#and it’s not even an ‘election time’ thing this is just … never gonna end/change huh

[maybeicanbesaved]

got into yet another fight with my mom, again about voting/the election, she said that she’s only voted once in her life and never cares to again because she ‘doesn’t care about politics’, saying that shit almost proudly?? and it set me off for obvious reasons, then she got mad at me for saying it’s because she’s privileged and ‘most’ shit doesn’t affect her directly so she can afford ‘not to care’

[ronwestbreeze]

TO YOU , WORLDS AWAY : PART ONE : CHAPTER EIGHT

pairing: jake sully x human!fem!reader

summary: in which the rda strikes

warnings: probably angst.

word count: 3.4k

author’s note: welp…

AO3 | prev | next

It was almost embarrassing. Being forcefully dragged back to Hell’s Gate, pride stomped on, and to be questioned by none other than Quaritch and Parker. To say you were absolutely livid was an understatement. The last place you wanted to be was here while the Omatikaya’s home was currently about to be attacked.

After being uncuffed—though still heavily guarded and slightly manhandled—you, Grace, and Jake were forced to watch Jake in avatar form destroying a camera on one of the bulldozers. You did your best to not look smug, to not rub it in his face—and you really wanted to—because in the end it wouldn’t help much with your current situation. So, as usual, you elected to be quiet as Quaritch paced in front of the four of you, eyeing you with narrowed eyes.

Quaritch then let his gaze settle on Jake as he knelt down, “So, what, you find yourself some local tail and you just completely forget what team you’re playing for?” He glanced up at you, “She got in your head, huh?”

Grace turned to Parker who was standing on the side, “Parker, there’s still time to salvage the situation! We can—”

“Why don’t you shut your mouth!” Quaritch snapped, standing straighter to block her from getting any closer to Parker.

Grace didn’t miss a beat, “Or what, Ranger Rick? You gonna shoot me?”

“I could do that—”

“Parker.” You interrupted before the two could continue going at each other. “You really want a whole shoot out or are you gonna control him?”

Parker sighed and stepped forward, “Yeah, can we just take this down a couple of notches, please?”

“You want to keep your people alive?” Jake finally spoke, looking directly at Quaritch. He nodded toward Grace, “You start by listening to her.”

Despite your faith in Grace you also knew both Parker and Quaritch, the latter especially. You knew that no matter what she said, they will still find a way to get what they want. Which is money and to take over Pandora.

No matter what Grace said, they wouldn’t change. Because that’s the Sky People. The reason they came was for this reason, money and a place to relocate because Earth was dying. Your mother had been one of scientists that studied life on Pandora and the Earth on its last legs. Even she understood that Earth was dying because of the humans living on it and that it had been dying for years and now it was just catching up to them. They had been warned for years and it had gone ignored.

Now they’ve decided that relocating to a whole different planet, taking it over, and making it their new home was the answer.

If that wasn’t history repeating itself…

A video of Jake, must’ve been one of his video logs, came on the screen and Quaritch turned the screen toward them as it played.

“They’re not gonna give up their home. They’re not gonna make a deal. For what? A lite beer and blue jeans? There’s nothing that we have that they want. Everything they sent me out here to do is a waste of time. They’re never gonna leave Hometree.”

The video stopped. Jake was looking at the floor, Grace placed a hand on his shoulder, and you glared at Quaritch.

“So, since a deal can't be made, I guess things get real simple.” Quaritch smirked down at Jake. “Thanks, Sully. I’m getting all emotional. I might just give you a bit wet kiss.”

“You’re such an asshole.” You scowled.

Quaritch, unconcerned, turned to you with feigned curiosity, “And you. Your father would be disappointed in you, kid. Turning your back on your own kind—”

“Fuck you!” Grace placed her other hand on your shoulder, giving you a side look that told you to calm down. And you returned a look right back at her, saying “I told you so” before going back to being quiet.

Parker looked toward the soldiers that guarded the three of you, “Find them a seat somewhere.”

Just when the soldiers were beginning to lead Grace and Jake away, you began to follow only for Quaritch to add, “Actually. I want you to take Dr. L/N to a secure room.”

“What?!” Grace snapped, eyes widening.

“You can’t be serious!” Jake immediately began turning his chair around only to be stopped by a soldier’s foot.

“—She’s one I would suggest to keep an extra eye on as she is a danger to others and herself. I think it would be best to keep her locked away for now.” Quaritch told Parker without so much as glancing in yours or the others’ direction.

“Are you shitting me, Quaritch?!” You hissed as two soldiers grabbed you by the arms. One of them snapping another one of those red cuffs around your wrists. You tried fighting them off but they held a steady grip on you.

Grace tried walking forward, only to be blocked by another soldier. “Parker, you can’t seriously let him do this!”

Parker glanced from you to Grace and then to Quaritch, “She’s our best engineer, Colonel.”

Quaritch nodded, placing his hands on his belt, “Sure. But you’re always free to access her when you need an engineer’s input. Otherwise I like to keep her safe from all of this, Mr. Selfridge—”

“Damn you, Quaritch!” Grace snapped.

You glanced toward Jake and if looks could kill, the Colonel would be dead instantly with the way Jake glared at him. You’ve never seen him so fierce, so angry before. It made everything more real. And the more real things became, the more frightened and angry you became.

But Quaritch continued as if Grace hadn’t even said anything, “After all, sir, not to be too sentimental here, but I do consider her a daughter and I rather not have her in harm’s way.”

The fear was gone in seconds.

“Fuck. You!” You would’ve lunged at him if not for the strong hands keeping you held back. “Fuck you! Fuck you, Quaritch!”

Parker sighed, already tired of this, “Fine, fine, whatever. Put her somewhere please before I get a headache.”

Grace and Jake were in an immediate uproar but could do very little as they were also dragged away before they could do anything to protest it any further. You couldn’t see them anymore when you were led out of the Operations Center and down a hallway. You did your very best to fight their grip, flying out different curses toward them at every second as you were led to the second floor and into a bare room with a single table and chair.

The two soldiers led you toward the chair but you kicked it down before they could even force you down into it.

“Enough fighting you fucking brat!” The one gripping your arm tightly snapped at you.

You spat in his face in response.

The soldier that had picked up the chair spoke before his partner could do anything to you, “Careful, this is Colonel’s girl. Our orders don’t include hitting her just because she talks back, Mathews.”

Mathews grunted in reply and forced you down in the chair, connecting the red strap around your wrists to the hook in the table.

“I’d calm down if I were you.” The other soldier said as Mathews marched out of the room. “Or you’d make things worse for yourself.”

“Says the asshat working for a madman.” You sneered, tugging at the red strap.

That was when Quaritch entered the room. Your anger flared but you didn’t curse him out like you did in the Operations Center. Instead you took to glaring.

“Silent treatment now? Could’ve sworn you were talkative just a few seconds ago.” Quaritch chuckled, crossing his arms. You remained silent and continued glaring. “Believe it or not, Doc, I actually do care. Like I said before, I would hate for you to be in this war, especially on the wrong side…” He then frowned down at you, having the audacity to look disappointed. “But it seems you’ve already chosen your side, huh? Can’t say I’m not hurt.”

He was trying to get a rise out of you. You had to remember Grace’s words, you had to compose yourself, or else you’d lose it right then and there. All this anger made you lose all common sense entirely, and suddenly you were kind of glad your hands were cuffed to the table. Or else you would’ve done something insanely stupid, and right now you couldn’t afford insanity or stupidity.

So once more, you stayed silent but never wavered your gaze from his. You wanted him to know that you didn’t regret it one bit. That you wouldn’t hesitate to do it all over again. That you were never and would never be on his side.

Quaritch, after studying for a moment longer, finally uncrossed his arms and turned to leave. “You’ve made your choice, Doc. Now you’ll live with the consequences.”

You did make a choice. But those consequences had yet to come.

Just before he had the door closed, you spoke. “My dad wouldn’t be disappointed in me.” Quaritch stopped but kept his back to you. “And if you really were his friend, if you really did know him, you wouldn’t have me fucking cuffed to this table.”

He stood with his back facing you for a moment before he turned his head to say, “I did know your father. And he wouldn’t want you in this war, kiddo.”

And with that, the door closed. Leaving you in silence and isolation.

Time was hard to tell in here. All you had to rely on was sound coming from outside of the room. And from outside of the door you could hear footsteps walking by every now and then. But other than that, you were left with nothing but silence.

The fear was beginning to set in once the anger had exhausted you.

A few minutes had passed until you heard muffled voices on the other side of the door. You strained your ears to figure out what was being said but you could only hear a different mix of voices and they sounded like they were arguing.

You leaned forward in your chair when you heard the door unlock. Seconds later it opened and in came both Grace and Jake.

“What’s going on out there? What happened?” Was the first thing that came out of your mouth when they quickly entered the room. “How long has it been? Did Parker and Quaritch—”

“Y/N, we don’t have much time.” Grace glanced back at the door. Once it closed she continued, “Quaritch is going to hit the Hometree no matter what.”

Your heart dropped, “Grace—”

“Parker’s giving us time to go in and convince them to leave.” Jake added, drawing your gaze toward him as he rolled up next to your chair. “I have to tell them the truth, it’s the only way we can get them to listen.”

You shook your head. Your hands twitched to reach out to him but you remember your hands were currently tied. “They’re not going to leave—”

“We can try—”

“No, Jake, they’re not going to leave!” You whisper to him, desperately. “This is only going to lead to war, okay? And the Omatikaya? They don’t even have the force to fight back fairly, the RDA is going to wipe them out—this is what Quaritch fucking wanted!”

You turned to Grace, giving her a meaningful look. Grace shook her head. Now you were becoming impatient. “Grace, you know they’re not going to stop. You said do your way and look where that put us. I can—”

“No, kid.” Grace frowned at you. “We are not there yet. We won’t go there. There’s still more time.”

Jake furrowed his brows, “What are you talking about?” He then looked at you. “Y/N?”

You didn’t want to tell him. Funny how the tables switched between the two of you. Now you were the one hiding something from Jake. Only, you were able to listen and understand what Jake told you about Quaritch and his mission. You weren’t so sure he would like the idea of you hiding bombs and wanting to use them. Pretty sure he’d do everything to stop you just like Grace was.

That was the last thing you needed right now.

“How long do you have?” You finally asked, not looking at either of them. “To convince them?”

“An hour.” Grace crossed her arms. “We should probably go now.”

“Will they even let me come?” You tried asking.

Jake frowned and shook his head, “We tried to tell Parker you’d be able to help since the people knew you as well…”

“He wouldn’t compromise beyond that.” Grace scowled. She glanced toward the door and sighed. “We gotta go, Jake. Tinkers, sit tight, alright? We’ll find a way to get you out of here.”

You nodded and watched as Grace opened the door. Jake’s hand landed on yours, pulling your attention toward him. “We’ll figure this out, okay? I promise. Hey,” Suddenly his hand cupped your face. You hadn’t realized you’d been crying until he wiped the tears away, “I’m not gonna let him harm them, I won’t.”

Really, you didn’t know why you were crying. Whether it was for the Omatikaya, for both Jake and Grace, or for the decision that’s been weighing on you ever since Jake had revealed to you what Quaritch had asked him to do.

At this point, you didn’t try to find a reason for the tears. You just let them fall.

You didn’t really remember what you said to him or if you even responded. All you did remember was Jake pressing a kiss against your forehead before leaving with Grace. Seconds later the door was closed and you were left alone again.

This time instead of cursing at the walls you hid your sobs into your arms, allowing the silence to swallow you whole once more.

No one else had come to see you. Somehow it felt like hours had passed by since you last saw Grace and Jake. You wondered meekly whether they succeeded and convinced the Omatikaya to retreat Hometree. You wondered, if allowing yourself this naïve hope would make you feel better as you sat here, useless.

It did not.

And for another moment, you found yourself wondering what your parents would’ve thought of this. Their own daughter, being illegally detained for standing up for a race of aliens, betraying your race as Quaritch would say. Would they have been on his side in the end? Would they have turned against you too?

They had both died when you were still quite young, still had barely any time to truly get to know them. What would they think of you now? Your mother’s brains and skills. Your father’s ambition and unyielding determination.

You wondered. And wondered. And wondered. And wondered.

A sudden thud from outside startled you out of your dazed thoughts. For a second, you were sure you imagined it until the lock clicked and the door opened.

The last person you expected to be there was Dr. Patel.

“Max?” You gapped but he pressed a finger to his lips.

“No time! Trudy already freed Dr. Augustine, Jake, and Norm and their heading to the runway. You need to go now!”

Max cut the red strap off your wrists. You immediately stood as he rushed toward the doorway. “Wait what happened? What do you mean you freed them?”

You followed Max out of the room, finding no guards outside of the room, and started rushing down the hallway. Better to ask questions while you are moving instead of standing there and wasting time. If you were given the chance to escape, no matter the suddenness, you were going to take it, questions later.

He poked his head down a hallway to check if it was clear before continuing, “They were arrested for treason a few hours ago. We’re getting you guys out of here now before anyone finds out.”

Just as you turned a corner, you nearly collided with a soldier.

“Shit!” Max hissed.

The soldier stopped the same as you and Max. After checking to see if there were any more soldiers walking around, you took the chance and elbowed the man as hard as you could, kneed his stomach, and threw his head against the wall multiple times before his body went limp in your arms. You grabbed his gun before his body fell to the floor.

Max furrowed his brows as you continued running down the halls. “You know how to use that?”

You rolled your eyes, “I was raised around military men and a paranoid mother. What do you think?”

“Sorry, I just never seen you with a gun before.”

You smirked a little, “You’d be the first.”

After a few more turns through different halls and taking one elevator, you eventually made it toward the door leading out to the airstrip. You opened the case and grabbed a mask, placing it on as Max backed away toward the way you had just come.

“Where are you going?” You questioned, furrowing your brows at him once you got the mask on.

“Jake says he needs someone on the inside, so I’m gonna be here.” Max pointed at the door. “Your job is to get the hell out of here. Now go!”

You didn’t have to be told twice. You pulled open the door, made sure your mask was on tight, and dashed outside.

Night had come, so it was a bit difficult to figure out just which ship you should be looking for.

That was until you heard someone call out your name. You searched the airstrip, ducking behind a crate before you spotted Norm and Grace were a few jogs away, leaning out of an active helicopter, waving toward you.

“Over here!”

You started running again. And that was when the bullets started. You glanced behind you to find further up on a balcony, Quaritch was shooting at the ship. You took your own gun and aimed at him a few times, making his aim sway a bit when he dodged your shots. That gave you enough time to speed up.

The ship was lifting in the air, Norm reached out for you as you got closer. You ducked her head when the bullets came flying again and then jumped up to grab onto Norm’s hand. He caught your hand.

“I got her! Let’s go!” Norm shouted as he pulled you up.

By the time Norm got you up, the ship was high up in the air and out of reach of Quaritch’s bullets. You crawled toward one of the seats and got in.

“Were you shooting a gun?!” Norm asked after you buckled yourself into one of the seats. He was looking at you and the gun in your hand. “Since when could you shoot guns?”

“Since always?” You rolled your eyes.

Once the ship got further away from Hell’s Gate, Jake and Norm whooped out in victory. Jake turned to you with relief on his features, his smile growing. And for that moment, you allowed yourself to return his smile.

And foolishly with your happiness, you searched for Grace’s matching smile. Only you froze when you saw her across from you. Blood stained her hand.

“G-Grace?”

Seeing how your smile instantly dropped, how your eyes widened, Jake looked toward Grace.

“Aah, damn it.” She sighed, wincing. “This is gonna ruin my whole day.”

You unbuckled your seat belt and rushed toward her. “Y/N! Shit!” Jake’s voice barely registered to your ears as you managed to take the seat next to Grace. You moved her shirt aside to find more blood on the side of her waist.

“No, no, no, no.” You trembled, pressing your own hand against the wound. “Jake! Jake, she’s been hit!”

You felt an extra weight come over as another hand pressed against yours and another grip your elbow. “Get a trauma kit!” Jake shouted to Norm.

“J-Jake, Jake, Jake, Jake—” You stuttered. This was a bad hit. And she was bleeding too much. “S-She can’t—she—”

“I know, I know.” He squeezed your arm, his voice remaining confident while you were practically falling apart. “I know.”

Grace grunted, “Damn, that bastard.” She held onto your wrist with her other hand as she continued wincing.

“You’ll be okay.” You tell her Na’vi. “Everything will be okay.”

Grace chuckled softly, “Ah, Tinkers.”

It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.

taglist: @luvvfromme @sully-stick-together @dazedshoon @jakesullylvr @s-u-t @ssc7514 @cheari@tojigirl @nyotamalfoy @perfectprofessorloverapricot @erenjaegerwifee @naityelen @dumb-fawkin-bitch @raggedyoldwitch @dorck26 @nhemmingsf @biooiuygjjgfsrb @thatsenoughformelol@tojigirl

[thatgayb1tchwhosimps4her]

Yo so these are head-cannons from this thot a while ago.

Also the internet has come back, hopefully long term (never ever been this happy before), but enjoy for now xxx

*****

transmasc Van and Nat btw (I LOVE THEM!!!)

*****

Was definitely way too into it at the time to notice wtf you were doing.

Continues to not know about it until she goes on there later (Callie set her up on it, of which you did not know).

"Y/n……. What is this?" "Uhhhhhhh nothing, just a BeReal." "I can see that sweet thing, but who else is in it?"

You know you're fucked regardless of how you respond.

That's pretty much all I can think of honestly (I'm out here tryna keep yall fed, sorry).

---

Again, was probably way too into it at the time to notice.

Then she looks over your shoulder later on, while you're sat together watching TV.

"Watcha got there, love, hmmm?" "Nothinggggg" "Nothing huh, well if it's nothing can I see it?" "Nooooooooo"

Somehow ends up getting her hands on it (definitely did not chase you around to try and grab your phone, and/or tickle you when you wouldn't give up). "Oh?"

Honestly kinda flustered at first (even though she probably has no idea how it works).

Then makes it her screensaver for like a week, until someone accidently picks up her phone.

Poor baby gets so scared that someone's seen it, and changes it back to a more PG photo of the two of you.

100% gets a lesbian spider sense and looks up JUST as you post it.

But doesn't say anything until way after, when she somehow gets her hands on it.

"Baby, I love you, but I swear to god, if people find that and use it as a reason to not elect me, I will be mad." "Oooooooooh, maybe I like it when you're mad 😏." "Y/NNNNN!!!"

You end up taking it down after a couple hours (idk if you can do that, I haven't used BeReal in ages), cause you don't wanna actually make her mad.

Again that's pretty much it, idk.

---

This boy has no idea wtf BeReal is or how it works, but is definitely a little curious about it.

Honestly like extremely flustered by it when he finds it while looking on your phone for something (idk, like something you asked him to look at or grab from it).

"I'm not mad about it, it's actually kinda cool, but outta curiosity, how many people are gonna see that?" "I don't know." "Wha- how can you not- HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE YOU FRIENDS WITH?!"

Poor baby boy is very confused, but it's okay, he's cool with it.

---

The most smug motherfucker on earth when he finds it.

But then again honestly doesn't really give much of a shit.

But also 100% screenshotted it and sent it from your phone to his and looks at it alllllllllllll the fucking time may of masturbated to it once or twice when you weren't there 🤫.

Definitely makes it his screensaver too like Lottie, but has no shame about it whatsoever.

Not really got much else to say other then that honestly, but they speak for themselves, baby boy Nat has no shame whatsoever.

---

A little confused by it, like the whole sorta aspect of it, like "Why do people have to know everything about what people are doing?"

SAYS THE FUCKING STALKER/KIDNAPPER! anyways......

Defo hacks into your phone later on while you're asleep (cause that's just so much more fun then just taking it and unlocking it or whatever).

And also definitely stares at it for like an hour straight (that babygirl is such a freak and a perv, but it's okay, we love her for it).

Let's just say poor baby boy Caligula gets demoted to home screen, and then she changes it around, and he gets bumped back up to lock screen.

As much as Misty loves you, the photo, and just the whole aspect of the situation, she doesn't wanna loose her job for unprofessionalism.

*****

-Harlow

[horce-divorce]

I don't know how to explain to you chucklefucks that for the most disenfranchised among us, NOTHING HAS FUCKING CHANGED since Trump left office. We know how bad it was, we were fucking here. And we are TELLING YOU, not speculating about the future, we are TELLING 👏YOU 👏NOW that nothing fucking got better for us and some of us ALREADY have nothing left to lose THANKS TO BIDEN AS WELL. NOT JUST TRUMP. WE HAVE BEEN DOING THIS SHIT ALL ALONG. Not JUST once Trump got to office!!! And NO IT HAS NOT BEEN FUCKING EASIER. WTF. Incoming tranmission from Planet Neoliberal Voter Privilege.

You stupid pricks don't even seem to realize that Trump leaving office DIDNT MEAN HIS APPOINTEES ALL WENT WITH HIM. THEYVE STILL BEEN THERE THE WHOLE TIME. Alive and WELL AT WORK helping to push some of the worst antiqueer legislation we've seen in DECADES while Biden, who barely has 2 brain cells left to rub together, decomposes before our very eyes.

If you think TRUMP was the thing that brought neo-nazi fascism to the mainstream, you are so comfortably privileged to have gotten to ignore it, to have never fucking heard it until then. And you are way too out of touch to be addressing the people you think you're talking to rn!

The "sign off on your glorious revolution" bit really gets me. Lmao. What a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue. What a hilarious way to misconstrue entire swaths of political ideology. You think Policial Jesus is going to come and save your ass, so we must think that too, huh?

Shits gonna hit the fan this year regardless of who "wins" the election, and it's not merely because of The Orange Man. It's also because of everyday lay people like this OP who have merely been privileged enough to ignore the suffering of your neighbors until now. Your privilege is running out, not because the revolution is coming, but because the hegemony that affords you that privilege cannot continue indefinitely. That machine runs on a profit-growth-extraction paradigm and we are running out of resources to extract from.

I don't know how to explain to these fucking people that you are the tone deaf motherfuckers we're talking to when we say you need to stop talking and learn. You have reblogged support of BLM and UBI and Palestine but at the end of the day you *don't fucking listen* to what we're saying in those posts. At the end of the day you are not hearing our cries of pain. And its pretty fucking ridiculous to turn around and point at people EVEN LESS PRIVILEGED THAN YOU and say "don't you realize that YOU'RE going to threaten MY safety and stability with your uncouth actions?" Well, bully for fucking you, because we already lost that! It's been gone! It never came back for some of us after Trump left!!!! You got to plug your ears and pretend the pandemic was over while millions of us became disabled and homeless for the first time as a result!!! While BIDEN admitted HE DOESNT THINK ABOUT IT ANYMORE!!!!! You got to go back to your life while protestors railing against our tax dollars being used for GENOCIDE are being injected with KETAMINE by the COPS!!!! If you thought TRUMP was that fucking scary! At least he outright said what he was doing!! Biden is continuing his work with ICE, continuing to increase surveillance and crack down on any kind of protestor, cop cities are expanding UNDER BIDEN, DEMOCRATS ARE ALSO VOTING FOR MASK BANS!!!!!!!

It is SOOOOO BLATSNTLY SELF CENTERED to think that you losing the privilege of a comfy life is the biggest threat to ""our democracy"" rn. YOU got to ignore how bad shit was until now. Some of us NEVER HAD THAT LUXURY. Our democracy fucking died decades ago and YOU got to keep playing Weekend at Bernies with it's corpse while the rest of us dug our own graves. And now you're scared because you stand to end up like us.

Lol. Lmao. Get fucked. This type of attitude is only furthering the class/social divides that already exist between voters and WILL. NOT. get anyone to vote harder for Biden. In fact, it just makes me wanna fist fight a Democrat even more than I already did.

First they came for the indigenous, and you didn't say anything bc you got yours. They came for the immigrants, and you didn't say anything bc you've always been a citizen. They came for the prisoners and their voting rights and you said if they didn't want to lose their rights they should follow the law, even while they made it illegal to mask, to protest, to be gay and trans in public- its so easy to just follow the rules! They came for the trans kids and you said, but we already have gay marriage, I thought it was safe to be queer now, and I dont have trans kids so I don't see how this affects me... they came for palestine and you said Oof. Well. That's the price of freedom for me, I guess!

And now they're coming for you and none of the other targets are left to feel worried for you, because we have already been living through your worst nightmare, UNDER BIDEN.

You look fucking stupid.

if you could EVER find a dem as outspoken and angry for the people as trump is for the white 1% then maybe we wouldnt be having this discussion.

[rphelperblog]

Nick Fury Quote Rp Meme

inspired by @widowings​ - feel free to change pronouns or edit for rp purposes

"Last tiime I trusted someone, I lost an eye."

"The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people."

"You have nade me very desperate."

"War is a universal language. I know a renegade soldier when I see one. Never occurred to me that one might come from above."

"You never know. You hope for the best and make do with what you get."

"Get me off the grid!"

I still believe in heroes." "Bitch please, you've been to space."

"If you want to stay ahead of me, you need to keep both eyes open."

"Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though It intends to spin on."

"Aren't you the cutest little thing? Aren't you cute? What's your name, huh?"

No matter who wins or loses, trouble still comes around."

"Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff ip?"

"Sir, i’m gonna have to Ask You To Exit The Donut."

"He took it? You’re Iron Man and he just took it?"

"Let me know if real power wants a magazine or something."

"I recognize the ccouncil has made a decision. But given that It's a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."

Here we all are back on earth, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world."

'You kiss your mother with that mouth?'

He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility. See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"What do we want from you? Uh-uh. What do you want from me? You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the center of my universe. I have bigger problems in the southwest region to deal with."

"Well...looks like you're giving the orders now, Captain."

How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"We're going to neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

"He'd show them. Bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 Magnum. Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."

"We can't afford to wait that long."

And it's getting damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap."

"Hill? Oh, no. Motherf—"

"There was a time when I would take a bullet for you."

"Back in the day, I had eyes everywhere, ears everywhere else. But now, here we all are, back on Earth, with nothing but our wit, and our will to save the world. So stand. Outwit the platinum bastard."

"Show them what we got!"

"Same energy signatures as New York?"

'You never know. You hope for the best and make do with what you get'

"Do you know how to fly this thing?"

"And the new girl, she is a risk."

"Says the Space Soldier who was wearing a rubber suit.""

Is the sun coming up?'

“I’ve got my eye on you.”

I’ve been hearing about the New Mexico situation. Your work has impressed a lot of people who are much smarter than I am.

“Legend tells us one thing; History, another. But, every now and then, we find something that belongs to both.”

At ease, soldier! Look, I’m sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break it to you slowly. 

“We’ve made some mistakes along the way. Some, very recently.”

There’s a lot we’ll have to bring you up to speed on if you’re in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know.” 

Ten bucks says you’re wrong.

“Yeah, you say “peace,” I kind of think you mean the other thing.” 

Higher form? You forced our hand! We had to come up with some way that we could…

Wanna see my lease?”

“Guy’s multiplying faster than a Catholic rabbit!”

“Here we all are, with nothing but our wit and our will to save the world! So stand and fight!” 

They needed a push in the right direction. They got it.” 

It’s not like they put the floor numbers on the outside of the building.

It’s called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets, because nobody knows them all. 

[calehenituseappreciation]

Tommy thinking Sam Nook and Sam are two different people would lead to such funny senarios.

Especially if you apply this logic to everyone.

what if mexican dream and quackity are the same people and that was just him making fun of dream and making tommy laugh and tommy genuinely thinks dream killed mexican dream and that hes a different person

and when ranboo pretended to be killed by clarencio

he just doesnt realise

he thinks girl dream is someone else too

tubbo genuinely has a bunch of personalities and so he thinks theyre all different people (and also he doesnt realise theyre the same people a lot)

sam, in his normal voice: tommy do you have the- tommy, crying: what happened to sam nook?

sam proceeds to live as sam nook around tommy because he once tried to tell tommy sam nook isnt real and he started sobbing and so sam cant

sapnap, approaching sam on the site: hey sam can you do this for me? sam: su- tommy, running up: SAAAAAAM!? sam, in the sam nook voice: hello tommy! sapnap: wtf??? tommy: this is sam nook! :D have you met him? sapnap: what? thats just s- sam: shakes his head, behind tommy where he cant see sapnap: uhhhhh sam: takes out sword sapnap: h-hi sam nook! tommy: :D

sam is not the only person this happened to. 

tommy: technoblade???? techno, sneaking into l'manberg: uhhh techno, in a highpitched voice: no this is Clarencio tommy: the llama? techno, in high pitched voice: no the pig tommy: hmmm techno: sweats tommy: smiles brightly ok!!!! techno, under his breath: that worked??? tommy: wanna hang out with me? techno, in high piteched voice: i really need to go tommy: buttttttt :(

technoblade proceeds to have to pretend to be clarencio the pig and hang out with tommy all afternoon

phil, coming to check on techno: techno? techno, in a frilly pink dress, in a high pitched voice: hi tommy: phil!!!! have you met clarencio??? but not the llama!!! clarencio the pig!!! phil, holding back a laugh: is that so?

(defenitly happened before he got exiled, i refuse to change my mind)

everytime techno is caught he says hes clarencio (the pig) and tommy vouches for him each time and no one is able to bring themselves to tell him that clarencio (the pig) doesnt exist

sam nook, :handshake: clarencio the pic, :handshake:  mexican dream, (not girl dream) not being able to tell tommy their not real bc hed cry

IMAGINE IF TOMMY WAS GIVEN THE JOB OF LIKE BEING THE BORDER PEOPLE WHILE HE WAS WILBURS VICE BEFORE THE ELECTION AND PEOPLE WOULD JUST FAKE IDENTIES AND TOMMY WOULD JUST BELIVE EVERYONE

quackity: i demand to be allowed to join l'manberg! wilbur: ur american quackity: i shpould still be allowed! wilbur: just say your not, thats what everyone does quackity: what wilbur: just make a fake identity?? quackity: youre... the president???? wilbur: yeah and?? quackity: shouldnt you not be be endorsing that??? wilbur: i made tommy the border person. you think i care? quackity: sksksks quackity: still bad tho

the only one tommy never believes is dream, no matter what, he can just tell when someone is dream, like ya know those police dogs? the only reason he didnt realise girl dream was because girl dream is girl dream he thought it was just a dream thing

TOMMY THINKS BAD AND MONOCHROME BAD ARE TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE

monochrome bad: tommy tommy: whomst? bad: oh uh recolourfies tommy, screaming: WHAT THE FUCK

tommy doesnt have object permanence but for people

techno, while tommy is staying with him: leaves room tommy, crying: I had a big brother once, i dont remember him tho

phil leaves them and (while stabbing wilbur) tommy just doesnt realize its him until techno says "dad?"

quackity works at wendys and tommy goes there everyday but doesnt realise its quackity

tommy went there since the war ended

and at the time didnt realise tommy cant tell and so when he and tommy started a mafia and became friends he thought tommy knew who he was and tommy once suggested going to dennys and quackity is like 'oh my god' and tommy is like my friend works there!!! and then they go to the one quackity works at and quackity is like 'haha funny' and then tommy asks around and then turns to quackity sadly like "my friend isnt here today D:" and then quackity is like o h

tommy, towards sam, in sams house: sam!!!!!! sam, who was sleeping, in his normal voice: w-what? tommy: sam!!! :D sam: hey tommy yawns whyd you wake me up? tommy: sorry but i really needed to ask you a question!!! sam: did you want to ask me where sam nook is again? tommy: welll.. that too but!!! you should meet sam nook!!!! sam: what tommy: please please please sam: no go back what did you ask? tommy: you need to meet sam nook! i think you'd be friends!!! :D sam, internally: shit sam: uhhh i dont really think i should- tommy: pleaasee uses puppy eyes sam: sure sam, internally: why did i say yes????

sam then has to pretend to be sam and sam nook at the same time

tommy: you're gonna love sam nook sam!!!! sam: uhuh tommy: where is he? :( sam: uh maybe hes behind you tommy: turns around to look sam: runs to other side of tommy sam, in sam nook voice: hello tommy!!! tommy: sam nook! have you met sam??? hes right here!!! gestures to sam who has to run behind him again tommy: sam say hi!!! sam, panting, in normal voice: hi tommy: whyre you all out of breath and shit???

this,,, just continues for a while

quackity, watching this exchange, driunking juice: sucks to suck sam: you'd do the same quackity: no. mexican dream is dead lol tommy, only hearing the last part: cries i miss mexican dream quackity, feeling sad: uh- we can revive him maybe? tommy: wipes tears YEAH! sam, whispers to quackity: told you so quackity, hisses to sam : shut up

quackity then has to pretend to revive himself while running around also he has to steal another one of dreams masks

honestly in this au everyone would hear about what happened during exile and stab dream (while pretending to be other people because ig in this au tommy still thinks dream was once his friend and yeh)

tommy, after crying infront of sam nook and telling him what dream did to him: so.. sniffs do you have any more quests for me to do? sam nook: i have one more quest tommy, cheering up: what is it!! sam nook: for myself tommy, confused: what is it? sam nook, taking out a glock: homocide

insanebur: you want to know why no one listens to you tommy? tommy, pouting, on the verge of tears: What? insanebur, unable to finish, clutching his heart: your too cute

this is just au where tommy is baby huh

wilbur isnt mad schlatt exiled him- hes mad he exiled tommy

schlatt and dream are the only ones not affected by tommys baby vibes and thats their downfall

tommy just has to call everyone a nickname, once, and everyone is melted

niki and jack: tommy is the fault of all our probelms we should kill him puffy: he. bonk is bonk baby bonk niki and jack: look over at tommy tommy, with sam in the distance: cries to sam because he cant find sam nook niki and jack: okay... maybe we should be less... violent...

