicis prior to coming here.

He nods a little madly, “he was a big deal way back then, with The Order and all. Those pictures, the ones we had from the D.A. I reckon he took all of those.”

“Then why the hell is he now taking pictures of the Malfoy’s?” Ron asks before he can help it.

Neville goes on, “he took my parents wedding photos, my Gran’s too. He even took some photos of me when I was little, my Gran owl’s him from time to time. Last Easter she was having tea with Mrs.Criswell and I heard them talking. I mean normally it’s just gossip mind you, you know about other women or-“

“Neville.” Ron says gently, trying to steer him on track.

“Right. Sorry.” He says, “anyway, I zoned in because they mentioned You-Know-Who. When The Prophet had their little, uh, change, they wanted only the best. Brimblehawk is the best photographer for this type of thing I reckon, war times and all.”

“But?” Harry interjected knowing it was coming.

Sadly, Neville nodded, “but, apparently he refused to be a part of it. Next day his shop was broken into, ransacked. They never said who it was, of course one can only assume...” he trailed, “scared for him and his grandkids, he agreed to do work for them. Reckon he didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Bugger.” Ron mumbled. He wasn’t naive, he knew how wars worked. His Mum lost her brothers to the last one, but it didn’t make the fact innocent people. People like Brimblehawk, like Hermione, were paying the prince.

“Last I heard he stills develops photos from time to time down at his shop, he lives above it. Heard he takes less pictures now because of everything, plus he’s rather old, probably around Dumbledore’s age now.” Neville finished with a shrug.

“And could you get in contact with him? Your Gran maybe?” Harry questioned anxiously.

He sighed and shook his head, “If I sent an owl he’d surely be confused, tell me Gran and all. Then my Gran would demand answers, well, you know how that goes. I don’t wanna ruin this whole thing, it’s a bit of a secret.”

“Yeah a bit.” Ron scoffed sarcastically.

The dark haired boy monetarily glared at his friend, “okay, so that’s out of question, I think face to face interaction would be best. Where’d you say his shop was?” He asked.

Neville looked a little defeated, “I didn’t. It’s in Diagon Alley.”

“Diagon Alley! The next time we’ll be allowed over there is Easter holidays. I can’t wait that long!” Ron exclaimed in a harsh whisper.

“I know, shite.” Harry mumbled, nibbling nervously on his finger nails.

“Maybe someone else could? I mean, you guys said McGonagall and Dumbledore-“ the brunette started.

“No.” Harry dismissed, “they’d ask too many questions. If too many people knew, word could get back to whoever has her. They could move her. We need someone who understands how important this is. Someone who knows Hermione as more than the Brightest Witch of our Age.”

“Who?” Neville asks after a moment, thinking the chosen one was onto something.

Harry didn’t speak, but Ron did.

“Fred and George.”

#Ron Weasley #Ron and Hermione #rons-hermiones come find me #ron x hermione #Hermione Granger #ROMIONE #romione fanfic #hp fanfic #hp #sixth year

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pandaioh · 5 years ago

Text

Poly!RoadRat x ShyMuteFemale! Reader: Ra Ataahua

You were finally going to meet them, the two men whom you set up a casual shopping date with, were finally going to meet you. All the texting and holo vid sessions you had with them, and it still felt so unreal that you were finally going to meet them face to face.

You walked in the bookstore, the store’s doorbell chimed merrily making aware of your presence and you as nervous as can be, dressed in a cute over sized pink sweater and a pink beanie to match. Along with a pair of skinny jeans and pink skater shoes. You also had an array of adorable pink glasses, rimmed perfectly around your pink eye shadowed eyes, with black eyeliner drawn perfectly. Your stomach felt ill of nervousness and excitement as your little digits hovered over the keypad of your phone. Your fingers tip-tapping away on the screen as you typed out your message.

Y/N: Ok I’m here you two. Where you at?

You casually strode by the collection of assorted books placed carefully by their sorted variety. From horror to romance, fiction to non fiction, cookbooks and “how to” guides, then came the manga. Your anxiety faded somewhat as you grinned up at the Japanese cartoons and their colorful covers. You heard your phone ring for a second time indicating that you had received a text message. Your anxiety sputtering back into your chest as you unlocked your phone and opened the text. It read as followed:

Junky&Roadie: Won’t be long, love. Just hang tight and we’ll be there in a jiffy. ;) <3

You smiled softly and texted back:

Y/N: Ok, just be careful, and don’t get into trouble! ;P

You placed your phone back into your pink Pachimari purse, and you walked along to your favorite section of the store; the art supplies.

At least, your anxiety can somewhat feel at ease being in an all too familiar surrounding. You gazed along the art books, and journals and then…the sketch books. Jackpot. You smiled as you grabbed the first one that you set your sights on. It had a smooth pastel rainbow color as the cover and you gingerly glided your fingers along the pleasant surface.

A few minutes had passed and finally another text tone rang and you picked up your phone, your heart almost stopping as you read the text. It read as followed.

Junky&Roadie: Arright lovey, we’re here. Where are you?

You took a deep breath and glided your fingers across the keys. You typed out;

Y/N: I’m in the art supplies…come find me. ;)

A few seconds later and your phone rang again, this time the text read;

Junky&Roadie: Gladly. We love a challenge. >;)))))

Your heart sputtered, doing flips in your chest at the playful threat of your second suitor. You put your phone back into your purse and continued along the art section, heart beating of anticipation. You looked through the empty pages of the sketch book still in your grasp to help place your mind at ease, thinking about what you could possibly draw in it.

More minutes passed and you still strode up and down the art section, awaiting your two dates to find you. You had your back turned and faced the supplies again when you could’ve sworn you heard the feint whispering of a stranger saying “There she is…swear that’s her, mate…swear it…” You did not turn from your position, too nervous and fearful of your anxiety bursting out of you. Your face had gone completely red as you heard the hissing whispers and heavy footsteps draw closer to you. You look down, pretending to be distracted by your pretty sketchbook yet again, and flipped the pages some more. You then noticed two giant shadows casting over your little one as you felt the presence of two tall strangers standing behind you.

“Found ya…”

You turned up to them, eyes widening and a nervous smile crossing your beat red face. Jamison and Mako, Junkrat and Roadhog, were standing right in front of you. Junkrat grinning wildly and giggling in manic fits as he glanced down at you. And Roadhog, his expression blank, thanks to his all too familiar hog-mask, but still tilting his head slightly as his expressionless eyes stared at you.

You waved your hand “hello”, lightly and tried to give direct eye contact to them, but found your nervousness and anxiety overwhelming you and turned your face away from them, giggling sweetly, face still beat red.

“Hiya darl, oh gosh you’re looking awfully ‘dorable in that pink little numbuh a yours…so excited to finally see you!..” As Junkrat reached out to embrace you, you gasped softly and took a step back, not ready or prepared for any physical affection just yet. Roadhog, picking up on your little distress, placed a hand in front of Rat and said softly. “Easy, Rat. Baby steps…”

Jamie looked up at his much taller companion, slightly put off, but understanding of your slight discomfort. He quickly placed one hand behind his head and his mechanical one in his pocket.

“Ah roight..roight, sorry bout that love. It’s just that, well I-! I mean, we’re so happy to finally see you. All done up and what not! Just look at cha!” Jamie said, eyes glancing up and down at your figure. “Yer a real knockout love...Any bloke would be real happy to have ya, I mean, look how happy ya made me!” Junkrat’s voice was still somewhat audible but uncharacteristically soft.

You let your defenses down slightly and took a few steps forward to the two junkers. Smiling bashfully, you still looked away, but not ignoring the confession of the lanky suitor. Jamie grinned widely as he saw his efforts didn’t go unnoticed. “Not ta mention, that awfully adorable smile ya got there, and that sweet lil giggle ya make when ya nervous and…aww yer cheeks are gettin awfully red there darl’…” He chuckled as he saw you quickly placed your face behind the need-to-purchase sketchbook, hiding the heavy blush that imprinted on your cheeks. You made a soft embarrassed squeal behind the book, making the two junkers chuckle all the more with you.

“Aww look Roadie, she’s gettin redder than a tomata, isn’t she the cutest, mate? What’d I tell ya? A real sweet sort she is, ain’t she?” His much taller companion nodded and gave the alabastor junker a thumbs up, a silent indication of approval.

You finally looked up at your two junker dates, your face still beat red, but getting more acquainted and used to their presence. Junkrat noticing the book in your hands soon took notice of the cover.

“Oi lookit that, Roadie!” he exclaimed. “Lookit the lil sketchy book she’s got! Suits her don’tit? All cute and rainbowy like her! Hey, sweets, you want us to buy that for ya? We’ll getcha that for ya, misso! Hell, we’ll getcha all the cutesy lil trinkets and shit in this whole bookstore if ya like! We got the money, sweets. All ya gotta do is say the word, got it?” You shook your head quickly, taking some money out of your Pachimari purse, indicating that you had got it covered.

Junkrat raised his mechanical palm swiftly and said. “Now don’tcha worry ya pretty lil head about spendin ya hard earned loot, love. Leave the spendin to us, got it? We’re spoilin ya today, understand? We wanna take real good care of ya.”

He took the book from out of your palms and made a dash to the check-out register. Leaving you and Roadhog standing briefly alone together. Your hands shakily reaching your phone and typing away a message. Seconds later, Roadhog heard his phone go off and read the message. And it read;

Y/N:“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’ll pay you both back! And I’m so sorry for not speaking. I’m really happy to see the both of you, I’m just really nervous and shy. I’m sorry.”

Roadhog glanced down at you, unspeaking and quiet as usual. You look down at the floor, your thoughts clouding your brain with guilt and shame. Feeling that all to familiar sting of baby tears forming the side of your eyes. Suddenly, you felt an enormous palm graze your cheek softly, a large finger tucking under your chin and tilting your head up to his expressionless mask.

“No need for apologizing, toku aroha,” he said his voice a deep gentle grumble. “Let us take care of you, te rangatira.”

Your face flushed and you felt your cheeks burn more as the goliath junker’s words was placed on repeat in your mind. Not getting over just how completely calm and smooth he was being towards you. He then placed a few gentle pats on top of your head, a simple act of affection that perhaps wasn’t too overwhelming for you. You smiled self consciously and had seen that he was beginning to walk where his younger employer had ran off to. You quickly followed him, your face slowly but surely, regaining your soft complexion. When the both of you finally made it to the register, Junkrat was already starting to make a scene.

“Oi! Is there anyone workin ‘ere? Swear ya’lls useless as an ashtray on a motorbike!” Junkrat angrily slammed his hand down on the counter. Finally one of the store’s clerks finally got behind the counter presenting themselves in a dignified and professional manner. “Hi there, I can help you whenever you’re ready.” The clerk said almost too calmly. Junkrat frowned and replied “Been ready, ya drongo! Ya deaf or somethin!? I’m here to get this sketchy book for my girl over there! Real sweet and artsy sort she is. And ya keepin us from our little behind we got goin on. So ring us up and we’ll meander on out, yeah?”

Before the clerk could retaliate with a smart remark, they soon took notice of the menacingly taller shadow above Junkrat. Roadhog was standing behind his younger cohort, looking down at the clerk, giving them a pretty decent spook.

“R-Right of course, I’ll take care of that right away, sir!” The clerk typed away at their register ringing up your newly purchased sketch book. You peeked from behind Roadhog’s tall and wide form and watched as the clerk placed your book in a plastic bag. “Here you are, sir,” they said and Junkrat yanked the carefully wrapped book out from the clerk’s hand. “Bout bloody time!” he yelled. He soon noticed you were right there behind him, feeling a little frazzled at what you witnessed.

“Oi, sorry bout that, love.” His voice changed from loud to soft within seconds the minute you were there. “Just a bunch of dills workin here me thinks.” He gave you a nervous grin, unknowing if you were actually still afraid of him. He gave you the plastic bag with your little prize inside. “There ya go, sweets. A labor of love it was…” You took the bag and giggled softly and the boys grinned at you full of enamor and relief. Hearing you giggle so sweetly just made the two of them melt simultaneously. Hopefully, this meant that you were warming up to them sooner than they thought.

“Well, now that that’s takin care of, how about we treat ya to a counter meal? Whatdayasay love? Ya feelin a bit hungry?” Junkrat asked smiling at you with that all too familiar grin he always had. You nodded your head and smiled up at him, your lip gloss shimmering as your lips curled. You hadn’t noticed, but Junkrat twitched and giggled his signature laughed. “Well then, let’s ditch this bodgy bookstore and treat ya somethin real nice!” The boys made their way up to the entrance until they’ve noticed that you weren’t following them. They turned to you expression changing slightly, until you took a step forward and reached both of your little hands out to them. Giving them the indication that it was okay to hold your hand. Junkrat gasped and smiled widely as he strode over to you taking your hand.

“Aww I knew you’d come around, darl’! Never fear, we’ll make sure you have big mobs of fun! Bloody oath!” You smiled as you saw your other suitor, Roadhog, take your other hand into his much bigger palms. You walked out of the store, with both boys holding your hands, and you absolutely feel as if you were on cloud nine. Because you practically were, being with the two men whom you’ve messaged and chatted with for months, were now here with you, catering to you and treating you to quite the charming little shopping date, treasuring you as if you were a princess.

But first things first, you three were going to get a meal. Jamie and Mako took you to an adorable pastel looking coffee shop, with a vintage floral theme to it. You inhale the sweet aroma of coffee beans and sweet pastries, and your tummy growled lowly, your hunger for something sweet.

The boys let you pick whatever you wanted, and you had decided to go with a small sandwich with a tall chocolate latte. The boys practically bought out the entire menu. For starters, they wanted to make sure you weren’t holding back on yourself and that you were eating, secondly, the food didn’t look like it could fill anyone’s appetite and lastly, Roadhog. You were getting stares from almost everyone in the shop, you looked down at your meal and felt self conscious about yourself. Mako looked down at your hardly eaten platter and then cast a glance over at his young employer, who was scarfing down one pastry after another. Mako really wanted to roll his eyes since sugar was the last thing Jamison needed, but his thoughts lingered more to you, concerned at how you barely touched your food. He extended his enormous hand and reached for your smaller one, taking it carefully caressing a large thumb over your knuckles.

“E aroha…” he started. “You’re not eating….” His voice wheezed softly and sounding somewhat perturbed.

You eyes were shifting to and fro at different corners of the café. Your expression softened again, your free hand holding your tummy as it made a more growling noise. Mako picked up on your hints and signs and noticed how you made small glances at the patrons watching the three of you. Roadhog elbowed Junkrat receiving a whine but grunted and eyed you as you nibbled on your sandwich, still on edge at the patrons watching you. Junkrat now picking up on the sudden uncomfort, omitted a low growl, and slammed his hands on the table.

“You dills and drongos better be about yer buisness! Our girl here, is gorgeous, loving! A real sweet and tender one, she is! So if you got somethin to say about us, especially her, come at me and Roadie with it, but it aint a smart idear to go up against us junkers!”

Everyone in the café went from staring at the three to bustle about their own respected meals, in fear of course. You were amazed at how Junkrat’s booming voice struck intimidation on anyone who dared crossed him, you couldn’t imagine how Roadhog would be. But you stared up at the wild lanky junker and grinned lightly. As he sat back down in his seat, he started to share his pastry sweets with you and sweet giggles escaped your lips as you bit into a red velvet cupcake. Mako leaned back in his seat, relieved that you were starting to eat again, whole heartedly. Jamison started babbling on about where they could visit next and you nod your head and continued eating and drinking down your chocolate latte.

The rest of the date went by smoothly with little to no interruption. The three of them, with you wedged in the middle, had your hands full of shopping bags, full of miscellaneous items that had caught your eye and that the boys wasted little to no time purchasing for you. The sun began to set and draw a close on this eventful day, you and the boys made your way to the parking lot, a sudden wave of sadness hit you strongly as you realized that it was almost time for the three of you to part ways. You walked a little more slowly, wanting to etch these moments into your head for as long as you could. You three finally made it to where your friend would be picking you up and your stomach dropped as you saw the familiar car pulling into the parking lot. Junkrat was the first to break the depressing silence.

“Oi cheer up lovey, we can chat later on tonight when you get settled back home. Promise ya. H-hey don’t look so sad, we had a real fun day didn’t we?” He smiled softly. The both of you heard the sound of clicking and straps being unwound, you looked up and saw that Roadhog took off his mask, revealing his scarred face and pierced septum. He smiled down at you, and caressed your face with his giant hand and leaned into it, like an affectionate pet touch starved.

“Aroha nui matou ki a koe…” He recited in his native tongue. You finally had your walls come down, gesturing the two boys to come closer to you, they happily obliged and you did something completely unexpected for them; you embraced each junker with a big tender hug and placed a kiss on their lips individually. After that, and when your friend finally pulled up to the curb, you softly spoke;

“ ‘ank you…I lo’e you…”

You had gotten your things in your friends car and sat in the passenger side casting one more glance at the two who stood completely dumbfounded and absolutely enamored by you. Junkrat waving his fingers gently toward you and Roadhog smiling at you mouthing the words ‘I love you.’ with his fist on his heart. You and your friend finally drove away but even as they drove off you still couldn’t keep your eyes off your two boyfriends. You watched as the car pulled away and were no longer able to see them. You missed them already, you missed their touch and presence with you and you longed to stay with them. But you knew they had their duties to tend to and you had yours. Baby tears stung the side of your eyes as your love and missing grew stronger. But there would always be time for communication via holo vid or text messaging. But now, you and your boyfriends would have much more to discuss more places to explore and more adventures to trek on. The whole world would need to brace itself for the newly coupled trio; You and your two Junkers.

#poly!roadrat #overwatch junkrat #overwatch roadhog #roadrat #poly!roadratxreader #junkers #Junkrat #roadhog #overwatch fanfic #reader fanfiction #junkrat and roadhog

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chickensarentcheap · 4 years ago

Text

Best Part of Me - Chapter 72

WARNING: some smut

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @alievans007

They lay in a mess of rumbled and twisted sheets and naked limbs; bodies sated and spent and covered in thin sheens of sweat that glisten in the moonlight. His chest against her back and his arm stretched across her pillow; her head resting on his bicep and one his thick, muscular legs draped over hers. His eyes are closed, chin perched upon the top of her head; relaxed by the familiar smell that clings to her hair and skin and the warmth that radiates from her smooth, supple body. Enjoying the soft, almost tickling sensation of two of her fingertips moving against his palm; smoothing over the calluses and tracing slow circles and random patterns. It’s the simplest things that he often enjoys the most; the way their bodies -despite the substantial difference in both weight and height- recognize and mould to one another. Those soft and tender touches that seem so pure and innocent yet still manage to reach your very core. The feel of her in his arms and her body pressed tightly against him; her skin silky and warm and smelling so damn good. He had never taken the time to appreciate those things before, nor had he ever been with anyone that really allowed him to. The ex wife had ever been into the whole afterglow; intimacy purely sexual in her mind and pillow talk considered useless and boring. And he certainly never craved the quiet and loving aftermath with Nik or any of the women he’d hook up with while on the travelling and travelling from place to place. They were nothing but conquests; a chance to get his rocks off and rid himself of any lingering adrenaline or the last bits of frustration and anger.

Seven years ago everything changed. What should have been nothing BUT sex and two broken people using one another -and their bodies- as a coping mechanism for everything wrong in their lives, had quickly turned into something so much more. It had become apparent on the second night that he was in way over his head. When she’d fallen asleep on his arm -and turned his hand completely numb in the process- and he hadn’t had the heart to wake her hip. She’d looked so peaceful...so fucking beautiful...that instead of trying to slip away, he’d just rolled over onto his side and rapped his arm around her; burying his face in her hair and finding himself soothed by her scent and the softness of her skin and the feel of her heart beating against him. And while it should have terrified him -feeling things that strongly and that quickly- it hadn’t been enough to push him away or send him running.

“Tyler?”

He nuzzles the top of her head with his nose, then drops a kiss on it. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

Why would I be? We fought, we made up. In the best possible way. All is right in the world. For now, anyway.”

“You haven’t said much.”

“I thought I talked a lot while we were...you know…”

“As much of a turn on as it is and how amazing sounds in your voice, dirty talk does not count as REAL talk.”

“Says who?”

“It’s in the rule book.”

“I already told you; I don’t like your rules. Fuck your rules.”

“No wonder you got sent to detention so much when you were a kid. An attitude like THAT,” she teases.

“You know what would be really hot?”

“I’m almost scared to find out. I know how warped your mind can be.”

“You remember those glasses you wore in Ireland? To go with your reporter cover?”

“Those were fake.”

“I don’t give a shit. You should totally get another pair. And put your hair back; one of this really tight, formal looking buns. And wear a short skirt and heels and a low cut blouse.”

Esme snorts. “What the hell kind of teachers did you have growing up?”

“Not hot ones, that’s for sure. And you’re the one who told me that if you ever went back to school, it was to become a teacher. YOU put that in my head. My brain and my hormones just took it from there.”

“There is something seriously wrong with you. You get weirder as you get older, I swear.”

“Maybe.” He moves his hand from her hip to her stomach, pulling her even tighter against him. “But you love me.”

“I do,” she confirms. “Although some days, I really want to throat punch you.”

“No throat punching. And you wonder where your daughter gets that shit from.”

“Because it’s definitely not from her father who technically beats the shit out of people for a living. And she definitely doesn’t have your temper.”

“Nice of you to finally take the blame for her.”

“You’re a dick!” she declares, and directs an elbow to his stomach. And he chuckles into her hair and removes the arm from her pillow and wraps it around her neck; palm resting above her left breast. “You’re lying on your bad shoulder,” she points out.

“It’s fine.”

“It won’t be in about ten minutes when it seizes up and you can’t move it at all.”

“Stop giving me a hard time. I’m the one giving you a hard time, remember?” He grins as he presses his groin against her ass.

“I seriously wonder why the hell I’ve put up with you for so long,” she grumbles, then plants her elbow into his chest and shows him onto his back. “You're stubborn and you're chaotic and you’re absolutely fucking exhausting.”

“What are you bitching about? Those are all my best qualities.”

“I can think of better ones. Ones that don’t make me want to strangle you. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t actually enjoy your stubborn moments and your chaotic tendencies and the way you exhaust me.”

She rolls over onto her stomach and presses a kiss to his lips. Both of his arms wrapping around her as she nestles her face into his right trap; tip of her nose against his neck and her breath warm against his skin. And for several minutes neither of them speak; their eyes closed and one of her hands repeatedly brushing through his hair and the fingers of the other lightly drifting back and forth along his shoulder.

“I’m sorry I called you crazy.”

Tyler’s eyes snap open. “What?”

“When we were fighting. I called you crazy. Or suggested you were. I said that you’d finally snapped and went totally nuts. And I should NOT have said that. IT was way off base.”

He can’t help but chuckle. “Are you being serious right now?”

She raises her head to look at him, chin resting on his shoulder. “You have a legit mental illness. You have three of them, actually. And I totally preyed on it and I’m a shitty person for doing it. I never should have said what I did.”

“Baby, you’re kidding, right? You’re not really serious about this, are you?”

“I am.” Tears glisten in her eyes. “I never should have said it. I’m sorry. I know you’re not crazy. I know you can’t help being the way you are. That your brain just doesn’t it own thing and you’re trying to get it under control and you’re constantly fighting and trying to get better and…”

“Okay, you know what? Now you’re the one being crazy. You think it bothered me? That I haven’t heard worse? Or thought worse about myself? I call you crazy all the time when you say something I think sounds nuts. It’s a figure of speech; doesn’t mean I actually think you’re crazy.”

“I still shouldn’t have said it. I’m sorry.”

“You are really fucking hormonal.” He removes one of his arms from around her and uses gentle fingertips to brush the wayward tears from her cheeks and under her eyes. “What’s going on with you?”

“It’s the worst it’s ever been,” Esme laments. “I mean, I always get hormonal and irrational but never this bad or this soon. Oh God...what if it’s triplets?”

“Jesus fuck. Don’t say that.”

“You’re the one that always goes on and on about your super sperm. Maybe all this time you’ve been right; maybe it’s actually insanely super. And it would explain it, right? Why it’s this bad and why it’s happening so early. More than or two would make me extra hormonal and extra irrational and…”

“When we get back home, we’ll call the doctor and we’ll get you and little bean checked out. I’m no professional, but I’m pretty sure there’s not three in there. I’m good, but I’m not THAT good.”

“Twins, maybe. I mean, we have a history. It’s happened to other people; two sets of twins.”

“How about you stop wishing multiples on me and just pretend we know for sure it IS just one.”

“What if it is more than one? What if it is twins again? You know how hard it was the first time carrying two made from someone the size of you. I don’t know if I can handle that again. Because things went wrong so quickly and Tanner was so sick and we didn’t think he’d even make it.”

“But he did. He DID make it. And now look at him; he’s the healthiest out of them all.”

“And the smallest.”

“Well I think Addie has that title and probably always will. And who cares if they’re small? You’re small. They take after their momma.”

“I don’t know; Tanner is ALL you.”

“How you figure?”

“He is so much like you. He has all these feelings and emotions inside of him and he’s so sensitive. But he isn’t afraid to just let it all out; he’s just totally out there with it. He’s just so open and so honest and just so innocent about it.”

“He’s also only five,” Tyler points out.

“You keep everything inside. And I know how deeply and powerfully you feel. How big of a heart you have. How sensitive you can be. You just bury it deep down for the most part. You always act so embarrassed when you catch yourself with the ‘feel’ or when you think you’re showing too much emotion.”

“That’s what happens when you get that side beaten out of you for years, I guess.”

“Tanner is the kid you could have been had none of that ever happened to you.”

“Maybe. Who knows,” Tyler shrugs. “If none of that happened...losing my mom...having to put up with my dad...there’s a chance we wouldn’t have happened either. I’m pretty sure going through what I did with the old man is what pushed me towards the military in the first place. And if I’d never gotten into the military, I probably would have never gotten into the job, either. If it wasn’t for the job, we never would have met and none of those kids would exist. And they’re awesome fucking kids.”

Esme smiles. “They are. They’re incredible and they’re beautiful and they’re a mix of everything that’s perfect and right inside me and you. We did good, didn’t we.”

“We did better than good. We did amazing.” He presses a kiss to her forehead. “Not bad for two people that were so messed up seven years ago.”

“Remember what Gaspar said to you? About how two broken people can’t fix one another? That they just end up making things worse?

Tyler nods.

“I think we’ve pretty much proved him wrong. We didn’t destroy each other like he said he would. And we definitely didn’t make things worse. I know we’re not perfect; not by a long shot. And we’ve gone through some pretty shitty times; including times we didn’t think we’d make it. But we’ve put the work in. We work at being better; for ourselves AND each other. Shows you how completely full of shit he was.”

“I could have told you that before he even opened his mouth.”

“I still don’t get how the hell you two were even friends. He exemplified the worst of the worst when it comes to mercs. Even back then...with all your issues...you were so far from being like him.”

“In my defence, whenever I WAS around him, I was pretty drunk. So I wasn’t exactly the best judge of character.”

“I was completely sober and I was a great judge of character,” Esme proudly declares.

