#and ive felt too tired to cook anything on a stove

[satoruvt]

for now; forever -- teaser

pairing → kwon soonyoung x reader

word count → 1316 (full fic is ~9k!!)

genre → mostly fluff? a solid amount of angst ↳ tags: ooh boy. firewatch au, banter, like a little bit (a lot) of pining, strangers to friends to... something, FLIRTING, reader’s kinda fucked up but its ok, hoshi’s weird and endearing (as always), a tiny bit of hurt/comfort, minghao best boy, soonyoung is very sweet it makes me want to cry

synopsis → after an unfortunate burnout that lands you in every critic’s negative and all-seeing eye, you decide to take a break from the one thing you know. you’re not sure if you’ll find what you’re looking for out in the middle of the woods - if you’re looking for anything at all - but at the very least, soonyoung will make the hunt a little less lonely. 

warnings → there’s eventually a forest fire that leads to an evacuation but it’s not super detailed, mentions and descriptions of creative burnout/breakdown

a/n → AHHHH!!!! so excited to finally tell yall abt this ive been working on it for about a month now <33 the teaser is just like an honestly solid section of the fic itself, so. idk yeah!!!! i’m very excited i loved working on this i still have some editing to go but the full thing will be out soon <333 hope you enjoy!! let me know what u thought!!!!

DAY ONE.

So. You’re… out here, now.

Save for the bugs you have to swat at every fifteen seconds, the outdoors don’t seem that bad. The weather isn’t too hot (yet, your mind reminds you) and there’s something about the color of the sky that makes your heart constrict in your chest. You can’t tell if it’s good or bad, but given your luck recently, you’re hoping it’s not a warning for the coming months - God knows you need a break. The weight of the journal in your bag feels heavier than any of the camping gear you brought with you.

You debate texting Minghao that you’ve made it to the park safely, but when you check your phone after deciding yes, you see the words no service instead of the familiar lines of a signal. It’s not that big of a deal - you’d told him when you left that you probably wouldn’t have service at all - but a little part of you feels the tender shake of anxiety at the thought of not being able to contact your best friend. 

He was the most worried out of everyone when you told him you were leaving for the summer. You can’t really blame him - it was abrupt, you saw the flyer at the grocery store and took it - but after what happened… doing something felt, feels, better than sitting around and waiting for nothing to happen. Waiting for a healing you aren’t sure will ever come, at least not completely.

“Is this really…” Minghao had started upon first entering your apartment after getting your text. Clothes were thrown all over your bedroom floor in an attempt to pack. “Do you need to do this?”

The tone of his voice told you he wasn’t going to try to stop you, that he just wanted to make sure this was what you needed, what was best for you. You had only nodded, sitting down on the edge of your bed to fold clothes and pack them into your suitcase.

“I just don’t want you to run away from it all,” Minghao said softly, sitting next to you. “You’ll need to face it eventually.”

“Is escaping really such a bad thing?” You asked, looking at Minghao. He gave you the look he did when you said something stupid, and if you weren’t still so wired from everything, you might have laughed. Instead, you sighed, placing a pair of pants into your suitcase. “I just need some time.”

Before you can face it, before you can come back, before you can write again… you still don’t know. Minghao had placed a kind hand on your shoulder to tell you there was no rush.

It’d taken no more than two days for you to get everything ready - including buying some apparently necessary survival equipment from Target. In a matter of a few hours you had gathered everything up, texted some other friends and your family that you might not be available the next few months and then… you left. 

(Your manager was pretty pissed off that you left so suddenly, but she was also pissed off at you when you told her you needed a break for at least a few weeks, so you’re not really offended.)

You take one last longing look at your car before locking it, pocketing the keys, and starting on your hike.

The hike takes almost the whole day. 

You think you almost cry when you finally see the watch tower you’re supposed to be staying in, your legs barely able to hold the rest of your body up. The hike wasn’t hard, really - long, though, and for someone who usually spends a work day sitting at a desk, you’re surprised you’re still alive. You find the little lock that holds the keys to the tower at the bottom of the stairs, fastened onto the railing. It takes a few seconds for you to enter the code you’d been given earlier, relishing in the soft breeze the cools the sweat on your face and neck. The sun is just barely starting to set beyond the mountains, a beautiful sight that you can’t properly focus on because all you want to do is pass out. You’re pretty sure you almost do on your way up the stairs.

The cabin at the top of the tower is pretty scarcely furnished, save for a few basic necessities (a gas stove rests on one wall, a small desk opposite to it by the door, a mini-fridge, and a bed in the corner plus what looks like a map table in the center of the room). It’s a little weird, a feeling caught between the nostalgia of moving into a new place and something you can’t quite name, but you figure you have a few months to make it all a little more comfortable.

For now, though, you feel like you’re on the last leg of your energy. Your mind is saying eat, sleep, eat, sleep on repeat and you have to agree with it, so you change the sheets on the bed, take down the boards over the windows while you wait for the macaroni from the Kraft box to cook. You end up eating a few forkfuls of poorly-made mac and cheese before crashing.

When you wake up, it’s to gentle static and a semi-clear, unfamiliar voice. It takes you a minute to remember where you are and what you’re doing, too disoriented to even think about the voice, but then - oh. Forest. Watch tower. Escape. Okay.

“Yo, Cottonwood! Am I coming through okay? Pick up your radio!”

Right. The voice. Radio?

“Come on, I saw you get in yesterday, I know you’re there. Unless,” a gasp, “you died! Oh my God, this is like a horror movie… and I’m next!”

You manage to wake up enough to locate your radio (a walkie-talkie resting on a charger on the desk) and, after a few seconds of gentle struggle, work it. “Not dead,” you say, then clear your throat because your voice does not sound good right after waking up. “I mean… almost. But not dead.”

There’s barely a moment of hesitation before the person on the other end hoots, apparently excited. “Arisen from the dead! Brought back to life by none other than the legendary Hoshi!”

A brief thought crosses your mind about having to listen to this guy all summer, but you quickly shoo it away. You won’t have to deal with it for the whole three months, right? “Who… who is Hoshi?”

“Me!” The voice answers, sounding a little too smug. “But it’s really just an alias. You can call me Soonyoung. I’m at Twin Peaks tower, west of yours!”

You spin around your cabin, looking through the windows cluelessly - how long have you been asleep, it’s practically afternoon - until you see a very small silhouette of another tower in the distance. You nod, then realize Soonyoung can’t see you. “Oh. Cool.”

“Aren’t you gonna tell me your name?” Soonyoung asks, but his tone is light, breezy. You blink, reciting your name to him in a daze. “Pretty! So, what brings you out here?”

You weren’t expecting that question. “What?”

Soonyoung giggles into the radio. “Everyone comes out here for some reason. Like… Jihoon says it’s ‘cause it helps him write music. And Joshua loves the outdoors, so… what’s your reason?”

“You…” you start, not exactly wanting to tell a stranger the reason you ran away from everything you know. “Do you normally ask this many questions?”

“Yeah!”

You feel yourself sigh, already tired again.

“I… just wanted to get away for a while,” you end up saying. A half-truth. “I live in the city.”

“No way,” Soonyoung gasps excitedly. “Me too! I wonder if both of us have ever been walking and, like, passed each other without knowing…”

This isn’t exactly what you had in mind when you thought of escaping.

[fragmentedink-archived]

Hell to Pay: Part Forty-Eight

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, IX, IX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XVIIII, XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL, XLI, XLII, XLIII, XLIV, XLV, XLVI, XLVII

cowritten by @lux-scriptum

A/N: warnings for smut. this was supposed to be a fluffy chapter :( it is fluff lite(Tm)

In the past two weeks Lev had gotten strong enough that Ash had let him out of bed. After Nik slathered Lev in sunscreen, Lev was allowed to float in the pool, hanging onto an innertube and kicking his feet lightly. Nik was treading water in front of him, so Lev leaned forward until he could pull nik close enough to kiss.

Swimming would be good exercise without wearing him out. The last time he’d pushed himself too far, his fever had risen again. No one had been happy with him about that. It’d taken days before they let him do anything again.

“Hi,” Lev said after the kiss, tracing Nik’s cheek lightly.

Nik’s smile was lopsided. “Hi.”

Lev flicked some water in Nik’s face. “I missed your smile,” Lev said, resting his cheek on the inner tube.

“I smile all the time,” Nik replied, splashing Lev back gently.

“Not really,” Lev said thoughtfully. “Not real ones. And not lately.”

Nik wrinkled his nose. “You’re a buzzkill.”

“I know,” Lev said solemnly. “It’s my job.” After a heartbeat, he tugged on Nik’s hair, flattening it. “How’s Amara?” He asked eventually. “You went to see her a few weeks ago, right? Before I got sick?”

“Last I heard she was trying to get pregnant,” Nik informed him.

Lev blinked. “Has she thought that through?” He said after a heartbeat. The words were hard, and guilt ate at him for even saying it. It- it was jealousy, and he knew it.

Nik shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s Amara. She joked about being Cin’s housewife, but who knows.”

“Yeah,” Lev muttered. He stroked Nik's hair lightly. “I wouldn’t think Cin would get behind that.”

“Well, I think for once he’s going to have to be on top.”

“Ew. I don’t wanna know about her sex life,” Lev whined, pushing at Nik’s head in a weak attempt to shove it underwater.

“You dunk like a two year old.”

“I have noodle arms,” Lev complained. “Cooked noodle arms.”

Nik patted his cheek. “You poor, pasty boy.”

Lev hummed. “You went into this knowing I was soft.” He snagged Nik’s hand and kissed the palm. “I’m fine being noodly for now. I’m safe with you, and my magic is stronger than ever.”

Nik hesitated, just a little. “Good.”

“See?” Lev pulled shadows together until he had a flower, which he tucked behind Nik’s ear.

Once again, Nik wrinkled his nose. “That’s gay.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I’m gay, Nik.” Lev tugged on Nik’s hair sharply. “Very gay. And I love you.”

Nik pecked him on the lips. “I know.”

Not the answer Lev wanted, but he wasn’t going to push Nik. Instead he closed his eyes and hummed instead. “How long do you think we have until Cameron needs to feed us?”

The weight of Nik’s chin on his arm was comforting. “About an hour, give or take.”

Lev nodded. “I don’t think I’ll last that long,” he admitted. “I’m getting tired.”

Nik dunked under the water, slicking his hair back as he popped back up. “Then we should probably head inside.”

“Noooo,” Lev whined. “I don’t wanna be inside. I’ve been inside for weeks.”

“Then what do you want to do?”

Lev blinked at him. “Uh. Move on the innertube so I don’t have to use energy to stay afloat?” He flushed. “It’s pathetic just hanging off a floatie for an hour made me so tired, but-” He sighed, and then closed his eyes.

Nik pushed Lev over to the steps. “Well, hop-to.”

Lev wiggled out of the inner tube, and flopped back down in it, laying across it instead. “There. Hopped.”

Nik towed him back to the deeper end. Lev hummed again, flopping a hand around until Nik took it. A low purr built in the back of his throat. He was content to lay there until Cameron came to get them.

---

Amara poked halfheartedly at the pot of noodles. “How do you know when the noodles are done again?” She complained.

Ash looked in the pot, and said, “They’re over cooked.” He dumped the pot out and handed her a new box of macaroni. “Try again.”

“You suck at teaching,” Amara said petulantly. “How am I supposed to know when they’re over cooked?”

“Did you see how those noodles were squishy like that? They’ve been cooked too long.”

“Noted,” Amara muttered. “How do I stop them from getting there?”

“Maybe actually pay attention to them?” Ash arched a brow. “You can check them periodically. You do know how noodles are supposed to feel, yes?”

“No, Ash, I only ate cereal for the past several years,” Amara snipped, before rubbing her face. “Sorry, sorry. Really tried to keep that one in.” She reached for the pot and started pouring fresh water into it. “Do you trust me to make my own coffee?”

“You do realize you can’t drink coffee when you’re pregnant, right?”

“You do realize I dropped every other bad habit cold turkey, Ashwyn, right?”

Ash looked unimpressed. “You say that like I care, Amara. Maybe you shouldn’t have bad habits in the first place.”

“Sorry, Ash, not everyone gets such a cushy life,” she snapped back, before going very quiet. “That wasn’t fair,” she finally said.

“Oh no,” Ash said, leaning against the counter. “Tell me how cushy my life is.”

“I went too far, Ash. I’m sorry.” She folded her arms and glared at the stove. “I’m just- cranky lately. And I shouldn’t take it out on you.”

Ash put his chin on his fist, watching her mildly. “On me? You mean the angel who is helping you after all the bullshit you put him through? Damn right you shouldn’t be taking it out on me. Maybe get your attitude in line before I decide that this is a waste of my time, because believe it or not, you do not hold a monopoly on tragedy.”

He was right and she was being a bitch but- but nothing, she told herself. “Sorry,” she muttered. Rather than have to look at Ash, she ripped open the box and dumped the noodles in the now boiling water. “I’ll try to keep the bitching to a minimum.”

“What’s the next step?” Ash just said.

“Don’t let them clump up? Stirring it.” She grabbed a spoon and poked at the water. “Try not to zone out and get lost in an existential crisis while I wait for them to cook.”

“Good.”

----

Nik managed to shuffle into a pair of deep red sweats and a loose black tank top before disappearing from the bathroom to find Lev planted firmly on his side of the bed hugging Cameron’s pillow to his chest. His lips pursed as he looked Nik over. “Even sweats look good on you,” he said, a bit sulkily.

Despite knowing exactly what he was wearing, Nik felt compelled to look down at his clothes anyways. “Well, duh,” he said, climbing up into the bed next to him. He smacked a kiss on Lev’s cheek. “Everything looks good on me.”

“Yeah,” he said. “But it bears repeating. I like stroking your ego.”

Nik settled into the bed with his hands folded over his tummy. Eyes closed, Nik felt a smile curl on his face. “It definitely likes when you stroke it, Princess,” he said, moving to lightly pinch Lev’s thigh.

Lev squeaked. “Owwwww,” Lev whined, moving to snuggle against him. Lev pressed a kiss to Nik’s jaw. “You’re bullying meee.”

Nik hummed low, a purr sitting in his chest. “You like it,” he said, unapologetically. “And you know it.” He bit down on Lev’s shoulder and grabbed his face to kiss him chastely on the lips. “You like it very much.”

Lev hummed before pulling in for a deeper kiss. “Maybe,” he allowed, pulling back. Nik tried to not jump when Lev put an unexpected hand on Nik’s chest and leaned close for another kiss. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Nik said, a bit faintly.

Nik settled carefully against the bed when Lev rolled on top of him, just a bit more. He pressed their foreheads together. “Is this okay?” he asked.

Nik moved to tug on a lock of Lev’s hair. “Yeah,” he said. “Missed you.” He pressed his nose against Lev’s throat, inhaling his scent. It wasn’t like he had really been all that intimate with anyone lately. Cameron hadn’t touched him since before Lev died, and well, neither had Lev, really.

“It feels like I missed you too,” he said. “Even if I don’t remember it.”

Nik wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he did what he did best and distracted them both with more kissing. There was a very obvious boner pressed against Nik’s leg but Nik wasn’t able to stop himself from shrinking back when Lev’s hand went under his shirt.

When Lev stopped immediately, Nik blurted out, “I’m sorry.”

“Are you okay?”

“I- yeah,” Nik said.. He wasn’t sure if he were telling the truth or not, in all honesty, and he couldn’t explain the growing tightness in his throat. “I’m sorry,” he said, again, feeling the wobbliness in his voice.

Nik couldn’t explain the horrible feeling twisting in his stomach when Lev pulled away from him so his erection wasn’t pressed against him anymore. “It’s okay,” he said, reaching for Nik’s face. He stopped in his tracks when Nik pulled away even more. “We can wait.”

“No,” Nik said, voice rising. “We don’t have to. I said I wanted to.”

Lev blinked at him. “You can change your mind, Nik. It’s allowed.”

Nik’s face felt uncomfortably hot. He opened and closed his mouth several times. “No,” he retorted, sitting up and scrubbing his face harshly. “It’s not. Not with me.” He got up from the bed and damn near ran face first into Cameron coming into the bedroom. “Will you get out of my way,” Nik snapped.

“No,” Cameron said, with that irritatingly mild calm. He carefully eyed Nik and then Lev before coming back to rest fully on Nik. “Everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine, I think,” Lev said. “Nik, we really don’t have to have sex.”

Nik growled and tried pushing his way past Cameron once more. “Let me go.”

Cameron needed no further prompting and took a smooth step to the side and let Nik storm past him out to the pool.

It was lit by faint lights, illuminating the clear water. Nik sat on the edge of the pool with his knees pulled up to his chest as he glared at the water and thought about everything and nothing at all.

---

Lev watched Nik leave, sadness and guilt twisting him up inside until he thought it might just crawl right up out of his throat and strangle him. He tugged one of Nik’s pillows into his lap and watched Cameron instead.

Cameron’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “You want to tell me what just happened?”

“Nik and I were... we were making out, and he was okay with it, and then I went further, and he wasn’t, and he got upset when I backed off instead of pushing him.” Lev frowned, tucked his arms around himself. “Did- did something happen while I was dead? Or- is it something else?”

Cameron thought about that, pursing his lips. “A little bit of A, and a little bit of B,” Cameron said, pausing. He eyed Lev. “You know."

It took a second, but Lev nodded slowly. “He’s pregnant,” Lev said quietly. Jealousy rose up quickly, but he shoved that down just as fast. “And he doesn’t want us to know.”

“Mm. And I haven’t had sex with him since before you died.”

Oh. Lev blinked hard, staring at the bed. “I see,” he finally said.

“Yes.”

Lev nodded slowly. “Okay,” he finally said. “We’ll take care of him, then. Right?”

Cameron leaned against the doorway. “Of course. Are you planning on telling him you know?”

That made Lev hesitate. “If he wanted me to know, he would have told me,” he said, as if he didn’t know he was projecting. “He can tell me when he wants to.”

Cameron looked vaguely satisfied. “Good. Do you want to go sit with Nik?”

“Is that wise?” Lev asked. “Should I give him space?”

“If you want,” Cameron said.

“I want to go comfort him,” Lev admitted. “I just don’t know if it’d help or make this worse.”

“Well. Consider what Nik did the last time he got upset and no one comforted him.”

Lev had no idea what he was talking about, but he slid off the bed carefully. “I should go see him then,” he said.

Cameron offered him his arm, so Lev ducked underneath it and tucked himself into Cameron’s side. He slid his arm round Cameron’s waist, and let Cameron help him to the pool.

He pulled away when he saw Nik, and settled on the edge of the pool beside him, bumping Nik’s shoulder lightly with his. He didn’t even say anything, just let Nik lean against him.

---

The next morning, Nik took off, leaving Lev with Cameron. Cameron was being a good sport about it, didn’t even seem to be too annoyed about it. That was how Lev found himself sitting on a piano bench beside Cameron.

“How much do you remember from the books you were studying before you died?”

Lev hesitated. “A little.” He ran his fingers over the keys briefly, reverently, before plinking out a simple lullaby. The first song the book Cameron had gotten him had taught him. “Not exactly classical, but...”

Cameron listened to him as he played it through once more, and then had Lev run through a C Major scale. When Lev stumbled, not as confidant in his ability, Cameron made him try again. And again. And again, until he got it right.

Lev couldn't deny the little spark of pleasure he got when he finally met Cam’s standards. He let out a small purr and leaned against Cameron.

