#and that once on the bike you can't go back to the menu of the game to change things

[icharchivist]

in all fairness 4 phases is a bit much

it's a LOT and the 4th one is genuinely painful :( i'm struggling so hard. died twice atm. it's so unfair.

also the camera in the 4th phase is really bad, it follows the enemy so if the enemy moves the controls for your character will go out of synch. it's so frustrating aaaa

[atarathegreat]

hi i love your works, they are amazing! if you don't mind could you write a one shot with Baji x reader, where they are 12-13(maybe before boys formed toman or just formed), she can be his friend, classmate, tutor, neighbour, Emma's friend, whatever your prefer, and Baji is so in love with her that everybody can see it and reader also knows it and his friends tease him A LOT. and maybe you can write how he confessed his love and his friends helped him(while they are still 12-13)

Baji was tough, shameless, and mean. It made him perfect for the newly formed Toman. Between him, Draken, and Mikey, the reputation of Tokyo Manji was spreading and climbing the ranks like crazy. Groups meetings once a week, people wanting to join nearly every day, along with gang fights when they were challenged. Baji learned to find joy in his new normal.

His mother didn't find it as charming, though. She often tried to talk him out of it, tired of him coming home covered in bruises and blood that may or may not have been his. She couldn't tell anymore. She just wanted her son to stop doing dangerous things.

"Hey, Mikey?" Baji turned around in the booth at the small diner they all hung out at, "What day are we meeting up this week?"

Mikey looked up from his plate of food, mouth full as he garbled out some nonsense. "Tuesday." Mitsuya translated, his hands busy with the stitching on the uniforms they would wear. The calm boy was probably the only one who could ever translate for Mikey, whether it be a mouth full of food or he was half asleep. Baji wasn't sure that Mikey ever spoke clearly unless they were at a rally.

"Why you askin'?" Draken looked up from his schoolbook to take a drink of his soda.

Baji smirked, blushing a little as he tried to hide behind the menu in his hands. Bashful boy. "I was thinking about trying to confess to the girl I like." Baji tried to scan the menu to calm himself, maybe get rid of his blush.

Maybe it wasn't the greatest for him to tell the group. Everyone paused and stared at him, even Pah, who more often than not was never interested in anything that wasn't food or fighting. "The one that lives in the apartment next to you?" Kazutora was the first to break the silence and ease the tension. Or he was oblivious to what was going on. "Yes, her." Baji groaned, wishing the menu would open a portal to literally anywhere else.

"Ask Mitsuya." Draken chimed in quickly. The blonde knew that if he hadn't spoken up that Kazutora would say something completely stupid and ruin Baji's chances with the little cutie that Baji was pinning after. And, as luck would have it, Mitsuya was the only one in the group that was inclined enough with the girls to know how Baji could have a fighting chance. Yet, when Mitsuya spoke, it didn't give Baji any hope. Flowers? Chocolate? Was his friend serious?

Kazutora laughed as Baji let his face slam into the table. "Can't I just take her on a motorcycle ride and her be my girlfriend?" He really wished it was just that simple, but, if Mikey was laughing at him, Baji assumed that Mitsuya was about to roll his eyes.

"At least give her a flower, you cave man." Mitsuya did, in fact, roll his eyes at Baji, "She won't get the idea that you like her just from a bike ride."

Draken dropped some coins on the table, "Get her a rose, the deepest red. I hear girls around school talking about 'em. Might work for you."

This was dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Baji felt clueless as he dragged Mitsuya with him, asking a thousand questions on how to confess the right way and how to get her to like him back. Even with all the questioning and complaining from Baji, Mitsuya was more than happy to help. "It's a better plan than just taking her on a bike ride and hoping she'll assume you like her and want to be her boyfriend." Mitsuya carefully moved roses around, helping to pick the perfect one.

"Why not a pink one? Or a yellow one?" Baji grumbled, haphazardly shoving the roses around and earning glares from the workers. "Because, red is... man, I don't know!" Mitsuya scoffed, grabbing a pretty one, "Get this one and come on."

It didn't make Baji feel any more confident, and now Mitsuya was intent on seeing this through. All in the same day? He was getting cold feet the closer they got to the apartment complex.

"What if she already has a boyfriend?"

"What if she thinks I'm ugly?"

"What if she likes someone else?"

"What if she laughs in my face?"

Mitsuya couldn't believe this. Baji Keisuke who had been in dozens of fights and threatened third years was getting nervous to say "I like you" to a girl who lived next door. It was comical and Mitsuya wished he had recorded it. At least the audio. For anyone, it would be a strange sight. Mitsuya would've paid to watch Kazutora shit himself at the sight.

"Just be cool about it. Don't yell. Offer the flower first, say you like her, and invite her to the rally." Mitsuya knocked on the door and stepped away, "Easy as punching some asshat who insulted your bike."

He hoped that saying that wouldn't cause wires to cross in Baji's brain. It would be horrible: "Hi, I like you." *Punch.*

It was too late to rephrase it. The door opened, and Mitsuya ducked around the corner, not wanting to cramp Baji's Shiver Me Timbers style.

She was cute, Mitsuya would give Baji that. Around his height, nice hair, beautiful smile. It was almost making Mitsuya nervous. Would she like Baji?

"Hi?" Even her voice was cute.

Baji swallowed thickly as he felt his face go beet red. Or did he match the rose? Was it hot in the building? Was he sweating? "I-I got this rose for you!" Really?! A voice crack?! Now?! "I really like you and wanted to invite you to a rally with me and my gang."

Not how Mitsuya would've phrased it, but it was better than accidently knocking the poor girly unconscious.

"Oh." She seemed more caught off guard by the rose tickling her nostril than the loud way Baji rambled his words. "Thank you." Her nails were painted. Why did Baji notice that? Was it weird for him to notice that? Should he look away? Put his hands in his pockets?

"I'd like that, actually..." She was blushing! Score! Baji had this in the bag. "You're the boy next door, right? The one who rides the bike?"

Baji nodded. It was definitely getting hotter. She reached inside and wrote down her number on a sticky note before handing it to him, "Just let me know when and I'll go. Thank you for the rose."

Both boys were frozen as she closed the door. Until Baji fell flat on his back, covering his reddened cheeks. "That. Was. Embarrassing."

Mitsuya crossed his arms, "Sounds more like you got a date, to me."

[gwiyeounsonyeon]

Growing Pains End (MWC 13, 14!)

Pairing: RE2 Leon Kennedy x Male(Intended) Reader Summary: College AU! Leon takes you out. Words: 2,282/200 Warnings: I think the reader was referred to as a guy but I might have deleted it, I'm throwing this in here just in case Notes: I really wanted this to go on longer, originally I had it planned out for a few more chapters, at least five extra but I didn't want to overwhelm myself. Maybe if I get better at writing longer-form stories without getting exhausted I'll write five more chapters with Leon and Reader after college.

Navigation | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

The beginning of the movie was pretty decent but very quickly you were snoozing for the rest of it and only came to when the end credits rolled. Thankfully Leon didn’t seem to notice you’d fallen asleep and as you walked out of the theater side by side you listened intently to the retelling of his favorite parts, unable to stop yourself from thinking he was really cute with the way he was so animated as talked. The way he waved his hands around to emphasize what he was saying, the big smile on his face as he talked, and if you looked close enough at him you could see little dimples in his right cheek. Your stomach exploded uncomfortably in butterflies and your heartbeat quickened, you avert your eyes from his face and dump the empty bag of popcorn in the trash, and fidget with your, now empty hands. You both stop so he can grab his bike from the rack and once he’s got it, he starts walking while talking about what you assume to be the end of the movie, leaving you no choice but to follow after him. 

Throughout the conversation you zone out, the softness in his voice making you sleepy again but soon he stops to rack his bike once more, “I just wish they gave the guy a better ending…” He pouts and you zone back into the conversation just now realizing you were standing in front of some diner, “Hm?” Your brows raise as he leads you inside, greeting the hostess who seats you at his usual table. “You come here a lot?” You follow the hostess to a booth by the front window and sit down opposite to Leon, “Sometimes, yeah–and since exams are starting soon this is a great place to study.” You nod and look around, the waitress hadn’t come by yet and the hostess had disappeared somewhere into the kitchen. “You nervous about exams?” You fidget with your menu, not really hungry enough to get anything. Leon shrugs and nods “A little, I mean… I think I'm more nervous about becoming a sophomore.” You nod in turn feeling a little sympathy for him, “It's not too bad, do you know what you wanna major in?” You push your packaged straw around the table starting to feel a little nervous, this all seemed too much like a date. Leon perks up immediately and nods “I came here ‘cause of the STARS criminal justice courses.” You furrow your brows feeling a little confused, “I thought STARS only donated the football team.” Leon smiles and shakes his head, “The football stuff was only done this year, STARS was originally the first big donator for classes and stuff, they help fund the whole left wing.” You nod, not having a good idea of what he's talking about but you’ve been in the left wing once or twice, it's full of a bunch of law stuff that you’re not interested in at all. 

“So, you’re gonna be a cop.” He nods enthusiastically “I’ve known my whole life that I wanted to be a police officer, it's always been my dream to save people.” You watch his hands as he plays with his napkin, you can't help feeling really small next to him. He's got all these great plans and here you were studying for a major you had no idea if you wanted to keep or not. “What about you? What are you majoring in?” You open your mouth to say something but the waitress comes out first, “Sorry about that.” She smiles and sets two glasses of water on your table, “What can I get for the two of you today?” She pulls out a little notepad and pauses, waiting for either of you two to speak up first. Thankfully Leon takes the lead “Can I have my regular?” He turns to you with a big excited look on his face, “You have to try that one, it's just a burger but it's so good.” He points to the menu and you nod, “Uh… Yeah, sure. I’ll have that.” You don't really feel hungry, your stomach feels fluttery and nervous, the waitress smiles and takes your menus. Before she leaves she winks at Leon, “He’s cute, kid.” 

You don't get it but Leon goes bright red and sputters awkwardly, “What’s that mean?” His face goes a darker red and he hides behind his hands, now you’re even more confused. You go to speak but he beats you to it, mumbling from behind his hands, “I… um…” He drops his hands so he can take a long sip of his water, “You have to promise you won't laugh, okay?” He looks at you, the flush had died down a little but his cheeks were still bright pink. You nod and he takes a deep breath, “For… I dunno, like, a few weeks… maybe a month um…” He clears his throat, you put your hands in your lap and fidget under the table, your heart rate picking up slightly. “I uh… i've really liked you––a- and um… i've wanted to ask you out but…” It feels like your heart is going to beat out of your chest, your hands feel a little sweaty and there's a lump forming in your throat. “I- I’ve talked to her about how to ask you f- um forever a- and when I did, she was right. Uh- it wasn't as hard as I thought.” When he finishes he looks relieved but you feel like you’re about to have a heart attack. 

“Wha- um.” You stop to clear your throat and gather your thoughts, you have no idea what to think, all of this feels like it's happening so suddenly. You see Leon lose a little confidence and your stomach does this weird flop, you have no idea what to say, you don't even know what to feel. Does he want to be your boyfriend? Does he just want sex? Is this all an elaborate prank? Is this even real, are you dreaming? You have to be dreaming, you pinch yourself under the table but you dont wake up in your bed. “W- s- so… uh… it’s just- j- just a date?” You stutter lamely, starting to feel very conscious about how weird you're acting “-I mean… you’re not… like, asking to be my boyfriend, are you?” He looks a little upset and your palms grow sweatier, you lean back against the plush booth and rub the sweat from your palms. You feel like you might have a heart attack, your heart beating wildly against your ribcage, you press your hand to your chest hoping to quell the feeling.

Leon’s eyes follow your hand and his expression falls into an off sort of look like he’s deep in thought; “I want to, uh––e- eventually, I mean..” He finishes anxiously, looking back up at you to see your expression. He must've seen something in the way your looking at him because he relaxes a fraction and moves his hands from his lap to the table as your hand drops from your chest. “B- but we obviously don't have to do anything like that, if you don't want to I mean, it was just. I just didn't want to wait any longer to tell you and I had no idea how to tell you-” He’s rushing things out like he's starting to get anxious, fidgeting with his glass of water, but you stop him with a sigh. “I- Leon….” Your hand moves up to rub at your forehead, the ache from earlier coming back full force as you try to figure out how to navigate this situation. He seems to take your actions as rejection, wilting in his seat like a forgotten flower. 

“It's fine just…” You let out a wry chuckle, “Why me? Like, of all people?” He perks up a little, sitting up straighter when you ask the question. “Why?” You nod, he doesn't give your heart any time to rest as his expression is taken over by something bashful and sweet, your heart skips as a shy smile works onto his lips. “Why not?” He asks shakily, trying to work up his confidence, “I- I… You’re so…” He fumbles nervously. “I’m not sure how to…” He huffs, starting to get frustrated with his lack of eloquence. “I just do, okay? Y- you’re like, really hot a- and you're funny…” He takes a deep breath as the words tumble out, “And I can't stop thinking about you, like––when you laugh i- it makes my heart beat really fast a- and when you smile a- at me–and just when you smile in general, it makes my stomach feel fuzzy” His cheeks go pink as he talks, gesturing wildly with his hands. 

You feel like you might cry out in shock or awe, or like you might have a heart attack for real this time because your heart rate would put anyone else up into a hospital, But you don't keel over and die. Because Leon is right in front of you, and he's confessing to you that he thinks you're hot and these things that you worry over constantly gives him butterflies. Your fingers feel a little chill from the adrenalin that zips through your nervous system, your hands shake slightly as you look around the diner, no one seems very interested in your conversation but you can't help feeling a little paranoid. Your brain screams at you that this is a bad idea, that you shouldn't be doing this but you can't help yourself. You stand from the booth, for a split second Leon looks dejected but that shifts to confusion as you make your way around the table to sit directly next to him. 

“... I… This…” You make an aborted gesture between the two of you, unable to get your thoughts straight, and not really sure why you came to sit next to him. You take a deep breath and look around the diner again, all of these faces, so many more important things happening, some probably happening before your eyes, and here you are getting all choked up over a little crush. With that in mind you sober up slightly, you will your heart rate to slow and your hands to stop shaking while you straighten your back, “Im not… good at this kind of stuff.” You start, your anxiety leaves a chill within your chest and makes the hairs on your arms stand on end but you push through, not wanting to feel like a scared baby anymore. “But that… I dont think that means I dont want to try…” Leon perks up a little from beside you, and you feel like you might cry from relief. You had no idea how good it feels to get these things off your chest, “I…” You take a deep breath and clear your throat. “I like you, obviously-” You see Leon shift beside you but you keep your gaze firmly on the table in front of you both. 

“But it doesn't mean that e-…” You take a sip of your water, your throat feeling a little dry, “I have a lot of flaws and a lot of insecurities a- and I dont…” You pause as Leon’s hand envelops yours, “I dont care.” He says stopping to chew on his lip anxiously. “I- I mean, me too obviously. Everyone has to be like that, I think…” He's trying to comfort you and it works, your chest feels warmer and you feel a sting behind your eyes that could be tears or joy that someone is finally saying this to you, too many awful exes, too many nights alone. You swallow down the lump in your throat and turn to him, finally looking at his face; The look he has is so painfully sincere, his eyes are raw and open and pleading, like he's begging you to read his mind, to feel what he's feeling. “But I don’t uh… I- I don’t think you should keep worrying about that stuff…” He trails off. 

A spike of warmth floods your face as his eyes glance down at your lips, you lick your lips self-consciously and his eyes follow the movement. “‘Cause–” His voice comes out scratchy and he cuts himself off to clear his throat, “Because, I’m still going to like you anyway.” You forget about the diner, the other people in the building, everyone else in the world, it all gets pushed to the back of your head. Your breath catches in your throat, the world seems a little fuzzy and you feel like you’re on a merry-go-round, spinning as fast as you can and watching the world pass by you in a blur. You dont know who leans in first, but it doesn't matter. Leon kisses you like he looks at you; soft and hesitant but determined, it makes you feel dizzy, and when you pull back you aren't sure how to catch your breath.