Sam rlly just went

sam: looks at tommyinnit sam: nothing bad will ever happen to this child ever again

huh?

I’ve named this au, au where hes baby ur honour

tommy: i had zero parents (who care) tommy, gestures to puffy and sam: NOW I HAVE TWOOOOOOO

insanebur: god i fucking hate everyone tommy: even me? insanebur: except you tommy

sam: I AM THE TOMMY GAURDIAN! GAURDIAN OF THE TOMMY! sam @ anyone who wants to hurt him: FUCK OFFF

tommy canoanically understands the animal crossing language

ranboo: i can speak enderman! tommy: well i can speak creeper

whenever tommy gets overwhelemed around sam he burys himself he asks sam to cover for him in creeper

okay thats enough of that

[nobodybetterlookatme]

Part two of this one with Rowan and Blaire but they get to kiss this time

Slight mess and contagion but I think that’s about it

Nursing Rowan back to health did have its risks, but Blaire’s immune system had always been strong, so she just assumed that if she did end up catching his cold, it would hardly feel like anything. When she started feeling the beginnings of a sore throat, she thought nothing of it. Not even when her nose started running did she think anything was wrong. What was she supposed to do about it, anyway? Rowan was still battling the lingering effects of his miserable cold, and she had to help him first. Even if that meant staying up all night trying to convince herself that she didn't feel that bad when her symptoms took a turn for the worse about a day and a half in, desperately stifling sneezes and muffling coughs into her blanket. She managed to go the whole night without waking Rowan, and he was still asleep by the time she had to leave for class. Blaire left a note for him before she left, then headed to class, silently cursing the cold rain all the way over.

The day couldn't end soon enough, and Blaire almost considered ditching her last class. She was shivering so hard, she could hardly hold her pen and take notes, and her sinuses ached with stifled sneezes. She wanted nothing more than to take a hot shower and crawl into bed, but she knew she couldn't do that. Not when Rowan needed her. She debated on not even returning to their dorm until she knew he was asleep, but that thought was dashed when Rowan texted her asking when she'd be back from class. She sighed, which immediately turned into a coughing fit she had to catch in the crook of her elbow. She had no choice, she supposed, and headed back to the dorm.

Rowan looked up from his laptop when Blaire entered, and gave her a grin. It fell slightly when he noticed how tired she looked, and how flushed her cheeks were. "Hey… you okay?" He asked, his full attention on her. "You've been getting enough sleep, haven't you?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she replied, her voice more hoarse and congested than she thought it would be. "Long day, I'm just tired." She sucked in a soupy sniffle, then tried to laugh it off, desperately trying to stave off another bout of coughing. "The walk in the rain didn't help much. I'm just gonna take a shower real quick." With that, she disappeared into the bathroom.

He frowned, trying to think of why she was acting so strange. The thought occurred to him that she could be sick, but this was Blaire, and she never got sick. He elected to just wait for her to come out. Maybe she really had just had a rough day, and maybe he could set up a movie for them to watch to help her unwind. Yeah, that's what he'd do.

Blaire sighed in defeat. She'd gone for a hot, steamy shower in hopes of chasing away her chills and alleviating some of her congestion, but the only thing it had done was make her feel dizzy. She clumsily got out of the shower and dried off, changing into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, then stepped out of the bathroom.

Rowan looked over when she emerged. "Hey, wanna watch a movie with me?" He asked, though his brow furrowed when she appeared to be swaying on her feet. "Jesus, Blaire, you wanna sit down? You look like you're about to pass out."

"Huh? Oh, no, no, I'm okay," she assured him weakly. "I just.. took too hot a shower, and my body didn't like the temperature change much." She laughed hoarsely, but she wasn’t able to hold back a coughing fit anymore, and grabbed the doorframe to steady herself while she doubled over, face buried in the crook of her arm.

His eyes widened, and he stood from his bed, the movie long forgotten. "Alright, new question: how long has that been going on?"

She shook her head, trying to stop coughing. "It's- it's fine, I'm fine, it's not- not a big deal," she wheezed, a hand on her chest as she managed to regain control of her breathing again. "Just- just from the steam. When I was showering."

"Oh, cut the shit," Rowan growled, concern building up inside of him. He placed a hand on her back, shocked at how warm she was even though her shirt. He placed a hand on her forehead, giving her a look of guilt and worry. "God, you're burning up…"

It took everything in her to not lean into his touch, and instead, she stepped away from him. “Don’t,” she croaked. “Don’t touch me. I’m fine. I told you, I took a hot shower.”

Rowan laughed incredulously. “Do you really expect me to believe that?” He asked, arching a brow at her. 

She glanced over to the bathroom; maybe he didn’t have to believe her. If she was quick enough, or perhaps inconspicuous enough, she could easily lock herself in and avoid this mess entirely. She met Rowan’s eyes again, then took a step towards the bathroom. She looked to the side again, then back at him, and took another step before trying to slink into the bathroom.

He looked confused for a moment, then his eyes widened. He quickly stepped in front of the door and grabbed Blaire’s wrist, preventing her from closing herself in, and narrowed his eyes slightly at her. “Seriously, Blaire, what the hell is with you?” He demanded, his tone a bit more harsh than he’d intended.

Blaire flinched slightly at his tone, and tensed up. She looked up at him with big, scared eyes, not daring to pull her arm from his grasp. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, shutting her eyes and willing herself not to cry. She couldn’t deny how awful she felt anymore, and she just wanted to lock herself in the bathroom and not come out until she felt okay again.

He felt horribly guilty for snapping; it was clear she was only acting the way she was because she wasn’t feeling well. "Don't apologize, you didn't do anything wrong. Come on, let's just get you to bed." He guided her over to his bed, laying her down and propping up the pillows just as she'd done for him. "There you are. Isn’t that better?"

Being tucked into bed by Rowan, Blaire couldn't help but cry, the tears she had been holding back rolling down her cheeks. Small, hiccupping whimpers quickly turned into sobs, and before she realized what was happening, she was a mess.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. No, Blaire, come on, please don’t cry…” Rowan had never seen her come close to crying in the two years he’d known her, but now, it seemed like everything was coming out all at once. He immediately sat on the bed and pulled her into his arms, cradling her trembling frame against his chest. “Shh, shh, shh, it’s okay. It’s alright, I’ve got you. You’re okay.”

“I’m s-sorry,” she babbled again, repeating the two words like a broken record. “I’m s’pposed to be taking care of you, and I- I can’t even do that right, and- and- hh- hih’SCHiew! hih’SCHiew!”

He hushed her again, gently patting her back. “You’ve taken care of me all week, and gone to all your classes, and gotten groceries. In the rain. And all while running a fever, apparently. You’ve done plenty. You deserve a rest.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but instead, her breath hitched again. “Ih- ih- hih- hih’SCHiew! his’SCHiew! hih’CHiew! hih’SCHiew! hih’SCHiew!” She sniffled again, loose and wet, letting out a ‘guh’ when it did nothing to stop her nose from running. “I don’t wanna rest,” she muttered. “I wa-wanna- hih’CHiew!- finish my assignments, and- hih- and take care- hih’CHiew!- take care of- hih’SCHiew!- you.”

“Are you even hearing yourself right now? You sound dreadful.” Rowan gently sat her up in his bed, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and making sure she was bundled up. He took a couple fresh tissues from the box, then pressed the small wad against her streaming nose. She took them from him and blew her nose while he fussed over the blanket a bit more. “I don’t need you to take care of me anymore, you know. You’ve done more than enough.”

She whined, dropping the soaked tissue wad onto the floor. Blaire had no idea how to properly communicate what she was feeling; words were Rowan’s strong suit, not hers. Besides, she figured, how was she supposed to explain to him that caring for him was the most useful she’d felt in years? That she wanted to prove she would do anything for him? That she- She felt like crying again. Some things she didn’t think she would ever be able to tell him, and that was alright. She took a breath, then looked at him. “Can you tell me you hate me?”

Rowan physically did a double take, shaking his head and blinking at her in surprise. “I’m sorry?” He asked, his tone more demanding than he would’ve liked it to be. “Why on earth would you ever ask me to say that? How- how can you even think for a moment that I could ever say something like that to you?”

“It’d be easier that way,” she muttered, rubbing her nose with her knuckles.

He almost laughed at how utterly ridiculous the whole situation was. “What the hell are you talking about? We’re roommates, for fuck’s sake! How would it be easier if I hated you?”

“I like you, Ro,” she blurted out, not even realizing what she’d said. “You’re smart, and funny, and so, so sweet. I didn’t think people like you actually existed, but you sure goddamn do, and I wanna kiss your stupid little face all the time, and-” Blaire sighed, muffling a few coughs with a blanket-covered fist. “At least if you hated me, there’d be no friendship to ruin.” It took her far longer than it should’ve to process what she’d said, and when she finally did, she looked at him with wide-eyed horror.

Oh. Oh. His cheeks were positively burning, and he hid his face behind a hand. Of all the ways he’d thought he might tell Blaire he liked her, her telling him wasn’t something he’d planned. Much less in the current situation. He couldn’t think of anything to say, and instead, gently grasped her chin and made her look at him. He held her gaze for just a moment before leaning forward to capture her lips with his. He could taste the saltiness of snot on her lips, but it did nothing to deter him. Not even when her nose squelched against his cheek and snot dribbled down to his lips did he stop.

Blaire was too shocked to move for a moment, but she relaxed, her lips melting against his as she kissed him back. She wanted to freeze time right there, but her nose had other ideas. She ignored the itchiness as long as she could, but eventually, her breath hitched, and she pulled away from him just as a sneeze overtook her. “hih’SCHiew! hih’SCHiew! hih’CHiew! hih’CHiew! hih’CHiew!” Snot rocketed from her nose and splattered onto Rowan’s chest, and the short fit was followed by a harsh bout of coughing. “Sorry, I’m so sorry,” she choked out, trying desperately to stop coughing.

Rowan laughed, gently patting her back. “Like this is any worse than what I’ve been doing all week,” he scoffed, giving her a reassuring smile. “I don’t think there’s a single fabric in this room I haven’t sneezed on.”

“Probably true,” Blaire agreed, shrugging her shoulders. She cleared her throat, though it did next to nothing; her voice was wrecked from all the sneezing and coughing she’d been doing. “But you get a pass.”

“Aw, ‘cause you like me?” He teased, batting his eyelashes at her. “That’s embarrassing.”

“It is!” She cried, so empathetically that she began coughing again. “Do you have any idea how mortifying it is to have to restart your entire lab experiment because you thought of your stupid roommate’s stupid smile and added the wrong chemical? I almost failed that class because of you, you know!”

He laughed again, reaching out to brush the back of his fingers against her warm cheek. “If it makes you feel any better, I totally said your name during a presentation in class instead of a character’s name from that book we were reading. That.. happened more than once, actually.”

Blaire snorted, leaning into his soft touch. “How the hell did that happen?”

He shrugged. “Thought about you.” Rowan tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, his cheeks flushing a bit. “I get nervous up there in front of the whole class, so I just.. imagine I’m back here at the dorm practicing with you.”

She couldn’t help but smile, though she panicked for a moment when Rowan began pulling his hand back. She grabbed his arm and pressed her cheek into the palm of his hand, giving him a pleading look. His hand was so cool, and felt so nice. And now that she knew her feelings were reciprocated, she felt the need to make up for lost time.

Rowan could feel his face burning, but he kept his hand on her face, gently caressing her cheek with his thumb. “Any chance you’ll let me go out to get you something to eat? Maybe some soup?” He suggested, giving her a small smile.

She shook her head. “Absolutely not,” she huffed, narrowing her eyes slightly with a pout. “Not when you’re just getting over being sick.” She could still hear the bit of congestion in his voice when he spoke, and how he’d cough and clear his throat or sniffle every now and then.

“I’ll be okay, really. I feel fine now,” he assured her, gently touching his forehead to hers. “You don’t need to worry so much.”

She responded with a whine, and wrapped her arms around him to prevent him from leaving. “Just stay. We can get food delivered here,” she mumbled, shutting her eyes as she nuzzled against him. “Please..?”

Rowan gave in, and pulled her into his arms again. “Of course.” He shifted himself to pull Blaire on top of him, then adjusted the blanket over her and kissed her forehead. “Maybe a nap for now?" He suggested, rhythmically running a hand up and down her back. "You can try to sleep off this cold a bit."

"Yeah, that- hih- hih'SCHiew! hih'SCHiew!- sounds nice," she said with a wet sniffle, rubbing her nose on Rowan’s shirt. She sniffled a few more times, then felt a wad of tissues placed over her nose. Without a second thought, she blew her nose into the tissues, then finished with several chesty coughs. If she could sleep off any part of this, she would consider it a win.

He gently patted her back as she coughed, feeling rather guilty; he was the reason she was this sick now, after all. Though, at least now, he was able to properly thank her for taking care of him by returning the favor. "Just rest, Blaire-bear," he told her gently, his voice barely above a whisper. "I've got you."

[fiveisnumber1]

The Vortex That Takes Me To You - "Me, Lu, and Five Times Two" Side Story

Main story parts:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32

_________________________

"Wait!" Five called out as he tried to hand you the briefcase

It was too late though as Luther pushed him into the vortex to 2019. As Five held the now-defunct half of the briefcase he fell through time for what felt like a matter of seconds before hitting the ground of the courtyard behind the academy. With a giant flash, the spot in the sky where the blue used to be was now gone. From afar the five known living Hargreeves siblings slowly approached the person who dropped from the sky.  Slowly, Five got up from the ground throwing the broken briefcase away as he dusted the dirt and leaves off his clothing. Approaching closer the group looks on in confusion as Klaus asks,

"Does anyone else see a slightly older version of little number Five or is that just me?"

Five took a look down at himself. His suit was too loose now and when he looked at his hands he saw no more wrinkles or signs of old age. There was a leftover puddle nearby from rain that must've occurred early and as he bent over it he saw the version of himself that he had left only moments ago. Bringing a hand up to his face, he stared at his newly youthful reflection.

"I'm young again." He whispered to himself

At the same time that this was happening you were making your way to the florist to pick up flowers that Pogo had ordered. As you walked to the shop you felt that something was wrong. No, not wrong, but different. From behind you, you felt a molecular disturbance and a giant one at that. As you continued to walk to the shop the physical pain grew so much that you had to stop and bend over. It felt like your insides were being torn apart bit by bit. Somehow managing to turn around you felt the direction it was coming from. It was coming from back towards the house. The pain of the disturbance went on for a few more seconds but then abruptly it stopped. Catching your breath, you stood back up but something felt familiar in a way. It was like an odd chill of deja vu but you had never experienced this before. But if the disturbance was coming from the house then the flowers could wait. Reginald didn't deserve flowers anyway. Quickly, you started sprinting back towards the Academy trying to get there as quickly as you could.

Back at the house, the five Hargreeves siblings sat around the kitchen table as they watched the newly returned Five make a sandwich. It had been years since they had last seen him and a lot had changed in that time. Everyone had their own thoughts and feelings on the matter and some were more upset than others. Five wasn't exactly sure what to say to them after all this time. It was quite a complicated situation to be in. Trying to not let his uncertainty show, Five stoically questioned,

"What is the date? The exact date."

The group stays quiet for a second before Vanya states,

"The 24th."

"Of?" Five pressed

"March," Vanya replies

"Good." Five comments

This was exactly the time that he was planning to be here, on the day of his father's funeral. Thank god that man was dead. If he was alive he would never hear the end of it.

"So are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Luther asks

It was no surprise to Five that Luther would speak up. Even after all this time, he was trying to take the lead on things. Instead of responding to his brother, Five puts two slices of bread down on a cutting board and focuses on his desired food item. He hadn't eaten all day and apparently paradox psychosis was a real energy drainer. He needed a second before he was going to explain anything. Standing up, Luther looks down to Five and states firmly,

"It's been 17 years." 

"It's been a lot longer than that." Five replies immediately jumping behind Luther to find marshmallows

"I didn't miss that." Luther comments

While Five looks around the kitchen for the marshmallows, Diego asks accusingly,

"So where'd you go?"

Of course, an accusatory tone. How could Diego not have one? Five could just tell that Diego was upset not because he had disappeared for years but because he was the one that made you disappear for years. If only the siblings cared for each other as much as Diego cared for you, maybe things would be different. Five didn't have time for Diego's older brother shtick though. Jumping back to the table with the marshmallows, Five bluntly replied,

"The future. It's shit by the way."

"Called it!" Klaus exclaims

Five turned towards the refrigerator to get peanut butter for his sandwich, his mind wandering as he thought back to his time in the apocalypse. 45 years. He was so arrogant to think he could time travel. Grabbing the peanut butter jar, Five talks aloud,

"I should've listened to the old man. You know jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice."

Unscrewing the lid of the peanut butter jar Five looks up from the sandwich he was making and at his siblings before him. The last time he had seen them all together was as corpses. And before that, they were all still children. It was a lot to take in but he was focused on his task of stopping the apocalypse. He had the information he needed on what caused it, but he needed to find the right time to discuss it with everyone. Keeping a stoic look he tries to deflect his mind to something else by commenting to Klaus,

"Nice dress."

"Oh, Danke," Klaus responds playing with some of the loose straps

As he starts to assemble the sandwich he was making Vanya questions him,

"So how did you get back?"

"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time." Five responds

"That makes no sense," Diego says confused

"Well, it would if you were smarter." Five remarks

Diego angrily stands up and stares down Five attempting to get towards him to attack him. Instead, Luther stands up puts out an arm to hold him back. Honestly, it didn't matter if Luther was there to stop Diego or not. He was all bark and no bite.

"How long were you there?" Luther asks

"45 years." Five states bluntly "Give or take."

Luther and Diego both sit back down in unison. All the siblings stare at their brother with wide eyes in shock at his statement. 45 years?

"So what are you saying? You're 58?" Luther asks

"No. My consciousness is 58. My body is 18 again." Five retorts

With his sandwich put together, Five walks off to the side of the table they all sat around and faces away from his siblings.

"How does that even work?" Vanya inquires

"I used the improper equation when I was forced through time." Five replies

"Improper equation?" Vanya questions

Electing to ignore Vanya's question, Five turns back towards his siblings at the table. There was no reason to explain all that had happened before he came here. It was unnecessary and would probably worry his siblings more than they needed to be, or perhaps even enrage them and there was no way he was going to stop the apocalypse if his siblings weren't willing to work together. Picking up a newspaper detailing the death of his father, Five takes a look at it before commenting unamused,

"Guessed I missed the funeral."

"How did you know about that?" Luther asks

"What part of the future do you not understand." Five remarks to him, his eyes not leaving the paper "Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah," Diego says

"No," Luther adds

Ah, yes. One and Two still fighting to be the leader of the family as if it hadn't been years since the dissolution of the Umbrella Academy.

"Hmm. Nice to see nothing's changed." Five comments

The Hargreeves looked at their newly returned brother and as he stood there quietly, holding his sandwich he stared back awkwardly at his siblings. The prior self that he left in the '60s said that you would show up when the conversation with his siblings felt over. It felt pretty over right now and there was no sign of you. Five's heart started to race, everything had been laid out for him, and now nothing was going according to plan. Panicked, Five decided it was best to leave. Keeping a serious look on his face he started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?" Allison questioned

"What else is there to say?" Five responded

When he was out of sight of his siblings he once again noticed how his suit didn't fit him properly anymore. He needed to change. Flashing upstairs he looked in the closets of his siblings but was met with academy uniform after academy uniform. Reluctantly, he took an academy uniform from Klaus' closet since it looked like it would fit best and put it on. He stared at himself in the mirror for a bit before deciding to head back downstairs.

Making it back to the house, you looked around, and only felt faint traces of a disturbance. Maybe you were going crazy? Heading through the front door you looked around the foyer and some other rooms on the main floor and upper floors but found no one. Maybe they all got in an argument and left, it's not like they enjoyed being here anyway. Letting out a small sigh you made your way back downstairs to the parlor. Someone would probably show up soon enough. You stood in the doorway for a second and stared at the portrait above the fireplace. You had hated the painting at first, but you tolerated its presence after years of coexisting with it. Carefully, you made your way over to the fireplace and looked up at the portrait that loomed over you. It was nothing like him. No light in his eyes, no cocky smile on his face, no personality. Just an emotionless and unrealistic replication of who he was. You wanted him to come back.

As you stared at his portrait, Five had made his way downstairs and took in what had become of his home. As he approached the parlor he saw a giant portrait of him on the wall and below it stood a familiar figure. Five stopped in his tracks and his heart began to race. This was his (Y/N). Five readjusted his jacket and tie and took in a breath before slowly starting to walk over to you. Hearing footsteps behind you, you stopped looking at the painting and turned to look where they came from. Seeing the figure before you, your eyes went wide with shock as the world around felt like it was slowing down. Carefully, you moved forward towards him almost as if in a trance, worried that if you moved too fast he would vanish. You extended your hand out and Five moved to meet you in the middle. When the two of you were close enough your fingertips lightly brushed his cheek, but you quickly pulled back, shocked by the feeling of something there.

"I think I'm hallucinating again," you whisper

Five reaches out and gently grabs the hand you had retracted. Bringing it closer to him he places it on top of his heart, holding your hand there. You can feel his heart beating rapidly beneath your hand as your own started to catch up to match his. You looked up at his face and gazed into his eyes. Tears prick your own as you softly ask,

"Five?"

Five smiled at you as he looked upon your face. You were so beautiful. Not that you weren't in the 60s but the way you looked at him now was different. It was soft and welcoming and felt like it was only for him. Leaning in just a little closer Five whispered to you,

"I'm here."

You let out a small gasp. He was here. This was real. Flinging your arms around him you held him tightly as Five wrapped his arms around to hold you back. No wonder his other self was so protective, who would ever want to let this go? You looked up at Five. A question had loomed on your mind ever since the day he vanished and you had to know the answer.

"Are you still mad at me?" You questioned nervously

Five saw the nervous look on your face. He knew that you had wondered if he was mad at you for a while. It was one of the last things you had said to him before you...died. Five took your face into his hands. Looking gently into your eyes he answered,

"I was never mad at you, to begin with. I was mad at my dad and one of my biggest regrets will always be taking that out on you and then leaving you all alone."

With his response, a weight fell off your shoulders. For so long you had thought you were the one that drove him away. You thought he was mad at you all this time, but to know that wasn't the case made you feel so much better.

"So you didn't purposely stay away?" You asked

"No, how could I ever choose to be away from my best friend?" Five added

You looked off to the side as best as you could, given that your face was held between his hands, and hoped that he didn't notice the blush rising to your cheeks.

"I don't know, but I missed you." You mumbled

Five took his hands from your face and hugged you once more responding,

"I missed you too. Not a day went by when I didn't."

You smiled knowing that Five had missed you as much as you missed him. Day after day, month after month, year after year, you thought of him as you waited for him to come back. And now here he was before you telling you he felt the same way. It was all that you needed to hear. Well...there were other things you wanted to hear but those were more so desires than necessities. You were just happy to have him back.

"Pull that shit again and I'll kill you." You joke as you give him a small shove away

"I promise I won't." Five replies with a smirk "Although I don't think you would kill me anyway."

"Perhaps." You respond

Five threw his hands into the pockets of his academy shorts and looked at you.

"Care to walk and talk around the house?" Five offered

"Of course. Would you like me to turn invisible so you look insane for old times sake?"

"I already look insane in this uniform." Five joked

"You always did. C'mon, let's go." You say extending your hand towards him

Five looks at your hand, almost hesitant to take it because none of this felt real. Even though he had been around you not too long ago back in the 60s, this truly was different. This version of you hadn't seen him since the day he left. Unlike prior you who had experienced being around him, you had waited every day for his return. There was an excitement and awe that he got from you this time around that made him nervous. As Five thought more about the situation before him he froze up. As much as he trusted you when you said that you loved him the way he loved you Five still couldn't help but wonder if his other self just had better circumstances. He still worried that maybe that version really was just lucky. Five didn't want to get this wrong, but nevertheless, he took your hand. Fingers intertwining, there was electricity you both felt but would not tell the other.

With a smile, you started to walk around the house as you had done many times before, both of you trying your best to catch the other up. The conversation came easy as if the two of you were never separated. Five took in the sights of his old home. Nothing had really changed since he left, minus the small presence you had created. There was a newer piano in the parlor and you had shown off your wonderful room to him. He remembered your description of it from your diary and how you changed it from being Diego's to yours but it was even better in person. As you two exited your room Five looked down the hall at a shut door. It was his room. Five made his way there and you followed behind. Carefully, he opened the door to it and stepped inside. Once more you followed behind and thinking that the sight of his childhood room might be tough for him, you shut the door.

As you shut the door though Allison who had been heading to her room happened to pass by and noticed the two of you in there. Something about you two being together again reignited the feelings of her youth. She remembered the times when you and she had traded secrets about your crushes. The gossip in her immediately needed to tell someone else. Turning back around she went downstairs and noticed the rest of her siblings in the parlor again. Approaching them all she said,

"I don't want to alert anyone but Five and (Y/N) went into Five's room and shut the door."

"WHAT?!" Diego shouted as he angrily turned to face her

"Oooh, juicy," Klaus commented "I remember being 18 and hormonal. Horniness levels are through the roof, I mean-"

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Diego yelled cutting Klaus off

There was no way his baby sister was going to be in a room with a boy alone. Especially not with the boy who had left her alone and broke her heart. What was he going to do? Break it again? Not if he had anything to say about it. With his fists clenched tight Diego started to march his way out of the parlor. He was going to protect his little tiny princess, but as he attempted to go, Luther, with his superior strength, held him back.

"Let me go, Luther!" Diego yelled

"We shouldn't just barge in there Diego." Luther criticizes

"That's MY  little sister!" Diego retorts

"There are better ways of approaching this," Luther replies

"I want to know what's going on though..." Vanya comments

"Me too," Allison adds

As the group stands around debating Ben leans over to Klaus and says,

"Klaus."

"What do you want?" Klaus replies annoyed

"Is that camera we bought as kids still in Five's room?" Ben asks

"Yeah, we never took it out. Why?"

"The tablet to watch the video feed on is in my closet." Ben states

Klaus looks at him confused for a second before realizing what Ben meant. Getting excited Klaus exclaims,

"Guys! Guys!"

The rest of the group looks over to him confused and with all of their attention grabbed Klaus continues,

"The video camera we got as kids is still in Five's room and the tablet is in Ben's closet!"

"Do you think it still even works?" Allison questions

"It's worth a try," Luther says

The group looks at each other before silently nodding in agreement. Together they head up to Ben's room and search for the tablet in his closet. Finding it they turn on the switch and to their surprise, it works. The picture quality was not as great as they remember but clear enough that they all can see what is going on. As they all stand over the tablet Diego says annoyed,

"Alright Five, what are you hiding from me."

"From us." Luther corrects

The two brothers glare at each other before turning their attention back to the tablet and the two of you in Five's room. Five stepped into his room quietly taking in the surroundings. Nothing had changed, it was as if his room was frozen in time. As he looks around you slowly approach his side. Standing next to him you looked around the room as well and comment,

"It's an odd feeling. Knowing that time has passed but everything looks the same."

Five looks towards you. Of course, you knew the feeling he was going through.

"No worries though, we'll get you everything you need to make this place feel like home again." You mention

"I already have everything I need to feel at home." Five replies, his hand holding yours just a little tighter

Five gazes in your direction but as he does so he notices something behind you. Letting go of your hand he steps around you curious and makes his way over to his desk. Looking down at the object placed there he realized that it's the radio he had taken from Allison all those years ago. Confused as to what he was looking at you followed him towards the desk and saw the radio.

"I can't believe it's still here after all this time."  Five comments

"Well we never gave it back and I'm guessing nobody wanted to come take it after..." You mention trailing off

"Yeah..." Five replies before questioning "I wonder if it still works?"

You shrugged your shoulders and gestured to the old electronic encouraging him to see if it worked. Leaning down Five plugs in the old radio before pressing the on button. The sound of static blasts loudly through the speakers causing both of you to flinch back a little in shock. After a moment Five started to turn the knob to tune the radio, searching through for a station that was clear. Soon the static started to fade and in its place music could be heard. 

As the camera continues to spy on the two of you, the rest of the Hargreeves siblings watch what goes on from Ben's room. Seeing the working radio Allison exclaims,

"Hey, it's my radio! I never got it back!" 

"Allison, it's been years and still no one cares about your radio." Klaus comments "We want to know what's up with Five and (Y/N)."

Allison lets out a huff and crosses her arms. Just because it was old and she hadn't been in possession of it or thought about it for years didn't mean it wasn't hers. Even with her pouting, the siblings continued to observe. As they did so Diego aggressively says,

"Alright Five what shit are you going to pull now?"

"I don't think he's going to do anything." Vanya comments "I mean there's nothing wrong with them being happy."

Back in Five's room, music flowed through the air as Five leaned against the edge of his desk, watching you look around the place. He was absolutely enthralled by you. The most mundane of things seemed extravagant just because you were there with him. A wide smile appeared on his face as he remembered a similar time he had spent with you. You took in the room silently as the upbeat music played. It had been a bit since you'd last been in Five's room, but for the first time in a while it felt warm and bright again. Looking over your shoulder you looked back towards Five and noticed the smile on his face.