“Can you play me something?” Lev asked before Cam could ask him to play another scale. He gave Cameron a small, playful smile. “I won’t talk this time.”

Cameron lifted a brow, ever so slightly, and then started to play a simple tune. Simple for Cameron, at least. Lev leaned against him, closing his eyes as he listened.

---

Nik found himself walking through Amara’s shitty apartment building to her apartment, only to push open the brand new door and find it completely empty. “Are you serious,” Nik said. “Now she’s gone too.”

He had turned around only to hear a very faint, “I’m back here, St. Nikolas.”

That got Nik to at least wander through the bare apartment until he found her laying on her back where her bed once was. He leaned against the doorframe. “So….. trying for the minimalist look?”

“Cin decided to buy me a house.”

Nik pushed off the doorframe and came over to lay down next to her on the floor. He folded his hands over his tummy. “And the world has not yet ended,” Nik said, solemnly, eyes closing. “How does that bitter taste of your pride feel?”

“It’s stinging like a motherfucker,” she said. And in an even whinier tone, she said, “He replaced my furniture.”

“If it makes you feel better, Cameron replaced like eighty percent of my wardrobe when I moved in.”

“Cameron’s a snob,” she said, bitterly. “Cin’s just trying to take care of me.”

“What a hardship. Poor you.”

“I had a shitty month, let me have my pity party.” After a moment of silence she muttered, “i’m taking cooking lessons from Ash.”

Nik choked on his spit. “Oh stars, why on earth are you learning from Ash. You know he has the same amount of patience as he does eyesight.”

‘Cause he offered,” she said. “Learning to cook was one of his conditions for him helping me get pregnant.”

“Well you could have asked me,” Nik mumbled. “It’s not like I’ve bought you hundreds of dollars on groceries and made you food so you didn’t waste away.”

“Lev was sick and dying and I wasn’t going to bother you.”

“See,” Nik said, folding his hands behind his head. “Excuses are only going to get you enough good graces before I just kick your ass for the hell of it.”

“Do you want me to tell you all the things I have going on right now?”

“I want you to be my friend,” Nik said, irritably. “I don’t see you anymore.”

Amara fell quiet. “I’m having a really rough time right now and things are hard on you too. I didn’t want to make it worse.”

Nik wasn’t sure what to say to that, so he just curled on his side and sidled up next to her. “Life sucks.”

Again, she was quiet for a long moment. “I want to tell you something, but... I don't want you to feel guilty, or... bad for me, or any of that. Shit sucks, but- just- are you in an okay headspace?”

Well. Nik wasn’t too sure if he had ever been in a good headspace, especially the last five months. But he also didn’t want Amara to think he didn’t care about anything other than himself. “Sure.”

“I miscarried last month. That’s why I’m asking Ash for help.” Her tone was flat, perfectly even.

“Oh.” Nik’s voice was very small, especially when he thought about how he was keeping his own… pregnancy from everyone else. He was lying to everyone. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and rested his head on her shoulder. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You know,” She said. “Occupational hazards.”

“Yeah,” he said, faintly.

“My pedigree doesn’t help much, either.”

“Oh who cares about your ‘pedigree’. I’m sure Ash will be able to get you knocked up and will lord it over you for all time.” He closed his eyes. “If I can get knocked up with everything I have put in my body, I’m sure you will be able to, too.”

“I guess.”

“I know.”

----

Cameron wouldn’t be Cameron if he wasn’t so blunt, but Lev was still surprised when Cameron flat out asked if he wanted to have sex. It took Lev a few seconds to process.

“I- uh. Yes?” Lev shook himself mentally. “Yes,” he added more firmly. “I’m sorry, you just caught me off guard. I miss it.”

Cameron lifted a brow. “Well at least we know that hasn't changed.”

Lev flushed deeply. “Was I supposed to?” he grumbled when he didn’t know what else to say.

“You tell me.”

Lev thought on that for a moment, and then decided to take Cameron’s hand instead of responding. “So... sex?” he asked, not quite meeting Cameron’s eyes.

“You didn’t answer me.”

Lev’s bottom lip popped out in a pout. “Change isn’t always bad,” he hedged, before admitting, “But I’m not upset I still like sleeping with you.”

Cameron snorted. “Of course you’re not.”

Lev ran his thumb over the back of Cameron’s hand, and then leaned close and kissed Cameron’s cheek. “I miss our normal,” he said quietly.

The look on his face was neutral enough that Lev hesitated, but Cameron just kissed Lev’s palm gently. After that he started pulling at Lev’s clothes. A purr built up in Lev’s throat, but he just started working on the buttons of Cameron’s black button down.

It didn't take much to get Lev undressed the rest of the way, and Cam herded him back to the bed easily before he took off his pants. Once he was on the edge of the bed, Lev reached for Cameron’s cock, stroking lightly. Cameron leaned forward until he could start kissing down Lev’s neck, sending little shivers down Lev’s spine.

This was something Lev had missed. Cameron's lips on his skin, the familiar weight of him in Levs hand as he tipped his head to the side for Cameron.

When Cameron was fully hard in Lev’s hand, he eased Lev back on the bed. Anticipation had his heart tripping over itself. Lev wrapped his arms around Cameron’s neck, arching his own in offer. The teeth pressed against him were more than welcome. When he tried to press his hips against Cameron, Cameron held him down, biting down just a little harder until Lev went still.

Then Cam flipped Lev over, sliding a pillow under his hips to support them. Unsurprisingly, Cameron took his time, working Lev open like he had all the time in the world while his erection nudged the back of Lev’s thighs. All the while, Cameron’s mouth traced patterns across Lev’s back and shoulders.

Lev gave a small moan as Cameron’s fingers pressed deeper. Cameron’s teeth latched onto his shoulder, even as his fingers went deep as he could. When Lev got tired of waiting, of the careful stretching, he tried to push back.

Rather than let him, Cameron rolled him onto his side. Once again, Cameron’s hands slid along him. Each caress had Lev’s omega vibrating. This was Lev’s alpha holding onto him, kissing the back of his neck, nipping at his skin.

Cameron eventually hitched Lev’s leg up so he could press in, slotted right up against Lev’s back as he bottomed out. When Lev moaned again, eyes half shut, Cameron kissed under his jaw. The stretch was welcome, familiar. It felt like home.

The only thing missing was Nik.

Cameron set a slow, firm pace. Considering Lev had been dead a month ago... it was definitely for the best. With how Cam was holding him, Lev didn’t have to do much but arch against him, panting softly. The hand holding his leg up slid up slowly, until Cameron could wrap it around Lev’s dick.

Neither of them rushed anything. Lev was happy to revel in Cameron’s voice in his ear as Lev himself let out soft, breathy groans. Ever since he’d come back, it’d felt like there was a little distance between him and Cameron. Having this again soothed the tiny bit of worry he had that he’d done something.

It wasn’t until Cameron was knotted in Lev that Cam let him come, stroking Lev to completion. As pleasure washed over Lev, a purr built in Lev’s throat. Cameron wrapped an arm around him, keeping him close.

“I love you,” Lev whispered, eyes closed fully.

“Sleep,” was all Cameron said.

Lev nodded slowly. Expected, really, and the sex had left Lev more than a little exhausted.

---

Nik made it home and he rubbed his face at how tired he was. Maybe he could make it up to Lev… somehow for not sleeping with him the night before. He couldn’t count a single time when he would have done something like that to someone he was in a relationship with. It wasn’t like Nik was just someone to change his mind about sex, but here he was, telling his back from the dead boyfriend that he didn’t want to sleep with him.

Nik wandered the house until he decided to go find Lev, only to find him passed out on Cameron’s knot.

“Oh.”

Cameron looked up from the back of Lev’s neck, but Nik was already turning around and leaving. That of course, did not stop Cameron from coming after him and yanking Nik to a stop. “Where are you going?”

“Why do you care?” Nik muttered under his breath.

“Becaues I don’t feel like telling Lev you disappeared after finding us post-fuck.”

“Why would he care?” Nik said. “I disappear all the time, right?”

Cameron had the audacity to roll his eyes. “You know damn well what I mean,” he said, annoyed. “Come to bed.”

Nik turned back around and walked right back through the house and right back through the front door to get back in his car and drive.

---

Amara put her phone down, sighing softly. “I’ve got to go,” she told Ash. “Nik emergency.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nik took off, apparently. And I've been tasked with finding him.” Amara stared longingly at the pot of mac and cheese she’d finally made correctly. “Can I come back for that? I don’t know when I’ll be home.”

“Sure, but put it away,” Ash replied, already pulling out his phone to text Cameron. “Give me updates about Nik.”

“Yeha, yeah.” She dumped the pot into a tupperware, and fit it in the fridge. “Thanks,” she added, right before ducking out the door.

It took her a couple of hours, but she tracked Nik back to his parent’s territory. When she realized he’d chosen to hide out in a fucking cave, she hesitated. The water was waist high at the deepest, but this was just the entrance. It’d get deeper the further in she went and Amara knew if she stepped foot in it she would freeze up and not move a fucking inch.

With a sigh, she spread her wings, stretching them carefully before she started to climb the walls. She used her wings to keep her balance as she inched along, digging her nails into the stone until she found a rock she could settle on. The water was far, far too close for her liking, but she crouched anyway, looking around until she saw Nik’s hair pop up.

Nik looked startled, ducking under briefly, before popping back up. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for you,” Amara shot back. “You worried your alpha.”

“Doubtful,” he said.

“He sent me after you. He worried.” She patted the rock beside her. “Come on.”

“No.”

Amara scowled. “Fine,” she grumped. “Tell me what’s wrong then.”

“Nothing.”

“Nikolas, I am inches away from water and I want to puke. Tell me what’s wrong before I get bitchy.”

“If you hate water so much, then go home. You’re not needed. You can tell Cameron to come get me if he wants me.” Nik looked like he might duck under the water.

After sucking in a slow breath, she said, “I’m here, and I’m not leaving you alone. Talk to me, please.”

Nik watched her, his face almost closed off. He looked tired, and she didn’t blame him. “You don’t need to be worried about me. You have your own shit to deal with. I’ll be fine.” The smile he fixed on his face was far too bright to be real. “See? I’m not even drinking.”

“Yeah, and you’re hiding in your depression cave again.” Amara sat up straighter, wrapping her arms around herself. “Talk to me, Nik. Unless you want me to go first.”

Nik frowned, but at least that was a real reaction. “This is not my depression cave,” he said.

“Hm.” Amara wrinkled her nose. “You’re dodging my question.”

Nik ducked under the water, staying under long enough Amara grew nervous. Finally he popped back up and said, “I already gave you my answer.”

Amara closed her eyes. “Fine. I’ll just wait here then.”

“You do that.”

Nik started swimming again, so Amara settled down to wait him out, keeping her eyes shut tight. Maybe if she pretended hard enough, she could ignore that she was in a cave flooded with water.

Eventually he crawled out of the water and took her hand. “Come on.”

Amara looked down at the water. It’d gotten more shallow, but... “Um. The tide can go out a little more, can't it?”

“I mean, we can, but we’ll be here a hell of a lot longer.”

Amara hesitated visibly. “You can’t carry me,” she said. “And I- I don’t know.”

Nik waited patiently until she was able to unfold and step in the water. Just that had her freezing up, grabbing at Nik for support and holding her phone up above the water, even if her feet touched the ground. NIk tugged her along carefully.

By the time they reached the entrance, she was trembling. Without letting go of his hand she broke into a sprint, dragging him through the last of the water until she got halfway up the beach. Only then did she stop, breathing hard.

“You didn’t have to go in there,” Nik said.

Amara shot him a glare, before pulling him into a hug. “You needed me.”

Nik was trembling too, and she hated it. “Well you don’t need me,” Nik said, voice just as shaky. "You’re not the selfless one in any relationship.” He pulled back, eyes bright. “Except maybe with your sister, but she doesn’t count. So stop reminding me that I’m a shitty person, I get it.” With the last two words breaking, Nik started across the beach towards the city.

“Nikolas. Nikolas.” Amara followed after him. “Like hell I don’t need you. You think best friends grow on fucking trees?” She grabbed his hand, jerking him to a stop. “You’re not a shitty person. Who the fuck told you that? I’ll beat the shit out of them.”

Nik yanked his hand back. “I’m the one who said that, so you’re going to have to beat me and you can’t do that, can you?”

“Not today I can’t,” she shot back. “What got your panties in a twist, Nikolas?”

“We both know I don’t wear panties.”

“Why the fuck is Cameron sending me after you like you’re a lost puppy, Nik? Why aren’t you with your mate?”

“Because I can’t sleep with him,” Nik shot back, before continuing up the beach.

Amara blinked several times, before hurrying after him. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“You asked.”

“Why does it matter if you can or can’t sleep with my cousin, Nik?” She fell in pace beside him. “Sex isn’t your only selling point.”

“Look at me. Sex is my only selling point.”

“Not to Lev, you idiot.”

“No, of course not to Lev. But Lev is a blind idiot sometimes. Lev believes in fairy tales, and fairy tales don’t exist.”

“I mean I can call him and ask him exactly why he loves you, but you’re too bullheaded to believe it even from the overly honest horse's mouth.”

“Honesty isn’t the same as idealism, Amara.”

“Nikolas, you’re an idiot.” She stumbled over something in the sand. “Would you stop? Stop running away and stop deflecting.”

Nik caught her before she face planted. “I’m not running,” he said. “You need to learn how to walk.”

“I was talking about how you hid in a fucking cave.”

“I didn’t hide.”

“Did you even tell Lev you were leaving?”

“Will you Shut up?” Nik yelled. “Lev is fine. He’s with Cameron. Cam’s not going to let him die again.”

Amara snapped her mouth shut, pulling to a stop. He matched her halt with the same abruptness, and turned around.

“How did you know where I was?”

Amara shrugged uncomfortably. “Cameron asked me to find you, and you needed me. I just knew. Sort of. The direction, anyway, until I found the cave.”

“Fine. Hotel’s this way.” He continued to storm off, leaving Amara to trail behind him.

Amara trotted after him, willing to take the minor success. At least he wasn’t telling her to fuck off. Yet.

It turned out that he had a room already set up, and the staff seemed to recognize him. A small smile tilted up on Nik’s face as a slight black haired woman came instantly up to Nik and just pinched his cheek. “You’re dripping water everywhere, mi’jo.”

Nik kissed her hand. “Is my room ready?”

“Of course,” she said, pulling him into a hug. Nik nearly melted into the woman that was a solid head shorter than him. When she pulled back, she looked Amara over and gave her a firm look, but said, “I’ll bring you dinner, as well.”

Amara blinked, looking between the two. She stepped closer to Nik, just a little, and took his hand. Maybe it was a little bit of posturing, but she got a small look of approval, so maybe it was a good thing.

The woman kissed Nik’s cheek and then sent them on their way. Again Amara just trailed after Nik, clocking his visibly better mood as she clung to his hand. She only let go once the door to the room was shut.

Nik flopped on the bed. “Dinner should be up in about ten minutes. I hope you haven’t eaten today.”

“No,” Amara said mournfully. “Ash was teaching me how to make mac n cheese and I only made one edible pot. I left it behind to come find you.”

“How basic,” Nik said, matching her tone.

“It was boxed mac n cheese too,” she grumbled, landing on the bed beside him.

Nik patted her knee. “See, if you had me teaching you,” he said, “you’d be learning real, tasteful food. But no, you had to learn from the blind white boy. I bet it was as awful as I think it is.”

Amara muttered under her breath before saying, “I didn’t get to taste it, thanks. And if you wanna teach me so bad, do it. I’m unemployed and have nothing better to do.”

Nik threw his arm over his eyes. “Like you’d actually listen,” he mumbled under his breath.

“If you don’t want to you can just say that. I spent all day with a snippy Ash, I don’t wanna hear it from you too,” Amara said.

“Did I say that,” NIk snapped, glaring at her from under his arm. “No, I did not.” He sat up and stalked over to the towels and started drying his hair. “If my attitude is so bad, then you can leave. I am not holding you here against your will, for fucks sake. Let Cin go lick your bruised ego. I’m tired.”

Amara stared at him for a long moment, propped up on her elbows. “I don’t want to leave you alone,” she admitted. “Look, we’re both cranky, but- I don’t want to leave.”

Nik shot a dark look over his shoulder at her, but started undressing out of his tank top and let it fall to the floor. “”Yeah? News to me,” he said, moving to the dresser and rummaging through it. He grabbed another white tank top, but froze when his focus shifted to the mirror over the dresser.

Amara got to her feet. “I’m sober Nikolas. I have been for four months. I wasn’t nice before I stopped drinking nonstop.” She hesitated, and walked up behind him. “You okay?”

Nik touched his stomach. “Nooo,” he said in a small voice, and then, to her horror, he started to cry.

“Ah fuck,” she mumbled, and pulled him in a hug. “C’mere.”

Nik all but melted against her, crying into her shoulder. She petted his hair.

“Hey. It’ll be okay,” she promised.

“It’s not,” he said, somehow crying harder. “I can’t keep not saying anything when I’m showing.”

“Sure you can.” she tried. “You don’t owe anyone anything.”

Nik didn’t say anything and just wiped his face before moving back over to the bed and curling into a ball. Before Amara could follow him, there was a knock on the door. She opened it, only to find the woman from earlier there with a tray piled high with food. When she saw Nik was crying, however, she all but shoved the tray at Amara and went to check on Nik.

Amara carefully settled the tray on the dresser and looked back at the bed. The woman was whispering to Nik in Spanish, petting his hair comfortingly. Amara picked up on some of what she was saying; she wasn’t fluent, but after being best friends for so long she had to learn the basics.

Instead of eavesdropping, she turned back to the food. She took a bite, and then gave a small groan. “Stars that’s good,” she exclaimed, before looking back at them guiltily. “Sorry.”

Nik flinched a little.

“Fuck. Right. Ignore me, Nik. Go back to crying. According to Lev it helps.”

To Amara’s surprise, the woman got up, only to smack Amara with a spoon. “Watch your language,” Amara was told.

“Yes ma'am,” Amara promised automatically.

She was given a firm look, but Nik was already the center of attention again. Amara went back to nibbling, slowly starting to realize how hungry she was. When she was told to bring a plate, she did, and sat down to watch the woman coax Nik into eating.

“Do you want me to leave?” Amara asked Nik lightly.

Nik took a bite now that he was sitting up. “No,” he mumbled.

Amara nodded slowly. “Then I’ll stay.” She grinned at him just a little, as she settled on the bed, tray on her lap for easy access. “Saint Nikolas.”

---

It was several hours later that Amara managed to get home. The house felt… large, and empty. Amara put the mac and cheese away, and tracked down Cin. Her hybrid was sprawled on their new bed, wings spread far enough they brushed the floor.

Amara settled herself on his back, tucked between his wings, and sighed.

“How was the cooking lesson?”

“Well, I didn’t learn anything you can eat,” she said tiredly, shoving her face in his neck. “But I made some mac n cheese.”

“Can I try some?”

Amara moved off so he could roll over. “I don’t know if you want to. Dairy and grains. Your insides would never forgive you."

Cin ran his fingers through her hair. "Worth it, if you've made something edible."

"Mmm. No. I'll get Ash to teach me to make something you can eat." She bit his nose. "Look, I'll even text him now."

Cin took the phone from her and chucked it across the room. "No. You're mine now. You've been running around for days. I want your attention." He tugged her closer, snuffling against her neck until she laughed. "You've been too stressed lately."

Amara huffed, settling against him. "Things will settle eventually."