“Okay…” You whisper shakily, your thoughts feel skewed. You hear the bell to the diner ring and Claire and Luis enter grinning like kids getting candy, they sit in front of you and Luis chuckles, “I didn’t think it would take you this long.” Your face goes red and you hide in your hands, suddenly very embarrassed. Claire laughs loudly, drawing the attention of other customers. “God, you guys are something else, you know that?” She says grinning, you feel her kick your shin lightly under the table, glad to see you come so far from the hell you were in almost a year ago now.

☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

A/N - I really enjoyed this chapter and writing more long-form stuff, it made me feel so good seeing it finished. The only thing I wish I'd done was plan it out more and go about it differently, when do this again I probably won't do it for a writing challenge, or do it all in a few days consecutively

[emeraldhaven]

Celebrating You and Only You

V hated birthdays.

Another tick of the clock towards inevitability, a step towards the end of a life she loved so very much. She didn't hate them purely because of this of course - she also didn't like the expectations that came on a day like today. Gifts, parties, celebrations of her life which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't all that important. She'd much rather head out on her bike, drive by some Tyger Claws or Maelstrom and fry their brains to a crisp using her cyberdeck than have to accept gifts from her friends that, bless their souls, would be trying to make this year a "year to remember".

"Jesus V - could you be any more depressin'? Cheer up, live a little!" Johnny whined, appearing on the sidewalk beside V. He was looking wistfully over the Watson community centre, leaning on the handrail exactly the same as she was.

"C'mon Johnny, you've been trawling through my memories, you know why I don't like today." V said, looking over to see whatever Johnny was also looking at. She didn't really see anything other than a few people drunk or high stumbling along the sidewalk. She breathed in deeply, held it and closed her eyes, the stale Night City air burning her lungs, then dropping her shoulders and breathing out slowly, her hand gripping tightly onto the railing.

Johnny shook his head and scoffed, pushing off of the railing and crossing his arms.

"Hey, I'm not sayin' you need to like today, just at least visit the people who care about you most. Quit bein' a little shit and make people feel like you appreciate their efforts."

V sighed. She really didn't want to go and see anybody today, but maybe Johnny was right - maybe she ought to go see some of her friends? Taking out her phone, she opened up the contacts menu and scrolled down, tapping on So Mi.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and rang.

"Huh. Why isn't So Mi picking up?" V wondered. It's quite unlike her little Songbird to not pick up the phone when she called, given everything that happened between the two. Granted, she'd just come back from her little trip up to Tycho, and any kind of operation is going to be taxing on somebody - maybe she wasn't feeling up to chatting?

V tried to contact her other friends: Kerry went straight to voicemail; Judy was on do-not-disturb; Panam was "out of cell range" - whatever that meant; River was "at work". Tapping her phone against her chin, V hummed out loud some familiar tune that was stuck in her head whilst she thought why every single person she could possibly want to hang out with was suddenly completely unavailable.

She hears a ping from her cellphone - it's a photo from So Mi and it's of the front door to her apartment. The caption reads:

"Come home."

V's heartrate shoots up - what does she mean, come home? Songbird has no idea where her apartment is, she'd never gone there during the whole Dogtown event, instead staying at the various safehouses that Reed and Alex had set up. It was a worrying thing for So Mi to know both where she lived and that she was there - it wasn't a particularly safe megabuilding.

Hopping on her Kusanagi, she turned the key and kicked off the pavement, pulling the throttle hard and speeding off to her home. After some incredibly reckless driving (Judy calls it "literally asking for trouble"), she arrives in quite possibly the shortest amount of time it's ever taken for her to drive across Night City. V practically jumps up the entire flight of stairs in front of her block, somehow leaping up 4 stairs at a time to reach the elevator, barely even registering the small red-electrical glitch on the TV screens, and once it arrives at the top sprints towards her apartment door and opens it.

The first thing V notices is that it's too quiet. Taking a quick scan around her apartment with her eyes, she can't see anyone and even her Kiroshi's aren't registering anything out of the ordinary. It takes one, two, three steps into her home before anything happens. A red glitch takes over her vision; quite similar to how the Relic would give her trouble, but she feels completely fine; until it all starts to clear and…

"SURPRISE!!" A loud cacophony of voices and cheers and party horns and poppers go off, showering her in a sea of noise, warmth and a shocking amount of confetti. V blinks away the odd bit of static to see all of her friends standing before her: Panam, Mitch, Judy, Rita, River, Kerry, Misty, Reed, Alex, Jackie, Viktor, Takemura and right in the middle as though she was illuminated by the stars themselves, So Mi holding a cake with the cutest little artistic (and quite edible) depiction of V at work, Mantis Blades in hand.

"Guys, you didn't have to do all this!" V exclaimed, shocked that they could have even set up something as elaborate as this without her really knowing.

"V, choom, we wouldn't have had it any other way." Jackie said softly, walking over and placing a hand around her shoulders. "Now kick back, relax and grab a cold one - it's time for celebrating you, and only you, today. None of this back and forth shit."

V looked up at Jackie and back towards her friends, her eyes starting to well up from all the emotions. She started to see all the little details - the cake, the small pieces of ribbon around the apartment, the bunting celebrating her 24th birthday, and all her friends dressed up and here for her. It wasn't something she was used to, but it was definitely something she could grow to enjoy.

As the party started, Jackie left V to go talk to Viktor and Takemura about some boxing thing that V didn't really know a whole lot about. She walked over and sat down next to So Mi, dressed in an immaculate jacket and jean combo that was quite similar to what her Relic-form had actually looked like. She was stunning, truly a beautiful woman in her own right, but since she got back from Luna she had this sparkle in her eyes that made V's heart flutter.

"Hey V - didn't see this one coming did you?" Songbird smirked, her soft lips accented in a beautifully red lipstick. V felt almost unable to take her eyes off of them, flicking down between her two newest vices: Songbird's eyes and lips.

"Uh, um, n-no no I didn't actually. How long have you known?" V stuttered.

"Ha! Well, it was a combination of everyone really. I got back from Tycho and, well, I got contacted by Panam - something about you not really having a lot of time celebrating your birthday in the past?" So Mi took a sip from her drink, lips wrapped around the straw in her cup.

"Ah I shouldn't have gotten drunk and chatted life with Panam - didn't realise that I'd have left something like that slip." V chuckled. "What was your little part to play in all this, Song?"

"The whole fact you couldn't see anything - hooked into the Relic and altered your visualware for the whole effect. Might have spruced other things up, as well, but y'know that's just for personal fun." Song couldn't have looked any more smug, nor more beautiful given that it seemed like, to V at least, that she was literally glowing.

"You're beautiful." V muttered, completely unaware that she'd said that out loud.

Songbird blushed a deep red. "Thanks V, that means a lot coming from you." She started to play with the top of the typical red cup she was holding.

V's eyes widened and her own scarlet blush creeped across her face, the tips of her eyes going ever so slightly pink. Taking a swig of her drink, she placed her hand on top of So Mi's, their pinkies ever so slightly hooking onto the other's.

"No, thank you Song - for all of this. I really, really appreciate you being here, and I'd want nothing else." V smiled softly at So Mi, flicking down to her lips again. She suddenly got quite aware of how close they were actually sitting on the couch.

"V… I-"

"Hey V! Come check out this sweet new gear that Judy's got!" Panam called over, rushing to grab V's arm and pull her away from Songbird. V looked back guiltily at Song, mouthing out "I'm sorry, talk later!" towards the redhead who smiled back and nodded in return.

The party would continue into the late night, and one-by-one people said their farewells and see-you-laters until everyone had left except for Jackie and Songbird.

"Alright V, I'd best be off - got a cute date with Misty in the morning, and I don't wanna miss it." Jackie said, slapping his legs and standing up. V walked him over to the door and hugged him.

"Thanks Jack - I had a preem time today." V said, choking on the last few words and giving Jackie another hug before he left.

"And then there were two." Songbird chuckled, lounging back on the couch, heels off and feet up on the couch, arms outstretched over the couch's spine.

"Well it was one at some point right, back when you were just a cute ghost in my head?" V chuckled, the room slightly swaying. V stumbles over and flops down onto the couch, falling right into the space between So Mi's side and her outstretched arm. V's back is suddenly warm, the machinery within So Mi's body heating up as the alcohol within their systems work independently, but seemingly together.

So Mi wraps her arm around V's chest, slowly stroking her abdomen, fingers raising and dropping at the curves of her abs. "Mmm - only a cute ghost? I seem to remember a certain someone thinking quite a lot about other things that involve the 'cute ghost in her head'." So Mi giggled, squeezing softly.

"Would be a gonk ass move to think too much nowadays though; pretty sure I was getting quite visceral feedback myself." V looked up at So Mi, gazing back into those captivating eyes. "Couldn't help it, Song, you had me when you invited back to that bench."

So Mi hummed, a multitude of thoughts, feelings and pure emotions coursing through her head. As her heartbeat ramped up, the whirring in the motors in her spine lowly increased, and V noticed.

"Not gettin' too mushy on me, are ya' Song?" V giggled back, placing her own hand on Songbird's, the dark glow of both her apartment and Night City from her window illuminating the two.

Songbird shook her head and then slowly, softly and with the most care anyone has ever given to V, leant down and kissed the top of her head. Burying her nose in the plushness of V's soft, delicate stained-red hair, she exhaled in complete comfort.

"No V, I'm just as mushy and as happy as I want to be right here, right now, with you. Spending as much time as I can while we still have it to spend in whatever ways we want. Happy birthday, V." Songbird murmured, closing her eyes.

Taking a minute, V calmed her screaming heart and said quietly: "It's, um, it's Valerie. My real name is Valerie."

"Then happy birthday Valerie - you deserve it." Songbird affirmed.

V hummed happily, sleepily planting an ever softer kiss on So Mi's hand, entwining their fingers and drifting off, her eyelids fluttering closed as the comforting embrace of Songbird enveloped her in her wings.

Maybe V didn't hate birthdays after all.

[abyssaldissonance]

Some Infinity Nikki Critiques so far:

In no particular order

Dark skin could have slightly lighter palms and soles. (Also Shining Nikki).

New tutorials should be at the top of the list to look through, not in the middle. Once they are read AND the player has exited from the screen, they should go in their intended order when reviewed again later.

HUD could have a quicker/easier way to look at Blings, Gems, Diamonds, and other currencies, such as clicking or pressing a button for them to show on screen for a couple seconds before fading away, or letting players toggle on/off permanent currency stats (and maybe choose which ones they want displayed).

Pear-Pal Apps should be rearranged how players want similar to apps on a real phone. Every new app I get makes me mis-click the ones I got used to.

When Exiting Realm with backspace, it should take you to the Realm menu. Realm menu should also exit with backspace. That way I can press backspace twice quickly and exit to the world, or I can press backspace once and enter a new Realm quickly to optimize my Vital Energy spending. It' a little annoying to backspace and be in the world only to go back into the Realms.

Combat / Purification by itself feels bland. I liked the fight with Bouldy, especially the Dark Realm, but I think there should be at least one or two more combat outfit/abilities such as:

Pushing ability (wind?) where you can push Esselings away from you in case you are surrounded. The items that we are given to "stun" them don't feel very intuitive to use, I might as well just spam the Purify button. I imagine in my mind a straight line or cone ability right in front of Nikki, and when leveled up it can become a circular whirlwind. Maybe a puffy green dress for a windy theme, or vines and leaves that whip around. Weaker, multi-targeting projectiles: Possibly shoot three projectiles that lock on to Esselings, but take 3 hits to destroy them. I imagine a rose-themed or thorn-like outfit. Possibly switch between combat outfits with middle mouse button.

I'm not a huge fan of forced limitations (daily limitation of Wish Bottles capped at 500, monthly limitation of tranquility traded for resonance crystals, etc).

Photos would be nice if I could pause real-time in addition to Nikki. There are a couple shots of flying on top of the giant pigeon that I would love to get, and I have a difficult time getting some poses with Nikki's eyes half closed beside taking 50 photos and praying. This is mostly frivolous day-dreaming though. The photography sections is really quite nice. You can "upgrade" it to get more poses, lighting, etc.

Slightly Better Early Outfits for Styling Battle would be nice. I additionally dislike that it takes up / replaces my Outfit Slot 1 after a Styling Battle. The early items you get don't match very well unless you exclusively use the ability outfits. Thankfully those are easy enough to level up. It'd just be nice to have more cohesive outfits early on, even if they're simple/plain. To be fair, this has always been a silly issue with Nikki (and other) games. Really hate it replaces my actual Outfit slot though.

Bike. Bad. It goes forward fast, which is nice. But turning kind of sucks and I feel much more inclined to either fast-travel or just hoof it so I can collect materials along the way. I don't think there's a whole lot they could do about it except maybe make turning just slightly easier/faster.

I could just be missing it but: Lore Database. There is a "folklore guide" but its a collection of minigames. I've read a bunch of the notes/books they have throughout the game, and I can't seem to find anywhere this information is stored. It'd just be nice to have. Aditionally, we could have a database of certain characters and terminologies. I know tons of games do this but I think of Star Ocean and Brave Fencer Musashi which had a sort of compendium of characters, artifacts, locations, and other lore.

Some Menus dont Exit w ESC key. I don't know if it's an oversight or not, but I would really like Every menu/screen etc to be able to close with ESC key. Evolution, Courses, Store, Wishes, Factions so far I have to manually click the arrow.

Positives For Me:

The Fish are categorized by weight rather than how many individual fish, so you're not catching "1" fish, you're catching "1.7 grams" of fish. It's a really small thing but I like that it's grams of fish instead of individual fish.

The Gacha / Resonance doesnt feel as predatory as most. I've definitely spent money on other games etc, but I really don't like feeling like I should have to throw MORE money at a game series I already have high VIP in (Love & Shining Nikki). I Get that this is their version of making money with nigh-indefinite content updates (I hope/assume by being a longer-term nikki fan and seeing how they do things), so I hope acquiring outfits will be easier in-game this way as well as I hope the amount of time between events won't be as daunting as Shining Global.

Layering Clothes feels nice. We can do this in the Nikki games already, but if you wear boots with trousers (or other clothing combinations), sometimes they clip through. So far, if you wear certain layers of clothes, they get tucked or folded in a way that makes it look good. There's still some clipping issues but they're usually a super weird and ugly combination of clothes to begin with that, aesthetically wouldn't be very likely to get paired up.

Mild Critique: Sometimes the top of the boots or some sleeves get "cut off" in order to make the look work. I think it could be done a little better, but I appreciate that they're trying very hard not to make things clip.

Material Components are really neat! They're unique in super cute and fun ways. I love the idea of having different outfits for different tasks. I love that the flora and fauna designs are based off clothing materials, such as stocking-like stripes on goats or buttons inside pinecones.

Mild Critique: I wish the material components were matched a tiny bit better to the clothing that require them. It was weird making a white dress out of red fruit, or using "knit-moths" to make leather "dad" shoes. I think a tiny bit more thought could make this make a little more sense. There ARE some good clothing vs material choices, though.

Time Skip is so helpful. I'm SO glad they implemented it. Certain animals or events happen at certain times of day and you can either time skip in the Pear-Pal menu, or if you arrive at a certain event, you can time skip on the spot. It makes things so much smoother.

Photo Mode is so good and fun. I enjoy taking photos, I like seeing other people's photos, it has lots of nice features.

The Environment is easy to navigate in a fun way. When I see a super tall building or a super low canyon, I can find viable ways to get to where I want to. Steps/natural staircases are placed strategically to help encourage exploration without hindrance besides extremely obvious edge-of-the-map boundaries.

Despite my critiques, I genuinely love the game itself so far.

I'm still hoping beautiful outfits won't be limited to Resonance, and likewise hope Resonance isn't too difficult to acquire because that's a huge turn off for me.