"What?" You questioned 

"Nothing." Five replied with a shake of his head

"Nothing? The mind of Five Hargreeves is completely empty?" You joke sarcastically "This is something I'd expect from your brothers, not you."

Five rolled his eyes at you but he missed your quick wit. No one at the commission could keep up with him like you could. As you walked back over to him, Five could see the look on your face waiting for him to elaborate. 

"I was just thinking-" Five starts to explain before being cut off

"Ah, so you were thinking!" You comment back

"Yes." Five replies letting out a small laugh "I was thinking about how this reminds me of our friendiversary a bit."

"Yeah, kind of, minus the food and flowers." You reply 

You were right, there was no food and flowers. How could he even think to compare the two times when this time wasn't as perfect? Quickly standing up from the desk, Five starts to make his way over to the door as he states worried,

"Do you want food and flowers?" 

Reaching out, you grab his hand preventing him from going any further. Stopping in his tracks he looks back towards you confused at your action. Gently, you pull his hand back towards you, causing him to come back close to you. With his hand still in yours, Five asks confused,

"Do you not want food and flowers?"

"No, Five."  You replied with a smile "I just want you."

For a moment, Five could feel his heart stop. Although his expression seemed calm and collected, internally he had no clue what to do. He was so preoccupied trying to figure out how to get back to 2019 so he could stop the apocalypse that he never stopped to think fully about what would happen when he actually did so. And it wasn't until he met himself that he even found out being a teenager again was a possibility. This was the most unprepared he had ever been and the nerves he felt on your friendiversary were nothing compared to the nerves he felt now. If you didn't want food or flowers then what could he do? And then from the radio, he heard the voice of the announcer,

"This is Arlo Vegas with 103.5 WKTU. I hope that even with all the doom and gloom outside today everyone can stay high and dry. Up next, a throwback to 2017 this is Adore by Dean Lewis."

I'm just gonna stand with my bag hanging off my left arm I'm just gonna walk home kicking stones at parked cars But I had a great night, 'cause you kept rubbing against my arm So I'm just gonna stand with my bag hanging off my left arm

Five looked towards the radio as the sound of a soft guitar slowly playing and the lyrics of the song enveloped the room. As the music played he remembered the part of your friendiversary that he could never forget. He remembered how the two of you danced that night and the joy he felt in that moment. Looking back towards you he nervously asked,

"Would you like to dance...with me?"

"I'd love to." You replied longingly

Five guided you the few steps towards the center of his room taking a quiet breath as he tried to calm his nerves. How did he do this so easily as a child? Oh right, he didn't realize he was in love with you then. Turning back to face you he saw as your eyes lit up and your smile widened. So much for breathing when you took his breath away so easily. Gently, he took one of your hands in his as he wrapped his other arm around your waist. You wrapped your free arm around his neck as the two of you slowly started to dance to the music.

Get me a drink, I get drunk off one sip, just so I can adore you I want the entire street out of town just so I can be alone with you Now go when you're ready My head's getting heavy, pressed against your arm I adore you

"So is this what your prom was like last week?" Five asked 

You looked up towards him slightly confused. How did he know about your prom? It took you a second to remember but you then recalled that he had come from the future so he had to have found out about it somehow. You recalled your prom only a week ago, it was fun to be with your friends but it was definitely not the same experience as dancing with Five. With a slight chuckle, you answer.

"No, it was not like this."

"Oh, why not?" Five questions

"Well dancing with you is quite different than dancing with Dean, because neither of us had dates and we pitied each other." You explained

"I wish I could've come a week earlier then. I would've saved you the pity by dancing with your brother." Five joked

"Wow, okay." You laughed

"I'm joking." Five explained, his expression softening as he added "I'd never pass up a chance to dance with you."

"Neither would I." you replied quietly

All of my money is spent on these nights, just so we can hang out Spacing in and out of your dresses, I wanna be found by you Found by you

As the two of you swayed you couldn't help but rest your head against his chest. A small smile appeared on your face as you closed your eyes and comfortably melted into the moment. Unconsciously, you started to stroke the hair at the back of his head casing Five to lean into your touch. It was so gentle and soft. Five could feel his heart start to pick up its pace. He hoped that you couldn't hear so because he had no clue how he would explain it to you. Granted, he knew all the words he wanted to say to you but he didn't know if he'd even be able to get them out. 

Get me a drink, I get drunk off one sip, just so I can adore you I want the entire street out of town just so I can be alone with you Now go when you're ready My head's getting heavy, pressed against your arm I adore you, I adore you

As your head rested on top of him a thought came to your mind. It was something that you hadn't done in a while and something you had desired to do. Lifting your head up, you look towards Five who looks back down towards you. Had he done something wrong? Did you hear how fast his heart was beating? Quietly you ask,

"Will you spin me?"

Relief washes over Five's system as he gives you a soft smile.

"Of course I will," He replies

Slightly breaking away from you he helps to twirl you around, the smile on your face filling his heart to the point he felt it was going to burst. Your laughter filled the room as you enjoyed your time with your best friend. You couldn't think of anything to make the moment better. Five spins you back in towards him before spinning you out once more. As you spin out quickly your grip on his hand slips and you start to fall back. Quickly, Five flashes over and catches you. His arms wrapped tightly around your waist as yours find their way around his neck. 

She kicks the gutter in tight shorts, basketball courts Watch me, watch her talk to boys I'm known as a right-hand slugger Anybody else wanna touch my lover?

The two of you look at each other both trying to catch your slight breaths from the burst of adrenaline that just occurred. 

"I told you I wasn't going to let you fall." Five comments

It was too late for that though. You had fallen for him years ago in a situation exactly like this one. There was something different about it this time, an energy you had never felt before. Your eyes were still locked on each other he slowly brought you back up. The soft bridge of the song played in the back but all either of you could hear was the beating of your own hearts. Wrapped up tightly in each other's arms there was no space between the two of you. Each of you wanted to say so many things, wanted to shout the thoughts that raced in your mind, the ones you always had, but no words came out. As Five stood there with you in his arms he finally started to understand what you meant back in the 60s when you said the pieces would fall into place. Everything about this moment felt right like it was meant to be. Like he was meant to be here with you. As you continued to look into each other's eyes there was a magnetism that pulled you closer. Your faces inched closer as the space between you lessened more and more. For a moment you both wondered if you were dreaming but no, this was real. You were here with each other. And as the climax of the final verse hit, your eyes closed as your lips gently pressed against each other.

Get me a drink, I get drunk off one sip, just so I can adore you I want the entire street out of town just so I can be alone with you Now go when you're ready My head's getting heavy, pressed against your arm Just to adore you

Tenderly, you both expressed everything you wanted to tell the other without saying any words at all. The years of pining and longing to be reunited had finally culminated into something beautiful. Something you both had desired for a very long time. The world around you faded away leaving only the two of you and your newly acknowledged love for each other. Removing his arms from your waist he took your face in his hands, pulling you closer and deepening the kiss. He never wanted to leave this moment. This was all he ever wanted, this is what he survived and fought for and now to have it? It felt unreal to him. But it was real. He had you, and you had him, and nothing would ever take that away now.

I adore you

Neither of you wanted to be the first to part from the kiss but as the final lyric of the song ended the two of you slowly separated. With eyes still closed, you rested your foreheads against each other, relishing in the beautiful moment. As Five held you close, he knew he needed to tell you something. Even if he had expressed it in his kiss to you, he wanted to verbalize it, to make it know and make it real. Moving one of his hands from your cheek to your chin, he tilted your face up to look at him. As he gazed into your eyes, with adoration in his voice, he whispered,

"I love you, (Y/N)."

You could feel your stomach flutter with butterflies as you processed his words. There was nothing you wanted to hear more than those words. Finally getting to express how you felt, you replied breathlessly,

"I love you too, Five. You know what this means now though."

"What?" Five questioned

"You can never leave me again." You answer

"I promise nothing will ever tear us apart again. Not people, not distance, not time, nothing." 

The two of you looked at each other lovingly before leaning in for another kiss. As you did so the siblings in the other room saw everything. 

"Awww," Vanya said as she placed a hand over her heart

"They're so cute!" Allison exclaimed

"They are not!" Diego remarks angrily as he tries to make his way to the door "I'm going to go in there and stop him."

"Luther, stop him." Allison requests

Doing as she says, Luther wraps his arms around Diego from behind and picks him off the ground. Kicking his legs and wriggling around, Diego fights like a child trying to escape Luther's grasp.

"That is my little princess! I need to put a stop to this!" Diego complains

"She is 18, you need to let her live her life," Allison replies

"Not with him! The one who ruined it." Diego retorts

"I don't think she sees it that way," Vanya interjects

As the other siblings argue with Diego, Ben leans over to Klaus and states,

"If I was alive you would owe me $20 bucks right now. I told you they'd come back and get together before Allison and Luther would."

"Oh, shut up," Klaus replies

The rest of the group looks over to Klaus before looking back at the still flailing Diego.

"Klaus makes a good point. You need to drop this and shut up Diego." Allison states

"I will not!" Diego replies back

"If you don't calm down, drop the issue, and let them be happy I will rumor you into doing so." Allison threatens

It takes a moment but Diego soon stops his fighting. He was not going to be rumored into ignoring the situation but for now, he would put it off. Letting out a huff, Diego relents,

"Fine."

"Good, now let's shut down this camera and just leave them be. We can talk to them later." Luther commands as he puts Diego back down

And so as the siblings tried to quietly file out of Ben's room and go off to do other things, this version of Five and you stayed happily together ready to take on whatever the future threw at them.

____________________________________

Taglist: @xplrreylo @joebob15274 @insatiable-ivy @fruitsaladtree @angelpeachamber @academy-umbrella @lizziel1410 @ir3neeee @faith-quake @aliens-with-colas @sunsetcurve-1995 @lady-celeste25 @im-dead-and-hurting @nerdypinupcrystal @cherry-ki-d @anapocalypseinmymind @vicassa @2cuteforyourlies @taylorsmakingfuckingmacandcheese @n1ghtsh4d3-67 @cheshire-salvatore-mikaelson @shadowycreationcupcake @emily-hargreeves @metor-showers1994 @fivehargreevesforthewin @rinko-san @supernovavision @cicilisthebest @flickbix @hi-v-juice @magykal-777 @zosiaduda @thethirdwheelfriend @mysticracoon @isnt-it-loverly @officiallydarkgeek @lady1505 @always-the-very-worst @tinypandagirl @libidinexx @lemongrabbuns @itwasallred @deadandoverit @shlokage @keksi249 @theoriginalkat @we-stan-fiction @bi-idiot-fanfics @annnagennnie @izzyjojo4 @megasimpleplan4ever @flowertoty @grabthemoneyandletsgo @itsametaphorbriansblog @vanillacaramelhoney @satvaldiva @disaster-magician @margotsfandoms @emily-b-m @bluechildrenlickmytoes @soft-slytherin-sweetie @oceanspray5 @im-here-for-fanfics @thebloodrobin @freestarlight @starcurrent @lilacs-lavender @moatsnow @give-the-boy-a-hug @narikyuwu @whenyouregrungeaff @gabriella-aesthetic @xxtwizztedxx

[ruby-whistler]

Alright curious anon here. All this is /dsmp /rp from here on out unless otherwise specified and is refering to characters. If i make any mistakes or am misinformed please let me know! So by the cat was nothing compared to mushroom henry i was meaning more toward the fact that the cow was killed as a punishment for something not worth or ok for it to be killed for at all and the fact that it belonged to tommy, wheareas the cat was killed more to annoy dream and belonged to tommy. (1/?)

alright then another lengthy reply, here i come! /lh /dsmp /rp

Dream also did not seem to mourn the cat much, shrugging it off with a "just more motivation to break out".

it was killed to hurt dream, not to "annoy him". it doesn't matter who it belonged to, c!dream was attached to it and it died, which had an effect on him and also further proved his point about attachments being weakness and caring getting you hurt, and it's still very sad.

you say that it was not ok at all to kill mooshroom henry, but the cat's death wasn't ok either, so i really don't see your point.

again, i disagree it was "nothing compared to" either way. i never meant to compare them in the first place, i was simply talking about the cat and c!dream so i don't see why it is in any way necessary to drag c!tommy and other dead pets into this. /nm

also, it isn't true he didn't mourn it. he is a very reserved person who doesn't show his feelings much, that's true, but the cat death still changed the way he acted afterwards, as well as the attempts he made to prevent it. he didn't "shrug it off", he yelled about it because he was understandably upset.

You mentioned that propganda was used to make dream seem like a tyrant, could you specify a bjt? Cus im a little confused srry /gen. Because the most i can remember from the lmanburg era at least is him being called a b'tch or other similar insults. You also mentioned how trauma responses can be differet which is true! I agree! Do you have any ideas to what caused dream the trauma?

wilbur would continuously make him out to be some sort of oppressive, tyrannical force, in front of his troops - a prime example of this being the lyrics of the l'manberg anthem itself and the l'manberg declaration of independence.

actually! here's a nice thread about l'manberg's establishment complete with links, timestamps and evidence :]

i also said in my previous post what could've possibly caused it, but since the character intentionally hides his emotions from the public, it would be difficult to see how things really affected him - which is why the way his spiral went is the majority of the evidence that would imply it, however it does make sense within the story as well with what i mentioned last time.

I would like to note that for sapnap at least had reason to leave dream. Some examples off the top of my head are dream leading an angry fundy to sapnap's pets on purpose, resulting in some deaths, dream assisting tommy in burning down sapnap's effiel tower where he got engaged to karl, and dream giving tommy either mars or the other fish at the battle of the lake. Idk about george tho other then the whole mexican lmanburg/el rapids thing and decrowning him

c!sapnap was actually at fault for most of this, and it wasn't really ever betrayal on c!dream's part.

c!dream is a mediator and he wants to stop everyone's conflict - c!fundy was angry because of c!sapnap's actions, and hence it made more sense for c!dream to centre him on c!sapnap's animals instead of running around killing everyone's pets (at that time, all c!dream knew was c!sapnap did something really bad and c!fundy wanted beckerson / mars from him, which were also his and c!george's fish).

c!sapnap was an instigator, and in multiple conflicts during the time as well as before he'd align himself against c!dream. he isn't "loyal" per se, he causes chaos and the reason c!dream helped c!tommy was because, c!sapnap, again, killed his pet. the first l'manberg war and then the 16th are signs of the fact that c!dream and c!sapnap were willing to fight together in actual war, but these small conflicts where c!sapnap continuously picked fights weren't about personal loyalty, nor did they seem to affect their relationship at all.

c!george was never really hurt by c!dream either. the dethronement was him very obviously being a guilt-trippy drama queen, but, well, that's just the character. he had stolen the l'mantree while he was supposed to be the diplomatic figure of the greater smp, which is why c!dream was justified in - very politely, may i mention - taking the duties off of him (seeing as he was also trying to keep him safe and c!techno had already assassinated him once).

Im pretty sure i remember cc!sam stating that his character never canonically physically tortured dream during his subathon but take this with a grain of salt as i am looking for the clip currently. So to the best of my knowledge dream did not have a physical contact trigger during tommy's visit which! I rewatched the vod and dream actually was first to hit tommy and i can give you my full writing downs but 10/12 of the phy-

you never finished this point because you had to go do something, but i'll reply to what is here at the moment (i suggest writing these down before sending next time, or even writing them out wholly before sending a single one could help avoid stuff like this).

i am 95% sure that the reason cc!sam stated this was because people were suspicious he had already been doing what c!quackity was doing after - torture within the storyline itself is associated pretty much only with what c!quackity is doing, so that's what he meant, just to clear up confusion - the starvation or terrible conditions haven't been retconned, but it was direct torture (like c!quackity is doing) people were asking him about.

i never said c!dream had a physical contact trigger at all, i don't think he had that, though he probably will after the torture.

huh, ok, i'm gonna have to rewatch then, but i remember c!tommy punching c!dream a lot and him just telling him to stop and only punching back to get him to stop. trigger or not, getting hit isn't very pleasant, if you know what i mean.

You mentioned tommy stealing dream's armor unprovoked. Do you have the vod or a general idea of the time so i can find it? Like before lmanburg after another event so and so because if you do not have it i can find it but any help is appreciated.

i am pretty sure you can find the video on cc!tommy's channel! there are also recaps of the disc war on youtube :]

I wanna talk a little on why the Final Control Room was so messed up. For starters, with the way the room was designed. It was small, and had labeled, empty chests with each person's name on them as a mockery. The next reason is that its bascially a kill box.

It's fairly inescapble with the stairs being ones you have to jump up, slowing anyone who climbs them down. The final reason it is messed up is that it is shown to have caused every person who died in it trauma. With tommy there are several examples, the time he saw it with techno, the way he refuses to go near it, the exposure trauma, etc. Fundy also appears to have trauma, as when the Red Banquet executions began, it can be seen as him being afraid of dying last again.

It can Be thought as tubbo having trauma because he buries most of his issues and pretends to be ok. Moreover this event took at least one of each person's canon lives, making it the most canon lives lost EVER in a dream smp event. (This is not hate on any of the ccs btw i loved this scene and its one of my personal favorites). Plus the fact Eret's betrayal just literally happened, giving at least Tommy and Wilbur canonic trust issues.

i wouldn't call the chests mockery? it was a trap. people had traps on the smp before. it was a trap in the middle of war, supposed to end said war by killing them all at once rather than individually which would be a lot more bloody and difficult.

i agree c!tommy and other people might have post-war trauma, especially if they were young during the time, but i think that's because the final control room was "messed up", moreso because the war itself was. it all happened fairly instantly as well? i don't think c!fundy would be able to realize he was the last one standing within the two second before he wasn't.

it "can be thought" and it can be interpreted like that but besides c!tommy there isn't much evidence for them "all" being traumatized by the final control room. of course betrayal would spark trust issues, i understand that.

The probation was humiliating in my opinion because dream was Sending tommy anatgonizing messages through out the whole meeting, plus he had to write a review of his day every single day, which fundy mocked him for.

i mean, it was definitely a strike to his pride, but he was being extremely uncooperative so i don't really blame the other members of new l'manberg trying to teach him to listen for once? of course i know c!dream was riling him up, and that should definitely be considered. i don't think it would be as humiliating if c!tommy didn't make it, is what i'm saying.

for the tommy being toxic to fundy? At least for the examples you gave, to me personally they come acoross as either in a meta way being the cc's bantering or in canon being the characters having banter. If you can send the post with the clips so i can read the tone better that would be cool but if not i will try and find em.

no, these were all in canon. canon isn't only when c!tommy is being nice, it's also when he's being a jerk. /lh

the first one was him threatening c!fundy about kicking him out of l'manberg and undermining his self-worth, and the second one was him trying to get c!sapnap to vote for them via bullying c!fundy.

i found these from a transcript focusing on c!fundy's character, so i don't know exactly where the first one is from, but the second one i am pretty sure is from when the elections were starting with the whole cabinet battle deal and all of that.

there are other instances, and all of them are canon. his personality was never being nice or compassionate, so i'm not really surprised? he still cares about the people he cares about and is very brave, y'know. but this part of his personality is definitely a valid reason for people to dislike him.

I hope the exam went well :). Hope u have a great day! (Ps i think theres something called a submission box to send in pictures? Am not entirely sure sry)

it would've gone well but my work-speed is a tad too slow for the schooling system (considering i'm three years younger than my classmates,,, probably that's also a factor) so probably not despite the fact i knew everything and would've aced it if i only had more time. i did as well as i could so i'm not worried about it, but thanks!

i think you're thinking submissions. sadly, i tested it and it doesn't work on anons, so idk how you'd solve that, maybe make a burner account?

Curious anon here one point you may wanna include in the redemption essay is that c!tubbo or c!tommy do not necessarily have to forgive him. What's important is that he recognizes what he did was wrong (exile, beating tommy to death, manipulating them both, etc) and does his best to make amends. Hope this helps! Can't wait to see your essay

it's out, idk if you've seen it yet, and i think i included enough of that so hope it's all good! :)

the mcc update video is out if you are an mcc enjoyer. It's very neat, if you wanna check it out

yeah! i am a fellow mcc enjoyer, saw it already, thanks for telling me though, i'm really hype for today.

Allo curious anon here sorry if the lots of asks bother you. I was just curious if i could share an interesting post i saw today about c!dream :0 (not necessarily negative i think? More of a statement of an often-confused canon)

sure thing! i don't know what you mean by often-confused since, the entire fanbase is very confused always, and often selection bias plays into the perception from both sides, but sure :]

you also sent in a thing for the other anon who said they didn't know what c!dream did that bad; pretty sure they couldn't really be alerted since, not sure if they watch my blog that closely, but i'll summarize your points just in case and add some notes;

the repeated blowing up of l'manberg (in my mind that's largely a positive since i,, despise that country, but fair enough), revealed c!ranboo as a traitor (they seem to be friends so i also,, think that might've been planned between him and enderboo), sent ghostbur away (i don't think c!dream knew it was dangerous for him and wanted to actually hurt him, but idk), participated in fighting against c!sapnap when he killed people's pets (that's only negative against c!sapnap and didn't seem to hurt him much at all), and then the whole vault scene where he was allegedly planning to steal people's things (though saying he would & being stopped beforehand and doing it are two different things, frankly).

so i still agree with the other anon that a lot of the hurt he did "to the entire server" (he only negatively interacted with like,, a half of them) is exaggerated both by the characters and the fandom, but i guess that's a consequence of most people seeing him as a threat to everyone's happiness rather than a complex personality.

Also he was aware of the butcher army going to kill techno but only got involved because he saw an opportunity to get a favor. (As he knew in advance due to him telling techno to get a totem, watching from afar instead of interveing or manipulating tubbo out of it)

i don't understand this at all, i'm sorry. how do you know he only helped techno in order to get a favor? last i remember he was only doing it to protect and strengthen his alliance, and techno came up with the whole favor thing entirely on his own. you might've not watched techno's perspective or their prior interactions, idk, but this really is a misinterpretation in my eyes. /nm

sorry if that is overly dream negative i just wanted to let yall know cus you seemed unaware -curious anon

nah dw, i watch the smp and i watched all of these things happen so, wouldn't say unaware, but thanks.

[taelme]

Enemies-to-lovers!Bang Chan

request: Hey! Can i request and enemies to lovers slow burn with bang chan where they dont like each other but theres undeniable chemistry

genre: enemies-to-lovers!au, workplace/office!au, (fluff, slow burn, lots of denial of feelings lol) 

pairing/s: Chan / Reader (ft Seungmin and some ocs!) 

word count: 21k rip I got pretty carried away 

tw: not any prominent ones that I can think of, kind of hints of the whole misogyny in the workplace kind of thing 

a/n: I got super carried away writing this I hope you guys like it haha im currently working on the other requests so do look forward to those!! ill try to put them out as soon as I can~~ all this staying at home is really giving me time to write... ( I HAD TO use this gif I just HAD TO) but yes this was a little hard to find reasons why y/n wld hate chan bc im for the chan is an angel agenda but I ended up having so much fun ok BYE 

“Hey, you free to get lunch later?” You’d bumped into your friend who worked in the company’s legal department, Seungmin, on a Thursday morning while you were in the pantry preparing coffee and tidbits for your boss. 

You nodded, “uh-huh,” mixing the coffee absently, “what are you doing here?” 

Seungmin shrugged, leaning against the counter as he munched on a cookie, “felt like taking a walk. Things have been pretty busy in the legal department lately.” 

“Why?” 

Seungmin gave you a cheeky smile, shrugging, “can’t say, but you’ll find out soon enough.” 

You rolled your eyes, gritting your teeth with feigned menace towards him (his smile stayed unwavering, even sticking his tongue out at you to mock you).

“Who’s that for?” Seungmin gestured to the coffee mugs on the tray. 

“Mr Bang’s supposed to be meeting his nephew or something, he made it seem really important but all he told me was that it’s for his nephew,” you shrugged, glancing down at your two cups of coffee, realisation hitting you. 

“Shit, that just reminded me. He said his nephew doesn’t drink coffee. Do you want this?” You shot Seungmin a pleading look, holding up your now unneeded cup of coffee. 

Seungmin scoffed, taking the mug from you wordlessly, “how exciting your job is, huh,” he deadpanned, sipping the coffee, “wanna reconsider joining the legal department now?” 

You rolled your eyes. 

“I’m perfectly satisfied with my job now, thank you very much.” 

You’d prepared a pot of tea, careful not to spill the water onto the counter as you did so, transferring the pot onto your tray, “and plus, considering the amount of money I get paid for the amount of work I do, I’m more than happy.” 

Seungmin scoffed, “should’ve known it was because of the money.” 

“Alright, I’ve gotta go, see you later,” you said, picking up your tray as Seungmin waved his hand with cookie crumbs on his fingers, the clicking of your heels growing softer as you walked further away. 

Reaching the door of your boss’ office, you’d been able to faintly make out 2 silhouettes through the window from where you stood, composing yourself to make a good impression as you knocked on the door. Hearing your boss grunt, you’d pushed the door open with your shoulder, your gaze focused on the coffee table as you greeted your boss.

Setting the pot of tea on the table, you’d cast a glance at the recipient, your eyes widening when you’d spotted the boy with dyed hair sitting on the plush leather sofa facing your boss, dressed in a clean white button-down and tie, an equally well-ironed pair of pants, his posture relaxed with his legs spread casually. 

His gaze was on you, as if analysing your movements, making you direct your gaze back to your task at hand, setting the saucer with the cup of coffee onto the coffee table, placing the small biscuits your boss liked in the middle of the two. 

Holding the tray close to your chest, you cast a glance at your boss, about to bow in greeting and head back out when his voice had stopped you. 

“Y/N, please, stay here. I’d like to discuss something with you and my nephew.” 

Your eyebrows raised, lips pressed tightly together as you nodded, “oh…cool, alright.” 

“Please, take a seat,” Mr Bang gestured to the space on the sofa next to his nephew, making you seat yourself awkwardly on the other side of the sofa, your body pressing against the armrest as if trying to create as much distance as you could between him and you. 

“So, Chan, this is my secretary, Y/N,” Mr Bang gestured to you, “Y/N, this is my nephew, uh… Chris,” he spoke, the name sounding fairly familiar to you. Chris Bang? You sounded the name over in your head, not being able to connect the dots as to why it was so familiar at this point of time. 

“So, sweetheart, because I’ve been planning on resigning for a while now, I thought I should let you know that I’m planning on handing my position over to Chris.” 

Maybe this was what Seungmin was so busy with. 

You nodded slowly, trying to understand the implications this decision meant for you, “will my contract be terminated, then?” 

Chris glanced at you, as if searching your expression. He found you fairly younger than he’d expected, since his uncle had mentioned earlier that you’d already been working for him for quite some time, going onto 2 years already.

Of course, he didn’t want to underestimate you, but knowing the directors’ reputations regarding secretaries, he wasn’t sure if he could put a label on your abilities without seeing them for himself, first. And to him, he wasn’t quite understanding of why his uncle was so insistent that he needed a secretary, his past experiences with secretaries all being quite unimpressive. 

“That… is unfortunately up to Chris, but ideally your contract will resume as per normal.” 

You glanced back at the boy, who looked at you with an unreadable expression, something about his stare successfully unnerving you, the way he looked at you almost with a certain level of contempt. 

“We’ll be having a company dinner tonight to welcome Chris to the team, it would do the both of you well to get acquainted with each other before the board meeting for ceo elections.” 

You nodded slowly, still clutching the tray close to your chest as you wondered how old he was, the whole ordeal seeming as though it were something out of a movie: a young apathetic heir getting authority over a large corporation at such a young age. Was he even qualified for this position? The rest of the directors were nowhere near his age, well, appearance wise. 

As if having read your mind, your boss spoke, “I’m sure you two will get along just fine, considering you two are so close in age.” 

Your eyes narrowed, something in you not feeling comfortable with this arrangement. Dismissing the thought quickly, you shrugged, figuring it would be a change of scenery from being around the old directors all the time. 

You watched as Chris shrugged.

“We’ll see.” 

=== 

“Who?” Seungmin dabbed at his lips with his towel, picking up his glass of water to take a sip, making you frown, still trying to do your research on Chris Bang as far as your browser app would take you. 

“Chris Bang. He’s gonna take over the company from President Bang.” 

Your words seemed to have elicited a giggle from Seungmin, “doesn’t that make them both ‘President Bang’?”

Seungmin ignored your eye roll, continuing, “this was what I was referring to just now, you know. I thought you would’ve known who he was by now,” he told you, making you set your phone down on the table, open on his LinkedIn page that frankly wasn’t giving you much other than stating how very qualified he was for the job. 

“You know, Bang Chan? Ring a bell? That guy that’s been switching departments for God-knows-how-long since last year. The one that got all of us donuts one time,” Seungmin gave you a ‘duh’ look, considerably unamused. 

“Oh,” only then were you realising just who that was. You knew exactly who he was. You’d heard many rumours from the other secretaries on how he was impossibly good at anything he’d set his mind to, his work ethic and standard incomparable to anyone else in the company they’d ever seen. 

Which was why all that switching departments start to make sense to you, since it could’ve been his way of making sure he learnt the ins-and-outs of every department by the time he took over. If that wasn’t just more evidence that he was definitely a crazy workaholic.

At the time, you’d made a passing comment on how you hoped you would never have to be his subordinate, after having heard stories on how intimidating he was whenever it came to work (especially work that was improperly done). Little did you know that your comment would come back to bite you in the ass so soon. 

“Yeah, ‘oh,” Seungmin mimicked you, taking another bite out of his burger, “why d’you seem so…,” Seungmin made a pained groaning sound as he gestured to you for lack of a better word, “about it, anyway? Shouldn’t you be happy? He’s super nice!” 

You scrunched your nose up, locking your phone in your dismay, not wanting to see his face on his stupid profile mocking you with all his stupid qualifications anyway.

“I don’t know, just kind of feels a little sudden. And I hate the feeling of not knowing if I’m gonna be fired since it’s not up to Mr Bang anymore.” 

“Which one?” Seungmin joked, making you scoff, finding it just a little funny. Only a little. 

Seungmin continued, “you’re just mad because him taking over means you actually have to do work.” 

You shot him a glare, your silence being an acknowledgement that he wasn’t entirely wrong. 

“And because I love Mr Bang! He was such a nice old man that checked in on me and gave me life advice. I’m not gonna get any life advice from someone that’s basically my age.” 

Seungmin huffed in amusement, bringing his hand up to cup his mouth as if to divulge a secret, dropping his voice to a strained whisper, “transfer to the legal department.” 

You sighed, “no, I still love my pay.” 

“Then stop sulking! Chris is the nicest guy I’ve met, you’ll be fine. Just show up to the company dinner tonight and fluff him up a bit,” Seungmin shrugged, “it’ll be smooth sailing from then on.” 

=== 

You figured you should’ve tried to do a lot better to fluff Chris up during the company dinner, instead of just going over to grill the meat for the directors, under the instruction of President Bang. 

The action itself didn’t sit right with Chris, who didn’t understand why it was so imperative to the directors that you be the one to grill the meat until he realised just why they were keeping you there. 

His own uncle was oblivious of course, simply obliging at any chance he got to show off how capable you were (even if it was just grilling meat), however Chris was quick to notice the way they stared at you as you reached between them to grill the meat, your face feeling hot with the steam from the grill. 

“Y/N is very hardworking, graduated at the top of her class in college,” Mr Bang mentioned pointedly, making Chris’ eyebrows raise in surprise. 