“You think so, do you?”

“I let you in my pants, didn’t I?”

He smirks. “A lot of people who know me would probably argue that showed you failed HUGE at judging my character.”

“Well they’d be wrong. Maybe none of them have ever seen what I have. Maybe they don’t take the time to look for it. There was something different about you; I could see it, in your eyes. Yeah, you were tough and hardened and totally badass, but I still saw it; whenever you looked at me. I even heard it in your voice. When we used to have those talks in the middle of the night after we...you know…”

“Fucked each other senseless?”

“To put it bluntly, yes. Even the first night I saw it. You were looking at me when I was telling you about Mark and his bullshit and you reached up and you pushed my hair out of my eyes and behind my ears and you were so gentle about it. It was so simple, yet it took my breath away. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. It was the last thing I ever expected from you; being like that.”

“Probably because an hour before, I had my hand around your throat.”

“Well that didn’t hurt, but it was more than that. I go into a job where I have to pretend to be married to a mercenary. And not just any mercenary, but one who was practically a legend; I’d heard all the stories and all the rumours and you ended up being completely different than I thought you would. And you go from being hard core and aggressive to having this quiet, soft, sweet side to you. That is the last thing I expected. And then to hear it in your voice and see it in your eyes; this vulnerability and this brokenness. It was sad but it was beautiful all at the same time.”

Tyler frowns. “Have you been drinking?”

“Don’t be such an ass! I’m trying to be sweet and loving with you, goddamn it! Don’t ruin it!”

“I’m sorry,” he laughs, and loops her hair behind one ear, then the other. “You’re right; I do get embarrassed by this stuff.”

“Why? It’s not like we’re strangers. It’s not like we haven’t spent seven years sharing cooties.”

“Oh I think we’ve been sharing A LOT more than that.”

“Of all the people you shouldn’t be embarrassed around, I’m at the top of the list. So…” she climbs on top of him places a knee on either side of his torso, then leans down to peck his lips. “...stop your bullshit. You’re exhausting me.”

Reaching up, he pushes her his hands through her hair; fingers combing through the dark, silky tresses and pushing them over her shoulders. “If it was that easy of a fix…” he skims his palms over her shoulders and down her arms. “...I would have fixed it a long time ago.”

“Well you ARE getting better at it,” she admits. “Maybe on our fiftieth anniversary you’ll be fully over it and surprise me!”

“Bold of you to assume I’m still going to be alive.”

“We got married when you were thirty five. You’ll only be eighty five then.”

“Exactly. Eighty five. You really think I’m going to make it that far?”

“I do. For the simple fact I won’t let you die.”

“Funny how you think you have control over it.”

“I might not have control over it, but I am optimistic that you’ll make it that long. Even longer, actually. If you can survive everything you have in the past forty two years…”

“Forty one. I haven’t reached forty two years. What the fuck?”

“Your birthday is only three months away,” Esme reminds him.

“Okay, so I’m forty one and three quarters.”

She sighs in exasperation. “Fine. If you can survive everything you’ve gone through in the last forty one and three quarter years, there is no way you’re NOT dying an old man, warm in his bed. If anyone deserves that, it’s you. If you can get shot in the neck and still get off that bridge alive? Your chances of making it to eighty five are very good.”

“You’re forgetting I got very fucking lucky; someone was on that bridge that actually give a shit about me and wanted me to live.”

“I only played a small part,” she says, and her fingers move to the side of his neck; gliding over the tattoo that graces his skin and the scar left behind from Farhad’s bullet.

“A small part? You stuck your fingers in my neck to stop me from bleeding out. That’s more than just a small part.”

“We’re not going to talk about that, okay? That part of it.” Her voice trembles with emotion. “I don’t want to talk about that part.”

“You don’t have to, baby. Come here…” he lays a hand on the back of her head, drawing her down onto his chest. “...it’s okay…” he places his lips against her temple, the fingers of one hand gently massaging her scalp, the other drifting up and down her spine. “...you don’t have to talk about it. I’m sorry I brought it up. I know better than that.”

“It’s not your fault I can’t get over it. That my brain is messed up because of it.”

“Actually, it kind of IS my fault. Considering…”

“It isn’t your fault,” Esme insists, and wraps both arms around his neck. “I’ve never blamed you. It’s just happened. IT was a horrible fucking mess and that stupid fucking Farhad. You should have killed him that night in the alley. You should have just done it. I wouldn’t have held it against you if you did.”

“Okay, first of all? He was a kid.”

“A kid that nearly killed you. So I’m sorry if I have no sympathy for him. He was a little bastard and you should have just done away with him. And if he’s still out there, I almost hope we run into him in Dhaka. Because I'll kill him if you won’t.”

“Alright, you need to settle down. Don’t get so worked up over this shit. Let’s NOT talk about this at all. For the next however many days, let’s not mention that place at all. Deal?”

“Deal. But I swear to God if I see him…”

“What did we just agree on?”

“Sorry,” she mutters against the hollow of his throat. “I get worked up.”

He grins. “Just a little.”

“I’m just scared. About going back there. That’s the last place I ever thought I’d go back to.”

“Trust me; I’m not too excited about it either.”

“You know what would be funny though?” She pulls back to look at him. “If we ended up at the same hotel. In the same room. Maybe we should go there and ask for that room. For old time’s sake.”

“How about no?”

“It wasn’t THAT bad. You had a good time. A VERY good time.”

“I am pretty sure that had nothing to do with the actual hotel or the actual room and everything to do with who I was there with.”

“Maybe they fixed the toilet sometime in the last seven years!”

He chuckles. “Maybe.”

“And maybe someone over five foot five can actually take a proper shower. That was the weirdest thing; you couldn’t take a bath comfortably because you’re too tall and your legs are too long, but you had to sit in the tub to take a shower.”

“I’ll let you have this moment. But only because I’ve spent years making fun of your height. Or lack of it.”

“You were such a good sport about it, though. You let me wash your hair.”

“Honestly? That was the first time I ever had someone do it.”

“Ever?”

“Ever.”

“You were totally having the feels for me weren’t you. And I’m not talking about the feels below the waist; those were more than obvious. I’m talking about legit feels. You were having legit feels for me.”

“I was,” Tyler admits. “And it was fucking terrifying.”

“Not terrifying enough to walk away though. Or to back away, I should say.”

“There was no way in hell I was backing away. I spent years feeling dead inside...years where I just wanted to die...and all of sudden I’m feeling more than that? Something BETTER than that? No way in hell was I backing away.”

“I knew it,” she grins. “I knew you had the warm and fuzzies for me.”

“Holy shit,” he laughs. “So THAT’S where Tanner got in from.”

“He asked me how it feels when you like someone. How it felt when I met you. So told him that you made my heart feel warm and fuzzy and he just took it from there. Did you ask you the same thing?”

“He asked if I got the warm and fuzzies when I met you.”

“Did you?” She scrapes the knuckles on both hands against his beard. “Did you get the warm and fuzzies?”

“From the waist down? Yes. I totally got the warm and fuzzies for you.”

“Please! You did NOT get a hard on the second you saw me on your front porch.”

“The hell I didn’t. There was a hot girl at my place, all tatted and pierced up and looking totally unlike anyone that ever graced my door stop. Damn right I got one.”

“I would have noticed if you were pitching a tent.”

“I was wearing baggy shorts.”

“Baby, you are phenomenally blessed in that area. There’s no shorts baggy enough to hide when you’re excited. So nice try. I appreciate you attempting to build up my ego, but you did NOT get a hard on when you first saw me.”

“Okay, so maybe not a full one, but there were some feelings down there. Especially when I saw you had a tongue ring.”

“Please tell me that’s NOT what you told Tanner when he asked about the warm and fuzzies.”

“I did not tell our five old son that his mom made me horny when I first met her, no. I did tell him that I liked how you smiled at me. That you had a beautiful smile and it made me feel kind of warm and fuzzy.”

“I knew it!” You’ve been denying it for seven years. You had a thing for me right off the hop.”

“I so did. Lust at first sight.”

“You had a weird way of showing it. You weren’t exactly warm and fuzzy to me when we first got to Dhaka.”

“That’s ‘cause you pissed me off. Really pissed me off.”

“I wasn’t listening to your stupid rules. I’m a strong, independent woman. I do what I want.”

“Yeah, and if someone had grabbed you in the market? Who do you think would have had to bust his ass to rescue yours? I should have known right away you were trouble. As soon as you didn’t listen to me the first time. Now I’m seven years in and you still don’t listen to a thing I say.”

“It’s not that I don’t listen to you. Just sometimes I think it’s bullshit and I ignore it.”

He smirks. “I knew you were trouble. The second you downed those two drinks in my kitchen.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s probably what turned you on even more.”

“I’m not going to admit or deny that.”

“You don’t have to. I have my own lie detector test. In the same way you do.”

“Yeah?” He rubs his palms up and down her thighs. “How does it work?”

“I can give you a tutorial,” she offers.

“I bet you can.”

“It starts very simple…” She pecks his lips, followed by the corner of his mouth and then along the side of his jaw. “...see, I know all of your weak spots. All those little places that drive you crazy. For example, this…” she drags the tip of her tongue along the outer edge of his ear. “...always gets things going. I know it drives you insane. In a good way. Just like I know doing this…” she bites down lightly on the lobe and then nibbles her away down the side of his neck. “...mixed with this…” she scrapes her nails down his chest, applying pressure against one nipple. “...really gets you going.”

“You’re evil, you know that? Really fucking evil.”

“You’re not the only one who’s good at teasing. Or did you forget that?”

“Oh I didn’t forget. I know how good you are at it. Seven years, remember?”

His hands push their way into her hair; dark tresses slipping through his fingers as she slides her body down his. Her mouth placing hot, moist kisses along his collarbone and over each peck; a low growl and then a hiss tumbling from his mouth when she first bathes each nipple with her tongue and then scrapes her teeth against them. Breath coming in ragged, uncontrolled pants as she licks, sucks, and kisses her way across the one side of his ribs, then the other; fingernails gouging the skin as her mouth moves even lower. Tracing the ridges of well defined abs and the cut of his hips, the wiry hair that surrounds his navel and travels lower surprisingly soft against her lips, tickling her tongue as she follows its downward path.

She’s always been amazing at this; from the slow build up and the torture that causes his body to lock up and his breath to quicken, the actual act itself. As so willing and eager; offering or taking it upon herself to just do it instead of having to be asked. A far cry from any of the previous relationships he’d been in.

“Jesus...fuck…” he manages through gritted teeth when she sucks and nibbles at his inner thigh and her fingertips drift along the side of his cock. He hates being on the receiving end of this kind of torture; the only time he possesses little to no patience. Yet it’s a game to her. Payback, in a way. For all the times he’s had the nerve to do it to her; the smart grin that takes over his face while he ignores the begging and pleading and allows his mouth and his hands to wander her entire body while purposefully ignoring where she so desperately wants them.

“What’s wrong?”

His eyes open at the sound of her voice; unaware that he’d even closed them, or that his body had been drawn so tight it’s almost painful. And when he looks down, her mouth is hovering at the juncture between hip and thigh; a devilish curve to her lips and a mischievous glitter in her eyes.

“Are you desperate Tyler?” Her eyes never leave his; her mouth moist and warm as it presses soft yet excruciating kisses along the top of his thigh. “...you seem pretty desperate. I know how hard it is for you; giving up control like this.”

“I’m not giving up shit. Just…” he bites down on his bottom lip and his eyes close once more as she sucks and nibbles her way across his pubic bone; one of her nails lightly scraping along the underside of his cock. Already painfully hard; tip leaking pre cum. “...you’re bad.”

“You like it,” she says, as he palms cradles his erection. Pads of her fingers replacing the nails and repeatedly brushing against the sides; methodically tracing and exploring every vein, ridge, and indent. “...if you didn’t it, you wouldn’t be letting me do this…” her hand tightens around his rock hard length,

One hand grabs the sheets beneath him while the other shoves its way into her hair.

“Entirely or…?”

“No. Not fucking entirely. Just…” His hips arch off the bed when she drags the tip of her tongue along the top of his cock. Starting at the tip and ending at the base; aggressively suckling and nibbling while her hand tightens around him. The pressure of her thumb firm as it repeatedly passes over the head. “...if you’re just going fucking play with me like this, just stop.”

“This is karma. For all the times you’ve made ME wait. All those times you got off making me beg and plead for it. And let’s be realistic…” her one hand continues to slowly and gently manipulate his cock while the other moves from his hip to his ball; first cradling and then rhythmically squeezing. “...if you really wanted me to stop, you’d make me. You have more than a hundred pounds on me. And more than a foot in height. You’re more than capable of getting your control back.”

“Don’t tempt me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You would never hurt me. At least not intentionally.”

Her mouth moves to his other thigh; lips sucking and teeth biting down hard enough to mark the flesh. And when he feels her warm breath against him as her mouth lingers over the top of his cock, he sees that pleased glint in her eyes and that and that victorious grin on her face and he finally snaps. Roughly snatching her by the hair; twisting it around his fist as he yanks her up towards him. His lips aggressive and needy against hers’ tongue hungrily and savagely pushing through her teeth as he flips her over onto her back.

“You must be feeling pretty generous tonight,” Esme chides. “Giving up THAT?”

“Maybe I’d rather just fuck you.”

“You ARE getting back to normal,” she grins, and raises her head in order to lick a path that starts in the middle of his collarbone and travels over his throat, along the underside of his chin, and up onto his lips. Capturing the bottom one between her teeth. “Your stamina is almost where it was before.”

“Almost? This will be the third time tonight.”

“You make that sound like a complaint. If you can’t cope with my wants and my needs…”

“I’ve been coping with them for almost seven years. I think I’ll be okay.”

He drops his head down to kiss her; long and deep and just as hungry and desperate as before. Shivering when her nails scrape down his ribs and over his hips. And he feels her body tense and then shudder when he hastily pushes into her, giving her body a chance to adjust to the sudden intrusion before pulling out and sinking back in even harder and deeper than before. It’s a break from their usual; slow and even thrusts and the exchange of soft, short kisses followed by longer and more needy ones. Her hands attentively exploring the muscles in his shoulders and back; fingers light and feathery when they travel over every bulge, ripple, and intent that exist in his arms.

“You’re so beautiful…” he breathes, a hand moving to the side of her face, cupping it gently; thumb brushing against the skin under her eye. “...you’re so beautiful and I love you so much.”

“Don’t talk like that,” she pleads. “Don’t say things like that while you have that look in your eyes. I know what you’re thinking. And that’s not going to happen; it’s never going to happen.”

He attempts a confident, reassuring smile and then kisses her. Long and soft and sweet at first, then much more intense. Feeling her legs wrap around his waist and her ankles lock together at the small of his back. And he closes his eyes and rests his forehead against her as he continues to move inside of her. Taking in every little whimper, moan and sigh and the press of her feet against his tailbone and the feel of her nails scraping his shoulders and back.

Attempting to commit all of it to memory. Just in case.

*****

He wakes to Addie’s shrill and incessant crying coming from the nursery across the hall. Eyes immediately snapping open and his body initially tensing. It’s a cry unlike anything he’s ever heard from her before. She’s always been a fairly quiet and agreeable baby; even in the midst of a ‘meltdown’ -when food isn’t coming as quick as she thinks it should- she never sounds like THAT. It’s louder and higher than normal; no longer the cry that almost resembles a kitten that’s been separated too soon from its mother. He tries not to feel panicked; it could be a number of things. A stomach ache, a wet diaper that she’s been in for far too long and has become unbearable, or she’s somehow managed to kick and squirm her way out of her tight swaddling.

Running his hands over his weary face, he sits up; left hand reaching for his right shoulder and his fingers pressing deep and massaging firmly in a vain attempt to rid himself of both pain and stiffness. Esme doesn’t even budge beside him; blankets pulled up to her ears and her hair falling over her face, oblivious to both the commotion across the hall and his movements beside her.

He groans as he swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands; a hand on the small of his back and a grimace on his face as he hobbles towards the pair of sweats that had long been discarded near the balcony door. Climbing into them and pulling them over his hips and his ass as he heads for the door.

The first thing he notices is how quiet it is in the upstairs hallway. Not even the slightest bit of sound -aside from what Addie is making - trickling out from all the other rooms. Normally he hears something; music or talking coming from one of the kids’ tablets after they’d fallen asleep watching them, the dogs rustling around or snoring from their usual resting place on top of Millie’s bed, or one of the nannies moving inside their room as they prepare to tend to the baby.

The second is the sudden change in temperature when he gets to the nursery; the air coming from under the door drastically cooler than out in the hallway. And it makes him scowl and the hair on the back of his neck stand on end; briefly pausing -waiting and listening- with his fingers curled around the door handle. He’s not sure what he’s expecting to hear, but his gut...his instincts...tell him that something isn’t quite right. Yet his brain is able to pin down just what it could be.

Addie has quieted down by the time he steps into the room; her crying now soft whimpers and gasps for air and a tiny fist shoved in her mouth. And as he makes his way towards the crib, his eyes do a thorough search of the room; it’s a large, open space and the closet door is close and there’s no possible place for anyone to hide. The window is wide open; the strong breeze violently rustling and flapping the curtains and filling the room with shockingly crisp air.

“It’s alright now,” he speaks calmly to Addie as he steps beside the crib. She’s managed to get herself out of her swaddling and her body is cold to the touch; likely woken up by the chill in the air and the sound of the curtains being tossed and shaken. “It’s okay…” he places a kiss to the side of her head as he scoops her up, using one hand to press her against his chest while the other snags the receiving blanket from the crib and drapes it over her. “It’s alright, little peanut. Daddy’s got you.”

She’s comforted by the warmth of his body and the sound of his voice, and he keeps her tightly and protectively against him as he moves to the window; sliding it down and securely the latch. Pausing before stepping away; pulling back the curtains and peering out into the dark.

“What’s going on?” Esme asks, lifting her head from her pillow when he returns. “Everything okay?”

“Did you leave the window in the nursery open?”

She pushes her hair out of her eyes and looks at him quizzically. “What?”

“The window. In the nursery. Did you leave it open when you put Addie to bed?”

“No. It was already closed. I just left it that way. Why?”

“It was wide open.” He slides into bed; leaning back against the headboard, baby finally calm against him. “Are you sure it was closed?”

“I would have noticed if the window was open; it’s been crazy windy all evening.” She reaches up to run a hand over Addie’s hair, then down her arm. “Oh my god, she’s freezing! What the hell?”

“She woke up because she was cold. The window was wide open. It was fucking freezing in there.”

“Here, ” Esme sits up and reaches for the extra blanket spread across the end of the bed, draping over the front of his body and tucking it tightly around Addie. “Daddy’s got you,” she presses a kiss to her daughter’s temple. “You’re okay now, bubby. You’ll warm up quickly. Daddy’s like a furnace. Except for his feet; those are always cold.” She places a hand on Addie’s back and rests her head against Tyler’s shoulder. “Maybe one of the nannies opened it. The window. Maybe they went in to check on her and they thought it felt hot in there so they opened it. Then forgot to go back in and close it.”

“Maybe. That’s pretty fucking stupid though, isn’t it?”

“People make mistakes, Tyler. She’ll be okay. She just needs to warm up. Maybe she’ll take something to eat; that might make her feel better.” She peels the blanket back and gently removes Addie from his arms, then stretches out on her side; baby on the mattress facing her, eagerly latching onto the breast when it's offered.

“Always hungry,” Esme muses, and combs her fingers through Addie’s hair. “Maybe you do have some of your daddy in you, after all. He’s always eating. You’ll be okay, little bubby. You’ll warm up and you’ll have a full tummy and then you’ll feel better. Good thing you woke daddy, huh? He hasn’t been a sound sleeper in a long time.”

Tyler stretches out on his side as well, facing the two of them. And he runs a hand over his wife’s hair and then his daughter’s before sliding closer to them; effectively shielding Addie’s tiny body with his own. His arm arm resting lightly on top of her as he places a protective hand on the small of Esme’s back.

He won’t be sleeping any time soon.

#Tyler Rake #Tyler Rake fan fic #Tyler Rake fan fiction #Extraction #Extraction 2020 #best part of me #chris hemsworth character

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badwolfwrites-sometimes · 5 years ago

Text

Drawn Together: Chapter 18

This baby is 1 year old today... I feel old

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18923374/chapters/58649161

"Nonno, please!" Feliciano begged for what felt like a thousandth time that day. Ever since he learned about his grandpa's trip to Germany, he has been dead set on joining him. "Please, you know how much I want to see Germany."

Grandpa Rome resisted. He had no idea how long he would be staying in Germany in the first place, not wanting Feliciano to be away from his brothers for a long time. Plus, he had no idea if his company would even allow Feliciano to come with him. That's just extra money for hotel and food they have to give. "No, Feliciano. Plain visiting Germany isn't a good enough reason for you to come with me."

"But you can say I'm your unpaid intern and it would be a good opportunity for me." Feliciano argued. "Please let me come, Nonno."

"We'll talk later." Was the response Grandpa Rome gave him every time. Usually that later lasted about two minutes.

Feliciano sighed, deciding that this was all he was going to keep getting no matter how much he tried. He walked over to the couch where his brother and Antonio were watching TV. Antonio held back the giggle at Feliciano's dejected face. "No luck?" He asked.

Grabbing the nearest pillow, Feliciano shoved his face into it, murmuring something Antonio didn't quite understand. "Sorry?" Feliciano removed the pillow just enough for Antonio to be able to understand him properly. "I want to see Ludwig." He repeated.

Lovino rolled his eyes. "Maybe that's for the best. Usually when people who met online meet in real life, it's a disaster. He might rob you and-" A pillow flew into Lovino's face. Feliciano's eyes looked unusually on edge lately, even more whenever Lovino badmouthed his friend. This, however, didn't stop Lovino. "If it's war you want, war you'll get." He threw the pillow back at Feliciano before jumping on him.

Antonio had made a quick escape from the battle of pillows and wrestling. A battle to the last feather, to the last standing hair on their heads, to the last inch of skin left without a bruise, to-

"I'm going out!" Someone spoke, interrupting their fight. Both Feliciano and Lovino stopped fighting in order to shoot deadly stares into the one who dared delay their match. It was only Romeo. And Lovino thought it was something important. He was dressed up unusually nice, though.

"Where are you going?" Antonio beat both of the boys to the question on their minds.

"Marie is giving me math instructions." Romeo simply said, making his way to the door, only to be stopped by Grandpa Rome.

"Marie? Who is that?" Grandpa Rome asked, a teasing smile framing his face. "Does little Romeo have a girlfriend? Your very own little Juliet?"

Romeo rolled his eyes, palms growing sweaty. "She's my friend and she's very impatient so I really need to go."

"Tell Marie I said hi!" Feliciano yelled from the couch where he was still trapped by Lovino.

"Will do." Romeo answered back.

"Yes, tell your girlfriend we all said hi." Grandpa Rome laughed as Romeo exited the house, shaking his head at his weird family.

"Who even is this Marie?" Lovino asked.

"His girlfriend obviously." Grandpa Rome answered.

"Young love... That's so nice." Antonio sighed.

"We're in love too, idiot." Lovino remarked.

"Sorry."

"She's not his girlfriend. He has known her about as long as I know Ludwig." Feliciano chimed in, surprising everyone.

"You know her?" Lovino asked.

"Who is Ludwig?" Grandpa Rome asked.

"Feli, are you okay down there?" Antonio, the sensible one, asked.

"Peachy." Feliciano answered as Lovino finally stepped off from him so he could get comfortable on the couch. When everything was finally settled, they all gathered around him, Feliciano asked. "If I tell you what I know about her, will you let me come to Germany with you, Nonno?"

Whines and sighs came clashing together at Feliciano who smirked at his brain being a genius once in a while. He awaited his answer, unwilling to share his knowledge unless he got an approval.

"Feli, that's blackmailing." Antonio chimed in first.

"Really? This again? You horrible-" Lovino started.

"You're really dead set on going to Germany?" Grandpa Rome complained, interrupting Lovino before his swearing fuse could be set on fire.

As this kind of conversation went back and forth, Feliciano kept quiet while laughing on the inside. His family had a thing regarding curiosity for centuries, passing it from generation to generation, they just needed to know everything they were interested in at the moment. "Yes, yes, yes, unless you agree to let me come, I'm not saying anything." Feliciano finally spoke.

All eyes were dead set on Grandpa Rome, watching his every movement. Antonio was practically begging him with his eyes to agree to take Feliciano if it meant he would spill the beans. Lovino, on the other hand, was still as opposed to Feliciano going as he had been before, something he made vocally clear to his grandpa. Feliciano endured the insults, waiting patiently for his answer. All that pressure and curiosity was bad for Grandpa Rome's health. "Fine. I'll talk to the company, but will you please tell us."

Feliciano beamed with joy. Grandpa Rome's company wasn't all that strict when it came to family members tagging along. He knew because he witnessed it himself, a lot of workers had troubles separating from their families. Excitement filled his body, enough for him to ignore Lovino's complaints. He wanted to tell Ludwig about this so badly, but first, he had to complete his promise.

"Now will you tell us?" Antonio asked, growing impatient.

"I will, I will. Wait." Feliciano said, pointing at Lovino who was still ranting furiously. Antonio silenced him with a pat on the shoulder, taking his hand to hold until Lovino was completely calm.

Feliciano could now begin. "Her name is Anne Marie. He met her at the library one day after lessons. She studies math and is really smart. She's not Italian, but she came to study here because she didn't really fit in with the French girls. She's from Monaco, I think, and she's older than Romeo. I think he said she was around my age and she's also really pretty. I might have a picture..." Feliciano paused, quickly searching through his phone for a short while before giving up. Not a word was spoken during the entire time. "I can't find it now, but Romeo might show it to you when he comes back. They hang around a lot because she explains math to him and he teaches her chemistry. That's all I know."

Pause. Everyone took a bit of time to process everything Feliciano said. "So, she's not his girlfriend, but they hang out a lot? Sounds to me like they are im denial." Grandpa Rome spoke first, but before Feliciano could repeat once again that his brother wasn't dating his friend, he was shut down by Lovino and Antonio.

"Obviously. Unless Midget is gay as well." Lovino said.

"That's a rude nickname, Lovi. I think it's sweet that he has a friend who helps him out, but if they were dating she could help him out even more." Antonio chimed in.

"Like I said-" Feliciano tried once again, but in vain.

"Our little Romeo is growing up. Soon, he'll be married with kids and maybe that would get his head out of that science thing he has." Grandpa Rome looked ready to cry.

Feliciano noticed that any more attempts to clear the misunderstanding up would fail, so he texted Romeo what happened.

♡~Feli~♡: Sorry i told them about marie ♡~Feli~♡: On the plus side ill maybe go to germany!!!!! ♡~Feli~♡: Ill bring you presents as an apology and tell her i said hi

Romeo's reply came in rather quickly, letting Feliciano know that Romeo was still on his way to meet her.

☆MeoMeo☆: Dont worry bout it ☆MeoMeo☆: But do bring me presents

Feliciano laughed, the conversation about Romeo's life still ongoing. A perfect opportunity for Feliciano to slip back quietly to his-

"Oh yeah Feli, you mentioned some guy Louis, I think. Who is he?" Grandpa Rome remembered, catching Feliciano in his attempt to sneak out of the living room.