I'm already stretched between Nikki games and I already spend much less than I used to. Yeah, yeah, you don't have to spend money in any of the games, but it does suck that it feels like you have to wait a whole year or even two just to acquire a complete set, and that's if you budget solely around a handful of sets, let alone if you actually want to proceed with having high enough ranks to acquire more diamonds to afford more sets. So I hope Infinity Nikki won't be quite the same.

[efesahins]

THINGS JUST FALL APART | SELF-PARA

mentions: @junhorhee @charlotteoh @zehraxaydin

Despite everything that's been going on, Efe didn't close Deadlights, he didn't change a single thing about his routine, too stubborn to do so. He refused to give a drop of satisfaction to the murderers, his thought process leading him to believe it was exactly what they wanted. To instill fear in everyone, to hurt them both physically and psychologically.

He woke up, went on a run, got himself a coffee, did a few errands he's been avoiding, made a stop when he passed through the hospital to have lunch with Jun, and then he went home. He continued working, something he always did too much of, until it was time to head to Deadlights. Ever since they found the second body he made sure to be the first in and last out. Often he let the staff leave a little early or made them wait until he could drive them home. He told himself it wasn't that he cared as much, it's just hard to find new people willing to put up with their regulars, but truth was he did care about people's well being even if the wall he put up didn't show it. Those who needed to know it already did, with or without him proclaiming it.

It was a normal night, the usual patrons were hanging around the place, the flow steady as people were slowly coming out of their hiding spots again. But he can't blame them, the idea of hunting season commencing and them being on the menu was enough to scare people and it was no surprise how a lot of them avoided the outside world, though he was a strong believer it didn't matter where you were. If those people wanted you dead there was no way out of it.

It was getting late, a few of the clients were showing no sign of leaving any time soon and with the recent acceleration of death he was considerate and sent his staff home. It was just two tables and one drunk sat at the bar, he can handle it. Besides every so often he did work at his own bar, especially when it was busy and they were understaffed. He might tell you he doesn't like it when he has to do it, but secretly he enjoyed it. Especially after his engagement broke off and he wanted to busy himself with anything but thoughts of Zehra.

And when it came to her - he was still confused. He knew that he loved her, if he didn't he definitely wouldn't act the way he did at the music fest or visit her when he knew Dante and Sawyer meant something to her. But he was hurt, hurt in a way he can't describe nor deal with. And he needs to deal with. He has to either forget about her or find a way in his heart to forgive her. What they had was once special, maybe there was a way to go back to it. No. Create something new that was just as good or even better. But what if it was his fault she felt insecure in the relationship. What if it's her that doesn't want him anymore. Too many what ifs and what could of beens were spinning in his mind as he bid his goodbye to the last customer of the night.

He spent a while in his office, signing what papers needed to be signed and placing an order for anything they were running low on. He cleaned up the front, putting away everything and wiping the last two tables. He made progress in the last few months, yes he did work till ungodly hours, but at least when he was done he actually went home. With the keys both for Deadlights and his bike and his backpack on his back he made his way out locking up the place. He turned around to make his way to his bike, but a few steps later he stumbled into someone, "Sorry, if you're looking for a drink I'd suggest Medusa. We're done for the night."

With no response in return Efe mumbled an alright and stepped to move, but a burning and stinging feeling in his stomach stopped him in his tracks. He's never felt something like that before and when his eyes went to look down he saw what he could assume was the handle of a knife and a hand holding onto it. He went to grab onto the person, but the way they twisted the blade inside him had him wincing and hunching over as his brain tried to register what was happening to him. He gathered up strength and moved forward which was a mistake as they pulled the knife away and lodged it in a different spot, they did it again and again. Efe's face paling by the minute as his blood seeped out, he stumbled forward grabbing onto the person as he fell to his knees. "Why are you doing this?" his head slowly moved up, looking for the smallest detail that could pinpoint him to who the perpetrator is, but there was nothing, his vision was already starting to blur and he could barely make out anything as he tried his hardest to focus.

They leaned down and Efe thought they were going to say something, but he was met with more stab wounds, each hurting worse than the last. He felt himself becoming lighter, the blood loss making his ears ring, he blinked slowly his eyelids heavy - this was it, this is how he's going to leave this world.

His mind in a desperate attempt to help allowed him to think of the people he loved, people so close to him and people he didn't want to see hurt by his death, but alas it was inevitable. Even if someone shows up with this amount of wounds there was no saving him.

He thought about Junho, his closest friend. Someone he's confined in so many times, someone who helped him in more ways than Efe would admit, but Jun knew. The ways they were there for each other showed how much Efe really cared and he was thankful he saw him earlier today, though it was never going to be enough. He just hopes his death won't take that much of a toll on him, maybe it'll finally push him to deal with his own feelings about Charlotte. Open his eyes before it's too late for them like it was for him now. And when it came to her, Efe was the worst friend there is, but he can't change the past. He can only hope she won't allow what they did to ruin something special. And he hopes they'll both find some comfort in each other and forget about him, because he doesn't want to be mourned. He wants them to live for him instead.

And then the most beautiful silhouette appeared before him - Zehra. He knew he was coming closer to his death, he knew it wasn't her before him, but if that's the last thing his mind pictures then he'd die a happy man. Once she meant the world to him, once he would of given everything for her and now his biggest regret was that he didn't follow her. He should of went after her the second she went away, he should of fought harder. And he still loves her with everything in him, every fiber of his body ached to be with her right now. Maybe if he wasn't so stubborn he would of been home with her, sitting on the couch entangled in one another as they each share how their day went, but he was on the cold ground, blood seeping from his body and mouth. He hopes she finds someone special, even if he hates the mere idea of it, but she deserves happiness and he wants someone to give it to her even if it's not him. Instead all he'd bring is pain, because he was again too stubborn to change his routine, to close Deadlights, to stay home. He just hopes she knows just how much he loved her once, and just how much he loves her to this day.

The strong pull of his hair had his eyes focus on the face before him, too out of it to put a name behind it. He opened his mouth to speak, but before a word could move past his lips, the cold and sharp metal of the knife slid across his neck, blood seeping from the open wound. They pushed him to the ground and without any strength left inside him, he fell on his back, his eyes watching over the sky as the pain slowly started to fade and he knew this is his last night on Earth.

All alone on the hard cold ground he met his end.

[ashtxeman]

For the headcanon thing- how about the man of the hour glass joe?

You have opened a can of worms, and it smells like croissants and coffee.

First off, Joe and Kaiser are 100% boyfriends, and they've been dating for about 4 years! Their first date was at a fancy Italian restaurant, but none of them could read the menu so they just awkwardly ate pasta and left.

His actual name is Joseph Rousseau, and he's an only child meaning his childhood was pretty lonely. Luckily he doesn't mind too much.

Joe's birthday is August 15th, the day the Arc de Triumph was built!

Joe would love to have a cat, but he doesn't have any animals in his house because he's allergic. If he were to cave and get one anyway, he would get a birman cat and call it Fève.

When it comes to his love life, you'd think Joe would have a good lineup, but he actually hasn't dated that many people. When he was a teenager he dated a friend named Annette who was part of the same friend group as him. They were happy for a while, even if Annette didn't really have Joe's best interests in mind (convincing him to smoke and drink and such), that was until Annette's brother Jules started to shun Joe away. Eventually Annette took Jules side in a big argument and that escalated into something worse, which resulted in them never speaking again. He didn't date anybody after that, until Kaiser of course.

Since he and Kaiser officially got together, Joe's been holding back on pretty much everything. Knowing that Kaiser was, to him, a perfect man Joe wanted everybody to know they were a thing.. but Kaiser isn't the same, and prefers to keep things private. So Kaiser often finds himself telling Joe to stop taking pictures or to turn his voice down when he starts to lament in public. He's French though.. romance is in his blood.

For speaking, Joe's English is practically fluent, but for some reason he just can't perfect reading. He panics whenever you put an English menu in front of him, often misreads signs and puts accents where they don't need to be in his texts.

Joe was a petty criminal as a teen, back in France he used to shoplift with some questionable friends. As well as that he'd take part in underaged drinking and smoking.. what a rascal he was.

He gets vertigo a lot, so has paracetamol on him at any given moment. Helpful to himself and to literally everyone else.

He also has tinnitus.. Ear ringing go BRRRR. Or, EEEEE, more like.

Joe has a long scar down his leg because he tried to participate in the Tour de France before he started boxing and ended up falling down a hill with the bike. He also has some smaller scars in other spots from y'know, 100 big fat losses.

The WVBA is very careful putting Joe in matches, since betting on them is so easy. Going in, you know who's going to win and you know you'll get your moneys worth. This trend has been changed before, however. The first time it was when Joe beat Nick Bruiser, since everybody bet on Nick winning.. yeah, that didn't happen. The second time was when Little Mac was thrown into the mix, as some people sincerely believed Mac was weak enough to be beaten by Joe. Everybody put their money on Joe for once, and then he went and lost again.. safe to say the crowd was not happy that day.

Joe has a bit of an apathy issue. At times he won't react to things as much as he should, but other times he'll really exaggerate his feelings and end up looking stupid.

Joe was a choir boy growing up! His Mother, Colette, was a religious woman who ran a bakery and had him be in the choir so he wouldn't be running around the business all day.

His favourite colour is blue.

He legally can't drive because of his medical issues, so anytime you see him he's usually in a taxi. Many taxi drivers know him by name.

He absolutely despises Gabby Jay for some reason. They were great friends at one point, and then that changed to complete hatrid from Joe. Even the mention of Jay can ruin his mood.

The only alcohol Joe drinks is wine, and even then it takes a lot of it to get him anywhere near drunk. It's mostly a mix of a built up tolerance plus medicine keeping it toned down, but there's been a lot of times he's been down on his luck and got a bit carried away with it. You could say there might be a stash of cabernet sauvignon somewhere in his kitchen labelled 'emergency only', because there is.

Joe's way too forgiving for his own good.. most of the time. He likes Aran even if he's a complete nuisance 90% of the time, simply because he likes to give people the benefit of the doubt. Though, push him enough and you will get a very stern side of him that feels almost uncanny. You've seen the way he stares.. right into the soul..

Joe is a fantastic cook and tends to cook for the other boxers at gatherings. He's willing to cook anything, but is of course best at making pastries!

He also cooks when he's stressed. If he's having a bad day he'll make croissants, immediate mood lifter.

If he wasn't a boxer, he'd love to run a bakery.

A lot of the time he develops a liking for a particular hobby, but quickly gives up on it because of low self-esteem. For example he once took art classes, but gave up because he didn't think he had the talent for it.

As a joke he was given a baguette pillow for his birthday, but he genuinely loves it and keeps it right next to him in bed.

Joe has been completely afraid of the Bruiser twins ever since the incident with Nick. He won't speak to them or go near them, and gets uncomfortable when they're brought up.

Joe's eyes are a lovely burgandy colour, but some people swear they've turned a strange pinkish-turquoise at times.

He has naturally dark undereyes, but they're way darker than they would be usually since he is perpetually tired.

He may not be the best in the ring, but sit him down at the TV and boot up a game? Consider yourself beat, he's unnaturally good at video games.

90% of the time his nails are painted black.

He tried to grow his hair out once, but it kept getting caught in his headgear so he gave up and cut it.

He absolutely did have a terrible phase when his hair was short and blonde. Don't speak to him about it unless you want him to get majorly embarassed LMAO.

In the A-Bracket, Joe gets along best with Kaiser, Disco, Hugger and Sandman.

In the B-Bracket, Joe doesn't really get along with anybody. He's either scared of them, or never talks to them.

Don't ask him about Quick.

[alia15]

Chicago, 2023.

I once blogged about a quick work trip I took to this city in June 2018, and mentioned how I fell in love with it at the time. I fell in love with it so much, in fact, that it was always on my list for another visit at some point.

Well, five years later, I did get to go back -- and this time, with my favorite travel partner! We crammed a LOT in within three full days in Chicago, but I wanted to share our faves/highlights from the long weekend, in case you're thinking of visiting:

Must-Do's

A ball game at Wrigley, if you can! Leo is a baseball fanatic, so the goal is always to see a world renowned stadium wherever we travel in the US. You'll get to see a historic ballpark, the famous "seventh inning stretch" where the crowd sings "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and even get to experience some of the cool bars and restaurants in the area, including one with a batting cage inside.

Architectural boat tour -- can't recommend it enough! Chicago looks very similar to New York City with its amazing skyscrapers/buildings, but as a New Yorker I gotta say: their buildings are SO much nicer than ours. So much history, incredible designs, and so aesthetically pleasing (minus that comically large TRUMP tower that lurks over the river). Doing a boat tour on the river allows you to take in all the gorgeous views, get a history lesson on the city and its architecture, AND even have a cocktail while doing it.

Navy Pier. We didn't have a LOT of time here, but if we had another day we would have went back. Fun area to walk around, explore, and even get on a ferris wheel, which we did ;)

Food tours! Leo and I LOVE these and do them often, even in New York where we live. It's a fantastic way to see a city/neighborhood, experience it's culinary specialties, meet people and....well, get your steps in. We did Bobby's Bike Hike on our first night there and got to see all the big landmarks (the "Bean," the Chicago theater) and try all the quintessential Chicago foods: a deep-dish pizza (loved it), a Chicago hot dog and an Italian beef. YES CHEF.

Restaurants/Bars

Girl & the Goat. Don't miss it if you're a foodie, love a trendy spot, and love a "different" kind of menu (one of the dishes we ordered was "pig face). The food was out of this world -- along with the service -- and even though we were seated very close to other patrons and the noise level was up there, this was a huge highlight for us. Great meal, dessert AND cocktails.

Rooftop bars: Cindy's and LondonHouse. The former has a great view of Millennium Park and The Bean, and the latter overlooks the river and all the surrounding buildings. We had drinks at both and highly recommend for the views alone!

The Franklin Room. Another great dinner here (River North area) in a more unassuming spot that felt like a more local, neighborhood joint but had great food.

The Riverwalk: we spent a lot of time here and bopped in and out of so many places -- I recommend The Northman Beer & Cider garden which is a cute outdoor brewery area, River Roast (we came for a drink/charcuterie but looked like a nice restaurant with great water views), and TacoRio. There are so many others we didn't get to stop in that looked great: Beatnik, Tiny Tapp, City Winery, O'Briens. On a nice day you really can't go wrong enjoying the scene and you can easily access all the locations.

We stayed at the Kimpton Monaco downtown which also has a restaurant attached (Fisk & Co.) and enjoyed our stay there. We were in a prime location and the room was nice, plus the staff.

Chicago is an awesome city, and if you've never been, I would DEFINITELY add it to your list.

XO,

AA

[pbandjesse]

I wish it felt like winter. Like yeah the last couple winters having broken heat sucked. But our heat is fixed this year and looking at the weather for the next month it's just going to be in the 40s. Sucks. I really thought we would get a big snow storm at least once but I don't think it's going to happen. Makes me very sad.

Today was a little hard. I wanted to be productive and go out and enjoy the weather even if it isn't the winter I wanted. But instead I just felt very bad.

I slept alright last night. It has been easier to fall asleep lately. I woke up and things felt alright. James made me an omelette for breakfast to celebrate Omelette the frog being alive. I got to work on my crochet.

Mr Will came over to replace the back door. This is where I got very upset. And it only go worse over the next hour. He got a different kind of door but it's just. A hollow door?? And it doesn't even fit so he nailed it in and it can't be opened. You know. Our fire escape door. He says it could be opened in an emergency but there's no handle. You would have to take a hammer to the nails. And I literally had to hold back tears. I was like hey I'm not okay with this. It's not safe. I use that outside space. I keep that door open. And he said he's on the look out for a different better door. But like. He should have just left the original one then! This one isn't going to keep the cold out. It's not safe at all!! I couldn't say anything else or I would absolutely have started crying. James sent Tina an email to explain and sent a listing to order a new door. But I just felt super defeated.