Cin hummed, the sound becoming a rumbling purr in his chest. "Yes. They will."

They had to be.

Tagging: @incandescent-creativity @solangelo3088 @lil-miss-red @halstudies @littleyellowdinosaur @caelisis

[shhhhyoursister]

Hi this is @autisticmatteo about your tags on my post... I would LOVE that i love every piece of autistic matteo media to heart. Im so glad people share my hc

hi wow thank you for sending this im going to do my best!!!! this is the first time in a while ive felt nervous posting something but i hope you all like it ahAHhahAhAHh (also i hope its okay that i posted this and wrote a whole fic for it rn whoopsie)

Matteo was in the kitchen, standing in front of the stove, when he felt it start up again. There was some kind of itch building up in his fingers, and he started hitting a beat on the counter with his free hand, tapping out the rhythm to the line of the song that had been looping in his brain all day. It helped a little bit, and when he felt the same itch in one of his feet, he started tapping along to the same beat. 

He was trying to be quiet about it because David was sitting at the table working on his film, and he had the small frown on his face that meant he was getting frustrated. Matteo being loud and annoying for no reason definitely wouldn’t help with that, so when he heard David huff and mutter something under his breath, he stopped completely.

The feeling came back immediately, almost worse, and Matteo started bouncing on his toes. If he didn’t need to focus on the food he was cooking he would’ve started pacing around, maybe grab something to squeeze or fidget with, and if David wasn’t there with a deepening frown on his face, he would’ve done way  more.

He knew that David didn’t care about him stimming, encouraged it even, and had seen him stim in many different ways many times before. He still felt a little awkward about it, though. He knew that it looked strange sometimes, and he always felt bad when he and David were out somewhere and he started flicking his fingers or rocking. He didn’t like the feeling when people would stare at him, and figured David didn’t love the extra attention either.

It was awful trying to ignore it, though. When he was holding back a stim it almost felt like he was holding his breath (he had said that to David once, who had smirked and said, “Yeah, you’ve never been the best at that.”) It was a very similar feeling, the way the need would grow and build until you couldn’t ignore it anymore, and the longer you tried to hold it after that, the worse it would get. 

He turned his head away from the food for a second so he could see David, who was still sitting at the table, looking like he hadn’t moved at all. The only difference was the way his eyebrows were drawing down a little, and he was mouthing something to himself as he shook his head at his computer screen. Matteo took a breath and figured that if David wasn’t looking at him, he probably wouldn’t get annoyed if Matteo started stimming more.

He let his arm drop to his side as he rocked up onto his toes, and his fingers started twitching and fluttering, and after a few seconds of that his hand started flapping a little. He checked behind him again and saw that David was still focused on his computer, so he brought his hand up to his chest and started flapping it more, letting his fingers drag along the fabric of his sweater. 

He felt his body calming, and he let out a sigh as the tension drained. He started bouncing again and checked the pasta, and when he saw that it still needed more time, he let out an annoyed sound. He snapped his mouth shut quick to stop the urge to make the sound again, and again, and again, and made a little noise in the back of his throat.

“You okay?”

Matteo’s body froze except for his head, which whipped around to see David staring at him, a small, tired smile on his face.

“Yeah, sorry, just...” he knew that David would understand, so he said, “just needed to stim. I can stop if it’s annoying you.”

David looked almost upset at his response, and quickly said, “No, baby, you don’t need to stop.”

“But I can if you need me to.”

“Matteo,” David started, getting out of the chair so he could walk up to him and place his hands on Matteo’s waist, “I promise it’s not annoying. It’s something you need to do, and you’ve told me that it feels good, so why would I want you to stop?”

Matteo smiled a little, and he grabbed at David’s biceps and started squeezing and loosening his hands. He looked down at his feet that were still tapping, and looked back up and said, “I just don’t want to distract you.”

“I promise, stimming is not the thing about you that distracts me.” David said with a smirk, and he leaned in to nose at Matteo’s cheek as it turned pink. Matteo turned his head and caught David’s lips in a quick kiss, both of them giggling into it, and when they pulled away he dropped his head onto David’s shoulder and rubbed his face into the material of his sweater.

“I really need to get back to editing so I can finish before the urge to throw my laptop out the window becomes too tempting to ignore. Do whatever you have to do, okay?” David kissed Matteo’s head and pulled away, squeezing his hips one more time before settling into his seat again. Matteo wanted to follow him and climb into his lap, but he knew that David needed to work, and he needed to make sure their food didn’t burn.

He turned back to the stove, bouncing on his toes again. It still felt a little weird but David had said it wouldn’t distract him, and the itch was starting to get to be too much for Matteo to ignore anymore. He started flicking the fingers on his free hand, and shook his head out a few times, and then flicked the hair out of his eyes. After a few minutes he was flapping his hands again, alternating which hand he was stirring with, but he could feel something else starting to work its way out, and before he could stop himself he let out a moderately loud noise.

He couldn’t even really explain what the noise was, but he made it again quickly  a few times before stopping himself. He bit his lip and turned his head again, and was surprised to see David already staring at him, a gentle smile on his face.

“It’s okay, Matteo.”

Matteo smiled gratefully at him before turning back to stir the sauce, and he clicked his tongue. He did it again, and again, and when David didn’t say anything and kept editing, he didn’t stop. The noises alternated between a few different ones, and Matteo turned to look at David anytime a new one started up. David never reacted, only looking up to smile at Matteo if he noticed him staring. The fact that David was still able to focus on his work blew Matteo’s mind.

Just as he was pouring the sauce into the pot with the pasta, humming the same line that he had been tapping earlier over and over again, his fingers flicking gently at his side, bouncing on his toes, he heard David get up. He smiled, waiting for what he knew was inevitably going to happen, and he chuckled when he felt David’s arms wrap around his waist, and he stopped bouncing.

“Shit, sorry,” David said, backing up again, leaving his hands on Matteo’s hips, “I didn’t mean to stop you.”

Matteo rolled his eyes and spun around, and grabbed David’s arms and yanked them until he was walking forward, and wrapping them around Matteo’s waist again.

“You didn’t stop me, idiot, I stopped so you could hug me,” Matteo said, sliding a hand into David’s hair so he could feel the soft strands sliding through his fingers, “that’s better than stimming.”

[silver-greedling]

Bad Timing

Robert Manion x Reader (wowie i love starkid now, ive watched, like, FIVE musicals in a week. small question, anyone know where i can find, like, vids or stuff of them just chilling? i wanna get a better feel for their personalities, tendencies, and relationships with one another before i write a whole lot about them. any help is needed and appreciated! sorry if this one is short!!! also, should i start putting a little “read more” thing after a paragraph or two? im fine with or without, so tell me what you guys would prefer)

My roommate, best friend, and crush, Robert Manion, was leaving for the airport in about six hours. I was busy preparing a hearty meal that would keep him filled up on the flight, so he wouldn’t go hungry or have to buy airplane food.

He was packing bags and scouring the apartment for anything else he may need on the trip. He was so messy; His clothes could be found scattered in almost every room, save the (tiny) kitchen and (tinier) living room. Even then, I wouldn’t be shocked if I found a long-lost shirt of his had somehow ended up under the couch or in a cabinet in the kitchen.

At last, the pan of eggs was done! All that was left was a few more pieces of bacon, which were done not long after. Multitasking two foods on the same stove that needed to be checked often was proving difficult, but I managed.

“Breakfast!” I half-yelled, knowing Robert was just a room over. I placed both pans, very carefully, on the small coffee table in the living room, where I had already set up two plates and forks. I returned to the kitchen for two glasses of milk, walking back to the living room to find Robert (somewhat) patiently awaiting my return.

I placed a glass in front of him, then put mine by my own plate, before plopping next to him on the floor. “Shall we?”

He nodded eagerly. If there was anything I knew about him, it was that he seemed to find my cooking amazing. One way or another, he found himself asking me to make every meal I could. When I pushed a joke of “women’s work”, he got embarrassed and told me the truth, that he liked my food. Since then, I’d been making every meal I could manage to, just to see him smile when I said our food would be homemade.

The smile on his face, as he took in a few bites of food, made the hard work of handling two hot pans over the stove completely worth it. I felt myself smile as I dug into my own plate of food. I had to admit, knowing he enjoyed it so much made me as happy as he was to eat it.

“Amazing, as always,” he said after, very quickly, finishing up his plate. He took a drink from his milk, then sighed. “I won’t have another one of these meals for over four months.”

“Awe, don��t make me sad,” I said over the rim of my own cup. “I’d make one for you to take, but airport security, man.”

He laughed. “Well, if I call asking for how you make your food, don’t be surprised. I will miss it.” He sighed again.

I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I stood, taking our plates and the pans back to the kitchen and setting them in the sink. Washing dishes could come later. My time with Robert was at five hours, not including the twenty minute drive to the airport.

“Let’s play some games, or watch a movie,” I suggested, sitting down on the couch. “We still have time to kill before you leave.”

Robert stood. “Yeah, pick out a movie. I’m going to make sure I have everything packed that I need.”

He padded off toward his room, and, as I picked out a movie (Grown Ups), I  thought about my history with Robert.

I had been working with Team Starkid for almost five months when Robert came in. We hit it off almost instantly. When I realized he had been living in a hotel room for almost a week, I offered to clear out a room that was, at the time, an office and storage space. He tried to decline, but I persuaded him. Now, he’s been staying here almost seven years, albeit traveling back and forth between here and Australia.

I wasn’t able to reminisce any longer, because Robert was coming back into the room, one suitcase, looking a touch overpacked, in hand. He placed it beside the couch, then plopped next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. Leaning against him, I picked up the remote and turned on the TV. The movie had already been put in what served as our DVD player (but was really my PS3). Robert tilted his head at the title screen.

“I haven’t seen this one,” he noted. “What is it?”

“Just watch,” I replied with a grin on my face.

His arm pulled me a touch closer, and I leaned against him almost completely as the movie began.

By the end of it, we were both almost in tears from laughter. Just under two hours of our time had gone by, leaving us at about three. “Wanna watch the second one?” I offered.

“Can we handle a second one?” he asked jokingly, but agreed.

When that was done, we were at about an hour and a half, but my eyes were getting a little droopy. Although it was around midday, I was extremely tired from staying up through the night making sure Robert’s stuff, or, at the least, the stuff I thought he needed, was in his room.

Before I knew it, I was being shaken awake. Five minutes until we had to leave.

I sat up from where I had fallen asleep on his shoulder, turning my head away to yawn loudly. “Sorry,” I muttered tiredly.

He shook his head. “It’s fine,” he assured me. “We just have to leave soon.”

With another yawn, I stood and stretched my arms, before turning to him. “I’ll get shoes, then I’ll be good to go.”

I padded over to the doorway, where we kept our shoes lined up. Robert offered my sleepy self an arm to lean on while I slipped into my shoes, which I was grateful for. When sleepy, I tended o have bad balance. He knew this, probably from hearing me, a million times, trip in the middle of the night, on my way to the bathroom or kitchen.

“I’ll drive us there so you can wake up a little bit,” he said, and I agreed. We clambered into my car, a crappy Civic that probably needed to be checked soon. I sat myself in the passenger side while Robert got in the driver’s side and started the car. In half a minute, we were buckled in and on the road.

The drive was quiet, mostly somber. It usually felt that way when he was leaving. I always knew that, for however long he was away, my life would change. I would make meals for one. I would do laundry half as much. I would watch movies and play games alone.

The airport parking lot came way too soon. We had arrive ten minutes early. Robert noticed this, I guess, as he stayed in the car a little while.

“Hey, Robert,” I spoke, not entirely sure of what I was doing. “Can you stay a minute longer?”

“I’ve got time,” he said, removing his seatbelt and turning to me. “What’s up?”

“Well...” I fiddled with my fingers, keeping my eyes on them. “I know that this is really bad timing, but...I don’t know, I’ve liked you for a really long time, now, and I just got the courage to say it. I know I should’ve probably said it sooner, but I-”

His hand reached over to grab mine, and I met his gaze. He grabbed both of my hands in his.

“Do you mean that?” he asked me, seriousness etched into his features. I nodded, and a smile broke across his face. “You should’ve said it sooner!”

His hands moved forward to grab my shoulders, and, before I knew it, he was moving closer. He met my eyes before getting too far. When I nodded, he put a hand on my cheek and kissed me.

It felt like flying. When I put my hands on his shoulders, he put his on my waist, trying to pull me closer, although the console between the seats sort of got in the way.

He released after a long time, and I struggled to find air. His hand was still on my face, the thumb gently caressing my cheek.

“I...” He started to talk, but trailed off. “Damn it. I have to go.”

I nodded. “I know. I wish you didn’t.”

“Right now, I do, too.”

I looked up, trying to give him a smile. “If you don’t find any pretty girls in Australia, I’ll be waiting for you when you come back.”

A wide grin took over his face. “I will not find a girl like you in Australia. I will come back to you, and I’m going to ask you out the minute I see you again.”

“I’ll say yes.”

His smile got even bigger as he kissed me again. Slowly, reluctantly, he got out of the car, retrieving his bag from the trunk. I exited, as well, catching him in a hug when he came my way.

“I’ll see you soon,” he promised me. With one more kiss, he was walking into the airport, glancing back to me every few steps. When he got inside, I sighed and walked to the driver’s side, sitting in the seat. He’d left the keys in the ignition, thank God. I remembered, once, he had taken the keys with him, earning him an earful over the phone as I hailed a cab and prayed someone wouldn’t steal my shit car from the airport parking lot.

The whole drive home, I thought about him, and everything he said to me. I couldn’t wait for four months to pass.

[petersshirts]

Fallin’ All In You | tom holland

summary: everything just feels right since you came along

words: 1,8 K

warnings: swearing

a/n: this has been sitting in my documents for quite a while and I don’t really know why I didn’t post it yet, but here you go! this is inspired by a song from Shawn Mendes by the way, that guy has my heart!! just some fluff for you guys, I hope you like it!! please let me know what you think, I appreciate every single one of you!

The sun shining through the window tickled Toms’ nose and got him to slowly wake up and open his eyes, trying to find out where he was. When he saw the familiar ceiling, he realised that he was just at home but when he felt something move on his chest, he curiously looked down to find you, sound asleep on his chest. He smiled, remembering what had happened last night after you went out to the pub with all your friends. And one drink after another lead to you in his bed, both of you naked under the covers. And even though you were not a couple, Tom couldn’t stop wondering about what would happen now.

Tom had met you a month ago when Harrison had introduced you as an old school friend and Tom was hooked. You were kind and funny, and whenever Tom was around you, he felt happy. But since now, the two of you had never gone another step, only talking and meeting up together with your friends, even though Tom wanted more. And last night, the two of you had been wasted, making Tom brave and finally find the guts to kiss you. And that’s how you ended up here, entangled with each other. And Tom had to admit that he loved waking up next to you and not all alone.

Suddenly, you started moving and slowly turned towards him, making Toms’ heart flutter. Even though your hair was everywhere and you had huge bags under your eyes, you still looked so beautiful. „Hm, hi,“ you mumbled and send him a tired smile, and Tom could only smile back, still not believing that you were in his bed. „Morning, darling,“ he softly pressed a kiss on your forehead. You slowly moved out of his grasp to put on some clothes, a frown settling on Toms’ lips.

„Where are you going?“ You looked up to Tom while putting on your old clothes from last night. „Home?“ You raised an eyebrow because you were sure that he wanted you out of the house. This had been a one-night stand, even though the two of you had sent each other a lot of flirty glances for the last few weeks. Tom was up in an instant and you quickly averted his gaze because he was completely naked, only reminding you of your late night activities. „No, no, don’t go!“ He walked towards you and you put your hand in front of your eyes, laughing. „Okay first, put on some damn clothes!“ Tom quickly found some boxers and some sweats to put on and stood in front of you after a few seconds with a grin on his face. He softly grabbed your hands and stroked them, gaining your attention. „Please don’t go.“ You thought about it, knowing that it was a bad decision if this was only a one-time thing. But if there was more…

„But I don’t have anything to wear, these clothes reek of beer and smoke,“ you pouted and Tom gave you a sign to wait and rushed to his wardrobe and brought back some sweats and dark green hoodie, handing them to you. „Here you go. Now go and get dressed, I’m gonna make us some breakfast.“ And with that, he disappeared out o the room, leaving you standing in his bedroom, smiling.

After you got dressed, you freshened up and walked into the kitchen, finding Tom in front of the stove, humming a song that was softly playing through the speakers. You were not quite sure how to approach him but your heart outweighed your brain so you walked up to him and hugged him from behind, your cheek pressed to his warm back. Tom chuckled but stayed like he was, focused on whatever he was making for the two of you.

„Hi there, handsome.“ you murmured and let him go to look over his shoulder to see that he was making you pancakes, your favourite dish in the morning. Tom pressed a kiss to your cheek and continued cooking while you walked around the kitchen, trying to find the plates and cutlery to set the table. The two of you worked around each other in comfortable silence; it felt so natural even though you were doing this for the first time. Breakfast was finally ready and you ate while talking about everything but somehow still avoiding what had happened last night. But it was something that was burning on your tongue because after that kiss and that night, you couldn’t just let it be. You liked Tom a lot and you hoped that he was feeling the same way.

After finishing breakfast, you helped Tom cleaning up and you knew that it was your time to go because there was nothing else to do. You walked towards the bedroom to get your stuff but Tom stopped you.

„Y/N, wait!“ You turned around, just to see Tom in front of you, looking quite nervous. „What is it?“ You raised an eyebrow and crossed your arms in front of your chest, not knowing what to do. „Um, I kinda wanna talk about what happened last night. About what’s going to happen.“ His fingers fidgeted and you just nodded, knowing that you had to talk about this. But you were scared about what Tom thought about this night. You just nodded and you walked to the sofa, sitting down.

„I don’t want this to be just a One Night Stand,“ Tom spoke quickly because he knew that if he wouldn’t say something, he would never do it. Your eyes widened and you tried to process what he had said. That he wanted more.

„I know, we’ve known each other for one month but you mean a lot to me Y/N. And I want you to know that I want more, that I want you.“ A smile formed on your lips and your heart fluttered, a blush growing on your cheeks. Tom was now the one looking at you, waiting for an answer.

It took you a few seconds to find the words you wanted to say. „You mean a lot to me too, Tom. And I would love to get to know you a lot better and maybe wake up with you in the morning a lot?“ It sounded so weird that it came from your lips, but you meant it. Tom was grinning now and launched forwards to hug you close. You breathed in the familiar scent that was so especially him, closing your eyes in happiness. The next seconds his lips were on yours and you moaned at the pleasure, finally having his lips back on yours, even though it had only been a couple hours.

When Tom pulled back, his eyes met yours and he smiled, his nose nudging yours. „I’m falling right in you, babe.“

___________________________________

„Oh come on Y/N, don’t be like that!“ Tom groaned, jumped up and followed you into the kitchen, completely naked. You had thrown over your nightgown and headed to the door, just wanting to escape this situation. But when you started slipping your boots on, a hand stopped you. You looked up to look into your boyfriends’ angry face. „Y/N, you’re only wearing a nightgown and it’s freezing cold, you’re not going anywhere.“

You ripped your arm from him and continued putting your shoes on. „I can do whatever I want, asshole.“ Tom sighed, knowing that this was useless. The two of you had a spectacular night full of pleasure and love-making, but when you found a picture on Twitter of Tom and some fan, you flipped.