"Ludwig, actually. He's..." Feliciano trailed off, he hoped this question wouldn't pop out before they were on their way to Germany. Or at least, before he told Ludwig there was a chance he would come visit him. "My friend."

"Oh? Alright then. How did you meet?" Grandpa Rome asked.

"Internet." Before Feliciano could answer, Lovino interrupted him. Feliciano just gave him the stare, nobody in this family was going to let him speak normally today.

"Feli, we talked about strangers on the internet. You can't trust him." Grandpa Rome stared at him concerned, so much that Feliciano wanted to scream and tell them all about how kind Ludwig actually is. He kept quiet, fighting was always useless.

"He's not a stranger, Nonno. He's my friend's relative and a good person." He simply said, hoping his grandpa would understand and not press the issue anymore.

"Feli, I'm not having this conversation. I want you to stop talking to whoever that Louis guy is."

"Ludwig."

"Doesn't matter." Grandpa Rome raised his voice, something so rare Feliciano felt his knees weaken. "He could be a murderer and I don't want to have to bury you so young. Stop talking to him immediately."

For a moment there was heavy silence. Neither Feliciano nor Grandpa Rome spoke, leaving Antonio and Lovino just standing there awkwardly. Lovino almost regretted not keeping his mouth shut, seeing as Feliciano looked about ready to cry. 'It's for his own good,' was what he told himself.

Sucking back the tears, Feliciano nodded. "I'll be drawing in my room, call me when dinner is ready." And he retreated to the one safe place for him in the house, limping his way to it until his bed was before him. Grabbing Silence in Venice, he collapsed face down on the bed, seeing wet stars.

The buzz of Feliciano's phone woke him up. He had no memory of falling asleep, at least not while holding his favorite book, but as he saw the texter's name, everything came to him. Unlocking his phone, he was greeted with over 50 messages all from Ludwig.

Ludwig: So about that challenge Ludwig: I don't really know how to draw dogs well but they were acting cute today and so I hope you don't mind that instead of a drawing you got a picture

*Ludwig has sent 20 pictures*

Ludwig: I guess that is a bit too much

Feliciano kept scrolling and reading Ludwig's messages. Most of them were long ones detailing the entire day of his pets' life, but then they begun getting weird.

Ludwig: So i think about pigeons a lot Ludwig: They are really cool you knkw Ludwig: And like what if i was a pigeon you know what id do Ludwig: Id take my body trash out on every persons head Ludwig: Doesnt that sound super cool

These were the most recent ones and Feliciano suspected Ludwig probably got really drunk when he texted him those, although that didn't make much sense because it was barely 6 p.m. Nevertheless, as weird for Ludwig as they were, they made Feliciano smile.

♡~Feli~♡: Are you okay Ludwig

Ludwig: Ludwig Ludwig: Im not ludwig Ludwig: Im the great pigeon man the awesomest of all

Well, that was strange. Ludwig wasn't the type to use the word 'awesomest.' If anything, he usually complained about that word because his brother-

Feliciano realized what was going on here.

♡~Feli~♡: Gil is that you

Ludwig: You bet i am im gil the pigeon

♡~Feli~♡: Okay gil pigeon would you be a nice pigeon and give your brother pigeon his phone back

Ludwig: But we re having such a nice pigeon conversation Ludwig: He would ruin our pigeon time

♡~Feli~♡: I would rather text you from your own pigeon phone thats why

Ludwig: Oh why didnt pigeon you pigeon say so

♡~Feli~♡: Thats a lot of pigeons

Ludwig: Sure is Ludwig: I cant find my pigeon brother he probably got pigeon lost pigeon watching Ludwig: I want him to find a noce pigeon to take caer of him while i go on pigeon adventures

♡~Feli~♡: Thats really sweet of you pigeon gil

Ludwig: It sure is Ludwig: I found him hes pigeon asleep

♡~Feli~♡: Oh alright ♡~Feli~♡: Thank you pigeon gil

Ludwig: I woke him up and hes pigeon mad at me Ludwig: Goodbye my pigeon friend Ludwig: Sorry about that I swear I just took a nap and he is already so drunk

♡~Feli~♡: Dont be that was hilarious ♡~Feli~♡: Gil likes pigeons a lot

Ludwig: Yeah Ludwig: He watched a British culinary show where someone made pies out of pigeon meat and he has been angry about it ever since

♡~Feli~♡: Oh poor gil ♡~Feli~♡: Was it a good nap at least

Ludwig: It was short that is for sure Ludwig: I have been playing in the garden with the dogs all day so I am a little worn out Ludwig: How are you Ludwig: Will you be watching Eurovision tonight

♡~Feli~♡: Oh absolutely ♡~Feli~♡: I really like this years songs i think denmark might win ♡~Feli~♡: I dont want to get my hopes up by claiming we will win because we never do

Ludwig: I like Italy's entry this year Ludwig: Ours as well but it isn't victory material

♡~Feli~♡: I like germanys song a lot ♡~Feli~♡: I can relate to it but thats a whole other story ♡~Feli~♡: Anyway im both good and bad ♡~Feli~♡: Good because i might be coming to germany soon ♡~Feli~♡: And bad because nonno

Ludwig: Wait you will be coming here? Ludwig: For real? Ludwig: I am not really done with the book yet

♡~Feli~♡: No ill be coming with nonno because he has this trip with his company and things like that all over europe

Ludwig: Then is the bad news that he doesnt want to take you or?

♡~Feli~♡: No ♡~Feli~♡: I wouldnt be feeling this sad if he didnt want to take me its just that ♡~Feli~♡: He wants me to stop talking to you and being your friend

Ludwig: Why?

♡~Feli~♡: Lovi spilled that we met online and my nonno is really strict about online friendships and everything ♡~Feli~♡: So he ordered me to stop talking to you

Ludwig: I see Ludwig: Well i did employ you in a way so maybe you could tell him that if you are going to come to Germany Ludwig: It is less suspicious that way

♡~Feli~♡: I dont kno ♡~Feli~♡: My nonno can be really mean sometimes but lovi is even meaner ♡~Feli~♡: I want to fight back but if i did he ll tell nonno and make everything be my fault ♡~Feli~♡: Its stupid and i hate it i hate it here

Ludwig: Brothers are usually like that Ludwig: Maybe it is good that you aren't starting fights because in that way Lovino can't project the blame unto you Ludwig: But at the same time that pushes him to abuse you more just to get a reaction out of you

♡~Feli~♡: I wish i could live with you ♡~Feli~♡: I wouldnt be lonely at least

Ludwig: If you still have problems with your grandfather you can tell him that you can stay here Ludwig: I suppose if he is traveling with a company that means the company pays the bills to hotels and transport Ludwig: So if you and him want to stay you can come to our place and save some money

♡~Feli~♡: You know what thats a brilliant idea ♡~Feli~♡: Ill tell him that ♡~Feli~♡: But lovi would probably object to something there

Ludwig: My best advice is to ignore what he says and if he says something mean about you just nod but don't take him seriously

♡~Feli~♡: I can try that

Ludwig: Talk to your grandfather first please

♡~Feli~♡: Are you excited at the posibility of me coming over

Ludwig: Ecstatic Ludwig: Gilbert would be overjoyed as well Ludwig: And also because I want to know will your grandfather approve of me Ludwig: Because I really don't want to lose one of my only friends

♡~Feli~♡: We re both so lonely amd sad we need each other ♡~Feli~♡: Ill text you his response

Feliciano locked his phone and put it for charging, racing down the stairs to find his grandpa on the phone. Grandpa Rome mouthed to Feliciano that they were talking about the trip to Germany and shook his head that the company was refusing.

Feliciano motioned to him to cover the phone because he had to tell him something. Grandpa Rome excused himself for a moment to the person he was talking to. "My friend said we could stay at his place so we don't have to pay extra for hotels and food." Feliciano blurted out.

Grandpa Rome nodded, passing the message to the person on the phone. They waited for a response. Finally, Grandpa Rome nodded and Feliciano was gone in a second.

♡~Feli~♡: IM COMING TO GERMANY!!!

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angry-slytherin · 5 years ago

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Heaven Help Me(Ch 1)

[prompt credits to @imfullofideas thank you!

Prompt: AU. Izzie never got cancer and she and Alex are happily married. Well sort of. Alex is just going through the motions while trying to keep his wife happy. His life is turned upside down when he meets Jo Wilson and realizes she's what he's been missing all along ]

Some background: For story purposes, Jo is/was only 2 years behind Alex and Izzie in residency. Alex and Izzie are second-year attendings and Jo is a fellow. Alex and Izzie got married in their third/fourth(?) year of residency, like in the show. Also, Alex will not cheat on Izzie with Jo, because cheating is gross and adultery is worse. Jo will become a general surgeon(forever bitter she isn’t ortho in canon, but whatevs), as well as Alex being a gen. pediatric surgeon. Izzie is in oncology, but she will also perform surgery. Because despite her big heart, I cannot find anything I genuinely could see her doing as a surgeon; she’s a great doctor though. I just went with the crack canon that 16x16 brought us.

Without further ado, Chapter 1:

•••

It doesn’t take Jo Wilson very long after she moves to Seattle to conclude that the reason the small population of the city is so contrary, is due to the constant rain. Good weather means good moods, and lots of barometric pressure equals a lot of headaches. Which is what Jo has right now. A raging headache.

“Cross, how many times do I have to have these results sent back to the lab? You are a fifth year. Next year you’ll be an attending general surgeon. You will call the shots. If you can’t get simple lab results right, how is anybody supposed to trust you with their life? Get me a white-cell count and glucose levels for my mice, please.”

Cross nods his curly blonde head vigorously.

“Right, sorry Dr. Wilson.” Cross stares at Jo for a moment, before she shoos him.

“I swear the fifth year’s get duddier every year. You could steal another resident for your trial that has half a brain, I’m sure. And mice?” Jo turns around, to see Izzie Stevens leaning over a chart, smiling at her.

“You’re right, Dr. Stevens. But he knows my research so well. I have a pretty competent intern on it too, though. An oncology intern that I’m borrowing.” Jo leans on her elbow on the nurse’s desk.

“Ah right, you’re our new research fellow. I’m inspired by your work, Doctor...”

“Wilson, Josephine Wilson.”

“Doctor Wilson; its innovative. I was surprised to see Chief Bailey even put out a personal check to fund your fellowship.” Izzie smiles, and it makes Jo feel warm inside.

“Uh yeah, it was certainly a great opportunity. It wasn’t my original plan to come to Seattle, but plans change.” Jo gives a small smile, as Izzie hands her tablet to a nurse.

“Welcome to Seattle, then. The warnings are true, it rains a lot here.” And Izzie walks off.

“Thanks.” Jo calls over her shoulder.

“Doctor Wilson, your pager is going off.”

Jo looks at the nurse over the desk, “Right.” She feels her face flush. 911, OR 2.

***

A nurse slips latex gloves on Jo’s hands.

“You paged me?”

“Are you a general resident or something? If so, then yes, and get your damn hands in the patient, please.”

Jo looks up to see a face matching the voice; a male surgeon. She assumes he either hates female surgeons or residents with that tone.

“Fellow, a research fellow. I am also a board certified general surgeon, but I’ll gladly play resident for a minute.” She steps over to the table, “What do we have here?”

“Two-year-old boy; biliary atresia, I need an assist.”

“That would be why I’m here.”

Jo grabs the suction tube.

“It feels incredible to be in an OR. I’ve been here for a week and so far it’s been all paper work and setting up my lab, no operations yet for me. It’s like I have that intern-level high of being in here for the first time.”

“That’s great; but this kid needs your focus. I’ve been his doctor for a long time, and I’ve known you less than five minutes.”

“Doctor... well I don’t know you either, but look at his bile duct. He needs a Kasai.”

The male surgeon inspects the patient’s abdomen, and sighs defeatedly.

“Crap. You’re right.”

“It’s okay, we’ll do it right. You’ve gotten this kid this far, and I’m pretty confident in my skills. Let’s get ready.”

***

As Jo scrubs her hands after surgery, it occurs to her.

“I still don’t know your name.”

“Doctor Alex Karev, pediatric general surgeon. But you knew that. And yours?”

“Doctor Jo Wilson. General surgeon and research fellow. But you knew that.”

Alex smiles, and it makes her smile back. He has a ruggish look, almost hardened that attracts her.

“Your whole motivational thing helped. Thanks. I didn’t mean to be an ass in the there; still working on that. I’ve been an ass my whole life, and I revert when I’m stressed.”

“It’s okay, I kick and scream when I’m stressed too. Maybe we should both work on our coping mechanisms. Make a switch to ortho?” Jo can’t help her cheeky grin.

“Oh yeah, definitely. Let’s get right on that.” Alex’s eyes widen as he says it, and his grin soon matches her. Jo studies his face for another moment, before her pager goes off again.

“I have to go. It was nice meeting you Doctor Karev.”

“You too, Doctor Wilson.”

Jo leaves the scrub room, feeling lighter in her step as she walks toward her lab. Her elation even leads her to believe that Cross will have gotten the correct tests. She turns the corner.

“Doctor Wilson, these results look weird to me.”

Cross hands her the paper, and Jo feels her heart rate speed up as she reads it.

“Why the hell is her white count so low? Mouse number three I mean,” She trails over to the mouse, not looking up.

“Doctor Cross, did you or Doctor Rayn notice this mouse looking sickly? Maybe she’s got an existing illness?”

“It’s a mouse.” Cross says.

“Yes, I know that. What I’m saying is that if she doesn’t, this means that this treatment won’t work. This research is basically useless.” Jo gapes sadly at the mouse. Her stomach sinks and her chest hurts.

“Please, go run white counts again on all the mice. And test them all for anything weird. Consult a veterinarian if you have to, just find out if there’s something wrong with my mouse. Find Rayn to help you.”

“Got it. I hope she’s alright; it had been going so well.” Cross looks down, the air in the room feeling heavy.

“I know. So go get those work ups done.”

Once her resident is gone, Jo takes a seat at a lab table for a moment, before deciding that what she really needs is a lunch break.

***

“That looks absolutely disgusting.” Jo feels like she might throw up looking at her friend, Doctor Atticus Lincoln’s lunch.

“She’s right Link, that looks like it was burnt, thrown in a dumpster and harassed by a koala.” This comes from Amelia Shepherd, Atticus’ longtime girlfriend and recently— fiancée.

“Well, I’m going to it eat it. And neither of you,” He looks between the two women, “Can stop me.” And with that, he shoves a bite of meatloaf into his mouth.

“Oh god,” Jo squeezes her eyes shut, and shoves a bite of salad into her own mouth to wash away the second-hand disgusting that she feels.

Amelia goes unbothered, instead becoming interested in Jo.

“So, have you found any new friends. Better than this loser; a boyfriend, or perhaps a very lucky man in a bar? There’s one right here, no discount, but the owner probably knows more about us doctors and nurses than we do.”

“Maybe, no, and definitely not.”

“Oh well that’s boring. Who’s your friend?”

“Doctor Karev. We didn’t speak all that much, and I wouldn’t call him a friend yet, but he seems nice, and we clicked.”

“Oh he’s like a rugged hot right? Not my type, but good looking,” She then turns to Link, “The one with the crazy wife, right?”

Link looks up innocently from his meatloaf, “You think everyone is crazy. She’s normal to me.”

“Okay...he’s normal though? Safe to be around?”

Amelia laughs, “She’s not dangerous. She is crazy though, crazier than me; and that’s saying something. She’s charming to some, but I wouldn’t marry her, if you know what I mean.”

Link adds, “She’s nice though.”

“Sunshine-y like my fiancé here.”

Jo nods.

“So no crazies, right Link? They’re both normal people?”

Link glances at Amelia, “Amelia only hates her because she believes she should’ve been kicked out of the program for something she did as an intern. It’s not my story to tell, but it was kind of crazy. The whole thing.”

Jo smiles, “Okay, then I might just have a new friend.”

***

“Doctor Wilson! So this is your lab. It’s very organized. It also reeks like med school.”

“Not much worse than ORs get, Doctor Karev.” Jo smiles to herself.

“A hundred percent. Can I ask what you’re working on, oh wise research fellow?” Alex walks over to Jo and the mice, studying them.

“A cure for cancer. In the long run, that’s the goal. This is just phase testing, still on mice. Right now, me and my team are studying a whole bunch of boring crap to get to the fun stuff. It’s just me, two residents, a couple of biomed engineers and some mice.”

“That’s a big goal. And kind of an incredible one. How did you get the grant money?”

“The chief of surgery wrote a personal check. She was inspired by my work at Hopkins, in residency, and I gave up my minimally invasive fellowship at Mass Gen to come here.”

“Wow, someone’s got expensive taste. Family money?”

“What, no? Brain power. I was a foster kid, but I’m just ridiculously smart. You probably couldn’t comprehend half of what I do here.” Jo teases, grinning.

“Oh yeah, I’m just really stupid. But hey, I was a foster kid too. On and off.”

“Oh yeah, any good homes?”

“One. The rest were all crap.”

“Mine were all crap. Every single one. But life goes on. You have to get past it, or it’ll sink you.”

“Wow that’s deep. Real insightful.” Alex deadpans. Jo rolls her eyes.

“Shut up! It’s what my therapist taught me when I was in my early years of med school. That’s what happens when you’re messed up in the head.”

“Hey, at least you have your self-proclaimed ridiculous smarts, I just have messed up.” Alex cracks, as Jo tinkers with a tool.

“Ever been to therapy?” She asks hesitantly.

“No.”

“It’s horrible. I threw up every time, and I think it made me worse. But then it made me better.” She puts the tool down and faces Alex.

“Good, I’m glad.” Alex smirks sideways for a moment, and Jo can’t help but smile back. Then, after a beat, Jo works up courage.

“So I heard you have a wife. What’s she like? You can’t be that messed up if you have a wife.”

“Uh yeah. She’s a doctor, an oncologist. She pops in here often, she did a surgical residency. Doctor Izzie Stevens.”

“Oh. I’ve seen her around; talked to her this morning. She’s very nice, pretty too.” Jo compliments.

“Yeah, she’s great. What about you, anyone special? Husband, girlfriend, dog?”

Jo laughs, “Just me right now. New city, cross country move, you know?”

Alex nods, “Gotcha. Anyone you had to leave back home? Personally I ran from where I grew up, but some people have a hard time letting go.”

Jo bites her lip, “No, not from Maryland. I’ve ran before, but not from there.” Her voice is quieter and she seems to shrink into herself.

“Oh. Well that’s nice, I guess.”

“Yeah. No running anymore. Seattle is growing on me. I like that rain.”

Alex smiles.

#grey’s anatomy #grey’s fanfiction #grey’s anatomy fanfic #jolex fanfic #jo wilson #jo karev #alex karev #izzie stevens #amelia shepherd #atticus lincoln #a multi chapter?#in this economy?#AU #au fanfiction

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miguel-manbemel · 5 years ago

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Aspects & Fanfics Ep. 34: The Vacation Part 1: A Rough Start

I thought I wouldn’t have this finished on time, as I’ve been writing all the monologues with the Sides, making that Roman video and then also writing the Spanish subtitles for the new episode of Sanders Sides. But I got it just on time, and here it is. It’s the first part of a story which I don’t know yet how many parts it will have. We’ll find out together. Now, without further ado, I leave you with the story and I hope you enjoy it. Until next time.

SYNOPSIS: Thomas and the Sides travel to Sandersia to spend a week of vacation in the Royal Castle with Roland and Ira. The objective is for Remus and Roland to get to know each other and eventually become friends, so that Roland will let Remus and Janus marry in the Royal Castle with Logan and Patton. But Remus has all kinds of doubts about it and the day is not going to end in very good terms...

WARNINGS: Romantic prinxiety, logicality and dukeceit. There’s a scene featuring an apparent death, and a lot of angst, especially from Remus.

EPISODE INDEX

[Remus and Janus are inside the royal carriage going through Sandersia towards the royal castle. Roman and Virgil are sitting in front of them]

REMUS: [nervous] I don’t know if this is a good idea, guys…

JANUS: Why? It’s only a week of vacation. You have nothing to worry about.

REMUS: Honey, I appreciate that you lie to try and comfort me, but you and I both know this is more than a vacation, at least for me.

ROMAN: Remus, relax. If you behave just like you’ve been behaving with us the previous weeks, there’s nothing you should be afraid of… Well, maybe bringing crushed cockroaches to his door like you usually do to mine is not a good idea if you want to impress my brother Roland, but you know what I mean, right?

REMUS: What about it? It’s a proof of my undying brotherly love for you, Roman! I'm bringing you the delicious products of my hunting around my room!

ROMAN: [trying to hide disgust] Yes, of course, Remus, of course…

REMUS: [over dramatically offended] Okay, whatever, it’s your loss! The next one I catch, I’ll cook and eat it myself, and I won’t share!

JANUS: Hearing that makes me long to be a real snake again… at least as a snake I could eat that without feeling nausea…

[intro sequence]

REMUS: Ugh, this carriage is taking forever. Didn’t you say that this thing used to travel at lightspeed? It doesn’t look so.

ROMAN: Yeah, I know. Since the Dark Master manipulated the royal carriages, we haven’t been able to figure out how to put them back to normal. We’ll have to deal with that for the time being. At least, they’re still convenient to travel, even if not faster than a regular car of the outer world.

VIRGIL: Also, maybe it’s not a good idea to have two carriages at the same time running at that speed. We could crash against Thomas and the others’ carriage if they stopped abruptly for some reason, and Thomas could get hurt. I mean, all of us could get hurt, but Thomas is human and his wounds wouldn’t heal as easily, so…

ROMAN: Yeah, maybe so…

REMUS: And I don’t know what your brother expects from me! How can I please him if I don’t know him or what he wants?

ROMAN: Well, that’s what we’re going there for, Remus. Your task is to get to know him and let him get to know you, and eventually become friends.

REMUS: [beat] And then, we’ll live happily ever after, right? We’re the Sanders Sides, Roman, not the Brady Bunch.

ROMAN: But Remus…

REMUS: Let’s face facts, okay? Your brother hates me. He has a valid reason, of course, after what I did, but nothing I can do is gonna make him stop hating me.

ROMAN: But…

REMUS: If saving your son from the clutches of the Dark Master himself didn’t change his opinion about me, I doubt I can do anything else to convince him… This is a mistake, we should go back.

ROMAN: [loud and a bit angry] NO!

[there’s a short silence, then Roman continues]

ROMAN: You’re not gonna run away from this without at least trying! You owe it to him, like you said, after what you did to him! At least, make the effort to fix things for once in your life! I’m tired of having to mediate between my two brothers, not being able to share time with both of you at the same time!

REMUS: But he’s your brother, Roman, not mine! I don’t owe him anything!

ROMAN: That’s bold of you to say considering that you would have killed him if Ira hadn’t stopped you at the last second.

REMUS: [hurt] You’re never gonna let me live up with that, right, Roman? You will always hold that against me!

ROMAN: Remus, I already forgave you long ago, but it’s Roland to whom you did that. You have to earn his forgiveness too. I think it’s only fair that at least you try to apologize to him and show him that you have no ill will against him.

REMUS: But I have no ill will against him, you know it!

ROMAN: But he doesn’t know. I’m gonna tell you something he told me last time, but I beg you, please don’t mention him I told you. He’s still terribly scared of you. And even if he hadn’t told me verbally, he had already made that clear to me non-verbally. What you did to him… traumatized him to the point that your mere mention makes him go pale and slightly tremble. I noticed it the last time we spoke. He tries to hide it because he thinks that, as the regent prince, he has to show strength to govern this principality, or at least that he has to look like it. And I’m sure he wants to make me believe that he’s strong enough so that I think that nothing can affect him. But I’ve know him since he was a baby. I know when he’s scared, and you, Remus, you scare him to death.

REMUS: Why are you telling me all of this? To make me feel even guiltier? To remind me that the blame for his suffering is all mine and I should go to hell for my past actions? To tell me that my struggle for doing better is useless and I should stop trying?

ROMAN: No, Remus, you’re taking it the wrong way. I’m telling you this to make you understand that your actions had consequences, and in order to be able to truly move on, you must try, at least, to fix those consequences the best that you can. I want to be able to tell my brother about you without causing him a panic attack and my biggest wish, even if probably impossible, is that you two managed to get along, or at least tolerate each other. He’s doing a big effort to make this work. I want that at least you do the same effort. If it doesn’t work out in the end, I’ll understand, but don’t give up without at least trying. Like I told Roland, if not for him, at least do it for me.

REMUS: [sighs] Okay… I can’t promise that I’ll fulfill your brother’s expectations in the end… but I will try, for you.

ROMAN: Thank you, brother. [singing sweetly] “That’s all I ask of you.”

JANUS: Phantom of the Opera, my favorite musical.

VIRGIL: [ironic] I wonder why? [looking out the window] Okay, guys, I think we’re arriving to the castle.

REMUS: [nervous] Oh, gosh…

JANUS: [holding Remus’ hand] Calm down, Rem. Remember we’re rooting for you.

REMUS: I hope so…

ROMAN: Your nervousness shows that you’re taking this pretty seriously. Thank you.

[the carriage stops in front of the castle, next to the other carriage. All the gang comes out of the carriages. Roland and Ira are waiting at the door. When Roland sees Remus he makes a tense face for a second, but puts himself together]

ROLAND: Greetings, guests. Welcome back to the castle.

THOMAS: It’s nice to be back, Roland.

ROMAN: Hi, Roland, nice to see you again. I… suppose you remember my brother Remus.

ROLAND: [frowning at him slightly] Yes, I do. [low voice, but not low enough so that they can’t hear him] Unfortunately…

REMUS: [ignoring that] How… how do you do, sir?

ROLAND: [sardonic] Oh, “sir”? You call me now sir? That’s new.

ROMAN: Roland… you promised.

ROLAND: I know… I know, sorry, you’re right. Let’s do as if nothing had happened and start over. Welcome to the castle, Remus.

REMUS: Thank you.

[Remus rises his hand. Roland hesitates for a second, then timidly reaches his hand to Remus’ and shakes hands with him. Remus can feel Roland’s hand trembling inside his and when he looks at his face he notices how pale he’s suddenly gone]

REMUS: Before anything else… I wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything I did to you. It was really bad and I understand that it probably is unforgivable. But I’m sorry, anyway, and I hope you accept my apologies. I promise I will never ever do that sort of thing again, by my noble title I swear.

ROLAND: [with a face of surprise] That’s… that’s actually kind of you to say. Okay, enough time spent at the door. Please, come in. Ira, show them their rooms. I have to take care of some urgent matters in my room.

IRA: It will be my pleasure.

ROLAND: I hope you excuse me right now, we’ll have time to talk later.

ROMAN: Of course, Roland. See ya later.

IRA: Follow me, guys.

ROMAN: Thank you, Ira.