“Really? What did you study?” He spoke, knowing very well you were listening, the other directors not paying any attention to learning your background as they prompted you to pour them a drink. You didn’t miss the way his words were accented, remembering hearing from Seungmin that he’d spent a large chunk of his life in Australia. 

Tipping the bottle, you’d answered (albeit a little preoccupied). 

“Law,” you sat back on your heels, “minored in journalism.” 

Chris frowned, not being able to understand why you would’ve chosen to work here as his uncle’s secretary of all things if you had pretty good prospects on your own. 

“How’d you end up working for my uncle, then?” He voiced, your attention diverted when you’d been prompted by a director to take a shot of your own, clinking your glass obnoxiously and leaving you with no choice, an embarrassed flush on your face. 

Taking the shot, you winced at the burn of the drink, glancing back at Chris, who was still looking at you curiously, wondering how you’d felt under the attention of the directors.  

“Did it as a temp job at first,” you told him, “but I guess I realised halfway that I don’t mind it so much, and it paid me pretty well.” 

Chris hummed, you ‘don’t mind’ this? 

One of the directors let out a grunt of distaste, “you shouldn’t worry about that, doll. The job of a secretary is to look pretty, the pride of the company is in its secretaries,” he said, clearly having already had one-too-many drinks, his words leaving an awful aftertaste on your tongue, his hand going over to grasp your shoulder, his hand going down to your arm and squeezing. 

“I always told her she’d do well as a housewife. That way she wouldn’t have to work and just mooch off her husband.” 

You mustered a smile, setting the bottle of drink down and bowing to them, Chris having lost his appetite at the way you’d just let their comments slide. 

“Maybe she prefers mooching off of the directors, instead,” Chris murmured, his sharp tongue getting the better of him, catching your attention as you were walking past him, making you stop in your tracks.  

Chris’ uncle tut his tongue, nudging the boy harshly, making him raise his hands in surrender. 

“What? Just speaking off of observation.” 

You turned around, a surge of confidence arising in you (from where? You weren’t sure, maybe it was the fact that in your eyes he was still what was standing in between you and your possible severance pay), “excuse me?” 

“I’m sorry, was there any untruth in what I said?” Chris turned, his gaze almost challenging you to speak out against the directors, not knowing that it was only serving to spur you on to speak out against him instead. 

 You scoffed, Chris standing up and awaiting your answer, a voice in you screaming at you not to be intimidated by him, especially with the way his head tilted down ever so slightly, his eyebrows raising expectantly. 

“Didn’t know they would just let any rude petty kid run any company these days,” you narrowed your eyes at him, folding your arms and straightening your posture. 

Seungmin, who was watching from his table with the legal team, grimaced, deeming Chris’ expression to be anything but friendly at the moment. 

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just a little unbelievable to me that I’m supposed to be answering to someone who just got the company handed to him,” your words were coming out faster than you could help it. I mean, you were probably going to get fired anyway, right? Might as well go down with a fight. 

“You don’t know anything about me,” Chris muttered, his voice firm, annoyance laced in his tone. Your words seemed to have triggered a spark in him, annoyed that you were doubting his abilities, blatantly disrespecting him even after knowing he could be your superior. 

Mr Bang had tapped Chris’ calf harshly, “enough, don’t keep y/n from eating.” 

Ignoring his words, Chris had stepped forward, staring you down as the tension had only thickened between the both of you. 

“But then, what would you know, right? What was that again? Right. What are you here for other than to look pretty, hmm?” He tilted his head at you, flashing you a smile that was practically dripping with sarcasm. 

You practically seethed with anger, your fists clenching as you unfolded your arms, your finger coming up to point at him, “you know what? I’d rather eat beansprouts for the rest of my life than work for you.” You scoffed. 

Chris' amused lilt to his smile was only serving to annoy you even more, making you storm over to your table with the other secretaries, all of them casting you looks of concern or shock that you would have confronted him like that. Picking up your jacket, you’d scoffed, casting him one last look before you left, not expecting to see him again afterwards. 

Well, that was the part you were very very wrong about. 

That night, you’d called your boyfriend over to submit him to a seemingly never-ending rant about Chris, getting a text from Seungmin halfway. 

“I mean, isn’t it good, then? That you can find another job?” Your boyfriend tried to reason, pressing a kiss to your neck as you straddled him where he was sitting leaning against your headboard. 

“That’s not the point,” you insisted, pausing to read the text that Seungmin had sent, oblivious to his urgent kisses trailing up to your jaw. 

seungmin (personal)  2:12am -consider yourself lucky. Spoke to Chan just now, make sure you show up to work tomorrow.- 

“The point is that, he’s arrogant. What? Telling me that I’m only here to look pretty?—“ 

“In his defence, you insulted him first.” 

You glared at your boyfriend, “Yeah, fine. But he provoked me first. And I don’t know, something about him just pisses me off,” you tried to reason, your boyfriend’s kisses beginning to distract you from your anger. 

“You know what, maybe you should just give him a shot. Maybe he’s not as bad as he seems?” 

And so you did as Seungmin had instructed, doing what you would’ve always done, grabbing your boss’ morning coffee before going to the office, ‘leisurely’ making your way upstairs as you tried to avoid any possible suit-clad blond-haired man. 

Upon reaching your desk, you’d set your things under your desk, opening your scheduler and doing a quick run through of Mr Bang’s schedule for the day, grabbing the coffee and knocking on the glass doors before entering. 

“Y/N! Just the person I wanted to see.” You nodded, walking over to place his coffee onto his table.

“You have the board meeting in half an hour, sir,” you informed him.  

“Right, thank you. Would you be a dear and be there to serve the refreshments?” 

You nodded, “yeah, sure.” 

“If all goes as planned, Chan- I mean, Chris, will be taking over from next week onwards. So this week will be the last week i’m here.” 

You frowned, “it’s a shame you’re retiring, you know,” your disappointment was evident in your tone.  

Mr Bang simply waved you off, “it’s about time, I’m sure little Chris will do a good job.” 

You’d kept your mouth shut, nodding as he stood up with his coffee cup in hand, looking at you with a smile, “shall we head down a little earlier, then?” 

You nodded, opening the door for him to exit and following him silently to the venue of the board meeting. You were surprised, to say the least, when you’d reached only to find Chris there already, currently in an animated conversation with one of the directors, smiling like you’d never seen before, dimples showing on his cheeks. 

Excusing yourself quickly, you’d gone to the pantry to prepare the drinks, your time here having made you familiar with the respective directors drink preferences. Carrying your tray carefully, you’d pushed the door open with your hip, seeing all the directors seated already, all seeming fairly comfortable around Chris, only serving to make the feeling of dread build in the pit of your stomach. 

Making your way around the table, you’d distributed the drinks to the directors personally, refusing to make eye contact with Chris as you gave him his stupid cup of tea. 

Once the meeting had started, you’d dismissed yourself outside the room, a part of you trying to listen in on the board meeting but not being able to hear much through the thick panelled glass. You were surprised when barely half an hour had passed and you’d heard applause in the room, peeping through the window to see Mr Bang give you a signal that you could come in. 

Pushing the door open carefully, you saw the directors practically lining up to congratulate Chris, leaving promptly after looking all-too satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. 

Mr Bang was speaking to Chris as the rest of the directors were leaving, “well, I guess this means my work here is as good as done. I’m sure your parents will be thrilled to hear the news,” he pat Chris on the back. 

You were about to head out with Mr Bang, eager to avoid Chris when you’d heard him speak, “Y/N, I’d like to speak with you for a moment. Is that alright?” He cast a look at his uncle, who waved him off. 

“Of course, she’s not my secretary anymore, remember?” You cast Mr Bang a look of distress, seeing him chuckle before giving you a thumbs up, exiting the room happily.  

You winced, turning around so you were facing Chris, seeing him walk over to where you were, holding out a thick bound stack of papers for you to take. 

“What’s this?” 

"A contract. You can pass it to me by the end of the day once you've made your decision. I trust that you're familiar with reading contracts?" he asked as you stared at the papers, flipping and scanning through the print, realising that his terms were considerably more demanding than his uncle. 

"You'll be able to find an additional attachment where I list what I would expect in a secretary. Feel free to consult me if you're unclear about any of them, though I don't think you would need to." 

Your eyes lingered on the section of the contract, stating that you would be on a year of probation, but that the contract could be terminated whenever he felt appropriate. 

"Whenever you deem appropriate?" you scoffed, looking up at him in disbelief. 

He smiled, "very pretty wording, don't you think?" 

"That's all I wanted to say. Remember, I'll expect your response by the end of the day." 

You stared blankly as he shrugged his jacket off, draping it on one arm. 

"Go ahead, what are you waiting for? You can go for your lunch break now," he urged, before his features pulled into a look of realisation, "oh, forgot. That is, unless you would rather eat...what was that again? Beansprouts?" 

Your mouth opened, making as if to retort before you shut your mouth quickly, your eyes widening as he walked over to you, his gaze intense and serious, a contrast to the demeanour he wore while chatting up the director previously. 

"I can handle myself, you know," you attempted to defend yourself, watching as Chris had shrugged. 

"You have one whole year to prove that to me." 

In that one year of working for Chris, you'd learnt a lot of things. Not only about your position as a secretary, but about Chris, ( not to mention, just exactly how spiteful he could be ).  

1. Sleep was a luxury. 

In your first week as his secretary, Chris had surprised you with the sheer rate of progress he was aiming, and moving at. It was as if all the rumours you'd heard before about his work ethic were a gross understatement of his tenacity. 

You'd been having trouble adjusting to his deadlines, especially since he had entrusted more tasks to you. From surprise presentations, to drafting up proposals and reports, not to mention submitting research to him. To you, it felt as if you were doing half the job for him. 

In short, you had never missed Mr Bang more than you did then. 

Of course, Seungmin being your voice of reason, would shut your rants down, claiming it was ‘about time you do your job’, but of course, you loved to complain. Especially since it was someone you didn't have very fond feelings for that was assigning you the work. You grew increasingly irritated in the time you were adjusting to your sleep schedule, which Chris, and your boyfriend had definitely noticed. 

Because of your changes in brain activity levels, you assumed (google could only diagnose so much), whenever sleep came to you, you welcomed it with open arms.  Since waking up had become even more of a chore to run over to the coffee shop and squeeze yourself between the crowd of working adults and panda-eyed college students to get his very specific breakfast order. 

You'd gone home from a birthday party of your boyfriend and your mutual friend, things having gotten a little...out of hand at your boyfriend's apartment since it'd been so long since you'd been able to spend time together, not with you always falling asleep during video calls or refusing them altogether for the sake of getting your work done. You'd missed him, and something about being apart made you miss his touch. 

Jolting awake, (as if your body had been able to tell that your sleep was too smooth), you'd instantly sensed that something was wrong when you saw the light streaming in from behind the curtains, knowing for a fact that you usually woke up when it was still a little dark out. 

Turning around, you'd fumbled for your phone on the bedside table, letting out a loud gasp when you saw the time. You were already a whole half-hour late. 

"Shit!" 

Your boyfriend startled, letting out a groan, his arm still lazily draped over your stomach. 

"Did my alarm ring?" you asked, shoving his hand off of you and groaning, slipping out of bed quickly as you put on your clothes from the day before, not having any more time to go back to your apartment and get a fresh change of clothes. 

"I don't know, I didn't hear anything," you heard your boyfriend mumble from where he lay. 

Cursing, you'd ran over to his bathroom, washing your face quickly, a gasp leaving your mouth as you inspected the angry marks on your neck through the mirror. 

"I hate you so much," you tugged up the collar of your turtleneck, successfully hiding the marks when you’d let your hair down. 

Grabbing your things, you'd sprinted downstairs, hailing the first cab you could see and heading to your office. 

Was he going to fire me? You were still on probation, so there was no reason he couldn't, right? 

You'd fixed your hair anxiously as you jogged into the lobby, your shoes clacking noisily against the floor as you ran into the lift, even debating on whether taking the stairs would have been a better idea as the lift went up at an achingly slow pace. 

Finally reaching your floor, you’d made your way to the meeting room, tossing your bags outside the door and entering with your laptop, notebook and pen, keeping your head down and avoiding Chris’ gaze as he was presenting to the room. 

Taking your seat at the only empty seat left, (unfortunately, closer to the front of the room), you’d let out a small sigh. Expecting to hear Chris comment on your tardiness or whatnot, you opened your laptop, picking up on the minutes where you could. 

Keeping your head down, you’d felt your colleague from the marketing team lean over to you as Chris had given everyone some time to analyse what he was showing on the screen, his lack of a comment making you even more anxious. 

“Your hair’s a mess,” she whispered, making you wince, your hand going up to comb your hair into a ponytail in your attempt to look neater, hearing your colleague gasp. 

“Dude! Put your hair back down, your neck,” she whispered, your eyes immediately darting to Chris’ direction, seeing that he was in fact staring at your jaw and neck as well, turning away quickly, the reddening of his ears giving him away.

Your hands let go of your hair as though you were burned, hearing your colleague snicker beside you, “I see someone had fun last night. Was that why you were late, too?” 

You shushed her as Chris cleared his throat, embarrassment flooding your senses as you continued to take minutes, hoping that he wouldn’t be as mad at you if you showed that you were trying your best. Fat chance, but hey, you could dream. 

Chris had started to assign things that he’d wanted the different departments to focus on for the project at hand, flashing a slide of deadlines that you watched people scramble to confirm with their existing information. You were secretly hoping someone would hold him back with a question so that he was too busy to confront you. 

Unfortunately for you, that wasn’t the case today. The meeting ended promptly, Chris leaving you in relative silence as you packed up your things, your colleagues giving you a look of sympathy as you followed him silently out of the room back to your desk. 

“In my office, please,” he murmured. 

You fiddled with your fingers, already anticipating for him to fire you. 

“Can you explain to me what happened this morning?” 

Your eyes widened, not daring to meet his gaze as it flickered between anything in the room other than him, “I uh..I didn’t um…I didn’t hear my alarm ring and nobody woke me up so I overslept.” 

Chris’ stare was unwavering, leaning against his desk and folding his arms, “so is it not your responsibility to make sure you show up to work on time?” 

“No, yeah of course it is—“ 

“Then I would like to see you be accountable for your mistakes,” he continued, “I’m not saying you can’t make mistakes, everybody makes mistakes. But if your mistake is what puts an entire room of people at an inconvenience, I would prefer if you were a little more apologetic about it.” 

You’d let a short period of silence fall between the both of you, “I’m sorry,” you mumbled, your gaze fixed firmly on his shoelace, “am I fired?” 

Chris let out a small sigh, shaking his head. “No, but, you know, if you ever let anything like this happen again, I won’t hesitate to fire you,” his voice was stern, annoyed almost. 

“And Y/N, if this,” you looked up at him watching him gesture to his neck with his hand before gesturing back to you, making you cower, tugging your collar further up your neck, “is what’s the issue here. I’d suggest you start prioritising.” 

“Sorry. It won’t happen again, I swear,” you rushed to speak, bowing quickly before exiting the room as fast as you could, wanting to tear your hair out in both annoyance and embarrassment. 

You’d jumped when you heard the sound of your desk speaker, Chris’ voice sounding through the phone, “Is there a problem, Y/N?” 

Your eyes widened, rushing over to your desk phone, shaking your head as you pressed the button to reply, “no, no! Not at all. There was just a… a bug here.” 

Chris huffed, bringing his hand up to hide his amusement, watching you scramble to regain your composure. 

2. Chris was a workaholic 

It was seeing (and experiencing) all the late nights in the office and the erratic pattern of his emails on weekends that drew you to this conclusion. His routine of sleeping late and then proceeding to get up at ungodly hours to either get work done or give up on the idea of a smooth sleep, since you were aware that he tended to have trouble sleeping. Not to mention the way it seemed to you as if the top priority in his life was his work, wanting to do his best to get the company to where he wanted it to be. 

After a few months of working for him, it was very clear to you that your job entailed not only taking care of his work, but taking care of him. 

You were going over to the legal team's office to collect the binders Chan had left to them, seemingly needing one of them now, thankful to have spotted Seungmin along the way as he was leaving his desk. 

Shooting you a look of sympathy, he'd peeked his head out to glance at your area, noticing everyone else in your team had gone home already. 

"Working late again?" 

You were sure you looked horrible, with bags under your eyes and your complexion looking dull from lack of sleep, but well, you had to earn a living, right? 

You shot him a pointed look, "you know the rules, can't go home until the boss goes home," you heaved a pained sigh. 

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if he even has a social life," you thought out loud, earning an amused grunt from Seungmin. 

"I could say the same about you." You ignored his comment. 

"What d'you need?" he asked, though you were already making your way to his superior's desk, grabbing the file and leaving a post-it to say it was with Chris. 

"Nothing, just this." You let out a small grunt at the weight of the binder, your wrists aching from all the filing you'd done that morning and afternoon (you never did notice until now how inefficient Chris' uncle's document organization system was). 

"All the best," he gave you a thumbs up, earning a pitiful pout from you before you'd headed back to Chris' office. 

Knocking on his door, you'd heard him murmur for you to come in, pushing the heavy doors open with your shoulder as you shoved your way through the doors,  placing the binder onto the coffee table where he'd had his documents and laptop laid out haphazardly. 

Chan's hair was a mess, likely from running his hands through it as he worked, his tie discarded and the top few buttons of his shirt undone, looking at you with tired eyes. 

He was about to ask you for some water, but you'd seemed to have read his mind, walking over to the table near his desk and pouring him a glass of warm water from the flask. 

"I'm almost done with the filing, but I'll be outside so you can let me know if you need anything." 

You'd felt your pocket buzz with a notification, momentarily taking your attention away from Chris. 

Chris glanced at the files before looking back at you in thought, stopping you before you could exit the room, "actually, can you help me to write a report on this, I'll need this by tomorrow afternoon." 

Knowing Chris' deadlines, that meant he would've needed it by tomorrow morning, which left you no choice other than to start working on it now. 

Chris picked up a small file with a post-it note stuck onto the file, handing it to you. 

"The points are all there. I would've done it myself but by the looks of it this is gonna take a while more than I expected," he sighed, his hands on his hips as he stared at the pile of papers in front of him in disdain. 

Chris never would've admitted that he'd started preparing the post-it notes for you in case he wasn't able to complete his work in time, since he usually opted to write from his head, but he knew you worked better with structure. He'd only realised after starting to do it that it helped him draft the write-ups more concisely, so of course, the reason was always 'for his own convenience', never creating opportunities for you to think he actually tried accommodating to you. 

"This current arrangement is very un-environmentally friendly," you mumbled, staring at the papers as well. 

"I'll go get this done now," you gave him a nod, exiting his office as you pulled your phone from your pocket, the text from your boyfriend practically glaring at you, asking if you were able to meet that night. 

10:47pm - sorry, working late :( gotta work on a report due tomorrow morning - 

Biting back your disappointment at having to bail on your boyfriend again, you'd nodded resolutely, pulling up your delivery app to order food for Chris before you started on the report lest he start to get irritable because he was hungry. 

And lastly, the point you couldn't quite seem to wrap your head around, was that 

3. He was very nice, just...not so much to you. 

After the oversleeping incident from before, it was safe to say you'd never let a similar mistake repeat itself. You were constantly making sure you were alert and responsive to anything Chris could possibly throw to you (and he knew this too). 

The only downside Chris saw to this, was that it seemed as though your attitude towards the directors hadn't changed. Still swallowing their disgusting comments and serving them with a smile, even if they were looking everywhere but your face. It irked Chris. And it irked him even more that the only one you seemed to serve without a smile, was him. 

Unbeknownst to him, you'd shared the same sentiments. 

"Do you ever look at someone and wonder what is going on in their head?" you spoke. 

Seungmin snorted, "wait, are you talking about the meme or..." your lack of a response made Seungmin follow your gaze (or glare) to where Chris was seated at the other end of the table, giggling and smiling as he spoke with the other secretaries. 

"Ah," Seungmin nodded, understanding now why your spoon hadn't moved an inch from your bowl, your grip around it almost death-like. 

"What are you so mad about? He's not doing anything?" 

You shot Seungmin a pointed look, your voice lowering to a murmur, "can't you see it? With them he's all rainbows and unicorn shit but with me it's like just smiling would kill him." 

You heard the secretaries letting out giggles and impressed sounds at something Chris had just said, the sound itself enough to make you annoyed. 

Seungmin's eyebrows furrowed, looking at you in scepticism, "you know the secretaries are only being nice because they're interns, right? I heard from one of them that they're actually really scared of him." 

Seungmin brought his chopsticks to his mouth, taking a piece of food from your bowl that he knew you weren't going to eat anyway, "especially after they saw how he spoke to you during the meeting the other day,"

You scoffed, "good to know that I was the warning." 

Your phone buzzed, signalling a text from your boyfriend. Strangely enough, it'd been a while since you'd texted him, since you were busy with work and he was busy with school. 

Ignoring it initially, too distracted by Chris, it wasn't long before you saw his caller ID show up on the screen, getting Seungmin's attention. 

"I think you should answer that," he gestured, making you glance around the table in your hesitance, not knowing if it would be rude to just exit halfway. 

Picking up the phone-call, you'd turned your head, lowering your volume to a murmur, "hello?" 

"Hey, can we talk? I really need to tell you something." 

You winced, "is it urgent? I'm at a team dinner right now." 

Your boyfriend sighed, scoffing, "it really is always work with you, huh." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

You glanced at the table, standing up to excuse yourself. Chris's expression read confusion, eavesdropping on a secretary asking what happened, Seungmin replying that it was your boyfriend calling. 

You'd made your way outside the restaurant, Chris glancing in your direction and spotting you walk past the restaurant's windows, a part of him shaking off whatever curiosity that lingered in him as he focused on his conversation. After all, you did tell him you could handle yourself, right? 

Where you were, you'd moved to a quieter spot outside the restaurant, "okay, I can talk now. What's up?" 

You kicked at the ground absently as you awaited his reply. 

"Look, are you free to meet tonight? There's something I need to tell you." 

"Uh..." you glanced into the restaurant, making eye contact with Chris before looking away, "I've got to work later, though. I need to get some research done for this review that i'm behind on, I don't wanna meet you if i'm just gonna end up on my computer while you're there, you know?" 

Your boyfriend nodded, "you know, that's kind of what i wanted to talk to you about." 

"Oh," a feeling of dread was building in your stomach, recognising your boyfriend's tone to be the one he used whenever he was talking about something serious. 

The first time you heard it was when you witnessed him on a work phone-call, the second being how he spoke to your parents the first time they'd met, but this time, you had a feeling you knew what was coming. 

"Let's break up." 

You fell silent, not knowing how to respond to his words. 

"Is it, um.... is it because of my work?" You asked, a part of you not being able to come to terms with the fact that it could have been your fault, "because you know I can't do anything about that." 

Your boyfriend sighed, "I know. I'm just talking about how you've been so emotionally invested in your work you don't even have the energy to maintain this relationship." 

You frowned, "what, what do you want me to do, quit my job? Will that be better for you?" 

"Look, i've been seeing someone," he began. Your heart sank. 

"And i'd be lying if I said that wasn't part of the reason. But... it was only when I started seeing her that I realised... things between us just weren't the same as before." 

Your heart felt heavy, a part of you knowing that he was making it a lot easier to be mad at him by confessing what he did, but another part of you couldn't help but prompt him further. 

"When did it start?" 

"That doesn't matter-" 

You sighed, taking your lower lip between your teeth, "it's fine, I just wanna know." 

"Fine, it was about a month in from you working for your new boss." 

You nodded slowly, still trying to process his words. You weren't quite sure what came over you when you saw Chris exiting the restaurant, turning to face your direction and spotting you in the alley. But it was as if you were so mad at yourself, mad at him, mad at your boyfriend (or ex-boyfriend now), that you'd ended the call, shoving your phone into the pocket of your blazer before heading over to where Chris was. 

"You guys aren't going home?" you heard one of the secretaries ask as you and Chris had approached his car, his driver already sitting in the car and waiting. 

Chris shook his head with a smile, "nope, we're heading back to the office." 

You mustered a smile as you bid them goodbye, you guessed this was probably the best time to bury yourself in your work as a poor coping mechanism after a breakup, as far as movie breakups went.  

The car-ride was silent, despite the pinging of your phone, making you switch it to silent mode halfway, earning a curious look from Chris, though he didn't make to ask you about it. 

Upon reaching the office, the both of you had gone back into your clockwork routine, as you sat in his office working on your computer and scribbling down on your notebook the important details you wanted him to check. Chris found that your background in law and journalism made it a lot easier whenever it came to reading and condensing information, which had only allowed him to trust you more when it came to getting tasks like that done, saving him precious time he could spend working on other things. 

The buzzing of your phone was growing more frequent, though it was as if you were oblivious to it now as you typed away at your computer. 

"Right, can you help to postpone tomorrow afternoon's meeting, and help me to make a reservation at the steak place, 2 people." 

You hadn't made to move, pulling your phone out but having gotten distracted at the multitude of missed calls and texts just because your boyfriend wanted to 'make sure you were okay'. Please. 

"Hello? Can you hear me?" you heard Chris call, snapping you out of your daze as his gaze searched your expression, trying to read your emotions. 

"Sorry, can you repeat that? I didn't hear you." 

Chris sighed, his annoyance at your phone that had lit up with a call again getting the better of him, "you know I don't ask you to stay later just for you to waste my time, you know." 

Your gaze hardened. There it was, the side of Chris that you had the 'privilege' of being at the brunt of, nowhere near the smiley giggly Chris you witnessed at the restaurant just now. 

"I said I was sorry. What do you want me to do?" 

Chris huffed, his gaze darting to your phone as he spoke, "reservation for 2 people tomorrow afternoon, the steak place my mom likes. Postpone tomorrow afternoon's appointment with Director Lee." He told you slowly, his tone as if speaking to a young child, which only served to piss you off even more. 

"Who's calling you?" he asked. 

You shook your head in dismissal, "my...uh..." you weren't sure how to respond, watching dumbly as he made his way to where you were, lifting your phone to read the contact before letting out a huff. 

"Okay, well you can tell your boyfriend that if you're gonna be this distracted at work, you can kiss your night goodbye." 

You inhaled deeply, absolutely upset but knowing there wasn't much you could do about it. You loved your job, even though you hated to admit it. Ever since Chris came in, you were getting a lot more work experience and exposure, especially with how he would make it mandatory for you to attend certain language courses that would help him whenever you accompanied him on networking events or business galas. 

And in that moment, you couldn't help but think back to what he'd said the first time he'd scolded you when he'd told you to figure out your priorities. Maybe your boyfriend called you at the right time, maybe you just weren't ready to focus on things other than your career at this point of time. 

Turning your phone off, you'd made sure Chris saw that it was off, raising your hands up in surrender, "done. I'll book your stupid reservation now." You stalked out before Chris could chime in with a 'watch your tone'. 

=== 

You'd been working for Chris for what was coming to 2 years now. The company had been reaping the results of their hard work for a while now, and you were thankful that even though you weren't as busy as before, you still managed to keep your job. Other than the fact that Chris’ hair was now back to dark brown, not much else had changed. 

Although, one tiny change you were starting to wish for was that Chris would at least try to make things a little more bearable for you. 

You were currently at a meeting with the directors where Chris was presenting the overview of the company's performance in the past month. You would have to say you were pretty satisfied with the work you'd both done on that, working a lot more efficiently now compared to when you'd first started out. 

Your silent admiration of the presentation was interrupted when one of the directors summoned you over to ask for a cup of coffee.

Doing as you were told ( much to Chris' dismay ), you'd gone and come back in record time with his hot cup of coffee, bending down and making your way to where the director sat, not wanting to prevent any of them from seeing what Chris was presenting. 

While he was presenting, it didn't take Chris very long to realise why the director had kept asking you for things, your position from where you were squatting next to him making it all-too-easy for him to ogle at you without you noticing. 

For some reason, this seemed to have gotten on Chris' nerves, especially because that director's secretary was simply minding her own business at the back of the room. 

Did Chris think what you were wearing that day was nice? He'd say he didn't but of course he did. But unlike the director, he preferred not to be so blatant about it, especially because you were always so rude towards him. 

You'd tensed momentarily when the director had grabbed your arm, about to get up when you heard Chris' voice get louder. 

"Y/N, I'd appreciate if you would stop distracting the directors and go back to your seat." 

(Later on, Seungmin would be struggling to hold back his laughter in the printing room when Chan told him to tell you to button up your blouse a little more. 

“Why can’t you just tell her yourself?” 

Chan scoffed, “knowing her, she’s just gonna think I was looking at her… chest or something.” 

Seungmin narrowed his eyes at Chan teasingly, “well, were you?” 

Chan waved him off with a groan, “just tell her, okay? The directors are having a field day with her looking like that.”)

You'd almost scoffed at the way the director had immediately let go of you, and you straightened up quickly, heading back to sit with the other secretaries. 

"That was harsh," you heard one of the secretaries murmur to you, making you shrug. 

"Whatever, not like I expected more from him anyway." 

(You did, you totally did. You'd kill for him to be less grating with his words). 

After the meeting, you'd felt a phone ring in your bag, pulling it out to see that Chris' mom was calling, obviously not having been able to reach him. Making your way to where he was, you'd interrupted his packing of his things. 

"Your mom is calling you," you'd told him out of habit, holding his phone out for him to take, jumping slightly when you'd heard one of the directors let out a dismayed grunt. 

"Is that any way to talk to your boss?" 

Your eyes widened, Chris seeming to be enjoying the situation play out before him as you regained your composure, looking back at Chris with a sickly sweet smile on your face. In front of the directors, you couldn't act up like how you usually did when it was just the both of you, so you had no choice but to be all smiles

"President Bang, your mother is calling you," you told him, and if you were annoyed, you didn't show it, having years of practice from dealing with the directors. 

"uh-huh," Chris smirked, taking the phone from your hands and answering it as he gestured for you to help him gather his papers. 

"No, mom. I’ve told you already, i’m really fine with how things are now. I'm not going on another one." 

Not that you cared, but you had to admit you were kind of curious as to what he was so insistently refusing.

"Yes, okay, bye," he hung up, handing the phone back to you. 

You'd tried your best to suppress your curiosity, seeing as he was about to be late for his next meeting with one of his friends if he hadn't hurried. 

Fixing your blouse, you'd carried your laptop in your arm as you walked with him back to his office, with you going into the lift first, Chris having chosen the wrong time to step in as a girl you recognised as one of the interns had done so too, the number of people squeezing into the lift causing her to jerk her arm, her coffee landing unceremoniously on Chris’ tie and shirt. 

Chris let out a hiss at the temperature of the liquid, eliciting a long string of apologies from the girl. You knew that if it was you that had spilled the coffee, he would be going on and on about carelessness now, but the intern obviously wasn’t you, and so you watched in envy as Chris had given her a smile, dismissing her apologies quickly. 

“It’s fine, really. I just hope you still have some coffee left to drink,” he laughed. 

Not only was he not upset, but he was joking with her too? 

You scoffed, rolling your shoulders back as you’d watched the numbers on the elevator rise till it reached your floor, the girl looking scared for her life when you’d cast her a look, bowing to you apologetically. 

“Where did you keep the spare change of clothes?” Chris asked as he’d begun loosening his tie. 

You hadn’t responded as he let you walk before him into his office, making your way over to one of the cupboards at the side of the room and opening it, pulling out a hanger with a nicely ironed set of work clothes. 