„Y/N, stop this. You know that I love you, there is no one else but you. Please believe me.“ Tom was desperate, knowing that you would actually go out of your shared apartment and find another place to sleep for the night even though you were completely overreacting. You looked up at him and suddenly the tears started flowing. Tom was next to you in a second and pulled you towards him, holding you close. You sobbed into his shirt, not really knowing what was going on. You knew that you had been quite sensitive for the past few days because of your period, but today had been the peak. You knew that Tom would never cheat on you and your behaviour was stupid, but you just couldn’t help it.

You and Tom had been together for around three years now and even though you had your ups and downs, you loved Tom with all your heart and you were a happy couple until you had those phases where you would just yell at Tom without any reason. But he was always there to pick you back up and you were so grateful that he didn’t give up on you.

„I’m sorry,“ you sobbed into his shirt, clawing your fingers into his skin. Tom just murmured soothing words in your ear, letting you know that you would be just fine. He slowly lifted you up and you looped your legs around his waist. Your boyfriend walked back to the bedroom and laid down, pulling you even closer. The tears had dried and you were just sniffing, trying to calm down.

It was silent for a few minutes until you spoke up again. „I’m sorry I overreact sometimes.“ You looked up to Tom and he only pressed a kiss on the side of your lips as an answer. „I still can’t believe that everything worked out so well though. Out of that one-night stand.“

„It was the best decision I ever made when I got you to talk to me about that night. I don’t regret anything ever since that day when it comes to you.“ Tom smiled at you and his face was glowing, causing you to grin up at him. You pulled his head down to press your lips against his. With Tom, it felt easy even if it wasn’t, sometimes. But with him by your side, everything was possible. Two lovers in an apartment, all your actions spoke of the love you felt.

„I fall more in love with you every day,“ you whispered when you pulled back from the kiss and laid your head on his chest. Tom chuckled and pressed a kiss on your hair, your eyes closing at the soft touch. „Me too, love. And I can’t wait to experience so many more things with you. I’m all yours, baby.“

„All yours.“

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[wennjunwho]

drugs & fallen kings

undisclosed pt. 2

3.8k Words

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.― William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2

You woke up to Mingyu’s arm wrapped around you, his breath prickling your neck. You looked down at his hand, the one holding your waist, little cuts adorning his knuckles; you intertwined your fingers between his, your thumb grazing over the injuries. That was the thing about Saturday mornings, as long as the first rays of light were visible you could do this, you could care. “You’re up early.” Mingyu’s voice stopped you in your tracks, your hand dropping his in an instant. It sounded throaty, deep and maybe a little tired, you turned around to face him; his eyes closed, a small smile on his lips. “You should go back to sleep.” You looked at the clock; 8:37 am. “I should get going.” You tried to sit up straight on his bed, the headache kicking in as soon as you started to jolt up. “Shit.” You muttered. Mingyu grinned. “Not even saying for breakfast, are we?” You shook your head. “Your choice.” Mingyu sat down painfully slow, grimacing every few seconds, his feet dangling from the bed evaluating if breakfast was worth the pain of standing up. You raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m fine.” “I didn’t say anything.” Mingyu brushed past you, walking towards the door, he turned to look at you. Are you coming? You nodded. 

The Kim household always managed to surprise you, especially on Saturday mornings when you felt anything but worthy of it’s beauty. It wasn’t huge, only two people lived there constantly anyways, but it was nice. The ceilings where high, the spiraling staircase was  made of white marble as were most of the floor tiles. It was gorgeous, but not ostentatious, if you squinted hard enough it even looked like a home. “They have risen.” Martha stood next to the breakfast isle, her hair up in a bun. She couldn’t be older than sixty five, her hair had started to gray when Mingyu and you were just children, now it stood like a silver knob on top of her head. She smiled at the both of you, amused, her gaze lingering on your neck for a second too long. “Would it kill you kids to drink water after you go out?” “What’s the fun in not being hungover?” Mingyu replied, hugging her from behind. It always made you a little sad; how much he loved her, how he would never love his real mom like that. You shifted your bag strap over your shoulder. “I’ll get going.” “So soon?” Martha looked over at you and then at the bacon and eggs cooking on the stove. “Mom’s coming home later today;” Martha understood the weight of those words. Your mom flew in from DC once a week to check up on you. If anything was even slightly out of place she might freak out and take you with her. “I have to clean up a bit before she arrives.” Martha nodded, her lips a thin line. “She just wants to get away from me.” Mingyu whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “Can you blame her?” The old lady smiled. “Say hi to your mom for me, will you?” You nodded.

 “I’ll see you tonight?”Mingyu asked, relaxing his hold on Martha. You looked at him, confused. “The game.” He said dumbfounded you didn’t remember. 

“You’re not playing like that are you?” Mingyu shot you a killer look, it hadn’t occurred to you he wasn’t planning on getting Martha to patch him up. “Like what?” She asked, not missing a beat. If looks could kill Mingyu had killed you ten times already in the past minute. “I’m just a bit battered up from last night, it’s nothing, really.” He leaned into the kitchen counter, grabbing a toast and biting into it. You could see how hard he was trying not to wince. “You can patch me up before the game.” He emphasized the before whilst looking at you. “I’ll see you there.” You rolled your eyes. “Sure.” The front door was only a few steps away. You waved at the both of them, bumping shoulders with Mingyu on your way out. “Seokmin told me we should bring swimsuits for the after party!” He yelled behind you. You grinned. “What makes you think I’m going?” He didn’t answer, he knew you were.                      ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Vernon:  ITS OUR LUCKY DAY Seen Sat. 12:13pm

You: ????? Seen Sat.12:14pm Vernon: Surprise drug tests in two hours Seen Sat.12:15pm                                              You: Who told you? Seen Sat. 12:15pm Vernon: Wonwoo had the intel Seen Sat.12:16pm Vernon: As always Seen Sat.12:16pm Vernon: Apparently they’re testing all the teams Seen Sat. 12:16pm Vernon: Maybe they’ll finally suspend me Seen Sat. 12:16pm                                        You: 10 bucks say you’ll get two weeks of detention   Seen Sat.12:17pm                                                You: What were you on last night anyways?    Seen Sat. 12:17pm

Vernon: I’d take you up on it but I’m not ready to lose 10 bucks                     Seen Sat. 12:18pm Vernon: That’s for the test results to show Seen Sat.12:19pm                                                You: Fingers crossed for your suspension Seen Sat.12:19pm Vernon: Thank you for the support Seen Sat.12:20pm Vernon: I’ll let you know how it goes Seen Sat. 12:20pm                           ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“I can’t believe it.” Vernon had been dragging his feet as you walked through the school’s parking lot, his gaze straight to the floor. “I could do heroin at this point and they’ll just get me off the hook with some community service.” “I don’t think they would,” Vernon looked up at you. “Picking up garbage might damage your good arm, they can’t risk it.” You grinned at him. “I’m glad you’re finding this funny.” Vernon threw his head back, his hands covering his mouth as he yelled “I can’t believe them.” Hansol’s voice lowered as you entered the football pitch. “At this point I don’t know what to do to get kicked out, he just fixes everything.” He. Vernon’s dad. He had been an NBA player once upon a time, a great one at that; Vernon could never really escape his legacy.

You had met Vernon freshmen year of high school and even then he hated the sport, hated what it did to his family, hated what it did to him. He tried to fail, but something in his DNA wouldn’t let him, and if being bad wasn’t going to work he started trying the second best thing; getting kicked out. “Those tests are bullshit anyways.” You answered absentmindedly as you made line for popcorn. “I mean Seokmin of all people turned out clean.” “That’s bullshit.” It always amused you how bad he wanted his drug tests to fail. Everyone else enjoyed the crookedness of the school; they couldn’t afford to lose their best players, not when half of the school funding came from the sports teams only. “I hate this place so much.” Vernon hit one of the walls with his hand holding it closely to his chest afterwards. “Ugh!” “You done?” You asked, walking towards the bleachers, popcorn in hand. Vernon gave you the stink eye.  “Is Seungkwan here already?” Vernon shook his head. “Minghao is saving our seats.” You rolled your eyes. “He’s doing it because he’s our friend…” He emphasized that last word. “And my supply’s running low.” He continued. Your hand flew, connecting to the back of his head. “Hey I need something to relax.” “Dumbass.” “Maybe he can give you something to fix that frown you’d had on all day.” You elbowed him a bit more harshly than you should’ve as you shuffled towards your seat next to Minghao, the crowd’s chants getting louder and louder as you approached him. Minghao smiled at the both of you, his eyes lingering on you a second too long. He had left early last night, you could tell. He wasn’t a big partier anyways, he just liked providing the party. “You have it?” Vernon asked him, bumping hands. “I’ll give it to you at Seok’s.” Minghao turned to smile at you. “Your hickeys are showing.” There was no indication on his voice as to if it was a dig or a statement.

“So?” You rolled your eyes at him, your voice barely carrying over the loud screams of the crowd, followed by the rip of a banner and footsteps, the football team’s footsteps.

“Is Mingyu not playing today?”  Vernon whispered in your ear. Your gaze flew to the sea of blue running around the field, trying to catch a clear glimpse of the one leading the pack. It took you a flash if his smile to realize his teeth were perfectly straight and white. Not Mingyu, Wonwoo.

You scanned the rest of the team and then the bench, a familiar sense of alertness washing over you. It made sense, you knew it made sense, but still…“He was pretty beat up this morning…” You settled for that. Vernon and Minghao burst into laughter. You rolled your eyes. “Not like that, like actually beaten up, bruised.” Vernon’s smile faded. “What?” His eyes widened. You felt a sea of relief flowing through you followed by uneasiness. He hadn’t told them either, for better or for worse he hadn’t told anyone what had happened. “Did he get into a fight or…?” “No clue.” You answered, biting the insides of your cheek. “He wouldn’t tell me.” Minghao took a deep breath next to you. “How are you so at ease with this?” You weren’t. Nothing about you had been at ease since yesterday night. The insides of your cheeks were starting to bleed from how often you kept chewing on them, your mind had been racing so much that you could barely get a few minutes of sleep last night; not that you would tell any of this to Minghao anyways. “It’s Mingyu, he’s not known for making hell but he’s also no angel.” You looked over at the field, towards Wonwoo; his eyes scanning the crowd just to land on you. You gave him a questioning look.

“Later.” He mouthed.

You nodded, looking back towards Minghao and Vernon. “He probably just pissed off the wrong person.” “I don’t want to think how much he had to piss someone off to not be able to play.” You had thought about it, how bad you had to want to hurt someone to leave those kind of bruises.  “They weren’t that bad…” you lied, knowing far too well they would see through it. “Martha probably just thought it wasn’t smart for him to play in that condition.” Minghao looked at you quizzically, he knew you were lying. You hated that he could do that. “Makes sense.” He said, pursing his lip into a thin line. “You don’t think he’ll miss DK’s party, do you?”

                   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

He wouldn’t. If you knew something about Mingyu was that he would never miss a party. There was once when you thought that might be possible, a time where you thought that maybe, maybe he could sit one out; then he broke his leg junior year.

It was an ugly break, the type of break everyone thought he wouldn’t make a full recovery from. You remembered his leg, bruised and swollen; his face not quite in sync with his body from the shock. You could remember the gasps and the dizzy feeling that over took you. You remember his hospital room, full of flowers and the hospital smell that followed Mingyu for weeks after the fact. You remember how much it hurt him to stand up, how he did it over and over again, until the pain wasn’t more bearable but a feeling he got used to.

It happened on a Wednesday night, Saturday night he was already standing, fighting his way out of the house. His arguments weren’t convincing, you didn’t mention it then, but you knew how much pain he was in, but alas Martha gave up and there he stood, at a party, his leg in a cast. He got so drunk that night it took you, DK and Wonwoo to walk him home.

The leg still hurt when he played, not that he’d ever admit it to anyone, but you could tell. It was in the way he ran, how he was always cautious of his next step, how he put barely any weight on his right leg before switching to the left. He’d never admit it, and you would never bring it up, because that was Mingyu, he didn’t stop when he had to, he stopped when he wanted to, and something told you he didn’t want to stop just yet.

                    ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

House parties dizzied you a bit less. They were a lot like clubs in a way, but they felt more human. You were sure clubs were just social experiments controlled by the government sometimes. You walked around Seokmin’s house, it was a mess, chairs were flipped and drinks were spilled, cigarette burns covered the couch pillows, still looked like a home, a home full of crazy drunken people, but still a home.

You walked towards the kitchen, the music muffling as you walked away from the living room, it made you feel lighter, more in control. You took the cherry vodka from the assortment of bottles, it was almost full. You weren’t going to complain though. You balanced the possibility of pouring it into a solo cup, just to brush it out as soon as you started pouring; no one else liked cherry vodka anyways.

You took a sip directly out of the bottle, feeling the familiar burn of cough syrup going down your throat. “That shit’s nasty.” You heard a voice behind you say. You closed your eyes, awaiting for the voice to come closer.

“You people are just weak.” You told Wonwoo, who was holding a bottle of Jagger to his lips. “Anyways, I should congratulate you, captain.” The words felt wrong on your tongue, bitter.

“Captain.” He repeated. “That sounds nice.” He took another sip of the Jagger, containing a frown. “I have Mingyu to thank for that.” He clinked both of your bottles together.  “Have you seen him lately?”

You shook your head. “He’s not here apparently.”

Wonwoo hummed. “He’ll probably show up eventually.” He smiled. There was something about Wonwoo’s smile at night, it was almost blinding. You always looked at it like a safe point, no matter what club you went to, or how drunk you were, at some point in the night you were bound to see that smiled, and you were bound to hear those words. “Want to go outside for a bit? The pool’s free.”

                      ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Hangovers and cold air didn’t mix well. Cold air and cold water didn’t mix well. Wet clothes and the  cherry vodka on your bloodstream didn’t mix well. It was a recipe for disaster and yet you followed it all too eager, all too prepared to face the consequences. The music was louder than ever on DK’s back yard, whilst the drunk people gathered around in the living room, the back yard was for the tipsy people, the people who could go near water without danger of drowning.

You walked into the back yard, your hand in Wonwoo’s, leading the way. You were laughing about something you couldn’t quite make sense of anymore. Maybe it was Vernon’s stoned thoughts, or Seokmin’s drunken rambles that seemed to go on for hours. All you knew is that without knowing there wasn’t ground beneath your feet anymore, and then there was water.

Wonwoo emerged from the water, his hair falling right on top of his eyes, blinding his vision. He brushed it away with his fingers, a smile on his face. “Aren’t you scared that people won’t find you attractive looking like that.” You pointed at his wet features. He didn’t look half bad. The party lights make his features softer, more approachable.

He laughed. “Like what? Like you?” He pointed at your wet hair, sticking to your cheeks at weird angles, little water drops falling from your eyelashes onto your lips.

“You bitch.” The water hit your face before you had time to react, Wonwoo’s devilish grin appearing in front of you after you wiped your eyes. You pushed some water his way, followed by a wave of water coming yours. Wonwoo kept moving towards you, the music from the party barely audible over the sound of water splashing and your laughter, until you were standing, your back against the edge of the pool.

“Ready to surrender?” He asked. You were tipsy, too tipsy, and so was he. You were on dangerous waters, Wonwoo moved closer to you, his gaze flying from his lips to your eyes. You knew that move too well, he had pulled it so many times in front of you, so many times had he pulled it on you.

Who doesn’t kiss their friends? The little voice in your head answered, and so you did, or maybe he did. All you knew was that Wonwoo’s hands felt cold against your jaw and your shirt was starting to feel like a nuisance.

In that moment, for the first time in forever you thought it was possible. He isn’t nice. Wonwoo was past pretending he was nice, he was past pretending to be good. Wonwoo’s breathing was loud enough to drown your thoughts. The chlorine in the pool masked the absence of weed and cologne, if you closed your eyes hard enough, the coldness in Wonwoo’s skin felt almost welcoming. Wonwoo’s hands grabbed your chin, pulling you away from the kiss just long enough to notice the water droplets covering his lashes. You kissed him again, the water around you rippling from the sudden movement. There were probably over fifty people around you, but you couldn’t care less. He wasn’t nice. He would never be nice. So what if he wasn’t Mingyu? He wasn’t nice, that’s all you cared about.

You were too drunk to even think about Mingyu. Too drunk to remember broken legs, and bruises, and entangled fingers on Saturday mornings. You were too drunk to worry about football games, and drug tests, and that little voice in your head that kept nagging you. You were too drunk to care, too drunk, and yet as soon as you heard his name you noticed how undrunk you felt. How his voice managed to sober you up in a matter of seconds. How it didn’t matter that Wonwoo wasn’t nice because the both of you had done this before and the ending was always the same. He wasn’t nice but he wasn’t worth it.

You placed your hand on Wonwoo’s chest, gasping for air, the cold finally starting to kick in. You locked gazes with him and he nodded. “I told you he’d make an entrance.”

Your gaze flew up towards the pool chairs, Mingyu was on one of them, something not quite right about the way he carried himself. He looked straight at you, smiling. If you didn’t know better you’d think he was bothered, even angry, but you did know better than that.

“Can I get your attention?” His words kept bumping into each other.

 It was magnetic, the way people looked at him, like he was the sun and everyone else was mere planets. Everyone orbited around him, never getting too close. Mingyu smiled, it took you a second to make out the bottle of Cherry Vodka he was holding, you had left it half way full, now it was empty. “I wanted to congratulate none other than your new football captain Jeon Wonwoo for his first win today.” New captain. You tried to retain the words but they floated away, leaving only the claps and cheering going around you. Mingyu locked gazes with you, the shadow of a smirk on his lips. “How does it feel not coming up second best for the first time in your life?”

Wonwoo rolled his eyes. The words clearly stung. “Pretty great Gyu.” He looked over at you and then at Mingyu. “How does it feel coming up second best for the first time in yours?”

Mingyu walked towards the edge of the pool, close enough for the smell of weed and cologne to fill your nostrils. “It’s not as bad as you made it seem honestly.” He leaned in to leave the empty bottle of cherry vodka on the edge, right next to you, before walking away.

You got out of the pool as fast as you could, your knees and thighs scraped from the cement. The air was cold against your body; your wet clothes sticking to you, making you feel trapped. You followed Mingyu inside the house, leaving little pools of water as you walked. 

“I told you to bring a swim suit.” He said as soon as you caught up to him on the front porch, a cigarette between his thumb and index finger.

“I thought this would be more fun.” Your voice was unsteady, wavering. Your hands were shaking so hard you couldn’t keep them at your side.

Mingyu rolled his eyes, smiling. “Here.” He took off his shirt, the bruises fully visible under the party lights. You hesitated. “I’ll go get another one from DK’s closet, you can’t exactly go upstairs to get one without leaving a mess on your way, can you?” His words slurred a bit, but they were coherent enough, you could tell he was doing an effort to keep his drunken self at bay.

You took your shirt of, quickly putting on Mingyu’s. You felt a sudden warmth wash over you, followed by a rush of cold air bringing you back to reality. “Are you going to tell me why the fuck you weren’t at the game today?” For the first time in the last hours you had let yourself be irritated at him, worried, if you looked too much into it.

Mingyu’s eyes darted from one place on Seokmin’s front yard to the other. “I failed the drug test.” He took a drag of his cigarette, exhaling the smoke little by little.

You rolled your eyes. “If you’re not going to answer truthfully, I’m…” you started to turn away from him when he grabbed your elbow.

“I’m telling you the truth.” He looked amused, almost like the thought was too ridiculous even for him. It was. “Ask them if you want.”