And then we couldn't find Sweetp. For almost 15 minutes. I had heard him go in the hall and didn't think anything of it because he follows Will. But we couldn't find him in our apartment. In the hall. In the construction upstairs. I was getting super worried he somehow go outside outside. Or was on the fire escape that was now nailed shut.

But I would find him under the bed in the bedroom in Will's office. Ugh. I did not need the stress. I have Sweetp a bunch of treats but I told him I was upset with him for hiding.

I tried to keep crocheting. I would get to 69 squares done today. I wanted to go out but I was so upset and honestly I felt super tired and bad inside. I wanted to do work. Art. Make my poster and examples for this weekend. But I couldn't do anything. I felt broken inside.

James would go for a bike ride and I would lay in bed to crochet more. But eventually I just laid down and watched videos.

Once James got home and I knew they were safe I would fall asleep. I thought I would sleep for an hour but I woke up at 4 and felt very bad still. At least I wasn't as tired.

I did have a bunch of missed called. I have been getting weird ones a lot lately. Someone must have used my number for something or its just regular we are trying to contact you about your extended warranty/electric bill/medical debt scammy calls you get. Gave me a little fright though and waking up to your heart racing is no good.

I got up when James said they were going to walk to the grocery store. I needed to shake it off and I thought that would be nice.

So we walked over there. And got 50 cent green onions and a $2 candy bar. And came home.

We got back here and James made us green onion pancakes and dumplings. I didn't like the ginger soy sauce but I loved everything else. I appreciated James trying the new things we've added to our menu.

I still felt really uspset and couldn't get myself to do anything. Me and James would just hang out in the couch and read our books and eventually just watched things in our phones. A lazy night.

I took a bath and tried to calm my allergies now. And now we are in bed. I am trying to shake off how bad I feel. But I just hope work tomorrow helps me feel more myself.

I hope you all sleep good tonight. And feel more secure. Be careful out there! Goodnight.

[casspurrjoybell-32]

*Warning Adult Content*

WHEN TO TELL HIM - Chapter 5

When I got the text from Adyen that he was free on Saturday, I became excited.

The first thing I did was call Alpha Georgiou and talk to him.

If I was bringing Adyen over, the other wolves had to behave themselves, they did that on their own when a human entered the shop but the complexes of Adyen's existence and not knowing what he was made him a special case I had to report. 

"When are you going to talk to him about werewolves?" Georgiou asked me through the phone after agreeing to give everyone at the joint a heads up for Saturday.

I had looked out the window for a bit, not knowing what to say.

I hadn't spoken face to face with Adyen since Wednesday but we'd exchanged some texts and he smiled at me from across the room today in our math lecture.    

 "When the time's right?" I said, not sure of myself.

Georgiou sighed from the other end and I heard music briefly before the sound of a door creaking close replaced it.     

"If you're waiting for the right time, you'll be stuck waiting forever," he said in the background noise of buttons being pressed.

I guessed he was in the kitchen.

I bit my lip, flipping through the notes I had in front of me.

He was right, I didn't have anything to say back.

Honon, a mid-ranking wolf from my pack back in Alberta had left for Toronto years ago.

He had a human wife now and they had a kid together and the lady still didn't know.   

If we worked out and maybe started dating, I would tell Adyen with time.

I didn't want to keep Adyen in the dark like that.     

"I'll find a way to tell him," I said, listening as Georgiou sighed in response.  

"Make sure of it," he said before changing the conversation to the changes to the joint's menu.

We spoke about other things after that... his wife and kid and the boat they'd bought for Kayaking.

He also made mention of the troublesome new rogue pack that was skirting the lines of his territory.

Most of Toronto downtown was claimed and the only way to get a spot was to buy and run a joint but this pack just hung around where they cool and broke into empty buildings at night.    

"A bunch of hooligans. I don't think they'll stay together long," he expressed, still going on about the pack of older teens.

Most of them were runaways that now lived on the street.

I agreed with what Alpha Georgiou said.

Packs with just young people fell apart quickly.

Many of them went back home,and some of them just decided to move.      

"They've stopped at the restaurant once or twice. I don't like their Alpha," Georgiou went on from the other end.

I frowned a bit, wondering why they had Georgiou so worked up.

He wasn't one to talk about a particular thing for too long but the pack seemed to really grind his gears.

Maybe they were pickpockets or tried to steal something from him once?

Wouldn't surprise me, Motorcycles and bikes went missing a lot.

"They tried to break a couple of bike locks at the parking..."    

'Guessed it.' I thought, trying to listen to the rest of what Geirogiou was saying but I couldn't.

His voice was starting to get drowned out by the rowdiness of the back kitchen he was calling me from.     

There was some yelling and then a string of sentences from Georgiou.

"I have to go," he sounded sad about it.

"I can't wait to see this Adyen person on Saturday," he said, his tone picking up some excitement.

I told him goodbye and he hung up right after, leaving me with my thoughts. 

I rest my head on my desk, closing my eyes as a sigh left my lips.

The metal desk was cool on my skin.

My eyelids flickered a bit, disturbed by the rays of sunlight coming through the window.

It was a lot less bright now at least, the sun had receded a bit since the clock hit five in the evening.

It was a Thursday.

I still had Friday before Adyen and I got to hang out.

We had English together tomorrow, though and I hoped that he would sit next to me like last time... except this time I wouldn't be a creep and we would get along.

I chuckled, my lips twitching into a smile at the memory.

We had started out rough but had somehow ironed things out.   

At the sound of something falling down, my head shot up and I listened for anything weird after that.

There was a thumping sound like bodies were falling and then some laughing.

It seemed like my roommates were doing K.O. Style making out in the living room.

Wouldn't put it past them.

The walls were paper-thin, so I could hear their back and forth.

Well, that's what I got for sharing a three-room apartment for four hundred dollars a month in downtown Toronto.   

"Guys, keep it down," I said, heading for my door.

I opened it to find Augustine and Jasper wrestling with each other in an attempt to pin the other down.

The two turned towards me when I closed my bedroom door behind me.

They stared up at me with shocked looks on their faces, frozen in their pose.

Augustine took the incentive by getting off Jasper.

The boy beneath him snapped out of his trance too, sitting up and covering his face.

A small chuckle escaped my lips.

The blush on their faces was hilarious, I couldn't help myself.    

Augustine and Jasper were werewolves Honon has linked me up with when I messaged him for advice in regards to living in Toronto.

Honon used to be a student at my university and I had been surprised when he had responded.

We weren't that close... mostly because it felt weird befriending the man that had left his mate for a human girl.

Also, his mate was the man I'd been pining for since I was twelve years old. 

Yeah, it made things very awkward.     

"Sorry, we didn't know you were back," Augustine said, running a hand through his blond hair.

He was a kid of British werewolf immigrants, while Jasper, the lanky redhead in a white hoodie, was Canadian born and raised.

They were mates and had been to high school together.   

"You can have the house to yourselves on Saturday, I won't be here," I said, watching the two who were now sitting on the cheap carpet give me confused looks.   

"Got a date or something?" Jasper asked, scooting towards the couch until his back was pressed up against it.    

I nodded.

"Yup."

I turned away, deciding to go grab something to eat from the kitchenette that shared the same space as the living room.

They were separated by the contrast in floor style.

Grey carpet for the living room and black tiles for the kitchenette.

The living room wasn't large, but it was able to fit in a long couch, as well as a television stand that held the TV and Jaspers' game counsels.

Jasper liked video games, had almost lost it when Augustine and I had suggested that we shouldn't get a television when moving in. 

"First that Ahote dude and now a human. What about your mate? I hope they're experimenting as much as you are... ouch," Jasper let a groan, rubbing the area of his shoulder Augustine had just delivered a blow to.

He glared at his boyfriend but Augustine wasn't even looking at him.

"Sorry," he apologized on Jaspers' behalf and I just chuckled.

It wasn't serious. No hard feelings.     

Jasper was working off a lot of assumptions.

I guess I understood why he thought it was a human.

No one aside from Alpha Georgiou knew about Adyen yet.

I hadn't even told my mother but I didn't think she worried about that too much.

I would tell her when I had figured things out with Adyen.

There was no need to give her hope that I had moved on if I wasn't sure things were going to work out.

Mate bonds were suggestions not do all end all.      

I managed to make myself a sandwich before heading back to my room.

After dropping the plate on my desk, I picked up my phone to look through my notifications.

THURS, 5:35 PM.

ADYEN. Hey, how's the first draft for your Creative Writing story going? 

'Ah, Adyen.' Thinking about him put a smile on my face.

THURS, 5:56 PM

LEN. I haven't even started.

I hadn't even started.

It was supposed to be three thousand words at most and nine hundred words at least.

How hard was it to string together a dumb story?

THURS, 5:57 PM.

ADYEN. Dude, they're due on Monday.

Adyen replied fast.

He must be close to his phone.

THURS, 5:58 PM.

LEN. I'll work on it tonight and on the weekend?     

THURS, 5:59 PM.

ADYEN. Unbelievable.

I chuckled to myself, pulling out my desk's chair before opening up a word document.

I had forgotten we even had an assignment.

As I stared at the blank page wondering what I could write, it hit me. 

I could write about werewolves and just have Adyen do the reading in class when we exchanged drafts during a workshop.

That way I could tell him about werewolves without having to go through the logistics of our existence.

My fingers started typing up a beginning.

It was easy to write since I didn't have to come up with anything, just pour out what I knew. 

As crazy as this idea was, I hoped it worked. 

'It's a start,' I thought, doing a bit about recessives and what that meant.

[knockyasocksoff2022]

Chapter VI: Mirrorverse

POV: Chuuya

(1,186 words)

I don't sleep, afraid I'll have that damn dream again.

Kouyou says the funeral is on Sunday. I don't want to go, but I feel like I should. I owe it to Akiko at the very least, for being rude. And, hey, maybe if I go I won't feel this stupid nagging guilt anymore.

-

When the sun rises, I'm so sleep deprived that I'm tempted to ask Kouyou if I can stay home today, but Kouyou might make something more out of that than I want to deal with, so I'll go.

I take a shower to wash away the weirdness, and I catch myself expecting the soap suds to be red.

-

I throw on my uniform, and head out the door. As I bike to school I wonder who'll take his spot at the top. Maybe I'll actually get better grades without him as a distraction. I will, because if any should have his spot it should be me.

When the bell rings I find myself scanning the courtyard for Mori, just to make sure he isn't going to come and bother me. But then it comes back to me, the feelings like a static shock, quick. Oh yeah, he's dead.

I hurry into the main building for English.

-

It should be relaxing, him not being here to bother me, but I keep wondering when he's going to show up and insult me, what corner he's going to pop out from behind. It makes me anxious, having these thoughts, knowing they'll never come true but still having them. Nobody is talking about it. Maybe they think he's sick. Maybe they don't pay attention. Everyone knew of him, but how many people really knew him?

After all, despite his family's status, he never had a large group of friends. In fact I never saw him hanging out with anybody, not at lunch, come to think of it, he was never even in the cafeteria, and I never saw him in the quad either. I think I saw him leaving the library once, but never again, even when I was studying there everyday for finals last year.

The bell rings and I haven't heard a single thing Professor Fitzgeral said. I'm sure this will stop after the funeral, after that my brain will surely get it that he's well and truly dead, gone forever. I suddenly want to kick something, why can't I be normal about this, I didn't even know him. It's not like I miss him, it's just strange not having him annoying me is all.

— Tuesday —

Still nothing. I don't have that dream though, so that's good.

— Wednesday — 

I hear someone whispering his name in the lunch line and I turn slightly around pretending to look at the menu board. It's that blond boy with glasses, Kumiya, and two younger students, probably 14 or so.

"You're Mori-senpai's friend, right? Do you think he's okay? I called him yesterday when he didn't show up for our tutoring session, but he didn't answer. Neither Atsushi nor Kenji have heard from him either. Naomi and I tried to visit him, in case he was sick but his sister sent us away. She's scary." The younger boy says, sounding worried.

"I don't know. I didn't know him well, we were in the tutoring club together, but we never talked. If you're looking for a tutor until he comes back, I'd be glad to help." The older boy, Kunikida, it turns out his name is, says.

"Thank you, Kunikida-senpai."

"You're welcome, I'm sure he's fine, he's like a cockroach, we won't get rid of him that easily. However, if you're really worried, why don't you ask Nakahara-san, they talk a lot. Or school counsellor Ango-san."

What? Kunikida's words make me spin around, accidently smacking him with my thankfully empty tray. He stumbles.

"Oh it's you . . ." he trails off, a little shocked.

"Why do you think I know Mori? We're not friends."

His eyes widen and he steps back, intimidated by my sudden aggression. "Well, I- Look, Mori keeps to himself, he doesn't talk to many people, so if he interacts with you, I figured it means something, I was just trying to help the Tanizakis out . . . but I see I was wrong."

"Yeah, you were, it doesn't mean anything."

I should tell them he's dead, but for some reason I can't. All I can think about is what his final moments in that bathtub must have been like. 

What was he thinking about? Why did he kill himself? He had absolutely no reason too, he had an amazing life, a perfect life even. Rich and well known, with good brains, not a bad face either. What more could anyone want?

I bet that Mori-san told the school he transferred Osamu somewhere else. Is he just being private or is he ashamed of his son's suicide? It's pointless because even if the funeral is private the press always finds out these things, the papers will run an obituary and everyone will know. 

I wonder what they'll say?

What will the Tanizakis say, the kids he apparently tutored? It's like seeing into a mirror universe, imagining Mori helping people, taking the time to actually make someone else's life easier. It doesn't make him any less of a snob, or does it? Kind hearted or no, he was still an ass to me, but I will admit this changes something. A lot actually. If he was such a "nice" person, why the hell did he hate me so much? If he had this, something he was doing that I assume he enjoyed, and a group of kids who respected him how could he have just decided to up and die one day?

-

Thursday and Friday tick on uneventfully. It's no easier to focus now than it was.

Kouyou tells me the funeral is going to have his casket open, but I don't have to see the body if I don't want to. I don't answer her, too busy remembering that time he wouldn't stop bombarding me with pick-up lines. Most were cheesy and weird. He said "You'd look great at an open casket funeral."

– Saturday –

Kouyou is taking me to rent a suit for the funeral today. Akiko offered to lend her one of her western style dresses, but she's going to wear the same black Kimono she wore to our parents' funeral.

-

My suit is too tight, I can barely move my arms, but I'm in between sizes so it's the best they have.

"You look handsome, Chu."

"Do I? Well, I feel ridiculous."

"Chu, come on, it's only for an hour or two. You don't even have to stay the whole time, just please don't make a fuss about it. You're eighteen, not eight."

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll be fine. Let's just go home."

"Okay, thank you."

As we walk I don't tell Kouyou that I want to go to the funeral, she'd just give me a lecture on closure and all that, but I think that maybe she understands it somehow, like hearing an unspoken word, because she doesn't bother me about it again.

-

I'm hesitant to fall asleep, but sleep deprivation will only make tomorrow worse, so I sink into bed anyway.

More Than You Know \\ soukoku

TW ⚠️: topics of depression and suicide. I don't really like writing that kind of stuff so there won't be too many details but these things are mentioned a bit.

-SUMMARY-

Chuuya and Osamu go to Kafka Academy together. Osamu is from a rich family, the Moris, who owns the Yokohama Port Corporation. Chuuya is a scholarship kid from the slums with anger issues. He thinks Osamu is annoying and pretentious and they fight a lot.

Then one day Osamu commits suicide.

Because Kuoyou is Mori's secretary, they attend the funeral where Chuuya receives a CD and a locked notebook, with a clue to the key only Chuuya would know, these objects appaently having been willed to him by Osamu.

After a month Chuuya realises he misses the other boy and that school isn't the same without him. Then as the month ends, he wakes up the week before Osamu commits suicide. Chuuya realises he has seven days to save the boy.

----------

(A/N: Right now I'm posting each chapter individually, but once the story is finished I'll post them all together on one post to make it easier to find. I'll probbaly reblog this post and put them here.)