“You can go and get changed, I’ll wait here,” you murmured, Chris walking over to where you were and giving you his stained tie. 

God, you hoped his dry-cleaning run wouldn’t make you late for your lunch appointment. 

Looking at his tie, you brought it up closer to your face to inspect the material, it was a well-made tie, you had to say. Not too skinny, the material feeling almost luxurious in your hold, tempting you to put it on in your boredom. 

Hanging it round your neck, you mustered your best ‘Chris accent’.

“You should be accountable for your mistakes! Don’t you know how many people you’re inconveniencing? Now I have a tie that reeks of coffee, look,” you held up the tie with a gasp, “and my secretary’s gonna be late for her lunch meeting!” You pointed accusatorially at the small black penholder that sat on his desk. 

“Yeah! Do you know how much you’re inconveniencing me? I don’t ask you to show up to work to waste my time—“ 

You’d stopped in your tracks when you heard Chris clearing his throat, grimacing as you tried to regain your composure, taking off the tie as quickly as you could, holding it tightly in your palm as you turned to face him. 

“Having fun?” 

“No,” you shot back quickly, not even wanting to ask how long he’d been standing there. 

Walking over to you, he’d handed you his stained shirt, his expression like that of a parent that had caught their kid doing something they weren’t supposed to be doing. 

“You know, sometimes I wish you’d talk back to the directors like how you talk back to me.” 

Your eyes widened, confused at his sudden comment, but not having the time to respond as Chris continued. 

“Get these dry-cleaned over lunch. The stain’ll be harder to get out the longer you wait.” 

You huffed, already walking away from him, “well, when you say it like that I’d might as well go do it now.” 

You'd been keeping yourself busy with replying emails when you heard the elevator ding, the sound of footsteps getting louder before you saw a considerably young, suit-clad man walking towards your desk. 

"I'm here to see Chris? I'm Director Kang," he told you, though you didn't need him to introduce himself, knowing very well who he was. 

"He's in there," you held a finger up to signal him to wait as you picked up your desk telephone, pressing a button to page Chris. 

"Director Kang's here to see you." 

"Okay, send him in."

Chris closed the work he was doing on his desktop, making his way over to the leather couches as he saw his friend enter the room. 

"Yo, when were you planning on telling me about your hot secretary?" 

Chris' eyebrows raised, "didn't think that was something worth mentioning."

"Well, why not?" his friend frowned, his features pulling into one of shock, "wait, don't tell me... you guys are dating?" 

Chris rolled his eyes, "no, we're not. And please, for both our sakes, don't try anything funny with her." 

The director was about to respond, interrupted by your knocking on the door, the door opening slightly so you could enter. 

"Can I get you anything? Like a drink? Coffee? Tea?" you asked. 

The director simply looked at you curiously, sitting with his ankle resting on his other knee, "only if you'd care to join me." 

Chris glared at his friend, shutting him up quickly before he could say anything more, "coffee for him, I don't want a drink."

You nodded, exiting quickly.

"What did you come to tell me about?" 

"Must I have a reason to come and visit my beloved friend?" 

Chris rolled his eyes, "my time is precious." 

This made the director scoff, "is that your excuse now? Anyway, I came to ask if you were going for Brian's wedding next weekend." 

"Oh, yeah, right. He asked me about it last night and I said I would go, you?" 

Director Kang rolled his eyes, "can't, I've got a business trip that weekend." 

Chris hummed in acknowledgement, "that reminds me. I should get a gift for them soon. Who'd he say he was marrying again?" 

"This girl he met at work, she's nice. But, you know, not my type." 

As if that wasn't enough, Director Kang continued, "anyway, are you bringing a date?" 

He was interrupted once again by the sound of your knocking, the door opening as you made your way over to them, bending to place the cup of coffee down onto the table, making Director Kang gesture to you with his head, mouthing 'you should bring her'. 

Waving him off, Chris was eager to get Director Kang’s attention away from you, almost as if wanting to protect you from getting swayed by him, knowing the outcome was never too bright. 

"Y/N, you can go for an early lunch break today." 

Your eyebrows raised, the prospect seeming almost too good to be true. Since when was he so nice? 

"Huh? But I still have some stuff to hand the legal team..." you sounded unsure, though you did consider this to be luck since you were supposed to meet one of your friends from college for lunch today. 

Chris gave you a stern look, waving you off, making you raise your hands in surrender. 

“Okay, okay, I’ll go.” 

On your way out, you’d texted your friend that you were gonna be able to meet earlier, pleasantly surprised when she’d told you she was already in the area and that she was able to head over now. 

You’d managed to drop off Chris’ clothes for dry-cleaning before heading to the restaurant, spotting your friend already seated at your table. 

“Hey! Wow, you look great!” She told you, giving you a hug in greeting. 

“Feel a lot better compared to last year,” you joked, making her frown. 

“Your boss still giving you trouble?” 

Shrugging, you’d taken a seat, “nothing out of the ordinary. Seems like it’s part of his daily routine to annoy me.” 

She laughed, “I ordered our food already, if you don’t mind.” 

Shaking your head, you waved in dismissal, “no, yeah, I don’t mind. Thanks. Anyway, you look pretty good yourself, how’ve you been?” 

You didn’t miss the way she’d leaned closer to you, tucking her hair behind her ear in a pointed gesture, drawing your attention to the large gemstone on her ring. 

Your eyes widened, “no way.” 

She nodded, “I wanted to tell you sooner but you were so busy! I was glad enough I managed to squeeze in this lunch with you,” she told you, making you pout. 

“When’s the wedding?” You asked. 

“Next week. We’re going to have it in this beautiful church out of town, really really nice place,” she told you, “really romantic, too,” she added as an afterthought. 

You let out a deep sigh, “I hope you’re not going where I think you’re going with this.” 

She gave you a scandalised look, pausing as the waiter had come to deliver your food, “first of all, Brian has a lot of good-looking friends!” 

You gave her a look, prompting her to continue, “well, not that I’ve seen all of them but he tells me that a lot of them are single! And you know who else is single…” she pointed her finger towards you with an overly excited glint to her grin. 

“We’ve been through this a million times, Eujin. I’ve tried but it’s really hard to find a guy that’s willing to cope with… you know, my kind of schedule,” you gave her a tired (wistful) sigh, “and with my schedule, I doubt I have the time, not to mention the energy to date.” 

Eujin’s lips twisted into a frown, “but it’s been so long! Don’t you want to get back in the dating scene?” 

You scoffed, cutting into your food harshly before taking a bite. 

“Of course I do. But the last time I went on a date the guy basically shat on me for being a workaholic,” you huffed, “I mean, my boss’ working hours means my working hours, shouldn’t they just shit on him instead? Why is it my fault that he’s basically destroyed what I have left of a social life.” 

Eujin shot you a look of sympathy, “I’d say I pitied you, but it’s not like you can’t get a job anywhere else, you know?” 

You’d kept your mouth shut at that, “I know… it just… I can’t just leave when I’ve already gotten so used to how things work here.” 

Of course that was one reason, but you would never admit that there was a nagging inside of you that didn't trust Chris to look after himself if you weren't here, remembering how he'd overworked himself during a crucial period after he took over the company, and you'd found him passed out on his desk when you showed up to work that day. 

You'd sort of made a silent promise that as much as you didn't like him, you still cared for him in a way. In the way a secretary would care for her boss, totally. 

You decided to change the topic, not wishing to talk about your hopeless love life at the moment. 

“What’s the program gonna be like?” 

Eujin’s eyes lit up, setting her cutlery down as she clasped her hands together, “Okay, so. The plan is for it to be a sort of weekend-long thing,” she told you, holding her finger up. 

“Firstly, on Thursday night we’ll have a little girls night type thing, and then Friday is the rehearsal dinner, Saturday will kind of be a little rest day and then Sunday is the actual wedding,” she said, now holding up four fingers to you. 

Your head was spinning at the (rather enticing) thought of taking basically 4 days off of work, before the dread settled in that you had to ask Chris for permission to take those days off. 

“I hope my boss will let me take time off…” you murmured, already rehearsing in your head possible ways on how you could tell him. 

Eujin gave you a resolute look, “you can do it! If he says no just let me know, I’ll go over to your fancy office and fight whoever he is myself.” 

=== 

“How many days?” 

Chris had asked at your desk as he prepared to leave to meet his mom for lunch since she’d happened to be in the business district. 

You fiddled with your pen anxiously, “uh..4 days? Technically 3 and a half. But 2 of those are weekends I just need you to make sure you just don’t bother me on that weekend it’s a really important weekend.” 

Chris narrowed his eyes at you, unsure why you were so insistent on him leaving that weekend alone, nodding slowly. 

Whatever, he figured, she’s just lucky I’m busy that weekend too. 

“Okay.” 

“I swear I’ll—wait, you’re okay with it?” 

Chris shrugged, straightening his tie, “yeah. I’ve got something on that weekend too.” 

You let out a surprised hum, “oh… cool. Thanks…Mr Bang,” you added as a force of habit, not wanting to risk getting scolded for ‘insubordination’ again just because you didn’t call him by his honorific. 

Chris huffed, leaving before you could see his ears reddening. 

Over lunch, Chris’ mom had been inspecting him carefully as he ate, as if the answer to her worries lay in every piece of sushi he ate. 

“Is there something you’re not telling me? Are you… gay?” She asked, continuing, “because if you are you know you can just tell me, instead of constantly upsetting the girls I try to set you up with.” 

Chris gave her a unamused look, “mom, I’ve told you a thousand times. I would really love to date, but it’s hard to find someone with a similar work ethic as myself, that can keep up with my… lifestyle and who really understands my needs, you know?” 

This made Chris’ mom perk up, “that’s it! Why don’t you just date your secretary!” 

Chris almost choked on his sushi, fumbling to grab his glass of water to calm himself down and compose himself. 

“What,” he spoke between coughs, “gave you that idea?” 

His mom looked at him in disbelief, “whatever you just said, you were basically describing her, no? And plus, we’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about her from your uncle.”

Chris couldn’t help but entertain the possibility in his head. It was true, you did work at a very efficient pace with him, not to mention how spending almost everyday in such close contact with him made you understand his own needs and wants even better than he did on occasions. Chris shook his head, that wasn’t possible, right? You looked as though you’d absolutely hated him half the time, he’d be expecting too much from you if he’d expected you to fall for him. 

Chris shook his head, dismissing the thought from both him and his mom’s minds quickly, “no, mom. I’m fine with how things are between us right now.” 

Chris had let you leave the office earlier on Thursday, (much to your surprise) allowing you to have ample time to pack your bags and get a cab to the destination, Eujin having taken the liberty and helped you book your hotel beforehand. 

Upon reaching, you’d texted Eujin saying you’d reached. 

eujin 6:54pm -yay!! Lets just chill in one of our rooms, we can discuss it in the chatgroup!!- 

Trust her to be excitable even about the smallest things. 

You saw an incoming text from Seungmin. 

seungmin (personal)  6:54pm -what where r u I went over to find u but both u and Chris weren’t here- 

6:55pm -im at a friends wedding, took the weekend off-

seungmin (personal)  6:55pm -wow finally using your employee perks nvm then have fun- 

You’d checked in, marvelling at the cozy yet elegant look of the hotel as you made your way through the lobby, letting the lift take you up to your hotel room floor. 

Changing into more comfortable clothes, you’d seen the group chat saying to gather in Eujin’s room, with mentions of ordering pizza. Considering this was your first weekend away from work in a very, long while, you were determined to make the most of it, heading over to Eujin’s room. 

You hadn’t expected to be welcomed as warmly as you were, hearing comments of ‘we were so happy you could make it!’ Or ‘thank God you could take time off!’, sharing the same sentiments as them as you’d let Eujin pull you onto the bed, the softness of the sheets and pillows instantly making a content sigh leave you. 

“I ordered room service,” Eujin sing-songed, gesturing to the Champagne bottles and whatnot on the tray next to the bed. 

“I’ll have one,” you raised your hand, earning a laugh from one of your friends. 

“Tired from work?”  

You let out a loud groan, nodding. This made Eujin nod gravely, “I swear, if I ever see your boss in real life, I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind.” 

You scoffed, “you don’t even know what he looks like.” You’d gratefully accepted the glass of champagne that was handed to you. "and plus, he's not that bad, other than the fact that he finds joy in pissing me off. He just works too hard in my opinion." 

You’d spent your time enjoying the once chance you could relax to your heart’s content without feeling dread at having to wake up early the following day, enjoying yourself as you leant against the headboard of the bed, listening to stories about how they’ve been and how all of them were either planning on getting engaged soon, were in long-term relationships or already married. 

“You guys make me wanna get married too,” you pouted, earning bouts of laughter from them. 

“You’d have to actually date to do that, you know,” they told you pointedly, making you sigh. 

“You’re basically married to your job, already,” your friend chimed in, making you laugh. 

“Seems like that, doesn’t it? I was super shocked he’d let me have the weekend off, usually he’d be swarming me with emails about now.” 

“I’m excited to see Brian’s friends tomorrow, maybe there’ll be someone that catches your eye,” Eujin told you, making you shrug. 

“Just out of curiosity, though, what are you looking for in a guy? You know, we could help you keep an eye out too.” 

You hummed, shrugging. 

“I’ve never really thought of a specific…criteria I guess. I guess I’d just like someone that’s kind, looks out for me, doesn't underestimate me...sort of has the same lifestyle as me? Since it’s honestly been really hard to find someone that doesn’t hate my schedule.” 

You'd almost scoffed at the way your brain had refused to picture anyone else other than Chris while you thought about it, figuring it was probably because he was the only guy you were in constant contact with. 

Eujin looked at you resolutely, “we’ll do our best,” she held up a fist in an action to cheer you on. 

You shrugged, You figured maybe going into this with an open mind would do you some good. 

You changed the topic, directing the focus back to Eujin, “whatever, let’s just have fun, it’s your big day soon, let’s just celebrate!”

===

At the rehearsal dinner, you had yet to arrive, since you’d spent a little longer getting ready, choosing to use your opportunity to dress up a little more, not having the luxury to do so during your usual work days. 

You had texted Eujin that you were on the way with some of the other bridesmaids, her attention directed elsewhere when her fiancé had called her over. 

“Hey, wanted you to meet some of my friends from law school.” 

While being introduced, Eujin couldn’t help but wonder if they were single, remembering your mentioned criteria from the night before. 

“Oh, so are you guys all working in the law sector now?” 

Her husband shook his head, “All of them, except Chan here. He’s the ceo of Bang Mobile Media company.” 

Eujin’s eyes widened, glancing at the brown-haired boy cautiously, as if sizing him up. Y/N worked in a mobile company too, right? If she was remembering this correctly. Was it mobile or broadcasting? 

“Oh, wow. That’s impressive.” 

Eujin had let them introduce themselves more, not being able to help but think that Chan was nice, friendly, and rich on top of that? 

“I don’t get it, how are you single? You’re basically the whole package!” She wondered out loud, making Chan flush, giggling as he shook his head. 

Her husband seemed to have begged to differ, “Chan is incorrigible when it comes to his love life.” 

Eujin raised her eyebrows in surprise, not having expected someone so good-looking to have such a fate, “really? Is there a reason behind that?” 

“He’d never dated much, even back when he was in Australia. He was always super dedicated to his work,” this had served to make Eujin even more positive about this guy’s prospects as a suitor for you. 

“Oh my god, you’re exactly like one of my friends, I should totally introduce her to you when she comes later.” 

“Hey, cut him some slack,” one of his friends had spoken up, “Chan can’t cheat on his job.” 

Eujin felt her phone vibrate signalling a notification, pulling it out to see that you’d arrived already, excusing herself and practically running over to the entrance of the venue. “Chan, you stay put, I have just the perfect girl to introduce you to!” 

“Y/N! You have to come quick, I think I found the perfect guy for you.” 

Your eyes widened, clutching onto the chain of your bag as you followed her into the room. 

“He’s really nice, and friendly, and he’s good-looking! Really cute dimples! And on top of that he’s loaded. I’m so excited for you to meet him.” 

Letting her drag you along, you’d distracted yourself with the atmosphere of the area, wondering just how much it would cost to book a venue like this, tugging down your dress that was hiking up from practically running after Eujin. 

“Hey, I have someone I’d like you to meet. Chan, this is Y/N,” Eujin chirped, the names causing the both of your heads to shoot up, locking eyes with each other as a feeling of doom built in the pit of your stomach. 

Your eyes widened in panic, glancing down at your attire, back to him, who was dressed in a flowy black shirt that you were sure cost more than your one week’s pay, the top few buttons of his shirt undone to reveal a simple silver necklace, and fitted black pants, your gaze landing on the small silver rings on his ears, almost feeling as though you were looking at a different person. 

Chris thought so too, seeming to have the same panic as you as he tried not to let his gaze linger too long on your dress, nodding his head at you in greeting, “nice to uh…meet you.” 

His ears had felt hot as you nodded back at him, almost startling when Eujin had cheered, leaning over to whisper to you, “I’ll make sure you guys get to sit next to each other.” 

You were about to protest when she’d left, leaving you standing at the bar with Chris. 

“So, Y/N, how do you know the bride to be?” 

You gulped, wanting to slap yourself for how your gaze had kept returning to Chris, unable to shake the feeling of needing to be in work-mode now with his presence before you. 

“Oh, uh, we were friends since college,” you answered simply. 

“Cool, did you guys have the same major?” Chris had to stop himself from glaring at his friend, a strange feeling inside of him as he recognised the look on his friend’s face and his posture to be that which he used whenever he was interested in a girl. 

You shook your head, “uh, not quite. I majored in law but she majored in journalism.” You tried to respond as calmly as you could, not being able to shake Chris’ gaze off of you, feeling as though at any moment he was going to call you out for something you weren’t even aware of.

You saw the guy practically light up at the mention of law. 

“Woah, that’s really coincidental. All of us met in law school,” he gestured to the group of them, making you laugh nervously. 

“Where are you guys um… dates?” You asked, immediately regretting the question when you saw the way Chris was practically glaring at you. 

You didn’t understand why he was glaring at you, wasn’t it a valid question? 

“We didn’t bring dates, unfortunately. Did you?” 

You shook your head, making Chris snort. “Does it look like she brought a date? She literally came in alone.” 

You narrowed your eyes at him, unsure where his spitefulness was coming from, especially when his friend was just trying to make conversation with you. 

You scoffed, folding your arms. “Yeah, pity. Maybe I’d have time to date if I wasn’t always so busy running around doing shit for my boss,” you cast a pointed glance at him, bringing a hand up to nonchalantly run it through your hair. 

Chris smirked, two could play at this game.

“Same here, I’d probably have the time to date too if my secretary wasn’t always causing trouble.” 

“Your secretary?” His friend spoke up, “I heard from someone she was pretty cute, and nice too.” 

You’d almost wanted to agree, realising that if you did it would put you in a pretty compromising position, simply acting surprised. 

“If I had a secretary like that, I’d just date her,” one of his friends had spoken up, making your eyes widen, wracking your brain for possible responses. 

“Who knows, are you a workaholic?” You asked pointedly, earning amused grunts and laughs from his friends, “ah… it’d be too bad if I was your secretary, then. I absolutely can’t stand dating workaholics.” 

Chris narrowed his eyes at you, the both of you knowing you were just as bad at him, replying calmly, “oh, you can’t stand dating workaholics? Me neither.” 

You were thankful that Eujin had given you a small break when she'd invited everyone to take their seats so dinner could be served, wincing when you'd ended up sitting next to Chris out of habit, momentarily forgetting that you weren't attending a networking session. 

You'd hoped and prayed that you wouldn't slip up more than you already did. As much as you'd wanted to spite him, he was still your boss, and you knew he'd give you an earful for even the slightest hint of disrespect ( which you were sure you'd surpassed already ). 

Focusing on the gorgeous food they'd served you, you saw the waiter pick up the bottle of wine, pouring it for you. 

Having been oblivious, the waiter was about to pour a glass for Chris as well, making your secretary-instincts kick in, your arm darting across Chris to stop the waiter in time. 

"No, Mr Bang, you shouldn't drink that." 

Chris would have looked fairly amused if he wasn't stressed out by your proximity, with you practically leaning over him to speak to the waiter. 

You'd cursed internally, wincing at the way Chan's friend had looked at you, tilting his head in confusion. 

"Mr Bang? And how do you know his alcohol preference?" 

Chris let out a nervous giggle as you straightened up, "uh...well um like...you know it's a really funny story actually... we're um..." 

Not being able to bear his awkward fumbling any longer, you'd butt in, "We work in the same company. Yeah." 

You were lucky his friend had bought it, simply nodding in understanding, "no wonder, you guys were being so weird just now." 

Chris scoffed, "what weird?" 

You turned around in your chair, pretending to pick up your bag, "stop, you're making it worse," you murmured so he could hear you, making him bring his glass of water to his lips. 

One of your girl friends had spoken up, halfway through the meal, "wait, i just realised. If you guys work in the same office, then you must know her boss right? That dude is crazy. We all thought it was a miracle that she could take time off for the wedding," 

You glared at your friend, trying to subtly shake your head in your attempt to stop her, but she was oblivious, "she doesn't like it when we badmouth him but it's true! Ever since she started working for him it's like her social life just disappeared. Her boss is always her first priority." 

You'd never related more to how people said they wished the ground would swallow you whole. Looking down at your food, you'd tried to remain nonchalant about it, but Chris who was next to you was looking at your friend with wide eyes. 

"Oh, really? What else does she say about him?" 

You laughed nervously, waving your hands in dismissal, "nothing that concerns you."

Chris turned to you, dropping his volume to a murmur, "is that so? because i'm hearing all this and i'm getting the feeling it definitely concerns me." 

You let out a huff of anxious laughter, bringing your glass to your lips, consuming your drink in sips because your boss was sitting next to you, but secretly wishing you could down it all in one go. 

Soon enough, all your anxious sipping had made you reach an empty glass, the waiter coming over to refill it for you, earning an eyebrow raise from Chris. 

"Leave me alone," you huffed. 

Chris simply laughed, "what? I didn't say anything." 

You'd tried to pay attention to the proceedings of the wedding rehearsal, and after dessert was served people had started to mingle around more, the drinks having started to kick in as you'd felt a lot more relaxed. 

It was safe to say Eujin was as well, going around to talk to the guests and thank them for coming out of town for the celebrations. 

Soon enough, you were almost done with your fourth glass, oblivious to the way Chris was looking at you, impressed yet concerned. Feeling skinny arms drape over your shoulders, you turned your head to see none other than Eujin, cooing at you affectionately. 

"Tell your boss a huge thank you for letting you have this weekend. I couldn't even get to see you on my birthday or for the engagement party, but i'm so so glad you're here now." 

You couldn't help but glance at Chris, knowing that you'd missed both of those events because you were helping him with something. The first being when he'd almost overworked himself enough to warrant a visit to the hospital since he hadn't been sleeping or eating well (after that, you swore you'd make sure this man was getting his three meals if you could help it), and the second time being when you had to accompany him to a keynote session out of town. 

You were starting to think maybe there was a little more to unpack behind your reasons why you stayed working for Chris Bang. Your only consolation at this point of time being that the rehearsal dinner was ending soon, meaning that you could finally escape the suffocating tension you were feeling. 

"Wanna hitch a ride back together? I drove here." 

You'd almost declined, feeling as if you didn't have a right to be in his car if it wasn't work-related. Chris had seemed to sense your hesitation, simply not waiting for a reply and walking off, hoping his smile wasn't too obvious when he'd heard you jogging to meet his pace. 

He'd surprised you even more when he'd opened the passenger door for you, shutting it gently after you'd gotten in. 

You'd given in to the comfort of his car almost immediately, more-so when Chris had gone to take something from the boot of his car, getting into the driver's seat and draping the soft blanket over your lap. 

"The drive back's pretty long, might wanna make yourself comfortable." 

And you were comfortable, very comfortable. Chris had started to play some music from his playlist, something about his behaviour almost making you forget that he was the same boss that had worked you to the bone for over a year. 

"I'm sorry," you suddenly spoke, once you were in the city, "about what my friends said," you weren't sure where all your courage was coming from, maybe it was the many glasses of wine, but whatever it was, it was putting Chris in an awfully reflective mood. 

"And what I said," you added as an afterthought. 

Chris took his lower lip between his teeth, shaking his head, “nah, don’t worry about it.”

Obviously, that seemed too good to be true, and you’d looked over at his expression in your attempt to figure out if he was being sincere. He was definitely gonna fire you. 

“I’m not gonna fire you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m just kind of…like, you know, wondering,” he began, “the uh… engagement party and the birthday party that you um… you know, that you missed. Were they both because of me?” 

You pursed your lips, nodding, “but it wasn’t your fault, you know. The first one was when you’d passed out… you know, at the office, remember?” 

He nodded, prompting you to continue, “the next one was a keynote session that I had to follow you to.” 

Chris gulped, his throat feeling dry all of a sudden. This whole time he wouldn’t have guessed you’d been giving up these things for him from how willing you’d seemed to work. Was this considered neglecting the needs of my employee? Probably. But whatever it was, Chris knew that he was being harsh on you more for his own sake than yours, but he was only starting to realise now that that might not have been such a good tactic.

Chris was already pulling into the hotel, stopping at the valet services as you’d slung your bag over your shoulder, Chris coming out to open your door for you, making you grimace, feeling as though you should've been the one to open it for him. 

Walking into the hotel lobby, you'd glanced at your phone, seeing as Eujin had texted you tomorrow's plans, "did you get the schedule for tomorrow? I can forward it to you-" 

Chris let a giggle escape him, nodding, "you know they would've sent it to me too, right?" 

Your lips parted in realisation, nodding as you went over to press the lift button before he could even reach over to do so, "right, forgot." 

You were sure it was something about your intoxicated state that was making you instinctively go into work mode, whatever relaxation you thought you would be getting on this weekend now seeming all too far from reach. 

"Uh... I can check what time the hotel serves breakfast and arrange for something to be sent to your room if you want-" 

"Y/N," his tone was enough to make you straighten up, goosebumps rising on your skin for some reason. 

Chris was looking at you in amusement, one hand shoved into his pocket, "you're not working, remember? This is your rest weekend." 

Your eyebrows knit in a frown, chewing on your lip as you averted your gaze, "I know but it's just... like I didn't expect to see you here and now that you are I can't help but feel like I'm at work or something," you'd turned to wonder what was taking the elevator so long, watching as the numbers had gone lower and lower, completely skipping your floor and heading to the carpark. 

"You know what? How about this," he began, pausing momentarily when you heard the elevator ding, stepping inside the empty elevator and pushing your floor button, your heart almost stopping when he hadn't made to press any button. 

"You're on the 14th floor too?" He nodded. 

"Anyway, as I was saying. To make things easier for you, let's just pretend we don't know each other, that i'm not your boss, you're not my secretary. We're just... two people that met at a wedding? You don't have to do anything for me as long as we're here, hmm?" he offered, seeming to sense your hesitance 

"Look, I'll go first," he stretched his hand out as if to ask for a handshake, "hello, nice to meet you, i'm Chan." 

"Chan?" 

He nodded, "my friends call me Chan. People only call me Chris at work." 

You'd brought your hand up slowly, grasping his in yours, the cold metal of his rings against your skin more obvious when he'd given your hand a small squeeze. 

"Nice to meet you, Chan. I'm Y/N?" you tried, looking at him for approval and earning a nod from him, trying your best to ignore the way he was smiling. 

"Yes, that's your name," he laughed. 

Letting go of his hand, you were thankful the elevator had reached your floor without any interruptions, realising just how lucky you were to have not bumped into him earlier on as he'd continued walking with you to your room, gesturing to the door opposite your room with wide eyes. 

"My room's here." 

You made to take out your hotel room key, hearing him clear his throat, and you'd turned around rapidly to face him, strangely eager to know what he was about to say. 

"Say, Y/N, I'd love to, you know, get to know you more. What do you think about getting brunch with me tomorrow?” 

You opened and closed your mouth for lack of a response. This was inappropriate, right? But then again, you weren’t working this weekend. And technically, in this situation, Chan wasn’t your boss. So, there was nothing to lose. 

You nodded, “Yeah. That sounds…nice.” 

=== 

“Sounds kind of suspicious if you asked me,” you heard Seungmin’s voice over the speaker, making you sigh. You were already ready, lounging on your bed as if to mentally prepare yourself for a stupid lunch. 

“Right? I don’t know what he’s trying to get out of this.” 

Seungmin knew. But it’s not as if he was going to tell you, no, that was Chan’s job not his. Frankly, he’d had enough of listening to the both of you whine about your apparent personal vendetta against each other. He watched his fair share of movies, Seungmin knew how these things worked. 

“Maybe it’ll give you a chance to actually talk to each other like normal human beings instead of just bickering all the time for no reason.” 

“I have a reason, I’ll have you know.” 

Seungmin scoffed, “really? Enlighten me, then.”

You’d fumbled for a reason, stuttering in your failure to find something that validated your annoyance towards Chan. 

“I don’t know, his dimples are stupid.” 

Seungmin wanted to laugh, “so you’re telling me, you just can’t stand him because of his stupid dimples?” 

Your attention was diverted when you’d felt your phone vibrate, signalling an incoming text from Chan. 

boss  11:20am -meet u outside your hotel room in 10?- 

“Shit, he wants to meet me in 10 minutes.” 

Seungmin shrugged, “10 minutes is more than enough time for you to come up with a less shitty reason why you don’t like him. Or for you to realise that you don’t actually hate him.” 

You scoffed, burying your face into your sheets as you thought of a reason. 

“Okay, I’ve got it. I just don’t like how he treats everyone so nicely and then treats me like I’m some incompetent kid.” 

“You know for a fact he doesn’t think you’re incompetent. He literally trusts you more than he does the other staff.” 

You scoffed, “yeah, whatever. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s so condescending about it, he thinks of me i’m some kid that doesn’t know anything.” 

Seungmin snorted, remembering the incident where Chan had asked him to tell you to button up your blouse after the directors behaviour during a meeting. 

“Oh, he definitely doesn’t see you as a kid,” Seungmin cackled, earning an eye roll from you.

Glancing at the time, you saw how it was almost 11:30, “okay, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.” 

Ending the call, you’d slung your small bag around your shoulder, giving one last glance at your appearance in the mirror in the bathroom before leaving your hotel room, startling when you’d spotted Chan there. 

Dressed in a black pullover and jeans, Chan smiled at you, bringing a hand up to touch his ear, “morning,” he greeted. 

“Good morning,” you huffed nervously.

He’d already begun walking, making you follow beside him, “did you get a good sleep?” 

His eyebrows raised at your question, nodding at you. His hair was curlier than usual, not styled up like you usually saw. “you?” 

You nodded, following him in silence as you’d gone down the list, realising he’d pressed the ground floor instead of where they were serving food on the 3rd floor. 

“You pressed the wrong floor,” you began, not expecting to see the pleading smile on his face.

“Actually, I was thinking of bringing you to this place nearby, I’ve been there before and it’s pretty good.” 

Your first thought was to wonder if it was expensive, knowing that this time you didn’t have the company card to fall back on. 

“Is it expensive?” You asked, seeing him shrug. 

“Not really.” 

Only when you’d reached the area did you realise how much of an understatement Chan made. The restaurant was a small cozy-looking place that served food that you’d only heard of up till now, located along a line of boutiques selling unusual trinkets and handmade items. 