“That’s impossible.” The school could risk losing DK, or Wonwoo, Seungkwan and even Vernon before Mingyu. Football gave the school most of its funding, and Mingyu was the football team, he was the captain, it made no sense.

“That’s what I thought this morning.” He turned to look at you; the bruises looked more purple today than they did yesterday, darker, more painful. “But hey, at least I beat Vernon to it…” he laughed, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“They found MDMA in Vernon’s system Gyu, what the fuck were you on that they would…?” consider it was worse.

“Does it matter?” He threw the cigarette butt on the floor, stepping on it. “They probably just wanted me out of the team for some reason. Who cares?”

You did. But the party was starting to make you feel dizzy, the cherry vodka finally starting to wear out. He only quits when he wants to. The little voice in your head whispered. Why would he want to quit? But the answer didn’t come to you then.  “Who cares?” you answered back, the ghost of a smile in both of your lips.

[scarlettlillies]

Hetalia Moon AU- The Dimensional Door: Act 3

Previous Chapter: II Next Chapter: IV Beginning: I

What better way to start off the new year than with a new chapter!

I’m sorry that this took so long! Work was not very forgiving in 2017. This chapter was finished almost two weeks ago but I was always finding stuff to change or update. I took some inspiration from the second Sailor Moon movie for this chapter’s monster. I always loved the Snow Dancers and thought they were really pretty when I first saw the film as a kid!

A lot of stuff takes place in this chapter. Most importantly, a mysterious figure arrives to help with the battle and Raivis learns to accept his new duty as a guardian. 

I do want to take a moment to thank everyone who has been leaving nice comments about the story these last few months. I know this story caters to a niche group but your words have been a huge help in pushing me to keep going. I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

Also, a special thanks goes out to @melveres, @irenesart, and @castleoflight who helped me with Estonian and Latvian translations needed for this fic! Much appreciated to all three of you! <3

Name Legend: APH Estonia: Eduard APH Latvia: Raivis APH Lithuania: Tolys APH Poland: Feliks APH Finland: Timo APH Sweden: Björn

Just as he predicted, Tolys was already gone by the time he had gotten up.

He overslept quite a bit. He normally didn't sleep in till ten-thirty but last night's events were justifiable. He stayed up late, chatting up a storm with Timo on the other end. Aside from his anxious worrying over Eduard's “disappearance”, he and Björn had a nice night together and mused over their lives through dinner and a movie. Eduard too talked about his night with the others; how Tolys cooked them up a meal and how he championed over Feliks through video games.

But at no point did he ever bring up that event. He didn't know how Timo would handle it, and it certainly wasn't appropriate to say so casually over the phone. Therefore he left the topic off the table.

Dressed in yesterday's clothes, his glasses were slightly slanted as he walked down the stairs and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He could hear Feliks chatting up a storm about the adorable dogs at Tolys's placement. When he had made his way into the kitchen, he was surprised to see Raivis at the table eating a bowl of cereal—who also wore yesterday's clothes, had droopy eyes, and a bad case of bed hair.

“You're up.”

Raivis looked up at him for a brief moment before turning away and looking rather gloomy. “Yeah...” he replied in a soft and unenthusiastic tone. It was obvious that Raivis was still distraught from last night. When Eduard spoke with Timo the previous night, they had agreed to meet for lunch. He thought extending the offer to Raivis seemed wise and he knew that Timo wouldn't mind. The two knew each other on a familiar level and Timo had a knack for looking out for him as a brotherly figure. The decision seemed so obvious to him.

“Listen, I'm going to meet Timo for lunch at that new restaurant that opened up around where we live. You should join us.”

“No thanks,” Raivis replied flatly. Eduard's expression quickly went sour.

“Raivis, you can't stay inside all weekend and not do anything.”

“Who said I don't have stuff to do? I doubt Timo would want me there anyway.”

“That isn't true and you know that.”

Eduard was quickly getting tired of Raivis's excuses. He was quick to fold his arms and turned to his friend across the table. He was determined to get this boy out of the house. “Feliks? A little help?”

Feliks was unusually quiet as the conversation unfolded but he appeared in a daze. He wasn't too sure what Eduard really wanted him to say or add. “Raivis, you should go with him. Lunch with Timo sounds like a lot of fun. I wish I could go too. I'm so jealous!”

Raivis continued to ignore the two men as he swirled his spoon in what little was left of his cereal. He had made up his mind—he was not interested in being social; he'd rather sleep the day away. He wanted to escape and forget the events of yesterday. It does not exist. The monster? A bad dream. The brooch? He bought it at a flea market downtown. It did nothing and merely a piece of jewelry. End of story.

Eduard and Feliks exchanged worried glances. Even after his parents had passed away, Raivis was visibly upset but he never acted in the manner than he was now: lifeless and detached. To their surprise, he got up and ran out of the room and could hear him emitting some quiet sobs. Their calls went unanswered; the sounds of stomping feet and a slamming door were all what the two men heard. The room went quiet and neither of them spoke for some time.

“You should probably go,” Feliks said as he finally broke the silence.

“I understand,” he replied. He quickly retreated upstairs to grab his stuff. As he passed Raivis's room on his way out, he was tempted to knock on his door but as his fist hung close to the wooden entrance, Eduard grew hesitant and merely sighed and walked away. Feliks was cleaning up in the kitchen and joined him in the main entry way when he heard Eduard getting ready to leave.

“Here,” Feliks said as he handed him a medium-sized blueberry muffin. “You're probably starving.”

Eduard chuckled as he kindly took it, “Just a little. Thanks,” he said before taking a large bite.

“I'll have a chat with Raivis when he's calmed down. I'll totally keep ya in the loop about everything.”

Eduard was quick to scoff the muffin down within only a few seconds as Feliks spoke. “Thanks. I appreciate that. I'll let Timo know you said hi.” Eduard replied with a stuffed mouth.

“Please! And tell him I miss him a lot and that he needs to pick up his damn phone and call me!!” Feliks pouted. Eduard got a kick out of Feliks's comment and give the man a friendly wave. He had already dashed out the door and was almost off the property.

“I'll do that! Take care!” Eduard replied before he took his leave towards home. Though the air was crisp, the sun was warm against his skin and it made the walk back pleasant. His hands were a little cool so he left them inside his coat pockets. Things appeared to be quiet in the neighbourhood as there were few kids out; mostly joggers and dog walkers taking in the nice weather. Despite what happened yesterday, Eduard chose to cross through the park. If he was lucky, he could make it back to the main road and grab a quick bus leading to his apartment. He was cautious as he walked around and the place appeared deserted. But further up ahead, parts of the park were taped off to the public as police officers were on the scene surveying the damage done to the area. A small news crew and their van were present as well and the reporter was interviewing one of the officers.

Eduard took a moment to watch the officers work. It felt awkward knowing the police would never be able to solve the mystery of what took place that evening. It was a secret he was now forced to carry with him for the rest of his days. No one but their own can know. Thinking about it made Eduard uncomfortable so he chose to keep on moving towards home.

In the end, he didn't make the bus as he hoped, thus creating a longer walk back, but he had music to keep him company—and to help him escape reality for just a little bit.

Timo wasn't at the apartment when Eduard had arrived. He remembered that he was taking Björn home and that they were going to meet at the restaurant for noon. Eduard was cutting it close after grabbing a quick glance of the time on the stove. He had no time for a shower and instead grabbed a fresh set of clothes and sprayed a tiny bit of cologne on both sides of his neck. His outfit wasn't much different as before, only he had lacked a tie underneath his grey v-neck sweater and sported dark blue jeans. He made sure to grab the essentials: his wallet, his phone, but mostly importantly his brooch. He was a little hesitant taking it with him but he could no longer be too careful and needed to be prepared at every moment. From his balcony window, he could see the skies were quickly greying over as if a storm were about to brew.

Better grab that coat and umbrella too, he thought to himself.

“That's odd, we weren't supposed to get rain today. So much for that sunny weekend that weather guy was chanting about.”

He was quick to leave the apartment complex and something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. A young boy was leaning against the concrete walls next to the glass doors, dressed in a burgundy hoodie designed with a school logo, baggy blue pants, and red and white sneakers. The boy looked up at him and Eduard appeared surprised.

“Raivis?”

For the first time in what Eduard felt like an eternity, Raivis gave him one of his little trademark shy smiles. “Is the offer still on?”

Eduard's expression quickly changed as he gave Raivis a warm grin. “Of course, let's go.”

The two men walked together closely as they headed closer towards the city's main core. Eduard felt his phone buzzing in his coat pocket. Feliks had sent him a distressing text message asking him if he had seen or heard from Raivis. Eduard shot him a disappointed glare but kept quiet as he responded with a quick message.

He's fine. He's walking with me to the restaurant. I'm guessing he snuck out without you knowing? I'll have a talk with him later.

“Who are you texting?”

“Timo,” he lied. “Just letting him know that we're on our way.”

The downtown core was busy and buzzing with people. Despite the bad weather approaching, everyone seemed to be in a cheerful mood. They turned the corner and up ahead, Eduard had spotted Timo in the distance. Eduard unknowingly startled some of the people walking past them as he shouted out to him. Timo returned it with a wave and began running towards them.

“And here I was thinking I'd be late. It's good to see you,” Eduard said cheerfully.

“Sorry, I didn't think it'd take this long to get here,” Timo laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Björn was showing me some of his new design projects and I lost track of time.”

“Projects?” Raivis questioned.

“Björn attends at the local art school west of the city.” Eduard explained. “He designs all sorts of things: furniture, clothing, crafts—you name it. Whatever you have in mind, he can make it happen. Right Timo?”

Timo nodded in agreement and his attention quickly diverted to Raivis. With big and bright violet eyes, he couldn't contain his excitement at the sight of the younger boy.

“Ah! You even brought Raivis along too! I'm so glad you could join us!”

“It's nice to see you again Timo,” he replied nervously, but with a smile. “But did you not know I was coming? Eduard told me he just texted you.”

Eduard went wide-eyed as he felt anxiety pool into his stomach. He was caught within his own lie.

“A text?” Timo blinked. “I didn't get any text messages from Eduard today.”

Timo looked towards Eduard and it appeared he was trying to send a signal to go along with it; mouthing words 'Go along with it'. It took him a moment but he got the message loud and clear and quickly changed his tune.

“Oh!! You know what? I did hear from Eduard earlier. I was in such a rush that I just completely forgot!”

Raivis stared at Timo oddly with a raised brow. He wasn't buying the charade and it left the two men feeling awkward about the situation.

“Err... how about we head inside? Raivis, you first.”

Timo generously held the door open for them to enter. Raivis walked inside first and just as Eduard was about to follow, Timo grabbed his arm gently and tugged him back.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Trust me, it's a long story.”

The three men were lucky to get a window seat with a nice view of the downtown. To their surprise, the restaurant served a lunch buffet and they decided to ignore the menus and eat their hearts out on whatever they could grab. It offered a massive variety of pizzas, pastas, salads, and meat dishes. By the time they had returned, their soft drinks had been delivered and their plates were overflowing with food.

None of the men hid their delight as they openly praised the food. Timo was in love as he happily munched on his meal, even stealing food off the plates of his friends, while Eduard was a slow eater and took his time enjoying the flavours. Raivis however was eating so fast that they were worried he would choke on something.

“Raivis slow down!” Timo said. “The food's not going anywhere. Gosh, you must have been hungry.”

“He wasn't feeling that great yesterday so he skipped out on dinner.”

“Oh! Speaking of yesterday, did you guys hear the news about what took place in the park?”

Eduard and Raivis froze for a moment but carried on as they knew nothing about the incident, “Yeah, I walked passed the scene on my way back home. The whole area was cordoned off to the public. There were lots of officers there on the scene with a news crew and everything. I wonder what happened?”

“I don't know but I was hearing online that a monster showed up and destroyed the place! Some people claimed they took pictures and videos on their phones but when they tried to retrieve them, the files were supposedly corrupted,” Timo explained before pausing to grab a sip of his soda. “I'm not sure if I believe that or not. But regardless, I'm glad no one was killed.”

Eduard felt some relief knowing that there wasn't any evidence taken from the battle. It was one thing to grabs shots of the monster but knowing if someone caught them transforming was an unsettling thought. He looked over to Raivis and he appeared uncomfortable with the topic at hand. He was notiblaly losing the colour in his face.

“Raivis,” Eduard called out and the younger man looked up towards him, “Timo wanted to know how you were doing.”

Raivis stared at him with a confused expression. Timo was next to chime in.

“Yes! It's been ages since I last saw you so he updated me on how you were last night when we were chatting. You're a senior now aren't you?”

“Oh... yeah, that's right. It's my last year of high school.” he replied shyly. He colour returned to his face and his cheeks turned to a light shade of pink. He had a hard time looking at Timo as his eyes darted everywhere but him. “I'm in the highest levels of all my classes. Oh! And I'm a tutor for some of the students in the younger grades! It's so much fun!”

The conversation change did wonders for Raivis as he quickly became a chatter box and was back to cheerful self. Eduard enjoyed watching the two of them chat as loud laughter erupted and smiles were all around. Raivis was happy to tell him everything about his life and Timo was happy to listen. Eduard had only hoped Raivis would not slip and tell him about their new identities.

The group had gone back for seconds. And then thirds. And fourths. Well, Timo and Raivis did. Eduard was done by his third plate and had barely placed anything on it. He was comfortably enjoying his black coffee while the other two were slouching in their seats.

“That was so good...”

“We are definitely coming back here.” Timo said as he rubbed his belly. The waitress was quick to arrive at their table to collect their plates and offer the dessert menu. Raivis groaned while Timo politely declined as they made it obvious that they were overstuffed. “Just a coffee for me, no milk, cream, or sugar.”

“I'll take a coffee too. Just a little bit of milk in mine.”

The waitress grabbed their plates and left with a smile and they patiently waited for their drinks. Eduard's attention was more focused on the outside. He watched the people and vehicles passed. Even one bus had stopped to drop off passengers. He eventually found himself getting lost within the dark and ominous clouds above. He was surprised that the storm hadn't started in the time since they had gotten here. They had been at the restaurant for nearly an hour and a half.

“Hey look! It's snowing!” Timo said.

His voice snapped Eduard out of his thoughts and noticed that Timo was right; a gentle snow was falling on the city. As much as Timo and Raivis enjoyed the sight, this didn't sit well with him, “But it's not cold enough to snow... not even close.”

Suddenly something massive flew passed them on the other side of the glass and startled Eduard enough that he stood up in his seat. The people outside stopped in their tracks as they struggled to understand what was taking place. Up in the skies, a hole opened in the sky and a feminine figure with long curly hair came forth and danced amongst the clouds. Their whole body and clothing was pure white; their hair went down to their feet and was dressed in a royal gown dating back to the early 1800s. They appeared human in nearly every aspect. It quickly descended downwards and using its arms, large patches of snow fell and anything it landed on turned to ice. Several patches landed on cars, streetlights, and worst of all, people. Loud screams were heard as people panicked and struggled to find safety. The mood inside the restaurant was largely divided. Some customers were frightened, others were bewildered, while a few daredevils were getting close to the windows or heading outside to grab shots of the turmoil taking place in the streets.

“What's happening?!” Timo cried in terror. The monster suddenly morphed in front of the restaurant window were the three of them were standing. Using its arms, it threw a mixture of snow and ice and shattered all the windows. Eduard was quick to push Raivis away as they jumped back. Timo did the same but slipped and landed on his back. Eduard was desperate to reach out and help him but a massive ice wall formed in front of Timo and blocked Eduard off. He was nearly hit and was startled enough that he lost balance and fell off his feet.

“Timo!!” he shouted as he struggled to get up. Eduard couldn't see him on the other side, only his own reflection. His hands could barely touch it and getting too close was enough to make him shiver. His frantic calls to him proved to be futile as they went unanswered. Quiet sobs were all that Eduard could hear from behind him and his attention quickly turned to Raivis. He was lying on the floor, crying into his arm. Eduard reached out to help him but his gestures were met with resistance as Raivis pushed him away with such fury.

“Don't touch me!!”

Eduard was surprised by Raivis's sudden outburst, “What is your problem?!”

Raivis ignored the question. Instead he went into hysteria as tears flowed down his face.“I shouldn't have come. I tricked myself into believing everything would be alright. But nothing is fine, people are dying and Timo is probably one of them too—”

Eduard cut him off as he pulled Raivis into a hug and rubbed his back, “Shh... don't say that,” he whispered. “Timo is not dead. He's just stuck behind a frozen wall. I'm sure he's fine.”

He bit his lip. He wasn't so sure if that was true or not, especially since he never responded to his constant calls; but anything to relax an anxious Raivis.

“Raivis, I know you're scared but we're the only ones who can fix this. We don't have a choice in this anymore.”

“But I'm not strong enough,” Raivis hiccuped. A wet spot from where Raivis's tears were landing was growing in size on Eduard's shoulder.

“That's not true and you know that.”

Eduard sighed heavily. There was no use getting through him and he was losing precious time. He broke the hug and placed his hands on Raivis's shoulders.

“Raivis,” he said calmly, “I won't force you to fight. But someone has to go and stop them.”

“Raivis's eyes went wide, “You're not suggesting—?”

Eduard nodded.

“You can't do that! If you go alone, you'll die.”

Raivis's eyes swelled up with tears once more but Eduard used his fingers and brushed them away off his cheek.

“More people will die if neither of us step in. I'll only be alone for a little while. I don't know if Tolys can come to our aid but Feliks for sure will come. Try to get in contact with them if you can.”

Eduard stood up to his feet and looked out to the chaos unfolding in the streets. The whole city had turned into a frozen wasteland. People, buildings, the flora, the vehicles—nothing was off limits from the mercy of the ice monster flying high in the skies. With a determined expression, he knew what he had to do. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his brooch. Lifting it into the air, he called out a phrase in his native Estonian:

“Eesti kristalli jõud, transformeeri mind!”

A bright light full of magical power surrounded him and seconds later, the light faded, revealing a new but familiar face. He was no longer Eduard Tamm but the mysterious guardian, Sailor Estonia.

“Please be careful Eduard.”

He clutched his metal staff tightly. He can't promise him he will, but for Raivis's comfort, he turned to him and gave him a reassuring smile.

“I will.”

Eduard took off into the streets. He was careful wherever he stepped as any wrong move would cause him to slip and injure himself. He didn't need that going into an important battle like this. Passing the frozen figures gave him a drive that he had never felt before. A sense of duty came upon him; the fate of the city rested in his hands.

The snow creature was busy trying to find its next batch of targets when Eduard had arrived on the scene. It was quickly alerted to his presence and wasted no time in forming an attack. It flew closer towards Eduard and used its arms to launch a barrage of snow and ice but he was quick to dodge. The spot he was formally in quickly turned into ice. Eduard was ready to attack back but further in the distance, he caught a small glimpse of a frightened young child, possibly no more than five, peeking from behind a frozen car. He held back; if his attack missed, it was likely he could harm or kill the child. He could never live with himself had something like that happened.

But Eduard was quick to come up with a plan and chose to lure it away from the area. The creature took the bait and followed him, while launching a consistent attack of snow. Eduard came close several times to being hit but survived every time. He lurked the creature back to near where the restaurant was (though still far enough that Raivis was in no danger in being injured) and he was ready to fight. After dodging another attack, he launched himself into the air and used his height and speed to physically assault the creature with his staff. It cried in pain as the force was strong enough to throw it into the ground. When Eduard landed back onto the ground, he used his staff to launch his own attack. The amber on top of his staff glowed and began changing colour from orange to blue as it charged power. He pointed the staff towards the creature and shouted, “Estonia Binary Beam!” A beam of light shot out of the orb towards the creature, but flew away as the beam hit an abandoned building and caused an explosion. Eduard growled in frustration but continued onward. The two battled it out as they appeared to be equally matched. Each time an attack was launched, the other would dodge.