(A/N: original/canon ages are first followed by the age they are in this fic)

Yukichi: 45 - 41

Ougai: 40 - 36

Koyou: 26 - 22

Yosano: 25 - 21

Osamu & Chuuya: 22 - 18

Kunikida: 22

Aku: 20 - 16

Gin: 18 - 14

Kyouka: 10

Atsushi: 18 - 14

Junichirou: 18 - 14

Naomi: 17 - 13

Q: 13 - 9

Elise: 10 - 7

[pollyna]

Our love is six feet under and I can't help but wonder.

Penny is gorgeous and her perfume fills his nose most of the time when she is around. He likes that of her, too. He likes that she asks him out, after the fourth time they sleep together after the mission. They're eating breakfast and Amelia is complaining about school and Bradley is texting because he forgot his keys and now he can't get back home and he's a little sweaty so can I come over dad? Please, if I go out like this Nat will kill me, we have a brunch with Halo!

Penny passes him coffee and we should go out on a date and Pete smiles at her and kiss her cheek before leaving for work. Let's go to see a movie, maybe tonight? he proposes and Just if you can find a babysitter for Amelia! The kid screams the most indignant Mom!, but the rest of the conversation is lost in the rumble of his bike.

It takes a while, but than the realisation hits him in the chest, six months after they start going out. They're waiting for their order in a restaurant he doesn't remember the name but Penny loves and she is talking about Amelia, the bar, her boat and the trip they should take once Pete has leave. Than she says something funny about Pete learning to drive a boat and hoping he's going to treat it gentler than he does with jets and a younger version of Tom is sitting in front of him. It's a diner, not a fancy restaurant, and the place doesn't even have tablecloths, just napkins and menus. Tom is talking about Bradley, about his new work and the jet they're building. Pete is thirty five and he just proposed to see a movie after. And he's going to ask Ice to move for the weekend to help with Bradley and he will say yes, soft smiles and an hand on his shoulder. Mav is going to lie on the his bed, that night and every night after that, his heart lighter than it was before.

Then it never stops: he takes Penny out to do something and he realises he asked Tom to do that before and they weren't even dating. Pete never even considered dating Tom. Until he does and it's devastating because he can't stop thinking about it. He is in the office, in his house, at Penny's and at Bradley's and Tom is there and he's there too, younger, stupider, happier and they're together, hands almost touching and heads always searching the other. His heart aches for all the empty spaces Ice used to fill, with his laugh, his voice, his presence. Over a beer he realises he never took away Tom's dogtags from around his neck and before falling asleep, after a dinner with all the squadron, he realises that he was blind for so so long and now Tom is gone and he has all this love to give to him and he can't. He doesn't say it out loud the next morning but on a Saturday afternoon he falls on his knees in front of Tom's tombstone and whispers I love you and it's a choked sound, a desperate empty scream that won't leave his throat because they're empty world and no ears will catch them. I love you, he repeats, I loved you for so long and I will love you until I stop breathing. I'm sorry To-I'm so fucking sorry.

He stumbles over Tom's house and in his bedroom and probably Sarah helped him there but all around him is fuzzy and he wants just ti wake up back in the ninetees and hug Tom once more, wants to hear his voice and his heart beating under his ear. He wants him to be alive because life can't be that cruel, not again. He dreams of strong arms around his waist and sleepy talks before breakfast and of a promise no one of them respected.

I will always be on your wing, Mav. Until death does us apart and even after, Iceman.

[sweetestlamb]

Bring Me To Life

Summary: Kang Sujin has never had anyone to turn to, hiding behind a façade her entire life. Someone begins to peek behind the mask. 

Author’s note: My two favorite characters in TB are Seojun and Sujin, both characters who are honestly treated like trash by the writers. I cannot begin to tell how upsetting it was to see Sujin’s character assassination or how painful it is to watch her being physically abused knowing that the writers will not give her therapy or a true happy ending. She’s just here to be beaten and vilified. Seojun, I won’t even rant everyone knows what the problem is (idk who told them we wanted to see Start-Up the high school edition.) So I wrote this after watching the most recent episode and hating most of it for these reasons. I don’t know how far it’ll go or how often I can update, but I need my two babies to have a happy ending preferably together because the visuals are just a dreammmm. 

The rain crashes down loudly from aggrieved storm clouds bellowing above her in the sky, the chilled condensation plastering her thin satin pajamas to her trembling body. She had to get out, the pain in her cheek numbing and electrifying all at once.

How dare she tell him that she didn't want to get married, want to stand on her own two feet without a man giving her value?

His hand had flown across the room before she could sidestep the blow, the fragile glass filled with water in her hand- the very reason she'd left her room in the dead of night- shattering into jagged pieces as it collided with a greater force. Just like her.

She hadn't been trying to eavesdrop but it was hard not to hear him chuckling deeply on the phone, offering up his only child like she was an item on a menu.

"Yes we should set them up. It seems Suho isn't interested and she should marry young, that's when women are worth the most."

Nausea rolled like waves in the pits of her stomach and before she could think logically, her feet were sprinting into the living room, air barely filling her lungs as she stared at the man she'd never once thought of as a father. The last time she'd made the grave mistake of calling him daddy he'd smacked her so hard that was how she lost her first tooth. He'd been father ever since or Mr. Kang. She tried her best to avoid him at all cost, she would never be good enough and it was getting harder to hide the marks he left behind.

It was difficult to remember clearly what occurred seconds after her refusal to marry a man she didn't know left her lips, his fist connected and she was knocked back onto their coffee table the sharp edge cutting at her cheek. As she looked at him, anger painting his face a demonic red, fear crippled her and her hands twitched desperately wanting to wash them raw. Then he grabbed a thick marble ashtray from the table and her instincts took over and she was out the door, running as fast as she could, knowing her life was at stake and she couldn't afford to stop.

When the cloud in her head cleared that was when she found herself at the bus stop.

Judgmental whispers breeze by her ears as people passed by with umbrellas, shocked to see the young girl crying in her pajamas at the stop, but none stopped to offer her help or inquire about her situation, happy just to pass judgement. She ignores them all, panicking racing through her blood until she's unable to breathe, choking on nothing as she twitches in the harsh air. Her throat constricts as she screams at herself, breathe. 

Breathe.

BREATHE! 

But it's useless as her body shuts down, forgetting how to do the basic function, she sways as she starts to feel light headed from the lack of oxygen and with a final wheeze she collapses. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

He signs as he weaves past cars moving far too slowly, adrenaline rushing through his veins as he marginally misses nipping a car to the left of him, easily dragging his motorcycle away with the fluid movements of his body. He glares up at the sky before cursing, "Fucking weather report didn't say anything about a sudden rainstorm." If he'd known he would have stayed home, always hating the rain. It brought back bad memories.

Halting at a red light, he puts his leg down for balance bouncing slightly in place. Pulling the shield up on his helmet he glances around, recognizing the area easily, before something in his peripheral catches his attention, a lump on the ground. Tilting his head he revs his trusty iron steed to live, riding over to the direction of the mysterious mass on the wet ground. As he gets closer his heart falters, it's too evident now. 

It's a person.

Jumping off his bike and pushing out the kickstand he flings his helmet off, his hair immediately drenched under the downpour as he races over to help. As he nears the figure, it becomes clearer it's a woman wearing what looks like sleep clothes. Momentarily he wonders if this is a crazy person and if he should just mind his business but a frightening image of his little sister unconscious on the ground and no one coming to her aid flashes in his mind.

"I'll just check if she's breathing and call an ambulance. That's all, if she tries to attack me I'll just ride away." He takes a deep breath, collecting his courage before closing the gap between him and the unconscious woman.

Crouching beside her, he reaches out a hand hesitating before sighing and shaking at her cold shoulder. No response. He shakes harder now, watching the motion quake through her entire body, but still she is unresponsive.

"Hey! Hey! Are you okay? Wake up, you're scaring me!" He starts to jiggle her with both hands, before he crawls into her space not caring about his safety any longer, the idea that this unknown woman might be dead is making him nauseous. People are always dying without his permission. It's so frustrating.

"Wake up! Come on!" He shouts at the figure now holding both her shoulders and turning the woman over, lifting her face from its place on the ground, cradling her limp body in his lap. After two more vicious shakes, she starts to cough and groan in his arms. Relief swims through his veins as he watches her come back to life, anxiously watching as her dewy long lashes flutter open and he's caught in a lifeless deep gaze.

"Han Seo-Jun?"

It takes a long pause for him to register that the woman has said his name and then a longer moment to recognize who she is.

"Kang Su-Jin?" He replies in genuine shock, taking in the wom--young girl in his arms. She's shivering so violently that it's becoming difficult to hold onto her, vibrating out of his hold before he grips her tighter, whipping off his jacket without second thought and wrapping it around her. Goosebumps raising on his skin as his body mentally berates his lack of survival skills.

"What are you doing here?" She looks at him bewildered as if the stranger occurrence is his presence and not her own.

He squints his eyes looking back at her, "I could ask you the same thing. I found you unconscious here. I thought you were...." He trails off unable to utter the rest of his sentence.

"You should have left me here. Maybe I would have. If I was that lucky."

"What? Are you crazy, you want to die? Did you do this to yourself, what are you on?!" He roars at her, rage flooding his system as he shouts at the stupid girl, how dare she try to kill herself and leave her body for him to find? He wishes he had taken a different route, that he'd never come across her. He was in no state to comfort someone who was suicidal, still too raw and hurt. What was so hard about living that made people want to do that? Hot tears gather in his eyes as he abruptly pulls away from Sujin, unapologetic as she tumbles to the ground without his support.

She starts at him, stunned before righteous fury twists her features and she roars back at him.

"Who are you to judge me! I didn't ask you to help me, leave me alone!"

He glares back at her ready to yank his jacket away and run away from her but a small movement stops him, as she's screaming at him a small muscle twitches in her cheek bringing his attention to said cheek. It's nearly purple, standing out obscenely on her pale skin and then he notices the split lip and the bruises on her neck and he's so ashamed of himself he could bawl.

He deflates before speaking to her, "What happened to your face? Who did this to you?"

He doesn't know what kind of look he has on his face but before his questions can even settle between them she's sneering and twisting away from him, throwing his jacket on the ground before making her escape. Unprepared for her sudden departure he reacts too late, before chasing after her. It's easy to close the distance separating them with his long legs and within seconds she's merely inches in front of him, he reaches out a large hand to grab her wrist but hesitates recalling the bruises littering her frame. Instead he races past her, blocking her with his body swerving to the left and then the right when she tries to dodge him. They play this cat and mouse game before she finally gives up, glaring up at him with moist enraged eyes.

"Why do you care? We aren't even friends!"

Her piercing shout rings in his ears as he looks down at her passively. He can't answer that question, doesn't know what brought him to this area so late and not understanding why he was the one to find her in this condition. He doesn't know why he cares. But maybe things could have been different if Se-Yeon had someone to chase him. Maybe he'd still be alive...

So he answers her honestly.

"I don't want anymore people to die."

To his complete shock she starts to cry, tears falling rapidly from her eyes before she crumples to the ground, the rain pounding on her head and he stands still unsure of what to do before he drapes the jacket he'd rescued from the ground over her head, shielding her from most of the thunderous downpour. When she looks up to see the jacket protecting her, he almost falls backwards as her head slams into his chest, her tears simmering hot on his chilled body. It's almost painfully uncomfortable but he doesn't move away. Letting her cry on his chest, his shirt is soaked anyway this makes no difference.

He doesn't know how long they are crouched there on the ground, so dark that the sidewalk is completely devoid of anyone else, it feels like they are the only two people left on Earth.

"If we stay here you're going to get a cold."

He voices his concern but the only reply he receives is a gross sounding sniffle and he grimaces, knowing that his poor shirt is probably damaged beyond repair covered in snot and tears.

Sighing he starts to repeat himself before she whispers, "I don't have anywhere to go."

"I can take you home." Her fists tighten in his drenched shirt, he can practically feel the fear wafting off her, he'd assumed the marks on her face were from a possessive unhinged boyfriend but her reaction makes him uneasy. He tries to push those unpleasant thoughts to the corner.

"What about your friends? Why don't you call Su-ah or Ju-Kyung, I’m sure they’ll help you.” 

She stiffens in his arms before shaking her head in decline.

"No. I can't let anyone else see me like this. I don't need them looking at me the way you did, like I'm a sad pitiful puppy. I never want anyone look at me like that again."

He can respect that, he never wants to appear weak in front of others. It was easier to become angry and lash out rather than showing your true heart, nobody could hurt you that way.

"Then what? Where do you want to go?"

"I have nowhere to go. I'll stay here until morning. I'll be fine, you can go."

He looks at her dumbfounded, what kind of man would leave a battered woman alone in the rain? He wasn't raised by animals, damn it.

"Let's go." He makes a point not to touch her, their only point of connection are her hands twisted in his shirt.

"What?"

He bulldozes past her confusion, looking at her with what he hopes are comforting eyes.

"I'm taking you to my house. I can't just leave you here."

"Are you crazy? Don't you live with your mother and sister, what will they say?"

He winces at the logical inquiry, he had already considered that himself, thinking of his mother's subsequent smacks and his sister's teasing once they learned what he'd done but still deciding that he has no other choice. He can't just leave her here.

He shrugs, "That's my problem to worry about. I'm not leaving you here, I'd really like to get out of his rain. Let's go." He repeats himself harder, pleading with her.

She looks away and he's prepared to throw her over his shoulders and face the consequences when he hears her response, "Okay. Let's go."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It's a quiet ride back, the engine rumbling through the aching bones of her frozen body. Han Seojun. The last person she ever expected to see after being roused from her panic induced collapse. Her arms tighten around his thin waist as he swerves around a car, adrenaline and fear battling for dominance in her body. When her fingers accidentally brush across wet bare skin she quickly moves her hands higher, fighting the embarrassment that washes over her.

If he notices she can't hear his reaction over the roar of the motorcycle.

When they finally pull up to a small apartment, she loosens her hold on him cracking her frozen digits.

"You didn't need to hold that tightly, I wasn't going to let anything happen to you. I ride this everyday you know."

She doesn't reply focusing on getting off the bike, swinging her leg over and hopping off not graceful but effective, a small proud smile spreads on her face before she gazes back at him.

He stares back before shaking his head, as if lost in a daze before he stomps off for her to follow.

Wordlessly she trails behind him, feeling foolish in her duck pajamas, a gift from Su-ah.

When he pushes his front door open, letting her in first she steps out of her sopping wet house slippers standing awkwardly looking around.

"Stay here. I'll get towels so we don't trail too much water."

She nods at his command, gazing at the floor and seeing how much water is already pooling around her feet.

"Here." He hands her a fluffy pink towel, she raises an eyebrow at the color.

"It's the guest towel. I wouldn't give you my towel."

That makes sense, sharing towels is far too intimate for the relationship they have. That being none. 

She rapidly towels at her hair, before running the towel down her body and wrapping it around her waist.

"You can use the bathroom. It's the second door on the right. I'll bring you dry clothes."

She steps cross the doorway, finally entering his home. Before she turns back to him staring directly into his eyes, "Than.... You didn't have to do this." She loses her confidence but his answering smirk lets her know he understood enough, with that she walks to the bathroom locking herself inside.

The sight of her bruised face in the mirror makes her pause, reaching up to finger at the stark purple mark on her cheek. She's crying before she can control her emotions, tears dripping into the sink as she remembers her night, how close she was to the end despite what she said to Seojun she wanted to live. As her father stood above her ready to snuff her out like a mere nuisance in his life, she realized with a burning passion how desperately she wanted to live.

A soft knock drags her back to reality as she rapidly wipes her tears away.

"I'm leaving clothes by the door. You can come out whenever you're ready. I'm making tea."

When she hears the light steps of his feet moving away from the door she opens the door a crack, picking up the neatly folded pile of clothes. Sending the boy a mental thank you before closing the door quietly.