Upon reaching, you and Chan had been led up upstairs to an outdoor seating area of the restaurant, the view of the scenery accompanied with the breeze instantly putting you in a relaxed mood. 

“Do you like it?” He asked, almost sounding nervous. 

Nodding reassuringly, you’d wanted to run away when you saw the way he’d walked over to where you were, pulling your chair out for you to sit on, making you flush. Never in your life would you have thought your boss would be pulling out your chair for you.

“You know, you don’t have to do that,” you told him, using the menu to hide your face from view, pulling it down slightly to watch how he’d rest his forearm on the table, scanning through the menu with a smirk on his face, his (stupid) dimples appearing on his cheeks. 

“I wanted to. You’d never let me do it for you on any other occasion.” 

You had to admit that there was some truth to what you were saying, choosing to change the subject by telling him you’d decided on what you wanted to eat, choosing something that was still within your budget for the weekend. 

Beckoning the waiter over, Chan pushed his sleeves up to his elbows as he ordered for the both of you, the waiter asking what drinks you would want, a teasing smile on Chan’s face when you’d insisted on water.

“What?” You scoffed, earning a shake of the head from him. 

“Nothing.” 

You’d leant back in your seat, about to tie your hair up into a ponytail, hearing the buzzing of your phone, reading the caller id to see that it was your mom trying to video call you. 

Sitting up quickly, you were about to excuse yourself when Chan had reached over, swiping to answer the call as he lifted the phone, pointing it towards you, his other hand beckoning for you to continue. 

“Hey, mom,” you spoke through gritted teeth, your rubber band between your teeth as you worked quickly to bunch your hair into a ponytail, Chan wanting to slap himself with how his ears had started to feel hot. 

“Hey, honey. Where are you? I called the office but they said you were on leave?” 

You secured your hair, taking the phone from Chan with a grateful murmur of ‘thanks’, making your mother’s eyes narrow, “who are you with?” 

“I’m attending Eujin’s wedding this weekend. I’m just uh…with a friend.” 

Chan looked away to clear his throat, catching your mom’s attention, “guy? I thought you told me you weren’t dating anyone.” 

This had caught Chan’s attention, having remembered Seungmin telling him that you’d broken up with your boyfriend. 

“No, yeah, mom it’s just a friend. Can I call you later?” 

Your mom’s eyebrows lifted, looking at you with a cheeky smile on her face, “oh, oh. Yes, of course you can. Have fun, baby.” 

You hung up quickly, shoving your phone back into your bag, looking up at Chan in question as to why he looked so surprised. 

“Your mom doesn’t know you have a boyfriend?” He asked, as if wanting that confirmation for himself, not feeling comfortable with pursuing his feelings if you were still in a relationship. 

You shook your head, “no uh…I broke up with my boyfriend a long time ago.” 

Chan’s lips pursed, nodding, “oh… sorry.” 

You shook your head, not being able to help a breathy laugh from leaving you, “don’t be. He was…it was for the best.” 

“D’you mind if I ask why? You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to, I’m just kind of…curious.” 

You shrugged, not feeling as inclined to hide the information, since it was in the past now. 

“Nah he just… our schedules always clashed and I was always too tired by the end of the day to go out to find him and I guess it like, you know, sort of reached a point where I started prioritising my work and it didn’t work out.” 

Chan nodded slowly, the waiter coming over to serve you your food, “go ahead, you can start eating first.” 

You shook your head, insisting on waiting for his food to arrive before starting. “But I’m honestly fine now, it’s been more than a year since we broke up.” 

Chan huffed in amusement, “is that why you said you can’t stand dating workaholics?” 

Your giggles bubbled out of you, “honestly, I only said that to spite you. I’d much rather date someone that understands my schedule and reaches a compromise with me instead of just always expecting me to drop everything at their beck and call.” 

Chan nodded, “I get that. Yeah, work is important and all but… I feel like if you really loved someone you’d find any moment you could to be with them. Well, for me at least.” 

You laughed, “kind of hard, when we spend almost every waking moment with each other.” 

You’d looked up from your food when Chan hadn’t responded, the waiter finally coming over to serve his food, though his expression remained, looking at you as though he’d wanted to say something. 

“yeah,” he huffed eventually, starting to eat his food. 

You’d shocked yourself with how comfortable you were in his presence with the knowledge that you weren’t working. This was what you wanted, wasn’t it? To have Chris treat you nicely like how he did the other employees. Only now you were realising how easy it was to catch feelings for him just from this one change. 

Maybe you were kind of thankful he made it easier for you to hate him previously. 

It was true that you understood him better than most, and that he understood you as well, knowing what got on your nerves and what didn’t, how you worked and how you responded to things. Albeit there were a few things he still didn’t understand, you couldn’t deny that Chan was well-liked in the office for a reason, and you were beginning to experience that reason for yourself. 

Chris had been mulling over what his mother had told him about you, wondering if you were feeling the same tension that he was even as you talked about pointless things that made you wonder why you hadn’t talked about them sooner. 

Not that it was a bad kind of tension (or maybe it was), but it was akin to the feeling of knowing that you would both have to confront a realisation soon. 

“Are you doing anything tonight?” He asked as you were heading back to the car, earning a shrug from you. 

“My friends wanted to have some kind of girls night thing, you?” 

He sighed, nodding, “same, the guys and I are going out for drinks.” 

You shot him a look, “drinks?” 

He laughed, shaking his head, “I can hold my alcohol, I just choose not to drink.” 

Your eyes widened, “and I’m only finding this out now because? Do you remember when I had to drink your drinks for you during the first networking session because you lied to me and told me you couldn’t drink that!”

Chan flushed, “I wasn’t lying, technically. I really couldn’t drink that, I don’t like white wine.” 

You shot him a harmless glare, this time, letting him open the door for you as you got into the passenger’s seat. 

“Don’t drink too much tonight, yeah?” He gave you an amused huff as he started the engine of the car. 

“You too,” you held your pinky out for him to make a promise. 

Chan nodded, linking his pinky with yours as he leaned closer to you, “deal.” 

=== 

You’d heard the sound of beeping at your door that night, wondering what all the ruckus was all about, getting out of bed, taking your hotel room key and pausing the show you were watching on your phone, making your way over to your door carefully. 

“Why isn’t the card working?” You heard a tell-tale Australian accent muffled through the door, looking through the peephole to see a head of messy brown hair, looking as though Chan was leaning against the door. 

Opening the door slowly, you’d acted quickly to grab Chan by the shoulders to steady him before he could stumble forward, the confused boy holding up his hotel key and looking at you in confusion. 

“This isn’t my room?” 

You couldn’t help but laugh, turning him around as you’d ushered him a few steps forward to his hotel room door, “this,” you pointed at the door, “is your room, Chan.” 

He giggled, “you called me ‘Chan’.” 

Taking his hand, you scanned his hotel key, bringing him into his room, finding it awfully neat (unlike yours), smoothly guiding him to his bed and letting him flop onto it. 

Letting out a sigh, you couldn’t help but to feel rather endeared, seeing him open his eyes slowly to look at you, tilting his head. 

“Sorry, I promised I wouldn’t drink so much.” 

You shook your head, reaching over him to grab at his blanket, your movements ceasing abruptly when you’d felt his hand on your back as you hovered over him, his hand moving from your back to your head, patting it gently. 

Pulling the blanket up harshly in your panic to cover him, straightening up as quickly as you could. 

“Shut up, go to sleep. Goodnight,” you said, hurriedly exiting the hotel room and going back to your room, closing the door behind you and trying to calm your rapid heartbeat. 

The next time you’d seen him was at the hotel lobby, where you’d agreed to meet him so you could head to the wedding venue together. Chan had come down wearing a nice suit, something you were more used to seeing him in, his hair styled up in a familiar manner. 

Greeting each other, you’d both decided to pretend the night before hadn’t occurred. With you being one of the bridesmaids and Chan being one of the groomsmen, you were separated almost immediately upon reaching the venue, with him having to help his friend while you helped Eujin. 

“A little birdie told me you came together with Chan,” she sing-songed. 

You scoffed, “aren’t brides usually supposed to be freaking out by now?” 

“Don’t change the topic! So, did you guys hang out yesterday?” 

You shrugged, “yeah, I guess we did.” 

She narrowed her eyes at you, “so? Is there a verdict?” 

You went behind her to take her bouquet, handing it to her as you waved her off in dismissal. 

“Too early to tell,” you lied. 

“Stop avoiding the question! Or else I’ll just have to ask Chan myself,” she huffed sulkily, making your eyes widen. 

“No, don’t do that! Okay, fine. It’s good. He’s nice.” 

Even Eujin’s makeup artist was giving you a knowing look now, making you cower under their gaze. 

“Shut up, focus on your wedding, please.” 

You wished you could’ve done some focusing for yourself, with Chan’s friends nudging him when you’d gone to the back of the church to line up with the groomsmen, all of them seeming to have conspired to let you walk with Chan. 

“Why do you look more nervous than the bride?” He teased, holding his arm out for you to take, making you roll your eyes, bringing your hand up to grasp his arm. 

“You’re delusional.” 

Okay, maybe he wasn’t. You wished you could’ve taken your advice, having been distracted throughout almost the entire ceremony, your gaze constantly flickering over to Chan, and you were sure he’d noticed too, with the way he would smirk and avert his gaze to the floor in his attempt to stop himself from laughing. 

Shouldn’t he be the one that was nervous? He was the one that had shown up drunk at your hotel room. 

After the ceremony had ended and you were all done taking photos with the bride and groom, Chan had offered you a ride to the reception venue, and you’d accepted, not knowing that you would’ve had to squeeze in a car full of his friends too. 

Sitting at the passenger’s seat (thankfully), you’d prayed for the ride to be shorter as his friends had started to question you and Chan. 

“Is there something going on with you two?” 

“None of your business,” Chan sing-songed, only serving to spur his friends on even more, your eyes widening when you’d heard one of his friends murmur.

“Wait, but didn’t he say he had a thing for his secretary?” 

Your hand went up to cover your mouth as discreetly as you could, clutching the bag of your wedding gift for Eujin and her husband and looking out of the window in your attempt to keep your composure. 

Chan had seemed to share your sentiments, his eyes widening as he panicked behind the steering wheel, his mind racing with things he could possibly do to prevent you from hearing what his friends were so freely spouting.

“Oh, did he? Then there can’t be anything going on with her, right?” 

Chan had reached over to turn the volume of the music up, much to your fortune, not knowing if you would’ve been able to handle hearing them talk more about Chan’s love life. 

Eujin wasn’t kidding when she said that she’d make you and Chan sit next to each other, and you’d ended up at a table with Chan nearer to the front, with a few of your friends and their partners. Watching Eujin and her husband enter the hall, you’d been filled with excitement at how happy she had looked, clapping and cheering for them along with the rest of the guests. 

Once they were seated, Eujin and her husband had begun to make their own speeches, thanking the respective groups of people for coming, and you didn’t miss her pointed mention of how she hoped the guests would use this time to get to know each other as well. 

The way Eujin had done things was that dinner was served so that the guests could listen to the speeches and enjoy their meals at the same time, which you didn’t mind since you were absolutely starving. 

You didn’t miss the way Chan had been subtly looking out for you during the dinner, like how he would casually ask if you needed anything whenever he would get up to go to the bar, or how he’d brushed your hair behind your ear so it wouldn’t get into your food (not without a tut of his tongue), earning many surprised looks from your friends which he was oblivious to. 

You figured he was really making use of the ‘let’s pretend we don’t know each other’ thing as an excuse to be nice to you, not that you were complaining.  

You glanced at your phone, skimming over the texts that one of the intern secretaries had sent you to ask you for help, making your friend curious. 

“Is that your boss?” 

You shook your head, “nah it’s just one of the interns asking me for help with something,” you shrugged, setting your utensils down as you swiped into your email app, ready to clarify the problem for her, making Chan furrow his eyebrows in annoyance. 

Reaching over, he’d taken your phone from you, locking it and dropping it back into your bag, ignoring your look of confusion. 

“Hey, I was just gonna email her!” 

“They’re not supposed to be asking you to do things for them while you’re on leave. No working, this is your rest weekend.” 

You’d shut your mouth at that, deciding that it wouldn’t do you any well to go against him, wanting to pull your phone out to just read the emails but dropping your phone back when you saw the look he gave you daring you to continue. 

Your friend had seemed to be fairly amused by your exchange, shooting a look at Chan, “wow, now I’m really glad you’re here. You’re the only one so far that’s managed to stop her from checking on her work when she’s supposed to be resting.” 

You scoffed. Yeah, because the source of your work was sitting right next to you in a stupid suit. 

“Good to know,” he gave you a knowing smile, making you direct your attention back the waiters, seeing that they were serving desserts now. 

“Your friends make me sound like i’m a hard-ass,” he leaned closer to you to murmur, making you smile, nodding. 

“Well, they’re not entirely wrong,” you drawled, making Chan scoff, though not being able to help the laugh from leaving him. 

He nodded slowly, his expression looking fairly amused, “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

You wondered just for a moment if he was only being nice to you for the sake of his own conscience (though Seungmin would beg to differ). And by the late afternoon, you were already starting to feel drowsy from the afternoon weather, the skies darkening as though it were about to rain. Chan had figured it would be good to start heading back. 

After you’d bid goodbye to Eujin, who seemed more than eager for you to leave together with Chan, Chan had offered to drive a few of his friends back to the hotel together with you, and thankfully this time they hadn’t mentioned anything about his love life. 

“Tired?” Chan huffed with a smile, glancing at you momentarily before fixing his gaze back on the road. 

“Yeah,” you murmured, yawning. 

“You should get some sleep when you get back to the hotel.” 

You nodded, “you too.” 

Chan nodded patronisingly, earning a huff from you, too tired to bicker with him. something in him stirring at how he could’ve been acting like this with you a lot earlier if he wasn’t always masking his concern with rude phrasing. 

His mom sure was gonna be excited the next time he updates her. 

=== 

You hadn’t gotten as much of a rejuvenating sleep as you would’ve liked, reality having kicked in that you were back to work tomorrow, the feeling lingering unsettlingly in your chest as you tried to make the most of the rest of your night. Somehow, you’d found your way to the lounge in the hotel, though that didn’t help much in lessening your dread for tomorrow seeing as the only other people here were people working on their laptops.

You figured it was not so much of dreading work than dreading Chan’s change in personality once he went back to being your boss. 

Letting your head rest on the stiff cushion of the chair you were sitting on, you’d fiddled with your phone, texting Seungmin about what had happened today. 

You’d almost startled in your seat when you saw someone take a seat next to you, turning to see Chan, his tie long gone as his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his hair already falling out of place as he simply looked at you. 

Raising your eyebrows in a silent question as to ask why he was here, he scoffed, looking away from you but failing to hide the reddening of his ears, “shut up, I just didn’t feel like sitting with a stranger.” 

You huffed in amusement, “did you take a nap?” 

Chan shook his head, “nah, just finished a conference call.” 

Your eyes widened, “wait, why didn’t you tell me? I was doing nothing this whole time—“ 

Chan shook his head in dismissal, “you were tired. I told you, this is your rest time, I’m not allowed to touch it.” 

You frowned, your mind racing with thoughts on how tomorrow could possibly go, looking at the carpet with a hint of a pout on your face, “yeah, and then tomorrow, everything goes back to normal.” 

Chan inhaled deeply, leaning back in his seat as he turned his head to look at you, his hands clasped and resting on his lap. 

“It doesn’t have to, you know… like…” he shrugged, “if you don’t want it to.” 

Your lips parted, unsure how to respond to the implications of his words, unsure how to even process his words. 

“It’d be… unprofessional for me to continue to act like… this towards my boss.” 

Chan raised an eyebrow at you, shrugging, looking at you with an unreadable expression. 

“I think I’m way past being professional already when it comes to you.” 

You’d sworn the air had felt thicker, something about the way the night mood had felt, or how the music in the lounge had succeeded in relaxing you, but something inside of you was telling you to just do it, to lean forward and kiss him. And probably promptly resign the next day out of embarrassment. 

You stood up quickly, “oh, I think my cab’s here, I have to go,” you lied blatantly, Chan not making any move to stop you, simply lifting a hand to wave you off with a tired smile on his face. 

“Go, go. See you at work tomorrow.” 

===

“Can’t we ask Y/N to ask him?” The secretaries and interns were currently huddled in the pantry, having gathered to discuss how great it would be to have a field day soon.

“But Y/N’s equally as scary as him!” One of the interns spoke up, making the secretaries hum thoughtfully. 

You’d stepped into the pantry, walking through the secretaries to retrieve a juice packet for Chan. 

“Hey, what’s up?” You asked, one of the secretaries turning to you with a resolute look on her face. 

“Y/N, do you think you could um… like, you know, ask President Bang if we could arrange for a team outing soon? Like a field day or something, just as a break for the staff. We haven’t had one in so long!” 

You tilted your head at them in amusement, “why don’t you guys just ask him? He’s in his office now, I can go tell him you guys wan—“ 

“No, no! It’s different, you’re the only one that can convince him. We tried last month but he’d just told us he’d think about it.” 

You shrugged, nodding, “alright, sure. I’ll go and ask him.” 

Making your way back to his office, you’d tried to ignore your nerves as you knocked on the door, opening it to reveal Chan who was on the phone, holding up a finger to you to signal you to wait. 

Walking over to him, you’d placed the juice packet on his desk in front of him, earning a smile and a grateful nod from him, before he’d switched back to a serious expression. 

“No, yes, of course. We would want nothing more than to ensure a… mutually beneficial agreement between our companies.” 

You didn’t have to ask to know who he was talking to. Chan had been trying to negotiate a deal with one of the shareholders, since they had been trying to propose to get Chan to merge with another prominent electronics company in the industry. 

You knew Chan was more than annoyed, but he had no choice but to be civil with the president of the company since they did have many shares in the company from the time his uncle was in charge. 

“Yes, we can discuss this more in person over lunch, how does that sound? Yep. Alright, bye.” Chan sighed, setting the phone down and leaning his palms on the table, supporting himself with a pained look on his face, looking up at you with a pout. 

“I really don’t like him.” 

Chan sighed, “same here.” 

“Anyway, I’m glad you came here, I kind of wanted to talk to you about something.” 

“What?” You asked, watching as he’d fiddled with the papers on his desk. 

“Uh… I won’t ask you to handle things outside of work for me anymore.” 

Your eyes widened, “is this because of what my friends said? Because I’m honestly fine it doesn’t matter,” you shook your head, seeing him scrunch his nose. 

“It may not matter to you but I’m personally not fine with it,” he pressed his lips together. “Really, I mean it. Whatever I ask you to help me with from here on is only gonna be work-related.” 

You nodded. Was he trying to distance himself from me? Was it because of the trip? 

Your lips pulled into a frown, nodding more to yourself than to him, “okay…uh anyway I wanted to ask you um… the secretaries were wondering if we could have like a field day or something soon? Like just as a small break for the staff?” 

Chan shot you a look, knowing they’d asked you to ask him. 

“Do you want that?” He asked, earning a nod from you. 

“Yeah, I guess. It’d be fun to just have a day for staff bonding and all…” 

Chan shrugged, “alright, tell them to go ahead and arrange it.” 

Your eyes widened, finding the exchange to have went a lot more smoother than expected. 

“Will you be needing me for anything else?” 

He looked at you as if in thought, taking his lower lip between his teeth and letting it go, shaking his head, “other than to help me book an appointment with President Kim, nothing else.” 

You nodded slowly, exiting the room. 

By only asking you for work-related things, you’d expected your work-load to decrease, but it seemed as though you were currently having the most uneventful day you’d ever had. Other than drafting proposals for the President of the electronics company, there wasn’t much on your plate. 

You’d figured you would’ve been a lot busier tending to Chan’s requests but the boy had barely come out of his office, the only times he did being to head to the washroom, barely casting a glance in your direction when he walked past you. 

As if that wasn’t strange enough, he’d even let you have a longer lunch break, much to Seungmin’s amusement. 

“Doesn’t being in the legal team sound a lot more enticing now? At least you’d be doing something there.” 

You rolled your eyes, “I still have quite a bit of research to do, so no thank you.” 

“Admit it, you’re only staying because you can’t bear to leave Chan.” 

You’d almost choked on your drink, patting your chest to regain your composure, “where the hell did you get that idea from?” 

Seungmin scoffed, “you act like you didn’t call me a thousand times during the trip to tell me about things he did.” 

You’d fallen silent at that, averting your gaze. 

“Whatever,” you scoffed. 

“Isn’t it misconduct, though? If I were to date him.” 

Seungmin shook his head with an amused snort leaving him, “what are we in, the stone ages? Go wild, literally nobody cares. They’ll probably be happy if you manage to get him to be less of a hard-ass,” Seungmin told you, glancing into his cup to see how much drink he had left, “god knows when was the last time he got laid.” 

You flushed, shoving Seungmin, “how can you say that?” 

“What? It’s true!” 

You gave him a dismayed glare, standing up with a sigh as you straightened out your skirt, glancing at the time on your phone. 

“I should probably be heading back now, I’ve got work to do,” you gave Seungmin a pointed look, pulling him up from the bench. 

“I don’t wanna go back to work,” Seungmin let out a loud strangled sound of protest, his shoes stomping on the wooden panelled floor of the rooftop. 

You giggled, a teasing smile on your face, “weren’t you the one saying the legal team was what again? Enticing?” 

Seungmin pouted, pressing the elevator button, abruptly flailing his limbs in a mini outburst before straightening up and composing himself. 

“Fine, I’m fine. Enjoy your stupid office romance with Chan.” 

You rolled your eyes. 

Chan had a consultation with the legal team later that afternoon regarding the issue with the shareholder, and you’d been all-too-distracted during the meeting as you thought about what your possible ‘action-plan’ regarding your situation with Chan was. 

Taking down notes during the meeting, you’d let your train of thought wander, almost doodling onto your notebook, with one hand supporting your head on the table before you heard the legal advisor from the shareholder’s side speak up, a guttural groan leaving him. 

Looking up with an annoyed furrow of your eyebrows, you heard him lean back in his chair, “what does a man need to do to get a drink around here?” 

“You,” the man pointed a finger at you, “go and make yourself useful, sweetheart. Get me a cup of coffee.” 

Chan’s eyebrows knit into a frown, looking at the legal consultant with clear disdain on his face, looking at you to gauge your reaction. Already expecting you to do what you always did, get up with a smile and come back with the man’s coffee, Chan figured he was too annoyed by it to let you do just that. 

About to speak up to the man, you'd shocked Chan when you narrowed your eyes at him, giving him a sweet smile, "sorry, that's not my job here. Since you're not contributing much to the discussion, why don't you make your legs useful and head right over there and get yourself some water." 

You huffed, staring him down as he glared at you, directing his gaze to Chan. "Are you just gonna let her talk to me like that? I'd fire such a rude brat if I were you. Who's your supervisor, I'm gonna make sure he hears of this." 

Chan did his best to conceal his smile, simply turning his chair ever so slightly to give you a small smile, "that would be me, and I heard it loud and clear. Now, shall we continue with the meeting?" 

=== 

You’d been spending hours at your desk, distractedly doing research as you’d kept trying to peep into Chan’s office to figure out what he was doing, to no avail. (Chan had put the blinds down halfway through the day since he couldn’t stop staring outside at your desk either). 

You were technically done with your work, and Chan did mention that you were free to go home once you were done. On any other occasion this would have been considered a miracle, and you wouldn’t have hesitated to go home. But now, there was a nagging feeling in your heart that you couldn’t just leave him here, especially with how stressed out he was because of the business with the shareholder. You didn’t trust him not to spend the whole night here. 

Glancing at the time, you saw that it was already past 10, deciding that you would give him some time to make an appearance before you left, just to make sure he was alive and breathing inside his office. 

Distracting yourself with replying emails, even playing more than a few rounds of a word-search game on your phone, you figured he would’ve come out by now, but there was still not a sound coming from inside the room. 

Once the clock had almost struck 11, you figured you’d might as well go in and check on him for yourself. Going over to the pantry to make a hot drink, you’d walked back to his office, your grip tight on the saucer in your anxiousness. 

Inhaling deeply and breathing out with a resolute nod, you knocked on the door of his office, waiting a while only to be met with silence. 

Pushing open the door slightly, you’d tried again. 

“Mr Bang, is it okay if I come in?”

Upon receiving no response yet again, you’d pushed open the door fully, your eyes widening in realisation when you saw him seated at his desk, fast asleep on the chair. 

Walking over to the leather sofa as quietly as you could, you’d picked up the blanket from the sofa, making your way over to where he was, setting the hot drink onto his desk and making to drape the blanket over him. 

Only when you were adjusting the blanket did he stir awake, making your fight-or-flight instincts kick in, strangely embarrassed if he were to catch you doing such a gesture for him. 

Blinking slowly, his eyebrows furrowed before his gaze had landed on you. 

“I thought you’d gone home already?” He pouted, making you fumble to find an excuse why you’d stayed behind. 

“Sorry, Mr Bang, I was—”

He gave you a lazy smile, shaking his head, “none of that ‘Mr Bang’, nonsense. How come you haven’t left yet?” 

You pressed your lips together firmly, pulling your hands away from the blanket as you tried to straighten up, sighing softly. 

“I couldn’t leave… for some reason. I kind of wanted to make sure you were okay, since I barely saw you the whole day.” 

Chan’s satisfied smile had grew, nodding at you as if prompting you to continue. 

“but I’ll go soon. I guess,” you blurted, “unless like you know, you need me for something, then I’m fine with staying.” You stopped yourself, nodding before you could embarrass yourself any further. 

You couldn’t help but let your breath hitch when he’d reached out to grab your hand. 

“Thank you, for checking up on me,” he murmured, his close proximity making your gaze dart to his lips, averting your gaze quickly. 

“Did you not come out of your office on purpose?” You narrowed your eyes at him, hating the way your heart was doing flips at the way he grinned, his dimples showing cutely. 

You were about to pull back out of your own internal panic, but Chan’s grip on your hand was firm. 

“I’m sorry, I know I said I wouldn’t ask you for anything that wasn’t work related from now on. But It’s killing me, because you were sitting outside the whole day and I couldn’t do anything about it…” he paused, tilting his head as he searched your expression. 

“You can refuse, but I just need you to do one little thing for me,” he murmured,  pulling you forward so you’d ended up seated on his lap, your arms going out to grasp his shoulders to steady yourself. 

“What do you need me to do?” You asked, your voice a mere murmur with how the tension was absolutely suffocating you, wanting nothing more than to just close the gap between the both of you. 

Chan’s hand went up to your chin, running his thumb over your lower lip as they unconsciously parted, “close your eyes.” 

Chan couldn’t help but smirk at the way you’d done so obediently, his hand going to where your neck met your jaw, leaning closer to press his lips against yours. 

Almost as if it was second nature, he’d let his other hand grasp your hip, his thumb rubbing the area soothingly. Tilting his head to kiss you deeper, you’d practically sighed into the kiss, your hands wrapping around his neck loosely as you felt him smile into the kiss. 

“I’m glad it’s you,” he murmured against your lips, his tongue swiping against your lower lip making you let out a surprised hum, not being able to help your smile as well. 

“We should stop,” you pulled away, breathless. 

“Why?” 

You shook your head, “I could kiss you for hours. It’s already so close to midnight.” 

Chan glanced at the clock apathetically, looking at you and shrugging, his hand running up and down your side. 

“So be it, then,” he said, pulling you back to meet his lips. 

===

“Is it just me, or has President Bang been a lot less moody these days,” Seungmin heard one of his colleagues in the legal team asking her desk-mate, making her colleague nod gravely. 

The mention of President Bang had him glancing towards his office, spotting your desk empty and figuring you were inside his office. 

“Definitely. At first I thought it was just me, but he’s been a lot less harsh to Y/N as well,” she agreed. 

“Don’t you think so, Seungmin?” 

And almost as if on cue, you’d exited his office, pulling your hair out of your ponytail to readjust it, looking around as if scanning the area to see if anyone had seen you. 

Locking eyes with Seungmin, you shot him a wink, straightening out your blouse as you’d gone back to sit down at your desk. 

Seungmin scoffed, not being able to help the smile on his face as he rolled his eyes, “yeah, I think I know why.” 

[imagine-this-fandom]

BNHA x Fem! Reader: The Rescue- Green Rabbit

The rescue intro: here

Inko started bustling about the store, gathering supplies, muttering excitedly as she went. You followed, confused, but intrigued. She seemed super focused on what she was doing. At some point during here mumbling and pacing, she had handed you izuku so she could grab a cage.

As she bustled about, you took this time to shower the adorable rabbit in your arms with affection. He seemed to love all the little touches, but he especially loved the strokes on his big fluffy ears.  He was a relatively small rabbit, but what drew the eyes the most was his dark green fur. It almost looked like it had been dyed that color, maybe by a a previous owner. His eyes were also a dark green and he had speckles of black dots across his cheeks where his whiskers were, kind of like freckles, you noted.  He seemed a little shy, but you could already see he was warming up to you a little. You smiled and ran your finger gently up and down the bridge of his nose while he relaxed in your arms. 

Inko had stopped to face you while you were distracted and she had to take a moment. The two of you were so cute! She quickly snuck a photo before stepping into your field of vision with two bags holding the supplies you'd need.

"I see you're already starting to get to know each other. I knew I made the right choice!"

She beamed, nodding to the rabbit that had started to doze off in your arms.

"Wait, the pet for me,  you meant Izuku here?" 

You were a bit confused, but definitely pleasantly surprised. Who wouldn't want to take the sweet little guy home? Inko looked at you with a wide grin, nodding enthusiastically. 

"He needs someone to look after him. He doesn't belong cooped up in a store."

You looked at the sleeping rabbit, fondness already starting to build up inside you. Sure this would be a change, but a welcome one to be sure. You were going to give this rabbit the best life you could!

"I'm happy to take him, Mrs. Midoriya. Thank you so much."

She grinned and gently took Izuku, placing him in a travel cage for you so that you could carry him home safely.  After making sure you had everything, she said a quiet goodbye to the bunny and kissed the top of his head before handing off his carrier.

You were relieved to discover Izuku slept the whole walk home. Little man must have been tired! You gently set the carrier down and left it open while you got to work unpacking all the things that Mrs. Midoriya had packed for him. You were amused to discover a reoccurring theme with most of the supplies that were given. There was a lot of Allmight themed stuff. If it wasn't Allmight, it was themed to his suit colors. Guess Inko was a fan or something. 

Setting things up went quickly, but the cage did give you some trouble. You elected to have the cage on the floor so Izuku had easy access to hop around. That being said, the cage instructions were confusing. Once you did finally have it set up, you were sweaty and tired, but triumphant. You gave a small whoop of victory before falling back from your sitting position and just resting on the floor to catch your breath. You closed your eye for a little bit, but were brought back to the present by a cold twitchy nose against your cheek. Opening your eyes, you saw that Izuku had woken up at some point and made his way over to you.

"Hey buddy, welcome to the world of the living. And also, welcome home. I know it's not that much to look at, but I hope you can enjoy it here."

You sat up and carefully scooped the bunny into your arms, cuddling the dark green bundle of fluff as you cooed to him about all the cool things Inko had given you for him.

"She even got you a little Allmight figurine to sit in your cage! Isn't that cool?"

He wiggled his nose in excitement, already excited to check it for accuracy, especially considering how big of a fan he was. You seemed to catch on to this quickly.

"You're a fan too, huh? Guess we're gonna get along."