Eduard thought he was gaining the upper-hand when the monster abruptly pulled back and retreated. It performed an elegant dance in the air and twirled gracefully when suddenly there were two, and then three and four. Before Eduard had knew it, there were dozens of copies of the snow creature and he was completely out-numbered. The nerves had returned and he was beginning to lose hope for himself but continued to trek through with another attack. He wishfully hoped that reinforcements were arriving soon.

Feliks... Tolys... Raivis... anyone! I need help. I can't do this alone!

Raivis watched the battle unfold as he hid behind the edge of the wall and was looking out through the shattered window. His brooch was in his hands and he clutched it close to his chest. Raivis felt so helpless as he waited for Feliks to arrive on the scene. What could he do? He wasn't strong like they were. They were brave with powerful attacks. He was easily frightened and attacked with feathers. He believed he would only be in the way if he were to go out to fight.

But an explosion coming from the nearby wall of ice Raivis startled him as a cloud of smoke covered the room. A cloaked figure emerged from the smoke with the sound of heels clicking against the title floor and became louder with each step. As the figure grew closer, Raivis trembled as he scooted back.

The figure had stopped. Their face was covered by the cloak and it was impossible for Raivis to see who the mysterious individual was.

“There's no need to be frighten,” the figure said in a masculine voice. The person bore a thick accent that felt familiar to him but Raivis couldn't pinpoint where he recognized the voice from. Staring at the brooch from under Raivis's hand, the figure spoke in a rather soft and gentle tone, as if they were parental guardian to the young man.

“How come you're not fighting with Eduard? He can't face this battle alone.”

Raivis was surprised to know that the figure knew about him and Eduard's alter-egos.

“H-how did you know—?” Did they see them earlier arguing? Or when Eduard had transformed? Either way, the truth was out. Raivis turned his head and looked on into the frozen city landscape. He appeared gloomy as he watched Eduard beginning to struggle. The monster had made so many copies of itself that it became impossible for Eduard to fend for himself. He was doing his best to dodge the attacks but it was becoming obvious that he was running out of steam. His own attacks proved to be useless; each attack would simply bring forth a new copy to replace the old one. Eduard was stuck in a never-ending cycle. He needed help and he needed it immediately.

Despite the dire situation, Raivis would not budge.

“He needs your help,” the figure said.

“There's nothing I can do for him. Eduard is a thousand times stronger than I am. I'd only get in the way.”

“Is that really what you believe of yourself?”

There was no response.

“Raivis, I know a lot about about you. I know who you are, and what happened to your family. You are so lucky to have friends like Eduard, Tolys, and Feliks—friends that come to your aid in dire times of need. I know you're scared and your fears of losing them are legitimate. But you can't run away forever.”

A quiet sniffle was heard.

“You've come a long way and you can only go up from here. I want to see you reach your potential, both in battle and as a person.”

“Who are you?” Raivis asked in between sobs. He slowly turned back to face the cloaked individual. His eyes were red and puffy and used his fingers to wipe away the wetness off his face. He felt nervous to be around them and was uncomfortable at the fact all he could see was their lips underneath the hood.

“A friend,” they said with a smile. They held out their hand to Raivis, to which there was some hesitation but he grabbed a hold and the boy was lifted up to his feet. He noticed their hand was covered in a white glove, one that looked and felt like the ones he and his friends wore as guardians. Raivis wondered if the cloaked figure was just like them.

That's... no, they couldn't be? Could they?

“I'm here to help but I can't do this alone. I need your help too.”

Raivis nodded nervously.

“You are so much stronger than you think you are. I will help you fight and I will always be there for you and everyone else for future battles.”

Using both of their hands, the figure took the hand of which Raivis was using to hold his brooch. One hand rested underneath while the other rested on top and covered the brooch. The figure's hands felt warm and comforting against his cold and shaky ones. He felt strangely calm as his body slowly relaxed. His mind felt a little more clearer and the tears had ceased.

“Let's go and help Eduard. He needs us. It's okay to transform in front of me but I will turn away if you want me to.”

Raivis pulled his hand away and wiped away the wetness on his eyes and cheeks. He's done crying and he's ready to fight. The figure was delighted to see Raivis bursting with strength and eagerness.

“It's okay. You don't have to look away.”

Raivis took his brooch and raised it in the air. “Latvijas kristāl, pārvērt mani!” he called out as light formed around him. In mere seconds, he had transformed into the guardian, Sailor Latvia. He looked out towards the battle still ensuing. To say he was nervous was an understatement. But he knew he had to be strong; not only for himself but to Eduard and for everyone else. A hand was felt on his shoulder, coming from the mysterious figure behind him. “Let's go. I'll be right behind you.”

Raivis nodded in agreement and the two ran jumped from one of the shattered windows and into the streets. Eduard was growing exhausted from the battle and took a wrong step, slipping on a patch of ice and falling on his back. He hit the back of his head against the ground and yelped from the sheer amount of pain. He was so focused on the pain that he never heard his staff hit the ground or Raivis's alarming calls.

“Eduard! It's okay, I'm here now!”

Raivis did his best to stand tall with confidence but his shivers were visible to everyone around him, and it wasn't just because the temperature was below freezing. True to their word, the figure had followed him into battle and it did its best to keep Raivis's morale up.

“Don't be scared Latvia! I'm right here next to you.”

Raivis turned to his left and sure enough, the figure was right by his side. He was comforted by its presence, despite not knowing just who this individual was. One of the clones came charging down from the sky and Raivis received the go-ahead to attack.

“Go for it!” the figure yelled.

Raivis got into position and two white feathers came forth in his hands. They glowed a bright light and he shouted “Latvia Feather Strike!” before launching them straight at the monster. They flew like boomerangs but it proved to be ineffective when the feathers froze when they came into contact of the creature's icy attack. It quickly left Raivis troubled and fumbling. “That was my only attack!”

Eduard's head was still throbbing but he pulled all of his energy into pushing himself up. He felt a pair of hands on his shoulders and was met face to face with the cloaked figure who helped him by giving him a boost.

“Thank you, but who are you?” Eduard asked in a rough voice.

“A friend,” they smiled before turning back to Raivis. “You need to use a stronger attack!”

“I don't have any other attacks!!”  he cried out. He felt like crying once again as fear overtook him. “I can't do this! I really can't!”

“Concentrate! Pool all of your strength into your chest. You'll understand once you do it.”

Raivis didn't fully understand what this was supposed to accomplish but he did as he was told. He shut his eyes and relaxed his body and mind. He had reached a point where all sound seemed to vanish.

And then he felt it—a growing spot of warmth in his chest. He could then feel and hear the wind pick up around him. Even Eduard and the figure noticed it as well and on in admiration. No longer was Raivis going to cry and run away anymore. Yes, he can do it. He always could, just as they said. The words became clearer in his mind and knew just what to do. Using his arms, he controlled the wind around him. His eyes flew open and commanded his attack straight towards one of the clones.

“Latvia Ace Hurricane!”

From the palm of his hands, large and powerful gusts of wind came flying towards the monster and destroyed it on impact. The force was so strong that it took out several other clones in the process and the original lost control of its balance in the air, crashing into a brick building and onto the ground. Raivis had no time to celebrate his victory when he suddenly felt light-headed and collapsed.

“Latvia!” They both cried out. The cloaked figure was faster than Eduard was when they rushed over the smaller man. They were relived that he was just fine and merely exhausted from using that much power.

“I did it, didn't I?” Raivis smiled weakly. The two nodded with big smiles.

“Yes you did,” the figure said. Eduard was quick to chime in. “We knew you could do it.”

He turned his head up towards the rest of the clones in the sky. They quietly faded away, leaving only the original left. It was still alive and used what energy it had left to fly back up in the air. It tried to intimate them with a loud shriek that forced the three to cover their ears.

The figure growled and rose to its feet, surprising both Eduard and Raivis.

“That's enough!”

In a flash, the cloak was ripped off and tossed into the air. Their identity was revealed to both Eduard and Raivis and they two men gasped at the sight. Dressed in a sailor uniform that was just like theirs, most of the costume including the collar and shorts was white while the front and back bows were a light blue. They donned a brooch that was shaped and designed like the Finnish flag. Their boots and gloves were white with light blue trims. With the short blond hair, violet eyes, and round face, Eduard had a strong feeling that he knew them from somewhere but couldn't place it no matter how hard he tried.

“I-I knew it...” Raivis replied as he thought back to that moment they held hands back at the restaurant. He knew the gloves could have only belong to another guardian like them.

“I am the Guardian of the Arctic, Nation of a Thousand Lakes: Sailor Finland! I thrive in these conditions and you're no match for me. You're finished.”

From thin air, Finland grabbed a rifle that looked fairly standard looking but the handle was beautifully designed with the symbol of the Nordic Cross. He pointed the gun with precise aim and yelled, “Frigid Assault!” and a loud explosion erupted from the gun. A massive ball of snow and ice flew at rapid speed. It had no time to react and another explosion took place upon impact. The monster was completely destroyed and the battle was over.

“You did it! That was amazing!” Raivis cheered. Finland turned back to the group and gave them both a big smile while flashing a victory sign. The scenery was slowing returning to normal as the ice disappeared in batches. Finland urged them to retreat so they wouldn't be seen. Eduard and Raivis agreed and the three of them headed back to the restaurant, only this time they took advantage of their high jumping abilities and took refuge on the rooftop, hiding behind the giant restaurant logo. Everything had returned to what it once was and while the masses were baffled for a brief moment, they continued on as if nothing had ever occurred.

“It seems no one remembers what happened,” Raivis said.

“Good. It's better that way,” Eduard replied. Finland nodded in agreement. Raivis sheepishly walked over to the man and called Finland's name to grab their attention. “Um, thank you for earlier,” Raivis blushed. “Because of you, I was able to help Eduard and believe in myself a little more.”

Finland gave Raivis a warm smile, “No need to thank me, you did all the work. Always remember: there's no such thing as a “weak guardian”. You're stronger than you look and you're never alone, even when it feels like it.”

Finland gave him a wink and Raivis nodded with a silly grin. His cheeks remained red as he admired Finland internally. He was ecstatic that the mysterious figure who gave him a confidence booster was a guardian just like them; and a strong one too!

“Thank you for all you've done for him. I'm truly grateful. Without you two, I would have been done for!” Eduard said.

“Anything for a friend. I'm just glad we got to you just in time!”

There was that word again: 'friend'. That was twice now that he heard them say that. It bothered Eduard deeply that this guardian seemed to act on a familiar level with the two of them yet he knew nothing about them or where they came from. He didn't want to be rude but asking would be the only way to comfort his mind.

“Forgive me for asking, and please don't take this the wrong way, but you seem to know more about us than we do of you. Have we met before?”

Finland looked at Eduard rather perplexed by the question, as if he had asked them whether or not water was wet. However, they broke into soft laughter soon after.

“I always wondered if others could recognize us through our transformations but I guess you just answered that for me!”

Finland affectionately took Eduard's hands and squeezed them tightly with a warm stare.

“Eduard, it's me, Timo.”

[jaeminlore]

Library Assistant!Wonwoo

i'm back with one of the most precious boys in t world, jeon wonwoo <3

• anon wanted a troublemaker reader so here we gooo • you and mingyu are best friends and since you’re kind of outgoing and daring you tend to drag him everywhere • to the library for instance

• and even though you’re supposed to be studying what you’re really doing is drawing pictures in one of the library’s resource books

• stick figures of you and mingyu • the caption is probably something like • “skool sucks lolololol” • “kim mingyu smells” • “if ur reading this u r a loser” • you’re just a harmless troll really • bUT • this particular day when you two are hanging out in the library, mingyu suddenly slams your book closed • and you turn around to give him a piece of your mind bc what the heck mingyu who does that • until you see jeon wonwoo • aka the librarians assistant • aka the silent brooding type • aka one of the most handsome people on campus • with his oversized sweater and his large glasses that always slip off of his nose • he is really is handsome • too bad he’s so boring !!!! • ur convinced he went to some special librarian school where they sucked the fun out of him and made him into this super quiet boy who only makes an appearance when a book is being abused • you’re not here for it tbh • uNfOrtUnateLY wonwoo is mingyu’s other best friend so you two sorta kind of know each other • and he hates you so much lol • he KNOWS you are the one writing in his precious books but unless he catches you in the act he can’t technically prove it • BACK TO THE STORY • so wonwoo comes over and he’s shooting daggers at u like • “u just wrote in that book” • bc u were never one to back down from a fight you’re like • “maybe i did. maybe i didn’t. what you gonna do abt it????” • he does this semi cute huff and just frowns as he takes the book out of ur hands • “you wrote mingyu smells i know it’s you.” • cue mingyu: “i don’t smell!” • you try to tug the book back bc he can’t prove anything without it • “give me back the encyclopedia!!!!” • “lolololololololol no” • “wow i hate you” • “h8 u 2 m8” • this is basically how you two react on a daily basis • UNTIL ONE NIGHT • so mingyu had been cramming for exams and when he does this he kinda goes into Hibernating Bear Mode™ except instead of sleeping he does nothing but study • and the two of you had planned to watch neflix this particular night just to kind of distract yourselves from exams and whatever • but mingyu is nowhere to be found • and you check EVERYWHERE • you check his favorite coffee shop, the park he studies at, the gym he goes to when he’s stressed, the canteen, his dorm… you even called the 97 liners like “where tf is mingyu we have a marathon of bob’s burgers to watch” • and no one knows • but minghao gives you the best hint you can use at the moment “did you ask wonwoo?” • no way,,, there is no way u r gonna swallow ur pride and ask that … bookworm … to help u find mingyu • but thinking of wonwoo makes you think of the library, so you head on over hoping he had just fallen asleep and the security guard missed him • because at this point it’s reaching midnight and u aren’t even supposed to be out of bed,, let alone the campus library like come on • anyway the library isn’t open but you find a cracked window in the back to slide through • “mingyu!” you start whispering for your friend, hoping the security guard isn’t roaming the halls • you head over to the study second w all the tables and stuff • and lo and behold,,, mingyu isn’t there but instead it’s wonwoo • nd he’s just lazily walking thru the library w a squeaky cart, placing books back in their proper places • he’s tired, and in the dark you can see him cover his yawn with a sweater paw • ur heart does a lil somersault but like,,, u would never admit that bc you can’t find a dork attractive • esp not wonwoo, who is rumored to date books • you started that rumor but tbh you don’t doubt it • wonwoo finally catches you peaking around the corner and lets out a scream of terror bc he thought you were some kind of ancient book demon or smth • “wHaT tHe heCK!!!!!!” • you fall on the floor dYing bc his reaction was so funny • he looked like a startled deer tbh • “that was hilarious” you’re still giggling • and despite his absolute Hatred™ for you,, wonwoo finds himself blushing bc of how carefree you are in the moment • so … he gets kinda quiet and tries to become brooding again because that’s his Brand around here and there’s no way you’re going to break it with a simple giggle • at least… you aren’t going to know you did • “what do u want?” • after u sober up it gets kinda serious bc you’re still rlly worried for mingyu “is mingyu here? i can’t find him?” • “mingyu? i haven’t seen him.” • you let out a distressed sigh bc mingyu is a scatterbrain and he genuinely could’ve gotten lost around campus or smth •you sigh in distress: “he was supposed to come to my dorm a few hours ago and i can’t find him. ive looked everywhere.” • and as you speak wonwoo is suddenly,,, really disappointed,,, but he doesn’t know why,,, • “oh really? i didn’t know you two were dating…” nd he just kind of kicks himself mentally bc why wouldn’t you date mingyu honestly? • he’s handsome, he’s buff, he’s a great cook… wonwoo should’ve seen it coming tbh • but then you crinkle your nose like “dating? ew! i’d rather date you than mingyu and that’s saying something.” • even tho it was an insult and he’s slightly offended, wonwoo still felt a bit of hope blooming in his chest that for some reason just got bigger whenever you smiled at him • he also was blushing pretty dang hard but we aren’t going to talk abt that • anyway back to the topic at hand • wonwoo scratches the back of his neck and nervously suggests looking together. “we can try the kitchen if you haven’t looked there.” • “the what?” • “the kitchen. yknow, mingyu goes there every once and awhile to make food and wind down. he’s got a key and stuff so i don’t think the cooks mind him doing it.” • this is all very new information to you • but it’s the best bet so you agree. • you let wonwoo come with you because you don’t know the way • and also he’s rlly cute and kinda nice when he’s not yelling at you for an overdue book • but you would never tell him that ofc • as you both walk over there • nd it’s sort of awkward so you try to start a conversation • “isn’t the library closed? why were you stocking books?” • wonwoo smiled embarrassingly, “well i was actually just pretending to stock books. you see, there was a new shipment of books coming in and i wanted first pick of all the good ones before anyone else got to them.” • you giggle. bc,,, of course he would • “so you don’t mind breaking the rules, as long as it’s for books.” • “yeah and you always go against books which is why i can’t be associated with you.” • “well it gets boring in the library,” you whined. “can’t there be legos or coloring books to play with when students want to wind down but don’t want to read?” • “what are you, five? and why go to a library if you aren’t going to read?” • “mingyu needs someone to keep him company,” you said. “and i don’t like reading or studying so i would appreciate you taking note of that in the future.” • “right okay let me go buy a bunch of coloring books just so you can stay busy when you can literally bring one yourself.” • “that’s all i’m asking” • during your banter, you arrive at the kitchen • lo and behold mingyu is just chilling at the stove, eating some seasoned chicken • “hey guys grab a fork! i made extra!” • after you and wonwoo chide him for worrying you so much, you all sit down and eat • and • you don’t want to admit it • but it was rlly nice being able to get along with wonwoo • and he’s even cuter when he’s eating • his nose scrunches up and like you can’t help but stare at him a few times bc he’s a cutie • but he’s staring at you too so it’s all good • when the foods all eaten mingyu tells you guys to go ahead; that he’d stay behind and clean • he just ships y'all and wants one of you to make a move if we’re being honest • so wonwoo walks you back to your dorm and • you just stare at each other bc what do you do? do you ask for his number? kiss his cheek? • wonwoo answers your question by holding out his hand • fOr a haNdSHakE • but it isn’t that awkward because his hands are soft and warm • “i’ve got to go take care of some things,” he says, letting go of your hand and backing up. “i’ll see you tomorrow.” • “okay. thanks for helping me!” • “anytime.” • and that’s … that • and you’re pretty sure your crush was just fleeting and one-sided like there’s no way he’d ever like you • but • the next morning you walk into the library and on one of the tables • is a coloring book and some colored pencils • you pick it up and look around hoping to see wonwoo • you do, and he’s stocking shelves again, unable to come and talk • instead he just gives you and soft smile and mimes for you to open it you do, and his number is scribbled in • “maybe we could do something together? xxx-xxxx, let me know. wonwoo” • yep. your crush definitely isn’t one-sided.