It's clear that these clothes belong to Seojun, draping off her body, too large for her frame, a black T-shirt with a microphone on the center and sweatpants that cover her feet as well, he'd even remembered to bring her socks. Instantly she feels her body warming as her body temperature returns to normal. 

Folding her wet clothes and splashing water on her face then using the towel to rub it dry, she exits the bathroom walking towards the light she sees assuming that's the kitchen.

"The water's almost done boiling. Sit down."

His deep voice greets her as she follows his orders and takes a seat.

"Are these your clothes?"

"What? Oh yeah they're mine, sorry my sister locked her door. They're very old though, I haven't worn them in years I thought they would fit you better." He eyes her as he says the last sentence, "I guess it didn't make much of a difference I'm just too tall and manly for my own good."

She scoffs at his narcissistic comment rolling her eyes "Tall and manly my foot. You're so skinny I could probably pick you up with one arm."

He immediately turns at her comment, affronted look on his face, "Shut up! It's hard for me to put on weight, I'm not that skinny."

He places his hands on his hips, looking down at himself before puffing his chest out to make himself appear broader, it's so ridiculous that she can't control her reaction.

Sudden uncontrollable laughter.

She laughs breathlessly, folding onto her lap trying to contain her giggles but his scandalized look makes her laugh harder and she has to stuff her face in her elbow to prevent herself from waking his family.

After a few minutes of random spasms of laughter she finally peers back up at him.

He looks just like he did outside when she'd smiled after successively getting off his motorcycle.

"What? What are you looking at?"

"Nothing. I just never see you smile at school."

"Well you never do anything worth smiling about." She quips back, wondering if she'd gone too far but he doesn't reply beyond a slight smile that's gone too fast to even be titled that, he places her steaming cup of tea before her sipping at his own after blowing on it.

They drink in comfortable silence.

She's the first to rapture the silence, "I don't need pity."

"I don't pity yo--"

"But thank you. Thank you for stopping. Thank you for this, thank you."

He stares wordlessly before nodding, a slight blush on his cheeks before he hides his face in the cup of tea. She doesn't bring attention to it.

"You can sleep in my room. It's the door next to the bathroom."

Humming she looks up, fatigue hitting her like a brick at the mention of sleeping.

"Where will you sleep?"

"I have a perfectly good couch, don't argue you're sleeping in my room. That's final. It's better that my mother doesn't see a strange woman on the couch when she wakes up."

Well, she can't argue with that logic.

"Okay." Drinking the last of the soothing beverage, she stands up walking over to place the cup in the sink.

"Good night." She starts to walk back in the direction of the bathroom, seeing another door next to it. Seojun's room. Twisting the doorknob she pushes it open, before she hears his voice from behind her.

"If you need anything I'm right outside."

Blinking her tears away, she nods without looking back, too vulnerable with his palpable concern.

When she lays her head down on his pillow, his scent fills her senses and she falls into a deep restless slumber feeling safer than she has in long time.

Tomorrow will be horrible.

But tonight, she will allow herself to breath easy knowing that someone is on her side.

[fexicontent]

stand by me; chapter 6

or read this chapter on ao3 Summary: Lexi goes to work another shift, and some things go down at this restaurant. Lexi and Fez talk again. Tw for sexual harassment!

The restaurant she had to work at that night was a longer bike ride than she expected. It was actually not even within the bounds of East Highland, it was located in a neighboring town. She should have probably driven her car there, but it was too late for that now.

Once Lexi was changed into the simple work costume, consisting of a simple red blouse with their logo, she was ready to work. It was only 3, so the restaurant was still fairly empty. It was nice, because in that way she could ease into the work.

After somewhat more than 4 hours, Lexi finally got a break. She walked into the small canteen behind the kitchen and got seated. Her manager followed her into the canteen and took a look at her, scrunching his eyebrows.

"Do you have any makeup on you? You look sick," He said. Lexi couldn't really tell if she should feel insulted. Her manager was a middle-aged man, his hair slicked back giving him a somewhat cocky look, but he had seemed nice up until that moment.

"Um, I don't, actually. I'll just splash some cold water into my face," Lexi said, not really knowing what else she could possibly do about it.

"Okay. If you're hungry, you can grab some food. We got some things back there for staff only. And you can take a longer break than I initially told you, it's not all that busy. I'll give you twenty-five minutes," He nodded towards the cabinet, then walked out again.

Lexi had been starving, so of course, she had to grab some food. She ended up making herself a sandwich, and grabbed a bag of pretzels. She really needed the food.

Before Lexi knew it, her twenty-five minutes were over again. She quickly splashed some tap water in her face and took a long hard look in the mirror. She didn't look great, she'd admit. But she'd be better tomorrow, as she was not working for as long. She'd be in school in the morning, and she didn't do anything there anyway, really.

As Lexi walked over to the new table she was assigned to serve, her eyes lingered on a table a few tables away from the one she had to serve. Her heart stopped for a second, and then she had to recover, go on, act like nothing was wrong.

"Hi! I'll be serving your food tonight, have you guys made a decision yet as to what it may be?" She asked, arriving at a booth with a table seating four old men. They all looked up from their conversation.

"Yeah, I thought I had a decision," One of the men started talking. As he went silent again, Lexi just stood there, batting her eyelashes at him. She raised her eyebrows, sending him a confused look, waiting for him to continue.

"I thought I wanted the chicken salad with fregola, but now I'm thinking you...," He squinted his eyes to look at the improvised name tag on her blouse, "... Lexi. Yeah, I might wanna get a taste of that instead." He licked his lips, and Lexi cringed.

His hair was dirty and grey, his face sweaty and wrinkled. She tried to fake a smile. "Sorry, sir, that's not on the menu," She said. "Hmm, well, if you'll write down your phone number I'll ring you up sometime. I pay big bucks for that kind of flesh,'' He said. Lexi swallowed the bile that was rising up her throat.

"Your order, sir?" She asked, a bit more harsh to let him know she wasn't liking his tone. "Yeah, I'll have the roast chicken salad with fregola, and a beer with it. That would be it, sweetheart." He then shrugs.

Lexi looked over at the man seated next to him. "Well, if you ring Frederick over here up, I'll be there too. Can't miss out on that," He says. So they're all going to be like this? How fantastic. They better tip well.

She took on the rest of the men's orders and then quickly walked off back to the kitchen, reminding herself of the fact that she should be grateful that she got this table to serve and not the table a few tables over from theirs. The table which seated Ashtray and Fez.

Fez was seated with his back to the kitchen, and there was just no way he'd been able to see her from his vantage point. But Ashtray, on the other hand, sat opposing Fez and had a great view of the kitchen. Although she hadn't dared to look at Ash for longer than a second, she was pretty sure he'd noticed her.

Lexi tried to ignore it. She took orders from the other tables, served food. Brought Frederick and his three friends their beers. "There she is again," Frederick smiled. He surely seemed to be the leader of the group. "He's been waiting for you this whole time," The guy opposing Frederick stated.

"Uh huh," Lexi murmured, while putting the beers down on the table. As she leaned over the table to place the glasses on there, she felt a hand on the back of her thighs. She was wearing a skirt, so the cold touch was against her bare skin. She shivered, but continued putting the drinks down.

His hand slid up and sure enough, he stroked over the fabric of her skirt until his hand stayed on her ass. He suddenly gripped onto her, and she wanted to shove his arm away, but in her panic, she slammed the beer bottle Frederick was holding onto in his other hand onto the ground.

"Got all excited there for a second, huh," He grinned, and the other men laughed. Lexi took a step back. She had attracted way too much attention, and she silently prayed that Fez hadn't turned his head around to see what the commotion was about. She quickly bowed down to grab the shards of glass off the floor.

"With your bare hands?" One of the man at the table asked in surprise. Yeah, it wasn't the smartest idea, but she wanted to disappear, and the closest thing to it was just making herself as small as possible by pretending to clean her mess. "She likes it bare," Another one of the man laughs.

For a second, Lexi loses her cool. "This is a restaurant, not a fucking strip club." She says as she collects the smallest shards of glass in her hand. "Oh, feisty," Frederick said. Lexi looks up to see him with a smug grin on his face. She sees his gaze fall, dropping down to the unbuttoned part of her blouse. "I like the view," He says. She almost throws up.

When she gets back inside the kitchen, she breaks down. Tears are rolling down her face, and she's finding it hard to breathe. She discards of the glass, finding it's cut her just slightly. "Lexi! What's happened?" She hears the manager of the restaurant rush towards her.

"I'm so sorry, it was just this guy, he like—he grabbed me, and said, like—just really gross stuff. I'm sorry," She tried to wave it off. "No, don't be," He hands her a tissue, "That's really messed up, I'm sorry that happened to you." He says, and Lexi dries her eyes. "It's fine, I'm just going to drink some water and I'll get back to them."

"Hmm, you don't really have to," He replies, "I just, I don't have any security people stand by tonight, which is why I kind of can't send people away. You could tell who did it to leave if he keeps pulling shit like that, I could even call the cops if you need me to. But I'd rather keep it peaceful in here," He says. Lexi nods. "It's fine, I was just panicking for a second there, it shouldn't happen again."

Lexi splashed some cold water in her face for the second time that night, and went back to the booth seating the four men with a mop to clean the beer from the ground. She didn't say anything, she just cleaned. "Hey, we wanna have another beer. This man just chugged mine, as he wasn't about to lick his own drink off the floor, so we're going to need 5 now."

"Okay," Lexi nodded while cleaning. Soon enough the floor was spotless again. She made her way back to put the mop back in its place, and brought the men their beers. They made no silly remarks this time, and she was glad. She went on about her night, serving food and drinks where necessary.

She kept throwing fast glances over at the table that seated Fez and Ash. They had received their food, and she saw that Ashtray had fries with steak, which was exactly what she would expect him to order for some stupid reason. Fez was drinking a beer, and well, she hadn't really looked at his food. Every time she looked she was afraid he'd stare right back at her. Even if she already knew Ashtray had probably told him she was walking around here serving food.

All the people she served were pretty nice that night, except for one obvious party. She knew it wasn't going to lead to any good when she served the four old men their 5th beer before they even got their meal. They had begun to talk louder, and they started making inappropriate remarks again when she walked past.

When she finally did get their meals out, they were all properly out of it. "C'mon Lexi, have dinner with us, darlin'." Frederick tried to pull her into the booth. She cussed. "No, I don't really want to," Lexi spoke. He held onto her arm and looked her in the eye. "I have a nice meal for you," He gestured towards his dick.

"Sorry, I'm not interested," She tries to shake him off.

The man raises his eyebrows, and she feels her heartbeat pick up. She doesn't want to cause a scene, so she relaxed her arm for a second. His grip remained tight.

He then drags himself out of the booth and stands in front of her. He's tall, much taller than her, much taller than she'd expected him to be.

"Who are you to turn me down?" His voice is raised, and Lexi quickly looks around her to see how embarrassed she should be, how many people were watching her right now.

"Who are you to turn me down?" He repeats himself a lot louder now, and Lexi begins to feel herself panic. Not right now, not right here, she begs herself.

"I'm sorry," She murmured now, as he grabs a beer bottle off the table and raises it to her head. "I could fuckin' smash your brains in right now, why you being so difficult, girl?" He was still yelling. His finger traced along her jaw, reminding her of the bruise that was placed there less than a week ago.

Everything around them had gone silent at this point, it was just her and this guy left. But the silence was disturbed faster than she could even really capture what was happening. She heard the sound of a chair clattering to the floor, footsteps rushing in their direction.

"Yo, yo! Hold up now, man, keep yo hands to your fuckin' self!" It was a voice she recognized.

The hand that was once so firmly around her arm suddenly comes loose, the hand tracing her jaw bone is violently torn off of her face.

Lexi heard another loud thud, and she realized that the sound came from her own body hitting the floor.

She looked up to see Fezco absolutely raging against this grey-haired old man. He had him pinned against the wall that separated the dining booths, and somehow the old man was still laughing.

"I think she's into older men, but if you insist, I can share. I'll let you dick her down, quit the jealousy, ginger," Lexi heard him say.

The entire restaurant was now following the course of events, and Lexi wanted to be swallowed into the ground. The fact that Fez had to hear all these things and see her like this; it was genuinely horrifying.

"You need to pay for yo food and get yo ass and yo friends' asses outta this restaurant, like right fuckin' now." Fez was seething.

"Or what?" Frederick looked a bit less brave than earlier, but still tried to keep that conceited smile up on his face.

"You seriously askin' right now? Me and my lil bro here fresh outta prison, we was celebratin' that shit. You for real gotta give me a reason to get back in there?" Fez spoke, and she hoped and prayed to God that Fez didn't do something stupid.

Hell, threatening the dude like this was already something stupid. He was on thin ice, being watched everywhere he went. A death threat wouldn't go down well on him in court, an assault even less so.

Lexi was still lying on the ground when she heard Frederick say, "Come on then guys. You heard the big man. We needa go. Fuckin' pussy place this, fucking shit hole. You bet I'm leaving a bad review."

Lexi heard the other men rise out of their seats, get out of the booth. One of them got out his wallet and put some bills down on the table.

"You better leave a bad review, yeah. Do it using your actual name though, so I can file a formal complaint at the police station and get you a lifelong ban from our place." It was the first time Lexi heard her manager speak up. The men didn't really respond to him, they just kept walking.

One of her female coworkers kneeled down next to Lexi, and it was then that she noticed how her leg was shaking so badly she could hear a ticking noise from her shoe continuously hitting the floor.

However much she tried to relax, she couldn't. She tried to get herself up from the ground, putting herself into a sort of half-sitting position, leaning back onto her elbows.

"Oh my God, are you okay? That was crazy," Lexi heard her colleague say, and she quickly nodded before looking up at Fez.

She needed to thank him.

Fez finally turned around after what seemed like an eternity, and he looked down at her. She felt a bit uncomfortable, given the awkward position she was sitting in and the fact that she couldn't get her leg to stop shaking.

He looked concerned, yet he walked away from her.

God, why were these things so difficult, Lexi thought to herself.

When Lexi finally got up with the help of two of her coworkers, she went back into the kitchen to calm down for a bit.

The restaurant was bustling again, people were enjoying their meals and talking loudly like nothing had happened. "I was about to call the cops right before that guy stepped in," She heard her manager. "He really came in clutch." He stated.

"Yeah," Lexi nodded. "Can I pay for his food? I just want to thank him, some way." She asked.

"Sure thing, go ahead. Get him and the boy he came with a dessert, too. That's on the house." Her manager said. "Are you sure you want to finish your shift, though? You can also just go home, I can imagine that being a bit hefty and all."

Lexi nodded. "Yeah, it will probably be better too, get my mind off this entire situation for a bit." She really did want to stay. She at least needed to thank Fez.

He looked like he understood. "Well, I guess most of the tables you served have been picked up by coworkers in the meanwhile. So just see if you can take on some of their work, it won't be very long anymore till the restaurant closes."

Lexi did as he asked. She went to her coworkers, whom by now all knew her name, and figured out what tables she'd take on from them.

It all went reasonably smooth, some guests recognizing her and telling her they felt sorry for her or that she should be pressing charges. Neither of which were things she really needed to hear, but it was better than whatever bullshit came out of the mouth of Frederick.

At some point, walking into the kitchen, her coworker Francis handed her a menu card. "Hey, I just took away the dishes from the table with that guy who scared the bitch. Heard you wanted to thank him with free dessert, so here you go." She'd said.

Lexi wasn't really sure how to go about it. She couldn't just be like, 'Hey thanks for scaring that dude! Have some free ice cream'. She knew Fez, and Fez knew her. And they weren't exactly in the best place before this whole thing went down.

She walked over to their table kind of hesitantly, Ashtray eyeing her before he even knew she was actually planning on going to their table.

She stood beside the table, and that's when Fez could finally see her. "Hi," She started, putting on a careful smile. "Yo, Lexi," Ashtray was first to respond. Even though there was a hardness to his voice, it sounded well-meant.