[The gang enters the castle, following Ira, while Roland goes somewhere else]

IRA: You must excuse Roland today, he hasn’t been himself at all. He’s so nervous that this morning he dropped the teapot when he was about to serve himself a cup of coffee. It took two hours to clean the shattered teapot and the huge stain of coffee from the carpet, and the stain is still not gone completely.

ROMAN: I’m sorry to hear that.

REMUS: I guess it’s my fault.

IRA: It is, indeed… Oh, I’m… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, but I suppose you understand this is not easy for him.

REMUS: It’s not easy for me either. I may act without thinking most of the time and I may love to pester everyone with all kinds of shenanigans, but I mean no real harm for anyone, and back then I wasn’t myself either. By the way, I never got the chance to thank you.

IRA: Thank me? For what?

REMUS: For stopping me at the last second before I did something unfixable. To think that I could have killed someone for real if you hadn’t arrived on time… I would have had that on my conscience, at leas the little amount of conscience I have in my brain, for all of my life. So, again, thank you for stopping me.

IRA: Well… you’re welcome, and I’m happy I could have been of help in your path to… redemption. I apologize too for the times I had to take control of your body in emergencies.

REMUS: It’s okay… as long as it happens in a real emergency and you don’t take too long. It’s a horrible feeling, like Roman and Patton can attest.

IRA: Of course. I’ll try not to do that again, unless I’m forced by circumstances. Well, we’re here. This is Patton and Logan’s room. I hope you like it.

LOGAN: It looks adequate.

PATTON: I love this room, [excited squeeing] and look, Logan, there’s a portrait of kittens on the main wall! I love this! Thank you, Ira!

IRA: I knew you would love it, Patton. See ya later guys.

[while Logan and Patton enter their room, the others follow Ira to the next door]

IRA: This room will be for Thomas, Ian and Chris.

THOMAS: Yeah, a room for the single ones. It will be like being back on the student residence when I was in college.

CHRIS: It could be fun.

IAN: Thank you, Ira.

IRA: You’re welcome.

[the others follow Ira to the next door]

IRA: This room will be for Roman and Virgil. I would have given you the royal suite as the Royal Princes of Sandersia, but I thought you would prefer to be all next to each other. I can set up the royal chamber if you want me to.

ROMAN: No, Ira, you guessed right. I prefer being next to my friends for the week, and this room is lovely too.

VIRGIL: Yes, thank you, Ira.

[Remus and Janus follow Ira to the last door]

IRA: And this is your room, guys. I hope you like it.

JANUS: It’s totally not great at all, Ira. Thank you.

IRA: You’re welcome.

REMUS: Yes, I suppose it’s okay. I’m not an expert in super clean rooms, so…

IRA: I… I prefer not to know what you’re talking about… Okay, now, if you excuse me, I’ve got some chores to do. I still have to finish up cleaning the coffee spot. I’ll go check on you later. See ya, guys.

JANUS: See ya, Ira. It’s so good to see you living your best life now. When I think that for some time, we had lost you.

IRA: That time is in the past now, thankfully. See ya later, my friend.

[Ira leaves them while Remus and Janus enter the room]

REMUS: Yes, it’s not a bad castle. Not as good as my own castle, but not bad at all.

JANUS: Are you feeling any better now, Remus?

REMUS: I wish, but the truth is that I’m not. I feel… I don’t know, like an octopus out of water, like… this was not my place, and everyone living here knew it and looked at me like a freak. Normally I wouldn’t care about it, but now, I do, and I don’t know why.

JANUS: Maybe it’s because you’re feeling a sense of responsibility you have never felt before. You don’t care about the others’ opinion, but you’re scared to disappoint Roman. Am I wrong?

REMUS: Maybe. I didn’t want to do this at all. If I’m unwanted somewhere, I don’t need to set a foot there. We could have married anywhere, even if it couldn’t have been the double wedding we had planned with Logan and Patton. But when Roman begged me like that the other day. I knew it was really important for him, and I acquiesced.

JANUS: You really love your brother, right?

REMUS: Yes, I do. Despite all, and even in my worst times, when I was enduring the worst isolation, I could never stop loving him. If this is important for him, I’ll do it.

[Janus holds Remus’ hand]

JANUS: I knew under all that exterior of madness and randomness of yours, there was a heart of gold. It’s just a little rusty of not using for a long time, but it’s gold nonetheless.

[Remus smiles lovingly at Janus, then kisses him. Meanwhile, Roman and Virgil are in their room]

VIRGIL: Roman, you look so worried.

ROMAN: I am worried, Virge. Very much.

VIRGIL: About Remus?

ROMAN: Of course. I’m afraid I’ve placed on his shoulders too much weight to handle, all for my selfish wish to force my two brothers to get along. Maybe I’m hoping for the impossible and I’m about to do more harm than good.

VIRGIL: Well, from the moment we welcomed Remus into the team, we all knew we had to tackle Roland and Remus’ relationship one day or another.

ROMAN: Yes, you’re right, but still… I don’t know how this week is gonna end. I’m imagining all the worst-case scenarios and it’s driving me mad.

VIRGIL: [understanding smirk] Welcome to my world, Roman.

ROMAN: And you have to deal with this all the time? Gosh, Virgil, I don’t know how you can handle this.

VIRGIL: When worrying is all that you’ve known in your life, you become used to it. For me it’s my natural state of living at this point. Except when I get too heightened or Thomas goes into a panic attack. In those times, not even I could endure the pressure and I break down, just like anybody else in those scenarios. But my job is to try and maintaining the balance of tension between vigilance and anxiety, and I must try to be strong to maintain it as much as possible.

ROMAN: Well, kudos, my love. I admire your strength so much.

[Roman kisses Virgil on the cheek. Virgil gives him a heartwarming smile]

VIRGIL: You’re welcome. And I wouldn’t worry too much in advance in this case. I think Remus looks pretty capable of dealing with this, and if he loves you, which I think he does, he’ll do everything he can to make this work.

ROMAN: I know he will… But on the other hand, I’m also worrying about Roland. This is a huge struggling situation for him and I essentially pushed him into it against his will. Maybe he wasn’t ready for this ordeal.

VIRGIL: He loves you too, so he’ll do his best too. Let’s hope for the best.

ROMAN: Let’s hope so, indeed.

[someone knocks at the door]

ROMAN: Come in!

[a servant opens the door]

SERVANT: Your highness, the regent prince asks to meet you, alone.

ROMAN: My brother? Okay, I’m coming. Will you be all right, Virge?

VIRGIL: Yes, I’ll be fine. After I have retouched my eyeshadow, I’ll go hang out with Thomas and the others. Look for me in their room if you don’t find me here when you return.

ROMAN: Okay, see ya later, Virge.

[Roman gets out of the room and follows the servant to Roland’s desk room]

SERVANT: [announcing him at the door] Your Royal Highness, Prince Roman!

ROLAND: Hi, Roman, come in.

[Roman enters the room, then the servant leaves and closes the door behind him]

ROMAN: Is everything okay, Roland?

ROLAND: Yes… yes, it’s fine, it’s fine.

ROMAN: [sitting down next to Roland] Are you sure? Ira told me about the teapot.

ROLAND: Oh, he shouldn’t have. I didn’t want you to worry about me.

ROMAN: As if not knowing it would have spared me the concern. I’ve been worrying about you for days already.

ROLAND: I’m so sorry, Roman.

ROMAN: Don’t be, I’m your big brother, it’s my job to worry about my little brother. Who else would, otherwise?

ROLAND: That was when we were kids, Roman. Now we’re both adults, we’re supposed to be able to take care of ourselves without making others worry about us.

ROMAN: If only that was true. But it isn’t. It’s only natural that we worry about the people we love and their well-being. That’s part of being family. And we’re family, right?

ROLAND: A very atypical family, though. Sometimes I’m still confused about if I should call you brother or father because you created me in this world as your brother.

ROMAN: As you said when you learned the truth, I’m family either way, so does it really matter?

ROLAND: No, I guess not.

ROMAN: Okay, you asked me to come, and here I am, so what is it?

ROLAND: Yes, I was thinking that this afternoon, after lunch, we could all go to the beach in front of the castle, to spend the rest of the first day having some fun. I’ll be free then to join you. If you want, of course, we can do whatever you want if you had something else in mind.

ROMAN: Sounds like a great plan, Roland. I’m sure the others will agree too when I tell them.

ROLAND: Then it is settled. Now, since you’re here, perhaps we could spend… five boring minutes together as I bring you up to date about the principality. I need to know if you agree with the choices I made, you’re the real Royal Prince after all and it’s your duty too.

ROMAN: [sighs with a smirk] Okay, brother. Bore me.

[Roman and Roland start talking about the principality’s administration while looking at some documents on the desk. Time goes by and it’s the afternoon. The gang is at the beach. Ira and Janus are lying on some deck chairs, under an umbrella, wearing a bath suit and sunglasses. The others are all in the water, Remus splashing at Roman who complains about it, Patton trying not to go too far from the shore as he can’t see anything without glasses. Logan is next to him trying to protect him, even though he’s as blind as him without his own glasses. The rest just enjoy the water on their own. Janus and Ira look at the others]

IRA: The water looks fine. Don’t you want to join them, Jan? Oh, it’s still weird to me to call you Jan instead of Dee. I can call you Jan, right?

JANUS: Of course you can, Ira. And nah, I’m not in the mood for swimming. Maybe because I still remember my days as a real snake, when I was a cold-blooded creature and I preferred sunbaths better than water baths. What about you? You don’t want to join them? Don’t feel obligated to stay with me just to give me company. I could take the time to take a little nap while you have fun.

IRA: I’m much better here, having a tranquil rest. A palace can be hard work sometimes, you know?

JANUS: You know what? I’m glad you bring this up now that we’re alone, because I’m often wondering something.

IRA: What is it?

JANUS: Is it okay for you to be a servant of Roland in exchange of living here? Working all day, doing the castle’s chores till you get exhausted… I thought you came here as his personal protector, not as his butler, and I purposely used that word instead of “slave” so as not to talk bad about Roland. I don’t know… you once were a full Side of your own and it hurts me to see you down to this, if you know what I mean.

IRA: I understand your concern and I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s not what you think. When I first came here, Roland treated me with so much reverence, as if I was almost… like a god of some kind. He didn’t let me do anything in the castle and treated me as if I was the true owner of this principality. I had my own servants to do everything for me and… it got a little stressing, not to mention that I got really bored after days went by without doing anything. So, it was me who suggested him to let me do the chores in the castle. At first he refused, but when I talked about how I was feeling, he acquiesced. I told him from the first minute that I wanted him to tell me what needed to be done as soon as it needed to be done, so I could stay busy, and so it has been up until today. So don’t worry, Janus. I’m totally fine and I’m doing this on my own free will.

JANUS: Okay, if you say so. You know I didn’t mean to be rude to Roland, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

IRA: I know. You’ve always looked after me ever since the Dark Realm days, and I’ll always thank you for your friendship.

JANUS: My pleasure.

[Ira smiles at Janus, then looks at the sea. After a few seconds, his smile fades away and is replaced by a face of fear]

JANUS: Is there… something wrong, Ira?

IRA: Where is Roland? I can’t see him anywhere.

[Janus looks for Roland too]

JANUS: You’re right… He’s gone!

[Janus and Roland get up and run to the sea, next to Patton and Logan who are the ones closer to them]

IRA: Guys! Roland is missing! Where is Roland!?

PATTON: I… I don’t know, kiddos, I can’t see without my glasses.

JANUS: [carrying both glasses and giving them to Logan and Patton] Here guys, put them on.

[Logan and Patton put their glasses on]

LOGAN: You’re right, Roland is missing… And Remus too, I can’t see him anywhere either.

IRA: What is going on here? [yelling, calling the others] Guys! Guys, Roland and Remus are missing! Guys!

[the others hear them and start looking in all directions, trying to find them. Roman swims next to the beach]

ROMAN: I hope nothing happened to them.

[suddenly, Remus rises up from under the water]

IRA: Look, there is Remus, he was diving into the sea. But where is Roland!?

[Remus swims calmly without any concern at all]

IRA: Why is Remus so calm!? Did he have anything to do with this? This is suspicious as heck!

ROMAN: Remus! Remus, come here at once!

REMUS: What? I can’t hear you!

ROMAN: [yelling as loud as his lungs allow him] I SAID COME HERE, RIGHT NOW!

REMUS: Okay!

[Remus swims next to the others]

REMUS: What’s the matter?

IRA: You tell us! Where is Roland?

REMUS: What? Roland? What do I know?

ROMAN: Remus, if you know anything about where he is, tell us now, before it’s too late!

REMUS: I’m telling you I don’t know where the f… [bleep] Roland is!

IRA: Yeah, Roland and you disappear at the same time, then you emerge out of the water and swim as if it had nothing to do with you while we’re all worried about him. And you expect us to believe you don’t know anything!

REMUS: Listen, you damn ladybug, I’m telling you I know nothing about this! I was diving calmly, watching some octopuses underwater, and when I came out I didn’t know that your little prince was missing! Janus, say something!

[Janus hesitates. Remus shows a face of huge hurt]

REMUS: You don’t believe me either? I thought you could distinguish between lies and truths! I’m saying the truth right now, please believe me!

JANUS: [after looking at Remus’ face for a couple of seconds] He’s saying the truth. He’s had nothing to do with Roland’s disappearance.

IRA: Sorry, Janus, but you are too attached to Remus. Forgive me if I take your judgment with a pinch of salt. Not saying that you’re lying on purpose, but maybe your love for him could be fooling you.

IAN: Look! He’s there, behind that rock! He’s floating on the water!

IRA: [horrified] Oh, no!

ROMAN: [also horrified] Remus, what have you done?

REMUS: [in despair] I did nothing! I swear! You have to believe me!

[Roman swims to the place Ian pointed at, until he reaches Roland. He’s unconscious, floating on the water]

ROMAN: [horrified] Oh, my goodness gracious, Roland! No!

[when he touches Roland, he flinches and opens his eyes]

ROLAND: [scared] What!? What’s going on!?

[Roland sinks into the water, getting out as quickly as he can, then looks at Roman and takes some ear plugs out of his ears]

ROMAN: Roland, you’re alive! Thank goodness, you scared the sh** [bleep] out of me!

ROLAND: I’m… sorry, Roman, I was floating on the water, with my ear plugs so that water didn’t enter my ears. I guess I got so relaxed that I fell asleep for a moment. I’m sorry I scared you.

ROMAN: Then that means… [looking at Remus, who watches the scene from afar] Oh, Remus!

[Roman returns as fast as he can to where Remus and the others are. Roland follows him from behind]

ROMAN: Remus, I’m so sorry!

REMUS: [serious face] How could you honestly believe I could do that to you, even for a second?

IRA: Well, it wouldn’t have been, like, the first time you had tried to do that…

REMUS: [yelling in a sudden outburst of wrath] I’m talking to my brother, not to you! I don’t give a f… [bleep] sh… [bleep] about what you think about me, you fake doodle! But I do care about Roman’s opinion and…

[tears burst out of his eyes. Remus turns around, then gets out of the water and approaches the deck chairs, not facing the others, who follow him a few steps behind]

ROMAN: I have no excuse. I can only tell you that I’m sorry and that I should have trusted you from the start.

REMUS: Yes, you should have. But you didn’t. And it seems no matter what I do to be better, you’ll never fully trust me, right?

[Remus makes a gesture and he’s dressed with his usual outfit]

REMUS: I’m not in the mood for more… beaching around. I’m going to my room, I want to be alone.

JANUS: Remus, I…

REMUS: I said alone, Janus. I don’t want you to follow me either.

JANUS: Okay… As you wish, Remus.

[Remus walks two steps, then, with a broken voice, he looks at Janus, with his eyes wet and red, and speaks]

REMUS: What hurts me the most is that… even you, Janus, had doubts about me… Even you, my love, thought me capable of…

[before Janus can answer, Remus starts running towards the castle. They can’t see his face, but they all notice clearly that he’s crying]

[to be continued, guys, gals and non binary pals]

[end card]

ROLAND: I’m sorry I have been the cause of this terrible misunderstanding.

IRA: No, it’s my fault, I didn’t give Remus a chance.

ROMAN: It’s not your fault only, Ira. You were driven by concern over Roland’s life, as much as me, and we were all unfair to Remus.

IRA: But still, what I said is true, he did try to do harm to Roland once, so to claim that he’s not capable of doing such thing is false. I was wrong and I’m really sorry, but even so, I had a high chance of being right. You all know it.

LOGAN: But you’re judging an old version of Remus, a Remus that is long gone. The Remus of today may be a lunatic, but he’s not a murderer. Humans evolve all the time and we, Sides, as we’re part of a human, do too. Do I need to remind you of your first entrance in the living room, Ira, and how much you changed afterwards?

IRA: I… [sighs] I guess you’re right.

THOMAS: Well, getting to know who is right or wrong or who to blame is not important. The important thing right now is to make sure that Remus is okay and apologize to him.

JANUS: I’ll go see him.

ROMAN: But he said he wanted to be alone.

JANUS: I’m the one who has the most to apologize for. I’m his fiancee. How am I supposed to start a marriage if I fail in the most basic idea of marriage, which is trust. I need to talk to him, in the name of all of you but also and mostly in the name of me, because I failed him.

ROLAND: Again, I’m so sorry I’ve been the cause of so much pain for all of you. I didn’t mean…

JANUS: It’s not your fault at all, Roland. Okay, I’ll go see him. I hope at least he lets me in the room.

[Janus heads to the castle while the others look at him with faces of remorse]

PATTON: Who would have thought this day that seemed to be so happy would end so badly. I hope Remus and Janus can amend things.

ROMAN: And I hope he can forgive us too…

10 notes · View notes

feycreature · 5 years ago

Note

Every other multiple of 2 as well as all prime numbers.

u are. mother fucker.

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

coffee mugs. i have so many.

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

lollipops but i dont eat sweets much to begin with

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

bubblegum

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

i prefer to not drink soda

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

somewhere between goth and grunge side note what the fuck is boho

7. earbuds or headphones?

headphones

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

FLOOR HOCKEY. my sophomore year we cut our hockey unit short by a week because the Str8 Boys got mad that they didnt understand hockey and my team kicked ass

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

lunch.

13. lanyard or key ring?

i dont have keys.

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

this is hard bc i dont eat sweets and i dont like chocolate much to begin with. im gonna go with starbursts

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

doc martens but theyre hiking boots

18. ideal weather?

60 degrees, sunny, not windy, maybe a little rainy.

19. sleeping position?

side, mostly

22. role model?

i try to live a life that would make taliesin jaffe proud

23. strange habits?

oh there are so many but the only one that comes to mind is blowing into cups when i take them out of the cupboard

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

oh fuck i love swimming. but i havent swam in years. and probably wont get to until i get top surgery. so im gonna go with jet skiing because i can actually Do that

29. best way to bond with you?

i was gonna say share music with me but. the real answer is play dnd with me i am not joking

30. places that you find sacred?

other peoples’ homes. thats not my place to Be thats not my place to interfere with i Hate being in other peoples homes. our last two store meetings have been at my managers’ houses and i HATE knowing where my managers live and i HATE that ive been in their houses and sat on their furniture and eaten their food that is Their Space im not their friend i do not belong there

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

any t shirt, ripped black jeans, tall docs with too many buckles, black denim jacket i turned into a vest with safety pins along the shoulders, an assortment of spiky accessories, probably eyeliner

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

my dad forces the o’reily’s jingle into my brain on a daily basis

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

duffel bag

38. lemonade or tea?

arnold palmer babey

41. last person you texted?

u, dork. altho if we’re talking actual phone number texting, then my mom

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

it depends what it is. if its something im definitely using and will be annoyed for sure if i leave in my jacket like my phone or wallet it goes in my pants pockets, if its something im temporarily holding or wont use any time soon like pens/my inhaler/pads/change it goes in my jacket

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

comfort and my actual wardrobe says jean jacket, but my heart and aesthetic say bomber jacket

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

sweatshirt and underwear.

47. favorite type of cheese?

gouda i think

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

learning that one of my coworkers had a crush on one of the clowns from barnum and baileys and stands by it followed immediately by another coworker chiming in with “okay but teenage simba was HOT”

53. what is the current state of your hands?

cold and scabby (my tattoo is still healing)

54. what did you learn from your first job?

dont work in a warehouse. just dont.

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

i can draw, i can sing in front of people, id like to think im a good dm, and im apparently good enough at navigating customer service that in my year and a half at starbucks only ONE customer has ever complained about me and it was over something i said that she misheard

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

i was going to say “based on what i say the most itd be okie dokie” but thats a lie by that logic it would actually be “hi! what can we get started for you?”

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

“If I could pull the blood of you from my veins, I would.” -vex, critical role

62. seven characters you relate to?

OOH OKAY THIS WAS A LOT HARDER THAN I THOUGHT ITD BE

weiss schnee (rwby)

rabbit (steam powered giraffe)

wolf (kippo and the age of wonderbeasts)

scorpia (she-ra)

aubrey little (the adventure zone)

beauregard (critical role)

ruby rose (also rwby)

66. favorite flower(s)?

lillies!

67. good luck charms?

a collection of randomly found foreign change in my jacket pocket, a pretty d10 that was accidentally included in one of my dice orders in my Other jacket pocket

70. left or right handed?

so. im right handed. but im naturally left handed. my granny was one of those people who thinks left handed people are the devil so she forced me to use my right hand, so i default to using my left hand but its absolutely useless

71. least favorite pattern?

FUCK PAISLEY.

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

i know that this Means like mint chocolate or pineapple on pizza or something but. toffee nut and peppermint starb syrups. nobody believes me that its good except the supervisor that got me to try it. its good i swear.

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

about a 6 unless its a prescription. if i can stand im gonna suck it up

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

im rly paranoid about foodborne illness so i Have to go with gas station coffee even tho im a little bit of a coffee snob

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

jokes on u i dont have either!

82. pc or console?

pc is this even a question

83. writing or drawing?

drawing

86. cookies or cupcakes?

89. who would you put before everyone else?

buster.

90. luckiest mistake?

the other day i made a drink wrong and more complicated that it needed to be and the moment i realized my mistake someone came through the drive thru and ordered the EXACT drink i had just made by mistake

94. favorite season?

fall, hands down

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

exactly one and its mine

98. favorite historical era?

romantic.

#nick speaks #motherfucker.#pull-like-hematite

1 note · View note

artificialqueens · 7 years ago

Text

God’s envy (Shalaska) - Catrina

A/N: So, these weeks I’ve been depressed as fuck, and for some reason I decided to write this. It’s probably the longest I’ve ever written, 8.6k words of angst for you! It’s mainly inspired by A Match Into Water by Pierce The Veil. I really hope you like it, because I swear I put my life in this. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT ANY FEEDBACK IS WELL RECEIVED! And keeps my brain moving.

Summary: One night, Sharon tries speaking to god, just like Alaska has done so many times.

Trigger warnings: death, chronic illness, drugs (kind of).

The midnight sky started being a home for Sharon a couple of months ago. It’s quiet, bright and she can only stare at it and wonder why has her life taken the way it did. Of course, she knows the sky will never answer, but trying is everything she can do.

She sighs and closes the little cigarette box on the bench, squeezing it between her fingers for a second just to admire how the thin paperboard wrinkles under her strength before pulling it back into her purse. Once the cylinder between her lips is lit up, she pulls the lighter into her pocket and blows a cloud of smoke slowly out.

“God” she snorts, looking up one more time. The word went out her lips with a mocking tone. “I’ve never believed in you. Why would I? Even if I did, I’m sure you would never believe in me…”

Everything she can hear as a response is the sound of wind moving the leaves on the trees.

“Only a person believes in me” she says, eyes glued to the few stars visible from her spot. “Her name is Alaska… pretty girl, she does believe in you, maybe you’ve seen her in a church or praying or something like that. You would think someone like her would never be near someone like me, but we’re been dating for nearly four years”

It’s late and Sharon knows she should be heading home, but there she is, speaking to the air in a lost hope that someone that she knows doesn’t exist hears her.

“You know, she always tries to talk to you. I’ve heard her praying with her mother every night and calling you. I honestly never did it, but today seemed like a good chance so I decided to try. And since Alaska is the only great thing in my life I wanted to talk to you about her. I know I don’t worth any second of your precious time, you must have a ton of shit to do…”

Her voice cracking is the signal to take another drag from the cigarette.

“But she does worth it. She’s the best human on earth and she deserves all of your time. I swear to… well, I swear to you, if you saw her eyes, her hair, or just her smile… you would fall in love with her. She’s so beautiful…”

The stars begin to blurry from the tears forming in her eyes, turning into nothing more than white spots slowly moving across her vision.

“But of course you know that. You’re almighty, or so they say. You can see everything” Sharon mutters thoughtfully with another blast of cold air blowing her hair. “Maybe that’s why you want to take her with you to heaven”

Another minute full of dead silence passes until she chokes on a sob, her hand holding the cigarette shaking slightly. “But can’t take her, it’s not her time! Stay away from her!”

The breaking is unavoidable, and before Sharon can say something else, the cigarette has fallen in her hand, burning two of her fingers. She gaps in pain, throwing the cylinder to the ground to mash it into the cement with her boot. She curses, wiping the tears running down her cheeks with the back of the hand that has no bright red marks.

She manages to take her purse and run back to the building a few meters away. The receptionist —who Sharon knows better than she’d like to— turns violently when she sees her state, with swollen eyes and a raised burnt hand, but the girl doesn’t even stare back as she is reaching the elevator in her way to the sixth floor.

Katya is the first person Sharon meets when the doors open. There are dark bags under her eyes and her hair is a mess, which isn’t weird in someone at nearly three a.m.

“Oh my—” the Russian’s eyes widen in shock, her eyes quickly going down to her hand. “What happened to you?”

“None of your damn business” Sharon states, sneaking by her side to the door marked with the number 503.

Their shoulders collide and Katya places a hand in her upper arm, stopping her for a second in which all the muscles in Sharon’s body tense. “I’m going to the cafeteria, do you want something?”

“No” Sharon whispers, relaxing. “Is Alaska awake?”

“She probably is” Katya looks for her eyes, but gives up when Sharon refuses to look back at her. “I’ll go home and take a shower in the morning… you should go too and get some sleep”

“I will” the promise hangs in Sharon’s lips, too easy to get out from her that Katya knows is a lie.

“Sharon?”

“Yeah?”

“The doctor came to the room earlier”

She looks at Katya immediately, her eyes alarmed as a signal for the Russian to keep talking. For the first time in a while her moves are fast and exact, and Katya sighs with regret. She should’ve listened to Trixie and keep Sharon out of the situation.

“What did he say?”

Katya’s mouth is open but there are no words. She recognizes Sharon’s swollen eyes, and her heart feels broken when she decides to let her know.

“He said… hm… it didn’t work”

Sharon can feel the pressure sinking her heart into her lungs, mashing them. Breathing becomes complicated and she can only let out a shaky sigh, her eyes never leaving Katya’s.

“What?”

“Her body…” Katya mutters under her breath. “Is not responding as it should”

This can’t be happening.

“What are they gonna do?” Sharon demands to know in a harsh impulse. Katya shakes her head. “What are they gonna do? Tell me!”