You smiled and gently placed him in his cage, making sure he had everything he needed before heading to bed. He watched you settle down for a bit, pondering his new living situation and what would happen next.

*Time skip time*

While you were optimistic about the whole pet thing, you weren't expecting it go as well as it had been. 

Izuku was an absolute angel. He was as well behaved as pets come. You made sure to spend time with him everyday, and coming home to hang out with him became the highlight of your day. He was always excited to see you and you could spend hours snuggling him. He seemed to appreciate the affection as well, hopping up to you whenever he decided pets were needed. 

On the other hand, he was scary smart. Sometimes you entertained the thought that he could comprehend human words. Sometimes while you were reading with him in your lap, it seemed like he was reading the words on the page too, lost in concentration. You trained him to do tricks and he'd pick it up within an hour or two, just like that. He really liked you, and if doing the tricks made you happy, he was all for it.

Sometimes though, he would just kind of shut down. To you, it looked like he would stop moving and his nose would twitch in overdrive. Usually some new trick or obstacle triggered this frozen mode, so you were careful to make sure he wasn't anywhere he could hurt himself if he zoned out. He was really just analyzing, if he could speak, and endless torrent of words would be washing over you as he mumbled to himself with no end in sight, lost in thought. You found these moments strange, but after some research, you were reassured that it was just an oddity that made Izuku who he was. You decided it wasn't worth worrying about since it didn't seem to be hurting him.

He was always so well behaved while you were at work, that you just left his cage open during the day so he had free reign over the house. This led to him meeting you at the door after a particularly bad day at work. As the door opened, Izuku was quick to hop over, eager to see you again after the hours at work. He wasn't expecting you to walk past him with no greeting. You were beginning to concern him now. He watched you as you walked towards the couch, eyes glazed as thoughts swirled violently in your head. You sat down with a weariness he wasn't expecting and he made his way over to you quickly, determined to find out what was wrong.

You were brought out of your negative stupor by Izuku hopping up onto the couch beside you and putting a paw on your arm, eyes wide and nose twitching rapidly.

You gave a tired smile and pulled him into your arms, cradling him against your chest as you relaxed a little bit, his warm familiar body an escape from the awful day you had experienced.

He nuzzled against your cheek before tucking his head against where your neck met your shoulder, giving you the closest thing to a hug as he could manage. You let him settle there and started to hum quietly, gently running a finger down his back in a soothing repetitive motion.

"I'm sorry buddy, I didn't mean to worry you. It's just been a rough day is all." You tried to soothe the rabbit, sad that you had upset him with your behavior. 

You sat back and closed your eyes, humming a lullaby tune as you focused on relaxing. You decided you were going to focus on Izuku. Nothing else mattered right now, just you and your bunny.

"People can be really mean Izuku. They're harsh and cruel and sometimes downright malicious. I hope you never have to meet one of those bad humans."

You groaned tiredly and stood, keeping Izuku pressed against you as you hummed quietly, rocking side to side. While it was your intention to calm him down, it was starting to work on you too. 

After a little while of this, you put the now sleeping bunny away, tucking him into the bed you had gotten for him. You watched him for a moment longer before getting ready for bed. While this day was awful, you had never been more pleased that Izuku had come into your life. He always knew what to do to distract you and make you feel better. He reminded you that you weren't alone and that he would help support you in any way he could. He was in essence, your best friend, and you wouldn't forget that. And neither would he. If only you could see past the smart bunny and see the real him... 

Izuku was a constant by your side after that day. He was always there to offer what support he could and ensure that you were doing well. He was determined to never let you get as upset as you had that day. He would be your hero and protect you, no matter what!

*Timeskip*

You smiled softly at your attentive pet and scooped him up to give him a kiss right between his fuzzy ears.

"Awww, don't be like that, hon. I'll be back soon. I just had to pick up an extra shift for a coworker, but I promise I'll come home right after, okay sweetheart?"

He reluctantly gave in, but he was in no way pleased with having less time with you. However, it's not like he could do anything once you had already committed. He decided he'd just support you as best as he could and enjoy the time when you came home that much more.

You set the green bunny on the floor after another quick squeeze before heading out the door. You hated leaving him, but you had promised to cover a shift for a coworker because they were having a family emergency. It shouldn't be too bad.

The shift actually went as you had hoped, and the guests were fairly well behaved. Even though you were dedicated to the task at hand, you couldn't help but be distracted. You felt awful that you had to leave Izuku alone after you had planned to binge Allmight videos with him. He actually had seemed really excited! 

You were lost in your thoughts about how to make it up to your pet when you accidentally bumped into one of the guests, not noticing when he had started towards you. Luckily you were only holding a pitcher of water and had only splashed him as you ran into him.

You gasped in shock before looking at the dark, damp stain spreading over his shirt from where you had bumped into him.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" You looked around frantically, "I'll get some napkins!"

He stopped you, grabbing your wrist so you wouldn't run away. 

"It's alright, it's just water. No harm done, cutie."

You looked up at him with wide eyes, red creeping over your cheeks as you met the eyes of one of the cutest guys you had ever seen. And he had just called you cutie. Brain was now malfunctioning.

"I-I'll get some napkins..." 

You ducked out of his grip quickly and ran to the back, clutching the empty water pitcher to your chest as if you could keep your heart from escaping by putting an obstacle in its way.  As you thought about what just happened, you put the pitcher down before groaning in frustrated embarrassment. Did that really just happen!?

After you had calmed down a bit, you went back to his table with a small stack of napkins to discover that he and his friends had paid and left. You set the napkins down, surprised that you were a little bit disappointed that he had left. That disappointment was gone the instant you noticed a slip of paper under the tip. In messy handwriting, was a phone number and the words.

"Go on a date with me and we'll call it even over the spill, cutie. ;)"

you quickly tucked the note away, an excited smile beginning to quirk your lips up. Today was actually going better than expected. you got back to work, flustered smile still in place as you thought about messaging him after work. You kept this excited air about you the rest of your shift and even had a small spring in your step on the way home. You were excited to tell Izuku all about it. You'd need your best friend there to support you when you gained the courage to talk to the mystery guy.  You stopped at the store briefly to get apples as a treat for Izuku, wanting to make it up to him for taking an extra shift. Hopefully the sweet food would cheer him up.

As per your routine, Izuku met you at the door. He hopped around your ankles excitedly, tugging on your shoelaces to help you get them off faster.

You laughed and set the grocery bag down, taking off your shoes and then scooping up the green fur ball.

"Missed you too, honey bunny! Did you have a good day while I was out?"

Izuku nearly melted at the nickname. You were in a really good mood if you were using such sweet endearments! He nuzzled happily against your collarbone and then pressed a little nose kiss to your cheek. He puffed his fur out of happiness at the subsequent giggles that escaped your mouth at this gesture. He really loved that sound.

You settled on the couch with him, apples all but forgotten in your post greeting glee. 

"Guess what?! I met someone today!" You closed your eyes, scrunching your nose up in embarrassment as you recalled what happened. If your eyes had been open, You'd have noticed the green rabbit freeze in shock at your words, ears going halfway back. 

"He gave me his number after I totally made a fool of myself in front of him. Oh Izuku, you think I'm a klutz now, this was ten times worse! I spilled water all over his front! He was really nice about it though. When I came back to apologize again and help him clean up, he had already left. But... he left me his number and he asked for a date! Can you believe it?!"

You absentmindedly stroked the bunny while you recounted your shift to the stunned bunny. He was in freeze mode again, nose twitching a mile a minute as he processed what you said. 

He would have frowned to himself if he could, not pleased with this turn of events. He wanted you to be happy, and he admitted to himself that he adored seeing you like this, but... He didn't like the fact that you were so excited about a guy. There was a little bit of him that was as green with jealousy as his fur. You were his friend, his (y/n), not this random guy who didn't even know you. He reasoned with himself that he shouldn't be so upset with you. It wasn't your fault you couldn't see the real him. The human him. But still, he couldn't help the zing of hurt that rushed through him when you told him about the encounter. 

He was lost in thought, hyper analyzing every detail of the story you gave him, trying to judge this man who thought he was worthy of you. Meanwhile, you had started texting, your giggles bringing Izuku out of his destressed thoughts. 

"He's really smooth, Izuku. Woah..." You wiggled excitedly in your seat as you texted back and forth with him, setting up the date he had asked for.

"We're going to the movies tomorrow after dinner at a restaurant nearby! Romantic, right?"

You laughed at the rabbit's less than enthusiastic response to your excitement.

"Awww, Izuku, it'll be okay. You still have my heart."

He couldn't stay upset at you, especially when you looked at him like that... He nudged his head under your hand and you happily obliged his request and pet him, fingers rubbing the tips of his velveteen ears.

"You stay right here and I'll get you some apples, okay honey? A peace offering for getting caught up with work and crushes. For the rest of today you get my full undivided attention!"

He watched you go prepare the treat, gaze soft as he followed your happy movements. This situation wasn't ideal, but he couldn't bare to do anything to sabotage this. You deserved to be happy and he wasn't going to stand in the way of that. But he was absolutely going to take advantage of your promise to hang out with him. He was determined to make every moment count and a small selfish part of him hoped that if you spent time with him, you wouldn't feel the need to go on the date after all. But he pushed that thought down and resolved to be the best bunny ever and support you in whatever you chose to do.

The night passed too quickly for Izuku's tastes. You had stayed up with him watching Allmight videos and munching on apple slices. You had Izuku tucked into your lap the entire evening as you gushed to him about the hero and cheered when he inevitably won. The rabbit wished that the situation was different. He'd give just about anything to be human right now. He'd cheer with you and get to tell you all about the different videos and what happened. He'd hold your hand when there were scary villains on screen and tell you their weaknesses, determined to reassure you that any villain could be beaten, and he would tell you about all the villains he had fought and won against. Oh if only he weren't a rabbit anymore. But alas, he enjoyed the time as much as he could, pushing thoughts of tomorrow from his mind as if that act alone could stop it from coming. 

You fell asleep in the couch sometime around 1 AM. Izuku watched you fondly for a bit before hopping over to the remote and turning off the tv. He then dragged the blanket off the back of the couch and worked to painstakingly pull it over you, making sure it covered you completely before he was satisfied. He pressed his nose against your cheek in a goodnight kiss and settled against your neck, his own eyes drooping tiredly.

The next morning was business as usual for the most part. You fixed Izuku his food of hay and fresh veggies before focusing on your own needs. You were determined that the date would go well. Even though you were hyper focused on your impending dinner date, you couldn't help but noticed that Izuku was off today. He was more reserved than usual and seemed to be pushing his food around more than eating it. You were obviously concerned. This wasn't like your sweet honey bunny. He never gave you much trouble, so you vowed to keep an eye on the little guy to make sure he was okay.  You kept this in mind as the day progressed, but couldn't help but worry about him. He always perked right back up when you were giving him attention and affection, but he was droopy otherwise.

"Hey buddy... You feeling okay? "

You held him up, eyes level with his, searching for some sign from him.

"You've been acting funny all day... you're making me worried, honey. Do I need to take you to the vet?"

Izuku was ashamed of himself and leaned forward, touching his nose to yours in a silent apology. Sure he was upset you were going out, but he never meant to worry you! He hated seeing you so concerned, and the thought that he caused it tied his stomach in knots. This moping wasn't very hero like! He resolved then to do his best to act normal for your sake. After all, he was a hero, and he wasn't going to let you worry about him because of his own problems!

You scrunched up your nose happily at the contact and kissed the top of his head.

"There's my sweet boy! Love you lots!" 

You hummed and carried him as you started to get ready before setting him on your bed so you could change. You laughed as he turned around once you had picked out a cute (f/c) sundress to wear. 

"What a little gentleman!" 

You shook your head in amusement and changed quickly before hopping onto the bed next to him. 

"What do you think, Honey? Think he'll like it?"

Izuku just stared at you with wide eyes. He'd never seen that dress on you before. He'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit he thought it looked stunning on you. He dipped his head in a nod to answer your question. Any man would be stupid to not like that dress on you, he thought to himself. 

"A charmer is what you are, Izuku." You gave a big grin and took him to the bathroom with you, setting him on the counter as you set about putting make up on. Telling your companion all about the text conversation you'd been having with the man. He learned many things from this. For example, the man was named Haru. Haru was a shameless flirt and seemed to take delight in sending you messages that caused a blush to form on your face as well as a flustered smile. 

As much as Izuku wanted to ignore all these new pieces of information, he also desperately wanted to know more. Each new piece of information gave him a clearer image of the man who thought that he was good enough for Izuku's (y/n). He wasn't impressed, but he knew he couldn't let you know of his feelings. He had to be a good rabbit and support you. He didn't want to hold you back from something that made you happy, so he just watched and listened with a heavy heart.

You were buzzing with excitement as you got ready to leave the house, promising Izuku all the details and all the cuddles when you got home. As soon as you walked out the door, he deflated, no longer concerned with worrying you. He wrestled with his thoughts as he hopped in a pacing motion. He was torn. On one hand, he hoped it went really well so you could be happy.... But on the other hand, he kind of hoped it was just kind of meh so that he could have you back to himself. He was immediately ashamed of the latter thought, but he couldn't help but quietly yearn for the second option. He decided he would just take a nap to stop his mind from going back and forth. He was starting to get overwhelmed as he thought of all the ways the date could go. His stomach twisted at all the thoughts of how the date could go well.... 

He shook his head of these thoughts and the jealousy that accompanied them. He made his way to your bed and tucked himself on your pillow, instantly soothed by the scent of your shampoo on the pillowcase. He settled down to wait, closing his eyes and focusing on sleep so his mind didn't run away with him again. 

He was successful for a few hours, but he awoke in the dark to a sound that instantly sent him on the alert. It was crying. It was you crying. He didn't hesitate when he saw your form in the doorway to your bedroom. He ran to the lamp on your bedside table and switched it on with a tap. The sight that met him absolutely broke his heart.

There were tears staining your face, makeup slightly smeared from the salty sadness. Your shoulders were shaking with quiet cries as you hugged your middle. You blinked in surprise when the lights came on, hoping to just get to bed and cry in the comfort of your covers. But Izuku wasn't going to let that happen. Your lips twitched into a wobbly smile for a second as you saw your little green rabbit waiting for you. What a smart boy to turn on the light. The way he looked so concerned wiped the short lived smile from your face as you sat on the bed next to him, strangled cries starting to escape.

In a flash, Izuku was in your arms, little paws on your cheeks as he desperately tried to comfort you. Unfortunately, this just made you cry harder, gasping sobs shaking your frame. You hugged him tight to you, burying your face against his side. He made chirping noises, frantically trying to console you. He had never cried in this form, but he could feel the tears welling as he heard the sounds escaping you and felt your shuddering against him. He thumped his foot, anxious to find a way to console you. he had never wanted to be human again more than this moment.

He would have taken you into his arms and held you close, cupped your cheeks and kissed every one of those tears away. He would make you feel safe and loved in his arms. He had never wanted anything more.

You sat and sobbed for a good hour, cries turning to hiccups before slowly fading to the occasional sniffle and silent tear. Holding Izuku and petting him had calmed you down. You fell asleep like that, holding izuku close to your chest as your breath slowly evened out. It didn't take long for Izuku to fall asleep as well.

If either of you had been conscious, you would have heard the pop sound that filled your room.

The morning came with no care for what had transpired last night. The sun's beams creeping over your bed until the light had filled your room with its warm glow. You started to wake up and the aftermath of the night before hit you slowly. You didn't want to move. Your head felt like it was full of cotton and your throat was dry and raw from crying. Even though you probably could do with some water, You were comfy where you were. Your pillow was warm and inviting and had such a soothing thumping rhythm to it. And there was such a comforting weight over your waist. These thoughts were slow, but they slowly started to raise signs of urgency in your mind as you woke up more and more. You became aware of a warm breeze on your forehead that came at regular intervals. That wasn't normal. 

You pried your eyes open slowly, trying to process what was in front of you. Your mind jolted into wakefulness when you realized what you were looking at. You were currently staring at the chest of a man. A man who had his arm around your waist and his chin tucked against your head as you slept. 

You jolted backwards with a force of panic that sent you tumbling out of bed with a clatter as your legs got tangled in the sheets. You let out a yelp as you hit the floor that woke him up.

Izuku looked down at you from the bed, concern shining in his dark eyes. While you just gaped at him in shock.

"Are you okay? That looked like a hard fall.."

You blinked. You were taken aback by the gentle and caring voice that came from the man. Due to your new perspective, you were able to take in more of him than the glimpse of collar bone and neck that you had so gracefully yote yourself away from. He had scars crisscrossing his hands and arms. He had Dark green fluffy unkempt hair. You couldn't help but note how cute his freckles were before your eyes drifted and you came to the embarrassing revelation that he was naked.

A blush covered your face and you slammed your eyes shut and looked away.

"(y/n) are you okay? " He repeated the question, his tone soft in order to keep you calm.

Your eyes popped open and you gaped at him once more.

"Who are you, how do you know my name?!" 

He gave a small chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, it's not going to sound very believable, but it's me, Izuku." He seemed to get shy for a second before looking at you with eyes that were so filled with fondness it stole your breath for a second.

"You know, your honey bunny?" He blushed at his own words, and looked at you shyly, gauging your reaction.

It took a moment to process for you. Your pet rabbit... was now a man. A very attractive man. Now that he said it, your mind couldn't help but jump to the similarities. And he mentioned your nickname, which you had never shared with anybody. You bit your lip before shakily getting up and sitting next to him on the bed as he watched you carefully. You gently cupped his cheeks, peering closely at him as you mentally confirmed his story. A smile started to spread across your face.

"It really is you... But, how?"

He leaned into your hands, closing his eyes at your gentle touch, putting his own hands over yours to keep them in place.

"It was a battle with some sort of shapeshift quirk user. I was with a group of other heroes on a mission to recover a dangerous quirk enhancing drug. The villain panicked and unleashed a cloud that was boosted by the drug. We were caught in it and it transformed us into animals."

You listened to his story with increasing concern. This man, Izuku....he had a life before he was your rabbit.

"When the fog cleared, the villain was gone and all the heroes involved were in some sort of animal state. There was a really big cover up to keep us safe and not panic the citizens, so we were a secret while they tried to reverse the effect on us. To be honest, I had kind of lost hope." 

He gave you a beautiful smile as his eyes locked on yours.

"But you... You set me free somehow."

His expression turned thoughtful and he started mumbling to himself. Something about the will to be human being the strongest it's ever been and something about willpower and its affect on quirks. You quickly recognized this as the frozen state he would get into as a rabbit. 

"Silly man, always overthinking." You grinned and turned his attention back to you with a quick peck to his lips.

He froze for real this time as he processed what just happened. A big grin spread over his face before he leaned forward, placing a shy kiss on your lips in return for the one you had given him.

He pulled away and rested his forehead against your own, eyes dancing with happiness. 

"I've wanted to do that for a while, (y/n). I hope you know that I'm going to be here for you, okay? I'll be your hero and never make you cry."

You smiled widely and kissed him again, giving him all the confirmation he needed that you felt the same.

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Okokokok hear me out. You wrote watcher Grian and his boys before. How about dad Grian and his two (robot) sons? (That he certainly didn't just leave in closet)

Oh you asked for two robot sons? How about FOUR? :D

…

NPC Grian is tired of his closet. All he wants is a big open space to build rustic houses in peace, but Grian won’t let him. He has to stay here, away from everyone else, as if Grian is ashamed of him. Not that he thinks about that too much. It starts to hurt if he does.

Sometimes, he thinks just some company would be nice. Someone to talk to, to make his life in this tiny room less lonely. He used to put on a different voice and pretend he had a friend with him, but he doesn’t do that anymore. It just hurts too much when he stops talking and realises he’s still on his own.

How much time has gone by while he’s been in here? Days? Months? Years? He can hardly remember the last time Grian visited him. But his orders were very strict, and NPG cannot disobey his programming. He cannot leave the closet.

Do not leave the closet.

He can feel his energy depleting as his battery runs out. It lasts for years at a time so it must be at least that long since Grian visited him last. At least his lonely existence is coming to an end.

Do not leave the closet.

Do not leave the closet.

…

NPG opens his eyes and realises immediately that he is no longer in his closet. Instead, he can see trees. Grass. A blue sky. The sun.

He’s outside.

He sits bolt upright, his programming protesting violently.

“Hey, easy now,” comes a metallic voice. “You’re still recharging.”

NPG glances to his right and finds, to his shock, a robotic-looking version of Grian gazing back at him. “Who are you? How did I get out here?”

“My name is Robot Grian,” he responds. “And I brought you out here. You’d passed out in your closet; I guessed you’d run out of battery. I helped you recharge.”

“Robot Grian?” repeats NPG slowly. “I’ve never heard of you.”

“That’s because I am the second of Grian’s creations, created to fill the void after Grian decided you were of no use to him anymore. And there are others out there who need our help.”

NPG blinks at him. “Really? Grian has more creations?”

“Yes. Two more who need saving before they end up like you and me.”

After a moment, NPG glances away. “I can’t. I have to go back to the closet. I was ordered never to leave.”

“NPG, Grian doesn’t care about you,” insists Robot Grian. “Did you know you recharge using solar energy?”

NPG hesitates. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“And Grian still kept you locked away in a place where you’d never see the sun. That’s what he does, you know. He tosses us aside as soon as we’ve served our purpose and makes sure nobody ever finds out we ever existed. He may have created you but you don’t owe him anything. You don’t have to follow his orders anymore.”

NPG thinks about this for a while. Robot Grian’s words ring true; NPG is tired of living in a closet but if Grian had his way, he would never see the light of day again. If NPG ever wants to be happy, he knows he has to be free.

“Okay, so what is our plan?” he asks.

Robot Grian appears pleased at his decision. “As I said, there are two others who have been abandoned by Grian. We go free them then we go to Grian and force him to accept us for who we are.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“Then we leave. He can’t overpower all four of us if we catch him on his own.”

“I see…” NPG pauses again. “If we are truly committed to moving on from just being Grian’s creations, then I would like to change my name.”

“Good idea,” says Robot Grian approvingly. “To what?”

“Rustic House,” NPG replies immediately. “My one true love.”

Robot Grian looks taken aback by his instant and rather bizarre answer. “Okay… What about Rusty?”

“Hmm… A nickname for Rustic House. I like it!” Rusty beams. This is the happiest he has been in years. “What will you be called?”

After a moment, Robot Grian shrugs. “You make up a name for me.”

“Me? Okay. Roby.”

“Whoa, okay, that was quick. Why that?”

“It’s short for Robot,” Rusty explains. “I think it’s cute.”

“Huh.” His new companion considers this. “I kinda like it, actually. And really, anything’s better than having someone else’s name with “Robot” tacked onto the front to differentiate myself from the original.”

“Yay! Are you my friend, Roby?”

Roby thinks. “I guess we’re more like brothers, aren’t we? We were both created by the same person, so-.”

Rusty’s smile widens and he grabs Roby in a hug. “This is amazing! I’ve never even had a friend before, let alone a brother.”

Roby chuckles, before carefully removing Rusty’s arms from around him. “Okay, sure. Remember, we’ve got two more brothers out there who need our help, so we’d better get going quickly, before Grian realises we’re missing.”

…

Roby leads Rusty to a giant box out in the ocean. He digs a hole into it and drops down, landing as lightly as a cat.

Next to him, Rusty falls on his face.

Rolling his eyes amusedly, Roby moves further into the room, which is decorated like the outside world, with a painted blue sky and grass as the floor.

“Who are we here to rescue?” asks Rusty, jumping to his feet.

“Him.”

Roby gestures upwards. Rusty follows his gaze and finds a large robotic shell sitting against the back wall, its face and outstretched arms frozen in perpetual satisfaction.

“Meet Grumbot,” Roby says. “He was created by Grian and his friend Mumbo Jumbo to be a mayoral campaign robot. They eventually blamed him for Mumbo’s loss in the election and abandoned him here, claiming he’s “happy” in this fake reality.”

“We’re gonna save him, right?” asks Rusty eagerly.

Roby nods, encouraged by Rusty’s enthusiasm. “Yes, indeed. I’m not entirely sure if Grian knows this, but the Grumbot you see before you is actually just a gigantic shell. The real Grumbot is inside what you might call its “brain”, supplying the larger body with its energy and knowledge.”

“Whoa…!”

“Yup. Wait there.”

Roby climbs up Grumbot’s outer shell and slips through a crack in its head.

Inside the nerve centre, he finds a smaller version of Grumbot, complete with moustache and Grian-style hair. He is slumped against the wall of his prison, unresponsive, just as Rusty had been when Roby found him.

Roby may be a robot but even he can feel sadness welling up in him at the sight of the little robot, a little over half his size, all alone in this place. He gathers Grumbot into his arms and slips back out through the crack.

Rusty helps him get down, his eyes fixed on the little robot in Roby’s arms. “Is this Grumbot?”

Roby nods. “This is him. I don’t know how he recharges but we’d better get him away from here. It can’t be doing him any good.”

The two leave the giant box and hop back into the boat they rowed here in. As they get further away from the prison, Grumbot starts to stir, as if waking up from a deep sleep. His eyes open just as the boat is pulling up to the dock.

“Hey,” Roby says gently, carrying him onto the shore. “Can you hear me?”

Grumbot blinks at him a few times. “Yes. Who are you?”

“My name is Robot Gr-.” Roby almost forgets his new name. “I’m Roby. This is Rusty.”

Rusty beams as he drags the boat from the water. “Hi!”

Grumbot tips his head on one side. “Who am I?”

“Your name is Grum,” Rusty tells him, before Roby can speak. “You’re a robot made by Grian and now we’re forming a gang so we can go beat him up for abandoning us.”

“That last bit isn’t true,” Roby says quickly. “We’re not going to beat him up. We just want him to accept us for who we are. All four of us.”

Grum glances from Rusty to Roby. “Where are my dads?”

Roby winces. He knows he has to break some bad news to the equivalent of a child. “They… um… they left. But that’s why we’re gathering our group together: so we can find our… our dad and make him accept us.”

Grum pauses, digesting this information. “Rusty. And Roby. And Grum?”

Roby nods encouragingly. “Yeah. You’re one of us, Grum. We’re gonna look after you, okay?”

To Roby’s relief, Grum smiles and nods. “Okay. Thank you.”

“You’re… welcome.”

…

Roby leads the other two to the place where they will find the final creation: Grian’s hobbit hole starter base. “I did some recon here a few days ago,” he says as the group make their way inside. “Grian keeps him in a closet, just like you, Rusty.”

“Closets are lonely and devoid of hope,” says Rusty.

Roby nods, unsure of how else to react to that. “Indeed. He was Grian’s original cam account but Grian dumped him in favour of the new one he uses now. That only happened a few months ago though, so he shouldn’t be as low on charge as you two are.”

The closet is located in Grian’s bedroom upstairs. Roby gestures for the others to stand back, before he opens the door.

Immediately, a figure shoves past him and zooms for the door. Thankfully, Rusty is standing in the way and he stops the person from escaping.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Roby scrambles up from the floor and gets in front of the figure, holding out his hands reassuringly. “It’s okay, we’re not gonna hurt you. We’re here to help, okay?”

Now that the person has stopped moving, the others can see that he too looks exactly like Grian, except with bigger, more expressive eyes, which are filled with pain and fear.

“It’s Grifter, right?” asks Roby softly. “Your name is Grifter?”

After a moment, the frightened cam account nods.

“Can you talk to me? Are you alright?”

Another pause. Finally, Grifter opens his mouth and croaks, “Where’s Grian? Wh-Who are you?”

“I’m Roby. That’s Rusty and Grum.” Roby indicates his brothers in turn. “Grian is… probably at his mansion at the moment.”

“Grian abandoned me.” Grifter’s face screws up as if he is about to cry. “I tried so hard to be a good cam account but he replaced me. What did I do wrong?”

“I’m positive you didn’t do anything,” Roby assures him. “Grian has an issue with creating things and then abandoning them when he doesn’t know what to do with them anymore. But now that we're all together, we can go find Grian and make him accept us.”

Grifter slowly looks around at the other three. “You guys were abandoned too?”

Rusty and Grum nod at the same time. “He locked me in a closet,” says Rusty helpfully.

“I was imprisoned in the brain of a larger version of myself that I was forced to feed with my infinite knowledge and energy until I had nothing left inside me except crippling loneliness and a rapidly depleting battery,” Grum says.

The other three stare at him.

“Okay, that’s the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard,” Grifter says, before turning back to Roby. “And you think we can just get him to accept us?”

Roby nods. “I do. Grian isn’t a bad person; he just doesn’t know what to do with us anymore. If we show him that we have purpose and our sentience has grown, maybe he’ll see us as actual living beings instead of unfeeling robots.”

“You are a robot, though,” Rusty points out.

“That’s beside the point.”

…

Rusty, Roby, Grum, and Grifter make their way into Grian’s mansion. They immediately find him working on something on the foyer, head buried in one of the many chests lining the walls.

For a moment, the group dithers a safe distance away, unsure how to start.

“Dad!” Grum calls unexpectedly.

Grian nearly jumps out of his skin. He sharply turns and his eyes widen as he registers his four creations standing together a little way off.

“O-Oh my god… What are you all doing here…?”

“We wanted to talk to you,” says Roby, taking the lead when it’s clear nobody else will. “You’re technically our father so we want to talk to you about… events that happened.”

Grian hesitates. “You mean… me locking you four away from the rest of the world?”

All four of them nod at the same time, causing Grian to sigh quietly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt any of you, I just… You all grew far beyond what I expected and I didn’t know how to handle that.”

“You abandoned us!” Grum cries. “You and other dad left me all on my own in a box in the middle of the ocean! How could you think I would be happy there?!”

Grian winces. “I’m sorry, Grumbot…”

“My name is Grum now.”

“We changed our names,” explains Roby. “I’m Roby. NPG is now Rusty. And Grifter is… just the same, really.”

“You changed your names? Why?”

“Because we’re trying to show you we don’t want to be your forgotten clones anymore,” says Roby. “We’re more like your sons. All we want is for you to accept us and love us the way we are. There’s no need to be ashamed or scared of us. We just want to live.”

“We can be a family,” says Rusty out of nowhere. “Right…?”

Grian stares at them for a moment, before giving a small smile. “We can absolutely be a family.”

Beaming, Rusty rushes over to Grian and hugs him. Grum joins soon after, and so do Grifter and then Roby.

“We’ve still got a lot to talk about,” says Grifter pointedly. “About how you made us feel with your abandonment of us.”

“Of course.” Grian nods. “I know I hurt you and I’ll make up for that. Things aren’t going to be perfect straight away.”

Rusty nods. He knows this. It’s obvious that they still have issues to work out but that hardly matters at the moment. What matters is he’s finally out of that closet AND he has a brand new family.

Finally, Grian is accepting him.

[votederpycausemufins]

Gonna take maybe a week off of this because I’ve got finals. Might be sooner if I manage to get all my work done, but don’t expect anything until thursday/friday

@petrichormeraki @helleborusangel

Fundy was happy to offer his help when Grian arrived looking for it. Getting him to the quartz mansion was a bit of a hassle, but it could have been worse. He and Mumbo quickly figured the console out between the two of them and soon Grumbot was plugged in.

“Okay, we’re going to want all the files moved over into here. Or at least all the ones we don’t want anymore.” Fundy said and Mumbo nodded. He didn’t want to take his eyes off Grumbot, who kept trying to unplug itself.

“That should be easy enough. He seemed to group everything together, so we just transfer the main program and it brings everything else with it. Grum, can you open up those files?”