[totallyrhettro]

The Lone Jedi, Chapter 7

Word Count: 2206 Rating: This chapter: G. Overall story: explicit Warnings: None Summary: Jedi Knight Rhett McLaughlin managed to escape the purge of the Emperor to become one of the last of his celibate order. After years of a solitary life, he finds himself with a former slave for a friend. Despite his efforts to maintain anonymity and the jedi code, he starts to realize that doing either is easier said than done. Notes: Star Wars AU; Events take place between episodes III and IV

First Chapter

Previous Chapter

*See the end of each chapter for additional notes on star wars terms*

Link POV

The next morning, Rhett helped Link clean his wounds and change the bandages just like the day before. Unlike yesterday, however, he didn't bathe himself, leaving the brunet to wash and waited for him back in the kitchen.

‘He must have bathed already,” Link reasoned. He didn't mind too much, really. He did enjoy the feeling of self-reliance that came with heading back to the compound on his own afterwards. When he reached the kitchen, his roommate was at the stove, cooking away.

“I'm going to head out after breakfast,” Rhett told Link, as he entered. “I'll be gone for a few hours. Will you be alright on your own?” Link nodded.

“I'll be fine. My back feels so much better already.” He sat down at the table as he spoke.

“The waters have healing properties. There’s a large crystal at the mouth. It enriches the water for miles. We're quite close to the source, so the healing is very powerful. You should be fully healed in no time.”

“I've never heard of such a thing. Why don't more people use these crystals?”

“I'm sure they would like to, but they can be hard to come by. I think the former residence of the academy placed it there, a long time ago.” Link hummed in acknowledgement, running his fingers over the bandaged palm of his hand. He was glad his wounds would heal quickly. He didn't like feeling like a burden on his companion.

“I'm not sure what to do with myself, now that I live here.” He looked up at Rhett as the blond man set breakfast before the both of them.

“What do you want to do?”

“I'd like to help out, if I can. Be useful.”

“You don't have to-”

“I want to.” Link was so desperate to please. He owed this man so much but he had no idea how to repay him. He didn't think he ever could. Rhett paused, looking over his ward, regarding him quietly for a moment before answering.

“Well, alright. The garden could use some weeding, I guess. I can teach you that, if you like. It shouldn't be too hard on your back, now that it's on the mend.”

“I can do that!” Link smiled, enthusiastically, and his friend seemed pleased by his attitude. The brunet was glad to be useful. More than anything right now, he wanted to make Rhett happy; make sure he didn't regret giving the former slave a home.

After breakfast, Rhett gave Link a quick tutorial on weeding. It was a simple process. Pull up the plants that didn't belong, dig up the ones that made a fuss, and leave the edible plants to grow. Link was a bit worried about picking the wrong plants, but Rhett assured him that even if he did pick a non-weed, it wasn't a big deal.

“Just remember not to push yourself too hard,” Rhett reminded him, as he prepared to leave. “I'll be back before too long. If you get tired, feel free to rest.” The tall man climbed onto the kybuck easily, adjusting in the saddle before grabbing the reins and turning the animal towards the exit. He spared a last glance towards his friend who waved cheerfully. Then with barely a nudge Rhett maneuvered the beast, heading out through the stone archway and down the mountain path.

Link watched him until he disappeared into the trees below. The last time he was alone he had been attacked by two large, and very nasty, creatures. Before that he couldn't recall ever really being alone. It was a strange and unsettling feeling, but he felt relatively safe in this place. Something about knowing Rhett would be back gave him more confidence then he would have expected.

As he headed back through the front building and into the inner courtyard, Link looked out over the garden. Relatively, it wasn't a large garden, but he was just one man. One somewhat injured man, and he wasn't sure where to begin.

He moved over to the nearby table with various tools and things, picking up a dirty pair of thick cloth gloves. Link put them on before turning to face the garden and taking a deep breath. After looking over the whole area he nodded to himself and headed over to one of the closer corners. The task seemed arduous but, after pulling his first weed effortlessly, his hesitation faded, and he attacked the rest of the weeds with vigor.

The malignant plants proved to be little trouble as Link moved through the garden pulling them up one after another, being extra careful to not get his clothing caught on anything prickly. He made it through a few square meters before he started to get tired. Moving over to the fountain, he said down to rest, setting aside the gloves and placing them on the bench beside him.

The sun was starting to get unbearable now. Normally around this time, Link would be sitting down for a midday meal. His stomach was already starting to rumble and it didn't look as if Rhett had returned yet. Unsure when his host would get back, Link decided to have a look at the store room and maybe help himself to a small snack just to tide himself over for the time being.

Link had seen the door to the food stores several times. He had watched Rhett get supplies from within to make their various meals and figured he could find something simple to eat without much difficulty. What he didn't expect was for the door to the storeroom to be locked.

‘He doesn't trust me,’ Link explained to himself. He felt his heart sink a little bit at the thought, but of course it made perfect sense. They had only met a few days ago, why would he trust him? Link stomach growled again, louder this time. His hunger, combined with his sudden dejection, compelled him to find a way past the lock, despite never having stolen anything in his life.

After a brief, unfruitful search of the kitchen and dining area, he headed for their shared living quarters. He thought if the key would be anywhere, other than actually on Rhett’s person, it would be there. Hoping it was in fact not with his host, Link started carefully searching through Rhett’s sleeping area.

He didn't want to make it obvious that the bed and things had been searched, so the process was quite slow. He lifted the mattress, opened the small drawer in the nightstand, and looked under the small stack of datapads lying about. Finding nothing, he moved on to a small bag nearby. It was loosely tied shut and with a few pulls of a leather cord, the bag fell open. Before he could start looking for a key, he saw something else. On top of some loose rags laid a strange, metal object.

It was about a foot long and a few inches thick. The color of steel, it looked like it was made of metal, but it felt lighter. Black highlights and silver controls of some kind intrigued Link’s curiosity immensely. Turning the strange device over in his hands, he felt drawn to it. There was something about it that he couldn't quite place. His long fingers caressed the small controls set into its surface.

“Link?” Rhett’s voice called out from the courtyard. “Are you here?” Link placed the device back into the bag and closed it before quickly checking that everything looked undisturbed.

‘Good enough,’ he assured himself. Back in the garden, Rhett was looking around, obviously trying to find any sign of his roommate. As Link came into view, his worried expression faded into relief. He smiled broadly, holding up a small box before meeting up with the shorter man.

“I brought you something,” he said when they were close enough. “I see you've been busy.” Link nodded, trying to look casual but unable to hide his feeling of guilt for digging through his host’s things. “Are you ok? What's wrong?”

“I... The store room. I just… I wanted to get something to eat but it was locked.”

“Oh.” Rhett’s smile returned immediately. “Yes, I had to lock it after the kybuck got in, one night. Crafty beast. Ate up a whole month’s worth of food before I caught him.” He lifted up a small pouch on his belt and pulled out a simple key. “I must have locked it out of habit. What say you open it up for me while I unload the rest of the supplies I bought, hmm?”

“Sure.” Link felt a little better if Rhett was going to show some trust in him, and his explanation about the locked door sounded quite feasible. Still, that just made his guilt deepen as well. It seemed he had invaded his new friend’s privacy for nothing.

Doing his best to hide his shame, Link took the offered key and headed back to the kitchen. It wasn't too long before Rhett came in after him, his arms holding a large container of foodstuffs for the storeroom.

“I bought you some new clothes as well,” he informed Link. “I know you prefer your, uh, open air clothing, but you can't wear the same thing all the time. I tried to guess your size. Maybe you can try them on later?”

“That's very kind of you,” Link told him. “I'll have to take a look at them.” He still wasn't used to someone giving things to him just because they wanted to. When they finished eating, he thought he would try them on then, but Rhett had another surprise first. After clearing the table, he placed the box he had from before in Link’s hands.

“Open it.” Curious, Link did just that. The small, wooden box opened with a simple hinge. Inside, set into royal purple velvet, was a straight razor with a pearl-inlaid handle. Beside it was a matching brush with the softest, white bristles.

“A shaving kit?”

“Do you like it? I don't know if you've ever used one, but I thought maybe you could use it to get rid of that stubble.”

“It's beautiful.” A slight pink came over Rhett’s face as Link looked up at him with the biggest grin. This was the nicest thing anyone had ever given him. Not just a gift, but a personal gift. Bought just for him, for his needs. It was wonderful.

“I bought some shaving cream too. I wasn't sure if you'd want it, or… Let me get it for you.” As Link continued to look over his new present, running his fingers through the soft brush and along the smooth handle, Rhett got to his feet and went over to another, much larger box set nearby the store room. It had many things inside, but he pulled out just a small jar with a twist lid and headed back to his companion.

“I got a few dozen jars. I didn't know how much you needed.”

“I think that will be enough for a while,” Link chuckled. He took the jar and looked it over. He had, in fact, used a straight razor many times. When he was his master’s favorite, he had other, lower slaves assigned to shave his face for him and then it was with an XP 21 groomer not a real blade. Since losing favor, he had to fend for himself but the razors he was given weren't nearly as nice as this one.

Later that evening, Link sat down by the river, shaving kit in one hand and a small hand mirror in his other. Rhett had gone off somewhere, leaving his guest to his own devices. The brunet carefully removed the shaving brush from its velvet casing like it was made of glass, running his fingertips over the delicate hairs.

Earlier Rhett had boiled some water, pouring some into a simple mug and warming a small washcloth. Link had already spent a few minutes warming his face in preparation of shaving. Now he dropped a little bit of shaving cream into the mug and began lathering it with his brush. After covering his face with the white foam he moved slowly, maneuvering the sharp razor blade lightly across his skin, taking extra care around his prominent adam’s apple. It was perfectly sharp and he didn't want to cut himself. He needed less injuries, not more.

Once he was finished he rinsed the razor and the brush, placing them both into the case before using the mirror to more closely examining his handy work.

‘Not bad,’ he thought. Definitely a vast improvement to the thick stubble from before. As he closed up the case and poured the leftover foamy water into the river, he suddenly found his thoughts turning towards his new friend. ‘I wonder if Rhett will like it.’

He blinked. There was a small flutter in his heart, imagining his host smiling down at him. He still didn't understand why that man affected him so. Still it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. Link couldn't help but smile to himself. Whatever this feeling was, he wanted more. He wasn't sure if he could ever get enough.

Next Chapter

Additional Notes-

Kybuck: an animal originally from Kashyyyk. They look very much like the Tauntauns found on Hoth, if you crossed one with a horse.

Datapad: a small electronic device used for the input, storage and displaying of information.

XP 21 groomer: an electronic grooming tool.

More Fics

[lawrenceremodel]

Nas Denies Kelis Abuse Allegations While Pleading 'We Should Be Better Examples' for Son Knight

Some five months after his ex wife Kelis accused him of mental and physical abuse in an in-depth interview with Hollywood Unlocked, Nas is telling his side of the story.

On Thursday, the rapper, 44, shared a series of seven plain black Instagram posts with lengthy captions that explain his relationship with the “Milkshake” singer, 39 — especially in relation to the child they share, a boy named Knight Jones, born in July 2009.

“PART 1. The Price I Pay To See My Son,” he began before explaining that “a call from Essence about wife doing another sad fictitious story” prompted him to speak out.

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PART 1. The Price i Pay To See My Son. And apologies in advance for the typos as I am speaking from the heart as a man who has had enough. Today i got a call from essence about my ex wife doing another sad fictitious story. Nothing surprises me anymore, including this. This is what your life has come to sis? Exploiting some people’s Real struggle and pain…just to get at me….to get attention ? Fame? Another fight against men? We are a human family and we should be better examples for our son. Why is there even a issue for me to have time with my son. A son needs his father. So many absentee fathers out here and here i am being attacked by your accusations simply because i got us in court to help fix this the custody matter? Why did i have to take you to court to see our son? Why when i win the joint custody ( which is a win for both of us and our son, it helps us with both our schedules) why do you feel thats an attack on you? Is it control ? Why do you need to have control over my life? because we’re not together? Then why? Is this being rewarded and praised by people who are being taken advantage of by you and your lies? To all separated couples out there who are cordial and co parent nicely GOOD FOR YOU. I wish that was me. I’m the most chill cool parent there is. Who has time to argue ? About what? It’s about our little guy. You haven’t had to deal with what I’ve been dealing with. Trust me. I’m a mild mannered god fearing very fair human being who tries his hardest to please everyone. It’s my nature. I’ve seen this too many times before And there was times i thought Kelis my ex wife was not this type. This is the type of antics that deceive people and people mistakenly call it strong. Seems I always had more belief in you than you do for yourself. I instilled strength in my daughter who you were already so jealous of and treated poorly. Being jealous & verbally abusive to a Little girl.

A post shared by Nasir Jones (@nas) on Sep 6, 2018 at 4:54pm PDT

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PART 2. In life you have to work hard to be successful, not try to tear someone down for that’s the most coward way. Women are the essence of life. I cherish them. My strength is given to me from my mother. I am everything she taught me to be. I was raised in a single home by a single woman. I am a very proud black man. I shouldn’t have ignored the signs from your your first song and video I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW. But I thought you was beautiful. You came into my life at a time i was grieving from my moms passing. You was a friend. Because of that i wanted to marry you. And i did. And we had a big lavish wedding. Overall there was too many good times. I have to say i wasn’t the most faithful husband. I was immature. I’m sorry about that. But you bumped your own head sis. Why do i have to live thru a constant divorce? It didn’t work out. Life goes on. I’m not coming back to you. Your married and im happy for you and I’m a extremely happy black brother out here trying to make a difference for my kids and the next generation of young people who see me as huge inspiration in music, art,business, education and so on. After 10 years of keeping my silence during a decade of dealing with very hostile behavior and verbal abuse and even your stepfather holding you back from one of your physical violent Attacks on me right outside your house THIS YEAR while trying to pick up our son while he watched from the window, it was my weekend and you denied me that because your parents were in town. I just went home. This has been my life for my son’s entire life. Even our son wonders why you treat me the way you do?

A post shared by Nasir Jones (@nas) on Sep 6, 2018 at 4:55pm PDT

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He continues, “Nothing surprises me anymore, including this … We are a human family and we should be better examples for our son. Why is there even a issue for me to have time with my son. A son needs his father.”

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PART 3. There’s some seriously crazy things i won’t i disclose for our son’s sake. Because you keep my son from me ive been going thru lawyers to stop you from this bullshit I’m tired of it. I’m tired of you painting a bad picture of me. I’ve been tired of it but you never seem to get tired. I even had to be in a relationship with you AGAIN after we separated just so i could see my son & I AM JUST TIRED. Back then you asked me why didn’t i stop the divorce from happening. I tried! We are too different. Some things aren’t meant to be. We were meant to be so that we could have our son. Nothing more. You didn’t like that. I prayed for your peace of mind for years because of your uneasy soul. I still do. I guess some things take time. You definitely don’t know me now and probably never knew me. You make up this image of me that’s not true but it’s funny because it’s really you describing yourself. You made up stories about me and claimed i did things that YOU DID. I hate all this, but you were a very jealous wife, and i had to deal with that and that’s the worst feeling. How much heat i had to take from producers, writers, music attorneys and record execs etc who felt your mean spirited wrath and dropped you from labels, from startrack to them all. I stopped talking to jungle & steve stoute because of you & almost lost Anthony because of you.

A post shared by Nasir Jones (@nas) on Sep 6, 2018 at 4:58pm PDT

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PART 4. You used to turn my phone off so my professionals couldn’t reach me and take the battery. You insulted any and everyone whoever was around me. Not a single person in my life loved or could even stand you. Luckily for you our assistants all signed NDA’s or you would have a list of men and women who would happily talk about how verbally abusive and evil you are. Your self saboteur ways has caused you your grief your dealing with. Not me. The altercations you speak of are no more different from what most normal couples go thru, but your exaggerated version is UNJUST. Whenever one is constantly attacked the instinct is to restrain that person or defend yourself to prevent escalation. In hindsight now my advice to young men out there in a situation like that is to RUN at the very first sign of verbal abuse or physical. I herd you said terrible things about me. It makes me feel sad how heartless you can be. You play with strong women’s struggles like they mean nothing. You’re taking advantage of a moment in time where women who are fighting for their lives to get justice and be treated fairly & you just looked at it as an opportunity to get ahead. Like abuse is a game? Like tearing down your son’s father is a game. You have a son! Why are you still competing with me by telling him bad things about me. Guess what sis, he has eyes and ears and smart as ever. i don’t have to say anything. I think he knows what’s really good. You will NOT stop me from fighting for my son. You tell him GOD doesn’t love his dad because his dad doesn’t goto church.

A post shared by Nasir Jones (@nas) on Sep 6, 2018 at 4:59pm PDT

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In the next installment, Nas discussed his view of women and the beginning of his relationship with Kelis, writing, “I was raised in a single home by a single woman. I am a very proud black man. I shouldn’t have ignored the signs from your first song and video I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW. But I thought you was beautiful. You came into my life at a time i was grieving from my moms passing. You was a friend. Because of that i wanted to marry you. And i did.”

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PART 5. Didn’t want to bring up money but since that’s the fuel behind all of this Let me say that I gave you the tools to be successful after you was dropped from your label. I paid for your cooking school cordon blue. The expensive yellow stove we had flown in from Europe. I helped pay for the remodeling of your house. Your assistant stole thousands from my cc according to Amex. Out of all people you should be completely understanding of my my grind. But you just can’t win with you. My schedule is CRAZY but you never help me see my son. I’m hardly allowed to talk to him on the phone. Ever. My lawyer told me bring the cops to your house and show my court orders when you don’t let me get him or answer your phone but who besides you wants to show their kids that his parents are that out of control? I’ve been going thru lawyers to stop you from this bullshit for years. I finally got our custody together to work with both our schedule thru court, while leaving court you tell me your gonna get me back for fighting to see my son and 3 weeks later you’re on camera doing an interview about “your truth”. Interesting timing. Do what you want just don’t violate another court order sis because the judge won’t like that at all. The judge already ordered you to pay my legal fees because he was tired of you wasting everyone’s time in court. No lawyer wants to represent you after what you put them thru. That’s why you texted me today asking me for more child support money-and you want to keep it out court. You will NOT stop me from fighting for my son. Remember GOD sees all. And I’m no longer allowing you to take advantage of the fact that I did not want to respond in a manner that could affect my kids , friends or family publicly. THAT ENDS TODAY.

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PART 6. Everything with her is a plot and a scheme. Has no merit. No foundation I didn’t Wana speak up because i have real respect for our women. And definitely my son. I do not beat women. I did not beat up my ex wife. Stop. You got beat up in court. How much money do you want? Do you want me to relinquish my rights to see my son is that what you want? Just tell me. After all the tweets and posts you made thru the years disrespecting me and my family I still have love for you as the mother of my child BUT I am done with this. This game ends now and GOD will be the judger of all this. And although you tell everyone GOD hates me (some Christian you are) I will survive and thrive from this moment because I know who I am & you have not a clue who you are.

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Nas continued, taking shots at Kelis’ character: “You insulted any and everyone whoever was around me. Not a single person in my life loved or could even stand you. Luckily for you our assistants all signed NDA’s or you would have a list of men and women who would happily talk about how verbally abusive and evil you are.”

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PART 7. And to all the fans that knew my silence was due to the fact that I don’t openly do this kind of petty shit… I appreciate you riding. And to those that were lead down a wrong path… I get it… very sensitive times and all things must be taken seriously. This is MY TRUTH. And I don’t care what else she has left to say unless it concerns our son. This is the first and last time I’m addressing this. Despite all of this I still hope for the best for her because whats best for her is what’s best for Knight. Love, NASIR BIN OLU DARA JONES

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Then, the “I Can” hitmaker addressed the custody arrangement he and Kelis reached in March and the Hollywood Unlocked interview: “I finally got our custody together to work with both our schedule thru court, while leaving court you tell me your gonna get me back for fighting to see my son and 3 weeks later you’re on camera doing an interview about ‘your truth’. Interesting timing.” He also urged her not to “violate another court order.”