“Is better if you talk to her”

It’s too late when the tears blurry Sharon’s vision again for Katya to say something else.

Her only reaction is to run to the door she has been walking through for the last few months. The air inside smells like alcohol, but not the type she likes, and the white in the walls and in everything she can see is ridiculously bright, and she’s glad the couch next to the door is empty because that means Trixie is not there. She closes the door behind her back and after analyzing her surroundings for a second, she steps closer to the bed.

She admires the nice contrast Alaska’s skin makes with the perfectly clean white sheets even when the lights are off, and the way her hair falls over her shoulders in a gold waterfall. Even the wires and scars in her thin arms look beautiful from Sharon’s eyes. She’s lied on just one side of the bed, and Sharon’s face burns when she tries to swallow a sob, knowing Alaska does that when she asks Sharon to stay the night in the hospital. She would make room for another person in the bed and hug her the rest of the night.

Her eyes are closed and Sharon is glad she’s sleeping because she has no face to look at her now. The shame is stronger than the will to be with her for now, and she sits on the couch just like many times she did before.

However, the noise her purse makes when it falls to the floor makes Alaska open her eyes and while she lifts her head, Sharon curses herself silently.

“Noodles?” she calls, trying to recognize the figure in the darkness of the room.

“Sorry I woke you up” Sharon whispers from her spot. The silence makes the distance disappear, and she knows Alaska listened perfectly.

“What time is it?” asks Alaska, sounding lost and small as she blinks a couple of times to get back on her senses, and Sharon winces with her voice.

“It’s late, you should get back to sleep”

Alaska taps the other side of the bed weakly as an invitation. “Lie down with me”

Sharon would lie if she said she doesn’t wanna run and hide from the world in the warm embrace of Alaska’s hospital bed. Somehow, the fact that the mattress is horribly firm and uncomfortable never crosses her mind as Alaska wraps her arms around her body, and her soft breathing is the perfect lullaby for Sharon. Wherever Alaska is turns into a home for her.

But she can’t ignore the pain anymore. It hurts.

It hurts every time Alaska touches her, because she knows there will be a point where she won’t do it anymore. Sharon knows this will end someday, maybe months or only days in anticipation, and it won’t end as the way she wants. One day Alaska won’t be there to kiss her and hug her and the only thing left will be useless memories in Sharon’s head.

Putting her hopes in the chemicals pulled in Alaska’s body everyday isn’t an option anymore.

Her thoughts are interrupted by the sound of a water drop falling on the window. And another, and another following another.

“Fuck, it’s raining” she notices, standing up in a jump to close the window and avoid water entering the room. She stays a second looking through it to the street besides the hospital; with the night and rain covering the entire city, it looks like the perfect calm scenario.

“Come here” says Alaska and Sharon suddenly turns around. Her tone makes it difficult to be taken as an order, but her glare crossing Sharon’s body says a lot more. “Please”

Sharon just has to kick her boots off to lie down in the bed and carefully wrap her arms around the fragile body of Alaska in a tight hug. She tries to focus on the girl lying next to her to forbid her mind to wander and think of how much her heart hurts at Alaska’s contact.

She knows is a game Alaska always wins, especially because she has no idea of the negative thoughts flooding Sharon’s mind and she would never let her know about them because she knows Alaska has enough going on with her health and Sharon may be selfish but she isn’t selfish enough to put her necessities above Alaska’s, and the best thing she can do is ignore the pain.

“Noodles” Alaska calls and Sharon immediately feels her hand petting her hair.

“Tell me”

“How was your little walk today?”

“Oh, it was fine”

I cried all the way.

“Did you go home?”

I didn’t, I couldn’t stop thinking that I’ll lose you.

“Yeah, I had a sandwich for dinner and headed back here. The mayo was expired and the bread was hard as a fuck rock but it tasted good”

Please never leave me.

“I’m glad to hear that, baby. I know these days have been hard and after the surgery I needed to know if you were fine”

“Thanks, pumpkin. I’m fine, I promise” Sharon mutters, clearing her throat. “Hm… Katya told me that the doctor came today”

“Oh, yes… he did” Alaska nods uncomfortably.

“And what did he say?”

Alaska’s calm countenance fades slowly and under the weak lights in the room that are provided only from the street, she looks defeated.

“It didn’t work, Noodles”

Sharon can’t remember of a time Alaska has looked defeated. She has always been like a ball full of energy and happiness, smiling and running from side to side, making everyone laugh. And this girl, sighing and looking tired next to her doesn’t look like the cheerful blonde she met years ago in that party, dancing and drinking around. She doesn’t look like Alaska anymore.

“Alaska…”

“The surgery didn’t work. The tumor is still there”

Sharon looks up to her when a drop falls on her cheek. Alaska is biting her lower lip as hard as she can to not let any sob out, and if Sharon’s heart hurt before, she’s sure now it’s completely broken.

“Noodles, I don’t wanna die”

“You’re not gonna die” she shakes her head, trying to convince Alaska, but the truth is that even Sharon isn’t too sure about it. “Baby, listen; you’ll get out of this”

“I can’t stand the pain anymore” Alaska stutters between little sobs. “Is too strong I can’t even get up from my bed… my back hurts and I’m too weak I can’t even open a water bottle”

Sharon can’t do anything else than hug her even tighter.

“I’m scared” she confesses in a whisper before hiding her face in Sharon’s neck, the sobs being muffed by her skin.

Tears run down Sharon’s cheeks and she thinks about how much she hates. She hates the tumor in Alaska’s body, and the fact that it’s sucking the life out of her, leaving nothing more than an empty shell of what Alaska used to be and she definitely hates god because Alaska’s mother always says “god makes things happen for a reason” every day when she insists to pray for her daughter’s health. But her god has never done anything to cure Alaska, and if her mother is right and he does things for a reason, Sharon can’t understand why the fuck he put a tumor in her girlfriend.

“I believe in you, pumpkin. I know you’re in pain, and scared, and you probably want to run away and forget all of this —believe me baby, I want so too— but I know you are more than this. You’re so strong; you can with anything that ever comes to you” Sharon whispers in Alaska’s ear, rubbing slowly her back. “We’ll find a way and you’ll go back home. Home… with me and Cerrone. We’ll go to the park and to the grocery store and to the beach in our old car like we used to do before. I’m here, with you, pumpkin. I will never leave”

Alaska relaxes and her breathing becomes slower and slower until her sobs stop. Even though her face is still buried in Sharon’s neck, she knows she’s asleep as she holds her tight and keeps rubbing her back slowly.

“I love you so much” she says after a while. She doesn’t hope Alaska hears her, but when she looks down, her girlfriend is looking back at her with still watered eyes.

“I love you too… more than anything in this world” Alaska swears.

She turns and moves her head just a little to connect her lips with Sharon’s. The kiss is soft enough for Alaska’s weak lungs not to break, which she’s glad of. She has always loved closing her eyes just to feel how Sharon moves delicately against her face with her fingers lovingly pressing into her waist, her breathing so heavy Alaska can almost feel it.

When the kiss is broken Sharon’s lips slightly separate as she tries to catch her breath with her eyes still shut and Alaska sighs happily, resting her forehead on hers.

“Make me a promise” she says then, Sharon opening her eyes immediately for Alaska to meet her curious glare just two inches away from her.

“A promise?”

“If something happens to me…”

“No, no, no” Sharon cuts her off, knowing exactly what she was going to say. “Nothing is gonna happen to you”

“You can’t know that” Alaska reminds her. She swallows hard, blinking a couple of times to wash the tears already forming in her eyes away. “If something happens to me, I want you to go on”

“Don’t ask me that…”

“God does everything for a reason” Alaska repeats the words of her mother and Sharon closes her eyes, grimacing painfully. “He has something better in store for you if I’m not here”

“Nothing is better than you” she rushes to assure.

“Promise me, Sharon. Promise me you’ll go on without me. Promise me” Alaska struggles with the wires connected to her arm to raise it to Sharon’s face, wiping the tears with her fingers. “I need to know you’re gonna be fine if I… go”

“You can’t die” shaking her head slightly, Sharon leans into her touch. “Don’t give up, not now”

“I won’t. I don’t wanna die, Noodles, but I can’t do anything if those are god’s plans for me; I’ll have to go, no matter how scared I am…” she says, pursing her lips. “And at least I can do it being brave and making sure you’ll continue your life”

Sharon wants to scream.

“I can’t imagine a life without you in it, Alaska. I just can’t. I don’t want a world if you’re not there, I don’t want anything if you’re not fucking there because I need you” she cries in a hiccup. “I don’t wanna to think you’re gonna leave”

“Me neither” Alaska swallows a sob and cups Sharon’s face in her hand, caressing her cheek. “But we know it can happen. I just— I want you to be happy. Please, promise me you would be happy”

Sharon can only find herself to nod slowly. She knows she shouldn’t make promises she can’t keep but her will to please Alaska is bigger than the increasing fear in her being. She wants to mean her promise, no matter how hard it looks to live in a world where she knows Alaska isn’t anymore, but she has to do it. For Alaska.

She would do anything for Alaska, even if that means living without her.

It wouldn’t be the first time after all. Sharon moved from her comfortable apartment in Pittsburgh to the busy city of Los Angeles for Alaska when she wanted to chase a ridiculous and nonrealistic at all dream of being a singer. She adopted a stray cat even when she was afraid of it because Alaska thought it was adorable, standing every time Cerrone bit her when Sharon tried to remove the cat from her spot in the bed. Sharon went to every event in the church near the house of Alaska’s parents just to prove she was good enough for their daughter, wearing conservative white blouses instead of her favorite Marilyn Manson t-shirt.

When she was diagnosed, Sharon drove her to every appointment, always waiting in her car outside the hospital. And when she was told she had to stay there, Sharon packed everything in her suitcase. She left Cerrone with her friend Jinkx and packed a suitcase for herself the same night. She slept in the couch in Alaska’s room, she ate the tasteless food the hospital provided, she didn’t sleep when Alaska couldn’t sleep to make her some company.

She stayed all night up the first surgery, walking from a side to another until some doctor told her Alaska was back in her room. She helped her to cure the scars in her body, at which Alaska felt ashamed before Sharon reminded her how beautiful she was. She wiped the tears away when the doctors told them the surgery didn’t work, that they would try with a new drug.

Sharon held her hair back when she leaned to puke into the toilet for the side effects of the million drugs she received every day. She hand fed her when Alaska was too weak to move, she hugged her tight at night when Alaska woke up from her sleep in tears, yelling she just had a nightmare.

It’s tiring and complicated, but Sharon knows she would do it again and again and a million times more for Alaska.

“Noodles…”

“Yes?”

“I know you don’t believe in this like this, but…” she says in a whisper, almost afraid of letting it out. “I think you’re a miracle”

Sharon kisses her one more time, slow and deep as they always do and she tries as hard as she can to ignore the hole in her chest and remember how Alaska’s lips feel on hers because she doesn’t wanna forget any little detail about her when memories are everything left.

When the kiss is over Alaska rests her head on Sharon’s shoulder, murmuring goodnight. Sharon answers with another goodnight, smaller and almost audible.

Minutes after, in which time she has been staring at the ceiling with her mind blank, she can tell Alaska is already asleep when the only motion in her body is her breathing and Sharon prepares herself to close her eyes and do the same. She feels whole in Alaska’s embrace and relaxed by the soft sound of the rain falling outside to finally fall asleep.

“Should we wake her up?”

“She needs the sleep. Let’s wait until the doctors come again”

Sharon groans. The first thing she notices when she tries to open her eyes are the whispers, and the bright light flooding the room, and then the fact that all the muscles in her body hurt. She rolls her body until her back is flat against the sheets and stares at the ceiling, suddenly feeling the weird amount of space on the bed.

Her eyes widen. She gets up so fast there are black dots running across her vision for a moment, in which her hands palpate the place where Alaska’s body should be. Everything there is sheets and more sheets. Sharon’s heartbeats increase in only seconds; where could have Alaska gone if she’s too weak to get up from bed?

“Alaska?” she calls, immediately pushing herself up on her arms to scan the room. “Lasky, where are you?”

No answer.

“Are you in the bathroom?”

Nothing.

Sharon rushes to get out of the bed and run to the bathroom door, tripping on her boots dropped on the floor in the process. She kicks the door open and whines in despair when she realizes it’s empty. She runs outside, to the side of the bed where Alaska was, only to find the wires that used to be connected to her arms left over the nightstand.

Her brain doesn’t work as it should since it still refuses to wake up completely, but Sharon’s eyes cross the door and she knows her last option is there. She runs barefoot outside, fast enough to crash into someone. She holds the door frame to avoid falling and lifts her head; blonde short hair and ridiculously bright clothes is all she sees, and she recognizes the person in front of her immediately.

“Katya?”

“Sharon” she looks surprised. “You’re awake”

“Where is Alaska?” Sharon asks, looking around the hall behind Katya’s shoulders just to make sure Alaska isn’t there. “She didn’t have an appointment planned for this morning, I should have known if she had. Where is she?”

The panic in her tone makes Katya babble incoherently.

“Sharon, you’re awake!” another amused voice sounds before the Russian can think of an answer. She turns around to greet Trixie, holding a cup of coffee with her hair up in a bun.

“Where is Alaska?” she repeats with clear despair seeping from her tone, at which none of her friends respond.

“Come here, let’s sit” Katya suggests, but by the way she takes Sharon’s arm and sink her nails into the flesh, it doesn’t sound like a suggestion.

They sit on one of the couches in the corridor, the blonde couple with Sharon in the middle. Trixie sips on her coffee and Katya plays with her fingers in her lap and Sharon doesn’t know what’s happening, but whatever it is, it’s destroying her nerves completely.

“Where is Alaska?”

Trixie pulls her coffee down and looks at Katya. For a moment they seem to have a silent fight, mothering things to the other to avoid Sharon listening any of them. Then Trixie sighs, holding her middle finger up for Katya to see it before she turns to her restless friend; Sharon looks at the floor with her teeth deeply sunken on her lip, her hands massaging each other roughly in nervousness.

“Sharon” she places a hand in her shoulder delicately to get her attention. “Something happened during the night”

“Something happened to Alaska?” she looks up violently.

“It happened a couple of hours ago but we couldn’t wake you up” Katya steps into the conversation, glancing at Trixie.

“It happened to Alaska? What was it? Wasn’t she feeling good?” there are tons of questions in Sharon’s mind, and even though she’s scared to ask them all, she organizes her thoughts to only ask some of them, knowing none Trixie or Katya would answer otherwise.

Trixie leans to leave her coffee on the floor and takes both of Sharon’s hands, squeezing them between hers affectively. “Shar, listen to me; I need you to calm down and don’t panic”

“Just get to the point!” Sharon snaps at the lack of answers. Her mind is creating the worst possible scenarios, all of them with the same end. “Please, tell me what happened”

“Breathe in and out” Katya says from behind, her hands holding her sides to forbid her from moving. Sharon tries to do what she says, she really does, but the air struggles to go across her lungs and her chest starts aching.

Her body shakes and she feels Katya hugging her tight. Trixie looks from her spot with something in her face that Sharon can swear is pity, and she needs to know why Trixie feels pity for her.

“I’m sorry” her voice breaks as she covers her mouth with the back of her hand, pulling back on the couch. “We never imagined this would happen so soon”

Sharon sighs, letting go the air she didn’t noticed she was holding until now.

And then she realizes it.

That is it; the confirmation to one of those scenarios.

“But… how…”

“Her mom came for the body minutes before you woke up” Katya whispers from behind.

The worst one.

“No…” shaking her head, she stutters. “No. Just— no. This can’t be happening. She has to— she can’t be dead. She can’t!”

When her eyes water and her lungs are squeezed by anxiety and forced to let the little amount of air in them out, she’s amused her body still has some tears to shed. Soon her sobs are muffed by the fabric in Katya’s sweater soon and she has Trixie muttering things in her ear that she can’t even focus on. Her throat is burning from crying so hard and probably not drinking enough water these days, but she still manages to scream in agony.

She cries, she whimpers and sobs until her head aches, and even then she continues. She continues until the tears stop running out of her eyes and her cheeks feel funny for the dry drops on them. She continues until her face is numb from grimacing so hard. She continues until Trixie insists to take her home because they can’t stay in the hospital anymore.

She continues as she goes to Alaska’s room one more time, the last time, carrying the suitcase to pack the few items that belonged to her girlfriend.

“Are you sure you want to do this alone?” Katya asks from the door.

Sharon wants to say no, because her vision is blurry and her legs are shaking and she feels like she could fall to the ground in any moment, but she nods and waves Katya away with her hand instead.

She stares at the room for a while once the Russian closes the door. It seems crazy to think she first entered nine months ago, thinking Alaska would be there only for a few days and then she would go out and be the same ball full of happiness Sharon loved.

Oh, how wrong she was. How helplessly wrong she was.

Walking to the bathroom, she starts taking Alaska’s belongings. Her mind wanders with memories like every time they had dinner on the bed, and every time she ran back home for a new book or magazine for Alaska to read and of course every time they watched a cheesy old movie in the small television hanging on the wall and all those times Alaska insisted for her to go home and sleep in their bed so her back wouldn’t hurt from lying on the couch.

Once her hands are full, Sharon sighs and walks back to the bed. She pulls everything carefully into the suitcase and turns around to go back and check if she took everything when a shiny reflection catches her attention.

Her vision tunnels to a little crucifix on the nightstand that she doesn’t remember seeing before. With no hesitation, she sits on the bed and takes the little object to toy with it.

“Well god, seems like Alaska forgot about your little chain here” she snorts in a mocking tone, her sad countenance making it more like a sigh.

She doesn’t even know what she’s trying to achieve talking to someone that she has never thought was real, but passing the crucifix from one hand to another with the cross hanging between her fingers and admiring the bright golden material to imagine it on its place in Alaska’s neck makes it somehow easier.

“Why did you have to take her?” she whispers. “Why— from all the people in this world? Why my Alaska? She is mine! She is supposed to be here with me, she is supposed to be a singer— why the fuck did you take her!?”

Her fist clenches around the little cross suddenly, enough anger running through her veins to make her forget the little punch of pain that the cross pressing against the red marks the cigarette left on her hand last night makes. Her body moves automatically jumping out of the bed and before she can stop and think better of it, she’s heading to the window.

It’s open and big enough for Sharon to poke her head and part of her torso outside. She glances at the still wet street from the rain last night and the people walking under a sky full of clouds to any building near. The city looks grey and Sharon can just compare herself to it; after Alaska, who was her sun, the only thing left is rain and clouds.

Her eyes go up until they meet the same sky she saw last night, in a poor attempt to speak to god, in a poor attempt to make him help Alaska.

“God…”

Her hand is tight around the crucifix before she raises it in a fast move.

“You fucking vulture…”

The whispers run out her lips between her tighten teeth. Her arm moves back and forth and before she can realize, the crucifix is flying a few meters before it disappears of her sight. The aftertaste of her action comes just seconds after, a sour yet relaxing sensation covering her. With the crucifix being thrown meters away she feels just like a heavy weight has been removed from her shoulders.

“Please, bring her back… bring her back or take me with her, I don’t care, I just wanna be with her” she begs to the sky.

Her cry is full of pain, but the clouds seem to not listen.

“God, please, bring her back. I need her. Please!”

The door opens in a sudden move and Katya storms into the room. She had been worried about the strangely long amount of time Sharon had been alone in the room, and when she heard screams, she knew something was happening.

She takes Sharon’s arm with all the strength she counts with to get her away from the window, the fear of seeing her jump from it being unavoidable as she drags her to the door.

“It’s fine” she says, stopping to cope Sharon’s face and wipe the tears away with her fingers. “I’m gonna take you home”

“No” Sharon stutters. “I need to do this”

“You need to rest and Trixie can pack, it’s fine. Let’s go home”

Sharon wants to fight and say no and stay in the room because for now is everything that Alaska was in nine months, but she has fought enough, and her body is so tired she gives up and lets Katya guide her to the elevator.

“I’m sorry for your loss” the receptionist says in their way to the door.

Katya stops and turns to her, her grip still in Sharon’s arm, nodding sadly. “Thank you”

“She was a good girl” the old lady comments casually, with a nod that proves that she’s very sure of her words. “She was very kind”

She was, Sharon agrees silently. She really was.

“Oh my god. I still can’t believe it. It was— it was so sudden” Jinkx runs the sleeve of her blouse on her cheeks to wipe the tears away, steadying herself. “We talked yesterday at the phone and she said she was fine. I don’t— I just don’t get it”

Before getting in the car, Sharon had asked Katya to stop at Jinkx’s house to pick Cerrone up before they headed home with the excuse that she missed the cat and Katya accepted with no hesitation if that meant she could keep an eye on Sharon for more time. The trip was short, with Sharon looking through the window the whole time. It didn’t bother Katya, even when she tried so hard to build a conversation, turning the volume of the radio up and humming to the rhythm of any song after asking Sharon if she liked it.

Sharon never responded. But again, it didn’t bother Katya.

She stayed quiet until they reached Jinkx’s door. She was already outside before the car entered the street with Cerrone in her arms and her face made up in a wet mess with tears. As soon as she saw Sharon, she managed to hug her tightly with the cat between them until Katya pulled out of the car and joined their little reunion in Jinkx’s porch.

“It’s what doctors call sudden death” Katya explains softly.

Besides her, Sharon runs a hand through Cerrone’s back, not very attentive of the conversation happening in front of her. The animal purrs and rubs his head against her neck, removing from his spot in her arms. She feels lost there, outside Jinkx’s house, something feels wrong.

Everything feels wrong.

“We should be going” Katya says after a while. Sharon doesn’t know how much time it happened since they arrived, but the sky is breaking again and the thunders can only be a warning of another rain. “It was nice to come and say hi”

Jinkx nods. She glances at Sharon one more time, pursing her lips in sorrow. “I’m sorry, honey. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through”

Sharon can only sigh. I don’t even know what I’m going through.

It’s late and Sharon knows she should be sleeping since tomorrow is the ceremony in Alaska’s memory —even when the told Katya that was a fucking funeral, Katya told her Alaska’s parents preferred to call it a ceremony— in that fucking church near their house, but no matter how much she tosses and turns under the covers, sleep isn’t any near from her.

Going back home from the hospital was always boring. Alaska wasn’t there, and the environment was excessively cold and Sharon always rushed to make herself a sandwich or have some cereal and take a shower to go back to the hospital, knowing Alaska would be there waiting for her.

But Alaska isn’t in the hospital anymore, and Sharon has to stand the stupid coldness and the empty spot in the bed. She preferred the hospital bed with no doubt, if that meant Alaska was there.

Cerrone seems to have missed her; the poor animal didn’t leave her side since they got home. Katya asked if she should stay, but Sharon shut the door in her face and locked herself in the bedroom, yelling she would see her tomorrow and taking the cat with her to the bed, where she sank under the covers to try and sleep, not caring if it was just four p.m.

Staring at the ceiling, she sighs and stop herself from thinking about how a couple of hours before she was in the same position. In the same position, but of course, Alaska was still there. Her nose was pressed against Sharon’s cheek and looking at the ceiling didn’t seem so pathetic because she wasn’t alone. But she’s staring at the ceiling again, this time with Cerrone in her stomach and Alaska’s pillow tight between her arms. Clearly cuddling a pillow isn’t the same as cuddling a human being, but Sharon can’t bring herself to notice the difference. She just needs something of Alaska to try and stop feeling so lost.

She finally gives up with the idea of getting any sleep as she pushes Alaska’s pillow away and sits straight on the bed with her back resting on the headboard. Cerrone jumps from his sleep and looks at her in disbelief, almost telling her out for waking him up.

“I’m sorry, little boy” she chuckles sadly. “Go back to sleep”

He hisses in anger, but still lies down on her lap and accepts her hand petting his head lovingly.

“You know, Cerrone…” the cat looks up back at his owner at the mention of his name. Sharon is looking at the depth of the room, not really at anything in specific. “I bet god was jealous”

He meows before going back to his position with his head on Sharon’s leg, ready to sleep when she speaks again.

“God had to be jealous of me. Of the amazing life I had with Alaska. Of our relationship…” she swallows to hold the tears back, deciding she had cried enough today, and that she has more time to cry tomorrow before looking down at the cat. “What do you think, hm?”

The only response she gets is Cerrone tilting his head, maybe wondering why doesn’t she shut up and let him sleep.

She breathes a laugh. “Fucking look at me. Not even a day since Alaska is gone and I’m talking to animals and… to fucking god. I don’t even believe in him. I’m pathetic. Alaska would be laughing at me right now… maybe cuddling with me, and laughing… I can almost picture it. She would say something stupid like I thought you didn’t believe in god and I’d say something like shut the fuck up and… fuck Cerrone, I miss her”

Being alone means she doesn’t have to muff her sobs, which reliefs her.

She takes the pillow again and hugs it tight against her chest.

But it’s too much. Too much of her own bedroom, too much knowing she used to share it with Alaska. Too much of the walls and the pictures hanging on them. Too much of today, of all her fears becoming true. Too much of Katya and Trixie’s attempts to make her feel better. Too much of Jinkx’s hugs. Too much of crying because she doesn’t know what to do. Too much of feeling lost and when that feeling finally disappears all left is suffocating. Too much of not having Alaska. Too much of knowing she would never be back and definitely too much of god.

She jumps out of the bed, making Cerrone snap to the other side of the bed, but her lungs fighting for air don’t let her care about her pet. She rushes to take her purse and grasp in the little pocket inside for her sleeping pills, but with the only light in the room turned off her eyes can’t do much as she fumbles in the purse.

She sighs in relief when she finally feels the little plastic bottle. She takes only one, but then looks back and after thinking better of it she grabs another one before running to the kitchen for water. She doesn’t care if those pills are dangerous and Alaska hated every time she took them to sleep at the hospital with the excuse that the couch was too firm to sleep well on it. Sharon knows the risks, but she knows there’s no point in worrying about them if she doesn’t have anyone to worry about her anymore.

Pills surely running down her throat, she throws the little bottle away and lies down on the bed with Alaska’s pillow pressing against her ruined face for the few minutes she just manages to whimper and cry until the pills do their job and the sleep dominates her.

Sharon hadn’t overslept since Alaska got sick.

For the first time in months, she slept a complete night —and more than that— with no pauses.

Trixie’s call woke her up the next morning. When she saw the clock hanging in her wall her eyes almost jumped out her head, noticing she slept from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.

“It’s fine, you needed them” her friend told her on the phone, and she really tried to believe it. “I’m gonna pick you up at 8:30 to go to church at 9, is it fine?”

“Church?” Sharon asked in disbelief, running to the bathroom to take a quick cold shower that surely would take all numb in her away.

“Alaska’s ceremony, Shar” Trixie sighed. “Her parents expect you to be there”

Sharon cursed under her breath as she started the shower with the coldest temperature her body could stand. “Sure. Sorry, I forgot”

“8:30 then?”

“8:30 then”

“See you. And please… eat something”

She did. She got dry bread and an expired instant soup and rushed to brush her teeth. She put on that black pencil skirt that was thrown and forgotten in the back of her wardrobe and a black blouse with the last button missing that she picked it anyways because it was the only simple black top she owned and she couldn’t disappoint Alaska’s parents with a band shirt. She rushed to hide the end of the blouse under her skirt before Trixie’s car stopped in front of the house. She didn’t want them to think their little precious daughter had been living with a dreadful witch, even if she did.