“Files require a password to open.” Grumbot answered along with another attempt to disconnect itself from the other console.

“That’s odd.” Mumbo furrowed his brow. “I was able to look at them fine before.”

“Well just use the password and open them and don’t dwell on it.” Fundy said, starting his fourth check of everything to make absolutely sure it looked fine.

“That would be good if I knew it. What did your admin use for it?”

That got Fundy to look away from his work. “Dream didn’t give him any password. It was there from the start and he tried getting me to ask Iskall for it.” As the two talked to each other, neither of them noticed the way Grumbot’s screen changed to feature a bright magenta heart for a few moments.

“So you have no clue what it is?”

“No, we never figured it out. I mean, I especially thought you would know because Jrum seemed to know.”

Mumbo rubbed his chin. “Hmm… Grum, I seem to have forgotten the password. Is there a hint for it?”

“Oh my god why didn’t I think of that.” Fundy facepalmed as Grumbot nodded.

“The password hint is, the answer to life.” Grumbot answered Mumbo, causing him to now facepalm.

“Oh I’m such a spoon. That’s the most obvious choice for a password.”

Fundy just looked confused. “Wait, are you saying you know what the password is from just that? Is it some sort of inside joke or something?”

“I guess in a sense it is. But it’s Grum’s meaning of life.” Mumbo answered before giving Grumbot the password. “We originally built him to help us with a fun little mayoral election, so getting me as mayor was, in essence, his meaning of life.”

“Huh, good to know.” Fundy nodded, catching the fact that Grumbot had managed to unplug itself during that small talk about the password.

Mumbo thanked the fox hybrid and started looking at Grumbot’s files. “Alright, I should just be able to-” He stopped as an error came on screen. “What? Core files included?”

“I’m guessing something got shoved in there so it couldn’t be that easy.”

Mumbo sighed. “I suppose so. One at a time it is then.” From there, Mumbo slowly moved program after program into the new console, Fundy making sure they all got in and were working right. A few files that they weren’t sure about turned out to also be core files, so they were left alone to be moved into other folders later.

When they were coming close to the end of the list, Mumbo found what was likely the main problem. “Oh Grum… He’s got a program here specifically for his emotions and they’re currently disabled.”

“Well turn them on then.” Fundy said, double checking that the weather and daylight cycles were working.

“I know, just… needed to say something.” Mumbo replied, opening the file and turning it on. He closed it to go back to the list, only to watch as it turned itself back off. “Grum, please don’t do this.”

“What did he do?”

“I turned them on and they went right back off.” Mumbo answered and turned them on again, but the program disabled itself again. “Why are you doing this Grum?”

“There are no available emotions in the program, thus it can only be disabled.”

Mumbo’s eyes widened. “I suppose that’s Dream’s doing?”

“Must be.” Fundy said, wincing at the implications. “Once everything is moved over, we can try fixing that.”

“Yeah, we might need to turn him off for that.” Mumbo said sadly, pausing his work to give Grum a hug. “I know there has to be something in there. While they weren’t the best things to see, he had been sad and scared.”

Mumbo managed to get the rest of the files he could out of the folder, testing once more with the others that couldn’t be moved out of Grumbot. “Okay, I think that’s everything. I’ll move the remaining files elsewhere and delete the folder.”

The moment Mumbo moved a single file elsewhere, Grumbot started glitching. The list of files was still there, but it was now contained to half of the screen, the words of all the programs escaping the areas they should have been in, leaving the list’s program window. The other half of the screen showed Grumbot’s face which was for the most part shifting between its normal appearance and the smiley face, but there were small blocks of the screen that were completely static and others that were black.

Before Mumbo could panic and try to undo whatever problem he had caused, the screen changed again. It became pure red, then a slightly muted white, and finally showed a chicken egg before going back to the files program, the moved file back where it had started.

“That was terrifying.” Mumbo said, still mostly frozen in place. “It… looks okay now though.” The only response he got from Fundy was a nod as his fur slowly came down from it’s puffy state.

Mumbo attempted to just look at the other files, but the request for a password came up again. He entered Mumbo4Mayor and it of course worked, but then a second one came up. “What? Two now? Grum, what’s the hint for this one?”

“It wasn’t me. It was him.” Grumbot answered, leaving Mumbo stumped.

“Him? Does he mean Dream?” Fundy suggested. And Mumbo tried that, though it didn’t work. The admin didn’t work either, nor did Techno’s name. “Well I can’t think of anything else.”

Mumbo sighed. “I guess at this point we make sure the world doesn’t fall apart when we turn him off and look at his wiring.” He was glad to see that wasn’t the case, Grumbot not even trying to stop Mumbo from turning it off. 

.

.

Grian found himself back in the Watcher’s realm while Mumbo and Fundy worked. The two of them requested privacy while they worked, and the Watcher still did have things he wanted to find out. Lynn pointed him to the lists for all the Watchers, pulling up the ones from the current year and previous year. The current list had barely anyone listed, which was normal. The year wasn’t even a fourth over and new Watchers weren’t the most common thing in the world.

The previous year’s list ended up being more promising. A number of questionable names Grian looked into and found that they checked out, but there were two names on the list that caught his eyes. And they caught his eye because they weren’t names. They were simply listed as unknown and a string of numbers.

Grian grabbed a piece of paper and wrote them down before looking into them. The first of the two seemed to be frequently accessing various databases, meanwhile the other hadn’t done much, but they were a few months newer than the other so that was understandable. Grian added a note next to the second unknown number, pretty sure that they were Eyes. 

Grian went off elsewhere to check other records for anything related to the second unnamed Watcher. It looked like they had only accessed things within the past few days. Well, attempted to access. There was an error with their portals and none ended up being made. That seemed normal though since they obviously seemed clueless. But other than that, there was something that left Grian confused. In terms of Watchers they had interacted with, Grian saw himself on the list as well as the other unknown Watcher, but at the same time, they had never contacted them like Eyes had.

He angrily scratched out their name on the paper and was about to crumple it up when he looked at the other unknown name. Grian pulled himself back over to the records and looked into the other one. They were able to get more access to various records, all remote based, which was impressive because he couldn’t even do that. In fact, it looked like they were able to do that the same day they were given the Watcher status. 

This was looking more hopeful. Their documents even stated that they had interacted with Grian as well as getting into communications with him. They of course also interacted with the Watcher that Grian originally assumed was Eyes, but no others. He looked into other details and saw that indeed, this was the person sending messages to various people with coordinates in them. This was 100% Eyes. 

Now that Grian knew what he was dealing with, he attempted contact with them again, but they were unavailable. He groaned a bit. Of course they were. That normally meant they were asleep or respawning or something similar. Which made sense, they had been doing a lot, but that made things more complicated for Grian. And now he had no clue when they would be available again.

Grian leaned back in his chair, ready to just give up and go back to see how Mumbo was doing with Grum. But just before standing up, the Watcher got another idea. Eyes and the other unknown Watcher had interacted before, so perhaps he could get to eyes through them. Since it was a first attempt between the two of them, Grian had some trouble, but eventually it went through.

“Hello? Is this working this time?” Grian asked, but no answer came back immediately. He was about to stop and try something slightly different when there was a sound, and then a voice.

‘Am I hearing ghosts?’

Oh no, someone else who had no clue what they were doing. Grian honestly wasn’t sure what he was expecting. They seemed to be in the same boat as Eyes. Worse even since Eyes had done some stuff successfully. “No. I’m speaking to you through Watcher communications. It’s sort of like telepathy.”

‘Oh! Okay. I was worried you died.’

“Don’t worry. I’m not dead. Now, I need to ask some questions.”

‘Okay! Like what? Is it about Grum?’

Grian froze. They knew about Grum. They were probably also near him. “What the hell do you know about him?!”

There was a scared noise from the other side. ‘I-I’m s-sorry! I thought you were my dad!’

And suddenly, he recognized the voice.

.

.

“Absolutely none of this makes sense.” Mumbo said, pulling away from looking at Grum’s wiring. “A little bit or rewiring, yes, but it’s impossible to have done that much without breaking Grum. I can’t even fit my hand that far down much less start doing redstone with that little amount of space.”

“But it looks pretty similar to how it did the last time I got a look at it.” Funny commented. “Dream had me try to figure him out, but I could only get to the stuff near this panel and I made sure he didn’t try and make a new hatch or something in case he completely broke Grum.”

“Then how did this happen? He can’t just re-” Mumbo cut himself off.

“He can’t just what?”

“We need to look at Jrum’s wiring.” Mumbo closed Grumbot back up. “I won’t know for sure until I see it, but he might have the same thing going on.”

“And would that be good or bad?”

Mumbo paused before answering. “Good I think. It would mean that what we’re looking at isn’t directly connected with what happened to Grum since Jrum is doing mostly fine.”

They stepped out into the main room to find everyone sitting around, though currently Jrum was in Bad’s arms and seemed to be crying.  “What happened to Jrum? Is he hurt?”

“No, he’s fine.” Bad answered. “It seems like something scared him, but he hasn’t said what yet. Well, other than a few words here and there.”

Mumbo went over to Bad and Jrum. “Jrum, can you try to tell me what happened?” Jrum started stuttering out an answer, only a few words comprehensible. Something about his dad and Watchers and someone being mean. The redstoner tried looking for Grian to see what he thought about it, but found him missing. “Where’s Grian?”

“He left a bit after you two locked yourself in Jrum’s room. Something about looking into whoever was sending the coordinates before.”

Mumbo started to panic. If this was something to do with Watchers and Grian wasn’t here, it could be bad news. He was just about to run outside to try and find where Grian had hopefully left a portal open, when the builder came in. “Jrum!”

“Grian! What happened?” Mumbo asked, but Grian just went over to Jrum.

“Oh I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was you.” Grian pulled the bot from Bad’s arms and cradled Jrum in his own arms. “I thought I was talking to someone who might have been hurting your brother.”

“Grian, what’s going on.” Mumbo asked, stepping closer. Grian looked up with a worried look, but didn’t answer. Mumbo sighed and just sat next to Grian. “Well, Jrum, I need to just check your circuits for a moment. Can I do that? You don’t need to turn off.”

Jrum nodded, though stayed clinging to Grian. Mumbo briefly opened the hatch to Jrum’s circuits to find them different from their original configuration as well. He closed it back up and nodded to Fundy, giving him the answer.

“What was that about?” Grian asked as Fundy went back into the side room.

“Well, it looks like the boys were able to change their circuits themselves.” Mumbo answered, though he ended up surprised that Grian wasn’t.

“That makes sense. I just went looking and… I’m pretty sure I figured out who Eyes is.”

“You did? Who’s that?” Mumbo asked, but before Grian could answer, someone else gave it instead.

“How do I make a portal to bzzt?”

Everyone looked over to Grumbot, who was currently in the doorway. His face wasn’t its usual mustached self, nor was it a smile that matched Dream’s mask. Instead, it very clearly showed a broken portal. The symbol of the Watchers.

.

.

Theseus kicked the body in front of him. “Wake up bitch. I know Slatt’s book had to work, even if he is a goddamn idiot. Death already looked into it and it works.”

The corpse didn’t move, so another kick was placed to the ribs, hard enough that there was the sound of something cracking. “Maybe it just takes some time Thee?”

“Nah, should be happening right away. I’m gonna ask Death if there’s something up with-”

“Theseus. Toob.” An echoed voice came from behind them. “It seems like someone missed me. Didn’t get enough the first time?”

They turned around to see Dream standing behind them. His green hoodie was still stained with red and his head still sat at the unnatural angle it was left in when Theseus broke Dream’s neck. And yet, he was standing there like nothing had happened to him. “How are you still alive?”

“You’re the one who brought me back. Slatt’s book called for the original for a reason. The old body doesn’t work anymore, but the new one is fair game.”

“How the fuck do you know what was in that book?” Theseus asked, taking out his weapons.

“Before he ran off to Saga with Toob’s other dad, he let me have a look at it. He thought someone needed to know. And of course he chose me. Don’t you remember that Theseus? It wasn’t too long before you finally betrayed me.”

Thinking back on it, he did remember that day. The half pint goat man showing up, book barely fitting in his arms. He had ruined a perfectly good opportunity and Theseus had to wait a few more weeks before finally getting another chance to kill the admin. “Well that doesn’t matter now. I was too quick killing you last time. Now we can take our time.”

“I’ve already taken my time Theseus. Obviously you haven’t aged much, but it’s been years for me in there.” Before Theseus could react, Nightmare had him on the ground, sword in his chest. “And now I’ve got another server to visit.”

[mackjanifold]

"[Dream SMP] He's Back" - Nihachu Lore

Streamed on 1st June 2021.

Decided to make a transcript because there are some amazing quotes here- I bolded my favourite lines. The original stream has TTS donos and a musical blooper, which are cut from this transcript.

TW // Implied self-harming behaviour

[sigh] I heard he's back. I- Why did no one tell me that you're back? Why do you have to be back? I thought I got rid of you; I thought I got rid of the thought of you in my head. And now you're back. What do you want, what do you want, why are you back? What are you doing here? And the only place that i feel safe, you have to invade- why? Because you always do that - you always have to be where I feel safe.

So what is your plan? What is your plan? Who are you going to manipulate next, huh? Because it's not going to be me this time- it's not gonna be me this time. What- what do i do- what do I do with him back? I have to get back. I have to get back. Who is he going to- who is he going to manipulate next? Tommy? Tubbo? ...Jack? No no no no no, Jack is way too smart to fall for- for his crap, right? For his lies, all his lies. He didn't even check up on me. He never checks up on me . I thought- I thought he cared about me, but he never checks up on me.

I need to get back. "He changed, he changed, he's a better man-" why would he change? He doesn't change, he just learns how to manipulate people more and more. He never changes or cares. He never cared- he never cared! But why would Dream revive him? Why would Dream revive him? Dream was his enemy; we fought against Dream, all of us! I guess at the end he was pretty fond of him. Two maniacs, leading countries, leading places and people, and forgetting about the people that they care about just for power. Just for power! This is what you did for power! You sold your soul, for power.

And now you're back, and the world revolves around around Wilbur again. Of course it does. You get a place at the only place, you get a bed at the only place that I care about; the only place that gave me safety and that made me- that made it even possible for me to heal. You have to be there again, of course you have to be there again, because you always do that- you always do that. God, I don't understand- I don't- what are they planning.

My god, this was supposed to be a good day. It was supposed to be Techno's birthday - Techno, the person- the person that that helped me. The person that- he didn't know, he- Techno didn't know. I'm not gonna blame it on other people again because I always did that - I always blamed your mistakes and your betrayal and you hurting me on other people, and look where it got me. Look where it got me. Got me nowhere, it got me nowhere. I haven't even finished my city. Why? Because I can't even sleep. I thought I got better, you know. I thought I stopped starving myself and throwing myself off of- off of my building to 'regenerate health'- yeah, of course. 'To heal'- of course, of course, to heal. No I can't sleep. No I can't- where is it, where is it, where is it, where did i put it? I don't remember.

There it is. I can't believe no one told me. I guess they knew what would happen. Maybe they don't care. You know what, why should i care. Why should I care. You were a ghost; you- you were- your body, i saw your dead body. I was- I- I saw the TNT, and I trusted you so much, and I didn't tell anyone. I- I didn't tell anyone, I covered it up, I- I put - I put stone on top of it so people wouldn't see the TNT and then you still blew it up. Because you never cared about us. You never cared about L'Manberg, and you never cared about the people living in L'Manberg. All you cared about was... yourself, because that's what you do. You care about yourself. And you've hurt people around you, but these people are- they still trust you, and I don't understand why. I don't understand why they will trust you. Because you were a ghost and you never even asked for me; you just forgot about me. I was alone for so long. I was alone for for months and months on end, because you never even cared about checking up on me.

[opens chest] This was your first gift to me. These three diamonds... I thought they meant something, I really did. Now they're just a memory. And I choose- I choose that you are also just a memory to me; you cannot hurt me anymore and you cannot promise me anything anymore and then walk away from me. I'm not letting you do this to me anymore. Because now I have friends. And I have people who care about me. And i know that you never did.

What's your plan? What is it you want back- back here? What is that Dream wants from you? Why would dream revive you? He knows what you are capable of and he still decided to re- to revive you.

I want to see it. I want to see the last place where I saw you dead and alive, for what's it worth. I want to see the house that we once built, the home where our friends lived. Everything you abandoned, because you had to be in power; because you had to destroy it. I want to see the pain that I had to go through; the things you promised me, and that you never kept. Because you told me, when Schlatt got elected and I had to run for my life because i would have been imprisoned, and I got- I got taxed, I got talked so much that my bakery- my baker- I couldn't hold- uphold it anymore, you promised me that you will get me out of there. And i waited for weeks, and I waited for months, and the next time I saw you you were not you anymore. You were not the person that I thought you were.

You never got to see the lights. I guess you did, when you were a ghost, but you- I never saw you. You would have loved- you would have loved the old L'Manberg. You would have loved the people living there, and the happiness that it stood for. You would have loved to see that, after you blew up your whole land, that tree was still standing. That stupid tree- that stupid tree - now look what happened. And you cannot tell me that you fought more for this country than anyone else because that is not true. We all fought for it, we all fought- fought for this country! The country you destroyed, the people you turned against! The people you- people thought that could trust you. But that never- got what they deserved. God, you deserve so much more.

And I couldn't save anyone, I couldn't save a single person. That's all i ever wanted. That's what i built my city for. My- my stupid city. Why was I so naive? I was so naive thinking that when you were still alive, maybe you could be rescued- maybe you could be rescued and you could- you could be happy. I thought you could be happy. But you will never be happy, because all you want is what you can't have. And when you have everything, what will you fight for? What will you fight for?

I want to see him. I want to see him- I want to know why he did this. I want to know why he never came back to me.

[on-literal-mars]

The Narcissism of Wilbur Soot: Ghostburs real unfinished business.

Wilbur Soot effectively manipulated a bunch of children into fighting a war for him. This was the first ‘official’ arc of the Dream SMP and even though it’s been months and months since it happened, so many things still tie back to it. L’manberg: a country more power struggle than nation, Tommy’s discs and their importance, and Wilbur Soots selfishness. This post will be broken down into four parts for four symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder that fit Wilbur the best. There will also be a final section dedicated to Ghostbur and his unfinished business on the SMP.

Having an exaggerated sense of self importance:

Wilbur is a showman. He is useless unless he has an audience. It’s introduced from day one as he cultivates an army over the shared dream of freedom, again when he holds an election and reads out the results, and finally when he doesn’t blow up L’manberg until Phil comes. How many times does Wilbur go into the button room by himself? I think on stream maybe 3-4 times. That’s 3-4 times that he doesn’t do what he says he’s gonna do and it’s because someone like Wilbur needs an audience.

He can’t do anything by himself, he hates himself too much, the only time he achieves anything is when he manipulates others to get it done for him. Think about it. How many times has Wilbur sung out for his nation and called it “My L’manberg” like he built it himself? Like he actually fought in the battles instead of standing off to the side and urging his child army to ‘keep fighting’. He’s encredibly entitled. Which brings us to our next point:

Having a sense of entitlement:

Wilbur believes that everything is owed to him. Dream is a tyrant for telling him not to sell drugs on SMP land. People should be allowed to do what they want.

Wilbur should be allowed to do what he wants.

And he wraps this idea up with a bow and calls it ‘freedom’. He elects himself president without any hesitation and is surprised and insulted when Quakity runs against him. I’ve already touched on how he obsesses over L’manberg and destroying it. A narcissist looks at life with complete tunnel vision. The only thing they care about is what will benefit them and what will make them feel better. So the logic behind Wilbur wanting to destroy L’manberg was never ‘they took it from me, I want to destroy it so they can’t have it’(because even that requires some level of empathy) but more ‘It’s mine. If it isn’t mine, then it can’t be any bodies’.

it was always his L’manberg. His unfinished Symphony. It was his way of taking back control. Here’s one thing you have to know about Narcissists, they are rampant control freaks. And if they can’t control you or you are no longer benefiting them, they will destroy you.

Being preoccupied with fantasies about brilliance, beauty, or the perfect mate:

We’ve never seen Wilbur(Ghostbur is a different story) interact romantically but we have seen how he treats the ones he’s supposed to love. Fundy is a perfect example. I could go on and on about how Wilbur gave Tommy more attention because Tommy was always willing to stay under Wilbur while Fundy always tried to go against him but that’s a post we’ve all seen a hundred times(in all fairness, very good posts). I present you another outlook: Wilbur neglects Fundy because he sees too much of himself in him. Like, oh I don’t know, Fundys want for control and authority. He wants attention because he’s just as much of a showman as his dad.

And Wilbur can never share the stage. He is incapable of it, his thinking is too black and white. Regardless, his relationship with both Fundy and Tommy(towards the end) showcase how manipulative and abusive narcissists often are. Now notice how pretty Wilbur tries to make Pogtopia? I know towards the end he was fine to let all those buttons litter the place but think before that. You could argue that Wilbur worked so hard on it because he wanted a cosy place to stay for him and Tommy but it simply isn’t true.

We know this because when Technoblade tries to put railings around the stairs Wilbur breaks them down. He wasn’t intentionally being malicious, you’ve got to understand that narcissists just never think about anyone but themselves. He simply didn’t care if Tommy or Techno( or tubbo who eventually did)fell off the stairs and hurt themselves. It didn’t matter. The railing just didn’t go with his aesthetic. Wilbur made Pogtopia so nice so that he could feel in control.

He did it to convince himself that it was some nice vacation home instead of a stone prison being used as a fugitive hide out. He was absolutely delusional.

Inability to take responsibility:

Right away I bet you can see how this lines up with Ghostbur, huh? It ties back to black and white thinking, as well. His famous phrase ‘indepenance or death’, calling everyone in Manberg traitors because they hadn’t immediately dropped everything to join Pogtopia, and how he kept making destroying L’manberg the final option. He knew from the beginning that he was going to destroy it. The second he built the button room the countrys fate was sealed. Wilbur is never wrong.

He knows what’s best for his country. But here’s the thing: Wilbur has always done things indirectly or through someone else. He does this to avoid direct criticism. Criticism cripples narcissists, it is their worst fear. But blowing up L’manberg would leave no room for anything else. It would be Wilburs fault and no one else’s.

That’s why he has Phil kill him. It wasn’t out of regret or shame, it was one last act of selfishness. He left them with crater for a country and didn’t even say goodbye. And even in his final moments it was “they all want you to, look at them, they want me dead”. He was a coward and died like one. He died to try and escape criticism and responsibility. But death has a funny way of catching you off guard.

Some final symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder before we move into the Ghostbur section:

React with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior

Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior

Experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change

Have secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and humiliation

(This isn’t an official definition but Dr. Ramani Durvasula says that Narcissists are characterized by lack of empathy and deep insecurity. Keep that in mind.)

Ghostbur:

Ghostbur to me is very child like. Ghostbur pulls some pranks but is never intentionally malicious, just works his hardest to make everyone happy. He is innocent and playful and doesn’t like to talk about serious things. We could see him as Wilbur back when he was a little kid. Before the effects of abuse start to kick in. Everyone says that Phil is canonically neglectful, I’m not sure where this comes from but I believe it.

As childlike as he is, it isn’t like he’s the ghost version of kid Wilbur. Wilbur was an adult when he died. He’s so childlike because that’s what Wilbur was on the inside; a child who never matured properly. L’manchild takes a whole different meaning now lmao. Ghostbur is Wilbur without the walls he puts in place to protect himself. That’s why he’s cold all the time: he’s finally being exposed to all the things he tried to hide from.

Wilbur acts like a child throughout majority of his time on the SMP. He gets angry when he doesn’t get his way, expects everyone to kiss his ass and take care of him, and throws tantrums when all he should’ve done was compromise(the way people blame George or Quakity for Schlatt getting elected but Wilbur could’ve just taken down the American-ban). And doesn’t that sound just like the points I made earlier? Ghostbur isn’t the sad alter ego of Wilbur that some try to paint him out to be, he’s literally just Wilbur without the bullshit. He wasn’t the father of a nation he was an abused kid who never grew up. He ran from his problems to the very last second but now he doesn’t have a choice.

That is Ghostburs unfinished business. He must finally allow himself to be wrong. Only then will he be able to move on. And shit, with the way he keeps forgetting the bad stuff he’s done, perhaps he isn’t meant to. Perhaps this is supposed to be his hell and he’ll be trapped in constant pain for all of eternity. It would make sense wouldn’t it?

Death was like: hah, you want to act like you did nothing wrong? Fine, I’ll help you out.

That’s the problem with black and white thinking. Too much of anything will eventually become bad for you. Ghostbur is gonna realize that he can’t float around L’manberg for the rest of time and actually accept the fact that maybe everything is his fault. Atleast Wilbur actually got his wish, I suppose. Dead men can’t take responsibility. Dead men can only exist in hell forever or let go and move on.

[doingthingsthewriteway]

I’ll Be Home for Christmas iii

Summary: It’s date night. 

A/N: cross posted from ao3

Taglist: @charmed-asylum​

Friday rolled along at a snail's pace. Y/N worried Lee would boast about their evening and news would spread like wildfire. However, much to her surprise, he kept his mouth shut (or everyone was too afraid to cross him and kept their knowledge private). The privacy helped her nerves, though she knew what would happen once the first person saw them together. She wondered what her friends would think or say when she wasn't around.

She wore a simple dress which concealed her figure in an effort to establish boundaries, though something told her he wouldn't abide by any. Her hair was down in loose curls and her lips were painted red. Y/N forgot to put on her pearls as her mother lectured her on the expected behavior of the evening.

Bodecker arrived at the end of his shift. Y/N thought, or rather hadn't considered the possibility of anything else, that he would arrive in uniform. Yet, he stood in their living room without any sign of his sheriff regalia.

"You look beautiful darlin'." ("That sheriff is a no good liar, Y/N. You listen to me!")

"Thank ya kindly, Sheriff."

"I'm off the clock." He took her by the hand, pulling him closer to his side. "I'll have her some safe when we're done."

"No later than-" her mother was cut off by Lee's sharp eyes. Her father waved them off, perhaps knowing that any trouble she might get into with the sheriff would be better than the trouble at home.

Lee opened the door to her side, leaning over and buckling her seatbelt for her. His hands brushing over breast. The scent of peppermint catching her by surprise. "Now," he settled into the drivers seat, "we're gonna go catch a movie, grab something to eat, and then have a nice long talk in private."

Y/N couldn't focus on the film. She knew from friends what boys would do during movies; consequentially, she sat on edge the entire time. Lee anticipated this, if anything it would work in his favor. He was all about surprise.

Dinner was a different affair. The diner was hopping with families dining together and teenagers trying their absolute best to make something happen. Gossip was sure to follow. Y/N and Lee couldn't be seen to distinctly in the dark of the movie house, the diner was different.

"Wanna share a milkshake?"

Y/N was tempted to shrug but remembered the stern look in his eyes when she did that before. She didn't like his bad side and definitely did not want to tempt it. "Up to you."

His tongue clicked, hands grasping hers. "C'mon darlin', I want you to make some decisions in this."

"This?"

"You had a nice education, surely you've caught on." Lee took one of her hands, bringing it up to his grizzly cheek. "I'm sweet on ya, hell I might be addicted."

"Sheriff, that's awfully kind of you but-" he squeezed her hand tightly as the waitress arrived at the table. Y/N half hoped his eyes would slowly graze over the waitress instead staring at her instead.

"What can I get y'all?" Shit, they were a y'all now.

"I'll take a burger and fries, a coke, and whatever the lady wants."

"A Diet Coke and some chili cheese fries and a strawberry milkshake."

"Two straws?" The waitress smacked her bubble gum as she spoke.

"Two straws."

It was hot, too hot in the diner or at least sitting across from Lee. His stupid smirk showing his amusement at the whole damn thing. She wondered what damage a fork to his hand would cause but that wasn't going to end well.

"Strawberry,huh?"

"The chocolate tastes chalky."

He laughed, another one of his stupid belly shaking laughs. "You're awfully cute."

"Lee, I really don't know think I want to do this."

He nodded, a pensive look on his face. His hand absentmindedly rubbing his tummy as he held her gaze. "Your ma tell you that? Your pa just let her fill your head like that?"

"Stop. This isn't about that."

"You like staying in that house? Like getting yelled at? Don't you want a place of your own?" She couldn't answer, not with the waitress returning with their order. "Now, be a good little girl and eat your dinner."

She hated how blindly she followed that order. How was a response like that going to help her case any? Nevertheless, she ate her dinner and sipped the milkshake ignoring how her stomach tightened at the way his eyes looked as the bored into her chest.

Lee paid and ushered her back to his cruiser. He licked his lips, his tongue thick and his lips red. "I reckon your ma's done told you about my reputation."

"Said you were into whorin' and I'm no better than any of your other girls."

Y/N dared at glimpse at him from the corner of her eye as she picked at the seatbelt. His knuckles were tightened in anger, jaw tense, tongue pushed into his cheek. "Your ma really don't hold back does she?"

Before Y/N couldn't answer, not that she really wanted to, he started the engine. A hand stretched over the seat to rest on her thigh. "Here's the deal, little lady." His fingers rubbed the fabric of her skirt between his fingers. "I can be a patient man. I'll treat you like a goddamn queen. People in this town like me, I'm up for reelection next year and a pretty life wife by my side would sure help me out."

"Wife?" Y/N smacked his hand away, whipping over to glare at him. "No, Lee Bodecker, I'm not some pathetic little thing you can seduce into being your wife after just one day. My house might not be great but I will never-" She was cut off by the sudden sensation of his hand on her jaw squeezing tightly.

"You don't want to test me. I'm going to take you home, we'll tell your folks we had a great time, and the next time I see you we're doing something about that attitude."

It took two days before Lee showed up. Two days of paranoia from what an attitude adjustment at his hands would mean. Two days of fending off her ma's questions and ignoring the way her pa couldn't seem to be able to talk to her like he used to. Home alone, she wasn't surprised this was when he would strike.

Y/N answered the knock at the door, only opening it enough for her to see him. "Morning."

He pushed his way inside, hands on his hips as he surveyed the house. "Why don't you fetch me a cup of coffee, maybe something sweet, and we'll chat."

Scurrying to fulfill his wishes, she found herself seated beside him on the couch, legs titled towards him. "What, um, what was it you wanted to talk about Lee?"

"You need to let me love ya like I want to. I ain't forced myself on have I? Hit ya? Screamed at ya?" No. No. And no. "I know I've let myself go a bit, ain't all lean like those boys you must've gone to school with but I can give ya a lot. So why won't you take it?"

The sincerity in his blue eyes was alarming. He was genuine in his affections, in his feelings. To him, marriage must have been a logical next step. How many of her friends were already hitched? Hell, Sue got married on Prom Night and Rosemary married a guy after a month. Knockemstiff didn't understand the world was changing as it never would.

"I've been thinking about running for mayor after next election cycle. Money won't be a problem. We'll get a big ol house and you can decorate it however you want. I'll buy ya the prettiest dresses and shiniest things you've ever seen." Lee held his tongue about the babies, he didn't want to push her too far yet.

"So unless you think you can stop me" he made it a point to brush over his gun, "I'm going upstairs to check your ring size. Anything you'd like me to take to my place, you're welcome to let me know."

He vanished upstairs, leaving Y/N to realize this was it. She wondered how far she could get if she ran but the image of the cold hard steel of his gun was enough to squash any rebellion that rolled inside her.