"Hey," Fezco slowly said. "Are you okay?" He then asked.

Lexi looked down, then nodded. "It's alright. I came here to thank you. You didn't need to do that," She replied.

"'Course I had to, Lex. That guy was way out of line, and soon as I saw it happen I knew I had to fuckin' do something." His voice was soft, and she couldn't help falling in love with him just that tiny bit more.

"Bro wanted to beat the shit outta him first time I told him I thought I saw him put hands on you, thought I was gonna have to physically restrain him or sum'." Ashtray laughed.

"Well, if you'd actually been sure you saw what you thought you saw I would have. 'S not right," Fezco shrugged.

"You think I wouldn't have whooped that pervert myself if I'd actually confirmed the guy was fuckin' with my sis? Like I stayed in my seat when you got up later but that was 'cause I needed to make sure I pulled you out before we hoppin' onto another murder charge," Ashtray hissed.

She instantly melted at the way he referred to her as his sis. So he really didn't actually dislike her?

"Hmm," Lexi murmured. "Well, it's gained you a free dinner. Dessert's on the house, too." Lexi handed the menu cards to them. She didn't really want to say she was the one paying for their dinner, as she assumed Fezco would not be taking her money.

"Yo, Lex, I didn't even know you worked down here." Fez then said, picking up a conversation.

Lexi didn't really know what to say. "Um—yeah, well, I don't really work here, I--, I've just been waitressing wherever, really," She struggled to find her words. She didn't really know if Fez wanted her to go back to the kitchen and leave them be, or if he wanted her to talk to them.

A loud bang behind her released her from the internal conflict. She quickly glanced over her shoulder to see one of her coworkers scramble to the floor in an attempt to gather shards of glass. "Sorry, duty calls," She smiles dumbly at the two men seated at the table.

"'Course, do your thing," Fez stated. Lexi batted her eyelashes at him one last time and then hurried to help her coworker.

*

"You sure you don't need me to pay anything? Like, at all? I feel kinda bad about it," Fez asked Lexi, as the clock displayed it was a little past 10.30 PM.

"No, don't worry 'bout it. Got it taken care of," Lexi affirmed to him.

"I shouldn't even tip you? Aren't tips like, your main source of income as a waitress?" He then asked.

Lexi shook her head. "No, no. But if you really want to, tip the girl who was serving you right before I was. She was your actual waitress, not me."

Fez nodded. "Hm. I'll do that, gotta cut soon though. Our boy has a curfew now that he lives with a foster fam." He looked at the boy sitting at the opposing side of the table.

Lexi snorted. "Oh, have you really?" Lexi peeked over, at Ashtray. The tough boy was not looking so happy.

"'S not funny. They makin' me go to that stupid fuckin' school, and they ain't even lettin' me drive there by car. I never even rode a goddamn bike in my life," He muttered. Fez and Lexi both laugh at his statement. 

"Wait, are you going to East Highland High?" She asked now, imagining how weird it would be for Ashtray to actually do so. The boy nodded at her. "Shit, yeah." He grumbled.

When Lexi felt a hand on her shoulder, she was quickly pulled out of her conversation. "Hey, Lexi, could you help out in the kitchen, do the dishes?" She heard the girl that served the table seating Fez and Ashtray ask her. Lexi looked at the two guys one last time and sent them a small nod as to say goodbye, then turned to the girl. "Yeah, of course."

As Lexi walked away, she heard the girl speak again, but this time directed at Fezco and Ashtray. "I thought it was really brave how you just went at that guy, you didn't even hesitate to step in." Lexi slowed her walking, to eavesdrop on the conversation. "It looked really attractive on you too," She heard the girl say. 

Obviously, Lexi had no right to be jealous. Especially not given everything that had happened in the past few days, with him making it clear to her that he really just sees her as a friend. Yet still, hearing the girl say it like that, with this flirtatious tone, instilled a disturbing kind of resentment towards the girl inside of her. She didn't really want to know what it was that Fez had to say to her. Maybe he'd ask for her number, flirt back. So Lexi walked back into the kitchen.

Together with another coworker, she washed the dishes. Time went by rather quickly from then on, and when they were finished around 11, the restaurant was just about to close. Fez and Ashtray had already left, and she wondered for a second if she should call him after finishing work. She really wanted to apologize for kissing him that night, and then ignoring him during the days following.

She decided she would. She would call him. But she just wasn't sure when. Either tonight, or tomorrow. She still had to figure it out.

Cleaning the entire restaurant took a lot longer than she really wanted it to. Lexi was silently mopping the floor in the kitchen, her coworkers doing dishes and cleaning tables. In the office, her manager was counting money with another coworker. 

It was finally around half past 12 that everything was all done and they could go home. Lexi was asked to stay for drinks, like Lexi had figured they would, but Lexi shook her head and declined. She realized all of a sudden how exhausted she still was, and how badly she was starving. The food she had during her break six hours before, was no longer giving her any energy whatsoever.

She quickly walked over to her bike, reminded of the sketchy roads she had to take to get to the restaurant. She bit her tongue and grabbed the keys to her home in one hand, gripping onto it as if it were a deadly weapon that she could use in the face of danger. 

"Lexi," She suddenly heard behind her, and tightened her grasp onto the key before recognizing the voice. 

"Fezco?" She turned around to see him stand there, still in his grey button-up. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows now, however. She realized it made him even more attractive, but quickly tried to rid herself of the thought.

"Was afraid you'd already left,'' He spoke, "I'm not letting you ride yo' bike in the dark like this."

"Oh, it's fine. I often ride my bike in the dark, it's safer than you'd think." It was a small lie, and she realized how stupid it sounded after she'd said it. 

"Nah, Lex. You just lucky. But something bad only has to happen once, and I'm not riskin' it." He rebutted. "So, c'mon now, let me put your bike in the trunk," He walked closer towards her, and as he took the bike from her hands, Lexi could smell the cologne on him. 

How could she ever be friends with him, if with every step he took, every move he made, she fell more in love with him? It was just embarrassing. And painful, that too. 

They started walking towards the car. Fezco was dragging her bike forward with one hand on the middle of the steering wheel, as if it was nothing.

"You know, I can't believe you never taught Ashtray how to ride a bike." She laughed, but upon repeating the words inside of her head, it kind of sounded like a sneer. She quickly quit her laughing, "I'm sorry, don't know why I said that. You did well raising him, especially given the circumstances."

He glanced over at her. "Nah, you good. I wish I showed him how to ride a bike. 'M glad he's still getting that kind of upbringing now though, you know, school and shit. Want him to make something of his life, he's a good kid."

"Yeah, of course. He is. Is the family he was placed in okay?" Lexi then inquired. She could see the Caddy now, as they walked into the parking lot beside the restaurant. 

"Hmm. They alright. They not too strict, which, ya know, Ashtray can live with. So, I got like a deal going on with them, that he can come by every now and then, maybe every weekend, if Ash goes to school and doesn't do wild shit. They allowed me to have dinner with him here tonight, 'cause his house is near."

Lexi nodded. "That sounds great. I mean, you can still see him and have fun. He didn't move hundreds of miles away," Lexi chirped. 

Fez popped open the trunk of his car and placed her bike inside of it. Lexi then got into the passenger seat of the car, Fez hopping in next to her and starting the car. 

They drove out of the parking lot, into the darkness.

She suddenly felt the tension rise, and knew she had to say something to break it. The reminder of her kiss shot through her head, and she spoke up before she could stop herself. "You know, I really am sorry about Wednesday night." She heard herself say, and she felt the temperature in the car drop.

"Nah, was my fault too." Fez replied, looking straight ahead. 

That wasn't true. She had been the one to come there, to make a fool of herself. It was not his fault.

"No, it was me. I really shouldn't have.. Like, I shouldn't have come at you like that." She retorted, and Fezco now looked over at her.

"Lex, you wasn't sober. I was." He scoffs, and Lexi shakes her head. 

"That doesn't even matter. I'd had some drinks, yeah, but I honestly sobered up pretty soon after I like, invaded your house." She tried to chuckle. Tried to make it funny. But it really wasn't, it was painful. The stern look on Fezco's face didn't make her feel any better, and she shushed herself, trying to find a better way to explain herself.

"I misread the situation. With my stupid, selfish mind I misinterpreted your kindness and I... I thought you had feelings for me too, for a second there. But I was out of line." 

It was out. Her confession, up in the air, hanging over their heads. She hadn't wanted to say it, but Lexi had said it anyway. Maybe now was the right time. Her words were heavy, too heavy to bear witness to the light of day. They needed to be said in the darkness of the night, where they could easily slip away into the starry night sky and be forgotten the next morning. 

Fez huffed. "Fuck, Lexi."

Perhaps he had not wanted to know about her feelings, but Lexi knew it was better this way. This way Fez could slowly push her away, kindly, gently, knowing that they weren't supposed to be together, knowing that he wasn't looking for the same things she was. 

She stayed silent, giving him time to rethink all the moments he regrets his kindness, he regrets his friendship, he regrets his honesty with her. She knew he did. She knew he had to be disgusted. He couldn't even look at her.

"I thought you was just drunk..." Fezco then spoke up. His words lingered in the air, and for a moment, Lexi thought Fez would've liked to have a jumpseat to shoot him straight out of the car. He looked like absolute death. "Thought I was just, takin' advantage of you, fuck." He cussed again. 

Lexi shook her head. "If any one of us took advantage of the other, it was me. I've like, wanted to kiss you for months." She bit her lip, knowing her head was flushed red. Fezco had kept his eyes on the road, but now turned towards her.

"Nah, 'cause, shit, Lex. I wanted it too!" Fezco yelled. His hands clasped onto the wheel more tightly, "You really fuckin' thought you misread the situation? I fuckin' misread the situation. Hell nah, Lex, I was thinkin' I was the one with feelings while you were just drunk. Scared me to death when I thought of that right after kissing you," Fez was promptly blurting out.

She rapidly felt her heartbeat increase as she let the words rush through her. The entire day had been a bit too much for her. It was messing with her mind. Things weren't making sense to her anymore. And seeing Fez yell the way he did just then, was the last straw. She felt hot tears running down her face.

Did he just say he, Fez, had feelings for her, Lexi? She wondered if this was some sick dream, playing on her twisted fantasies. First, Fez shows up to be her knight in shining armor, saving her from some perverted weirdo, and then, he suddenly confesses his feelings for her? It sounded too much like some cliché, corny fanfiction she read at the age of 12. 

"Are you... Are you serious?" She sniffed. 

"Lex, are you cryin'? 'M sorry if I said something wrong, I really didn't mean to..." He trailed off, and looked at her again. He looked worried. "No, it's not-- It's not you, it's just, like, everything. I'm tired." She tried to assure him. 

"Hmm," He mumbled, "We almost at your house." 

Lexi leaned her head onto the window. She really wanted to talk with Fez, like, really ask him what it was he wanted. She wanted to know where'd they go from here. If he truly had feelings for her too, then what? 

"But I do want to say I really was serious, ma. I care 'bout you, as more than just a friend. Like, Lexi, you mad smart and shit. And you pretty, like crazy. You always wearin' cute clothes, lookin' good, bein' funny as hell. How could I not fall in love with that?"

It felt like there were actual butterflies inside her stomach. Like, if a doctor were to cut her open and they were to fly out, she would not be surprised. It felt like they were just fluttering around everywhere, sending weird sensations all over her body. It was insane how just his words could do that to her. 

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sight of her own driveway, and she wondered how she'd gone without Fez for the past couple of days. Just knowing that she'd leave off to be alone in her own bed in a few minutes, made her miss him already. 

They both got out of the car when he pulled up to the house. Fez got her bike out of his trunk, and walked with her to her front porch, were Lexi put her bike down. "Fez, I-- I wanna talk to you about this. I thought I'd lost you after Wednesday night, I don't want to lose you, I love you," She whispers, and is scared by her own words. 

She knows that love is a big word, she can feel it in her chest, but she does actually feel like over the past few months, she's truly fallen in love with him. It started out as a crush one day when they were sitting on some old couch, but then she fell in love with him sometime later, while sitting on another old couch. 

Fez put his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. Lexi buried her head into his chest, allowing herself to close her eyes for a second and rest in his arms. A warm, intense feeling filled Lexi. She realized that was the feeling she'd been looking for all her life.

[nightshadeshadow123]

Paw prints on the Agent's heart🐾part 6:

A long waited part 6, enjoy guys and again sorry for the long wait. I'm thinking of adding my works on archive and wattpad too. Ah heck, why am I making this a slow burn romance😂

Tag list:

@retro-aesthe @blackluthxr @samustar @aznblossom @ibe-anne @lezzzbehonesthere

🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾

"Hey sis!" Kara greeted Alex and went to stand next to her.

Alex glanced back at her briefly before looking back into the middle of the room where you and J'onn are sparring.

"Hey Kar."

Kara crossed her arms over her chest and nudged Alex with her shoulder. "I see you love to watch her. Might want to be less subtle or she might start to think you are a creep."

Alex rolled her eyes. "I am not a creep. Nothing wrong with watching people sparring."

"Mhm. Sure, okay."

"I bet J'onn will win." Alex said.

Kara amusedly smiled. "I bet (Y/N) will win."

Alex narrowed her eyes at Kara. "Mhm, if J'onn win you must stop the teasing and then you aren't allowed to eat potstickers for two months."

Kara gave her a offended look. "No fair! Okay if (Y/N) win I get to keep teasing you and you have to buy me potstickers for two months."

Alex thought it over for a moment. "Okay. Deal."

J'onn tried to swing a punch at your head but you blocked with your arms and he took advantage to knock you of your feet with one leg making you fall with a yelp as J'onn tried to hide a tiny smirk as he looked down at you.

"Don't get happy too fast J'onn." You taunted and used your psychokinesis to send him flying back against a wall next to Kara and Alex with a force that made a dent and crack in the wall while you did a quick flip and jump back to your boothed feet.

Alex sparred him a concerned look as he sat up in a daze.

"Oof. I forgot about that power of hers." J'onn shake his head slightly to shake off the daze.

"I'm just gonna stand over here so I don't get hit by flying aliens." Kara joked but went to help J'onn up.

You chuckled to yourself. "You might wanna remember that next time."

J'onn took his place in front of you again and smirked. "I'll be sure to do that."

This time you took the first move and went to use heat vision on him but he side jumped it and used his own heat vision on you that have you staggering back a few feet.

J'onn then used his invisibility to sneak up on you from behind but you easily elbowed him in the face when sensing him nearby, making him become visible again as he clutched at his nose.

"Ouch." J'onn whipped at the tinge of blood from his nose and half busted lip. "I did not expect that. Nice shot."

Alex looked shocked for a moment while Kara only smiled at her cheeckily.

"Rule number one. Don't sneak up on a wolf ever. They'll sense you before you can even do something. Learned that the hard way on Krypton and (Y/N) had to save me then."

"Well I can't wait to hear more stories of you and her on Krypton." Alex said.

"Hey guys! Not sorry to interrupt." A feminine voice halted all talk and movements.

"Lena Boo!" You exclaimed and run over to the female Luthor.

"(Y/N)!" Lena's green eyes lit up, a bright smile tugging at her red painted lips that is complimenting the black suit she is wearing with red heels to match.

You pulled her into a tight hug that she eagerly returns.

"What are you doing here?" You asked after pulling away from the hug.

"Came to check up on my bestie and J'onn called me over. He wants some information on CADMUS." Lena explained, staying close to you and nodding in greeting at Kara, Alex and J'onn.

"Oh okay. I'm glad you are here."

Lena smiled at that. "Glad to be here. And even more glad to see you making new friends." She said while keeping a hand on your exposed arm.

Alex glared at Lena's hand before looking at Kara that elbowed her.

"Jealous?" Kara teased.

"Shut up. I'm not jealous." Alex tried to hide the blush that is sneaking up to her cheecks.

"I don't believe you." Kara continued making Alex glare at her.