She tied her hair up in a tight bun and kissed Cerrone’s little head before grabbing her purse.

“For Alaska” she muttered to herself and stepped out of the house, somehow feeling just as lost and terrified as she did the day before.

The way to church was like a flash. She found herself in Trixie’s car and from a moment to another she was walking inside the huge white building. Everyone around her seemed broken, just like she was, and everyone greeted her with a sad smile. Alaska’s parents —who even when Sharon tried to please really hard, never talked to very deeply— had gaunt faces and tear stained cheeks.

“We have to be together in this” her mother had said, hugging Sharon with so much force she felt all the air in her lungs going out.

Her father squeezed her hand to tight when he shook it, but Sharon didn’t care about the slight pain in her fingers. She took her seat between Katya and Jinkx and listened to everything that the priest had to say. Exactly where she is, listening to a man she has never spoken to before talking about her girlfriend and glancing at the coffin a few meters from her, wondering if she is brave enough to go and look at Alaska’s body one more time after the ceremony.

No, I’m not.

“Hey, you’re wearing heels” Katya notices with surprise from her side in a whisper, leaning into Sharon’s ear so nobody near them could hear.

She looks at her over her shoulder for a second when she catches her attention, nodding shortly. “Alaska’s parents don’t like boots… they think they’re too punk”

Katya nods with a little grin. She sighs and fakes looking around before turning to Sharon again.

“And you look better than yesterday”

“Really? It must be the skirt, I still feel like shit”

Katya’s smile banish in only a second.

“I’m sorry”

“Don’t be” Sharon shakes her head with her eyes on the coffin.

“In her last days of life, our Alaska was suffering. She’s in heaven now, a better place, with god taking care of her” the priest says, and the entire church nods quietly. “In a place where she won’t suffer anymore…”

Sharon decides to play dumb the rest of the ceremony and play that listening about Alaska doesn’t hurt. She wants to show that at least she’s trying not to burst in tears hugging the coffin, she wants Alaska’s family and their friends to know she can handle this.

Even when she knows she can’t.

There’s a strong feeling in her chest, pressing against her lungs and making breathing a very hard task since yesterday and it doesn’t matter what she does because that fucking feeling is not going away, but she tries. She tries because she made Alaska a promise, and no matter how hard it hurt or how much she wants to make sleeping pills rain on her mouth until she never wakes up, she’ll keep her promise. For Alaska. Only for her.

Thinking about Alaska passed from worrying Sharon to water her eyes. It’s not a sweet reminder of what lights up her life anymore.

“… Sharon, would you mind to come here?”

She blinks. Looking around quickly, she realizes everybody in the church is looking at her and Katya pokes her ribs in a silent way to catch her attention. The priest is holding the microphone out with a little smile, glancing at her like if he’s waiting for something and Sharon can only blush and sink into her seat in embarrassment.

“What…”

Alaska’s mother leans forward from her seat to whisper in her ear. “The priest wanted some people important in Alaska’s life to speak up a little about her. He chose you”

“Oh” is all she says.

“Do you feel comfortable going up there, darling?” the lady asks, and Sharon feels a warm feeling extending over her stomach.

“Yeah” she sighs before looking at the priest again, nodding slightly. “I’m coming”

The nerves flood her mind as soon as she stands up and walks over the little stage at the back of the church, but once she’s there, everything she can think of is Alaska. Like it has always been.

“I didn’t prepare anything” she whispers to the priest.

“It’s okay” he smiles. “Just say what your heart wants to say”

She takes the microphone with a shaky hand and her heart pounding in her chest so hard and nods at the priest, who walks out to give her some space. She wants to lean and try to peek over the coffin just because the curiosity is killing her and she needs to know how Alaska looks like to try to print her imagine in her memory forever, but she desists and looks at the people instead.

Everyone who loved Alaska as much as she did in just one place.

“I… I met Alaska five years ago” she swallows hard. Trixie is smiling at her with something that Sharon can describe as pride. She turns and Jinkx is too busy crying to listen at her, but Katya gives her a thumb up to encourage her to go on. “My friend Courtney invited me to a party for New Years Day while I was in Los Angeles visiting my other friends Katya and Trixie. I thought about not going, but for some reason, I did at last minute. And because she was there, dancing and drinking around. When I saw her I could just think she was the most beautiful woman to ever step on the entire universe. Then Courtney introduced us and we… we just did click”

Sharon’s shoulders fall when the church coves in aw’s.

“We gave each other ours numbers. I told her I was supposed to fly back to Pittsburgh in two days, but she didn’t give a fu— she didn’t care. She said that’s what cellphones were invented for and… I guess that’s how it all started. Being in Pittsburgh, I couldn’t stand the distance, and six months after we started dating I moved to her house here. She told me she wanted to be a singer, and I told her I was a wannabe artist” she nods when everybody giggles. “She was my biggest fan. She would beg to me to make the designs for her demo songs, and of course I did”

She realizes the tears are already falling down her cheeks, but she sighs, determined to continue.

“Alaska was like a tidal wave in my life. She just came and knocked down everything that I used to know… but I’m glad she did so, because before my life used to be the worst. She took all the pain and… waved it away. She made me feel whole, alive. She was everything I needed and I just…”

Sharon holds herself together, even though her lip is shaking and her voice cracks. She has to do this. For Alaska. She sighs, closing her eyes for a minute and breathing in as hard as she can.

“Is hard imagining a life without her. Without her laugh, or advices, or hugs, or voice. I refused to do it for nine months. Back then I didn’t know living without her is way harder than imagining it, but we all have to do it, and we have to do it as Alaska would like it to be. I won’t come here and tell you what you already know; that she was sick, she was doomed to a bed with wires all across her arms and a tumor in her body. We know how tired and weak she was, but we also know how Alaska wanted us to remember her” she glances at the back to find Alaska’s parents crying, looking directly at her. “The last night, Alaska told me she didn’t want to die, but that she was ready to go if those were god’s plans for her”

A cry echoes across the room and Alaska’s mother hugs her husband tightly, burying her face into his suit.

“We have to remember her as happy as she was. Smiling, making a fool of herself so we all could have a laugh. We all know how much she worried about the people around her. She cared even about the people she didn’t know. She was loving, talented, brilliant and so, so smart. So I say, let’s remember her as she would love to be remembered: with the best of herself. Let’s appreciate all the memories we have, even if they hurt, they’re all we have now”

She walks to the coffin a few steps away, her eyes finally meting the motionless body of Alaska.

“She was the tidal wave that my life needed, and I’ll never forget her. I’ll miss her every day of my life as I look at her pictures and remember everything we did together”

Placing a hand on the glass, she caresses it above Alaska’s cheek. The old, grey cheek that once was red from laughing so hard, from smiling so hard.

“Alaska always tried to talk to god. I used to hear her talking to him after praying every night… and knowing that she is with him in heaven, because there’s no other place where she belongs, I’m happy she can finally talk to him” she stares at the glass, her lips curling into a smile. “I hope she talks about her life here and how much she enjoyed it to him. I hope she talks about me, and her family and friends, and everything she achieved here”

A tear falls over the glass over Alaska’s face, Sharon’s hand rubbing it away immediately.

“I’ve never tried to talk to god until a few nights ago, although I don’t think he listened. I don’t blame him, I’m not the best person to be heard, I’ve been wicked almost all my life… but now I just want to ask him for something”

Her eyes slowly go up to the ceiling.

“God, if you’re there… please tell Alaska how much I love her”

#catrina #shalaska #tw death #tw chronic illness #tw drugs #lesbian au #cisgirl au #angst #hurt/comfort #sharon needles #alaska thunderfuck #katya zamolodchikova #jinkx monsoon #rpdr fanfiction

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bangtansshi-blog1 · 6 years ago

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Felix Culpa [pt.i]

Felix Culpa. Latin. ‘’Happy Fault’’

Pairing: Jimin x Jungkook. Also appearance of other members. Warning: Mental illness, Mental disorder, Depression, Suicide, killing, Death and many more. Please read at your own risk. If you are uncomfortable with any of the things mentioned above then refrain yourself from reading. You have been warned! Genre: mental hospital jikook au maybe? T^T angst and little bit fluff too! Words: 10.5K Summary: Read Here Author’s note: ah i tried my best. There might be some mistakes. please forgive me as i dont have anyone to proof read it for me except for myself. i tried my best. i will keep trying my best T^T pt.ii (coming soon)

It was 10 in the morning. The room was already filled with day light, making the white color of the room more vibrant than any other time of the day. Everything was white with a little touch of silver here and there. The lack of furniture makes it hard to accept the feeling of being at home, even though he was reminded few times to make it his new home. He can’t get himself to do it even after spending last 6 months trapped in here.

Park Jimin, 22, not so tall, skinny, black haired who is currently sitting on his bed, legs sprawled out ungracefully, hands between his thighs, relaxing. He isn’t thinking of anything; his mind was blank which is his way of relaxing. Several people have told him for time being that he can’t never be free from thoughts and he should never. They say it will have a negative impact on his mental health. He doesn’t care; he needs to do selfcare once or twice.

The door suddenly opens revealing a very familiar face of the nurse who does frequent checking on Jimin. Her name was Syunghi, she was lovely and pretty. She looks around the room. The white, vibrant room which only has three furniture; a bed, a bedside table with 3 drawers and an easy chair. The room itself has 2 doors; one to exit the room and one for a bathroom which is unfortunately always locked unless Jimin calls a nurse or assistance informing them of his natural occurrence and needs. It has a medium sized window with grills, strong metal grills. No balcony. The room was quite unpleasant and too bright. Jimin never liked it here. He wishes he was in one of those rooms which had two or more people. But they say he was privileged to get this one.

‘’Everything’s okay? Do you need something?’’ Syunghi asks Jimin, the boy who was sitting on the white bed, legs sprawled and hands between his thighs.

‘’Another pillow will make it tolerable.’’ For the unlimited times Jimin has successfully mention to her the same thing. He needed a pillow. its not like he didn’t have any. He has one which is stitched to the bed; only there to support his head for sleeping. He needed another one, to hug when he sleeps.

‘’I wish I could provide you with one.’’ Syunghi replies.’’ Anything else do you need or want to tell me before I leave?’’

There was a long pause.

‘’Maybe a kiss on my lips to make me feel better.’’ Jimin says cheekily with a onesided smirk.

‘’that’s for your future wife to do.’’ With that Syunghi starts to leave the room.

‘’Who’s doing my consultation today?’’ a useless question to ask.

‘’As always, Professor Kim Seokjin.’’ She closes the door behind her.

Jimin finally shifts his position. He is already feeling tired, tired of meeting that same person, Doc Jin. That’s what he calls him. He was a tall, handsome guy; very famous doctor around the town. Jimin was lucky enough to be consulted under him or that’s what they say. ‘Be always thankful to your parents.’

Jimin finally gets down from the bed; feet hitting the cold white tiles. He slowly walks to the window and looks outside. He could see quite a few people on the lawn behind the building, known as M1. There are other patients; talking to their nurses, walking or sitting by themselves and some other just doing weird things like trying to find something on the ground or looking straight up to the sky. Jimin takes a deep sigh. How did he get himself in here!

Jimin proceeds to open the window; as soon as he does a chilly breeze hits his face making a shiver run down from his spine. He is reminded that it is the very last week of November, the end of Autumn. Winter is on its way. A small smile forms on his face as he closes his eyes taking a deep breath. He swears he was inhaling the environment.

A flashback from last winter hits him. It was Christmas time; he was happy, his family was happy or he likes to think they were. They were unwrapping they gifts on their living room. When suddenly there was a knock on their door. Jimin still could feel the excitement he felt hearing the bell. He thought it was his friend, his best friend. But to his dismay it was one of his younger brother’s classmate; was there to give him his Christmas gift. Jimin looked at his presents; counted it was 5. Then his eyes went to Jihyun’s presents; they were counted 11. He was too old for this stuff but his age couldn’t stop him from feeling the tangible jealousy which immediately turns into sadness as he was reminded of his supposed best friend who forgot to send him any present.

There’s that nuisance again; he felt like vomiting out his guts as tears starts to form. He couldn’t believe this, this couldn’t be happen-

A touch on his shoulder brings Jimin back to reality; he is taken a back and scared of the sudden disturbance. It is another nurse, this time a male who is having a very concerned look on this face.

‘’Are you okay?’’ The same question. Jimin nods his head as a yes.

‘’You’re crying.’’

‘’huh?’’

Taehyuk, the male nurse points at Jimin’s cheeks which are indeed soaked with tears. Jimin hurriedly wipes them off.

‘’Your meds are ready. You need to take them quickly. Professor Kim is already here. Your visit will start in 15 mins.’’ He says as he starts to close the window.

Jimin reluctantly walks towards his bedside table. Taking the pills on his tiny hands he gulps them down one by one. No objection.

As Jimin looks at Taehyuk to indicate that he is done with the meds, Taehyuk was already leaving the room with the smalls medicine container.

‘’Wear your shoes quickly. We are leaving in a minute.’’

‘’I’m not a baby you know.’’ Jimin tells the male nurse.

‘’Yeah I know.’’

_______

15 minutes later Jimin found himself sitting on one of those concrete stools that were on the lawn of M1 area behind the building. He is looking at a woman who is on her wheelchair talking to a bird which was up on his maple tree.

He is waiting for Doc Jin, he is supposed to be here any minutes now.

The weather is too nice, Jimin wishes he could fall asleep under the sky. He knows his feeling won’t remain the same once winter is here. He rubs his palms on his face; soaking his eyes in the warmth of his hands. He bends his head down to look at his feet. From the stool, his feet made it to the ground, he was grateful.

As he looks up, something caught his eyes. He is looking at the same direction as woman sitting on the wheelchair. But what has caught his eyes is far behind her.

There is a figure; a figure of a boy. Jimin is sure the figure is new here. He doesn’t remember someone like him of his 6 months here. The boy is tall he has to say, slim body, wearing the same cloths as Jimin, which means he is also a patient. The boy is walking around, he is kicking something on the ground and looking around once in a while. He is probably new here, Jimin thinks.

‘’uhm, Sorry to bother you.’’ A sudden voice pushes jimin off from his trance. He immediately takes his eyes off from the newly boy and looks at a very familiar face of Doc Jin. Jimin doesn’t reply him though.

‘’How are you doing?’’ Same question again as Doctor Kim Seokjin sits beside Jimin with his coffee cup.

‘’Fine.’’ Jimin replies.

Seokjin was pretty sure he won’t get a how are you back from jimin but-

‘’How are you?’’ Jimin asks.

‘’I’m quite fine. Thank you Jimin!’’ Jimin nods.

Jimin again looks behind the woman on wheelchair. He can’t see the boy anymore.

‘’The good news is, our session is going to end early today.’’ Seokjin says as he tries his best to make it sound a happy announcement.

‘’Is that so?’’ Jimin replies as he let out a feigned chuckle.

‘’Yup.’’ Seokjin replied with a sigh.

‘’Why so?’’ Jimin asks.

‘’Hm?’’

‘’Why are you ending today so soon, Doc Jin? Don’t you want to delve inside my brain? Or are you finally tired of denying the true traits of Park Jimin?’’ Jimin questions him in a low tone.

Seokjin lets out a chuckle, a very normal one. ‘’No Jimin! I have a function to attend today. That’s why I need to leave early.’’

‘’oh!’’ That’s all Jimin said.

‘’And you need to understand and remember that I’m here to help you. To understand you. To make you live a normal life. To help you. You don’t need to feel-‘’

‘’I know. You have told me this many time already now.’’

There was a long pause. Jimin looks on his right side, feeling the look over his left where Doc Jin was pleasantly sipping on his coffee. Jimin knows he needs to talk now.

‘’The weather is too beautiful to be called an only a weather, don’t you think Doc?’’ Jimin says.

‘’Yes, of course.’’ Seokjin replies.

‘’I wish this could remain forever.’’

‘’ We all do but things don’t always go the way we want.’’ Seokjin was successful taking the turn of his conversation.

‘’I know. It never does in my case.’’ The turn is he there, Jimin thinks.

Taking a deep breath and placing the coffee mug on the stool Seokjin starts-

‘’Its okay to think like that Jimin. But what is not okay is to take is negatively. If I were you I would have try not to succumb into the dullness of the whole thing, rather challenge myself to change the outcome.’’

‘’that’s why you’re not me.’’

‘’Jimin, all of this are temporary. The weather is temporary. And You thinks its sad because this Autumn will not stay for too long. And you hate winter. But you’re missing out a bright point here.’’ Jimin finally looks at Seokjin. ‘’You dislike the fact that winter is coming which results in you ignoring the mere fact of longevity. If Autumn goes away too soon then Winter will do the same.’’

‘’Rather than worrying about Autumn being short why can’t we just count on the short days of winter and look forward to the next Autumn!’’ Seokjin looks at Jimin with a smile. The other one was quietly looking at him.

‘’We always ignore the bright side of everything and let us get ingest into the dark and sad feelings. There is so much positivity surrounding.’’

‘’But its not that easy-‘’ Jimin starts.

‘’I know its not. Trust me I do. We all are here to fight our way through our life. We are all fighting for our own destiny. But some of us are giving up on the mere negativity that are coming on our way.’’

Jimin proceeds to lock his eyes on his entangled hands and fingers.

‘’Look Jimin! I know its hard for you. But you��re doing so good. You’re better than when you first came here. You’re more vibrant and livelier than before. And it makes me so happy and proud to see you like this.’’

Jimin could feel a pressure on his chest. He tried hard to gulp down the choking sob that is threatening to escape.

‘’You’re talking very different than other days.’’ Jimin says.

‘’Am I?’’ Seokjin interrogates.

‘’Not really. But this is supposed to be your last words of the session. Do I expect for a backward session today?’’ Jimin replies.

Seokjin laughs. ‘’No! jeez don’t talk like that. I told you we are ending today’s session early. I could have easily begun with your mental health and how are you dealing with your depression lately but I won’t.’’ Jimin again looks up at Seokjin.

‘’Today, like always, Im here to remind you of the positive side of our life. Because Jimin, you deserve to know the beauty of life. Other than anything, if I have to choose, I will always talk to you about the positivity. Its because I like to have this conversation with you. And I want you to accept the zeal of life. Because a person like you deserve to be happy.’’

Jimin suddenly feels something warm floods in his inside. Was it hope?

‘’Thank you Doc Jin.’’ Jimin finally replies.

‘’You’re always welcome.’’

With that both of them falls silent. Seokjin doesn’t say anything as he hopes what he just said gets into Jimin’s head. Jimin is again looking back at the Woman on the wheelchair. As he sees the smile of the woman after seeing there is now two birds, makes a smile appears on Jimin’s face. Seeing Jimin smile, Seokjin’s eyes follow where he was looking.

‘’Before we end this, I want to ask about your friend. How is she doing? What you call her… Granny Min? Are you guys still having fun together?’’ Seokjin asked Jimin about his only friend in the hospital, a 45 years old lady, who stays in the congested room beside Jimin.

‘’Oh her! She went home yesterday. Im happy for her. She will be back soon.’’

‘’Ah! Good to know.’’ Replied Seokjin.

Suddenly Jimin could see that figure again. The boy. He is now sitting on a stool at the end of the lawn across him.

‘’Aren’t you going to end this?’’ Jimin asked.

‘’Already bored of me.’’ Seokjin laughs.

‘’When I was not.’’

‘’Right! And the time is ending for today here. I will see you in 2 days, Jimin.’’

‘’Good to know. ’Jimin replies.

‘’Remember what I said. Eat your meal well and take the medicines timely. Never forget there are people who loves you,’’ With that Seokjin takes his coffee mug and starts to walk away from Jimin after waving a goodbye.

Jimin keeps on looking at Seokjin until his figure disappears inside the building. He then diverts his eyes to the other boy, the mysterious new figure. He is still sitting on the same position.

After giving it few thoughts, Jimin gets up from his sit and starts walking to the direction of the new boy. He just wants to know if he was new or maybe his name too.

The boy is now looking something over to his left side. He is now turning to the direction where Jimin is. Jimin stops and try to change his walking direction a little because he thinks he is walking to fast towards the boy. He doesn’t have any intention of scaring him or make him feel uncomfortable with his presence.

But as soon as Jimin changed his position the boy also did. He is now looking down at his feet. Still.

‘Did he sense my presence already?’ Jimin questioned himself. ‘You’re thinking too much Park Jimin. Why are you so nervous!’’

Finally, Jimin reached infront of the boy who was still looking down. Jimin doesn’t know what to do or what to say to get his attention so he keeps on standing.

After what feels like a decade, the boy finally looks up and straight into Jimin’s eyes. Which definitely throws Jimin back.

He has beautiful eyes. Dagger sharp. Not only his eyes, he is handsome too.

Jimin doesn’t know what to say. He remains with the same posture, being at a lost of action. On the other hand, the boy didn’t even flinch a bit, he is still looking straight into Jimin eyes. As if he is trying to read his soul.

Finally, the boy cocks his right eyebrow, which makes Jimin come down from his haze. He clears his throat.

‘’Hello!’’ Jimin manages to say at last.

To make it more awkward and unbearably irritating for Jimin, the boy didn’t reply rather he is still looking straight.

‘’Umm… do you mind if I sit here?’’ Jimin asks.

He doesn’t say anything but after few seconds he takes his gaze away and moves his right hand, indicating the place is free for Jimin to sit. Jimin doesn’t hesitate to sit beside the boy but he is afraid he might get up and leave.

Jimin doesn’t say anything. Neither does the boy. Jimin looks ahead and sees that the woman on wheelchair is now leaving the bird and the maple tree behind. I think her time is up, now she has to go back to her room again. Jimin feels a rush of sadness. He wishes he could help her.

Jimin again gets his focus back on the boy beside him as he feels that the boy just shifted on his position. He carefully looks at the boy. His side profile is gorgeous he has to say. He has sharp jaw line, pointy nose. Even his forehead is pretty-

Jimin felt like his soul left his body as the boy suddenly turn his head towards him, catching Jimin red handed staring at him. He cocks his head slightly as if questioning why Jimin was looking at him.

Jimin immediately looks away. Clearing his throat for the second time, he prepares himself for a conversation.

‘’I’m Park Jimin.’’

No reply.

Jimin could feel his entire existence set one fire. Did he get ignored? Was he interrupting someone else’s privacy? How does he escape now? To make it worse, the boy was still looking with his burning gaze; head still slightly cocked.

‘’Jeon Jungkook.’’

‘’heh?’’ first of all Jimin wasn’t expecting an answer. Second, he has a nice soft voice. Third, it was barely audible.

‘’I said my name is Jeon Jungkook.’’ He made himself clear now.

‘’Nice to meet you Jungkook. Are you new here?’’ Jimin asks.

‘’Yes.’’

‘’Oh! Good.’’ Jimin try to smile at Jungkook but he was looking somewhere else. Clearly not interested or that’s what Jimin felt.

Jimin stays quiet. There’s still chilly breeze blowing. He wonders if deciding to talk to Jungkook was a good idea or not. He could have just enjoyed his time before going back to his room.

Jungkook takes an audible sigh as if he was bored; making Jimin more uncomfortable than he was already. Still Jungkook doesn’t bother to say anything. Jimin decides to wait a bit more.

After what feels like decade which was in reality only 5 minutes, Jimin started to feel impatient. Jungkook still hasn’t said anything nor even moved.

Jimin decided to ask him something more but Jungkook suddenly gets up from his sit and started to walk directly to the building leaving a confused and hurt Jimin. Just in a second Jimin hears a bell; their times are over for the morning, now they have to go back to their room, take a shower and eat.

As Jimin makes his way towards the building, he cannot help but feel sad at the cold behavior he got from the new boy Jungkook.

Maybe its him. Maybe its his face and his luck that everyone he meets doesn’t want to be around him and builds a dislikeness towards him. Jimin keeps on thinking this wanted thought as he enters the building.

____________

It was already 10 pm. Jimin is done with his dinner and every other nighttime schedule. Now he is just waiting for sleep to endeavor him.

Today’s weather had a good impact on him. Even it helped him to cope up with sadness that he felt. He wishes if he could have this weather everything. As he tries to linger the weather for as long as he can, he decides to open the window and stare at the night sky.

The hospital he is admitted to was the biggest one in the city of Busan. It has its own reputation of being one of the best mental hospital of the country. It was built in a spacious area. It’s a 4-storage building with huge amount of empty space surrounding it. Rumor says the whole building is consisted of more than a thousand of room for patient. Apart from the frontal area, the whole empty space surrounding the building is used for making roaming place for the patients and the doctors; the backside and the rightside area is for the patient and the left side is for the doctors. The backside is called merriment 1 or m1 and the right side is m2. There is difference between this two. M1 is used for patient who are less dangerous and more mentally stable whereas m2 is used for the opposite ones. After the checkups, patients are decided by the authority to which area they can use. This also applies for dinning hall. Not all the patient can dine in there. Only the permitted one can. Jimin got his permission 2 weeks ago.

Through the window from Jimin’s room, he can see the whole m1 area easily. As it is nighttime, no patients are allowed to go there. He heard that if someone breaks the rule they have to face some sorts of punishment for that.

Jimin’s eyes found the stool he and the new boy Jungkook was siting in the morning. Remembering Jungkook, abruptly some feelings of dejection hits him. Jungkook didn’t seem like someone who was too ill. Jimin thought he might be like him. Just depressed and suicidal. He regrets expecting such things. He doesn’t even know why he is making a big deal out of it. But he cannot seem to get that event of rejection out of his head. And it’s killing him inside.

Jimin knows its not good for him. He still remembers what Doc Jin said this morning. He has to think positively. So he decided to leave Jungkook off of his thoughts and think about something better.

Jimin’s mind drifts off to memories of his family; his mom, dad and his younger brother. He misses them. He wishes he could be with them now and see them. His parents came to visit him last week. He was so happy to see them. So were they. They spent good hours until the very last moment. Jimin almost forgot about Jihyun. When he asked about him his parents replied he was busy with homeworks so he couldn’t come.

‘’Oh!’’ Jimin replied.

‘’Sweatheart, Jihyun misses you a lot.’’ His mother replied. ‘’ He wanted to come. But if he didn’t do his works it would be bad for his result.’’

‘’I see. But isn’t he always done with his homework during the weekend?’’ Jimin’s question made his parents exchange looks.

‘’Listen son. Don’t think like that. His finals are-‘’ his dad started.

‘’I know. I know. Trust me I do.’’ He abruptly stopped his father in midway. ‘’ I know everything. How he feels and how I make him feel. Just tell him that I love him a lot. And I wish to end his misery of having an older brother like me a long time ago. But I failed. That’s what I can do-‘’

‘’ No please, baby. Don’t think like that-‘’ his mother said.

‘’No don’t cry. Not now.’’ Jimin’s father tried to calm his wife down.