RELATED: Victoria Beckham Slams Divorce Rumors as She Poses with Husband David: ‘We’re Stronger Together’

In part six of seven, Nas explicitly denied the abuse allegations: “I do not beat women. I did not beat up my ex wife. Stop. You got beat up in court. How much money do you want? Do you want me to relinquish my rights to see my son is that what you want? Just tell me.”

And to conclude, the rapper explained that he had stayed silent for so long because he doesn’t “do this kind of petty s—” adding, “This is MY TRUTH. And I don’t care what else she has left to say unless it concerns our son. This is the first and last time I’m addressing this. Despite all of this I still hope for the best for her because whats best for her is what’s best for Knight.”

RELATED: Kelis Lists $1.9 Million L.A. Home and Announces ‘We’re Buying a Farm’

Nas and Kelis divorced in 2010 but did not reach a custody agreement regarding Knight until March of this year. According to TMZ, they have also been battling over the amount of child support Nas should pay. Kelis is also mother to Shepherd Mora, born in November 2015. She is married to Mike Mora.

This past April marks the first time Kelis spoke out about her relationship with Nas, calling it a “really dark” time in her life. “There was a lot of drinking. There was a lot of mental and physical abuse,” she recalled. “I probably would have stayed longer had I not been pregnant because I really did love him and because we were married. We weren’t dating, we were married. Like, this was my person.”

RELATED: Kelis Accuses Ex Nas of ‘Mental and Physical Abuse’ During 5-Year Marriage: ‘It Was Really Dark’

She continued, “I’ve waited nine years to say anything. I have never talked about this man, ever. The amount of airing out that I could do, and I’ve chosen not to … Our kids will find out. They’re finding out now. I’ve never painted myself as a saint. Did he hit me? Mmhm. Did I hit him back? Mmhm.”

from DIYS https://ift.tt/2NVDOox

[fragmentedink-archived]

Hell to Pay: Chapter Twenty-Eight

I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, IX, IX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII

cowritten by @lux-scriptum

A/N: trigger warning for grief and excessive drinking

Morning wasn’t fucking welcome. At some point in the night Reneé had taken the bottles off the coffee table and put them away, probably. Amara rolled over with a groan, and rubbed her face. She had- someone had to tell Raziel. If Amara hadn’t already done so while drunk as fuck last night.

“Water?” Cin offered helpfully.

Amara grumbled, burrowing deeper into her shitty couch. Maybe if she went back to sleep, she could wake up and Lev wouldn’t be fucking dead.

That hadn’t worked when her parents were killed, though, so she shoved herself into a sitting position and flopped a hand around until Cin put the cup in her hand. She drank half of it, and set it down on the coffee table, rubbing her temples. “What time did I crash?”

“Late,” Cin replied dryly, petting her hair before padding off to the kitchen.

Amara only stumbled to her feet when she heard someone knocking on the door. “I got it, Ren,” she muttered, rubbing her face again before yanking open the door.

She was greeted by the sight of two tall men. The taller of the two reeked of magic, but his brown face was kind. A good witch, then, because she barely felt any sort of wariness about him. No, her attention was drawn to the shorter of the two, a sullen looking strawberry blonde with freckles splashed across his tanned skin. Considering that one was a demon, she was surprised sullen was the worst she was facing.

“Can I help you?” She asked, lifting her chin.

“Are you Amara Claire?” The witch asked.

“Who’s asking?” She shot back.

“I’m Cyrus,” the witch offered. “This is my mate, Sorin.”

Interesting. Witches didn’t always take mates. She eyed them both once more, before leaning against the doorway. “I’m kind of busy. Death in the family. What do you want?” Fuck, if she hadn’t managed to give herself a hangover this time.

“I’m sorry,” Cyrus said, grimacing. “We’ll be quick.” He nudged Sorin, the many rings on his fingers glinting in the midmorning sunlight.

“An angel killed my cousin,” Sorin said gruffly. “Several years ago. I want to know who.”

And they wanted her to do the work for them. “Your cousin,” Amara repeated slowly. She could make this work for her. “And how do you know it was an angel? Demons aren’t exactly a friendly bunch.”

“No, we aren’t,” Sorin said, flashing a mirthless smile with just enough fang she recognized the veiled threat for what it was. Fucking demon posturing. “I did what I could, and it definitely wasn’t a demon. Angels aren’t exactly friendly with demons, normally anyway, and I know Fax used to date one. An angel, that is. Doesn’t take a leap to get to the conclusion an angel did it.”

“Fax,” Amara echoed, mulling over things. “That short for anything?” As if she didn’t know already.

“Fairfax,” Sorin clarified.

“And you expect me to just help you for nothing?”

Sorin bristled, a low sound building in his chest, but Cyrus dropped a hand on Sorin’s arm. “What are your prices? We’re willing to pay whatever.”

Amara considered the witch, letting the taste of his magic coat her tongue. “I’m sure I could think of something.”

“You’re dealing with me,” Sorin snapped. “Leave Cy out of our deals.”

“Sorin,” Cyrus chastised as Amara gave a low laugh.

“For an omega, you sure are territorial,” Amara said sweetly, just to see the anger flicker in those piercing blue eyes.

“It’s fine,” Cyrus said. “But if it’s my magic you want, I’m limiting you to one spell.”

“Fine.” Amara straightened. “Right. Well. Like I said. I’m busy. Death in the family myself. My cousin, if you can believe it. What a coinkydink. His name was Remiel. The guy you’re looking for. I can’t really put the time in to do the rest of your research for you, but if you’re ballsy enough to go talk to Baylor, little short angel with a temper? He’ll- mmm. He’ll probably know more about Remiel.”

“That’s it?” Sorin demanded. “That’s all you can give me?”

“For one spell? Sure. You can’t figure out what to do after that, come back and we’ll renegotiate. Until then, I have a dead body to deal with. Gotta pick which urn we’re using and all that. Have a great day.”

She shut the door in their faces.

----

It was a quarter past four in the damned morning when Cameron was hauling a half limp Nik through the front door. Parts of Nik’s face were covered in bruises, his lip split and his entire body reeked of alcohol. He ignored Nik’s slurred mumbling and dragged him to the bedroom where he peeled Nik’s clothes off him and ordered him into bed.

Nik grabbed Cameron’s hand before he even made it a step to pick up the clothes from his clean floor. “Don’t leave me too,” he said, face half in his pillow. “Please.”

Cameron sighed through his nose. “Will you finally get some sleep?”

“Will you?”

“I guess,” Cameron said, knowing damn well he wasn’t going to get nearly enough sleep as he should. “You need to let go of my hand first, though.”

Nik made a pleased, drunken purr and let him go, pressing his face deep into his pillow, because of course he did. Cameron cleaned up the clothes from the floor and threw them in a garbage can before coming back to crawl into the bed, despite the stiffness still lingering in his back. Nik already was moving though, halfway just crawling on Cameron.

“Tis cold,” Nik muttered into Cameron’s chest, before instantly just passing out.

Cameron did feel that shiver jolting through his shoulder. He tried ignoring it and just awkwardly pulled blankets around this stupid omega before he got himself sick. It was a while before he let sleep pull himself under, and it was as restless as it usually was, just because he was too worried about biting Nik in his sleep since Nik decided to not move from Cameron’s chest the whole night.

It was well past his usual wake up time when his phone buzzed from the nightstand. He let it ring several times before electing to get out of bed, despite Nik’s instant loud whine. He answered, “What do you want?”

“Sorry it took a couple of days, but, I got everything taken care of. Do you want the ashes?”

“Sober for once?” he asked, too tired to even attempt to be any form of politeness, even about this. “Why would you give me the ashes,” he said, “isn’t your family weird about your bloodlines.”

“Because he loved you, and you made him happy. Besides,” she said, “You’re his alpha.”

“Again,” Cameron said, ignoring that entire sentence. “His bar is so extremely low. I’m sure his family would prefer to have his ashes over me.”

“I talked to Raziel about it and his parents are fucking dead,” Amara said. “She agrees with me.”

He let silence drag out while he thought over her answer. “Fine. Bring them by later.” He could put them near the others. He hung up before she could even answer him and looked over at Nik who was still passed out in the bed. The bruises were clearing up some, thanks to angel blood, but they were fairly prominent against Nik’s golden brown skin. Nik stirred, face curving into the pillows as he pulled the blanket up over his head. “Turn the heat up,” he mumbled.

Cameron rolled his eyes, but notched the temperature up a few degrees before moving to the kitchen. Zareth looked up from the counter, the steaming cup of coffee, suggesting he had been awake for a while. Cameron started breakfast. “Are you going to tell me why you’re still in my fucking house,” he said. “Or are you just planning on moving in here. If you are, I suggest paying rent.”

Zareth didn’t even blink. “I- Mm. It would be stupid of me to suggest that I was worried about you. And Nik. And well, with Lev being gone, I’m assuming neither of you have enough emotional intelligence to understand anything.”

Cameron flicked him a look. “And I suppose you do?”

“Well, certainly more than you,” Zareth said, under his breath, bringing the coffee to his lips.

Cameron chose to ignore him and put a plate of food down in front of him. “Eat or get out.”

Zareth instantly went at his food, wisely using his mouth for something than being an idiot in Cameorn’s house. He had another plate sat out when he heard the loud-mouthed mutt herself barge into his house. “I was already on my way,” she said.

“I know,” Cameron said, turning back to his cooking. He let the sizzling bacon cook for a few more seconds before putting the plate on the counter. “If you’re going to annoy me with your presence, then eat while you do it.”

The blond hybrid holding a casserole behind Amara blinked at him. Amara, however, looked over her shoulder at the hybrid. “No nibbling.”

Cameron rose a brow, but elected to not bother. “Sit down.”

Amara sat the sleek, black and silver urn down on the table while the hybrid awkwardly sat the casserole on the counter. The hybrid instantly sat down next to Amara and bit down on her shoulder hard enough, Cameron could smell the blood. “What is that doing here? Are you expecting anyone in this house to eat that? I do the cooking and you will give us all food poisoning.”

Amara gave him an odd look. “Reneé had made it and if I have to eat pity casseroles, so do you.”

“No,” Cameron said, “I really don’t think I do.”

Under his breath, Zareth said, “It’s a custom for a lost loved one.”

Cameron flicked him an annoyed glance. “Who said I loved him?”

“He was loved,” Amara said. “By other people. Ergo, a lost loved one. Eat the pity casserole, asshole.”

“You eat the pity casserole,” Cameron said. “You don’t have my palate and probably lost any and all taste buds you’ve acquired in the last twenty-one years.”

Amara gave him another look. “We have like ten at home and Reneé made that one especially for you. She wants you to critique it and give her notes.”

“Then she should have given it to me herself,” Cameron replied, moving back to the stove. “If she wanted critiques that badly she should have used a better excuse than her cousin’s death for one.”

“You think I’d let my sister step foot in your house?”

“I think you let her rot out in your car instead,” Cameron said, flatly. “Where my sentries and other demons could very easily eat her. But sure, I’m the threat to your sister.” The same one that had already acquired a room in his house.

The hybrid leaned over. “I told you,” he said, getting up. “I’ll go get Reneé.”

Amara looked so annoyed, watching him leave them alone in the kitchen. “First he makes me ride in the car, then he makes me not leave Reneé behind, and now he wants me to let Reneé in the house.”

“I’d rather have her in this house than you.”

“If you want me gone so bad, then why are you feeding me?”

“Because currently my omega is hungover and passed out in my bed and I’ll just have to make do with the next alcoholic omega who just so happened to walk through my door.”

Zareth choked on his coffee, but didn’t wisely didn’t say a word.

“I don’t know why you’re so worried about people finding out about you having emotions,” Amara said, “when no one’s gonna be able to fucking understand them anyway. You are so fucking werid.”

“Pot meet kettle,” Cameron said. “Now eat your fucking food before I force it down your throat.”

“Yes, alpha,” Amara said, with a sickening sweetness that had Cameron tempted to reach for the knife on the counter. But she took a bite from her eggs, just in time for the hybrid and Reneé to come into the room.

“Sit down,” Cameron said. “Eat.”

“Okay,” Reneé said, promptly sitting down at the counter, going to reach for the plate of food waiting for her. The hybrid settled between Amara and Reneé, lightly biting down on Reneé’s shoulder before reaching for his own food.

They had been eating in silence for just a few moments before he heard Nik stagger into the room. Though, he could smell him before he even laid eyes on him. Cameron watched Nik go for the cabinet where there was an unopened bottle of vodka, but got to it before he did. “Sit. Down.”

Nik bared his teeth at him, but Cameron’s cold look had Nik doing as told. He slumped down onto the nearest stool, nearly sliding off onto the floor, but just barely as he dropped his head on his arms. Renee offered a careful, “Good morning, Nik.”

Nik’s only response was to flip her off.

Cameron popped Nik upside the head. “Eat something.”

Nik cut him a bloodshot glare before dropping his head on his arms again. Renee’s amused look was not missed, but Cameron chose to ignore it all the same. Cameron’s teeth latched down on Nik’s shoulder hard enough to make the skin break. Nik instinctively went pliant under Cameron’s fangs, but reached for a piece of toast.

Amara looked at Nik. “You look like shit,” she observed.

Nik drug his head up just enough to give her a half-blank look. “Oh really? Was it that obvious? Here I thought I looked radiant.”

“Grief looks terrible on you.”

Nik kept staring blankly at her before trying to get off the stool, only for Cameron to force him back down. “Drink something and behave.”

Nik growled low in his throat until Cameron latched onto the back of his neck and forced Nik to look up at him. “Do as you’re told,” he said, with enough steel Nik’s eyes cleared a bit. “Now.”

He let go and Nik reached for the mug of coffee Zareth pushed toward him. Nik had it half downed before Cameron was satisfied enough to get his own food and start eating. It was only a few moments of peace before Nik drug his bloodshot eyes back up to Zareth. “And what the fuck are you still doing here?” he asked. “Figure since Lev’s dead you can swoop in and take his spot before it gets cold?”

Zareth blinked blankly at him, trying to process Nik’s barely coherent accusation. “...No? I’m married and I figured you’d both be wrecks and stupid of me to think you’d want some help since neither of you can process shit in this house.”

“Hmph.” Nik seemed to deem that an appropriate answer since he said, “Fine. Then make yourself useful and make me a drink.”

Zareth’s steely pale gold eyes didn’t waver. “I think you’ve had enough, Nik.”

Cameron only took a long drink of his tea, watching Nik deciding to stab at his food. But when Amara snorted, Nik’s head shot up and he gave her a savage look. “What the fuck is so funny?” he snarled. “I’d think you would know something about grief since this is what? The third family member that’s dead? Or is this just you once again being an untouchable bitch not letting anything get to you.”

Cameron cut Amara a warning look, but she just stared Nik right in the eye. “Go fuck yourself,” she said. Renee gave the smallest wounded sound that made Nik look in her direction. There wasn’t any pity on his face, but there was a small morsel of regret, though, barely any at all. “You don’t know anything, Nik.”

“No,” Nik said. “I never know anything, do I? Just a waste of potential who got his boyfriend killed.”

“Okay,” Cameron finally said. “That is enough. Nik- go to bed. I’ll deal with your pity-party bullshit later. Go sleep your idiocy off. Zareth, make sure he doesn’t split his head open on the way back to my room.”

Zareth was already moving, hauling Nik to his unsteady feet and moving him back to the bedroom. Cameron turned his attention to Renee’s silent tears rolling steadily down her face and fought the urge to just walk out with them. “Stop crying.”

Renee mumbled a small, “Sorry,” while wiping her face, but Amara puffed up like the annoying bird she was. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Lev practically raised us. I didn’t ask for us to stay here, you insisted on feeding us.”

“Amara, it’s fine,” Renee said, quietly.

“I know he did,” Cameron said, bluntly. “I do not have time to coddle your sister when I am trying to keep Nik from shredding himself to pieces. That is your job. So either do it, or get out.”

He was trying to keep as close to his schedule as he could, to keep it as normal as he could so his brain didn’t splinter again, but nothing around him was cooperating with him, so Cameron was going to have to at least control this before he lost his temper.

Amara stood abruptly enough, he heard her muttering about his help while promptly storming out the door. Renee stood up slower, saying, “Thank you for breakfast. I hope you like the casserole. I worked hard on it.” Cameron gave a terse nod, watching her follow after Amara. The hybrid looked to his half empty plate mournfully before grabbing a piece of bacon and trotting after them.

Cameron gave a long, slow sigh before going back to the bedroom to see Zareth leaning against the doorway with his arms folded awkwardly, staring at Nik sobbing into the bedding. “This wasn’t a coincidence,” Zareth said, under his breath. When Cameron didn’t say anything, Zareth flicked him a side glace. “He needs you, you know. You are his alpha, whether you want to admit it or not. Take responsibility for Nik before he wastes into nothing.”

Cameron debated on cutting out Zareth’s tongue for talking to him like that, or just at all, but just kept looking at Nik. “I am taking care of him.”

“No,” Zareth said. “Take care of him. He needs you, he doesn’t need a parent, he needs to know that you are there, even if you are shit at literally the entire spectrum of emotion.”

“Careful,” Cameron said, in a bored tone.

It was the first and only warning Zareth was going to get for his unsolicited insolence. Zareth sighed softly before wisely taking his out. Cameorn kept watching Nik for a few more seconds before sliding into the room. Cameron wasn’t sure what to do. It wasn’t like he could just fix everything and force it all back into how he had it, and that fact alone was grating on his mind.

He ended up sitting on the bed, not quite knowing what he was doing. Nik was still clutching at the bed, sobbing hoarsely. Cameron was hesitant, but leaned close to Nik, awkwardly running his fingers in Nik’s blue and black hair, making a note to check that the windows were closed. Nik’s cries lessened some, before he turned to look up at Cameron, almost confused. “What are you doing?” he rasped.

Fuck if I know, Cameron thought, bitterly.

“Are you done crying?” Cameron asked.

Nik sniffled, but pressed his face back into the bedding momentarily before, “You are shit at literally anything that doesn’t involve your dick.”

“I can cook,” Cameron deadpanned.

When Nik didn’t say anything, Cameron kept combing his fingers in Nik’s hair, watching Nik finally quiet down enough that he started falling asleep, purring quietly. After a few more minutes, Cameron made himself get up and go to his office. He stopped at the closest sentry, eyes narrowed as he stared them down for long enough, their eyes dropped. “If he wakes up,” he finally said, “come get me.”

When they nodded, Cameron went to do the paperwork Zareth had left for him on the desk. It was about thirty minutes of waiting before someone knocked anxiously at the doors. When Cameron ordered them inside, it was a sentry, looking as anxious as that knock was. “We found a traitor- we thought you should know. He’s the one who told… him- about you and your angel. We didn’t want you to worry about our loyalties.”

“In case I decided to kill the lot of you?” Cameron asked, dryly.

“Yes.”

“It has crossed my mind,” he said, mildly, standing. “Take me to them. And tell me why, exactly, the rest of you decided to wait until now to hand them over.”

tagging: @idreamonpaper @incandescent-creativity @livvywrites @solangelo3088 @halstudies @alittleyellowdinosaur