"Are you still coming over to my house for dinner and movies tonight?" Lena asked, not paying much attention to the others.

"Sure am. Can't miss out on good food and movies with my bestie."

"Just going over for dinner and movies my ass." Alex grumbels under her breath earning a soft laugh from Kara.

"You are so jealous."

Alex looked back at you and Lena before glaring at Kara once again.

"I said I'm not jealous. They can do whatever they want. And I have no reason to be jealous."

Kara cringe a little at the sharp edge in Alex's voice. "Oh sis. I was just teasing." She said softly.

Alex sighted but gave her sister a tiny smile afterwards. "Let's go show (Y/N) around. J'onn wants to talk with Lena anyways." Alex dragged Kara over to the wolf and Luthor.

"Hey." Alex greeted Lena as Kara waved at her akwardly, saying a soft "Hi."

"Agent Danvers, Supergirl, Hey." Lena greeted them back warmly.

"We'll catch up tonight at my place." Lena said to you after J'onn motioned Lena to follow him.

"Sure thing. See you then." You hugged her bye before turning back to Alex and Kara.

"Can I help you?" You questioned when seeying them just standing akwardly.

"No...actually yes." Kara began. "Do you want to come with me and Alex to Noonan's for lunch?"

You thought it over for a moment before nodding. "Okay, you did promise me some good food when you wanted my help in finding Alex.

"But you have eaten an hour ago Kar." Alex looked at the blonde Kryptonian.

Kara only shrugged. "So what. That was an hour ago. Kryptonian's are always hungry." She reasoned.

"Gotta agree with Kara." You cut in making Alex huff.

"Fine fine, let's go get some food for you hungry Kryptonian's." Alex began walking as you and Kara shot each other a goofy grin before following behind the agent.

When you got outside Alex walked over to her bike with you and Kara following.

"Catch you two at Noonan's." Alex said, getting on her bike.

(😶Man this bike gif of her)

You make and whisteling sound at that. "Oh, I love the view Danvers. Let's try that climbing on-"

Alex sent a glare at you, a tinge of pink dusting her cheeks as she cut you off. "Shut it wolf before I put a muzzle on you."

"Getting kinky now are we Danvers?" You teased, wiggiling an eyebrow at her as Kara stood akwardly next to you, a smile on her face while Alex hid a tiny smirk by putting her helmet on.

"I'm shipping this so much but please don't do the dirty around me." Kara joked shyly.

"Aww, baby Danvers as shy and innocent as ever." You teased the blonde Kryptonian making her blush as she rubbed at her forehead shyly.

"She's not so innocent when under red kryptonite." Alex pipped in before driving off on her bike.

"Hey! I can't help that." Kara blushed a darker shade of red as she watched her sister droved away.

You laughed at Kara's perplexed look, patting her strong built shoulder. "I like that one. She's feisty. And can't wait to hear more stories of you and Alex."

"Let's get going." Kara manage to get out after containing her blush, taking you in a hold and starting to hover in the sky.

"I swear to Rao if you drop me I'll punch you into the sun." You threatened jokingly.

"I won't drop you. Trust me." Kara assured.

🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾

Kara landed with you both in an alley, letting go of you gently.

"That was fun." You said, fixing your wind swept hair as Kara rushed into her normal clothing and glasses.

"I just don't get how Lena can't see right through that descuise. It's so obvious. The glasses don't hide much." You commented as you and Kara walked out of the alley, making your way over to Noonan's, spotting Alex's bike parked near.

Kara slightly shook her head. "I don't know. Other people don't reconize me with it on."

"Maybe they do notice it's you but don't say anything." You countered, making Kara hum.

"Mhm. Guess you got a valid point there." Kara said as you cross the street and leading you into the comforting calm of Noonan's, scanning the place for Alex.

"There she is." You pointed out and walk over to the booth where the agent is sitting and slid into the booth with Kara following behind sortly after, sitting down next to you.

Alex greeted the two of you briefly before flipping through her menu.

You looked at the blonde kryptonian next to you. "Kara, that food ya promised me. What do you suggest?" You asked curiously.

Kara smiled warmly at you before Alex interrupt her.

"Let me guess, you are going to say potstickers?" Alex smiled briefly at her sister.

A light pink dusted Kara's cheeks. "Yep. They are just so good." Kara defend as you watch the two with a ghost of a smile.

"I still don't know why you like them so much."

You let out a chuckel at that. "Don't even try to change her fav food. She's still stuborn just like she was back on Krypton when we were little."

Alex gave a ghost of a smile."Trust me, I know how stuborn she can be."

Kara gasp in fake shock.

"I'm not stuborn!" Kara exclaimed and playfully swat at Alex who were smirking at her as you watched the two sisters, glad that Kara have Alex in her life.

Kara quickly placed the order for potstickers when the waiter came to the table you and the Danvers sibling are sitting at.

"Hey (Y/N), remember that time we almost got kidnapped by those blue aliens when we snucked into the meeting my mom and dad had with their leader?" You couldn't help but smile at that.

"I remember that all too well. Both of our parents were absolutely livid when they managed to save us on time. Geez that day I thought for sure your father would chuck us both into the sun by how angry he was." You and Kara began to laugh as Alex raised her eyebrow at the two of you.

"Well you make it sound like you both got and caused a lot of trouble together back on Krypton. Should I be worried for anymore trouble?" Alex said amusedly, taking a sip of her coffee that was ordered by her.

Kara pushed up her glasses and tried to hide a blush. "Naw believe me, that wasn't even a patch against all the other trouble we stirred." You nudged Kara and the blonde gave you a bright smile.

"And the amounts of times aunt Astra joined in on us pulling pranks on my mother and father and other visit aliens. Father wasn't too amused but was secretly glad that aunt Astra kept us safe...well safe most of the times back when she wasn't a complete nutcase." Kara added and you hummed in agreement.

"And remember that time I stole that huge red aliens thingys sword. He was ready to kill us both until your aunt showed up. His paled face was priceless when she threatened him and your father grounded us for weeks." You looked at Kara. "And I still have that sword in my apartment somewhere."

"What? No way?! You gotta show me then. That sword is epic." Kara exlaimed.

Alex raised another eyebrow, a smirk tugging at her lips as she swooped some potstickers once it was set on the table by the waiter, waiting until he left.l before saying.

"Oh now we have a sword stealing Kryptonian too? Now I wonder how your parents putted up with the two of you." Alex joked while Kara smiled again at her.

"Oh maybe I should talk about the punk pace you went through in highschool." Kara smirked before putting a potsticker in her mouth as Alex glared at her, a light pink dusting her cheeks.

"Cool, tell me Kar." You sneaked a glance at Alex, thinking that the tiny blush on her cheeks make her look adorable.

"No! Don't talk about that. That was years ago and embarrassing." Alex tried to stop her sister but alas Kara just went on and told the whole story as Alex tried to hide in embarrassment.

🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾🐺🐾

Hey guys! I'm sorry for not updating in a long long time. I just thought I'd post this part for ya guys for reading and please excuse the many typos and spelling, I haven't read through this yet because I'm going away on a long vacation and I'm getting everything ready. Not sure when I'll start with a part 7 but I really hope you guys enjoy this part.

[one-boring-person]

Only Traitors Consort With The Damned. (Part Three)

The Lost Boys x reader

Warnings: none

Context: The senior officer (Y/n) is expecting arrives.

A/N: Im not really sure where this story is going, but anyhow. I'm sorry, there really isn't that much mention of the boys in this, but I guess this can kinda count as a filler chapter?

Masterlist.

My hands are shaking as I check my watch yet again, biting my lip nervously as I shift in place, my coat drawn tightly around me to fight off the cool night air, the rest of my clothes as smart as possible, to make a good impression. In my left hand, I hold the creased envelope, the edges torn and dog-eared from being handled so much, the letter inside stained slightly from where I picked it up with my hands covered in gore, the contents nearly branded into my memory by now. A senior officer is to meet me at the Santa Carla train station at eight o'clock exactly, should the train be on time for once. Since I received this information two days ago, I have not stopped fidgeting and worrying with myself, my nails bitten down to the bed, the skin painful and red, my nerves running rampant within me, resulting in a thorough tidy-up of the shed and many unforseen training fights with the hand-made dummy behind it, my knuckles as sore as if I've been in a real fight.

Even now, I can feel the bruising under my gloves smart with every movement, my fingers flexing instinctually as I watch the thinning stream of people emerging from the station doors, eyes hoping to catch sight of the officer soon, knowing the uniform will be the tell tale giveaway. My own uniform is neat and tidy for once, as the rules of the SRS state, my long overcoat concealing the weapons I'm obligated to carry around with me: a gun loaded with wooden bullets, three vials of holy water, a stake and a silver knife. Legally, I'm allowed to carry these weapons in full view, being a Hunter for the SRS and all, but most of us choose not to, seeing as the civilians tend to find the sight of them pretty unnerving, but there are some, more arrogant ones, who choose to flaunt their status for the whole world to see, making them easy targets for almost any supernatural being. A wry grimace makes it's way onto my face as I recall the time when my first drill sergeant as a Cadet stalked into a werewolf pack with all of his silver weaponry out on show, instantly resulting in an all out brawl, which only some of us survived. The sergeant was the first to die.

"(Y/n)! It's been too long!" A horribly familiar voice snaps me from my thoughts, my eyes swiftly locating the tall figure walking over to me. Elijah Finch, the lanky, dark haired man I went to Hunting School with, wearing the neatly pressed black jacket of a senior officer, the rank badges sewn onto his chest showing that he has also reached a very high number of kills, as well as a completely new status.

"It's good to see you, sir." I address him with the correct formality, a tight smile forcing it's way onto my lips, my posture straightening as I salute him. For a brief second, I see a faint glimmer of pride flash through the crystal depths of his eyes at the title.

"Ah, don't call me that, (Y/n). We're friends, and that's not how friends talk to each other." He grins as he steps over to me, dropping his holdall momentarily in order to sweep me up into a tight embrace.

Relaxing into him, I return the hug, inhaling the familiar smell of his cologne as he crushes me into his chest, clearly happier to see me than I am him.

"If you say so, Elijah." I respond in his ear, pulling away after a minute, smiling at his broad grin, taking note of the new scar on his right cheek, the pale line splitting his sharp cheekbone in two, "The hell happened to your face?"

"Oh this? Nothing too bad, just had a bad encounter with a possessed child." Elijah smirks, picking up his bag again and slinging it onto his back, refusing my offer to help him out.

"A child gave you that?" I lift an eyebrow at him, finding this amusing.

"A possessed child." He corrects me, falling into step beside me as I lead him away from the train station, aiming to get to the main road, where we can pick up some decent food without coming across David and the boys.

"Sure." I chuckle, rolling my eyes, "You hungry?"

"I could eat. Anywhere good in town?"

"Eh, I guess. Most of them are takeaways, but there's a pretty decent diner just off the main road." I inform him, sticking my hands into my pockets as we walk, hunching my shoulders a little as the cool wind blows around us, chilling me to the bone.

"Lets go there, then. I'll pay." The tall Hunter says decisively, giving me a pointed look when I glance at him queationingly.

"Sure, if you don't mind." I frown slightly at this, fumbling with the notes in my pockets a little out of protest, "When did you become a senior?"

"A month back, I think. Yeah, it was around the beginning of September or so." He replies, clearly looking as if he wants to go on, something which I am only too happy to allow.

"Oh yeah? What was the mission?" I inquire, referring to the SRS concept that a Hunter is promoted to Senior only after completing a particularly difficult hunt.

"Oh, it wasn't too difficult. There was a coven of vampires trying to take over the French Quarter, back home in New Orleans, and had started a fight with the witches that already lived there. I had to go in with a squad of Hunters and eliminate the bloodsuckers, before everything got out of hand. I managed it, and didn't lose a single member of the squad." He goes on to explain, sounding impossibly proud of himself as always, his tone laced with self-confidence.

"Congrats, it sounds like it was well deserved." I congratulate him, stopping outside the diner I usually stay out of, preferring to go to the one on the Boardwalk, my jaw clenching as I see that it is closed for the night.

"Damn that sucks. Is there another one nearby?" Elijah asks, blue eyes looking the structure up and down, hand adjusting on the straps of his bag.

"Err, yeah. There's one just over there." I inform him, pointing at the entrance to the Boardwalk, which lies a good 25 metres away down the road.

"Lets hope that one isn't closed, too." He muses, allowing me to hesitantly lead the way again.

Quickly, we make our way onto the Boardwalk, where I then quickly locate the diner and direct Elijah over to it, hoping the boys aren't anywhere nearby. Thankfully, this one is open, meaning the two of us easily get a table, our uniforms giving us some sort of advantage over other customers, even though the insignia is not a particularly widely recognised one. Sitting at a window table, we take the time to look at the menu properly before deciding on something to order, doing so and relaxing back into our seats as we wait, both of us instinctively turning to look out the window, where I instantly spot the four people I didn't want to see tonight.

Across the pavement, David, Dwayne, Paul and Marko have pulled up on their motorcycles, the four of them drawing attention to themselves as always, something which makes me grit my teeth in annoyance, knowing that Elijah will easily spot them.

"They the resident biker gang?" The Hunter asks, gesturing to the boys with a curious expression.

Tensing almost indiscernibly, I try to suppress the rising fear inside me, nodding as I reply to him.

"It is. They like offering races to anyone who catches their eye." I explain to him, only revealing half of the truth behind them, eyeing the four vampires as they talk amongst themselves, David pulling a cigarette out of his pocket, followed by a lighter, his icy blue eyes suddenly locking with mine across the space. A smirk makes it's way onto his face as he sees me.

"They do, huh? I bet you could easily beat them on yours." Elijah muses out loud, looking me over with a critical eye.

"Yeah, well the only problem with that is that my bike is back in New Orleans, and has been for my entire time here." I remind him, recalling the black Triumph back in the garage at Headquarters, suddenly wishing I could ride it again, missing the exhilaration of the ride.

"That's too bad. I'm surprised, though, you and that bike were pretty much inseparable."

"It's the best vehicle I've ever driven." I shrug, returning my gaze to the four motorcycles outside, only to find their riders gone. Confusion fills me, eyes searching for them, until I hear an unmistakable voice behind me, my heart dropping in my chest.

"So this is where you got to, kitten. We were wondering where you were." David's smirk is practically audible in his tone, my jaw tightening as I turn to face him, only now registering what he called me, a deep blush blossoming on my cheeks.

"Hey David. I didn't realise you were looking for me." I smile cordially at him, trying to signal to him with my eyes for him to leave, before he's caught.

"We got worried." The platinum blonde affirms, eyeing Elijah, who watches the exchange in confusion, "Who's your friend?"

"This is Elijah. He's a close friend of mine. Elijah, this is David, Dwayne, Marko and Paul, some friends I've made here." I introduce them, trying not to reach over and slap their reaching hands away from each other, reminding myself that they boy have gloves onñ and so the difference in temperature shouldn't be too noticeable.

"Nice to meet you, Elijah." David greets, tone sounding forced and completely false.

"Nice to meet you, too." The tall Hunter smiles, shaking David's hand, eyes flicking over the others in turn.

David turns to me once again once he's finished shaking hands, blue eyes teasing.

"Let us know when you're next free, we'd love to spend more time together again." The vampire tells me, before he and the boys step out, Marko and Paul pushing and shoving each other on their way, nearly upsetting a few of the tables.

Once they've left, Elijah looks at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Friends?" Is all he says.

"What, are you implying that I can't make friends?" I tease, hoping not to have to go into too much detail.

"Of course not. They just seem pretty interesting characters." He shrugs, looking over as the waiter brings us our food, thanking him pleasantly before returning his gaze to me.

"They are, but they're a great cover-up story at times." I reason, tucking into my food.

"Ah, right. Makes sense. Anyway, you got any plans later?" He queries, casually, cutting up some of his own food as he does so.

"No, why?" I respond, confused.

"Because I am in the mood for some hunting."

Part Four