‘’IM SO SORRY!’’ Jimin was now started to cry and scream. ‘’ IM SO SORRY FOR EVERYTHING. I SHOULD LIVE NOW.’’ With that Jimin gets up from his sit and started to walk back to the building. He could already see some nurse approaching him-

That’s how the last meeting went. Jihyun still hasn’t come to visit him. He knows its only been a week since he met his parents but he actually believed Jihyun would have come right after. But he didn’t.

Tears started to roll down his cheeks. Jimin’s mind was screaming ‘stop being pathetic’. But he didn’t have any control over his sadness. That is what his life was. Full of sadness. He is nothing but a mistake-

Jimin was pulled back from his thoughts as he felt like he saw some movement down in m1. His heart was beating fast. His immediate thought was that it’s a ghost and he isn’t ashamed of saying that he is afraid of ghosts.

Jimin thinks of closing the window and go back to bed but something was stopping him from doing so. with the name of God, Jimin decided to inspect the area.

He could swear his heart left his body as soon as he spotted something on m2. No, it was someone. And from the outfit, Jimin thinks it’s a patient. But how could it be! No patient was allowed to be there at this ungodly hour.

Jimin runs to the other part of the room and turns the light off and goes back to the window. He has no idea what he is doing, all he knows that he doesn’t want to cause any trouble but he knows not of what trouble it could be.

Jimin’s eyes goes back to the corner he saw that figure. If he is not wrong, it’s the same place Jungkook and he was sitting this morning. He tries to squint his eyes to see who he could be. He was sure it must be one of those m2 patient, who probably tried to sneak into m1.

Jimin kept on following the figure. He is sure he has never seen this person in m1, not the 6 months he was in. The person looks quite tall; at least taller than Jimin, slim body, black hair-

Jimin felt like his eyes will bawled out of the socket. He suddenly recognized who it was. Its Jeon Jungkook, the new boy.

Jimin is now practically jumping up and down in his position. He has to do something, he cannot believe this new boy could make this sort of mistake. What if he gets caught? He is new here so he probably doesn’t know anything about the restriction. Will they slack him off for this time? He doubts they will. Jimin has been warned about all the restriction the day he was admitted and he was told to follow them strictly. So he is sure this boy has also been told. Then what is he doing now? He must have been seeing wrong.

Jimin again looks at that person to clarify what he saw is wrong or right. But nope, he didn’t make any mistake. It was indeed Jeon Jungkook.

Should he do something? Is there any way to warn that boy? Should he go out and tell the guards? No he cant. So should he go and tell him? Nope! He can get caught too. Besides Jimin’s room is locked now.

Wait! If his room is locked that means every other patient’s room should be locked. Which means Jungkook’s room should have been locked too. Then how was he there.

Jimin checks for the 2nd time if he made any mistake or not. He didn’t. Jungkook is still in there.

What is happening? Jimin is definitely worried about the boy. He seemed like a nice guy even though he didn’t talk to him in the morning. He doesn’t want anything happen to Jungkook.

Out of no where Jungkook’s head, Right then, turned up and to the direction of where Jimin’s room located in the building. From Jimin’s spot it seemed like Jungkook was looking straight at him. Jimin was frozen. He tried to bend down as soon as he can. After few minutes of siting on the floor, Jimin tried sneak a look at the other boy down there. Jungkook was looking somewhere else now. Which caused Jimin to go back to his previous tension.

As Jimin was being frantic, lost in his thought, Jungkook was already walking back to the building. Just before he disappears Jimin’s eyes caught his figure. He sees Jungkook leaving m1 and going back to the building. There is no guard. No sign of them.

That was odd. Is he some sort of highly privileged person to get permission to do such thing without getting caught? Jimin doesn’t know. He is now sweating for being so worried for past 5 minutes. He checks the area through his window one last time before going back to his bed. It was enough for him for the day. He decided it’s better to sleep.

Jimin couldn’t shake off the image of Jungkook sitting on the stool of m1 from his mind as he laid down on his bed. He tried hard to fall asleep but was in vain. It took him few hours before his mind was at ease and he was succumb to deep slumber.

______________

The next morning Jimin was back to doing his usual stuffs; getting up, washing up, having breakfast and meds, going for daily checkups (minus consulting with Doc Jin which is scheduled tomorrow). Now he is ready to have his time off in m1. The incident of last night is long forgotten. He somehow forgot about Jungkook.. until he sees him in the same stool in m1.

Jungkook was sitting there in the same position from last night. Seeing him Jimin gulps down as he remembers the event. It felt like it was a dream. Jimin ponders if he should go to Jungkook or just ignore him. As he was thinking Jungkook suddenly looks straight at him and scares the hell out of Jimin. Just like before, Jungkook again cocks his head, as if asking Jimin of something.

Jimin doesn’t know what should he do. After giving it a few thoughts, he decided to approach Jungkook again.

Jimin sits beside the boy. Jungkook was now back to looking up at the sky.

‘’Good Morning……Jungkook?’’ Jimin purposely made the ending sound like a question while delaying before saying his name which got him no reaction from the other.

‘’Its not morning anymore.’’ Jungkook replies.

‘’Huh?’’ Jimin was caught off guard.

‘’I said its not morning. I have been awake for past 5 hours so nope its not morning.’’

‘’ohh!.’’

Suddenly Jungkook laughs making Jimin confused. Even his laugh is attractive.

‘’What?’’ Jimin questions.

‘’This is the second time we are talking and the conversation went the same way. I say something and you don’t hear then I repeat and you say ‘’oh’’.’’ Jungkook says smiling while looking at Jimin. Jimin feels hit rise up on his cheeks. He was surely embarrassed.

‘’uh… I’m sorry.’’ Jimin replies.

‘’Why are you sorry?’’

‘’For being a disappointment.’’

‘’heh?’’ its time for Jungkook to be confused. Jimin doesn’t reply instead he kept on looking at his hand.

After a solid 30 second of awkward silence, Jungkook finally decides to talk.

‘’Are you always like this?’’

‘’Like what?’’

‘’umm… being so over dramatic.’’ Jimin felt like his entire world turn into ice.

‘’Im not being dramatic.’’ Jimin tries to argue back.

‘’oh sure! ‘sorry for being a disappointment’ I don’t even hear this sort of dialogue in movies.’’ Jungkook laughs as he says the line mocking Jimin’s voice. Jimin is sure his ears are now red. This is humiliating.

‘’Guess you’re right!’’ with that Jimin gets up from the stool and starts to walk.

‘’hey hey hey! Wait.’’ Jungkook was quick to get up and grab Jimin’s hand.

‘’What!’’ Jimin tries his best to remain cool.

‘’I was just joking.’’ Jungkook says.

‘’Sure you were. Have fun.’’ As Jimin says the last word his voice made a chocking sound indicating he was on a verge of crying.

This has probably hit Jungkook more than it should have been. His face looks like he was concerned.

‘’Hey! I really am sorry. I was just messing with you. I didn’t know it will affect you this way.’’ Jimin doesn’t say anything. ‘’Come here and sit with me again. Maybe we could have a proper introduction now.’’ Jungkook proposes.

Jimin couldn’t say no to this. He won’t. So he accept the proposal and goes back to sit on the stool.

‘’So you said your name is Park Jimin.’’ Jungkook says.

‘’You remember.’’

‘’I bet you remember my name too.’’ Jungkook replies.

With that they started to have conversation. Jungkook tells him about his morning and the day before. Yesterday was his first day. Jimin tells him about his day and briefly about past 6 months. Jungkook is a good listener and he talks so less unless he is asked a question.

They are now talking about their family. Jimin tells Jungkook about his family, how they are and what they used to do during vacation. He tried his best not to mention any sad moments.

‘’How about you? How is your family.’’ Jimin asks Jungkook.

‘’Uh, my family!’’ Jungkook takes a deep sigh before continuing. ‘’I have my parents and older brother. They are cool.’’

‘’oh! So you’re the youngest of the family?’’ Jimin asks.

‘’Yes! 97liner.’’ Jungkook replies.

‘’really? That makes you younger than me.’’

‘’it does?’’ Jungkook says with raising his right eyebrow.

‘’yup.’’ Jimin replies with a smile.

There was a long pause again until Jimin decides to break it.

‘’if you don’t mind. May I ask why you are here?’’

Jungkook doesn’t reply immediately. He doesn’t look at Jimin, he was looking up at the sky. Jimin suddenly have a feeling that Jungkook’s reply is going to be something sad.

‘’Various reasons. Mostly because my parents think I need treatment.’’ Jungkook replies still looking up at the sky. ‘’Why are you here?’’

‘’I don’t think you’re ready to hear it.’’ Jimin replies.

‘’Try me.’’ Jungkook looks at Jimin and smiles.

‘’I tried to kill myself.’’

Jungkook doesn’t budge hearing the statement, rather he kept looking at Jimin. Jimin is now feeling awkward.

‘’Oh!’’ Finally, Jungkook says with a sigh. Jimin doesn’t say anything.

‘’What…was the reasons for your parents to think that way?’’ Jimin asks again.

‘’I don’t think so this time you’re ready to hear.’’ Jungkook replies.

‘’Try me?’’

‘’Well… I was accused of trying to murder people.’’ Jungkook finally replies.

Jimin couldn’t say anything. Before he could even react, the bell rings indicating they need to go back to the building.

Jungkook immediately gets up and starts to walk away. He stops for a while and waves goodbye to Jimin. Jimin was still sitting on the same position.

_________

Jimin is currently waiting for Doc Jin to show up with his coffee mug. It’s the next day, the consultation day.

Jimin was back to basic. After Jungkook left him there yesterday, he went back to his room and did what he usually does. He didn’t see Jungkook after that. He wasn’t on m1 during the evening off hours. Jimin checked m1 through his window at night too. But no one was there this time. Jimin was still in doubt if his mind is still playing tricks on him. Maybe he got a new sickness! That would be sad.

As Jimin was busy in his thought, Seokjin was already there. He was waiting sitting beside Jimin to finally notice him.

‘’You’re already here! Why didn’t you knock me?’’ Jimin asks as soon as he notices the presence of Doc Jin beside him.

‘’didn’t want to disturb your serene mood!’’ replied Seokjin. Which makes Jimin let out a nonchalant chuckle.

‘’So how is Park Jimin doing?’’ Seokjin starts off the day.

‘’Good! I guess. ‘’ Jimin replies.

‘’only good? Not great good?’’ Seokjin attempts for a light-hearted fun.

‘’If I say that im feeling really better and im better than before, will you let me leave this place?’’

‘’Tough challenge. Don’t you like this place? Wont you miss your granny Min or your favorite nurse if you leave? Or me?’’

Jimin laughs and shakes his head. ‘’Jokes don’t suit you when you’re talking to your patient who is nothing but a wretched.’’

Seokjin makes a snorting noise. ‘’You young lad! Is very hard to handle.’’

‘’Already giving up, huh?’’

‘’Try me.’’

With that a long pause comes. Until Seokjin decides to break it.

“Today we are back to our regular consultant.’’

‘’Are we going back to your office for that?’’ Jimin inquires.

‘’No. We are staying here.’’

‘’why?’’

‘’Because” Seokjin takes a pause. ‘’I want to talk to you not as a doctor anymore. I want to talk to you as a friend. I don’t want it to be a consultation but a normal conversation. It would be easier for me.’’

‘’I see.’’ Replies Jimin.

“Lets starts with you telling me about the past two days? How did you do? Did something exciting happen? I know its quite impossible but let me pretend something could happen.’’

Jimin’s heart skips a bit. He was reminded of the night when he saw Jungkook on m1. He ponders if he should mention it to Doc Jin or not. At the end decides against it.

‘’Nothing much actually. Same old thing. Except for there is still no granny Min and I may or may not have made a new friend or met a new person you could say.’’ Jimin says.

‘’Is that so? who is that person?’’ Seokjin asks.

‘’There is this new boy-‘’

‘’The one who you have been looking?’’

‘’huh?’’ Confused Jimin.

‘’I saw the previous day you have been staring at someone. You were just doing the same a while ago. ’’ Seokjin replies.

Jimin is lost of words. Of course, Doc Jin is going to notice every single detail of him. Jimin found Jungkook walking around m1 right after Doc Jin appeared.

‘’Yeah.’’ Jimin confessed.

‘’So, tell me about him. How is he? What’s his name?’’

‘’I don’t know much about him. We only talked once. He told me his name and I told him mine. His name is Jeon Jungkook. He is new here.’’ Jimin tells Seokjin. Both of them were staring at Jungkook now. He is walking around his back facing them.

‘’hm I see! Its good for you. I hope he is a good kid and you guys can be friend.’’

‘’Are you going to gather information about him?’’ Jimin says all too quickly.

‘’umm? Do you want me too?’’

‘’No! I mean…’’ Jimin again got tongue tied. ‘’ I was just thinking. That’s what you do being my doctor.’’

‘’Is there something you want to know about him?’’ Seokjin asks.

‘’Not really. I would love to find out from him rather than from his medical reports.’’ Jimin replies.

‘’Alright!’’ Says Seokjin. ‘’Let’s get back to you now, shall we?’’ Seokjin asks, Jimin nods.

They are again back to ‘about Jimin’ and his current condition. Seokjin asks him about various things. Trying to find out any sorts of negative improvement. From what Jimin tells him, Seokjin can understand clearly that the boy is doing better than before. Seokjin remembers when he first saw Jimin, his condition was bad, not only bad but worse. He met him right after 2 days he was admitted here. He was assigned with him immediately. There were various scars on Jimin’s body indicating self-harm, he looked as if he was in coma. He barely talked or moved. Understandable as he was just brought back from almost death.

After Jimin’s failed attempt of suicide, his parents were left with no option but to admit him on Busan Mental Hospital. Jimin was found in his bathroom, wrist wide open with a cut, water running down from the bathtub, the whole bathroom was flooded with red blood. Thankfully he was found in time and he was saved.

Jimin was diagnosed with MDD (major depressive disorder) when he was 17 years old. After the suicide attempt he was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Seokjin has been treating him for past 6 months and finally he is seeing some positive result within the boy.

‘’what about the flashbacks? Are you still getting them?’’ Seokjin asks.

‘’Yes.” Jimin replies.

‘’Are you taking the medicine in time.’’

‘’Hmm.’’

There is currently no sad event happening in Jimin’s life but he gets flashbacks of past events which causes an upraise to his depression. Seokjin knew what was wrong with Jimin. Those events which he thinks off as negative or unpleasant weren’t exactly like that. Little things make Jimin sad. He was vulnerable and prone to depression. Its all in his head. His own head is his biggest trap and its hard for him to get out of it.

‘’Did you try all the ways I taught you.’’

‘’Yes, I did.’’

‘’Was it any better.’’

‘’Truthfully saying, sometimes they were.’’

‘’that’s progressive. I’m glad to hear that.’’ Seokjin encourages Jimin.

Its already been an hour. It’s time for Seokjin to ‘serve his encourage words’ or that’s what Jimin calls them. Even though Jimin pretends like he hates these things, Seokjin knows he listens to him very attentively.

That’s what Seokjin likes about Jimin. Jimin knows that he cannot live like this and he needs to get better, better for his sake and the people around him. He is fighting his battle with all the wills he has. And from the perspective of Seokjin, Jimin is doing incredibly amazing. He is proud of the boy. Seokjin is sure within few months Jimin will be able to go back to his normal life.

Just a few months.

‘’So Jimin! That’s it for today.’’ Seokjin tells Jimin. Jimin smiles. ‘’I had a great time. I hope you did too. I know you did.’’ Seokjin winks at Jimin.

‘’Yes, I did.’’ Jimin replies. His eyes are currently searching for Jungkook who was on his right side across the lawn few seconds ago. He was hoping to catch the boy after Doc Jin leaves. But Jungkook might have already left.

‘’As you know this is the last day for this week. I won’t be seeing you until next Sunday.’’ Jimin nods. ‘’I pray that you do well within these days. I will be informed every detail of you and your checkups, so that we can discuss on your progress during the next consultation.’’

‘’See you next time. Bye Jimin!’’

‘’See ya Doc Jin.’’ Seokjin starts to walk back to the building to his office direction. Seokjin walks he looks back to see Jimin looking around as if to find something. ‘probably looking for that other boy’ Seokjin thinks, ‘I have to find information about him.’

Jimin walks around m1 but cannot see Jungkook anywhere. He really did leave. Sighing, Jimin decides to walk around a little bit and observe other people.

The weather was already getting cold. Which means winter is right at the corner. The sky is bright blue today but the sun isn’t anywhere. Jimin felt as if he can never be prepared for winter to come.

As Jimin was walking he found himself at the right corner of m1, where the boundary is, the boundary between m1 and m2. Jimin decides to walk close to the boundary. He can see the patients of m2, the leveled dangerous patient. But they looked so normal to him. As if they were also the one belongs to m1. They can easily mingle within the progressed patients. Minus the fact they are mostly known as socio and psychopaths.

Jimin spots one patient who he knows about. Kim Namjoon. He is a very famous figure here. He isn’t even from Busan. He was from Ilsan. He is famous for murdering his own girlfriend. He was sent to prison but due to his corrupted mental state they were forced to send him here. Since then he hasn’t done anything dreadful but nevertheless people are still scared of him because of his brutality. He was already here when Jimin was getting admitted so Jimin knows his story from all the news.

Jimin walks away from the boundaries. It’s useless to think about the unfairness of human life. His own life is messed up badly.

Jimin was ready to leave m1 but the woman on wheelchair again catches his attention. She is back to talking to the birds on the maple tree but this time there isn’t any bird. She is probably talking to herself. Sighing, Jimin starts walking again.

Suddenly a loud scream scares Jimin. He stops where he is. He is sure it was a male’s voice coming from the ground floor of the building. He could see all the patients’ eyes moved towards the building and nurses who were around m1 running toward the building. Jimin starts also running.

The whole area where the supposed incident happened were already full of people, both patients and staffs. Jimin tried his best to push through to see what is happening. After several tries, Jimin could finally manage to poke his head through the bodies to make out the actual scenario. What he saw wasn’t something he expected.

There is blood on the floor. Not too much, just a little but still it was blood. One of the staffs is holding us steel made meds containing, laying on the floor it’s a scissor and some medicine. Left to the staffs is a boy on the ground who’s hand is bleeding hence where the blood came from.

The boy is none other than Jeon Jungkook. He has tears in his eyes and he looked as if he is in pain. Jimin felt a rush and his blood was coming up on his face. He wants to help Jungkook, he looks he is in pain. Before Jimin could move, doctors push through the crowd.

‘’What’s going on here? Oh my god-‘’ one of the doctor says. Jimin can see Doc Jin behind two other doctors.

‘’What happened to him?’’ Says another female doctor named Chaeyoung.

“I…i…’’ Jungkook tried to speak but he was crying now. Jimin felt something clutches his heart.

“What happened?’’ the first doctor, known as Professor Kwanghi, asks the staff who were beside Jungkook.

‘’i..i don’t know what just happened!’’ said the staff.

‘’What do you mean you don’t know.’’

‘’I was just walking and he attacked me.’’ The staff said. Jungkook immediately looks up at the staff in disbelieve and fear on his whole face. He looks from the staff to the doctors. Tears are now rolling down his cheeks.

‘’He attacked you?’’ asked professor Chaeyoung.

‘’Ma’am yes…’’

‘’I didn’t.’’ Jungkook interrupted with an almost inaudible voice but everyone could make out what he said. From behind came Doctor Mark, he was a foreign doctor here. He crouches beside Jungkook and checks the cut on his arm.

“We need to treat him first.’’ Says professor Mark.

“Sir, trust me I didn’t do anything.’’ Said the staff.

‘’Did I ask you to say anything!’’ everyone falls silent at that. Doctor Mark helps Jungkook get up. Two more staff hurriedly comes nd helps Jungkook to walk to the treatment room.

“Wipe the floor immediately.’’ Professor Kwanghi says. ‘’and you.’’ He points at the staff.’’ Come to the staff office right now.’’

‘’Everyone please go now. Go back to what you were doing. There’s nothing to see here. We will handle the rest.’’ Jimin hears Doc Jin says those words loudly as everyone started to leave the place.

Seokjin starts to follow the other doctor but Jimin stops him.

‘’Doc Jin wait!’’

‘’Jimin! Yes?’’

‘’What just happened?’’ Jimin asked.

‘’I think I have seen as much as you did or maybe less than you.’’ Replies Seokjin.

‘’But he is the boy. Jeon Jungkook. I told you about him.’’

‘’I have seen him. Yes, he is.’’ Seokjin says.

‘’Are you all going to punish him for that?’’ Jimin questions.

‘’We don’t know what happened, Jimin. If he hasn’t done anything why would we punish him.’’

‘’I don’t know.’’

‘’Go back, Jimin.’’

‘’Listen.’’ Jimin speaks up again.’’ I don’t trust you all. I have talked to Jungkook before. I can tell you…I can tell you that he hasn’t done anything.’’ Jimin stops and gets closer to Seokjin.’’ You don’t stay here all the time. You have no idea how some of the staffs treat us. I have seen that one, the staff, he was… he threw away someone’s gift. Ugh! You have to understand…’’

‘’Jimin! Come down.’’ Seokjin stops the stressed boy infront of him.’’ I will see what I can do.’’

‘’don’t hurt Jungkook!’’

At that Seokjin looks back at Jimin into his eyes. The boy way being serious. ‘’If he is not guilty at all. We won’t let a pin hurt him, Jimin!’’

Jimin doesn’t say anything.

‘’Go back to your room. You’re shower time has already started.’’ With that Seokjin leaves without glancing back at Jimin. Jimin remains in the same position as he was. His inside was creeped up with fear. He was worried about Jungkook. He knows that he doesn’t know the boy that well but he can’t help but feel sad and worried seeing Jungkook on the floor, bloodied and crying.

Eventually Jimin starts to walk towards the 3rd floor, his room. He cannot wait to find out what had happened to Jungkook.

_______________

Jimin didn’t see Jungkook that day during evening free hours. He was sure Jungkook wasn’t permitted for dinning yet but he still looked for him. He even tried to search him on m1 till midnight through his window. Even though he was constantly questioning himself what he was doing and why but he could not resist the urge.

The next day Jungkook wasn’t there in the morning nor in the evening. Jimin was practically anxious by the time. He tried to ask staffs and other patients about what had happened the other day but the patients didn’t know either and the staffs didn’t want to tell. After trying his best Jimin finally gave up. Now his only hope was Jungkook himself.

When Jimin didn’t see again in the morning the next day, he immediately took a decision and set up a plan. He was scared but he decided he would try his best and give it a shot.

The dinning starts around 8 pm. 15 minutes before that everyone starts to leave their room and gather around the hall. Jimin planned to go find Jungkook during the time everyone will start to leave for dinning. It was a dangerous plan as patients are forbidden to meet other patient or leave their own floor and roam around the building except for certain area. If they wanted to meet another patient they had to take permission and they would be sent with another staff. If someone gets caught disobeying the rule they have to face penalty for that. The worse Jimin could think of as a penalty is that he would be locked up or the dinning permission would be taken away. Jimin won’t let that happen.

With a shaking heartbeat Jimin starts his mission.

As much as Jimin knows the frontal side of the building is where the dangerous patients’ wards are situated and backside was for the progressed ones. Jungkook is not categorized as a dangerous one so he should be at the backside of the building. The newly admitted patient was one the 2nd and third floor of the left side of the building. But those who gets a privileged lift, they were sent to 4th floor and that’s where Jimin will look for because Jimin is sure Jungkook was one of those privileged ones.

Jimin starts to climbs up the stairs. There were patients coming down. He can’t see any staffs, he prays he won’t have to. As he reaches 3rd floor, he accidentally bumped into someone. He looks up to see it was a patient.

‘’Where are you going? I don’t think you are from here!’’ he questions Jimin immediately. Jimin gulps down. The patient laughs, probably because of the horrified look on Jimin’s face.

‘’Are you trying to trespass?’’ The patient whispers into Jimin’s ear making Jimin more panicked then he was already.

‘’N-no…i…’’ Jimin tries to speak.

‘’Hurry up buddy.’’ With that he leaves Jimin. He walks down the stairs without looking back at him. Jimin quickly snaps out of his stance and started to walk upstairs as quickly as possible.

Reaching the 4th floor, his destination, Jimin panicked more to see the empty hallway. During the dinning time all staffs leaves for the hall; as if it’s a trick to catch a patient trespassing. Jimin doesn’t waste any time he starts to look for Jungkook. He wishes that he won’t be inside his room or if he is then he manages to find him.

Jimin suddenly stops on his track.

He fucked up.

He fucked up big time.

He forgot about the CC cameras.

As he looks straight at the one above his head, he wants to laugh. He probably left his brain on the bathroom when he was making the plan during shower. There’s nothing he can do. He is bound to get caught now.

What has been done is done, Jimin thinks. He is going to get caught anyway so he needs to finish what he came for. He starts to walk again.

After what feels like decade Jimin finally reaches where he wanted to. He guesses a side of the hall where he could find Jungkook. Now he has to decide which room. Jimin knows very well his guessing can be wrong, it 100% will but he is going to give them a try. He already fucked up so why not fuck it up a little bit more.

With that Jimin opens the door to his right.

Empty.

It was empty. Jimin wanted to scream, both in frustration and fear. He isn’t sure what he should do now.

Should he check another room? Yes, he will.

He checks 2 more rooms. He was shaking out of fear. He is ready to leave now. He was afraid and now after failing he is feeling sad. He can feel his eyes tearing up.

Suddenly there was a sound behind him on the corridor. Jimin freezes on his position. If he wasn’t enough scared before then now he is. He doesn’t know what to do. Should he look back or start running? Running seems like a good option. Maybe he could get rid of all of these. Or maybe while running he can trip and fall from the stairs and die-

‘’Are…you Jimin?’’ a voice speaks up.

Jimin immediately spins on his heel and looks back. He sees a figure standing few meters away from him. Tall, slim body and handsome.

Jungkook was standing there. He came from a room from left.

‘’ah.. ye-yes.’’ Jimin replies.

Jungkook starts to walk towards Jimin. He looks up and checks for any camera. There wasn’t any in this part of the hall.

‘’What are you doing here?’’ Jungkook questions Jimin. ‘’ Come with me.’’ Jungkook signs Jimin to follow him. Jungkook takes Jimin to his room or that’s what he believes. He closes the door behind. Jungkook stands his back facing the closed door, arms crossed over his chest and head his cocked to the side. As if asking Jimin question.

“I came to look for you.’’

‘’Why?’’

‘’I was worried.’’

‘’Why?’’

Jimin doesn’t answer. He doesn’t answer because he wasn’t sure what to answer. He doesn’t know why he was worried for Jungkook, neither he knows why was he so curious on finding out what had happened back there. So, he remains quiet.

Jungkook sighs. ‘’You can sit on the bed. There are some water on the stand if you want.’’

‘’No thanks! I have to leave soon.’’

‘’Aren’t you going to tell me why you are here?’’ Jungkook asks again.

‘’I told you I was worried.’’ Before Jungkook could say anything Jimin adds – ‘’ don’t ask why.’’

‘’Fine.’’ Jungkook replies after a while. There’s a long pause until Jimin speaks.

‘’Are you okay?’’

‘’Why do you care?’’

‘’Cant I just ask without you fucking-“

‘’Okay okay! Yes, I’m fine now.’’ Jungkook replies. Jimin doesn’t say anything back.

‘’What happened the other day?’’ Jimin asks. ‘’don’t tell me that its none of my business!’’ Jimin says, hurt visible in his voice.

Jungkook walks over to the bed and sits down. Jimin was still standing. ‘’ Im so tired of telling the same thing over and over to the authority and doctors.’’ Jungkook takes a deep breath. ‘’I guess I wont die by repeating once more.’’

‘’If you’re so reluctant on telling then don’t. I will go.’’ Jimin says.

‘’No! if you have risked to come this far then I have to tell you I guess.’’ Jimin doesn’t reply to this either. “but I’m pretty sure you will not believe. Why would you believe a new boy anyway!’’ Jungkook says as he lets out a chuckle.

‘’Try me maybe?’’ Jimin says.

Jungkook doesn’t say anything for few seconds before he starts. ‘’I saw you with Doctor Seokjin that day siting on the stool on m1. I was waiting for your consultation to end. But it was getting late and I was bored. So, I decided I will see you in the evening and I started to leave for my room. But then when I was entering the building I was collided with the staff, his name is Minhyuk. I don’t know what’s his problem with me but he hasn’t been good to me since the day I first came. After I collided with him he dropped his container. As a basic instinct I got down to help him collect his stuffs but he refused and tried to take the container away from my hand as if I wont give it back to him.’’ Jungkook laughs as he takes a short break. ‘’As he tried to snatch it away it drops from my hand again but this time I noticed there was a scissor in there. It… it was supposed to be a meds container why there was a surgical scissor. Then I made the mistake of taking the scissor on my hand. And what he did next-‘’ Jungkook stops.

‘’What?’’ Jimin questions him.

‘’umm…’’ Jungkook pauses again. He wipes his nose with his sleeves. ‘’uh…he tries to take away the scissor but I was holding it, I guess, too tightly. So, he pushed the scissor and it scratched my hand pretty badly. You may have seen the bloods to understand how bad the injury was.’’

‘’You saw me there?’’ Jimin asks.

‘’I guessed that you were there. So, after they took to me to the treatment room they stopped the bleeding. After I was calmed, they asked me what happened. I told them what I just told you. At first, they seemed to believe me but they started to doubt once they heard what the staff said.’’

‘’what did he say?’’ Jimin asked furrowing his brows.

‘’Well his side of the story seemed fully opposite of mine. He accused me of having the scissor.’’ Jungkook let out a chuckle. ’’He said after we collided. I pushed him on the ground. I pulled out a scissor and tried to attack him with it and I cut myself instead.’’

‘’oh my god.’’ Jimin was shocked. ‘’Tell me they didn’t believe him.’’

‘’what do you think?’’ Jungkook questions back. ‘’at first, they were believing him but then Doctor Seokjin suggest to check the surveillance camera. But it made them confused at first. They told us to return to our respective places. But from what I can guess is that they found I was telling the truth.’’

‘’that’s good.’’

‘’would you believe me Jimin?’’ Jungkook asks.

‘’Yes.’’ Jimin didn’t hesitate to answer.

‘’Why?’’

‘’I have this feeling that you’re being honest. At least with me.’’ Jimin says in a low voice.

‘’Really? Its hard to believe that there is someone who can trust me.’’ Jungkook says.

‘’Why is that?’’

‘’Because no one trust someone like me.’’

‘’Why are you talking like this.’’

‘’I’m trying to be like you.’’ Jungkook says as he tries to hide his laughter. That earns him a glare from Jimin. ‘’I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I was just messing. I’m sorry.’’

“No but seriously. No one trusts me. No one trusts nor believes in Jeon Jungkook.’’

‘’But why?’’

‘’Because everyone believes I’m a bad person.’’ Jungkook replies. ‘’Everyone believes that I’m someone who should everyone stay away from and not put their trust into. That confirms why I don’t have any friends.’’ Hearing this Jimin could feel a pang on his heart.

‘’But I believe you.’’ Jungkook head shoot at Jimin’s direction. ‘’I want to trust you. Can I trust you, Jungkook?’’

‘’You don’t even know anything about me!’’ Jungkook replies.

‘’We have plenty of times to know each other. Beside you also don’t know about me. Let’s be friends, Jungkook.’’ Jungkook doesn’t reply. ‘’You cannot hurt me right now being here, can you?’’

‘’I don’t know.’’

‘’No, you can’t. I’m sure.’’

‘’How can we be so sure?’’

‘’I’m sure cause I cant even hurt myself or you either.’’ At this Jungkook looks at Jimin, a small smile appeared on his face.

‘’You are right.’’

‘’So, what you say?’’ Jimin asks.

‘’Okay I guess.’’ They look at each other smiling.

Suddenly Jimin hears the bell ring, which mean the dinner time is up. Jimin panics again.

‘’You have to leave now.’’ Jungkook says.

‘’Yeah. I hope I don’t get caught. But I think they already saw me through the camera.’’

‘’No, they haven’t. you don’t have to worry about it.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Let’s go!’’

Jimin and Jungkook leaves the room. Jungkook tells Jimin to wait behind a pillar beside the room. To wait for some people to arrive so that he can easily mingle among them.

As people started to arrive Jimin starts walking towards the stairs. Jungkook is following him behind. Before he starts to climb down the stair, he says bye to Jungkook and Jungkook tells him he will meet him tomorrow morning.

As Jimin was going down he again meet that patient he met before.

‘’Oy! You’re done with your mischief?’’ he says with a big grin.

‘’Yup.’’ Jimin said smiling. The patient gives him a thumbs up and leaves.

Within 10 minutes Jimin was back at his room. He has 5 minutes before Taehyuk will be here with his medicine. He was practically shoving his left dinner down his throat. Jungkook was probably doing the same, he thinks.

Within an hour Jimin was laying on his bed. He couldn’t wait to fall asleep and wake up. He is eager to meet up with Jungkook tomorrow.

A flashback suddenly hits Jimin but this time it was of Doc Jin. He remembers the doctor asking him, ‘’ Did something exciting happen? I know it’s quite impossible but let me pretend something could happen.’’ For the first time a flashback put a smile on Jimin’s face. Yes, something was actually happening, something exciting and he doesn’t need to pretend for it.

As Jimin tries so hard to fall asleep he forgot to do one thing he have been doing since last week. It is to stand infront of the window, room’s light off and check if someone was on the m1. Lets hope there wasn’t anyone or we could pretend so.

________________________________________________________________

Did you like it? (◕‿‿◕)

Question for you: i. what do you think of Jungkook?

ii. what do you think of Jimin?

iii. who do you think Jimin collided with while going to meet Jungkook?

If you have any question, let me know?

Thank you for reading ♡ ♡ ♡

[Look forward to the next chapter]

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arrowheadproductions · 7 years ago

Text

The Harpies & Aristaeus

After the stable scene, Coach Hedge subjects the seven to an unexpected lesson that is somehow more awkward than it sounds.

No Archive Warnings Apply- Rated T

Relationship(s): Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Jason Grace & Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase & Piper McLean, Percy Jackson & Hazel Levesque, Leo Valdez & Frank Zhang, Coach Hedge & Everyone

Characters: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Jason Grace, Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, Leo Valdez, Coach Hedge, Athena (Percy Jackson)

Read on Ao3

If you were ever curious how to piss off an over-enthusiastic, bat-wielding satyr, I could provide you with a proper step-by-step. It really isn’t that hard for someone of my expertise, because evidently, I am incredibly gifted in the art of frustrating people. Annabeth will vouch for this since she’s made a point of letting me know for the past 6 years. Any of my foes of past and present could probably give a similar reference, but with more bias to their reasoning.

Anyway, back to satyrs that are taking their chaperoning job way too seriously:

Step 1: Sneak out after curfew at the beck and call of your beautiful/amazing girlfriend.

Step 2: Fall asleep.

Step 3: Get caught sleeping beside your beautiful/amazing girlfriend.

So now, thanks to the biggest misunderstanding in modern history (I’m sure Annabeth would normally have a tragic Greek tale about a grander example of miscommunication, but I doubt she’d dispute me now), we’re grounded. I haven’t been grounded in forever. To be fair, I’d been missing for a while and just before that I was kind of thrust into almost dying in the second Titan War, but I’m a good kid regardless.

I don’t regret spending the time with Annabeth, because it’d been forever since we’ve had a moment alone. My heart pattered when I thought about how she didn’t scare when I mentioned the idea of New Rome. It upgraded to full-scale pounding when I pictured the way she’d kissed me shortly after and how it still made me feel like I was floating.

Frank found and alerted the media, because apparently everyone was pretty worked up over the idea of losing us. I mean, I do have a record of going missing and losing my memory now so I can’t say I blame them for the concern. Their tunes completely changed when they saw us sprawled across the clear door cuddling. Frank seemed pretty embarrassed, which probably would have been closer to my response too if I walked in on Hazel and him like that. Piper smiled like a Cheshire cat for reasons beyond me. Whatever it was, it made Annabeth super uncomfortable whenever she looked at her pointedly. Jason seemed pretty indifferent, if not relieved he wasn’t in my shoes. Leo was relentless as if a day ago I hadn’t almost attacked him when I thought he set the canons off on Camp Jupiter.

Coach Hedge was as scary as I’d feared, but I wouldn’t say that to Annabeth. I don’t think I needed to, because she rolled her eyes when she looked over at me while we were chastised. There wasn’t much heat in it though, which told me that maybe she didn’t regret getting caught either. You could tell she’d been through a lot, too much, in these past 6 months. She barely even hesitated as he laid into us with threats of contacting our parents. While I half-expected Athena to storm our ship, scoop me up, hang me, and turn me into a flag, I was more afraid of the idea of Coach Hedge calling my mom. My mom has made it really clear that she does not want any grandbabies yet.

I thought we were safe from humiliating punishment until that night, Coach called for a group meeting. Leo said we’d never actually done that before on Argo II, so I knew something was up. It had just been an incredibly long day of near-death experiences so the fact that Annabeth and I dozed off was so far from my brain. As she laced her hands through mine while we walked from the lower cabin to the upper deck, it seemed to be far from her mind too.

It should have tipped me off that everyone was sitting towards Coach like he was performing a one-man show. Gods, I would imagine his singing voice would be on par with Chuck Norris and Dog the Bounty Hunter, just like the rest of his personality.

He set down a whiteboard on an easel and I could tell Annabeth was immediately cued in. My girlfriend is such a Brainiac and while ADHD like the rest of the demigods, her attentions were always easily grasped through organized visual aid, especially when it was educational. She looked cute when she was learning. She looked cute all of the time, because duh, it’s Annabeth, but her eyes get super focused and she leans forward a bit, occasionally nibbling on her lip.

I, on the other hand, am not taken with graphs or statistics the way I am with her. Whenever she feels the need to recite whatever he said, I’ll listen much more carefully from her. She must have felt my gaze, because I’m being far from discrete. Being away from her for all of that time, even if it was really only a few weeks for me, made me want to capture every detail of her and force myself to save it in safe keeping.

I thought she was going to smack me for zoning out so badly, but her face goes a little dumbfounded at whatever Coach is preaching and then her gray eyes flash to me in… Horror? Oh Gods, what did I miss?

She gently reaches out and turns my head to face the very red and very sweaty Coach Hedge, who looks the opposite of happy at me (or someone directly behind me). It takes me up until that moment to see everyone else is looking at me too, except they seem mad too, which is weird.

“Jackson!” He hollered and that brings me back to reality at a crashing rate.

It’s probably useless to say I was listening and play along.

“I was listening.” Stupid.

His nostrils flared. “Tell me what I just said.”

I had one of those typical Percy Jackson moments. You know, the ones that make everyone around me gasp at my superior intellect and amazing capability of remaining hyper aware at all costs.

“Uh… Duh…?”

“Smooth.” Annabeth muttered.

“That’s what I thought.” He barked. “If you don’t get your head out of your bungle hole right now, I’m going to tie you to your mattress, so you can’t have another infraction like last night’s ever again.”

“Why don’t you leave that to Annabeth?” Leo snickered cheekily.

I felt my face turning hot while Annabeth gave Leo one of her trademark glares that sent him sliding into his seat to avoid her gaze. Coach didn’t seem impressed by the comment either, because he hovered over Leo and resembled an exploding bottle of ketchup.

“I would hold my tongue if I were you, Valdez. This talk is for all of you little horn-balls. I should expect this from the child of Aphrodite-”

“-Hey!” Piper said indignantly.

He powered on. “But since Annabeth Chase has been dirtied up, it can likely happen to any of you. So, that’s why we need to take a moment from all of this world-ending business and move onto a different kind of life-or-death.”

The glare he sent me when he said “dirtied up” made me want to sleep with my eyes open tonight. Or you know, forever.

“I have not been dirtied up!” Annabeth snapped. I admired her bravery, but we’d already gone in circles about how nothing even happened, and no one believed us. At this point, Coach Hedge was going to trust a son of Hermes not-guilty plea of pick-pocketing over us.

“Oh really, I know your mother wouldn’t be pleased about your recent deeds.”

“We didn’t-”

“-Save it!”

I could feel myself sweating and could practically hear my own heartbeat in my ears. The implication behind all of this was uncomfortable at best, even if we had been innocent. It was no secret that Annabeth was born from Athena, who was one of the Maiden Goddesses. In other words, she never biologically produced kids. While Aphrodite was definitely sex-positive when it came to her children, Athena was… Not. She saw more important values than love like battle strategies or instilling constant fear into her daughter’s boyfriend.

“Anyway, it’s time that I have a little talk with you kids. Nobody else seems to have so it’s up to me.”

Everyone around me got super pale and started stammering in disagreement. Me? I was just confused and trying to hide it. I mean, I can’t say I enjoy long conversations with Coach Hedge, but this had to be better than having to sleep outside in the rain or sharing a room with him, right?

“Why should we have to sit through this?” Frank stumbled over his words and wouldn’t look at Hazel.

“Because I am becoming very aware that you folks seem to think this is a romantic couple’s cruise and I will be having none of it.”

“I am not part of a couple.” Leo pointed out.

“Yeah, but don’t think I haven’t noticed the goo-goo eyes you’ve been making at Miss Levesque here.”

Gods, it looked like Frank was wishing his eyes were snipers by the way he was glaring at Leo. Leo seemed very aware of this and once again sunk down in his seat in an ill attempt to become less of a target. His rescue came in the form of Hazel placing a hand on Frank’s bicep. He looked down at her and calmed down almost immediately. I’m usually the last guy to notice this kind of thing, but maybe being in love has sort of made me more attune to other people in love.

“This ship will not become the playboy mansion!” Coach emphasized this point by referring to a poster with the word “sex” scratched over with red slashes. “So, in order to stop this, I’m going to give you the talk my old man gave me: The Harpies and Aristaeus.”

“So, looking at ugly harpies made you swear off sex?”

Everyone groaned. I bet some of them were wishing they’d never picked me up in the first place, because I was still lost. Coach Hedge looked like he was about 3 seconds from chucking his clipboard at me.

Annabeth smacked my shoulder and was glaring at me with that “can you be more stupid” look in her stormy eyes. A deep blush clung to her cheeks and the back of her neck and if she didn’t already look mad enough to throw me overboard, I might have commented on how cute it was.

Still, she clarified. “Aristaeus is a minor God that is a protector of many arts, Percy. A big one is bee-keeping."

"How is bee-keeping an art?"

Thunder rolled in the distance.

"Sorry." I murmured and tried to put the pieces together.

The bee keeper? That still sounded lame. And what did that have to do with harpies?

The harpies and the bee keeper.

The ugly bird people and the bees.

The birds and the- oh crap.

Needless to say, I felt dread. Like, titan-fighting dread. I couldn’t bring myself to look anywhere near Annabeth’s direction as it dawned on me. My sense of panic must have translated to the outside, because Coach seemed much smugger than he had been earlier. My tongue seemed to swell in my mouth and my face definitely invented its own shade of magenta for the occasion. Everyone else looked pretty stiff too, but it was hard to believe anyone could be more awkward than me about this kind of thing.

“I had that talk with my mom… A while ago.” I tried, and it was true. It was painful then, but something told me hearing it from a big and loud half-goat with my girlfriend right beside me was going to be infinitely worse.

“Well, if you’re such an expert, you’re going to point out and name every part of the female reproduction system.”

Right then, I wished that maybe, just maybe, Gaia would rise early so I wouldn’t have to live through this. Wow, super selfish and absorbed, I know, but you have to understand that this is basically akin to slow and brutal torture. And I have been tortured before.

Gaia is spiteful and probably saw this as a lovely little way to prolong suffering.

The diagrams were awful and graphic. Coach wasn’t exactly a stand-up comedian, so he wasn’t joking about me having to point out and name every part of the female anatomy. I was wrong about almost all of it, but I couldn’t give the legitimate terms for the parts of the male anatomy either, I swear.

“Is this thing upside down?” I asked at one point.

“Poor Annabeth.” Murmured Piper to Jason, who looked just as dumbstruck and confused as me. Annabeth had her head in her hands out of pure mortification and I was wondering if the entire purpose of this exercise was to embarrass me so much that my girlfriend would never want to so much as touch me ever again, let alone do anything resembling sex.

“Poor Annabeth, indeed.” Coach Hedge agreed after shouting at me for getting the term “clitoris” wrong for the third (or was it fourth?) time.

“Why does Annabeth even need to know this? Doesn’t she just have brain babies like Athena? I mean… Can she have kids the normal way?” Leo asked.

She scowled. “I can’t have brain children and even if I could, it would require an impossibly strong connection of intelligence.”

Everyone simultaneously turned back to me and Jason clicked his tongue. “Yeah, I guess that’s out of the question.”

“Hey!” I protested.

Consent was talked about, which shouldn’t have surprised me considering how many gross people live in the world. I guess I was just surprised that any sane person would be able to sleep at night knowing they’d just totally broken someone’s trust in mankind in such a violating way.

“NO MEANS NO!” He yelled over and over again. “MAYBE MEANS NO! MAYBE NOT MEANS NO! YES IS YES AND THAT IS ALL THERE IS TO IT.”

But it wasn’t, because he started grilling us on situations where consent was properly given. I passed this was flying colors, because honestly, I’m the kind of person that usually needs intense verification to do much of anything. You saw how long it took for me to admit I liked Annabeth. I know I am not always good with subtleties.

I glanced over at her, who also didn’t seem the least bit worried about this part. I gently took her hand and hoped that it reminded her that I would never hurt her.

Coach went on to explain protection, which seemed like it would be the most mild portion of this TED talk, but when he handed all of us bananas and condoms, I knew it was going to be bad.

“This seems excessive.” Hazel laughed nervously, which made sense since she’s not exactly from a time where even talking about this stuff is the norm. I can’t say I was too comfortable either. Plus, I was pretty perturbed about the fact that while everyone else had a full-sized banana, Annabeth had been given half of a carrot.

“I ran out of bananas.” Coach tried to justify but wasn’t fooling anyone.

“Sure.” I grumbled.

“If you don’t know how to put on a condom, you will die.”

Piper smirked. “Nice Mean Girls reference.”

We spent the next half hour explaining Mean Girls to him while simultaneously trying to take this fun little meeting off the rails. It worked a little bit and Coach even seemed to enjoy some of the smart remarks made in the movie, but he’d apparently drank a lot of persistence juice before calling us together so he was not being shaken from his original purpose.

It turned into a contest at who could put it on the quickest and the most secure. Annabeth was the first to accomplish this feat, but again, she had the smallest and most slender object to work with. I didn’t do as badly as Leo or Frank, who kept dropping the banana.

“It’s not really staying on.” Annabeth murmured and wouldn’t look at me.

Leo snickered. “Poor Annabeth again.”

This time, she thumped him upside the head and I would be remiss to say I didn’t support the reaction.

“Valdez, I’d hold your judgment since you can’t even seem to finish.”

I laughed this time.

Coach realized we were all having a little too much fun with this exercise and went on to explain the intricacy of orgasms, both male and female. I felt my stomach lurching again, especially as he was clearly trying to dispel any positive thoughts from the girls’ minds by harping over the fact that guys our age do not last long in bed. I was trying to find other stuff to focus on, like the impending mortal threats that were coming our way, but he kept reeling me back in by using me as an example.

“Take Jackson, here--”

“Please don’t.”

This didn’t stop him. “Someone of his anxiousness and stupidity would have no idea how to pleasure a woman. He’s better suited at maneuvering the Labyrinth than the vagina. He proved that earlier.”

“Thanks for that.”

“I can promise you, that the 15 seconds will not be worth it. And that applies to all of you boys.”

Needless to say, it got a lot worse before it got better. Frank was asked what the best way to prevent teenage pregnancy was, was given the hint that it started with an “A”, and then panicked and said “anal” instead of abstinence. Hazel took a solid 4 steps away from him then and I thought the big guy was going to throw up. Jason, Hazel, and I were then given a nice chat about how if we had children, they would be so powerful that there would be a quorum about whether or not they should even live. Leo asked if it was possible that he would accidentally light a girl on fire mid intercourse. The answer was yes. Annabeth was the only one born of a virgin Goddess present, so of course the majority of her segment focused on “purity” and “clear-thinking” and also the mention of her mother’s intense disapproval.

She’d told me about how her mom already claimed she failed her and I could see her flinch at the idea of failing her further, but then unexpectedly, her gaze turned to a hard steel.

“Hold on a second,” She said angrily, and I knew that look. I’ve been on the other side of that look many a time. She gave me that look a lot in our time of knowing each other, especially when I was being dumb about whether or not she liked me/whether or not I should admit I liked her.

“What is it, Chase?” He asked gruffly.

“This is ridiculous.” She snapped. “How is virginity, which isn’t even a physical or tangible thing, something that could possibly increase or decrease my value as a human being?”

“Well…” He started, but she didn’t let him continue.

“If Percy and I have sex, does that make him a terrible person and me dirty? Because that’s how you made it sound earlier.”

Hearing it point blank like that almost made me swallow my tongue and frankly, made my heart race a bit more than I’d ever admit.

“Not on my-” He was going to say “watch”, but she pushed onward with confidence akin to when she’s marching into battle.

“We talked about consent earlier, so clearly you understand the concept of it being my body and my choice at what I want to do with it. So tell me, how is sex more deplorable than going on life-threatening quests that could potentially rip me limb from limb? How is that encouraged, but something that is so biologically basic and innate is considered irredeemable? Do I suddenly become less if I decide I want to feel human every once in a while?”

“You don’t want to get-”

“-Pregnant, I know, and you’re right. I don’t right now, but I’m not exactly an idiot. There are ways of preventing that as we talked about earlier. That is all this should be about, though. Preventing pregnancy, preventing STI’s/STDs, consent, understanding the body, etc. Not guilt about a very natural and human experience. Given the lives we’ve lived, I’d say we deserve it.”

My mouth hung open like the hinges of my jaw had broken and I was left with an open cavern for a mouth for the rest of my life. I tried to shy away from Coach’s shocked stare as if to say, “don’t look at me, I didn’t tell her to say that”, but I couldn’t. I agreed with Annabeth, of course, because she should be the one to get to decide what she does. She’s proven herself capable of that more than a billion times.

I met her gaze while she sat back down and she closed my mouth for me, the smallest remnants of a smile lingering on her lips. Her stare was… hard to read, but I couldn’t seem to stop looking at her. Everyone else seemed to follow my lead, with Jason whistling slightly in approval of her tangent, Piper looking like she wanted to fist-bump her, Hazel smiled cautiously, Frank seemed relieved she shut Hedge up, and Leo looked a little scared and a little aroused.

Hedge cleared his throat as he muttered the words “meeting adjourned” roughly under his breath. Everyone made their move to get away from each other as quickly as possible. We could all probably use a moment to ourselves after that utter humiliation. In the end, Hedge ended up getting the short end of the carrot, so that was semi satisfying.

Annabeth and I walked to our respective quarters in silence and my mind raced on whether or not there was a good thing to say right now. What was appropriate for this moment?

"Thanks for stopping him before he got to sex toys."

"I literally cannot stop sweating right now."

"FYI: mine isn't the size or color of a small carrot."

Thankfully, she spoke. However, when she did, I couldn’t have seen it coming if it was right in front of my face.

“Do you ever think of me like that?” It was so rushed and abrupt that I’m not totally sure she even meant to say it.

I swallowed hard, but I knew if I didn’t answer quickly enough she was either going to get offended or annoyed and I didn’t want either right now after she’d basically saved us all from having to sign anti-pregnancy pacts.

“Sometimes.” I tried to make it sound casual, like I wasn’t a horny, sex-obsessed teenage boy that spent all of him time ogling his girlfriend. I definitely ogled at her, but not like she was an object or anything. She’s just insanely beautiful. Truthfully, I always felt lucky she’d have me in any capacity and didn’t really register that she might want me in that way. Also, I’m usually busy thinking about simple things like food or whether or not I’m going to die painfully in battle. But the thought occurred to me on occasion. Like when we go swimming and she’s climbing out of the water in a bikini or when she sits on my lap and wriggles around a little too much.

The time we made out in the strawberry fields and she placed my hand under her shirt made all the blood leave my brain just thinking about it.

“You?” I asked.

“Sometimes.” She affirmed and looked away and it was obvious in the dim lighting of the hallway that she was blushing again. I couldn’t help but wonder when in Hades she saw me like that, because I’m not exactly smooth. That didn’t mean I wasn’t grateful she did.

“So…” I rocked back and forth on my heels. “You… Want to? Someday? Not today. Obviously not today, but at some point in our lives you want to-”

Thanks, the Gods almighty, because she cut me off from that embarrassing tangent with a kiss. I felt myself relax against her immediately, because she wasn’t totally repulsed by me after both my inability to correctly label the female anatomy or my stupid tendency to make things more awkward somehow. Her fingers threaded in my hair and she tugged a little bit out of satisfaction. My hands found their usual residence on her waist. Her tongue slipped into my mouth and she smiled against my mouth when I inadvertently moaned in response. We stayed like that for a while, her tangling her fingers in my hair while pressing me against the door of my cabin, my hands playing with the loops of her jean shorts, everything seeming impossibly right with the world.

She pulled back and looked at me through sparkling eyes that danced with a knowingness that I will probably never fully understand or stop appreciating. She gently tapped her fingers along the back of my neck in a light drumming movement. She leaned up and kissed me again, this time chaste, which was probably for the best since Coach Hedge would likely be doing some kind of inspection soon.

“We’ll get there.” She smiled, and I wondered if she could feel my heart doing jumping jacks in my chest cavity. “Soon.”

Soon.

She opened the door to her cabin and winked at me before leaving me to the influx of thoughts that decided to attack my brain all at once, leaving me standing there like a big dumb idiot. I wouldn't even have been surprised if I ended up standing here all night out of shock and... Anticipation? She was always going to be miles ahead of me, but I was more than okay with that.

#percy jackson #annabeth chase #pjo #percabeth #ap's fics #my fics #percy and annabeth #frank and hazel #jason and piper #jasiper

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